Unexpected Visitors

THE lieutenant said the police had been gathering evidence against The Crow for six months but had not caught up with him.

“We know the jobs that fellow’s pulled, ” the officer said, “because he leaves a crow’s footmark behind. Vain fellow, and a clever jewel thief.”

“How does he leave it? ” Nancy asked.

“Various ways. Cut into wood. Painted on a wall. I guess he was in too much of a hurry to bother with it at your friend’s house.”

The officer leaned toward Nancy, his voice deliberate. “If I were you, Miss Drew, I would be wary. Extremely wary. The Crow knows you. You interfered with his work once, and he stopped you. If you get in his way again—” Lieutenant Hennessy shook his head gravely.

But Nancy was not thinking of her own safety. She was trying to figure out how Fay might be caught.

“I thought maybe Flip was trying to get away by skipping out of the country, ” she ventured. “Maybe that’s why he’s in Boston.”

“Perhaps you’re right. Thanks to you, Miss Drew, we now know the identity of The Crow. And we have his description. I’ll alert all seagoing craft immediately.”

Lieutenant Hennessy stood up and shook hands with Nancy. “You’ve helped us tremendously, ” he said. “I’ll keep in touch with you.”

It had been a highly exciting morning, thought Nancy, as she came out of police headquarters. It was now eleven-fifteen and she was to meet the girls at one. Meanwhile, perhaps she could locate the present owner of the Bonny Scot. Captain Easterly had said his name was Farnsworth, but had not given his address.

Nancy consulted a telephone directory. There were a number of Farnsworths in the area. She got a supply of coins, and made several telephone calls to the surrounding towns. Finally a Mr. Elijah Farnsworth, real-estate broker, said that he was the owner of the old clipper ship. Identify ing herself as Carson Drew’s daughter, Nancy made an appointment at his office.

The elderly man received her courteously. “I don’t mind saying I’d be proud to do a service for the daughter of a man so highly regarded as your father is by Captain Easterly.”

Nancy smiled her appreciation. Then she told him of the suspicious events that had taken place on board the Bonny Scot, and of the damage that had been done to the captain’s quarters during his absence.

The owner of the clipper ship bounded from his chair. “Why, that’s outrageous! ” he declared.

“I’m worried about Captain Easterly, ” Nancy said. “He hasn’t been aboard since day before yesterday. Do you suppose he’s being held prisoner somewhere? ”

“What’s that? ” the man asked, astounded.

He declared he would get in touch with the police at once, but Nancy told him this already had been done. She asked Mr. Farnsworth if he had any idea where Captain Easterly might be if he had gone off voluntarily.

“The captain frequently visits his sister in Marblehead. I’ll phone her.”

The call revealed that the captain had not been to Marblehead for several weeks. Mr. Farnsworth wrinkled his brow, then suddenly snapped his fingers.

“I may have a clue to this mystery after all, Miss Drew, ” he said. The man drew a slip of paper from his desk drawer and looked at it thoughtfully. “This morning I had a caller. A persistent, determined fellow. He wanted to buy the Bonny Scot at once, registration papers or not.”

Nancy asked in alarm, “Who was he? ”

“His name is Fred Lane. I told him I wouldn’t sell to anybody until the title was clear.”

“What did he look like, Mr. Farnsworth? ” Nancy thought of old Grizzle Face, using an assumed name. “Did he have a gray beard? ”

“No, he was clean shaven. Rather tall.”

“Did you notice his right hand? Was the middle finger unusually short? ”

Mr. Farnsworth looked surprised. “No-o-o, I did notice his fingernails. Clean and well kept.”

The caller could not have been Flip Fay. His nails, Nancy remembered, were broken.

“Mr. Lane left his address, in case I should change my mind, ” Mr. Farnsworth said.

He handed Nancy the slip of paper. Written on it was a number and the name of a street near the Boston waterfront.

Nancy thanked him and put the address into her purse. Excitedly she hurried to the restaurant, where she had agreed to meet Bess and George, and had a snack with them.

Then the three girls taxied to the address Mr. Farnsworth had given Nancy. It proved to be a drab apartment house. Inside the vestibule, they looked for the name “Lane” above the mailboxes. No such name was listed.

Nancy rang the janitor’s bell several times. No one answered.

Bess shivered. “Gloomy place. I bet nobody nice lives here.”

At that moment a door opened and a shabbily dressed woman came out with a market basket. The door clicked shut after her.

Nancy greeted her courteously. “I beg your pardon, but do you know of a Mr. Lane living at this address? ”

The old woman eyed the three girls suspiciously. Then, muttering under her breath, she hurried into the street.

“Did you hear what she said? ” asked Nancy.

“It sounded to me like, ‘Stay out of here, ”’ said Bess. “A good idea.”

Nancy pressed the janitor’s bell once more, but in vain, before deciding to leave. She was a bit discouraged. Her clues had brought no definite results yet.

When she and her friends arrived at the hotel, they were surprised to learn they had visitors. Three young men sitting in the lobby put down their magazines and stood up, grinning.

“Ned Nickerson! ” exclaimed Nancy. “How nice to see you! ”

“Whatever are you doing here? ” asked George. “Lose that job you were going to have at camp? ”

The young man laughed. “Can’t we relax before going to work? We’re here for a weekend of fun.”

Dave Evans and Burt Eddleton, college friends of Ned whom the girls knew well, were talking to Bess.

“I hear you’ve been visiting an old clipper ship, ” Dave remarked. “And there’s a mystery aboard.”

“And what a mystery! ” exclaimed Bess. “Nancy, you tell them about it.”

When Nancy had finished her story, Burt clapped his hand to his head. “And I thought we were just going to do some nice quiet dancing.”

“Sounds more exciting to me than dancing, ” Ned said. “Let’s go down to the Bonny Scot and look her over.”

After the girls had freshened up, they rejoined the young men in the lobby. Then, talking excitedly, the six young people crowded into a large taxicab and directed the driver to take them to the waterfront.

“I wish you didn’t want to go back to that ship, ” Bess told Ned. “It frightens me to death.”

Dave laughed. “I’ll protect you, Bess—I promise.”

“If there are any spooks, ” said Burt, “they’ll have a hard time handling all six of us.”

George suggested that they take a short walk along the waterfront “for sea flavor, ” before boarding the clipper, so they got out two blocks from the ship. Ned walked eagerly ahead with Nancy, while the other two couples—George and Burt, Bess and Dave—lingered behind.

“Let’s leave them to their window-shopping, ” said Nancy. “I want to hurry aboard and see if Captain Easterly has returned.”

As the couple stood in front of a cheap waterfront restaurant, waiting for the traffic light to change, a man inside caught Nancy’s attention. He was sitting at one of the tables, his back to the window.

Nancy touched Ned’s arm. “That man! ” she whispered excitedly. “He looks like Flip Fay! ”

She tried to get a view of the man’s profile. “If I could only be sure about him! Ned, do something for me? ”

“Anything you say, Nancy.”

“Go in there and pretend to be looking for a table. And take a good look at that man’s right hand. Find out if it has a short middle finger.”

Ned grinned. “Okay, cap’n.”

Tensely, Nancy watched Ned swing open the testaurant door, step jauntily inside, and glance toward the table against the window.

Ned was acting his part perfectly. He approached the table where the man with the checkered suit was sitting. Pausing briefly as if looking for an empty table, Ned leaned close to the man Nancy believed was Flip Fay. In his right hand he held a cup of coffee, his middle finger concealed by the cup.

Ned, pretending to trip, deliberately stumbled against the table. The man’s cup went down with a bang, half spilling the coffee, and Ned caught a clear glimpse of his short middle finger.

“Sorry, ” the youth said, regaining his balance. But the apology was not enough. The person sitting opposite the man rose suddenly, flung back his chair, and took a menacing step toward Ned.

The next instant his right fist shot out and Ned fell backward.