noise from the cloister. “The rear castle door,”
whispered George.
Instantly they thought of the vines they had
torn apart to get into the garden. Whoever was
going in or out of the castle might notice the
opening and come to investigate!
“Quick!” Nancy directed. “Lie down here in
the tall grass and weeds!”
Bess and George flattened themselves on the
ground. Nancy darted behind a bush leafy enough
to hide her but not too thick to block her view.
A man, slightly stooped, came through the
parted vines. He paused to examine them.
Nancy’s heart stood still. He was Daniel Hector!
The lawyer peered into the garden, but evi-
dently saw nothing unusual, because he went on
toward the beach.
“Let’s go!” Nancy whispered jubilantly a mo-
ment later. “The cloister entrance to the castle
may have been left unlocked!”
The three girls stole noiselessly along and
eventually reached the castle. The door was in-
deed unlocked. It made such a loud noise when
Nancy pulled it that she feared the sound would
carry to the men.
“What a weird place!” George commented as
they hurried inside. Nancy led the way through
the long winding corridor toward the front hall.
“Let’s get out of here as soon as we can,” Bess
urged.
Nancy was fairly familiar with the floor plan
and found the main entrance. It was locked, but
the key she had fitted.
“At least we can get out,” she said.
“No, no,” Bess interrupted. “Hector probably
has a guard on watch.”
Not paying heed to her cousin’s warning,
George peeked outside, then stopped short. “Oh,
oh!”
“What’s the matter?” Bess asked, following her.
Tied at the foot of the steps were the two huge
dogs the girls had met before. They began to
growl menacingly.
“Well, hello, old fellows, we meet again 1”
Nancy called cheerily.
But her friendly attitude did not work this
time. The animals would not allow the girls to
descend.
“You try it alone. Nancy,” Bess suggested.
Nancy had no success. “The hounds are acting
very strangely,” she whispered. “What can be
wrong? The other day they let me pass.” She
shitted the metal box under her arm and the
animals growled even more fiercely.
“Why, maybe it’s this box,” she said. “The
dogs think I’m trying to steal something from the
castle!”
Telling her friends she would be right back,
Nancy ran inside. In a minute she had emptied
the box of photographs and the diary and stuffed
them under her sweater.
“Now where can I hide the box?” she thought.
Nancy caught sight of a narrow door, partially
open. “That’ll do,” she decided.
As she placed the metal container on the floor
of the closet, she heard footsteps not far away.
Someone was coming along the winding cor-
ridor!
She hurried outside. The dogs growled but
Nancy was determined to pass by them.
She ran down the steps, her friends behind her.
Bess was fearful, but tried not to show it.
The hounds bayed loudly and the next second
Mr. Hector’s figure framed the doorway.
“Hey, you I” the lawyer shouted furiously.
“Stop! Stop!”
The girls ignored him. As Hector ran down the
steps to untie the dogs, he tripped over the long
rope and tell down on his face.
Nancy urged her friends to run faster while the
man bellowed in pain.
“Quick! To the wall!” she panted, holding the
treasure dose inside her sweater.
CHAPTER XV
Salty’s Plight
The three girls raced madly to the front wall of
the estate. Clutching vines to pull themselves up,
they reached the top and scrambled over. Then
they paused for breath.
“What a narrow escape!” Nancy murmured.
“Daniel Hector saw me!”
“Did he recognize you?” Bess asked.
“We have never really been introduced and I
only turned around briefly when I first realized
he was there.”
“What did you do with the metal box?” Bess
queried.
“I hid it. But not these.” Nancy produced the
photographs and the diary from beneath her
sweater. “I still have the evidence!”
“Great!” George said. “But what’s next?
We’re a long way from the boat.”
After catching their breath, the girls debated
what to do. They were worried about Salty and