New Developments

NANCY was wedged tightly between the passengers as the train, with a roar, picked up speed. Reaching for a strap, she caught her breath and quickly planned her next move. She must push through the crowded train and find Carr!

Nancy gripped her handbag firmly and started to ease herself among the passengers. She excused herself frequently as she jostled men and women. Finally she reached the car into which the suspect had fled. Suddenly it dawned on her that she could not hold him alone. She must have help!

“I’ll ask the conductor, ” Nancy decided, and stood on tiptoe to see if one were in sight.

As she craned her neck, she saw David Carr slouched in a seat near the far door. Near him stood the conductor. Excitedly Nancy moved forward once more.

At that moment the train started to slow for the next stop. In desperation, Nancy forged ahead. Suddenly, with a pitch that threw everybody off balance, the train jerked to an abrupt halt. The doors whipped open. Carr stepped out with the pressing crowd.

“Stop that man! ” shouted Nancy. “The dark-haired one with the red tie! ”

People around gaped, but no one went after him. Before Nancy herself could get to Carr, he had fled into the sea of humanity milling toward the exit.

When Nancy reached the top of the stairs, David Carr was out of sight. She searched in vain; then, disappointed, hailed a taxi to return to the Oregon restaurant.

“Nancy! ” cried Miss Drew as her niece arrived. “Thank goodness you’re safe. We feared Carr might have harmed you.”

Nancy told her aunt and Mr. Tallow about the chase. As she finished, the detective hurried up to them. He said he had fallen over a stool that Carr had tossed at him in the kitchen. By the time he had reached the street, Carr had disappeared. Then he had searched the immediate area to no avail.

All four drove to police headquarters, where the detective made out a report on Carr. At Nancy’s suggestion, they telephoned the West Coast Trading Company in San Francisco. As she had suspected, Carr had not been working for them recently.

“Your niece certainly has a good ead on her shoulders, ” the police captain said to Miss Eloise Drew as she and Nancy left.

“They say I’m very much like my aunt, ” Nancy said with a smile. “But I’m sorry we didn’t catch David Carr.”

Reaching the sidewalk, the Drews took a taxi to the former teacher’s apartment.

Next morning Nancy suggested to her aunt that they tour Chinatown. Recalling that the stolen vases discovered in Masonville had been wrapped in Chinese newspapers, Nancy wanted to go to the office of the China Daily Times and make some inquiries.

When the two reached Mott Street, they located the newspaper office and went inside. Nancy asked a pleasant man the names of subscribers in Masonville and River Heights. He willingly told her, but neither John Manning nor David Carr was among them.

“Nothing came of that hunch, ” Nancy told her aunt as they headed for a fine Chinese restaurant.

As they finished a delicious seven-course meal, Aunt Eloise gave her niece a worried look. “Wouldn’t it be wise to give up the case and stay out of Carr’s way, dear? ” she suggested.

Nancy patted her aunt’s hand reassuringly. “Don’t worry about me, Aunt Eloise. I promise to be doubly careful. Anyway, I’m going home tomorrow and maybe he’ll stay here.”

Actually the young detective felt that if Carr and Manning were the same person, there was a good possibility he was already on his way back to the River Heights area. She would have to watch her step!

“You’re going home? ” her aunt repeated. “Oh, Nancy, I thought—”

“Sorry, darling, ” her niece said. “A friend of Ned’s is being married. Ned’s to be an usher. I promised to drive up to Emerson and get him day after tomorrow.”

“I hate to have you leave, ” her aunt said wistfully. “But I bow to the younger generation! Now let’s do some sightseeing.”

The following day, on arriving home, she was welcomed by a smiling Hannah Gruen and a barking, tail-wagging Togo.

Ned telephoned just as Nancy started to unpack. Nancy plunged into a brief description of her activities.

“Wow! ” he exclaimed when she finished. “You sound like a one-woman police force! Anyway, I’m glad you’re back. I’d begun to think you’d forgotten about me.”

“Not a chance! ” she assured the youth. “I’ll be at Emerson tomorrow by twelve o’clock.”

“Okay.”

Later, Nancy called Mr. Soong. The Chinese gentleman was shocked to hear that an imitation of his rare Ming vase had been sold to the Sen-yung Oriental Gift Shop. He congratulated Nancy on her brave attempt to capture Carr and expressed the hope that the man would be apprehended soon.

The next day when Nancy arrived at Ned’s fraternity house she was immediately surrounded by the various members. Having attended many parties there, she was well known and well liked.

“Ned’s not here, ” one teased. “Prof kept him after class. How about lunch with me? ”

“Say, you big so-and-so, ” called a youth, clattering down the stairs. “Lay off! ”

Ned appeared, grinning, turned Nancy around and marched her back to the car. They had lunch at an attractive inn, then started for Ned’s home, a few miles out of River Heights. On the way, Nancy gave Ned all the details of her search for a China clay pit near the leaning chimney. While they were going through Masonville, she suddenly asked Ned to stop.

“What’s up? ” Ned asked.

They were in front of the courthouse.

“I’ve been wanting to find out who owns that fenced-in property in the woods, ” Nancy replied. “Let’s go in to ask the Registrar of Deeds.”

Ned followed her up the steps and into the registrar’s office. The clerk handed them a map and ledger. Together they flipped the pages until they came to the entry Nancy was seeking.

The records showed that a tract of land comprising some two hundred and fifty acres, including the abandoned Civil War mine, had been purchased by Miles Monroe of Philadelphia five years ago.

“Miles Monroe! ” Nancy exclaimed in surprise. “That’s where he said he came from! ”

“Who’s he? ” Ned inquired.

“A geologist I went to see about the China clay pit. Now I know why Mr. Monroe asked me to let him know if I located it.”

“Sounds phony to me, ” Ned declared. “Want to stop and see him? ”

“If you have time.”

“I’m not due at the bachelor dinner until seven-thirty. So let’s go. I’d like to see this Mr. Monroe and ask him what he means by trying to put one over on the world’s prettiest detective.”

“Ned, stop it! ” Nancy commanded.

They left the courthouse and drove to Miles Monroe’s apartment in River Heights. As before, an eye stared through the peephole in answer to Nancy’s ring. When the professor recognized Nancy, the door flew open.

“Glad you called, ” he said. “I have something to show you. But first, tell me why you came.”

Nancy introduced Ned, then quickly got to the problem on her mind. “We’ve found out your secret, Professor Monroe! ”

“My secret? ” he asked, perplexed.

“It’s you who owns the old iron mine! ”

“Me? ” exclaimed the geologist. Then he burst out laughing. “I never owned a piece of land in my life! ”

“The property is listed as being owned by Miles Monroe of Philadelphia, ” Nancy told him. “Who could this Miles Monroe be? ”

The professor shook his head. “Search me! ” he snorted. “To the best of my knowledge I was the only Miles Monroe in Philadelphia.”

Nancy felt sure the man was telling the truth. Since he could tell her nothing more, she put the puzzling question aside for the moment.

“You said you had something to show me, ” she reminded him.

The geologist uncrossed his long, bony legs and limped over to the bookcase. He took out a thick volume that looked to be very old. Carefully he turned the pages to a place he had marked.

“After you told me you were searching for a China clay deposit, ” the professor said, “I came across a reference in this old book on geology.”

With Ned looking on, Nancy read the paragraph the geologist had marked. It told of a fine white clay that had been found one mile southeast of a “crook in Huntsman’s River” during the days of the early settlers.

“Huntsman’s River? ” Nancy said. “Why, that must be Hunter’s Creek. That’s the stream which runs under Hunter’s Bridge.”

“Exactly! And the clay the book describes is China clay, or I’m no geologist! ”

“Thank you so much, Professor Monroe, ” said Nancy, rising to depart.

Ned shook hands with the geologist. “Nice to meet you, sir, ” he said. “This sounds like a good clue for Nancy.”

When the couple reached the car, Ned suggested that they spend the next afternoon following the directions to the China clay pit.

“And how about Mrs. Gruen packing one of those super picnic lunches? ” he added with a grin.

Nancy laughed. “It’s a date.”

At twelve the next day they started out. Nancy told Ned she had learned that no Miles Monroe was listed in the Philadelphia telephone directory. Her father had obtained this information.

“It’s sure a mystery, ” declared Ned. “But maybe we’ll soon clear it up.”

Reaching Hunter’s Bridge, Nancy showed him where to park and they locked the car. Taking the picnic basket, they started off, following the water upstream for a mile to a point where it swerved sharply.

“This must be the ‘crook’ the book mentioned, ” Ned said. “How about eating? ”

Nancy nodded. She squinted at the position of the sun, then pointed to the left. “And southeast should be in that direction.”

Half an hour later the two explorers, their appetites well satisfied, set off once more. When they had gone exactly one mile, as the directions had indicated, Nancy stopped.

“The clay should be near here! ”

“Say, what’s this? ” Ned exclaimed, bending down to examine a little gully. “Do you suppose this is part of the old clay pit? ”

The two stepped into the depression, overgrown with weeds and brush. As they did, Ned kicked against a piece of flat, corroded iron.

“Probably part of an old forge, ” he remarked.

“Just what we need! ” Nancy exclaimed. “We can use it as a shovel.”

“For what? ” Ned queried.

“To dig with, ” Nancy replied, pointing to the bottom of the gully.

Ned dug. Finally he said ruefully, “Nothing here but a lot of gravel. This isn’t a China clay pit. It’s only—”

He stopped speaking as a wild cry pierced the woods some distance ahead. It sounded like bong.

“Someone’s in trouble! ” Nancy exclaimed, starting to run.

A few moments later she and Ned emerged into a clearing. To Nancy’s utter astonishment, the four-walled enclosure of boards confronted her!