Chapter 9 The Phantom of Pine Hill by Carolyn Keene
Ancient Stump
The pirogue was quickly paddled across the cove. Nancy asked where they were going.
Ned, with a grin, said in his natural voice, “Around the corner of Pine Hill. After you girls had left the house, Mrs. Holman telephoned me. The fellows found me in the gym, where I was being made up. She said Uncle John Rorick had called and wanted to talk to you, Nancy.”
“Did he give her the message?” Nancy asked.
“Yes. He wants you girls to stay longer than Sunday afternoon—in fact, he wants you to stay until you solve the mystery.”
Nancy laughed. “He’s taking a great chance. Who knows how long we may be in Emerson?”
“That’s great with me,” said Ned. “Starting Monday we’ll be studying hard because exams are week after next, but a few dates would ease the strain on the brain!”
Nancy said she was sure Bess and George had nothing special to take them home and they would stay a few days longer, at least. Then she added, “But what does this have to do with the treasure you’re going to show me?”
Ned explained that while Uncle John was talking to Mr. Holman, he had suddenly remembered having heard his parents mention an old pine tree in connection with the Lucy Belle. He had been a young child at the time and did not understand what had been meant by the remark. Now he wondered if a pine tree might prove to be a clue.
“Ned, you mean to say you’ve found that pine?” Nancy said excitedly. “Oh, where? How?”
Ned answered that he recalled having seen a large pine stump embedded in the embankment just around the bend of Pine Hill. “I thought that might be the one, so my friends and I brought some digging tools to find the lost treasure.”
The paddlers put on speed and in a few minutes came to the spot. Everyone stepped from the pirogue and the boys began their work.
After fifteen minutes had gone by and nothing had been unearthed, one of the boys said, “I guess those old war-whoopers—or the crewmen—made away with everything worthwhile.”
The others laughed, but Ned urged him not to give up yet. “Don’t you want a share of the wampum?” he asked.
The boys widened their location of operations. They were silent for some time, during which Nancy ambled around, trying to reconstruct the scene of the sinking Lucy Belle and the survivors getting to shore. Was this a likely place for them to have landed? she wondered.
Suddenly one of the boys yelled and Nancy turned to see why. “Look!” he exclaimed, and held up an anchor.
The others rushed forward to examine it. The anchor was covered with rust, which the boys began to chip off with their tools.
Secretly Nancy felt that the anchor was too small to have been used on the Lucy Belle. Nevertheless, she watched eagerly and finally an indistinct name came to light. It was Rover.
The finder rubbed his perspiring brow. “All this work for nothing!”
Ned conceded defeat. He told Nancy he was sorry to have misled her, but that he had been sure he had discovered a good clue.
Nancy smiled at him. “Don’t feel bad,” she said. “I enjoyed being kidnapped by Indians and it has given me an idea.”
“I hope it’s a better one than mine,” Ned said disconsolately.
He and his friends were a sorry-looking sight. They were hot, dirty, and tired. Dust and mud had spattered on their grease-painted bodies and those who had not removed their wigs were now wearing them askew. Nancy found it hard to keep from laughing.
“Let’s go back to the gym,” said one of them.
“Okay,” Ned agreed. “Hop in, Nancy.”
She shook her head. “If you don’t mind, since I’m so close to the house, I think I’ll walk through the woods.” She took her car keys from her bag and handed them to Ned. “Would you mind giving these to Bess and George and telling them where I am?”
Ned looked at her for several seconds, then said, “You’ll be safer if I go with you. That phantom may be spying on you again.” He handed the keys to one of the other boys. “See that Bess and George get these, will you?”
The pirogue pushed off and the couple climbed the embankment. As they started through the pine grove, Ned said, “What is this great idea you mentioned?”
Nancy replied that she had been thinking over the historical facts she had gleaned from the pageant and concluded there were many Indians not far from Pine Hill during those days.
“That probably means they came from their village to the water. Some of their braves may have found loot washed ashore from the ship and carried it away with them.”
“Maybe,” said Ned. “Can’t you see some Indian maiden wearing Miss Abigail Rorick’s wedding dress?”
Nancy laughed. “Just the same, I’m going to try to find an antique map of this area and see if an Indian village is marked on it.”
“Where are you going to look?” Ned queried.
“In Uncle John’s library.”
Ned said, “Suppose you tell me what you think might have happened after the sinking of the Lucy Belle.”
“Well,” Nancy began, “if the Indians stole valuable cargo, they might have buried it so they could pretend innocence.”
“That sounds logical,” Ned said. “Go on.”
“It’s also possible that the survivors of the Lucy Belle, fearing they might be attacked by marauders, hid their reserve cargo underground near the Indian village. That would be an easy spot to find again.”
“Well, I certainly wish you luck,” Ned said. He grinned wearily. “I’m glad you’re not going to ask me to do any more digging tonight. But when you find that map let me know.”
He took the lead on the way to the house, but suddenly both he and Nancy stood stock-still. From somewhere in the grove came an ear-piercing shriek of terror.
“Where did that come from?” Ned asked worriedly.
“Someone may have been attacked!” Nancy exclaimed.
She lay on the ground to listen for footsteps. Nancy heard them receding in the direction from which she and Ned had come. The couple ran that way but saw no one. Finally Nancy stopped and put her ear to the ground again. She could no longer hear footfalls. Swiftly she and Ned searched the grove but found no sign of a victim.
“More likely he got a glimpse of you and was terrified that he had seen an Indian warrior,” Nancy teased.
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Ned said, “if your phantom made that outcry just to scare us away.”
“I wonder where he went,” Nancy mused.
Once more the couple turned toward the house. When they reached it a few minutes later, they discovered that Mrs. Holman had not yet returned from the pageant and the house was tightly locked.
“She should be along soon,” said Nancy. “Let’s sit down and wait.”
Wearily she and Ned flopped onto the steps of the rear porch. It was not long before the housekeeper drove up in a friend’s car. She smiled upon seeing Ned and suggested that he take off his disguise before going back to town.
He laughed. “If I keep this up, poor Uncle John won’t have any clothes left!”
He went upstairs, took a shower, and a little while later appeared in clothes which Uncle John evidently wore when he was working in the garden.
While he had been changing, Nancy had suggested to Mrs. Holman that they open both padlocks on the library door and look in. As they entered, Nancy exclaimed in horror:
“Oh no!”
All the books had been taken from the shelves and thrown helter-skelter around the room!
Mrs. Holman wrung her hands. “It’s the phantom again!” she exclaimed. “Every door and window in this house was tightly locked before I left!”
Ned joined them. “Wow-ee!” he exclaimed, then frowned. “Whoever did this must be desperate to find what he’s looking for.”
“The question is, was he successful?” Mrs. Holman asked.
Nancy did not reply. She had noticed a rolled parchment on the floor beside Mr. Rorick’s desk. Quickly she went over, picked up the parchment, and opened it carefully. Engraved on it was a very old map showing the Emerson area in the eighteenth century. Nancy’s face lighted up.
“Here’s what I was going to search for!” she said excitedly.