The Mystery of the Fire Dragon - Carolyn Keene [50]
Suddenly Nancy gave the signal. The two girls kicked off their shoes, leaped up to the top of the wooden side of the junk, and dived in. The woman on board screamed and at once the men rushed to the side.
Nancy and Chi Che were swimming toward the passing sampan as fast as they could. They reached it at the same time and pulled themselves aboard.
The women manning it cried out in astonishment. Quickly Chi Che assured them in their native tongue that they would not be harmed. She said that the girls must get to shore immediately.
“Ch’ing hao.”—“Please okay,” the older woman said. She and her companion began to paddle furiously and fifteen minutes later Nancy and Chi Che were safe on land.
“I must get to a phone at once,” Nancy said. Chi Che translated this to the women and the younger one led them to a small shop which was still open. Smiling, Chi Che asked for her name and promised to pay the next day for the boat ride.
As she went off, Chi Che explained to the shop owner the reason for the girls’ bedraggled appearance. He looked startled but took them to the telephone in the back room. Nancy at once put in a call to the hotel, hoping that her father had returned.
Hearing his voice, she cried in relief, “Oh, Dad! Chi Che Soong is with me. We just swam the bay to get away from some of the smugglers. They’re on Mr. Lung’s junk. I was captured and taken aboard. I’ll be right home, but do what you can to round up those kidnapers.”
“You poor child!” the lawyer exclaimed. “Get here as fast as you can. In the meantime, I’ll follow through.”
During this conversation, Chi Che had been talking with the shop owner about getting transportation to the hotel. He said the girls were on the Kowloon Peninsula at a small town some distance from the city. “I will see what I can do.”
The helpful, excited man hurried to the street. He was gone for several minutes, then the girls saw him riding up in a dilapidated car.
A young Chinese man sat at the wheel. He smiled at the girls and said in English, “Please to pardon my old jalopy. I will be glad to take you to the hotel.”
When they reached the hotel, Nancy asked the driver to wait while she went upstairs to get money to pay him for his trouble, but the young man refused to accept any payment. “I am very happy to help you. From what I hear, you have solved a great mystery and benefited our colony. I am only a humble citizen, but I thank you.”
The girls smiled and hopped from the car. They waved as he went off, then hurried into the hotel and up to the Drews’ suite. As they reached the door to the living room, it opened wide. Nancy’s father clasped her in his arms. Then she broke away to introduce Chi Che not only to him but to Bess, George, and Ned. Mr. Lee Soong greeted his great-niece in Cantonese.
Nancy was hugged and bombarded with questions. Mr. Drew held up his hand. “Both these swimmers must take hot showers and put on dry clothes before they tell their story,” he insisted.
Chi Che was given the suit which George had worn to the party. When she put it on and combed her hair, there was indeed a striking resemblance between her and George!
“I have a fine American twin,” she said, smiling.
“This is part of the way we solved the mystery of the fire dragon,” Bess told her with a chuckle.
When the girls returned to the living room, stories were quickly exchanged. Nancy and Chi Che were thrilled to learn from Mr. Soong that he and Ned and some of the colony police had arrived at Mr. Lung’s junk soon after the girls had dived overboard.
“We caught all the men and the woman before they had a chance to get away,” the ex-police chief explained. “And also the man who drove off with the chests from Kam Tin. In them were mah-jongg sets containing hidden gold. Mr. Lung and several others who worked for the smugglers are also in jail.”
Presently Nancy said, “All of us here are so overjoyed that Chi Che has been found, I suggest we telephone overseas to Grandpa Soong and share the