Bits of Evidence

IN reply to Nancy’s excited question, Rod Havelock chuckled. “Yes, we’re okay. We weren’t seriously hurt except for a few black-and-blue marks.”

“Who attacked you? ”

“Two men. Actually we got the better of them, ” Rod said, “because both of them lost their balance and fell down the flight of stairs. You see, they were waiting at the top in one of the cross corridors and jumped us just as we came up.”

“What about the pouches? ” Nancy asked.

“They’re safe and intact. We didn’t lose any time getting to the captain’s cabin with them, ” Rod replied.

Nancy heaved a sigh of relief. “I’m glad that you’re all right and that you saved the pouches.”

“Thank you, ” Havelock said. He laughed softly. “You’ll probably be relieved to know that I’m spending the rest of the night with the captain.”

“I’m glad, ” Nancy said.

Havelock told her that the ship’s watchmen had been alerted, but so far they had reported seeing no one.

“Those attackers, ” Nancy said, “must have watched you and the captain come into our cabin and then waited until just before you left. I’ll bet they’re the same two who came into our room to claim the mystery trunk! ”

“Probably, ” Rod agreed.

“I’ll go right out and see if they left any clues, ” Nancy offered.

“Oh, no! ” Havelock insisted. “Don’t leave your cabin now! Those people know you’re involved in this mystery, and you mustn’t take any chances. At this hour, nearly everyone is asleep, and if something were to happen to you, you might not get help in time.”

“I suppose you’re right, ” Nancy admitted. She promised to go to bed and wait until morning before doing any sleuthing. She asked, “What were your attackers wearing? ”

“Bathrobes and black hoods that came down over their entire faces.”

“Did they wear gloves? ” the girl detective inquired.

“No, they didn’t.”

“How about shoes? ”

Rod said that both men wore dark-colored slippers. “One masked man had on a garnet-colored robe, the other a navy-blue one with pale-blue piping.”

“On which stairway were you attacked? ” Nancy asked.

Rod said, “On the most forward one, leading from your deck up to the top, where the captain’s quarters are.”

Nancy thought about this a moment, then suddenly was conscience-stricken because she was keeping Havelock from going to bed. “He must be weary after his encounter with the attackers! ” she chided herself. She apologized for keeping him on the phone so long and said, “Thanks for calling me. I’ll be in touch. Have a good rest.”

Nancy herself fell into a fitful sleep. She dreamed that while she was looking for clues on the deck she found a tiny diamond glittering in one of the lounge chairs. As she approached it, the diamond became larger and brighter until it filled the whole chair.

Nancy wanted to call out to her friends, but her voice was gone! The brightness of the stone became so intense that it hurt her eyes and she woke up. She sat upright in her bed and checked her watch. It was just six o’clock. “No use in going back to sleep, ” Nancy thought. “Next time I’ll probably dream about a killer ruby! ”

She dressed quickly without disturbing the others, took her flashlight, and left the cabin. She locked the door from the outside, then, without any trouble, found the stairway where the attackers had been.

The steps were carpeted. She played her flashlight thoroughly on each one as she ascended. About halfway up, the girl detective saw a tiny piece of black cloth lying on the carpet. She picked it up and examined the fragment thoroughly under her flashlight. “I wonder if this could possibly have been torn from one of the men’s masks, ” she speculated.

Nancy kept examining the stairway until she was only three steps from the top. Suddenly her eyes lighted on a piece of paper. It was rolled into a tiny ball. The girl picked it up and straightened it out. Then she looked at it in amazement. It was part of a drawing of a diamond bracelet! “Wow! ” she said to herself. “What a find! ”

The diamonds were a silver color against a black background, and the design was beautiful in its striking simplicity. In one corner of the paper was a very faint line.

As the young sleuth stared at it, she wondered whether the line would give some real information if she looked at it under a magnifying glass. She put both the paper and the cloth into a pocket and ascended the stairs, going all the way to the top deck. She came across nothing else of importance.

“I’d better get back to my cabin, ” Nancy decided, “and look at this paper under my magnifying glass.”

On the way she almost bumped into a cleaning man as she turned a corner. He said to her, “It is too early for you to be up.”

“Oh, I like to get up early, ” Nancy replied and hurried off.

By the time she let herself into cabin one twenty-eight, the other girls were awake. They demanded to know where she had been and why. When she told them, and pulled the evidence from her pocket, they were amazed.

Nancy went to get her magnifying glass and studied both the cloth and the piece of black paper. The cloth revealed no clues, but the line on the paper turned into letters. She could just read the indistinct letters of the word Longstreet.

“Do you think that’s an address? ” Bess suggested.

“Could be the name of the manufacturer who makes this odd black paper, ” Nelda put in.

“Or the name of the person for whom the bracelet was created, ” Nancy said.

“Or for that matter, it could be the name of the designer, ” Bess went on.

Nancy started to laugh. “Hold it! As detectives, we must not get carried away with guesses. Let’s try to find out the facts! ”

There was silence. Nancy sighed. “Perhaps the captain could give us an idea. Let’s go to see him after breakfast.”

When the girls arrived at his quarters, they were told by a junior officer that Captain Detweiler would be busy until eleven-thirty.

Nancy decided to call at the purser’s counter and show Rod her discoveries.

Rod Havelock was astounded at the bits of evidence the young sleuth had found. He examined them carefully. Finally he said, “This piece of black material could have been torn from one of the masks. When the captain and I were fighting off those two men, I yanked one fellow’s mask down so far that I was sure he couldn’t see through the eyeholes. Probably that’s why he lost his balance and fell down the stairs.”

Nancy asked him if he had any suggestions about the black paper with part of a sketch of a diamond bracelet and the word Longstreet on it.

“Sorry, but on that I can’t help you, ” Rod replied.

Nancy noticed that several people were waiting to ask the assistant purser questions, so she decided to leave. When she returned to cabin one twenty-eight, she found her companions looking in their suitcases for Ping-Pong balls.

George said, “We hoped you’d return in time to play doubles with us.”

Nancy agreed and the four girls hurried to the sports deck. They twirled their paddles for a choice of partners. Bess and Nancy would play against George and Nelda.

Nelda giggled. “I hope I’ll do all right, ” she said. “I haven’t played in a couple of years and I’m rather out of practice.”

“Don’t worry, ” George said. “Come on, you start.”

Nelda hit a low serve that caught Nancy by surprise. She missed it. Nancy laughed. “Nelda, I’d hate to play against you when you’re not out of practice! ”

George and Nelda won the first game, but Nancy and Bess made up for it in the next one. A crowd gathered to watch the match, and soon each team had its own cheering section.

“Come on, Nancy, let’s have a good—oh, oh, it just skimmed the net! ”

“No way George could get that! ” a sympathetic boy called, while someone else complimented the girl on her tricky shot.

Nancy and Bess won again, and George and Nelda held a short war council. “Bess is a little weak on her backhand, ” George whispered. “Take advantage of it! ”

Nelda did and the game went to her and George. Nancy glanced at her watch. They would just have enough time for one more before she would go to the captain’s quarters. The score was very close but finally George and Nelda won.

“Congratulations! ” Nancy called out, and the onlookers clapped. “Now I must leave you and keep my date. Nelda, would you like to come along? ”

“Indeed I would, ” the girl from Johannesburg replied.

The captain opened the door. “Good morning, girls, ” he said. “Please sit down and tell me your latest news. I know you must have some or you wouldn’t have come to see me, right? ”

“Well, I did examine the area where you and Mr. Havelock had trouble last night, ” Nancy said. “I found these clues.” She handed the evidence to the captain.

“What is—well, this is amazing! ” the man exclaimed. “Do you believe this piece of cloth is from one of the men’s masks? ”

“It might be, ” Nancy said. “What do you think of the drawing? That line at the bottom spells Longstreet under a microscope.”

Captain Detweiler whistled. “Longstreet is the name of a famous jewelry firm in England. I understand they have branches in many cities all over the world.” Both girls were astounded by this revelation. But even more so when the captain continued, “A few weeks ago there was a robbery at the English branch of Longstreet’s in London.”

At once the young detective asked, “Captain Detweiler, do you think our mystery brass-bound trunk could be carrying some of those jewels? ”

“That’s entirely possible, ” the captain replied. “It might be very hard to prove, however. All the stones in the pouches have been taken out of their settings.”

“Isn’t that often done by thieves? ” Nancy asked.

The captain nodded. “Yes, and for precisely that reason. It makes the loot hard to identify.”

“If only he had left some pieces intact! ” Nelda said with a sigh.

Nancy was silent for a few seconds. Suddenly she said, “Maybe we should check out that trunk again. Perhaps it holds some more secrets! ”