Chapter 12 The Message in the Hollow Oak by Carolyn Keene
The Overturned Canoe
Bess and George were too startled to obey, but Pete splashed out into the lake to help Nancy recover the floating craft. With a deft movement they flipped out most of the water from the canoe.
By this time the cousins had caught up the knapsacks, and now jumped into the boat which Pete steadied for them to get in. As soon as Nancy was in, he took his own place at the stern. Three mighty sweeps of the paddle, and the four were well beyond reach of Niles and Stripe, who stood neck-deep in water, glaring after the escaping party.
“I’ll get even with you for this!” the latter shouted, shaking his fist.
“If I ever see you again, I’ll give you a worse ducking!” Pete called back.
Niles gazed after the canoe ruefully, but there was an admiring look in his eyes as they rested upon Nancy Drew. He was forced to acknowledge her pluck. And she was certainly very pretty!
With the craft rapidly drawing farther and farther from shore, pursuit was out of the question. The bedraggled men gloomily betook themselves to their abandoned campfire, where they piled the wood high, and tried to dry their wet clothes.
As he was looking around for additional logs, Tom Stripe noticed a slip of paper lying on the ground. Curiously he picked it up. His face brightened at sight of it, for it was a notation which Nancy unwittingly had dropped during her scuffle with Niles.
The paper gave complete instructions for reaching the Chap homestead.
“We’re in luck after all!” he said to his companion excitedly. “Nancy Drew wasn’t so smart when she dropped this.”
“Let’s see it,” Niles commanded.
His eyes gleamed as he read the directions.
“It’s a dead give-away as to where she’s going, Tom.”
“Sure, and if we could just beat her there.”
“They have the head start. That Pete Atkins paddles with the precision of a machine!”
“I hate him!” Stripe growled. “When I meet him again I’ll fix him for throwing me into the lake!”
“Forget your grudge and do a little thinking. How are we going to get to old man Chap’s before Nancy Drew?”
Stripe’s eyes narrowed.
“I know a trail that leads there, but it’s hard going.”
“Let’s try it anyway. We have no chance by water. I’ll stand a lot of punishment in order to get the best of Nancy Drew!”
Without waiting for their clothing to dry thoroughly the two men set off through the woods. Stripe had not exaggerated when he said that the trail would be difficult. It was overgrown with vines and brush, so that in many places they bogged down nearly to their knees. Intent upon their purpose, they kept doggedly on their way.
“I’m getting good and sick of all this!” Niles announced in disgust after several hours of steady tramping. “It seems we should be getting there pretty soon. Tom, are you sure you know where we’re going?”
“I thought I did. We may have taken the wrong fork back there a mile or so.”
Niles glared at his companion as he wiped the perspiration from his grimy face.
“This is a fine time to decide you’ve made a mistake! I might have known you’d get me into a mess like this. We’re in a fine pickle now! Lost in the wilderness, and not a living soul for miles around!”
“You’re wrong about that, stranger,” announced a voice from behind.
The men wheeled, to find themselves facing a bearded stranger who had quietly stepped out from among the bushes.
“Who are you?” Stripe demanded.
“Ranny is the name,” the man informed him. “Norman Ranny.”
Stripe and Niles had been quick to note that the newcomer carried prospecting tools.
“Is it true that there’s gold around here?” Niles asked, a trifle tensely.
The man studied him coolly.
“Not here in the woods,” he retorted.
“But along the streams?” Tom Stripe probed eagerly.
“Some say one thing, others say another,” was the noncommittal reply.
“Could you give us a bite to eat and tell us how to get to old man Chap’s place?” Niles questioned, realizing that it would do no good to ask about the gold. “We’re hungry, and just about done up.”
The prospector grew more friendly.
“You’re not far from Pierre Chap’s cabin now. If you want to come on to my place farther down the trail, I’ll give you some food and show you the way.”
“All right. Let’s get going,” Stripe urged. “We’re eager to reach there.”
“Why the hurry, stranger?” Norman Ranny inquired as he led the way down the trail. “Up here we try to take things as they come.”
“Well, that isn’t my way,” Stripe responded stiffly. “If you won’t point out the trail——”
“No need to be so quick on the trigger,” the prospector drawled. “I’ll show you the route all right. Only I thought you both looked done up and needed a rest.”
“We do,” Niles admitted. “We’re trying to beat another party to old man Chap’s, and we’ve been legging it as fast as we could possibly go.”
Norman Ranny digested this information in silence. A little later they came within sight of a tiny cabin located in a clearing. The prospector flung wide the door, and invited the men to enter.
“I’ll fix something to eat,” he offered. “It won’t take me long.”
The two sat down, and looked curiously about them. The shack was comfortably, though plainly furnished. The chairs and tables were substantial, home-made pieces of furniture. A pair of snowshoes and some animal skins decorated the bare walls. Over the bed there hung the portrait of a young girl.
“Nice looking dame,” Niles commented familiarly.
Norman Ranny bent lower over the stove, and pretended that he had not heard what had been said.
“Queer sort, isn’t he?” Niles muttered in an undertone to his companion, and Stripe nodded uneasily.
For want of anything else to do, Niles drew from his pocket the scrap of paper Nancy had dropped. After re-reading the directions, he carelessly tossed the note onto the table.
A minute later, in setting down a dish, Norman Ranny glanced at the paper. A name which Nancy had jotted down stood out and held his attention. He re-read it to make sure he was not mistaken.
“Annette Chap!”
The words seared his very brain! That was the name of his former sweetheart!
“What’s the matter?” Niles demanded suddenly. “You look sick.”
Ranny stared at him almost stupidly.
“Where did you get this paper?” he questioned.
“Oh, from a girl,” Niles told him carelessly.
“A girl,” Ranny repeated, as if in a daze.
Niles and Stripe exchanged glances. What was wrong with the man? He acted as if he were not quite sane.
“Say, I think we’ll not wait for food,” Stripe said, rising quickly to his feet. “If you’ll point out the way to old man Chap’s we’ll not trouble you any longer.”
“And all the while I thought her dead——” the prospector muttered. “Could it be I’ve made a mistake?”
“What was that?” Niles demanded, bewildered.
With an effort the prospector forced himself to become aware of the two men.
“I am very sorry,” he apologized. “I’ll have dinner ready in a few minutes.”
“But we said—” Defeated, Stripe sank back once more into his chair.
“It’s of no use,” Niles warned his companion in a whisper. “He’s out of his mind. We must humor him, or he may try to kill us.”
The two crooks scarcely took their eyes off the man as he went on preparing the meal. Soon the food was ready. The men ate what the prospector set before them, but with little appetite.
Norman Ranny did not join them. He sat opposite the group, staring moodily into space. His attitude was depressing to his companions. When they had finished with their meal they arose in obvious relief.
“Many thanks,” Niles said, a trifle too heartily to sound sincere. “Now, if you’ll point out the trail, Mr. Ranny, we’ll be on our way again.”
The prospector also rose.
“I’ll go with you,” he said.
“There’s no need for that,” Stripe interposed hastily.
“We’ll find our way easily,” Niles added.
“The trail is winding. There are several forks.”
“We’ve troubled you enough,” Stripe insisted stubbornly.
He did not want the prospector to accompany them. Besides, it was not desirable to have a witness to their actions after they should have reached the Chap cabin.
“It seems to me you don’t care for my company, stranger.”
“Oh, no, it isn’t that,” Niles said quickly. “Of course we want you to go, but we don’t like to put you to so much trouble.”
“No trouble at all. Come along. I’ll lead the way.”
Thoroughly disgusted, Niles and Stripe reluctantly followed their host from the cabin. It was not until they had gone some distance along the trail that they recalled the scrap of paper. Niles could not remember having seen it lying on the table as they had left the shack.
He glanced curiously at their guide. Had Ranny picked it up? It did not seem at all probable, although the prospector’s attitude had changed almost from the moment he had seen the handwriting. Shrugging his shoulders, Niles abandoned the problem.
“Maybe we can get away from him a little farther on,” Stripe suggested in a whisper.
They waited hopefully for an opportunity to do so, but whenever they lingered on the trail Norman Ranny stopped until they caught up again.
“We can’t shake him,” Niles whispered irritably. “No use in trying.”
Soon they came to a large clearing with a small cabin surrounded by cultivated fields. About three hundred yards from the house there stood an old mill.
“Chap has a nice place here,” the prospector said quietly. “He cleared all the land himself.”
“Well, thanks for showing us the way,” Stripe remarked significantly.
Norman Ranny made no move to depart. “I may as well wait around here and see if anyone is at home.”
Infuriated, the two men stalked up to the front door, and knocked loudly upon it.