The Mystery of the Fire Dragon - Carolyn Keene [44]
Nancy had never seen anything like them. They had compartments of water in which live fish and shellfish were swimming around.
“You pick your dinner alive,” the young man said, laughing.
Fishermen below were recommending the various native fish. Nancy sighed. “I wouldn’t know one fish from another,” she confessed. “I shall leave the entire dinner to your judgment, Ned.”
“Good!” he said, and guided her inside the restaurant.
The headwaiter told them there were no small tables left. “Do you mind sitting at a larger one?” he inquired. Ned said they would not, and they were escorted to one near a window.
“First we’ll have bacon and cucumber soup,” Ned told the waiter. “Then some stewed shrimp.” He looked up at Nancy to see if she approved. When she nodded, he went on, “A little sweet-and-sour pork, beef fried in oyster sauce, bamboo shoots, rice, and almond tea.”
Nancy laughed. “This sounds like a Chinese Thanksgiving dinner. I’m not sure I can eat so much.” Ned assured her that the portions would not be large.
The couple finished the delectable soup and were busy with the stewed shrimp when Nancy happened to look toward the entrance door.
“Ned!” she said tensely. “Here comes Mrs. Truesdale with a Chinese escort! He’s not Mr. Lung, though.”
Ned turned to look. The headwaiter led the newcomers to a table some distance up the long room. Mrs. Truesdale did not notice Nancy and her companion.
Ned suddenly grinned. “Mrs. Truesdale’s shadows are right behind her!”
Nancy’s eyes widened. Bess and George, looking extremely weary, entered the room. As they began to follow Mrs. Truesdale, Nancy quickly got out of her chair and went after the girls.
“You!” Bess exclaimed.
“Come join us and enjoy yourselves for a while,” Nancy invited. “I can see you’ve really been on the job.”
“Have we!” George laughed. “That Truesdale woman has nine lives when it comes to energy. We’ve been shopping everywhere with her today, and we decided to keep trailing her this evening.”
The two girls dropped exhausted into seats at the table with Nancy and Ned. They had hardly had time to put napkins in their laps when a nice-looking Chinese man hurried up to them. He paused a moment to whisper to George:
“I’ll take over. Get some rest.” He went on, and without waiting to be seated, pulled out a chair at the table next to Mrs. Truesdale. From this vantage point, the others knew, he could overhear every word of her conversation.
“Who is he?” Ned asked George.
“I don’t know, but he trailed us all afternoon.”
Nancy said he must be one of the detectives whom Mr. Soong had retained to follow the girls. “If he isn’t, the real sleuth will doubtless be following him, so in any case I think you girls can relax.”
“Thank goodness!” said Bess. “My feet hurt and I’m absolutely starved.”
The others laughed. Then Ned repeated the menu he had ordered for himself and Nancy. “Would you girls like the same?”
Bess and George agreed to try the exotic dishes. As Nancy and her friends ate the delicious meal, the group exchanged stories. George reported that Mrs. Truesdale had neither said nor done anything the least bit suspicious.
Bess declared, “I don’t see how she can be connected with the mystery.”
“Of course I have nothing to go on except what happened in Mr. Lung’s shop,” Nancy remarked.
Bess and George were completely astounded to hear of Nancy’s capture, of her rescue, of her trip to Kam Tin with Ned, and of its results.
“You had enough adventure today to do me for a lifetime,” Bess complained. “And this mystery is far from solved. Goodness only knows what’ll happen next.”
Bess’s worries did not seem to affect her appetite and she was able to eat every crumb of the food brought to her. George and Nancy declined dessert, but Bess and Ned ate custard pudding dotted with almonds.
When they finished, George said to Nancy, “Do you think we should stay until Mrs. Truesdale leaves, so we can follow her?”
“No,” Nancy replied. “I’m sure the police will trail her. We had all better get a good night’s sleep.”
When they reached the