Chapter 13 The Mystery of the Fire Dragon by Carolyn Keene
An Ominous Dream
As Nancy lay unconscious on the sidewalk, people began to run from all directions to assist her. The excitement was heard in the restaurant. Aunt Eloise, Bess, and George dashed outside.
“Oh, Nancy!” her aunt cried, hurrying to her side. “What happened?” she asked the bystanders.
A Chinese man pointed to a large, broken flowerpot on the pavement. “This apparently fell on the young lady. Can I be of help to you?”
“It is pretty chilly out here,” Aunt Eloise said. “I think we should carry my niece into the restaurant.”
By this time Nancy’s eyelids were fluttering. Bess and George sighed in relief, sure she would be all right. George decided to stay outside as strong arms carried Nancy to the restaurant.
“Bess, I’m going to find out how this flowerpot happened to fall,” George declared, holding her cousin back. “Maybe it toppled off a window sill accidentally, but on the other hand it might have been thrown deliberately.”
Bess nodded grimly. She looked upward above the store front and said, “There’s a light in the second-floor apartment, but not in the third.”
“I think we should investigate both places.” George spoke with determination.
She picked up a piece of newspaper which had been dropped on the sidewalk and scooped up the plant and the earth. The two girls opened a door to the apartment stairway and ascended. They rang the bell to the second-floor flat. It was opened by a Chinese woman who looked at Bess and George curiously.
“Yes, please?” she asked.
“Does this plant belong to you?” George asked. “It fell from up here, somewhere.”
“No, it is not mine,” the woman answered.
“Do you know where it came from?” Bess queried.
“I cannot say,” the Chinese answered. “But my neighbor upstairs has one like it.”
“Then perhaps it fell from her window,” George suggested.
“No, oh no,” the woman said. “Mrs. Lin Tang is not at home. She has gone away to visit relatives.”
George asked if anyone else lived in the apartment upstairs who might be at home. The woman shook her head. Then, looking intently at the girls, she said, “I did hear someone coming down the stairs. But when I heard the excitement on the street, I ran to look out and forgot about the footsteps until now.”
“Did you see anyone leave this building?” George queried.
“No, I am sorry. I did not.”
“Let’s go upstairs and see if one of your neighbor’s plants is missing,” Bess proposed to the woman.
The three hurried up the stairway to the third floor, but the door to the apartment there was closed and locked.
“The intruder must have had a skeleton key and let himself in,” George remarked. “Let’s go back to the street and find out if anyone saw a person coming from the front entrance.”
The Chinese woman said she would take the plant and repot it. The two girls thanked her and hurried down to the sidewalk. They began asking the people still standing around if they had noticed anyone leaving the apartment, but all said no.
Bess and George then returned to the restaurant and were delighted to see that Nancy was fully conscious. She was lying on a couch in the private office of the owner. The room contained many lovely Chinese decorations.
“Hi, girls!” she said, but the cousins noticed that she was very pale and her voice sounded weak.
“I’m so thankful the accident was no worse,” Aunt Eloise said. “But we’re going home. Mr. Wong, the owner, has kindly consented to pack our dinner to take with us. We’ll eat it in the apartment. Nancy should go right to bed.”
At that moment the outer door of the restaurant suddenly burst open and a group came directly into the office. A red-haired man was being hauled in by a policeman and two Chinese men. Nancy sat up.
The officer began to speak. “These two men”—he indicated the Chinese—“say this man ran from the building after the accident. They had seen the flowerpot hurtle down and thought he might have tossed it on purpose, so they went after him. I was on the corner and took up the chase. Have any of you ever seen him before?”
“I’ll say I have!” George declared. “He tried to kidnap me once!”
“And me another time!” Bess added.
“What!” the policeman exclaimed.
“You’re crazy!” the prisoner shouted. “I never saw these girls before in my life!”
“Perhaps you don’t recognize me,” George said with a bitter smile. “The last time you saw me, you thought I was Chi Che Soong.”
The man started perceptibly, but he kept up his bluster. “Officer, this is ridiculous. I admit I was in the apartment house. I went to the third floor to visit the people there but nobody was at home. I don’t know anything about a flowerpot. You have no right to hold me.”
“Yes he has,” Bess spoke up. “My friend Nancy Drew and I were trailing you that day you tried to kidnap my cousin. You found out from the driver of the stolen car that you had grabbed the wrong girl. Then you jumped into the car alone and raced off with the driver. We found out later you had stolen the car.”
“There’s not a word of truth in what she’s saying,” the prisoner insisted. “I’m leaving!”
“You’d better not even try,” the policeman told him firmly. “Is there anything else you girls can tell me about this man?”
Nancy answered. “Everything my friends have said really happened, Officer. Also, the driver who was waiting for this man told him he had phoned to somebody named Ryle.” She turned to the prisoner. “Who is he?”
“I don’t know anybody by that name,” the man replied defiantly.
“Suppose you tell us who you are,” the policeman prompted.
The man refused to talk, so the officer went through his pockets. He pulled out a wallet and opened it. It contained a driver’s license issued to Ferdinand Breen.
“I think we have enough evidence to hold you, Breen,” the officer stated.
“If you don’t,” George spoke up, “here is something else. We heard that the man named Ryle and a companion were trying to sell some jade that was thought to have been smuggled into this country.”
Once more the prisoner jumped and gave George an angry look. But he said nothing.
The policeman asked to use the desk telephone. Mr. Wong nodded and the officer called for a patrol car. Soon it arrived and the prisoner was led away.
“I’m sorry that you have had this unpleasant interruption in your business,” Aunt Eloise apologized to Mr. Wong.
“I am always glad to see law and order carried out.” The restaurant owner bowed. “Please, Miss Drew, do not let the matter disturb you. The package containing your dinner is ready. I have called a taxi and it is waiting at the door.”
“Thank you very much,” Aunt Eloise and the girls said, as Nancy arose and they walked out. Nancy added, “I spoiled our little party, but someday I shall come back.”
Mr. Wong smiled and said he was glad to hear this. As soon as they reached Aunt Eloise’s apartment, Nancy had some hot tea and went to bed. Soon she was sound asleep. After the others had eaten the delicious Chinese food, George said, “It isn’t too late. Bess, let’s go to the hospital and see Grandpa Soong. Maybe we can cheer him up.”
“You’re not going to tell him what happened today?” Miss Drew asked quickly.
“Oh, no,” George replied.
“All right,” Aunt Eloise said. “But please take a taxi both ways for safety.”
The two girls promised to do so and left. Aunt Eloise went to the telephone and called Captain Gray to relay the Chinatown incident. He told her he had just read of Breen’s arrest on the police teletype. The officer inquired solicitously about Nancy’s health and was relieved to hear she had not been severely injured. “I am going to talk to the prisoner right now,” he said.
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Bess and George reached the hospital only twenty minutes before visiting hours would be over.
The cousins were shocked when they saw Grandpa Soong. He was very listless and pale. A nurse who was in the room told them he had eaten practically nothing that day.
“I am not hungry,” the Chinese said weakly. “I am greatly worried about my Chi Che.”
The nurse stepped from the room and both George and Bess tried to bolster the man’s lagging spirits by remarking that Chi Che probably was having a delightful time with her friends. To their amazement the elderly man shook his head.
“At first I believed that what Chi Che wrote was true,” he said. “But now I am sure something has happened to her. We must have enemies—I do not know why. For a while I thought Chi Che was being held until the thief who took my manuscript could accomplish that evil deed. Then she would return. But she has not come back.”
Bess and George looked at each other, at a loss for words. Grandpa Soong went on, “I had a strange dream. Chi Che was far away. She was being guarded by a fire dragon and was unable to escape. My poor Chi Che! She kept calling to me and to Miss Eloise Drew to save her.”
Bess leaned forward and took the elderly man’s hand in her own. “Grandpa Soong,” she said, “that was a frightening dream. But you know that really there are no dragons.”
The patient had been staring into space as if in a trance. Bess was sure he had not heard a word she said. Presently he asked:
“Do you girls believe in thought transference?”
They both admitted that they did. Then Grandpa Soong said, “There are men in this world who are more dangerous than fire dragons. I am sure my Chi Che is being held by one or more of them and really was calling out in her thoughts to me and to Miss Drew for help.”
George felt that since Grandpa Soong was so suspicious of the truth, Nancy would agree that this was an appropriate time to reveal some of the girls’ findings in connection with his granddaughter’s absence. She told him about the various episodes in the bookshop where Chi Che had worked, including the fact that Nancy had seen a man open the safe in the private office and take out what appeared to be a manuscript.
“We all think it was your stolen work,” George went on.
“The police have been notified?” Grandpa Soong asked excitedly.
“Yes,” George replied. “One of those ‘dragons’ is now in jail.”
“Did he reveal where my Chi Che is?” the elderly man queried.
“Unfortunately, no,” George answered. “But we have several clues to the rest of the gang.”
George stopped speaking, for at this moment the nurse returned. She had a delicious-looking eggnog on a tray.
“Mr. Soong, won’t you please drink this?” she asked, smiling.
Without being helped, the elderly man suddenly sat up in bed. “I feel much better,” he said. “My visitors have cheered me considerably. Yes, I will drink the eggnog.”
The nurse looked pleased. She set it on his night stand and again went off. As Grandpa Soong sipped the drink, he begged to hear more.
Bess and George told how Mr. Stromberg seemed to be mixed up with the “dragons” and that it was just possible he and some of his friends had fled to Hong Kong.
“Nancy and George and I are flying to Hong Kong in a couple of days,” Bess told him.
“Hong Kong!” Grandpa Soong repeated excitedly. “If my Chi Che has been taken there, she surely will be found. That is my twin brother’s home. You must contact him as soon as you arrive.”
“We will be very glad to do that,” Bess said.
“My brother, Lee Soong, is retired now,” Grandpa Soong went on. “But at one time he was head of the police department of Shanghai.”
“Oh, this is wonderful news!” Bess exclaimed. “We will all work together. Between the New York and Hong Kong police and your brother and Nancy Drew, this mystery should be solved very quickly!”
A bell rang, indicating visiting hours were over. The girls quickly said good-by to Mr. Soong. They could hardly wait to get home and tell their news about the Shanghai ex-police chief Mr. Lee Soong.
Aunt Eloise opened the apartment door. “Sh!” she said. “Nancy mustn’t hear me, but I’m terribly worried!”