The Mystery Of The Laughing Shadow Part 7

"Why did you break off? I was trying to tell you something important. Two kids called in. They spotted the dark men's car over on Las Palmas Street, and later they called back to report that the men were chasing two boys!"

"We know," Bob said ruefully.

"They were chasing us," Jupiter added. He explained how the dark men had appeared just as Pete was trying to talk to them, and described the chase in the hills.

"Wow!" Pete exclaimed. "You were sure lucky."

"Jupe was just too smart for them," Bob said. But Jupiter was not waiting for compliments, he was too busy planning. "If those men are still hanging around the Vegetarian League house, they must want something. I think they might attack Mr Harris again. If he's out with Miss Sandow, I'll see him when I go out there with Uncle t.i.tus, and I can tell him what happened to Bob and me. But in case he should go back to the League before I see him, I think you fellows ought to go over to the house and wait for him."

"Gosh, First, I have to get home for lunch," Pete said.

"Me, too," Bob agreed.

"All right, but get over there again as soon as you can. Maybe you can spot those two men and keep an eye on them."

"But, Jupe, we just got away from them!" Bob protested.

Jupiter wasn't bothered by that fact. "I'm convinced that that pair are after something important. I think they can lead us to the Chumash h.o.a.rd. Just be careful, and don't let them see you."

"That you don't have to tell us," Pete said.

"Do you think they're Yaquali, First?" Bob asked.

Jupiter nodded. "They must be, Pete. Somehow they must have learned about the Chumash h.o.a.rd, maybe through some old Indian writings or legends. It's possible that they understand old Magnus Verde's message."

"I wish we did." Pete sighed.

"So do I," Jupiter admitted. "It must be the clue to where the h.o.a.rd is - 'in the eye of the sky where no one can find it.' We've got to puzzle it out."

"But, Jupe, if they've figured out what Magnus Verde was saying, what are they still looking for?"

"I just don't know," Jupiter said, biting his lip.

At that moment they all heard the distant voice of Aunt Mathilda: "Jupiter Jones! Now where are you?"

"Don't forget, go and warn Mr. Harris, and see if you can find those dark men. But don't let them see you." Jupiter gave them their instructions once more. "And let's all think about that message of Magnus Verde's."

Bob and Pete nodded, and Jupiter hurried from the hidden headquarters. Out in the salvage yard the First Investigator found Konrad and Uncle t.i.tus already in the big truck. His Aunt Mathilda was loading in a lunch hamper. Jupiter jumped into the cab, and Uncle t.i.tus quickly told Konrad to drive off.

Jupiter's uncle, a small man with an enormous moustache, was a most unusual junkman. He bought anything that interested him, not just because he thought he could sell it but because he I liked it.

Soon the truck was out of Rocky Beach and driving up the steep and winding road into the pa.s.s. They reached the top of the pa.s.s and drove on to the iron gates of the Sandow Estate. The gates were open. Konrad roared through and pulled to a stop before the barn.

Uncle t.i.tus jumped out as eagerly as Jupiter, excited as he always was when he was about to buy junk for the salvage yard. As they headed for the barn door, Miss Sandow came from the big house.

"You must be t.i.tus Jones," the birdlike lady said. "I'm pleased to meet you. I hope you find many things you want. I've been acc.u.mulating this junk for far too long."

"I'm sure I will, ma'am," Uncle t.i.tus said with a courtly bow and a flourish of his fine moustache. "You're sure you want to part with all of it?"

"Oh, dear me, yes! I think it's best to get it all cleared out. Since my nephew, Theodore, arrived I seem to have more interest in the estate. I want to get everything in order again."

"Then, with your a.s.sistance, Miss Sandow, I'll go and select what I want to buy,"

Uncle t.i.tus said.

Miss Sandow nodded, smiling, and accompanied Uncle t.i.tus and Konrad into the barn. Jupiter lagged behind until he saw them vanish inside. Then he slipped away towards the big house to find Mr. Harris. Ted appeared behind him: "Are you investigating something, Jupiter?" the English boy said eagerly.

"In a way, Ted," Jupiter admitted. "I want to talk to Mr. Harris."

"He's in the library."

Jupiter followed Ted into the house. They found Mr. Harris reading the Rocky Beach newspaper in the library. When the vegetarian saw Jupiter, he jumped up and hurried towards the First Investigator.

"Ted has reported his encounter with you boys last night," Mr. Harris announced at once. "I must apologize for my part in our little deception, and for thinking that you boys might be thieves. Because we suspected that you had the statuette, we thought it would be a good ruse to offer a reward for its return."

"I understand, sir," Jupiter said quietly.

"Good. Now tell me exactly what happened to the statuette."

Jupiter told Mr. Harris about the call for help that Bob and Pete had heard outside the estate wall, and the way the statuette had come flying over the wall. Mr. Harris listened intently, frowning from time to time. When Jupiter reached the part about the laughing shadow, Ted exclaimed: "A shadow that laughed insanely? That's strange. I thought I heard a peculiar laugh myself last night."

"You're quite sure, Jupiter?" Mr. Harris asked. "It wasn't some trick of the wind, or the boys' imagination?"

"No, sir, there is a laughing shadow somewhere on this estate," the First Investigator insisted firmly. "And I think that whoever the shadow is he's holding some prisoners here."

"Really, Jupiter?" Ted said. "Prisoners? I say!"

"But why, Jupiter?" Mr. Harris said. "What is it all about?"

"The Chumash h.o.a.rd, sir. I'm sure of it."

"The what?" Mr. Harris said, incredulous.

"A vast h.o.a.rd of gold," Jupiter said, and explained all that the boys had learned about the Chumash h.o.a.rd, Mr. Harris and Ted listened open-mouthed. When Jupiter had finished, Mr. Harris smiled.

"I see," he said. "I'm not sure I can believe such a legend - dying words and all - but I'll accept your contention that there may be some nefarious gang that does believe it. That could be quite dangerous. I'm not at all sure I like you boys being involved in such an affair."

"Would you repeat what that old Indian said, Jupiter?" Ted asked.

"Well, in essence," Jupiter explained, "he said that the h.o.a.rd was 'in the eye of the sky where no man could find it.' "

"Gosh, what could it mean?" Ted wondered. "And what does it have to do with Aunt Sarah's statuette? Why did you say that prisoners are being held on the estate?"

Before Jupiter could answer, they heard Miss Sandow calling from outside.

"Theodore! I need you for a moment. Where are you, Theodore?"

Ted hurried out of the house in answer to his aunt's summons. As soon as he had gone, Jupiter spoke quickly to Mr. Harris: "Sir, I know the laughing shadow is real because I've heard it myself! And I know there are prisoners on the estate, because there was a message inside the amulet when we found it!"

"A message? Inside the statuette?" Mr. Harris looked concerned.

"A call for help," Jupiter said.

"Have you notified the police?"

"No, sir, we didn't really have anything to tell."

"No, I see that." Mr. Harris seemed to be considering the problem. "When did you see this laughing shadow?"

"Last night just before we met Ted," Jupiter said, and told Mr. Harris what he and Pete had seen at the lodge on the estate.

"What do you make of it, Jupiter?"

"I think that those four strange shapes were prisoners with bags over their heads!

That's why it looked as if they had no heads at all."

"What?" Mr. Harris exclaimed. "Four prisoners in Miss Sandow's lodge? Held by that laughing shadow! Outrageous. How could such things go on right under Miss Sandow's nose?"

"How much do you really know about Ted Sandow, sir?" Jupiter said blunty.

"Ted?" Mr Harris gaped and blinked. "You think that Ted is involved? By thunder, I'm going to get to the bottom of this! Come on, Jupiter, I want to look at that lodge!"

Mr. Harris strode to the desk and opened a drawer. When he turned, he held a pistol in his hand.

Chapter 12.

Call The Police MR. HARRIS gripped the pistol grimly as he and Jupiter moved silently along the forest path towards the lodge. The vegetarian's ruddy face was serious and determined as they hastened on under the shadows of the trees.

"And you think that the dark men who attacked you and took the statuette are the same ones who attacked me?" Mr. Harris said as he walked.

"They must be, sir."

"If that's true, they may also be the ones who are holding prisoners out here. We had better approach the lodge with caution."

"They'll probably be gone by now, sir, especially if the shadow saw Bob and me last night."

"That remains to be seen. If they're so bold as to hold prisoners right on the estate, they may not have been scared by two boys. What I don't understand is what they think they're up to, you see."

"I guess I don't understand that, either," Jupiter admitted unhappily. "Maybe the prisoners are the ones who really know the secret of where the h.o.a.rd is, and those dark men and the laughing shadow are trying to find it."

"That could be, Jupiter. Yes, you may have hit on it. And perhaps we can catch the ruffians red-handed!"

They hurried on as quietly as they could in the deep forest shadows and came to where the smaller path led down into the bowl-shaped valley. The truck no longer stood in front of the lodge. The building looked much less mysterious in the bright noon sunlight.

Mr. Harris motioned for Jupiter to crouch low in the trees and be silent. Then he began to work his way stealthily down the slope through the trees. Jupiter examined the lodge closely. There was no sign of movement anywhere. The shutters on the lodge windows were open, and so was the front door. As soon as he saw the open door Jupiter was certain that there would be no one inside.

Mr. Harris wasn't taking any chances. He continued to slip silently down through the trees until he reached the edge of the open clearing at the bottom of the valley.

There he stopped for a moment, surveying the lodge. On the rim of the valley, Jupiter fidgeted under the enforced inaction. But then Mr. Harris left the trees and ran to a corner of the lodge, holding his pistol in one hand, Jupiter watched him peer in at a window.

Mr. Harris left the window and ran round to the open front door. He went inside quickly. Jupiter waited. He could hear a lot of noise inside the lodge. Then Mr. Harris appeared at the door and waved. Jupiter scrambled down the path and joined the vegetarian in front of the lodge.

"Empty, lad. I looked under everything. Not a hair of them, but they were here all right. Look."

Mr. Harris displayed a pair of small white trousers of a homespun material exactly like those worn by the two dark men.

"I should guess that it was Indian clothing, right enough. It looks as if your dark men were here. And the truck you saw was really here, too. There's an oil patch on the roadway. Dry, though. I'd say the truck has been gone for some time."

"Is there any sign of where they might have gone, Mr. Harris?" Jupiter asked.

"None that I could find, but let's take another look. Maybe you can spot something."

They went inside the lodge. Jupiter surveyed the scene. It was clear that the men he had seen last night had left the lodge in a hurry. Empty bottles lay around on the tables; remains of a meal had dried and hardened on unwashed plates still on the tables. But Jupiter could find nothing that gave even a hint of where the men had gone.

"I guess there's nothing here," he said, at last. "But I'm sure they must be somewhere on the estate!"

Mr. Harris shook his head. "It's an awfully large estate, Jupiter. And most of it is mountainous. I'm afraid the rascals are gone. I'm sure that when you spotted them you blew their entire scheme and they ran."

"I don't think so, sir," Jupiter insisted. "I think they're still trying to find something.

They chased Bob and me when we left your office."

"Chased you? At my my house?" Mr. Harris stared at Jupiter in astonishment. "But what could they want from you now?" house?" Mr. Harris stared at Jupiter in astonishment. "But what could they want from you now?"

"Not from us, Mr. Harris. From you!" Jupiter declared.

"From me? What on earth could they want from me?"

"There must be something, sir. After they stole our amulet, they attacked you during your lecture. Then when we left your office today they chased us again. They must have thought that you had given something to us."

"Well, I'm ... By Jove!" Mr. Harris cried. "The other statuette! I took it to my office for safe-keeping the very night the first one was stolen. I insisted Miss Sandow entrust it to me. I had completely forgotten about it. They must want both amulets."

Jupiter nodded eagerly. "They probably need both of them to tell them where the h.o.a.rd is."

"Yes, that's probably it," Mr. Harris agreed. "What I don't understand is how those men could have known I had the second amulet at my office."

"They must have seen you take it there."

"Impossible. It was in a box, and I carried it in my pocket. They couldn't have spied on me in my office, either."

"Could one of your a.s.sistants have told them?" Jupiter asked.