The Secret of Red Gate Farm (9 page)
Read The Secret of Red Gate Farm Online
Authors: Carolyn Keene
Tags: #Cults, #Detective and Mystery Stories, #Girls & Women, #Children's Stories, #Mystery & Detective, #Juvenile Fiction, #Adventure and Adventurers, #Women Detectives, #Mysteries & Detective Stories, #Fiction, #Code and Cipher Stories, #Codes, #Mystery Fiction, #Women Sleuths, #Adventure Stories, #Farm Life, #Drew; Nancy (Fictitious Character), #Mystery Stories, #General, #Mystery and Detective Stories
“We’d better not tell our plan to anyone except your grandmother, Jo,” she advised. “Otherwise, Mrs. Salisbury and Mr. Abbott will try to talk her out of letting us investigate.”
After a light supper and some rather forced conversation on trivial matters, the girls retired. They had tried to keep silent about the activities of the nature cult, but their secretive manner did not escape the notice of Mrs. Salisbury and Mr. Abbott.
“You’re up to something,” Mrs. Salisbury remarked the next morning. “And if I were Mrs. Byrd, I’d put a stop to it at once!”
Mrs. Byrd, however, went on serenely with her work, being careful not to interfere with the girls’ plans. They maintained a close watch of the hillside, but for two days seldom saw anyone in the vicinity.
“I think they’ve holed in for the rest of the summer,” George declared impatiently at breakfast. “Either that, or they’ve moved out.”
“The cult’s still there,” Joanne reassured her. “The rent check arrived in the morning mail.”
“By the way, where do these nature people get their food?” Nancy queried. “They can’t live on blue sky and inspiration.”
“I think friends must bring food to them in automobiles,” Joanne answered. “Several times I’ve seen swanky cars drive up and park near the hillside.”
“The cult members must be fairly well off, then,” Nancy said thoughtfully. “I’m getting tired of marking time. I wish something would happen soon. If it doesn’t, I think I’ll investigate that cave, anywayl”
That night the girls were late in finishing the dishes. By the time they had put everything away it was quite dark. When they went out to the porch, they were relieved to find that the boarders had gone to their rooms.
The girls sat talking quietly for some time. The moon was high, and Nancy, from force of habit, glanced eagerly toward the distant hill.
“Look, girls!” she exclaimed. “They’re at it again!”
The four girls could see white objects moving to and fro, apparently going through a weird ritual. Nancy sprang to her feet.
“We’ll have to hurry if we want to see anything,” she said. “Come on! We’ll take the short cut!”
They dashed across the lawn, flung open the gate, and ran through the woods. Nancy led the way up the river path, then to the sparsely wooded hillside. Not until they were dose to the camp did she stop.
“We’ll have to be very careful,” she warned in a whisper. “Scatter and hide behind trees. And don’t make a sound.”
The girls obeyed, Bess staying as close to George as possible. Nancy found a huge oak tree well up the hill, and hid behind it. From this vantage point she could see fairly welL
Nancy had been there for less than five minutes when she heard the sound of several cars approaching. They came up the woods road and stopped at the foot of the hill, not far from the nature camp.
Several men stepped from the cars. Nancy was too far away to see their faces, but she did observe that they quickly donned long white robes with head masks, and joined the other costumed figures who were on the brow of the hill.
For nearly ten minutes the members of the cult flitted back and forth, waving their arms and making weird noises. Then they moved single file toward the cavern and vanished.
Suddenly Nancy felt herself grasped by an arm. She wheeled sharply and then laughed softly.
“George! For goodness sake, don’t ever do that again! You scared me silly!”
“What do you make of it, Nancy?”
“It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. I haven’t been able to figure it out.”
“What should we do next?” asked Bess, who had joined them.
“Let’s follow them into the cave!” George proposed rashly.
“And be caught?” Nancy returned. “No, this is serious business. I think it’s time to go home and plan our own costumes.”
“I wonder why so many people came here in automobiles?” Joanne mused, as the girls walked off slowly.
“That’s what I’ve been wondering,” Nancy replied soberly, “but I think I might know.”
“Why?” her friends demanded.
“It looks to me as if only a few persons are actually living in the Black Snake Colony. Apparently they want to give the impression that the organization is a large one, so they have these other people come the night set for the ceremonials.”
“There were certainly a lot of men in those cars,” added Bess.
“Why should they go to all that trouble?” Joanne asked doubtfully.
“I don’t know,” Nancy admitted, “unless it’s because they’re trying to hide something they’re doing here.” She changed the subject. “I think we’ll be able to make costumes like theirs if you’ll give us some old pillowcases and sheets, Jo. When we visit the cave, we must disguise ourselves to make our scheme work!”
CHAPTER XI
A Midnight Message
“WHEN shall we visit the cave?” George asked.
“As soon as we can,” Nancy answered. “Of course we must help Jo and her grandmother with the work.”
Since there was no further evidence of activity on the hillside, the girls went to bed.
The next morning George remarked, as she helped Nancy make her bed, “What do you suppose those men do between ceremonials? It certainly is strange how much time they spend in that cave!”
“What puzzles me is those automobiles that were on the hillside,” Bess said. “Why did they come? Surely those men were here for something besides ballet dancing. What’s your guess, Nancy?”
“I’m afraid I haven’t any answer. But I mean to find one for Mrs. Byrd’s and Jo’s sakes.”
The three girls learned that Reuben was due to be absent most of the day and offered to do his chores. During the morning they picked cherries and took them to town to sell at a local market. When they returned, a small, strange car was standing in the driveway. Loud voices were coming from the living room.
“I don’t have to sell and I won’t sell!” Mrs. Byrd said with finality in her tone.
“That’s what you think,” a man said sneeringly. “You’re going to lose this farm and I can buy it cheaper from the bank. Why don’t you sell it to me and make a little profit? Then you can go to the city and take life easy.”
“We don’t want to go to the city,” Joanne spoke up. “We’re getting along all right here. More boarders are coming soon and we are paying off our back mortgage interest. So we don’t have to sell.”
Outside, Nancy, Bess, and George looked at one another. The insistent buyer again! Fervently they hoped that Mrs. Byrd would not weaken in her decision. A moment later they felt relieved.
“I will say good afternoon, Mr. Kent,” Mrs. Byrd said. “Thank you for your offer, but I cannot accept it.”
“You’ll be sorry! You’ll regret this!” the caller stormed. He came out the screen door, slamming it viciously behind him.
Nancy stared in surprise. Mr. Kent certainly was one of the most ill-mannered men she had ever seen! And also, she thought wryly, one of the most tenacious! Why was he so determined to buy the Byrd home?
Mr. Kent, his face red with anger, stepped into his car and sped off, but not before he gave Nancy and her friends a baleful look. “Nice disposition,” George commented sarcastically.
“I hope he never shows up again,” Bess said firmly.
The girls found Mrs. Byrd and Joanne quite shaken. “I can’t understand that man’s persistence,” the woman said.
Nancy was sure the matter was tied in with the cult on the hillside but did not mention this theory. She merely said, “Try not to worry about Mr. Kent. I doubt that he’ll return.”
Soon the incident was forgotten as preparations for supper were started and the farm animals were fed. George elected to take care of gathering eggs from the henhouse. Bess gave the horse hay and water.
“I’ll get the cow,” Nancy offered, and went off toward the pasture to drive Primrose in.
But the cow was not there. Nancy walked around the fence surrounding the field to see if there was any opening through which the animal might have wandered. Finally she found one, and saw hoofprints leading toward a patch of woods.
Nancy dashed off among the trees. She had never been that way before, but there was only one path to follow. Several times she paused to listen and thought she heard the faint tinkling of a cowbell somewhere ahead of her.
It was rapidly growing dusky in the woods and Nancy hurried on. Again she stopped to listen. She could hear the cowbell distinctly now.
“Primrose can’t be far ahead,” she thought in relief, and went in that direction. Nancy finally caught sight of the Jersey contentedly munching grass on the hillside beyond.
Nancy stopped short and gave a gasp of astonishment—the sound of the cowbell had brought her to the mouth of the cave!
“I can hardly believe it!” she almost exclaimed aloud. This must be the other opening near the nature camp Jo told me about!”
Eagerly Nancy rushed toward the cave. But no sooner had she peered into the dark entrance than she was startled by the crackling of a twig behind her. Nancy wheeled to find a man standing not three feet away from her!
He seemed to have risen from the bushes which half hid the opening of the cave. Instantly it flashed through Nancy’s mind that he had been stationed there to see that intruders did not enter.
“What’re you doing here?” he asked, his voice as cold as steel.
Nancy recoiled. The man stood in the shadows of the shrubbery so that she could not see his face distinctly. But at the sound of his voice she knew instantly she was in danger.
“I must persuade him I wasn’t spying,” she thought desperately.
“Better speak up!” the man snarled. “What’re you doin’ here, girlie?”
“I was hunting for that cow,” Nancy replied as casually as possible. She pointed to the Jersey, which was grazing a short distance away.
She held her ground defiantly. There was a moment’s silence. Nancy could feel that the man was staring at her, as if undecided whether or not to believe her.
“So you were after the cow?” the lookout growled. “Then why are you by this cave?”
“Why, I was just wondering what was inside,” Nancy said innocently. “Surely there’s no harm in looking.”
“You’ve no business around here!” the man snapped. “This property belongs to the members of the Black Snake Colony.”
“Oh!” Nancy exclaimed in pretended awe. “Then you must belong to the colony. How very interesting!”
The man made no response to Nancy’s remark. Instead, he muttered:
“Round up that old cow of yours and get out of here! And don’t come trespassing again!”
Nancy knew she would gain nothing by arguing. Obediently she overtook the cow and headed her back toward Red Gate. The man watched until Nancy disappeared into the woods.
As soon as she had started the cow down the path, however, Nancy quietly retraced her steps. She reached the edge of the woods just in time to catch a glimpse of the man entering the cave.
“That proves he’s one of the Black Snake group,” she told herself. “He was acting as a guard for them.”
For an instant Nancy was tempted to follow, but common sense told her not to press her luck. The lookout seemed determined enough to make trouble for her if she took the chance. Reluctantly, the young sleuth turned back toward the farm.
It was clear to Nancy that the entire business of the Black Snake group was anything but open and aboveboard! Obviously they were afraid that some of the countryfolk would attempt to investigate.
When Nancy finally reached the barn and Joanne began to milk Primrose, the other girls plied their friend with questions.
“We were beginning to worry,” Joanne said in relief. “I wouldn’t have let you go alone if I’d known this cow of ours would stray so far.”
“I’m glad I went,” Nancy said quickly.
She then told the others what had taken place near the mouth of the cave. They gasped in astonishment upon hearing of her encounter with the lookout.
“Weren’t you frightened when he sprang up out of nowhere?” Bess asked, giving Nancy an admiring glance. “I’d have fainted on the spot!”
“That’s an easy way out if I ever heard one!” Nancy commented with a laugh.
“Girls don’t faint these days,” George scoffed. “Probably you’d have screamed and brought all the members down on you. They’d have dragged you off and put an end to you!”
“Thanks, George,” Bess muttered. “You say the nicest things!”
“Well, girls, talk all you like,” Nancy added, “but don’t lose your nerve altogether. I still want to get a closer look at that cave!”
“Not tonight!” Bess said firmly.
Nancy smiled. “I hope there won’t be a ritual on the hillside tonight. We’ve been too busy to get our costumes ready.”
The girls watched but the distant landscape remained dark. Finally they went to bed. Not long afterward, Nancy was roused from a fitful slumber by the stopping of a car not far from her window. She hopped from bed and went to peer out. A tall, slender woman who wore her hair piled high was walking to the front door.
Nancy leaned out the window and called, “What is it you wish?”
“Nancy Drew. Is she here?”
“Yes, I’m Nancy.”
“I have a letter for you.” Nancy did not recognize the woman’s voice. But she might be disguising it.
“From whom?”
“Your father.”
“Why are you bringing it now?”
“It’s an urgent message,” the strange woman said. “I’ll leave it on the doorstep.”
She dropped the letter, hurried into the car, and the man at the wheel drove off. Heart pounding, Nancy put on her robe and slippers and hurried down to the front door.
CHAPTER XII
Secret Service Agents
THE stopping of the car at the house had awakened Mrs. Byrd who slept on the first floor. She met Nancy in the hall and asked what was happening.
Quickly Nancy told her, then opened the door. On the porch lay a plain envelope with Nancy’s name typed on it.
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