All this time Bess remained silent. It was clear, however, she was becoming impatient. “Why don’t you open the box, Old Joe?”
The naturalist fingered the metal container lovingly. He smiled with tears in his eyes. “I’m almost afraid to open it,” he mumbled quietly.
Ned told him that the boys would help lift the rusted lid. Did he have tools they could use? Old Joe pointed to a drawer where Ned found a chisel, a wedge, and a hammer. He used them to pry up the lid while Burt and Dave pushed as hard as they could with their fingers to spring the cover loose. Finally it gave way.
Old Joe peered inside. “Money!” he exclaimed in disbelief. “A lot of it! My father did outwit his enemy!”
Nancy was staring too. “And there are a lot of papers. They must be important messages from your father.”
The elderly man’s hand shook as he lifted out the first one. It was a long letter. He gave it to Nancy.
“Please read it for me. All of you have been so helpful to me the least—the least—”
He broke off, faintly whispering, and slumped back onto his pillow.
“Old Joe!” Nancy cried, letting the paper fall to the floor.
The other young people crowded around the stricken man while Nancy felt his pulse. “It’s very weak,” she said. “Bess, please dampen that towel on the sink and bring it to me.”
“Sure, Nancy.”
George, in the meantime, stroked Old Joe’s forehead. It felt cold and clammy.
“Please wake up,” she murmured gently.
Within seconds Old Joe’s eyes blinked open. A smile spread slowly across his face. “I’m all right,” he said hoarsely. “Now help me sit up, will you?”
“Maybe you ought to lie there a little bit longer,” Nancy said, patting his face with the wet cloth.
“But I feel fit as a fiddle.” Old Joe grinned mischievously. “We’ll compromise. You read the letter and I’ll sit back. How’s that?”
“Okay, if you insist,” Nancy said. “But please promise to take a nap when I finish.”
The man nodded. “Of course. After all, I don’t have any plans to go wild boar hunting right this minute,” he teased. “Now don’t keep me in suspense any longer.”
Without waiting another second, Nancy picked up the intriguing letter and read:
Dear Son:
This will come as a great surprise to you. At first you are not going to believe it, but I assure you it really happened to me.
Once I came up to the forest by myself. That one time, an unearthly light suddenly appeared, approaching at tremendous speed from far off in the sky. I finally realized it was a flying object of some sort. To my amazement it slowed down and landed in Dismal Swamp.
It was a flying saucer!
I rushed to take a close look at it—though the swamp smelled so bad it was overpowering. I heard a voice inside my head giving me orders. That was all I could hear—nothing out loud. The craft flew away almost as soon as it got here. I was terrified. At first I convinced myself that I must be dreaming. The silent voice warned me not to reveal the secret to anyone. Then the voice said the flying saucer would return to earth in ten years!
Old Joe exclaimed, “That’s this year!”
The young people checked the date on the letter and confirmed it.
“Incredible!” Dave said.
“Go on, Nancy!” George begged.
The girl sleuth continued:
My son, you may wonder why I buried this information in a tree and carved an Indian’s head on it. Now you will be amazed to hear what else I have to say.
I never told you that your mother was a full-blooded Indian. She belonged to a small tribe of the Shawnee nation that used to live in this mountaintop forest. You had an older brother who looked just like her. He was mysteriously kidnapped, and I am sure he was taken away by the Indians, who did not approve of me.
Old Joe’s eyes bulged. “An Indian brother! Shawnee!” he cried. “Now I’ll never know who he was.”
When exclamations of astonishment ended in murmurs, Nancy went on reading the letter.
Two years later you were born. Tragically, your mother died a few hours later. You showed no Indian traits. You look like me. I thought I never wanted you to find out about your mother and brother, but now I believe that in all fairness to you the truth should come out.
Old Joe interrupted to ask, “Does it say what my brother’s name was?”
Nancy felt a lump in her throat. As she had been reading, a suspicion had entered her mind. She went on:
Your brother’s name was Shoso.
“What!” Old Joe exclaimed. Everyone in the room except Nancy was stunned by the revelation.
Nancy said, “Come to think of it, Shoso and Old Joe do have the same build, and I noticed that their hands are almost identical. The main difference is in the color of their skin and Shoso’s Indian face and hair.”
Excitement ran high as everyone wondered if perchance Shoso knew the Austin family secret. Was this why he stayed in the forest?
“We must find him at once!” the naturalist announced.
Ned spoke to him calmly. “But how? We have no idea where he may be. We’ll make a search, but he has never left a trail we could follow.”
While Ned spoke, Nancy noticed another paper folded at the bottom of the box, and said, “More of the secret about your family may be revealed in this.”
The elderly man leaned forward to pick it up and spread the paper on his lap. He looked at it for several seconds without speaking.
George, eagerly awaiting an answer, asked him, “What does the paper say?”
Old Joe explained that his father had written down a number of Shawnee Indian words. “Opposite them is the English translation,” he said. He ran his finger down the list and exclaimed, “Here’s the word for older brother! It’s Ntheetha!”
He repeated the word several times as if trying to memorize it. “I hope I’m pronouncing it right,” he said.
At this moment they all heard a noise outside the cabin. Slowly the door swung open. To their amazement Shoso was standing there!
At once Old Joe got up from the bed and hobbled across the floor, his arms outstretched in greeting.
“Shoso! Ntheetha!”
20
UFO Capture
A touching scene followed as Old Joe, forgetting his injured foot, hurried toward his newfound brother.
“Shoso!” he exclaimed happily.
The Indian in turn held out his hand, then pointed to himself, and said, “Ntheetha!”
None of the young people spoke as the men clasped each other around the shoulders and touched cheeks, first on one side, then on the other. Finally they backed apart, staring at each other in silence. Old Joe’s face broke into a great smile and in response his blood brother grinned, too.
All this time Trixie stood quietly, her ears bent forward as she watched the reunion. Now, apparently feeling it was her turn to greet Shoso, the dog barked and jumped around. First she licked Old Joe’s hands, then those of Shoso. Then she sat up between the two, waving her front paws.
The brothers patted the dog while Nancy and her friends laughed. Ned noticed a bone lying on a shelf. He picked it up.
“Okay to give this to Trixie?” he asked.
“Go ahead,” Old Joe replied.
He went back to the bed and sat down with a sigh of relief. Nancy and George helped him ease back against his pillow.
“Are you feeling all right?” Nancy asked.
“Yes, yes,” he insisted. “I guess the news kind of took my breath away for a minute.”
Old Joe now picked up the sheet with the translated words. Using them, he spoke to Shoso. The Indian smiled at him and bobbed his head understandingly.
“Look how happy Shoso is,” Bess whispered to her cousin. “Isn’t it wonderful?”
“It’s great,” George said.
Nancy lowered her voice as she motioned to her group. “I think we should let these two brothers become better acquainted.”
Everyone agreed. The young people said good-bye to the men.
On the way out Nancy stopped to speak to Old Joe. “Please thank Shoso for bringing us those healing leaves. Ned and I and the scientists at camp are grateful to him. He may well be responsible for some wonderful new medical discovery.”
The naturalist smiled. “It’ll be hard to get your message across using the few words on this paper, but I promise to try,” he said. “Good luck to you in solving the mystery of the flying saucer. Just remember—if I or Shoso can be of any help, let us know.”
When the young people reached camp, Mr. Drew, Jan, Hal, and the scientists crowded around to hear the results of their search. All were amazed to learn not only of the treasure hunt but also the surprising story of the two brothers. “I must remember to call my friends the Dana Girls and tell them the outcome of all this,” Nancy said, making a mental note.
“This is all absolutely fantastic,” Jan remarked.
Hal added, “It certainly is. As a matter of fact, it’s probably the greatest secret this old mountain has ever had!”
Professor Hendricks, the botanist, spoke up. “I’m not so sure that’s true, however.”
The scientist told his spellbound audience that Shawniegunk Mountain was filled with secrets. “We have men searching all over the place. This is a very special forest, indeed. It is a natural pharmacy filled with rare, unspoiled medicinal plants.”
Nancy asked, “What is there besides the leaves Shoso gave us?”
Professor Hendricks replied, “The place is brimming with roots, plants, and leaves that are found sparsely in various parts of the world. Some are nerve medicines. The sap of one tree, if swallowed, is known to give instant relief for heart palpitations. We plan to take samples of these curative plants and herbs and grow them in quantity in other places.”
Hal remarked, “It seems incredible that nobody has developed all this stuff.”
This gave Nancy an idea. She said to Professor Hendricks, “I’m sure Shoso knows a lot about these plants. He might be a great help to you. Probably Old Joe will teach him to speak English and also keep him from disappearing all the time.”
The botanist said he would appreciate the Indian’s help. “I doubt, though, that he would ever want to leave this place. From what you’ve told me, I assume this is his ancestral home.”
The day’s happenings continued to be the topic of conversation throughout the evening meal. The group had just finished their supper when suddenly a glow of lights flashed brilliantly across the darkened sky. Then came a tremendous rush of wind that shook everything in sight.
“The flying saucer is coming back!” Nancy gulped. “I don’t believe it! Oh, how wonderful!”
Bess was fearful. She had experienced one similar windstorm and did not relish another. She cried out, “Be careful, everybody!”
The others in the camp paid no attention. They were too eager to watch the landing of the mystery ship. Everyone grabbed a flashlight or big camp lantern, and all made their way down the path to Dismal Swamp. They decided, however, not to use the horses and draw attention to themselves.
By the time the group reached the vicinity of the marsh, they saw the flying saucer overhead. It was vibrating convulsively and did not descend at once.
“The saucer must be in some trouble!” Nancy exclaimed.
As the campers watched, all the lights on the ship went out.
“Something is certainly wrong,” Ned remarked. “Maybe it’s antigravitational beams aren’t working.”
Within seconds the flying saucer dived for earth and crash-landed in the swamp. The next moment the craft turned on its side.
Dave said, “I hope it won’t explode. Maybe we’d better get out of the way.”
Everyone except Nancy and her father took his advice and ran into the woods a short way. The girl detective and her father did not move but watched the ship more curious than ever. It did not explode.
Bess, in the meantime, though still wary, edged back toward Nancy. “All we need is for it to catch on fire,” she told the others. “Or rather, that’s all we don’t need.”
Nothing happened to the spaceship and the campers descended once more to play their flashlights and lanterns on the mystery craft. It seemed as if the ship had died.
“Now what do we do, Nancy?” George asked.
Before the girl detective could reply, they heard another aircraft coming. Was it a backup flying saucer trying to help its sister ship out of trouble?
As the new craft appeared, the onlookers were puzzled. It was not the shape of the traditional round flying saucer, but was cylindrical, and on one side in large letters the word OPTIMUM was painted. The ship came down like a helicopter next to the disabled flying saucer.
“Wow! What a sight!” Ned exclaimed.
All the onlookers turned their flashlights on the ship. They saw the outline of a door. In a few seconds it opened and steps were lowered to the ground.
A man appeared in the doorway. He was wearing a uniform and the silver eagles of a United States Air Force colonel.
Mr. Drew stared at him, then exclaimed, “Colonel Aken!”
Nancy was dumbfounded. “You know him, Dad? The aircraft belongs to our country?”
“Yes, dear,” her father answered, then walked forward to greet the colonel. As he came down the steps, several other airmen appeared. The campers moved ahead and everyone was introduced to the special group of Air Force men chosen to fly the
Optimum.
Bess admired one young man who was blond and husky like Dave. “Isn’t he cute?” she murmured in George’s ear.
Dave pulled Bess by the hand toward Colonel Aken and Mr. Drew.
Nancy’s father admitted he was surprised to see his friend in Dismal Swamp. “How did you happen to come here?” he asked.
Colonel Aken explained that when Mr. Drew had contacted the head of the Air Force and recounted Nancy’s work on the flying saucer mystery, he was chosen to investigate.