Trapped! “Nancy, where are you?” George called suddenly from just around the corner of the house.

“Nancy, where are you? ” George called suddenly from just around the corner of the house.

Nancy looked toward the ridge. “Stay where you are, ” she ordered, aware that the arrow had struck the tree and not her only because she’d no longer been standing in front of the green trunk. Never looking away from the ridge, and ready to dodge into the bushes at any sign of movement, Nancy made her way around the corner to where a thoroughly unhappy-looking George waited for her.

“What in the world is going on? ” George demanded.

“Someone just shot this at me, ” Nancy told her, extending the arrow for George’s inspection. “Luckily, I saw someone moving and dodged behind the tree, or—she shuddered, unable to finish the sentence.

“Let’s go inside, ” George said, a frown marring her attractive features. “This is just terrible! Someone’s making an attempt on your life every day! ”

“But why? ” Nancy asked. “Why would anyone try to harm me, George? I haven’t even come close to solving either of the mysteries here. I don’t know why the Kachinas are haunting the house, and I haven’t been able to clear Ngyun’s name.” The young sleuth clenched her fist in frustration. “So far all I’ve done is to get Dancer injured and lose Jake Harris’s journal.”

“You found it first, ” George reminded her as they walked into the cool kitchen, where Bess was sitting at the table sipping some lemonade and sampling the cookies that Maria was taking from the oven. “You must know something dangerous to someone.”

“But what? ” Nancy asked, putting the arrow on the table and sinking wearily into a chair. “And whom could I be a danger to? ”

“What are you talking about? ” Bess inquired.

“Nancy almost got shot with this arrow, ” George said and explained what happened.

Bess’s face turned white. “Oh, Nancy! ” she cried. “What are we going to do? ”

Maria had been busy taking more cookies out of the oven, and had not paid attention to the girls’ conversation. Now she came over to the table and stared at the arrow.

“Where did you find this? ” she asked.

“Do you know whose it is? ” Nancy countered, reviving as her detective instincts returned.

“It’s Ngyun’s, ” Maria answered without hesitation. “My cousin makes arrows and he does special fletching—the feathered part—for the family. See the pattern of red feathers worked into the black and gray.”

Nancy nodded. “I knew the arrow was homemade, ” she admitted.

“Where did you find it? ” Maria asked a second time. “Don’t tell me he’s been shooting the cactus again. ”

“Someone shot it at Nancy, ” George spoke up. “She moved out of the way just in time, so it hit a tree.”

“Nancy! ” Maria paled. “You don’t think... Ngyun wouldn’t...” The woman sank down in the empty chair, dropping the arrow as though it had burned her fingers.

“I’m positive it wasn’t Ngyun, ” Nancy assured her, “but how would someone else get one of his arrows? ”

Maria sighed. “He’s lost some by shooting them into brush or cactus, ” she answered, looking only slightly relieved. “My cousin gave him a dozen when Ngyun’s grandfather showed him how to use the bow, and I think he has eight or nine left. Would you like me to go up and see? ”

Nancy shook her head. “I don’t want him to think that I suspect him of shooting the arrow at me. In fact, I think it might be a good idea not to say anything about this to anyone else.” She looked at Bess and George.

“But if you’re in danger, Nancy, we should tell someone, ” Bess protested.

“I’ll just have to be more careful till I find out who wants to get rid of me, ” Nancy replied. “Meantime, I don’t want Chuck and Heather worrying any more. And I don’t want them telling their grandfather. Mr. McGuire was very disturbed when he heard about the fire. Chuck says he might have to stay in the hospital several more days because of it.”

“He’d be terribly upset if he knew, ” Maria agreed. “But if there really is someone out there who means you harm, Nancy, you must not take any more chances. I’d rather send Ngyun back to his mother and her people than have you risk your life trying to clear his name. And you know that Chuck and Heather would feel the same way about you trying to solve their mystery.”

Nancy nodded. “They’ve already told me that, ” she admitted. “But don’t you see, if someone wants to hurt me, there has to be a reason. I must be close to finding out the truth, and once I do, I’ll be safe. ”

“You just be careful, ” Maria warned. “Very, very careful. ”

The next two days passed rather quietly. The girls made trips into the town of Apache Junction, shopping in quaint, little stores for the lovely Indian jewelry that seemed to be everywhere. With Heather’s expert advice, they bought beautiful, silver and turquoise belt buckles to take back to the boys, and selected more jewelry as gifts for the members of their families.

Nancy found an exquisite Kachina doll in one of the shops and was unable to resist it. “It looks just like the one painted at the far end of the hall, ” she told George. “Won’t it make a great souvenir to show everyone when we get home? ”

“When is that going to be, Nancy? ” Bess asked softly, not wanting Heather to overhear them. “How much longer are we going to stay? ”

Nancy frowned. “I can’t leave without solving the mysteries, ” she protested.

“But nothing is happening, ” Bess reminded her. “And you did find out what the Kachina in the hall wanted, didn’t you? ”

Nancy nodded. “But I still hear the chanting every night, ” she confessed. “I look out in the hall whenever it wakes me, but the Kachina isn’t there. I have a feeling it wants me to do something else, but I don’t know what.”

Bess appeared unconvinced, when Heather came over with a handsome, fetish necklace to show them. There was no chance to go on with the conversation while they admired the tiny, hand-carved birds that were strung on the silver wire.

Still, memories of the words haunted Nancy through the afternoon, and after dinner she found it hard to concentrate on the card games that Chuck and Heather had suggested to fill the evening hours. A spring rainstorm seemed to be brewing, which added to the feeling of tension in the air.

After several games, Nancy excused herself and wandered into the hall to stare once more at the Kachina paintings. They were so lovely, yet eerie and, in the shadows of evening, almost frightening.

Did they conceal further secrets? she asked herself. Were there other little differences like the writing instrument that had guided her to the loose brick?

Thinking that it might give her a clue, Nancy went to her room to get her Kachina to compare it with the larger painting. However, when she reached her room, she hesitated, then went to the window to stare out at the distant flickerings of lightning that seemed to be licking into the Superstitions.

The scent of rain was in the air and on the breeze that stirred the white curtains. When she listened closely, she could hear the far-off rumbling of thunder. Then, suddenly, she heard something else—the sound of hoofbeats. In the dim light, she saw a black and white pinto headed toward one of the washes.

Nancy hesitated only a moment before racing through the house and down the path to the stable. If Ngyun was riding out in the night, she had to follow him! There wasn’t even time to tell the others where she was going. If she waited, she would surely lose him in the stormy night.

Fumbling in the dark stable, Nancy saddled the bay gelding Pepper Pot and rode out as fast as she dared in the poor light. As they entered the wash, she slowed the horse a little and looked around, suddenly not sure where to go. Almost at once, she saw movement ahead, and once again there was a flash of black and white as the rider moved along the wash.

“Ngyun? ” she called. “Ngyun, wait, please! ”

Hoofbeats were her only answer, but since they seemed to be coming from directly ahead, Nancy urged the gelding to follow them. The wind was rising, spinning dust and small bits of sand off the top of the wash and driving them down on Nancy as she rode through the rough, ditchlike formation.

The thunder grew louder and the lightning flared more often, illuminating the scene like midday and making it easier for Nancy to guide Pepper Pot along the wash. It also gave her an occasional glimpse of the pinto’s splashy haunches, but no clue to why his rider didn’t slow when she called to him.

The rain came suddenly. There was a teeth-jarring crash of thunder and the skies seemed to break apart, spilling the water in sheets rather than drops. Pepper Pot slowed immediately, snorting and tossing his head, obviously wanting to turn back and run for the dry sanctuary of the stable.

Nancy allowed him to slow to a walk, then stood in her stirrups, peering ahead into the rush of water, seeking the pinto’s familiar shape. However, there seemed to be nothing ahead. Nervously, Nancy urged Pepper Pot forward, following the narrowing wash as it led deeper and deeper into the hills.

“Just a little further, Pepper Pot, ” she told the bay. “We have to be close and Ngyun must be afraid in this storm.”

The horse stumbled a little, slipping and sliding as the water gushed down the sides of the wash and turned the once hard-baked earth to mud. Lightning flashed and gave Nancy a glimpse of the scene ahead.

The wash seemed to end or at least narrow so abruptly that it was hard to imagine where a horse and rider could have gone. Yet Ngyun and Cochise were nowhere to be seen! Nancy drew her rein and waited for the next flash, berating herself for having been in too big a hurry to remember to bring her flashlight.

When the bolt came, the stark light showed only the steep walls at the end of the wash and the wet slopes of the hills above them. Then the rain increased again, pouring so hard that she could not see ten feet ahead of her. Defeated, Nancy allowed the bay to turn, weariness and despair making her slump in the saddle.

Where could Ngyun have taken Cochise? How could the boy and the pinto simply vanish out of the deep wash? Or had they even been here? For a moment, she doubted her own senses, then her courage returned and she shook her head.

“They were here, Pepper Pot, ” she told the gelding. “I know we were following them. I saw the pinto several times in the lightning flashes.”

The gelding snorted, then suddenly plunged ahead, almost unseating her. Nancy struggled wildly to regain her balance, then tried to rein in the horse. Pepper Pot, however, had the bit in his teeth, and, fearing that she might make him fall in the rough terrain, Nancy was forced to loosen her hold again, giving him free rein.

Almost at once, she heard a strange rumbling. When she realized that it was coming from behind her, she looked back.

A wall of water cascaded through the narrow ravine, carrying with it limbs and branches torn from bushes and trees!