Free The Secret of Shadow Ranch by Carolyn G. Keene Page A

was the location of the treasure.
    Nancy was excited at this new clue, but before telling him about the note in the watch, she asked him why he had not told Ed Rawley what he was doing.
    “I was afraid he wouldn’t hire me. He might have figured I’d spend all my time searching.” The cowboy assured Nancy that he had done all his treasure hunting in off-duty hours.
    “How did you know of the secret entrance?” Bess asked.
    “Stories about that have always been known in my family,” Dave answered. “Originally the trees grew thickly around the spring house, and in times of Indian attack, the occupants would escape by the secret exit into the woods and go to a hideout on the mountain slope.”
    Dave confessed that he was the prowler who had alarmed Mrs. Thurmond in the kitchen. He had hoped to search for the treasure in the cellar that night right after his turn on guard duty.
    “But you raised such a rumpus,” he said to Nancy with a grin, “that I knew it was no use to go on. I sneaked out through the spring house and came around to the kitchen a little behind the rest of the crowd.”
    “I believe you, Dave,” said Nancy. “But you must promise to tell Mr. Rawley first thing in the morning what you have been doing.”
    The cowboy assured her that he would. “I’m sorry I was kind of rude to you girls. I just didn’t want you hanging around and getting in the way of my treasure hunt.”
    “You were pretty awful,” said George. “But maybe we’ll forgive you.”
    “Of course we will,” Bess agreed.
    Nancy smiled at Dave and he chuckled. “All along I couldn’t help liking you,” he said.
    Nancy reached into her pocket and brought out the antique watch. She showed him how the secret lid opened. The picture of Frances fit perfectly to the torn fragment on the empty side.
    “You’re amazing!” he said. “What a detective!”
    Next, Nancy removed the picture of Valentine and turned it over, so that Dave could see what was written on the back.
    “With the word on your picture, we now have a complete message!” Nancy said excitedly.
    “ ‘ Green bottle in cellar,’ ” Dave read. “Surely the treasure would be too large for a bottle. But perhaps it’s a clue to the real thing.”
    “That’s what Nancy figured,” George said, grinning. “Let’s start digging!”
    For half an hour Dave dug and the girls probed the loose dirt for a bottle.
    Suddenly Bess cried out. “I’ve found it!”
    Nancy hurried to her side and pressed in the earth where Bess showed her. Her fingers touched the neck of a bottle with a cap on it.
    Dave came over and spaded carefully around the glass. When it was partly free, Nancy said, “Wait!” She brushed the dirt from the large bottle and shone her light on it. Bess exclaimed in disappointment. The bottle was black.
    “No use bothering with that,” Nancy said. “We’re looking for a green one. This has been lying here for years and gradually became covered with dirt.”
    With grim determination the treasure hunters continued to dig and sift the earth. When they had worked over the whole cellar floor, the four stopped, exhausted, and sat down.
    Bess expressed the thought that was in all of their minds. “Maybe someone has found it already.”
    “Shorty, perhaps,” Dave said. “I’ve caught him snooping.” He told the girls that he suspected the other cowboy of knowing about the secret entrance and of inflicting damage on the ranch. “I’m sure he’s not working alone, either, but who else is in league with him I don’t know.”
    Nancy pointed out that if Shorty and his accomplices had found the treasure, they would have left the ranch by this time.
    The young detective said, “There’s another person who might have found the bottle—Frances Humber herself. What do you know of her story, Dave?”
    “Only that Dirk Valentine and Frances had met only once on Shadow Ranch. He sent her a message that he was coming and Frances slipped out of the house