"Don't be ridiculous!" Kadle shouted, stepping forward a pace.

Bess turned her head. "You'd better do as he says, Nancy. We don't want to get hurt."

"She's right!" Kadle called out.

Before he could move again, the troopers sprang from the woods and seized the two men.

"Hey! What's going on here?" Kadle sputtered. The man with him looked thunderstruck at being disarmed.

One of the troopers said, "We've been looking for you a long time. You're wanted on several counts and now we can add to the list threatening the lives of these young people."

"It's a lie!" Kadle bl.u.s.tered. He pointed to Nancy. "She has something that belongs to me!"

The trooper asked Nancy, "Is this true?"

"Of course not," she replied. "I'd say that if this property belongs to anyone, it would be the State of Illinois. I promise to turn it in." She told the officers a little of the mystery on which she was working.

"It's lucky you arrived when you did," Ned said to the troopers. "How did you find us? Did our friends tell you?"

"No, we haven't seen them."

"They've taken the phony guards to jail." Kadle winced at hearing this.

The trooper went on, "We were hiding near the well house, and spotted you going through the woods. A few minutes later Kadle and his pal came along, following you. We trailed them, figuring we'd catch the two in action."

Ned turned to Kadle. "Then you never did go to the well house to pick up the ransom?"

Kadle shook his head. "When I noticed you heading in this direction, I was sure you were up to something and I'd better find out what it was."

Dave said, "There was a nice fat sack of paper and stones waiting for you at the well house."

Kadle scowled. "I might have known Nancy Drew would pull a trick on me."

Seeing that his position was hopeless, he talked freely. Nancy learned the answers to some of the questions which had puzzled her. The two men who had later posed as museum guards had come to the dig soon after her arrival and called out her name softly at the bedroom window. They were supposed to get Nancy to step outside and then kidnap her, so she could not pursue her search for the message in the hollow oak. The men had also stolen Clem's goat to frighten her in the dark bedroom.

"But nothing worked," Kadle admitted. One of his men left the note on the farmhouse bureau, hoping to scare Nancy off the case. Kadle had planned to steal the fossils and artifacts in the excavation and the barn, and admitted posing as Tom Wilson.

"Whenever I thought it wasn't safe for me to appear, I gave the job to my men."

Nancy asked, "Did you mutilate an oak tree in your search for the real hollow oak?"

Kadle admitted doing it.

George spoke up. "How did you learn Nancy Drew was on the case?"

Kadle replied, "When I couldn't get any information from Armstrong about the hollow oak, I flew East and spied on the other detectives. I overheard Boycey Osborne say Nancy Drew from River Heights was taking over. I managed to get on the same flight with her to St. Louis."

The trooper asked if the prisoners had any more to say. They shook their heads and were led away.

"Now let's see what's inside this hunting horn," Nancy suggested.

While Ned held the beautiful instrument, she put her hand down inside the tube. Her fingers touched something metal. She pulled out a heavy solid-gold chain and cross.

"That's exquisite!" Bess exclaimed.

"And worth a fortune, I'll bet," Dave added. Next Nancy removed a man's large signet ring with a religious design on it. She tugged at the next piece but could not move it.

Finally she said, "Ned, you try."

The object was wedged in tightly. Ned rocked the horn from side to side and finally the metal object in it gave way. He pulled out a slender bra.s.s box.

"This is a surveyor's kit," Dave remarked as Nancy raised the lid. "Pere Franois must have been a surveyor as well as a missionary."

Carefully Nancy removed an egg-shaped piece of metal with a rotted fragment of string attached to it.

"That's a plumb bob," said Ned. "It hangs on the end of a line to find the center of gravity."

"And here's a compa.s.s," George added. "What's this?" Nancy asked, picking up a bra.s.s tube.

"Pere Francois could have used that for sighting," said Ned. "Today we look through a telescopic instrument called a transit."

Nancy slid her finger into the tube. "Something's in here!" she exclaimed, and pulled out a tiny roll of paper. "It must be the message that tells about the treasure!"

The handwriting on the paper proved to be in French and some of the words were old-fashioned, but Nancy managed to translate them. She read aloud:"'This tree is quarter of a mile east from an ancient Indian burial mound. It is large, overgrown, and the rounded top is gone. I dug into it from the side and found fine objects. Then war came. I put them back and filled in the hole.

"'The Iroquois are destroying the Algonquin. The last village I was in was attacked and I fled, but the arrow wound I received is festering and I shall die. I will hide my few precious possessions in this hollow oak. Then I will put a note in a light crock, seal it, and send it downstream. I pray the note will be picked up by a settler. These belongings were brought by me from France to New France.'"

As Nancy paused, George remarked, "New France is now Canada, isn't it?"

"Yes," Nancy answered, then went on reading:"'I have marked my journey from one Indian village to another by placing lead plates I brought from France upon oak trees near Indian settlements. Arrows I made on the signs show the direction of my travels. One plate is left which has no arrow. I will use it to mark this tree.' "

The young people stood silent, awed by what they had just seen and learned.

Finally Ned said, "Nancy, I don't think you realize what a tremendous find you've made."

The young detective merely smiled. "Evidently someone found the crock with the note, and the story became a legend."

George patted her friend on the back. "And then Nancy Drew turned the legend into a true story."

Carrying the copper box with the fabulous hunting horn with them, Nancy and her friends returned to the farmhouse. As the truck clattered in, Theresa and the young archaeologists began appearing from all directions to find out what their friends had learned.

"It must have been a good day," said Julie Anne. "You're all smiling!"

Nancy jumped down and said, "My smile is as wide as the Illinois river country." She told of their finding Bob and the capture of Kadle and his pals.

"How marvelous!" Julie Anne exclaimed. Ned and Dave now lifted down the copper box. Nancy opened it and displayed the beautiful hunting horn.