Bunces followed in their car.”
“By any chance do you know the license number of the Bunces’s car?” Nancy asked the woman.
“Funny you should ask that and I can say yes. I remember it because the letters in it happen to be my initials and the numbers are the reverse of those on my car.” She gave the full license number.
“Thank you very much,” Nancy said. “And now please excuse me. I must hurry inside and make a phone call.”
She dashed into the house and dialed her father. “Oh, Dad, we’ve missed again!” she said woefully. “But here’s the Bunces’s license number. Perhaps you can check to whom it was issued and maybe the police can stop the car before it disappears.”
Mr. Drew said he would check the name of the owner. As for stopping the couple on the road, he had no right to ask this.
“We have no concrete evidence against Mr. Bunce, nothing but suspicions,” he reminded his daughter. “But I’ll let you know what I find out.”
When Nancy finished talking, Bess asked, “Do you mind if I use your car? I have some errands to do downtown. Marketing—and I must buy more cat food for the pets.”
“Go ahead,” Nancy replied.
Nancy went upstairs to say good morning to Miss Carter and brief her on the latest event. The actress was astonished at the news.
“Well, if Bunce was the tapper,” she said, “then we won’t hear him again. Maybe it’s just as well that he’s gone. He hated my cats, anyway.”
A few minutes later George joined them and the two girls went to dust their rooms. Nancy stopped to talk to her friend while George made her bed.
“Listen!” she said suddenly.
This time the strange sound was not tapping. It was more like a weird plaintive wail.
Both girls stood still. Nancy pointed upward and whispered, “Something or somebody is in the attic!”
The girls tiptoed to the door of the third-floor stairway. It was open a few inches. They paused a moment, then started up the steps. Wondering what they would find, the girls stood at the top of the stairs and stared ahead.
The queer sounds were coming from inside the wooden mummy case, which was wobbling back and forth!
CHAPTER XVI
Telltale Handprints
WITH cautious steps Nancy and George approached the wobbling mummy case. It was locked on the outside.
The wailing within had now intensified. Had a person been imprisoned? Yet the sounds did not seem human.
Taking a long breath, Nancy opened the latch on the mummy case. A wild-eyed Persian cat leaped out!
“Oh!” the girls exclaimed.
Then Nancy and George began to laugh. George said, “Boy, I’m something! I can’t tell the difference between a cat and a ghost!”
Apparently the cat had been imprisoned for some time and refused to quiet down. Even though Nancy held out a friendly hand, the Persian would not come near her.
“How in the world did it get up here?” George asked. “Somebody must have deliberately locked it in the mummy case. But who?”
“It’s a good thing that case isn’t airtight,” Nancy said.
“Do you suppose,” George asked, “the tapper put the cat in there for spite?”
Nancy shook her head. “I’m sure he has nothing against Miss Carter or the cat. Possibly he has stolen some, but I think his main objective in coming here is to find valuable objects hidden in this house.”
George wondered if Mr. and Mrs. Woonton, having such an unpredictable son, had secreted some of their valuables. “Gus may have figured his parents forgot to take them along when they moved, and he is now trying to locate the pieces and perhaps sell them. Or does he know his parents are dead and he has come to get the articles?”
“It’s a good hunch,” Nancy replied. “Here’s another idea. Remember the threat in Gus’s diary of getting square with his guardians? Maybe he managed to get out of the secret room at times and hid the articles to make the guardians seem like thieves. And now he’s back to collect them.”
All this time
“By any chance do you know the license number of the Bunces’s car?” Nancy asked the woman.
“Funny you should ask that and I can say yes. I remember it because the letters in it happen to be my initials and the numbers are the reverse of those on my car.” She gave the full license number.
“Thank you very much,” Nancy said. “And now please excuse me. I must hurry inside and make a phone call.”
She dashed into the house and dialed her father. “Oh, Dad, we’ve missed again!” she said woefully. “But here’s the Bunces’s license number. Perhaps you can check to whom it was issued and maybe the police can stop the car before it disappears.”
Mr. Drew said he would check the name of the owner. As for stopping the couple on the road, he had no right to ask this.
“We have no concrete evidence against Mr. Bunce, nothing but suspicions,” he reminded his daughter. “But I’ll let you know what I find out.”
When Nancy finished talking, Bess asked, “Do you mind if I use your car? I have some errands to do downtown. Marketing—and I must buy more cat food for the pets.”
“Go ahead,” Nancy replied.
Nancy went upstairs to say good morning to Miss Carter and brief her on the latest event. The actress was astonished at the news.
“Well, if Bunce was the tapper,” she said, “then we won’t hear him again. Maybe it’s just as well that he’s gone. He hated my cats, anyway.”
A few minutes later George joined them and the two girls went to dust their rooms. Nancy stopped to talk to her friend while George made her bed.
“Listen!” she said suddenly.
This time the strange sound was not tapping. It was more like a weird plaintive wail.
Both girls stood still. Nancy pointed upward and whispered, “Something or somebody is in the attic!”
The girls tiptoed to the door of the third-floor stairway. It was open a few inches. They paused a moment, then started up the steps. Wondering what they would find, the girls stood at the top of the stairs and stared ahead.
The queer sounds were coming from inside the wooden mummy case, which was wobbling back and forth!
CHAPTER XVI
Telltale Handprints
WITH cautious steps Nancy and George approached the wobbling mummy case. It was locked on the outside.
The wailing within had now intensified. Had a person been imprisoned? Yet the sounds did not seem human.
Taking a long breath, Nancy opened the latch on the mummy case. A wild-eyed Persian cat leaped out!
“Oh!” the girls exclaimed.
Then Nancy and George began to laugh. George said, “Boy, I’m something! I can’t tell the difference between a cat and a ghost!”
Apparently the cat had been imprisoned for some time and refused to quiet down. Even though Nancy held out a friendly hand, the Persian would not come near her.
“How in the world did it get up here?” George asked. “Somebody must have deliberately locked it in the mummy case. But who?”
“It’s a good thing that case isn’t airtight,” Nancy said.
“Do you suppose,” George asked, “the tapper put the cat in there for spite?”
Nancy shook her head. “I’m sure he has nothing against Miss Carter or the cat. Possibly he has stolen some, but I think his main objective in coming here is to find valuable objects hidden in this house.”
George wondered if Mr. and Mrs. Woonton, having such an unpredictable son, had secreted some of their valuables. “Gus may have figured his parents forgot to take them along when they moved, and he is now trying to locate the pieces and perhaps sell them. Or does he know his parents are dead and he has come to get the articles?”
“It’s a good hunch,” Nancy replied. “Here’s another idea. Remember the threat in Gus’s diary of getting square with his guardians? Maybe he managed to get out of the secret room at times and hid the articles to make the guardians seem like thieves. And now he’s back to collect them.”
All this time
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