The Sky Phantom (16 page)

“They concluded that it was formed from ordinary water vapor,” Nancy interrupted. “How did you manage to throw the scientists off the track?”

“My plane is equipped with a special generator that produces a magnetic field of reversed polarity,” Panzer said. “If anybody got too nosey about the mystery cloud, I would fly through it and turn on the generator. Presto! In a couple of minutes the magnetic dust was dissipated. I had you all fooled!”

“Not quite everybody,” Pop added, winking at Nancy.

The girl detective asked Panzer about Ben Rall’s part in the scheme.

“Nothing but a messenger, and he was a failure at that except bringing Major to us. Later he stumbled into our camp and we used him. The ransom demand was an idea of one of my men, and he sent it off without my knowledge.”

Rudolph revealed that when Nancy and Bruce had discovered Roger’s plane, he had come with food to the imprisoned man, but moved him to another place after that. The skyjacker brought rifles and bombs to the site at daybreak, when no one was around. He was surprised to learn he had accidentally switched on the ELT system in Roger’s plane when he landed.

Panzer glared at the girl detective. “If it wasn’t for you,” he snarled, “I would’ve gotten away with my scheme. You never found out about my dropping a pal of mine in a parachute. He always wears cowboy boots. Today, though, I came alone.”

“You’ve said enough,” Pop declared. “Put your hands behind your back.” He slipped a pair of handcuffs over their prisoner’s wrists. To the others he said, “Panzer and I will ride in one of the planes that had no passengers.

“Nancy and Ned, you go back to the ranch together. You will be commended for your work, but I want to be the first one to congratulate you on solving the mystery of the sky phantom.”

Ned chuckled. “You mean Nancy solved it,” he said generously. “I was just copilot and co-detective.”

“Thank you, Pop,” said Nancy. “I admit there were scary moments.”

Her days of frightening moments and adventures were not over. Very soon she would be launched on
The Strange Message in the Parchment.

Right now she said to Pop, “I’ll be glad when you catch the men who tied Ned and me up in those sacks, rolled the tree down the hillside to injure my friends and me, and killed Speed Boy.”

“They’re all members of the same gang, according to Ben Rall. We’ll soon round them up. By the way, one of Panzer’s pals had Ben Rall steal Major and sell it to him. The horse carried the heavy boxes from the plane to the holes Panzer dug. Later Ben used to spy on him. Then one day Panzer saw him and gave him the ransom note to deliver.”

“I suspected that that was what happened,” said Nancy. “The sooner you have the whole gang in custody the better. Pop, please congratulate Bess and George for me. Without them I never could have put all the pieces of the puzzle together.”