Burt replied that the man in question might be a graduate student at Emerson who had disappeared.
"Where did you fly him?" Nancy inquired.
Jerry thought a moment. "Oh, I remember now. It was over River Heights."
The visitors exchanged glances. Nancy asked why Jerry thought Crossy was mysterious. She was told that the man took binoculars from his pocket when they reached River Heights and trained them on every house in town.
"I finally laughed and asked him, "You got a girl friend down there?" He said, "Sort of. She"s a smart one. Knows the law like a lawyer"!"
Nancy started. Could the girl be Marty King? If so, what did she know about Crosson? Was she playing up to him to get information concerning the mystery of the glowing eye?
"Did Crossy tell you anything else?" Nancy asked.
"No. He talked very little, but he did ask me a lot of questions about complicated computer programming."
Burt said the graduate student from Emerson was a whiz in this subject. "If you ever hear from Crossy, or see him, please let us know."
"I sure will," Jerry replied, "and now I must go to keep an appointment. Look around all you like."
The group thanked the pilot and said good-by. Jerry hurried back to his small helicopter and got in. He spun the rotors and took off. The others watched intently.
Suddenly George cried out, "Oh my goodness! Jerry"s in trouble!"
Everyone gazed in horror at his whirlybird which was spiraling toward the ground!
CHAPTER V.
A Strange Prison
As the group watched Jerry"s helicopter, which apparently was out of control, Glenn suddenly began to laugh. The others looked at him in amazement.
"Jerry had me fooled too for a few minutes. He"s not in trouble. Jerry"s doing some acrobatics for you. Pretty intricate flying maneuvers for a copter. He"s really good."
"I"ll say he is," Burt spoke up.
Jerry leveled his craft and flew off. Those on the ground could visualize him grinning over his trick. Then they turned and walked back to look again at the helicopter in the hangar. Nancy climbed up to look inside.
"What a battery of gadgets!" she exclaimed. "There must be a hundred push b.u.t.tons and levers and lights on this instrument panel!"
As her eyes wandered over the intricate setup, Nancy noticed a penny on the floor.
"I wonder if Jerry dropped this," she thought, "or some pa.s.senger-perhaps Crosson!"
Nancy picked up the penny and examined it. The coin bore the date 1923 S. "Mm, that"s old and valuable," she said to herself. "It"s like one Dad has. Shall I leave it here?"
She decided to ask Glenn to return it to Jerry. Nancy stepped down and handed the penny to their pilot. She made her request, then added, "If Jerry knows who dropped it, please call me." She wrote down the telephone number of the fraternity house.
Glenn promised that he would and said they had better leave. "I have another job in half an hour," he explained.
The pilot took his pa.s.sengers back to the airfield, then hurried off. Nancy"s car was not in sight.
"Bess and Dave must have taken it," Nancy remarked.
The couple had driven off in the convertible soon after their friends had left.
"Let"s do some sleuthing in this area," Dave suggested as they headed for the road.
"Where do we start?" Bess asked. "This is farming country. I"m getting one of Nancy"s hunches that Zapp Crosson or whoever kidnapped Ned would pick a secluded section like this one to hide out."
"Right."
After traveling a few miles they came to an old, dilapidated two-story farmhouse. Bess went up on the porch of rotting floorboards. The windows had no curtains and she could see there were only a few pieces of half-broken furniture inside the house.
"I guess no one lives here," she called out to Dave.
He hopped from the car and came to take a look. "I wonder if the house is locked." Dave tried the front door. It opened without a key.
"Let"s explore," he urged.
"No thanks," said Bess. "Deserted houses with unlocked doors aren"t my idea of safe places to investigate."
Dave made no comment and walked in. "If I don"t return in thirty minutes, get the police," he teased, tossing Bess the car keys.
"Oh, I"ll come," she decided. Bess was fearful but did not want Dave to think her a coward.
There was a narrow center hall with a steep stairway. A room opened onto it from either side. The rear of the hallway led into the kitchen, which was stocked with canned food. A knife, fork, and spoon lay in the sink alongside an unwashed plate.
"Someone"s probably camping out here," Dave remarked.
"And I"ll bet," Bess replied, "it"s someone who has no business here. But I don"t want to be caught trespa.s.sing. Let"s go!"
"No," said Dave. "I"d like to find out who the intruder is. I"m going upstairs. You stay here on guard."
Bess felt uncomfortable being left alone but knew she would be more ill at ease on the floor above. She closed the front door and posted herself near it, but presently began to walk from window to window.
Suddenly she jumped in fright as something heavy fell overhead. Bess rushed to the stairway and called up.
"Dave! Are you all right?"
There was no answer. Putting her fears aside, Bess vaulted up the steps two at a time, all the while calling Dave"s name. He did not reply. She hurried through the scantily furnished bedrooms but found no sign of her friend. She could not figure out what had fallen. There was no stairway to a third floor.
"Oh, Dave, where are you?" Bess wailed.
She began opening one closet door after another, each time with a shudder as to what she might find. Finally Bess reached the last closet. As she opened the door she could hear m.u.f.fled sounds. n.o.body was inside. Bess stepped forward to put her ear to the wall.
"0-o-oh!" Bess exclaimed as the floor suddenly opened and she plummeted downward.