The Clue in the Crossword Cipher Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  CHAPTER I - The Monkey Mystery

  CHAPTER II - A Bit of Judo

  CHAPTER III - Strange Cancellation

  CHAPTER IV - Curious Assistant

  CHAPTER V - A Perilous Ride

  CHAPTER VI - The Con Man

  CHAPTER VII - Another Challenge

  CHAPTER VIII - Spanish Disguise

  CHAPTER IX - Wooden Clue

  CHAPTER X - The Shuttered Balcony

  CHAPTER XI - The City of Gold

  CHAPTER XII - The Boy Spy

  CHAPTER XIII - El Gato

  CHAPTER XIV - Alpaca Antics

  CHAPTER XV - Telltale File

  CHAPTER XVI - Sacred Stones

  CHAPTER XVII - A Smuggler

  CHAPTER XVIII - Phony Chemist

  CHAPTER XIX - Desert Mummy

  CHAPTER XX - An Impostor’s Story

  THE CLUE IN THE CROSSWORD CIPHER

  TOLD against the fascinating background of South America, this Nancy Drew mystery-adventure makes exciting reading. Lovely young Carla Ponce who lives in Peru invites Nancy and her friends Bess and George to visit her and solve her “monkey mystery,” which promises to lead to a fabulous treasure. The clue is carved on an intriguing wooden plaque that is so old most of the crossword cipher is obliterated.

  When a notorious gang headed by El Gato (The Cat) steals the priceless relic, Nancy’s hopes of solving the mystery are almost shattered. But the daring young detective’s ability to think fast and act quickly results in the recovery of the plaque.

  Nancy’s determined efforts to decode the crossword cipher take her to the magnificent, awe-inspiring Incan ruins at Cuzco and Machu Picchu. Through clever deductions, perseverance, and dangerous adventures, Nancy and her friends help to capture a ring of vicious smugglers and go on to make an astounding archaeological discovery.

  “Oh, I’m getting some wonderful clues!” Nancy called

  Copyright © 1995, 1967 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 : 978-1-101-07745-0

  2008 Printing

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  CHAPTER I

  The Monkey Mystery

  “THIS is what I want you to solve, Nancy. I call it my monkey mystery.”

  The speaker was beautiful Carla Ponce from Lima, Peru. She had large dark-brown eyes, shoulder-length black hair, and olive skin. Her visitor was attractive Nancy Drew, fair-skinned, blue-eyed, and titian-haired. Both girls were eighteen.

  Carla pointed to a round wooden plaque about fifteen inches in diameter which hung on the wall of her bedroom. The wood was very old, but the carving on it fairly clear.

  “It’s an outline of a monkey with part of his tail cut off,” said Nancy, “and several lines spread from one side of him to the edge of the plaque. You think this design may be a clue to some great secret? Perhaps a treasure?”

  “Yes. The plaque has been in my family for three hundred years,” Carla replied in her delightful Spanish-accented English. “But it disappeared. Then, about twenty years ago, my father found it in my great-grandfather’s trunk. But nobody has ever been able to figure out the significance of the carving.”

  As Nancy gazed at the walking monkey with its arched back, Carla took the plaque from the wall and laid it reverse side up on a table.

  “This side is even more intriguing,” she said.

  Down the center was a series of gouged-out spaces with two similar crossing sets. Radiating from the middle was a spiraling group of lines which extended to the very outside of the plaque.

  “This is fascinating!” Nancy remarked. “Oh, Carla, I’d love to work on your mystery. But I’m a little embarrassed even to try when others have worked on it for so many years.”

  Carla gave Nancy an affectionate squeeze. “From what I have heard of cases you have solved, I am sure you will figure out this one. What bothers me is that if the plaque is a clue to a treasure buried long ago, by this time someone may have found it.”

  “We’ll have to take that chance,” said Nancy. “The first thing I’d like to do is examine this under my magnifying glass. How about coming home with me to dinner and bringing along the plaque?”

  “That sounds wonderful!” said Carla. “I will tell my aunt.”

  While in River Heights, Carla was living with an aunt and uncle. She had just graduated from secretarial school and would return to Lima in a few days.

  The two girls went downstairs to speak to Mrs. Renshaw, a friend of the Drews.

  “I’m happy to have Carla go with you,” she said, “but I don’t want her to come home alone. She had a bad scare one night. Mr. Renshaw and I will drive over to get her.”

  “Oh, that won’t be necessary,” Nancy said quickly. “My father and I will bring her back.”

  Mrs. Renshaw looked relieved. “I probably should explain why I’m concerned. Carla recently has been followed several times.”

  “You mean by a man?” Nancy asked

  Mrs. Renshaw nodded. “There is more to the story than that.”

  “Oh please, Auntie,” Carla protested. “I am sure you worry unnecessarily.”

  Her aunt continued with the story. “Only yesterday Carla received a very strange message in the mail. It was a sheet of paper onto which letters cut from newspaper headlines had been pasted. The message was, ‘Cuidado con el gato.’ ”

  Carla explained, “It means, ‘Beware of the cat.’ ”

  “How strange!” said Nancy.

  “We cannot figure it out,” Carla said. “My aunt and uncle have no cat and there is not a bothersome one in the neighborhood.”

  Nancy looked off into space. Having solved many mysteries, beginning with The Secret of the Old Clock and recently The Mystery of the 99 Steps, her thoughts immediately flew to the idea that El Gato was a person.

  To herself she said, “He may be the man who has been following Carla and someone is trying to warn her against him.” Aloud she said, “Carla, could El Gato refer to something at your home in Lima?”

  Carla said that the Ponces had no cat and she was at a loss to explain what the warning meant. “I am not going to worry about it, though, because I shall be leaving for home soon.”

  “Good idea,” said Nancy.

  She suggested that the girls start for the Drews’. They said good-by to Carla’s aunt and went outside. The Renshaw house stood on a slope overlooking the Muskoka River. The girls gazed toward the water as they walked to Nancy’s convertible. Carla was clutching the plaque tightly.

  In the driveway she skidded on some loose gravel, and while trying to regain her balance, let go of the plaque. It flew through the air, landed on the edge of the slope, then began rolling down rapidly.

  Carla gave a cry of dismay. “Oh, I mustn’t lose it!”

  Instantly Nancy took off after the fast-disappearing object. Though the way down was precarious, she had almost caught up with the plaque when it bounced off a stone. The momentum sent the ancient piece of wood sailing through the air and into the water, some twelve feet below.

  “My precious heirloom!” Carla cried out. “It will be lost!”

  Within a second Nancy had kicked off her pumps and made a shallow dive into the river. She surfaced not far from the plaque, which already was being swept along by the swift current. With strong strokes
she overtook it. Grasping the plaque firmly, she made for shore.

  When Nancy reached the riverbank, Carla exclaimed, “Oh, how can I ever thank you! I am terribly sorry I dropped the plaque. We will go back to the house and you can put on some dry clothes.”

  “I’ll be all right,” Nancy insisted. “It isn’t far to my home. I’ll keep the windows of my car closed so I won’t catch cold.”

  Fifteen minutes later she was pulling into the Drews’ circular driveway. The front door was opened by Mrs. Hannah Gruen, the pleasant, middle-aged housekeeper, who had helped to rear Nancy since the death of Mrs. Drew. She was delighted to hear that Carla would stay to dinner.

  “We have something interesting to show you,” said Nancy as she led the way to the dining room and laid the plaque on the table. Carla explained its origin to the housekeeper, while Nancy ran upstairs to change her clothes and get the magnifying glass which had served her so well in solving other mysteries. As soon as she returned, the young sleuth gazed through the glass at the monkey side of the plaque.

  “I see something down here in the corner,” she announced. “It’s a word—perhaps a name. It spells A-G-U-I-L-A-R.”

  “Oh!” Carla cried out. “That was the name of an ancestor of ours. He was a great artist. I never knew his name was on here.”

  “Then he must have carved these figures,” said Nancy. “What became of him?”

  “He disappeared from Lima,” Carla answered. “No one ever heard of him again.”

  Nancy could not detect anything further which she had not seen before. Now she turned the plaque over.

  “Umm!” she murmured. “I see something here.”

  “What is it?” Carla asked eagerly.

  “The center carvings are parts of words,” Nancy deduced. “I can barely make out some of the letters reading from the top down. They seem to be part of a crossword puzzle. Here, Carla, see what you can make out of it.”

  The girl from Lima took the glass and gazed through it. Excitedly she exclaimed, “The first four letters down are mono! That is Spanish for monkey. I cannot make out anything else. The markings are too indistinct.”

  “My precious heirloom!” Carla cried out. “It will be lost!”

  Though Nancy felt she had made a start on solving the mystery, she realized there was a long way to go before discovering its real significance.

  Hannah asked Nancy to set the table. Dinner was to be early because the housekeeper had a date to attend a nearby movie theater with a friend.

  A few minutes later Mr. Drew came in. He was a trim, handsome man and a successful lawyer. After greeting Carla and hearing about the mystery, he smiled. “I knew it wouldn’t be long before Nancy would become involved with some enigma. This one sounds like a real challenge.”

  “I believe the clue to it,” said Nancy, “is in the crossword cipher.”

  Later, when it was time for Carla to go home, she suggested that Nancy keep the plaque and work on it.

  Nancy’s eyes twinkled. “You have a lot of faith in me,” she said. “I’ll help you all I can before you go back to Lima. But please don’t be too disappointed if I don’t succeed.”

  Suddenly Carla’s beautiful big brown eyes lighted up. “Nancy, I have an idea. Will you and your friends, Bess and George, come to South America with me? Then you would have more time to work on the mystery.”

  “I’m sure I’ll need it. This is a marvelous invitation. Thank you. When do you leave?”

  “Day after tomorrow.”

  Nancy looked inquiringly at her father, but before he could speak, Carla went on, “Even if there were no mystery to solve, I would love to have you all visit me. Peru is a fascinating place. We have ancient Indian ruins, Spanish palaces, exotic things to buy and eat. Do come!”

  “It certainly sounds exciting,” said Nancy. “I’d love to accept. What do you say, Dad?”

  Mr. Drew looked at his daughter with amusement in his eyes. “How could I refuse? And I hope Bess and George can go along.” Nancy promised to call the girls early the next morning.

  Presently she and her father left the house with Carla. They took the Peruvian girl back to the Renshaws, and after talking with them a few minutes, the Drews drove home.

  “I’m going to work on that plaque a little more before I go to bed,” said Nancy. “But first, can I get you something to eat or drink, Dad?”

  “No thanks,” he said. “I’d like to take a look at those strange markings myself.”

  They walked into the dining room and turned on the light. Both stopped short. They had left the plaque on the table. Now it was gone!

  CHAPTER II

  A Bit of Judo

  “CARLA’s precious plaque!” Nancy exclaimed. “It must have been stolen!”

  As she berated herself for leaving the object in plain sight, Mr. Drew said, “Maybe Hannah put it away.”

  “No, Dad. Hannah left the house first and I know the plaque was right here on the table when you and I went out.”

  The lawyer patted his daughter on the shoulder. “This is more of a mystery than I thought it was going to be. I suppose it will delay your trip to Lima.”

  “Oh, how can I tell Carla?” Nancy said, a catch in her voice. “But I’ll have to do it.”

  As she started for the telephone, her father said, “Perhaps we should call the police first. But before we do that, let’s look around and see if anything else has been stolen.”

  He and Nancy examined the drawer of silver-ware. Nothing was missing. They searched the rooms downstairs and those on the second floor. Nothing seemed to have been stolen.

  Nancy and her father were about to telephone the police when they heard a key in the front-door lock and for a moment the two tensed. They were relieved when Hannah Gruen walked in.

  “Hello,” she said cheerfully. “The movie was excellent. You must see it.” As she noted the glum faces of her employer and his daughter, she asked, “Is something the matter?”

  “Oh, Hannah, the plaque has been stolen from the dining-room table!” Nancy told her.

  The housekeeper, instead of looking shocked, remained calm. “I’m sorry I upset you,” she said. “During intermission I got to worrying that you might not have put the plaque away. Since Carla was followed and received that strange note about a cat, I hurried home and hid the plaque.”

  She went directly to the bottom drawer of the dining-room buffet and pulled the object from beneath a pile of table mats.

  Mr. Drew sat down in a chair and burst into laughter. “Hannah, you’re wiser and more sensible than either of us. Here I’m a lawyer and Nancy has quite a reputation as an amateur detective, and you’re the only one who thought of hiding this valuable old object.”

  His laughter was so contagious that Nancy and Hannah joined in. Finally the housekeeper said, “I think this calls for a little celebration—a midnight snack. How about chocolate frosted apple-sauce cake and glasses of milk?”

  “Sounds good,” said Nancy. “I’ll help you.”

  The family lingered for half an hour, watching the late news on TV, then went to bed. Nancy slept soundly but was up early, determined to work on the crossword cipher. Using a Spanish dictionary, she tried to figure out what the missing letters might be, but finally gave up.

  Nancy had just gone into the kitchen to start breakfast when Hannah Gruen came downstairs. By the time everything was ready, Mr. Drew appeared. Nancy told him of her fruitless attempt to solve the cipher.

  He said with a smile, “But you won’t stop work on it yet!”

  “No indeed,” Nancy replied.

  After the lawyer had left for his office, she went to the phone to tell Bess Marvin and George Fayne of Carla’s invitation. Both girls were thrilled and said they would come as soon as possible to get more details.

  George added, “I may be a little late. You know this is my morning for a judo lesson.”

  Nancy laughed. “Be sure to learn something that will be useful in our detective work!”
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  George chuckled. “You mean like tossing a villain off a cliff?”

  Two hours later Bess and George, who were cousins, arrived. Bess, a blond with attractive dimples, was slightly overweight and always being teased about it. Her slogan was, “I’ll start dieting tomorrow.”

  George was the antithesis of her cousin. She was an attractive brunette with a slender figure, and was interested in many sports.

  The two cousins were intrigued by the ancient plaque. Bess giggled. “I love that monkey on it—he’s so nice and awkward.”

  “I’m more interested in the other side,” said George. “I wish all those letters weren’t missing.”

  Nancy was about to hand her the magnifying glass when the front doorbell rang. She went to answer it. A man about thirty years old stood on the porch.

  “Are you Miss Drew?”

  “Yes.” At once the stranger turned back one side of his coat. Pinned to the lining was a badge, saying, “Detective, River Heights Police Department.”

  “May I come in?” he asked.

  As Nancy admitted him, he said, “My name is Harry Wallace. I have a court order for the plaque which you have.” From a pocket he produced a piece of paper to confirm his statement, but did not hand it to her to read.

  Bess and George, overhearing the conversation, walked into the hall. Bess was carrying the plaque.

  “But I don’t understand,” said Nancy. “Why would the police want this private property?”

  Harry Wallace shrugged. “How should I know? When I get an order I just carry it out. Give me the plaque and I’ll be going.”

  Nancy’s suspicions were aroused. She did not like the man’s looks nor the abrupt manner in which he was demanding the plaque.

  Looking him straight in the eye, she said, “I’m not giving this to you without further proof. Please sit down while I telephone Chief McGinnis.”

  Wallace’s eyes flashed. “Young lady,” he said angrily, “you’re entirely too fresh for your own good. You give me that plaque and no back talk!”