“I’m looking forward to working with you,” Nancy said. “Do tell me about the mystery we’re to solve together.”
Boycey smiled. “Not together,” he told her. “You are going to solve it yourself.”
Nancy’s eyes opened wide. “Alone?” she asked. Aunt Eloise spoke up. “Suppose you two talk things over while I prepare dinner.”
After she had left the room, Boycey Osborne selected a chair next to Nancy’s. “First I must tell you that a group of us detectives have a sort of club. We take our vacations together at the same time every year and compete with one another in solving a mystery. Recently we returned from Illinois, defeated. When I told your aunt about it, she immediately laughed and said, ‘I’ll bet my niece could find the message in the hollow oak.’ ”
“The message in the hollow oak?” Nancy asked, puckering her forehead.
“Here is the full story,” Boycey began. “Our club’s so-called fun mystery this year turned out to be more baffling than tracking down a criminal. In the river country area around Cairo, Illinois, there is a certain legend about a French missionary from Canada named Père François. He is supposed to have hidden a message of great importance. He had been traveling from village to village, converting Algonquin Indians.
“Then suddenly the powerful Iroquois swarmed down and nearly annihilated them. This was in 1680. Père François escaped but he had been wounded by an arrow. Later he was found unconscious by a pioneer many miles from the battle scene. He was nursed by this man and regained consciousness only long enough to say, ‘Valuable message in hollow oak.’ Then he died.”
“A sad story!” Nancy commented. “What makes you think the secret message wasn’t found or that the hollow oak hasn’t long since been blown over and disintegrated?”
Boycey smiled. “I can see that you are a practical young lady with a logical mind.”
Nancy blushed a little at the compliment and said, “Perhaps I inherited these traits from my father. But tell me more of your story. Why did you and your friends give up the search?”
“For one thing, we used up all our vacation time and had to return here,” he responded. “But we did make a little headway. Apparently Père François wanted to leave a record of the Indian villages he visited. We found a hollow oak which had blown over. On the trunk was a bulging area which we cut away.
“Underneath the bark was a lead plate with the name Père François and the date 1675. Below it was an arrow. There was nothing inside the trunk. Some of us figured out which direction the arrow had originally pointed. We took an easterly course, but before we could locate another hollow oak, it was time for us to go for our plane and fly home.”
“I’m amazed,” said Nancy, “that a tree three hundred years old and hollow in 1675 would have survived all this time.”
Boycey told her that oaks are very sturdy trees and have been known to live for many centuries so it was not surprising to find one three hundred years old. “By the way,” he added, “the oak is the state tree of Illinois.”
The detective leaned forward in his chair and asked, “Would you like to finish the case my friends and I had to abandon?”
Nancy’s eyes danced with excitement. “Right now I can’t think of anything I’d rather do more.”
“Good!” Boycey said. “And I wish you all the luck in the world.”
Aunt Eloise announced dinner was ready. During the meal, the conversation continued about the message in the hollow oak.
“It certainly sounds interesting,” Miss Drew commented. “Boycey, I just want to ask you one question. Do you think it will be perfectly safe for Nancy to go to that area and undertake a search?”
The detective took several seconds before answering the question. Finally he said, “There’s one thing which perhaps I should warn you about. We detectives had a little trouble with a man named Kit Kadle. He’s eager to find the message himself and told one of my friends he wouldn’t let anything stand in his way of getting it!”
CHAPTER II
Annoying Traveler
AUNT Eloise put down her forkful of roast beef and looked intently at her niece.
“Nancy, I don’t like the sound of this man named Kit Kadle. If he’s so eager to find out what the message in the hollow oak is, he may be dangerous. I can’t imagine that he would let a girl outsmart him, and if you should succeed, he would be right there to harm and rob you.”
“Oh, Aunt Eloise, aren’t you painting a much worse picture than the way things really are?”
Boycey Osborne answered. “Eloise, I’m afraid you are. I was merely telling Nancy to keep her eyes open in case this Kit Kadle should still be around. He may have given up the search, just as my friends and I did.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” Miss Drew conceded. “Anyway, it would be your father, Nancy, who would make the decision about your going.”
The girl detective nodded. She realized Aunt Eloise wanted to protect her, but not necessarily stop her from the fun of solving another mystery.
Many times before, friends had tried to dissuade Nancy from pursuing the work she loved so much. She found each new mystery intriguing and was always impatient to start solving it. This had been true from her first adventure,
The Secret of the Old Clock, to
the previous one,
The Clue of the Broken Locket.
Now Nancy could not wait to get to southern Illinois and begin work on her new assignment.
Boycey said, “I’m sorry I brought up Kit Kadle’s name. So far as I know he is merely overaggressive and doesn’t play the game fairly. But I wouldn’t say he’s dangerous.”
The detective now brought a map for her from his pocket. In one place there was a big red X. He explained that this was the spot where he and his friends had found the hollow oak.
“Here are pictures.” He produced snapshots which showed the stump with hundreds of age rings and also the fallen tree among some bushes a short distance away. The section he had gouged to uncover the lead plate could be seen clearly.
“Whenever the bark of a tree is removed or disturbed,” he explained, “a new surface gradually appears to heal the wound.”
Suddenly Boycey Osborne snapped his fingers. “I just thought of something. In the general area where this oak is there’s a dig going on. It’s under the auspices of the Archaeological Department of Paulson University and is open to students. The name of their leader is Theresa Bancroft. The girls in the group are staying in a rented farmhouse with Miss Bancroft. The boys live in another old house about half a mile away.
“I’m sure the girls would let you room with them. The only trouble is it’s very difficult to get in touch with Miss Bancroft. She has no telephone and doesn’t go to town very often to pick up mail.”
Nancy thanked him for the information, thinking, “If I can’t contact the leader, I certainly can’t stay there.” But she said nothing to the others.
At ten o’clock Boycey announced he must leave. He gave Nancy a warm handshake.
“Just concentrate on the mystery,” he said, “and I’m sure you’ll solve it somehow.” He grinned. “Wait until I tell my friends a girl found the message in the hollow oak!”
Nancy chuckled. “I hope I won’t disappoint you, but I realize you’ve given me a really big job.”
Aunt Eloise remarked that it would be a miracle if Nancy could solve the mystery with so few clues to go on. Her niece agreed.
The following morning, after attending Sunday church services with her aunt, she left for home. Mr. Drew was away, but Hannah Gruen greeted her and wanted to know at once what the new mystery was.
When she heard about it, the housekeeper shook her head. “I’m sure your father will never agree to this Illinois trip, unless friends are with you.”
Hannah was right. When Nancy made the proposal to Mr. Drew that evening, he shook his head.
Seeing the look of utter disappointment on Nancy’s face, he said, “When your Aunt Eloise asked me if you could work on this case she didn’t mention you would be by yourself. She probably didn’t know. It would be too dangerous for you alone, Nancy. But if Bess and George can accompany you, I’ll give my consent.”
The next minute Nancy was on the phone talking to Bess and telling her about the mystery.
“How exciting!” Bess exclaimed. “But what’s this about a dig?”
Nancy told her, whereupon Bess cried out, “You mean you might have to help dig up skeletons?”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” Nancy replied, “but that’s what these students are doing. We’d just board at the farmhouse.”
“We?” Bess asked.
“You and George and I.”
“When are you going?” Bess asked.
“Tomorrow, maybe.”
Bess said this would be impossible for her and George. “I guess you forgot that our cousin, Marian Shaw, is being married next week and we’re to be bridesmaids.”
“Of course,” said Nancy.
“But,” Bess went on, “if you don’t find out the secret of the hollow oak right away, maybe George and I could join you later.”
Nancy knew there was no use in asking her father to change his mind, so she said nothing. Both he and Hannah noticed how downcast she was.
The following morning as Mr. Drew was about to leave for his office, he said, “I’m sorry, but I feel you shouldn’t be out there alone. Suppose Miss Bancroft has no room for you!”
Nancy nodded and kissed him good-by. After he had left and she had helped Hannah tidy the kitchen, the telephone rang.
She hurried to answer it and the next moment was saying, “Ned! It’s so good to hear from you!”
Ned Nickerson was a good-looking, dark-haired college student on the Emerson football team. Nancy frequently shared her mystery adventures with him.
“I called you night before last but found you’d gone to New York. Just having fun or are you on a new case?” he teased.
Nancy told him the whole story, concluding with her great disappointment at not being able to go to Illinois.
There was a moment of silence, then Ned said, “Hold everything! I just had a brainstorm. A cousin of mine at Paulson is about to join the Theresa Bancroft dig. She’s a swell gal. Want me to try to get in touch with her? You two might work something out. Her name’s Carswell—Julie Anne Carswell.”
Nancy’s heart leaped. “I’m sure Dad would agree to that.”
Ned said he would contact his cousin at once and get the full story about the dig and whether there would be room for Nancy at the farmhouse. Late that afternoon when Mr. Drew gave her permission to go with Julie Anne, Nancy’s spirits soared.
Two days went by before Julie Anne phoned Nancy. After introducing herself, she said, “I think it’s wonderful about your coming out to the dig. There’s plenty of room in the farmhouse. I’ll try to get in touch with Theresa—we all call her that at school—but if I can’t, it’s perfectly all right for you to come along with me.”
“Oh, Julie Anne, you’re wonderful!” Nancy exclaimed, hardly daring to believe her good fortune.
Julie Anne suggested that the two girls meet at the Riverside Hotel in St. Louis the following day. “I can’t wait to see you,” she added. Nancy gave a happy chuckle. “You and I have the same thought!”
The following morning Bess and George drove Nancy to an out-of-town airport where she could catch a plane that went directly to St. Louis. George parked the car and the girls hurried into the terminal building. Bess handed Nancy a package.
Nancy looked surprised. Bess smiled and said, “Some cookies I baked for you last night. I hope you don’t mind carrying them.”
“Of course not,” Nancy replied. “Thanks. You’re a dear.”
She quickly fitted the box into her suitcase. Then she checked in at the ticket counter and her luggage was whisked away.
“I certainly wish you girls were going,” Nancy said. “Don’t forget your promise. If I haven’t solved the mystery by the time the weading is over, you
will
come?”
“We’ll be there,” George said.
Nancy kissed the two girls and went off to board her plane. Always alert to what was going on around her, she had had a feeling for the past ten minutes that a man was watching her rather closely. Now he got into line directly behind her. Nancy instinctively clutched her purse closer, in case he planned to snatch it.
As she boarded the plane, the young detective laughed at her own fears. But a moment later when she took a seat by a window, she was disturbed that the man sat down alongside her. He started talking to her.
“This your first trip to St. Louis?” he asked.
“Yes,” she answered truthfully, and turned her head to look out the window.
“Is someone meeting you?” the stranger went on.
“Oh yes,” Nancy replied, and hoped this would end the conversation.
But the man continued to talk, asking questions about where she lived, why she was going to St. Louis, and how long she planned to be there. Nancy became evasive in her answers.
She began to wonder what ulterior motive he might have. Was he about to ask her for a date, or did he perhaps know the purpose of her mission?
By this time the plane was airborne and passengers had removed their seat belts. The stewardess came down the aisle with magazines and Nancy took one, hoping to indicate to her annoying companion she preferred reading to conversing with him. But her attempt was futile. He kept on talking, becoming more and more inquisitive as the moments passed.
The airplane was traveling at high speed and Nancy wished some unseen force would land it at once in St. Louis. Since this was not possible, she decided to get up and walk back to the galley where she could hear preparations for luncheon being started.
Nancy stood up. “Excuse me,” she said, and stepped across the man’s feet.
She was dangling her handbag in one hand and in her haste to leave the stranger did not notice that the strap had caught on the arm of his aisle seat.
As she moved on, the bag flew open and the contents spilled onto the floor!