she noticed something shiny on the bank. It was
the shell of a whelk.
“How beautiful!” she thought, picking it up.
The mother-of-pearl lining gleamed with a blend
of delicate pink and purple.
After a moment’s hesitation Nancy stripped off
shoes and socks and waded into the shallow water.
When she dipped her hands into the sand, she dis-
covered that the bottom was thick with mussels.
Among them were discarded shells with the same
lovely blending of colors. Nearby on the shore
she spotted a large pile of cracked shells and went
to examine them.
“Why are they here?” she wondered. “These
are seashore whelks.” Then Nancy remembered
what Salty had told her about dye being obtained
from this type of shellfish and that Walter Heath
had spent much of his time on scientific experi-
ments. “Suppose he was using the whelks to make
a special kind of dye!”
Nancy tucked two unbroken shells into her
shirt pocket. As she put on her shoes she thought
of the hacked stone columns and the explosion at
the factory. “Someone may be looking for a secret
connected with Walter Heath’s experiments!”
“Nancy 1” George called. “Are my clothes dry?”
Nancy rose and felt them. “Not yet.”
“I’m getting hungry,” George complained.
“And Bess will have a fit if we don’t go back
soon.”
At that moment Bess was fuming in Nancy’s
concealed car. As the sun climbed high overhead
and the girls failed to return, she became hun-
gry and annoyed.
“Guess they’ve forgotten me,” she thought. To
add to her irritation, the hounds would dash back
to the gate whenever she walked over to look
through it. They bayed savagely.
“Oh,” Bess fretted, “wait until I see Nancy and
George. I’ll-”
Just then she heard a car coming up the road.
Bess barely had time to hide herself in the bushes
before it swung around the bend. She was glad
that she had followed her instinct for she was sure
from Nancy’s description that the driver was
Daniel Hector. He was alone.
The lawyer stopped in front of the gate but did
not shut off the engine. He got out of his two-
door car, leaving the door on his wide open.
“He’s going to drive into the grounds!” Bess
thought. “Nancy and George will be caught! I
must warn them!”
Her anxiety mounting, Bess tried to think what
to do. Mr. Hector still had his back turned toward
her as he unlocked the big gates. The car was less
than ten feet away from her hiding place.
There was little time for Bess to think or plan.
Impulsively she darted to the car. After climbing
into the back, she crouched on the floor.
Hector returned to the automobile. Unaware of
his passenger, he drove through the opening into
the estate grounds!
CHAPTER VIII
Locked In!
“George, would you mind if I do a little explor-
ing?” Nancy asked. “I’ll be back by the time your
clothes are dry.”
“Okay,” George called.
“I’m not going far. I’ve found some whelk
shells, and I think they may indicate something
important. Maybe dye made from them is hidden
in containers nearby.”
“They’re not in here,” George said.
Nancy moved off, looking about carefully for
any possible place where dye might have been
stored. She found none, and in her search wan-
dered farther than she had intended.
Nancy paused abruptly as she became aware of
a low rumble which shook the earth. “What’s
that?” she wondered.
She stood still and waited for more sounds, but
there were none. In the distance, however, a cloud
of white, powdery dust caught her attention.
“Another explosion!” she murmured excitedly.
Cautiously Nancy went toward the area, but soon
her path was blocked by a high brier hedge.
After following the bushes some distance to
find an opening, the young detective was startled
to hear a car.
“Somebody with a key to the gate padlock must
have driven into the estate grounds!” she
thought.
As the sound drew nearer, Nancy decided to
find out who was coming. She plunged through
the woodland and reached a weed-grown clearing
just as Daniel Hector drove up and stopped.
Nancy backed quickly into the shelter of the