Read Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion Online

Authors: Carolyn Keene

Tags: #Women Detectives, #Detective and Mystery Stories, #Girls & Women, #Mystery & Detective, #Juvenile Fiction, #Adventure and Adventurers, #Mysteries & Detective Stories, #Fiction, #Mystery Fiction, #Women Sleuths, #Adventure Stories, #Malicious Accusation, #Drew; Nancy (Fictitious Character), #General, #Sabotage, #Mystery and Detective Stories

Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion (13 page)

BOOK: Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion
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Nancy was about to follow, but Bud held her back. “Better wait and see if the
Starbeam
starts.”
Ned turned on the motor but there was not a sound. He tried again and again without result.
“That thief probably tampered with the boat and now it won’t run,” Nancy remarked. “Is the motor warm?”
“No,” Ned replied, “so the
Starbeam
must have been towed here.”
Bud jumped into the craft and together he and Ned examined the engine while Nancy beamed a searchlight on it.
Finally Bud said, “Several parts are missing. You won’t be able to run this boat until they’re replaced. I’ll tell you what. Let’s tie it to the back of my motorboat and I’ll tow you home.”
“Great! Thanks,” Ned replied.
When they arrived at the Billingtons’ dock Nancy invited Bud to come in.
The young man smiled. “Sorry, but I’m supposed to be on my way to a party. My date will think I’ve fazed her out.”
The group at the house was amazed when they heard Nancy and Ned’s story. Mr. Billington called the police to report that the boat had been found.
He said to the others, “I’m certainly burdening the authorities lately. We make at least one call a day to the police!”
Everyone smiled and Nancy thought, “We’ve come up with a few clues for them, too!”
Bess told Ned that his mother had phoned and was preparing a midnight snack for the young people. She was hoping the girls would move over there at once to start the house party officially.
“I’m all for that,” Bess added, “Tonight’s adventures have given me a tremendous appetite.”
George teased her cousin. “You’d have had an appetite without any adventures.”
The three girls hurried upstairs and packed the clothes they would need for the next few days. When they were ready to leave, Nancy promised her father she would keep in touch with him and the Billingtons to exchange news about the case. Mr. Drew said he would contact Mr. Webster and tell him of the vandalism.
“I’ll ask him if he wants to have someone in town take care of it or if he’d like me to.”
As he kissed his daughter good night, Mr. Drew wished her luck in getting results on Monday to her personal advertisement.
“Maybe you’ll find out who the members of the gang are. Anyway, my dear, watch your step.”
Nancy and Ned rode in the rented car, while the others took the Nickersons’. Despite the fact that the official opening of the house party lasted until almost two o’clock, none of the young people slept late the next morning.
After they had attended church services, Dave suggested that the whole group take a tour of the Space Center that afternoon. The others agreed.
Nancy was just as intrigued by her second visit to the Base as she had been before. The boys were especially fascinated by the rocket soon to lift off for the moon.
George, who had been silent for several minutes, said, “I’d like to be an astronaut. What do you think my chances are?”
“Oh no!” Bess exclaimed. “Suppose you went to the moon and got stranded there!”
Smiling, Nancy remarked that she too would like to become an astronaut.
Ned grinned and said, “How about letting us boys go first? We’ll tell you how it is.”
The bus driver, who had overheard the conversation, seemed to be amused. He turned slightly and said, “You boys had better get started on your training. While you’re here, why not go for a physical checkup and briefing?”
“Great!” Burt replied with a wink.
George leaned forward in her seat. “What about me? Could I get the same treatment?”
“I think so,” the driver answered, grinning broadly.
The others looked at Nancy. “How about you?” Ned asked.
“Perhaps,” she replied, knowing they were kidding her. “After this case is over.”
In a short time the bus reached the Vehicle Assembly Building. The tourists went inside. They were told about the immense structure and what took place there.
Then the guide said, “The space vehicle that will lift-off for the moon Tuesday was transported from here to its launch pad several weeks ago.”
Nancy and her friends were the first to leave the building. They wanted to get a better view of the huge spaceship.
As they were coming out the door, two men, heavily bearded, came up to them. “Pardon me,” said one. “We’re doing an article on the moon flight for a science magazine. Would you mind if we take your picture, and quote what we overheard you say on the bus about wanting to be astronauts?”
The six young people looked at one another but did not answer.
“Over here,” said the second man who had a large camera. “We won’t use your names.”
He led the way around the corner to the side of the building away from the tourists.
“I guess there’s no harm in it,” Ned whispered to Nancy.
She nodded and followed the two men down the far side of the building. While one arranged the group against the wall with the girls in front, the other man focused his camera.
“All ready,” he said.
His companion dashed out of the way and the photographer clicked his camera. Instantly a stream of tear gas shot toward them. Nancy and her friends tried to run, but their eyes began to smart and they could not see.
In the distance the guide was calling out, “All aboard!”
Nancy heard running footsteps and assumed their attackers had fled. As the fog of tear gas dissipated, Nancy was able to see dimly, but not well enough to move very fast for fear of bumping into something. She realized, however, that a man was coming toward her.
He proved to be one of the guards from the Vehicle Assembly Building. Rushing up, he asked, “What happened?”
A stream of tear gas shot toward them
Nancy choked out the answer. “Tear gas! Two men with beards. One man had a camera that shot the stuff at us.”
“Follow me!” the guard said. “We’ll give you something to soothe your eyes.”
“My friends too!” Nancy told him.
She could vaguely make out the rest of her group. Nancy called to them to follow her.
By the time they reached the front door of the Vehicle Assembly Building, the bus had gone. Nancy said there was a chance the attackers were on it.
“Hadn’t you better phone the Visitors Center and have the bus checked?” she asked the guard.
“I’ll do that at once—that is, as soon as I find someone to take care of your eyes.”
Suddenly Nancy remembered the young engineer who was a relative of Hannah Gruen’s. She asked, “Is Herb Baylor around? I know him.”
“I’ll get him,” the man promised, and hurried off.
When Herb Baylor saw Nancy and the rest of the group and heard what had happened, he instantly took them to the infirmary where a young doctor gave them first aid. He put a few drops of a soothing solution in their eyes which soon relieved the burning sensation.
There was a knock on the door and the same guard walked in. He was holding two wigs with beards attached and a box camera. “I found these at the side of the building,” he said.
Nancy gasped. “The men who used the tear gas must have been wearing them!”
Ned added, “Now we can’t describe those villains and they’ll get away easily!”
“Too bad,” Herb remarked. “What was their motive?”
George answered, “To scare us into dropping our detective work. But they can’t do it!”
CHAPTER XVIII
A Ruse Works
HERB Baylor thought Nancy and her friends should return to the Nickersons at once. “Take it easy,” he advised.
The young people were glad to and went to bed early. By morning everyone felt fine. A few hours later they set off for the Real Eight Museum of Sunken Treasure, reaching Cocoa Beach by five to twelve. Quickly Ned parked out of sight of the front entrance. Nancy and her friends took up positions behind posts on the covered patio of the octagonal-shaped building.
Exactly at twelve o’clock a car pulled in near the entrance. A few moments later a second one drew up behind it. Then a third and a fourth automobile stopped. A man got out of each car and the four assembled on the broad walk leading to the building.
Nancy’s heart was pounding. One of the men was Scarlett, another was Antin!
“So Antin is one of the gang,” she thought.
There was a heavy-set stranger. “That must be Max Ivanson!” Nancy decided. “He looks very much like that photograph I saw.”
The last person to come toward the building was a young man.
Nancy thought, “Could he be the ‘son’ in the personals? His face looks familiar. Why do I think I know him?” Then it suddenly dawned on her. He strongly resembled Mr. Fortin, the owner of the moss-covered mansion.
The men came closer and then stopped to talk. Nancy could hear them plainly. Each inquired about who had written the personal in Sunday’s paper. When all of them denied having done it, looks of fright spread over the men’s faces.
“I’ll bet the FBI found out about our code,” said the heavy-set man. “I’m leaving!”
He ran to his car and the others fled to theirs. Moments later they roared off.
“Shall I chase any of them?” Ned asked.
Nancy replied, “Try Ivanson.”
Ned and Burt rushed off and soon were out of sight.
Meanwhile Nancy had raced inside the museum to telephone her father. She paid the admission fee and dashed into a booth. Mr. Drew was astounded at what Nancy had discovered.
“I’ll inform the police of this development,” he told her. “They will certainly question Antin and search his room. I’ll also clue the authorities in on who the other men are that may be responsible for the explosive oranges.”
Nancy had remembered to jot down the license numbers of the men’s cars and now gave these to her father. “Good work!” he said.
When Nancy emerged from the phone booth, Dave and the other girls stood waiting and demanded to know what was going on. In whispers she told them.
“Oh, Nancy,” said Bess, “you’ve all but solved the case!”
Nancy did not think so. George was eager to go to the Billington house to learn the climax.
“But we have no car,” Nancy replied. “We don’t know when the boys will be back. Meanwhile, since we’ve all paid our admission, let’s look at the exhibits.”
A young woman came up to them and said, “You forgot to take your tapes and earphones. The tapes tell you all about the exhibits. Start on the left.”
They went back to a counter where she handed each of them one of the little boxes to hold. They plugged in the tiny earphones. The tour began.
In the center of the room stood a replica of one of the ships dashed to pieces on the Florida coast in 1715. The old-time vessel had sailed entirely under canvas and for this reason was no match for a violent tropical storm.
Around the circular wall was a panorama of the history of cargo carried aboard these Spanish vessels that sailed between the homeland and the New World. The treasures on display were from ten of the eleven vessels in the ill-fated Plate Fleet.
As Nancy listened to the tape she learned that the Spaniards had subdued the Aztec Indians and made slaves of many of them. They were forced to work their gold and silver mines and fashion the metal into Spanish coins, jewelry, and other objects. Overseers were often cruel and the slaves worked long hours.
Other scenes showed gold ingots being packed into boxes, and gold and silver coins in others. Moving on, Nancy and her friends listened carefully to the running account on their tape recorders. Many of the objects on exhibit, such as sabers and sword handles, dishes and bracelets, were encrusted with coral.
Nancy found Bess rooted to one of the glass cases. “Isn’t that pathetic?” she asked, pointing to a small wedding ring imbedded in coral. “It’s so little a tiny woman must have worn it. Maybe she was the wife of one of the captains.”
George walked up. She had heard Bess’s remark and said, “I can’t find much sympathy for those people. They were just plain thieves.”
Nancy commented, “They certainly ruined the Aztec civilization, which in many respects was far above that of their conquerors.”
Before leaving the museum, Nancy and her friends went into the gift shop. The articles for sale fascinated them. Everyone bought pieces of jewelry made from gold or silver dug from the bottom of the ocean.
Nancy purchased a lovely necklace of pieces-of-eight coins for her Aunt Eloise in New York. She decided on a bracelet made of silver coins for Mrs. Billington, and a large piece-of-eight pin for Hannah Gruen.
After the young people had looked at everything in the shop, they left the building. Ned and Burt were just returning.
“Any luck?” George asked.
“No,” Ned answered. “All the men disappeared in the next town. We couldn’t find them or their cars. »
“Let’s go home,” Nancy urged.
BOOK: Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion
13.71Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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