The Mystery of the Fire Dragon - Carolyn Keene [47]
“I’ll say you are!” George spoke up. “Nancy needs a bodyguard. In fact, I’d say she needs more than one.”
At once Charlie and Philip offered to help. When Ned insisted he could do the job alone, the two boys turned to Bess and George. “Do you not need protection, too?” Charlie asked. “This evening perhaps? We would like to take you sight-seeing.”
Both Bess and George said they thought it would be fun but that they had promised to meet Mr. Soong. “Could we make it tomorrow evening ?” George suggested.
“Tomorrow evening it is,” Philip agreed and Charlie nodded.
The young people next attended the volleyball game. They followed the contest with increasing excitement as first one side, then the other, went ahead in score. In the end the United States and Japan won over Free China and India.
As the visitors were ready to leave in Ned’s car, Bess declared, “This has been a lucky day!”
“And we hope the luck will continue,” Philip Ming said as he and Charlie bowed.
“Thank you.” Bess smiled. She was thinking, “Oh, I hope we will be lucky this evening and solve the mystery of Chi Che Soong!”
When Ned dropped Nancy and her friends at the hotel, saying he would see them later, the girls went at once to one of the shops there to pick out a Chinese costume for George. As soon as dinner was over, they changed into their party clothes. Nancy and Bess helped George disguise herself as Chi Che.
She had just finished applying make-up when the telephone rang. Mr. Lee Soong was calling Nancy to say that two taxis were waiting. He requested that George come downstairs alone, and casually hold a scarf so that her face would be partially covered.
“Miss Drew,” Mr. Soong went on, “ask your friend to bow to me, and act in every way as if she were Chinese, and indeed my great-niece. She and I will take the first taxi. Will the rest of you follow in the other?”
“Certainly,” said Nancy. “We will be down immediately.”
“That is excellent.” Mr. Soong added, “It is my great hope that someone at the party tonight will be startled upon seeing Miss Fayne’s disguise and reveal a clue as to where Chi Che is.”
Ned joined the girls and a short time later the two taxis drew up at the gate of a beautiful estate facing the harbor. Hundreds of lighted lanterns hung from among the trees in the gardens, and haunting Chinese music was being played.
The group alighted. As Mr. Soong and George walked on ahead, Bess whispered to Nancy, “George seems even more convincing as Chi Che than she did in New York.” Nancy nodded in agreement.
Presently the guests heard firecrackers being set off. “That means the celebrations are about to begin,” Ned explained. “Every Chinese function starts with firecrackers.”
“Let’s go watch,” Bess urged.
There were many paths and little arched bridges over ponds and brooks. One of the paths, which everyone seemed to be following, led through an attractively carved, horseshoe-shaped arch. Beyond, in the center of a clearing, Nancy and her friends could see a series of large metal frames for the display pieces of the fireworks.
All the guests had gathered to observe the display. George was alone, having preceded Mr. Soong. Among the onlookers just ahead was Mrs. Truesdale! The ex-police chief spread out his arms. Nancy sensed that Mr. Soong’s move might be a signal for her group to separate, and suggested that she, Bess, and Ned take up different positions nearby. She herself remained at the rear in back of the arch.
Some of the fireworks were in the form of floral pieces, one more beautiful than the other. Finally the center one was set off. As one section after another of it blazed into the night sky, Nancy gasped.
It was a huge fire dragon!
“It is magnificent, but frightening!” the girl detective thought.
Nancy glanced about to see Bess’s and Ned’s reactions. She could not discern her friends in the crowd ahead of her. But her gaze fastened on something else that almost made her heart stop beating.
Mr. Stromberg was sneaking up behind Mr. Soong. Was he going to attack the Chinese?