Finally the couple reached the craft. The ELT signal was still beeping. Bruce climbed aboard. To their amazement, no one was in the plane or anywhere near it!
“Could the pilot have bailed out?” Nancy asked.
Bruce shook his head. “I doubt it. In that case, the plane would have crashed. As you can see, it didn’t, and everything is in perfect order. No doubt it was a hard landing, however, and that may have triggered the ELT.” Bruce paused, then said, “If the pilot heard it, I can’t see why he didn’t turn off his radio.”
Nancy suggested that perhaps he was in such a hurry to go somewhere that he had not bothered. Bruce said this could be true. Possibly the pilot met and dashed away with a friend.
“He may even have had his ELT on while still flying and didn’t bother to turn it off when he landed,” Bruce added.
Nancy had already made a mental note of the plane’s registration numbers on the fuselage. “Have you any idea whose plane it is?” she asked.
“No. But I’ll climb inside and see if I can find any identification.”
The nimble young instructor looked through every compartment in the craft. Finally he reported from the doorway, “Nothing about an owner or whoever was flying the plane. The pilot must be carrying the registration and airworthiness certificates with him. That’s a violation of FAA rules, by the way.”
Nancy thought, “He means Federal Aviation Agency.”
Bruce looked down at Nancy. “I understand you like to solve mysteries. Here’s one for you. Who was the pilot of this plane, why did he land here, and where is he?”
The girl detective grinned. “If you’d like to know who the owner is, I’m sure I could find out.”
They both laughed, and he said, “Go to it!”
The two walked back to the flying-school plane and Bruce immediately contacted the tower at Excello. He gave the registration numbers of the mysterious plane and asked if they could identify the owner or pilot. In a little while the answer came.
“The owner and pilot of the plane you asked about is Roger Paine. He purchased the craft only two weeks ago. It seems he left for the East in his old plane a few days before that, and no one has heard from him since. We’re a bit concerned about him because he said he expected to return in a few days.”
Nancy and Bruce looked at each other. Though Bruce had never met him, both of them knew Roger Paine was well liked at the Excello School and was considered “a great guy.”
Nancy said, “The last time I visited this area I took a couple of lessons from Roger. He’s a wonderful person. Oh, I hope nothing has happened to him!”
CHAPTER II
The Missing Palomino
BY THE time Nancy and Bruce had taxied up to the operations building of the Excello Flying School, the place was buzzing with excitement over Roger Paine’s disappearance.
Mr. Falcon, the manager, had already telephoned the young man’s home in the East. “I was told that no one in the family has heard from him for over two weeks. This isn’t like him because he worked with his father part-time and was expected home. I also phoned several of the larger airports to see if I could track Roger down, but no luck.”
According to various Excello pilots, Roger was not secretive. He visited the school once in a while and sometimes gave a few lessons.
“He’s a top-notch airman,” said one of the instructors. “If he wasn’t injured in a crash, he must be in some other sort of trouble.”
Nancy whispered to Bruce, “Couldn’t a few of us start a search?”
He relayed her question to Mr. Falcon.
“I think that’s a very good idea,” the manager said. “It’s too late to do it today. Sunset is less than an hour away. I suggest you start out at dawn tomorrow. Who wants to volunteer?”
Several pilots raised their hands, indicating they were willing to go.
Again Nancy whispered to Bruce, “May I join the search?”
He looked at her and smiled. Then he said, “Mr. Falcon, I’d like to introduce Nancy Drew, who is an amateur detective. But she’s an amateur only because she won’t accept money for her work. She is a marvelous sleuth, and she’d like to go with us.”
The other men in the room clapped and Mr. Falcon said, “If Bruce wants to come, you may fly with him, Nancy. And good luck in your search.”
“Oh, thank you,” the girl replied. “What time is dawn tomorrow?”
Four A.M. was the answer. “Better set your alarm,” Mr. Falcon added with a smile.
Nancy promised to do so and walked out with Bruce. He offered to drive her to the Hamilton Ranch, only a few miles from the airfield. On the way they continued to discuss what might have happened to Roger Paine.
Bruce said, “If he had a hard landing and bumped his head, he may have suffered a concussion and be wandering around aimlessly in those hills.”
Nancy had a new and disturbing thought about the disappearance.
“I hate to say this,” she said, “but it’s just possible that Roger skipped out on purpose for reasons known only to himself. But the question is why? And where is he?”
Bruce said he did not believe that had happened. “It’s possible, though, that Roger met with foul play in some way. Perhaps he had a passenger who was in some kind of tricky business and double-crossed him.”
By this time the couple had reached the Hamilton Ranch and driven up to the long, logwood one-story house. They were greeted by Bess and George, who had met Bruce that morning.
“Did you find the plane we were pointing to?” George asked. “The pilot seemed to be in trouble.”
“Yes, we did,” Nancy replied and told them about Roger Paine and that his plane had been abandoned.
“How dreadful!” Bess remarked. “What kind of man was Roger Paine?”
“Young, handsome, and very friendly,” Nancy said. “You’d like him.”
“Most of the pilots at Excello know him,” Bruce added, “and they’re all fond of him.” He turned his car and waved good-by.
Nancy followed Bess and George into the comfortably furnished lobby with its huge stone fireplace. Everywhere on the walls hung pictures of cowboys and Indians, and over the fireplace was a mural showing stampeding Brahman cattle.
The girls shared a large room, furnished with three cots. Nancy went to bed early and set her alarm for 3:30 A.M. When it buzzed, she instantly smothered the clock and turned it off so that Bess and George would not be awakened.
Nancy dressed quickly in her jeans and a sweater and left the room. Bruce was waiting for her at the front entrance.
“Morning!” he said. “Congratulations! I never thought you’d make it!”
Nancy chuckled. “You have a lot to learn about detectives. Hours mean nothing to us.”
“I stand corrected,” he said, as they drove off.
At the flying school she found that four planes were to take part in the search. Nancy and Bruce were to be in the lead, since they knew where Roger Paine’s plane had set down. As they approached the area the great cloud seemed larger than ever.
“It’s amazing,” Nancy said.
“You know, you can get lost inside that cloud,” Bruce remarked. “And sometimes our compass needles go crazy if we get too close.”
“Then I’ll be sure to stay away,” Nancy replied, and she decided to make inquiries about it.
In a few minutes they thought they were over the spot where the missing aircraft had stood. It was not there! Bruce began to circle the area. “I was so sure I remembered exactly where it was,” he said, a puzzled frown creasing his forehead.
“I thought so, too,” Nancy agreed.
The pilot picked up his unicom transceiver and got in touch with the other fliers. He asked if they had seen the abandoned plane, but none of them had.
“We’ll change our search pattern,” Bruce directed. “I’ll fly around the big cloud. Number two plane will go in a larger circle, and three and four beyond that, so we can cover a sizable area. If you see the craft, be sure to report to me at once.”
The search went on for some time. Nancy kept her eyes glued to the ground, but there was no sign of a plane, a pilot, a house, or any type of building that might be used as a hideaway.
Nancy said, “Even if the plane is gone, maybe Roger isn’t. Couldn’t we go down and hunt for him on the ground? We might pick up a clue to the disappearance of the plane even if we don’t find him.”
Bruce agreed that this was a good idea and radioed the other pilots to return to the school.
“Nancy and I are going to conduct a ground search,” he said. “We’ll keep in touch.”
The instructor made a perfect landing on the uneven ground and stopped at the spot where he and Nancy were sure Roger Paine’s plane had landed. They began to inspect the area and in a few minutes Nancy said, “Here are some wheel marks and imprints of cowboy boots!”
Bruce said he was sure they had not been there the day before. Nancy agreed. She added, “Roger didn’t wear cowboy boots when he was giving me lessons.”
“None of the pilots wear them,” Bruce said thoughtfully.
“Then whose marks are these?” Nancy asked. “Maybe they belong to a skyjacker!” she surmised.
“It sure is a puzzle,” Bruce replied.
The couple hunted for further clues but found none. There was no trail either from or to the cowboy-boot prints. How had their wearer reached the spot?
“He must have parachuted down,” Nancy concluded, and Bruce agreed that this could be the answer to the riddle. “And immediately removed the boots.”
The couple flew back to the Excello Flying School. This time Nancy took the controls. She made such a good landing that Bruce praised her skill.
“You’re getting along great,” he said.
Nancy thanked him and confessed that she was really terribly excited now about flying. “I just can’t wait to get permission to make a cross-country flight.”
Bruce said he felt this could happen soon. “In fact,” he added, “I have a hunch that you’re going to do some exciting flying in connection with this mystery before you solve it.”
Nancy’s blue eyes sparkled. “Great!” she said. “That would suit me.”
When she reached the ranch, Nancy expected Bess and George to be there to ask about her progress. They were gone and there was no one else around the ranch house.
“I wonder where everyone is?” Nancy thought.
At this moment she heard loud voices coming from the large corral behind the barn. She turned and followed the sound. Nearly all the cowboys were there. The ranch owner, affectionately called Pop Hamilton, was talking to them.
Bess and George were leaning over the fence, listening to Pop. He asked with a kindly but authoritative ring to his voice, “Who was the last person to see Major?”
Nancy scooted over to where her friends were standing and asked what had happened.
Bess replied, “You know Major, Pop’s beautiful palomino? Well, he’s missing and he couldn’t have run away because last night he was in a locked stall.”
“You mean,” said Nancy, “that somebody broke in and stole Major?”
George nodded. “That’s what the men think. Pop is furious. He’s a deputy sheriff and is going right after the thief.”
Bess remarked that there were dogs on the place but no one had heard them barking. “So many mysterious things have happened,” she added. “In two days, a strange cloud, an abandoned plane, and now a stolen palomino.”
Thoughts were racing through Nancy’s mind. Two ideas seemed to click. Cowboy shoe prints had been found where the mysterious plane had last been seen. Apparently there had been no disturbance on the ranch when the horse disappeared. Was it possible that Major knew the thief and this was why the pony had not caused a disturbance and why the dogs had not barked? Had the thief ridden the animal away from the ranch and sold it to someone else? If so, how had he reached the ranch? By parachute? And could he have taken both the pony and the aircraft?
Aloud, Nancy said to the other girls, “Roger Paine’s abandoned plane was gone when we went to look at it again.”
“What!” Bess and George exclaimed together.
Nancy explained, and then told them that she believed a parachutist might be working in the vicinity.
Bess wagged her head. “It sounds fantastic to me,” she said. “But, Nancy, you’re more often right than wrong, so I suppose it could be so.” She giggled. “Question: Did the cowboy take the palomino in the parachute with him and carry Major off in the plane?”
All three girls laughed, and returned to the house. When Pop Hamilton entered, he immediately went to his office to make some phone calls. He asked neighboring ranchers if anyone had seen Major.
The palomino was well known since he had been seen at parades during rodeos. Unfortunately, no one had seen Major lately, and he had not joined their own horses and cow ponies.
When the girls reached their room George said, “Since we have been here, Nancy, you have spent hardly any time with us. Couldn’t you take one day off from your flying lessons and stay with us? We’d love to go on a long horseback ride. What do you say?”
Nancy put her arms around the two cousins. “I didn’t realize it. You’re absolutely right. I’ll call Bruce at once and tell him I’ll skip tomorrow’s lesson and go out with you girls all day. We can take along a lunch.”
The two cousins squeezed Nancy; then she went to the phone and got in touch with her instructor. She asked to be excused from her lesson the following day.
“On one condition,” Bruce said. “You must spend an hour on your book work. The day after tomorrow I’ll give you a quiz.”
Nancy agreed and directly after lunch began to study. An hour later Bess and George walked into their room.
“How about giving me an examination?” Nancy asked. She grinned. “Or better yet, how about my asking you some questions?”
“I’m game,” Bess replied, “but I’ll flunk with a big zero.”
“Here goes,” Nancy said. “When you’re flying over an airport and see a large white X at the end of one of the runways, what does it indicate?”