The Secret of Red Gate Farm by Carolyn Keene (1931, 1961, 1989) Part 4

Upon entering the cave, the girls follow everyone else's lead to remain hidden as well as possible. From seeing how the other talked there was no nature group and it was all a huge cover for their counterfeit operation inside the cave so people would leave them alone. Nancy grabbed a small bit of the evidence and hoped it would be time to exit the cave unnoticed and seek the police's attention to arrest this group.

Their plans were changed when they learned that Joanne had been discovered outside and had been brought in and help captive. They had figured out she was the young woman interviewing for them. Joanne told them who she was and who her grandma was and how she was only trying to get money to help save the farm. Nancy hoped that this would be a perfect time to attempt to escape. Unfortunately that was not how it turned out as she was captured by the one of the members in the group.

They believed she was a spy from the government sent to find them. Nancy was running through her mind that they had failed to tell anyone about their plan and how poor foolish thinking that was since there seemed no possible way out of this scenario.

The group had decided to try and destroy all the evidence and work on taking Nancy, Joanne and the friends away from the cave so they could complete their work. Upon exiting the cave they ran into the young man who had vouched for them at the diner. He had brought the secret service agents with him to help arrest everyone.

The girls were saved and the group was arrested.

Several weeks later Nancy and her father drove out to the farm to see how they were doing. Turned out they used the cave as a tourist attraction so people could pass through and see a cave that was once used by counterfeiters. Business was also picking up the farm as well enough so that could keep the farm. Nancy's father told her how proud he was on her efforts to help Joanne and her grandma to save the farm.

I have to honest in saying this has probably been my least favorite of the Nancy Drew books thus far. To me its frustrating to see a character place herself in a very scary situation and not tell anyone where they had gone. I think it is sheer luck that one of the guests decided to call the police and help them out. He knew some of what the girls were getting into but not entirely. I am still trying to grasp understanding around Nancy's cognitive state and thought process in figuring out who these people were. Her main goal was to help Joanne, yes that was accomplished, however looking at the fact if the guest had not come to help them, who knows what would have happened to the girls. In the words of Mr. Abbott "The less you meddle with their affairs, the wiser you'll be!" I certainly hope from this Nancy learned a valuable lesson through all of this.