Burt leaned over the rail. "Need a hand?" he called.
"Guess we can make it," Ned called back. "Get the captain. And put down the ladder."
Dave dashed off. When Captain Stryver arrived, the two bedraggled swimmers were back on deck. Nancy and Ned told what had happened and pointed to the burly seaman, who was just reviving.
The captain yanked the sailor, John Todd, to his feet and demanded an explanation. He said that Rorke had told him when he reached New York he was to go to a certain place and receive a large amount of money for "putting Nancy Drew out of the picture."
Under his breath Burt said, "And he"s too dumb to know he"d be double-crossed and never get a cent."
Todd said the young sailor was innocent. He had been asked to summon Nancy because she knew him. He apologized profusely to Nancy and to the captain.
"Nancy," said George, as Todd was taken away, "you"re shivering. Let"s go and get some dry clothes."
"And a hot breakfast," Bess added.
A half hour later everyone gathered in the captain"s dining room. In order not to alarm Trixie, Nancy had requested that no mention be made of what had happened. Conversation was all about the hunt for the treasure.
"I want to dig," said Trixie. She reached under the table and brought out a small pail with a shovel. She kept looking into it and smiling. "I got a map," she said.
"May I see it?" Nancy asked.
"I don"t want to show it," Trixie replied.
"Why not?" her mother asked. "And where did you get it?"
Trixie"s lips began to quiver. On the verge of tears she answered, "From a drawer in Nancy"s cabin."
Mrs. Chatham scolded her daughter. When the girl began to cry, Mr. Smith tried to quiet her by showing his copy of half the old map.
Nancy spoke up. "Don"t worry. Trixie, you never could have found the treasure with that half map, even if it had been matched with the good half."
"What do you mean?" the little girl asked.
As everyone listened in amazement, Nancy explained. "When Irene and Fred Brown followed me that day and I was afraid they might steal the exact copy of Mr. Smith"s half map, I mailed it to Dad at his office. However, before I did, I made another drawing of it, but I deliberately reversed all the directions. And that"s the paper you have, Trixie."
Everyone laughed and George said, "Leave it to Nancy to outwit the schemers!"
The Smiths were eager to start the treasure hunt. Ellen"s father felt much better and insisted upon going. Digging tools were procured and the group set off in rowboats.
When they a.s.sembled on the beach of Little Palm Island, Nancy rearranged her figures on the half map to give the correct directions. Then work started near a large palm tree. Soon mound after mound of sandy soil had been turned up. No treasure chest was revealed.
A disheartening thought struck Nancy. Suppose the treasure had been dug up long ago and carried away!
She went off by herself, and using a compa.s.s, re-figured the directions. "What a goose I"ve been!" she scolded herself as she looked at the result. "We"ve been working at the wrong spot!"
She hurried back to tell the others and chose a different palm tree for the search. It stood on a beautiful knoll overlooking the rolling sea.
"I"m sure this is the place!" Nancy exclaimed, marking off a large rectangle on the ground.
Again the young people turned up the sandy soil and loose rocks. After fifteen minutes Ned"s spade struck a hard object.
"Probably just a rock," he said, without much hope.
Turning up another spadeful of earth he bent to examine the object.
"This is no rock!" he shouted jubilantly. "I think we"ve found the treasure!"
The other boys rushed to help him dig. Presently the top of a rusty iron chest was uncovered. In another five minutes they were able to lift it from the hole.
"This seems too good to be true," Ellen said, tears of happiness in her eyes.
"Nancy," Mr. Smith spoke up, "you must have the honor of opening the lid."
"If you don"t mind," she answered, "I"d rather you three Smiths do it. But the chest must be pried open with a crowbar."
Ned offered to do this and soon succeeded. As Mr. Smith raised the lid, everyone stared in stunned silence. Inside lay hundreds of gold and silver coins, jewelry and rich ornaments from all over the world. That the wealth had been the property of Ellen"s great-grandfather, Captain Tomlin, there could be no doubt, for a stained letter addressed to his descendants bore his signature.
Mrs. Smith clasped her husband"s hands in happiness, and Ellen exclaimed, "Dad! Everything"s going to be fine from now on!"
Congratulations, handshakes, and thanks were exchanged. Everyone praised Nancy, who modestly reminded them, "Without Mrs. Chatham we couldn"t have made the trip."
The Smiths, Bill Tomlin, and Mrs. Chatham consulted together, with the result that they presented a generous gift to the Heyborns, and similar tokens for every member of the expedition. Nancy received a beautiful jeweled bracelet, one of the fine pieces in the collection.
The chest was prepared for transfer to the Primrose. With such a precious cargo aboard, Captain Stryver was worried that the prisoners might get loose and make trouble. He tried to keep the news from them, but they overheard the excited conversations of the others. The three captives were furious, each blaming the other for their failure to obtain the treasure. Before the voyage home was begun, however, a government seaplane arrived and to everyone"s relief took charge of the captives.
"How did the men get together in the first place?" the young people asked Nancy, who had heard the prisoners" confessions.
"When Rorke failed to buy Mr. Smith"s half of the map, he got in touch with his old friend Spike," she explained. "To his surprise he found his partner had also heard the story from the Warwick"s first mate, and was working on it from the Captain John Tomlin angle."
As Nancy paused, George spoke up. "When Spike traced Mrs. Chatham, it was easy for him to snoop around Rocky Edge. He knew the place because years before he had robbed it."
"Spike hid in the house and in the studio," Nancy continued. "He overheard many things, and learned that Mrs. Chatham had a lot of money in a safe. When he needed some cash, he decided to kidnap Trixie for a sizable ransom."
George spoke up again. "But Nancy found her in time."
"The messenger was Snorky. He saw us leaving the studio and cut out quickly," Nancy put in. "Incidentally, he did steer the Primrose off course on purpose."
She went on, "Spike used the secret room in the studio to examine all the papers he could lay his hands on. When Trixie and I kept showing up, he tried to scare us away."
"Did he admit to stealing my half of the map?" Ellen"s father asked.
"Yes. Rorke got him to do that. The arresting officers have it now."
"Where do the Browns fit in?" Bill Tomlin inquired.
"They were part of the ring, but didn"t get along very well with the others," Nancy explained. "They thought they were smarter than Rorke and Spike. But Spike managed to get the wanted piece of map from them-at least the one Hannah made. She had copied the words "Little" and "Pa," giving him the first word and part of the second in the name of the island, but she had misled him completely in the directions to the buried fortune.
"You know, Hannah Gruen really saved the treasure," Nancy added. "If she had given the right directions in John Tomlin"s half map to the Browns, the buried chest might have been taken before we reached here!"
"But, Nancy, you really solved the mystery!" Ellen exclaimed.
"Mysteries, you mean," her father put in warmly. "After all, Nancy traced my brother, the map, the thieves, and the treasure!"
"Oh, please stop it!" Nancy declared, blushing. "I couldn"t have done a thing without the help of every one of you, and especially Mrs. Chatham for engaging the Primrose."
"Nonsense!" the woman replied. "This trip did more for me and Trixie than you"ll ever know."
Nancy was happy about this, but at once began to long for another mystery. To her delight she was to encounter The Clue in the Jewel Box soon.
That evening when she and Ned were on deck gazing at the moon, he said, "Nancy, how about taking your mind off mysteries for a while and thinking of me instead?"
Nancy laughed mischievously. She gave a mock salute and said, "Aye, aye, sir!"
end.