“Can you do that?” he asked.
“Certainly I can if you give me time,” Nancy announced quietly. “I am sure the police will have a record—”
“Time!” Mary fairly screamed. “She wants time so she can get away!”
“Be calm, please,” the captain ordered. “We’ll thrash this thing out.”
“If her story is true, let her produce the jewels she claims we stole!” Mary continued.
She cast a triumphant glance at Nancy, feeling that she had scored heavily.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Nancy admitted reluctantly. “The jewels were in the motorboat, and it sank to the bottom of the river.”
“That’s just an excuse,” Mary retorted. “The jewels never were in the boat.”
“We’ll have a way of proving whether or not your story is true,” Captain Dudley said quietly. “As it happens the motorboat isn’t on the bottom of the river.”
“What?” Mary gasped. For the moment she was completely taken aback.
“Thanks to the timely suggestion of this young lady you are accusing, my men slung grappling hooks into the boat and we managed to keep her afloat.”
“Oh, I’m so glad!” Nancy exclaimed in relief.
“All right,” Mary said viciously. “Let her find the jewels if she claims they’re on board. That’s all I’ve got to say.”