Part 3 (1/2)
”So he's a troublemaker,” she thought. ”I can't speak right now to that woman across from him, but I must catch her at the airport and ask what she meant.”
A new concern came into Nancy's mind. The man could have seen the entire contents of her handbag. He might use the information of her ident.i.ty to her disadvantage! Her thoughts were interrupted by the stewardess ready to serve a luncheon tray.
The woman alongside Nancy awakened and greeted her in a friendly way. While the two ate, they discussed the weather and air travel in general. As soon as the woman had finished eating, she went back to sleep and Nancy once more thought about the annoying stranger.
”No doubt all those questions he asked me-the snoopy old thing-were answered when he saw the contents of my handbag.”
A little while later the plane circled over the St. Louis airport and came in for a perfect landing.
When Nancy reached the baggage-claim section she scanned the crowd of waiting pa.s.sengers, trying to spot the woman who had given her the startling information. Unfortunately she could not find her and finally a.s.sumed that the woman either was carrying her own luggage or did not have any with her.
The young detective noticed the inquisitive stranger with whom she had sat for a while and made a point of avoiding him. Without waiting for a porter, she claimed her two bags and rushed through the building to get a taxi.
”The Riverside Hotel,” she told the driver. As the taxi threaded its way through the heavy traffic Nancy could see a high silvery arch in the distance.
”That's our famous arch,” said the driver proudly. ”It stands in a park on the bank of the Mississippi and symbolizes that St. Louis is the Gateway to the West. The hotel you're staying at has a good view of it,” he added.
When they arrived, a tall pretty girl with ginger-colored hair met Nancy in the lobby. ”Hi!” she said, smiling. ”I'm Julie Anne Carswell. I recognize you from a picture Ned once showed me.”
Nancy laughed. ”He never told me. Julie Anne, it's great to meet you.”
”Actually,” said Julie Anne, ”I feel as if I know you and George and Bess and your friends Burt and Dave from Ned's descriptions.”
”The girls might come out here to help me solve the mystery, Julie Anne. They're wonderful. You'll love them.”
The two travelers registered and were a.s.signed to a room on the fifth floor.
While Nancy changed her shoes, she said, ”Now tell me about the dig.”
”They're making good progress,” Julie Anne replied. ”Our leader, Theresa Bancroft, keeps everyone busy. They've already unearthed a skeleton of the ancient Hopewell Indians who buried their dead in great earthen mounds. No one knows what these Indians called themselves. Their first mound to be excavated was on the Hopewell farm in Ohio, so the Indians have been named that. Maybe you'll be able to find a skeleton, Nancy.”
”Sounds interesting,” Nancy said, ”but actually I'm here to solve a mystery about a hollow oak.”
Julie Anne said that Ned had mentioned it on the phone but had given no details. ”Is the case a secret?”
”Oh no,” Nancy told her, and gave a brief summary about the Canadian missionary and the legend that he had left a valuable message in a hollow oak tree.
”You don't have much to go on, do you?” Julie Anne asked.
”Only one clue. A friend of my aunt's in New York found a fallen tree on which there was a plate bearing Pere Franois's initials and an arrow. It is thought that the arrow indicated the next place the missionary was going.”
”So you'll be trying to trace his journey,” Julie Anne remarked, ”until you find the message.”
Just then the telephone rang. Nancy picked up the receiver. A man's voice on the other end said, ”Nancy Drew?”
”Yes.”
”This is Room 412. I have something of yours you dropped on the plane. May I come up and give it to you?”
By this time Nancy had recognized the voice of the annoying pa.s.senger. She said to him,”My friend and I will meet you in the lobby.”