Part 15 (1/2)

Ned did not think this was a safe thing for Nancy to do. The man who had been driving the carriage might be waiting in ambush and would prevent them from reporting the incident to the police.

”That could be,” Nancy said, ”but I think he's not very familiar with this area. He didn't know about the stream and when he reached it, he was afraid to cross over.”

Ned said that sounded logical, and added that the man probably had known someone was on his trail and had fled in fear of being caught. The question was, Where was he now?

Nancy got into the carriage and urged the horse into a full turn. Then, leading the way, she started off with Ned guarding the rear.

Though both the young people had shown no fear of what they were about to do, each of them was nervous. It was possible that the missing driver had gone off for reinforcements.

At any moment Roger Hoelt and his a.s.sistants might come to claim what they considered to be their property! What they might do to the young couple to keep them from going to the police gave Nancy and Ned some uneasy moments. But as they reached the end of the woods road, the tension began to lessen. The riders were not stopped. In fact, they met no one on the road.

Since Nancy knew none of the farmers in the neighborhood and saw no lights in the houses they pa.s.sed, she decided it would be unwise to stop to telephone at any of them. She concluded that the best plan would be to go to the dance.

Half an hour later she and Ned reached the Fischers'. Instead of going to the barn, where the dance was still in progress, Nancy drove directly to the house. By the time the door was opened by a smiling, broad-shouldered man, Ned had joined her.

Mr. Fischer invited them into the kitchen. Together, they quickly told their story, and the Amish man's face showed his astonishment. He immediately called the State Police.

”They will send a man,” he reported after he had talked with the captain. ”It is good that you two found the stolen furniture. But it is too bad that you should miss the dance. Why don't you go over there and make a square? I will call you when the police come.”

Nancy thanked him, but said that after their accident she was more ready for a bottle of liniment than a dance!

”I guess I'm not so hardy as your Amish girls,” she added.

The man chuckled. He remarked diplomatically that even an Amish girl who had been thrown out of a buggy and then ridden an unsaddled horse for miles might need a ma.s.sage with liniment. He offered to awaken his wife to give Nancy a rubdown, but she said a hot bath and a good night's sleep would fix her up.

While waiting for the police to arrive, she and Ned talked to Mr. Fischer about the farms in the vicinity, and Nancy asked him if he had ever heard of a place called the schnitz.

”No,” the man said. ”But I have not lived here many years. I came from Ohio.”

At once Nancy inquired if he had ever heard of Roger Hoelt from Ohio. The farmer shook his head.

At this moment a car stopped at the house and two State Police officers came in. They introduced themselves as Officers Wagner and Schmidt.

”You are the couple who may have found some stolen furniture?” Officer Wagner asked Nancy and Ned.

”And a stolen horse and carriage,” Ned added.

Nancy told the police about her interview at the carriage factory, and also of hearing that a black horse had disappeared from one of the nearby farms. Officer Schmidt pulled a little book from his pocket and turned several pages.

”Here is a report on both items,” he said. ”And unless the person who stole the carriage added a final coat of paint to the underside of the right shaft, it may be possible for us to identify the carriage.”

The group walked outside. Officer Schmidt took a flashlight from his pocket, got down on the ground, and beamed the light under the right shaft. A smile crossed his face.

”This is it, all right,” he said. ”The final coat was never put on.”

Both officers congratulated Nancy and Ned on recovering the stolen carriage, then looked into the back of it.

”What makes you think this is part of the collection of stolen furniture?” Officer Wagner asked Nancy.