Part 9 (1/2)

”Mr. and Mrs. Glick, do you know MandaKreutz?” Nancy asked.

The couple exchanged glances, then Papa Glick said, ”Yes,” and added, ”We do not approve of young girls running away from home. But maybe her father was too strict. Now she has taken up with Amish strangers.”

”Please tell me about it,” Nancy begged. ”Where is Manda?”

”I do not know,” Mr. Glick replied. ”But she was seen riding in a carriage with a couple who told a friend of mine, Mr. Weiss, they are from Ohio.”

”Is he sure they are Amish?” Nancy inquired.

”My friend wonders,” the cobbler answered, ”because of their speech. He thinks they might be English.”

When Nancy inquired what Mr. Glick meant by the last remark, he explained that among his sect, any non-Amish people were called English, meaning foreigners.

”This pair wore Amish clothing,” he said, ”and had an Amish carriage, but maybe they were just putting on.”

Nancy was excited over this latest piece of information. Her hunch had probably been right. The couple were Mr. and Mrs. Roger Hoelt! If MandaKreutz became too friendly with them, she might get into serious trouble with the law!

”We're trying to find Manda,” Nancy told the Glicks. ”I know it's hard to believe but her father has had a change of heart and now both parents want their daughter to come home. Can you give us any other clues?” she asked the cobbler. He regretfully said no.

Nancy had a sudden inspiration. ”If the Hoelts are masquerading,” she said aloud, ”they probably bought a horse and carriage around here recently.”

”Unless they stole them,” George interposed.

”That could easily be done,” Mrs. Glick spoke up. ”Amish carriages all look alike. It is difficult to distinguish one from another.”

Then she smiled a little. ”The owners have funny ways of telling them apart-a bullet hole from rifle practice or a high board on the floor for a short-legged wife.”

Mr. Glick insisted that an owner did not even need earmarks to tell his carriage from others, ”We chust look at 'em. We know 'em!” he said. ”n.o.body can fool us.”

Nancy told Mr. Glick that she suspected the man masquerading as Amish might be the furniture thief, and she would like to inquire at local carriage factories about any recent purchase by an out-of-state man. The cobbler gave her the name of a factory five miles away, and the girls set off at once for the place. There Nancy spoke to the manager and stated the reason for her call.

”You have come to the right place,” the man said. ”But the carriage was not purchased. It was stolen!”

”Stolen!” Nancy gasped.

”Do you know who took it?” the manager asked.

”No. By the way, have you ever met Roger Hoelt?”

”Never heard of him.”

Nancy remarked that maybe the thief had also stolen a horse to go with the carriage.

”You have the nail on the head hit,” the man said. ”My uncle, who lives a few miles from here, has a lot of horses. He missed one the same day my carriage was stolen.”

”Quite a coincidence,” Nancy declared. ”What color was the horse?”

”Black.”