Carolyn Keene - Nancy Drew by The Kachina Doll Mystery Page B

the night — fearsome torches on the distant hills and shadowy figures nearer to my house. I sleep on the second floor now, with the stairs barricaded. I’ll be glad when Deer Slayer comes to visit again and I can tell him what I’ve learned about this man Winslow. Once he tells Winslow that the Kachinas are not for sale, perhaps my ordeal will end.
    Nancy turned the page and stopped, startled to find that there was nothing written on the next page or the one after it. In fact, a quick flipping through of the remaining pages told her that there were no more entries at all. A closer inspection of the book, however, revealed the rough edges of three or four pages that had been torn from the journal.
    Frowning, she closed the old book and carefully placed it in the drawer of the nightstand, then turned off the lamp. Moonlight glowed beyond her window, and she lay watching the feathery shadows of the palo verde as it stirred in the night wind.
    The entries in the journal certainly seemed to prove that Maria’s theory of the old man’s death was the correct one. Jake Harris had been a friend of the Hopi, not an enemy, and there appeared to be no reason for them to have hounded or frightened him to death.
    And what about the stories of hidden treasure? she asked herself. Could it be the Kachinas?
    That seemed more likely, though Jake hadn’t mentioned seeing any except the ones he’d used as models for his wall paintings. Nancy drifted off to sleep, still not sure what clues she’d gained from her late-night discovery.
    Her dreams were haunted by frail, old men and floating, teasing, beckoning Kachinas. The chanting seemed to surround her, and the Kachinas circled and reached out to her in pleading ways. It was almost a relief when a great pounding on her bedroom door brought her back to reality.
    “Fire!” Chuck shouted. “We’ve got a fire in one of the cottages!”

10
    A Raging Fire
    Nancy pulled on her jeans and a sweater right over her pajamas, slipped her feet into her shoes, and raced out to the hall. George and Bess emerged right behind her.
    “Wh-what happened?” Bess asked in a shaky voice.
    “Let’s find out,” Nancy replied, and the three of them quickly followed the cold draft of night air to the open rear door.
    Once outside, the situation became obvious to them instantly. “It’s the cottage farthest from the house!” George cried.

    The little building was blazing like a torch in the darkness. Chuck and Ward were already spraying water from the two garden hoses on the inferno, but seemed to be making no progress at all.
    Nancy looked around quickly. “Did anyone call the fire department?” she shouted above the roaring of the flames.
    “I did,” Heather called as she and Maria came racing from the direction of the stable. They were carrying what looked like burlap feed sacks. “They’ll be along as soon as they can, but in the meantime, we’d better wet these sacks and try to keep the fire from spreading.”
    Nancy nodded and they all helped Heather dip the feed sacks in the swimming pool. Once they were soaked, each took a couple and began chasing the sparks that were already floating away from the blaze.
    The men, having given up on the cottage, were now using the hoses to wet the walls and roofs of the nearby buildings to keep the fire from spreading. This left it up to the girls and Maria to put out the small blazes that seemed to start everywhere in the grass, the hedge, even in the clumps of desert wild flowers and bushes nearby.
    It was like a nightmare. While one spark was being extinguished, three more were igniting close-by areas. The smoke rolled over them and, as it reached the stable, set the horses to whinnying in terror. When the crashing of hooves became too loud, Heather left the others and went to open the stall doors, allowing the terrified animals to get out into the corrals if they wanted to.
    By the time the small, rural fire truck arrived, Nancy and the others were