general store at Madison Junction.”
“I’ll be there as soon as possible.” Nancy
switched off the phone and sprang up from her
seat. “Ned’s been hurt,” she told Bess. “I have
to go to him right away.”
“I’ll go, too.” Bess waved for the waitress
and paid the check while Nancy went on ahead
to get the car.
The fifteen miles to the campsite seemed to
take forever. When Nancy turned in to the
parking area, she flung the door open in one
movement, then dashed up to camp and
straight to the tiny cabin. Bess followed. In-
side, Nancy saw Jack, Jennifer, and Alicia
clustered around Ned with an open first-aid kit
on the floor nearby. Ned was sitting propped
up against the wall, holding his head in his
hands.
“Ned!” Nancy cried as she rushed in and
knelt beside him. “Are you all right?”
“I feel a lot better now that you’re here.”
Jennifer reluctantly moved aside so Nancy
could look at the back of Ned’s head. There
was a huge bump and dried blood on it. “What
happened?” she asked.
Ned shifted, and as he did, Nancy noticed
something gleaming on the floor behind him.
She picked it up and tucked it into her pocket.
“Let me think. I was on my way over to the
command post. The door was ajar, and it’s
supposed to be kept shut because there’s a lot
of valuable hardware in here. So I decided to
make sure everything was okay. I got inside,
and the next thing I knew, I was lying here with
this lump on my head and the mother of all
headaches. Somebody must have hit me.”
Just then Bess arrived. “Ned,” she gasped,
“are you okay?”
“Hi, Bess,” he answered, trying his best to
sound normal. “Guys, this is Bess Marvin.”
Jennifer and Alicia nodded to Bess. Jack
glanced at her, smiled broadly, and held out
his hand to shake hers. “Hello there, I’m Jack
Billings. Boy, does Ned Nickerson have some
great-looking friends.”
Bess blushed but said nothing.
Nancy got to her feet. “Someone obviously
wanted something. Is all the equipment still
here?”
Alicia had been studying the computer ta-
ble. “It doesn’t look as if anything was taken.”
Nancy crossed to the supply room. Every-
thing looked much as it had when she had seen
it a couple of hours earlier. Then she noticed
the hypodermic syringe and several vials of
tranquilizer were missing.
“Did anyone take a syringe and some tran-
quilizer vials out of here?” Nancy asked over
her shoulder.
Alicia stepped inside and checked the shelf.
“Oh-they are missing. But who would have
taken them?”
Nancy’s thoughts raced. First the group had
discovered fifty marmots missing, and now
someone seemed to have stolen tranquilizers
that could sedate more marmots. Was some-
one planning to tranquilize the fifty stolen
creatures so they could be quietly shipped out
of the park?
Before she could ask more questions. Nancy
saw Professor Trainey at the doorway.
“Now what?” he demanded, slightly out of
breath. “Can’t I leave this project for five
minutes without-” His voice faded as he
noticed Ned on the floor.
“Someone hit Ned over the head,” Jennifer
told her father. “And tranquilizers are missing
from the supply room.”
Trainey’s eyes widened as he knelt beside
Ned. “We’ve got to get you up to the hospital
in Gardiner as soon as we can.” He glanced
around the room, clearly upset. “Can someone
drive him there? We can’t take chances-not
with a head injury.”
“I’ll go,” Nancy quickly offered. “Where is
it?”
“Gardiner is just over the state line in
Montana, right outside the north entrance of
the park. I’ll ride along and show you the
way,” Jack offered. “Just give me a couple of
minutes to clear it with headquarters.”
Nancy remembered the object she had
stashed in her pocket. She slipped it out unob-
trusively. It was a Phi Beta Kappa key. Turning
it over, she saw the initials D.T. engraved on
the back. Dan Trainey.
She leaned down to pat Ned’s shoulder, then
crossed the room.
“Professor?” she said quietly. “May I speak
to you privately for a moment?”
Frowning, Trainey followed her outside.