Read Online The Secret of the Wooden Lady by Carolyn Keene - Free Book Online Page A

lid was a cameo—the face of a lovely woman. She had long curling hair and a serene expression.
    “Ned, this may be just what I’ve been looking for!” Nancy exclaimed suddenly.
    “What do you mean?”
    “This woman on the box is probably the copy of a figurehead on a ship. She may be the one from the Bonny Scot!”
    Ned smiled. “Aren’t you jumping to conclusions?”
    Nancy dashed up to the quarterdeck where Captain Easterly was scanning the overcast sky.
    “Where did you get this snuffbox?” she asked him excitedly, holding it under a light.
    The captain looked at the article on the girl’s outstretched hand. “I never saw it before,” he answered.

    “Ned, this may be what I’ve been looking for!”
    “Then the stowaway dropped it,” Nancy told him, and brought the skipper up to date on the finding of the hole and the hatchet, proving that some mysterious intruder was still aboard.
    Captain Easterly frowned. “But where in thunder can he be?”
    Nancy’s eyes lighted up. “I think I know how we might catch him.”
    “How?”
    “He’s raided the galley once, and I have a hunch he’ll come back for drinking water. Ned, let’s set a watch for him!”
    Ned’s eyes sparkled. “You really keep trying—that’s what I like about you, Nancy.”
    Captain Easterly smiled tolerantly. “You’re such a good sleuth, Nancy, I might as well say Yes to your scheme. Ned and Dave can watch.”
    He glanced at the sky and frowned. “We may be in for a squall. I’m going to shorten sail.”
    The captain put the boys to work. Nancy joined the girls. She told them the plan to surprise the stowaway in the ship’s galley that night. One of the boys would wait inside the galley door. The other boy would rest in a small cabin directly across the passageway.
    “And now I have something to show you,” Nancy said.
    She held out the snuffbox. “I think our stowaway must have dropped this. Perhaps he found it during one of his hatchet parties.”
    “Or he may have brought it aboard with him,” suggested George.
    Studying the box more closely, Nancy discovered the initials P. R. and the date 1850.
    “I’m sure we’ve hit upon a clue,” she remarked to the girls. “Captain Easterly said this clipper might have been built about that time. And Dad thought the original name might have been changed to Bonny Scot.”
    “You mean P. R. might be this clipper’s initials?” Bess asked.
    “Maybe. Let’s see what we can find in the captain’s book.”
    They went to his cabin and found the book which listed famous clipper ships. They read the names together: Rainbow, Flying Cloud, Sovereign of the Seas, Red Jacket, Lightning.
    “What romantic names they gave those old clippers,” Bess sighed. “But none of them has the initials P. R.”
    Nancy frowned thoughtfully. “As soon as I’m ashore again, I’m going to do some research.”
    George had taken off the lid and was smelling the inside of the box. “It’s a snuffbox if you say so. But it’s never had any snuff in it.”
    “Maybe there was something valuable inside—a note of some sort,” Bess suggested. She yawned. “I’m dreadfully sleepy, girls. Why don’t we go to our bunks? Stowaway or not, I’ve got to get some sleep. I’ll lock my door.”
    George grinned. “After you’re sure no one’s under the bunk.”
    Through the night Ned and Dave took turns watching. By four o’clock no one had come near the galley. Nancy had dropped into an uneasy sleep when she was awakened by the sound of running feet and distant shouting.
    Nancy threw on a coat and dashed from her cabin. In the darkness she ran full tilt into someone.
    “Ned!” she gasped. “Are you all right?”
    “I’m okay,” he told her. “No stowaway, Nancy. I heard the captain calling. Let’s get up on deck and see what’s wrong.”
    As she ran up the companionway Nancy could feel the ship heaving and tossing. On deck they found the captain shouting orders to Dave, who was going