Text Differences
This is one of the books that the Nancy Drew Sleuths site notes as being majorily revised between the original 1931 text and the revised 1965 text. (I happen to be using the 1993 printing that has the 1965 text.) I'll just note a few of the differences.
1. In the 1931 text, Bess is referred to as Elizabeth.
2. There's a good bit of travel by train in the 1931 text. In the revised text, Nancy gets to the ranch by driving there.
3. Nancy is carrying a revolver. Nancy then proceeds to shoot and kill a lynx.
4. Later, Nancy shoots a rattlesnake.
Synopsis. SPOILERS!
1931 Test
Chapter 1
Right off things are a little weird. Instead of using "Bess" they use the name "Elizabeth" and keep seeming to use that name. In the 1993 text Bess and George are already at the ranch, but in this one they are going to the ranch with Nancy. Alice also is not already at the ranch but will go with the other girls.
George thinks she's homely. Alice's father has been missing for eight years. Nancy asks her father's permission to go and he says yes. Instead of any accidents or mysteries at the ranch, there's a lazy foreman.
Chapter 2
Nancy buys new clothes for the trip. The girls take a train to Chicago where they will meet Alice and the two people who are also going to the ranch. They meet them and catch another train. She meets a guy on the train who says he plans to spend his summer on Shadow Ranch. He's Ross Rogers. Nancy takes a liking to him. )
Chapter 3
They get off at the station and see Ross Rogers also get off. No one is there to meet them. He helps them move their baggage into the station house. George Miller meets them in a beat-up car. Mrs. Rawley is with them, and she's the new owner of the ranch.
Chapter 4
The foreman says he'll give the girls riding lessons. The girls go riding very early the next morning. Another time the girls and a ranch hand named Jack are out riding when he spots a bad storm coming on. The rain comes down hard. They cross a rising creek and Bess has a hard time. Bess freaks out as her horse starts to cross.
Chapter 5
Nancy grabs the horse's bridle and saves Bess. They plan to a nearby cabin to take shelter but Jack tells them an old woman named Martha stays there, and she's 'sort of queer.' There's also a girl of ten or twelve in the cabin dressed in rags. She's undernourished. Martha calls the girl Lucy. The girl runs out into the storm.
Chapter 6
Jack tells Nancy Martha has squatted on the area and Lucy is not her daughter. The woman has neglected Lucy terribly. The other students made fun of Lucy since she was a squatter. He doesn't know if Lucy has a legal guardian. Alice is worried about her missing father.
Chapter 7
Mrs. Rawley says she plans to see the ranch eventually. She'll have to have some things fixed up first, though. She plans to sell some steers to raise money for the repairs so they will have a round-up. She says the girls can help after they ask her. Bess says she'd rather watch.
The round-up starts with Nancy, George and Alice joining. The girls help out and have lots of fun. Bess joins them to watch the branding of the calves. The girls and Mrs. Rawley drive a car to the town where the cattle will end up. They see Martha in a junk shop and it looks she's going to hit a man.
Chapter 8
Martha seemed to feel threatened by the man. The girls go to a movie. The junkman is Zany Shaw. He's not a nice man. He may be a crook.
Chapter 9
The four girls decide to go out for a picnic. Nancy wears a revolver in a holster on her belt. A lynx appears and scares the horses. Nancy draws her gun, shoots and hits it in the shoulder. She fires a second time and kills it. George wants to take it home and have it stuffed. The girls will have to walk eight miles or so to get back to the ranch. Nancy not only willingly carries a gun, she uses it without hesitation and with a considerable amount of skill.
Chapter 10
George hurts her ankle. They get lost temporarily then make their way towards Martha's cabin. It's getting late in the afternoon. They see Lucy for a moment. She says Martha beats her when she talks to other people.
Chapter 11
A couple guys have come from the ranch to locate the girls. Ross Rogers shows up. Nancy remembers Rogers had worked in a bank in River Heights and had rescued the bank president's daughter from being run over by a reckless automobile driver.
Chapter 12
Nancy has shot a rattlesnake. The girls go fishing but don't catch anything. Something is following the girls.
Chapter 13
It's a cougar. Some riders from another ranch approach and they tell them about the cougar and the ranchers go after it. Later the girls go to a danch in town. Nancy talks to Ross Rogers and he seems to get upset and leaves.
Chapter 14
The girls are out riding and return to the cottage. Lucy tells them Martha beats her up every time she gets back from town. She also says Martha is not any relation to her. Zany Shaw is approaching the cottage. He tells them to get out of the cottage.
Chapter 15
Nancy faces him down and he lies like a dog to her. Lucy says he's been to the cotage lots of times. Nancy thinks it's possible Lucy has been kidnapped.
Chapter 16
She telegraphs her father, asking him to look into police files where she thinks Lucy might be from. The girls go for a ride and plan a picnic but get lost.
Chapter 17
Nancy has her revolver and plenty of ammunitionl. They take refuge in a cave. Later Nancy hears something at the cave's entrance.
Chapter 18
The animal leaves. The next day they resume riding and run into Lucy. They finally get back to the ranch. Mr. Drew has not yet telegramed Nancy with any information she asked him to find.
Chapter 19
Nancy talks to Mrs. Rawley and gets her permission to bring Lucy to the ranch. She visits Martha and Martha's getting ready to move. She plans to take Lucy with her.
Chapter 20
A different day a Doctor Cole, Nancy, Mrs. Rawley and at least one other person set off for Martha's cabin. Zany Shaw is there. Lucy is being chased by Marthat Frank who has a stick and is threatening Lucy. Lucy falls over a cliff. (Here's where I'm wondering something. Nancy wanted a way to get Martha to give up Lucy. it's been established that Martha is a squatter, so why not go to the sheriff and complain about that. He can go with Nancy and a social service worker or someone like that, go to the cabin and take Lucy away from Martha.)
Chapter 21
A man named David is with the group and stops Martha from taking an injured Lucy. Zany Shaw tells them to hand Lucy over and get out. Nancy says then plan to take Lucy with them to the ranch, and Zany and Martha say they can't. They get Lucy back to the couch. Nancy has received a telegram.
Chapter 22
Her father has told Nancy that a Louise Brown was kidnapped and a large reward offered for her return. The parents are dead and the girl has inherited a fortune. Martha shows up later to make trouble. While Martha is at the ranch Nancy returns to the cabin and finds a ring belonging to Louise brown. Zany Shaw shows up.
Chapter 23
He attacks Nancy but she's able to deck him. She runs away then spots a car coming her direction. It contains the doctor and Ross Rogers. They go back to the ranch. Martha runs away the moment she sees Rogers, but a ranch hand stops her.
Chapter 24
A certain lawyer is sent for. He questions her and she lies a lot. Martha reveals that Zany Shaw is her brother. He was accused of a theft he didn't commit by Lucy's father, so he got his revenge by taking the child. Martha continues her story of what happened after that. Ross Rogers than reveals how he had amnesia related to a run-in with Zany and Martha.
Chapter 25
Ross Rogers is really Alice's father. Rogers says that he will take Lucy home with him (and presumably adopt her.)Rogers (whose real name is Regor,) is reunited with his wife.
1993 edition, 1965 revised text
Chapter 1
Nancy meets Bess and George. George's uncle wants to send her and Bess home due to trouble at the ranch. Nancy knits. The uncle had recently bought the ranch. There have been lots of accidents and a phantom horse that glows white. A guy named Shorty is introduced. A windmill has been pulled down. Nancy's bag is taken at a restaurant. The bag is found, but nothing is missing. A man who eavesdropped on her conversation is looking at her car. She finds a note in the bag warning her to stay away from the ranch.
Chapter 2
The ranch is not in very good condition. Alice is a cousin of George's and is staying at the ranch. Her father is missing (thus establishing another mystery). There's a sandstorm. Nancy says it seems the destruction of the windmill was an inside job. Her car overheats.
Chapter 3
They are out of water. Shorty was supposed to have filled their thermos bottles. They get rescued by a guy from the ranch (Dave) who is not very nice to them. A dog threatens Nancy; it's Dave's dog. Nancy finds she's been given a second warning. Someone grabs her at night.
Chapter 4
She is held by the cook. Nancy had heard an intruder. The water pumps have been sabotaged. Dave and Shorty are suspects. Nancy talks to the sheriff and sees a guy stealing jewelry.
Chapter 5
Nancy stops the guy. She manages to save the loot, but the crook escapes. Nancy finds out that there is supposed to be a treasure at the ranch, the treasure having been left to a guy's sweetheart. Nancy is given an old watch. She sees the phantom horse.
Chapter 6
Someone has trashed her room. The phantom horse is used as a diversion while something else is damaged. She goes out on a horse and is joined by Bess and George. Shorty leads them the wrong way. There's a clue in the watch about a green bottle.
Chapter 7
The green bottle is now missing. Bess, George, Nancy and Alice all ride out and go to a ghost town. Two guys run away. A rockslide starts.
Chapter 8
They head towards a cabin after leaving the ghost town. The dog is there and had been knocked out. Two guys had been in the cabin. A heavy rain starts as they are returning and a surge of water heads towards Nancy.
Chapter 9
She helps Bess and her horse cross a swollen stream. Nancy checks out the stable and gets locked inside.
Chapter 10
She looks for a secret entrance/exit from the home. The girls and Dave go to town. A Mr. Diamond had ben watching Nancy. New horses arrive. The girls find the secret passageway and find Dave inside.
Chapter 11
Dave admits he's looking for the treasure and he's cleared of being a troublemaker. They find out more about the background of what is going on in relation to the treasure. They find a green glass bottle in an old lamp.
Chapter 12
A letter is in the bottle, from an outlaw named Valentine who left a treasure for his sweetheart.
Chapter 13
The treasure is supposed to be in the house and they search for it. Some horses go missing. They go shopping in Phoenix.
Chapter 14
Alice is trying to find her father, who is an artist. Nancy and Alice go to the cabin. A nettle has been placed under the saddle on Nancy's horse to cause it to act up on her. They find a guy in the cabin; it's the same guy who put the warning note into Nancy's stuff along with a rattlesnake rattle.
Chapter 15
They are followed by someone on a horse. Nancy calls the sheriff. Some of the missing horses are found, but they are hurt. Nancy thinks she knows where the treasure is.
Chapter 16
The cook threatens to leave, scared by the horse. They go into town for a rodeo and two guys grab Nancy.
Chapter 17
Bess and George show up and the guys take off. Nancy tells the sheriff. There's a rodeo, a feast and dancing. Nancy makes a false announcement to throw off the crooks who will follow ranch guys who are supposedly going for the treasure while Nancy and the girls go towards the real location of the treasure.
Chapter 18
Nancy is able to show how the phantom horse actually works. The cook agrees to stay. The diversion group leaves, then Nancy and the girls leave. They go to the cabin first and are able to find the 'phantom' horse and the costume-like thing that was put on it. They then go to cliff dwellings and find a guy on the floor.
Chapter 19
He's Alice's father and has been held prisoner for six months. Shorty, Diamond and another guy are the crooks. They find the other Valentine hideout and the treasure.
Chapter 20
The crooks show up and argue, revealing their roles in the deceptions and other crimes. Diamond plans to blow the girls up but Dave, the sheriff and others arrive in time to stop him. They also capture the other two crooks.
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