Herbert’s eyes widened in surprise. “How did you know that?” he demanded. “Did Todd talk? I’ll shut him up, too.”
“Then you’ll have to kill Fiona Todd as well,” Nancy said. “She knows about the copy he made for you.”
Herbert blinked. “I’ll take care of Fiona.”
“And then who will you kill next?” Nancy pressed. “It will never end—until they catch you. And then you’ll be sorry you ever got started.”
“Enough of your chatter,” Herbert ordered, forcing them on. “Move!” He kicked the cabin door open and pushed the girls inside with the dogs close behind them.
Nancy looked around the cabin. Moonlight spilled through the open doorway, shining on the rough-cut floorboards and a small pine table in the center of the room.
Herbert moved the girls over to the far side of the table and started fiddling with a kerosene lantern. A match flared, and Nancy watched as Herbert inserted it into the lamp. A moment later the wick caught, radiating a bright light.
Nancy tensed her muscles, her heart pounding. This was probably her only chance to act.
As Herbert squinted, momentarily blinded by the flame, Nancy took one step forward and kicked the table as hard as she could.
The table toppled over, and the kerosene lantern crashed to the floor. The sound of breaking glass, mingled with Herbert’s shrill cry of surprise, startled the dogs. The frightened dogs ran outside yelping.
For a moment the room went dark, then burst into a red flickering glow as the spilled kerosene burst into flames.
Nancy jumped over the fallen table and aimed a karate kick at Herbert. But he was more agile than she had expected. He nimbly stepped aside, and her right foot glanced harmlessly off his hip.
In the next second Nancy felt a stinging blow against her face. She fell backward onto the hard wooden floor, knocking George down with her. Through her blurred vision, Nancy could see the flames beginning to race up the cabin wall.
George scrambled to get up as Nancy tried desperately to free her still-bound hands.
By the light of the raging flames, Nancy saw Herbert leap across the room and kick George aside. Then he stood over Nancy, his chest heaving. A rasping sound came from his throat as his lungs struggled to suck in oxygen amid the thick smoke rising from the fire. His eyes glittered with evil in the firelight. “Why bother putting out the fire?” he wheezed. “I’ll just let you burn to death. Such a tragic accident,” he mocked as the girls, too, began to cough.
Suddenly Herbert’s eyes fell on the jade necklace, now dangling out of Nancy’s shirt. In one fluid motion the professor yanked it off her neck. “I’ll bet there’s a diamond inside!” Herbert exclaimed, staring greedily at the silver locket in his hand. His face contorted in the glare of the flames, and he seemed oblivious to the burning building as he concentrated on forcing the locket open.
Nancy saw her chance and rolled over toward a piece of broken lantern glass. She frantically rubbed the cord binding her wrists against its sharp edge.
Herbert’s eyes shone as his fingers pried open the silver lid. Then he sneezed, and a puff of red powder shot into the air. In the next second Herbert screamed in pain. He dropped the necklace and threw his hands up to his face. “My eyes! They’re burning!” he cried.
Just then Nancy freed her hands and rushed to untie George. Snatching the necklace from the floor, Nancy called to George, “Let’s get out of here!”
By now the flames were spreading across the room. The heat had become unbearable, and the girls were coughing heavily from the thick smoke. They darted toward the door as Herbert staggered blindly in circles. As she ran, Nancy put the necklace over her head, relieved that it was safe.
Nancy glanced back at the professor, then grasped George’s arm. “We can’t leave him here,” she said. “He won’t be able to find his way out.”
George looked up. “The roof’s going to fall in soon.”
Nancy took a deep breath and dodged back between the flames. She grabbed Herbert by the arm and pushed him toward the door.
Outside, the dogs were circling the burning cabin, snarling and whimpering like wolves. Herbert stumbled out the door and fell to his knees a few yards away.
Nancy and George tried to run toward the van, but the dogs blocked their path, forcing them to halt.
“Get away!” George yelled at the dogs. Then, turning to Nancy, she said, “How do we get out of here before Herbert recovers?”
Just then the flames burst through the roof. The building began to collapse in a shower of sparks, and the dogs suddenly retreated.
“They’re afraid of the fire,” Nancy said.
“So am I,” George retorted.
Nancy picked up a piece of timber, which had fallen near them from the collapsing roof. She charged forward, jabbing the wood in the dogs’ snarling faces, until they turned and ran.
Behind them, Nancy heard Herbert crying, “Water! My eyes!”
Nancy went back and stood over the wailing professor. “I’ll give you water,” Nancy said, “if you tell us where you’ve stashed the Golden Horse.”
“All right, all right,” Herbert said with a moan. “It’s buried under a large boulder behind the cabin. Just get me the water before I go blind. There’s a jug behind the driver’s seat. I keep water in it for the dogs.”
Nancy hurried toward the van. A few minutes later Herbert was washing out his eyes with the water.
“I can see,” he said, sounding relieved.
Nancy tied the professor’s hands tightly behind his back with a dog leash that she’d found in the van. “I’m not sure what was in Su-Lin’s locket,” she said to George in a low voice, “but it sure smells like cayenne pepper.”
A sullen Herbert directed Nancy and George to the spot where he said the Golden Horse was hidden. The girls left him sitting on the ground and then found shovels in a small garden shed near the cabin. Using all their strength, Nancy and George moved the boulder and began to dig in the light of the dying fire.
“I found something!” Nancy cried finally, when her shovel struck something hard. Carefully she unearthed some muddy sacking with something very heavy inside.
She glanced at George, then uncovered the Golden Horse from the sacking. Holding the statue up, she studied it for a long moment. Its smooth, arched back and bridle of rubies glinted in the firelight.
“It’s hard to tell the difference between this one and the fake,” George said.
