The Message in the Hollow Oak

by Carolyn Keene

  One stately red-brick house was open for inspection and they took the tour. As they walked through the handsome high-ceilinged rooms, Bess kept her eye on Art. It had not taken her long to realize that the young man had become very fond of Nancy and resented Ned’s being there. She was intrigued at the way he found excuses to speak to Nancy whenever Ned was not nearby.

  At first Ned did not seem to notice this, but he soon realized the situation. From then on the two boys did not say a word to each other.

  “Hm!” Bess thought. “Here’s a problem in jealousy!”

  She decided to do something about it. While they were admiring the silver tea service in the dining room, Bess said to Art, “Julie Anne is a great girl, don’t you think?”

  “Why—uh—yes,” he answered.

  Nancy overheard the remark and was fearful something unpleasant might happen to ruin the trip. Quickly she interrupted.

  “Art likes everybody, so it’s hard for him to be nicer to one person than another.”

  The young man paused a moment. “I guess that’s right,” he replied and walked off.

  Nancy took Bess aside. “Please don’t say any more. Apparently you’ve seen a little tension here. I’m hoping Art will pay more attention to Julie Anne, but I can’t rush it.”

  Bess nodded “I wouldn’t want to start anything for the world.”

  Nancy and her friends had an early dinner at a small restaurant, then hailed a taxi. They picked up then luggage and the boys’ sleeping bags, and rode to the rivertiont. A tugboat took them out a short distance to a white towboat with red trim. How spick and span it looked!

  A broad-shouldered man with a ruddy face met them on a narrow deck and helped the girls aboard. “Welcome to the Sally O,” he said. “I’m Captain Boge.”

  Ned introduced the visitors, and the captain led them into a galley. A pretty, middle-aged woman in a pink housedress was taking a pan of hot rolls from a shiny oven.

  “This is our cook Mattie,” said the captain. The woman chuckled. “I’m everything,” she said. “Housemother and nurse, too. If you want anything let me know. And help yourselves to cake and fruit any time.” She pointed to the food on the side counter.

  “Oh, my diet!” moaned Bess.

  The captain led his passengers to an upper deck and showed them a deluxe double bedroom with its own adjoining lounge and bath.

  “This is for the girls,” he said. “You boys will use your sleeping bags on the afterdeck.” He grinned. “If it rains you can duck into the engine room.”

  “This is great,” said George. “I never knew towboats were so beautiful.”

  After freshening up and changing to pants suits, the girls joined the boys in the pilot house. Captain Boge was there. Before they could speak to him, the boat was suddenly shaken by a terrific jolt.

  “Nothing to worry about,” the captain assured them. “We’re shaping up, that’s all.”

  From the wide front window he pointed to a tugboat maneuvering the huge barges into position. Fascinated, the visitors watched the sure-footed crew roping them securely together.

  “We call this wiring ‘em up,” said the captain. “It takes a long time because we have to be sure they all fit together and will ride without bucking.”

  At twilight the job was finished. The towboat started slowly upstream, pushing fifteen barges ahead of it, three abreast. Some were empty, others filled with grain and coal.

  Looking behind, the boys noted where the blue-gray water of the Ohio met the muddy Mississippi. “That’s quite a sight,” Dave remarked.

  Ahead were low tree-lined banks. Soon these vanished into darkness.

  Here and there the young people saw the lights of small towns or a brilliantly lighted cement plant on the shore. Now and then the red and green lights of another boat approached and the captain blew a deafening blast on his horn. At midnight the weary passengers went to bed.

  Around noon the next day Captain Boge said they were near Cave in Rock. He pointed out a quarry on the Illinois shore. “I’m leaving my bow barges off there, and taking on two others, so I’ll be tied up a couple of hours. If you want to visit the cave, go out to that first barge and jump off when it’s against the dock.” He gave them directions to the rocky cavern.

  The visitors followed his advice and walked along the edge from one barge to another until they came to the end. When this barge was maneuvered into place, the passengers jumped off and started for Cave in Rock. They walked along the tree-lined bank. When it became rocky they climbed upward and soon emerged from the woods a few yards from the mammoth cave.

  Nancy suddenly put up her hand for everyone to halt. “Listen!” she said. “I think I hear a cry for help.”

  CHAPTER XII

  Rewarding Search

  As the eight friends stood listening, the cry was repeated.

  “That sounds as if it came from up there somewhere,” said Nancy. She pointed to the top of the bluff above the cave.

  The group hurried up a series of stone steps at one side of the huge opening to the cliff top. Nobody was around.

  The searchers fanned out and looked in the surrounding woods but found no one, and finally met again at the foot of the steps.

  “Somebody else may have discovered the person who needed help,” Nancy suggested.

  Ned looked at her searchingly. “Do you suppose the cry was made to get us up to the bluff and keep us away from Cave in Rock until someone who didn’t want to be seen got out of there?”

  Nancy agreed that this was possible. “But how could anyone know we were coming?” she asked.

  Just then they saw a boy of fourteen racing across the top of the cliff and yelling. Apparently he was shouting to a friend.

  “There’s the answer,” Nancy commented, then added, “Let’s have a look at the cave now.”

  Following her and Ned, they all climbed up to the wide clearing in front of the huge cave mouth.

  “I can see why this was a great place for pirates,” Dave declared. “It’s halfway between the bluff top and the river. With a lookout up on the cliff nobody could take them by surprise.”

  When the young people entered the shadowy cavern, their voices resounded strangely. They walked up the gradually sloping floor toward the rear.

  “I’ve read about this place,” said Julie Anne. “Prehistoric Indians used it, too. And in 1831 the cave was the hideout for a gang of counterfeiters.”

  Bess shivered. “And now maybe Nancy’s enemies are staying in it.”

  “They couldn’t have been here long,” Ned remarked. “After all, this is a public park and people come and go.”

  “We seem to be the only ones around here right now,” said George.

  “Let’s look for the treasure,” Nancy urged, “and keep our eyes open for any clues to Kit Kadle, or anything pertaining to the hollow oak.”

  Nancy and Ned took out flashlights and the intensive hunt began. There was no hidden treasure in sight.

  “I’ve a hunch we’re wasting our time following up the legend Lightfoot told me,” Nancy said. “Maybe river pirates did rob Père François, but it seems unlikely any would have been around here in his day. I recall now that the only travelers were the Indians and a few explorers and trappers.”

  Ned agreed. “It was more than a hundred years later that lots of pioneers headed westward. Many floated down the Ohio on flatboats with all their possessions. That was when piracy flourished.”

  “Lightfoot,” Nancy remarked, “probably confused Père François’s story with some other legend.”

  Nevertheless she beamed her light over the walls once more. Seconds later she caught sight of something just out of reach. It was a piece of paper sticking out slightly from a crevice between rocks. She called to six-foot Ned to pull it out.

  “But be careful,” she said. “It looks fragile.” Ned reached up and little by little he pried out a folded sheet of paper, which he handed to Nancy.

  “This sure is dirty and read
y to fall apart,” he said.

  It was evident the paper had been subjected to dampness and dirt and there were holes in it here and there. Nancy unfolded it gingerly and played her flashlight on the faint writing. The smudgy message was hard to read and part was missing, but the young detective’s heart leaped excitedly when she saw the signature.

  “It says A. C. E.!” she exclaimed. “I’m sure this was written by A. C. E. Armstrong, Boycey Osborne’s friend.”

  Ned asked, “What does the note say?”

  Nancy read it aloud:

  “ ‘Prisoner of Kit Ka

  Tak me to cell

  in El town.’”

  By this time all the others in the cave had gathered around Nancy and asked if she could decipher the meaning. She studied the paper a few moments, then replied, “I believe the whole message is:

  “‘Prisoner of Kit Kadle.

  Taking me to cellar

  in Elizabethtown.’ ”

  “You’re a wonder!” Art exclaimed and immediately came close to Nancy.

  She smiled but made no comment. Instead she said enthusiastically, “Now I have a real clue for Boycey!”

  The whole group went outside and sat down to discuss the message.

  Julie Anne asked, “How are we going to get to Elizabethtown?”

  “Our towboat passed that town about seven miles back,” Ned spoke up. “We’ll probably have to leave the Sally 0.”

  “We’d better hustle to the boat or it will leave us!” Burt remarked.

  “Oh, I’m sure Captain Boge wouldn’t abandon us,” said Bess.

  “That’s true,” Nancy agreed, “but it’s not fair to keep him waiting.”

  She tucked the precious note into a pocket and hurried with her friends to the quarry dock. As soon as Nancy was on board, she and Ned reported their discovery to Captain Boge.

  “We should go to Elizabethtown, so I’m afraid we must end our trip now,” she said.

  “That won’t be necessary,” the captain replied with a wry smile. “We’ve developed engine trouble and are going to be here quite a while, I’m afraid. You can have the rest of the afternoon for your search, but be back by six o’clock. I’m hoping to be able to take off then.”

  “How’ll we get to Elizabethtown?” Ned asked.

  “Maybe somebody from the quarry will be driving there,” he said. “I’ll see.”

  Stepping out of the pilot house onto the landing of an iron stairway, the captain called down to a man on the dock. After a short conversation Boge came back inside.

  “All set,” he said. “You can go in with that fellow in about ten minutes if you don’t mind riding in a pickup truck.”

  “That’s okay with us,” said Nancy. “Is there anything we can do for you while we’re there?”

  “You could pick up several chocolate bars at the general store,” the captain said. “The crew likes them.”

  Nancy and Ned hurried off to tell their friends about the trip. Quarter of an hour later the young people were seated in the back of a green pickup truck bouncing along a narrow road toward Elizabethtown. When they reached the main street of the small town, the driver let them out.

  “Where is the police station?” Nancy asked.

  The man chuckled. “We don’t need one. There’s only one policeman—he’s the marshal. But he’s away on vacation. Go up this side street,” he said, pointing to a tree-shaded lane, “to the third house. That’s where Ben Wooster lives. He’s the marshal’s deputy right now.” The young people thanked the driver and he went off.

  It was agreed that Nancy and Ned would talk to the deputy while the others did the shopping and went sightseeing around the tiny town. A short distance away they could see a small, attractive park overlooking the river front.

  “We’ll meet there at five o’clock,” Ned told them.

  He and Nancy hurried off to the deputy’s house. A thin, red-haired young man was seated on the porch steps eating an apple.

  “Are you Deputy Wooster?” Nancy asked.

  “I am,” he said solemnly. “What’s the trouble?” He pointed to the steps. “Take a seat.”

  The couple did, and after introducing themselves, quickly explained about the kidnapped detective. Nancy showed Mr. Wooster the note she had found in the cave.

  “Well, now, the marshal told me about this Kit Kadle and the two fellows he probably kidnapped,” said the officer, “but this is the first lead we’ve had to them. Trouble is,” he added thoughtfully, “this is a mighty small town—only five hundred folks or so and I know just about all o’ them. I can’t think o’ anybody who would have a man hidden in his cellar or anywhere else, for that matter.”

  “Is there an empty house around?” Nancy asked.

  The young man raised his sparse eyebrows. “Now there you may have a squirrel in the tree, young lady. The old Hatchett house has been empty for almost five years.”

  “Tain’t empty now,” said a raspy voice.

  Nancy turned to see a skinny blond youth in dungarees coming up the walk.

  “This is my cousin Jimmy,” said the deputy. “He lives next door and he don’t miss much.”

  “I think somebody’s livin’ in the Hatchett place,” the newcomer went on, “Hank and me were out that way in our car a couple o’ nights ago and saw lights in the house and a car in the driveway.”

  Deputy Wooster stood up. “I’d better look into this,” he said firmly. He reached into a trouser pocket, took out a badge, and pinned it to his blue shirt.

  “Is there trouble?” Jimmy asked, his blue eyes sparkling. “Can I go with you, Ben?”

  “Okay,” said the deputy. “I guess we could use an extra man. But it might be dangerous. You do only what I tell you.” He turned to Nancy and Ned. “Did you folks have lunch?”

  “A little,” Nancy replied.

  “Jimmy,” said the deputy, “go in the kitchen and fetch some apples and that bag o’ doughnuts on the table. I’ll start the car.”

  A few minutes later Nancy and Ned were riding in the back seat of the police car. The deputy drove down a dirt road outside of town. Jimmy shared the apples and doughnuts with them as they told him about the note. After several turns, Wooster headed along a rutted lane and pulled off into a small clearing.

  “We’ll walk from here,” he said quietly.

  Single file, the four made their way up the road, keeping inside the tree line. At the edge of a driveway they stopped.

  “Wow!” Ned exclaimed. “What a wreck!”

  Before them was a large gray frame house with broken shutters and a tumble-down porch.

  “No car in the driveway now,” Nancy noted. “I can’t believe anyone is living in this place.”

  The four circled the old dwelling but saw no signs of life. Then they walked carefully onto the sagging porch. The front door was standing ajar. Quietly they entered.

  “Let’s try the cellar,” Nancy urged. She took out her flashlight and the deputy turned on his.

  “It’s that door at the end of the hall,” whispered Jimmy. “I explored this place a couple o’ years ago.”

  As noiselessly as possible they went down the dark stairway. Except for a huge furnace and some odds and ends of junk the cellar was empty.

  “Where were the lights you saw?” Nancy asked Jimmy.

  “Upstairs.”

  Carefully the group searched the first floor, then climbed to the second. While Wooster and his cousin were examining the bedrooms, Nancy and Ned spotted a door which they suspected might lead to a third-floor attic. Ned opened it and the two listened. There was a stairway indeed but everything above was dark.

  Nancy and Ned started up the steps. Suddenly they stopped. From somewhere ahead of them came the sound of heavy breathing.

  CHAPTER XIII

  Alarming Moments

  “SOMEBODY’S up there!” Nancy whispered to Ned.

  The two hurried up the stairway and Nancy beamed her flashlight over the dark attic.

&nbs
p; A man was lying on the floor, bound and gagged!

  The couple rushed over to the prisoner and released him. He smiled weakly and whispered, “Thank you. How did you know I was here?”

  Without replying to his question, Nancy asked, “Are you A. C. E. Armstrong?”

  “Yes.”

  At that moment Ben Wooster and Jimmy hurried into the attic. They stared in disbelief.

  “You found him!” exclaimed the deputy. “Are you all right, mister?”

  “I think so,” Armstrong said hoarsely.

  The deputy shook his head. “It’s amazin’. I’ll drive you to a doctor in town right away. He can look you over and send you to a hospital if need be. Take it easy. Jimmy, get the car.”

  While the youth was gone, Nancy asked A.C.E. about his abduction, adding that she had received the news of his disappearance from her aunt. “Your detective friends will be relieved to learn you’ve been found.”

  “I was waylaid in my car,” he began, “by Kit Kadle and another man soon after I left the hollow oak area. They were armed and said if I didn’t tell them where the tree was with the message in it, they would kill me.

  “Of course I couldn’t tell them because I didn’t know myself. Kadle had assumed that since the other members of the detective club had left for New York, they had solved the mystery and knew where the treasure was, but hadn’t had time to dig it up.”

  “You’re sure there is a treasure?” Ned questioned Armstrong. “And that it’s buried?”

  “No, I’m not sure. Kadle assumed that the message would tell where a treasure was buried. They took me in my car to a shack in a woods, then to the cave and finally here.”

  Nancy told him about finding the note in the cave. “Why did the men take you there?”

  “They had to meet another man, and I guess they were afraid to leave me alone. We arrived late in the afternoon and hid until after the park grounds closed. The third man must have done the same. When it was dark they met at the cave. I didn’t get a good look at him nor hear his name. While the three were talking together I managed to write that note and stick it in the crack.”