The Secret of Red Gate Farm by Carolyn Keene Page B

men replied. “We don’t have much to go on.”
    “It was a girl who gave me the bill,” the woman explained. “There were several of them in the party. I’d recognize—Oh!” she shrieked. “There’s the very girl!” She pointed an accusing finger at Nancy Drew.
    Nancy and her friends stared in astonishment. They could not believe what they had just heard.
    “Arrest that girl!” the woman screamed. “Don’t let any of them get away—they’re all in on it together!”
    “Just a minute,” one of the agents said. “Suppose you explain,” he suggested to Nancy.
    The excited woman, however, was not to be calmed. She rushed toward Nancy and shook her fist at the girl. “Don’t deny you gave me that phony bill!” she almost screamed.
    “I neither deny nor affirm it,” Nancy said, turning to the agents. “I did give the woman a twenty-dollar bill, but how do you know it was the counterfeit?”
    “It was the only twenty we took in that day,” the waitress retorted.
    Nancy’s thoughts raced. “I’ll take your word for it,” she said quietly.
    Opening her purse she took out another twenty-dollar bill. The woman snatched the money and handed it to one of the Secret Service men. “Is this good?” she asked crisply.
    The agent examined the bill. Then he looked at Nancy. “Where did you get this?”
    “From my father. He gave me both bills, as a matter of fact. One was for car emergencies.”
    Instead of giving the bill to the woman, the man put it into his pocket. “This is serious business, young lady. The bill you just gave me is also counterfeit!”
    Nancy was thunderstruck. Bess and George gasped. Before any of them could speak, the lunchroom woman cried out, “She’s one of the gang! Arrest her!”
    For the first time the station attendant spoke up. “Take it easy, Liz. These girls don’t exactly look like counterfeiters.”
    Liz sniffed. “People don’t usually go around paying for sundaes with twenty-dollar bills!” she said tartly.
    “My father gave me the money because I was going on a vacation.”
    “A likely story!” the woman sneered.
    “It’s the truth!” George spoke up indignantly. “The idea of accusing my friend of passing bad money on purpose! It’s ridiculous!”
    “Ridiculous, is it?” the woman retorted angrily. “You’ll sing a different tune when you’re in jail!”

    “You can’t have Nancy arrested. She didn’t realize it was counterfeit money!” Bess protested. “George and I have some cash. We’ll pay you twenty good dollars to make up for the bad one.”

    As the cousins pooled their funds and handed over the money, the woman quieted down. “Maybe I was a little hasty,” she admitted. But she was not entirely cowed. “How about your father?” she asked Nancy. “How come he had counterfeit bills?”
    Nancy said she did not know, but certainly he had not acquired them dishonestly.
    One of the Secret Service men said, “Suppose you tell us who you are, and—”
    “I’ll tell you who she is!” came an authoritative voice from the doorway.

CHAPTER XIII
    A Hesitant Hitchhiker
    UNOBSERVED by the girls, an automobile had driven up and parked near the filling station. A tall young man had alighted and started for the lunchroom. Upon hearing the amazing conversation inside, he had halted. Then, realizing Nancy was in need of help, he had stepped inside.
    “Karl!” Nancy cried out. She had never before been so glad to see anyone!
    “It looks as if I just got here in the nick of time.” Karl Abbott Jr. smiled.
    “They’re trying to arrest us!” Bess exclaimed.
    “You’re kidding!” Karl cried in astonishment.
    “It’s no joke,” Nancy returned earnestly, then told him of her predicament.
    “Look here,” Karl said bluntly, turning to the two Secret Service agents, “you can’t hold these girls.”
    “Who are you?” one of the agents demanded.
    “My name is Karl Abbott, and these girls are friends of mine. As it happens, my father is