The Mystery of the Fire Dragon (10 page)

“Yes,” said Bess. “But we just must save some time to buy clothes there.” Then she twinkled. “Do you suppose Ned will bring along a couple of dates for George and me?”

George grinned. “He probably will. But maybe you’d better go on a diet, Bess. Your huge appetite may frighten the boys away.”

The other girls laughed. “Oh,
George!”
What had started out to be a worrisome evening now took a turn of merriment. Nancy used the kitchen phone to call Lily Alys, and asked her to get plane reservations for the three girls in the tourist section of the Hong Kong flight.

“This is very exciting,” said the Chinese girl. “I hope you have a wonderful time and solve the mystery also. I shall find out at once about getting seats on the plane and call you back.”

For the second time that evening Nancy received good news. The three seats were available. Lily Alys told Nancy where at the university she could pay for the reservations.

“There is only one possible worry,” the Chinese girl said. “If any Columbia students wish to make last-minute reservations, you will have to give up the seats.”

“I understand,” said Nancy. To herself, she added that she would cross her fingers!

Bess and George declared they too fervently hoped that their trip to Hong Kong would not have to be canceled. As the girls prepared for bed, they discussed the clothes they would need.

“I guess,” Nancy decided, “the clothes we have with us will be plenty for the trip. We’ll be buying more abroad, anyhow.”

“Isn’t it fortunate that we all had vaccinations recently?” Bess said happily.

“It certainly is,” Nancy agreed. “And I’ve heard that it’s possible to obtain passports right here in New York in case of emergency! I’m sure Captain Gray will certify to the emergency for us.”

As Aunt Eloise and her three guests were preparing breakfast in the kitchen the next morning, Nancy said, “I’d like to go to Chinatown once more and see if I can pick up any further clues in the mystery.”

“Suppose we go this evening and have dinner,” Miss Drew suggested. “There is a delightful restaurant only two doors from that shop where you found the fire-dragon stationery, Nancy.”

This plan was agreed upon. The group decided to arrive promptly at six o’clock, since Aunt Eloise said that all the food was cooked to order and there would be a long wait.

“I want to visit that stationery store again,” Nancy said. “I know it’s open in the evening. While we’re waiting for dinner to be cooked, I can go there and talk to the proprietor. Maybe some of the gang have been in his shop again.”

At exactly six o’clock Nancy and her friends entered the attractive restaurant. All the Chinese and American diners were eating their food with chopsticks.

“I’ll never be able to manage that and get enough to eat!” Bess said. Her companions laughed.

Aunt Eloise and the girls ordered Peking duck and bean sprouts which were to follow birds’-nest soup.

“And now if you’ll excuse me a few minutes,” said Nancy, “I’ll just walk over to the stationery store.”

Nancy went out to the narrow sidewalk and turned toward the shop. As she passed the next store, with apartments above it, an object came hurtling down toward her.

The next second it hit Nancy squarely on the back of the head. She fell to the pavement, unconscious!

AS NANCY lay unconscious on the sidewalk, people began to run from all directions to assist her. The excitement was heard in the restaurant. Aunt Eloise, Bess, and George dashed outside.

“Oh, Nancy!” her aunt cried, hurrying to her side. “What happened?” she asked the bystanders.

A Chinese man pointed to a large, broken flowerpot on the pavement. “This apparently fell on the young lady. Can I be of help to you?”

“It is pretty chilly out here,” Aunt Eloise said. “I think we should carry my niece into the restaurant.”

By this time Nancy’s eyelids were fluttering. Bess and George sighed in relief, sure she would be all right. George decided to stay outside as strong arms carried Nancy to the restaurant.

“Bess, I’m going to find out how this flowerpot happened to fall,” George declared, holding her cousin back. “Maybe it toppled off a window sill accidentally, but on the other hand it might have been thrown deliberately.”

Bess nodded grimly. She looked upward above the store front and said, “There’s a light in the second-floor apartment, but not in the third.”

“I think we should investigate both places.” George spoke with determination.

She picked up a piece of newspaper which had been dropped on the sidewalk and scooped up the plant and the earth. The two girls opened a door to the apartment stairway and ascended. They rang the bell to the second-floor flat. It was opened by a Chinese woman who looked at Bess and George curiously.

“Yes, please?” she asked.

“Does this plant belong to you?” George asked. “It fell from up here, somewhere.”

“No, it is not mine,” the woman answered. “Do you know where it came from?” Bess queried.

“I cannot say,” the Chinese answered. “But my neighbor upstairs has one like it.”

“Then perhaps it fell from her window,” George suggested.

“No, oh no,” the woman said. “Mrs. Lin Tang is not at home. She has gone away to visit relatives.”

George asked if anyone else lived in the apartment upstairs who might be at home. The woman shook her head. Then, looking intently at the girls, she said, “I
did
hear someone coming down the stairs. But when I heard the excitement on the street, I ran to look out and forgot about the foot-steps until now.”

“Did you see anyone leave this building?” George queried.

“No, I am sorry. I did not.”

“Let’s go upstairs and see if one of your neighbor’s plants is missing,” Bess proposed to the woman.

The three hurried up the stairway to the third floor, but the door to the apartment there was closed and locked.

“The intruder must have had a skeleton key and let himself in,” George remarked. “Let’s go back to the street and find out if anyone saw a person coming from the front entrance.”

The Chinese woman said she would take the plant and repot it. The two girls thanked her and hurried down to the sidewalk. They began asking the people still standing around if they had noticed anyone leaving the apartment, but all said no.

Bess and George then returned to the restaurant and were delighted to see that Nancy was fully conscious. She was lying on a couch in the private office of the owner. The room contained many lovely Chinese decorations.

“Hi, girls!” she said, but the cousins noticed that she was very pale and her voice sounded weak.

“I’m so thankful the accident was no worse,” Aunt Eloise said. “But we’re going home. Mr. Wong, the owner, has kindly consented to pack our dinner to take with us. We’ll eat it in the apartment. Nancy should go right to bed.”

At that moment the outer door of the restaurant suddenly burst open and a group came directly into the office. A red-haired man was being hauled in by a policeman and two Chinese men. Nancy sat up.

The officer began to speak. “These two men”— he indicated the Chinese—“say this man ran from the building after the accident. They had seen the flowerpot hurtle down and thought he might have tossed it on purpose, so they went after him. I was on the corner and took up the chase. Have any of you ever seen him before?”

“I’ll say I have!” George declared. “He tried to kidnap me once!”

“And me another time!” Bess added.

“What!” the policeman exclaimed.

“You’re crazy!” the prisoner shouted. “I never saw these girls before in my life!”

“Perhaps you don’t recognize me,” George said with a bitter smile. “The last time you saw me, you thought I was Chi Che Soong.”

The man started perceptibly, but he kept up his bluster. “Officer, this is ridiculous. I admit I was in the apartment house. I went to the third floor to visit the people there but nobody was at home. I don’t know anything about a flowerpot. You have no right to hold me.”

“Yes he has,” Bess spoke up. “My friend Nancy Drew and I were trailing you that day you tried to kidnap my cousin. You found out from the driver of the stolen car that you had grabbed the wrong girl. Then you jumped into the car alone and raced off with the driver. We found out later you had stolen the car.”

“There’s not a word of truth in what she’s saying,” the prisoner insisted. “I’m leaving!”

“You’d better not even try,” the policeman told him firmly. “Is there anything else you girls can tell me about this man?”

Nancy answered. “Everything my friends have said really happened, Officer. Also, the driver who was waiting for this man told him he had phoned to somebody named Ryle.” She turned to the prisoner. “Who is he?”

“I don’t know anybody by that name,” the man replied defiantly.

“Suppose you tell us
who you
are,” the policeman prompted.

The man refused to talk, so the officer went through his pockets. He pulled out a wallet and opened it. It contained a driver’s license issued to Ferdinand Breen.

“I think we have enough evidence to hold you, Breen,” the officer stated.

“If you don’t,” George spoke up, “here is something else. We heard that the man named Ryle and a companion were trying to sell some jade that was thought to have been smuggled into this country.”

Once more the prisoner jumped and gave George an angry look. But he said nothing.

The policeman asked to use the desk telephone. Mr. Wong nodded and the officer called for a patrol car. Soon it arrived and the prisoner was led away.

“I’m sorry that you have had this unpleasant interruption in your business,” Aunt Eloise apologized to Mr. Wong.

“I am always glad to see law and order carried out.” The restaurant owner bowed. “Please, Miss Drew, do not let the matter disturb you. The package containing your dinner is ready. I have called a taxi and it is waiting at the door.”

“Thank you very much,” Aunt Eloise and the girls said, as Nancy arose and they walked out. Nancy added, “I spoiled our little party, but someday I shall come back.”

Mr. Wong smiled and said he was glad to hear this. As soon as they reached Aunt Eloise’s apartment, Nancy had some hot tea and went to bed. Soon she was sound asleep. After the others had eaten the delicious Chinese food, George said, “It isn’t too late. Bess, let’s go to the hospital and see Grandpa Soong. Maybe we can cheer him up.”

“You’re not going to tell him what happened today?” Miss Drew asked quickly.

“Oh, no,” George replied.

“All right,” Aunt Eloise said. “But please take a taxi both ways for safety.”

The two girls promised to do so and left. Aunt Eloise went to the telephone and called Captain Gray to relay the Chinatown incident. He told her he had just read of Breen’s arrest on the police teletype. The officer inquired solicitously about Nancy’s health and was relieved to hear she had not been severely injured. “I am going to talk to the prisoner right now,” he said.

Bess and George reached the hospital only twenty minutes before visiting hours would be over.

The cousins were shocked when they saw Grandpa Soong. He was very listless and pale. A nurse who was in the room told them he had eaten practically nothing that day.

“I am not hungry,” the Chinese said weakly. “I am greatly worried about my Chi Che.”

The nurse stepped from the room and both George and Bess tried to bolster the man’s lagging spirits by remarking that Chi Che probably was having a delightful time with her friends. To their amazement the elderly man shook his head.

“At first I believed that what Chi Che wrote was true,” he said. “But now I am sure something has happened to her. We must have enemies—I do not know why. For a while I thought Chi Che was being held until the thief who took my manuscript could accomplish that evil deed. Then she would return. But she has not come back.”