(#60) The Greek Symbol Mystery by Carolyn Keene Read Free Book Online Page A

Nancy said, “we can arrange it. I’m staying where we are.
    “But why expose yourself to danger?”
    “What’s to prevent him and his pals from finding us in another room? If we leave the hotel, we might lose track of our enemies. I don’t want to do that. I want to catch them!”
    “Nancy’s right,” George agreed. “We’re a team, and facing the danger is winning half the battle!”
    The girls stopped near room 968.
    “There it is!” Nancy cried, seeing something that lay on the hallway carpet. She hurried forward and picked it up. “It’s a metal stamp,” she said.
    On the bottom was the strange serpentine symbol that appeared on the gold mask!

8
    Valuable Outburst
    Were the intruder and Isakos working together as art thieves? Nancy wondered. If so, had one of them planted the mask in her shopping bag, hoping the police would arrest her if she tried to return it?
    “This is absolutely incredible,” George said, staring at the stamp.
    “It must be used to identify all the stuff stolen from the museum,” Bess suggested.
    But why was the stranger carrying the stamp with him? Why, too, had he thrown it away so carelessly? Was it done in a fit of frustration?
    No immediate answers came to the three detectives as they went into their room.
    “Maybe we ought to investigate St. Mark’s monastery,” George said, “It wouldn’t surprise me if Isakos and his friend try to steal some of the icons. ”
    “And stamp them with this,” George added.
    “Uh-huh. I have a feeling we’re in for another long night,” Bess moaned. “Didn’t Isakos say something about two or three in the morning?”
    “Why don’t we take a nap for a few hours?” Nancy suggested. She removed Mr. Mousiadis’s car keys from her purse and put them next to her digital alarm clock. “Seeing these when I wake up will spur me out of bed. She laughed.
    None of the girls slept soundly. When they awoke, it was one o’clock.
    “All set?” Nancy asked cheerily.
    Bess lifted her head from the pillow, then mumbled something and turned over.
    “Come on, sleepyhead!” her cousin prodded her.
    “Go away,” Bess murmured, but forced herself to get up.
    Once she dampened her face, Bess was as eager as the others to begin their journey into the hills. But the monotonous drone of the car engine soon made her sleepy again.
    “How much farther do we have to go?” Bess asked when they reached the edge of the city.
    “Only a few more miles,” Nancy replied, stifling a yawn.
    Soon she turned the car onto a narrow roadway that twisted between darkened houses and rows of cypress trees that grew more dense as the iron gate of the monastery came into view. A lone candle was burning dimly in a window.
    “How do we get in?” Bess whispered. “The gate looks locked.”
    Nancy pulled the car to a halt and shut off the headlights. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” she declared.
    Careful not to make any noise, the three sleuths crept out into the moonlight and moved toward the gate.
    “We’re in luck,” Nancy whispered excitedly. “The bolt’s broken.”
    “Maybe someone forced it!” Bess declared.
    “Or maybe it’s just rusty,” her cousin said, helping Nancy swing back the heavy gate.
    Quietly they stole across the paved courtyard, glancing at the candlelit window, and hid near a tree. Suddenly a loud wail drew monks from their cells.
    “What’s going on?” Bess whispered to the others.
    She stuck her head out from behind the tree trunk to watch the men scurrying through the chapel doors at the far end of the courtyard.
    “Do you want them to see us?” George asked, yanking her cousin back next to her.
    “They won’t. It’s pitch-black,” Bess retorted.
    “Sh!” Nancy signalled them to stop talking.
    She noticed a glow of light dance on and off across the pavement. Perhaps one of the monks had remained in his cell, turned on a lamp for a moment, then shut it off. But to her surprise the light flickered several