Part 28 (1/2)

”Don't be ridiculous!” Kadle shouted, stepping forward a pace.

Bess turned her head. ”You'd better do as he says, Nancy. We don't want to get hurt.”

”She's right!” Kadle called out.

Before he could move again, the troopers sprang from the woods and seized the two men.

”Hey! What's going on here?” Kadle sputtered. The man with him looked thunderstruck at being disarmed.

One of the troopers said, ”We've been looking for you a long time. You're wanted on several counts and now we can add to the list threatening the lives of these young people.”

”It's a lie!” Kadle bl.u.s.tered. He pointed to Nancy. ”She has something that belongs to me!”

The trooper asked Nancy, ”Is this true?”

”Of course not,” she replied. ”I'd say that if this property belongs to anyone, it would be the State of Illinois. I promise to turn it in.” She told the officers a little of the mystery on which she was working.

”It's lucky you arrived when you did,” Ned said to the troopers. ”How did you find us? Did our friends tell you?”

”No, we haven't seen them.”

”They've taken the phony guards to jail.” Kadle winced at hearing this.

The trooper went on, ”We were hiding near the well house, and spotted you going through the woods. A few minutes later Kadle and his pal came along, following you. We trailed them, figuring we'd catch the two in action.”

Ned turned to Kadle. ”Then you never did go to the well house to pick up the ransom?”

Kadle shook his head. ”When I noticed you heading in this direction, I was sure you were up to something and I'd better find out what it was.”

Dave said, ”There was a nice fat sack of paper and stones waiting for you at the well house.”

Kadle scowled. ”I might have known Nancy Drew would pull a trick on me.”

Seeing that his position was hopeless, he talked freely. Nancy learned the answers to some of the questions which had puzzled her. The two men who had later posed as museum guards had come to the dig soon after her arrival and called out her name softly at the bedroom window. They were supposed to get Nancy to step outside and then kidnap her, so she could not pursue her search for the message in the hollow oak. The men had also stolen Clem's goat to frighten her in the dark bedroom.

”But nothing worked,” Kadle admitted. One of his men left the note on the farmhouse bureau, hoping to scare Nancy off the case. Kadle had planned to steal the fossils and artifacts in the excavation and the barn, and admitted posing as Tom Wilson.

”Whenever I thought it wasn't safe for me to appear, I gave the job to my men.”

Nancy asked, ”Did you mutilate an oak tree in your search for the real hollow oak?”

Kadle admitted doing it.

George spoke up. ”How did you learn Nancy Drew was on the case?”

Kadle replied, ”When I couldn't get any information from Armstrong about the hollow oak, I flew East and spied on the other detectives. I overheard Boycey Osborne say Nancy Drew from River Heights was taking over. I managed to get on the same flight with her to St. Louis.”

The trooper asked if the prisoners had any more to say. They shook their heads and were led away.