Dutch Dials

CAPTAIN Detweiler arrived in a short time. He gazed for several seconds at the hidden tray Nancy had discovered. He was as eager as the others to open it and learn what it contained.

Nancy asked him about Lou, the locksmith. “We’ve had no luck trying to open it. Do you trust him fully? ”

The captain smiled. “I’ve known Lou for many, many years. He’s as honest and faithful as a good Dutch windmill.”

He turned to Rod Havelock. “Please go down and get Lou. Tell him I want him up here right away with a bag of tools and devices to open locks, unusual locks, that is.”

“Shall I wake him if he’s asleep? ” the assistant purser asked.

“Yes. It’s very important, but he’s not to mention it to anyone.”

Havelock left at once. He did, indeed, find the locksmith sound asleep. After hearing the urgent message, Lou dressed quickly and the two men returned to the girls’ cabin, where the captain explained the problem.

“I thought all along there was something funny about that trunk, ” Lou said.

“There is, ” Captain Detweiler admitted and swore the man to secrecy. Then the girls showed Lou the tray they had found in the mystery trunk.

The locksmith was amazed. Before he began working on it, he studied the tray with the four small holes across the top of the lid for a couple of minutes. Then he opened his bag of tools. The others watched eagerly as he tried round keys, thin flat ones, and strange-looking corrugated keys. Nothing would open the lid of the tray.

Lou now tried thin rods. When these failed in all four of the tiny openings, he inserted slender wires. He wiggled them, frowning more deeply with each attempt.

Finally the frustrated locksmith began to mutter to himself in Dutch. Nancy could not understand any of it, so Nelda translated and whispered in her ear.

“He is saying, ‘Very clever, very clever. But I will conquer this thing yet! ’ ”

Nancy smiled and rooted even harder for Lou. He kept shaking his head so much that Bess whispered to Nelda, “If he keeps this up, his head will fall off! ”

At this point Nancy decided to get her magnifying glass and examine the top of the tray thoroughly. She brought it from her own trunk and scrutinized each inch of the tray. Along the bottom of the lid she could see letters and figures indistinctly.

“They might be a clue on how to open this! ” she said. “Lou, please take this glass and look at the writing. Perhaps it gives instructions on how to proceed.”

Lou took the glass and studied the marks intently for several seconds. Suddenly he smiled. “You’re right! ” he said. “This is in Dutch and says ‘Een rechts, twee links, een naar boven, drie naar beneden. ’ ”

“How exciting! ” Nelda exclaimed. “That means one right, two left, one up, and three down.”

Lou was still studying the directions. Finally he said, “This tray may have a dial inside the lid like those used on safes in banks. Yes, it must be like that.”

He took one of the wires, bent it at one end into a loop, and inserted it into the first hole. Then he put his ear down to listen for any response from the lock. When there was none, he pushed the wire to the right. Apparently he heard some kind of sound. He withdrew the wire and pushed it to the left, then back and to the left again. He now pulled the wire almost to the top, then lowered it three times. There was an audible click!

As everyone waited breathlessly, Lou lifted the lid off the tray. The girls tried hard not to shout, expressing their delight in hushed voices. Captain Detweiler patted the locksmith on the shoulder. “Great work, Lou, ” he said.

The contents of the tray were covered with a cloth, which Nancy was urged to take off. As she did, a series of small suede pouches became visible.

“What do you think is in them? ” Bess whispered.

Nancy turned to the captain. “I feel you should have the honor of opening the first pouch, ” she said.

The officer smiled. “No. You’re the one who is solving this mystery. You open it! ”

Nancy did, and out rolled a fair-sized sapphire. It glinted in the light.

“I don’t believe it! ” George whispered. “Hurry up and open the rest! ”

Nancy insisted that there were plenty of pouches and each person in the cabin should open one of them. As they did, diamonds, rubies, topazes, and garnets were revealed.

The group were speechless. Finally Captain Detweiler said, “There’s no question but that whoever hid these in the trunk expected to smuggle them into the United States! ”

Bess asked, “What are you going to do with them? ”

Rod Havelock suggested that they be taken to the ship’s safe in the purser’s office.

But the captain had another idea. “I have a very fine secret safe in my quarters. I think the jewels should be put in there. No one but the people in this room will know about them.”

Nancy asked, “Can you put all of them away at once without anyone seeing you? ”

The officer smiled. “Indeed, I can. Rod will stuff his pockets with pouches, and I’ll stuff mine. Then we’ll go up to my quarters immediately.”

He turned to the locksmith. “Lou, you have been a wonderful help, and I know you’re happy to think that you’ve been able to uncover apparently smuggled gems.”

The locksmith smiled. “You know you can rely on me, sir.” He packed his tools, said good night, and left the cabin.

“What a nice man he is, ” Nancy said. “And to think I was once suspicious of him.”

In a few minutes Captain Detweiler and the assistant purser also went off, their pockets bulging.

The girls put back the tray, piled the suits and work clothes into the mystery trunk, and locked it.

“Come on, Nelda, help me lift this into the wardrobe again, ” Nancy said.

“Certainly.”

When the trunk was safely hidden, Nelda asked, “What are we going to do with this soaking wet flowered paper? ”

In her haste to uncover the tray, Nancy had laid the sheets near the porthole window.

“They’ll have to dry before we can paste them back, ” Nancy responded.

She looked around for a place to hide the paper and concluded that underneath the bed was the best spot. “I’ll replace them when they’re dried, ” she said. The girl detective added that she hoped the paper would not wrinkle or shrink. If so, it would be a dead giveaway should the suspect locate the trunk and examine it.

“Then we’d really be in trouble, ” Bess remarked.

“But nothing compared to the trouble the jewel thief will be in, ” George predicted.

Nelda had a faraway look in her eyes. Nancy guessed that the words “jewel thieves” had brought painful memories to her. The accusation against her had never been cleared up.

“Oh, if only we could find that diamond bracelet, ” Nancy thought.

The girls carefully slipped the paper under the bed to dry; then they put out the lights and went next door into their own cabin. Bess made sure all the doors were locked.

“I wonder what those gems are worth, ” George said. “There were so many I didn’t even count them.”

“A fortune, no doubt, ” Bess added. “I’d love to own just one or two of them! ”

“It’s dreadfully late, ” Nancy said with a yawn.

George nodded. “What an evening we’ve had, ” she said.

“Yes, and you’re right out of the infirmary, ” Bess remarked. “You were supposed to take it easy! ”

George giggled. “We’d better get out of these costumes and get to bed.”

In the excitement all of them had forgotten that they were still in their strange-looking clothes.

“Wait! ” Bess said. “I want to take a picture of each of you! ” She dashed for her camera and inserted flash cubes.

“You can take one of me with my candle right in front of the bed, ” George said. “It’s the perfect background! ”

Bess did, then had the others pose for a photograph. When she was finished, Nancy took one of Bess.

“George, I dare you to send one of these mouse pictures to your friend Burt! ” Bess teased her cousin.

George made a face. “I never want him to see me like that! ”

“Why not? You won first prizel”

“Sure. For the funniest-looking creature on board. Hardly something you would want to advertise to your boyfriend.”

Finally the four girls climbed into bed. They had hardly closed their eyes, when the phone rang. Sleepily Nancy picked it up. “Hello? ”

“Nancy? ” a man’s voice answered. “This is Rod Havelock. Is your door locked safely from the inside? ”

“Yes.”

“Good, ” the assistant purser said. “On the way upstairs the captain and I were attacked by two masked men. One of them said, “We know Nancy Drew has put you up to something. What’s in your pockets? ”

By this time Nancy was wide awake, and frightened. “Oh, Rod! ” she exclaimed, “are you and the captain all right? And did the men get the pouches? ”