Carolyn Keene_Nancy Drew Mysteries 041 Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  CHAPTER I - Mysterious Heirloom

  CHAPTER II - A Plaid Clue

  CHAPTER III - Unwanted Publicity

  CHAPTER IV - “Scots, Wha Hae”

  CHAPTER V - An Angry Guest

  CHAPTER VI - Houseboat Victims

  CHAPTER VII - The Dungeon

  CHAPTER VIII - A Confession

  CHAPTER IX - Being Shadowed

  CHAPTER X - Gaelic Code Message

  CHAPTER XI - Submerged Car

  CHAPTER XII - Strange Midnight Whistle

  CHAPTER XIII - A Surprise Announcement

  CHAPTER XIV - Trouble on the Mountain

  CHAPTER XV - The Phantom Piper

  CHAPTER XVI - Charge Against Nancy

  CHAPTER XVII - The Chase

  CHAPTER XVIII - Unmasked

  CHAPTER XIX - The Enemy Spotted

  CHAPTER XX - Detective Divers

  THE CLUE OF THE WHISTLING BAGPIPES

  WARNINGS not to go to Scotland can’t stop Nancy Drew from setting out on a thrill-packed mystery adventure.

  Undaunted by the vicious threats, the attractive young detective—with her father and her two close friends—goes to visit her great-grandmother at an imposing estate in the Scottish Highlands, and to solve the mystery of a missing family heirloom.

  And there is another mystery to be solved: the fate of flocks of stolen sheep.

  Baffling clues challenge Nancy’s powers of deduction: a note written in the ancient Gaelic language, a deserted houseboat on Loch Lomond, a sinister red-bearded stranger in Edinburgh, eerie whistling noises in the Highlands. Startling discoveries in an old castle and in the ruins of a prehistoric fortress, on a rugged mountain slope and in a secluded glen, lead Nancy closer to finding the solutions to both mysteries.

  Wearing a time-honored tartan, Nancy climbs the mountain of Ben Nevis in the dark of night and plays a tune of historic heroism on the bagpipes—all part of her daring plan to trap the sheep thieves and to recover the valuable family heirloom.

  “The piper must be signaling!”

  Copyright © 1992, 1964 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

  Published by Grosset & Dunlap, Inc., a member of The Putnam & Grosset Group,

  New York. Published simultaneously in Canada. S.A.

  NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES® is a registered trademark of Simon &

  Schuster, Inc. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-07742-9

  2008 Printing

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  CHAPTER I

  Mysterious Heirloom

  “NANCY, lass, would ye fly off wi’ me to the land o’ bagpipes and kilts?” Mr. Drew asked her with a grin. “And how do you like my Scottish accent?’” he teased.

  His daughter burst into laughter. “It’s ver-r-ry good!” Nancy replied. “And will I be wearin’ a kilt and dancin’ to the pipes?” she countered, trying to imitate her father.

  “You’ll be solving a mystery,” Mr. Drew answered in his natural voice. “The mystery of a missing heirloom—an heirloom of great value which was supposed to come to you, but has been mislaid or lost.”

  Nancy’s eyes opened wide with interest. “It’s for me? And it’s in Scotland?”

  Mr. Drew, a lawyer, explained that Nancy’s maternal great-grandmother, Lady Douglas, who lived in Inverness-shire, had recently written to him. She intended to turn over her large house and estate to the National Trust of Scotland. This had been founded to preserve old castles, ruins, and other places of historic interest.

  “In the case of the Douglas property, the transfer cannot be made until a number of relatives have signed releases,” Mr. Drew went on. “Lady Douglas has asked me to get these signatures and also donations for an endowment from interested members of the Douglas family in the United States. In order to do this, I must go to Scotland and find out more about the case.”

  “The heirloom—” Nancy began, but was interrupted by the ringing of the telephone. “Excuse me, Dad. I’ll see who it is.”

  The caller was Ned Nickerson, a college student who often dated Nancy. He had just returned from a trip to South America.

  “I want to come over and tell you about it,” Ned said.

  “Oh, have dinner with us,” Nancy replied. “Ned, it’s wonderful to hear from you!” She laughed. “This will be sort of hello and good-by. Guess what! I’m flying to Scotland!”

  “That’s great!” Ned answered, then said, “Well, I’ll see you at seven.”

  Nancy returned to her father and told him about the call. “Now, please tell me more about my heirloom,” she begged.

  Mr. Drew smiled. “I don’t know what the heirloom is—your great-grandmother didn’t say. She only mentioned that it was missing.”

  At once Nancy was intrigued. “Was it lost in the house?”

  “Lady Douglas didn’t give any further details.”

  Nancy looked into space for several moments. Finally she said, “Could it have been stolen?”

  “I suppose so,” her father replied. “Now, I’ll tell you about the trip to Scotland. In the first place, I must confer with lawyers in Glasgow, then Edinburgh. After that, we’ll go up to Douglas House.”

  “It sounds terribly exciting!” said Nancy. “And it will be such fun going on a trip with you and also solving a mystery.” She grinned. “Especially since I’ll be looking for something that I know hardly anything about. And Douglas House is probably very beautiful.”

  Mr. Drew agreed. “I have been to Douglas House only once, and everything was very handsome. I can understand why the National Trust will be happy to open it to the public as a place of historic interest.”

  The lawyer said he would like to do a little work before dinner, so he went into his first-floor study. Nancy entered the kitchen, where the Drews’ pleasant-faced housekeeper, Hannah Gruen, was just taking a lemon meringue pie from the oven.

  “That looks luscious!” Nancy remarked.

  Hannah Gruen had been mother and counselor to Nancy ever since the time she was a very young child, when her own mother had passed away.

  The housekeeper looked fondly at Nancy. She was proud of the slender, attractive, titian-haired girl whose penchant for solving mysteries had brought fame and respect to the Drew household. From The Secret of the Old Clock to the revelations in The Moonstone Castle Mystery, Nancy had spent a great deal of her later teen-age years helping people uncover mysteries which were troubling them.

  For the next hour, Nancy and Hannah Gruen talked about the proposed trip to Scotland and what clothing the girl should take. Nancy recalled to Hannah the almost unbelievable, fairy-like tales about her great-grandmother’s life as the wife of a member of the House of Lords.

  “To think that I’m going to see her at last!”

  Hannah Gruen smiled. “I hope that heirloom is something small. This house is so full of trophies and objects from all over the world there isn’t a corner left for another one!”

  “Maybe we’ll even have to move the piano out!” Nancy teased.

  Just then the front doorbell rang and Nancy went to answer it. Ned Nickerson stood there, a wide grin on his handsome face. Nancy thought that next to her good-looking, athletic father, this special friend of hers was the nicest man she knew. He stood high in his classes at Emerson College, played football, and recently had been sent on a special assignment to South America in connection with his courses.

  “Hi!” he said. “I left my car right back of yours on the street. Okay? Would you like m
e to put yours in the garage?”

  “After a while, yes,” Nancy answered. “But first, come and tell me all about yourself.”

  When they were seated in the living room, and Ned had described some of his exciting trips into the jungles, he remarked, “Nancy, in case you get lonesome in Scotland and want a mystery to solve, I can tell you about one.”

  Nancy’s blue eyes sparkled. “What is it?”

  Ned said that he had recently read in a newspaper about a ring of thieves who were stealing sheep and lambs in the Highlands of Scotland. “The authorities are baffled, so here’s your chance, Nancy. You may as well solve the case of the poor gimmersl”

  “The what!” Nancy asked.

  “A gimmer is a young female lamb. Incidentally, how long will you be away, Nancy?”

  “Dad didn’t say. In fact, I doubt that he knows himself.”

  Ned gave a great sigh. “I’ll have to talk to your father about getting you back here by June tenth. My fraternity is giving a big windup party for the season,” he announced. “You just have to be there.”

  “I ought to be able to make it,” Nancy replied. “It’s now the middle of May.” She smiled broadly. “I’ll do what I can to speed up my sleuthing.”

  “Good!” From a pocket Ned took out a small package and handed it to Nancy. “A souvenir from South America,” he said.

  The gift was a very unusual pin made of wood carved to represent a laughing monkey.

  “He’s adorable!” Nancy said, as she pinned the monkey on her blouse. “Thanks a million, Ned.”

  “The natives say it will bring good luck to the wearer,” Ned informed her.

  “Well, that’s what I’ll need if I expect to solve two mysteries in Scotland,” Nancy told him, and explained about the missing heirloom.

  Later, as they were finishing dinner, the telephone rang. Nancy excused herself to answer it. An excited girl’s voice came over the wire. “Oh, Nancy, you’ve helped me win the most wonderful prize!”

  “Bess Marvin,” Nancy said to her blond, slightly plump but very attractive friend, “what are you talking about?”

  Bess did not answer the question directly. “It’s for two and you have to share it with me!”

  “I? How? What is it?” Nancy exclaimed.

  “It’s so utterly marvelous I know you won’t object. Nancy, this is what I did. I read about a contest offered by the magazine Photographie Internationale. A photograph had to be submitted. I used a picture of you sleuthing.”

  “What!” Nancy exclaimed, utterly amazed. She begged for more information and a clearer explanation of what had happened.

  “We won a trip!” Bess almost shouted over the wire.

  “Bess, please—”

  But Bess had to tell the story in her own way. “Nancy, do you remember the picture of you with a magnifying glass, looking at the footprints?”

  “Yes. Is that the one you sent in?”

  “It’s a wonderful picture!” said Bess. “It won first prize! And the prize is a trip for two to anywhere I want to go. Since you helped me win it, I think you ought to go with me!”

  By this time Nancy, overwhelmed by the news, had dropped into the chair alongside the telephone table. She detested publicity, and here she had suddenly and inadvertently been brought to the attention of the reading public!

  Bess rattled on. “You’ll be famous all over the world! Newspapers and magazines and just everything will be printing the story!”

  Nancy actually felt weak. If she was going to do any sleuthing in Scotland, the last thing she wanted was to be recognized. “Maybe I’ll have to go incognito,” she thought.

  After a prolonged silence, Bess asked worriedly, “Are you still there? Don’t you like—”

  Nancy was suddenly jerked out of her reverie by a terrific crash on the street outside the Drew home. “Bess, I’ll have to call you back,” she said and hung up quickly.

  By this time Ned had reached the hall. He and Nancy dashed outdoors and down the driveway toward the street. A dismaying sight met their eyes. An old but heavy truck had rammed head on into Nancy’s car. That, in turn, had smashed into Ned’s automobile.

  Nancy was heartsick. She was very fond of her blue convertible which had played a big part in helping her solve mysteries. At first glance it looked to be a total wreck.

  Nevertheless, her thoughts turned at once to the unfortunate driver of the truck. As she and Ned ran at top speed toward the accident scene, she said worriedly, “Oh, I hope the man isn’t badly injured!”

  CHAPTER II

  A Plaid Clue

  WHEN Nancy and Ned reached the smashed-in cab of the old truck, both closed their eyes for a second before getting up enough courage to look at a sight they dreaded to see. A light on the Drew grounds illuminated the twisted wreckage enough for them to view it clearly.

  An expression of amazement came over Ned’s face. “No one’s in the cab!” he exclaimed.

  Instantly Nancy realized that the door had been forced open. Perhaps the driver had been thrown clear! She quickly searched the street and around the truck, but no one was in sight.

  “Ned, did you see anyone running away?” Nancy asked. Ned shook his head.

  The couple examined the wreckage further. It was evident that no one was wedged between the pieces of crumpled metal and upholstery.

  “Nancy, how could anyone have been in a smashup like this and not been injured?” Ned asked.

  “I’m sure no one could have,” Nancy replied. “It’s my guess that the truck driver jumped out before the crash and ran away.”

  Ned set his jaw. “This could even have been done on purpose!” he exclaimed.

  “But why?” Nancy asked. “Why would anyone want to wreck my car?”

  Now that she knew there was no injured person involved, she too became angry. Her beautiful convertible was ruined! She turned aside so that Ned could not see she was biting her lips to fight back tears.

  While she was regaining control of her emotions, Ned dashed to the rear of the truck. “No license plate!” he fumed. “This proves the crash was caused deliberately!”

  “Maybe we can trace the person by the engine number,” Nancy suggested. “I’ll get a flashlight.”

  As Nancy started up the driveway, she met Hannah Gruen and her father. Mr. Drew carried a flashlight in his hand. A moment later neighbors began to arrive. Everyone was amazed to learn that apparently the truck had run itself into Nancy’s car.

  Meanwhile, Nancy and Ned were searching the wreckage for the engine number. Finally they found the place where it had been, but the figures had been cleverly scratched so as to be illegible!

  “Why would anyone want to wreck my car?”

  Nancy asked

  “Now we have proof this whole thing was done on purpose!” Nancy told her father. “What I can’t understand is why.”

  The lawyer frowned. “What did the person hope to accomplish?” he asked. “Obviously, he wasn’t trying to injure you or Ned. And you hadn’t planned any particular trip in your car, nor were you using it on any mystery.”

  Hannah Gruen offered to notify the police, while the others continued their investigation. First, they looked at Ned’s car. Fortunately, there was no damage other than broken headlights and two bent fenders.

  Next, they began searching the truck for clues to the owner or driver. There was no name or initials, but Nancy remarked that the police laboratory would be able to detect any lettering which might have been painted over.

  “Have you looked inside the truck?” Mr. Drew asked his daughter.

  “Not yet,” Nancy answered.

  She climbed into the back and beamed the flashlight around. There was nothing on the floor or sides. The person or persons who had caused the crash had removed every kind of identification.

  In a few minutes a police car and two wreckers arrived. Flashlight photographs were taken and a fingerprint expert went to work on the wheel and door handles. The man reported that too
many people had handled them to make a positive identification of any one set of prints.

  “We’re getting nowhere!” Nancy whispered to her father and Ned.

  Presently the officers came over and queried the Drews, asking who they suspected might have perpetrated the incident.

  “We have no idea,” the lawyer replied.

  As soon as the wreckers had hauled off Nancy’s car and the truck, Ned taped Mr. Drew’s flashlight and one of Nancy’s onto the front of his car.

  “I’d better get to a garage and have new headlights put in,” he said. Before leaving, he added cheerily, “Nancy, if the police don’t solve this mystery right away, suppose I try my hand at it while you’re in Scotland?”

  “That’s a good idea,” she agreed.

  “I’ll call you tomorrow to see if the police have found out anything,” Ned said. He drove off, and one by one the neighbors sauntered back to their homes.

  The Drews and Hannah Gruen went into the house and sat down to discuss the whole affair. But suddenly Nancy jumped up. “Bess!” she exclaimed. “I forgot that I promised to phone her back! ”

  When the connection was made, Bess complained, “What happened to you? I’ve been waiting here for ages!”

  When Nancy told her what had caused the delay, Bess burst out, “How perfectly dreadful! And what an awful person to do such a thing! Well, I certainly hope the police find him!”

  “I do too,” said Nancy. “But now, tell me more about this trip you won.”

  Bess revealed that the trip could be made to any place in Europe. By the time she finished speaking, Nancy had an idea.

  “Why don’t you take your cousin George? Then we three girls can go with my dad.”

  “Do you mean it?” Bess asked.

  “Of course I mean it.”

  “Where is your father going, by the way?”

  “To Scotland. There are two mysteries waiting to be solved. Wouldn’t you and George like to help tackle them?”

  Bess’s cousin, George Fayne, had been invaluable to Nancy in her detective work. She was level-headed and very courageous. She liked her name George, and tried to live up to it by wearing boyish haircuts and plain-tailored clothes. She was dark-haired, slender, and athletic.