(#26) The Clue of the Leaning Chimney (13 page)

“Yes.” Mr. Soong took a pen from his pocket and printed a word on the back of an envelope. “If it could be written in English, the word would be spelled like this.”

“Phang?” Nancy said haltingly.

“That is just the way the word is spelled. It is pronounced
bong.”

Nancy stared at him in sudden excitement.

“Bong?
You mean that’s a cry for help?”

Mr. Soong nodded.

“I heard such a sound come from near the enclosure!” Nancy announced triumphantly. “A scream that sounded exactly like
bong!”

Mr. Soong was so mystified Nancy hastily apprised him of everything she now suspected.

First, she said the enclosure was not merely a religious retreat. With or without the knowledge of the Lavender Sisters, the valuable clay was being dug up on the property.

“I heard a motor working last night,” she said. “They probably dig only when outsiders aren’t likely to be around.”

Second, Nancy reviewed the double puzzle of the stolen and faked potteries. The rare old pieces, including Mr. Soong’s prized Ming vase which had been stolen by a thief known as John Manning; the clever imitations of valuable old potteries, which had been sold by a man named Carr; and the supposition that Manning and Carr were the same person, and used other aliases, perhaps Monroe among them.

Third, Nancy told the importer of finding her missing car near the enclosure. Since the car had been stolen by the person who had dropped the jade elephant by the stream, it looked as if he were associated with the pottery thieves.

Mr. Soong listened intently. “My dear,” he said, “your powers of deduction contain the wisdom of a Chinese philosopher.”

“I’m only putting two and two together,” she replied modestly.

Then, last of all, Nancy brought up the subject of Eng Moy and his daughter Eng Lei. Both had vanished mysteriously in the company of a man known as David Carr. Eng Moy’s signature had appeared on at least two of the pottery pieces, which were clever imitations.

“I believe,” said Nancy, “that your friends are mixed up with this Carr in the fake pottery making. No doubt they are not willing partners. They may be the prisoners in that enclosure!”

Mr. Soong gave a start, then sat for a moment without speaking.

“I know how damaging the facts must appear. But when the truth is out, I believe in my heart that Eng Moy and Lei will be found to be innocent of any wrongdoing,” he said with simple dignity.

Nancy leaned forward. “To save them from further harm, I believe we should notify the police at once,” she said.

“Oh, no!” the Chinese cried out. “Please!”

“If that place in the woods contains criminals, it’s our duty to notify the authorities.”

The Chinese wrung his hands. “For the sake of my good friends,” he pleaded, “don’t tell the police now. Please give the Engs a chance to clear their names before they are arrested.”

Then he hung his head. “If there were only some way—” He looked at Nancy. “Would you show me the path to the leaning chimney?” he asked pathetically. “I must find out the truth about my friends! Those wretches may kill Moy and Lei so they cannot talk. Please, Miss Drew.”

Nancy was touched by the man’s sincerity. “You’re a real friend,” she said. “I’ll help you.”

“You’ll show me the way to the enclosure?”

“Yes,” Nancy promised.

“When?”

“Soon! Here comes Mrs. Milton.”

When Nancy told Connie Milton where they were going, the young woman strongly objected. But upon being told the trip was only an investigation prior to calling the police, she felt better.

“Dick has something in the cellar you might use to get over the wall,” Connie told Nancy. “It’s a rope ladder with metal grappling hooks.”

Nancy was delighted to have it, since she was not certain the ladder Bess and George had hidden in the woods was still there. In any case, it would have been too heavy to lift over the board fence and to use as a means of escape.

Nancy thanked Connie, put the rope ladder into her car, and set off with Mr. Soong. It was already late afternoon when they arrived at the part of the grounds where the leaning chimney was. Nancy wanted to show him the ornament. Walking to the little knoll from which it could be seen, she exclaimed:

“The Phang ornament! It’s gone!”

It was possible that the person who had put up the symbol had not wanted the Lavender Sisters to know about it. And Nancy remembered she had mentioned it to one of the women!

Quickly she attached the hooks of the rope ladder to the fence, breaking the rusted barbed wire, climbed up, and looked over. With no one in sight in the weed-filled garden, it seemed safe for her and Mr. Soong to drop down inside.

The elderly gentleman was more agile than she had supposed and dropped lightly to the ground behind her. She hid the ladder beneath a bush and said, pointing:

“We’re in luck!”

The wooden door in the stone wall which ran from the old brick building to the fence stood open! Cautiously Nancy and Mr. Soong went through. Then, keeping in the shelter of the many trees, she led the way to the area where she had seen lights and heard the engine.

They encountered no one but heard muffled thuds. Presently they reached the spot. The sight ahead of them made Nancy’s heart beat faster.

There was a shallow pit of sand-colored earth and flintlike layers of rock. Two Chinese, wearing mud-spattered overalls, stood ankle-deep in the pit, breaking up the rock with sledge hammers. Another man scooped up the yellowish soil with a shovel, while a fourth workman carried away the soil and broken pieces of shale in a wheelbarrow.

To Nancy the rocks had the hard, gray look of granite, and she turned to Mr. Soong to confirm her observation.

“There’s kaolin in it?” she whispered.

Mr. Soong bobbed his head excitedly. “A high percentage. Excellent for making porcelain.”

But Nancy did not allow her elation to overshadow the main reason for her coming to the secret spot. She must still hunt for the Engs.

“Come on!” she whispered. Keeping well hidden, Nancy led Mr. Soong from one part of the grounds to another, hoping, with each step, that the huge mastiff would not appear.

They passed a small bungalow and several pitched tents but saw no one. Finally Nancy concluded that probably the Lavender Sisters and any others in the enclosure besides the diggers must be inside the mysterious building.

“We’ll go back there,” she told Mr. Soong.

Reaching the brick building with the leaning chimney, Mr. Soong stared at it hopefully.

The door was closed, and the small dust-covered windows were much too high for anyone to look inside. There were no sounds from within.

“We’ll go closer,” Nancy said.

As she stepped forward, the door suddenly swung back and a slender, pretty Chinese girl about Nancy’s age appeared. She wore a clay-spattered canvas apron over a plain gray cotton dress.

The girl stood for a moment, looking at the pit, then suddenly burst into sobs.

“That may be Eng Lei!” Nancy thought.

A man came through the doorway and put his arm soothingly around the girl’s shoulder. He spoke to her softly in Chinese.

Mr. Soong’s fingers suddenly closed tightly over Nancy’s wrist and she saw as she turned that his eyes were fixed excitedly on the man.

“It is my friend!” he whispered. “Eng Moy!”

He started forward, but Nancy held him back.

“Before we show ourselves, we must find out what his position is here and be sure that he won’t betray us,” she whispered.

For a moment Mr. Soong looked upset, then he smiled. “My heart is so full of the desire to greet my old friend,” he said apologetically, “I am afraid my head is forgetful. I will try to be more careful.”

Nancy pressed his arm reassuringly as she studied the middle-aged Eng Moy. Coarse blue-denim work clothes, splashed with white clay, hung loosely on his thin, frail body. His face, as he spoke comfortingly to the girl, showed a quiet resignation that told of long suffering.

“The girl must be Eng Lei,” Nancy murmured to Mr. Soong, her heart going out to the old gentleman as his eyes reflected the tension under which he was laboring.

He nodded eagerly. “I think you are right. But so many years have passed since I last saw Lei—she was only a child when I left China many years ago—I cannot be sure.”

“What are they saying?” Nancy whispered as Eng Moy again spoke softly to the girl in Chinese.

Mr. Soong shook his head. “I cannot hear,” he confessed.

A moment later the Engs turned back into the building. Nancy and Mr. Soong stole swiftly and cautiously through the entrance after them.

CHAPTER XVII

Reunion

THE room in which Nancy and Mr. Soong found themselves was small and dimly lighted. It contained nothing but a few crates stacked near a doorway. The two eavesdroppers hid behind them. Beyond was a large, better-lighted room. In this a wide workbench was arranged along one wall. On it lay tubes of paint and bowls of turpentine containing brushes.

Lined along the rear of the workbench were two neat rows of porcelain bowls, jugs, jars and vases, all glazed and beautifully decorated with Oriental designs. Above them on the wall were cabinets, their doors closed.

Eng Moy and his daughter Lei took their places at the workbench, their backs to the door. They picked up the delicate designing brushes and began working on two gracefully shaped potteries.

“Look at the vase Eng Moy just took from the cabinet!” Nancy whispered.

“Why, it’s mine!” Mr. Soong whispered excitedly. “The vase stolen from Milton’s shop!”

“Exactly,” confirmed Nancy. “And if you look closely, you’ll see why Manning-Carr wanted it. Eng Moy is copying it—and probably made the copy which Manning-Carr sold in New York.”

At that moment the Lavender Sister who had ordered Nancy away from the enclosure some days before entered the room through a far doorway. She gave the Engs a hostile glance, then bent to examine their work. Suddenly she pointed to a small jar and uttered a stream of Chinese.

Stepping swiftly toward Lei, before the father could intervene, she slapped the girl’s face. Then she turned abruptly and departed through the same doorway from which she had appeared.

Nancy caught a fleeting glimpse of the interior beyond, containing pottery-making equipment.

As the door closed, Nancy heard the sound of weeping. Once more Eng Moy attempted to comfort his daughter, but she resisted his soothing words.

Mr. Soong, listening to the exchange of Chinese, translated it to Nancy:

“Father, I cannot stand this hateful life any longer!” Lei sobbed. “I wish I had never been born!”

“You must not talk that way, my child,” Eng Moy remonstrated gently. “You are too young to give up hope.”

“Hope!” the girl replied bitterly. “Day after day, year after year I have lived because of that word! Hoping for rescue! Hoping for the capture and punishment of the men who keep us here! Hoping to see China and home again! I tell you, Father, it is no use! Hope for us is an empty word. I never want to hear it again!”

His face eloquent with distress, Eng Moy turned away. “But what can we do?”

“We have only one choice left, Father,” Lei told him. “We must end it all, rather than spend our lives in misery. It is our only means of escape.”

“No! Never that!” Mr. Soong cried out in Chinese.

He came from behind the crates and went quickly toward the Engs, followed by Nancy. Surprise flashed across Lei’s face, then she backed away in sudden fear.

Mr. Soong went directly to Eng Moy and embraced him. “My friend! My old friend!” he murmured.

Eng Moy drew back and stared at the old gentleman. Then slowly a look of recognition dawned. “Soong!” he whispered disbelievingly.

He blinked in bewilderment, as if unable to credit what he saw. Then he stepped forward with a happy cry and returned Mr. Soong’s embrace.

Introductions quickly followed. Smiling proudly at Nancy, Mr. Soong spoke rapidly to the Engs. When he had finished, they turned to Nancy, their faces reflecting gratitude and hope.

Eng Moy took Nancy’s hands in his and addressed her haltingly in Chinese, while Lei smiled in agreement.

Despite the barrier of languages—for the Engs could neither speak nor understand English—Nancy and the Chinese father and daughter became friends at once.

“What are they trying to tell me?” Nancy asked.

“They wish to thank you for bringing me here,” Mr. Soong replied.

“There’ll be enough time for that when we’re all safely out of the enclosure,” Nancy said. “We must hurry away before we’re caught!”

Nancy had Mr. Soong explain her plan, whereby all four of them would climb over the fence where she and her companion had hidden the ladder. The Engs nodded eagerly to show Nancy they understood.

Leading the way to the door, Nancy pulled it open a crack and cautiously peered outside. A second later she caught her breath.

Coming toward the old brick building was a man with black hair and dark skin. But the most striking thing about him was his eyes. They seemed to stare from his head like two glittering black marbles. Nancy, though she had never met him, was sure she knew his identity.

The Engs’ reply to Mr. Soong’s inquiry confirmed her suspicion. The man was David Carr! Nancy closed the door quickly.

“Tell the Engs they must hide us!” Nancy said.

Eng Moy and Lei looked stunned at the turn of events.

“Let’s take a chance on that room beyond,” Nancy suggested quickly.

Eng Moy said he would run ahead and see if anyone were in it. He reported two women were at work there.

Nancy glanced through the window. Carr had stopped to inspect something on the ground. A moment’s grace.

“Ask the Engs if they can let us have some old work clothes, Mr. Soong,” she instructed. “We’ll take a chance getting past those women.”

The Chinese quickly translated. Hurrying to a row of hooks jutting from the wall, Lei brought back a clay-spattered apron for Nancy and a similarly messy pair of overalls for Mr. Soong.