People in the theater had started to crowd past the two girls and now a young man who had been with Miss Wilson came back. After introducing him to Nancy, she told him what they had been talking about.

Nancy said, "Possibly this Nancy Smith Drew is still around. She must have come back for some reason-possibly to see the play. Miss Wilson, could you take a few minutes to help me find her, since you know Miss Drew?"

"I'll be glad to." Miss Wilson turned to the young man, Frank Doolittle, whom Nancy had recognized as one of the star players on the Emerson football squad.

Nancy now introduced Ned, then told him, "We'll be right back. Meet you in front of the theater."

She and Miss Wilson dashed ahead of the others. Reaching the outside, Miss Wilson suddenly exclaimed, "There goes Miss Drew now!" She pointed to a side door of the gymnasium.

The two girls ran like mad, opened the door, and dashed inside. Only a dim light was burning and they could not see very far ahead but realized that the corridor turned abruptly.

"Miss Drew! Miss Drew!" Miss Wilson called. When no response came, Nancy tried her luck, but received no answer.

She and Miss Wilson dashed to the end of the corridor, then turned the comer. They saw no one.

"Wherever could she have been going?" Miss Wilson asked.

Nancy could only guess. "Maybe Miss Drew left some clothes in a locker in one of the rooms. And she wanted to get them, now that she apparently has severed her connection with the Dramatic Club."

The two girls went through another door and this time found themselves at the foot of a fight of metal steps that spiraled both upward and downward. A single unshaded electric bulb illuminated the stairwell feebly.

"Up or down?" Marian Wilson asked.

"Let's go down first," Nancy answered. "Or, let's save time. I'll go down and you go up."

When Nancy reached the floor below she found herself in the furnace room. Sure there would be no lockers here, she turned and scurried up the steps. Miss Wilson was just coming down.

"Nothing up there but a big, dark room and the stairs continue to the roof."

"Miss Drew must have used another exit," Nancy speculated. "Well, I guess all we can do is leave."

At that moment the light went out.

"Oh dear!" her companion cried. "They're turning out the lights and locking up!"

The two girls dashed along the corridor, feeling the walls until they came to the outer door. Nancy tried to lift the long bar which opened it, but this would not budge.

"We're locked in!" she exclaimed, and began banging on the door with her fist and crying, "Let us out! We're trapped!"

There was not a sound from outside.

"Whatever will we do?" Marian Wilson asked nervously.

"Frankly I don't know, but let me think a minute." A few moments later Nancy said, "That dark room you saw-were there any windows in it?"

"Yes, several."

"Maybe we can get out that way," Nancy suggested.

The girls groped their way along the corridor and up the spiral stairway. They opened the door to the dark room and made their way toward one of the windows. To their dismay, chicken wire was tacked over it and the window could not be opened. All the others had been protected the same way.

"I wonder which side of the theater this is on," Nancy speculated. "If we could only attract someone's attention!"

"But how?" Marian Wilson asked.

"I guess we'll have to break the gla.s.s and yell."

"But the chicken wire was put up there so the gla.s.s wouldn't get broken," Marian pointed out.

Nancy said she realized this, but hoped that a hard blow would break the wire as well as the gla.s.s. She began to feel around the floor with her feet, hoping to locate some heavy object. Presently she found what felt like a cannon ball. She a.s.sumed it was a ball used for shot-put contests.

There was enough light outside for the girls to see anyone going by. As Nancy picked up the metal ball, Marian Wilson exclaimed, "I just saw a car drive up! Nancy Smith Drew got into it!"

Nancy rushed forward, hoping to break the gla.s.s and attract the young woman's attention. But in a second the car was gone. A feeling of exasperation came over her. Suppose no one else came past whose attention she could attract!

"Here come a couple of boys. Quick! Break the gla.s.s!" Marian cried out.

"Let us out! We're trapped!" Nancy cried

Nancy heaved the heavy ball and it did the trick. The chicken wire bent and the gla.s.s shattered.

"They heard it!" Marian cried out, jumping up and down hopefully.

Together, the two girls screamed out, "Ned! Frankl"

The boys looked around.

"Up here!" Nancy called. "We're locked in upstairs in the gym!"

Ned and Frank gazed upward in astonishment. "How'd you get there?" Frank asked.

"It's a long story," Marian replied. "Spooky in here. I don't like it."

"We'll have you out in a minute," Ned said.

The two boys raced off to find the grounds superintendent so he could open the door. Meanwhile, the girls groped their way down the stairs and were waiting at the door when it was finally opened.

"Thanks," they said, locking arms with their dates.

"Boy! What were you trying to do?" Frank asked.

"Catch up with an actress," said Nancy, chuckling. "You missed a chance for some excitement."

An explanation was quickly given. Nancy ended the story with the rueful statement that Nancy Smith Drew had disappeared again.

"What! Then coach was here. That's a funny one," Frank remarked.

Ned said, "Pretty shabby way to treat the Emerson Drama Club."