Farm.
“There’s one thing certain,” she said to her-
self with a chuckle. “Now that the woman has
forbidden me to go near the camp, I can’t resist
finding out what’s happening there!”
Nancy was just approaching the farmhouse
when she heard the phone ringing. She hurried
inside and answered it.
“Yes, this is Nancy Drew,” she replied to a
strange man’s question.
“One moment.”
While Nancy waited, she wondered who the
caller might be. Was someone going to threaten
her to desist in her detective work?
“Oh!” she said as the next speaker announced
himself as Chief McGinnis. A sense of relief came
over the girl.
“I have some news, Nancy,” the officer said.
“It’s discouraging. Nothing on the code or the
missing men.” Then he chuckled. “We need an-
other clue from you.”
Nancy realized her old friend was teasing.
“Glad to help,” she said gaily. “What’s the as-
signment?”
“To find out where the Hale Syndicate moved
to after it left Room 305.”
“Then that was their headquarters!” Nancy
cried excitedly.
“Temporarily. But they left no forwarding ad-
dress,” the police chief said.
“If we could decipher the rest of the code we
might be able to trace them,” Nancy said. “Any-
how, I’ll be on the lookout for any clues. At least
it shouldn’t be too hard to find Yvonne Wong.”
Chief McGinnis agreed and assured Nancy he
would let her know if there were any new devel-
opments. Then he asked, “And what are you
doing? Any mysteries up your way?”
“There might be.” She told him the little she
had been able to glean about the mysterious na-
ture cult. She described the unusual moonlight
ceremony the girls had witnessed and the ap-
pearance of the unidentified car.
The police chief whistled in amazement.
“Sounds as though you do have another mystery
up your sleeve! Have you come across any pos-
sible clues to what the cult is worshiping,
Nancy?”
The girl detective hesitated a moment before
telling Chief McGinnis about her curious con-
versation with the woman she had assisted in the
woods. She decided to mention it, and added that
although the woman had readily admitted to
being a member of the cult, she had given Nancy
no reason for her firm warning to stay away from
the meeting place.
“Black Snake Colony, eh?” the police chief said
reflectively.
“Yes,” Nancy replied. “Have you ever heard
of it?”
“No, but let me look in a report we have here
on all cults. I’ll call you right back.”
Nancy waited eagerly for the phone to ring.
When it did she snatched up the receiver. “The
Black Snake Colony is not listed,” Chief Mc-
Ginnis told her.
“You mean it’s a phony?” Nancy asked ex-
citedly.
CHAPTER X
Plan of Attack
Chief McGinnis refused to comment on the pos-
sibility that the Black Snake Colony might be a
phony group.
“They may not have been in existence long
enough to be known,” he replied. “But you
might try to find out what you can and let me
know.”
“I’ll do that,” the young detective agreed.
After Nancy had put down the phone, she re-
flected for a long minute on the new twist to the
hillside mystery, then walked out to the front
porch, where Mrs. Salisbury, Mr. Abbott, and the
three girls were seated.
Nancy had not planned to tell them of her ex-
perience, but her face was so animated it revealed
her thoughts. They besieged her with questions
until finally she revealed her meeting with the
woman member of the strange nature cult.
“Told you not to come near, did she?” Mrs.
Salisbury cackled. “Well, I hope you intend to
follow her advice.”
Nancy laughed and shook her head. “I’m more
interested than ever in what’s going on up there
on the hillside. I’m ready for a little adventure
right about now!”
“So am I,” George chimed in.
Joanne nodded vigorously, while Bess, always
more cautious, agreed rather halfheartedly.
“Better stay away,” Mr. Abbott advised, for
once not contradicting Mrs. Salisbury. “You can’t
tell what may be going on there.”
Nancy was tempted to comment, but instead
she forced a smile and said, “It seems to me that