The Vulture Strikes Again!

" A vulture! " Nancy repeated.

" Oh, no, " Bess said. " It couldn't be. Nancy, don't even think about it."

George got up from her lounge chair and sat down anxiously next to the titian-haired detective. " It's all right, Nancy. I'm sure there's no connection."

Mr. Blaine looked confused. " What connection? What are you talking about? "

Nancy found it difficult to speak, and George, sensing this, patted her hand. " Well, it may seem silly, " she said, " but last night, before we came down here, we all stayed at Bess's house. Just before dawn, Nancy had a nightmare. She said a vulture was chasing her! "

Mr. Blaine smiled. " I know how you feel. I had something like that happen when I was working in television. I had a dream about being chased by a man who was dressed in black. Really terrifying. Well, a year passed and I was at a dinner where awards were to be given for journalism. I had been selected to hand out the little trophies. Suddenly, when I announced a certain name, a man got up, all dressed in black. I almost dropped the prize. He was the guy from my nightmare! ''

" And you had never seen him before? '' Bess gasped.

" Never. He was a reporter for a paper in Pennsylvania. A perfectly nice fellow. I knew him for many years after that and one day told him of my nightmare. We had a good laugh about it. But absolutely nothing happened. To this day, he has never chased me."

Nancy smiled at Mr. Blaine's effort to cheer her up. " I know you're right, " she said. " It's silly to get upset about dreams or goblins on Halloween or any of that. But after somebody tried to make our plane crash and painted that vulture symbol on the side, I naturally feel a little funny about it."

" You know, " George said, " it could just be something the owner put on the plane, and we would never have thought anything of it if it hadn't been for the man draining our gas." All agreed that that was probably true.

" Just the same" Bess said, " I'd rather not have it on the plane. I don't even want to see it.

" I do, " George declared, getting up.

" So do I, " Nancy added.

" We'll take you, " Robert volunteered. " You see, we noticed the drawing when we gassed up your plane. At the time, we didn't think anything of it."

The girls thanked the boys and followed them to the dock, where the boats and their seaplane were moored.

When they saw the vulture symbol, Nancy's heart beat faster again. It looked so much like the one in her dream!

" Does it come off? " she asked.

Ed began to scrape at it with his fingernail. " It's a decal, " he declared. " Once we get the edges loose, it'll peel easily."

In a few minutes, the offending image was gone. Nancy tried hard to put it out of her mind when the four young people returned to the Blaine house, where they spent a pleasant evening playing cards until bedtime.

The next morning, they were up early and ready to leave by nine o'clock. The Blaine family took them to the dock and saw them off.

" How about stopping by on your return trip east? " Ed called out, giving George a longing look.

" Oh, I-I'd love to" she said, waving good-bye.

" We'll take you sailing! '' Robert promised, blowing a kiss to Nancy.

She smiled as the white plane lifted off smoothly. Blessed with another beautiful day, they enjoyed more panoramic views of the coastline as they passed Savannah, Jacksonville, and the famous rocket launching site at Cape Canaveral, which reminded Nancy of another adventure the girls had had there. At the time, Bess and George had been involved in a car accident and Bess had narrowly escaped being nipped by an alligator.

They laughed about it as they recalled those days, but all agreed they would prefer not to go through it again.

Within a few hours, Nancy pointed ahead and announced, " There it is, friends. Fort Lauderdale! The Venice of America! "

" Wow, " Bess said, " look at all those canals! "

The girls were breathless at the sight of the lovely city with the Intracoastal Waterway slashing through it from north to south. Hundreds of interlaced canals gave almost everyone a backyard with a water route to the sea. Farther to the west, the girls could see the vast space of the famous " River of Grass" called the Everglades. Containing swamps, mangroves, high swamp grass, and few forests of hardwoods and pines, it had received its name because, from the air, only the luscious vegetation could be seen. The fact was hidden that the Everglades for much of the year was an enormously wide river sweeping out of central Florida and emptying into the Gulf of Mexico.

Nancy descended in a gentle circle as they passed directly over the Fort Lauderdale public beach. The three-mile-long strip was already beginning to fill up with thousands of students on spring break, and the roads leading into town were jammed with cars bringing still more young people to the vacation Mecca.

Nancy landed the plane with just a few skips in the water next to the public seaplane dock. As they tied up and climbed out, they were met by a uniformed chauffeur, a tall, sad-eyed man with an olive complexion. He smiled and tried to appear cheerful but Nancy could see that he was troubled by something.

" Miss Drew? " he asked politely. " May I ask which of you ladies is Miss Nancy Drew? "

Nancy identified herself and the chauffeur bowed from the waist. " We are so happy to welcome all of you to Fort Lauderdale. I'm Andre, chauffeur to Señ or Ricardo Segovia. If you will be good enough to come with me, you and your friends. I’ll drive you to the mansion."

Nancy thanked him as he led them to a beautiful gray limousine that seemed as long as a football field. He seated them and then went back for their luggage, reappearing in a few minutes with his arms full. After stowing it away in the trunk, he got into the driver's seat and then paused before putting the car into motion.

" Miss Drew, " he said hesitantly, ''I must tell you something, and I want to do it in a manner that will not alarm you. Since Señ or Segovia could not be here, he authorized me to—"

His sentence was drowned out by a little scream from Bess. " Oh, no. Look! " She pointed to the roof of the car. There, directly above the girls' heads, was the dark, brooding picture of a vulture!

They stared at the ceiling and cringed. Neither Nancy nor George could speak. The effect on Andre was like that of an electric shock. He leaped from his seat, almost tore off the back door on his side, and reached in to rip away the offending decal of the evil bird.

" Oh, young ladies, " he cried, ''please, my apologies. It's nothing. Just a prank. A schoolboy must have slipped into the car while I was greeting you at the dock. I know it frightened you, but—'' He tried to smile. ''I assure you it's nothing."

Nancy and the girls exchanged looks.

" That wasn't just a prank, " Bess finally declared. ''Someone's after us. He stuck one of those things on our airplane, too. And he drained half our gas tank. We ran out of fuel at Charleston and had to make an emergency landing."

" She's right, Andre, " Nancy said, now in full control of herself. " Someone is trying to frighten or harm us! "

Andre nodded. " Perhaps you are right. I—we had better go to the mansion."

He started the car and took them on a slow, safe ride to the Segovia home. The scenery was lovely but the girls barely noticed it, so upset were they by the reappearance of the grisly symbol.

" It's so evil-looking, " Bess said, shuddering.

" It's like an omen, " George added.

Nancy nodded. " I'm afraid it is. A sinister omen! "