Chapter 6 The Mystery of the Ivory Charm by Carolyn Keene
The House of Mystery
Terrified by the weird sight, Bess lost control of the steering wheel. The automobile careened wildly in the road, then pitched heavily into a rain-gutted ditch.
The impact momentarily stunned the girl. Recovering quickly from the shock, she was relieved to discover that the car still stood on its four wheels, apparently in an undamaged condition.
From the door in the rock a boy emerged. He ran down the steep bank toward the girl.
“Coya!” Bess screamed, and then laughed in relief. “For an instant I thought you were a ghost!”
“Coya no ghost. Very much real.”
“You nearly made me kill myself.”
“Coya very sorry,” the boy murmured contritely. “You not hurt?”
“No, I’m all right, thank goodness. But I wonder if I’ll ever be able to get Nancy’s car out of the ditch?”
“Coya push and it be all right, I think.”
“First tell me if I’m dreaming,” Bess commanded. “Did I actually see you come through a door in that boulder?”
Coya nodded, politely waiting for another question before revealing any vital information.
“But you were investigating the abandoned house when last I saw you!” the girl cried in bewilderment. “How did you get here? And what became of Nancy and George?”
“Coya see no one in tunnel.”
“You’ve been exploring a secret tunnel?” Bess demanded eagerly. “Does it lead from the abandoned house?”
Again the Indian lad nodded. His brown eyes danced with excitement as he tried to explain.
“When Coya step through window in strange house find house have no insides.”
“No insides? What do you mean?”
Coya seemed unable to make himself understood. He groped for words.
“You mean the house had no floor—no furniture?” Bess suggested.
“Yes, no floor, no insides! Steps lead down into blackness. Then Coya fall. Find himself at bottom of stone stairs. Long tunnel lead here. Door open and rock push away.”
Bess was bewildered at the boy’s story, but she felt convinced that his adventure offered a clue as to what had become of Nancy and George. Either in descending the stone stairway they had met with a mishap similar to the one Coya had experienced, or else had remained in the tunnel to investigate its strange character. Knowing full well Nancy’s weakness for mystery, Bess was inclined to favor the latter theory.
“George and Nancy must be somewhere either in the tunnel or in the house,” Bess declared. “Come, Coya, show me how to enter through the rock.”
Obediently the little lad from India led the way up the steep bank to the boulder. He threw his shoulder against it and pushed, but the stone did not move.
“Strange,” he muttered. “Most strange. Rock move easily when I push from other side.”
“Let me help, Coya.”
Although they both pushed with all their strength, it was impossible to budge the boulder even an inch. The secret door remained firmly in place.
“It’s no use,” Bess said in disappointment, giving up her efforts and resting. “Probably it doesn’t open from this side. We must return to the abandoned house.”
Remembering painful bruises he had received in the long fall down the stone steps, Coya hesitated, apparently none too eager to do this.
“Nancy and George may be in serious trouble,” Bess said urgently.
“Then Coya go with you,” the boy promised quickly. “Only this time I enter house in more safe way.”
They returned to the automobile. Bess started the motor and shifted into low gear while Coya pushed with all his strength. The ditch was not a deep one and with a low, rumbling protest, the car lurched out upon the road again. The lad sprang in beside the driver and they rode toward the original picnic ground.
Leaving the car there, the two ran along the twisting trail to the deserted house in the woods. In her anxiety to reach Nancy and George, Bess did not notice that Coya was lagging farther and farther behind. She reached the place ahead of him and stood impatiently waiting by the porch.
“Hurry, Coya!” she urged.
The Indian boy eyed the building with obvious misgivings and distaste.
“No need to go inside,” he announced evenly.
“No need! Nancy and George may be in serious trouble!”
“Not while Missee Nancy wear wonderful elephant charm. If she meet bad trouble charm’s mystic power will save her.”
Coya spoke with a conviction which Bess could not share. She was provoked at the boy’s attitude, sincere though it might be.
“Oh, Coya, you place altogether too much trust in that ivory piece! I can’t believe that it has any unusual powers!”
“Ivory charm never fail,” the boy insisted.
Bess was so exasperated that she felt like crying. She knew that it would be impossible now to induce Coya to reenter. The logical thing to do would be to make the investigation herself, but Bess, always more timid than her friends, feared to go in alone.
She stood staring at the house in a torment of indecision. Suddenly from far down the trail she heard a cry.
“What was that?” she asked sharply.
The call was repeated. Bess imagined that she distinguished her own name.
With Coya close behind, she ran toward the sound. Rounding an abrupt turn in the path, she very nearly collided with Nancy. The girl’s dress and stockings were torn, her face was streaked with dirt, and her arm was bleeding from a slight scratch.
“Nancy!” Bess cried. “Oh! You’re hurt!”
“No, I’m quite all right,” Nancy smiled. “But I’ve certainly had an exciting experience, to put it mildly!”
“What became of George?”
“Isn’t she with you?”
“No, when you failed to return she followed you into the abandoned house. I haven’t seen her since.”
“Then she must be somewhere in that wild labyrinth,” Nancy answered, looking troubled. “I thought I’d never find the way out myself. I kept walking and stumbling in the dark until I came to a queer door in a rock. It sounds impossible but it’s the truth.”
“I know it is,” Bess agreed, “for I saw Coya emerge from that same boulder. He’s been telling me a strange tale about the house having no insides.”
“And that’s the truth, too,” Nancy declared. “It’s the most fantastic, weird place I ever saw. Only I didn’t see much of it! It was too dark.”
“George must be lost somewhere in the tunnel.”
“I’m afraid of that, Bess. We’ll have to go back there and search for her.”
“No need,” Coya interposed earnestly. “Wonderful ivory charm save her.”
“I wish I could believe such good fortune,” Nancy said. “Probably the wisest thing to do is to return to the boulder. George should emerge from there eventually.”
Hastily returning to the exit of the tunnel, the three began their vigil. First, however, Nancy convinced herself that Bess and Coya were correct in saying that the mysterious door could not be opened from the outside.
Minutes elapsed and the lost girl did not appear. Bess and Nancy grew more worried, especially when they noticed that the sky was becoming overcast with black, rolling clouds.
“Bad storm coming,” Coya predicted.
“And it will soon be upon us,” Nancy agreed. “I believe it’s useless to wait here. Let’s go back to the house and enter through the window.”
Again the group retraced their steps down the road and along the forest trail, coming at last within view of the abandoned house. In the gathering darkness it looked even more sinister and awe-inspiring than before.
“I don’t like the idea of going inside,” Bess shivered.
“Neither do I,” Nancy admitted truthfully, “but we must find George.”
She moved boldly toward the front porch, with Bess and Coya following very reluctantly. Nancy paused to listen intently.
“It was only thunder,” Bess said.
“No, I heard something——”
The sentence was never finished. From inside the house there came a terrific crash accompanied by the sound of glass splintering against a hard, metallic surface. Then silence.