say,” Biggs urged. “It may be important.”
“Gimme a dollar and I’ll tell you,” the boy de-
manded impudently.
“There!” Cobb snapped, handing over the
money. “Now talk!”
“You know where the hole is in the beach wall?
Somebody came through it.”
“How do you know?”
“Footprints. Want to see ’em?”
“Okay.” Cobb sounded concerned. “If anyone
is on these premises, we’d better find out about
it.”
“Maybe the place is being watched! I’m clear-
ing out of here!” Biggs added.
“Don’t be a fool!” Cobb replied. “If anyone
came into the gardens through this passageway,
he’s got to go out the same way. All we have to do
is watch the hole and we’ll catch him.”
The two men followed Teddy around the
curve. When their voices died away, Nancy and
the girls stepped from their hiding place.
“The boy was Teddy Hooper,” Nancy said
thoughtfully. “I wonder how he got mixed up
with these men.”
“Never mind him now,” Bess said anxiously.
“We must get out of here somehow, and fast!”
“As long as the men stay on the beach, we’re
pretty safe,” Nancy replied. “But I’m worried
about Salty. If only we had some way to warn
him!”
“But how can we?” Bess asked. “Those men
might pounce on us if we try to go.”
“There’s one possibility,” George announced,
pointing to a stone stairway between two of the
columns which were intertwined with vines. “See
if there’s a way out through these.”
The girls managed to force two of the heavy
vines apart. Below them lay a small tangled gar-
den.
“We can squeeze through here,” Bess said.
“Come on!”
“You go ahead,” Nancy said. “I’ll get the metal
box.”
A few minutes later she wriggled between the
vines to join her friends. Eagerly they explored
the little garden. It had sheer walls on three sides,
too high to climb. They could not find a single
opening!
Bess sat down in the middle of a weed-grown
path. “I’m so discouraged I could cry,” she ad-
mitted.
“Maybe a drink of water will revive you,” her
cousin suggested practically.
On the rear wall of the garden hung an artistic
fountain from which spouted a little stream. Bess
walked over to it and drank freely. “It’s wonder-
ful water,” she said. “And cold. Must come from
a spring.”
Nancy and George cupped their hands and
filled them several times. “It certainly tastes dif-
ferent from River Heights water,” Nancy de-
clared. “And you’re right, it’s delicious.”
She was about to drink more when she spotted
something on the crumbling wall just beneath
the fountain. Parting the vines to get a better
view, Nancy stared in astonishment.
“Girls, look! On the wall!” she exclaimed.
The vines had grown over a small block of
cement which had been set into the stones. In it
was the imprint of a woman’s shoe. Beneath had
been chiseled a single word: Cinderella.
“Cinderella’s dancing slipper.” George laughed.
“Whoever would do such a crazy thing?”
“I’m not sure it was crazy,” Nancy replied. “It’s
rather romantic and may have been Walter
Heath’s way of paying a compliment to Juliana.
Don’t you recall that note I found in his hand-
writing which began ‘Dear C’?”
“C could stand tor a dozen other names,”
George said.
Nancy measured the dainty little shoe print
with her hand. “But if it’s Juliana’s, it could be
the clue Walter Heath mentioned in his will! He
said she would be able to identify herself in a
special way, and this could be it, couldn’t it?”
“The print is very small,” Bess admitted. “Not
many girls wear such a tiny size.”
“If we’ve really stumbled upon a secret, Nancy,
we mustn’t breathe a word of it!” Bess warned.
The other girls agreed and carefully covered
the imprint with the vines.
“I wonder if there’s anything of value hidden
behind the cement block,” Nancy mused.
“We can’t find out today,” George said. “We’d
have to use tools to move it.”
“It would be just our luck if Cobb and Biggs
decide to smash the fountains,” Nancy said.
“Then we’d be too late.” Suddenly she stiffened.
“I hear someone!”
The girls became aware of a loud creaking