you think the cops are wise?”
“Well, they may have got wise to the fact that
we’re using Yvonne again-”
“That’s right!” a shrill, angry female voice in-
terrupted. “Blame me! Every time somebody
gets nervous, you bring me into it!”
Nancy could scarcely restrain herself. She had
been right about Yvonne! The girl was mixed up
in the Hale Syndicate racket!
“You deserve blame,” Al Snead retorted irrita-
bly. “First, you didn’t have any more sense than
to sell a bottle of that perfume to a perfect
stranger-”
“I told you, that girl insisted upon buying it,
and I was afraid if I flatly refused, she and her
friends would get suspicious. Besides, I don’t see
what harm it did to sell the perfume to a teen-
ager!”
“No,” Snead retorted sarcastically, “you’re so
simple-minded you wouldn’t see it might land us
in jail! When Pete was on the train going to
River Heights he noticed the scent and thought
that the girl was one of the Chief’s agents! Lucky
for all of us, he saw his mistake before he spilled
anything!”
Yvonne sputtered back in defense. “Well, at
least I phoned Al at his office right away so he
could warn the agents about the stray bottle of
Blue Jade. It’s not my fault Pete happened to be
on the same train as those girls.”
The leader suddenly became impatient.
“Enough of this!” he shouted. “It’s not getting us
anywhere! Snead, I placed Yvonne in your office
and she’ll stay there as long as I say. I’m satisfied
with the rest of her work. Get me?”
Snead nodded sullenly.
Nancy had been studying the leader intently
and by this time was convinced that he was far
more clever and intelligent than his subordi-
nates. She figured that Al Snead was right-hand
man to the Chief, but resented his superior’s
favoritism toward Yvonne Wong. The organiza-
tion was a large one, evidently changing its scene
and type of operation from time to time. If only
she could slip away and get help from the author-
ities!
“Another thing,” Al Snead continued, address-
ing Maurice Hale, “we’d better make up a new
code. Those girls that have been gettin’ too close
to our operation just might notify the cops.”
“All right,” the Chief responded. “I’ll work
one out in a day or two.”
He called on another member of the organiza-
tion for a report. “Two hundred packages passed,
sir.”
“Good!” the leader exclaimed, rubbing his
thin hands. “Now, if you’ll follow me to the work-
room, I’ll give you each your cut, and dole out
the stuff for next week.”
Nancy and her friends could not have retreated
had they wished, and certainly did not want to
leave when they seemed so near the truth!
But the situation in which they found them-
selves was a foreboding one and the very atmos-
phere of the room was tense and frightening.
Boldly they followed the others into an adjoining
chamber which was brilliantly lighted with
torches.
Though prepared for the unexpected, the girls
were taken completely aback at the sight which
greeted their eyes!
CHAPTER XVII
Tense Moments
Nancy’s first impression on entering was that the
chamber appeared to be a cross between a print-
ing shop and a United States mint.
“Counterfeiters!” she thought excitedly.
Hand presses stood about and several engraved
plates had been left on a table. Various chemicals
and inks were in evidence. Neat stacks of paper
money lined one wall and other bills were scat-
tered carelessly on the floor. Never in all her life
had Nancy seen so much money!
The room was cluttered with it. Twenty-dollar
bills appeared to be everywhere. Money, still
damp, was drying on tables. Nancy observed that
all the bills seemed to be of the twenty-dollar de-
nomination.
At last she had the answer to the many ques-
tions which had been troubling her! This was
the secret of the cave! The latest racket of the
Hale Syndicate! The nature cult was a hoax, its
so-called mysterious rites used only as a screen to
hide the work of a clever band of counterfeiters!
The Black Snake Colony seemed to her to be a