Free The Clue of the Broken Locket by Carolyn Keene Page B

behind a large bush and looked around uneasily. It occurred to her that a sudden light beamed on the grounds could reveal her hiding place. Nancy began to count the flashes to see if they spelled an SOS message. But they did not.
    “I may be letting my imagination run away with me,” she told herself. “It could be that the owner himself came back to find something in that room, and is poking a flashlight into various places. That would make it seem as if a light were going on and off.”
    Nancy’s keen instinct told her, however, that this was not the right explanation. There were too many other suspicious and mysterious goings-on in connection with the Driscoll property! As she stood gazing, suddenly a light went on in the kitchen. Was someone getting a snack? Nancy decided to take a chance and move closer. She was too far below the kitchen windows to see anyone inside. But she did hear a door slam. Had someone gone to the cellar? Nancy listened for the person’s return. After a time, when she heard nothing, she began to wonder if the Driscolls carried on some kind of work down there.
    It occurred to Nancy that the signaling from the window might have been for someone waiting on the lake or in the woods—or, as she had guessed earlier, from a prisoner in the room. At that moment she heard a muffled humming sound.
    “It’s the same machine noise that I heard before!” Nancy thought.
    She decided to try tracing it. Straining her ears, the young sleuth followed the sound down through the woods of the embankment. It was now bright moonlight and she had no trouble descending. As Nancy neared the beach, she was startled by a rustle of the brush behind her. She darted in back of a large tree, hoping no one was following. The rustling had stopped. There was complete silence now, except for the humming sound. Nancy took a chance and moved toward the beach. Suddenly she stopped, her heart beating faster. She noticed the silhouettes of two men standing not far from the water. Where had they come from?
    Now the humming noise was louder. The girl detective was sure she was near its source. Nancy was greatly puzzled. What was the source of the sound?
    Suddenly the men turned and walked directly toward Nancy. One of them was Vince Driscoll, the other a stranger, short, wiry, and partially bald.
    Hastily Nancy retreated along the woods path. She looked back. The men had begun to climb the bluff. With a sigh of relief, Nancy paused. But the next moment the men stopped too. “She’s here somewhere,” said the stranger. “Karl saw her!”
    Nancy tried to figure out who “she” might be. “Do they mean me, or the mysterious red-haired girl?”
    Then she heard Vince say, “Come on. Let’s look over here.” Again they started in Nancy’s direction.
    Sure she was in danger, the young sleuth tiptoed away. But she stepped squarely on a dead branch, snapping it with a loud crack.
    “What was that?” she heard Vince growl. “Somebody’s ahead of us.”
    The men broke into a run, and Nancy had no choice but to run herself. Could she make her way to the cottage safely? A chilling thought struck her. The men might have a confederate searching the woods! She could be trapped!
    Wondering what her best means of escape might be, Nancy decided on Henry Winch’s dock. This was now not far away.
    “I can lower myself under it and hang on,” thought Nancy. “If necessary, I can even drop into the water.”
    As quietly as she could, Nancy continued running. But Vince and his companion evidently could hear her for they hurried in the same direction.
    Nancy managed to reach Henry Winch’s store. She dashed around the side which was in the shadow and let herself down underneath the dock. She clung to a supporting beam.
    A minute later her pursuers stomped onto the dock. “I caught a glimpse of her,” the stranger said. “She’s got to be around here somewhere.”
    As Nancy’s heart pounded, the two searchers circled the little