saw the intruder round the end of the drive and
flee into the darkness. Despite the thumping of
her heart, she smiled grimly.
As Nancy hurried through the house she
switched on the lights and called Hannah’s name.
She found the housekeeper gagged and tied to a
chair in the kitchen.
“Are you all right?” Nancy asked anxiously as
she released the woman.
“I’m not hurt,” Hannah said hoarsely. “But
the nerve of those two!” She added angrily, “I was
expecting you or your father, and when the bell
rang I thought one of you had forgotten your key.
I didn’t look out, just opened the door. Those
men pushed right in, turned off the lights, and
tied me up in my own kitchen!”
A few minutes later two officers arrived. Han-
nah described one intruder as tall and thin, the
other as short, stocky, and powerfully built. Both
were masked. Nancy suspected they were Cobb
and Biggs.
“They must have been watching for me,” she
said, “because they apparently knew my father
was out. Also, they were careful to park some
distance away, so I wouldn’t see a strange car in
front of the house.”
Before leaving, one of the policemen called
headquarters and arranged for a plainclothesman
to keep an eye on the Drew house that night in
case the suspects made another attempt to kidnap
Nancy.
Mr. Drew arrived home half an hour later. He
listened, deeply concerned, as his daughter and
the housekeeper told what had happened.
“You’re a brave and clever girl,” he said to
Nancy, “but from now on you must be extra
careful. Obviously these men are desperate to get
you off this case.”
“Someone is giving them orders,” she said. “I
have a hunch it’s Daniel Hector.”
That night Nancy lay awake long after the
others in the house were asleep. “The kidnappers
wanted to keep me from going to Heath Castle,”
she reasoned. “Surely not because of anything
I’ve seen there already. It must be because of
something else hidden in the place.”
An amazing idea struck her. Nancy could
hardly wait to call Bess and George. Early the
next morning she phoned them.
“What time is it?” Bess asked sleepily. Finally
she became awake enough to say yes to Nancy’s
request that the three girls go out to the Heath
estate.
“Okay,” Bess said, “but let’s play it safe. I don’t
want to be scared to death again.”
George was eager for the adventure. She put a
flashlight and police whistle into her pants pocket.
All three girls left notes at their homes since the
families were not yet up. Nancy added to hers,
“Please phone Lieutenant Masters where I am.
I want to follow up a hunch connected with the
mystery out there.”
When Nancy picked up the cousins in her car,
they demanded a full explanation of the day’s
mission.
“It’s my opinion that Daniel Hector or one of
his men kidnapped the real Juliana,” Nancy said.
“He’ll hold her until Senora Fernandez can estab-
lish her claim to the fortune. He’ll take the lion’s
share of it and then disappear.”
“But what does Heath Castle have to do with
it?” Bess asked. “Do you think Juliana is im-
prisoned there?”
“Yes, I do. Mr. Hector found out recently that
I was hot on the trail of the real Juliana and he
had to get her out of the way. What better hiding
place for his prisoner than the castle? Then, of
course, he’d have to keep me away from there, so
he tried to have me kidnapped.”
“Your reasoning sounds logical,” George ad-
mitted. “The crippled woman could have been
brought to the place the night she left Jardin des
Fleurs.”
At the estate Nancy and her friends scaled the
wall and dropped to the ground. As the three
made their way toward the castle, they did not
see nor hear the dogs.
“What worries me,” said Nancy, “is whether
we can get in. Of course, I have a key to the front
door, but it may have been padlocked.”
When they reached it the girls were amazed to
find the door ajar.
“Hector may be here,” Bess whispered wor-