"Roger Hoelt will return here someday and find this," Bess said dejectedly. "He will be a rich man and all of us will be dead!"
George chided her cousin for such melancholy thoughts. "We"ll signal and get out of here yet!" she said with determination.
Fortunately, dusk came early. Nancy climbed to the table top and held the lantern up to the ventilator. Pa.s.sing one hand in front of the light at intervals, she gave the SOS signal. Over and over she repeated this until her arms were weary. George climbed up to relieve her, then Bess. They all knew the call. Manda marveled at such efficiency.
"I hope someone sees it soon and understands," she said.
At this moment, the girls heard heavy footsteps on the attic steps and caught their breath. Was Roger Hoelt returning with reinforcements? Would the girls be further harmed? Would he now be the possessor of the secret in the table and take advantage of it?
The key turned in the door. The girls stood together, ready to defend themselves. The door opened. To their relief, they saw two police officers-Wagner and Schmidt.
"Oh, boy!" George cried out. "I never was more glad in my whole life to see anybody!"
"Were you giving an SOS signal?" Officer Wagner asked.
"Yes," said Nancy, and she quickly told the police how they had been imprisoned by Hoelt. Then she showed the policemen the note about the crystal cave.
"I can hardly believe all this!" said Officer Wagner. "Nancy Drew, it is remarkable how you have solved this mystery."
"But it isn"t completely solved," the girl detective replied. "We still have to find Mr. and Mrs. Hoelt." She said that possibly they were in her car, which had been stolen.
"A very good deduction," Officer Schmidt said. "We haven"t received word that your convertible was picked up."
As the whole group hurried down the stairs and went outdoors, Nancy asked the policemen if they had seen Mrs. Glick and her son Henner.
"No," Officer Wagner answered. "Are they here too?"
"I don"t know," said Nancy, explaining that the Glicks had come to the schnitz with the girls but had stayed behind near the witch tree.
"They may be prisoners," she said. "We"d better go there and look."
They hurried along with the policemen, who beamed their bright flashlights ahead. As they approached the witch tree, the rays of light picked out the woman and her son, gagged and bound to the tree trunk.
The two were quickly released; then stories were exchanged. Mrs. Glick said that when Nancy had gone off she and Henner had stayed behind to watch the deaf-mute boy so he could make no trouble.
"But he got away just before Mr. and Mrs. Hoelt drove in with Nancy"s car," Mrs. Glick went on. "We tried to escape, but they caught us. They had another man with them."
"I"ll report all of this at once," said Officer Wagner. Over his shortwave car radio, he sent a message to headquarters, giving a full report and requesting that every road be covered until Mr. and Mrs. Hoelt and their companion were apprehended. Then he added, "We"ll drive Nancy Drew and her friends home before we return."
Mrs. Glick wanted to take the horse and buggy, but the officer suggested that she leave them until morning. They all crowded into the officers" car, which was parked on one of the little-used roads.
It was a long and b.u.mpy ride back to the Glicks". On the way Nancy, who was sitting in front between the two officers, asked what had brought them to the old Hoelt homestead.
"You didn"t just happen to be there to answer my signal," she said, a twinkle in her eye.
The officers confessed that they had been making a very intensive investigation of Roger Hoelt. They had learned about the family homestead and had decided to go there and look around.
"You were just in the nick of time," Bess said. "I was nearly suffocated."
Officer Wagner smiled. "I"m glad we found you, but that doesn"t change the fact that it was Nancy Drew who solved this case."
Nancy made no comment. As always happened when she had solved a mystery, she began to wonder what the next challenge would be. It was not long in coming, for at that very moment events were taking place that would enmesh the young detective in another exciting adventure, The Hidden Window Mystery.
The police officers kept their radio tuned to headquarters during the entire drive. To everyone"s elation, the news was flashed to them a little later that Mr. and Mrs. Hoelt and their accomplice had been arrested. They had been caught riding in Nancy"s car, which would be returned to its owner at the Glick home.
The broadcast went on to say that Roger Hoelt had confessed to having posed as an Amish man from Ohio. In his childhood he had lived in Lancaster and so had learned the customs and language of these people. Therefore, it had been easy for him to pose as one of them.
Hoelt admitted that when Nancy found out he had taken the Follett furniture he had tried in every way to keep her from locating him. He had resorted both to violence and to defamation of her character.
"The witch tree symbol was his undoing," the police officer announced on the shortwave radio. Hoelt had copied his family"s old hex sign on a piece of paper and lost it at the Follett home when he stole the furniture. When he came back to look for it, Nancy and Mrs. Tenney surprised him there and he had fled to the second floor. Hearing of Nancy"s plan to search the house, he had run away and checked out of the hotel. Three days before that, he had made a phone call to his accomplice in Lancaster, saying he was ready for the man to bring his truck and steal the antique furniture.
The evening of the day when Nancy had surprised him in the Follett mansion, Hoelt had planned to spy on the Drew home. While cruising back and forth in his car, he had seen a chance to hit Togo and had done so out of spite.
Later that evening he had phoned Mrs. Tenney. Disguising his voice, he had posed as an antique dealer from New York and had cleverly induced Mrs. Tenney to tell him all she knew about Nancy"s part in the case, including the fact that she was going to Lancaster to try to find the thief. Hearing this, Hoelt had at once started for Lancaster. On the way he had mailed the warning letter in Montville.
On a trip back to Lancaster, after his release from prison, Hoelt had heard about the secret in the old table. Since the secret was reputed to have some connection with the old Hoeltproperty, he had seen a chance to find a treasure, acquire the property cheap, and then become wealthy.
From the time he had learned Nancy had taken the case, he had worked against her, trying to keep her from locating him.
"But he failed!" cried Manda, leaning forward to hug Nancy. "If you had not come to Amish country, I would not now be going home to my parents. Oh, I am so happy to have met a wonderful person like you!"
Nancy smiled and returned the compliment as Manda dropped her voice confidently. "I will tell you three girls a secret," she said. "I met a fine young man in Lancaster who wants to marry me in a month. Papa and Mama will like him, too, and I know they will give me a big wedding. Nancy, George, and Bess-you will promise to come, please?"
"We"d love to!" exclaimed Nancy, as George said, "You couldn"t keep us away."
"It sounds dreamy!" Bess said with delight. "And you Amish have wonderful wedding feasts." She chuckled. "Ain"t?"
end.