The Clue of the Broken Locket by Carolyn Keene Page B

believe you’re right, Nancy. But what can we do?”
    Nancy felt that for the present the girls should continue their search. George suggested that since they were not far from the house, they might look again for the iron bird. She pointed to part of a broken stone bench, partially covered with weeds. “This place evidently was a garden at one time,” she said. “Some ornamental bird might have been standing in it.”
    Cecily was eager to follow George’s hunch, so the girls, trampling the tall grass, pulled up matted vines and kicked aside small loose stones to see if they were concealing any object.
    Nancy had just pushed another stone out of the way, when the toe of her shoe hit something hard. She leaned over and saw that it was a protruding piece of rusty metal.
    Excitedly she dug around it with the heel of her shoe. The other girls came to assist. George found a stout tree branch and began to use it like a spade. Finally the girls were able to pull the object out of the ground.
    It was a tall graceful iron flamingo!
    “The iron bird!” Cecily exclaimed, gazing at the rusted ornament.
    The other three girls were excited. “Do you think the directions to your family fortune are still inside it?” Bess asked Cecily.
    With almost loving care, Cecily ran her hands over the neck and body of the bird. She failed to find any kind of an opening.
    “Let’s try the legs,” Nancy suggested.
    There was no indication of an opening on the legs themselves, but under the bird’s foot, the young sleuth thought she detected where a section had been soldered on.
    “We can never get this piece off here,” George stated. “Why don’t we carry the bird to the cottage and work on it?”
    Bess wondered about the advisability of taking the ornament off the property, but Cecily assured her that if it contained something belonging to her, she had every right to remove it, at least temporarily. So the four girls lifted the heavy iron flamingo and carefully descended toward the trail through the woods.
    “Whew!” said Bess. “This weighs a ton. I wish the boys would show up and help carry it.”
    The three youths after an unsuccessful search of the grounds had returned to the cottage. When they saw the girls approaching they ran out to greet them.
    “For Pete’s sake, where did you unearth that thing?” Dave asked with a grin. “Out of an underground passageway?”
    Nancy laughed and told the story. Cecily added that they wanted to pry open one of the bird’s feet.
    “We’re exhausted,” said Bess. “How about you muscle-men doing this little job?”
    Removing the soldered wedge was rather a difficult task. Finally, however, the boys did accomplish it, and Ned reached into the small opening and pulled out a piece of paper folded over many times. When it was laid flat on a table it proved to be a fairly long letter.
    Cecily began to read aloud: “ From Simon Delaroy, your brother.’ ”
    Cecily looked up excitedly. “This is to my great-great-grandfather—William!”
    She continued to read:
    “ ‘I am afraid Maryland will be invaded in the war that I know is coming, so, for reasons of safety, I have decided to divide the family fortune into two separate halves. If someone outside our family should find one half, the rest of the family will at least have the other. My dear William, your share I am putting in the corner cupboard in the kitchen. Besides money and some securities I am also including the family silver. This is what I have done: Broken our mother’s locket in two and sent half to you. Perhaps the locket will prove to be a talisman, and, though the worst may happen in the next year or so, someday the two halves of the family may find each other again. We fear that mail from the North will be opened, so I have enclosed only a brief note about the fortune in the locket. By the way, I have hidden my portion of our family treasure in the beach house because that is a place very easily concealed.’ ”
    As