Free Mystery of the Ivory Charm by Carolyn Keene

fast. The young sleuth squirmed and twisted, unable to move either forward or backward. Then, by sheer strength, Mr. Drew pushed her through to the other side.
    “I’ll go for help,” Nancy offered.
    She ran to the main tunnel and was relieved to find it clear. She raced up the stone steps, where Bess and George were waiting.
    “Come quickly and help!” Nancy pleaded. “Mrs. Allison and my father are trapped in the tunnel.”

    “We’re trapped!” Mr. Drew exclaimed.
    “Trapped!” Bess gasped.
    “Yes, in the branch-off. There was a bad cave-in.”
    Thoroughly alarmed, Bess and George followed Nancy down into the tunnel. For half an hour they worked hard to dislodge rocks and timbers. Without tools, it was difficult. Finally, however, the blocking beam was pushed aside. Mrs. Allison, pale and shaken, was lifted through, then Carson Drew followed.
    “We must take the boxes,” the woman murmured weakly. “I won’t leave here without them!”
    To quiet her Mr. Drew climbed back into the hole. One by one, he handed out the heavy cartons. The girls carried them from the tunnel.
    George realized that a small box was slipping from under her arm. Just as she reached the end of the passageway, the box dropped to the ground and split open.
    The contents, a collection of precious gems, flowed in a tiny river of sparkling color over the ground and down among the ruins!

CHAPTER XI
    Bout With a Monkey
    “OH, my treasures from India!” Mrs. Allison shrieked. “Save them!”
    “I’m terribly sorry,” George muttered. “Why didn’t someone tell me I was carrying jewels?”
    She turned to apologize further to the woman and was dismayed to see her sagging toward the littered floor in a faint. Mr. Drew caught her, easing Mrs. Allison down gently. Her eyelids fluttered open as Nancy bent above her, but the woman did not seem to recognize the girl.
    “The treasure!” she whispered. “My precious treasure!”
    Bess and George began to pick up the sparkling pieces of rare stones.
    “Don’t worry about your jewels,” Nancy said kindly. “They’re safe.”
    Mr. Drew added, “I’ll take the boxes to a bank vault if you wish.”
    Mrs. Allison did not appear to comprehend. A dazed, faraway look came into her eyes and she muttered incoherently.
    “What’s the matter with her?” Bess whispered anxiously. “I never saw anyone act like this before.”
    “I think she’s going into a trance,” Nancy declared.
    As minutes passed and Mrs. Allison made no effort to rouse herself from the state of semi-stupor, Carson Drew became impatient. He was inclined to believe that the woman made no effort to control her nerves and actually tried to create highly emotional scenes.
    “Something must be done about these boxes,” he observed. “I’ll take them to a bank vault while you girls remain here. If Mrs. Allison isn’t better by the time I return, we’ll take her to a doctor.”
    The strange woman paid little attention as the jewels that had fallen out were gathered and replaced in the broken box. Mr. Drew asked Mrs. Allison the name of her bank. She did not appear to understand the question.
    “Where shall we deposit the treasure?” he prodded. “Mrs. Allison, have you any preference as to a bank?”
    “Please don’t trouble me now,” the woman murmured indifferently. “I am meditating.”
    After several attempts to discuss the matter failed, the lawyer said he would take the boxes to the River Heights National Bank.
    Left alone with Mrs. Allison, Nancy and her friends tried to draw the woman out of her stupor. She did not respond until Nancy, hopeful of gaining information, deliberately mentioned Rishi’s name. The word seemed to conjure up a strange train of mental pictures in Mrs. Allison’s mind. She began to mutter again.
    At first the girls could distinguish nothing, but as they bent over the relaxed figure, they caught enough to comprehend that Mrs. Allison was speaking of reincarnation.
    “She’s