Carolyn Keene - Nancy Drew by The Kachina Doll Mystery Page A

knotted the reins high on Pepper Pot’s neck, then turned the horse loose with a slap on the haunch. “Go home, old boy,” he said to him. “We’ll be there to put you into your stall.”
    The gelding trotted off as Nancy began telling everyone exactly what had happened. “I don’t know where Ngyun and Cochise could have gone,” she finished. “They just weren’t in the wash when I got to the end of it.”
    Heather frowned. “Ngyun is back at the house, Nancy,” she said. “He’s been there all evening. And Cochise is in the stable. Pepper Pot was the only horse missing when we went down there looking for you.”
    “But I saw a rider on a pinto trotting away from the stable,” Nancy protested. “And they were ahead of me in that wash. I’d never have gone so far from the house in the rain if I hadn’t been following them. ”
    “Did you really see Ngyun?” Chuck asked.
    “Well, no, but . . .” Nancy stopped, then swallowed hard. “It was a trap, wasn’t it?” she asked. “But how could the intruder have known that I’d follow him?”
    “Maybe it didn’t matter,” George suggested. “I mean, maybe he just wanted you to see the pinto leaving the stable and believe that Ngyun was riding him.”
    Nancy nodded, her mind working feverishly. “When I followed, whoever it was must have decided it was a perfect opportunity to get rid of me. If it hadn’t been for Pepper Pot, I’d have been trapped in the flood. ”
    “You definitely picked the right horse to ride tonight,” Chuck told her as he helped her into the crowded jeep. “He’s saved me a couple of times.”
    No one said much as they bounced over the wet ground on the way back to the well-lit, stone house. However, by the time Chuck stopped by the rear garden to let the girls out before going down to the stable to take care of Pepper Pot, Nancy had already come to a conclusion.
    “Do you suppose the rider on the pinto was going to start a fire or cause some other kind of trouble?” she asked. “I mean, since I saw the horse leaving the stable, I had to believe that it was Cochise, and that would mean Ngyun could be blamed again.”
    “That would explain all the times someone has seen a rider on a pinto near trouble, wouldn’t it?” George commented. “It’s too bad you didn’t get a closer look at your mystery rider.”
    “I will next time,” Nancy promised with a sturdy smile. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go take a nice, hot bath and get into some dry clothes.”
    “You come out and join us for some hot chocolate afterwards,” Heather ordered gently. “I think we have some talking to do.”
    Nancy nodded, aware from the girl’s tone that she would be asked once more to discontinue her investigation. But she couldn’t stop now, the young detective realized, not when she was so close to clearing Ngyun of all the ugly accusations!
    Later, however, as they sipped their hot chocolate, it took all her powers of persuasion to convince both Chuck and Heather that she had to go on with her sleuthing.
    The morning dawned beautifully clear and sunny as though there’d been no storm at all. Nancy awoke, more than ready to go to work on the mystery of Ngyun’s persecution. Heather offered to help by volunteering to call the nearby ranches and ask them about black-and-white pintos. By the time breakfast was over, she had a list of six possibilities to contact.
    “While you do that, Heather, I think I’d like to ride out to the wash and see if I can figure out how my mysterious rider escaped,” Nancy said. “Maybe I’ll find a clue to his identity there.”
    “It seems to me we should come with you,” George spoke up. “Right, Bess?”
    “Just as long as we stay away from rattlesnakes and flooded washes,” Bess answered.
    “There’s not a cloud in the sky,” Nancy assured her. “I don’t think we have to worry about floods.”
    “How about arrows and rattlers?” Bess asked.
    “The only sure way to be