A Trap Door

THE next moment Nancy turned the door handle and darted into the passageway.

“Captain Easterly! ” she yelled at the top of her voice.

George came running. “What’s the matter? I heard a bell before, but I—”

“Get the captain—quick! ”

But the skipper had heard Nancy’s frantic cry, and now appeared, panting for breath. Suspecting trouble, he had picked up a belaying pin.

“Flip Fay’s in your cabin! ” Nancy exclaimed.

“In my cabin, eh? We’ll soon fix him! ”

The captain flung open the door and poised the belaying pin.

“All right, Fay! ” he growled. “Come out peaceably.”

There was no answer.

“Stay here, ” the skipper ordered the girls. He strode in. “Empty! ” he exclaimed.

Nancy and George hurried inside the cabin. Nancy opened the wardrobe. No one was hiding there. The captain opened his locker. That, too, was empty. The portholes were fastened shut on the inside.

The old mariner stood in the middle of the cabin, rubbing the side of his face. Nancy looked about the room with growing excitement. There must be some secret means of escape from the cabin. Flip knew about it.

Nancy’s sharp eyes traveled over the paneled walls, along the floor. She could see no sign of a trap door. Her glance fell on the mahogany wardrobe with renewed interest.

“Captain, ” she said, “have you ever moved this wardrobe? ”

“No. It was built in that position, nailed down. Why do you ask? ”

“I wonder what’s under it.”

Nancy poked her head inside, examining the sturdy floor.

“Look! ” she exulted, putting her finger through a small metal ring and raising the entire wardrobe floor, which was hinged from underneath.

“Well, I’ll be hornswoggled! ” Captain Easterly cried, reaching for his flashlight. The glow revealed a ladder leading down into complete darkness. “This must go to the hold, ” he said, “but I don’t understand how we missed it.”

“Maybe Fay’s hiding down there, ” Nancy suggested. She listened and thought she heard a creaking noise. “I’m going after him! ”

“Not so fast, ” Captain Easterly said. “Remember, Fay is a criminal, and if he’s at the foot of this ladder he has the advantage of anyone coming down.”

At that moment Bess came running along the passageway. “Captain Easterly, ” she cried, “my ruby’s gone! ”

“Ruby? ” the captain repeated. “What ruby? ”

“She means that pendant with the imitation ruby, ” Nancy explained. “Are you sure it’s not in the cabin, Bess? ”

“Of course I’m sure. I took it off a little while ago and laid it on the chest. I just went back there, and it’s gone.”

“Well, what of it? ” George scoffed. “We have something more important to think about.”

“It might all tie in, ” Nancy said excitedly. “Tell you my idea later.”

As Bess stared openmouthed, Nancy followed Captain Easterly down the ladder. It was short, and at the foot was a narrow passageway. Ten feet ahead was a sliding panel, cleverly concealed in a thin wall. It opened into the forecastle.

“Watch yourself, ” the captain said as he slid the panel back. “That rat may be waitin’ for us.”

But Fay was not in sight, and an open porthole ahead gave mute evidence he had made his escape from the ship. Nancy ran to the front of the crew’s quarters to look out the opening. In the dusk she could see no one.

“If he’s swimming, we ought to be able to catch him in the dinghy, ” Nancy said excitedly. “Come on, Captain Easterly! ”

The two rowed to shore, but Flip Fay had outwitted them. Furthermore, he had taken the box of coins with him. Angrily the captain reported the incident to the State Police, then he and Nancy started back to the Bonny Scot. On the way, Nancy said to him:

“That box of coins was very heavy. How could Fay dive overboard with it? ”

“I noticed a life preserver missing from my cabin, ” the captain replied. “Guess he tied the box to it and threw it overboard, then dragged it along as he swam.”

Nancy was discouraged. The treasure was gone and the thief had escaped.

But there was one gleam of hope. Surely Captain Perry Rogers had not been bringing his sweetheart a box of gold coins. Mrs. Smythe had said the gift was fabulous. Flip Fay had acted as if he thought Nancy were holding a ruby in her hand. The fabulous gift, no doubt! He certainly had not had time to search for it before leaving the ship!

“Pretty clever, whoever designed the Bonny Scot, ” Captain Easterly observed. “I mean, that secret ladder and passageway leading down from my quarters to the fo‘c’sle. The floor of the passageway was a false ceiling in the hold and was never discovered.”

When Bess and George heard the captain repeat his remark a few minutes later, as they all seated themselves in comfortable chairs on deck, Bess asked why the secret compartment had been put there in the first place.

Captain Easterly thought perhaps the early captains of the clipper liked to spy on their crews. A captain could leave his cabin by this ladder when the crew thought he was sound asleep, and see what they were up to.

“I’ll bet he was surprised at some of the things he heard about himself.” George laughed.

“The captain could get wind of a mutiny in time to stop it, ” Easterly went on.

“Oh, Bess, ” said Nancy as he fell silent, “did you find your pendant with the ruby? ”

“No. I’m sure that awful Fay took it.” Nancy said she thought Fay had been watching his chance, and when Bess laid the pendant down, he had taken it.

“He must be pretty silly, ” George remarked. “Surely he must know it’s not a real ruby.”

Nancy wondered if Flip had not had some other reason for taking the synthetic gem. While she was trying to figure it out, a voice from the water called, “Ahoy up there! ” For a moment the group was startled, but the newcomer proved to be the detective reporting for guard duty.

“Fine, fine! ” Captain Easterly boomed over the rail. “Now we can have a good night’s rest. But blow that whistle of yours if you need any help.”

The night proved to be peaceful, however. Refreshed and eager to start work, Nancy announced at breakfast that she had a hunch Captain Perry Rogers’ fabulous gift was still hidden aboard ship. She was sure if there had been anything else in the box of coins, except money, she would have seen it.

“If you don’t mind, Captain Easterly, I want to search your cabin further, ” Nancy said.

“Go right ahead. It wouldn’t surprise me if the place is full of treasures. I’ll keep guard on deck so none of those scoundrels can climb aboard again.”

Bess and George wanted to continue their search of the chart room. Nancy went off to the captain’s quarters and set about making a thorough investigation of the old, built-in desk.

The mellowed wood, the type of hardware, the many old marks and scratches, and the well-worn edges made Nancy feel sure that this was the original desk. Perry Rogers, captain of the Dream of Melissa, must have used it.

The desk was built with shelves at the top on which Captain Easterly kept a few books. Beneath them was a broad cover which could be lowered for a writing surface. When this was closed, it concealed many small compartments. The lower part of the desk had three large drawers.

Nancy’s attention was attracted to these drawers, which she pulled out and measured along the side of the desk.

The desk, she found, was several inches deeper than the drawers. Excited, Nancy reached to the back of the dusty openings. She felt the wood here and there.

In the back of the center drawer space, her fingers located a tiny panel. It moved!