The Secret of Mirror Bay (5 page)

Everyone agreed it was a sad story indeed.

Then George said, “Evidently somebody didn’t keep the secret. How did you learn about it?”

Miss Armitage said that when the child’s nurse, Maud Jayson, became an old lady with a failing memory, she had told the tale but no one believed it.

“That is, no one but myself. I came across pieces of a faded torn letter in an old book which I received when the books of the little girl’s mother were passed to members of the family. I happened to inherit this one.”

“Did you by any chance lose one of the pieces?” Nancy asked her.

“Yes I did,” Miss Armitage replied. “And it was an important part of the message. I think I lost it on the water yesterday morning. Foolishly I was carrying the letter in a small pocket.”

Nancy stood up and excused herself for a minute. She went to get the paper she had found and showed it to Miss Armitage.

The woman was amazed. “This is what I lost! Where did you find it?”

Nancy told her, then said, “Miss Armitage, I’ve puzzled over the meaning of it. Your story is fascinating and explains the mystery.”

The woman said that her reason for wanting to retrieve the child’s beautiful royal coach was to present it to the Fenimore Museum.

“If the water did not get to it and the coach is intact, I think it would be a lovely addition to the historical exhibits. Thousands of people could enjoy it.”

“And it would be a rare piece,” Aunt Eloise added. “I doubt that there are very many like it in the world.”

George asked Miss Armitage how she hoped to locate the box containing the child’s coach.

“Either by feeling around with my stilts or by a long pole which I sometimes use. I thought if I located the box and could prove that the story is true, then I could hire some divers to bring it up.”

Miss Armitage looked searchingly from one face to another. Finally she said, “If this mystery intrigues you, Nancy, how about solving it for me? Since you rescued me, you girls must be wonderful swimmers. You should be able to locate the coach.”

Nancy accepted the challenge with alacrity, and Bess and George said they wanted to help in the search too.

“But you must promise to keep it a secret,” Miss Armitage insisted.

“We promise,” said the girls in unison and smilingly gave a mock salute.

The woman stood up. She wished the girls luck, then asked if one of them would drive her car home. “I still feel a little shaky,” she said.

“I will,” said Nancy. “Let’s all go to town,” she suggested. “We’ll need scuba diving equipment for our search, and I can’t wait to start.”

Aunt Eloise begged off, saying she had letters to write.

George drove Miss Armitage’s car, which the woman had parked on the road not far from Mirror Bay Bide-A-Wee. Since her home was on the opposite side of the lake, the two cars were driven through Cooperstown, then out Route 80, which ran along the water.

When they reached the attractive rented cottage, Bess carried the stilts inside. For the first time Miss Armitage laughed aloud.

“How foolish I’ve been! I think I ought to give away those stilts. To think of all the trouble I put you girls to and wasn’t accomplishing a thing myself!”

“Don’t worry about that,” Nancy said quickly. “And please keep the stilts. Sometime when you’re feeling strong, I want you to give us a demonstration.”

“I will if you’ll all try them,” Miss Armitage said. After a brief pause, she added, “By the way, you aren’t far from the Farmers’ Museum. That’s a great place to visit. You know who’s there? The Cardiff Giant.”

“Who’s he?” George asked.

The retired schoolteacher would not reveal any more. “You’re so close now, why don’t you find out for yourselves?”

“Maybe we will,” Nancy replied. “But first we want to shop for scuba equipment.”

The girls returned to the center of Cooperstown in Nancy’s car and parked near a restaurant. Yo was just coming out of it.

He seemed very glad to see them. Grinning, he asked, “Have you met the green man yet?”

To his surprise their answer was yes. “Really? Tell me about it,” he said.

The girls related their experience and told about the man saying there was trouble at Bide-A-Wee cabin.

“It wasn’t true. It was only an excuse to get us away,” George said angrily. “Yo, have you any idea at all what’s going on up in those woods?”

“No,” the young man replied. “But I’d like to find out. To tell the truth, though, I don’t think that green guy is fooling around. He wouldn’t hesitate to harm any of us.”

“Then,” said Bess, “I for one will stay out of his reach!”

Nancy changed the subject and asked Yo where they could buy scuba equipment. He told them, then George inquired if he knew about the Cardiff Giant at the Farmers’ Museum.

“Oh yes,” Yo replied. “Wait until you see that moth-eaten old Indian.”

“Tell us about him,” Bess urged.

Yo grinned but refused. Finally the girls left him. Nancy said that before going to the sports shop, she would like to stop at the post office up the street.

“I want to see if there are any letters for us sent to General Delivery.”

Several were handed over to her. The one Nancy tore open first was from Ned Nickerson, her favorite date.

As soon as she finished reading it, Nancy exclaimed, “Girls! Listen to this!”

She read part of the letter aloud. It said, “Now I can tell you a surprise which your Aunt Eloise and I have arranged. She invited Burt, Dave, and me to come up to your cabin. We’ll be there this weekend!”

“How super!” Bess cried out. “Best news I’ve heard in ages.”

“Great!” George commented with a grin.

Burt Eddleton was a special friend of hers, and Dave Evans dated Bess.

Nancy went on, “Ned also says, ‘Be sure to have a mystery waiting for us.’ ”

The three girls giggled. “Mystery!” Bess exclaimed. “We’re full of them!”

Nancy remarked that she would give up her room, and bunk with her aunt so the three boys could use hers. “It’s lucky there are three beds in it.”

The girls went back to the street and walked to the shop where scuba diving equipment could be purchased. After choosing some they went to the car and set off for the Farmers’ Museum on the west side of the lake.

The exhibits were housed in a huge barn and several smaller buildings. The adjoining grounds were laid out as a reproduction of a colonial village with separate offices for a lawyer, a doctor, and a printer. There also were a pharmacist’s shop with old-fashioned candies, a blacksmith’s, a pioneer homestead, a schoolhouse, and a church.

In the huge barn the girls were intrigued by demonstrations of broom-making, spinning, and weaving. They walked all the way through the building. In a nearby shed stood a large unusual-looking vehicle.

“What’s that?” Bess asked, perplexed.

When the girls drew closer, they could read a sign saying that the vehicle was a snow roller. It was horse-drawn and pulled what looked like a tremendous barrel nearly the width of an old-time country road.

George remarked, “Clearing away snow in olden days must’ve really been a task. Think of how easy it is today with motorized equipment.”

“Now let’s go see the Cardiff Giant,” Nancy suggested.

Bess pleaded, “But first I want to buy some of that old-fashioned candy.”

Before Nancy and George could decide which to do, a cry rang out loud and clear in the big barn.

“Stop thief!”

As the cry of “Stop thief!” was repeated, Nancy, Bess and George raced into the great barn.

At the same moment they saw the girl who resembled Nancy. She was darting in and out among the sightseers, but Nancy caught sight of her dropping a purse into a shopping bag she carried. The girl’s own bag hung over her arm.

“She’s the one!” George exclaimed to the people around her, and put on a burst of speed to catch the thief.

As Nancy started to follow, she was jolted to a full stop by two hands that grabbed her shoulders from behind. She turned to face her accoster, a red-faced, angry woman.

Seizing one of Nancy’s wrists in a crushing grip, she shrieked, “Here she is! She’s the one! She stole my purse!”

Bess, just behind Nancy, yanked the woman’s hands away.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked, her eyes flashing. “My friend Nancy Drew is not a thief!”

By this time a crowd had gathered around the group. A guard pushed his way through to confront them.

“What’s going on here?” he demanded.

“This girl stole my purse!” the woman cried out. “Arrest her! Make her give me back my money!”

“Where is the bag?” the guard asked Nancy sternly.

“I don’t have it,” she replied. “Evidently the thief resembles me very strongly. She got away. But a friend of mine has gone after her.”

The guard looked as if he was not sure whom to believe. Bess kept insisting that Nancy had nothing to do with the theft.

At that moment George returned. “I didn’t catch her,” she said. “That girl jumped into a car on the road. The driver no doubt was waiting for her. It went racing off.”

“What did the girl look like?” the guard asked her.

“Very much like my friend here, and she had on similar clothes,” George answered.

Nancy had observed this herself, and wondered whether the thief had been shadowing her. Had she deliberately planned the theft to embarrass Nancy and also give herself a chance to get away?

To the guard, Nancy said, “You’ve heard the vacation hoax story, of course?” He nodded. “Well,” she went on, “that girl is no doubt the same one who took this woman’s purse.”

The victim had been staring hard at Nancy. Now she said, “I can see the difference in the two of you. You’re pretty and you have a kind face. That other girl is very hard-looking. I’m sorry I accused you.”

“I’m glad we got things straightened out,” Nancy replied.

The guard suggested that the woman come to the museum office and tell her story to the police, whom he would summon. The crestfallen victim followed him.

“I’m glad that’s over,” Bess remarked. “For a few minutes I was afraid you were going to land at police headquarters, Nancy.”

“To tell the truth,” her friend answered, with a little grin, “I was too.”

George reminded the others that they had been on their way to look at the Cardiff Giant. “Come along!” she urged. “I want to see that moth-eaten Indian.”

The girls went outdoors and hurried to the large shed beneath which the giant lay. The three girls stared at it and burst out laughing.

“That Yo and his moth-eaten Indian!” Bess said. “The only thing about this being a giant is his size. He’s just carved out of wood and pretty crudely at that. He has an Indian face, though.”

Nancy read a sign tacked to the wall. It explained that the Cardiff Giant had been a hoax perpetrated many, many years before. A man had carved the figure, then buried it on a farm in Cardiff, New York, to age the wood. Finally he had dug it up. The man had publicized the giant widely as having been carved in ancient times by Indians. His story caught on so well that he and a partner had traveled all over the country exhibiting their “prehistoric Indian figure.”

Newspapers and various periodicals had run stories about the Cardiff Giant and the men had made thousands of dollars before the hoax was discovered.

After Bess had read the sign, she said indignantly, “Why, that faker! He was nothing but a thief!”

The girls moved off and went to buy the old-fashioned candy. After some more sightseeing they returned to the parking area.

As they drove through the exit gate, Yo was waiting for them. He wore a broad grin and called, “How did you like the withered old Indian?”

George opened the door to let Yo in, and replied, “You old fraud you! I guess I’ll have to give you credit for really fooling us this time. One good hoax deserves another, I suppose.”

Yo laughed and said, “What you doing this afternoon?”

“If I tell you,” said Nancy, “are you going to play another joke on us?” He laughed, and she added, “We’re going swimming.”

They dropped him off in town. On the way home Nancy decided his mysterious smile at the dock yesterday might have indicated he liked to play jokes.

The instant the girls arrived at Bide-A-Wee, they thanked Miss Drew for her secret invitation to the boys.

Bess added, “Tell us what to do to help get ready for them and we’ll start.”

“Oh, tomorrow will do. Why don’t we all go swimming? You can try out your scuba equipment and hunt for the child’s coach.”

“Great idea,” Nancy agreed, “I keep wondering, if we do find it, what condition the box will be in. Maybe it has disintegrated and floated away.”

“Yes,” Bess added, “and the coach could be a sorry sight after lying in water a couple of hundred years.”

Nancy said if this were true Miss Armitage would be very much disappointed. “And I will too. Well, let’s get started.”

In a short time Aunt Eloise and her guests were swimming in Mirror Bay. The girls began hunting for the child’s Russian royal coach. They found many small items in the sand, the shale and the mud, but nothing of importance until Nancy signaled the cousins to take a look at something. They swam over quickly. Their detective friend was tugging at the wheel of an object embedded in the mud.

The three girls moved it gently from side to side so as not to break the wheel off the article to which it was attached. After several seconds they unearthed a child’s rusted stroller and brought it to the surface. Its wicker sides were gone.

When it lay on the beach, Bess looked at it, frowning. “Don’t tell me this was once a beautiful gold and white coach.”

George laughed. “It’s as bad as Cinderella’s coach turning into a pumpkin.”