The Witch Tree Symbol Part 10

"May I see them?" the girl requested.

The man unlocked his old-fas.h.i.+oned roll-top desk and took out a tin box. From this he removed five 20-dollar bills.

Nancy took a similar bill from her pocket and held it next to Mr. Zinn's money. First, she compared the letter, plate, and serial numbers, and the series identification. All seemed to be in order. Next, she compared the paper quality, since she knew that genuine United States currency has a distinctive feel. They were identical as far as she could tell.

While the group watched breathlessly, Nancy examined the scrollworlk on the border of the front and back plates of each note. Now she frowned-in this respect they were lacking in continuity and uniformiity of shading.

"Look!" she exclaimed, pointing out the difference between the five 20-dollar bills, and the sharp clarity of her own.

Mr. Zinn cried out, "Those bills the man gave me-is counterfeit gelt?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure they are." Nancy sighed.

The man paced back and forth in his office. Finally Nancy asked him if he were going to call the police to report the counterfeit money.

"Ya, ya," the dealer said. He fumbled through the telephone book and then handed it to Nancy, asking her to find the number of the police station.

Nancy made the call. The local police captain said he would send an expert down at once to examine the money.

In a short time two officers arrived. One immediately said the bills were fake. The other policeman wrote down a description of the couple who had bought the table.

"We'll send a report to the state troopers," one of the officers said. "We ought to pick up the two of them in no time."

The girls stayed to wait for a report. But hours pa.s.sed and there was no news from the police. Late in the afternoon they were looking at several patchwork quilts Mrs. Zinn had made with the help of her neighbors, when her husband rushed into the house.

"Where's Nancy Drew?" he shouted.

Mrs. Zinn and the visitors hurried to the kitchen, where the antique dealer stood with his feet apart and his hands on his hips. "So this is how you work!" he cried. "You come around here pretending to be friends, and this is what you're up to!"

Nancy hardly knew what to reply but finally she asked him what he meant.

"As if you didn't know," he said, shaking a finger at her. "But you've been found out! You thought you could get away with those two valuable lamps of mine, but you didn't do it!"

The young detective stared. Had the man gone out of his mind? George, now angered, demanded that the dealer explain his accusations.

"Those two lamps in your car!" Mr. Zinn roared. "How long have they been there? The woman told me you're a witch and now I believe it!"

It was several minutes before Mrs. Zinn could calm her husband enough for him to give an explanation. A woman had telephoned to warn him that a girl by the name of Nancy Drew, who looked very innocent, was really a witch and a thief. She was riding about the countryside stealing small valuable antiques.

"The woman told me," said Zinn, "that if I looked in your car I would no doubt find something from my shop. Well, I did. Nancy Drew, I'm going to call the police!"

Nancy did not raise her voice, although she too was becoming angry. "Did the woman who called give her name?"

The antique dealer glared. "No, she didn't. But she was right. I found my stolen lamps hidden under a blanket on the back seat of your car. How can you explain that?"

"I'm sure this is Roger Hoelt's work," Nancy declared. "He planted the lamps there and got his wife to make the call. It's one of the ways he's been trying to keep me from working on the case."

Bess was indignant at the man's continued anger. "Nancy is not only trying to find the thief who robbed your aunt's estate but has also taught you something about accepting money too hastily from strangers!" she said hotly.

Finally, Mr. Zinn became calmer and said he would not call the police. But he said firmly that he wanted the girls to leave immediately.

"That suits me," said George. "If we had wanted to take your old lamps, don't you think we'd have left long before this?"

The girls walked to the convertible and drove off without a backward glance.

All three were deeply disturbed. Roger Hoelt had played a clever trick in accusing Nancy of being a thief. She was becoming more unpopular by the moment in the Amish community. Soon no one would be willing to trust the young detective.

Bess was afraid that if Mr. Zinn spread the story of the lamps, the girls might even be asked to leave the county. "By the time we return to the Glicks', they may freeze up too, and turn us out," she prophesied dolefully.

It was with some apprehension that the girls drove up to the Glick farmhouse. Becky and Henner rushed out to meet them. Henner called out, "You be witches, ain't?"

Nancy got out of the car and put her arms around the little boy. Quietly but firmly, she told him that she and her friends were not witches, "Pinch me and see," she suggested.

"But Mama, she went to a schnitzing," Henner told her. "The women say you all be witches."

At this moment Mrs. Glick ran from the house. Having overheard her son's remark, she scolded him. "I told you that witches are only make-believe. You are a bad boy for repeating what I told your papa those silly women said. Go help him now!"

Mrs. Glick turned to the girls as her children ran off. "Some of my friends are superst.i.tious," she said. "They forget that witches are nothing but old wives' tales!"

They all went into the house and Nancy excused herself to freshen up for supper. Alone, she reviewed her problem. Roger Hoelt and his wife were undoubtedly the source of the vicious rumors. But how to cope with them was the big question.

Just then she heard a car coming up the lane. Peering from the window, Nancy saw a state trooper.

A few moments later Mrs. Glick called to her, "Nancy, will you come downstairs, please?"

Nancy fairly flew to the first floor, hoping that the trooper had some news of Roger Hoelt and his wife. Mrs. Glick introduced her to the officer, a freckle-faced outdoor-type man.

"How do you do?" the officer acknowledged the introduction. "Well, you certainly don't look much like a witch!"

Nancy was thunderstruck. Was he joking, or did the police believe the foolish rumors, too?

The trooper grinned and explained that earlier in the day a call had been received at police headquarters. An unidentified woman had said that three out-of-state girls were trouble-makers -and witches! She said one in particular, Nancy Drew, had claimed she had supernatural powers, enabling her to locate missing persons and solve mysteries.

The trooper smiled. "We know it's nonsense. But our practice is to investigate anonymous calls whenever possible. I traced you here. Can you clear this up, Miss Drew?"

Nancy told the officer everything that had happened, and for the first time Mrs. Glick heard the story of the hex sign. Nancy admitted she had solved several mysteries, but said that she did not claim to be an expert. She added that she had not tried to cause trouble.

The officer was satisfied and departed, wis.h.i.+ng the young detective good luck.

Mrs. Glick came to Nancy's side and laid a motherly hand on her shoulder. "Tomorrow you are going to forget the mystery and have a good time. It is market day. Would you girls like to help me stand market?"

"Oh, we'd love to!" Nancy cried, her face brightening. "What can we do for you?"

The farm woman said that the vegetables had to be picked after sundown, washed, and arranged attractively. "Early tomorrow we will bake bread and make pies and cakes to sell."

The family and their visitors had an early supper. Then Mrs. Glick and all the girls went into the garden and began picking plump carrots and beets. When their baskets were full, they carried them to the sluiceway and washed the vegetables, which were then sorted according to size, cleaned, and tied into bunches.

At last the girls, tired from the long day, tumbled into bed. It seemed they had hardly fallen asleep when Mrs. Glick knocked on their doors. "It is four o'clock. Time to get up!"