The Quest of the Missing Map
Page 12
The chest was prepared for transfer to the Primrose. With such a precious cargo aboard, Captain Stryver was worried that the prisoners might get loose and make trouble. He tried to keep the news from them, but they overheard the excited conversations of the others. The three captives were furious, each blaming the other for their failure to obtain the treasure. Before the voyage home was begun, however, a government seaplane arrived and to everyone’s relief took charge of the captives.
“How did the men get together in the first place?” the young people asked Nancy, who had heard the prisoners’ confessions.
“When Rorke failed to buy Mr. Smith’s half of the map, he got in touch with his old friend Spike,” she explained. “To his surprise he found his partner had also heard the story from the Warwick’s first mate, and was working on it from the Captain John Tomlin angle.”
As Nancy paused, George spoke up. “When Spike traced Mrs. Chatham, it was easy for him to snoop around Rocky Edge. He knew the place because years before he had robbed it.”
“Spike hid in the house and in the studio,” Nancy continued. “He overheard many things, and learned that Mrs. Chatham had a lot of money in a safe. When he needed some cash, he decided to kidnap Trixie for a sizable ransom.”
George spoke up again. “But Nancy found her in time.”
“The messenger was Snorky. He saw us leaving the studio and cut out quickly,” Nancy put in. “Incidentally, he did steer the Primrose off course on purpose.”
She went on, “Spike used the secret room in the studio to examine all the papers he could lay his hands on. When Trixie and I kept showing up, he tried to scare us away.”
“Did he admit to stealing my half of the map?” Ellen’s father asked.
“Yes. Rorke got him to do that. The arresting officers have it now.”
“Where do the Browns fit in?” Bill Tomlin inquired.
“They were part of the ring, but didn’t get along very well with the others,” Nancy explained. “They thought they were smarter than Rorke and Spike. But Spike managed to get the wanted piece of map from them—at least the one Hannah made. She had copied the words ‘Little’ and ‘Pa,’ giving him the first word and part of the second in the name of the island, but she had misled him completely in the directions to the buried fortune.
“You know, Hannah Gruen really saved the treasure,” Nancy added. “If she had given the right directions in John Tomlin’s half map to the Browns, the buried chest might have been taken before we reached here!”
“But, Nancy, you really solved the mystery!” Ellen exclaimed.
“Mysteries, you mean,” her father put in warmly. “After all, Nancy traced my brother, the map, the thieves, and the treasure!”
“Oh, please stop it!” Nancy declared, blushing. “I couldn’t have done a thing without the help of every one of you, and especially Mrs. Chatham for engaging the Primrose.”
“Nonsense!” the woman replied. “This trip did more for me and Trixie than you’ll ever know.”
Nancy was happy about this, but at once began to long for another mystery. To her delight she was to encounter The Clue in the Jewel Box soon.
That evening when she and Ned were on deck gazing at the moon, he said, “Nancy, how about taking your mind off mysteries for a while and thinking of me instead?”
Nancy laughed mischievously. She gave a mock salute and said, “Aye, aye, sir!”