There are 3 other front-of-book illustrations in the older text version of the book.
Differences between the two texts.
1. Nancy plays tennis in the 1930 text, volleyball in the 1960 text.
2. Nancy does some work for her father, checking out four people in a matter about bonds and securities, in the 1960 text, but not in the 1930 text.
3. Minor point, but Jacob seems to be a lot nastier in the 1930 text.
4. While Nancy is at a hotel, she wishes she had her father's gun with her in the 1930 text, but not in the 1960 text.
5. When the fake Jacob hits Nancy and knocks her out in the bungalow basement, he 'leers' at her, about as close to anything sexual as will be found in the 1930 text (or even any others, as far as I know.)
6. In the car chase section, gunfire is exchanged between the fake Jacob and Mr. Drew.
Synopsis of both texts. SPOILERS!
Chapter 1
1930: Nancy and Helen are in a motorboat. There is a storm coming. Something happens and their boat is hit and it sinks.
1960: Nancy and Helen are in a motorboat. There is a storm coming. Something happens and their boat is hit and it sinks. Helen is hurt. Nancy tries to tow her to shore. A rowboat with a girl in it arrives. She's Laura Pendleton.
Chapter 2
1930: Helen is hurt. Nancy tries to tow her to shore. A rowboat with a girl in it arrives.
1960: They avoid a jagged boulder and go to a bungalow for shelter. No one is there but Nancy gets in through a window. Laura's mother died a month ago; her father was already dead. Laura's guardian is Jacob Aborn. Nancy and the girls leave to go to a motel. Some nasty woman shows up and says she's Mrs. Aborn. The woman gets Laura's mother's name wrong.
Chapter 3
1930: They avoid a jagged boulder and go to a bungalow for shelter. No one is there but Nancy gets in through a window. Laura's mother died a month ago; her father was already dead. Laura's guardian is Jacob Aborn. Nancy and the girls leave to go to a motel.
1960: Nancy is suspicious of the Aborns. She plays tennis. Laura's parents may have been rich. A black car leaves the bungalow they had stayed in and nearly hits their car. Hannah has a sprained ankle. Nancy plans to return home and meets with Laura before she goes. Mrs. Aborn says Laura is nearly penniless. Helen recognizes Jacob as the driver of the black car.
Chapter 4
1930: Laura visitsNancy. The girls play volleyball. Helen talks about Nancy's reputation as a detective. Jacob is due to arrive.
1960: Helen doesn't like the Aborns. Nancy drives towards home but a bridge is out. A storm starts and a pine tree falls onto the road. The Donnell's drive up and help Nancy move the tree. They talk highly of the Aborns. Nancy gets home. Mr. Drew needs Nancy's help on an embezzlement case.
Chapter 5
1930: Jacob shows up and is taking Laura to Melrose Lake. Nancy is suspicious of him. He talks about Laura's money and investing it. He wants to get Laura away from Nancy and the others. They overhear Jacob being nasty to Laura.
1960: Nancy and Hannah talk and eat dinner. She calls her father at a hotel but he's already checked out. She hears someone in the house, but it turns out to be her father. Mrs. Drew says some bonds are missing in the case he's working on, and he needs Nancy to talk to four people whose securities are missing. Some woman calls Nancy; she hears a cry of pain and a crash.
Chapter 6
1930: Nancy and Helen do swimming, tennis, etc. Nancy begins to drive home but finds a bridge out sign. She runs into a strong storm. A tree starts to fall towards the car.
1960: (There was no easy way, when this was written, to find out the phone number of someone who called you, another change in technology.) Nancy goes to talk to Farley, one of the four. An old widow is there and is nice to her. Nancy gets invited to a barbeque by a former classmate. (Nancy has definitely graduated from high school).
Chapter 7
1930: Laura shows up in the storm. She's running away. The two girls move the tree and get into the car.
1960: Nancy thinks the earlier call was from Laura. The Aborn's phone number has been
disconnected. Nancy talks to her father. She goes to see the #3 person on the list.
Chapter 8
1930: The girls get to Nancy's house. Laura fills Nancy in on how nasty Jacob is. Her jewels are put in the Drew's safe. Nancy says Laura can stay with them for a bit.
1960: The number three person is okay in Nancy's opnion. The last person she checks on is not there. Laura is at Nancy's home and has run away. She had heard the Aborns talking about getting her jewels. They have been nasty to her.
Chapter 9
1930: The next day Nancy and Laura talk more about Jacob. Laura is to compose a letter to Jacob and Nancy will take it to him. She drives towards the bungalow and spots Jacob.
1960: Laura will stay at Nancy's house. Mr. Drew calls. A guy will take Laura instead of Nancy to the party so Nancy can do some snooping. Laura shows Nancy and Hannah the jewels and they put them in the safe. Nancy goes to sleuth and sees Jacob Aborn carrying something, but she loses track of him.
Chapter 10
1930: Nancy follows Jacob. She finds run-down bungalow. Jacob Aborn catches her.
1960: Nancy can't find him. She sees a beat-up old shack and Jacob surprises her. He tells her lies about Laura. Nancy hears a noise in the shack. She ends up staying at a hotel.
Chapter 11
1930: He tells her to get off the property. She argues with him. She gives him the note Laura wrote. He demands to know where Laura is. He tells a bunch of lies about Laura. He claims the jewels belong to him. He tries to bribe Nancy. She leaves.
1960: Nancy calls Hannah. A couple is watching Nancy. Later she goes to the Aborn's house. Nancy gets into the house but people arrive. She hides, sees Jacob going through Laura's dresser drawers.
Chapter 12
1930: He takes a room in a hotel. She wishes she had her father's gun. At night she goes to the Aborn's home. She sneaks inside the house.
1960: He looks into the closet where Nancy is hiding but doesn't see her. He opens a wall safe and it has bank notes and other things in it. Nancy leaves the house to examine the shack. She finds a trap door and goes down and finds the real Jacob Aborn.
Chapter 13
1930: She hides in the closet and sees Jacob go through Laura's dressing table. He checks the closet where Nancy is hiding but doesn't see her. She sees him go through Laura's private correspondence. She watches him eat his supper. She realizes he's going to be up to something that night.
1960: Her flashlight goes out but she finds a lantern. Jacob is chained up. He says that crooks took over his house, and that the male crook is an actor. Several people are working with the crook. A guy sneaks down the stairs.
Chapter 14
1930: She watches him some more and sees he carries a weapon. He refers to himself by the name Stumpy. He opens a safe and removes money. He finally leaves the house and returns to her car. She goes to the run=down bungalow. she manages to get inside it and finds a door. It leads to the cellar where she sees the real Jacob Aborn.
1960: The guy hits Nancy and knocks her out. He ties Nancy up and then leaves. Jacob fills her in on Laura's mother and what happened to her. This all ties in to the bank thefts that Mr. Drew is working on. The lantern goes out.
Chapter 15
1930: Nancy leaves the bungalow. She uses a match to ignite a kerosene lamp. She re-enters the place and hears a cry for help from the cellar.
1960: Hannah is worried about Nancy. Laura gets back from the barbeque. Mr. Drew arrives. He, Laura and a boy named Don will go look for Nancy. Mr. Drew has found out a lot about the actors (the Dowds). The police are also looking for them.
Chapter 16
1930: She goes into the cellar and finds it is a dungeon. She sees Jacob and he is chained up. He comes around and tells her he's the real Jacob and that stumpy is impersonating him. He's been kept in the cellar for two weeks. She gets the key to let him loose.
1960: Nancy gets loose of the ropes and frees Jacob. Her car has been messed with. She sees the crooks leaving in a car. Nancy and Jacob go to his house. They hear a car.
Chapter 17
1930: The fake Jacob hits Nancy over the head with a gun and knocks her out He leers at her. He ties her up and brags about his scheme. He leaves them in the cellar.
1960: The Donnells show up. Jacob's wife is returning soon. Nancy's father arrives. Laura meets the real Jacob. A state trooper arrives. Nancy thinks she knows where the crooks are hiding.
Chapter 18
1930: She finally undoes her ropes. She gets the get and unlocks the padlock on the real Jacob's chains.
1960: She thinks they're in the bungalow. Mr. Drew, Nancy and Don head for it. They approach the place on foot, but the crooks leave suddenly in a car. Nancy drives after them and the crooks miss a sharp turn in the road and go over a cliff.
Chapter 19
1930: He's very week. They get out of the cellar. they get to her car and drive to the actual bungalow. No one is there. Everything's been taken from the safe. He'll stay at the place and Nancy will get help.
1960: Nancy and the others drag the injured out. Nancy tries to save the stolen stuff but the car blows up. The police, etc. arrive. The bags are opened, but there are no papers or bonds in them.
Chapter 20
1930: She gets into her roadster and tries to follow Stumpy. She gets to an inn to make a call to the police. She arranges for a doctor to be sent to Jacob. She meets another car on the road which stops.
1960: False bottoms are found in the bags and the stolen stuff is there. Nancy and her father go to the hotel. Don drives back to their house. The next day they go and see the real Aborns. The police and the bank president arrive. The bank mess is cleared up. The next day Laura comes to Nancy's place to get her jewels and gives Nancy an aquamarine ring.
Chapter 21
Laura meanwhile has gone shopping. Mr. Drew gets back home and Laura introduces herself. She shows him a picture of her supposed guardian and he recognizes the man as a criminal. He tries to reach Nancy but she's not there. He and Laura get in his car to find Nancy.
Chapter 22
The car Nancy had seen was the one with Mr. Drew and Laura in it. She and Mr. Drew, in his own car, give chase to Stumpy. They take a messed-up road under construction to try to catch up to the crook. She catches up to Stumpy.
Chapter 23
Gunfire is exchanged between Mr. Drew in his car and Stumpy in his car. The three cars reach a sharp turn. Nancy and Mr. Drew are able to slow their cars but Stumpy notices the curve too late and his car goes over and rolls down into a valley. The car catches fire. Nancy and her father get Stumpy to safety and Nancy returns to the car to grab a suitcase. The car blows up.
Chapter 24
Stumpy is in pretty bad shape. They take him to Mr. Drew's car. Laura goes with him to take the crook to a hospital. Nancy gets the suitcases and follows them. They go to a police hospital (?) Nancy takes Laura back to the Aborn bungalow and she meets the real Jacob. One suitcase has nothing but stuff like clothing,but the other has the money and papers.
Chapter 25
A week later Nancy and her father visit Laura. Laura and the real Jacob are getting along perfectly. Stumpy will get thirty years for his crimes, Mr. Drew estimates. Laura gives Nancy a pendant of precious stones as a reward.
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