Chapter 1 The Invisible Intruder by Carolyn Keene
The Haunted Canoe
“THIS is about the most exciting invitation I’ve ever had!” Nancy exclaimed.
Attractive, titian-haired Nancy waved a sheet of paper toward her lawyer father, handsome Carson Drew, who was seated in a chaise longue beside a high rose hedge in their back yard.
He smiled. “It must be very special,” he said. “Those lovely blue eyes of yours are fairly dancing.”
Nancy explained that the letter was from Helen Corning Archer, a close friend, who had been married a short time. Her husband Jim had read several articles about haunted houses and had recently heard rumors about ghost haunts some distance from River Heights.
“They thought it would be fun to organize a summer vacation group to prove or disprove the stories. They have invited Bess, George, and me to join the ghost hunters.”
“Who else will be going?” asked Mr. Drew. “It seems to me that in a search like that there might be safety in numbers.”
Nancy smiled. “Well, Ned has been asked.”
It was Mr. Drew’s turn to grin. Ned Nickerson was a special friend of Nancy’s, and her father realized how pleased his daughter was to have Ned included.
“And how about Burt and Dave?”
“Yes, they’ve been invited also.”
Burt Eddleton and Dave Evans were special dates of Nancy’s closest girl friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne.
Nancy went on to say that seven couples were included. “Is it okay with you, Dad?” she asked.
“Wait until I read the letter,” he teased. “Hm! Helen says none of them know how to solve a mystery and they want you to take charge. Well, under the circumstances I don’t see how you can refuse.”
“Oh, thank you, Dad.”
Nancy rushed to the telephone and called Helen. “Your invitation is really cool,” she said. “I’d love to go and I’m sure the others would too. I’ll phone them and find out. Helen, could we all meet here at my house this evening so you can tell us our itinerary?”
Helen said that she and Jim would be glad to come and discuss the ghost hunt with Nancy and her friends. She explained that it was not necessary for the rest of the group to join them because they already knew the plans.
Before their arrival Nancy went upstairs to make a list of the clothes she would take.
“I wonder what Hannah would say about this expedition,” Nancy thought, smiling to herself.
Hannah Gruen was the kindly housekeeper who had lived with the Drews ever since the death of Nancy’s mother fifteen years ago. Mrs. Gruen at the moment was out of town visiting relatives.
Presently the telephone rang and Nancy answered it. A man’s voice said, “Nancy Drew? ... I am warning you—beware of the dead! Forget the ghost hunt!”
“Who is this?” Nancy asked, but the caller had hung up.
Nancy put down the phone and stared into space. So someone wanted to frighten her into staying home! “But who?” she wondered. “And why, and how did the caller know about our trip?” Then, recalling she had told her father the plans in the yard, she realized that there could have been an eavesdropper behind the rose hedge.
“Well, he’s not scaring me out of the ghost hunt,” Nancy said to herself. “This just makes it doubly interesting. And maybe doubly dangerous!” she thought. “I’ll have to watch my step.”
About eight o’clock the Archers arrived. Helen was very pretty, and her tall, good-looking husband was full of fun. Within a few minutes Bess and Dave drove up.
Bess, slightly plump, blond, and pink-cheeked, was a good sport but inclined to be a bit timid. “Hi, everybody!” she said. “This trip sounds scary. Catching villains and turning them over to the police is one thing, but hunting for ghosts—that’s something else again.”
Helen looked surprised. “Do you want to back out? There’s still time.”
Dave answered for her. He was a blond, rangy boy with green eyes. He gave a hearty chuckle and said, “You know perfectly well Bess isn’t going to back out. She wouldn’t miss helping to solve a mystery for anything. And as a matter of fact, I wouldn’t either. But if Bess won’t go, that means I can’t.”
Bess made a face at him. “You people are all so serious. Can’t I have a little fun pretending to be scared?”
Before anyone could answer, George and Burt walked in. George was Bess’s cousin but very unlike her. She enjoyed her boy’s name, wore her hair short, and liked simple clothes. She was always ready to help Nancy solve a mystery. Burt particularly admired George’s adventuresome spirit.
He was a good athlete, and shorter and huskier than Dave and Ned. All three were on the football team at Emerson College.
“Forget the ghost hunt!” a gruff voice warned
The last one to arrive was Ned Nickerson. “Greetings,” he said. “I’m sorry I’m late.” Turning to the Archers, he added, “Say, thanks for including me in the ghost hunt.”
Nancy felt that this tall, good-looking boy was just about everything a girl could wish for. He was wonderful company, lots of fun, yet serious and practical whenever the young detective enlisted his aid on a case.
Because the summer evening was warm, Nancy served lemonade. Then she said, “Now that you’re here, there’s something you ought to know.” She told about the warning telephone call.
Ned gave a low whistle. “Sounds as if we’re walking into trouble.”
“I knew it!” Bess exclaimed. “I just knew it!”
Burt grinned. “Anybody want to chicken out?”
There was a chorus of noes, which Bess joined a little late. Then Helen and Jim began to tell about the proposed ghost hunt.
“Our first stop,” Helen explained, “will be at Pine Grove Camp on Lake Sevanee. It’s a delightful small resort. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the boating and swimming.”
“And where or who is the ghost?” Ned asked.
Jim answered, “It’s not really an apparition. There’s a haunted canoe on the lake.”
“Haunted canoe!” George exclaimed. “How could a canoe be haunted?”
“You won’t believe this,” he replied, “but the canoe propels itself.”
Burt shook his head. “Sounds impossible to me. Something must make it go.”
“Spooks,” Helen replied. “Now I’ll tell you about the next place where there’s a mystery for us to solve. It’s at a medium’s prophecy hut. People say that during seances it always thunders.”
“You mean that there’s a thunderstorm?” Bess asked.
Helen and Jim shrugged. “No,” Helen answered. “The people inside hear thunder.”
Bess looked nervously from one to another. “I don’t like the sound of it,” she said finally.
Nancy, intrigued by the mysteries that lay ahead, had made no comment. Now she urged Helen and Jim to continue. “How many places are we going to visit?”
“Five in all,” Helen answered. “The third place is the Red Barn Guesthouse. Several persons have seen a phantom horse racing across a field at night, with a ghost rider running after it.”
Dave burst into laughter. “This I want to see. A ghost horse that dumped its rider!”
Everyone laughed but became serious a moment later when Jim said that the fourth stop was at a mountaintop inn. “It was once an old fort and the ghosts of prisoners are reported to be flitting around,” he announced.
George’s eyes sparkled. “This trip gets more interesting every minute. And now let’s hear about the final place. It’s probably a dilly.”
Helen explained that they would not be staying at the place because it was a private home. “The owner is a skull and shell collector. We couldn’t find out anything except that the house is set in a huge estate and night after night there’s an invisible intruder in the mansion.”
“An invisible intruder?” Burt asked.
Once more the two leaders of the ghost hunters shrugged. “We’ll have to track down that story,” Helen replied. “Well, do you all still want to go?”
“More than ever,” Nancy answered quickly. “If we accomplish all this, we’ll be solving five mysteries in one trip!”
“That’s right,” Helen said. “Can you be ready early Monday afternoon?”
All said they would be and it was decided that the six of them would use Nancy’s car.
Two days later the whole group met at the Archers’ house. Nancy and her friends were introduced to Bab and Don Hackett, Rita and Rod Rodriguez, and Ann and Bill Blanchard. Nancy liked all of them.
“Helen told us about your mysterious warning, Nancy,” said Bab. “You haven’t any idea who it could have been?”
“No.”
“Sounds kind of scary,” said Ann. “We’ll have to keep our eyes open.”
The ghost hunters reached Lake Sevanee late in the afternoon. It was such a hot day Ned suggested that he and Nancy, Bess, George, Burt, and Dave go swimming off the dock of Pine Grove Camp.
“We girls will meet you in a jiffy,” Nancy said. “Won’t even take time to unpack.”
She was assigned to a cabin with Bess and George. Ned, Burt, and Dave were in the next cabin, while Helen and Jim and the other couples were in their own cabins nearby.
A few minutes later the three couples were diving and swimming in the lake. Bess looked very happy. She declared that the water was perfect.
“I just can’t believe that this place is haunted,” she said. “It’s too nice a spot for ghosts.”
But a moment later she cried out in excitement, “I see it! Over there! The canoe! It’s paddling itself!”
The others gazed toward the middle of the lake. A long, sleek, aluminum canoe with a blue stripe along the gunwale was actually paddling itself across the water!
Nancy called, “Let’s swim out and overtake it!”
She made a long shallow dive and began swiming furiously underwater. Ned, George, and Burt followed.