Chapter 21 The Message in the Hollow Oak by Carolyn Keene
The Hidden Chest
If Norman Ranny had any doubts regarding the advisability of the journey to the famous old “letter box” oak, he kept them to himself. So he and Nancy Drew rode over the narrow trail in silence, until finally they came near a waterfall.
“This is the northern edge of Pierre Chap’s land,” the prospector explained. “It is one of the most beautiful places in this section of the country. Years ago Annette and I would often meet here.”
He led the way through a lane of stately trees. As they approached a giant gnarled oak which stood by itself in a tiny clearing, Norman Ranny paused. As he did so, an expression of mingled pain and joy came over his face.
The tree was well over a hundred years old, Nancy felt sure; never before had she beheld a more magnificent specimen. The prospector indicated a dead limb which had split from the trunk.
“That is the bough that almost finished me. I guess this old oak must have a sort of kindred feeling for me; otherwise I shouldn’t be here now.”
Nancy crossed over to the ancient tree, gazing with renewed interest at its bigness.
“Mr. Ranny, please tell me where the hollow ‘letter box’ is,” she eagerly said to her companion.
Ranny showed her a cleverly concealed cavity far up the trunk at a point where two of the boughs came together. It was nearly out of reach for one of Nancy’s height, so she stood up on tiptoe to peer into it.
“It seems to extend far back into the tree.”
“Yes,” the prospector agreed. “At one time a swarm of bees decided to adopt that hollow, and until we could get rid of them Annette and I thought we’d lose our letter box.”
Nancy thrust her hand into the opening, but brought it out empty.
“It looks as if my hunch weren’t such a good one, Mr. Ranny.”
“What did you expect to find?”
“I don’t know,” Nancy admitted. “Something just seemed to tell me to come to this old oak. I had a feeling that I might find a communication of some kind about Mr. Chap.”
“That is quite unlikely.”
“I suppose I have brought you here on a wild chance,” Nancy said apologetically. “But now that we’ve made the trip, I guess I may as well examine the hollow carefully. Would you please lift me up, Mr. Ranny, so that I might run my hand far back into the cavity?”
Obligingly he raised her, and Nancy once more thrust her arm into the opening.
“I can feel something!” the girl announced excitedly. “It rustles just like paper!”
“Probably it’s a dead leaf.”
“No, it’s a piece of paper,” Nancy maintained. “But it’s just beyond my reach.”
“Let me go after it,” the prospector urged, beginning to share in her enthusiasm.
Nancy made way for him, but the paper was too far down in the hollow for even his grasp. “Wait. I’ll get a stick,” the girl cried.
She found one with a knob on the end. Ranny held her up again. This time she was successful in raking in the paper. Triumphantly she then held it up to the light.
“It’s a message! It is!” she cried.
“Read it,” Ranny commanded tensely.
It was difficult for Nancy to keep her voice steady as she began:
“ ‘Fearing for my life at the hands of Buck Sawtice and his gang, I am placing this message in the hollow oak, trusting that if anything should happen to me it will some day be found.
“ ‘I hope that the one who discovers this communication will be you, Annette, my granddaughter, who married the Ranny boy against my will. I realize now that my attitude was misguided, and I beg your forgiveness for having attempted to prevent your wedding.
“ ‘I have hidden my money at the base of this tree. The inheritance is yours, Annette. Keep it with my blessing, and try to forgive your loving grandfather, Pierre Chap.’ ”
“Let me read the message for myself!” Norman Ranny cried as Nancy finished. “I can’t believe that I heard you correctly. Is it possible that Grandfather Pierre believed that Annette and I were married?”
“It appears that he did,” Nancy returned, handing him the note for his inspection. “What does he mean by the reference to his money? Do you suppose he actually hid a treasure here beside the tree?”
“Grandfather Pierre never had a great deal of confidence in banks. He hoarded funds which he kept in the house.”
“Then the treasure must be buried here, as he states. If we only had something with which to dig!”
“I’ll go back and get a spade. It won’t take long. You’re not afraid to remain here alone, are you, Miss Drew?”
“No,” Nancy said staunchly. “Only try to hurry as fast as you can, and be careful that no one follows you back here.”
“I’ll return in fifteen minutes if luck is with me,” the prospector promised.
When she was left alone in the still, deep woods, Nancy began to wish that she had accompanied her friend. It made her a trifle nervous to feel that she was the sole guard over what might prove to be a fair-sized fortune. As she again moved over to the hollow oak, a slight sound in the bushes caused her to start. What she heard was only a wild animal, however.
Nancy occupied her time trying to determine the exact spot where the treasure might be buried, and soon located a patch of recently turned earth.
“This must be where the money is hidden,” she said to herself. “Oh, I wish Mr. Ranny would hurry!”
She sat down, her back against the gnarled tree, and waited. Nervously she clasped and unclasped a gold bracelet she was wearing. Fifteen minutes passed. Then ten more. Still nothing to break the deep silence!
Suddenly there came the clatter of hoofs along the trail, and Nancy jumped up quickly. Not until Norman Ranny appeared did she relax her rigid attitude.
“Did I frighten you?” the prospector asked.
“A little,” Nancy admitted. “I wasn’t sure that it was you.”
She thereupon indicated the patch of loose earth and he began to dig industriously. Presently his spade struck something hard.
“There’s a cache here, all right!” he declared tensely.
Turning over a little more of the earth, the man uncovered a metal chest. Removing it from the ground, he handed it over for Nancy to open.
With trembling fingers the girl unfastened the clasp, and the lid fell back. Within the chest there lay stack upon stack of bills, as well as some loose ones and a number of gold coins.
As Nancy and Ranny peered down at the treasure, a trifle dazed by the discovery, a playful wind caught up a few of the bills and scattered them upon the grass. Nancy slammed down the lid of the chest, and the two darted about, picking up the scattered money.
“I guess we have it all,” she said at length, returning the loose bills to the container.
“What shall we do with the chest?” Ranny asked with a worried frown. “We dare not take it back to camp.”
“I suppose the safest thing will be to bury it again.”
“But not in the same hole.”
They looked about the clearing for a suitable hiding place. Nancy finally found one near a sandstone boulder. Ranny dug a new hole, and with a careful glance in all directions to make certain that no one was watching, the two deposited the chest in it.
“Don’t forget to fill up the old hole,” Nancy cautioned, as she tramped down the loose dirt over the chest and scattered dry leaves to conceal their work.
The prospector carefully refilled the gap in the earth beneath the old oak, and smoothed down the surface dirt.
“There, that’s the very best we can do,” he announced, picking up his spade. “We may as well get away from here.”
“The sooner the better,” Nancy agreed.
They mounted their horses and rode rapidly in the direction of the camp. Both Nancy and her companion avoided speaking of Pierre Chap. The discovery of the note he had left in the hollow tree had chilled their hearts with the fear that the old man might be dead.
“Buck Sawtice holds the clue to his fate,” Nancy thought. “If I only knew of some way in which to force that man to reveal the truth!”
They were now drawing near the mining camp. Nancy suddenly glanced down at her wrist, and noticed that her gold bracelet was missing. At her cry of alarm Ranny halted his pony to inquire what was wrong.
“I’ve lost my bracelet!”
“You must have dropped it on the trail.”
“Either that, or else it fell from my wrist when I was sitting by the oak tree. I remember unclasping it. If anyone should find it near the place where the treasure is hidden, he might grow suspicious as to why we were there. It had my name inside.”
“We’d better ride back for it.”
“I don’t so much mind losing the bracelet, even though it is a good one,” Nancy said apologetically as they turned their horses, “but I am afraid it would reveal a clue to the finder, something I don’t want known just now.”
“Especially if it should come into the hands of one of Buck Sawtice’s men,” Ranny added. “They doubtless know Grandfather Pierre hid his money somewhere near here and are trying to force him to reveal the hiding place.”
“I can’t bear to think of anybody being tortured,” Nancy shuddered.
Norman Ranny’s lips drew into a hard line.
“I’d not put anything past Buck Sawtice and his gang,” he said.
Within a few minutes they drew near the hollow oak and tied their horses in a clump of bushes some distance away. As they walked along the path, Nancy caught sight of the footprints of a man in the moist earth, footprints which did not in the least resemble Ranny’s. She called her companion’s attention to them.
“The print is a fresh one,” he declared, stooping to examine it. “Someone has passed by this way since we left here a few minutes ago.”
They proceeded at a more cautious pace. As they drew near the clearing they halted, and peered through the bushes.
Nancy started. She saw a man examining the soft earth near the base of the hollow oak. It was none other than Tom Stripe!
“He must have followed me from camp when I went for the spade,” Ranny whispered.
“Do you think he saw us dig up the treasure?”
“I doubt it. He seems a little suspicious of the loose earth, but doesn’t quite know what to make of it.”
“I hope we gathered up all the bank-notes that blew away,” Nancy whispered nervously. “If he were to find one of those he’d be almost certain to suspect the truth.”
As she spoke, they heard Tom Stripe utter a low exclamation of surprise. He reached down and picked up an object from the loose dirt.
“He has found my bracelet!” Nancy gasped.