Chapter 14 The Secret at Shadow Ranch by Carolyn Keene
The Nettle Trick
Near the empty artist’s chair a man sat sketching. Nancy walked toward him. “Pardon me, but do you know where the person is who drew that pastel?”
The man looked up from his work and pointed with his pencil. “There’s the one.”
Nancy turned and saw a stout woman in a blue dress coming toward them. “Want to buy that pastel girls? It’s the last one. The rest sold like hot cakes.”
Alice’s face showed keen disappointment. “This isn’t your work.”
The woman chuckled and sat down heavily. “That’s right, dearie. I can’t even draw a cow. I’m a dealer. I buy from the artists and sell their work.”
“Where is the man who did this picture?” Nancy pressed.
“That I don’t know. He told me he was a stranger—just visiting Phoenix. Seemed kind of close-mouthed—didn’ t say where he came from and where he was staying.”
Alice asked, “Was he a slender gray-haired man?”
“Yes. Said his name was Bursey. Do you know him?”
“We think so,” Nancy replied.
Alice looked longingly at the picture. “How much is it?” she asked the woman. When Alice heard the price, her face clouded. “I haven’t enough money to buy it.”
Exchanging quick glances, the other girls reached an agreement. “That’s all right, Alice,” said Nancy. “We’ll make up the difference.”
When the picture was paid for, Alice took it gratefully. She thanked the girls as they walked away from the dealer, then added, “Oh, Nancy, you’ve been so wonderful to me!”
Alice’s eyes were misty with emotion. “I feel that we must be getting closer to my father.” She thought that he might have returned to the mountain cabin and begged Nancy to go back there with her.
“I wish I could,” said Nancy, “but it would be too late to make the trip today after we reach the ranch. Tell you what, though. I’ll take you in the morning.”
George had another idea. “There’s just a chance our Uncle Ross Regor might be around this exhibition someplace. He might have come to see how his pictures are selling.”
The others agreed that George had a point. And for a while the four girls strolled through the park, keeping their eyes open for the slender gray-haired man. They did not see him.
Near midafternoon Nancy treated everyone to cool sodas from a passing vendor and they sat on a bench to drink them. Bess glanced at her watch and suggested they start for home. George drove.
They crossed the desert without trouble and arrived at the ranch in time for supper. At the table they learned that the telephone, lights, and water had been restored, but four of the palominos were still missing.
“The critters are up on Shadow Mountain somewhere,” Bud remarked gloomily as he passed the biscuits to Nancy. “We have our work cut out to track ’em.”
“And we might as well face it,” said Uncle Ed, “they might be badly hurt.”
To lighten the conversation, Aunt Bet reminded everyone of the barbecue next day. “It’s customary for us ranch folks to take a dessert. Any suggestions?”
Tex grinned. “I sure do cotton to chocolate cake.”
“Nancy makes scrumptious ones,” said Bess.
“Then I guess she’s elected,” Mrs. Rawley said with a smile.
Nancy laughed. “Thank you for the job, my friends! Now, who’s going to help?”
“I will!” chorused Dave, Tex, and Bud.
“Good,” said Nancy. “You boys can shell the walnuts for topping the icing—that is, if you have any, Mrs. Thurmond.”
“We have plenty of everything,” the cook declared. “Just step right up and take hold!”
“We’ll all help,” Bess said happily. “Let’s make it an extra big cake.”
After supper the girls dried the dishes for Mrs. Thurmond. Then Nancy put all the cake ingredients on the big kitchen table. The cook gave her several large bowls.
Tex grinned as he picked up a nutcracker. “Boys, we hired out to punch cows and here we are peelin’ nuts!”
While Nancy and her assistants worked, they talked about the phantom. Mrs. Thurmond listened intently.
“Where do you think the ghost horse is kept?” Alice asked.
“Folks say Valentine had a hideout on Shadow Mountain,” Mrs. Thurmond spoke up, “and I figure that’s where the critter stays now—same as it did in life.”
The girls tried to convince the cook that the apparition was a mere trick, but they could not do it.
Nancy changed the subject. “If Valentine did have a hideout in this area, very likely he kept his horse in a corral there. It’s possible that the persons who are attacking the ranch have discovered the place and are using it for their trick horse.”
Mrs. Thurmond shook her head gloomily. “If it was real folks doin’ the damage, I’d face right up to ‘em,” she declared. “But I’ve seen that spook with my own eyes. I tell you it’s too much for my nerves!”
By the time the baking was finished, Mrs. Thurmond had excused herself and gone to bed.
“Now for the icing,” said Nancy.
When the cake was cool enough, she covered it with thick creamy swirls of dark chocolate and studded the top with whole walnuts.
Bess sighed. “It’s too bad we can’t have just a teeny piece now, isn’t it?”
“I sure could go for a slab,” Tex agreed hungrily.
“Come on, cookie,” Dave coaxed Nancy.
“Think how good that would taste to us poor riders out on the midnight watch,” Bud said in his soft drawl. “Saddlesore, weary—”
“You’re breaking our hearts,” George said cheerfully.
“Graham crackers and milk tonight,” Nancy announced with a chuckle. “You’ll get your cake tomorrow.”
In the morning Alice could hardly contain her excitement over the trip to the cabin. Not wanting their destination known, Nancy had warned Alice to say nothing of her hopes at the breakfast table. When Aunt Bet asked the girls about their plans, Nancy said, “Alice and I would like to go for a ride in the mountains.”
George had letters to write and Bess said she wanted to wash and set her hair.
“I’ll saddle up for you,” Shorty volunteered. Nancy was surprised at his friendly gesture. She and Alice thanked him, then hurried to change into riding clothes.
When they were dressed and waiting on the portico, Tex walked up, leading Nancy’s bay. Just behind him came Shorty with a sorrel for Alice. Nancy stepped into the yard and mounted easily. With a shrill whinny, the horse reared.
“Hang on!” Tex shouted.
Nancy gripped the pommel tight and hung onto the reins. The horse pitched high and landed stiff-legged on all fours!
Tex seized the bridle and held the bay down, giving Nancy time to fling herself from the saddle.
“Hey, boy! Easy now!” Tex said as he tried to calm the excited animal.
“Nancy, are you hurt?” Alice asked worriedly.
“I’m all right,” Nancy replied breathlessly. “But what’s the matter with the horse?”
Shorty had hurried to Tex’s assistance, and now the snorting steed was standing still. The red-haired cowboy’s eyes narrowed with suspicion as he loosened the saddle girth and reached up under the blanket.
“I thought so!” He brought out his hand and held it open for the others to see. In his palm lay a nettle.
Shorty’s eyes grew wide. “Well, what do you know about that!” he drawled.
Tex looked at him levelly. “What do you know about this?”
“Me!” exclaimed Shorty. “Some mean coyote pulled that trick, not me!”
“You saddled the animals,” Tex retorted and turned to Nancy. “I was passin’ the stable when Shorty came out with these mounts. He asked me to bring this one over to you.”
“Now hold on thar a minute,” Shorty put in. “When I went to the stable after breakfast I found this bay already saddled. I throwed the saddle on the other one and brung ’em out. That’s all I know about it. You got no call to accuse me. No sir! Not me!”
Tex’s face flushed with anger. “If you’re tellin’ the truth, Shorty Steele, I apologize.”
Before the stocky cowboy could answer, Nancy suggested that Tex check Alice’s saddle blanket. He did and reported that it was all right. The girls mounted and rode toward the meadow.
“Hang on, Nancy!” Tex shouted
“I don’t believe Shorty was telling the truth,” said Alice.
Nancy said nothing, but she was inclined to agree. Aloud she said, “Someone has not given up trying to get me out of the picture.”
When they finally sighted the cabin, Nancy reined up behind the clump of big boulders. She swung from the saddle and ground-hitched her horse, but was not so quick as Alice. The younger girl dashed to the cabin and knocked on the door. As Nancy ran up, it was opened by a slender gray-haired man.
With a shock Nancy recognized him. He was the one who had put the snake’s rattle into her knitting bag and dropped the warning note into the car!