Mystery at the Ski Jump (14 page)
Read Mystery at the Ski Jump Online
Authors: Carolyn Keene
Tags: #Women Detectives, #Detective and Mystery Stories, #Girls & Women, #Mystery & Detective, #Juvenile Fiction, #Adventure and Adventurers, #Mysteries & Detective Stories, #Fiction, #Fur Garments, #Mystery Fiction, #Women Sleuths, #Adventure Stories, #Hides and Skins, #Swindlers and Swindling, #Drew; Nancy (Fictitious Character), #General, #Identity Theft, #Mystery and Detective Stories
“Don’t talk like that!” Ned said severely.
While she had been talking, Nancy had walked to a window to gaze at the beautiful moonlit landscape. Suddenly her attention was caught by a glimmer of light along the ridge at the top of Big Hill. A moment later she could see the steady beam of a flashlight moving rapidly toward the ski run. It seemed very strange at this hour.
“Boys,” she called, “why would anyone be up near the top of the jump at night?”
“I can’t imagine,” said Chuck as he and Ned joined her at the window. “Come on! Let’s find out!”
The three young people waved a quick good-by to the trapper and hurried downstairs to the checkrooms. Hastily changing to ski clothes, they dashed outdoors.
For a moment there was no sign of the light. Then suddenly it showed up again at the top of the ski run and came hurtling downward, as the unknown jumper soared expertly at the take-off and landed below with a soft swish and a thud.
“Good night!” Chuck cried. “What a chance he took! Let’s speak to him!”
He and Ned raced off into the darkness, for already the light had disappeared and a cloud had cut off the moonlight.
Nancy waited until the cloud passed over, then tried to spot the jumper. She could not see him.
“Where could he have gone?” she asked herself. “That man wasn’t just a phantom. He was flesh and blood!”
She turned toward the lake and the two giant snow statues which marked the end of the ski jump. Nancy’s heart pounded at the sight she saw.
By a mere flicker of light that glowed, then vanished like a firefly, she could detect the shadowy outline of a crouching figure in a white sweater huddled behind the nearer statue. The person was cramming a bulky pouch into a hollow of the snowman!
As Nancy opened her mouth to call Chuck and Ned, a rough hand was clapped over her face.
“Quiet!” a harsh voice commanded.
“And don’t try to run away or you’ll get hurt!”
“And don’t try to run away or you’ll get hurt!”
CHAPTER XIX
Zero Hour
THERE was no escaping from the man’s iron grasp. With her captor’s fingers firmly gripping both arms, Nancy stood helpless, while the other man ran over from the statue. Roughly he stuffed a handkerchief into her mouth, tied her hands behind her, and bound her ankles together. Then the two men carried her swiftly toward the woods.
“If only Ned or Chuck had seen me!” Nancy thought. “Here I am with friends so close by and I can’t even call for aid.”
Although Nancy could not see the men’s faces, in a few minutes she knew who her abductors were, for they began to talk freely.
“Say, Jacques, how much farther is it to that cabin?” the shorter of the pair asked.
Jacques Fremont!
The man whose other name was Channing! The man at the skating exhibition in Montreal! If only the police had not been obligated to release him!
The man whose other name was Channing! The man at the skating exhibition in Montreal! If only the police had not been obligated to release him!
“Just a little ways, Lake,” he replied.
Nancy caught her breath. So Dunstan Lake was a man, not a place I
Channing gave a sardonic laugh. “All we need to do is dump the Drew girl inside and lock the door. The place probably won’t be opened again until summer.”
“What a relief to have her out of the way!” growled his companion. “We had an airtight racket until Miss Detective began snooping around, asking for the Channings and Dunstan Lake. Although how she found out where we were, I’ll never know.”
“She’s clever,” Channing admitted. “But too clever for her own good. Now Miss Nancy Drew is going to pay for her smartness.
“Well, Lake, here we are. Suppose we see if this girl detective can solve the mystery of the locked cabin with both her hands and feet tied,” Channing continued with a harsh laugh.
The cabin was bitterly cold, even worse than outdoors, Nancy thought, as her abductors flung her down on a bare cot. Then, in the glare of a flashlight, Dunstan Lake, a squarish man with a bulldog face and beady eyes, made a mocking bow.
“Good-by, Miss Drew.” He smirked. “Happy sleuthing!”
“Come along! Let’s get out of here,” Channing snapped impatiently. “It’s time we picked up Mitzi at the camp. She’ll be tired of waiting.”
Nancy shivered and closed her eyes despairingly as she heard the door slam and the padlock snap. She struggled to get out of her bonds, but it was useless. Already her fingers were becoming cold. With every passing minute the cabin grew more frigid. Nancy wondered desperately how long she could survive.
She knew that her only hope lay in exercise. She raised and lowered her bound ankles as high as she could until she was puffing with exhaustion. As she rested a moment, the fearful cold took possession of her again.
Nancy decided to try rolling on the floor. She managed to get off the cot, and in doing so loosened the gag in her mouth. Crying loudly for help, she waited hopefully for an answer. None came.
She rolled, twisted, and yelled until she was bruised and hoarse. Finally her voice gave out completely. Her strength was gone. She became drowsy, and knew what this meant. Her body was succumbing to the below-freezing temperaturel
Meanwhile, back at the slope, Ned and Chuck had completed a futile search for the mysterious jumper and were now walking to the spot where they had left Nancy. “I can’t figure out why that fellow took off at night,” said Chuck. “He could be arrested, you know. It’s against all regulations.”
“It was probably some crackpot who wanted to prove how brave he is.” Ned shrugged. “Say, Nancy’s gone!”
“I wouldn’t worry.” Chuck smiled. “She probably was chilled and went back to the hotel.”
“Not Nancy!” Ned retorted. “She never gives up! If Nancy’s not here, it’s for a good reason. She probably spotted one of those swindlers she’s been looking for and is trailing him alone!”
Nevertheless, Chuck persuaded Ned to go back to the hotel to look for Nancy. She had not come in, Bess reported. “What’s going on?”
“Tell you later,” Ned called as he and Chuck dashed off.
When they reached the ski slope, Chuck cried out, “Look, somebody’s coming down Big Hill again! Two men with flashlights.”
“But those fellows are descending like sane men,” Ned observed. “They aren’t taking any jumps.”
The newcomers were state troopers. They said they were searching for the thief who again had stolen some mink pelts from the Wells Ranch. Chuck told them about the foolhardy jumper and they shook their heads in disgust. The men were about to go on when Ned stopped them.
“Have you seen a girl in a ski outfit?” he asked. “She was out here with us when we were looking for that crazy skier. Now she has disappeared and I’m afraid she’s trailing the same thieves you are.”
“Thieves?” the troopers echoed.
“Yes, thieves,” Ned went on. “The girl is Nancy Drew, the one who captured that swindler, Mitzi Channing, this afternoon. But the woman got away.”
“I heard about that over the police radio,” one of the men said. “We’d better help you hunt for your friend. She may be in danger.”
“We haven’t much chance of trailing anyone,” the other remarked. “There’s been such a crowd around here, the place is full of tracks. How long has it been since you saw the young lady?”
“About twenty minutes,” Chuck answered.
“Then she can’t be far away,” said the younger trooper. “Why not divide our forces so as to cover as much territory as possible?”
It was quickly agreed among the four that Chuck would search the hotel grounds while Ned followed the shoreline along the lake. The two troopers would examine the surrounding woods.
“Let’s arrange a signal,” said one of them. “The first man to find the girl will turn the beam of his flashlight toward the sky and wave it in an arc. In case of emergency, he will blink the light rapidly until help arrives. Is that clear?”
“Perfectly,” Ned said impatiently. “Let’s go!” The next hour was torture for the searchers. The heavy snow made the going difficult, and a keen, arctic wind developed that knifed through their stout woolen clothing and sent the tears down their smarting cheeks. Added to this, their spirits were becoming low.
At the end of the hour the four met. No one had found a trace of Nancy. The troopers went back to their headquarters to report, while the two boys returned to the hotel. A frantic Aunt Eloise and the remainder of her house party rushed to meet them at the door.
“Where’s Nancy?” Miss Drew demanded. “When none of you came back for the dancing, we all became worried and tried to find out what happened. But nobody knows a thing.”
The two boys told the story of the strange skier and their separation from Nancy. Everyone listened in shocked silence. Then Bess offered a ray of hope.
“If John Horn is still upstairs, why don’t we get his advice?” she suggested. “He knows more about the woods than all of us.”
“Say, that’s a great idea,” Chuck agreed, rushing to the stairway. “I’ll ask the old fellow—” The rest was lost as he bounded up the steps.
In a few minutes he was back. With him was John Horn. The bandage on the old trapper’s head was awry. He looked pale, but he insisted upon joining them in a new search.
“If those swindlers nabbed Nancy Drew, they wouldn’t ’a’ dared take her far off,” he said. “I’ll bet they took her to that empty cabin in the woods. Yes, sir. That’s where they’ve left her. It’s the only place around here where they could hide her without bein’ found out.”
“Oh, why didn’t I think of that?” Ned chided himself, starting for the door. “If anything happens to Nancy—”
“Hold on!” Dave objected. “Burt and I are fresher and we can strike out faster. George and Bess can follow us with a Thermos bottle of hot coffee and a blanket. But you and Chuck are in no shape to go.”
“What do you mean?” Ned glared. “Maybe I can’t go as fast as you, but what if there’s trouble? I want to be there to help!”
“So do I,” Chuck said firmly.
Nancy’s friends and Aunt Eloise hurried through the night, determined to make a rescue.
CHAPTER XX
The Tables Turned
JOHN HORN trudged on as long as he could, then directed the others how to go. Dave and Burt, the first to reach the cabin, yelled Nancy’s name. There was no answer.
Eagerly they charged up to the door. When they failed to open it, Burt said, “Focus your flashlight here, Dave.... Padlocked, eh?”
“We’ll try a window,” his friend suggested. “If necessary, we’ll break the glass.”
“Hey, is she there? Have you found Nancy?” George called as she and Bess came hurrying up to join the boys. Chuck and Ned were close behind.
“We don’t know yet,” Dave said. “This door is locked. We’re going to try getting in a window.”
“All of them are boarded up,” Ned recalled. “But we’ll get inside if I have to tear this shack apart.”
George was using both fists to hammer on the unyielding door. “Nan-cy!” she shouted. “Nancy, it’s George. Can you hear me?” There was no response.
Meanwhile, Burt and Dave were working on a window. “Here’s a loose board,” Burt yelled excitedly. “Pull!”
Snap! It came off so quickly they nearly lost their balance.
Burt played his flashlight inside the cabin. He could not see much in the clutter of furniture.
Dave was already pulling at another board. Together the boys yanked it off and broke the locked window just as Aunt Eloise came up.
“Nancy!” she called fearfully, but the hoped-for response did not come. By this time Ned was through the opening and flashing his light around. Suddenly the beam revealed the girl, lying on the floor, numb with cold and barely conscious.
“Nancy!” Ned cried.
“I‘m—so—glad—you—found me,” she whispered faintly. “I’m—so—terribly—sleepy.”
One by one the others climbed through the window. Seeing Nancy, tears streamed down Bess’s cheeks. “You’re—you’re all right, aren’t you?” she sobbed.
Ned and Dave untied the ropes that bound Nancy’s hands and ankles.
“Of course she is,” George told her cousin.
Aunt Eloise kissed her niece, saying, “Don’t worry, honey. We’ll get you out of here right away. George, where’s that Thermos bottle?”
Nancy was given a few sips of hot coffee then wrapped in the blanket and carried out through the window. Burt and Dave insisted upon riding Nancy back to the hotel on a “chair” they made by interlocking their fingers.
A sense of relief, together with the stimulant, brought some warmth to Nancy’s body. As the group neared the inn, she was able to talk again.
“As soon as we get inside,” she said, “call the police. Tell them it was Channing and his friend Dunstan Lake who kidnapped me. Lake is a man!”
“Oh no!” George groaned. “But don’t talk now. Save your strength.”
“I must say this much,” Nancy persisted. “Explain to the police that those men were going to meet Mitzi at a camp somewhere. Dunstan Lake’s a short, ugly fellow with beady eyes.”
“I’ll tell them,” Ned promised.
Aunt Eloise would not hear of Nancy’s making the long trip to her house. Instead, she engaged a room for her niece and asked Bess to spend the night with her. Nancy was put to bed, and Miss Drew called in the house physician. After he had prescribed treatment, the doctor remarked:
“You had a narrow escape, young lady, but you’ll be all right in the morning. Lucky you knew enough to keep exercising, or you might have frozen to death.”
Nancy smiled wanly, and very soon was sound asleep. When she awoke the next morning, Bess, fully dressed, was seated beside her, and a breakfast tray stood on the bureau.
“I’m glad you’re awake,” she said. “How do you feel?”
“Fine. All mended.” Nancy hopped out of bed.
After washing her face and combing her hair, she sat down to enjoy some fruit, cereal, and hot chocolate.
“Are you all set for some simply marvelous news?” Bess asked.
“You bet. Don’t keep me in suspense.”
At that moment there was a knock on the door, and Aunt Eloise walked in with George. They were happy to see that Nancy had fully recovered, and said the anxious boys were waiting downstairs.
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