Captured!

WHERE was the prowler? Ned reflected dizzily. Rising to his knees, he saw the beam of a flashlight far across the expansive basement. The dim figure holding the light was studying the electricity panel.

“He’s going to pull the switch and plunge the whole house into darkness so the Velvet Gang can rob the place! ” Ned thought. “I must stop him! ”

Although his knees sagged, Ned pulled himself to his feet and crept toward his enemy. The man’s hand reached for the switch. Ned sprang at his quarry, but a split second too late. The switch was pulled as the two went down in a tangled heap, rolling on the hard cement floor.

The struggle was a desperate one. Ned had but one purpose in mind: to knock out this muscular, wily opponent so that he could switch the lights on again. The other was as fiercely bent on keeping Ned pinned to the floor.

Meanwhile, Nancy had concentrated on the white-haired woman. Following at a careful distance, she observed the agile way the old lady walked when she thought she was not being noticed.

“That getup is a disguise, I’m sure, ” Nancy told herself. “In fact, that woman has the same figure as the one who was at both the Hendricks’ party and the musicale at the Elkins’ home.”

It became apparent to Nancy that the woman knew exactly where she was going. The “old lady” stepped quickly past the side entrance and turned into a hallway.

With a sharp intake of breath, Nancy recalled that farther down the hall a priceless silver peacock was displayed on a table in front of a gilt mirror.

“I must catch her before she can steal it! ”

Nancy stealthily drew closer to her quarry. But a creaking board beneath the thick broadloom carpet betrayed her presence. The woman turned swiftly to look over her shoulder. Seeing Nancy, she was so startled she forgot to maintain her bent position and straightened abruptly.

Nancy lunged forward to seize the thief. But she snatched only empty air. With amazing agility the woman side-stepped her. Just then the lights went off throughout the house.

Spurred by a realization that the thieves were about to score again, Nancy groped frantically for the “old lady.” But suddenly she froze as a man’s voice behind her commanded:

“Stand where you are! Don’t move! ”

Nancy immediately recognized the voice as that of Detective Ambrose. He had mistaken her for one of the thieves!

Ignoring his order to stand still, she kept feeling her way forward and groping for the elusive “old lady.”

“She’ll head straight for that silver peacock, ” Nancy reasoned, “so that’s where I’ll go.”

In the darkness Nancy stumbled into the woman and quickly seized her.

“Let me go! ” hissed the thief, clawing at her.

“Help! ” cried Nancy, trying to hold the woman, who fought like a tigress!

“Help! ” cried Nancy, trying to hold the thief

Just then the lights went on. Detective Ambrose was running down the hall toward Nancy and her captive, a green-cloaked figure in a black velvet mask.

“Hang on! ” Ambrose shouted.

“She has the peacock! ” Nancy cried as the prisoner vainly tried to hide the long-tailed silver bird beneath her coat.

The detective seized the masked woman and held her firmly while Nancy retrieved the valuable ornament. Then she pulled off the velvet hood.

Nancy had expected to expose the Javanese masquerader from the Hendricks’ party. Instead, she faced the sullen-looking young woman who had assisted in George’s abduction.

“One less masked thief! ” Detective Ambrose exclaimed. “Where are the rest of them? ”

The woman did not answer. After a moment the detective snapped a pair of handcuffs on her.

“Come along, sister, ” he said.

Meanwhile, Nancy had glimpsed something white sticking out from behind a nearby cabinet. She pulled out the wig which the masquerader had been wearing.

Before Nancy could tell the detective about it, Mrs. Dwight, accompanied by Mr. Lightner, came hastily down the hall. Both had been fearful of trouble when the lights went out.

“What happened? ” Mr. Lightner demanded.

Mrs. Dwight who looked faint said nothing.

“Well, I guess we’ve got to give Miss Drew credit, ” the detective said. “She caught the thief! ”

“Very fine, ” said Mr. Lightner. “What I want to know is how this woman got in here.”

Nancy held up the wig. “She was wearing this. Did you admit a white-haired lady? ”

Mrs. Dwight hastened to explain about the invitation to the woman she had never seen.

“It was this way, ” she said apologetically. “Miss Wilkins, one of the invited guests, called me early this morning to ask if she could bring her elderly aunt and uncle. I told her yes, but explained the necessity for them to have properly marked invitations.”

“You sent the extra ones? ” Nancy asked.

“Yes, by special messenger. I marked the invitations myself, ” Mrs. Dwight admitted. “It was a mistake, I realize now, but I know Miss Wilkins well. I had no reason to distrust her.”

Mrs. Dwight at once sought Miss Wilkins among the guests. The young woman immediately denied knowing the prisoner. Furthermore, she asserted she had no aunt nor uncle who had requested invitations.

“Just as I suspected, ” Ambrose declared. “This woman is a smart cooky. She used Miss Wilkins’s name to get marked invitations.”

During the questioning of the prisoner, plainclothesmen had been searching the grounds. Now one of them reported to the detective that none of the gang had been found.

Nancy spoke up. “This woman wasn’t working alone. A man was with her. He was probably the ‘uncle.’ I talked to him. Oh, where did he go? ”

Suddenly the group was startled by the unexpected appearance in the hallway of a disheveled Ned Nickerson. His uniform was torn, his face bruised, and his hair mussed.

“Ned! ” Nancy cried in dismay. “You’ve been in a fight! ”

“And how! That fellow you assigned me to follow proved to be a tough customer.”

“He got away? ”

“Yes, ” Ned admitted. “I could have held him, but I had a choice between turning the lights on or letting him go. I thought by switching them on I might stop a robbery up here.”

“And you did, ” Nancy informed him. “If the lights hadn’t gone on just when they did, I’m sure this woman would have escaped.”

Ned told of the fight in the basement. His story was interrupted by Detective Ambrose.

“That’s funny! We had a man posted down there to watch the lights. What became of him? Mack wouldn’t leave his job.”

Alarmed, Detective Ambrose turned his prisoner over to a plainclothesman and dashed to the basement. Nancy, Ned, Mr. Lightner, and Mrs. Dwight followed him.

The detective entered every room. As he opened the door of the cold-storage section, he uttered a startled exclamation. On the floor, unconscious, lay the missing Mack.

Though apparently the man had not been struck on the head, it took the detective a long while to revive him. When the plainclothesman recovered his senses, he said he had been attacked from the rear. Before Mack could fight off his assailant he had been drugged. Evidently this had been some time before Ned’s arrival.

“That’s the Velvet Gang’s method, ” Nancy said to Mrs. Dwight.

“It’s perfectly dreadful! ” the woman said.

While waiting for the police car to arrive, Detective Ambrose said to his prisoner, “You’re entitled to a lawyer, of course, while being questioned, but you may as well come clean and tell us how many are in the gang.”

The woman’s lips curled insolently. “Try and find out.”

After she had been taken away, both Mrs. Dwight and Mr. Lightner complimented Nancy for her quick thinking and prompt action. They also thanked Ned for his part in the affair. Due to the efficient work of the young couple, not a single valuable object had been stolen.

“I only wish I’d caught that man, ” Ned said ruefully.

He and Nancy remained at the party another hour, thoroughly enjoying themselves as guests this time. But the mystery was their chief topic of conversation.

Ned declared with satisfaction, “Well, we’ve made a start toward clipping the wings of that gang! ”

“Maybe. Friday is the test.”

“Why Friday, Nancy? ”

“It’s the final date that was marked on the lining of the hooded mask.”

“But after tonight you don’t think the Velvet Gang will dare—”

“They’d dare anything, Ned! But what really bothers me is that so far as I know no important party is scheduled for that night.”

“Then you haven’t a single clue as to where something may happen? ”

“Not one, Ned. And I’m afraid that the gang has set Friday as the day for a big robbery. Oh, if I only knew some way to stop it! ”