Part 7 (1/2)

Chapter 13.

A Sudden Alarm WHEN BOB ARRIVED AT HQ the next morning, Jupiter was just hanging up the telephone receiver.

”Pete can't come! His dad told him to quit procrastinating and prune his neighbours' bushes. We'll have to go ahead without him. He'll meet us at the Lair as soon as he can.”

Bob grinned. ”I'll bet he's as mad as a hornet.”

”He did not sound pleased,” Jupiter admitted. ”I'm not pleased either. It gives us one less person to help find where Kames is digging, and I don't expect that's going to be easy. We may have to separate while we do our scouting. Let's take all three walkie-talkies along.”

After Bob had stuffed the devices into his backpack, the two Investigators went out to their bikes and pushed them through Green Gate One out into the street in front of the salvage yard. Soon they were riding cautiously through the low early-morning fog to the Purple Pirate Lair.

Heavy mist hung silently over the deserted Pirates Cove.

”I called Jeremy,” Jupiter reported, ”and he said he'd make sure his father was waiting for us.”

As they reached the open gates to the Purple Pirate Lair, Bob said in a low voice, ”That fake ice cream van's over on the road, and I think Hubert is trying to hide in the trees.”

Jupiter glanced over and grinned. ”Hubert's there all right. Hidden like a whale in a bathtub! He keeps peeking out to make sure no one can see him.”

Inside the fence the boys hurried around the refreshment stand to the house trailer. The door opened before they rang.

”Come in, guys,” Jeremy said eagerly. ”I told my dad you've solved the case!”

Captain Joy was seated at the breakfast table in the kitchen. He offered the boys some coffee. They declined politely, and the captain studied them over his cup.

”I told you not to bother Major Karnes,” he said.

”Yes, sir,” Jupiter agreed, ”and we haven't. He has no idea we're investigating his activities.”

”I hope not,” Captain Joy said. ”All right, if you've solved your mystery, you might as well tell me about it.”

”Jeremy is a little optimistic, sir,” Jupiter admitted. ”We haven't solved the mystery of Major Karnes's actions, but we have determined that there very definitely is a mystery!” He went on to tell the captain everything they had seen and heard the day before. When Jupe had finished, Captain Joy poured himself a fresh cup of coffee, sipped it, and looked mystified.

”You're saying that the whole thing, the Society for Justice to Buccaneers, Brigands, Bandits, and Bushwhackers, is just a trick to get us away from here so Kames can dig for something?”

”That, sir, is what we think,” Jupiter said.

”But what is it all about? Why watch the place so much?”

”I can't explain the stakeout yet,” Jupiter said, ”but we have a pretty good idea what it must be about. The Purple Pirate must have hidden some of his loot here at Pirates Cove, and Major Karnes and his gang know that. They may even have a map.”

He told Captain Joy about the doc.u.ment they had seen Karnes studying and measuring, and pointed out that the gang had been digging for three nights.

Captain Joy was doubtful. ”There hasn't been even a rumour of treasure at Pirates Cove in a hundred years. After William Evans returned and died, people did think he might have left some treasure, and they dug up the whole cove. But they found nothing, and no one's ever even mentioned the idea since.”

”Possibly it isn't treasure,” Jupiter agreed, ”but Karnes and his gang are digging for something, sir! Whatever it is, I suggest we try to find where they are digging.”

”Good grief, there should be a big hole after three days,” Jeremy exclaimed.

”Then it should be simple to find,” Captain Joy said.

”I wonder,” Jupiter said uneasily. ”If removing the dirt would hide the digging, then the hole is not in plain sight or where anyone can stumble on to it by sheer chance.”

”I'll go with Jeremy,” Bob suggested, ”and you go with the captain, Jupe. They both know the grounds.”

Jupiter nodded. ”For a start, you check the whole area between the refreshment building and the cove and we'll start inside the refreshment building.”

They agreed to meet near the Black Vulture.

As Jupiter and the captain entered the rear area behind the refreshment stand, the early-morning fog drifted in with them.

”This building and the museum building were stables originally, back when there was a big house over there in the trees. That was long before the cove road was built,”

the captain said. ”Both buildings still have double doors for each separate stall. Plenty of room to drive a van in.”

He unlocked the first pair of double doors. Inside, cases of soft drinks and boxes of food were stacked to the ceiling. There was enough room to hide a van, but there were no traces of tyre marks or signs of digging in the dirt floor. They had no better success in the areas behind the other two sections of the refreshment stand, and soon joined Bob and Jeremy beside the Black Vulture.

”Nothing,” Bob reported. ”We searched every inch of ground from building to water.”

They decided there was no way to drive a van on to the Black Vulture. Captain Joy suddenly looked at his watch.

”Hey, it's time to open. Salty Sam seems to have wandered off, so Anna will have to take care of the ticket selling. If we get a good crowd I may hire you boys to do some acting.”

Jupiter's eyes lit up. ”As it happens, sir, I have considerable experience in that line.

I may even decide to return to acting when I grow up instead of becoming a great detective.”

”Meanwhile,” Bob said, grinning, ”we're trying to find where Karnes and his gang are digging. May we borrow your keys to the museum. Captain Joy?”

The captain willingly handed over the keys and then hurried off with Jeremy to start the first show. After the Joys had gone, Bob and Jupiter crossed the promenade and unlocked the first set of rear double doors in the museum building. Although the part.i.tions between the old stable stalls had been torn down in front to make the long museum display, there were still three separate dim rooms in the back.

”Look for tyre marks and digging,” Jupiter emphasized.

In the first room they found nothing-no tyre marks, no loose dirt, no hole in the ground. The second of the dim back rooms was no more rewarding. As they started to leave it, Bob held up his hand in alarm! Someone, or something, was moving outside in the fog. Moving stealthily-and coming towards the door!

Chapter 14.

The Purple Pirate Strikes Again ”QUICK!” JUPITER WHISPERED. ”Behind the door!”

But before they could move an inch, a shadow leaped through the doorway and grappled with Jupiter! The stout leader of the trio and his shadowy attacker fell to the dirt floor in a tangle of arms and legs. Bob leaped on to the a.s.sailant's back and all three rolled in the dirt of the dim room.

”I've got his leg!” Bob cried.

”I've got his hair!” Jupiter panted.