always room for two more.”
“In this case there’s not,” Rick said with such finality that the Monteiths pulled their chairs back to the other table.
“Good for you,” Nancy whispered to her partner. Soon the first course was served and the music started. She forgot all about the unpleasant couple.
The rain had stopped several hours before and about ten o’clock the moon came up. Nancy and Rick, after a dance, strolled outside into the lovely garden. Deep in conversation, they walked to the very end of it.
“One more year of college, then I’ll be a full-fledged engineer,” Rick remarked. “I can hardly wait to get out and start work.”
Before Nancy had a chance to comment, she and Rick became aware of someone walking in the woods beyond the end of the garden. They stopped to listen. The other person had paused also, but now they could hear a faint clicking noise.
“What is that?” Nancy whispered.
Rick listened a few seconds, then he said in surprise, “It sounds like a Geiger counter. But who in the world would be hunting uranium ore or other metals around here?”
CHAPTER IX
Trouble on the Road
NANCY started toward the woods to investigate the strange clicking sound.
Rick followed. “You’d better stay here,” he cautioned her. “I’ll go.”
Just then the clicking ceased and Ross Monteith emerged from among the trees! He was carrying a cane!
“Oh!” Ross cried out as he almost ran into the couple. “I didn’t see you!”
“Have you taken to walking alone in the woods after dark?” Rick asked him.
Ross Monteith laughed lightly. “I had a good old flashlight to help me.” He tapped his jacket pocket. “Audrey thought she’d lost one of her favorite earrings in the woods this morning and I offered to try to find it for her. No luck, though.”
As Ross started to move off, Nancy asked him, “Did you hear a peculiar clicking noise while you were in the woods?”
“Clicking noise?” he repeated. “No, I didn’t. Why?”
“Oh, we thought we did and wondered what it was.”
“Sorry I can’t help you,” Ross said, and hurried off.
Nancy and Rick discussed the whole episode. It was evident from their frowns that neither of them quite believed what Monteith had said. Why had he been in the woods? And was he telling the truth about not hearing the clicking noise?
Rick suddenly chuckled. “Nancy,” he said, “how about this deduction from a novice at sleuthing? I think Ross Monteith’s cane contains a Geiger counter. After dark he goes around prospecting for valuable minerals.”
Nancy laughed. “Well,” she said, “your theory is more comforting than having the cane turn out to be a deadly weapon!”
Long after Nancy had gone to bed that evening, she continued to think about the various angles of the mystery which she was trying to solve. Two questions concerning the Monteiths kept recurring to her mind. Were the couple just being nuisances? Or was there more to their always trying to be wherever Nancy was?
As the young sleuth was finally falling asleep, she decided to stay out of the couple’s way as much as possible. “And I’ll warn Bess and George not to say anything in front of them which would give away any of our plans.”
Nancy awoke early the next day and decided at once on one way to start her campaign of secrecy. She would move her car from the parking lot to a little-used side road a short distance from the lodge. “Then Ross and Audrey can’t spy on me so easily.”
She dressed quickly and went outside. No one was around. Nancy drove off, but was back at the lodge on foot within fifteen minutes.
Bess and George were just waking up. Nancy told them what she had done, and also her suspicions about the Monteiths.
“They haven’t really done anything,” she said, “but I think it would be just as well to throw them off our trail if possible.”
“It sure would,” said George. “The thing for us to do is get out of this hotel without their
“In this case there’s not,” Rick said with such finality that the Monteiths pulled their chairs back to the other table.
“Good for you,” Nancy whispered to her partner. Soon the first course was served and the music started. She forgot all about the unpleasant couple.
The rain had stopped several hours before and about ten o’clock the moon came up. Nancy and Rick, after a dance, strolled outside into the lovely garden. Deep in conversation, they walked to the very end of it.
“One more year of college, then I’ll be a full-fledged engineer,” Rick remarked. “I can hardly wait to get out and start work.”
Before Nancy had a chance to comment, she and Rick became aware of someone walking in the woods beyond the end of the garden. They stopped to listen. The other person had paused also, but now they could hear a faint clicking noise.
“What is that?” Nancy whispered.
Rick listened a few seconds, then he said in surprise, “It sounds like a Geiger counter. But who in the world would be hunting uranium ore or other metals around here?”
CHAPTER IX
Trouble on the Road
NANCY started toward the woods to investigate the strange clicking sound.
Rick followed. “You’d better stay here,” he cautioned her. “I’ll go.”
Just then the clicking ceased and Ross Monteith emerged from among the trees! He was carrying a cane!
“Oh!” Ross cried out as he almost ran into the couple. “I didn’t see you!”
“Have you taken to walking alone in the woods after dark?” Rick asked him.
Ross Monteith laughed lightly. “I had a good old flashlight to help me.” He tapped his jacket pocket. “Audrey thought she’d lost one of her favorite earrings in the woods this morning and I offered to try to find it for her. No luck, though.”
As Ross started to move off, Nancy asked him, “Did you hear a peculiar clicking noise while you were in the woods?”
“Clicking noise?” he repeated. “No, I didn’t. Why?”
“Oh, we thought we did and wondered what it was.”
“Sorry I can’t help you,” Ross said, and hurried off.
Nancy and Rick discussed the whole episode. It was evident from their frowns that neither of them quite believed what Monteith had said. Why had he been in the woods? And was he telling the truth about not hearing the clicking noise?
Rick suddenly chuckled. “Nancy,” he said, “how about this deduction from a novice at sleuthing? I think Ross Monteith’s cane contains a Geiger counter. After dark he goes around prospecting for valuable minerals.”
Nancy laughed. “Well,” she said, “your theory is more comforting than having the cane turn out to be a deadly weapon!”
Long after Nancy had gone to bed that evening, she continued to think about the various angles of the mystery which she was trying to solve. Two questions concerning the Monteiths kept recurring to her mind. Were the couple just being nuisances? Or was there more to their always trying to be wherever Nancy was?
As the young sleuth was finally falling asleep, she decided to stay out of the couple’s way as much as possible. “And I’ll warn Bess and George not to say anything in front of them which would give away any of our plans.”
Nancy awoke early the next day and decided at once on one way to start her campaign of secrecy. She would move her car from the parking lot to a little-used side road a short distance from the lodge. “Then Ross and Audrey can’t spy on me so easily.”
She dressed quickly and went outside. No one was around. Nancy drove off, but was back at the lodge on foot within fifteen minutes.
Bess and George were just waking up. Nancy told them what she had done, and also her suspicions about the Monteiths.
“They haven’t really done anything,” she said, “but I think it would be just as well to throw them off our trail if possible.”
“It sure would,” said George. “The thing for us to do is get out of this hotel without their
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