The Secret of the Golden Pavillion by Carolyn G. Keene Read Free Book Online

window, insisted that they were being followed.
    “How can you tell in this heavy traffic?” George chided her cousin from the front seat.
    Nancy had already glanced back too. “Bess could be right,” she said, and leaned forward to tell the driver their suspicions. “Would it be possible for you to throw the car behind us off our trail?” she asked.
    “Why sure, miss,” the driver replied. With a broad grin, he added, “We’ve got to protect our visitors.”
    The taximan had no trouble eluding the car. He took a circuitous route, but finally pulled up in front of the Bramley studio. Fran Johnson was waiting for them at the door. “Hurry!” she urged. “The author of the script is going to explain a legend in it to a group of company executives. I think you’ll find it interesting.”
    She led the way into a small auditorium, motioned the girls to seats, and then left them. A young man, standing before a seated group, was saying:
    “How much is fact and how much is legend we do not know. But it’s said that the first inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands were Polynesians who came from other Pacific islands, particularly Tahiti. They landed from enormous outrigger canoes. Their favorite landing spot was Waikiki Beach. They preferred to come in on the surf in their shallow canoes rather than land in calmer waters. That is why we have chosen this beach for our story. It takes place about a thousand years ago. And now, ladies and gentlemen, suppose we proceed directly with the rehearsal.”
    Nancy and her friends followed the others through the building to a large sound stage. Warning signs for absolute silence were posted in several places. Great ceiling lights, manipulated by men on high platforms, flooded the scene. Cameramen seated on small trucks carrying their equipment dollied back and forth for proper shots.
    Nancy, Bess, George, and Hannah took seats in a row behind the chairs where the director, the author, and two executives had sat down. The first scene to be shot was laid just outside an ancient thatch-roofed hut. A young Polynesian actor stepped from the doorway and listened intently.
    “That strange sound on the water again,” he said softly.
    At that moment the great light focused directly on him went out and someone called, “Cut!”
    While waiting for the light to be repaired, the young actor walked over toward the director. Fran Johnson approached Nancy and was just about to speak to her when their attention was diverted to a great boom carrying a workman. Apparently he was an electrician. The boom swung toward the light which had gone out. As everyone looked upward, the heavy steel arm suddenly hit another huge light.
    There was a resounding crash and a shower of glass came down toward those below!

CHAPTER VIII
    The Surprising Clue
    THE studio visitors made a mad scramble for safety. Chairs were overturned and electric cords tripped over as Nancy and the others scurried in every direction. They were not a second too soon. Pieces of glass and metal crashed to the floor and sprayed out for several feet.
    “O-o-oh!” Bess cried, catching her breath. “Let’s go before something else happens.”
    “Oh, don’t be a sissy,” George spoke up. “I want to see some more filming.”
    But George’s desire was not to be fulfilled. The actors and actresses had had such a fright that all of them declared they could not work any more that day. The director acceded to their wishes, and postponed the rehearsal to the next day.
    Fran Johnson came to say good-by to the girls. “I’m dreadfully sorry about what happened, but you’ll soon see Waikiki Beach for real and you’ll find plenty of thatch-roofed huts on the Islands.”
    Nancy smiled. “And when the picture is released, we’ll certainly go to see it.”
    They thanked Fran for inviting them to the studio, then, with Hannah, took a taxi to the airport. Upon arriving there, Nancy glanced at her watch. “We have lots of time. I think I’ll