The Sky Phantom

by Carolyn G. Keene

  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?”

  George grinned. “If it’s the end of the runway, it’s not the beginning. So I suppose you’d better stay off it.”

  “Good guess,” Nancy told her. “It means that particular runway is out of use.”

  Bess declared that she was next and waited for Nancy’s question.

  “Here it is,” Nancy said. “When flying in very turbulent air, or high winds, what is the first thing you should do?”

  Bess giggled. “Reach for an airsick pill.”

  George scoffed. “You’re supposed to take those before the trip, not during it!”

  Neither she nor Bess could guess the answer, so Nancy told them. “Reduce your air speed by throttling back.”

  She promised that the next day she would ask them some more questions.

  George said, “Oh no you don’t! You’ll give us the book and we’ll see if you know the answers!”

  “Okay,” Nancy agreed.

  The following morning there was still no news of the missing palomino. The girls told Pop Hamilton they were planning to take a picnic lunch and ride out into the countryside to see if they could pick up any clues to the pony’s disappearance. He was grateful for the suggestion and wished them luck.

  When the girls started out after breakfast, Nancy wanted to go toward the site of the abandoned plane.

  “We have no idea which way Major went or was taken, so let’s go along the road first and then strike off toward the great-cloud area.”

  On the way the three girls rode slowly, their eyes searching the flat and hilly landscape for clues—hoofprints, footprints, or anything that might identify a thief. They had ridden about three miles from the Hamilton Ranch without noticing anything suspicious, when Nancy suddenly cried out, “Girls! Look!”

  CHAPTER III

  Revealing Rerun

  BESS and George pulled up their mounts and gazed in the direction in which Nancy was pointing. Caught on some hillside bushes was a large piece of white cloth.

  “That could be a parachute,” Nancy stated. She urged her horse into a lope and headed for the spot. Bess and George followed close behind.

  “It is a parachute!” George exclaimed. “Do you think somebody is under it?”

  The three girls dismounted and tethered their ponies. They walked forward.

  The parachute was spread unevenly across the ground and a couple of low bushes. Fearfully, Nancy and George lifted it. Bess had turned her back and closed her eyes. She waited for the others to tell her what they had found.

  George winked at Nancy, then said, “Oh my goodness, there’s a dinosaur under here!”

  Bess turned around sheepishly. “Okay, okay!” she said. “Is anything under there?”

  “Nothing,” Nancy replied. Her attention returned to the parachute. “I’m sure that whoever landed in this chute wanted to do so without being spotted,” she said.

  “Then he managed to do just that,” George remarked. “If anyone around here had seen a parachute coming down, we certainly would have heard about it.”

  “That’s not what puzzles me,” Nancy replied. “At night a chute is hard to spot. But after landing, why didn’t the jumper gather up the canopy and bury or hide it in the brush? Why leave it spread out across the ground for anyone to see?”

  “Maybe he was scared off,” Bess suggested.

  “Yes,” Nancy agreed. “Possibly the sound of a horse or car approaching caused him to panic.”

  “Then,” George added, “he ran off and forgot about hiding his chute.”

  Bess walked around. Some distance on the far side of the parachute she discovered two narrow tracks with heel marks. After studying them a moment, she concluded that the parachute had dragged the flyer backward a few feet. She called to the other girls to come and look. Bess explained what she thought the marks indicated.

  “Good for you!” Nancy said. “I’m sure you’re absolutely right.”

  Bess now ran ahead beyond the heel marks but co
uld see nothing more to explain what had happened. Meanwhile, Nancy and George searched the area around the chute but found no shoe marks. Bess returned to say she had discovered nothing.

  “This is strange,” Nancy said. “How did the chutist get away from here?”

  She got down on her knees and examined the earth carefully. At last the young sleuth detected a slightly matted path and, a few feet beyond it, imprints of cowboy boots. She called the others.

  Instantly George said, “The parachutist must have removed his boots and walked for a distance in his stocking feet before putting his boots back on. The imprints don’t go far because the ground is hard.”

  Nancy nodded. “These footprints, by the way, look exactly the same as the ones I found at Roger Paine’s plane. I’m going to measure these.”

  She hurried back to her pony and opened the saddlebag. She took out her camera, a tape measure, and a notebook. Then the young sleuth rejoined her friends.

  Nancy focused the camera on the bootprints, taking several closeups from different angles. She handed the camera to Bess and requested her to take some snapshots of the parachute.

  “Okay,” Bess said. “I’ll try it from the top, from far away, and close by.”

  While she was gone, George made various measurements of the cowboy bootprints with the tape measure. Nancy wrote them in her notebook, then drew a little sketch.

  George remarked, “It’s lucky we found these prints before rain washed them away.”

  “Yes,” said Nancy, “and I hope it won’t rain before we have a chance to compare them with the bootmarks we found near Roger Paine’s plane.”

  Bess returned and handed the camera to Nancy. “I used up the roll,” she said. “Do you have another one with you?”

  Nancy nodded, then urged that they ride on toward the area under the big cloud.

  “Please, not yet!” Bess pleaded. “I’m starving! There’s a nice tree with shade on the hillside. Why don’t we eat our picnic lunch now?”

  Nancy glanced at her watch. She was amazed to find that so much time had gone by. It was long after midday.

  “I guess you’re right,” she said.

  The ponies were moved to a shady spot and given water from their own saddlebags.

  “I hope there are chicken sandwiches in our lunch,” said Bess as the girls carried up the boxes packed in the Hamilton kitchen.

  Her wish was granted and Bess grinned as she started to eat. She was the first one to finish and lie down on the grass. In a moment her eyes closed and she fell asleep.

  Nancy and George discussed their next move. The young sleuth still wanted to ride on to the spot where she and Bruce had discovered Roger Paine’s plane and compare the mysterious footprints.

  George thought it was too late. “We’re a long way from there and couldn’t get back to the ranch until after dark,” she objected.

  Another thought came to Nancy. “Perhaps we should ride to Excello and report what we found here,” she said. “Maybe someone at the school will know about the chutist.”

  George leaned over and shook Bess. “Wake up, sleepyhead,” she said. “Detectives don’t take naps while working!”

  “Who’s working?” Bess countered. “I thought we were eating lunch.”

  Nevertheless, she stood up when the other girls did and walked with them to their ponies. Bess was told of the decision to go to Excello and inquire about a parachutist.

  Nancy added, “After that we’d better hurry to the ranch and tell Pop Hamilton. Remember, the chutist could have been the one who walked to the ranch and left with Major without being noticed.”

  Bess added, “Don’t forget that there’s a dance at the ranch house tonight. I wouldn’t want to miss it for anything.”

  “That’s right,” George agreed. “And I suppose Chuck Chase will be there, chasing you again.”

  Bess blushed. She was afraid that George might object to her interest in the cowboy because of Bess’s friend Dave, back home. He was never pleased when she dated other boys.

  When the girls reached Excello, Nancy asked Mr. Falcon and the pilots who were around if anyone knew of a parachutist who had landed in the vicinity recently. None of them did.

  The State Police were contacted. Up to now, they had not heard anything about a person landing in their territory. Nancy was disappointed.

  Just then Bruce walked in. “Did you have a pleasant day?” he asked.

  Nancy told him what the young detectives had discovered and he was amazed, but like the other pilots had no explanation.

  “By the way,” he said, “would you three like to watch a movie of student performances?”

  “Oh, we’d love to!” Nancy replied.

  In a few minutes the girls and the pilots were looking at some of the footage. Presently there was one of Nancy about to climb into the cockpit. First she brushed off her clothes, then smoothed down her hair.

  Bess whispered to her, “Don’t you ever tease me again about trying to look pretty before going on a date!”

  Nancy chuckled as she watched herself board the plane and take the pilot’s seat. She started the engine and taxied down the runway.

  Then the man operating the projector apparently decided to have some fun. Nancy, in a lightning move, turned the plane around and taxied back at terrific speed. Reaching the starting point, she switched once more and zipped down the runway. The pilots in the room roared with laughter.

  “Fastest takeoff on record!” one of them teased.

  “My goodness,” said Bess, “how fast were you going?”

  Nancy explained that the man showing the picture was playing a joke. “Actually I was proceeding very slowly,” she said.

  At this moment her attention was directed to another student, who was flying at a good clip alongside the great cloud. A larger plane was coming toward him and for a few moments it looked as if there would be a crash. Then, without warning, the oncoming pilot rolled into a diving turn to get below the student and vanished into the cloud.

  Nancy was sitting on the edge of her chair. “Maybe that’s the mystery pilot!” she said to her friends. “Perhaps he hides in the clouds so he won’t be recognized!”

  The movie continued for several minutes, but the plane that had disappeared did not appear again. The film focused on another student.

  When the movie was over, Nancy requested a rerun of the scene with the mystery pilot. The operator replayed that part of the film.

  The young detective tried hard to make out the letters and numbers of the oncoming plane, but could not distinguish them. She felt sure, however, that the sleek craft was the same one she and Bruce had found in the wilderness. Unfortunately, the film was black and white, so she could not tell what color the craft was.

  “Thank you,” she called out to the operator.

  When the meeting was over, Nancy went to the desk and inquired if there had been any news of Roger Paine.

  “Not yet,” was the answer. “We called the police a short while ago to see if they had had any word, but no one seems to have heard from Roger.”

  Bruce walked the three girls to their ponies and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Nancy.”

  She nodded. Then the riders galloped and returned to the Hamilton Ranch. They went at once to find Pop, who seemed very somber. There had been no word about his beloved Major.

  After Nancy gave her report to Pop, he said he would send two boys out the following morning to search for the parachutist.

  Late that afternoon an impromptu rodeo was to be staged on the far side of one of the barns. There were chairs for the spectators, but no one used them. The events were too exciting for anyone to sit still!

  At one end of the large corral a gate was set up through which contestants hurtled into the ring. The timer, a gray-haired cowboy, stood close to the gate, clutching his stop watch with serious concentration. Suddenly a familiar figure galloped into the corral with a lasso swinging.

  “There’s Chuck Chase!” Bes
s exclaimed. She fumbled nervously. “Oh, I hope he doesn’t get hurt!”

  Chuck had entered the calf-roping contest. Three cowboys ahead of him had brought their calves to the ground and tied them within seconds of one another. The last contestant had taken only thirty seconds, which was shorter than the other two. Now it was Chuck’s turn.

  As the calf was let onto the field, a man standing near the girls said to them, “That little critter is pretty ornery!”

  This remark made Bess more nervous than ever. “Oh, don’t get hurt, please!” she whispered.

  Chuck’s lariat snaked out and brought down the calf, which struggled to get up. The cowboy’s nimble fingers worked like lightning. He had the calf’s feet tied together in twenty-five seconds. He was the winner!

  Everyone clapped and shouted. “Good work!”

  Looking pleased, Chuck walked toward the audience. He seemed to be searching for someone. Finally he found Bess. Taking off his sombrero, he tossed it directly at the girl, matador style. Bess was so flustered she blushed a deep red. She knew the gesture meant, “I choose you as my lady.”

  Nancy and George clapped and laughed, but tears of happiness rolled down Bess’s cheeks. She finally managed to call out, “Oh, thank you, Chuck. Thank you!”

  As soon as the rodeo was over, everyone went to supper. Later they gathered in the big mess hall for a dance. The orchestra consisted of two guitars and a banjo.

  When the music started, Pop Hamilton led Nancy onto the floor. For a couple of minutes, there was no conversation.

  Then the rancher said, “I’m trying to be sociable and have a good time. But between you and me, I feel pretty sad about Major. Nancy, you’re a good detective. Please find him for me!”

  Nancy smiled at the man. “I’m trying very hard to do so,” she said. “But there seem to be no clues to the horse thief.”

  Again there was silence for a few minutes. Then, as the music was about to stop, Pop said, “This afternoon I received a strange phone call, Nancy. For hours I have been debating with myself about whether or not I should tell you what the message was.”