The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene

resumed her pursuit, going past the turn for River Heights. "If only I can overtake the truck and somehow examine the Crowley clock before I have to report to the police!" she thought.
    Again time elapsed and Nancy still saw no sign of a moving van on the highway. It was growing dusk and she decided that she would have to admit defeat.
    "I never caught up to them." She sighed in disappointment, and turning into the opposite lane, headed back for the River Heights road.
    Just then Nancy recalled that a little beyond the service station where she had stopped, she had noticed a rather run-down old inn. It was a slim hope, she knew, but the thieves might have put their van behind it while having a meal there.
    "I'll go in and ask, anyhow," she decided.
    Nancy increased her speed as much as she dared and within a few minutes came in sight of the inn. It stood back from the road a short distance and was half-hidden by tall trees. In front of the building a battered sign bearing the name Slack Horse Inn creaked back and forth from a post. There was no sign of the van. Beyond the inn Nancy glimpsed a garage and a large barn. The doors to both were closed.
    "I wonder," mused Nancy, "if the moving van is parked inside either one."
    At the far side of the inn was a small woods with a narrow road leading into it. For safety's sake, Nancy thought it best to park her car on this little-used road.
    She turned off the car lights, pocketed the key, and walked back to the curving driveway leading to the inn. As Nancy made her way forward, her heart pounded. There were tire marks which could belong to Sid's van I They led to the barn I
    "Maybe those thieves are eating," she thought. "I'll look."
    As Nancy stepped onto the porch, the sound of raucous laughter reached her ears. She tiptoed to a window and peered inside. What the young sleuth saw made her gasp, but she felt a glow of satisfaction.
    In a dingy, dimly lighted room three men were seated about a table, eating voraciously. They were the thieves who had robbed the Topham bungalow!
CHAPTER XV
Nancy's Risky Undertaking
    "I MUST notify the police at once!" Nancy told herself as she recognized the three thieves.
    Turning away from the window, she crept noiselessly from the porch. She was about to make a dash for her car when a sudden thought occurred to her.
    "If the gang have parked their van in the barn, now's my chance to look for the Crowley clock. I'm sure those men will be eating for a while, or they may even be staying overnight."
    Acting on the impulse, Nancy sprinted to her car. Hastily she snatched a flashlight from the compartment, since it was now dark outside.
    She made her way cautiously to the rear of the inn. Reaching the barn, she tried the closed doors, her heart pounding. They had not been locked!
    As she slid back one of the doors, it squeaked in an alarming fashion. Anxiously Nancy glanced toward the inn, but so far as she could tell, her actions were unobserved. There was no one in sight.
    Focusing her flashlight, she peered hopefully into the dark interior. A cry of satisfaction escaped her lips.
    In front of her stood the moving van!
    "What luck!" she exclaimed, snapping off her light.
    With a last cautious glance in the direction of the inn, she hastily stepped inside and closed the barn door. With it shut, the interior of the barn was pitch dark.
    Nancy switched on her flashlight again and played it over the moving van. She saw that its rear doors were closed.
    Securing a firm grip on the handle, she gave it a quick turn. To her dismay the door did not open. The thieves had locked the van!
    "Oh dear! Now what shall I do?" she wondered frantically. "I'll never be able to break the lock."
    Desperately Nancy glanced about. She dared not remain many minutes in the barn, lest the thieves return and find her there. But she had to find out whether the Crowley clock was in the van.
    "Perhaps the keys were left in the ignition," Nancy thought hopefully.
    She rushed to the