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

The truck drove off, and the boys settled down in the back. Jupiter seemed lost in thought, so Bob and Pete talked and looked at the scenery. Then Pete began to frown. As the truck drove into the salvage yard, he leaned close to Jupiter.

“Jupe! I think someone followed us! A green Volkswagen was behind us all the way, and it just came into our street!”

The boys jumped from the truck and hurried to the front gate of the yard. A green VW was parked across the street. But before the boys could see who was in it, the small car suddenly drove off with squealing tyres.

“Gosh,” Pete said. “You think it was that Java Jim?”

“Perhaps,” Jupiter said. “But he escaped from the museum in the other direction, Pete.”

“Maybe someone else wants that old chest,” Bob said.

“Or is interested in the wreck of the Argyll Queen” Jupiter said. His eyes were bright as he sensed a mystery. “This could be a case for The Three Investigators! We’ll —”

“So there you are!” Aunt Mathilda appeared behind the boys. “That truck won’t unload itself. Get to work, boys.”

Sheepishly, the three boys returned to the truck and began to unload it. The mystery of the old chest would have to wait!

3

The Wreck of the Argyll Queen

It was noon before the truck was unloaded. Aunt Mathilda went across the street to the Jones house to prepare lunch. The boys hurried at once to the old chest.

“We’ll study it in Headquarters,” Jupiter said. “You two carry it. There’s something I have to do first.”

The stout boy ran ahead, leaving Bob and Pete standing over the big, heavy chest. With sighs of protest, Pete picked up one end and Bob the other. They struggled over to Jupe’s outdoor workshop in a corner of the junkyard. Beneath the workbench began Tunnel Two, a large galvanised pipe that ran back under a mountain of junk — to the secret headquarters of The Three Investigators!

Headquarters was an old, damaged mobile home trailer that the boys had fixed up. Outside, it was hidden from sight by carefully placed stacks of junk. Inside was a modern office, complete with darkroom, lab, desk, typewriter, tape recorder, and telephone. There was a periscope for seeing out over the surrounding junk, and all sorts of special detective equipment, mostly of Jupiter’s invention.

But one of Headquarters’ cleverest features was also a big drawback, as Bob and Pete now realized when they lugged the old chest up to Tunnel Two.

“It’s too big to get into the tunnel!” groaned.

The boys set down the chest and looked at each other.

“We made all the entrances just big enough for us,” Bob pointed out glumly. “I bet it won’t fit any of them!”

Just then Jupiter came crawling out of Tunnel Two, looking excited. Bob and Pete blurted out their problem.

“Hmmmmmm,” Jupiter said, eyeing the narrow entrance of Tunnel Two. “I should have thought of that. Maybe we can get it inside through Easy Three.”

Easy Three was the simplest entrance to the trailer. A big oak door, still in its frame, leaned against some timber. A rusty key, concealed in a barrel of other rusty objects, opened the door, and a short passageway led to the original side door of the trailer.

“We’d better measure the trailer door first,” said Bob.

“And we’ll have to wait until no one else is in the yard before using Easy Three,” Jupiter added. “Meanwhile, men, I’ve just found out that Java Jim’s whole story was a lie!”

“Gee, Jupe,” Pete said, “how could you know that?”

“I called the secondhand dealer in San Francisco, Mr. Baskins,” Jupiter told them. “He didn’t get the chest from a sailor, he got it from another secondhand shop in Santa Barbara! The other dealer got it from a lady six months ago!”

“Wow!” Pete said. “Maybe Java Jim’s not even a sailor!”

“A good point,” Jupiter agreed seriously. “Java Jim could be wearing the pea-jacket and bell-bottoms as a disguise, to fool us into thinking he’s a sailor. Not a very good disguise, either. Those clothes are too heavy for Southern California, even in December.”

“Java couldn’t have known he’d run into us Jupe,” Bob objected, “and mornings and nights are cold around Christmas.”

“That’s true, I guess,” Jupiter conceded. “Anyway, Java Jim was at Mr. Baskins’s shop yesterday — only he told an entirely different story! He said his sister had sold the chest while he was away, and he wanted to get it back!”

Pete was puzzled. “Why change his story?”

“Probably because he thought his new story would make us give him the chest faster, and because he doesn’t want anyone to guess his real reason for wanting the chest,” Jupiter reasoned. “But his story to Mr. Baskins proves one thing — Java Jim knew a woman had sold the chest six months ago! Only he couldn’t have learned that until recently, or he’d have traced the chest sooner.”

“Gosh,” Bob said, “why does he want it so much? I mean, it’s just an empty chest.”

“Except for that ring,” Pete said. “Maybe it’s valuable.”

“But it’s just one ring, and Java didn’t know it was there until we found the secret compartment,” Bob pointed out.

“Maybe he knew something was in the chest,” Pete suggested.

“Or perhaps,” Jupiter said, “the chest is important because it came from the Argyll Queen! Perhaps even from the shipwreck!”

Jupiter’s eyes had a special gleam in them — a gleam that meant he was at work on a mystery!

“You think Java Jim’s interested in a ship that sank over a hundred years ago, Jupe?” Bob asked doubtfully.

“But why?” Pete asked.

“I don’t know,” Jupiter admitted, “but listen! Except for the hidden ring and dagger, the ship’s name is all that the chest contains. I think we should investigate the history of the Argyll Queen.”

“The Historical Society should have something,” Bob said.

Pete was unhappy. “I’ve got to go Christmas shopping with my mother today, and work at home with my dad.”

“And I have to go back with the truck for a second load from the museum,” Jupiter said. “I guess it’s up to you, Bob.”

“Fine with me,” agreed Bob. He usually handled the team’s special research anyway.

Soon after, the boys heard Aunt Mathilda calling Jupiter, and they split up for lunch.

After lunch, Bob’s mother sent him for an extra set of Christmas lights, and it was past three o’clock when he cycled up to the Rocky Beach Historical Society. Inside, a grey-haired lady smiled at him from behind a desk. “The Argyll Queen, young man? Why, yes. I believe we have considerable material on that. A terrible wreck that caused a big stir several years ago. Rumours of treasure, you know.”

“Treasure?” Bob exclaimed.

“Gold and jewels and all that.” The lady smiled. “1 don’t think much came of it. I’ll get you the material, young man.”

Bob waited in the central room of the Historical Society with growing excitement. When the grey-haired lady returned, she was carrying a. large, hinged file box.

“I’m afraid the material is unorganised,” she said.

Bob took the box and hurried into one of the small reading rooms. Alone in the room, he sat at a long table and opened the box.

He blinked in dismay. The box was crammed with papers, pamphlets, small books, and newspaper and magazine articles. There seemed to be no order to the papers at all. With a sigh, he picked up the first article, and a voice spoke above him, “I’m afraid it’ll take days to read all that.” Startled, Bob looked up and saw a small man in an old-fashioned black suit with a waistcoat and gold watch chain. The man had a round, pink face and rimless glasses. He stood smiling down at Bob. His voice was deep but friendly.

“I’m Professor Shay of the Historical Society,” the small man said. “Mrs. Rutherford told me of your interest in the Argyll Queen shipwreck. We like to encourage young people’s interest in our work. Perhaps I can save you a lot of reading if you just want a few facts.”