Part 23 (2/2)
”But not until we all go into that storehouse together and look around,” she said firmly.
Nancy led the way. She pushed open a creaky door and the group entered the lower floor of the two-story building. Through the cracks between the wide boards enough sunlight filtered in so that they could plainly see the interior. There was one large room-completely empty!
Cautiously, Nancy and her friends climbed to the second floor. The situation here was the same. To convince herself that there were no secret closets or other hiding places, the young detective made a thorough search but she found nothing,
”There must be a house and barns on the property,” she said. ”Let's find them.”
Outside, the group separated. Bess and George cautiously made their way along the edge of the woods, planning to skirt it completely. Nancy, Mrs. Glick, and Henner decided to drive the carriage across the clearing and along a lane that ran through the woods.
At the far end of the woods they came to the dooryard of the farmhouse. As the three alighted from the carriage, Henner suddenly cried out with fright and pointed.
Ahead of them was a witch tree! And painted on it was half of the now-familiar hex sign!
”Look!” Henner shrieked.
A hand holding a paintbrush was just reaching around the tree. No other part of a human body was visible. The watchers stared in astonishment at the weird sight.
Henner dung to his mother's skirts. Mrs. Glick looked grim, and Nancy's spine tingled. For a brief second she felt as if she were seeing a ghostly apparition. Then she brushed this thought aside and dashed forward to see who was behind the tree.
Fully expecting the person to be Roger Hoelt, she was amazed to find a stout, dull-looking boy, about sixteen years old. He stared at the girl stupidly.
”Look!” Henner shrieked.
”What are you doing?” she cried. ”And who lives here?”
The youth continued to gawk at her and did not answer. Mrs. Glick, who had run up, began to question him in Pennsylvania Dutch. But he did not utter a word and looked as if he failed to comprehend what she was saying.
Suddenly Nancy had an idea. Perhaps the boy was a deaf mute! She decided to test him.
While Mrs. Glick was trying to get the boy to talk, Nancy quickly kicked a large stone toward the tree. It made a loud noise when it hit the trunk, but the boy paid no attention. Now she was sure he could not hear and apparently could not speak.
”I wonder if he works for Roger Hoelt,” Nancy mused aloud.
”He probably does,” Mrs. Glick said. ”Do you think we ought to tie him up in the carriage until our search is over? If we don't, I'm afraid he may run off and warn the man.”
Nancy wondered about this. She said that her chief concern now was to find MandaKreutz and induce her to leave the Hoelts' before Nancy notified the police.
”Then we won't worry about this boy,” said Mrs. Glick. ”Where do we go next?”
Before Nancy could make up her mind, she heard Bess calling her. ”Come quickly!” the girl urged.
”Where are you?” Nancy called back.
”In the woods near the house,” Bess replied.
Nancy dashed in the direction of Bess's voice, requesting that the Glicks watch the strange boy. When Nancy reached her friends she could hardly believe her eyes. Talking to George and Bess was a sweet-faced Amish girl-MandaKreutz!
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