returned to the parapet. She did not see them, but
a moment later heard them whistling and calling
to the dogs. Then all became quiet.
“They’ve gone,” Nancy thought in relief.
“Maybe I should have let them know I was in
here when I had the chance. But no, they’re not
honest, and they probably would have ruined all
my plans. I’ll get out somehow!”
Nancy was in a predicament, nevertheless.
George, stranded without clothes at the tool
house, could not help her. Bess, she assumed,
was still waiting in the parked car outside the
castle gate.
Nancy roved restlessly about the ground floor
of the tower in her vain search for an exit. Look-
ing at her watch for the first time, the imprisoned
girl was amazed to discover that it was after four
o’clock-and she was hungry!
“By this time Bess and George must be pretty
annoyed with me,” she thought guiltily.
While Nancy worried, Bess was perched in a
tree a considerable distance from the castle. Sur-
rounded by the watchful dogs, she would not
descend for fear they might tear her to pieces 1
Badly shaken and near tears, she suddenly
heard a whistle. The dogs pricked up their ears,
then raced away.
“Thank goodness,” Bess gasped, sliding down
from her leafy prison.
So much time had elapsed she decided it
would do no good to look for Nancy and George.
If they had not encountered Mr. Hector already,
they surely would have returned to the car.
“I’ll go back there,” Bess concluded. “But
which way?”
Hopelessly confused, she started off. After a
while Bess came to the estate wall. Just ahead of
her she noticed something in the grass.
“George’s slacks!” Bess thought with a start.
There was no sign of either her cousin or
Nancy. Bess could not believe that they had gone
for a swim. As she picked up the slacks, she won-
dered apprehensively what had happened.
“This path seems to run along the wall,” Bess
said to herself. “If I take it, I should get back to
the gate eventually.”
But she found that the trail changed direction.
Instead of the main gate she reached a large pond.
“Oh, where am I?” Bess fretted desperately.
Suddenly she heard her name called. She
whirled around. No one was in sight. A few yards
away stood a stone tool house, its window hidden
by overhanging branches.
“Bess!” George shouted impatiently. “Over
here! I’m in the tool house!”
Bess hastened to the small building and looked
inside.
“I’ve been stranded here for hours!” George
fumed.
“How did you lose your clothes?”
“I fell into the water and took them off to dry.
Nancy put them on the bank. Then she went off
to do some exploring. A boy came along and ran
away with my things!”
“How terrible! What became of Nancy?”
“I wish I knew. She’s been gone a long while.
But tell me, how did you get up your courage to
climb the wall?”
When Bess told of her secret ride with Hector,
George burst into laughter despite her worry
about Nancy.
Then she sobered. “Hector is on the grounds!
Maybe Nancy ran into him!”
The cousins were not sure what they should do.
Finally Bess said, “Let’s go back to the car. Nancy
might be there.”
“How can I go anywhere like this?” George
cried.
Bess handed the girl her slacks. “I found these
by the wall. The boy must have dropped them.
And you can wear my sweater. I’ll be warm
enough in my blouse.”
George put on the clothes and was relieved to
find her sneakers still lying near the bank of the
pond. The girls hurried off.
Without meeting anyone, or being attacked by
the dogs, they managed to find their way to the
front wall and climbed over. Nancy was not in the
car.
“Let’s drive to town and get help,” Bess said.
“Nancy has the car keys!”
“Oh, I’d forgotten. Well, we are in an awful
mess!”
“We’ll have to find Nancy, that’s all there is
to it,” Bess declared.
Each of the girls ate a sandwich from the picnic
lunch, then started to scale the wall again. On the