"No! No!" she chided, pushing him gently back on the pillows. "You must lie quiet."

"Nonsense!" he exclaimed impatiently. "I have something important to tell you. I must do it while I have the strength."

Nancy bent closer for his voice was almost inaudible. "You saw those men who cheated Mrs. Chantrey?"

"Yes. Then I took the plane. We landed at a small airport about ten miles up the sh.o.r.e."

"What happened after that?"

"Started here by taxi, intending to phone you to drive over and get me. A woman who couldn't get a cab rode with me."

"A woman?" Nancy inquired thoughtfully. "Can you describe her?"

"Stout-dark-not very talkative.Wore a big hat and large dark gla.s.ses. She left the cab at the outskirts of Fisher's Cove."

"Then where did you go?"

"Can't remember much after that. I became sleepy and must have dozed off. When I came to, I was in this bed. Some time later the doctor was called in. But this sickness is no mysterious malady."

"What do you mean, Dad?"

"I'm convinced I was drugged."

"Drugged! Not by the woman who rode with you in the taxi?"

"Probably by those two con artists I visited in New York. We had coffee together, and they may have given me a slow-acting sleeping powder. After I told them I intended to prosecute to the limit unless they returned Mrs. Chantrey's money, they left me alone for a while. When they returned they were very arrogant. I remember-"

"Wait!" Nancy interrupted the story "I think someone is at the door."

CHAPTER VII.

A Mysterious Malady

NANCY tiptoed across the room and quickly jerked open the door to the hall. No one was there, but she was positive someone had been eavesdropping.

When Nancy returned to her father's bedside, he insisted that he felt strong enough to ride to Mrs. Chantrey's home.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, but I doubt that the doctor would want you to get up so soon," Nancy said dubiously. "Why, you were practically unconscious when I arrived!"

"Just seeing you has helped me a lot, Nancy."

"Suppose I telephone Dr. Warren and ask his opinion?" Nancy suggested.

"All right, but do hurry. I've had enough of this place."

"I'll be back as fast as I can. Don't stir from your bed until I return."

"Just as you say." Her father grinned weakly. Nancy hurried to the lobby. She was alarmed to see that Ned was no longer there. Quickly she called the doctor's office but there was no answer. As she left the booth, the hotel clerk motioned for her to come to the desk.

"You were asking about a Mr. Drew awhile ago?" he inquired.

"Yes. I found him in Room 301."

"But we have no one here by that name," said the clerk, looking at a registration card. "Room 301 is a.s.signed to Mr. John Blake."

"May I see the card, please?"

Reluctantly the clerk handed it over. A John Blake had registered for Room 301. The handwriting was unfamiliar to Nancy.

"This isn't my father's signature!" she exclaimed. "Who brought him here?"

The clerk shrugged. "That I can't say. I wasn't on duty."

Nancy was convinced the man could not be trusted. Although certain that he must have seen Ned leave the lobby, she did not wish to endanger the young man and refrained from questioning the clerk further. Instead she paid the bill, which was far in excess of what it should have been but made no protest. Once more she tried without success to reach Dr. Warren by telephone. Failing, she went upstairs and tapped on the door of Room 301.

"It's Nancy," she called when Mr. Drew did not answer.

She rapped again and spoke her father's name in a louder voice. Alarmed because there was no reply she pushed open the door.

"Oh!" she cried in dismay.

Mr. Drew was not there! The bed was empty and had been remade.

Nancy rushed to the closet and jerked open the door. Only a row of empty hangers greeted her gaze. Her father's clothing and overnight bag had disappeared!

As Nancy glanced about the deserted room she felt weak. Where was her ill father?

"I shouldn't have left him alone-not even for a moment," she blamed herself.

Greatly frightened, and trying to decide what to do next, Nancy moved over to a window. Looking down into the street, she was astonished to see Ned pacing slowly back and forth.

Her first impulse was to call out, but she thought better of this, and merely tapped on the windowpane. Hearing the sound, Ned glanced upward. Nancy put her fingers to her lips and motioned for him to come up.

She waited anxiously at the door for Ned. Several minutes elapsed. Then she heard footsteps in the hallway and angry voices.

"Now listen!" argued a man who Nancy guessed was the hotel clerk. "If you don't stop pounding on doors I'll have you thrown out! Understand?"

"Someone I'm looking for is in this hotel. I intend to find her."

At that moment Nancy opened the door and Ned rushed forward.

"Where is your father, Nancy? Is he all right?"

Nearly in tears, Nancy told him what had happened. The callous Mr. Sloc.u.m listened coldly, and openly displayed annoyance as she suggested that Mr. Drew might have wandered into an unoccupied room.

"Very unlikely," he said, trying to dismiss the matter. "In any case it's not our responsibility."