"I guess that'll hold you for a while." He grinned, gloating over the girls' predicament.
"Get to work!" the leader commanded his men impatiently. "Do you think we have the rest of the night? If we don't hurry up and get out of here, the cops are apt to be down on us! Don't know what this girl's done."
All colony members, except Mrs. Hale, went to work with a will; the fear of the law obviously had affected them. With a sinking heart, Nancy realized the men planned to destroy all the evidence of their counterfeiting operations.
"The machines that we can't take with us we'll wreck," Maurice Hale ordered. "If we save the plates we can start up again in a new place. Get a move on!"
He stood over the men, driving them furiously. His wife had slumped down in a chair and had buried her face in her hands. She appeared crushed. Only once did she summon her energy to speak.
"Maurice," she murmured brokenly, "why won't you give up this dreadful life-always running from the police? We were happy before you got mixed up with such bad company."
Her husband cut her short with a sarcastic remark. She did not try to speak again, but sat hunched over, looking sorrowfully at the girls. Nancy knew that she wanted to help them, but did not have the courage for further defiance. The work of destroying the counterfeiting machinery went on, but several times Maurice Hale glanced impatiently at his watch.
"No use waiting until we're through here," he observed after a time. "Let's get the prisoners out of here pronto. The sooner we're rid of them, the safer I'll feel. Al, you start on ahead with one of the automobiles. You know the way to the shack, don't you?"
"Sure," Al Snead agreed promptly.
"Then take Hank along to keep guard and get going!"
Nancy and her chums were jerked to their feet. The cords around their ankles were removed to permit them to walk, but their arms were kept tied securely behind them.
"Move along!" Al Snead ordered Nancy, giving her a hard shove forward.
The girls stumbled along through the dark passageway from the inner room to the mouth of the cave. Men and women followed them with angry, menacing threats. Al and Hank pushed the girls to make them hurry. Nancy and her friends exchanged hopeless glances from time to time. George held her head up contemptuously, but Joanne was white as a sheet and Bess was on the verge of tears.
"Guess this'll teach you girls to mix with the Black Snake Colony!" a raucous voice said as the group made its way toward the exit.
Nancy held back a retort, but her icy look told the man she did not appreciate the remark. Their walk seemed interminable. Finally, however, moonlight could be seen. In a moment they were approaching the mouth of the cave.
Nancy took a few halting steps and then paused as if she had turned to stone. Her eyes were riveted upon the entrance. There stood Mr. Abbott's son, Karl Jr.!
"Oh, Karl!" Nancy cried out. "These men are counterfeiters! Don't let them capture you too! Run!"
CHAPTER XXA Final Hunch
Karl Abbott did not run. Instead, he signaled with his hand. At once seven armed men sprang from the darkness of nearby bushes.
"Secret Service agents," Karl explained quickly to the girls.
"Stand where you are! Don't anyone move!" ordered one of the federal men.
So unexpected was their arrival that the counterfeiters were stunned. For an instant no one moved. Then, with a cry of rage, Maurice Hale darted into the cavern. He had taken only a few steps when one of the other agents grabbed him firmly by one arm.
"None of that! We have you right this time, Hale. You won't try any funny stuff with Uncle Sam again!"
Some of the counterfeiters who had not yet come from the cavern had turned back.
"They'll get away through the other exit!" Nancy cried out.
Karl smiled. "We have that covered too."
He now introduced the four girls to Secret Service Agent Horton who was in charge of the group. The federal man gave Nancy Drew a quick word of praise for revealing the headquarters of the counterfeiting ring.
"Outwitted-by that snooping kid!" Maurice Hale screamed.
The thought seemed to unnerve the man completely. He did not protest when handcuffs were put on his wrists. Other members of the syndicate submitted to the agents without resistance, although Yvonne Wong vehemently protested her innocence.
"I didn't know what it was all about until tonight," she cried angrily. "It isn't fair to arrest me! I've worked for Mr. Snead only a few days-"
"You'll have to think up a better story than that!" she was told bluntly. "Your name has been mixed up in underhanded deals before, but this is the first time we've been able to get any evidence against you."
While the prisoners were being rounded up, Karl Abbott rushed over to the girls and quickly freed their hands.
"Are you all right?" he asked anxiously.
"Yes," Nancy told him, "but if you hadn't arrived just when you did, it might have been a different story!"
She was on the verge of asking what had brought him to the cave at the psychological moment when she saw that two federal agents were placing handcuffs on the wrists of Maurice Hale's wife. Breaking away from her friends. Nancy darted to the other side of the room.
"Oh, don't arrest Mrs. Hale," she pleaded. "She isn't like the rest. She tried to save us, but they wouldn't listen to her."
"Sorry," Horton returned, "but we'll have to take her along. If you want to intercede for her later, we may be able to have her sentence lightened."
After the prisoners had been herded out of the cave to waiting government automobiles and the printing plates used in the making of the counterfeit bills had been collected. Nancy felt explanations were in order from Karl.
"How did you know we had come here?" Nancy asked him.
"From Mrs. Byrd. She was greatly worried. When I came to see Father tonight she told me that after you'd gone she found evidence of your costume making. She confided in me you might have done just what you did. She asked me to try and stop you."
"Yes. Go on," Nancy urged.
"Well, I've been suspicious of this hillside ceremony stuff, and after talking further with Mrs. Byrd, I decided to get in touch with the Secret Service men she said you had told her about. They couldn't come, but the chief agent in this area sent some of his other men."
"How marvelous of you to have put two and two together!" Bess exclaimed.
"By the time we all got here," Karl went on, "no one was around. I sneaked inside just as all of you were coming out. Mr. Horton thought you girls would not be harmed if you walked outside before the gang was captured."
"Thanks for that," said George. "I've had enough!"
Just then Secret Service Agent Horton came over to Nancy's group and extended his hand to her. "Miss Drew," he said earnestly, "I want to thank you for your work which has resulted in the solution of one of the most baffling cases of counterfeiting the United States Government has ever had. How did you do it?"
Nancy blushed at the praise. "It was sort of a chain reaction, I guess," the young sleuth replied, and told of the various circumstances that had led to tonight's adventure. When she finished, the agent shook his head in amazement. "You cracked a code this gang had thought was unbreakable. My congratulations."
It was late when the four girls, escorted by Karl Abbott, left the cave. As they neared the farmhouse, Joanne observed that the lights were on. "I hope Gram hasn't been too worried."
Before the girls reached the porch, Mrs. Byrd came hurrying toward them. She clung tightly to Joanne for an instant.
"I'm so glad you're back," she murmured in relief. "And you girls are all right. I was terribly afraid those members of the Black Snake Colony-"
She was interrupted by Mrs. Salisbury's voice from the dark porch. '"You had us so worried we couldn't go to bed. The idea of girls running around the country at this hour! That nature cult is all foolishness, anyway!"