Drew 17 - The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk (2 page)

Aloud she assured the South African girl that the four companions would undoubtedly be very happy together.

“Oh, thank you,” Nelda said and smiled. “I was afraid you might object to a stranger joining your group.”

Soon Bess and George arrived. Nancy introduced them to Nelda Detweiler and explained how she happened to be rooming with them.

“How nice!” Bess exclaimed, and George smiled at the girl.

There was a knock on the door. George, who was nearest, opened it. A man walked in and introduced himself as Heinrich. “I’m your cabin steward,” he said, and looked intensely at each girl. His eyes rested on Nelda for a longer time than on the others. Nancy wondered if there was any significance in this.

“Anything I can do for you, young ladies?” Heinrich asked.

“Not just now, thank you,” Nancy replied.

The steward was forced to back into the hall because the luggage was arriving. Several suitcases were brought in by a porter. As the girls tried to stow them away, he set a brass-bound steamer trunk down in the middle of the floor. Across the front of it were two large initials: N.D.

Nancy tipped the porter, who left. Then she turned to Nelda. “This must be your trunk,” she said. “I have a similar one, but this isn’t mine.”

Nelda turned to look at the piece of luggage. “No, I didn’t bring a trunk.”

Bess giggled. “There must be a third N.D. on board.”

Nancy went to the door. “I’ll try to catch the porter and tell him to take this one back,” she said and hurried outside into the corridor.

It was crowded with baggage and passengers, and Nancy had to move slowly. The porter was not in sight, but just as Nancy was about to give up she heard loud talking from around the corner of a cross corridor.

“You took my trunk to the wrong cabin!” a man declared. “I saw you! And there were instructions on it to put it in the hold. Now please get it out of there and take it downstairs.”

“Certainly, sir,” another man replied. “Will you come with me and identify it, please?”

The first man mumbled something that Nancy could not understand, but she was sure the man was talking about the trunk in number one twenty-eight! She tried to make her way past suitcases and bundles to clear up the mistake, but by the time she reached the spot no one was there!

“That’s strange,” Nancy thought. “Maybe they weren’t talking about the trunk in my cabin after all?”

She went back and found that more suitcases had arrived in the meantime. The mystery trunk, however, had not been picked up yet, nor had her own trunk been delivered.

“I almost found the owner,” Nancy said to the others.

“What do you mean?” George asked.

Nancy told them about the conversation she had overheard, but, she explained, she had not found the man. She walked over to the trunk to examine it, thinking she might notify the owner. There were no stickers on it, nor any identification or handling instructions.

Nancy frowned. “This is really strange,” she said. “I wonder if someone removed the tags, and if so, why?”

CHAPTER II

A Vain Search

NANCY and the other girls stared at the brass-bound trunk. They struggled to turn it over to see if there were stickers on the bottom of it, or any clue as to the owner, but they found nothing.

“This is very odd,” Nelda said as they set the trunk upright again.

Bess remarked, “I heard someone say that pieces of baggage had been badly handled. Probably the tags on this were pulled off or knocked off accidentally.”

“You could be right,” Nancy said, but did not sound convinced. “Something tells me, however, that there is a mystery connected with this trunk. What I’m wondering right now is, could my trunk have been put in the hold instead of this one? After all, it has the same initials on it and looks identical.”

“Why don’t you go and find out?” George suggested.

“I will,” Nancy replied, and stepped into the corridor again. She decided to go to the purser’s office first. He might be able to tell her what to do about her lost luggage.

She hurried to the deck above and walked to the center of the ship. The assistant purser was on duty. According to a sign on the counter, his name was Mr. Rodman Havelock. He was about thirty years of age, sun-tanned, and good-looking. He smiled at Nancy. “May I help you?”

The girl introduced herself, then said, “There seems to have been a mix-up of trunks. One that does not belong to me came to my cabin, but it has my initials on it.”

“Did you look at the number on the sticker?” Mr. Havelock asked.

“There are no stickers,” Nancy replied. “That’s just it. No identification whatsoever except the initials.” She told the man about the conversation she had overheard in the corridor, then added, “Perhaps my trunk was taken into the hold instead of his?”

Mr. Havelock said he would look through the passenger list for someone else with the initials N.D. In a few moments he reported that the only two people aboard with those initials were Nancy Drew and her roommate Nelda Detweiler.

“But the trunk doesn’t belong to Nelda either,” Nancy said.

“Well, I’m afraid I can’t help you on that score,” Mr. Havelock said. “However, I will telephone the hold and ask if your trunk was delivered there by mistake.” He dialed a number and spoke to someone in Dutch. Then he turned to Nancy again.

“I’m sorry, but they don’t seem to have a record of it either.”

Nancy caught her breath. A fearful feeling came over her. Perhaps through some mistake her trunk was not loaded aboard the
Winschoten
at all! “That would be dreadful,” she thought. “No clothes to wear on the trip!”

The assistant purser spoke. “I’ll do everything in my power to locate your trunk if it’s on the ship, Miss Drew. There are mix-ups in the baggage sometimes. If yours went to the wrong cabin, the occupants will surely report it.”

“I appreciate that very much, Mr. Havelock,” Nancy replied.

The young man smiled. “How about calling me Rod? I’m more used to that.”

“Okay—if you’ll call me Nancy. And now I have another question.”

“What’s that?”

“Do you have a deaf person on board?” the girl inquired.

“I don’t know,” the assistant purser replied. “Why?”

Nancy decided not to divulge her suspicions until she knew Rod Havelock better, but she had not forgotten the message -EWARE NANCY DREW AND NE—in the finger language.

She told Rod that before the ship sailed she had seen a person on the pier talking in the finger alphabet to someone on the
Winschoten.
“I was just curious to know if only one of the people was deaf, or both,” she explained.

Rod smiled. “I’ll be glad to find out and let you know. The chief purser has a list of all persons aboard with any kind of physical disability. We try to give them special attention.”

“Thanks,” Nancy said, and went back to her cabin. At once the girls asked her what luck she had had.

“No luck with this trunk,” she replied, “and none with mine, either. I see it hasn’t arrived in the meantime.”

Nelda said, “If you’re worried about your clothes, I have tons with me. You look as though you’re about my size and height. I’ll be happy to lend you anything you want to borrow.”

Nancy looked at her new-found friend and smiled. “That’s wonderful of you, Nelda,” she said. “Who knows? I might have to take your offer sooner than you think.”

Nelda rose from her bed and opened one of her bags. From it she took a South African native’s costume. It was made like a sheath, and gay red flowers and ferns had been embroidered on it. A wide sash of gold with a fringe on each end was intended to be the belt. Gold-colored sandals completed the outfit.

George giggled. “I can just see Nancy going to the dining room for breakfast in this getup. It’ll cause a stir!”

The others laughed. Nelda slipped the gown over Nancy’s head, then adjusted the sash, which she wound around Nancy’s slender body twice. Nelda’s eyes were shining. “I understand there’s a costume party on board one night,” she said with enthusiasm. “Nancy, you must wear this!”

Nancy looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. “It is lovely, but I’m sure you brought it to wear yourself.”

“Oh, I have something else I can put on,” the girl replied. “Please use this outfit, Nancy.”

Bess remarked, “Who in South Africa would wear a costume like this? All the pictures I’ve ever seen of the natives show dark-colored clothes.”

Nelda laughed gaily. “This is a dress-up outfit,” she said. “Nancy, see if you can wear the sandals. They’re rather tight on me.”

Nancy easily slipped her feet into the gold heelless sandals. “Aren’t they pretty!” she exclaimed.

Bess said, “You look positively ravishing.” She giggled. “You’d better watch your step. Don’t captivate some young man on board and get your poor friend Ned Nickerson at home all worried!”

Nancy grinned. “Not a chance,” she said. “Do you know who is the best-looking man I’ve seen on board so far?”

As the others shook their heads, she said, “It’s the assistant purser, Rod Havelock.”

Bess asked, “Well, there’s no law on the high seas to prevent you from dancing with him, is there?”

“Oh, I’m sure there isn’t,” Nancy told her. “But sometimes officers are not allowed to mingle with passengers socially.” She shrugged. “Anyway, he’s probably married and has half-a-dozen children.”

The teasing went on for several minutes, then they were interrupted. Someone knocked on the door. Before anyone answered, Nancy quickly slipped out of the costume and put her dress on. Then George went to the door.

She opened it and looked. “No one is out here!” she exclaimed, stepping into the corridor. Nobody was in sight!

“Somebody must be playing a joke on us,” George said as she came back in and closed the door.

Nancy looked at her, then noticed a white envelope on the cabin floor just inside the door. “Wait a minute, George,” she said. “Did you drop this?”

“No,” George replied. She picked it up and turned it over. On the front was printed the name NELDA DETWEILER.

“It’s for you,” George said, and handed it to the South African girL

“Oh, it must be from my uncle,” Nelda said. “He’s marvelous, you know. Wait until you meet him.” She ripped the envelope open and stared at the card inside. Suddenly she turned deathly pale and fell down on the nearest bed.

“What’s the matter?” Nancy inquired.

“Bad news?” George added kindly, and walked toward the girl.

Nelda held her hands over her face and began to weep. “I’ve been followed!” she cried out. “Oh, dear, I’ve been followed!”

CHAPTER III

The Jewel Thief

STARTLED by Nelda’s outcry, Nancy, Bess, and George looked at one another.

“One thing is certain,” Nancy thought. “She’s terribly disturbed about something.” She was forced, however, to recall her earlier suspicion that Nelda might be a spy. In that case the fact that she was followed would obviously upset her. But then, would she act like this?

Nancy’s instinct told her to help the sobbing girl. She crossed the room, sat down beside her, and put her arms around Nelda.

“Is there anything we can do for you?” she asked.

“No, no,” the distraught girl replied. “Thank you, thank you, but my problem is a big secret. I can’t tell you.”

Nancy did not know what to do. After all, Nelda was a stranger to her. She knew nothing of her background. Her problem might indeed be one that she wanted to keep a secret, but then why did she admit that she had been followed?

Bess and George crossed the room also and stood in front of Nelda for a couple of seconds. Then George said, “You don’t know, Nelda, but Nancy is an amateur detective. If your problem is some kind of a mystery, we’re sure she can help you solve it, no matter how difficult it is.”

Nelda looked up. Bess took a handkerchief and wiped the girl’s tear-stained face. “Please stop crying,” she begged.

Suddenly Nelda smiled. “Oh, you’re so wonderful, all of you,” she said. “My problem is a secret —a great secret—but I’m sure I can entrust it to you.”

“Of course you can,” George assured her.

“Promise?” Nelda asked.

When all nodded affirmatively, the girl looked relieved. She showed them the threatening note.

“As I told you before,” she began her story, “I live in Johannesburg, South Africa. One day I was in a jewelry store to buy a birthday gift. A man stood at one of the counters, looking at diamond bracelets and rings on velvet pads.”

She paused a moment, then went on, “He asked for something on display a little distance away. While the saleswoman was getting it, I saw him put two diamond bracelets and several rings in his pocket!”

“Oh, Nelda!” Bess cried out. “What did you do?”

“I was stunned. First I thought my eyes had played a trick on me, because I had watched the whole thing through a reflection in the glass of the display case. But when he hurried out of the store, I knew he had taken the jewelry. I yelled ‘Stop, thief!’ and sped after him to the street. But he was too quick for me and I lost sight of him.”

“Oh, dear,” George said. “Did you get the police?”

“No. I went back to the store and told the saleswoman. But she didn’t believe me and insisted that I had taken the bracelets and rings myself! I tried to convince her I was not a thief, but just then a strange woman walked up. She said she had heard the argument, and when the manager came to see what was going on, she suggested that I be searched. ‘Look in her pockets,’ she said, and then walked away.”

Bess interrupted, “And did they search you?”

Nelda nodded. “I told them I had nothing to hide. So they checked my pockets and to my utter astonishment, they pulled out a diamond bracelet!”

“How dreadful!” Bess exclaimed.

Nancy remarked, “What about the woman? Maybe she planted the bracelet in your pocket!”

“But why would she do that?” Nelda asked, puzzled.

“To divert suspicion from the man who stole the jewelry he had snatched when the saleswoman wasn’t there,” Nancy replied. “What did the thief look like?”