Cabin Captive

As Nancy and Ned leaped up the steps, Nancy dived for the cabin door, pounding on it with her fists.

“Hello-o, ” she cried, ignoring the drawn shade.

“If this is supposed to be a popular retreat, ” Ned said, “there sure doesn’t seem to be much activity around here.”

“Maybe everybody’s meditating, ” Nancy suggested.

But as she spoke, the doorknob turned and opened, revealing the woman again.

“I don’t want no more people staying here, ” she snapped.

Nancy told her that they were looking for Ramaswami.

“Who? ” the woman asked.

“The swami, ” Ned repeated. “Do you know of him? ”

“Not personally. But a bunch of people got turned away from his place because it was full up, so they came here.”

“When was this? ” Nancy inquired.

“Last weekend, ” the woman said. “They stayed here one night. Paid me, of course, but what a mess they left—dirty dishes everywhere.”

“Where exactly is the swami’s retreat? ” Ned questioned.

“Stay on that trail, ” the woman replied, pointing to an opening in the woods behind the cabin. “You can’t miss it, and when you see Mr. Swami, tell him I don’t want any more visitors! ”

She closed the door on Nancy and Ned. The rain had ended, leaving puddles of water in the softened earth which the couple now treaded across. The warming rays of the sun that began to emerge penetrated their wet clothes, making their clothing more tolerable as they walked in the woods.

“Are you with me? ” Nancy said to Ned in a half-teasing voice.

“What do you think? ” came the reply.

“Well, for a minute there I thought—” But Nancy did not have a chance to finish talking.

There was a scuffle of feet and the sound of branches breaking, which caused her to halt quickly.

In that split second before she could see what had happened to Ned, hands grabbed her waist and a scarf saturated with a strange honey-sweet fluid was stuffed in her mouth. She yanked her body forward, struggling to free herself, but the pungent odor soon overwhelmed her and Nancy fell limp against her attackers.

Meanwhile, Bess and George had finished their shopping excursion a bit earlier than they had anticipated.

“Why don’t we pay a visit to Cliff? ” Bess suggested to her cousin. “I’m sure he’d like to have some company.”

George agreed, and after the girls dropped off their mothers at home, they headed for the Drew house. When they rang the doorbell, however, Hannah did not answer it.

“That’s odd, ” George commented.

“Maybe Hannah went shopping, too, ” Bess replied.

“Even so, I’m surprised Cliff doesn’t hear the bell, ” George said. “Of course, he could be sleeping.”

As the girls headed for the driveway again, they saw Hannah Gruen coming up the walk with a shopping cart filled with groceries.

“I told you so.” Bess giggled and called out to the housekeeper. “We just stopped by to see Cliff.”

“Oh, and having done so, you’re leaving now, before I’ve even had a chance to give you a piece of cake, ” Hannah said, halting the cart.

“On the contrary, ” Bess replied. “We haven’t seen Cliff at all. We rang the bell, but he didn’t answer it.”

The housekeeper appeared perplexed. “He must still be sleeping.”

Everyone stepped inside the hallway. Hannah set her packages down in the kitchen, then went upstairs. Cliff’s room was empty!

“Cliff? ” she called out.

There was no response.

“Will you girls check downstairs for him, while I look around up here? ” Hannah asked Bess and George.

They darted from room to room, glancing through windows to see if perhaps he had gone outside. They panicked as they realized that the young amnesia victim had disappeared!

“This is terrible, terrible! ” Hannah cried. “I wasn’t out of this house more than an hour. Oh, what if something has happened to him? It’s all my fault! ”

The girls tried to comfort the woman, wishing that Nancy were there and wondering what to do next.

“Let’s call the police, ” Bess declared nervously.

“Good idea, ” George said, dashing to the hall telephone. But she picked it up and put it down instantly. “We shouldn’t jump to conclusions, ” she said. “After all, there’s no sign of a break-in anywhere, and Hannah, you locked all the doors before you left, didn’t you? ”

“Yes—oh, certainly.”

“Well, then, it seems to me that Cliff may have simply decided to go for a walk.”

Somehow, though, that did not seem likely to Bess.

“I suggest we wait a little while before calling the police, ” George went on.

“But what if you’re wrong? ” Bess replied anxiously.

“If I’m wrong, then I’m wrong.”

“That’s the craziest logic I ever heard, ” Bess said, racing to the telephone.

“Okay, suit yourself, ” George said, stepping away from her cousin. “But you’re going to feel really foolish when Cliff walks in the door.”

Hannah, in the meantime, had paid little attention to the banter between the girls. She sat frozen in her chair, hearing Nancy’s earlier request repeat itself in her mind.

“No matter what, ” the girl detective had told the housekeeper, “please don’t leave Cliff alone while I’m gone today.”

But the refrigerator needed replenishment and Hannah had attended to the errand as quickly as she could, when she was unable to persuade the local store to make a delivery.

“The police are coming over right away, ” Bess said now, drawing Hannah out of her stupor.

“Thank goodness, ” she answered vaguely. “Someone must find Cliff before Nancy comes home.”

The young detective, however, lay bound on the damp floor of a cabin, near an old iron stove. The odor of mildew that cloyed the air had replaced that of the insidious drug, and Nancy’s eyes flickered open.

She was at once aware of the sweet, antiseptic taste in her mouth and the fact that the scarf had been removed. She lifted her head, then let it sink back as a dull ache thudded through her skull.

Where am I? And where’s Ned? she wondered dizzily.

The log ceiling dripped water now, sprinkling Nancy’s face unevenly and causing her to slide out from under the leak. As she moved, she noticed something dark and slippery crawling over a crack in the floor. It was moving slowly, steadily toward her. A water snake!

Completely helpless, she shrieked in horror, but the sound caught in her throat and she continued to drag herself away from the creature.

“Oh! ” Nancy cried as the viper raised its head, poised for a venomous strike.

Instantly, the girl swung her knees up, catching the rubber soles of her sneakers in a loose floorboard. To her amazement, it popped up and made the crack split wider. The snake plunged forward, tumbling into the pit of earth below.

Despite her relief, Nancy shivered, gazing through a rain-spattered window overhead. The sky was dark now, and even if she could loosen the rope around her wrists and ankles, she wondered if she could escape.

Her log prison was surrounded by tall trees, and without the benefit of the sun, she had no idea where she was nor how she could find her way to Swain Lake Lodge.

The other, more troubling thought was, What had happened to her friend, Ned Nickerson? Where had their abductors taken him?

I have to find Ned! I must! Nancy thought with determination.