Drew 17 - The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk (3 page)

“He was of medium height, had black hair combed low over his forehead, a mustache, and a full, curly beard.”

Nancy said, “No doubt that woman was an accomplice of the thief and was trying to throw suspicion on you.”

Nelda looked at Nancy. “I can see why you’re a detective. I’ll bet that is exactly what happened.”

“Please go on with your story,” Bess urged.

Nelda said that her parents and a lawyer had helped her convince proprietors of the store that she was not a thief, and they had pressed no charges against her. “We all thought the matter would end there,” the girl explained, “but that was not the case.”

“What happened then?” George asked.

“I received a threatening letter. It was not signed, but the writer said I should turn over all the precious jewelry in my family or I would be harmed.”

“Nelda, that was dreadful!” Bess exclaimed. “What did you do?”

“My father reported the matter to the police, and they promised to investigate. But we kept getting threats in the mail and over the telephone, and my dad decided it would be best if I left the country for a while. So I applied to an American college and was accepted. I left Johannesburg secretly and flew to Rotterdam, where I stayed with my uncle, the captain of this ship.”

Nelda paused, then smiled wanly. “I’ve told you the rest already. Of course I had no idea that you would become involved in this mystery.”

“I’m glad to be,” Nancy said, “and not only I, but Bess and George, too. They’re good amateur detectives also. We’ll help you.”

“Oh, how lucky I am to have found such great new friends!” Nelda said.

Bess looked toward Nancy. “Where do you think we should begin?”

The girl replied, “Either the thief Nelda saw in Johannesburg or one of his confederates is obviously on board this ship. Nelda, do you think you could identify the man you watched in the jewelry shop?”

“I’m sure I could,” Nelda replied.

“Then let’s hunt for him,” Nancy suggested. “We’ll walk every deck and lounge.”

Bess reminded her friends that it was almost time for dinner. They were to sit at the captain’s table and realized they should not be late. As it was the first night, dress was casual and Nancy did not have to worry about changing her clothes.

The girls went to the dining room, where they met Captain Detweiler, a tall, burly man whom they liked immediately.

After dinner, they spent the rest of the evening looking intently at every man they saw on their trek over the entire ship. At no time did Nelda indicate that she recognized anyone. The girls realized that there was no one who would even remotely fit the description Nelda had given them.

Finally, the foursome became weary of searching. Bess giggled and said:

We saw men tall and short,
Men of every size,
Some were dark, some were blond,
But none was our prize!

George laughed. “But you’ll get the prize for best cornball poet of the year!”

Nancy sighed. “If that thief is on board, he must have remained in his cabin. On the other hand, there may be a ring of jewel thieves. I’ve heard that there are rings in which some members steal, others transport and even smuggle. A third group sells the stolen property. Your bearded man, Nelda, may still be in Johannesburg.”

Nelda nodded. “Then we have no idea whom we’re looking for and what clue we should follow.”

“Right.” Nancy was tempted to tell Nelda about the warning she had observed being given with the finger alphabet. She was inclined to think that the unfinished word starting with NE in the message stood for Nelda, but decided not to say anything yet. The girl from Johannesburg had enough problems.

Bess continued her doggerel.

We’d better watch our step,
Especially Nelda, dear,
But never, never fear,
We’ll catch that bad man yet!

The other girls laughed, but all had to admit that they had not a single lead to help them to do just that.

Nelda said, “My uncle invited us up to his quarters. Let’s go and tell him everything that has happened.”

The others agreed, and soon they were seated in the captain’s comfortable living room, telling him about the threatening note Nelda had received and their vain search for the man who had written it.

Captain Detweiler looked grave. “This is a very serious matter,” he said.

Nancy now brought him up-to-date on the story of her missing trunk and the strange one that had been delivered to the girls’ cabin.

The captain frowned. “You say there’s no identification of any kind on this mystery trunk? In that case I feel I have a right to open it and find out if there are any dues to the owner.”

“Unless we can find the man I overheard in the corridor,” Nancy put in. “He might own the trunk.”

The captain nodded. “First I’ll talk to all the stewards and porters and see if I can find out who the man is. If I’m not successful and if he does not come forward on his own, I’ll send Lou, the locksmith, to your cabin tomorrow to open the trunk. I might not be able to be there myself, but”—he smiled at Nancy—“since you are a detective, you’ll find any identification that might be inside.”

Nancy smiled back. “I’m sure I will. But do you have any idea where my own trunk could be? Mr. Havelock has already called the hold, but they have no record of it.”

“When I talk to the porters, I’ll pursue this also. Perhaps someone put it in the wrong cabin.”

“Thank you very much,” Nancy said. “And now I think we should leave. Good night.”

Bess and George said good night also, and Nelda kissed her uncle.

“Take care, all of you,” he said to them.

George suggested that before going to their cabin, they should stroll on the promenade deck. “We might even find the man we’re looking for,” she added.

The others agreed and they set off. They met a group of girls about their own age and introduced themselves. The newcomers were chatting about their departure and the facilities on the ocean liner.

“They have a lovely outdoor pool here,” a tall brunette named Sara Jane Ramsey said. “And there’s another one indoors, way at the bottom of the ship.”

“And there are Ping-Pong tables and shuffleboard,” another girl reported. “We’ll have a great time during our trip.”

One of the girls admired Nancy’s light-blue summer dress.

“I’m glad you like it,” Nancy replied and laughed. “You might see me in it for the rest of the voyage!” She told the girls that she had not received her trunk, but did not mention the mystery trunk that had been sent to her cabin by mistake.

The girls immediately offered to lend her clothes, but Nancy thanked them and said she would have enough from her friends. Then they said good-by to the group and went on.

They were halfway around the deck when Bess suddenly cried out, “Look! Look!”

A bright object was descending from the sky at lightning speed.

“It must be a meteor!” Nelda said, excited.

“And it’s going to land on this ship!” George exclaimed. “We’ll all be killed!”

CHAPTER IV

Inquisitive Locksmith

NoT only the four girls, but all the passengers who saw the object coming, froze in fear! Then, for several seconds, there was near panic on board the Winschoten. Women screamed. Men shouted warnings. Children cried. But the first fright was over quickly. The whizzing meteor crashed into the ocean not far from the ship.

Within seconds, its tremendous splash caused a tidal wave that nearly swamped the
Winschoten.
The ship dipped and rose on the mighty swell that followed.

Nancy and her friends tried to hold on to the railing but found it impossible. Some unseen force seemed to yank their hands away. As they sprawled on the deck, they narrowly missed being trampled by other passengers who also had lost their footing.

Chairs were sliding about helter-skelter. Some held people; others were empty. Cries of pain rang out. Officers yelled orders over loudspeakers in vain. Passengers tried to stand, but were unable to.

The
Winschoten
rose and dipped, then swung from side to side as if it were a giant rocking cradle. Little by little quiet was restored to the sea. The great ocean liner stabilized and the upheaval ceased.

Nancy, Bess, Nelda, and George called out to one another and were glad that none of them had been injured. Many passengers had not fared so well. Some struggled to their feet and hobbled off to their cabins. Others had to be taken to the infirmary.

Nancy and her friends helped wherever they could. They pulled deck chairs off people who were pinned beneath them, and comforted frightened children.

Suddenly over the loudspeaker came a strong voice. “This is your captain speaking. I wish to report that our ship has not been damaged in any way and that we are proceeding on our regular course. Passengers needing medical attention please come to the infirmary or the lounge nearest you. If you are unable to get there yourself, please ask others to help you.”

An elderly woman near the girls was crying.

She said her back had been injured. “I can’t move,” she sobbed. “Please get a doctor! Oh, oh, I can’t stand it!”

Someone brought a stretcher, and gently Nancy and her friends lifted the woman onto it. As carefully as possible the girls carried the frail, sobbing passenger downstairs to the infirmary.

Many people were already there, waiting to see one of the two doctors. Nurses, smiling encouragingly, were hurrying about as more and more passengers were coming in or being carried to an inner room, where the most seriously injured were being treated.

Nancy thought it best that she and her friends leave as quickly as possible to make room for the patients. Two nurses relieved them of their burden ; then the girls hurried upstairs and went directly to their cabin. All were exhausted from the shock and dropped onto their beds.

“What a dreadful experience we have been through!” Nelda said. “That meteor was close.”

The others nodded, and Bess said, “Just think how many fish and plants were killed or badly shocked by it!”

Nancy was thoughtful. She admitted she had been frightened, but finally changed the subject and announced she was going to undress and get under the covers.

“Who’ll lend me a nightie?” she asked, looking around.

George grinned. “I have just the thing for you. I’m going to wear it at the costume party, but you’re welcome to sleep in it.”

From her suitcase, she brought out a long, white flannel grandmother nightgown with a matching cap. The girls giggled.

“Before I use it,” George said, “I’m going to sew fake mice all over it.” She reached into her suitcase again. “Here are the candleholder and candle I’m going to carry.”

“You’ll certainly win a prize,” Nelda predicted. “That is very funny. But you ought to have a long braid hanging down your back.”

“And here it is!” George held up a hairpiece. “Nancy, try on the outfit, will you?”

The light banter helped the girls relax after their harrowing experience, and Nancy was glad to go along with it. Quickly she undressed and slipped into the old-fashioned nightie. She adjusted the cap and the braid, then looked at herself in the mirror.

“Do I look like my great-great-great-great grandmother?” she asked, trying to make her voice sound old and feeble.

The girls laughed. “It’s perfect,” George said.

Nancy made a face, then took off the cap. “George, I don’t want to get it wrinkled by wearing it to bed. Will someone please lend me another nightgown?”

Bess obliged her by handing her a pale-blue silk nightie, and that was what Nancy wore. She grinned. “This doesn’t look bad on me either,” she said. “Maybe I’ll like it so well I won’t give it back to you!”

Bess pretended to take the remark seriously. “Hey, I didn’t know you were a thief!”

Before each girl went to sleep, she said a prayer of thanks for being unhurt at a time when there might have been a great catastrophe.

Directly after breakfast the next morning, Lou, the locksmith, came to the girls’ cabin. He was a small, talkative Dutchman who said he lived in England He and his father had made a study of locks from very early times, not only in historic England, but all over the world.

“Do you know what the first lock was?” he asked the girls.

When they said no, he explained that it was just two pieces of wood nailed upright beyond the edges of a door. Then a long bar was slipped through them to hold the door shut.

“And to keep intruders out,” George added.

Lou crossed the room and looked at the mysterious brass-bound trunk. He opened a little satchel he carried with him and took out a large metal ring to which were attached many keys.

“Is this the piece you can’t open?” he asked.

“Yes,” Nancy replied.

“Lost the key?”

She did not answer, and he did not pursue his question. Instead, he tried the keys one by one in the lock, but none of them would fit. Finally he put them back into his bag.

“Guess I’ll have to try something more intricate,” he said. “This lock has hidden tumblers. That’s harder than anything else to open. It’s the best kind of lock, though, because it can only be opened with a special key. Leavers are used mostly in standard or stock keys.”

When Lou was not speaking aloud, he was mumbling to himself either in Dutch or in English. Nancy caught phrases like
pin tumbler, too much graphite, bent key, cam screws,
and wondered what he was thinking. All the girls figured that in any case, opening the mystery trunk was not an easy job.

“Hm!” Lou said at last. “You must have something valuable in here, Miss Drew, to lock it up this way!”

The girls looked at one another, but made no comment. The locksmith did not seem to notice their lack of response. After he had tried several more keys, Lou said, “I guess I’ll just have to remove the cylinder.”

Using a tiny screw driver to take out the set screw, he released the cylinder. In a few moments he found the secret of the combination, and filed a new key. Then he returned the cylinder to its plate and handed the key to Nancy. “Try this,” he said.