Part 12 (1/2)

”That's fine,” Nancy said. Then she told Mrs. Glick how they had mistaken Melinda Kreutz for Manda. ”Do you know where the schnitz is?” she asked.

Mrs. Glick had never heard of it. ”We ask Papa when we get home,” she said. ”I'll be ready to leave in about half an hour.”

Nancy turned to her friends and suggested they walk around town again and keep an eye open for Roger Hoelt. ”Evidently he does come into town. I presume he relies on his disguise to avoid being identified.”

The girls were about ready to rejoin Mrs. Click when Bess suddenly spied a black horse and carriage in front of a bakery.

”Look!” she cried. At the same moment a slender middle-aged Amish woman came from the shop and got into the carriage.

”Do you suppose that could be Mrs. Hoelt?” Bess asked eagerly.

”There's one way to find out,” Nancy replied, and she dashed into the bakery to ask the woman's ident.i.ty.

”That was Mrs. Esch,” the girl behind the counter told Nancy.

”Has she lived here a long time?” Nancy inquired.

”Oh, yes,” the clerk said.

Returning to her friends, Nancy sighed and said, ”Another false lead.”

As the three girls walked back to the market, Bess again cried out, ”Look down the road! There's another black horse and Amish carriage.”

Nancy, Bess, and George rushed toward it. But just as they were almost near enough to see the driver, he started up. The man looked fleetingly in their direction, then slapped his horse, and it galloped off down the road.

”That was the same man who pa.s.sed us the other day!” George cried. ”He's Roger Hoelt! Come on! We must catch him!”

Nancy's first thought was to run to Mrs. Glick's car and give chase. But she did not have the ignition key. By the time she could get it, Hoelt would be out of sight.

”I'll report this to the policeman over there,” she said, and hurried up to him. Nancy gave the officer the details of the mystery quickly.

”I have orders not to leave my beat,” the officer said reluctantly. ”I'm sorry, miss. Why don't you go to police headquarters and report your suspicion to them?”

He gave her directions, and the three girls hurried off. Suddenly Nancy stopped. Headquarters was five blocks away and by the time they reached it Roger Hoelt would have pulled off the road and hidden somewhere.

”Let's not report anything,” she suggested. ”Next time we see Hoelt we'll have more to go on. I hate making a nuisance of ourselves to the police.”

Nancy, Bess, and George returned to Mrs. Glick, who was sorry to learn they had missed catching the thief. The group drove home, and Nancy at once asked Mr. Glick if he had ever heard of the schnitz.

The cobbler scratched his head and thought for nearly a minute. Then finally he said, ”At one time there was a farm somewhere around here that had an apple-drying business. Maybe it was called the schnitz, although I never heard any name for it.”

Mr. Glick did not know its exact location but would inquire of his neighbors. Nancy drove with him to several farms in the area. No one they asked had ever heard of the schnitz.

At each place Nancy also showed the drawing of the witch tree symbol. Since none of these people had ever seen it, she came to the conclusion it was a hex sign used only by Hoelt. He had probably designed it himself.

”Well,” she told herself philosophically, ”if I ever do come across it on a barn or house I'll expect to find Hoelt there!”

During the evening Mr. and Mrs. Glick entertained the girls with stories of their younger days.