Anchor Island

The phone rang just as Nancy was closing her suitcase. She hurried out, hoping that it might be further news about Bess and George, but her father shook his head to her inquiring glance.

“That’s great, Avery, ” he was saying. “We’ll be by to pick it up on our way to the seaplane.” He hung up the phone almost at once. “He has the medallion ready for us.”

“Do we have time to pick it up? ” Nancy asked, more concerned about getting to Anchor Island than anything else.

“We’ll make time. The medallion might have some meaning later on, ” her father counseled.

Nancy nodded, aware that he was right, but too worried about her friends to find anything else important. She checked the hotel room quickly, then joined her father with her luggage.

“Ready? ” he asked.

She nodded.

The drive to Avery Yates’s modest seaside home wasn’t a long one, and Nancy found the brief visit charming. Happily she agreed that they would spend an entire day with him on their return. His rooms were filled with antique jewelry.

There were photographs of some of the more exotic and valuable collections he’d worked on, but even more interesting were the pieces he displayed himself.

“I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to do a complete job on this, ” Mr. Yates said as he offered the neatly displayed medallion to Nancy.

The box was of polished wood and the medallion glowed richly on a bed of black velvet. “It looks fantastic, ” she gasped.

“Well, as you can see, this side of the medallion appears to be an anchor’s hook. But the other side must have been damaged. I just couldn’t raise the second half of the anchor beyond that small jutting point there.”

“Do you suppose the artist left the piece unfinished? ” Nancy asked.

Mr. Yates considered the idea. “I guess it’s possible, but there seems to be some kind of design in that area, so he must have finished something at least.”

Nancy touched the glowing metal with her nail, tracing the clearly worked part of the anchor. “A broken anchor, ” she murmured. “Maybe that’s what the artist had in mind! ”

“That’s as good a guess as any, ” Mr. Yates answered. “I’ll try to find out more about it while you’re gone. There are some writings on treasures that were lost in this area of the world. It could be that this is unusual enough to have been mentioned by some old cargo lister.” “That’s a subject I’d like to look into, ” Nancy told him. “Perhaps when we’ve found Bess and George…

“You’re welcome to come anytime, Miss Nancy, ” he assured her. “I’ve a small library you could look through.”

“We’ll call you as soon as we get back, ” Carson Drew assured him. “And we are grateful for the lovely job you did on this piece.”

“I only hope it helps you find your young friends, ” the old jeweler told them.

The seaplanes were moored to a rough dock, and Nancy had an uneasy feeling as she followed her father to the plane he’d chartered.

The pilot was an unfriendly-appearing man who put their luggage aboard without a smile.

“I don’t like starting out this late in the day, ” he said coldly.

“I’m sorry, ” Mr. Drew replied. “We’ve been delayed several times. I was told, however, that a night landing is possible at Anchor Island.”

“If we leave now, we’ll get there before dark, ” was the man’s only answer.

Carson winked at Nancy, then helped her aboard. To their surprise, they found two men ** already seated in the cabin.

“I didn’t realize there were other passengers, ” Carson said. “I hope we haven’t delayed your trip.”

The men smiled politely. “We’re going to Swallow Cay, ” the elder of the two said. “Old Jim said we might ride along, as it’s just a short hop from Anchor Island. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course not, ” Mr. Drew said, then introduced himself and Nancy. The two men introduced themselves as Mr. Perkins and Mr. Graves.

Once they were airborne, Nancy smiled at Mr. Perkins, who was the one across the aisle from her. “Do you know Anchor Island? ” she asked.

“I’ve fished the area, ” he answered. “Haven’t been ashore, though.”

“Do you know the DeFoes? ” Mr. Drew asked.

“Jeff and Lena, sure, ” Mr. Graves answered. “Been fishing on the Polka Dot with them several times. Are you going to see them? ”

“We have friends we think are staying at the Sweet Springs Resort, ” Mr. Drew answered carefully, his tone telling Nancy that he didn’t want to discuss all that had happened with these two strangers.

“Gee, I’d think the place would be closed this time of year, ” Mr. Perkins said. “Season is pretty well over except for diehard fishermen like us.”

“Is the Polka Dot the DeFoes’ boat? ” Nancy asked, intrigued by the name.

“Yes, and it’s a nice little cruiser, ” Mr. Perkins answered. “Two cabins, a good-sized room on the main deck, galley, two modern fishing chairs for working the big game fish—anything you could want. And Lena is a darn good shipboard cook, too.” Mr. Perkins grinned. “Better than Ben, anyway.”

“You’ll be cooking for yourself if you keep that up, ” Mr. Graves told him.

The two continued to taunt each other and to tell fish stories for the duration of the flight. Nancy listened at first, but then her thoughts went to Bess and George.

She was so deep in her concentration on the mystery of their disappearance that at first she didn’t notice the change in the flight. It was Mr. Perkins who brought her attention back to the present.

“There’s the island, ” he said. “You can see the cove where we’ll land. It’s a great anchorage, probably where they got the name of the island. When the worst hurricanes come, that cove is full of fishing boats.”

Nancy leaned forward to peer out the dirty, scarred window as the plane circled over the long, narrow island and dropped lower to enter the cove, which was protected by a long, curving arm of land shaped somewhat like a hook. The beach, which she recognized from the brochure, was deserted, and her heart dropped as she looked up at the abandoned-looking resort, which was built on the spiny highland of the island.

“It does look closed, ” Carson Drew admitted as the plane settled gracefully to the aqua and green waters of the cove and taxied toward the smooth white length of the concrete dock that extended out into the water.

The plane bumped to a stop and the copilot, who seemed to have the same morose attitude as the pilot, came back to the cabin. “Anchor Island, ” he announced, moving to open the door.

Nancy unfastened her seat belt and followed him, smelling the sweet flower scents that came on the light breeze that wafted through the door. “We’re not sure…” she began, wondering what they should do now that they were here. Then a flash of movement on the hill caught her attention.

‘I’ll get your luggage, ” the copilot told her, jumping nimbly to the dock and securing the plane with a light rope, then offering her his hand.

“Just a moment, sir, ” Mr. Drew began. “We don’t know yet…”

Nancy ran along the dock, not waiting to hear any more. She was halfway to the pale sand of the beach when the figure coming down from the resort appeared between two wildly flowering pin hibiscus plants.

“George! ” Nancy shouted, waving frantically. “Oh, George, is it really you? ”

“Nancy! ” The voice was as unmistakable as the slender, dark-haired form.

Nancy stopped at the end of the dock, waiting as George came running through the last of the plants and out across the sand to meet her. For a moment she just hugged the girl, and then she stepped back to look at her.

“We’ve been worried sick about you, ” she told her. “Why didn’t you call and tell us that you were here? ”

“Oh, Nancy, you…” George didn’t finish, as the purring of the seaplane suddenly turned to a roar. Both girls turned to watch as the clumsy-looking craft drew away from the dock and made its way out into the cove again, picking up speed till it lifted off the water.

“Nancy, I—” George began, but Nancy lifted a hand.

“Don’t say anything till Dad’s here, ” she told her. “He’s been worried half to death, too.”

Mr. Drew came hurrying along the dock with the luggage. “Where are the resort staff, George? ” he asked, setting the suitcases down and mopping his brow in the humid heat of early evening.

“That’s what I was about to tell Nancy, ”

George answered. “I think we should have kept the seaplane here.”

“We can radio Swallow Cay and have them come back for us, ” Carson Drew said. “I made sure of that before they took off.”

George sighed. “I don’t know, ” she said. “We haven’t had much luck with the radio so far. Maybe you can make it work.”

“Where is everyone? ” Nancy asked. “There’s just Penny. The resort is closed, Nancy. Penny was the only one here when we arrived yesterday. She’s very nice and we—” “What do you mean when you arrived yesterday? ” Nancy interrupted. “We talked to someone here this morning who said that no one was at the resort, that it was closed.”

“You talked to someone on the radio-phone? ” George looked skeptical.

“We’d been calling ever since yesterday, ” Nancy told her.

“Well, you weren’t talking to Sweet Springs, ” George informed them. “The phones haven’t worked since we arrived. Otherwise we would have called you last night.”

“But…” Nancy began, then frowned. “Where is Bess? ” she asked.

George looked around. “I don’t know, ” she admitted. “She said she was going for a little walk while Penny and I were working on the radio, but that was an hour ago.”

“Maybe she’s taking a nap, ” Nancy suggested. “Though she should have heard the plane.”

George shook her head. “I was in our room when I heard it. She must be with Penny.”

A pert redhead appeared on the beach at that moment, a ready smile of welcome lighting her green eyes. “You must be the Drews, ” she said. “George and Bess have told me so much about you. I’m Penny DeFoe.”

For a moment they were busy with introductions and greetings, Nancy and her father surprised and excited at hearing the name DeFoe. But before they could ask the girl about her name, George asked, “Penny, have you seen Bess? ”

Penny frowned. “I thought she was with you, ” she answered.

There was a moment of silence, and then they all looked at each other, suddenly aware of the empty beach and the deepening shadows. Where was Bess?