The Sky Phantom

Table of Contents

 

 

Nancy goes to the Excello Flying School in the Midwest to take lessons, while her friends Bess and George perfect their horseback riding. At once the young sleuth is confronted with the mystery of a hijacked plane and a missing pilot. Then the rancher’s prize pony, Major, is stolen. Nancy becomes a detective in a plane and on horseback to track down the elusive sky phantom and the horse thief. A lucky find—a medal with a message to be deciphered on it—furnishes a worthwhile clue. Romance is added to mystery when Bess becomes interested in a handsome cowboy. Readers will spur Nancy on as she investigates a strange magnetic cloud, hunts for the horse thief, and finally arrives at a surprising solution.

Copyright
©
1976 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by Grosset & Dunlap, Inc., a member of The Putnam &
Grosset Group, New York. Published simultaneously in Canada. S.A.
NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES® is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster,

Inc. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 75-17391

eISBN : 978-1-101-07754-2

2007 Printing

“PULL back on the stick, Nancy!” Bruce Fisher ordered.

Nancy Drew, an attractive strawberry blond, was taking a flying lesson from one of the new instructors at the Excello School, located in the Midwest. She and her friends Bess Marvin and George Fayne were spending their vacation at the nearby Hamilton Ranch. The other two girls were on the range, horseback riding.

“Very good, Nancy!” said Bruce. “But one thing you must remember. An airplane is a temperamental bird and must be treated gently. Take it easy and the plane will work with you.”

Nancy had run into turbulent air and the plane had become difficult to control. Now she zoomed upward to gain altitude and avoid being tossed around. Presently she saw a very large cloud looming ahead.

“That’s the mystery cloud,” said her teacher. “You can get lost in there it’s so big.”

The word “mystery” caught Nancy’s attention. To her the cloud looked like any other, but now it was the only one in the sky, which was blue and sunny. She asked why he called this particular vapory mass a mystery cloud.

Bruce explained, “Because it’s there all the time—that is, this one or one just like it. This is a strange phenomenon.”

“You mean the cloud never dissipates?” Nancy asked.

Bruce nodded. “I guess it’s here continuously because of the high hills in this area. Meteorologists say that type of cloud formation is caused by orographic uplift.”

Nancy chuckled. “That’s a big word to remember.”

As she flew closer to the cloud, Bruce said, “Now turn away from it. It could be dangerous.”

Flying low, Nancy banked the plane. While in the turn, she looked below. To her surprise she saw her friends Bess, in a bright-red bandanna, and George, wearing green jodhpurs. They had reined in and were standing still, waving their arms wildly.

“I believe the girls are trying to signal me,” Nancy told her instructor. “I wonder why. Maybe something’s wrong!”

Bess Marvin, who was blond, pretty, and slightly overweight, was pointing up to the sky. In a moment, she swooped her arm down toward the earth. Her cousin George, a slender, athletic brunette, went through the same motions.

“What are they trying to say?” Bruce asked as the girls repeated the gesture.

“It’s my guess,” Nancy answered, “that perhaps they have spotted a plane in trouble somewhere above the other side of that hill. They want us to take a look. Let’s see what we can find out.”

Guided by her instructor, she banked and made several turns around the area, but neither she nor Bruce could see a plane on the ground.

“The pilot must have gotten his plane under control and flown away,” Nancy remarked.

Bess and George continued to motion with their arms, but the two in the plane noticed that now, when the girls lowered their arms, they pointed opposite the area where Bruce’s plane was circling.

“I’ll see if I can pick up anything on the radio,” Bruce said.

He switched on his set and began tuning to various frequencies. Nancy could catch bits of weather reports and airport instructions to incoming craft. Then Bruce suddenly stopped at one frequency.

“Do you hear that beeping?” he asked Nancy.

She nodded.

Bruce said, “That usually means someone is in distress. Maybe your friends did see a plane out of control, and it went down in a place where we haven’t looked.”

Nancy remarked it might be a long hunt before they could find a craft on the ground. “Do we have enough fuel?” she asked.

Bruce smiled and said, “Yes. It may take us a little while, but by using this ELT signal, we can probably shorten the time.”

He explained that ELT meant Emergency Locator Transmitter. “We’ll fly in a search pattern and listen to those beeps. The stronger they are, the closer we’re getting to the source. If they become weaker, then we’re flying away and should turn back.”

Nancy said to him, “You’d better take over. I’ll look out the window.”

Bruce flew directly south. The varying volume of the beeping sound reminded Nancy of a game she played as a child. She would search for a hidden object and her father would indicate that she was “hot,” meaning close, or “cold,” meaning not close.

After flying a few miles, Bruce banked sharply and took a northerly direction. The beeps were faint now, so he swung to the west. Here the signals were even fainter. He banked and went directly east.

Presently Nancy cried out, “There it Is! I see it. I wonder if the pilot is inside.” She saw no one outside the craft and no signs of a parachute.

Just ahead, in a scrubby area near the base of a high hill was a small two-engine plane. The sleek-looking craft was painted a dull silver. Above it loomed the great cloud.

Bruce prepared to land near the craft. “This is the part I always hate to undertake,” he said soberly. “There’s no telling what we may find. Suppose I come down a distance away and you stay in the plane while I investigate?”

Nancy sighed. “You’re my instructor, so I presume I’ll have to obey your orders, but I’m asking you to let me go along. Please. I may be able to help.”

Bruce shrugged and said, “Okay. But I insist on looking inside the plane first.”

He brought the flying school’s two-seater down to very rough, slightly sloping terrain. He did it so skillfully, though, that his passenger was not shaken. The two got out and walked toward the other plane.

“There’s no sign of life,” Bruce remarked with set lips.