But in planning her escape from the old house, Nancy Drew had waited too long.
In her eagerness to hear everything Mary and her friends were saying, she had opened the storeroom door a trifle farther than she had intended. Now, as she prepared to make her escape, the conference between the three confederates abruptly ended. Bud Mason pushed back his chair and arose.
Alarmed, Nancy shrank back deeper into the shadow. She thought that if she remained motionless she would not be seen, for the oil lamp on the table did not illuminate the corners of the room. Undoubtedly, she would have escaped detection had not Fate played a most unkind trick upon her.
At the very instant that Bud Mason turned his face toward the storeroom door, a vivid flash of lightning zigzagged across the sky. It revealed every detail of the room and disclosed poor Nancy, who crouched on the floor.
“Who’s there?” Buddy called sharply.
Panic took possession of Nancy. For a moment she could not move, so great was her fright. Then, with the speed born of desperation, she bolted for the window. Reaching the ledge, she swung herself upward, but a rough hand grasped her from behind.
“Oh, no you don’t, young lady!” a harsh voice hissed into her ear.
Before she could cry out for help, her arms were caught in a viselike grip and jerked behind her back. A handkerchief was stuffed into her mouth. She struggled frantically, kicking viciously at her captor, but it availed her nothing.
The gag in her mouth choked her and she began to gasp for breath. Then things went black before her eyes and she knew no more.