The Ringmaster's Secret

by Carolyn G. Keene

  Quickly Nancy reached into the car and pulled a flashlight from the glove compartment. She turned it on and waved it back and forth high in the air. “Star!” she called, “come back!”

  Suddenly there was a sound of hoofbeats. A moment later the car’s headlights picked up the oncoming horse. It was Belgian Star with Hitch, the groom, astride her!

  The mare stopped at the edge of the brook. In desperation, Hitch jumped from Belgian Star and ran off into the woods.

  “I’ll get that guy!” Ned yelled. He waded into the stream. When he reached the other side, he plunged into the woods after his quarry.

  Belgian Star crossed the stream and came to stand quietly at Nancy’s side. Nancy was stroking the horse when she heard a yell. Quickly she mounted the mare, rode across the stream and into the woods.

  Playing the flashlight around she caught sight of Ned. He was kneeling beside Hitch, who seemed to be unconscious.

  “Just as I reached him, he stumbled and fell,” Ned explained. “He hit his head on a stone and blacked out.”

  Nancy and Ned managed to swing the unconscious man across Belgian Star’s back and made their way to the car. There they held a consultation. Ned would ride the horse with Hitch while Nancy drove the car back to the riding academy.

  Hitch did not regain consciousness until after Ned had carried him inside the building and laid him on the floor. Together, Nancy and Ned securely tied their prisoner with pieces of harness.

  Screaming like a madman, Hitch cried out that he had done nothing and they had no right to tie him.

  “Hitch,” said Ned, “you have plenty to account for. You’d better start talking.”

  The groom insisted he had nothing to say.

  “If you don’t want to tell us, you can give your story to the police,” Nancy said, heading for a pay telephone that hung on the wall.

  “Star, come back!” Nancy called.

  Ned followed her. “I’ll call Chief McGinnis,” he offered. “You see if you can get anything out of Hitch.”

  Returning to the prisoner, Nancy asked him why he had tried to strangle her with the whip at the circus.

  The man’s eyes bulged from his head. “How’d you know I did that?” he asked.

  “And why did you throw the stone at me and the ball at the circus rider, except that you don’t like people to do trick riding?” she went on.

  “I ain’t talkin’.”

  Ned returned to say that Chief McGinnis himself was coming to take charge of Hitch. Nancy and Ned walked over to the door to watch for him.

  Presently Ned remarked, “I’m surprised these valuable horses are left unguarded.”

  “You’re right,” said Nancy. “Roberto has an apartment upstairs. He must be away.”

  Suddenly a frightening thought came to Nancy. “Ned,” she said, “I’m worried. Would you mind going upstairs to be sure Roberto is not there?”

  Ned looked at her, reading her mind. Without replying, he clicked on a second-floor light and dashed up the narrow stairs that led from the stable.

  A moment later he cried out, “Nancy, come up here quickly!”

  CHAPTER X

  The Clue in the Scrapbook

  NANCY winced at the sight that met her eyes when she reached the second floor. There lay Senor Roberto, bound and gagged!

  He wore no shirt and across his chest, his face, and neck were a series of red, angry welts. He had been whipped!

  Ned removed the gag. Nancy sprang forward to help untie the bonds that held the man’s arms close to his side. Next, they cut the cords that bound his ankles together.

  “I’ll get some water,” Nancy offered, “and see if I can find the first-aid kit.”

  “I think Roberto should go to a hospital,” Ned told her.

  “The police will be here any minute. Perhaps they’ll take him,” she suggested.

  On the first floor of the stable, Nancy found a first-aid kit. She carried it upstairs and used an antiseptic salve on the riding master’s welts. Ned held aromatic spirits of ammonia near the man’s nostrils.

  But Roberto did not regain consciousness. Nancy and Ned were relieved when Captain McGinnis and two policemen arrived in a police ambulance. Since Hitch was well tied, they turned their attention to Senor Roberto.

  “This man is in bad shape,” the chief remarked. “Clem,” he said, addressing one of his men, “drive Señor Roberto to the hospital at once, and then return here.”

  The two policemen carried the riding master to their car and drove off.

  Chief McGinnis turned to Hitch. He asked Nancy and Ned if the man was responsible for Roberto’s condition.

  “We haven’t had a chance to ask him,” said Nancy. “We just found Señor Roberto a few minutes ago.”

  The chief, with Ned’s help, removed the straps from the groom. The officer gazed in silence at the man. Hitch muttered that he knew nothing about what had happened to Senor Roberto. The officer advised the prisoner of his rights.

  “If you told the whole story,” Chief McGinnis said, glancing at Hitch, “it would go easier on you in court.”

  Hitch, stiffening at the remark, became sullen. For several minutes he said nothing. Nancy hoped he would break his silence and was relieved when he finally broke down. Hitch suddenly cried out, “I hate Sims’ Circus and everybody in it!”

  “Why?” the officer asked him.

  “Circuses are evil things. Everybody who runs ’em is crazy! Now take Kroon,” he said.

  As Hitch mentioned the ringmaster’s name, Nancy leaned forward to catch every word.

  “That ringmaster—he puts up a big front, but he’s the biggest thief in the world.”

  “How do you know?” McGinnis asked him.

  Suddenly Hitch became sullen again. He said he could tell plenty about Kroon and everybody else at Sims’ Circus, but why should he? What would it get him? They were the people who ought to be going to jail, not he.

  The next moment, Hitch gave the most blood-curdling yell Nancy had ever heard. It sent shivers down her spine. Just as the scream ended in a choked gurgle. Hitch dashed for the door. But Ned and Chief McGinnis were on him, and the prisoner did not get far.

  “Take it easy, Hitch,” the officer advised. “I guess I’ll have to put bracelets on you.”

  The chief pulled handcuffs from his pocket and snapped them on the stableman’s wrists. He led the prisoner to a chair and ordered him to sit there quietly until the policemen returned.

  Nancy heard a clock begin to strike. She counted the strokes and then cried out, “Ned, the circus! I must get back at once or I’ll be late!”

  She had only twenty minutes to reach the circus, change her clothes, and appear in the finale.

  Before leaving, Nancy said to the chief, “I’d like to come to the jail and talk to Hitch in the morning, if I may.”

  “Good idea,” he told her. “I’ll look for you.”

  The young couple dashed off. As soon as they reached the highway, Ned gave the car full power and it sped along. They had gone only about a mile when a police motorcycle roared up alongside them. Its rider signaled for them to stop.

  Nancy’s heart sank. She knew the car had been traveling beyond the legal speed limit. A delay would mean that she would miss the circus finale! If Kroon noticed her absence, the whole Vascon troupe might lose their jobs that night!

  “Oh, officer,” Nancy said quickly, leaning out of the window, “I’m one of the circus performers and I have to get back for the finale at once.”

  The motorcycle policeman looked at the girl intently for a moment, then said, “If you hadn’t told me that, I would have said you were Nancy Drew of River Heights.”

  Both Nancy and Ned laughed. The girl admitted that she was Nancy Drew and quickly told the officer about her part in the circus and the reason for it.

  “What’s more,” Ned added, “Nancy has just captured that stableman the police were looking for.”

  The officer asked for details of the capt
ure. Though Nancy begrudged the time it took to tell the story, it turned out to be time well spent. The officer excused Ned for speeding and offered to lead the way directly to the circus.

  A few minutes later they reached Sims’ Circus. As Nancy hopped out of Ned’s car she arranged to meet him at the main gate later. Then she thanked the officer for his help and dashed through the entrance stile.

  Erika was nervously waiting for her. She literally peeled Nancy out of her street clothes, helped her put on her riding costume, and pulled on her wig. There was no time to visit the makeup artist, so the girls quickly retouched Nancy’s makeup.

  By the time they reached the starting point for the pageant, everyone had assembled. As Nancy’s group rode around for a final bow, the applause was loud and genuine. Nancy stole a quick look at her father and friends. They were clapping and waving madly.

  This was the last performance in River Heights. The next day Sims’ Circus would open at a town called Danford. Nancy hoped it would have as warm a reception as it had had in River Heights.

  When she and Erika reached their tent, the young detective began to put on her street clothes. Erika asked why she was doing this.

  “I’m going home. I’ll see you in Danford tomorrow.”

  Erika looked worried. “It’s against the rules for anyone to leave the circus overnight,” she said.

  “But I’m not a regular member of the troupe,” Nancy replied. “I’m sure it won’t make any difference if I return home for the night.”

  Erika advised her to speak to Dan Webster. Nancy went to his office and fortunately found him there.

  He instantly agreed with Erika. “Kroon has an insidious way of checking up on folks around here,” the horse trainer told Nancy. “It would be much safer if you moved with the circus. We’re leaving tonight, you know.”

  “Tonight?” Nancy said. “You mean we don’t sleep here?”

  Dan Webster laughed. He said Nancy had a lot to learn about circus life. By the time she returned home, the tents would be down and the performers and workmen in buses and trucks on their way to Danford.

  “But I’ll need extra clothes,” Nancy said. “How am I going to get them?”

  Dan advised her to telephone her home at once and have someone bring a suitcase to her within the next fifteen minutes.

  Nancy hurried from the office and went directly to the main gate, where she had asked Ned Nickerson to wait for her. He was there, watching in fascination as the big top suddenly swooped to the ground.

  “I see this place is packing up,” he remarked, as Nancy joined him.

  “And I am too,” Nancy said, quickly explaining what she had been told to do. “Ned, I’ll telephone my house and have Hannah pack a suitcase. She should be home by now. Will you dash over there and bring it back to me? I’ll meet you here in fifteen minutes.”

  “It sounds like a big order—packing any girl’s suitcase in that short a time.” He laughed. “But I’ll be here.”

  Ned kept his promise and was back with the suitcase in record time. He reluctantly said good-by to Nancy, and added that he would be very willing to drive to Danford if she needed him.

  “You’re a dear,” she said, smiling. “If I need your help, I’ll let you know.”

  Nancy waved good-by and hurried back to Erika. The rider was wearing a long, attractive dressing gown and slippers. She said she preferred traveling this way since she would have to sleep all night in the bus.

  A few moments later a truck came by and picked up the girls’ suitcases. Then the Vascon troupe hurried to board the bus that had been assigned to them.

  Nancy hardly slept during the trip. The ride was bumpy and the bus stuffy. At Kroon’s insistence the circus group stayed together. This meant that they traveled slowly. Every once in a while one of the circus’s wild animals would cry out and disturb Nancy. But the regular troupers did not seem to mind the commotion and they slept soundly.

  The following morning at Danford, Nancy, left to herself, decided to do some investigating. She went from performer to performer, diplomatically asking about the Kroons, the circus itself, and particularly about Lolita’s parents. The young sleuth learned little that she did not already know until she came to the oldest of the clowns, a grizzled man named Leo Sanders.

  He was seated in front of his tent, looking through a scrapbook. Nancy squatted on the ground beside him, smiled, and chattily began to question him.

  “Before I tell you anything I know,” he said, “suppose you tell me why you want the information.”

  Quickly Nancy explained why she was trying to help Lolita and that she suspected there might be a secret in connection with the girl’s early life.

  Sanders began to turn the pages of the scrapbook. Reaching a section near the beginning of the book, he laid it face up on Nancy’s lap.

  “You may find some of the answers here,” he said.

  CHAPTER XI

  A Unique Admission

  IN the old clown’s scrapbook, now on Nancy’s lap, were several pictures of performers and acts of the circus in which Lolita’s parents and Sanders had appeared. Poised in flight on a double trapeze were a dainty woman and a handsome man. Under the photograph was the caption:JOHN AND LOLA FLANDERS

  “They were a very talented couple,” the old clown remarked wistfully. “Too bad about their accident. For some reason it was hushed up.”

  There were various other pictures of the famous couple performing their difficult stunts. Nancy could see that Lolita had indeed inherited her great talent from them.

  “Yes, it was tragic that they fell,” Nancy replied. “Mr. Sanders, can you tell me anything more about them?”

  For answer, the man turned the page of the scrapbook. The two following pages were filled with clippings from European newspapers. None of them was in English, but the old clown helped Nancy translate them. All gave practically the same account. John Flanders had been killed outright. The injuries to his wife had been very serious and she had not been expected to live.

  “But none of these clippings,” said Nancy, “tell whether or not Mrs. Flanders did recover.”

  Sanders looked around as if he feared someone might hear what he was about to tell Nancy.

  Finally he whispered, “That has been a mystery all these years. One story was that Lola Flanders was taken to England and disappeared.”

  Nancy’s pulse quickened. Probably Pietro’s father had seen Lola Flanders in Tewkesbury!

  Thinking of England reminded Nancy that she had forgotten to ask her father to start his investigation there. She decided that as soon as she finished talking with Leo Sanders, she would telephone the lawyer.

  “I’ve heard,” said Nancy, “that John and Lola Flanders were supposed to have had a lot of money. Do you know whether this is true?”

  Again Sanders spoke in a low voice. “Yes, the couple made a fortune with their brilliant act. No one knows what became of the money. Some of the folks around here who don’t like Kroon hint that maybe he’s handling it and Lolita will never get it.”

  Nancy wondered about this, but Sanders had nothing further to offer. Nancy then asked the clown whether the Flanders had made all their money in the circus.

  “No, not exactly,” he replied. “John and Lola were very popular with nobility and other aristocrats in Europe. They were often asked to give special command performances when they were traveling abroad with the circus. They were exceedingly well paid for this.”

  The clown went on to say that a certain queen was particularly fond of Lola. She had given her beautiful jewelry, including a unique bracelet.

  “Please tell me about it,” Nancy asked eagerly.

  “I only saw it once,” Sanders replied, “but I never could forget it. The bracelet was solid gold and had six little horses dangling from it. Five of them represented a different gait. Two were cantering. It was the most artistic piece of jewelry I have ever seen,” he concluded. “And now, I understand, you may own this bracelet.�
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  Nancy nodded and added, “I was told that the horse charm Lolita wears on a necklace was given to her by her mother. Do you think it could have come from my bracelet?”

  Sanders thought for a moment. He glanced at Nancy as if he were reluctant to say what was on his mind.

  Finally he blurted out, “I don’t think the one Lolita wears is real. It doesn’t glisten as much and isn’t so finely made as the ones I saw on her mother’s bracelet.”

  Here was a strange twist, Nancy thought. If the old clown was right, then someone had substituted an imitation horse charm for the lovely one Lolita’s mother had given her!

  “I’ll get my bracelet and compare the horses more closely with Lolita’s,” Nancy decided. She was positive that hers were the finely wrought originals.

  She thanked the clown for his information. Then, before going back to her own tent, she telephoned her father. After giving him the latest news, she asked him to find out what he could in England about Lola Flanders.

  Deciding that it was best to keep Sanders’ suspicions to herself, Nancy talked with Erika only about the circus itself. Both girls performed expertly that afternoon and returned to their dressing room smiling in satisfaction.

  The evening performance also went off well. By this time, Nancy felt as if she really were part of the circus. In fact, she had almost forgotten that she was only substituting for a week or so, and had to keep out of Kroon’s way in order to avoid being detected.

  Nevertheless, Nancy concluded that circus life was strenuous. As she was wearily removing her costume before going to bed, Erika dashed in, her eyes aglow.

  “Hurry and change your clothes,” she said. “We’re going to have a party.”

  Nancy sighed, admitted she was extremely tired, and thought it best if she were excused from it.

  “Oh, you have to come,” Erika told her. “Lolita is giving the party and she has a surprise for you!”

  “A surprise for me?” Nancy repeated.

  Erika would not tell her any more. The two girls changed their clothes; then her roommate quietly led Nancy to Rancoco’s trailer. Lolita and Pietro were there with several of their best friends. On a table were plates of sandwiches and bottles of soda.