The men moved away from the cabin, still talking in low voices, but Nancy could no longer make out the words. She watched them till they reached the cliff face and took up their picks and shovels, then she leaned against the wall and looked around.
There was no way out. The door and window were both on the side of the cabin, facing the spot where the men were working. Nancy nibbled at her lip. The land all the way around was totally open, so the men couldn’t miss seeing her the moment she stepped through the rough, squeaky door. She was trapped, and it was only a matter of time before someone came inside and found her!
16
A Great Shock
Nancy looked around the small room once again, then crossed to the trunk and carefully returned it to its original condition. That done, she assessed the situation, seeking some solution. But none came.
The only hiding place appeared to be beneath one of the cots. The area was tiny, but the blankets, carelessly thrown off, hung to the floor and would give her some protection.
Having decided where she could hide, Nancy returned to the window to watch the men as they dug lazily in the crumbling cliff face. Gold! That had to be the answer.
The mention of Mr. Henry had been a terrible shock. He’d been so friendly to the McGuires, so helpful, according to Heather and Chuck. Yet she did remember that Heather had said he’d once offered to buy the ranch.
An hour dragged by, then another. The men worked without enthusiasm, taking frequent breaks in the shade of an old mesquite tree that grew beside a small spring. Nancy watched longingly as they dipped up the water. She was both hot and thirsty in the dusty cabin.
When the shadows moved across the floor of the canyon, the men stopped working, throwing down their picks and shovels and heading for the cabin. Terrified, Nancy slid into her small hiding place.
Heart pounding, she crouched in the dark space and waited as the two men argued about which cans to open for dinner and what they should tell Mr. Henry about Ngyun. Sam wanted to keep it a secret, while Joe muttered dark predictions of what their boss would do to them if he found out that they hadn’t told him. She was glad when they went back outside to put the grill over their small campfire.
The smell of the heating food soon penetrated the cabin, and Nancy became aware of her own hunger. She couldn’t stay hidden here forever, she realized. But what to do? She couldn’t slip away, even after dark, for the men were cooking only a few feet from the door.
Uncomfortable in the stuffy darkness under the cot, Nancy shifted her weight and tried to stretch her cramped legs. But her riding boot caught in the blanket, which in turn caught around the leg of the unsteady cot. To her horror, the whole frame shifted, tipped a little, then rocked back against the wall with a loud bang.
At once, there were shouts from outside, and the next minute the men burst into the cabin.
Nancy did not dare breathe, but with one man holding the lantern and the other searching the room, they discovered her almost immediately.
“Look what we’ve got here!” Sam shouted as he pulled the girl from underneath the cot. “A spy!”
“Just what we need,” Joe grumbled. “I wonder what—”
He was interrupted by another man who at that moment walked through the door. Mr. Henry!
“Well, if it isn’t the nosy Miss Nancy Drew,” the rancher said. “You certainly are a stubborn young woman. Anyone with normal good sense would have paid attention to the letter I sent.” He smiled evilly. “Or to the scorpion I put in your suitcase. ”
“You know her, boss?” Sam asked, his dark eyes bright with curiosity.
“She’s the one you shot the arrow at, you idiot,” Mr. Henry snapped. “If your aim had been better, we wouldn’t be having this problem.”
“Ain’t my fault she moved after I let go of the arrow!” Sam grumbled.
“How did you get out of the wash before the flood, Miss Drew?” Mr. Henry asked, ignoring his employee. “Sam said he had a tough time escaping the water with you so close behind him.”
“I got out,” Nancy said curtly. “And I didn’t get hurt in the station wagon, either, when you forced us off the road the day we arrived.”
Mr. Henry did not deny that he had caused the accident; he just glared at her. “Too bad!” he sneered.
“What do you want to do with her, boss?” Joe asked.
Mr. Henry sighed. “I suppose we might as well tie her up till I can think of a convincing accident for her. We certainly can’t let her leaye here since she obviously knows what is going on.”
“What is going on, Mr. Henry?” Nancy asked, hoping to sound innocent.
“Get some rope, Joe,” Mr. Henry ordered, then gripped Nancy’s arm tightly.
Nancy drew in a deep breath, waiting till Joe was in the cabin and Sam had his back to her. It was a desperate move, she realized, but her choices were very limited. She lifted one foot and brought the heel of her boot down on Mr. Henry’s instep with all her strength. He bellowed in pain and rage, but most important, he let go of her arm!
Nancy plunged wildly out of the flickering light of the campfire and into the deep shadows of the brush and trees that grew near the small spring. Once in their concealment, she paused, not sure what to do next. She’d escaped for the moment, but she had a terrible feeling that she was only delaying whatever Mr. Henry had planned. There was nowhere to run!
“Block the canyon entrance!” Mr. Henry was shouting. “Put more wood on the fire. Get torches. We can’t let her escape us now!”
Nancy moved cautiously in the brush, grateful that the rain had kept it from becoming dry. Any loud crackling of twigs or branches would give her location away. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw the rocky hillside ahead and moved toward it, seeking a large rock or depression where she could hide while she tried to decide on her next move.
There was little choice, but the biggest of the rocky formations did offer a small, cup-shaped hole behind it. Nancy slipped into the hole and snuggled down against the still-warm earth as the cold of the desert night began to seep through her light shirt.
The crashing and shouting from the cabin area continued for quite some time as the men began to spread out to search. Then, suddenly, everything grew very, very quiet. Nancy, who’d been crouching low in fear, lifted her head, sensing at once that something had happened.
She heard the tattoo of approaching hoofbeats, and suddenly the air was full of shouts and shots. Nancy got to her feet, recognizing the voices that were calling her name.
“George, Bess, Heather, Chuck!” She ran through the brush and into the arms of her friends.
For several minutes, they all talked at once. Then, as the first relief died away, Nancy looked around. She saw that Ward, Chuck, and the sheriff were holding rifles on Mr. Henry and his two men.
“How ... how did you get here?” Nancy asked.
“Ngyun came riding into the resort about an hour ago, shouting that you were in terrible danger,” Heather replied. “We didn’t know what to think, but he insisted that we call the sheriff. When he calmed down a little, he described Leaning Tree Ravine and Canyon to us, so we knew where to find you.”
“Thank goodness he did,” Nancy breathed, feeling a little weak with relief now that the danger was over.
The sheriff walked up and addressed Nancy. “Are you going to tell us what is going on here, Miss Drew? Mr. Henry is claiming that you sent for him. He says you had some complaint that his men were trespassing on the McGuire Ranch.”
“This is McGuire land, isn’t it?” Nancy asked, shocked by the man’s quick lies.
Everyone nodded.
“Well,” Nancy began, “his men have been doing more here than just trespassing.”
It took nearly an hour of answering questions for the sheriff, helping him to search the cabin so he could examine the contents of the old trunk, and interrogating Mr. Henry before everything was completely explained. The rancher admitted to setting the fires and being responsib
le for the other incidents that were blamed on Ngyun. The boy was innocent of all the crimes of which he’d been accused.
Finally, Nancy asked, “Is it possible that there really is a valuable gold mine in this canyon, sheriff?”
“Probably not a mine,” the sheriff replied. “You see, when we have bad floods like we did last spring, shelves of rock and shale break loose from the sides of the ravines or from cliffs like those over there.” He indicated the end of the canyon where the men had been digging. “When that happens, small pockets or short veins of gold are sometimes uncovered. I suspect that’s what has happened here. ”
“You mean we have gold on our land?” Heather asked.
“What do you say to that, Henry?” the sheriff asked.
Mr. Henry glared at them all, then shrugged. “We haven’t found too much yet, but it has to be here in the canyon. I discovered a couple of nuggets late last fall when we were cleaning the debris out of our end of Leaning Tree Ravine. I figured it was coming from somewhere along the ravine itself, so I made you the offer on your land in case I didn’t find it on my property.”
“You would have bought the resort for the gold?” Heather sounded skeptical.
He shook his head. “If you’d taken my offer, the gold would have been pure profit. The land is worth that much, anyway.”
“But we didn’t take it,” Chuck reminded him.
“And we didn’t find any gold on our end of the ravine. We went over every inch. These two idiots were supposed to casually check your territory, but they let that sneaky kid catch them digging around in the ravine not far from here.”
“So what?” Nancy asked.
“So they couldn’t risk having him talk about what he’d seen.” Mr. Henry’s face was cold.
“So that’s when you decided to see to it that Ngyun was sent away?” Ward looked as though he’d like to hit the handcuffed man.
“He never said a word to us about seeing the men,” Heather murmured. “I wonder why.”
“He just thought they were prospectors,” Nancy answered. “He didn’t even know this was your land. He’s seen lots of people prospecting in the mountains. ”
“Well, we all know whose land it is, and now we know what has been going on,” the sheriff said. “I suggest that we get our horses and head for the resort. It’s a long ride over rough country and it’s getting late. Where is your horse, Miss Drew?”
“Up there,” Nancy said, pointing to the side of the canyon. “At least, I hope he still is.”
“If you left the reins trailing, Pepper Pot is still there,” Heather assured her. “He’s very well trained. ”
“I’ll take you up there, Nancy,” George offered. “You can ride double with me. Let’s go get him while they finish up everything down here.”
Nancy nodded, suddenly glad to be getting away from the canyon and all the frightening things that had happened to her here. She was proud of having solved one of her mysteries and having cleared Ngyun’s name, but her mind was already returning to the second mystery—that of the Kachina spirits that still haunted the resort!
17
Celebration
Once they reached the resort and the sheriff left with his prisoners, Maria served a huge meal, restoring Nancy’s good spirits. She and Ngyun told and retold their stories of what had happened during the long afternoon and evening.
Nancy was just finishing a detailed description of how she’d managed to escape her captors when Heather spoke up, changing the subject. “I know this is a nice dinner and everything, but I think we should have a real celebration,” she began.
“What do you mean?” Nancy asked.
“How about a party for all our friends and neighbors ? I’m sure they’d love to meet Nancy and hear about what she has done. And it will give everyone a chance to make Ngyun feel welcome in the area after all the trouble he’s had.” She paused, then asked, “What do you think?”
“How about having it tomorrow night?” Chuck suggested. “It could be a welcome home for Grandfather, too.”
“Is he coming back?” Heather asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?
“Actually, I’ve been too busy. In case you’ve forgotten, I was talking on the phone to him when Ngyun rode in, and after that ...” He broke off with a grin.
“What kind of a party shall we have?” Maria asked.
“How about a barn dance?” Heather suggested.
“Don’t you need a barn for that?” Bess asked. “I mean, your stable is very nice, but there isn’t any room for dancing.” She looked around. “That is what you do at a barn dance, isn’t it?”
Heather laughed. “As a matter of fact, we do have a barn, a genuine, old relic from the days shortly after Jake Harris died.”
“You do?” Nancy frowned. “I don’t remember seeing it. ”
“You haven’t,” Chuck confirmed. “Or rather, you saw it, but you didn’t know what it was.”
“What are you two talking about?” George asked. “How could we see it and not know what it was? A barn is a barn.”
“True,” Chuck conceded. “What I meant was—we drove by the barn on our way here, but you didn’t know it was our barn. You see, after Jake’s death, there were all kinds of rumors about this old house. People were always claiming to see lights in it at night, things like that. Anyway, the people who took over the ranch didn’t want to live here, so they built a small house and a barn on what was then the trail to town. We passed it on our way here from the airport. ”
“And the house?” George said. “I don’t remember seeing any house that close. ”
“The house burned down years ago,” Heather answered. “We talked about tearing the barn down, but then we decided that our guests might enjoy an old-fashioned barn dance from time to time, so we fixed it up instead. Now what do you think of the idea, Nancy?”
“I think it sounds just fantastic,” Nancy told her. “I can hardly wait.”
Heather got up from the table. “You folks enjoy dessert,” she said. “I’m going to start making some phone calls. We’ll never be ready if I don’t.”
“And I’d better start planning the menu,” Maria decided. “We’ll need lots of food and some punch, of course.”
“What can we do?” Bess asked. “Can’t we help?”
“You can be the cleaning and decorating committee,” Chuck told them. “That way, Heather will be free to help Maria with the cooking.” He paused, then added, “The barn is weather-tight, so it isn’t real dirty, but it will need sweeping out and some kind of decorations.”
“We’ll do it,” George agreed, “if we can borrow the jeep tomorrow. We’ll have to go into town to get the decorations.”
“It’s yours,” Chuck told them. “In fact, you could use the station wagon in the morning, if you like. I will have to have it in the afternoon, though, to pick up Grandfather.”
“The jeep will be fine for us,” Nancy told him, her eyes sparkling at the prospect of a party. “Besides, it may take us till afternoon to decide what we’re going to use for decorations. We haven’t even seen this barn yet, you know.”
The rest of the evening passed quickly as plans for the party grew. Still, Nancy managed to slip away for a little while to follow Ngyun to the stable, where she found him leaning on the stall door, petting Cochise.
“He mine forever now,” he said, looking up at her. “I thank you.”
“And I thank you,” Nancy replied. “If you hadn’t come back here and sent help, I could never have escaped. You were very brave.”
“I try keep men away,” he went on. “They almost catch me. I hide. I sorry they go back.”
“You did just fine,” Nancy reassured him. “We’re a great team.”
Smiling at each other and laughing together, they gave Cochise and Pepper Pot each a final pat, then went back to the house.
Everyone was still working on plans for the party, which was to include a number of the children in the area and their parents, as wel
l as young people of Chuck and Heather’s age. By the time she said good night, Nancy had decided that it had been a truly satisfactory evening after all the bad hours she’d spent in the canyon.
The next day dawned clear and beautiful, but Nancy woke with a feeling that all was not well. As soon as she opened her bedroom door, her premonition was confirmed. George was standing in the hall looking very unhappy. Nancy quickly asked her what was wrong.
“It’s back,” George announced.
“What is back?” Nancy asked.
“The Kachina ghost. Bess and I saw it last night.”
“You what? Nancy frowned. “Where did you see it? Was it in the hall?”
George shook her head. “Outside. I thought I heard something, and when I went to the window, it was over on that little ridge. I thought maybe I was seeing things, but Bess woke up and she saw it, too. ”
“What was it doing?”
“Just watching the resort. At least, it didn’t do anything else while we were looking at it.”
Nancy sighed. “I wish I’d seen it.”
“What would you have done?” George asked.
“I don’t know,” Nancy admitted. “Maybe asked it for a clue.” She forced a laugh.
“It probably would have given you one, too,” George told her, joining in her laughter.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to wait to find out,” Nancy said. “Now, how about some breakfast? I think we’re going to have a very busy day, don’t you?”
“The way Heather has been planning, I’d say so.”
The barn proved to be a real challenge—one that they met with brooms, mops, and dust cloths. Once it was clean, there were decorations to be decided on. A trip into Apache Junction provided a wide selection of colorful Mexican hats and baskets, which they stuffed with bright paper flowers.
Ward and Chuck brought in a half-dozen bales of hay for makeshift benches, and a number of folding tables and chairs for the more conventional guests. Paper streamers and more flowers were draped from the rafters to finish the effect, and the barn was quite festive by the time Nancy and her friends were through. They were feeling quite pleased with themselves as they drove back to the resort to have dinner and change for the party, which was scheduled to begin at seven sharp.
The Kachina Doll Mystery Page 9