Nancy told Charles Bartolome why she and her friends had come to the showboat and how she hoped to clear up the mystery.
“We want to have the River Princess brought to Sunnymead, so that the ball the Havers are planning will be a big success.”
“I, too, would like to see the mystery solved,” said Charles. He did not mention the ball. “Good luck to you all.”
“We’ll probably need your help,” Nancy told him. “As a start, would you mind showing us around the River Princess?”
“I’d be delighted to,” he replied. “I’ve become very fond of the old gal. But as soon as my job of restoring the showboat is completed, I’m leaving for New York. I’m going to live there permanently and continue my work as an architect.”
The girls were sure they knew the reason for the move. With Donna Mae married to Alex, he would no longer want to live in the New Orleans neighborhood.
Uncle Rufus waited in the canoe while the girls climbed a ladder and went aboard. Charles led them inside to the auditorium. Fastened to the sloping floor were many rows of old-fashioned, cushioned opera chairs. A balcony, ornate in design, ran around three sides of the room, and on the fourth side was a stage. A tattered red-and-gold curtain hung down at the front of it.
Charles remarked cheerfully, “A couple of coats of paint will do wonders for the River Princess. Actually the old boat is not in such bad shape. It’s just—” The young man paused.
His listeners waited for him to go on. Finally he said, “It’s just that we can’t find anybody willing to work on her or move her. And the men who were clearing out this part of the stream won’t continue.”
“Is it because they were frightened by something which happened on the boat?”
“Oh, there have been all sorts of rumors,” Charles replied. “One was that the calliope on board actually played. That would be impossible, of course. The old organ has been out of commission for years.”
Charles went on to say that he himself had done some work in starting the restoration of the River Princess, but that what he had rebuilt was mysteriously hacked during the night.
“That’s a shame,” said Nancy.
“But I’m not discouraged,” Charles replied. “I’ll keep at it.”
Nancy smiled, then said, “Bess and George and I have wondered if people in the area who practice voodoo may be using this place for their meetings. Do you think that’s possible?”
Charles Bartolome considered this idea for several seconds, then he said, “It’s possible. But why would they destroy my work?”
Nancy suggested that it might be to frighten him away. “In any case, these people would not want the showboat moved to a place where they could no longer use it, and might be using various means to discourage Colonel Haver.”
The young man smiled. “Well, Nancy, it’s your mystery. Come, I’ll show you the rest of the boat.”
The ticket office and captain’s suite were at the bow of the boat, while at the stern, back of the stage, were dressing rooms and living quarters.
“These bedrooms were for married couples,” the young architect explained. “The unmarried men stayed on the steam towboat that pushed the River Princess from place to place. The kitchen and dining room were on the towboat also.”
As the tour ended on the lower deck, near the ladder, Nancy suddenly leaned over to pick up something from a crack between the boards.
“I think I have my first clue!” she cried out.
CHAPTER X
A Curious Alligator
AS NANCY’s friends on the showboat watched, she picked up a glittering object from a crack between the deck boards. It was a large, gold ornamental hairpin, old-fashioned in design. Tiny diamonds and emeralds sparkled from the fan-shaped end, which was about two inches wide.
“The gold is still shiny,” Nancy observed, scrutinizing the pin, “so this probably hasn’t been here very long.”
Bess and George, too, were intrigued. “You mean the pin might have been dropped here recently by its owner?” asked George.
As Nancy nodded, the girls noticed a strange expression come over Charles Bartolome’s face. He had been staring intently for several minutes at the hairpin.
“Do you know who the owner is?” George asked him.
“Possibly,” the young man replied after a long moment of silence. “A few months ago Mrs. Haver showed me her collection of old jewelry. There was a hairpin exactly like this one among the pieces.”
The girls were stunned by this information. It was incredible, they thought, that Mrs. Haver would have worn the ornament to the showboat. Then who had?
“Have you any theory as to how the pin got here?” Nancy asked Charles.
“Perhaps someone stole it from Mrs. Haver and dropped it accidentally,” he offered.
Bess was inclined to think that the pin might not have been dropped accidentally. “Perhaps someone planted it here on purpose!”
“But why?” George asked.
Since no one could even attempt to solve the riddle at the moment, the subject was dropped. Nancy pocketed the hairpin with the thought of questioning Mrs. Haver about it later. The young detective now asked Charles if he had heard any birdcalls earlier.
“You mean the wild ducks that were answering each other?”
“Yes, only according to Uncle Rufus they weren’t genuine calls. He suggested that some boys were playing a game. But we girls thought that perhaps someone might be spying on the showboat. A confederate some distance away could have been using the call to warn someone that we were approaching.”
Charles frowned. “That could be true. If so, I don’t like it at all. I must admit my work kept me so busy that I didn’t notice anyone around.”
Next, Nancy told the young architect about the vine barrier in the stream.
“This is serious,” he said. “I’ll ask Uncle Rufus to search the swamp.”
He called down softly to Uncle Rufus, requesting him to hunt for any persons who might be watching the group on the boat. As the old man nodded and paddled off, Nancy suggested that the rest of them make certain no one was hiding on the boat itself.
The searchers separated, with Charles offering to go down into the hold of the vessel to find out if anyone were there. Nancy took the dressing rooms and upper deck, Bess the auditorium, and George the stage.
A thorough search was made. Doors to rooms and closets creaked on their hinges as they were opened, but all were empty except for spider webs.
Bess, after looking in the theater, wandered along one of the nearby corridors. With a start, she suddenly saw a reflection in a full-length mirror on the wall ahead of her. The frame was tarnished with age and the figure looked wavery.
“Oh!” she cried with a little shiver. Then, realizing the reflection was her own, she ran out on deck.
“This is positively the spookiest place I’ve ever been in!” she said to Nancy, who had just come down from investigating the lookout and second deck.
Soon George joined them, then Charles. All reported there was no evidence that anyone besides themselves was aboard.
A few moments later Uncle Rufus returned. He reported that there was no one within a hundred yards of the River Princess. “I sure did look sharp every which way,” the elderly man assured them. Then he added that he must leave soon.
“We’ll be ready in a few minutes,” Nancy told him. She turned to Charles and asked him if he had ever been on the showboat after dark.
“No, I haven’t,” he said. “In fact, I’ve never even been in the bayou after sundown.” Then, reading Nancy’s thoughts, he asked, “Would you girls like to visit the River Princess some evening with me?”
“Oh, we’d love to,” Nancy replied.
Charles Bartolome offered to bring them to the showboat the following evening. Bess did not look enthusiastic, but managed to smile feebly. George declared it would be an interesting adventure. “Maybe after dark we’ll be able to scare up those showboat spooks,” she
said.
At this, Bess’s faint smile faded completely. She threw a withering glance at her cousin and said, “Don’t sound so happy about it. If we do come across any ghosts, you can catch them all, George Fayne!”
Nancy, George, and Charles chuckled, then Nancy said:
“It will be a wonderful trip. And, Charles, if you don’t mind, I’d like to keep it a secret.”
He grinned, gave the girls a wink, and said, “I understand. And I’m very flattered that you’re going to permit me to help you solve the mystery .”
“It may be a long pull,” Nancy warned him.
Charles said he realized that. “But if it isn’t solved by Mardi Gras time, I guess there won’t be much use.”
After Nancy and her friends had climbed down the ladder and were seated in the canoe, he called to them, “How about you girls coming to my home to dinner tomorrow evening before we go? I know Mother would like very much to meet you. Dad would too, but he’s away for a few days.”
“That’s very kind,” said Nancy. “I’d love to come.”
“I’d be thrilled,” Bess spoke up, and George added her thanks.
“Then Mother will be calling you,” Charles promised.
The girls waved good-by as Uncle Rufus started paddling down the stream. On the return trip he entertained them with stories of Negro life in Africa centuries ago.
“Nancy! Watch out!” Bess screamed
“It was my ancestors that invented the first long-distance com-mun-i-cation,” he said proudly. “We made drums that could carry sounds for miles an’ miles. The folks in one place sent signals an’ messages by beatin’ on the drums with their hands. Then the next village would pick it up an’ send the signal on to another place far away. That’s how they got all the members of a tribe together for special meetin’s an’ for fightin’ wars.”
“Very ingenious,” George remarked.
Not once did Uncle Rufus refer to voodooism or to the fact that he himself was a voodoo doctor or preacher.
Just before the canoe reached the area in the stream where it joined the cleared section, the craft floated over a large pad of white lilies.
“Aren’t they pretty?” Bess asked.
Nancy nodded and decided to pick a few of the flowers to take to Mrs. Haver. In pulling the first one, she felt the whole root coming away. She yanked at it hard and in a moment felt the clump pull loose.
The same instant, Bess, who was watching her chum, screamed. She had seen the snout of an alligator rising from beneath the leaves. The reptile’s jaws were aiming for Nancy’s hand!
“Look out!” Bess yelled.
CHAPTER XI
A Puzzling Attitude
BESS’S cry alerted Nancy. Just in time she saw the reptile and quickly pulled in her hand, still holding the lily plant.
“Oh!” Bess gave a huge sigh of relief.
But the next moment her fright returned. Nancy and George, too, were alarmed. The alligator, as if annoyed because he had been disturbed, turned, flipping his tail. It whacked the canoe so hard that the little craft almost overturned.
Uncle Rufus stood up and hit the alligator’s head with his paddle. The elderly man succeeded in stunning the alligator by hitting the vulnerable aperture behind the reptile’s ear. Then Uncle Rufus sat down and began to paddle furiously downstream.
“Whew!” George burst out. “I never want to get that close to such a beast again!”
“Nor I,” said Bess with a shudder. “Oh, you’re so brave, Uncle Rufus!”
The old Negro’s face broke into a broad grin. “When you lives with ‘gators all your life, you don’t fool around with ’em!” he said.
When they reached the old man’s cabin, the girls thanked him for his help, then returned to Sunnymead in Nancy’s car. There, tea was being served on the patio and Mrs. Haver invited the girls to join the group.
“My, but you all look mysterious,” Donna Mae remarked. “Let me guess—you’ve been in the bayou.”
When Bess confessed that they had been, Alex added, “And I’d like to bet you’ve been to the showboat.”
“You’re right,” Nancy admitted. Before Alex could pursue the subject, she added, “The most exciting part of our trip was meeting an alligator.”
“Oh, how positively horrid!” Donna Mae ex. claimed.
The story was told in detail and Nancy hoped that no further reference would be made to the showboat. But Alex had not forgotten it.
“Well,” he spoke up, “now that you’ve seen the River Princess, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that it’s a hopeless mess. There’s no point in trying to move the boat from the bayou. It would be much too expensive.”
“But, Alex dear, what are we going to do about a place to hold the ball?” Donna Mae asked.
“Don’t you worry, honey,” Alex said reassuringly. “I have a splendid idea. We can turn this house into a showboat!”
For a moment the Havers and their daughter were stunned by the suggestion. But presently, as Alex explained how all the furniture could be moved from the living room and a stage erected at one end, they became interested.
“If we can’t have the real thing,” remarked the Colonel, “I suppose we’d better start making plans immediately to decorate this place.”
The girls from River Heights, however, were extremely disappointed at this turn of events and took no part in the planning. They thought Alex’s suggestion a poor substitute for the Colonel’s original idea—and Nancy herself did not want to give up an unsolved mystery.
Presently Alex left the group to look over the living room and decide how he would dismantle it. Mrs. Haver mentioned to her visitors that the family had been invited to a neighbor’s home to a dinner party the following evening. “Would you girls like to accompany us? You’re invited,” she said.
“We’d love to, but the three of us have already made another engagement,” Nancy told her hostess.
“Why, how nice! But I didn’t realize you knew anyone down here,” said Mrs. Haver, and Donna Mae asked, “Where are you going?”
Nancy told them about having met Charles Bartolome, and the invitation to his home to dinner. Mrs. Haver, at first surprised, looked embarrassed when Donna Mae suddenly burst into tears and fled from the room. Excusing herself, the woman hurried after her daughter.
“How odd,” said George. “What ails Donna Mae, anyhow!”
“Maybe we shouldn’t have said anything about Charles to her,” Nancy suggested.
“Do you think we ought to turn down the invitation?” Bess asked. “It seems to have upset Donna Mae terribly and we are guests here.”
“Of course we shouldn’t give it up,” her cousin said determinedly. “This is a good opportunity for us to find out more about the mystery of the showboat.”
As the girls quietly discussed the situation, Mrs. Haver returned and requested Nancy and her friends not to go to the Bartolomes.
“Donna Mae is in hysterics,” she said. “Nancy, suppose you go upstairs and tell her you’ve changed your mind.”
The young sleuth went to Donna Mae’s bedroom. Expecting to find the girl in tears, Nancy was surprised to see the bride-to-be seated at her dressing table, putting on make-up.
“Donna Mae,” Nancy began, “I’m sorry that I—”
“Oh, don’t be sorry about anything,” Donna Mae said airily, admiring her left profile in the mirror. “Go to the Bartolomes if you wish. It means nothing to me.”
Nancy was both perplexed and amused by the girl’s seeming change of heart. But she was convinced that Donna Mae was putting on an act and that she was actually in love with Charles —only too proud to admit it.
“You don’t mind if we accept?” Nancy asked.
“Certainly not,” Donna Mae replied. “And please tell Mother for me.”
Nancy hurried downstairs. She met Mrs. Haver in the hall and gave her Donna Mae’s message. The hostess forced a laugh and said, “Well, I’m glad that’s straightened out.”
Just then, the telephone rang and she went to answer it. A few moments later Mrs. Haver came out to the patio where Nancy had rejoined her friends. Their hostess said that Mrs. Bartolome had called to confirm the dinner invitation.
“She’ll expect you girls at seven.”
Later, when Nancy was alone in her own room with Bess and George, she told them of her conversation with Donna Mae and added her own thought that the girl was still in love with her ex-fiancé.
“Then let’s get them together again!” Bess declared.
Nancy smiled. “But first, let’s solve the mystery. I want to show Mrs. Haver the lovely old hairpin I found.”
Knowing that their hostess always rested before dinner, Nancy waited until a few minutes before seven, then went to Mrs. Haver’s bedroom, and tapped lightly on the door. “Come in!” the woman called.
“Oh, how pretty you look!” she said, admiring Nancy’s powder-blue eyelet-embroidered dress.
“Thank you. Mrs. Haver, I have something to show you,” Nancy said. She told the woman of her discovery and held up the hairpin.
“Why, how strange—how very strange!” Without another word, Mrs. Haver rushed to her bureau, opened a drawer, and took out a jewel box. She rummaged through it and a few seconds later held up a hairpin very much like the one the young detective had found.
“For a moment I thought the one you had was mine, Nancy,” she said. “These two are almost identical. I wonder who could have dropped the other one.”
“So do I,” Nancy confided.
For the next ten minutes Nancy discussed the strange affair with Mrs. Haver, but neither could come to any conclusion. Finally the two walked down the stairs to dinner.
Donna Mae had completely recovered her composure. Her conversation was scintillating and the Northern girls were amazed that her attitude had changed so quickly and so completely.
Toward the end of the meal, Donna Mae smiled gaily and announced, “I have a wonderful surprise for you girls. Alex has invited all of us to New Orleans for a gala time tomorrow.”
The Haunted Showboat Page 6
