Chapter 10 The Secret of Red Gate Farm by Carolyn Keene
Plan of Attack
Chief McGinnis refused to comment on the possibility that the Black Snake Colony might be a phony group.
“They may not have been in existence long enough to be known,” he replied. “But you might try to find out what you can and let me know.”
“I’ll do that,” the young detective agreed.
After Nancy had put down the phone, she reflected for a long minute on the new twist to the hillside mystery, then walked out to the front porch, where Mrs. Salisbury, Mr. Abbott, and the three girls were seated.
Nancy had not planned to tell them of her experience, but her face was so animated it revealed her thoughts. They besieged her with questions until finally she revealed her meeting with the woman member of the strange nature cult.
“Told you not to come near, did she?” Mrs. Salisbury cackled. “Well, I hope you intend to follow her advice.”
Nancy laughed and shook her head. “I’m more interested than ever in what’s going on up there on the hillside. I’m ready for a little adventure right about now!”
“So am I,” George chimed in.
Joanne nodded vigorously, while Bess, always more cautious, agreed rather halfheartedly.
“Better stay away,” Mr. Abbott advised, for once not contradicting Mrs. Salisbury. “You can’t tell what may be going on there.”
Nancy was tempted to comment, but instead she forced a smile and said, “It seems to me that this matter may be of deep concern to Jo and her grandmother, if not to me.”
Mrs. Byrd had stepped to the porch door in time to get the gist of the conversation, and at once spoke up.
“I think Nancy is right,” she declared thoughtfully. “Of course, I don’t want the girls to go looking for trouble, but I’m beginning to think someone ought to investigate those mysterious people. If anything questionable is going on, I want to know about it. I’ll ask the Black Snake Colony to move out, even if I do lose the rent. Why, I might get into trouble myself if they stay.”
Mr. Abbott and Mrs. Salisbury fell into an injured silence. Nancy gave her friends a sly wink, and in a few minutes they all quietly withdrew to the springhouse to discuss their plans. Here, she told the girls about her conversation with Chief McGinnis.
“Something peculiar is going on at those cult meetings, I’m sure,” Nancy went on, “and I must find out about them if I can. Do you all want to join me in the investigation?”
“Of course,” Joanne and George said.
“Do you think it’ll be safe?” Bess asked.
“I’m not making any rash promises.” Nancy laughed.
Bess gave a little shiver. “I don’t like it, but count me in.”
“How can we visit the colony without being caught?” George asked.
“That’s the problem,” Nancy replied. “We must make our plans carefully. Before we do anything, I suggest we find out about the robes the cult members wear. We may need to wear similar ones to help us in our investigation.”
“There’s only one way to find that out,” Joanne said. “Some night when they’re having a ceremonial meeting, we can sneak through the woods and try to get a closer look at what’s going on.”
Nancy nodded excitedly. “The double entrance to the cave will be perfect!” she said. “If we can’t sneak into the meetings any other way, we can get into the cave at the end they don’t use.”
“Sounds terribly risky to me!” Bess commented.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” George said scornfully. “Don’t be such a wet blanket, Bess!”
Her cousin opened her mouth to retort, but Nancy interposed quickly to forestall any further argument.
“We’d better not tell our plan to anyone except your grandmother, Jo,” she advised. “Otherwise, Mrs. Salisbury and Mr. Abbott will try to talk her out of letting us investigate.”
After a light supper and some rather forced conversation on trivial matters, the girls retired. They had tried to keep silent about the activities of the nature cult, but their secretive manner did not escape the notice of Mrs. Salisbury and Mr. Abbott.
“You’re up to something,” Mrs. Salisbury remarked the next morning. “And if I were Mrs. Byrd, I’d put a stop to it at once!”
Mrs. Byrd, however, went on serenely with her work, being careful not to interfere with the girls’ plans. They maintained a close watch of the hillside, but for two days seldom saw anyone in the vicinity.
“I think they’ve holed in for the rest of the summer,” George declared impatiently at breakfast. “Either that, or they’ve moved out.”
“The cult’s still there,” Joanne reassured her. “The rent check arrived in the morning mail.”
“By the way, where do these nature people get their food?” Nancy queried. “They can’t live on blue sky and inspiration.”
“I think friends must bring food to them in automobiles,” Joanne answered. “Several times I’ve seen swanky cars drive up and park near the hillside.”
“The cult members must be fairly well off, then,” Nancy said thoughtfully. “I’m getting tired of marking time. I wish something would happen soon. If it doesn’t, I think I’ll investigate that cave, anyway!”
That night the girls were late in finishing the dishes. By the time they had put everything away it was quite dark. When they went out to the porch, they were relieved to find that the boarders had gone to their rooms.
The girls sat talking quietly for some time. The moon was high, and Nancy, from force of habit, glanced eagerly toward the distant hill.
“Look, girls!” she exclaimed. “They’re at it again!”
The four girls could see white objects moving to and fro, apparently going through a weird ritual. Nancy sprang to her feet.
“We’ll have to hurry if we want to see anything,” she said. “Come on! We’ll take the short cut!”
They dashed across the lawn, flung open the gate, and ran through the woods. Nancy led the way up the river path, then to the sparsely wooded hillside. Not until they were close to the camp did she stop.
“We’ll have to be very careful,” she warned in a whisper. “Scatter and hide behind trees. And don’t make a sound.”
The girls obeyed, Bess staying as close to George as possible. Nancy found a huge oak tree well up the hill, and hid behind it. From this vantage point she could see fairly well.
Nancy had been there for less than five minutes when she heard the sound of several cars approaching. They came up the woods road and stopped at the foot of the hill, not far from the nature camp.
Several men stepped from the cars. Nancy was too far away to see their faces, but she did observe that they quickly donned long white robes with head masks, and joined the other costumed figures who were on the brow of the hill.
For nearly ten minutes the members of the cult flitted back and forth, waving their arms and making weird noises. Then they moved single file toward the cavern and vanished.
Suddenly Nancy felt herself grasped by an arm. She wheeled sharply and then laughed softly.
“George! For goodness sake, don’t ever do that again! You scared me silly!”
“What do you make of it, Nancy?”
“It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. I haven’t been able to figure it out.”
“What should we do next?” asked Bess, who had joined them.
“Let’s follow them into the cave!” George proposed rashly.
“And be caught?” Nancy returned. “No, this is serious business. I think it’s time to go home and plan our own costumes.”
“I wonder why so many people came here in automobiles?” Joanne mused, as the girls walked off slowly.
“That’s what I’ve been wondering,” Nancy replied soberly, “but I think I might know.”
“Why?” her friends demanded.
“It looks to me as if only a few persons are actually living in the Black Snake Colony. Apparently they want to give the impression that the organization is a large one, so they have these other people come the night set for the ceremonials.”
“There were certainly a lot of men in those cars,” added Bess.
“Why should they go to all that trouble?” Joanne asked doubtfully.
“I don’t know,” Nancy admitted, “unless it’s because they’re trying to hide something they’re doing here.” She changed the subject. “I think we’ll be able to make costumes like theirs if you’ll give us some old pillowcases and sheets, Jo. When we visit the cave, we must disguise ourselves to make our scheme work!”