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the hall again.
    Nancy arose and looked into the vats. The color appeared familiar. She sniffed. The odor from the mixture was the same as that which she had smelled at the Booker factory!
    “Now I have real evidence!” she exulted.

CHAPTER X
    Dangerous Adventure
     
     
     
    DELIGHTED with her discovery, Nancy now was intent on finding a container to get a sample from the Dight chemical vats.
    “There must be a bottle here somewhere.”
    Suddenly beside her shoulder the girl saw a black widow spider crawling through an open ventilator shaft. In horror she backed away quickly. Then she killed it with her shoe.
    “I wonder what’s on the other side of the ventilator.”
    An idea came to her. “Maybe Bushy Trott uses spiders to make silk thread the way Mr. Booker does.”
    Excited, she looked through the ventilator. It was dark beyond, but Nancy found a switch which lighted the inner room. It was filled with glass cases, but she could not see what was in them.
    “I must find out if they’re spiders that spin silk thread,” she decided. “If so, that will be another bit of evidence against Mr. Dight.”
    Near the ventilator was a door which apparently led to the room. To Nancy’s annoyance it had no knob or visible lock, nor could it be pushed or pulled.
    “It must open by means of a secret spring,” she reasoned.
    With infinite patience Nancy moved her hand over every inch of the panel. Suddenly the door swung inward.
    “I must have touched the spring!” she thought gleefully.
    Scarcely had the door closed behind her when she heard footsteps outdoors. Evidently the night watchman, attracted by the light she had turned on, had come to investigate. But the man did not come in.
    “Doesn’t he have a key,” Nancy pondered, “or doesn’t he suspect an intruder’s in here?”
    All this while Nancy had continued to explore the inner room of the laboratory. She noticed that the cases contained spiders. But they were not the harmless orb weavers like those at the Booker factory.
    “They’re deadly black widows but just as useful for thread,” Nancy reflected. “Bushy Trott has courage to work with the poisonous things. I wonder what Effie would say to that.”
    Effie ! Nancy suddenly recalled her promise to go back to Pleasant Hedges. She glanced at her watch and was startled to see how late it was.
    “I must get a sample of the chemical solution in the other room, and then find my way out,” Nancy decided.
    Once more she pressed against the secret panel and it swung open. Quietly she returned to the outer room and hunted for an empty container.
    “I know!” Nancy chuckled. “Why didn’t I think of it before?”
    In her pocket were two miniature bottles, part of the March collection. She had intended to offer them to Mr. Dight, but in her haste to leave his office she had forgotten to do so.
    Though small, each receptacle was provided with a large stopper. Taking care not to wet her fingers with the chemical, Nancy filled the containers from two different tanks.
    Again she heard footsteps outside the building. What should she do? Turn off the light or leave it on?
    Nancy decided to leave it on to avoid calling further attention to herself. “But I’d better escape as soon as possible,” she thought. Then she remembered that Trott had locked all the doors. Recalling that there was another door inside the spidery, she decided to take a chance on that one.
    Again she pressed the secret spring, and the door opened. As she slid through, Nancy heard the squeal of car brakes outside. Then came the sound of running feet.
    In panic Nancy sped to the door at the far end of the spidery. She felt a momentary sense of helplessness when it would not yield, but with an extra tug it opened.
    A steep flight of steps led downward. As she groped along Nancy became aware of a cool breeze blowing across her face.
    “That’s fresh clean air!” she said to herself, trying to be calm. “This cellar must have an outside