Nancy was searching for a plastic bag in which to put the ice when she heard a slight noise at the kitchen door.
“Come in!” she called.
The door opened and there was a gasp of surprise. Nancy turned.
“Rishi!” she cried.
The boy laughed in relief and joy. “I ring front bell. Nobody answer.”
“Oh, I’m so glad to see you!” Nancy exclaimed, then asked, “Why are you here? Why didn’t you return to my house?”
“Rishi afraid Rai look there for him. Rai in this city now. He trail me like dog.”
“Then you were wise to come here,” Nancy acknowledged. “Rishi, a few minutes ago Dr. Stackpole was injured.”
While she was explaining what had occurred, Ned appeared. He was wondering what had detained Nancy and was greatly startled to see the young boy. With the professor in urgent need of attention, however, there was no time to exchange introductions or to hear Rishi’s full story of who had captured him, how he had escaped from Rai, or where Rai might be found.
“Dr. Stackpole is conscious now,” Ned told Nancy. “But I need the ice.”
They returned with it, followed by Rishi. When they had ministered to the elderly tutor, they were able to lift him to a couch.
After a time the man’s strength returned and he gazed about the room, trying to locate objects and persons. Rishi stood gazing sorrowfully at his stricken tutor.
“Is it really you—Rishi?” the injured professor asked in a barely audible voice.
“Yes, yes,” the boy said eagerly. “It is me, Rishi. I mean—it is I,” he stammered, trying to use the correct grammar the man had taught him recently.
“I shall always be proud that I served as your tutor,” Professor Stackpole said in a half whisper. “The lost son of a maharaja!” he murmured weakly.
Rishi stared at Nancy in bewilderment as if expecting her to offer an explanation for the man’s strange words.
“The lost maharaja,” the professor murmured.
“It is true,” she told him. “We have evidence that proves you were kidnapped from your own country by persons who had great political influence and made lama Togara both governor and a maharaja. Your mother died of a broken heart when she received word that a tiger had killed you. Your father left the country.”
For a long moment Rishi did not speak. But tears of joy trickled down his brown cheeks as he eyed Nancy with a worshipful gaze.
“Rishi very happy boy now. Thank you, Nancy, for find out truth.”
Professor Stackpole slowly rose from the couch. “If you will excuse me, I shall retire to my room. My head aches severely.”
“Shouldn’t we call a physician?” Nancy inquired anxiously.
“No, no, I will be quite all right after I have slept.” The man moved toward the door and then paused. “Rishi must remain with me until Rai and Mrs. Allison are apprehended. He will be safer with me.”
“Yes,” Nancy admitted. “I doubt that they would think of searching for him here.”
“I will ask the maid to prepare a room for Rishi at once,” Dr. Stackpole said. He bowed to both Nancy and Ned. “You must forgive me for deserting you in this manner. I am very tired and not myself.”
After the tutor had gone to his room, Nancy and Ned told Rishi the details of Mrs. Allison’s plot against him. The boy in turn described Rai’s cruelty toward him during the boy’s captivity.
“He keep me in small room. When he go away even for one hour, he bind me to chair so I no run away again. Rishi not have enough to eat. Every night he beat me for go to Nancy. Say take me far away. Be in new animal show. Today I work and untie ropes and run away.”
“Good for you!” Ned told him with a grin. Nancy said sympathetically, “You’ve had a bitter experience, Rishi. But I’m sure you’ll be safe as long as you remain with Dr. Stackpole.”
“Rishi stay very close in house.” The boy smiled. “Never go outside again until Rai is capture.”
Nancy rose to leave. It occurred to her to ask Rishi if during his period of captivity he had observed Rai wearing the missing ivory charm.
Rishi shook his head. “Never see it.”
“I’d give a great deal to get hold of that lucky piece,” Nancy remarked. “Somehow I can’t help but feel that the story is true, and the charm guards a strange secret.”
“Rai often say same thing,” Rishi said gravely. “Once he say charm have power of life or death.”
“That was a queer remark,” Nancy mused. “I wonder—”
She left the thought unexpressed, and after bidding Rishi good-by, departed with Ned and spent the rest of the evening with him.
The next morning Nancy slept a little later than usual. She had just finished dressing when Hannah called up the stairway that Nancy was wanted on the telephone.
“I think it’s Dr. Stackpole,” the housekeeper said. “He seems greatly excited.”
Nancy had an extension on a table alongside her bed and picked it up.
“Hello. This is Nancy.”
“I have distressing news for you,” the professor told her in a strained, tense voice. “During the night Rishi disappeared from my home!”
“Kidnapped?” Nancy asked.
“I don’t know. I blame myself, Nancy. I should have watched the boy more carefully.”
“This is dreadful!” Nancy cried. “I’ll talk to my father about it.”
She put down the phone and flew to the dining room, where Mr. Drew was eating breakfast. In terse sentences she revealed what had occurred.
“The case has gone far enough,” the lawyer responded grimly. “It calls for drastic action.” He jumped from his chair.
“Shall we notify the police?” Nancy suggested.
“We’ll do more than that. I’ll call the FBI.”
Within minutes Mr. Drew was in touch with a friend in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He returned to Nancy who in the meantime was thinking along totally different lines.
“Dad,” she said, “this is about the time when the importer from India is supposed to return to River Heights. Do you think Rishi has gone there to see Mr. Tilak?”
CHAPTER XVIII
Amazing Reward
MR. Drew looked at his daughter, startled. “Nancy, you may have guessed the answer. Call the house at once.”
Nancy did so. A woman answered the phone and said she was expecting her employer within the hour.
“Is a boy there waiting for him?” Nancy asked.
“No. No boy is here.”
“Thank you,” Nancy said and hung up. She hurried back to her father and told him what she had learned. “Dad, I want to go over there anyway and meet that man. Will you come along?”
“Glad to. I want to hear his story and see if it jibes with that of Mrs. Allison.”
Twenty minutes later the two set off. When they rang the bell of Mr. Tilak’s home, a woman answered and said he had returned.
“I’m Mr. Drew and this is my daughter Nancy,” the lawyer said. “We live here in River Heights and would like to speak with your employer.”
“Step inside,” the woman said. “I’ll tell him. Please sit down.”
As she disappeared up the stairway, the Drews had an opportunity to glance around. The furnishings were beautiful and all of them apparently from India.
“It looks like a museum,” Nancy whispered. “What gorgeous ivory figurines and rugs!”
In a few moments Mr. Tilak came down the stairs. His resemblance to Rishi was so startling there was no doubt in the Drews’ minds that he was the boy’s real father.
After greeting his visitors, he asked, “You wish to speak with me?”
Mr. Drew nodded and said, “Nancy will tell you.”
“I hardly know how to begin,” she admitted but decided to plunge directly into the story. “When your Rishi was a baby, you were told he had been killed by a tiger. This was not true. He was kidnapped!”
As she paused, Mr. Tilak leaned forward in hi
s chair and gripped the sides. “Yes. Go on.”
“Did you ever hear of a man named Rai?”
“No.”
“Or a Mrs. Allison?”
“No.”
Mr. Drew spoke up. “They are the culprits and also are guilty of starting a revolution in the community over which you held so much influence. You were driven from your country so that lama Togara could take your place. The wealth stolen from your estate was then used to elect him as governor of your province. Nancy found secret papers to prove this.”
The former maharaja jumped from his chair. “Is my son alive?” he asked.
“We hope so,” Nancy replied, then revealed what had happened to Rishi and how the Drews had become involved in the case.
Mr. Tilak was speechless with surprise and dismay. Nancy’s father told him the local police and the FBI were hunting for Rishi, Rai, and Mrs. Allison.
“We should have some word soon,” he assured the boy’s father, as the Drews rose to leave. “Mr. Tilak, we’ll let you know the instant we hear anything about Rishi.”
Before Nancy said good-by, she looked at Rishi’s handsome but sad-looking father. “I would like to tell you about a remark Rishi made. He said if he ever found you, he was to say ‘Manohar’ to you.”
The man gave an exclamation in Hindi, then apologized and said in English, “If I needed any proof you do know my son, this is it. Manohar was the name of the manager of my estate when I was a maharaja. He was killed during the revolution.”
Mr. Tilak shook hands with the Drews and thanked them profusely. Then they left.
The lawyer told Nancy he would go directly to his office, phone the bank, and instruct them not to let Mrs. Allison take the contents of the safe deposit box. Instead they were to notify the police and hold her until they came.
Nancy drove into town with him, said good-by, and set off for home on foot. All day long she restlessly waited for news but none came. Toward evening she decided to walk downtown and meet her father.
“I’ll go by way of the park,” she thought, turning into it.
Her mind had reverted to Mrs. Allison. If she is around River Heights, what an ideal secluded spot it is. It could remind her of her burned house. And what an auspicious place to go into a trance!
After a moment the young detective smiled. “It would probably be a little used section of this park. I know the very place!”
Nancy headed for a densely wooded area. An old wooden footbridge crossed a deep, rushing stream. She paused, startled.
Not twenty feet away, the figure of a woman loomed up. She wore a white turban, and the wind whipped her flowing robes about her wildly. As Nancy watched, the strange person approached the bridge railing. She stood there transfixed, gazing down intently into the angry water.
“That’s Mrs. Allison!” Nancy’s body tensed at the thought. “Is she going to jump in?”
The girl detective stole forward, being careful not to make a sound. The woman, unaware that anyone was approaching, stood motionless, still gazing moodily into the stream.
“What shall I do?” Nancy wondered.
She was tempted to run to Mrs. Allison, but reflected that Rai might be in the vicinity. She would be no physical match for the two, and they would certainly capture her!
“I must phone the police,” Nancy reasoned.
Stealing away quietly, she ran to the nearest street telephone booth and asked for Chief McGinnis. Nancy tersely revealed her information to him and was assured that men would be dispatched at once to the bridge.
“Maybe you’d better approach the place quietly,” she warned. “Otherwise, Mrs. Allison may be alarmed and try to escape.”
After completing the call, Nancy quickly returned to the bridge. Mrs. Allison had not moved. Greatly relieved, Nancy secreted herself in a clump of bushes nearby.
“I’ll wait here for the police,” she decided.
The minutes dragged by slowly. Nancy grew worried and impatient. Then she heard the muffled sound of an engine. A car stopped some distance from the bridge.
Apparently Mrs. Allison had caught the faint hum. She glanced about alertly.
Officers were moving stealthily along the footpath now. The woman turned as if to flee in the opposite direction. Nancy emerged from her hiding place to block the way.
Mrs. Allison knew she was trapped.
“No, no!” she cried out.
The suspect wheeled, and before anyone guessed her intention, climbed the high rail of the bridge.
“Stop! Stop!” Nancy screamed, sure Mrs. Allison intended to make a dangerous jump.
The woman poised on the rail for an instant. Then she plunged into the water.
CHAPTER XIX
Dangerous Dive
NANCY darted to the railing. She could see Mrs. Allison struggling in the current, which was carrying her swiftly downstream.
“She can’t swim!” Nancy thought frantically. “Or else she hit her head.”
Nancy mounted the rail and carefully made a shallow dive. Shaking the water from her eyes, she looked around. Mrs. Allison was still struggling, but the thrashing of her arms was rapidly growing weaker.
A dozen powerful strokes brought Nancy to the woman. Approaching from the rear, she tried to grip her in a safe cross-chest carry. Mrs. Allison fought feebly to elude her rescuer.
“Let me drown! Let me drown!” the woman pleaded.
Nancy’s only reaction was to tighten her hold under the woman’s armpit.
The swift current had carried the two far downstream. For a minute Nancy allowed herself to drift with it as she caught her breath. Then, with her free right arm, she struck out again and reached shallow water just as two policemen rowed up in a boat. They relieved Nancy of the woman and took them both to shore. Mrs. Allison was escorted to the police car.
“Miss Drew, we’ll need you along to offer evidence,” one of the men said. “You can get some dry clothes from the matron at headquarters.”
Half an hour later, Nancy met Mrs. Allison in the chief’s office. The woman’s attitude seemed to have changed entirely. As the girl detective began to question her, this became more apparent. Mrs. Allison had lost some of her former arrogance and answered certain questions readily.
The burned house had been headquarters for a circus troupe long before her husband had bought the property. Mrs. Allison’s visit to see Mr. Drew had been coincidental. Someone had told her he was unusually good at divining strange cases, and she had had a frightening dream.
“I don’t have to confess any more until I get a lawyer,” she said. “But I’m sorry about Rishi,” she mumbled. “I don’t know what made me do what I did.”
“Tell us where Rishi and Rai are now,” Nancy said.
“Rishi has been hidden at the burned house,” Mrs. Allison admitted. “Rai and Jasper Batt are guarding him.”
Nancy did not wait to learn more. She was afraid that Rishi might have been harmed. Accompanied by a few policemen she drove directly to the place. The officers searched the premises thoroughly.
“No one is here,” they reported to Nancy, who had waited in the car.
“You searched the tunnel?”
“Yes, it is empty. Mrs. Allison evidently lied.”
Sick with disappointment, Nancy was forced to return home while the policemen went back to headquarters to report their failure. Carson Drew met his daughter at the door and heard her vivid account of the evening’s adventure.
“Great work, Nancy, capturing that woman,” he said. “But I shudder when I think that she might have drowned you.”
“My life-saving course took care of me, Dad,” Nancy replied with a half smile. “It was disappointing not to find Rishi. I was so certain Mrs. Allison was telling the truth.”
“Perhaps Rai moved the boy to another hiding place without informing Mrs. Allison,” Carson Drew suggested.
“That’s possible,” Nancy agreed. She decided to go back to the burned house early the next morning. Bess cou
ld not go with her, but George was free to drive out to the Allison property.
By nine o’clock the two girls were on their way. En route Nancy explained everything that had happened the night before.
“I’ve been thinking it over and can’t help but believe that Mrs. Allison told the truth last night,” Nancy said. “Or at least she feels sure that Rishi is hidden at the burned house.
“It occurred to me that the police may have missed the branch-off of the tunnel. That’s why I’m going back there.”
When the girls reached the Allison property, Nancy hid the car in a clump of trees and, as before, the girls walked the remaining distance. They were moving along the path when George caught her friend’s hand.
“Someone is coming!” she whispered.
The girls dodged back among the bushes just as Jasper Batt strode into view. He carried a small package in his hand and a Thermos protruded from a coat pocket. Nancy and George waited until he had disappeared before they emerged from their hiding place.
“I have a hunch that Mr. Batt is taking breakfast to someone,” Nancy said. “Let’s follow. He may lead us to Rishi and Rai!”
As the girls cautiously trailed the man, who finally went uphill, it became evident he was heading for the rock door. They saw him pause by the secret entrance.
“How does he intend to enter?” Nancy whispered. “Watch closely.”
The man picked up a heavy stick from the ground and rapped six times in succession on the rock door. He waited several minutes, then repeated the raps.
The girls heard a faint click. Jasper Batt stepped back a pace, waiting expectantly. The massive door slowly swung outward. Batt thrust the package of food and the Thermos into the tunnel.
Nancy and George heard him speak a few words to someone inside, but the girls were too far away to distinguish what they were. After a moment Batt firmly closed the rock door, then walked off swiftly into the woods.
“He probably brought food to a prisoner in the tunnel,” George whispered.
“Rishi!” Nancy added. “I’ll find out! I’ll try Jasper Batt’s trick of opening the door.”
“But maybe Rai’s inside, too. He might harm you!” George warned.