The Sky Phantom

by Carolyn G. Keene

  “Is it bad news?” Nancy asked quickly.

  “If you mean trouble at home, the answer is no,” Pop replied.

  “Then what is it?”

  “Oh, well, I might as well tell you. I think it might directly concern you. This mystery man who called said, ‘Keep that snoopy girl off my trail, or——’ Nancy, could he have meant you?”

  “Possibly. What else did he say?”

  Pop Hamilton did not reply at once. He seemed to be debating with himself whether or not to give Nancy the rest of the message.

  CHAPTER IV

  Spooked!

  WHEN the dance concluded, Nancy and Pop walked outdoors together. She said to him, “Please tell me the rest of the phone message that worried you.”

  “All right,” he said. “The man who called threatened not only you but everyone else who dared to interfere with his plans.”

  “What are his plans?” Nancy asked.

  She was not disturbed because she had been threatened many times before. The young sleuth figured that such people are usually cowards and invariably defeat their own purposes.

  Pop Hamilton said the man had not told him anything else. “In fact, he hung up as soon as he had delivered his message.”

  “Was his voice familiar to you?” Nancy inquired.

  Pop shook his head. “It was rather deep. He spoke crisply and unpleasantly. I don’t know anyone like that.”

  He patted Nancy on the shoulder. “I hope you won’t worry about this. But promise me you will always have someone with you in case this stranger comes to bother you.”

  Nancy agreed, and the two walked back into the mess hall. In a moment, Nancy was claimed by another cowboy dancer, and spent the rest of the evening having a very good time with lots of jokes and laughter.

  Later, she, Bess, and George prepared for bed. Nancy told the cousins what Pop had said and warned them to be very careful and never to travel alone anywhere.

  George’s eyes had a faraway look. “There’s something really big going on in connection with this mystery,” she said.

  Bess was alarmed. “Oh, Nancy, why can’t you ever solve a mystery without all sorts of threats and harrowing dangers to you, George, and me?”

  Nancy did not reply. She merely smiled and brushed her hair vigorously. The next morning she was up early and off on horseback to the Excello Flying School. It was not until she reached a lonely stretch of road that Nancy remembered her promise to Pop never to travel alone.

  Now, however, there was no one in sight. She felt perfectly safe.

  Suddenly, another horseman appeared around a curve. Nancy would meet him head-on! Would he be friendly or try to harm her?

  The young sleuth’s pulse began to throb. Should she race back to the ranch or take a chance? Nancy remembered that while flying she had seen an old road to the school. It led up over a hill. Quickly she pulled on her right rein and galloped across a field, then up the slope and among some trees. Now she was not visible to the other rider!

  “What a relief!” she thought.

  Nancy rode down the far side of the slope within sight of the airfield. She urged her pony on and within a short time reached the school.

  Bruce was not there yet. The manager saw her and called Nancy to the desk. “Bruce telephoned,” he explained, “and told me he would be late. He said if you wanted to use another instructor today, it would be okay.”

  “Thank you,” Nancy said, and went over to sit down on a bench. She would wait for Bruce.

  At this moment another pilot came up to her. He talked so fast, running all his words together, that she had no idea what he was saying.

  “Sorry, but I didn’t understand you,” she interrupted.

  Once more he spouted off at a dizzy speed. “I’m HalCalkin. Isaidmorninhiya. Swelldayforflying. Howy’allfixedfortime. Lemmeseeyourlogbook.”

  Although it was hopeless to follow everything, she figured out that Hal Calkin was his name.

  “Thanks very much, Hal,” she said. “I’m waiting for Bruce.”

  Nancy concluded that even though Hal might be a good pilot, he would be an impossible instructor to understand. She had better not try it at this point in her lessons!

  The affable Hal grinned and said, “’tsokay. Wellgoodluck.”

  After he moved off, Nancy tried to recall what Hal had said. She had just about unscrambled his remarks, “Swell day for flying. How are you fixed for time? Let me see your logbook,” when Bruce walked in. He hurried over to her.

  “I’m so glad you waited. Well, I’m ready if you are.”

  “All set,” she replied as they walked out to the airfield.

  The morning’s lesson was to practice steep turns and accelerated stalls. When they reached a wide-open area, Nancy took the plane up to 3,500 feet. Now she did a series of steep spirals.

  “Very well done,” said Bruce. “I think I’ll try you on some ess-turns.”

  He pointed to a straight narrow river some distance ahead. “Use that as your pattern. Where is the wind now?”

  “From the east,” she replied.

  Bruce instructed her to cross the stream. “When you reach the other side, your steepest bank will be required to take you on the first right turn of your ess. As you come back across the water, this will be the shallowest part of your second bank. You’ll make a wide curve, then cross the stream again.”

  “And make another steep bank?” Nancy asked.

  Bruce nodded, and with a grin said, “How many times do you think you could do this without becoming dizzy?”

  Nancy chuckled. “What’s the record?”

  Bruce remarked that he would not dare tell her because she would try to beat it.

  Smiling, he changed the subject. “We’ll practice some eights-around.”

  Bruce explained to his student that the maneuver was performed at a fairly low altitude. She was to select two prominent points on the ground below spaced about two or three miles apart.

  “In addition to this,” her instructor added, “the axis between your selected ground points must be at a right angle to the wind.”

  “The wind is from the north,” Nancy observed. “That means my ground points should be east and west.”

  “Good!” Bruce said. “Now the purpose of this maneuver is to teach you how to maintain a fixed radius, or distance, from your selected ground points while turning around them.”

  “I read about eights-around in my textbook,” Nancy said. “If we could see our shadow moving across the ground, we’d see our plane making figure-eights between the two ground points.”

  Bruce was pleased. “You catch on fast,” he told his student. “And remembert Shallow out the bank of your turn when flying upwind around the ground point, and steepen the bank when turning downwind.”

  Nancy completed the maneuver with a good score. She continued the turns until Bruce decided to call it a day. On the way back to Excello, Nancy flew directly over the site where Roger Paine’s plane had landed, then mysteriously left again. Apparently, the craft had been taken away forever. But where was Roger Paine?

  Nancy went on. Reaching the flying school’s airstrip, the girl pilot came in for a smooth three-point landing.

  “I’ve certainly enjoyed my lesson today,” she said. “Thanks a lot. I came over on a pony, so I won’t need a ride back.”

  Fortunately there were cars and other horse-men on the road as Nancy returned to the ranch, so she was not worried about anyone stopping her.

  When she arrived, the young flier went to the girls’ bedroom. Both of her friends were there.

  Bess said, “Oh Nancy, you’ll have to join us day after tomorrow! We have marvelous plans for you.”

  “What’s up?” Nancy asked.

  Bess told her that she had arranged with Pop Hamilton for an all-night pack trip on horseback. “Pop will go with us along with Chuck and Range Cooper.” She giggled. “Range’s real name is Wilfred, but he doesn’t like it. Someone nicknamed him Range. He lov
es to be out on the range, rounding up strays.”

  George took up the story. “First we’ll go to the place where you found the parachute, and make another search for Major and a chutist. Pop thinks the State Police might have overlooked some clue. He’s determined to find his prize pony. Then we’ll go on to the landing site of Roger Paine’s plane.”

  Nancy said the trip sounded wonderful to her. “I can take a double lesson tomorrow to make up for the time we’ll be away.”

  She phoned Bruce to ask if this were possible and he was happy to change her schedule.

  The next morning, when Nancy and Bruce were airborne, she asked if they might go beyond the mystery spot during her lesson.

  “Let’s see if we can possibly find out anything to help explain the disappearance of Roger Paine,” she pleaded. Nancy said she was more convinced than ever that there had been some kind of foul play, with a very good chance the vanished pilot had been hidden in this region.

  “Maybe Roger Paine is being held captive inside the great cloud,” Bruce commented with a smile.

  The young detective, who had been considering every angle of the case, surprised him by saying, “I thought of that too and called a climatologist at the state university.”

  Bruce’s eyes opened wide. “You told him you thought a man was trapped in a cloud?” he asked in amazement. “You don’t really believe that’s possible, do you?”

  Nancy smiled when her instructor chuckled. “I wanted to know what, if any, investigation of the cloud had been done,” she explained.

  Bruce became serious again. “A great deal, I imagine.”

  “You’re absolutely correct. The climatology department has thoroughly examined the cloud on two occasions. Apparently it is nothing more than a vapory mass protected by surrounding mountains, just as you told me.”

  Bruce admired Nancy’s clear thinking and concluded she would make an excellent pilot. As she flew the plane, he requested her to go through various maneuvers. Only once did she make a bad mistake.

  Feeling a bit overconfident, Nancy decided to show Bruce her mastery of steep turns. Rolling into a tight spiral she applied top rudder to prevent the nose of the plane from dropping too rapidly. This served only to aggravate the turn. In an effort to check her descent, Nancy pulled back violently on the stick. Suddenly, the plane snapped over in the opposite direction of the turn and entered a vicious spin.

  “Wha-What’s happening?” Nancy cried out.

  “An over-the-top spin!” Bruce shouted. “The spin is to the right! Left rudder! Left rudder!”

  Nancy quickly responded to his instructions. The moment the plane stopped spinning, she eased the stick forward and then carefully pulled it back, gradually recovering from the steep dive.

  “It looks as if I’ve turned out to be a bad student,” Nancy sighed.

  “Nonsense!” Bruce declared. “You followed my instructions without a hitch. But you forgot a very important bit of advice. Go easy! Respect an aircraft—and the aircraft will respect you.”

  Some twenty minutes later the two fliers noted a lone horseman on a narrow trail they had not seen before. Nancy grabbed the binoculars and trained them on the man. He had his back to them and wore a large sombrero that hid his figure from view. But his pony was unmistakably a palomino!

  “Maybe that’s Major!” Nancy told Bruce. “Okay with you if we go down and find out?”

  Bruce scanned the terrain. “That area is much too wild to land in. We’d ruin our craft.”

  “All right,” said Nancy. “We won’t try to land -just trail that rider and get a better look at the horse. If it’s Major, we can report the rider’s location to the police.”

  She flew low. Unfortunately, it spooked the pony. He bolted off into the wild bush, with the man trying his best to bring the palomino under control. It was useless. Running senselessly, the horse was swift as the wind.

  “Let’s follow him!” Nancy cried out, excited.

  CHAPTER V

  Mistaken Identity

  “OKAY,” Bruce said. “Chase that pony, but stay high enough off the ground so we don’t run into anything. And keep circling back so you won’t lose him.”

  “Maybe you’d better take over,” Nancy suggested, worried.

  “No,” was the reply, “you can do it. Just remember what you’ve learned.”

  Nancy kept her eyes on the racing palomino and its rider, watching the terrain ahead at the same time. The trail was a winding one. Once the animal disappeared into a forest area. Nancy circled the spot, hoping the rider would come out. He did not, but in an area of sparse trees she saw him. He was still galloping.

  Bruce remarked, “That’s some pony! He must have lungs like a giant bellows.”

  A few minutes later Nancy and Bruce saw the horse and its rider appear from among the trees. The animal, now showing signs of exhaustion, was well under control. Finally he slowed down to a walk and then stopped.

  To Nancy’s delight, the spot was in a large grassy section. She could land safely!

  With some coaching from Bruce, the girl flier brought the plane in on an excellent approach. She taxied near the animal as quietly as possible, watching carefully to see if he were going to spook again.

  The rider was reassuring his mount, stroking the pony’s neck and speaking to him in soothing tones. Although the animal was still trembling a bit he stood still, watching intently as the plane approached. Nancy and Bruce climbed out of the craft and walked forward.

  “Hi,” said Bruce. He looked to Nancy to give him some signal as to what to say next to this stranger.

  The girl smiled at the rider. “I’m sorry I spooked your pony. I thought he was one that was stolen from the Hamilton Ranch, but I was wrong.”

  This animal did not have the same markings as Pop Hamilton’s prize mount.

  “You mean Major?” the man asked.

  “Then you know about the theft?” Nancy asked.

  The rider nodded and introduced himself as Howard Stanton, a government agent. He showed his credentials, then said he was trying to track down Major and several other horses and ponies that had been stolen.

  “But I’m afraid all of them are far away from here now,” he said. “Horse thieves get their stolen animals out of the state and sell them as fast as they can.”

  After Nancy and Bruce were in the air again, she asked, “Did you agree with Mr. Stanton that thieves take stolen animals out of the state as quickly as possible?”

  Bruce said he did. “It would seem foolish to keep them around here because they could be located easily.”

  Nancy did not entirely agree. “I don’t know about all the stolen horses, but I have a strong hunch that Major is hidden somewhere close to the Hamilton Ranch.”

  Bruce smiled. “Which means that you would like to continue the search, combining it with your flying lesson.”

  “Exactly,” Nancy told him.

  As the young detective practiced, she and Bruce scanned the ground and used the binoculars every once in a while. There was no sign of Major or any other pony.

  “Too bad,” Nancy said. She was very disappointed at their failure to pick up any clues.

  Finally pupil and instructor headed home. An hour later, when Nancy reached the Hamilton Ranch, she found that Bess and George had been busy preparing for their pack trip on horseback the following day.

  George said, “Bess and I will use the ponies we’ve been riding, Nancy. But you’ll have to choose one. You’d better do it now so there won’t be any delay in the morning.”

  As the girls approached the corral, Bess whispered, “That rough cowboy, Ben Rall, is in charge. I can’t stand him.”

  Rall did not speak to the girls, just glared at them.

  Nancy said, “I’d like to try out a pony to use in the ride tomorrow. Which one is gentle?”

  “None of’em when they get mad,” Ben replied. He made no suggestion.

  First Nancy chose a lovely sensitive-looking gray mare who resp
onded immediately to her voice. Just as they were becoming friends, a beautiful two-month-old gray colt trotted around the corner of the corral and started nursing.

  “Oh!” Nancy exclaimed. “So this lovely baby belongs to you? What a magnificent pair you are!”

  “You think you’re so smart,” Ben snarled. “You’re no cowgirl! You can’t take a nursing mother away from her colt!”

  Nancy blushed and stammered that she had just realized the gray had a colt. She picked another mare, which had kind eyes.

  “That’s Daisy D,” George told her. “She’s nice. You’ll love riding her.”

  “All right,” Nancy said. “I’ll try her. Where do I find a saddle and blanket?”

  The cowboy frowned at her, then said grudgingly, “Oh, I’ll do it.”

  He led Daisy D into the stable. A few minutes later he brought out the pony. Nancy nodded her approval and vaulted into the saddle. She rode around the corral twice and was just about to say, “She’ll be fine,” when Daisy D reared up on her hind legs, nearly throwing her rider off.

  Nancy tried her best to calm the pony, who came down on the ground with a thud, then began to run wildly. A few seconds later Daisy D jumped over the fence and bolted.

  Nancy talked soothingly to the pony, while seesawing on the reins until she was afraid she would cut the animal’s mouth. Finally, with a loud snort, Daisy D stopped. Nancy quickly dismounted and held the pony still.

  Patting the animal’s neck, she said, “You’re all right, old girl. You’re not hurt.”

  Nancy herself was not so sure of the latter statement. Bess and George rushed up and she said to them, “Take off the saddle and blanket. I suspect there’s something underneath the blanket.”

  The girls did so, and Bess cried out, “There’s a big bur under the blanket!”

  George added, “No wonder she sunfished. Those prickles went right into her flesh! The poor pony!”

  Bess was furious. “I’m sure Ben Rall put that bur under the blanket on purpose. How mean can a person get?”

  “I’m going to find out if he’s responsible!” Nancy declared.