Free Drew 17 - The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk by Carolyn Keene

men get the pouches?”

CHAPTER XI
    Bits of Evidence
    IN reply to Nancy’s excited question, Rod Havelock chuckled. “Yes, we’re okay. We weren’t seriously hurt except for a few black-and-blue marks.”
    “Who attacked you?”
    “Two men. Actually we got the better of them,” Rod said, “because both of them lost their balance and fell down the flight of stairs. You see, they were waiting at the top in one of the cross corridors and jumped us just as we came up.”
    “What about the pouches?” Nancy asked.
    “They’re safe and intact. We didn’t lose any time getting to the captain’s cabin with them,” Rod replied.
    Nancy heaved a sigh of relief. “I’m glad that you’re all right and that you saved the pouches.”
    “Thank you,” Havelock said. He laughed softly. “You’ll probably be relieved to know that I’m spending the rest of the night with the captain.”
    “I’m glad,” Nancy said.
    Havelock told her that the ship’s watchmen had been alerted, but so far they had reported seeing no one.
    “Those attackers,” Nancy said, “must have watched you and the captain come into our cabin and then waited until just before you left. I’ll bet they’re the same two who came into our room to claim the mystery trunk!”
    “Probably,” Rod agreed.
    “I’ll go right out and see if they left any clues,” Nancy offered.
    “Oh, no!” Havelock insisted. “Don’t leave your cabin now! Those people know you’re involved in this mystery, and you mustn’t take any chances. At this hour, nearly everyone is asleep, and if something were to happen to you, you might not get help in time.”
    “I suppose you’re right,” Nancy admitted. She promised to go to bed and wait until morning before doing any sleuthing. She asked, “What were your attackers wearing?”
    “Bathrobes and black hoods that came down over their entire faces.”
    “Did they wear gloves?” the girl detective inquired.
    “No, they didn’t.”
    “How about shoes?”
    Rod said that both men wore dark-colored slippers. “One masked man had on a garnet-colored robe, the other a navy-blue one with pale-blue piping.”
    “On which stairway were you attacked?” Nancy asked.
    Rod said, “On the most forward one, leading from your deck up to the top, where the captain’s quarters are.”
    Nancy thought about this a moment, then suddenly was conscience-stricken because she was keeping Havelock from going to bed. “He must be weary after his encounter with the attackers!” she chided herself. She apologized for keeping him on the phone so long and said, “Thanks for calling me. I’ll be in touch. Have a good rest.”
    Nancy herself fell into a fitful sleep. She dreamed that while she was looking for clues on the deck she found a tiny diamond glittering in one of the lounge chairs. As she approached it, the diamond became larger and brighter until it filled the whole chair.
    Nancy wanted to call out to her friends, but her voice was gone! The brightness of the stone became so intense that it hurt her eyes and she woke up. She sat upright in her bed and checked her watch. It was just six o’clock. “No use in going back to sleep,” Nancy thought. “Next time I’ll probably dream about a killer ruby!”
    She dressed quickly without disturbing the others, took her flashlight, and left the cabin. She locked the door from the outside, then, without any trouble, found the stairway where the attackers had been.
    The steps were carpeted. She played her flashlight thoroughly on each one as she ascended. About halfway up, the girl detective saw a tiny piece of black cloth lying on the carpet. She picked it up and examined the fragment thoroughly under her flashlight. “I wonder if this could possibly have been torn from one of the men’s masks,” she speculated.
    Nancy kept examining the stairway until she was only three steps from the top. Suddenly her eyes lighted on a piece of paper. It was rolled into a tiny ball. The girl