Mystery of Crocodile Island - Carolyn Keene [44]
Nancy looked at the police officers and asked, “Did I understand you to say that you think two of the workmen are still on the island?”
“Yes. A couple of Sacco’s special buddies, and bad, both of them. They have records.”
“Where did they go?” Nancy asked.
“We don’t know,” Patman replied. He walked off to join his fellow officer in another hunt.
Nancy said to her friends, “Why don’t we start a search?”
“Great idea!” Ned agreed.
The others were eager to begin but Bess was cautious. “Maybe the men are armed. If so, we’re walking into danger!”
Ned hurried off to ask the officers about the firearms. Patman replied, “According to Yunki they were not armed—didn’t have time to go for any. I doubt that you’d be in any danger if you want to look around. Fifer and I must stay within sight of the beach until the launch returns. It took all the captives to jail.”
Nancy had followed Ned and was alarmed at its import. She asked quickly. “Was one of the prisoners a man named Sol?”
Patman pulled a pad from his pocket and consulted it. “I have the list of prisoners here. There’s no one named Sol on it.”
“I’m glad,” Nancy said, “that he’s not with Gimler and Sacco. We’ve talked to him. He’s very nice. Probably he didn’t come back to the island after being in Key Biscayne.”
Nancy and Ned returned to their friends. She suggested that they separate into couples and make their search on the island some distance from one another. We’ll be couple one, George and Burt, two; and Bess and Dave, three. In case of trouble call out your numbers instead of your names.
“And, Danny, how about your going around the island in the skiff? If you see anyone or anything suspicious, sound your horn.”
“Okay,” he agreed.
The three couples started off on their search. Bess and Dave stopped for a few minutes to look at the crocodiles, and Bess remarked, “If all the workers are gone, who’s going to take care of these reptiles?”
Dave grinned. “How would you like the job?”
Instead of answering, Bess made a face at him.
Just then one of the old male crocodiles grunted, then hissed, and opened its jaws wide. Within seconds he closed them with such a resounding snap that the couple jumped.
Bess and Dave waited no longer. They took off for a copse of mangroves to start their hunt for the missing suspects.
Meanwhile, Burt and George tramped through a jungle area, looking up into trees, behind bushes, and on the ground. They stopped every few minutes to listen, but everything was quiet and there was no sign anywhere of the wanted men.
They came to a low coral cave and stopped. “Isn’t that attractive?” George whispered. “I wonder if those men are hiding inside.”
“I’ll look,” Burt said.
“No! They might trap you and attack!”
“I’ll be careful. Just follow me, but wait when I get to the entrance.”
The two advanced without making a sound. Slowly they neared the entrance. Then Burt picked up a stone and threw it inside. There was no reaction from within.
He cautiously peered around the rocky opening and saw the small interior. The walls were jagged and arranged in a moon-shaped pattern, but there was no cement or any other indication that the cave was man-made.
“It’s empty,” Burt reported. “Anyway, it’s not much of a hiding place.”
George looked inside. “Isn’t that coral fascinating?” she said. “Think of the millions of tiny polyps climbing up and dying to form layer after layer of coral.”
“Yes,” Burt said. “But don’t get sidetracked. Never mind the coral now. Let’s look for those missing men.”
The couple went deeper into the jungle. Rabbits and raccoons scurried away from them. Suddenly the stillness was broken by a loud noise. Something was crashing through the underbrush ahead of them. George wondered if it was an animal. Then they heard human voices.
“They may be the suspects!” Burt whispered. “Come on!”
All this time Nancy and Ned were searching along the waterfront, thinking the men might have hidden a second boat among the mangroves and would try to reach it. Suddenly Nancy