by Mabel Maney
"There are worse ways to pass the time," she told herself as she stretched out on the cot and tried to relax.
"Lights out," a guard called. A moment later, Jackie was left in the dark with her thoughts. The dashing detective soon drifted off to sleep, tossing and turning as she dreamt of Cherry. Jackie moaned imagining Cherry in her arms, their lips just about to meet when suddenly Nancy burst into the cell with a rack of fashionable frocks. "Do you like it?" Nancy cried as she twirled around to show off her outfit. "There's one for you in cherry red!"
Jackie awoke with a start. "What a nightmare," she groaned to herself. "What if Cherry chooses Nancy?" she then thought in horror. She tried to slow the wild beating of her heart. "What can Nancy give her besides a life of luxury?" she thought angrily. Bitterness and fear coursed through her body as she remembered the look of delight on Cherry's face when Nancy presented her with her very own poodle skirt. "I'll never be able to afford a wardrobe like that on my salary," Jackie groaned.
The now-despondent detective shut her eyes and tried to ignore the horrible thoughts churning in her brain. But it was no use, for every time she was on the verge of falling back asleep she would picture Nancy and Cherry dressed in matching frocks. Jackie gave up on the notion of sleep and went to the small barred window for a breath of fresh air. She was surprised to hear a man's voice right outside. Someone was outside the jail, speaking to the prisoner in the next cell. When she heard the man mention secret caves, she pricked up her ears. She was in the cell right next to the thug she had been planning to interrogate!
"I planted the fingerprints and the sticks of dynamite at the Hardly house, all right," the man said.
"False clues?" Jackie gasped inwardly.
"Once that thing blows and the explosives are found at the Hardlys', it'll be curtains for Fennel P. and his nosy sons!" the prisoner cackled gleefully.
Jackie had to stop herself from crying out, "What explosion?"
"Don't worry. The show's set for three p.m. Wednesday. Why, when Judge Meeks' plan is complete, the Hardly name won't be worth a nickel!"
* * *
CHAPTER 31
* * *
A Watery Grave?
The Sea Princess purred to a halt. Frank lowered the anchor, slipped his oxygen tank over his broad shoulders and strapped his oilskin bag around his waist. The waterproof pouch contained a firstaid kit, an underwater camera, a transmitter so Willy could track them on the Radar-0Scope, assorted necessary tools, a thermos of hot cocoa, four ham and cheese sandwiches wrapped in wax paper and a tin of healthful prune cookies thoughtfully prepared by Willy. Frank knew the cookies would provide the kind of quick energy a boy needed on an adventure such as this.
"Are you ready, Joe?" Frank queried his brother. Joe nodded and tugged on his underwater suit. He was growing tense with suppressed eagerness. Soon it would be light, and the boys would be unable to move about as freely as they wished. By mid-morning, the lake would be jammed with water sports enthusiasts who would surely stare with curiosity at two well-known sleuths wearing snug rubber suits.
"Bon voyage," Joe joked as he put on his tank and mask and dropped backward off the boat. Eager to begin exploring, Frank was right behind him, his underwater lantern firmly in hand. The boys, top-notch swimmers both, descended to the bottom, their well-developed muscles rippling under the black rubber of their outfits. Soon they were at the inky-black bottom of the deep lake. Joe touched down, stirring up the silt floor. He stepped gingerly, knowing that the only creatures that could survive in this icy, dark habitat were earthworms, blood worms and small clams.
Joe and Frank used their lantern to examine the shoreline wall. For almost two hours, the boys searched, but to no avail. When they resurfaced, Joe didn't have to check his waterproof radium-dial wristwatch to know dawn was approaching.
The boys climbed into the boat for a quick energy-providing prune cookie. While they munched, Frank got out their nautical map and marked the territory they had covered.
"There's not much area left to explore," Joe pointed out with a little sigh. His spirits were beginning to flag.
"Nonsense, Joe," said the ever-optimistic Frank. "We've nearly a quarter of the lake shore left." He opened the Hardly Boys Ship Set and took out two underwater emergency whistles. "I say we split up. That way, we'll cover more ground before the sun is full in the sky. The first one to find something interesting gives a blow."
The boys moored the Sea Princess near some thick cattails and lowered themselves into the water. Joe went off to explore new territory while Frank stayed near the boat. Once in the water, Frank spotted a queer red blinking light from beneath the cattails. He trained his underwater binoculars on the light and gasped at what he saw. A round octopus-like creature with many tentacles and strange glowing eyes was darting around the vegetation! The creature was unlike anything Frank had ever seen in Illinois waters, and it sent a chill of terror down the lad's spine.
"Jeepers!" Frank gasped when it started to move toward him at top speed. "Lucky thing I was a varsity swimmer all through Saint Sebastian School for Boys," Frank thought as he retreated, his muscular arms chopping through the water. The lad soon realized that even Superman couldn't outdistance this foe. The creature forced him toward the center of the lake, then stopped and trained its red glowing eyes on its prey. Frank grabbed for the whistle around his neck but found to his horror that it had fallen off its chain. The creature closed in on the lad and grasped him around the torso with its tentacles.
"I'm going to drown!" the boy thought frantically, dropping his lantern. The creature pulled him deep into the dark lake. Frank tried his darndest but found his efforts feeble compared to the strength of the mighty monster. Why, this creature was stronger than any fellow he had ever wrestled to the ground!
In his struggle, Frank's air mask popped off. He watched helplessly as it floated to the surface, the life-sustaining oxygen bubbling out.
"Is this festive place where I've spent many a gay summer's day going to be my watery grave?" Frank thought in anguish as he sunk ever nearer to the bottom of his beloved Lake Merrimen.
* * *
CHAPTER 32
* * *
Mission Accomplished
Frank frantically beat against the creature with both fists and, in the process, made a startling discovery. "Why, this is a robot built to look like a water creature!" Frank realized as his hands made contact with the aluminum skin. He groped in his oilskin pouch for his underwater welding arc. Luckily he had earned his Boy Scout Badge in Underwater Bridge Repair and, as the Sea Princess was a metal-hulled craft, he always brought along his welding equipment while on water missions.
With his last surge of energy, Frank switched on his oxyacetylene torch and blasted the creature. It melted before his very eyes. Its tentacles lost their grip and fused to the nowsoftened mass that was once its body. Frank wriggled free, jetted to the surface and took deep, life-saving breaths. Luckily, his air-mask was within arm's reach. He popped it back on and, with the remaining oxygen, dove back under. The robot was still thrashing about on the bottom of the lake, but this time its mighty arms were fused to its side. Frank took a screwdriver from his pocket, located the control panel on its underbelly and, with a flip of his wrist, opened the panel, ripped out some wires and stilled the once-powerful creature.
Frank used a rope and hook to tow the creature to the boat. When he surfaced, Joe was bobbing up and down, frantically looking for him. Joe got a quick look at Frank's welding job and instantly surmised what had happened.
"It's the sea monster the chief told us about," Joe cried as he helped his brother pull the misshapen mass into the boat.
"It's made of some new kind of aluminum alloy which makes it light enough to stay afloat yet sturdy enough to withstand most assaults," Frank determined. He continued his investigation of the creature. "Joe, what we have here is not just a sea creature capable of scaring tourists but a sophisticated piece of technology rarely seen at lakeside
resorts," he told his brother with some excitement.
"But who has the knowledge to build such a beast and the ruthlessness to turn it into a death-dealing monster?" Joe wondered aloud.
"Who else?" Frank spat out angrily. "The very same people who engineered the theft of the top poodles from the Dog Show and kidnapped our parents!"
"Isn't it enough that they've proven their superiority in space? Now they want Lake Merrimen? Golly, is nothing sacred?" Joe swore angrily.
"Joe, the entrance to the caves must be near the cattails where I first spotted the robot," Frank realized. The boys quickly wove a cover for their craft from the tall reeds lining the shore. Soon the boat and its strange cargo were completely hidden to the casual viewer.
"We've got to keep this discovery a secret," Frank told his brother. Joe nodded. Just thinking of what a contraption like that could do if let loose on lake resorts all over the Midwest made him shiver with fear.
"Let's hurry back down before we meet up with any earlymorning boaters," Frank urged. They replaced their oxygen tanks with fresh ones and dove back into the water. Swimming below the cattails, they used their remaining strong-beamed underwater lantern to search the side of the rocky lake wall.
"Golly, Frank," Joe signaled his brother using the Hardly Boys Secret Sign Language System. "I don't see any cave entrance. We've hit a dead end! What do we do next?"
Frank was sweating under his rubber suit. "It's got to be here, Joe," he frantically signaled back. "That creature wasn't just out for an early morning swim-it was guarding something!" As the boys swam, they shone their light along the bank, but saw only the typical underwater things one finds in a summer lake teeming with activity. Dragonfly nymphs darted on the surface of the water in a kind of strange water ballet. A three-foot long Queen Snake shot past Joe and grabbed onto an unsuspecting crayfish.
Joe swam a little closer to his brother, then pointed frantically as a school of Illinois striped bass swimming overhead seemed to disappear before his very eyes. "Did you see that?" he signaled his brother. "Those fish swam into that clump of pickerelweed and vanished." Joe had immediately identified the heart-shaped leaf with its spike of attractive blue flowers, as they grew wild along the Hardly dock.
Luckily, Frank had earned his Boy Scout badge in Pond Plant Identification, and knew instantly something wasn't right. Pickerelweed grew above water level, not under water! Frank stuck his hand into the thick foliage and a look of delight washed over his face. The flowering weed was made of plastic! "It's a decoy shielding an opening in the rock!" Frank signaled Joe.
The boys shared a triumphant smile. They had found the entrance to the hidden caves!
* * *
CHAPTER 33
* * *
A Clever Ruse
"Hurry, driver," the glamorous titian-haired girl in the back of the taxi commanded. She pulled her compact from her jeweled pocketbook and powdered her pert little nose. Next she applied a thick layer of shocking bright red color to her full lips. Satisfied with her appearance, at least for the time being, she sighed, leaned back and tossed her white velvet satin-lined muff on the floor along with her jewel case, cosmetics travel bag and stack of fashion magazines.
"I'm so v-e-r-y bored," the girl cried in a peevish manner. She slumped in the wide back seat of the taxi cab. "Please let me go back to California," she wailed. "This place is so dreadfully Midwestern!"
"Why don't you just enjoy the lovely scenery?" Cherry suggested helpfully. Nancy rolled down the window of the cab, lit a cigarette, peered outside and groaned.
While Cherry was secretly impressed with Nancy's movie star performance, she had to act the part of the disapproving Companion Nurse. "You know that Doctor doesn't like you to get too much damp morning air, Miss New," Cherry admonished her.
"Doctor doesn't like me to do anything," Nancy pouted, hewing perfectly to her role as a spoiled actress. "There I was, all set to star in a major motion picture, when I'm shipped off to Illinois for a rest! Who can rest here?" she cried. "All these endless acres of green fields and this wide expanse of blue sky are enough to give me the jitters!"
"Miss New, you're getting yourself all excited," Cherry said in a soothing tone. She snuck a look at the driver. They were hoping to catch his attention so they could, without his knowing, involve him in their little charade. Cherry made an elaborate pretense of checking her sturdy nurse's watch. "It's time for your medication," she announced as she reached in her firstaid kit and took out a vial of sugar pills. She unscrewed the cap on a plaid thermos and poured Nancy a cup of water. Nancy grudgingly put out her cigarette, swallowed a pill and then stretched out on the seat, pretending to doze off.
"We're almost there, Miss," the driver said. He was a large burly man with a sun-burnt face and very nice manners. He peeked in the rearview mirror and saw that Nancy was asleep.
"Actresses are quite a handful, aren't they?" he said with a chuckle.
Cherry smiled. They had caught his attention! "They certainly are," she agreed. "Do you know many movie stars?" she asked the man.
"Oh, lots," he replied. "I've driven dozens of actresses to the sanitarium, only I don't ever recall having seen yours in a movie," he was forced to admit. "I take my mother to the picture show every Saturday night," he continued. "We saw South Pacific just last week.
"I'm-going to wash-that-man-right-out-of--my-hair," he sang in a rich baritone. "Now that's a movie. Funny, though, I don't remember seeing her in anything, and like I said, Mother and I go every week."
Cherry was a little shaken by his comment. Oh, dear, was this going to be a problem at the sanitarium, too? She leaned across the seat. "Can you keep a secret?" she whispered to the man in a confidential tone. He assured her he could.
"Miss New was up for the lead in that film," Cherry told him. "When she didn't get it, well, she completely collapsed! You see, she has a great deal of talent, but is cursed with thin blood and shaky nerves. Every time she's cast for a movie that is sure to make her a star, she has another collapse and loses the role. The studio finally decided to send her to the worldrenowned Dr. Fraud to see if he can cure her." Cherry could see by the man's expression that he believed every word she said. She felt instantly guilty, and strangely, a little thrilled.
"It's such a shame," the driver said, clucking his tongue. "But I'll bet anything, Dr. Fraud can help her. Why, folks around here say he works wonders with nervous women. All the best people send their daughters to him."
"It's not just a rich and rewarding career in motion pictures that hangs in the balance," Cherry added dramatically, "but her very sanity!" She had been practicing that line all night, along with many others sure to convince people that Nancy was the genuine article.
While Nancy, Velma and Uncle Nelly had spent the time sewing and basting, Cherry had written an official case history for patient Darcy New based on a real actress she had treated at Seattle General Hospital. Luckily the actress had been a fascinating case, and Cherry had spent many hours by the attractive woman's bedside. She was confident that her written record would stand up under anyone's scrutiny, even that of the incomparable Dr. Fraud.
There was one thing bothering Cherry, however. Doctor Fraud, like any reputable physician, was sure to check the girls' identities. Cherry's own credentials didn't worry her, as she was not only a high-ranking graduate of a top-notch Idaho nursing school, but she had also served as a Cruise Nurse aboard an ocean liner bound for the South Seas, a Dude Ranch Nurse at a Western resort, a Shoe Store Nurse for a Seattle shop specializing in sensible shoes, and she was a card-carrying member of the highly respected Nurses of America Club. But what about Nancy? She had nothing besides her glamorous good looks and fancy affectations to prove she was who she said she was.
"What if the doctor calls Hollywood and finds out nobody there has ever heard of an actress named Miss Darcy New?" Cherry wondered worriedly. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," she decided.
She tried to relax, and sat back i
n the comfy seat to take in the spectacular view of the passing landscape. Past fertile farms and rolling hills, grassy meadows and lovely lakes, the taxi and its precious cargo sped toward the sanitarium. Soon the driver had pulled through a stone entryway and was heading up a winding tree-lined path that led to an imposing white stone mansion set back among stately elms.
Cherry recalled what Nancy had told her about the institution. "It used to be the Frenshaw estate, and until twentytwo years ago, people from town went there regularly to perform skits and otherwise lift the spirits of the patients. Then suddenly, the ghostly figure of a woman in white began appearing on the grounds, and the citizens of River Depths began to hear the most ghastly screams. Since then no one's dared venture beyond the gate.
"The place," Nancy had added, "is guarded by fierce attack dogs!"
Cherry shivered a bit, and pulled her regulation nurse's sweater close as the taxi drew near the sanitarium. Nancy yawned, sat up and gave her a wink. "Good luck," she mouthed. Cherry smiled back and crossed her fingers in solidarity. The taxi came to a halt.
"All out for River Depths Sanitarium," the driver announced as he hopped out of the cab and took Nancy's many bags from the trunk.
Cherry brushed the wrinkles from her uniform, straightened her cap and got ready to begin what she hoped would be one of the most rewarding episodes of her nursing careerher stint as Cherry Aimless, Sanitarium Nurse!
