"No!" Bess whimpered aloud. Then, realizing what she had done, she covered her mouth and sank back against the wall.

All heads turned in her direction. Nancy and her friends had deliberately delayed in removing their masks, but now Nancy knew their effort to gain time was doomed. With Al Snead still blocking the door, things looked black. Most of the others already had stripped off their headgear.

In addition to Maurice Hale and Al Snead, Nancy immediately recognized Yvonne Wong and Pete, the man who had spoken to her on the train. Next she spotted Mr. Kent, and finally, the woman with the upswept hairdo who had brought her the faked letter.

"That woman's the same one I saw at the service station with the three men," Nancy thought. "If she hadn't changed her hair style, I might have recognized her the night she delivered the note."

The other unmasked members were strangers to Nancy. Tensely now she watched as the leader stood before Bess.

"Nothing to be afraid of, dear," he said, and gently lifted off the ghostly head covering. The next instant Maurice Hale practically shrieked, "A spy!"

His face contorted with rage, Maurice snatched the white cloth headpieces from George's face, then Nancy's. Their scheme was exposed to all the members of the counterfeit gang!

For an instant there was stunned silence, then angry cries arose from the Black Snake Colony members.

"They're the ones who bought the Blue Jade perfume from me!" Yvonne Wong shrieked.

Al Snead glared at Nancy. "Yeah. I knew something was wrong when you came into the office wearin' the Blue Jade. I smelled it, but didn't let on."

He then pointed accusingly toward Joanne. "That girl is the one who applied at our city office for a job! When she told me who she was and where she was from I knew she was the last person in the world we'd want to hire!"

"That crazy idea of yours about someone with farm experience," the leader cried. "We didn't need anybody to talk to our agents about cows and chickens-"