Caught!

For a moment, Nancy stood stock-still. Then she moved the last few feet and peered over the rim.

In this spot, the cliffs of the Superstitions had formed the walls of what appeared to be a small canyon, well concealed by brush and rocky outcrop-pings.

Two men, one tall and blond, the other short, wiry, and dark, appeared to be digging in the cliff at the end of the canyon! A small, rough cabin had been erected in the center clear area, and there was a corral next to it.

What brought a gasp from Nancy, however, was one of the horses that stood in the corral. It was a pinto and looked almost exactly like Cochise!

Nancy looked at Ngyun, who had silently crept up next to her. Together, they watched the men for several minutes, then Nancy let herself slip and slide back down the rocky rise to the grass. The boy followed at once.

“Who are those men, Ngyun? ” she asked, keeping her voice low so the sound wouldn’t carry.

Ngyun shrugged. “Prospectors, I think.”

“On the resort land? ” Nancy frowned. “Chuck and Heather never mentioned it.”

“This belong to resort? ” Ngyun seemed surprised.

Nancy looked around, trying to recognize the landmarks that Chuck and Heather had pointed out to her during their first days with the McGuires. Finally, she was sure. “The boundary of their land is supposed to be along that purple cliff there, ” she said, pointing off to the right. “The men must be on the resort land.”

“Maybe they find gold, ” Ngyun suggested with a timid smile that was quickly gone. “Make everybody happy.”

“Have you seen those men around here before? ” Nancy asked.

The boy moved nervously, not meeting her gaze. “I watch here sometimes.”

“Have they seen you? ” Nancy asked, sensing that there was more to the story, something that he wasn’t telling her.

For a moment, he didn’t answer. Then he sighed. “One time. Not here. They out in wash that go from canyon. I ride up. See what they do. They get angry. Big one shoot at me. I not come this way a while. ”

“They shot at you? ” Nancy gasped, unable to believe her ears.

Ngyun nodded. “I not do anything. I just ride up to look, honest.”

“I believe you, ” Nancy assured him. “Do you think they were prospecting for gold in that wash? ”

Ngyun nodded. “They do same thing prospectors do in mountains. I watch a lot. I see plenty.”

Nancy considered his words for a moment, then changed the subject. “Where were you going today? ” she asked. “Why did you leave the resort without telling anyone? ”

The thin face closed and the boy’s eyes skittered away from hers once again. “I go for ride.”

Nancy said nothing, sure that the boy would tell her more if she waited. He quickly proved her correct.

“I run away, ” Ngyun admitted at last. “I no go back. ”

“But you can’t do that, ” Nancy protested. “Your aunt and uncle love you, they’d never let you leave them.”

“They send me away. They think I steal. The sheriff tell them I bad. I not take jewelry, so I no can give back. They take Cochise away.” Tears filled the sad, dark eyes. “He mine, I not steal him.”

Understanding the boy’s feelings, but sure that she couldn’t let him go, Nancy took a deep breath and began to tell him what had happened to her the night before. She described how she’d followed the pinto horse into the wash and nearly died for it.

As she talked, Ngyun nodded. “Horse like one in canyon, ” he said when she finished. “Maybe he ride that horse? ”

Nancy smiled at him. “That’s what I think, ” she confirmed.

“What you do? ” Ngyun asked. “How you find out? ”

“Do they ever leave the canyon? ” Nancy inquired instead of answering.

Ngyun thought for a moment, then nodded. “Sometimes. Why? ”

“I want to search that cabin, ” Nancy answered. “If they are the ones causing all the trouble that has happened to you, there should be some clues down there. Something that will tell me why they are trying to frame you.”

Ngyun grinned at her. “I make them chase me, ” he told her. “You go down cliff.”

Nancy shook her head. “That’s too dangerous. If they shot at you before, they might...” She was given no chance to finish, as the boy raced across to Cochise and jumped into the saddle. Ngyun waved to her, smiling as he rode away.

The young detective hesitated, afraid for the boy, yet longing for the chance to prove him innocent of the charges that the sheriff would be bringing against him. Finally, she sighed and made her way to the top of the rocky cliff. She stretched out on her stomach again so she could look down into the huge ravine.

It seemed only a few moments before Ngyun appeared in the mouth of the canyon. When no one noticed him, he began to shout at the two men. His words were jumbled, but she could make out “thief” and “gold.”

The men hesitated only a few seconds before they dropped their picks and shovels and raced to the corral to get their horses. In no time, they had saddled up and ridden out of the corral.

Once they disappeared around the rocks at the mouth of the canyon in pursuit of Ngyun, Nancy cautiously edged over the lip of the outcropping. Her toes sought and found a narrow ledge, and in a second she was climbing down toward the canyon floor.

Since she slipped and slid a good part of the way, the climb took only a few minutes. Once she reached the base of the wall, she could see that the men had, indeed, been digging into the rocky soil of the cliffs. Still, she didn’t take time to study their prospecting, preferring to head immediately for the small cabin.

Once safely inside the squeaky door, she paused to look around and catch her breath. There was little to see. A table and two stools stood by the single window, and two unmade cots were pushed against the other walls. A single, rough shelf held meager supplies and utensils for cooking and eating. There was no sign of a stove, and provisions consisted mostly of canned goods and crackers.

Since there was not much to search, Nancy went immediately to the old, brass-bound trunk that stood beside the door. It creaked slightly as she opened it. Then she gasped. Beautiful pieces of jewelry were scattered on top of a jumble of clothing!

Silver and turquoise were spread out in lavish array. Semiprecious stones set in imaginatively worked, silver settings made two squash-blossom necklaces outstanding. The same delicate workmanship and design were repeated in a bracelet and in the setting around the single, large turquoise of a ring. Nancy nodded to herself, confident that she had found the Bascombs’ stolen property.

Carefully, she shifted the jewelry to look under it, hoping for some clue to the identity of the thieves. However, when the faded denims and torn, red flannel shirt were moved, she found only a battered old book. “Big Jake Harris’s journal, ” she murmured. “So they took that, too, and probably set the cottage on fire to get it.”

Nancy sat back on her heels, frowning at the contents of the trunk. Should she leave everything here and go for the sheriff? Or should she take the shirt, the journal, and the jewelry with her? It was a hard decision.

It would be best if the sheriff saw the stolen items himself, she knew. But she was also afraid that Ngyun’s appearance might have been enough to frighten the men into leaving with the treasure. She suspected that they would come back and take the things away while she was riding to the resort for help.

Suddenly, she heard sounds from outside—hoofbeats coming closer and closer!

Nancy scrambled to her feet and moved to the window, peering through the dirty glass. To her horror, she recognized the riders as the returning prospectors. They were already so close she could hear their voices clearly.

“Did you see where he went, Sam? ” the blond man asked his smaller companion.

“Little brat ducked into those rocks and just disappeared, ” the darker man replied, riding into the corral. “What do you think we should do, Joe? ”

The big man shrugged as he dismounted. “Maybe nobody will believe him, ” he suggested hopefully. “I heard that the sheriff was at the resort today, so the kid is in a lot of trouble over the jewelry we stole.”

The men chuckled evilly as they closed the corral gate and stood in the shade of the cabin wall. “Mr. Henry isn’t going to like it, if the kid talks to anybody about us, ” Sam observed.

Nancy gasped. Was the McGuires’ friendly neighbor her unknown enemy?

“So what do you want me to do? ” Joe demanded. “Do you want to ride to the ranch and tell him the kid was out here again? ”

Sam shook his head. “He’s coming out tonight, anyway. Said he wanted to look over what we’ve dug out so far. He doesn’t think we’re in the right place yet.”

“He’ll change his mind when he sees the nugget you found this afternoon, ” Joe said. “This has to be where the gold washed out of the mountains in the flood last spring, ’cause this is the end of the ravine. We’ve prospected every other inch of it on his ranch and on this one.”

“Don’t tell me, ” the little man said. “Let’s just see what else we can uncover before dark.”

“Whatever you say, Sam, ” Joe replied with a sigh, “but I’m getting mighty hungry.”

The men moved away from the cabin, still talking in low voices, but Nancy could no longer make out the words. She watched them till they reached the cliff face and took up their picks and shovels, then she leaned against the wall and looked around.

There was no way out. The door and window were both on the side of the cabin, facing the spot where the men were working. Nancy nibbled at her lip. The land all the way around was totally open, so the men couldn’t miss seeing her the moment she stepped through the rough, squeaky door. She was trapped, and it was only a matter of time before someone came inside and found her!