Free The Spider Sapphire Mystery by Carolyn G. Keene Page A

to the porch and watched. It seemed to the young people as if the elephants would never get enough water to drink. They moved around very little and only once in a while did they trumpet. This happened when one of them was annoyed by another elephant.
    Although Nancy enjoyed the mystical scene in front of her, lighted only by the dim yellow glow of subdued searchlights, her mind kept reverting to the spider sapphire mystery. Here she was in the middle of the jungle and yet the mystery had pursued her on two occasions. First she had been told by one of the Indian guests that he believed there was a fraud in connection with the reported theft of the gem. Then the man believed to be Swahili Joe had suddenly appeared.
    “It’s all very weird,” she thought.
    The following morning Nancy and the rest of the Emerson group were up early. At breakfast they recounted the various activities of the animals which they had seen. Nancy hardly took part in the conversation. Her mind was still on the mystery. Now she was going back to Nairobi to hear the strange story of Tizam’s disappearance.
    That afternoon Nancy and her friends went to have tea with Mrs. Munger. Their hostess proved to be a charming woman who was very well informed on the subjects of African history and jun gle lore.
    After tea had been served, she began her story. The guide Tizam had been an unusually intelligent and helpful one. Her safari had reached a rest camp and Tizam had gone off by himself.
    “Unfortunately he never returned,” Mrs. Mun ger said. “We felt very sad about it. After we waited a couple of days for him, we interviewed some other guides and then moved on with one of them, named Butubu.”
    The new guide had told of seeing a native defending himself against a lioness. From a description of him, she was sure he was Tizam.
    Butubu had screamed and beat on trees to distract the beast’s attention. This had given him a chance to throw his spear and kill the lioness.
    “Butubu himself was nearly set upon by another lioness, so he ran off to safety. Later he and his friends returned to the spot. The man was not there and they found no trace of him. Apparently he had not been killed because there was no evidence of this.”
    “How amazing!” said Nancy. “Then where did he go?”
    Mrs. Munger replied, “Perhaps he was found by members of some tribe and taken to their village to be cared for.”
    “But he’d be well by this time and could have returned,” Nancy said.
    “That’s true,” Mrs. Munger agreed. “That is part of the great mystery surrounding Tizam.”

CHAPTER XII
    surprise Meeting
    “THEN there is a good chance that the guide Tizam is alive,” said Nancy. She was excited at the thought of how happy Madame Lilia Bulawaya would be if Nancy succeeded in locating him.
    “I hope he is alive,” Munger replied. “He’s a very nice man and I understand talented. I did not find out what it is he does. Acting as a guide was just a sideline.”
    When tea was over and the young guests were saying good-by to their hostess, she asked where they were going next.
    “To the Mount Kenya Safari Club early tomor. row morning,” Nancy told her.
    “That is a beautiful spot,” Mrs. Munger remarked. “With magnificent snow-capped Mount Kenya in the distance and the grounds—Well, you’ll see for yourself.”
    The Safari Club and the surrounding country were as beautiful as Mrs. Munger had said. The extensive grounds were attractively laid out, with beautiful gardens and inviting play areas. At the foot of a grassy slope was a series of ponds. One was a swimming pool for guests; the other ponds were homes for various kinds of birds. Crested cranes stalked about the lawns. Swans, both white and rare black ones, swam serenely among water lilies on one of the ponds.
    “It’s heavenly here!” Bess remarked. She was admiring the view from the girls’ first-floor bedroom window.
    The room was large and had three beds in it. Living-room