Presently Whyte radioed to headquarters, reporting failure so far and asking if there was any news from surrounding towns which had been alerted. He was told that the abductors had not been picked up.

The officer had just replaced his transceiver when Nancy cried out, "Stop! Look over there!"

Her alert eyes had caught sight of a girl propped against a tree at the edge of a woods.

"It's George!"

The t.i.tian-haired wig was gone and she appeared to be only semiconscious. Nancy and Bess leaped from the car and ran to her. As they shook George gently she opened her eyes.

"Nancy! Bess!" she murmured, and started weeping hysterically on Nancy's shoulder.

"Everything's all right, George," Nancy said.

Bess slipped a protective arm about the trembling girl's waist.

"Nancy, you must give up the case," George sobbed. "I insist!"

"Give it up?" Nancy echoed in disbelief. "Why, George, it's astounding to hear you suggest such a thing! You're the one who has been urging me to solve it."

The troopers had come up and were listening to the girls' conversation. Quickly Bess gave a glowing account of Nancy's brilliant sleuthing on the Velvet Gang case.

"That's amazing!" Lieutenant Whyte remarked. "If you track down the party thieves, my hat's off to you."

"But she mustn't do any more work on it," George mumbled.

Nancy and Bess exchanged glances. This was not the old George FaynelWhat had happened?

CHAPTER VIII.

Telltale Tag

APPARENTLY George had been badly frightened by her abductors, but after a good night's sleep she would be her normal self, Nancy figured.

Lieutenant Whyte knelt down beside George, and taking her wrist counted the girl's pulse beat. He puckered his brow.

"Tell me exactly what happened," he said.

"A woman leaned over me in the train and put a handkerchief over my nose and mouth. It smelled very sweet and made me black out."

"When did you first wake up?" Whyte asked.

"I don't know. What time is it?"

"I mean, did you wake up while you were in the car or after?" the officer questioned.

"There were voices-I-"

George stopped speaking and again lost consciousness. By the time they reached town George had revived somewhat and was examined by the police physician in his office. He said it was impossible to determine what drug had been administered to the girl but advised that she be taken home and put to bed for a few days.

"I'll phone Mother to come and get us," Bess offered.

When Nancy telephoned her father's hotel in Amstar to explain the delay, she was amazed to hear that he had checked out late that morning.

"Then the telegram was a hoax," she thought. "Those people certainly are clever. They were eavesdropping at my house and heard us making plans!"

She dialed her home and learned that Mr. Drew was in his law office. She called him there and explained what had happened.

"I don't like this at all," he said. "That gang is dangerous. You'd better forget the whole thing," he advised.

"But, Dad, you gave me a job to do and I want to finish it!" Nancy protested.

"Well, all right," he agreed reluctantly. "But do your sleuthing in safer places. You'll be home tonight?"

"Yes, Dad."

While waiting for Mrs. Marvin to arrive, Nancy decided to search at the railroad station for the object she had seen drop from the abductors' car.

"Oh, Nancy," George said weakly, "please don't do another thing about those awful people."

Seeing how deeply worried her friend was, Nancy decided she would not go. But a moment later George had dozed off on the couch in the physician's office.

"I'll be back before she wakes up," Nancy whispered to Bess and left the room.

Going directly to the railroad station, she spent twenty minutes searching along the tracks. Just as she was about to give up, her efforts were rewarded. Close to one of the steel rails lay a rectangular metal tag.

The young detective immediately recognized it as a charge plate issued by some department stores. The names and numbers on it had been flattened by a train pa.s.sing over them, but the words "Tay" and "House Acc" were visible.

"Tay," Nancy mused. "I wonder if that could be Taylor's in River Heights. Maybe one of the thieves works there? Tomorrow I'll ask their credit manager if he can identify this house account charge plate."

Elated, Nancy returned to the doctor's office. George was still drowsing. Mrs. Marvin arrived in a little while and was very much concerned when she heard the details of what had happened. The physician a.s.sured her that the girl was well enough to travel but would probably sleep all the way home. He suggested George have no visitors for a couple days.

George awoke as the others were discussing the subject of masks. "Let's not talk about masks," she pleaded. "We've had enough of them forever!"

The subject was not mentioned again during the remainder of the trip to River Heights. George herself had little to say. Though she insisted that she felt fairly well, her face remained pale and she was shaky.

Nancy did not see her the next day. Mrs. Fayne kept her daughter in bed and allowed no visitors as the doctor had suggested. She reported that George had slept restlessly and had talked incoherently in her dreams, mostly about the Velvet Gang.

"Poor George!" Nancy thought unhappily. "It's really my fault! I never should have allowed her to masquerade as me."

On her way to see the credit manager of Taylor's Department Store, Nancy went over the thieves' activities. Since the night of the Becker wedding, no more robberies had been reported. Yet not for a moment did she believe that the thieves had left the vicinity. When the proper time arrived, they would strike again-possibly on the days indicated in the black hood.

Nancy was admitted to the office of Mr. Johnson, the credit manager of Taylor's. Without telling him of the previous day's experience, she mentioned a possible tie-in between the party thieves and the plate she carried.

Mr. Johnson examined the plate carefully. "It's one of ours all right," he said. "This was issued to an employee. But to tell you his or her name-that's impossible."

"Impossible?" Nancy asked, disappointed.