Mystery of the Tolling Bell

by Carolyn G. Keene

  Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she groped her way along the passageway until she glimpsed a closed door a short distance ahead. Again George called to Nancy, but there was no reply. Just then her light flickered violently and went out. George had no way to relight the candle. She chided herself for not bringing the matchbook.

  As she was about to turn back, George suddenly became aware of footsteps. The tread seemed too heavy to be Nancy’s!

  George flattened herself into a deep niche in the wall. A figure and the dim rays of a flashlight passed close by her. Moments later a tall man was silhouetted in the doorway at the top of the stairs. He went through and closed the door behind him.

  George stumbled up the stairway and tested the door. Her worst fears were confirmed. It was locked! She and Nancy were prisoners underneath the cottage!

  In desperation George kicked and pounded on the door, shouting to be released. There was no response.

  “That man, whoever he is, has probably left the house,” she thought. “Oh, I must find Nancy!”

  Remembering the door in the passageway, George groped her way down again. At her touch the door moved inward.

  George could see nothing, for the room was dark, but she did note a strange sweet scent. As she breathed deeply, a dizzy, giddy feeling took possession of her.

  “Why, Nancy had these sensations just before she fell asleep on the cliff!” George recalled. “I’m being drugged!”

  With all the strength she could muster, George pulled the door tightly shut. She felt so weak her limbs barely could carry her away. Through sheer will power she stumbled along the passageway and up the stairs to the locked door. Dropping to the floor, she pressed her face close to the crack underneath and sucked in great gulps of uncontaminated air.

  At once George felt better. Then, as she realized how narrowly she had escaped being drugged, a feeling of panic for Nancy’s safety came over her.

  “I’ll have to do something!” George thought desperately. “But what? Oh, why doesn’t Ned come?”

  At that moment Nancy was indeed in need of help. After leaving George, she had reached the closed door in the passageway and cautiously opened it.

  A dim light burned overhead in the room, revealing a strange sight. Shelves along the walls were filled with bottles, vials, and flasks of colored liquid. There were large quantities of perfume, lipstick, and face powder.

  “The cosmetic factory!” Nancy thought excitedly as she closed the door. Her gaze roved to a table on which lay scattered samples of both Mon Coeur and the newer Sweet Chimes labels. Hanging above the door was a gong.

  At that instant Nancy became aware of men’s low voices. Expecting them to come through the passageway door, she frantically sought a hiding place. Several wooden benches which stood against a wall offered the only possibility. Quickly she crawled underneath one.

  Nancy had just hidden herself when she heard the voices again. To her alarm the sounds seemed to come from behind the very wall where she crouched!

  One of the men said, “I’ll go join Franz on watch, but you have your orders, Grumper! I arranged for that old fool Amos Hendrick to come to the cave. All you have to do is get his money, and if you’re wise you’ll keep him there until the tide comes in. Then send him out in his boat. After that, you race up the stairway and escape.”

  Crouching beneath the bench, Nancy was startled to hear a key turning and to see that close by, another bench was slowly moving inward! Evidently it was attached to a secret door which now was being opened by the approaching men.

  A rush of cool air struck the young detective’s face. As she remained motionless, the door with the bench opened wider and two men, one with a lighted lantern, tramped in. Nancy caught a quick glimpse of descending stone steps, and guessed that they led directly to the interior of the tolling-bell cave.

  One of the men was exceptionally short with fuzzy red hair. He had an unpleasant expression. Nancy was certain he must be A. H.’s old enemy, Grumper. From her position she could not see the other man’s face, but his stocky figure was like that of Harry Tyrox, alias Monsieur Pappier and Mr. James! He carried a lantern.

  Nancy listened intently to their conversation. Suddenly she heard George’s echoing shout from the passageway.

  “Nancy! Nancy! Where are you?”

  The two men stiffened.

  “Get to work, Grumper!” the stocky one ordered in a whisper. “We have visitors. Franz must’ve tried to signal us. Something has happened to him!”

  Grumper pulled a bottle of blue powder from one of the wall shelves, and with a little water he quickly mixed it into a solution. Dividing the liquid equally into two containers, he jammed one of them into a tiny niche in the stone ceiling and left the other standing uncovered on the floor.

  “Now I’ll take care of Hendrick!” he said.

  “Good!” the other replied. “I’ll go out through the cave and up to the cliff.”

  “But whatever happened to Franz may happen to you!”

  “No one is going to interfere with my plans,” the taller man declared emphatically.

  He extinguished the overhead light. Nancy watched as the two slipped through the door by which they had entered and closed it behind them.

  “I must follow and help A. H.,” she decided.

  But as Nancy crawled from beneath the bench, a sweet-smelling scent began to fill the room. She became light-headed.

  “The drug!” she thought in panic. “Unless I get out of here quickly, I’ll never make it!”

  The door through which Nancy had entered seemed miles away from her. In her stupor she believed that her only escape was through the bench door the men had used. Could she move it?

  Using all her strength, she tugged at the bench. It would not budge. Feeling so dizzy that she scarcely knew what she was doing, Nancy made another desperate attempt to turn the handle and yank the bench door forward.

  “Oh, please open!” she whispered. “Please!”

  Suddenly it moved inward. Nancy staggered through and closed the door. Then she collapsed on the stone steps.

  It was several minutes before her head cleared enough for her to think. The flashlight had fallen from her hand. After groping about in the darkness, Nancy recovered it and focused the rays upon the dial of her wristwatch.

  “Only ten minutes until the tide is due to turn!” she thought. “Where is Grumper? If he carries out his orders, Amos Hendrick will surely drown!”

  Without considering her own safety, Nancy started to descend the steep stairway to the cave. When halfway down, she heard the tinkle of a beautiful, sweet-toned bell. Switching off the flashlight, she paused. Below she saw a flash of brilliant light.

  Making no sound, Nancy swiftly went down the rest of the steps. She came to a passageway that veered to the right. As the young detective rounded the corner she saw a white-hooded figure standing on the ledge inside the cave. The ghost was swinging a small bell which gave a sweet, musical sound.

  “Just as I thought!” Nancy told herself as she hugged the damp wall to keep from being seen. “This is the interior of the tolling-bell cave! And that ghost can be only one person—Grumper!”

  As the bell swung back and forth, it gave off flashes of iridescent fire. Only priceless diamonds could provide such a rainbow of colors!

  “The stolen Hendrick heirloom!” Nancy thought excitedly. But at the same time she realized that it could not be the tolling bell. “That has a much bigger, deeper sound!”

  Suddenly she heard the splash of oars. Someone in a boat had ventured deep into the cavern. Was the person Amos Hendrick, or perhaps one of the Mon Coeur gang? Glancing nervously at her watch, Nancy waited.

  At intervals, Grumper tinkled the bell. When the boat came quite close, he suddenly stripped off his ghost costume and flung it aside. Then, still clutching the precious bell, he crept forward.

  Nancy now could see that the man in the boat was Amos Hendrick. Presently he tied up his craft and stepped onto t
he rocky ledge. As he did so he saw the half-crouched figure.

  “Grumper!” he exclaimed. “So we meet at last!”

  “Yes, you trailed me to Candleton, but it will do you no good!” the little man cried out.

  “You’re wrong,” retorted A. H. His eyes gleamed as he looked at the bell. “I won’t haggle over price, but you’ll sell it to me or go to jail!”

  Grumper chuckled evilly. “That’s impossible. You couldn’t get the police if you tried. It’s too late! The hour of doom is upon you! The bell is mine! I will taste revenge for what your father did to my father!”

  “Grumper, you’re crazy! My family always treated your father with more respect and consideration than was his due. The truth is, he robbed my grandfather while working in his forge! Now give me the bell!”

  “Neither of us will live to keep it,” the elfin man retorted, backing away. “It will disappear, just as the ghost who has frightened folks away from this cave will vanish forever!”

  “You’re talking wild! Give me that bell or I’ll take it from you. I have three times your strength, Grumper.”

  “You may seize the bell, but you’ll drown! Any moment now the ocean will rush through this cave!”

  Nancy, knowing that the threat was not an idle one, called frantically from the stone stairway:

  “A. H.! A. H.! It’s true! The tide will turn any minute! We must all get out of the cave before it’s too late!”

  The old man looked at the girl as if she were a ghost. “Nancy Drew! How did you get here?”

  “Never mind! We’re all in danger!” Nancy cried. “Follow me up these steps!”

  Grumper snarled at the girl and barred the man’s path.

  “You’ll have to fight me to get past here!” he chortled. “Anyway, it’s too late! I can hear the water now!”

  Hopping about gleefully, the crazed man swung the bell. A. H. pushed him aside and dashed for the steps. Grumper laughed wildly.

  “The waters will swirl to the very top of the cave stairs!” He chuckled. “And the door to the lab locks itself from the outside.”

  “Quick, you fool!” Hendrick cried. “Give us the key!”

  “I threw mine away! We’ll all die here together!”

  Nancy and A. H. were frantic. Although escape seemed impossible, they started up the steps. Grumper trailed them, gloating over his enemy’s predicament. When they reached the top, A. H. stood gasping for breath as Nancy turned to Grumper.

  “Why don’t you try to save yourself?” she urged, hoping that he might know some other way out of the cave. “Your boss didn’t ask you to give up your own life.”

  “That guy who calls himself Monsieur Pappier and Mr. James and half a dozen other names will no longer be my boss.” Grumper laughed mirthlessly. ”His real name is Harry Tyrox, and he’s a trickster and a cheat. Why, he even tried to steal my jeweled bell and sell it to Hendrick. When I found him out, he bargained with me to share the money I’d get for it. But I’ve outwitted him! I’ll take the bell with me to the bottom of the sea!”

  “We must get out before it’s too late!” Nancy called frantically.

  “So that’s what upset you?” Nancy managed to speak soothingly as she tried desperately to gain their freedom. “You thought Tyrox intended to take the bell. Just lead us out of this trap and we’ll have the police put that man behind bars.”

  “It’s no use,” Grumper replied in a calmer voice. “I have no key and the secret door is locked.”

  “Then we really are trapped here?” Nancy asked, losing heart for the first time.

  “Yes, we’re trapped. I’m sorry you have to go, too. When you first came to the cave I tried to frighten you away, and later that day I hoped to scare you with sleeping-gas fumes. But you wouldn’t leave me alone, so you must suffer too.”

  At that instant in the cavern below they heard a faint, gurgling sound.

  “The water is starting through,” Grumper said. “In a moment it will come with a rushl”

  In desperation Nancy pounded on the heavy secret door, but succeeded only in bruising her fists.

  “Help! Help!” she called weakly.

  Then suddenly Nancy wondered if her mind was playing a cruel trick on her. From behind the door had she heard footsteps and a muffled voice?

  CHAPTER XX

  The Bell’s Secret

  FRANTICALLY Nancy pounded on the heavy door. Again she heard the muffled voice on the other side, but could not make out the words. Maybe the person was asking where the secret door was.

  “The bench!” she cried. “Pull on the bench!”

  At that moment the tolling of the bell reverberated throughout their rocky prison, followed by a thunderous roar as the surf from the ocean rushed into the cave. Drenched with spray, Nancy and the two men clung to the wall. As the noise subsided, they saw the swirling water rising toward their feet.

  “Pull!” screamed Nancy, pounding on the door as hard as she could. “Turn the handle and pull the bench!”

  An eternity seemed to pass as the water lapped closer. Then slowly the door began to open inward. Gas fumes poured out, but Nancy staggered forward, holding her breath. Behind her came Amos Hendrick. Grumper, paralyzed with fear, cowered on the steps below.

  Nancy caught a glimpse of their rescuer, a young man in a gas mask which protected him from the fumes. He was Ned!

  “Water coming!” she gasped. “Man still below!”

  “Go on!” he shouted to Nancy.

  She assisted Amos Hendrick to the passageway, where the air was comparatively fresh. Ned ran down to the frightened little man on the stairway and hustled him inside the laboratory. Barely in time to prevent the room from being flooded, Ned pushed the bench door shut.

  Then he turned to Grumper. The man had collapsed on the floor, a victim of the fumes he had concocted!

  Ned picked him up in a fireman’s carry. When he staggered into the cottage with his burden, he pulled off his gas mask. Nancy’s first question was:

  “Where’s George?”

  “She went down to the outside cave entrance with a trooper,” Ned replied. “Nancy, you owe your life to George,” he said soberly.

  “And to you!” Nancy said.

  He waved aside the remark and continued, “When I delivered your prisoner to State Police Headquarters, I asked one of the troopers to return here with me. We couldn’t find anyone inside the cottage. Then we shouted your names, and heard George pounding on the door hidden by the fishnets.

  “George was convinced you were lying unconscious in the fume-filled room. Fortunately the trooper had a gas mask, a flashlight, and other equipment in his car. That’s about all there is to tell, except that when I couldn’t find you in the laboratory I became desperate. Just as I started away again I heard you pound on the bench door.”

  Nancy was too shaken to say much. At that moment George rushed into the cottage wild-eyed. Seeing Nancy, she flung her arms about her friend.

  “Oh, you’re safe!” she cried. “And I thought—”

  Ned turned Grumper over to the state trooper. “Anyone else downstairs?” he asked.

  “No,” Nancy spoke up, “but did you catch his partner on the cliff?”

  To a negative reply, Nancy said, “The worst criminal of all has escaped—Harry Tyrox, who also calls himself Monsieur Pappier and Mr. James. He must have seen you coming and decided his freedom meant more to him than Hendrick’s money.”

  “Just give me a description of him and we’ll pick him up,” the police officer said confidently. “I’ll notify headquarters over my car radio.”

  Nancy and her friends returned to Mrs. Chantrey’s house. Within an hour they were informed that Harry Tyrox had been captured on the road while attempting to flee. Immediately Nancy telephoned her father to tell of the arrests.

  “Good work, Nancy,” he said proudly. “I knew you wouldn’t need me to clear up the case.”

  The next morning Nancy and the others were given permission to talk to
Grumper and Harry Tyrox. Soon the whole swindling operation was revealed. Based on information given by the two prisoners, New York police were alerted to pick up the man whom Mr. Drew had met when he went to see Tyrox.

  Ferdinand Slocum, the hotel clerk in Fisher’s Cove, had been brought in for questioning. Frightened, the man admitted his part in the swindle.

  “Harry Tyrox and I were friends. He offered me a cut in the cosmetic and perfume business if I would let him use the hotel for some of his shady deals,” he confessed. “After Harry saw Mr. Drew in New York, he phoned me that the lawyer was coming to Candleton and something had to be done to keep him at Fisher’s Cove. So I told Amy we had to get busy.”

  “Your wife?” Nancy asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Go on with your story.”

  “I might as well tell it from the beginning. Soon after we were married, Amy mentioned the hidden door and the passageway to the cave. Her foster father had a workshop down there.”

  “Surely he didn’t build the tunnel himself.”

  “No, it was there when the Maguires bought the cottage. Old Grandpa Maguire discovered the closed-up entranceway one day when he was repairing the wall, and the secret was always kept in the family. The cave originally was used as a hideout by pirates.”

  “Tell me about the cosmetic factory,” Nancy urged. “Whose idea was that?”

  “Harry’s. I foolishly told him about the workshop above the cave, and right away he thought he saw a chance for big money. The plan was to make cheap imitations of very expensive products and sell them under the Mon Coeur name. First, he got the Maguires out by telling them Amy was in trouble with the police and they would be disgraced when the townspeople heard about it. They packed up and moved away immediately.”

  “How did Grumper figure in the scheme?”

  “Harry knew about him and some crimes he’d committed. He promised Grumper a lot of money if he’d come in with us and work as our chemist. Grumper thought he could use the money to go away some place where no one knew him, so he agreed. But he didn’t figure on Amos Hendrick.”