Chapter 17 The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk by Carolyn Keene
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Mrs. Purdy sat on the porch of the patio with Snowball curled in her lap. She glanced up as the girls ran toward her.
“Who was that man?” asked Nancy of Mrs. Purdy.
“What man, my dear?”
“The red-haired one who just left here in a taxi. We saw him as we came up the road.”
“Oh.” Mrs. Purdy smiled wisely. “That was Harold Sand, a friend from the States.”
“I thought I knew him,” said Nancy. “Did he once live in River Heights?”
“Not that I ever heard, my child. I doubt that you have met Harold. Perhaps you would like to know him?”
“Well, it might be worth while,” Nancy agreed in too eager a tone.
“Harold is an attractive young man. However, I must warn you that he takes very little interest in girls.”
Nancy knew that Mrs. Purdy assumed the girl had taken a fancy to young Sand. She could not disillusion her without explaining far too much, so she remained silent.
“Will the young man come here again?” inquired George after a moment.
“Oh, yes indeed. He will stay with us.”
“In this house?” Nancy asked, scarcely able to believe her ears.
“Yes. Harold asked to live here while he is in Buenos Aires, so I have arranged that he have a room by himself on the opposite side of the patio from where we are. His only stipulation was that he must not be disturbed.”
“By noise, you mean?” questioned George.
“He wishes to be left entirely alone, free to come and go as he pleases. He’ll not eat with us.”
Before Mrs. Purdy could tell the girls more about Harold Sand, a bell sounded. Presently Manuela crossed the enclosed garden to answer the summons. Suspecting from the conversation that the cartero had arrived, Bess offered to go to her bedroom to show the man which trunk to take.
Nancy called to her, “If that is the expressman, please tell him to take the trunk to that address on Alonzo Street. The number is on that slip of paper on the bureau.”
Bess stared doubtfully at the two identical pieces of luggage. Finally she pointed out Treldy’s trunk, gave him the address and with Manuela’s help counted out the correct amount of money for his work.
With surprising ease the man raised the heavy trunk on his back and marched out the door. Suddenly the air was pierced by an unearthly yowl. Snowball, having escaped from Mrs. Purdy, somehow had managed to get under the fellow’s feet. He stumbled, and in trying to regain his balance allowed the trunk to crash to the floor.
“Oh, dear,” cried Bess, “maybe you’ve broken something inside.”
The man let out a torrent of words, the meaning of which Bess could only guess at. Finally he heaved the trunk to his back again, muttered “Si, Senorita,” and started off. Bess sighed with relief when she saw the trunk safely loaded into the truck. By this time Mrs. Purdy, Nancy and George had come to the front door.
“What was the matter with the cartero?” asked Mrs. Purdy in annoyance. “I thought the house was tumbling down.”
After hearing an explanation Mrs. Purdy recaptured Snowball and went to her bedroom. Nancy, Bess and George lingered for a time in the patio discussing the news the woman had given them.
“With Harold Sand coming here to stay, I’ll have a wonderful opportunity to learn all about him,” declared Nancy enthusiastically. “Luck is certainly with me.”
“Don’t forget that the young man doesn’t like girls,” George reminded her mischievously.
Half an hour later the girls went to their bedroom. Nancy decided to finish unpacking, but stopped short as her key failed to open the trunk.
“Oh, my goodness!” she exclaimed, staring at the brass lock.
“Now what is wrong?” asked Bess with misgiving.
“The man has taken the wrong trunk! Treldy’s is still here and mine is gone!”
“Oh, the stupid fellow,” moaned Bess as she saw the mistake which had been made. “I pointed out the other one to him. I should have watched him more closely when he took it.”
“I must telephone Treldy at once!”
With Bess and George standing beside her, Nancy placed a call to the house on Alonzo Street where Nestrelda and the other Laurel Hall girls were staying. After a long wait the telephone finally was answered by a maid who had difficulty in understanding Nancy. Manuela was appealed to and got the information that no one was in the house.
“If Miss Darlington isn’t there, give the maid this message,” Nancy said at last. “When the man brings a trunk, tell him to return it to me.”
“Let the man take away the trunk?” asked Manuela.
“Yes, tell him he made a mistake and took the wrong one. Have him return it to me.”
The maid spoke rapidly in Spanish to the other servant, then hung up the receiver.
“Do you think you made her understand you?” asked Bess dubiously.
“Oh, si, si, Senorita,” replied Manuela. Then giggling she added, “She talk like a parrot. Over and over she say, ‘Let the man take away the trunk.’ ”
Throughout the day the girls waited anxiously for Nancy’s trunk to be returned, but as dusk approached they began to fear that the orders had not been understood after all. Finally they got in touch with the expressman at his home. He had delivered the trunk to the address on Alonzo Street, he told them, but had received no message from anyone there. In the end Nancy was forced to be satisfied with the fellow’s promise that he would return to the city for the luggage early the next morning.
“Such a mix-up,” she sighed as the chums stood beside her. “Now I’ll have to telephone Treldy again and explain.”
“Why not drive into the city?” proposed Bess. “It would be easier than trying to make another telephone call.”
Learning that dinner would not be served until eight o’clock, the girls summoned a taxi and drove to Alonzo Street. They were greeted warmly by Nestrelda, Senora Zola and other members of the Laurel Hall party who had just returned to the house after a day of sightseeing.
“The maid has been trying to tell me something about my trunk,” Treldy said to Nancy. “It seems that a man brought it here, but another man came and took it away.”
“The trunk isn’t here now?” gasped Nancy. “Oh, it must be!”
The girl shook her head. “I’ve questioned the maid twice. She insists a man drove up in a big car and asked for the Darlington trunk. He gave her a receipt for it and went off.”
“A receipt?” Nancy repeated alertly. “Let’s take a look at it.”
“Unfortunately the maid can’t remember where she put it. Can you imagine anyone being so stupid?”
“Yes,” said Nancy grimly. “We tried to talk with her over the telephone earlier today. Didn’t she even ask the man’s name?”
“Apparently not. Perhaps you could learn more if you were to talk with her yourself.”
Nancy’s interview with the maid was not satisfactory. They had difficulty understanding each other, and the simple-minded girl could give the young detective almost no information. On one fact she was positive: that was, that the man who had taken the trunk was a fine Spanish gentleman, not an expressman. Moreover, he was not a person from the States.
“He gave me a peso,” she concluded, indicating a very generous tip.
The girl could not recall what she had done with the receipt, nor could she provide any worth-while description of the stranger.
“More than likely the receipt would be worthless if we should find it,” Nancy remarked to Nestrelda, convinced now that the trunk had been stolen. “Of course, the man wouldn’t give his real name.”
“I don’t know what I’ll do, for I have almost no clothes,” the Darlington girl said disconsolately, not gleaning Nancy’s thoughts as to the true state of affairs.
“I am the one to do the worrying, Treldy. That trunk happened to be mine.”
“Yours?”
“Yes, the expressman made a mistake and brought my trunk here instead of the one he had been told to take.”
“Then all your things are gone!”
“Half of them, at least, unless I can trace the trunk. What puzzles me is why it should be stolen.”
“Don’t you think it might be a mistake, Nancy?”
“I’m afraid not, Treldy.”
“But why should anyone want to steal my trunk? It contained nothing of real value.”
Nancy regarded the girl soberly. “You are quite sure of that?”
“Why, of course. My clothing wouldn’t be worth very much to another person; certainly not to a man.”
“I don’t believe the thief was after your clothing, Treldy.”
“What could he have wanted?”
Nancy had no answer to the question.
“Let’s hope it was all a mistake,” she replied evasively. “If the trunk isn’t returned by morning our next move will be to notify the police.”