The Secret of the Golden Pavillion (5 page)

Togo yipped and licked her face. She set him down and he ran over to his two special dishes in a corner of the kitchen. Thirstily, Togo lapped water from one, as Nancy filled the other with dog food. When he finished eating, Nancy picked him up and took him to her room.

“I’m going to watch over you personally!” she told Togo. He snuggled down in a boudoir chair Nancy got into bed and instantly fell asleep.

She was up early the following morning, and when she came downstairs with Togo, both her father and Hannah Gruen looked at her and the dog in amazement. Nancy related what had happened. Neither Mr. Drew nor the housekeeper had heard Togo the night before!

As soon as Nancy finished eating breakfast and had helped Hannah with the dishes, she drove off with her pet to the boarding home for dogs. On the drive back, as she passed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Sakamaki, she decided to stop and tell them that she was leaving the next day for Hawaii.

As she walked toward the front door, she heard strains of a guitar coming from the sunroom at the side of the house. Glancing through the window, she saw Mr. Sakamaki strumming a large guitar. He was wearing a gay flowered shirt, and an orchid
lei
hung about his neck. His wife, dressed in an embroidered, long, loose-fitting gown, which Nancy recognized as the Hawaiian
muumuu,
was going through the graceful motions of a hula dance.

Nancy hesitated. Should she call just now or come back later? As she was debating whether or not to ring the bell, the door suddenly opened. Mrs. Sakamaki stood there and at once invited Nancy inside, saying she had seen her from the window.

“But I don’t want to intrude if you are busy,” Nancy said quickly.

“We are only having our morning exercise,” Mrs. Sakamaki replied. “Perhaps,” she added, as her husband came forward, “you would like to join us—even learn to dance the hula.”

Mr. Sakamaki heartily approved his wife’s suggestion. He said he thought Nancy would enjoy knowing the Hawaiian dance.

“I’d love to learn the hula,” Nancy answered. “I hope I shan’t appear awkward.”

“You are very graceful, Nancy. You will learn easily,” Mrs. Sakamaki assured her.

“But before we start the lesson,” said her husband, “perhaps our guest has some news for me?”

Nancy replied that she and her friends were leaving for Hawaii the next day. Then she told him about the dognaping episode and her suspicion that the person who had taken Togo was trying to prevent her from going on the trip.

“It does seem to prove that he wants to keep you away from Kaluakua,” Mr. Sakamaki agreed. “You must be very careful while you are there.”

Mrs. Sakamaki now led the way into the sunroom, where her husband picked up the guitar. As Nancy waited for the hula lesson to begin, she glanced around.

The small room was decorated almost completely with Chinese articles. In the center of the room stood a low tea table on which were an exquisite set of china cups, saucers, and a teapot. Nearby on a teakwood stand was a fine handmade model of a large outrigger canoe with a tapa canopy. When Mr. Sakamaki noticed Nancy looking at it, he said, “That piece is very old. An antique.”

“It is very lovely,” Nancy remarked, thinking that she must be careful during the dancing lesson not to bump into any of the art pieces in the room.

“Shall we start?” Mrs. Sakamaki asked.

Her husband began to play a lovely Hawaiian melody. Nancy watched Mrs. Sakamaki’s feet carefully and soon was imitating the side-to-side step. Next came the swaying of the body, and finally, Mrs. Sakamaki demonstrated the graceful raising and lowering of the arms and head.

“With our hands and fingers we express certain ideas,” Mrs. Sakamaki explained to her pupil. “For instance, move your hands forward together as if extending a gift. But do it with a slight rolling motion.”

The lesson went on for some time. Both Mr. and Mrs. Sakamaki praised Nancy’s progress highly. They said that with a little practice and a proper costume, she could easily join a Hawaiian group.

Nancy felt pleased. In her enthusiasm to indicate various ideas with her arms and hands, she forgot about the smallness of the room and its many art objects.
Suddenly one arm swept the antique outrigger canoe from its stand!

Nancy made a wild dive to keep it from falling on the china teapot and cups. Although she managed to deflect the canoe, so that it missed the dishes, she was unable to prevent it from crashing to the floor.

“Oh, dear!” she exclaimed, and bent to pick up the model.

To her horror, it was rather badly damaged. The outrigger had broken off, as well as the uprights which held the tapa. “I’m dreadfully sorry!”

Mr. Sakamaki made light of the matter. Both he and his wife said they were glad Nancy herself was all right. The canoe could be mended.

The couple persuaded Nancy to practice the hula for another half hour. By this time she had begun to feel at ease in the swaying, relaxing rhythm of the Hawaiian dance. Before saying good-by, she mentioned the damaged canoe once more, offering to pay for the repair work.

“I shall probably repair it myself,” Mr. Sakamaki said. “Please do not worry any more about it.”

Nancy heaved a sigh. Smiling, she said, “But because of it, I shall work all the harder to solve the mystery at Kaluakua.”

She was about to leave the house when Mr. Sakamaki answered the ringing telephone. Upon learning who the caller was, he asked Nancy to wait. He wrote down a message, then hung up and turned to Nancy.

“That was an answer to my telegram to friends, Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong, in Honolulu. They will meet you at the airport and drive you to Kaluakua.”

“That was most kind of you,” said Nancy.

The Hawaiian gave a broad smile. “Mrs. Sakamaki and I thought you should know people in Honolulu on whom you could call in case of trouble. The Armstrongs are our closest friends.”

“You think of everything,” Nancy said gratefully. “It will be so nice having the Armstrongs meet us.”

After saying good-by again, she drove directly home. As she pulled into the driveway Nancy was surprised to see the Drews’ housekeeper standing there waiting for her. She looked very pale and Nancy suspected that something had happened.

“Oh, Hannah, you have bad news?” she asked.

“I’m afraid so,” the housekeeper replied.

WORRIED, Nancy stood tensely, waiting for the housekeeper to continue.

“It’s about your father,” Hannah Gruen began.

“Oh, has he been hurt?” Nancy cried out fearfully.

Sympathetically the woman put an arm around the girl’s shoulders. “Yes, dear. But Mr. Drew is very fortunate,” Hannah went on, “not to have been injured more severely. He was attacked in his office by an unknown assailant.”

“How dreadful!” Nancy cried out. “Tell me what happened,” she urged as Hannah paused a moment.

“Your father was seated at his desk. He heard the door open and thought it was his secretary, who was late. Instead, a masked man with a hat pulled low over his forehead rushed in and attacked your father. He fought back, but suddenly his assailant gave him a hard blow which knocked him out. He was unconscious when his secretary found him.”

“How horrible!” Nancy exclaimed. “Where is Dad now?”

Hannah said he was in the hospital. The doctor who had been called in had insisted he be taken there and remain quiet for a while.

“I must go to Dad at once!” Nancy said. “Which hospital, Hannah?”

“River Heights General.”

Nancy hurried to the hospital. Upon inquiry, she learned that her father was in Room 782. Her heart pounding, Nancy went up in the elevator and walked swiftly down the hall.

The door to Room 782 was open. Mr. Drew was in bed, propped up with pillows.

“Oh, Dad!” Nancy murmured, kissing him lightly.

“Now don’t worry, honey.” Her father smiled wanly. “I’m really all right. That doctor just wants to make a checkup.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re all right,” said Nancy. But her eyes traveled to the several bruises on her father’s cheeks and forehead, and she thought his eyes seemed to glisten more than usual. He probably was feverish, she decided.

“I’m glad you came, honey,” the lawyer said. “Of course this little scrap I got into means I’ll have to postpone my trip to Honolulu.”

“Never mind,” Nancy consoled him. “I won’t leave yet, either. The mystery of Kaluakua can wait.”

“I’m afraid it can’t,” Mr. Drew replied. “My attacker said something which I believe makes it imperative for you and the others to go ahead without me and start solving the mystery.”

The lawyer explained that just before he had lost consciousness from the knockout blow, his assailant had remarked acidly, “Maybe this will keep you on the mainland!”

Nancy’s jaw set. “It seems to prove that your assailant is one of the Double Scorps.”

Her father nodded. “I’m sorry that I didn’t get a look at his face. In fact, it was when I tried to, that he gave me the final blow. All I can tell you is, he wore a gray tweed suit.

“Nancy, I wish you would go to my office and see if you can pick up any clues. The police were notified and they are probably there.” Mr. Drew smiled fondly at his daughter. “Maybe you can give them a little help.”

Nancy agreed to go at once and return to the hospital later. She hurried to the lawyer’s office and found his secretary, Miss Robertson, on the verge of hysterics.

“Oh, Nancy, how is he?” the young woman cried out.

“Dad’s really feeling pretty well,” Nancy replied. “Please tell me your story.”

Miss Robertson said that she had been late getting in that morning. When she arrived, the door to Mr. Drew’s private office was ajar. “I sorted the mail and started to carry it in to your father’s desk,” she said. “And there—there he was, lying on the floor!”

“So you didn’t see his attacker?” Nancy asked.

“No. He’d gone before I got here.”

Nancy walked into her father’s office. She was greeted by two police detectives whom she knew. One was busy taking fingerprints but said he felt sure Mr. Drew’s assailant had not touched any of the furniture. The other man was examining the carpet with a magnifying glass, trying to distinguish the stranger’s footprints from those of other persons.

“I’m afraid this isn’t going to be of much help,” he said finally, standing up.

Nancy, meanwhile, had been walking around the edge of the room, her eyes alert for any clue that the stranger unwittingly might have left. Finally she asked, “Is it all right for me to walk in the center of the room now?”

When the detective nodded, she began a search of chairs, table, bookcase, window sills, and desk. Between two papers on her father’s desk, she found a small piece of tweed cloth.

“I may have a clue!” she told the men excitedly.

Nancy called Miss Robertson into the room and asked her if any papers had been scattered on the floor when she found Mr. Drew there.

“Oh, yes,” the secretary replied. “They were all over the place. I picked them up and put them on your father’s desk.”

Nancy turned to the detectives. “I believe this piece of tweed may have been torn from the coat of the man who attacked my father,” she said.

One of them put the scrap of cloth in an envelope and dropped it into his pocket. “I guess your father pulled it from the fellow’s coat. It may be a big help to us.”

Nancy left the office and returned to the hospital. After reporting the latest finding to her father, she asked him when he would be able to make the Hawaiian trip.

“Oh, I’ll follow you in a few days,” he said cheerily.

“But you’ll be home alone,” Nancy protested.

Mr. Drew, realizing how worried his daughter was that he might be attacked again, promised her he would not stay alone. “I’ll move down to the club for a few nights,” he said.

Nancy made two more trips to the hospital that day, but there was no further news about Mr. Drew’s attacker.

Early the next morning Mr. Marvin drove Bess, George, and their suitcases in the family station wagon to the Drew home. Nancy and Hannah climbed in and the travelers set off for the airport.

It was a perfect day for flying and within an hour Nancy and her friends were winging their way across the United States toward California.

“We’re actually above the clouds,” remarked Bess, who was seated next to the window. “I can’t see any land below us.”

“At this altitude you wouldn’t see much, anyway,” spoke up George, seated beside her cousin. “We’re flying pretty high.”

Nancy’s seatmate was a beautiful young woman who had slept most of the time. She awoke as luncheon was served on trays fastened into the armrests. After lunch she chatted with the girls. Learning that they were on their way to Honolulu, she asked: