Thank you for your hard work. Too bad it ended the way it did. Now try the riverboat with the old sea Captain.

Nancy turned her head to ask her jogging companion a question, but he was gone as quickly as he had appeared!

Where? How? Nancy looked ahead, behind her, and to each side. He was not in sight. Nancy was mystified. There was no place anyone could hide. Even in the dusk, the white cape should have been spotted easily if it were anywhere nearby.

Oh, dear, Nancy thought. I guess I’ll have to follow his instructions and not worry now about the identity of the “family ghost.” She again called the police, but they obviously felt it was all too vague for them to follow up.

At home later she told her father the whole strange story, then asked him, “Dad, did you ever hear of a boat on our river run by an old sea captain? ”

Mr. Drew thought for several moments, then replied, “I seem to recall a story about a reclusive sea captain who docked his boat in the River Heights dock a long time ago. He was supposed to be quite a character.”

“Is he still alive? ” Nancy broke in.

Mr. Drew shook his head uncertainly. “I heard that a year or two ago the ship and its captain disappeared. It was thought he might have tried to get back to the Gulf.”

Nancy asked, “What kind of ship was it? ”

“I believe it was a steamer—called the Magnolia.”

“I wonder what the connection is between the ghost jogger’s message and the riverboat and captain. One thing’s for sure, there’s no time to waste if those children are to be rescued, but I can’t do it in the dark.”

Nancy phoned Bess and George. “Better eat a good breakfast tomorrow morning, ” she warned them. “We have some important sleuthing to do for those missing children! ”

“Let’s jog before we go, ” George suggested.

“Good idea, ” Nancy replied. “We can’t afford to miss a chance to run with the family ghost. He may appear during the day as well as the night. I’ll pick you up about seven A.M.”

To the girls’ disappointment the mysterious figure did not appear while they were at the track.

“I’m likely to lose some weight if we keep this up, ” Bess panted as they left the park.

“Marvin, the skeleton, ” George kidded her cousin, then reported that she had heard on a TV newscast that there was no new word about the missing children.

“If the police can’t find them, what chance do we have? ” Bess complained.

“You forget how we earned our fantastic reputation, ” George countered. “We have spirit and determination! ”

“And we have Nancy! ” Bess reminded her with a laugh.

As the three girls approached the river in Nancy’s car, George asked the young detective where she expected to pick up a clue.

“From a native riverman, ” Nancy replied. “Ned went camping once on Tall Tree Island and met a man named Pete who knows everything about the Muskoka River. We’ll try to track him down.”

“How are we going to get there? ” George asked. “Swim? ”

“I have a big surprise, ” was the answer, as she parked the car. “Follow me! ”

Nancy led the way to a boat rental dock and pointed to a sleek, maroon speedboat with white lettering that spelled Discoverer.

“Isn’t she a beauty? ” Nancy exclaimed.

“Don’t tell me, ” Bess remarked. “Let me guess. Your father bought it for you yesterday! ”

Nancy laughed. “Not quite, but he did rent if for a month or two, intending to use it for fun on the weekends.”

“She sure is gorgeous, ” George agreed. “And are we going to Florida in this? ”

Nancy enjoyed George’s humor. “Not yet. Only to Tall Tree Island. All aboard, mates! ”

The girls climbed in the sleek craft and soon the Discoverer was speeding across the river with Nancy at the wheel.

“Smooth as silk, ” Bess approved.

“I just wish we were on a pleasure trip instead of a search for lost children, ” George admitted.

The others agreed.

Following Ned’s directions, Nancy reached the small land mass with a coast of low trees. Just one tall pine rose from the center. At the edge of the group of trees stood a dock and small shack. A hound lay asleep in front of it, but at the sound of the Discoverer ’s motor, the dog raised his head, blinked one eye, stood up and gave a deep, throaty woof.

Instantly the door opened. A tall, thin man with oversized hands and feet stepped outside and shook his head as if he had just awakened. His wispy blond-gray hair swung from side to side, then settled into place.

“Some welcoming committee, ” Bess whispered with a grin.

“Good morning, ” Nancy said. “I’m sorry to bother you, but are you Pete, the famous riverman? ”

“That I am, ” he replied, a smile turning up his mouth. “And you’re no bother, either. Gets kinda lonely ’round here with just Sailor and me.” He patted the old hound affectionately. “Now, what can I do for you? ”

“I’ve been told, ” the girl detective replied, “that you could tell me about the legendary lost ship Magnolia. ”

“She ain’t lost, ” Pete said quickly. “There’s not a word o’ truth to that rumor. Certain folks just don’t want her whereabouts to be known.”

“Why? ”

“I dunno. Say, I wonder what shape the Magnolia ’s in these days. Rats and squirrels and birds coulda made a mess o’ that fine little steamer.”

“I wish we could find out, ” Nancy urged. “Is there any chance you could take us to her today? ”

Pete noted the three girls’ eager expressions. “Adventure-lovers, eh? ” he said with a grin. “I don’t see why I can’t, ” he continued, “but why don’t you ladies sit down for a spell and we’ll have a bite to eat before we set out.”

Bess, especially, was happy with this suggestion. Soon the foursome were enjoying a cool drink and fresh fruit, while Nancy told Pete the purpose of their search.

After the riverman tied his hound to a post, he put on a battered felt hat. Then he and the girls climbed into the Discoverer and headed downriver. A mile farther on Pete directed Nancy to enter a shadowy inlet.

She was a bit apprehensive. “Is this safe? ” she asked him. “How about tree roots or logs in the water that could foul up the Discoverer? ”

“If we keep in the channel we’ll be all right, ” Pete said, directing her carefully. Ten minutes later he called out, “Look ahead! Thar she be! ”

The girls stared. Moored to one side of the tree-lined riverbank was a small steamer. It had been painted white, but now most of the paint had chipped off and it looked like a forlorn derelict.

Bess spoke up. “I thought nobody lived on it. I think I see a light.”

“That’s mighty odd, ” Pete replied. “We’d better see who’s aboard.” Cupping his hands to his mouth, as the Discoverer drifted towards the steamer, he shouted, “Ship ahoy, Magnolia! ”

No one appeared on deck, but a stentorian voice boomed out, “Come any closer and you’ll regret it! ”

Bess was trembling. “Oh, Pete, let’s go back, ” she pleaded.

“Not yet, ” said George. “It’s just getting interesting! ”

Suddenly there was a scream inside the steamer. It was followed by a child’s voice. “Let go of me! I don’t want to stay here with you! I want to go home! ”

The girls stared at one another. Was this one of the missing children? Should Nancy and her small rescue party board the boat?

“It’s too dangerous, ” Bess declared. “Someone in the steamer might harm them—and us, too.”

Pete held up his hand to caution them. “Hold fast, ” he said. “You girls wait here. I’ll go aboard and find out what’s goin’ on.”

His offer came too late, Nancy was already quietly climbing up a rope ladder on the side of the Magnolia. She had almost reached an opening into the hold of the steamer when a man wearing a sea captain’s uniform leaned over the railing and ordered her to stop.

“What do you think you’re doing? ” he shouted. “Stay away from here! ”

Instead of obeying, she disappeared into the hold as a metal door dropped into place behind her.

I must get out of here fast, Nancy realized. Feeling around the walls in semi-darkness, she hunted for an inside door. The air was very heavy, which made it difficult for Nancy to breathe. She kept searching, however, and just as she was about to faint, her fingers felt a wooden bar.

Nancy lifted it and a heavy door swung open silently. Beyond stretched a corridor with several staterooms. The crew’s quarters, no doubt.

The excited young detective took several deep breaths of the fresher air, then scooted along the corridor to a stairway at the end.

Just before reaching it, Nancy heard the children again. “I won’t go! ” one screamed. The other cried out, “Mommy! Daddy! Where are you? Come and get us! ”

Nancy did not hesitate. She bounded up the steps into a galley, raced through a small dining area and into a lounge. She was just in time to see a small boy and girl carried out by two men. She raced after them into a narrow corridor that had an opening on one side with steps down to the water. The kidnappers were already halfway down the stairs.

Suddenly Nancy felt a presence behind her. Turning her head slightly, she caught a glimpse of white. The ghost jogger!

“Get your boat and follow me to the old boathouse, ” he whispered.

She debated a few seconds whether to obey or continue after the abductors, as the children were still screaming to be freed. Nancy decided she had better get some help.

She turned and speedily retraced her steps through the Magnolia to the outer door of the hold. To her relief, Pete stood in the opening, having reopened the door.

The two hurried down the rope ladder and jumped into the Discoverer. The girl detective quickly explained the situation while George kept the motor running. Pete took the wheel and sent the boat to the other side of the steamer.

Disappearing down the inlet was the kidnappers’ boat, with the ghost not far behind in another speedboat. Peter revved up the motor of the Discoverer, which then gradually caught up to the fleeing craft.

A race began down the inlet, with the ghost’s boat and Nancy’s side by side. She shouted across, “Who has the children? ”

“My Uncle John Clark. He’s determined to get some ransom money.”

“Who kidnapped the children? ” Nancy asked.

“I think he did or his pals.”

Nancy was confused.

“We mustn’t let Uncle John carry out his plan, ” and get away with all that money, ” the ghost continued. “We must stop him! ”

Nancy responded to the urgency of the situation immediately. “Pete, please can this boat go any faster? We must stay close! ” she cried out.

As the ghost boat shot ahead, the riverman speeded up the Discoverer. A few minutes later, the craft ahead turned sharply to the left and entered a large old boathouse.

As Pete followed, a corrugated metal door slammed down, landing just back of the cockpit. Nancy and Peter were cut off from Bess and George! They all tried to raise the door but in vain.

“Well, what now? ” Pete asked.

“I’m going to investigate this building, ” Nancy said. “If I’m not back in fifteen minutes, come and get me.”

She crawled across the flat prow of the Discoverer onto the aft deck of the ghost’s boat. The jogger had already left.

Alongside his boat lay the kidnappers’ craft. No one was aboard. Apparently, the children had been taken to the apartment on the second floor of the boathouse.

There was not a sound until a board overhead creaked. It was followed by a man’s stern command: “Stop where you are! You can’t scare me, you phony ghost! ”

“Not so phony now, ” the other replied. “You nicknamed me the family ghost because I was always appearing when you didn’t want me to. It’s a good thing I did.”

“Uncle John Clark, your deceitful game is up! ” the young man added. “You’ll never get the ransom money.”

“And who’s to stop me? ” Mr. Clark snarled. “You forget, I have the children.”

“But we want to go home, ” a child’s voice cried out.

Nancy spotted a stairway leading upward and noiselessly ascended it. Quickly she tried to formulate a plan to rescue the children safely. Was there time? She would need the ghost to help her. Of that she was sure.

Reaching the apartment, Nancy found herself in a tiny kitchen. Adjoining it was another small room with a wooden door made only of heavy, crisscrossed slats. Through the openings she could see the boy and girl. They shrank back upon seeing Nancy and were beginning to cry.

The girl detective put a finger to her lips, then smiled. “I’ve come to save you, ” she whispered to the youngsters soothingly. “Please don’t be afraid.”

“This door’s locked, ” the trembling boy explained quietly.

Nancy looked around carefully. She noticed a sturdy bar across the door on the outside and swung it back.

“Come on! Follow me! ” she directed the children, stretching out her arms.

She led the way down the stairs. To her delight, Pete had managed to raise the metal door of the boathouse. In seconds, Nancy and the two young children had climbed over to the Discoverer, where Bess and George were waiting when heavy footsteps clattered down the boathouse steps.

“Pete, take off! ” Nancy ordered.

Before he could back out, however, they heard a loud-sounding horn, and a Coast Guard patrol boat pulled into the boathouse behind the Discoverer and stopped abruptly. Two lieutenants stood up. A man and a woman behind them also stood up and exclaimed, “Our children! Tom! Sally! You’re all right! ”

Startled, the brother and sister looked back, then cried out, “Mommy! Daddy! ”

As the children started to scramble from one boat to the other, a heavyset man appeared at the foot of the stairway and shouted, “Stop! You can’t take those children until you pay me the reward money. I found them! ”

“You didn’t find them, you kidnapped them, ” another voice accused him angrily. “Uncle John, you’re an abductor and almost a thief as well! ”

The ghost! Only his hood was down now, and Nancy could see he was a rather handsome young man. He was standing up in his own boat. Turning toward the children’s parents, he said, “Don’t give Uncle John a nickel. I overheard him talking to his cronies and learned they had kidnapped the children. I promised myself right then and there that he wouldn’t get away with it. But I just couldn’t call the police. After all, he is my uncle and I was so afraid of a family scandal, I knew he would never actually harm the children. So I decided to get Nancy Drew’s help. I was afraid he’d figure out I was on to him, and so I couldn’t contact her out in the open. I had to wear a disguise. I didn’t want her to know who I was either, and hoped she’d fall for my act. I was right to enlist her help. She’s the best girl detective on land—or sea! ”

At that moment one of the Coast Guard lieutenants spoke up. “Miss Drew, your father became worried about you and your friends. When he called and told us of your riverman clue, we figured we’d better come out to find you. It’s lucky we all know old Pete, here, and are familiar with the landmarks in these waters.” Mr. Clark and his accomplices stood in disgusted silence as the police took them into custody for later questioning. The triumphant “ghost” watched as the children were happily reunited with their parents.

Tom and Sally called in loud voices, “Three cheers for Nancy Drew and her friends! ”

Nancy smiled at Bess and George, then saluted their riverman friend.

“We wouldn’t have this happy ending without our experienced captain, Pete. He helped the Discoverer really live up to its name! ”