NANCY’S DARING ACTION
Leaving Jacob Aborn behind, Nancy Drew turned and ran from the bungalow.
As she sped swiftly down the path, she passed the garage and halted long
enough to glance inside.
Stumpy’s racing car was gone. Nancy stooped down and examined the
driveway, but it was too dark for her to see the wheel tracks. However,
she was fairly certain that the man had taken the lake route, for there
was no road through the forest in the immediate vicinity of the
bungalow. Nancy had been forced to leave her own roadster a short
distance away.
“It’s not going to be easy to capture Stumpy,” she thought. “A good many
roads branch off from the lake thoroughfare. That man is a clever
criminal and he’ll take care to cover up his trail.”
Running through the forest, she reached her roadster and sprang in.
Quickly starting the motor, she headed the automobile down the road. To
reach the Beach Cliff Hotel, it would be necessary for her to follow the
forest a short distance until it joined the lake road. From there she
would have a fairly straight, smooth stretch to the hotel.
The rough forest road held Nancy to a slow pace, but when she reached
the lake thoroughfare she stepped on the accelerator, and the little car
began to purr like a contented cat.
She soon caught a glimpse of the lights of the hotel, and a few minutes
later brought the roadster to a halt in front of the inn. Without
bothering to park the car according to the regulations, she sprang to
the ground and ran inside.
As she entered the lobby, a number of persons turned and stared at her
curiously. Nancy Drew was well aware that her hair was in disorder and
that her clothing was in disarray, but she was indifferent to her
appearance.
Rushing to a row of telephone booths, she saw at a glance that they were
all in use. Without a moment’s hesitation she rushed back to the main
desk and, to the astonishment of the clerk in charge, snatched up his
private telephone.
[Illustration: NANCY RUSHED BACK, AND TO THE ASTONISHMENT OF THE CLERK,
SNATCHED UP HIS PRIVATE TELEPHONE.]
“The public telephones are at the end of the hall,” he told her with
pointed politeness.
“Sorry,” Nancy apologized briefly. “This is a rush call.”
Placing an emergency call for the police station, she waited
impatiently. The hotel clerk, who had heard her directions to the
telephone operator, underwent a sudden change of expression.
“Hello? Hello?” Nancy said frantically into the transmitter. “Police
station?”
After a seemingly interminable wait, she was connected with the chief,
and in a few terse sentences told what had happened.
“I think he must have taken the lake road,” she finished. “He may be
heading for River Heights before he strikes out for some distant point.”
“We’ll have a squad right after him,” came the reassuring response.
Nancy hung up the receiver, and stood lost in thought for a moment.
“I must telephone to River Heights and warn Laura,” she decided.
Again she placed a call, and waited impatiently for it to be put
through. Several minutes passed and then at last the bell jangled.
Eagerly she caught up the receiver and held it to her ear.
“Your party does not answer,” came the precise voice of the operator.
“That’s strange,” Nancy thought, in alarm. “I can’t understand why Laura
didn’t answer. Surely, she must be there, unless——”
Even in her mind, she dreaded to finish the sentence. Stumpy Dowd had
threatened to go to River Heights and force Laura to hand over the
jewels to him, but Nancy doubted that he could have reached the place so
quickly. Still, it was only twenty miles away, and Stumpy’s car was
built for speed.
The thought that even now Laura might be in grave danger struck terror
to Nancy Drew’s heart. She would never forgive herself if anything
happened to the girl while she was a guest in the Drew residence.
“If only father were at home, he could help me,” she thought miserably.
The hotel clerk had overheard Nancy’s conversation, and now regarded her
with respect and curiosity.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” he inquired.
“Yes, send a doctor to Jacob Aborn’s bungalow as quickly as you can.”
“At once.”
“And telephone to points along the road between here and River Heights,
warning the police to be on the watch for a man in a racing car.”
“How about the radio stations?”
“By all means! I can give you a description of the man.”
Hastily, Nancy described Stumpy as best she could. Before she had
finished, a number of hotel guests had crowded about the desk,
suspecting that something unusual had happened. They would have plied
Nancy with questions which would have delayed her, had she not run from
the lobby and jumped into her roadster.
A moment she hesitated uncertainly.
“The police may catch Stumpy, and again they may not,” she told herself
grimly. “I’m going to try to pick up the trail myself.”
With sudden decision, she headed the car down the lake road. Although
not paved, the highway was well dragged, and with a smooth stretch
before her, Nancy Drew pressed her foot hard upon the gasoline pedal.
The little blue car fairly roared down the road as though it, too, were
eager to overtake Stumpy Dowd. Ordinarily, Nancy was not a fast driver,
but now she knew that much depended upon her speed. Once Stumpy crossed
the state line, it would be more difficult to cause his arrest.
Nancy Drew was a brave girl, and was too intent upon preventing the
man’s escape to consider seriously the danger which she might be running
into herself. Alone and unarmed, she would find herself at a hopeless
disadvantage should she meet the criminal face to face.
Presently, on a distant hill, Nancy caught the gleam of a headlight.
Another automobile was coming toward her.
“I’ll stop those people and ask if they’ve passed a racing car,” she
decided upon sudden impulse.
Bringing her automobile to an abrupt halt in the middle of the road, she
signaled for the approaching car to stop. It was a brown sedan, and as
it came within the range of her headlights, Nancy thought there was
something familiar about it.
The automobile came to a stop not far from her roadster.
“Hello, there,” a voice called out. “What’s the matter?”
With a start, Nancy Drew recognized the voice.