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

girls.
    “Ned!” cried Nancy, as her tall, dark-haired handsome friend came toward her.
    “Burt!” George called to the blond, husky youth.
    “Dave!” exclaimed Bess in delight, looking up at the rangily-built, green-eyed young man.
    The Emerson boys’ arms also held leis which they dropped around the girls’ necks with quick kisses. Nancy’s lei was made of pale-pink plumiera, George’s of baby anthuriums, and Bess’s of orchids and carnations.
    Warm greetings were exchanged and Nancy introduced the Armstrongs. As the group walked into the airport building to claim the travelers’ luggage, Bess insisted that they were being followed.
    “Not again!” George wailed.
    Bess was adamant. “I just know those two men I saw looking at us are members of the Double Scorps,” she whispered to Nancy. “They’ve gone now.”
    Ned overheard the remark and wanted to know what she meant by Double Scorps. Nancy explained quickly, adding that Bess might be right.
    “Then we’re going to throw those snoopers off the trail!” Ned declared. “Suppose we all go to the Halekulani where we fellows are staying. We’ll have a swim and maybe a sail. Those Scorps will think you’ve changed your plans. Later on we’ll drive out to Kaluakua.”
    Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong were agreeable to this plan and the whole group piled into their big sedan. As the travelers rode through the city of Honolulu, they were intrigued with the hustle and bustle of the modern capital of the Islands. Streams of people poured into tall office buildings and department stores. Here and there, palm trees, waving in the soft breeze, shaded the sidewalks from the tropical sun.
    Presently, Mr. Armstrong stopped the car and pointed to the dark-colored statue of a man atop a high, square pedestal. “That is a likeness of King Kamehameha, first king of all the Hawaiian Islands. Before that, each island had its own king.”
    Mr. Armstrong led the group to Iolani Palace nearby. Smiling, he said, “You know, this is the only palace in the United States.”
    As they went inside the cool, stately, highceilinged building, he explained that parts of the palace were now used by the legislative branch of the government.
    “But the throne room looks exactly as it did many years ago, although the throne and the chairs on either side of it are replicas. The originals are in the Bishop Museum.”
    The visitors gazed at the beautiful paintings and draperies, conjuring up in their minds the grandeur of a bygone day when King Kamehameha had been seated on the throne in a gorgeous feather robe and headgear.
    “And now I think we had better go,” said Mr. Armstrong, and led the way back to his car.
    A little while later they came to the Waikiki Beach area of Honolulu and turned into the driveway of an attractive garden which formed the grounds of the Halekulani Hotel.
    They parked in front of the main building and Ned ran in to the office to ask for another room for the boys to use that day. They had insisted that the girls use their private apartment in one of the cottages with its lovely lanai.
    Small suitcases belonging to Nancy, Bess, and George were carried to the first-floor apartment on the shady, flower-shrubbed grounds.
    “We’ll meet you girls on the beach in fifteen minutes,” Ned said as the boys left them.
    The girls changed to bathing suits, then went to the front of the hotel which faced the ocean. Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong and Hannah Gruen were seated on the tree-shaded terrace. Three feet below them stretched the white, sandy beach.
    “How absolutely heavenly!” Bess exclaimed.
    Mrs. Armstrong warned the girls that the tropi cal sunshine was very intense. She handed Nancy a bottle of suntan lotion and advised, “Better cover yourselves with this.”
    Nancy and her friends had just finished spraying themselves with the lotion when Ned, Burt, and Dave appeared. As they walked down to the water the visitors were fascinated by the surf-board riders a little