Chapter 20 The Clue of the Broken Locket by Carolyn Keene
Enos Crinkle’s Boat
Ten o’clock found Nancy, Bess and George driving through the outskirts of Selkirk. As they came within view of the Foundling Home, Nancy proposed that they stop to inquire if anyone knew the way to Enos Crinkle’s shack.
She left her chums sitting in the car and entered the building alone. Mrs. Roberts, the matron, chanced to be in the entrance hall at the time, and recognized the River Heights girl at once.
“Did you locate the record you were looking for the other day, Miss Drew?” she asked kindly.
“Yes. But I was sorry I couldn’t talk with you longer when I was here.”
“I guess we were both in a hurry. Oh, by the way, we have a new nurse to take the place of Miss Brown who left us.”
“You may be interested to know that Miss Brown is now employed by the Blairs,” Nancy informed her in turn.
“I am very glad to hear that,” the matron beamed. “She will make them a splendid nurse. And it will mean so much to her to be near the babies she loves.”
The matron was a very busy person; therefore, Nancy did not want to take up too much of her time. She hurriedly explained the mission that had brought her to Selkirk.
“Enos Crinkle’s shack is about a mile down the river,” Mrs. Roberts directed her. “You’ll find it set back from the bank a little way, in a dense wood. I believe you can drive within a few yards of the place.”
Nancy thanked her and returned to her waiting friends. They followed the winding river road, and when the speedometer registered exactly a mile, came to the end of it.
“I guess we shall have to walk from here,” Nancy announced.
Bess carefully removed the lunch basket from the rumble-seat.
“I’m not going to leave the food here,” she declared. “Someone very hungry might come along and find it too tempting to resist.”
A short hike brought the girls within view of a tumble-down cabin. The place looked deserted at first glance, but Nancy saw a thin curl of smoke swirling up from the chimney. She went to the door and knocked.
“Come in!” a voice bellowed.
For a moment the girls were hesitant about obeying. They waited, and the door was flung open. A short, stocky man with loose-fitting clothes and a corncob pipe in his mouth peered out at them. His face wrinkled into a smile as he saw the girls.
“Well, shiver my timbers if it ain’t three gals!” Then he noticed the lunch basket which Bess carried. “Sure, I know you’ve come to ask if you can use my picnic grounds.”
“And may we?” Nancy inquired, smiling.
“Go right ahead. Most folks don’t even bother to ask. Just clean the leavin’s after you’re through, that’s all I ask.”
“Have you by any chance a boat for rent?” Nancy next questioned the man, deciding to lead up to her objective gradually.
“I have one of my own,” the riverman told her, “but I don’t let it out much.”
“You haven’t an old one?”
“The wreck of a skiff I found near Selkirk is lying on the beach by the picnic grounds. But don’t make the mistake of trying to float that old tub!”
“Was that the rowboat in which some twin babies were found?” Nancy asked eagerly.
The riverman stared in surprise.
“Yes, that’s the one.”
“May we take a look at it?”
“I suppose you can, but there isn’t much to see. It’s fallen all to pieces. I’ve been intendin’ to chop it up for kindlin’ wood, but never got around to it. Wait a moment and I’ll show you where it is.”
Nancy caught a glimpse of the wrecked craft lying half buried in sand. With a cry of joy she ran toward it.
“Can’t see anything to get so excited about in an old tub like that,” Enos Crinkle chuckled. “Wait until I show you my boat! Just painted her a week ago, and she’s a beauty.”
By this time the party had reached the derelict. The girls could not help but laugh at the hopeless way in which Nancy regarded the wreckage.
Very little remained of the boat. Several of the decayed timbers had fallen away, the oars were gone, and the stern had been bashed in. It rested bottom side up in the sand.
“May we turn it over, Mr. Crinkle?” Nancy queried.
“Oh, Nancy, why bother with the old thing?” Bess cut in. “Surely you don’t expect to find any clues after all these months!”
“If there ever were any, they’d have vanished long before this,” George added.
Nancy refused to let her friends discourage her. She turned to the riverman.
“Will you help me lift the boat?” she asked.
Obligingly he gripped the battered stern, and together they turned over the skiff.
“You see!” Bess exclaimed, almost triumphantly. “There’s nothing there!”
Nancy did not answer. She leaned over and removed the slats in the bottom of the boat. In their half-decayed state they ripped out easily.
“I don’t see what you’re looking for,” George said in bewilderment.
“I’ve found it!” Nancy exclaimed suddenly.
She reached down and caught up a tiny object which had lain half hidden beneath the slat. It was a dirty bit of metal—the missing half of the heart-shaped locket!
“Well, of all things!” Bess ejaculated.
“Nancy, you’re a wonder for locating things in the most obscure places!” George marveled.
“That trinket must have been in the boat when I hauled it up here on shore,” Enos Crinkle said, scratching his head in bewilderment. “What is it, anyhow?”
“The missing half of a locket,” Nancy explained excitedly. “Oh, I was sure I’d find it here!”
“Now that you have it, I can’t see what good it will do,” Bess declared. “We’re no nearer a solution to the mystery than we were before.”
Nancy had her own opinion about the matter. With a piece of cloth which she found on the ground, she began to polish the broken locket. Bess and George came over to see what she was doing.
“Why, I believe I see an initial!” George cried.
“Three of them,” Nancy corrected quietly. “Can you make them out?”
“The first is S!” Bess deciphered.
“And the second is M!” George said in awe.
“S. M. N.” Nancy read aloud. “Now for whom could those letters stand?”
“Perhaps the mother’s name,” George suggested. “Oh, Nancy, I believe you’ve stumbled upon a real clue as to the parentage of the babies.”
“She didn’t exactly stumble,” Bess corrected with a laugh. “She reasoned it all out—and we tried to discourage her, too.”
“Even Father thought I was starting on a wild chase,” Nancy declared. “Now, if I can find a woman who has these initials!”
Enos Crinkle had been listening intently to the conversation.
“If you’re looking for the parents of those babies maybe I can give you a tip!” he offered.
Nancy could have hugged the old riverman, so happy was she at his words.
“What do you know about them?” she demanded eagerly.
“I don’t know anything about the parents,” Enos Crinkle admitted, “but I did find something in the bottom of the boat when I dragged it out of the water.”
“What?” the girls queried breathlessly.
“An old newspaper.”
The faces of both George and Bess fell at these words, but Nancy grew even more excited.
“Have you that paper now, Mr. Crinkle?”
“No, it was soaking wet, so I threw it away.”
“You didn’t notice which one it was, did you?”
“Yes, the Crown Point Star.”
“Why, Crown Point is only about thirty miles from River Heights!” Bess exclaimed.
“Girls, this may turn out to be the best clue we’ve discovered yet,” Nancy cried. “Crown Point is situated on this same river, too! Mr. Crinkle, I don’t suppose you noticed the date of that newspaper by any chance, did you?”
“Well, I did at the time. Seems to me it was September the 13th.”
Nancy made a mental note of the date.
“Girls, we must go to Crown Point at once and see if we can trace the twins’ parents!” she exclaimed. “What could be more logical than that they came either from that place, or else passed through it?”
“How shall we go about finding them if they are there?” Bess asked, perplexed. “Go from house to house ringing doorbells?”
“I doubt if we’d gain anything by using such a method. If the parents were well known in Crown Point, more than likely someone would have traced their relationship to the twins long ago.”
“Then I don’t see how we can make any progress,” George said flatly.
Nancy dangled the missing half of the locket before her chum’s eyes.
“See these initials? Someone at Crown Point may recognize them! And we have the newspaper date to help us, too!”
Gradually Bess and George grew enthusiastic over the proposed trip.
“Let’s start this minute!” Nancy pleaded.
“Not until we’ve eaten our picnic lunch,” Bess responded firmly. “I’ve brought it all the way from the car, and I don’t want to carry it back again.”
“You’ll find a nice picnic ground over yonder,” Enos Crinkle said, pointing toward a grove which overlooked the winding river. “I put in a pump last year so you can have all the fresh water you want.”
Nancy did not care to stop to eat at such an exciting time, but George and Bess were firm on this point. Laughingly she gave in. Then, thanking the old riverman for his kindness, they carried the lunch basket to the place indicated.
The girls spread the cloth upon one of the tables and arranged the delicious food they had brought from home. Bess and George had excellent appetites after their long ride. Presently they noticed that Nancy was scarcely touching her food.
“Don’t mind me, girls,” she apologized. “I guess I can’t eat just now. I’m too thrilled over our discoveries today!”
“I thought by this time you were a cold-blooded detective who never became excited over anything,” Bess laughed.
“I wish that were true, but it isn’t. I’m all a-tremble at the hope of finding the twins’ parents. I just feel that something will develop at Crown Point!”
While Bess and George hurriedly finished eating, Nancy withdrew the missing half of the locket from her pocket and examined it again. Presently she put it away and glanced out across the river.
“Girls!” she exclaimed. “A boat is landing at the beach! Tell me, am I seeing things, or is that Colleen?”
“Why, it is!” George cried in amazement. “And that red-haired friend of hers, too! What brought them here?”
“Just out for a boat ride, I imagine,” Nancy returned. “I suppose Colleen has plenty of time on her hands, now that she has lost her job. I hope she doesn’t blame me too much.”
Hurriedly the girls began to gather up their things, for they had no desire to meet Colleen or Francis. They saw the two beach their boat and unload a lunch hamper.
Unaware that other picnickers were upon the grounds already, Colleen and Francis placed their basket upon a nearby table. A growth of high bushes cut off their view of Nancy and her friends.
The girls could hear the two talking earnestly, and from Colleen’s tone they knew that she was displeased about something. It was impossible for them to avoid hearing what she was saying, for the wind was in their direction. Nancy paid no heed until her own name was spoken.
“Nancy Drew will wish she never had had me fired!” the girl said bitterly to her companion.
“The cat!” George murmured under her breath. “I’m going around there and tell her a thing or two!”
Nancy placed a restraining hand upon her chum’s shoulder.
“Wait!”
Colleen’s voice had grown louder. As the girls listened, they distinctly heard her say:
“I guess I fixed Nancy Drew all right! The police will have her in their clutches within forty-eight hours!”