The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes by Carolyn Keene Page B

just over a ridge? The young detective began to recall various incidents and finally a startling thought entered her mind. Was that particular tune, by any chance, played whenever she was around? “And could it possibly be piped by Mr. Dewar to let his partners know I’m in the area?” Nancy mused.
    Her three friends had not noticed the bagpipe music, which ended abruptly. She quickly told them about it. “I’d like to climb the mountain and look for clues to that mysterious piper!”

    “The red-bearded man again!” Bess cried out
    At once Bess said, “You might be walking right into a trap!”
    Nancy smiled. “If you’ll all come with me, there shouldn’t be any danger.”
    George said practically, “That’s the only way I’d let you go.”
    Presently the girls told the other campers where they were going and started off. The climb was hot and arduous, so there was little conversation. Nancy and Fiona forged ahead, but Bess and George did not make such good time. Finally Bess caught up. “Where’s George?” Nancy asked.
    Bess replied that her cousin had wanted to take a faster route to the ridge. “She wouldn’t wait.”
    At that moment the trio heard George scream. They whirled about and gasped in horror. A short distance away on the mountainside George was just being given a hard push by the stranger who had forced their car into the water.
    “The red-bearded man again!” Bess cried out.
    His shove knocked George to the ground. The next moment she started rolling down the steep slope head over heels! Her assailant fled toward a shoulder of the mountaintop!

CHAPTER XV
    The Phantom Piper
     
     
     
    NANCY and Bess lost no time in scrambling after George, who was now rolling and tumbling rapidly down the mountainside.
    Fortunately, a short distance below, the ground leveled off slightly. By digging in her heels, George managed to stop her descent. When the two girls reached her, Nancy asked anxiously, “Are you hurt?”
    Before George could reply, Bess spoke up. “Is she hurt! Look at all those scratches! We must get you to a doctor right away, George.”
    “Don’t be silly,” George said firmly. “I feel as if I’d just had a good beating, but there’s nothing more serious the matter with me.”
    She stood up, and with the other girls’ help, brushed off as much dirt as she could.
    “When we get back down, I’ll have a good old cleanup in the river. Then I’ll be fine.” George scowled. “I’d like to catch that red-haired fellow who pushed me!”
    Suddenly all three girls realized that Fiona had not followed Nancy and Bess. She was nowhere in sight, and when Nancy called there was no answer.
    At once the girls became fearful. Had the red-bearded stranger tried to injure her, too?
    “I’m going back up and find Fiona!” Nancy declared.
    The cousins insisted upon going too, and the three hastened to the shoulder. Several times they called Fiona’s name, but got no response.
    Just then Nancy, standing at the highest point, saw Fiona some distance down the far slope, at the edge of a forested section. She acted as if she were trying to hide from someone.
    Nancy waved the cousins on, then went toward Fiona. Reaching the Scottish girl’s side, Nancy asked her what had happened.
    Fiona smiled. “Maybe you’re teaching me to be a detective,” she said. “Anyway, I figured that since the red-bearded man was running in this direction, maybe he had come from this side of Ben Nevis. I thought I might spot him.”
    “Did you?” Nancy asked, as Bess and George walked up.
    Fiona shook her head. “I didn’t see Mr. Redbeard, but I want you all to look down there.” She pointed.
    In a narrow glen below them was a flock of sheep. Fiona said she had seen a shepherd there a few minutes before, but now he was gone.
    “It is most unusual for any shepherd not to have a collie with him,” she said. “It occurred to me that the man I saw might be an impostor, and the sheep have been stolen and