The Legend of Miner's Creek (11 page)

“What are we doing?” George whispered as Nancy rapped firmly on Tyler's door.

“Looking for answers,” Nancy told her.

Nancy knocked on the door three more times before deciding that the cabin was empty. Carefully she turned the knob. The door was unlocked. After pushing it open just a crack, she called, “Anyone here?”

Still there was no answer. Nancy pushed the door
open the rest of the way, and she and George stepped cautiously inside.

Tyler's cabin was identical to their own. The single room, the bunk beds, small kitchen, and bathroom were all in the same places.

There was a loaf of bread on the counter, and when Nancy opened the tiny refrigerator, she found a quart of milk and some butter.

“I guess that's why we didn't see him at breakfast,” Nancy said. “He must have fixed his own here.”

Nancy closed the refrigerator and began to look around the rest of the cabin.

“Watch out the window to make sure Tyler isn't coming back,” Nancy said to George.

“Okay,” George said.

Nancy glanced through another stack of books on the counter. All of them were related to politics. Several weekly news magazines lay on the floor beside the bunk. “This guy is really serious about his work,” Nancy muttered.

A pen and some papers lay on a small nightstand. On top of the papers, neatly stacked, were a personal appointment book and a journal.

Nancy opened the journal first, though she expected that Tyler was too clever to write down any wrongdoing. The last entry was dated a week earlier.

She quickly leafed through the papers and stopped when she saw the unusual, three-eagle letterhead of the Nature Preservation League.

“Bingo,” she said as she pulled the letter out of the stack. It was a copy of the letter Charlie had shown her.

“What do you suppose Tyler is doing with this?” she wondered out loud.

“Whatever you found, you'd better tell me about it later,” George said, ducking away from the window. “Tyler's car is coming up the driveway.”

Nancy replaced the letter in the stack. Then she and George hurried to the back door of the cabin.

George reached for the doorknob, but Nancy wouldn't let her open it until she heard Tyler's car in front of the cabin.

“If we leave too soon, he'll see us,” Nancy whispered.

Finally, as Tyler walked to his front door, Nancy and George sneaked out the back.

“That was close,” George said.

“It sure was, but I think it was worth it,” Nancy said. “Let's go meet Charlie, and I'll explain.”

The girls walked behind the cabins, then cut across to the lodge. The door to Charlie's office was open, and Charlie was sitting at his desk. In front of him was a small stack of papers.

“Did you give Tyler a copy of the letter from the Nature Preservation League?” Nancy asked.

“No,” Charlie replied. “I kept that offer secret, except for telling you. It was my ace in the hole. Why?”

“Well, Tyler has a copy of it,” Nancy said.

“Where would he have gotten it?” George asked.

“I don't know—unless he was the one writing it,” Nancy said. “I think it's time for another call to Dad.”

Nancy waited while the receptionist at Carson Drew's office routed her call through. George and Charlie waited silently.

“Hello, Nancy. No news about your donation,” Carson Drew said when he had picked up the phone. “How is everything going?”

“It's slow, but I think we're closing in,” Nancy said. She had decided not to worry her dad with the news of Bess's injury.

“I've done a little checking,” Carson said. “I couldn't find anyone who'd ever heard of this Nature Preservation League.”

“I'm not surprised,” Nancy said. “I think it's a front. Someone wants to get his or her hands on this land.”

“How valuable is it?” Carson asked.

“Very, especially if there's gold here,” Nancy told him. “Did you find out anything about the senator or Tyler Nelson?”

“The senator is a respected legislator,” Nancy's father replied. “He's been in office for twelve years and has a scandal-free record. I didn't find out much about Tyler, except that he's from a wealthy Seattle family. Graduated from Stanford University. Now, what's this about gold?”

“It's a long story, Dad. I'll tell you the whole thing when I get home, I promise. But tell me, is Tyler's family wealthy enough to buy the retreat?”

“From what I hear, they are,” Carson said. “Apparently Tyler's grandfather founded a shipbuilding firm in Seattle. It's now one of the largest in the country.”

“I think you've just helped me solve a mystery,” Nancy said.

She thanked her father and promised him that she would be careful. Then she hung up and turned her attention back to George and Charlie, who were waiting impatiently to hear what she had learned.

“Tyler's got money,” Nancy said. “Enough to buy this place, if he can stop the government deal. And my father can't trace the Nature Preservation League.”

“So you think Tyler's been causing all the problems around here?” Charlie asked.

“It's possible,” Nancy said. “But if he did, I suspect he had help. Pete looks like a likely accomplice.”

“I'm going to call the sheriff again,” Charlie said, reaching for the phone.

“But we don't have any real evidence,” Nancy protested. “The only thing I had was that piece of paper from the assay office, and now that's gone. I think we should set a trap.”

“That's too dangerous,” Charlie said.

“No more dangerous than letting whoever is doing all of this get away, free to come back and cause you more trouble,” Nancy argued.

“I suppose you're right.” Charlie sat back in his chair and sighed. “But you've got just one chance to
bring this culprit out in the open. Then I'm calling in the law.”

“It's a deal,” Nancy said. She was already forming a plan in her mind.

“Would you make sure Maddie and B.D. are coming to the barbecue tonight?” she asked Charlie. “I think everyone should be here for this.”

Charlie agreed, and Nancy laid out her plan. She pulled the folded map from her shirt pocket and showed it to Charlie.

His eyes widened. “What on earth . . . ?” he began.

“We're pretty sure it shows the location of Jeremiah's gold mine,” Nancy said, explaining where she had found the map. “And tonight we're going to use it as bait to catch a crook.”

Nancy sent George to get a pinch of black sand from the prospecting pan in the display downstairs. While she was gone, Nancy quickly copied the important landmarks on the map, including the rocks of the cliff and the
X.
When George returned, Nancy had her drop the sand in an envelope. Then Nancy folded the map up.

She handed the map to Charlie and put the copy in her pocket. “Tonight at the barbecue, wear a jacket and make sure everyone knows that map is in the pocket,” Nancy told him.

Charlie nodded.

“We'll help you find an excuse to come back to the lodge and leave your jacket on the hook,” Nancy went on. “But before you hang it up, I want
you to take a pinch of sand from this envelope and put it inside the folded map. If that sand is gone when we unfold the map, we'll know someone else has looked at it.

“When you come back to the barbecue without the jacket or the map,” Nancy continued, “our crook will know where to look for it. Then, when he goes to Prospector's Canyon to look for the gold, he'll get a big surprise—us!”

Nancy, Charlie, and George had just finished making their plans when they heard the screen door of the lodge swing shut. All three of them hurried to the railing, where they saw Elsa and Rachel below.

“Where's Bess?” George asked as they came downstairs, eager for news. “Didn't she come back with you?”

“She's fine.” Elsa's voice sounded tired. “At least, the doctor thinks she's all right, but he wanted to keep her in the hospital overnight—just to be sure.”

“Bess didn't get worse after she left here, did she?” Nancy asked anxiously.

“No. Actually, when we were leaving, Bess told us her headache was almost gone,” Rachel said. “She was pretty mad about missing the barbecue tonight, too. She seemed to think that Elsa's roast would be a lot better than the hospital food.”

Nancy smiled. It sounded as if Bess was making a quick recovery.

Elsa leaned toward Nancy. “She also said she bet you'd have something special planned for tonight, Nancy,” she said in a low voice. “I hope it's nothing dangerous. I think one girl in the hospital is enough.”

Nancy stiffened. “I'm sure that enjoying all that good food will be plenty of adventure for tonight,” she said, trying to sound cheerful.

Elsa gave her a suspicious look, then shook her head and pushed through the doors to the kitchen.

“I hope you can help me, Rachel,” Elsa said, sticking her head back through the door. “I'm way behind schedule.”

Rachel sighed as she started after Elsa.

“We can help, too,” Nancy offered. “Taking Bess to the hospital must have put you all behind.”

A late lunch was the first order of business in the kitchen. Nancy and George quickly had a large tray of turkey sandwiches ready. Both the Smythes and the Kauffmans had picked up sack lunches at breakfast and left for day-long hikes. Rachel took a sandwich, chips, and a glass of iced tea up to Charlie in his office. George volunteered to help Elsa carry food and a large thermos of iced tea to Pete, who was barbecuing a large roast beef at the pit located near the side of the barn. While they were gone, Nancy filled Rachel in on their plan for the evening as they ate sandwiches at the dining room table.

“Charlie won't be in any danger, will he?” Rachel asked. “This person, whoever it is, has already hurt Bess.”

“Charlie will be safe,” Nancy assured her. “And we've already agreed to call the sheriff if things get dangerous.”

“All right. I have an idea to get Charlie back up here after he shows everyone the map,” Rachel said.

Just then Elsa and George came back into the kitchen.

“Pete is turning the roast,” George announced. “And that sauce smells delicious.”

Under Elsa's direction the apprentice cooks soon had a large potato salad and a platter of fresh fruit ready. Elsa was baking big loaves of French bread that had been rising since morning. The last chore was to toss a large green salad.

When everything was ready, the girls helped carry the food to the barbecue.

The guests had already gathered and were enjoying the perfect summer weather. Maddie Emerson was sitting in a lawn chair near a giant pine tree at the edge of the picnic area. She sat very still, and her head was tilted toward the sky. Nancy guessed that she was listening to the birds that were singing their evening songs in the trees.

B.D. was deep in conversation with Frank Kauffman and Todd and Beth Smythe. His usual smiling face and large, sweeping gestures told Nancy that he was telling another story. Aaron
Kauffman stood next to his mother, watching the roast turn slowly over the coals at the barbecue pit. Tyler was looking over the food on the table.

“I wasn't sure Maddie would come after your run-in with her this morning,” George whispered to Nancy.

“I wasn't, either,” Nancy whispered back. “But I'm glad she did. Now all of our suspects are present.”

As soon as the girls had set the food down on one of the large picnic tables, Charlie started to tell his story.

“Since most of you were at dinner the other night and heard the tale of Jeremiah Benner and the Miner's Creek gold,” Charlie began, “I thought I would tell you all the sequel to the story.” He pulled the folded map from his jacket pocket and held it in the air.

“I have here the map to Jeremiah's hidden gold mine. Before everyone gets excited, I want to say that the map shows a cave in the mountains. I've been all over this retreat since I was a boy, and I can assure you, there is no cave like this. But this map should make a nice addition to my display of mining artifacts. I only wish Jeremiah had autographed it.”

The group murmured with excitement. Shirley Kauffman asked Charlie where he had found the map, and Aaron said he wanted to get a look at it. Charlie answered their questions and managed to keep everyone from getting too close to the map.

“It's a bit fragile to pass around,” he said. “But
next week I'll get a suitable frame for it, and then you can all have a good look.”

Charlie stuck the map back in his jacket and picked up a big pitcher of lemonade.

“Now, who wants a drink of Elsa's famous lemonade?” he said.

Aaron Kauffman was first in line, followed by several of the other guests.

“How'd I do?” Charlie asked Nancy when he got a chance. “Do you think I was convincing?”

“We'll soon find out,” Nancy replied. She smiled at Beth Smythe, who was energetically telling Rachel more about the hawk family they had been watching. B.D. came up to talk to Charlie. The other guests had gathered around the fire, sipping lemonade and enjoying the wonderful smell of the cooking roast. Aaron was once again talking about the gold mine, and everyone seemed to be enjoying his childish enthusiasm. But while Charlie's story had sparked interest among the guests, so far no one had shown any suspicious reactions.

By the time Pete announced that the roast was finished, the fresh evening air, the birds' songs, and the wind in the trees had worked their magic. The hungry guests were relaxed and happy. It was a perfect party night, Nancy thought, except for the shadow of trouble hanging over the retreat.

It was time, Nancy thought, for Charlie to slip away and deposit his jacket and its contents in the lodge. Suddenly she heard Rachel shriek.