The Clue Of The Tapping Heels Part 26

Ned carried it over. The chest proved to be fairly heavy. Miss Carter lifted the lid and everyone exclaimed in surprise at the contents. There was a quant.i.ty of beautiful jewelry and several carefully wrapped, priceless figurines.

"Maybe we should turn these over to the police," Miss Carter suggested.

Nancy requested that she not do so immediately. "I'm sure that somebody will be back here to get them. Why don't we return them to your big chest and then set up a twenty-four-hour watch?"

CHAPTER XIX.

An Unexpected Solution

EVERYONE was eager to help Nancy trap whoever might come for the Woonton jewels. But Toby Simpson said he would have to be excused. He had been up late the night before and must rise early Monday morning for a rehearsal.

"It's rather a long drive to my place so I must go," the actor told them. "But I wish all of you luck this time in capturing the thief. I'll ask Violette to phone me the outcome."

After he had left, the couples talked over the vantage points where they would station themselves. George was so sure the secret room had something to do with the entry of the tapper that she requested a post there.

"All right," Nancy agreed. Then she said to Burt with a grin, "You'd better go with her and be sure n.o.body hits her over the head!"

Since every door and window on the first floor was locked, Bess and Dave chose to stand watch on the second floor.

"I wish we had enough people to patrol the outside of the house too," Dave remarked.

Nancy told him she was depending on the police to do this. Then she added, "Ned, how about you and I guarding the attic?"

"Sure thing. Personally I'm sure that's where our thief will be entering."

Miss Carter reluctantly went to bed. "I'm sorry I'm unable to act as a guard," she said.

The lights in the house were put out and the young people went to their various posts. All had agreed not to have any conversation-it might give away the plan of capture.

Nancy and Ned had taken positions on opposite sides of the attic. Ned sat down on the floor near the window where the hand- and footprints had been found. Anyone entering by this means would be surprised with a hard football tackle. Secretly Ned hoped he would have the chance.

Nancy stood near a chimney, From there she could watch the stairway and two other windows. Becoming weary, she sat down and leaned against the brickwork. As time dragged by, she found it more and more difficult to keep from falling asleep.

"I'd better stand up for a while," she said to herself. "It'll be easier to stay awake that way."

A few minutes later she wondered if her imagination was playing tricks on her. She had felt a movement on the floor beneath her feet.

"Am I standing on a trap door we didn't discover?" she asked herself, and moved aside with utmost caution.

To her astonishment a section of the floor next to the chimney rose slowly. There was a very faint squeaking sound which attracted Ned's attention at once.

In a moment the couple saw a pudgy man, flashlight in hand, emerge from a stairway! Nancy and Ned hoped that the light would not reveal them. They wanted to wait and see what the intruder would do before tackling him.

"He must be Gus Woonton!" Nancy thought, hardly daring to breathe. "I'll bet he's after the jewels. And when he tries to take them away, we'll pounce on him."

The suspect moved forward. He opened the chest and picked up the smaller box.

Nancy decided it was time for her and Ned to act. In the now dimly lighted attic she waved at Ned, and within two seconds he had the pudgy man on the floor. The victim lost his flashlight and struggled furiously, but Ned held him down.

"Let me up! Let me go! You've got no right here. What do you think you're doing?" the infuriated prisoner cried out. "This chest belongs to me!"

Nancy had walked toward him. She picked up the flashlight and beamed it directly at the man.

"You're Gus Woonton, aren't you? And you came for this little chest of jewels."

"So what if I am and so what if I did?" the man answered. "Those jewels rightfully belong to me. My grandmother gave me the whole chest but my parents wouldn't let me have it. Or anything else she left me, either. Then they went away and left me with guardians, who were cruel. But I got square with them!"

"That's what you wrote in your diary," Nancy remarked. "If you'll promise not to fight any more and go downstairs quietly with us, we'd like to hear your story."

"All right," Gus said solemnly. He gave a hollow laugh. "I thought one place n.o.body would ever find was the secret stairway I came up."

"Where does it lead?" Ned asked.

Gus explained that originally it had opened into the kitchen but the entrance had been sealed off years ago.

"I hid food in there," Gus explained. "Whenever you went searching in the attic, I'd hide on the steps. One time you almost caught me, so I stepped out on the roof and stayed there until you went downstairs. Then I came back in and you never saw me."

"But three of us did last night," Nancy said. "Tell me, how did you get into the house with all the doors and windows locked?"

Gus smirked. "You're so good at figuring things out, why don't you try and guess how?"

"That's an easy one," Nancy answered. "You wore spiked golf shoes and fastened spikes to your hands and climbed up the brick wall, then came through that window over there."

Gus was so amazed he stared in stupefaction at Nancy. "Girls aren't supposed to be so bright," he said sullenly.

Nancy could not keep from laughing and Ned remarked, "Gus, I think you'll have to change your mind on that one."

"Did you ever steal any cats?" Nancy questioned.

"No. But I went to the cage once and looked at them."

"When you had on your spiked shoes?"

"Yes."

So the cat thief had not worn golf shoes, Nancy decided.

She asked Gus, "What did you do with all the papers in your secret room?"

"Took them to the house where I'm boarding. But not the diary. That's gone-stolen."

Nancy admitted she had removed it, but someone had taken it from her. She now asked another question.

"Were you responsible for trying to harm Ned and me on various occasions?"

Gus shook his head vigorously. "Tuesday I followed you in a car to see where you lived. But I lost the trail in a parking lot in River Heights. I thought it would be better if you stopped snooping around here. I overheard a lot while I was in the house, and decided to attack Ned so he'd make you stay away from here. I sent him a note and then tried to knock him out in the school corridor. That's all I ever did."