"Arun! Arun!" Rishi pleaded, and added some soothing words in Hindi.
The elephant stopped his noisy outcries and backed up. Rishi gave a flying leap onto the elephant"s back and sat down just behind the animal"s head. Arun docilely joined his fellow elephants, and they all plodded peacefully out of the arena to the thunderous applause of the audience.
Nancy returned to her seat and ten minutes later Rishi came back. Everyone smiled at him but refrained from talking until the show was over. Then they praised him loudly, but the boy from India begged them to stop.
"Rishi glad to help. Lucky Rai not killed by Arun."
"And you"re lucky," said George, "that Rai didn"t have a chance to take you away."
Mr. Drew"s group went to his car and drove off. It was late afternoon. The roads were still jammed with cars and the trip took longer than it would have under normal conditions. Consulting his watch, Mr. Drew announced that it was dinnertime.
"Let"s stop at the next restaurant," he proposed.
The young people eagerly a.s.sented. In spite of the peanuts and popcorn they had eaten, they were hungry. Half a mile farther, Nancy noticed a brilliantly lighted restaurant just off the road.
"It looks all right," Mr. Drew commented, turning in at the driveway. "We may as well try it."
They entered the main dining room, which was only half filled with guests. The group found a table for five near the window. After Nancy had made her selection from the menu, she glanced around at the other diners.
"There"s Mrs. Allison!" she said quietly. The others turned to stare.
"It is!" George agreed. "And she"s with Steve Roach."
"I"d like to talk to her," Nancy said impulsively.
"Perhaps you"d better wait," Mr. Drew cautioned. "Mrs. Allison and her friend seem to be having an argument."
The couple talked earnestly together, totally oblivious to the others in the room. Their voices rose higher and higher until Nancy and her friends caught enough to deduce that they were discussing the sale of Mrs. Allison"s property.
"The argument seems to be nearly over now," Nancy observed presently. "If you"ll excuse me, I"ll go talk to them."
She approached the table at the opposite side of the room and spoke the woman"s name. Recognizing the girl, Mrs. Allison made a pretense of welcoming her. Steve Roach scowled openly as he rose and offered Nancy a chair.
"I must apologize for interrupting your conversation," Nancy said, "but I have a rather important matter to discuss with you."
"Perhaps another time--" Mrs. Allison began.
"Oh, I didn"t mean that I wanted to talk with you here, but I"m eager to get your present address so I can find you."
Mrs. Allison and her companion exchanged swift glances, which were not lost on Nancy.
"I move about from place to place," the woman answered vaguely.
"But surely you have a postal address. There must be some way for me to communicate with you."
"Just write a letter in care of General Delivery, River Heights," Mrs. Allison said.
Nancy was annoyed. The woman apparently did not wish to give out any information regarding her whereabouts. Nancy realized it would be useless to pursue the matter further, so she rose and said good-by. As Nancy returned to her own table, Mrs. Allison and Steve Roach immediately left the restaurant, without finishing their dinner.
"Where"s Rishi?" Nancy asked, noticing that he had left the table and apparently taken his plate of food with him.
Mr. Drew shrugged. "He excused himself and said he would meet us at the car."
"Probably," George spoke up, "he didn"t want Mrs. Allison or Roach to see him."
Her statement proved to be true. When the Drews and their friends returned to the car, they found Rishi seated on the floor of the rear seat.
"Excuse Rishi, please," he said. "Not wish to meet people Nancy speak to."
"I understand," Mr. Drew replied, and nothing more was said.
Bess carried the empty dishes back into the restaurant; then the group set off for River Heights. That evening Rishi studied for a short time before going to bed. Nancy briefed Hannah on the day"s events.
"I have a little news, too," the housekeeper said. "A phone call came for Rishi. It was a man who didn"t give his name. All I said was, "There"s no one here by that name," and he hung up."
"Good for you, Hannah," said Nancy. "But someone must suspect he"s here. We"ll have to guard him very carefully." The housekeeper nodded.
The following morning, after Mr. Drew had left, Rishi went back to his studies. Hannah asked Nancy to do some marketing. The housekeeper went out to the garden to pick fresh flowers for the house. She found some weeds near the garage and decided to pull them.
"Oh, there"s the phone," Hannah told herself.
She started for the back porch. By this time the bell had stopped ringing, so she turned back to her work. By the time she had finished, Nancy drove in and the two went into the kitchen to prepare lunch and chat.
"I"ll call Rishi," Nancy offered, going to the foot of the front stairs.
The boy did not reply, so she mounted the steps and went to his room. It was empty. Not only was Rishi not there, but an open closet door revealed that his clothes were missing.
"Rishi has run away!" Nancy thought.
She looked for a note but none was in sight. Nancy opened the bureau and desk drawers. Still no explanation for the boy"s disappearance. Suddenly she recalled the ringing telephone about which Hannah had told her. She raced downstairs.
"Hannah," Nancy cried out, "I"m afraid Rishi has been kidnapped!"
CHAPTER XIII.
Coffeepot Cache Mrs. Gruen"s mixing spoon clattered from her hand to the floor. "Rishi kidnapped!" she exclaimed. "This is dreadful! Who could have done such a thing?"
"I have a suspicion, but of course no evidence," Nancy replied.
"We must call the police at once!" the housekeeper insisted.
"I agree," said Nancy, and she hurried to the kitchen telephone. "I"ll talk to Chief McGinnis personally."
After hearing the young detective"s story, the chief offered to come to the house and get the details. He arrived shortly and was amazed by what he learned.
"Rishi was studying with Professor Stackpole, wasn"t he?" the officer asked. "Do you think his teacher thought the boy might be safer staying with him?"
Nancy shook her head. "The professor would never do such a thing. He would have asked us first."
Nevertheless, she phoned him. Dr. Stackpole was shocked to hear the news and declared he knew nothing about the kidnapping.
Chief McGinnis asked Nancy if she suspected anyone. "Yes. The man named Rai, who claims to be Rishi"s father."
The officer said the police were still trying to locate the animal trainer. "But I"ll put a couple of special detectives on the case."
After Chief McGinnis had left, Nancy and Hannah talked over the case. Nancy thought of two places to search.
"One is the home of Rishi"s real father, the other is Mrs. Allison"s property. Hannah, suppose you wait here for a phone call. I"ll try to get Bess and George to ride to the other places with me."
In the meantime, Nancy called her father and learned he was out of town for the day. Next she phoned Bess and George, who gasped when they heard that Rishi had disappeared mysteriously, with his borrowed belongings.
Nancy picked the girls up a few minutes later and drove directly to the house occupied by the importer from India. No one answered the bell. The same neighbor she had talked with before, Mrs. Wilson, told the girls that Mr. Tilak had not yet returned from India.
"Have you seen the boy who was with me around here?" Nancy asked her.
"No."
"If you do, please hold him until I can get here," Nancy requested.
"He"s a runaway," Bess added. "In fact, he has been--" She stopped speaking abruptly as George gave her a withering glance. She was fearful Bess was about to say "kidnapped," an angle that was not to be generally revealed.
"If I see the child around, I"ll invite him in, then notify you," Mrs. Wilson promised with a smile.
Nancy thanked her and the girls left. "I"ve decided to drive out to the Allison property and see if I can find Jasper Batt," Nancy announced as the girls entered the car. "I have a feeling he may know something about the kidnapping."
After a swift trip through the countryside, Nancy parked the car as close as possible to the ruins of the old house. The girls walked the remaining distance. Jasper Batt was busy raking up the debris around the burned mansion.
"I scarcely know how to approach him," Nancy whispered. "He may decide that I"m an enemy and attack us with that rake."
"We"ll be on our guard," Bess declared. "If he seems to be in an ugly mood we can always turn and run."
But this was not Nancy"s idea of how to approach him. She put two fingers to her lips and the girls drew near quietly.
"How are you, Mr. Batt?" Nancy said pleasantly.
The man looked up and scowled. "Well, what do you want?" he demanded. "Can"t you see I"m busy?"
"This will take only a minute, Mr. Batt," the girl detective began. "I want to talk to you about a boy named Rishi."
"I never heard of him. Go away and let me do my work."
"Very well, if that"s the way you want it," Nancy said, humoring him. She turned as if to depart, then paused again. "By the way, Mr. Batt, did you ever recover those valuable papers you lost?"
"No, I didn"t!" the caretaker snapped. "But I know what became of them all right!"
"I suppose you lost them accidentally?" Nancy prodded.
"Lost them! I should say I didn"t. They were stolen by that no-good relative of mine. Name"s Pete. He did it to get even with me because Mrs. Allison gave me his job of taking care of the place. Before I came here Pete looked after things."
"Pete?" Nancy inquired.
"Peter Putnam," Batt replied.
"Let me see, he lives near here, doesn"t he?" Nancy probed.
"Too near to suit me. His place is about twenty miles beyond Doverville. You won"t find Pete living in a regular house, though-not that guy. He"s too stingy to build himself a decent place. He lives in an old barn that was standing on the property when he bought it."
Nancy asked several additional questions. Batt became suspicious that he was being pumped for information and refused to say any more. The girls returned to the parked car.
"I"d like to drive on to Peter Putnam"s place," Nancy suggested. "Okay with you girls?"
"I"m curious to see his house," George answered.
Half an hour"s drive brought the trio within the general vicinity of the Putnam farm. Upon inquiry at a gasoline station, they were told to follow a winding, rutty lane. The property was located nearly a mile from the main highway and consisted of a few acres of cleared land completely surrounded by dense woods.
"This must be the place," Nancy commented, stopping the car near a strange structure, which resembled neither a house nor a barn.
The queer, tumble-down building had originally been painted brick red, but now appeared to be washed-out pink. A porch had been built at the front, and large windows were cut into the walls at uneven angles. An old silo, long since useless, adjoined the east side of the structure, while the west side was supported by a ma.s.sive stone chimney.
"Did you ever see such a crazy-looking house?" Bess giggled. "I wish I had a camera with me."
As the girls alighted from the car, a stout, short man in black corduroy trousers, a sleeveless leather jacket, and a misshapen, dirty felt hat walked from the building.
He removed a brier pipe from the corner of his mouth and demanded gruffly, "Yes? What is it? I warn you before you say a word that I won"t buy anything."
"We have nothing to sell, Mr. Putnam." Nancy smiled, but added shrewdly, "We might be willing to make a purchase."
"Eggs, or a chicken?"
Nancy shook her head. "I"d like to discuss a business matter with you. May I come in?"
"All right," Peter Putnam consented grudgingly, "but the place ain"t fixed up much."
"George and I will wait outside," Bess said hastily.
Nancy followed the farmer into the house and tried not to stare as she noticed how dirty it was. The huge rooms were nearly bare of furniture. An old-fashioned cooking stove, a kitchen table, and a sagging cot were the main pieces. Peter Putnam drew up a crate, offering it to Nancy in lieu of a chair.
"What do you want to buy?" he asked eagerly.
"Perhaps I shouldn"t have expressed it in just those words," Nancy countered. "I"m searching for some papers that disappeared from an old house owned by Mrs. Anita Allison. I"m willing to pay you for recovering the doc.u.ments."
Putman eyed the girl cunningly; then he replied evasively, "Now what should I know about any such papers? Peter Putnam tends to his own business."