Nancy Drew swung open the heavy oak door, fully expecting to see Nathan Gombet on the veranda. She had braced herself for another unpleasant ordeal, but when she saw that her fears were groundless, her face relaxed into a pleased smile.

“Allie Horner!” she exclaimed enthusiastically. “What a scare you gave me!”

“Meaning that I look a fright?” Allie bantered.

“Mercy, no! I can’t remember that I ever saw you looking better in your life.”

The compliment was a sincere one. In the last few months plenty of good food and freedom from worry had done wonders for Allie. She had grown becomingly plump and there were roses in her cheeks. Her eyes were bright and she seemed to have an overabundance of vitality.

Nancy could remember the day when she first met Allie Horner and her sister, Grace. They lived on a farm along the River Road and at the time were undernourished and beset with financial worries. Through Nancy’s efforts, the girls had come into an inheritance, and their troubles had vanished. They still resided on the River Road, but they had used a portion of their income to modernize the place, with the result that it was considered a model farm.

“Do come into the living room, Allie,” Nancy urged cordially. “It’s been months since I saw you last.”

“Grace and I don’t get to town very often.”

“Too busy, I suppose. But I’m so glad you came today. I’ve been lonesome for someone to talk with.”

“I can’t stay very long, Nancy. I dropped in to give you a little present.”

“A present?”

“Yes, it’s not much of a gift, I’m afraid,” Allie smiled apologetically as she thrust two packages into Nancy’s hands. “Just a chicken for your Sunday dinner and two dozen eggs.”

“Why, that’s a fine gift, Allie! You’re never sure of getting fresh eggs when you buy them at the grocery store⁠—you have to take the fresh part on trust. And sometimes your trust is betrayed.”

“I think you’ll find these eggs fresh. I gathered them this morning.”

After thanking Allie for the gift, Nancy carried the chicken and the eggs to the kitchen and placed them in the electrical refrigerator. Returning to the living room, she pulled her chair up close to Allie’s, and the two girls settled themselves for a chat.

“Tell me about everything,” Nancy commanded. “How is your sister?”

“Oh, Grace is fine, and fairly rolling in wealth,” Allie declared proudly. “She wanted to come with me this afternoon, but she couldn’t take the time from her work. Dressmaking has picked up tremendously and she has more orders than she can fill. You should see her new electric sewing machine.”

“I suppose you’ve made a great many changes since I last visited your place?”

“Oh, yes. We get a big kick out of landscaping everything. We’ve even gone in for grand names⁠—we call our place the chicken ranch now. I’ve had wonderful luck with my Leghorns, and I intend to double my flock next year.”

As Allie spoke, her eyes came to rest upon the old-fashioned mantel clock.

“Every time I see that old clock I think of how much you did for all of us,” she said quietly to Nancy. “I wish you would permit Grace and me to give you a more suitable reward.”

“But the clock is all I want, really it is,” Nancy protested.

“You’re the strangest girl I ever knew,” Allie sighed. “Oh, well, I know it won’t do any good to urge you, so I’ll drop the matter. Tell me about yourself.”

“There’s nothing to tell.”

“Then you’re not involved in any more mysteries?”

“Not so far as I know,” Nancy laughed. Then the smile faded from her face and she regarded Allie seriously. “Still, an odd thing did happen this afternoon, just a few minutes before you arrived.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Well, a strange man came to the door and asked to see my father. When I told him Dad was out of town on important business he didn’t believe me. He ranted a lot about his ‘property rights on the river,’ whatever that may mean. He claimed that he had been cheated out of some money. If I hadn’t threatened to call the police he would have gone through everything in Dad’s desk.”

“You have no idea who the man was?”

“I never saw him before, but he gave his name as Nathan Gombet.”

“Nathan Gombet?”

“Yes, do you know him?”

“Well, rather! He used to buy eggs and chickens from me until I told him not to come back any more. He’s a regular miser, if ever there was one. He has a home over in Cliffwood.”

“I suspected he was a miser from his appearance.”

“You can’t trust him out of your sight. One day after I had sold him five dozen eggs I turned my back for a minute and he tried to slip an extra dozen into the crate!”

“He claims my father cheated him out of his property rights.”

Allie laughed shortly.

“Knowing Nathan as I do, I’d be quicker to think he was trying to cheat your father. What property does he mean?”

“I don’t know anything about it except that it’s along the river.”

“It must be the property that was condemned for the railroad bridge,” Allie suggested.

“Did the bridge go up on Gombet’s land?”

“As I recall it, he sold a strip of land on either side of the river. Then after the bridge went up he claimed the railroad had built over its boundary line.”

“Why didn’t he find that out before the bridge was finished?”

“Oh, no one believes his claim, Nancy. The land was carefully surveyed, you know. It’s my personal opinion Nathan Gombet isn’t perfectly right in his mind.”

“You mean he’s⁠—”

“Oh, I wouldn’t go so far as to say he’s crazy, Nancy; but he’s money mad. It’s an obsession with him that someone is trying to cheat him out of something. He went nearly daffy when the bridge went up. He even threatened he’d blow it up if they didn’t pay him his price.”

“He ought to be arrested. It’s dangerous to have him at large.”

“Yes, I think so myself. Of course it’s only a rumor about his threat to blow up the bridge, but I believe he said it all right.”

“So do I, after the way he acted this afternoon. He’ll bear watching.”

Allie nodded soberly.

“You’re going to tell your father, aren’t you?” Allie queried.

“Oh, yes, just as soon as he gets home.”

The girls talked for some time and then Allie Horner announced that she must leave.

“I have a notion to ride out into the country with you and hike back,” Nancy told her. “Father won’t be back for several hours yet and I’m tired of sitting here in the house with nothing to do.”

“I wish you would come with me,” Allie urged.

“All right. Wait until I get my hiking boots and I’ll do it!”

Nancy left the room and soon returned dressed for hiking. After locking the doors and windows, she left the house with Allie.

“How do you like our new automobile?” Allie demanded, as she paused in front of a roadster which was parked at the curbing. “Grace and I bought it last week.”

“It’s a beauty,” Nancy replied. “You didn’t tell me about that.”

“I intended to, but we got to talking about Nathan Gombet and I forgot.”

The two girls sprang into the roadster and Allie took the wheel. She drove rather slowly, for as yet she was not perfectly familiar with the various controls.

When they came to the Muskoka River Nancy thanked Allie for the ride, and expressed the intention of hiking back.

“If I walk right along, I’ll get home before dark,” she assured Allie, as she stepped from the roadster.

Nancy Drew watched Allie out of sight, and then struck off at a brisk pace along the river.

“A walk will do me good,” she told herself. “It may help me get rid of my nervousness.”

Although the day was warm, there was a cool breeze blowing along the river, and Nancy found the air invigorating. She swung blithely along, pausing occasionally to skip a tiny stone out into the water or to watch a school of minnows in the shallows near shore.

After a time, the path led through thick bushes and tall trees. When she emerged into the clearing again she saw, less than three hundred yards ahead of her, a gigantic arc of iron and steel that stretched across the Muskoka River. It was the first time Nancy had ever seen the new railroad bridge at close range and she gave a cry of interest.

Hurrying on, she climbed over a fence which marked the boundary of the railroad right of way and came to the tracks. There she paused and surveyed the bridge with awe.

“It must have cost a mint of money,” she thought.

As she was considering the remarkable engineering feat which the bridge represented, a shrill locomotive whistle caused her to wheel about. The block signal was down and she knew a train was approaching from the west.

She moved hastily to a safe distance from the tracks. With a fascination which was tinged with horror, she watched a long, heavy eastbound flyer as it roared around the bend and like a mighty monster charged down upon the railroad bridge.

“What if Nathan Gombet dared to carry out his threat?” she asked herself, with a shudder.

Even after the flyer had clattered safely across the bridge and had vanished in a cloud of smoke, Nancy could not shake off the uneasy feeling which had taken possession of her.

Now that she had viewed the bridge, she had a graphic picture in her mind of the damage Gombet could accomplish if he were so inclined. As she turned away and walked slowly on toward her home, she lost herself in sober reflection.

“Nathan Gombet is a dangerous man, that’s certain,” she told herself. “If only there were some way to put him behind prison bars before he harms anyone!”