Mystery of the Glowing Eye - Carolyn Keene [42]
“Suppose I go,” Nancy suggested. “You wait here in case Crosson or one of his pals climbs in a window or comes out of a secret hiding place.”
Nancy tiptoed down the attic steps. She opened the door warily and gazed into the dark hall. There was not a sound and to her this seemed ominous.
As she stood debating whether or not to descend to the first floor, she noticed a small flicker of light. In a moment she realized that someone was coming up the steps. She could not see the person’s face, but she could distinguish the outline of a man. In one hand he held the paralyzing glowing eye searchlight. Its beams had been turned low.
“I’d better make up my mind what I’m going to do,” Nancy thought.
A moment later a distressing thought came to her. Maybe her friends on the first floor had been paralyzed again by the glowing eye searchlight!
“The same thing will happen to me if I go near it!”
Quickly she stepped back onto the attic stairway and closed the door. Ascending on tiptoe as rapidly as possible, she went at once to Burt’s side and whispered:
“Cyclops may be on his way up here with his paralyzing light. We’d better hide.”
“And also try to figure out how we’re going to capture him,” Burt said, “without being paralyzed ourselves.”
Their flashlights turned on, the two moved quietly around the lab looking for something they could use to capture the man. Nancy noticed a long black cloth in one corner of the lab and picked it up. It proved to be a perforated sack.
“That is just the thing to pull over that villain’s head!” Burt remarked. “It’ll stop him but it won’t smother him.”
Nancy agreed and said she thought their best hiding place would be somewhere behind the door of the closet where bottles of chemicals were kept. By leaving the door ajar, they could watch the person’s actions. By now someone was climbing the steps to the attic. Nancy and Burt waited breathlessly.
When he reached the lab he at once turned up the beam of his searchlight and cast it over the room. Nancy and Burt could not be seen and were safe from its harmful rays. Burt clutched the sack and watched the intruder dim his searchlight.
In the crack of light shining into the closet, Burt held up a finger and crooked it to form the letter C. He followed with an R. Nancy realized that he was spelling Crosson!
She and Burt waited for their chance. Crosson walked closer and closer to the closet. Just before reaching it, he turned his back on the door. This was Burt and Nancy’s opportunity to capture him!
Like lightning they sprang from the closet. Burt pulled the sack over the man’s head, while Nancy held his arms tightly to his sides. The movement startled Crosson so much that he fell and dropped the searchlight. Fortunately its beams had been diverted from Burt and Nancy. Nancy reached out and with one foot shut off the power.
By now Burt had managed to tie the lower part of the sack around the man’s waist. The prisoner struggled to get away. His muscles were strong. Nancy realized that he must be bound more securely. She snapped on the ceiling light and looked for something with which to bind their prisoner. She found a coil of electric wire and tied the man’s ankles tightly, while Burt tried hard to keep the sack over his head and his arms pinned down. Next, Nancy wound the rest of the wire about his body so he could not free himself.
“Let me out of here!” the prisoner screamed.
Burt looked at Nancy who nodded, and the sack was taken from Crosson’s head. Nancy thought she had never seen an angrier, more calculating smirk on anyone’s face. The man’s fiery red hair was sticking out in all directions. His eyes were like two gleaming coals, as hatred shone in them.
“Let me go!” he shouted.
Nancy looked at him and asked, “Where’s Ned Nickerson?”
Instead of answering, Crosson cried out, “You’d better release me or you’ll all die!”
Since the man was unable