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the table stared at the woman in amazement. Anna pointed toward an open side window. “A man with eyes of the devil was looking in here. He was trying to cast a spell on all of us!”
    Everyone jumped up and hurried out to the garden in back of the house. It was too dark to see much, but they could hear running footsteps in the distance.
    “I suppose it would be hopeless to try to catch the fellow,” Cliff remarked.
    Nancy said nothing. She was thinking. Perhaps she could pick up a clue to the man’s identity. Returning to the house, she hurried to her room and took a flashlight from her suitcase.
    By this time the others had come indoors. Susan was trying to assure Anna, who was on the verge of hysterics, that the man had probably meant no harm.
    Nancy, meanwhile, had spotted the man’s footprints under the window. They led alongside one of the garden paths. About a hundred feet from the house she saw a small metal tube and picked it up. She read:
    BLACK
(oxide of iron)
    “An artist dropped this!” she surmised. Instantly she thought of Mark Bradshaw, then to Alonzo Rugby. “I must tell Bess and George!”
    Nancy turned to go back. At the same moment something hard hit her squarely between the shoulders. She fell forward and lost consciousness!

CHAPTER VII
    Jigsaw in Glass
     
     
     
    INSIDE the house Bess, George, and the Cans were talking excitedly about the man who had peered in the window. When Anna described his face, Susan was sure he was the masked man who had caused her first automobile accident.
    “I’ll call the police,” Cliff said, and went to the phone.
    Dessert had been forgotten, but suddenly Anna reminded the diners they had not touched their strawberry shortcake.
    “I’ll fix another helping for Mr. Cliff right away,” she said. “You all go back to the dining room.”
    It was not until they returned to their places at the table that the group realized Nancy had not joined them.
    “That’s odd,” said George. “I saw her come into the house.”
    She went to the foot of the stairs and called to the second floor. There was no answer. Worried, George went up and looked around. Coming down, she remarked, “Nancy must have gone outdoors again to do some sleuthing.”
    “Oh dear,” said Susan, “I hope nothing has happened to her!”
    Cliff hurried for a flashlight, and the group went outside. He cast the light around and soon spotted the man’s footprints. Figuring that Nancy had trailed him, the others followed the marks and soon found the girl’s limp body.
    “Oh, Nancy!” Bess cried out, terrified. She fell to her knees beside her stricken friend.
    To Bess’s relief, Nancy opened her eyes. She blinked in the glare of the flashlight and mumbled. “Where is the—the—paint tube?”
    The onlookers glanced at one another. Was Nancy delirious? But a second later her mind cleared and she sat up.
    “Something hit me in the back. I fell forward, hit my head, and blacked out,” she said, looking around. Pointing to a large stone, she added, “I guess someone threw that at me.”
    “How awful!” Susan exclaimed. Then she told Nancy of her suspicion that the man was the one who had shoved her car off the road.
    “I think he was an artist,” Nancy said. She told them about the black paint tube. “He apparently knocked me out to take it away from me without being seen. Anyhow, it’s gone.”
    The Carrs helped Nancy to her feet and they all went into the house. Nancy was immediately put to bed. Not only the police but the Carrs’ physician, whom Susan had summoned, arrived in a few minutes.
    Dr. Tillett, solicitous and efficient, examined Nancy and announced that she had no serious injuries. He predicted that her back would feel sore for several days, but it would not be necessary for her to stay in bed.
    “Just take it easy tomorrow,” he advised.
    Nancy did not see the police. Cliff had felt it was not necessary and the officers had agreed. But later, when she was alone with