The Spider Sapphire Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page A

his voice, Riggi ordered anyone inside to come out at once. No one appeared and there was utter silence.
    “I guess we’ll have to force open a window,” Officer White said. He did this and reported that there was no one inside the building.
    Meanwhile, Nancy hurried down the stepping stones which led from the rear door of the cabin. At the end of the path, Nancy found what she suspected might be there—four sets of footprints in the dirt beyond.
    “Come here, everybody!” she called.
    The others hurried to where she was pointing and Officer Riggi said, “Hm! You’re quite a detective.”
    Nancy smiled her thanks. “If my friend Ned Nickerson was being held here, I believe those two Indians took him away. Let’s hurry!”
    The prints were easy to follow. Everyone was excited. Were they near the end of the search? Dave had just expressed this thought when the footprints ended abruptly at a wide brook.
    “Oh dear!” Bess exclaimed. “Now what do we do?”
    “I believe,” said Nancy, “that if it was Ned who was here, he would have tried in some way to leave a sign to tell us which direction to take.”
    “But how could he if he was a prisoner?” George asked.
    Nancy did not answer. She was examining the ground and the trees in the area. Suddenly she cried out, “Here’s a clue on the trunk of this tree.”
    Crudely marked but plain enough were the initials SJ. Underneath was an arrow pointing to the left.
    “Those aren’t Ned’s initials,” said Dave. “Whose are they?”
    The three girls chorused, “Swahili Joe’s.”
    Dave shook his head in bewilderment. “I’m more confused than ever. If Ned did this, why would he put Swahili Joe’s initials here instead of his own? And how would he know which way they would head?”
    “You’re really asking me a hard one,” said Nancy. “All I can do is guess. When the three men got here, the two Indians tied Ned to this tree while they refreshed themselves in the brook and talked over their plans. Ned felt that it would not be safe to scratch his own initials, but we’d recognize SJ if we were able to follow his clues.”
    The two police officers looked at her admiringly. “You know, Miss Drew,” said Riggi, “you ought to be a secret agent.”
    “I’d love that,” Nancy said quickly.
    “But we wouldn‘t,” Bess spoke up. “You get into enough trouble just being a girl detective.”
    The group wasted no more time. Following Nancy’s hunch, they turned in the direction of the arrow and hurried along the brook. The kidnappers they were trying to overtake had apparently walked in the water with Ned because there were no more footprints. The searchers had covered nearly two miles and still had found nothing to indicate where Ned might be now.
    Bess said her feet hurt. She had not worn suit able shoes for tramping in the woods and had turned her ankle several times.

    “Here’s a clue!” Nancy cried out
    “Take off your shoes and walk in your stocking feet,” George suggested. But Bess paid no attention.
    Suddenly, just ahead, a stone hunting lodge loomed up. Riggi suggested that Officer White and the two boys surround the building while the girls knocked on the door. No one came to answer,
    A feeling of panic overtook Nancy. Ned just had to be in here. She cried out loudly, “Ned! Ned Nickerson! Are you in there?”
    She listened intently. No sound came from inside. Finally she shouted again. Then she listened, Her pulse quickened. Had she heard a noise, or were her ears playing tricks on her?
    “No, I’m right!” she said aloud. “Listen, everybody!”
    There was a muffled cry from inside the building. “Help!”

CHAPTER VI
    The Rescue
    “IT’s Ned!” Nancy cried. “We must get in at once!”
    Officer Riggi ran to her side. “Just a minute. This may be a ruse,” he told her. “We don’t want any more captures. I suggest that you girls stay here. We men will break in and see what’s going on.”
    “All right,” Nancy conceded,