“And he didn’t know whether you recognized him or not,” Nancy added. “That’s why he didn’t claim his trunk. He saw it brought into our cabin, and noticed you standing there when he looked in the open door. So he complained to the porter, and when the porter asked August to identify his piece, the suspect disappeared because he would have to do it in your presence!”
“Did you find the bracelet you were accused of stealing in this trunk, Miss Detweiler?” the FBI man Carson asked.
Nelda shook her head. “No, we didn’t.”
Nancy had a sudden hunch. She knew it was a wild idea, but she asked the customs man to pull the brass trimmings off the mystery trunk.
“That’s one place we didn’t examine,” she said. “It’s possible something is hidden under them.”
Despite Otto August’s protest the customs official took a chisel from his pocket and slowly raised one of the brass trimmings. There was nothing under it.
“This is preposterous!” August shouted. “I insist you stop wrecking my trunk!”
The customs man paid no attention. He deftly inserted the chisel under the second brass binding. As it fell off, an exquisite diamond bracelet came with it!
Nelda picked it up and turned it in her hands. “This is the one!” she cried out. “The one I was accused of stealing. Oh, Nancy, now I’ve been exonerated.”
Otto August’s face had become very pale and his friend was so weak he had to sit down on a nearby packing box. Nancy examined the tag on the bracelet. It was from a Johannesburg jeweler! She showed it to the FBI and customs officials.
Carson said, “This is the most important find we’ve made in a long time. We’ll dub it the finger-language gang heist.”
“These people also broke into our cabin and wrecked it,” Nancy said. “And they threw Nelda and me overboard two nights ago.”
August and his companion did not confess, but they did not deny the accusation either.
“Just tell me one more thing,” Nancy asked the jewel thief. “On deck one day I picked up another part of a finger language message, ‘Crew can help find necklace.’ Whom did you refer to?”
August looked thoroughly beaten. “That had nothing to do with the Winschoten,” he mumbled, but would say no more.
At this moment Rod Havelock walked up to the group. He asked Mr. Carson to accompany him to the captain’s quarters. “We’ll have to get the jewels and the documents out of his safe,” Rod said, “and turn them over to the customs people.”
“Of course,” Carson replied.
Nancy turned to the FBI men. “I suppose this is all the proof you need to let us go?”
“Certainly. And let me commend you on having done a terrific job, Miss Drew.”
The men said good-by and left just as Otto August and his friend were led away. A police officer went to collect the other luggage of the two men, who would be taken to headquarters.
Nancy’s trunk was now examined along with her friends’ luggage and okayed. A few minutes later the girls followed two porters who were wheeling their bags to the exit.
Directly on the other side of the visitors’ fence stood three smiling boys, Ned, Burt, and Dave!
The girls received warm hugs and kisses, then Nelda was introduced. She said, “You boys are very lucky to have such marvelous girls as friends. They have done me a tremendous favor and cleared me of a false-theft charge, and they captured two criminals.”
Ned laughed. “This doesn’t surprise me in the least,” he said. “Wherever Nancy goes, intrigue follows.”
“I hope we will see one another soon,” Nelda said. “But now I must leave you. I see relatives over there who have come to meet me.”
Nancy, Bess, and George were sorry to see Nelda go. Would they ever have such an exciting time again with a roommate who started out as a stranger to them?
It was not long, however, before Nancy and her friends were involved in another case, later called Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion.
As the young people walked toward the new Nickerson station wagon, Nancy said, “There’s only one thing we haven’t been able to find out.”
“What’s that?” Bess asked.
“Who ripped the stickers off August’s trunk?”
“Maybe they came off in handling,” George suggested.
“I doubt that,” Nancy said. “Usually they’re pasted on quite firmly. But I have a theory. What do you think about this? The two trunks are standing in the loading area. Along comes someone with mischief on his mind. He sees the similarity in the luggage and figures if he takes the stickers off he can cause some confusion.”
“But then why did he remove them from one trunk and not the other?” George asked.
“Perhaps he was interrupted and had to run off.”
“That’s possible,” George agreed. “And whom do you suspect?”
For a moment there was silence, then all three girls broke out in laughter. “Young Bobby. Who else?” Nancy chuckled.
“And you’re right! Ha, ha!” said a little boy’s voice as the mischievous youngster ran past them, swinging his skateboard.
Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk Page 12