The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes

Table of Contents

 

 

WARNINGS not to go to Scotland can’t stop Nancy Drew from setting out on a thrill-packed mystery adventure.

Undaunted by the vicious threats, the attractive young detective—with her father and her two close friends—goes to visit her great-grandmother at an imposing estate in the Scottish Highlands, and to solve the mystery of a missing family heirloom.

And there is another mystery to be solved: the fate of flocks of stolen sheep.

Baffling clues challenge Nancy’s powers of deduction: a note written in the ancient Gaelic language, a deserted houseboat on Loch Lomond, a sinister red-bearded stranger in Edinburgh, eerie whistling noises in the Highlands. Startling discoveries in an old castle and in the ruins of a prehistoric fortress, on a rugged mountain slope and in a secluded glen, lead Nancy closer to finding the solutions to both mysteries.

Wearing a time-honored tartan, Nancy climbs the mountain of Ben Nevis in the dark of night and plays a tune of historic heroism on the bagpipes—all part of her daring plan to trap the sheep thieves and to recover the valuable family heirloom.

Copyright
©
1992, 1964 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by Grosset & Dunlap, Inc., a member of The Putnam & Grosset Group,
New York. Published simultaneously in Canada. S.A.
NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES® is a registered trademark of Simon &
Schuster, Inc. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.

eISBN : 978-1-101-07742-9

2008 Printing

 

 

 

“NANCY, lass, would ye fly off wi’ me to the land o’ bagpipes and kilts?” Mr. Drew asked her with a grin. “And how do you like my Scottish accent?’” he teased.

His daughter burst into laughter. “It’s ver-r-ry good!” Nancy replied. “And will I be wearin’ a kilt and dancin’ to the pipes?” she countered, trying to imitate her father.

“You’ll be solving a mystery,” Mr. Drew answered in his natural voice. “The mystery of a missing heirloom—an heirloom of great value which was supposed to come to you, but has been mislaid or lost.”

Nancy’s eyes opened wide with interest. “It’s for me? And it’s in Scotland?”

Mr. Drew, a lawyer, explained that Nancy’s maternal great-grandmother, Lady Douglas, who lived in Inverness-shire, had recently written to him. She intended to turn over her large house and estate to the National Trust of Scotland. This had been founded to preserve old castles, ruins, and other places of historic interest.

“In the case of the Douglas property, the transfer cannot be made until a number of relatives have signed releases,” Mr. Drew went on. “Lady Douglas has asked me to get these signatures and also donations for an endowment from interested members of the Douglas family in the United States. In order to do this, I must go to Scotland and find out more about the case.”

“The heirloom—” Nancy began, but was interrupted by the ringing of the telephone. “Excuse me, Dad. I’ll see who it is.”

The caller was Ned Nickerson, a college student who often dated Nancy. He had just returned from a trip to South America.

“I want to come over and tell you about it,” Ned said.

“Oh, have dinner with us,” Nancy replied. “Ned, it’s wonderful to hear from you!” She laughed. “This will be sort of hello and good-by. Guess what! I’m flying to Scotland!”

“That’s great!” Ned answered, then said, “Well, I’ll see you at seven.”

Nancy returned to her father and told him about the call. “Now, please tell me more about my heirloom,” she begged.

Mr. Drew smiled. “I don’t know what the heirloom is—your great-grandmother didn’t say. She only mentioned that it was missing.”

At once Nancy was intrigued. “Was it lost in the house?”

“Lady Douglas didn’t give any further details.”

Nancy looked into space for several moments. Finally she said, “Could it have been stolen?”

“I suppose so,” her father replied. “Now, I’ll tell you about the trip to Scotland. In the first place, I must confer with lawyers in Glasgow, then Edinburgh. After that, we’ll go up to Douglas House.”

“It sounds terribly exciting!” said Nancy. “And it will be such fun going on a trip with you and also solving a mystery.” She grinned. “Especially since I’ll be looking for something that I know hardly anything about. And Douglas House is probably very beautiful.”

Mr. Drew agreed. “I have been to Douglas House only once, and everything
was
very handsome. I can understand why the National Trust will be happy to open it to the public as a place of historic interest.”

The lawyer said he would like to do a little work before dinner, so he went into his first-floor study. Nancy entered the kitchen, where the Drews’ pleasant-faced housekeeper, Hannah Gruen, was just taking a lemon meringue pie from the oven.

“That looks luscious!” Nancy remarked.

Hannah Gruen had been mother and counselor to Nancy ever since the time she was a very young child, when her own mother had passed away.

The housekeeper looked fondly at Nancy. She was proud of the slender, attractive, titian-haired girl whose penchant for solving mysteries had brought fame and respect to the Drew household. From
The Secret of the Old Clock
to the revelations in
The Moonstone Castle Mystery,
Nancy had spent a great deal of her later teen-age years helping people uncover mysteries which were troubling them.

For the next hour, Nancy and Hannah Gruen talked about the proposed trip to Scotland and what clothing the girl should take. Nancy recalled to Hannah the almost unbelievable, fairy-like tales about her great-grandmother’s life as the wife of a member of the House of Lords.

“To think that I’m going to see her at last!”

Hannah Gruen smiled. “I hope that heirloom is something small. This house is so full of trophies and objects from all over the world there isn’t a corner left for another one!”

“Maybe we’ll even have to move the piano out!” Nancy teased.

Just then the front doorbell rang and Nancy went to answer it. Ned Nickerson stood there, a wide grin on his handsome face. Nancy thought that next to her good-looking, athletic father, this special friend of hers was the nicest man she knew. He stood high in his classes at Emerson College, played football, and recently had been sent on a special assignment to South America in connection with his courses.

“Hi!” he said. “I left my car right back of yours on the street. Okay? Would you like me to put yours in the garage?”

“After a while, yes,” Nancy answered. “But first, come and tell me all about yourself.”

When they were seated in the living room, and Ned had described some of his exciting trips into the jungles, he remarked, “Nancy, in case you get lonesome in Scotland and want a mystery to solve, I can tell you about one.”

Nancy’s blue eyes sparkled. “What is it?”

Ned said that he had recently read in a newspaper about a ring of thieves who were stealing sheep and lambs in the Highlands of Scotland. “The authorities are baffled, so here’s your chance, Nancy. You may as well solve the case of the poor gimmersl”

“The
what!”
Nancy asked.

“A gimmer is a young female lamb. Incidentally, how long will you be away, Nancy?”

“Dad didn’t say. In fact, I doubt that he knows himself.”

Ned gave a great sigh. “I’ll have to talk to your father about getting you back here by June tenth. My fraternity is giving a big windup party for the season,” he announced. “You just have to be there.”

“I ought to be able to make it,” Nancy replied. “It’s now the middle of May.” She smiled broadly. “I’ll do what I can to speed up my sleuthing.”

“Good!” From a pocket Ned took out a small package and handed it to Nancy. “A souvenir from South America,” he said.

The gift was a very unusual pin made of wood carved to represent a laughing monkey.

“He’s adorable!” Nancy said, as she pinned the monkey on her blouse. “Thanks a million, Ned.”

“The natives say it will bring good luck to the wearer,” Ned informed her.

“Well, that’s what I’ll need if I expect to solve two mysteries in Scotland,” Nancy told him, and explained about the missing heirloom.

Later, as they were finishing dinner, the telephone rang. Nancy excused herself to answer it. An excited girl’s voice came over the wire. “Oh, Nancy, you’ve helped me win the most wonderful prize!”

“Bess Marvin,” Nancy said to her blond, slightly plump but very attractive friend, “what are you talking about?”

Bess did not answer the question directly. “It’s for two and you have to share it with me!”