Chapter 21 The Quest of the Missing Map by Carolyn Keene
Outwitting a Schemer
After a thorough search of the vacant house, Carson Drew and Ned were ready to give up. They had found no trace of Nancy.
“I am sure she was brought here,” the lawyer declared. He and the youth had reached the attic floor which was dark and suffocatingly stuffy. “It may be that she was carried off to another hide-out.”
“Listen!” Ned suddenly commanded.
Both had heard a distinct scratching noise, as if someone were clawing against a plaster wall. Tracing the sound, Carson Drew saw in a dingy corner of the room a door which previously had escaped his notice.
“Maybe she’s in there!” he exclaimed, pulling at the knob.
Nancy, bound and gagged, lay on the floor. Lifting his daughter to her feet, Mr. Drew jerked off the handkerchief which had given the girl such discomfort.
“Are you hurt, Nancy?” her father asked apprehensively.
“No, I’m all right, Dad,” she reassured him, “but I’m afraid the worst has happened.”
“What do you mean?” asked Ned.
“The Browns made me write a note to Hannah ordering her to deliver Captain Tomlin’s map to them. After all my hard work, we’ll lose the treasure!”
“How long ago was that, Nancy?” her father asked quickly.
“I’d guess at least half an hour.”
“Then perhaps we can get home in time to catch those rascals!” Carson Drew exclaimed. “We haven’t a minute to lose!”
Leaving Ned to search for the girl’s car, which had been removed from the street, Carson Drew and his daughter drove home at top speed. Entering the house, they discovered Hannah Gruen down on her knees examining the telephone.
“Nancy, you’re safe!” she exclaimed joyfully as she saw the girl. “Oh, I’m so relieved.”
“Did someone come here with a note from me?” Nancy asked anxiously.
“Yes, a woman. She left about ten minutes ago.”
“That was Irene Brown!”
“I guessed as much, so I tried to call the police, but the telephone wire has been cut.”
“You gave her the map?” Nancy inquired.
“Wasn’t that what you requested me to do?” the housekeeper responded.
“Yes, it was. I can’t blame you. You had no way of knowing that I didn’t want you to carry out the instructions.”
“All the same, I guessed it from the wording in your note,” the housekeeper declared, ending the suspense. “I gave Mrs. Brown a map but it will never do her and her husband any good.”
“Oh, Hannah, you’re a darling!” Nancy laughed happily. “How did you outwit her?”
“It was very easy. I knew you kept both sections of the map in your desk—Captain Tomlin’s original and the copy of Mr. Smith’s portion. I quickly traced the original on a piece of old parchment paper I found in the desk, leaving out many details and making a good many changes!”
“Mrs. Brown never once suspected?” Nancy asked, chuckling.
“No, she must have thought what I gave her was genuine, because she thanked me sweetly and went away.”
“Mrs. Gruen, you’re as clever as any detective of my acquaintance,” Mr. Drew said with a mock bow. “I take my hat off to you.”
“I’ll be grateful to my dying day,” added Nancy. “I never was in a worse predicament.”
“There’s just one thing that worries me,” admitted the housekeeper. “I copied the name of the island on the paper.”
“We’ll not worry about that,” said Mr. Drew, “since you left out some of the directions.”
While the housekeeper was preparing a belated dinner, Mr. Drew went to a neighboring house and reported to the telephone company that his own instrument was out of service. A repairman was sent at once so that within half an hour the Drews could receive incoming calls. As they finished dinner the telephone bell rang and Nancy arose to answer it. Taking down the receiver she recognized Ned’s voice.
“Hello, Nancy,” he said, talking hurriedly. “I found your car. It was parked in an alley.”
“Oh, that’s fine, Ned. Thanks for your trouble.”
“I’ll bring it around as soon as I can. Right now I’m at the police station, and the Chief wants you to come right away if you can.”
“I will,” Nancy promised. “Is it anything very important?”
“Rather! Fred and Irene Brown have been captured! The Chief wants you to identify them.”
“Nothing will give me greater pleasure,” Nancy laughed. “I’ll be there right away.”
Accompanied by her father, she drove without delay to the police station. To their delight they found Ned to be something of a hero. He had led the police to 47 White Street and aided them in nabbing the Browns when the couple had returned to release Nancy.
“May I talk with the man?” the Drew girl requested the Chief of Police.
“Go ahead,” the official consented, “but you’ll find him a sullen fellow. We haven’t been able to get a word out of him.”
Together Nancy and her father talked with both Fred Brown and his wife. As the officer had predicted, they learned nothing from the man, but Irene was less discreet. Nancy played upon the woman’s feelings by suggesting that Spike Doty had made damaging revelations which implicated the couple.
“Why, the double-crosser!” the woman cried furiously. “He was the one who first learned about the treasure, and now he tries to throw all the blame on us!”
“Then you’ve been working with him?” Carson Drew asked quietly.
“Not any more.”
“Mr. Bellows, perhaps?” Nancy inquired, watching the woman’s face intently.
“I never heard of him,” Irene Brown answered, but her eyes wavered—an indication to her questioners that she was not telling the truth.
“What did you do with the map that you obtained from our housekeeper?” Carson Drew next demanded.
From the police he had learned that the paper had not been found in the Browns’ possession.
“We sold it,” Irene answered briefly.
“To Spike Doty or to Mr. Bellows?” asked the lawyer.
“I’m not saying.”
Realizing that she had talked too much, Irene fell into a sullen silence and refused to answer another question. Leaving the cell, Nancy and Mr. Drew again consulted with the Chief of Police. During the conversation they learned that young Tim Dapp had been an ideal prisoner.
“We’ve investigated his case thoroughly,” the officer told Nancy. “Clearly he was an innocent dupe of Spike Doty. We’re releasing him tomorrow but will keep watch of him.”
“Whatever you do, hold the Browns,” Mr. Drew urged. “They’re an unscrupulous couple and should be given long terms.”
Although the man and his wife had been placed behind bars, Nancy was far from easy in her mind. Spike Doty and the mysterious Mr. Bellows both were determined to get the Tomlin treasure, and the girl worried lest in some way they had learned the location of Little Palm Island.
Mrs. Chatham shared the girl’s impatience. She wanted to undertake the voyage as quickly as possible. Accordingly the widow telephoned to Captain Stryver, urging him to speed up preparations so that the Primrose could sail from New York no later than the middle of the following week.
“I can have the vessel ready by then and a crew of sorts,” he promised reluctantly. “If I had a little more time, though, I could check better on the men. As it is I’ll have to take on any sailor I can get.”
“We can’t afford to waste another day,” Mrs. Chatham assured him. “Please make arrangements to sail next Wednesday.”
That very night two rough-looking men stood on a dock in New York, pleased grins on their cruel faces.
“You worked that all right, Snorky,” said one. “Everything’s perfect now. You got work on the Primrose and—” he laughed softly. “Well, I got to go aboard my boat now.”
“Good-bye, Spike,” said the other. “Meet you at Little Palm.”
“Okay!” the other agreed with emphasis. “You know what you got to do?”
“Keep the Primrose from getting there too soon!”
“That’s right, Snorky. Give me a few days’ start and I’ll have that treasure for us before those people have a chance to look for it!”