The girls stumbled along through the dark
passageway from the inner room to the mouth of
the cave. Men and women followed them with an-
gry, menacing threats.
Al and Hank pushed the girls to make them
hurry. Nancy and her friends exchanged hopeless
glances from time to time. George held her head
up contemptuously, but Joanne was white as a
sheet and Bess was on the verge of tears.
“Guess this’ll teach you girls to mix with the
Black Snake Colony!” a raucous voice said as the
group made its way toward the exit.
Nancy held back a retort, but her icy look told
the man she did not appreciate the remark.
Their walk seemed interminable. Finally, how-
ever, moonlight could be seen. In a moment they
were approaching the mouth of the cave.
Nancy took a few halting steps and then paused
as if she had turned to stone. Her eyes were riv-
eted upon the entrance. There stood Mr. Ab-
bott’s son, Karl Jr.!
“Oh, Karl!” Nancy cried out. “These men are
counterfeiters! Don’t let them capture you too!
Run!”
CHAPTER XX
A Final Hunch
Karl Abbott did not run. Instead, he signaled
with his hand. At once seven armed men sprang
from the darkness of nearby bushes.
“Secret Service agents,” Karl explained
quickly to the girls.
“Stand where you are! Don’t anyone move!”
ordered one of the federal men.
So unexpected was their arrival that the coun-
terfeiters were stunned. For an instant no one
moved. Then, with a cry of rage, Maurice Hale
darted into the cavern. He had taken only a few
steps when one of the other agents grabbed him
firmly by one arm.
“None of that! We have you right this time,
Hale. You won’t try any funny stuff with Uncle
Sam again!”
Some of the counterfeiters who had not yet
come from the cavern had turned back.
“They’ll get away through the other exit!”
Nancy cried out.
Karl smiled. “We have that covered too.”
He now introduced the four girls to Secret
Service Agent Horton who was in charge of the
group. The federal man gave Nancy Drew a
quick word of praise for revealing the head-
quarters of the counterfeiting ring.
“Outwitted-by that snooping kid!” Maurice
Hale screamed.
The thought seemed to unnerve the man com-
pletely. He did not protest when handcuffs were
put on his wrists. Other members of the syndi-
cate submitted to the agents without resistance,
although Yvonne Wong vehemently protested
her innocence.
“I didn’t know what it was all about until to-
night,” she cried angrily. “It isn’t fair to arrest
me! I’ve worked for Mr. Snead only a few
days-”
“You’ll have to think up a better story than
that!” she was told bluntly. “Your name has
been mixed up in underhanded deals before, but
this is the first time we’ve been able to get any
evidence against you.”
While the prisoners were being rounded up,
Karl Abbott rushed over to the girls and quickly
freed their hands.
“Are you all right?” he asked anxiously.
“Yes,” Nancy told him, “but if you hadn’t ar-
rived just when you did, it might have been a dif-
ferent story!”
She was on the verge of asking what had
brought him to the cave at the psychological mo-
ment when she saw that two federal agents were
placing handcuffs on the wrists of Maurice Hale’s
wife. Breaking away from her friends. Nancy
darted to the other side of the room.
“Oh, don’t arrest Mrs. Hale,” she pleaded.
“She isn’t like the rest. She tried to save us, but
they wouldn’t listen to her.”
“Sorry,” Horton returned, “but we’ll have to
take her along. If you want to intercede for her
later, we may be able to have her sentence light-
ened.”
After the prisoners had been herded out of
the cave to waiting government automobiles and
the printing plates used in the making of the
counterfeit bills had been collected. Nancy felt
explanations were in order from Karl.
“How did you know we had come here?”
Nancy asked him.
“From Mrs. Byrd. She was greatly worried.
When I came to see Father tonight she told me
that after you’d gone she found evidence of your