Тайна загадочной лестницы [with w_cat]

[104] Half an hour later Dirk Jackson arrived. Nancy and the red-haired, former high-school tennis champion drove off to pick up another couple and attend an amateur play and dance given by the local Little Theater group.

[105] Nancy thoroughly enjoyed herself and was sorry when the affair ended. With the promise of another date as soon as she returned from Twin Elms, Nancy said good night and waved from her doorway to the departing boy. As she prepared for bed, she thought of the play, the excellent orchestra, how lucky she was to have Dirk for a date, and what fun it had all been. But then her thoughts turned to Helen Corning and her relatives in the haunted house, Twin Elms.

[106] "I can hardly wait for Monday to come," she murmured to herself as she fell asleep.

[107] The following morning she and her father attended church together. Hannah said she was going to a special service that afternoon and therefore would stay at home during the morning.

[108] "I'll have a good dinner waiting for you," she announced, as the Drews left.

[109] After the service was over, Mr. Drew said he would like to drive down to the waterfront and see what progress had been made on the new bridge. "The railroad is going ahead with construction on the far side of the river," he told Nancy.

[110] "Is the Wharton property on this side?" Nancy asked.

[111] "Yes. And I must get to the truth of this mixed-up situation, so that work can be started on this side too."

[112] Mr. Drew wound among the many streets leading down to the Muskoka River, then took the vehicular bridge across. He turned toward the construction area and presently parked his car. As he and Nancy stepped from the sedan, he looked ruefully at her pumps.

[113] "It's going to be rough walking down to the waterfront," he said. "Perhaps you had better wait here."

[114] "Oh, I'll be all right," Nancy assured him. "I'd like to see what's being done."

[115] Various pieces of large machinery stood about on the high ground—a crane, a derrick, and hydraulic shovels. As the Drews walked toward the river, they passed a large truck. It faced the river and stood at the top of an incline just above two of the four enormous concrete piers which had already been built.

[116] "I suppose there will be matching piers on the opposite side," Nancy mused, as she and her father reached the riverbank. They paused in the space between the two huge abutments. Mr. Drew glanced from side to side as if he had heard something. Suddenly Nancy detected a noise behind them.

[117] Turning, she was horrified to see that the big truck was moving toward them. No one was at the wheel and the great vehicle was gathering speed at every moment.

[118] "Dad!" she screamed.

[119] In the brief second of warning, the truck almost seemed to leap toward the water. Nancy and her father, hemmed in by the concrete piers, had no way to escape being run down.

[120] "Dive!" Mr. Drew ordered.

[121] Without hesitation, he and Nancy made running flat dives into the water, and with arms flailing and legs kicking, swam furiously out of harm's way.

[122] The truck thundered into the water and sank immediately up to the cab. The Drews turned and came back to the shore.

[123] "Whew! That was a narrow escape!" the lawyer exclaimed, as he helped his daughter retrieve her pumps which had come off in the oozy bank. "And what sights we are!" Nancy remarked.

[124] "Indeed we are," her father agreed, as they trudged up the incline. "I'd like to get hold of the workman who was careless enough to leave that heavy truck on the slope without the brake on properly."

[125] Nancy was not so sure that the near accident was the fault of a careless workman. Nathan Comber had warned her that Mr. Drew's life was in danger. The threat might already have been put into action!

[ 126 ] CHAPTER III. A Stolen Necklace.

[127] "WE'D better get home in a hurry and change our clothes," said Mr. Drew. "And I'll call the contracting company to tell them what happened."

[128] "And notify the police?" Nancy suggested.

[129] She dropped behind her father and gazed over the surrounding ground for telltale footprints. Presently she saw several at the edge of the spot where the truck had stood.

[130] "Dad!" the young sleuth called out. "I may have found a clue to explain how that truck started downhill."

[131] Her father came back and looked at the footprints. They definitely had not been made by a workman's boots.

[132] "You may think me an old worrier, Dad," Nancy spoke up, "but these footprints, made by a man's business shoes, convince me that somebody deliberately tried to injure us with that truck."