The Secret of Phantom Lake - Arden William (книги онлайн без регистрации TXT) 📗

“Yes,” Jupiter agreed. “That’s how he knew about the island. But he didn’t find anything. If he had, he wouldn’t have stood around there watching us.”

“That makes us even,” Bob said. “We didn’t find anything, either.”

Bob’s words cast a pall over the sailing-boat, and they sailed the rest of the way in silence. Professor Shay stared after the now vanished motorboat. When they docked in the marina, there was no sign of Stebbins, his boat, or his Volkswagen.

“I shall report that villain to the police at once,”

Professor Shay said angrily. “He did break into your office last night.”

“I didn’t actually see him, sir,” Jupiter pointed out.

“But you know he did, and at least I can alert the police to the young blackguard!”

“What a day!” said Pete. “We let a crook slip out of our hands, and we couldn’t find the treasure.”

The professor shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry, boys. This treasure hunt looks hopeless. Perhaps a hundred years is just too long ago.”

“I must admit we’re making little progress,” Jupiter said.

Cluny cried, “There’s still more than a month left in the second journal, fellows! Don’t stop now!”

“I’m afraid,” Professor Shay said sadly, “if you do go on, I’ll have to leave it to you boys. I mustn’t neglect my work. But I’ll be most eager to hear if you do discover something.”

They watched the professor walk to his station wagon and drive off. Cluny looked at the boys hopefully.

“Jupe?” Pete said. “We’re not quitting, are we?”

“We’d better all go to lunch,” Jupiter said unhappily. “I want to think awhile. Then we’ll go to Phantom Lake and decide.” He sighed. “Something in this case is eluding me.”

Dejected, the boys got on their bikes and started home.

12

A New Danger

Bob had just finished his lunch when his mother called to him that Jupiter was on the telephone.

“I believe we made a completely erroneous assumption, Records!” Jupiter announced eagerly. “It gives me an entirely new conception of old Angus’s puzzle!”

Bob grinned as he held the receiver. For once he wasn’t bothered by Jupiter’s big words. It was the old Jupe talking again, all traces of dejection gone.

“Meet at the yard,” Jupiter instructed. “I have a plan!”

Bob hung up and got his bike. When he arrived at the salvage yard, he saw Jupiter and Pete standing by the pickup truck with Hans. He loaded his bike into the truck at Jupe’s direction, then climbed in with the others. Hans drove off.

“I told Uncle Titus that Mrs. Gunn might have some junk to sell, which is true,” Jupiter explained, but said nothing more. Pete and Bob knew better than to question him. The stocky boy never revealed his surprises and deductions until he was ready.

Cluny was standing on the steps of Gunn Lodge when the truck drove up. Jupiter asked for Cluny’s mother. The red-headed boy led them round the house to an old stone-and-wood shed at the back. Inside, Mrs. Gunn was repotting a large hibiscus in a big redwood tub.

“Ma’am,” Jupiter said at once, “we all assumed that the load Angus had in his boat on the trip to the island was something he took there. But I read the passage again, and I’m convinced now that it was something he brought from the island! Can you think of anything here that could have come from there?”

Mrs. Gunn smiled. “My goodness, Jupiter, how could I know that? I wasn’t here, and I suppose he could have bought anything from that Cabrillo squire.”

Jupiter nodded as if he hadn’t really expected her to know.

“Try to think, ma’am,” he said. “Meanwhile, I’ve thought of a whole new interpretation of old Angus’s message. He says, Follow my last course, read what my days built. He says days, not day, and I think he means his whole course. All he did will add up to some message when we put it together. Like a jigsaw puzzle. We need all the pieces at once!”

“Wow!” Pete exclaimed. “That would explain why the ghost town and the island didn’t tell us anything!”

Cluny said, “What’s the next step then, Jupe?”

“There are two more steps, Cluny,” Jupiter said, and took out the thin journal.” On November 21, 1872, Angus wrote, Word from the Ortega brothers that my order is now ready. I will need the large wagon. And the next day he wrote. Returned from Rocky Beach with Ortega order. They do the best work, every piece the specified size — a miracle in this raw new land! Then, until the next step, there are his usual laconic entries about ‘work progressing’ — plus two strange comments.”

Jupiter looked up. “November 23 — Noted two strangers in area. Seafaring men. And November 28 — Strangers gone. To report to the Captain, I think.”

“That’s when he knew he was being watched,” Bob said.

Jupiter nodded. “I can see him, fellows — alone out here, waiting for his wife and son. Unable to run, and maybe tired of running anyway. He had a premonition, perhaps, that he wasn’t going to escape, so he decided to hide the treasure. There wasn’t much time, so he used what he was building for Laura as a message to her.”

“You said one more step to go?” Cluny reminded him.

Jupiter said, “On December 5 he wrote. To Santa Barbara for last touch to Laura’s surprise found a nice one, got it cheaply because establishment recently gutted by fire. One man’s tragedy is often another man’s fortune! I wonder if Angus was thinking, when he wrote that, of the wreck and the treasure.”

Jupiter closed the thin journal. “I looked up the Ortega brothers last night. They were well-known owners of a brick and stone yard in Rocky Beach, so Angus must have bought a load of bricks or stones for what he was building. There’s still an Ortega Building Supplies Company, perhaps they have records!”

“Then we’ll go there!” Cluny cried.

“We will,” Jupiter agreed, “but we’ll split up and go to Santa Barbara, too. We know that Stebbins photographed the journal, so we’ve got to hurry now! Bob and Pete will go to the Ortega Company in Rocky Beach. Cluny and I will drive up to Santa Barbara with Hans. If we can discover what Angus bought up there, Cluny might recognise it.”

“Is Uncle Titus going to let Hans drive you, First?” Bob asked.

“He will — as a favour to Mrs. Gunn.” Jupiter grinned. He turned to Cluny’s mother. “If you could sell us some old stuff from your house, Mrs. Gunn, and ask Hans to drive Cluny up to Santa Barbara as a favour.”

Mrs. Gunn laughed. “You have a devious mind, young man. But I’ll do it; I have a few things your uncle might like. On one condition — you boys will carry this hibiscus out to the front for me! I was going to call Rory from the house, but since you’re here you can help.”

“We accept!” Jupiter said eagerly. “Come on, fellows.”

The big redwood tub was very heavy, so they set it on two long two-by-fours that they found in the old stone shed. Each boy took an end of a two-by-four. Struggling, they carried the hibiscus round to the front of the house. As they set it down in place on the steps, they heard a car coming fast, and Professor Shay’s station wagon drove up.

“I had to come and warn you, boys,” Professor Shay said as he walked up quickly. “I reported young Stebbins to Chief Reynolds, and he checked the rascal’s record. He was released on parole six months ago, and if he did break into your headquarters, that is a parole violation! Stebbins knows that, boys, so he could be quite dangerous. Capture would mean return to prison!”

“Six months ago?” Pete said. “That’s when the break-ins started here, Jupe!”

“Yes, Second, it is,” Jupiter agreed grimly. “I think —” He stopped, his eyes suddenly alert. He sniffed at the air. “Fellows — Do you smell something? I —”

Pete sniffed. “Smoke! Something’s burning!”

“It’s from behind the house!” Cluny cried. They ran to the corner of the house. After a moment they saw it — smoke billowing from the old stone shed.