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The Highway Trap






 

TERRY!

Nancy gasped in surprise and amusement.

“What’s the matter? ” As she hesitated in her reply, Ned asked, “You’re not backing down, are you? ”

“Oh no, ” Nancy assured him. She was tempted to reveal Terry’s age but decided the joke was too good to spoil. “I’m sure Professor Scott will be very pleasant company, ” she added. “See you Friday, Ned. Good-by now! ”

Immediately Nancy telephoned Terry and told him about Ned’s call. The young professor laughed heartily at the joke. He said he would be delighted to drive to Emerson with her on Friday.

Nancy now spoke of the obsidian half-key, saying that perhaps she should bring it along. Terry begged her to keep it.

“I haven’t given up hope you’ll agree to help me solve the mystery, ” he said.

After she had hung up, Mr. Drew confided to Nancy that he was fast losing any suspicion he might have had regarding Terry. But there were still points about Dr. Pitt’s disappearance which needed explaining.

“Maybe I’ll learn more over the weekend, ” Nancy said hopefully. “I’ll call on Dr. Anderson. He’s not far from Emerson.”

On Thursday Nancy busied herself with preparations for the weekend party. The next day proved to be a warm, sunny day, so Nancy decided to put down the top of her convertible. Promptly at eleven o’clock she pulled up in front of the Claymore Hotel. Terry was waiting.

Soon they were rolling along the wide highway toward Emerson College. It was not long before they found themselves once more discussing the mystery in Mexico.

“You’ve never told me much about Juarez Tino, ” Nancy said.

“That’s rather a long story, ” Terry answered. “Mind if I tell it while we have lunch? I’m starved.”

Nancy parked at an attractive roadside restaurant, near the brow of a hill, and they found a secluded table.

“I disliked Juarez Tino, ” Terry told her, “the first day I saw him. He was a shifty sort of fellow. According to his story, he was exploring a neighboring site. But he was always coming over to see what we were doing.

“He asked hundreds of questions, and prowled around our excavation ditches after dark to see if we’d left anything around. I was sure he was up to some deviltry.”

“Did the other professors distrust him, too? ”

“They didn’t suspect him in the same way I did. Dr. Pitt told me to ignore the fellow. I didn’t agree. It seemed to me that if we let Juarez hang around, sooner or later we’d have trouble on our hands.”

“Did you? ”

“One day I lost my temper. I told Juarez to keep out of our excavation. We had a regular set-to, and the upshot was that I ran him off the place.”

“Did you find out anything about him? ”

“Nothing very conclusive. He’d taken a few courses somewhere and had a smattering of this and that. His specialty was supposed to be ancient gems. But his reputation wasn’t good. There were rumors that he’d once tried to pass off some fake pieces.”

Nancy asked if Juarez had ever come back after he was chased away.

“Yes. Although he stayed out of my sight, he did plenty of snooping when he thought I wasn’t around. Once in a while I would get a glimpse of his wife.”

“What was she like? ”

The young man frowned. “You wouldn’t like her, Nancy. She wears loud clothes and always makes herself conspicuous. She has a bold manner, and her voice is harsh. In fact, her whole personality suggested just one thing to me—cruelty.”

Nancy thought, “This couple sounds equal to taking on almost any underhanded work! ”

As she and Terry stepped outdoors into the sunshine, she was not thinking of the dinner party at Emerson. She was wondering about Mrs. Juarez Tino and her husband. If Professor Pitt were in their clutches, he was not being treated well, she felt sure.

Nancy was about to step into her car when Terry touched her arm. “Look! ” he said in a low, tense voice. “Those two men up the hill—I think they’re spying on us.”

When Nancy turned her head to look, the pair, with hats pulled low over their faces, stepped hurriedly into a black sedan. The car quickly got under way and passed out of sight over the top of the hill.

“Those men ran the minute we looked at them, ” Terry said. “I wonder why they did that.”

“Did you recognize them? ” Nancy asked.

“No.”

“We’ll watch out for them, just the same, ” Nancy decided.

“I’ll feel better when we get to Emerson, ” Terry replied a bit nervously. “Perhaps you’d better speed up.”

Nancy shook off her somber mood and grinned mischievously. “Do you suppose your elderly nerves can stand the strain, Professor? ”

“Give them a try! ”

They stepped into her car and she started it rolling once more toward Emerson. The speedometer crept steadily higher, but Nancy did not overtake the two sinister-looking strangers in the black car. Finally she and Terry began to enjoy the flying landscape, the swift rush of wind, the dips and curves of the road.

Then suddenly—too late—they saw disaster just ahead. They had rounded a bend. Beyond was a wide repair ditch. Desperately Nancy wrenched the wheel to the left.

But she could not make it in time. There was a hurtling impact as the car nose-dived into the ditch! Nancy blacked out.


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