The Mystery of the Fire Dragon Read Online Free PDF Page B

Chi Che is with us, and then find out she’s not Chi Che, it will give the whole thing away!”
    Nancy agreed, and said that she and Bess would stay far enough behind George not to arouse any suspicion. When they reached the lobby, they walked into one door of the gift shop. George, seeing them, left by another. They followed a few seconds later.
    When the girls reached the Columbia campus, George smiled at various students as they came along. Suddenly she was thrilled to have someone wave to her from a distance and call out, “Good to see you back, Chi Che!”

    Nancy and Bess stayed far enough behind George not to arouse suspicion
    Nancy and Bess had heard the remark. “The disguise is working!” Bess whispered excitedly.
    As they went on, over a dozen young men and women students, some Oriental, others American, also waved and called to “Chi Che.”
    “Oh, isn’t this exciting!” Bess exclaimed.
    “Yes, but it doesn’t seem to be leading us to the real Chi Che,” Nancy replied.
    The words were hardly out of her mouth when a young man, tall, red-haired, and very slender, rushed up to George. As he reached her he cried out, “How did you get away, Chi Che Soong? You little fool!”
    Bess grabbed Nancy’s arm. What was going to happen now?
    George, though startled, played her role magnificently. She did not speak, merely shrugged her shoulders and extended the palms of both hands in a gesture of “You guess!”
    The next instant the man seized George roughly by her arm and led her away. George pretended to go willingly. Nancy and Bess, with pounding hearts, kept pace with the two ahead.

CHAPTER VI
    The Chase
    WITH Nancy and Bess close on her heels, George was led by her captor from the campus and out to a side street. They were heading for a car parked at the curb. Its engine was running.
    “That’s the same car which was following George on the way to the hospital!” Nancy said, recognizing the license number.
    “But there’s a different driver!” Bess said.
    As the masquerading “Chi Che” and her escort approached the car, the driver called out in a worried tone, “No take. While you were gone I phoned Ryle.”
    Startled, George’s captor let go of her, jumped into the car, and it sped off.
    Down the street Nancy saw an empty taxi. “Come on!” she cried to Bess, and ran to the cab. As Bess jumped in with her, Nancy called out to George, “Go home and wait for us.” Then she ordered, “Driver, follow those two men who just left here!”
    He started the taxi but seemed in no hurry to follow Nancy’s order. Half turning in his seat, he asked, “What’s going on here? You trying to date those guys?”
    Nancy ignored the remark and merely said, “It’s very important that we find out where they’re going. Please hurry.”
    The driver shrugged and put on a little more speed. The chase took them onto the West Side Highway and downtown. As they reached the exit to Canal Street, the car ahead went down the ramp. The taxi followed.
    By this time the suspicious driver of the fleeing car apparently had sensed that his car was being trailed. He made several turns, evidently trying to elude the pursuers.
    “Those men may be going out to the end of Long Island,” the taximan grumbled.
    “It doesn’t make any difference where they’re going. I’d like you to keep them in view,” Nancy said.
    Bess sensed that the taxi driver was getting tired of the chase and probably was wondering whether he was going to get a tip large enough to warrant his trouble. Sweetly she said, “Driver, you’re wonderful. I’ve never ridden with anyone who could handle a car so well.”
    The man beamed. “Thank you, miss. Not many people ever give me a compliment. They mostly complain.” Now, eager to co-operate, he resumed the chase. As the taxi sped along Canal Street, suddenly the other car pulled up to the curb and stopped. The two men in it leaped out and ran at top speed down a side street.
    “Now what?”