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“Only you must tell me more about the documents.”
    “Nothing to tell,” Batt murmured, shaking his head from side to side. “I’ll get the papers myself! I’ll get even with that crook!”
    He struggled to his feet, only to fall back once more into Nancy’s arms, exhausted by the effort to rise.
    “Leave me alone,” he muttered angrily, kick ing violently with his legs. “Leave me alone. Go away before I lose my job.”
    “The poor old fellow is out of his mind,” Bess whispered. “What shall we do?”
    “We must go for help,” Nancy decided. “Come on!”
    The three girls hurried back to the main tunnel, then made their way to the apparatus room where they had left Rishi.
    Seeing no sign of him, Nancy called his name. The only sound she heard was the steady downpour of rain.
    Suddenly George gripped Nancy’s arm and pointed to the overhead web of ropes. Entangled among them, like a fly in a spider’s web, hung a limp body!
    “Nancy, that’s Rishi!” George exclaimed.
    The girls were stunned for a moment. They had no way of knowing how long Rishi had been hanging from the ropes. His face was so ashen-white that they feared he had strangled to death.
    “We must go for a doctor,” Bess gasped. The others knew this would take a long time.
    Nancy’s eye had been roving speculatively over the network of ropes. Several dangled from the rafters, one close to the entangled body of the boy.
    If she could climb the adjoining rope she might be able to reach Rishi and cut him loose!
    “See if you can find a knife or any sharp instrument!” she asked the girls. “Perhaps Mr. Batt has a pocketknife lying around here.”
    In vain the cousins searched for a knife. They were about to give up in despair when George spied a rusty old saw in a dark comer and snatched it.
    In the meantime, Nancy had managed to climb the tricky ropes. Now she was endeavoring to reach a crossbeam directly opposite the rope from which Rishi dangled. George and Bess watched nervously as the girl swung herself toward the structure. She secured a grip with her feet, then went up hand over hand until she was able to climb from the rope to the beam.
    Without waiting to be told what to do, Bess and George tied the old saw to the end of the rope Nancy had released, and she pulled it up.
    “Nancy, be careful,” Bess warned fearfully. “If you lose your balance it means instant death.”
    Nancy did not need to be told to use caution. She knew that one wrong move would prove fatal. Yet if she was to reach Rishi she must take the chance.
    Clinging to the rope for support and with her feet on the beam, Nancy leaned forward. She reached out until she was able to grasp the boy’s jacket. Nancy pulled the limp body toward her, lashing him fast to the crossbeam. Next she grasped the rusty saw and severed the rope that had entangled him.
    “Is he still alive?” George called anxiously.
    “I don’t know.”
    Using another rope, which Bess and George swung up to her, Nancy tied it securely around Rishi’s body. Next she severed those that held him to the beam, then slowly lowered the boy to the extended arms of Bess and George.

    “Nancy, be careful,” Bess warned fearfully.
    When Rishi was safely at the basement level, Nancy quickly slid down one of the ropes to join her friends.
    “I’m sure he’s dead,” Bess whispered.

CHAPTER VII
    The Tutor
    NANCY kneeled down, felt Rishi’s pulse, and pressed her ear against his chest. She could hear the faint beating of his heart.
    “Rishi is still alive, but he needs resuscitation and stimulants. If only we had some medicine!”
    In their anxiety for the life of the little boy, the girls had forgotten Jasper Batt. They were startled to see him emerge from the passageway, staggering as he walked toward them. His eyes had a wild, half-crazed expression, but the girls hardly noticed this. They were glad he was on his feet.
    “Ask Mr. Batt if he has any medicine on the premises,” Nancy urged her