Part 11 (2/2)

Then they rounded a corner and there, half-way up the big room they saw a s.h.i.+mmering blob of misty blue light where the ruined pipe organ stood. They paused.

In the darkness, Pete could feel his companion getting his flash camera set.

”We're going to sneak up on him,” Jupiter whispered, ”and take his picture.”

Pete looked at the s.h.i.+mmering light, and suddenly felt sorry for Mr. Terrill. After all these years alone in this spooky castle, it was going to be a very great shock to him to be unmasked.

”We might scare him,” he whispered back. ”Why don't we call out his name, so he'll know we're here, and give him a chance to understand that we only want to be friendly?”

”A very sound idea ... We'll walk slowly towards him, while I call out to him.”

They began to move towards the blob of light and the spooky music.

”Mr. Terrill!” Jupiter shouted. ”Mr. Terrill, we want to talk to you. We're friends.”

Nothing happened. The music kept on wheezing and wailing, and the blue blob kept on s.h.i.+mmering. They crept up another few feet and Jupiter tried again.

”Mr. Terrill,” he called. ”I'm Jupiter Jones. Pete Crenshaw is with me. We just want to talk to you.”

At that, the music suddenly stopped.

The s.h.i.+mmering blue blob moved. It soared gracefully upward, towards the ceiling, and hung there.

As Jupiter and Pete stood gaping up at the unexpected flight of the ghostly organist, they were suddenly aware that someone was beside them in the darkness.

Jupiter was taken totally by surprise, his camera still in his hand. Pete had just time enough to jam the ”on” b.u.t.ton of his torch into position. The beam of light revealed two men, one of average height, one quite short, both dressed in the flowing burnouses of Arabs. Each of the men was casting something white into the air.

A large net came down over Pete's head. It knocked the torch from his hand, putting it out, and enveloped him all the way to his feet.

He tried to run, caught his foot in the meshes of the net, and fell to the carpeted floor. He rolled over, struggling desperately, and realised he was as thoroughly trapped as any fish in a landing net. The more he struggled, the more tightly he bound himself in the clinging loops of the net.

”Jupe!” he yelled. ”Help!”

His partner did not answer. Rolling over and twisting his neck, Pete could see why.

The two men had picked Jupiter up between them like a sack of potatoes. He, too, was thoroughly wrapped in a clinging net. Using a small lantern for light, they carried the stocky boy by his shoulders and legs across the room and disappeared through a door. His weight seemed to give them a certain amount of trouble.

Hardly able to move inside the net that had trapped him, Pete lay on the floor and could see nothing in the darkness except the blob of light that s.h.i.+mmered high above him, up against the ceiling.

It seemed to be pulsing first getting larger, then smaller exactly as if the Blue Phantom was laughing at him.

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Chapter 16.

Prisoners In The Dungeon PRESENTLY the Blue Phantom faded out and was gone. Darkness like a blanket pressed down on Pete. He tried once more to wriggle free and only got himself more tightly tangled in the big net.

What a fix! he thought glumly. Instead of nabbing a harmless old fellow who was playing at being a ghost, they had been nabbed themselves. The two characters who had netted them had looked tough enough. And they had obviously been ready and waiting.

Pete thought of Bob and Worthington waiting for them down the canyon road.

Would he ever see them again? Would he ever see his Mom and Dad?

He was feeling as miserable as he had ever felt in his life when a light began bobbing across the room towards him. As it came closer, he saw that it was an electric lantern in the hand of a tall man. This one was wearing the long silk robes of an Oriental n.o.bleman.

The man reached Pete and bent over him, s.h.i.+ning the lantern in his face. Pete could see cruel slant eyes and a mouth full of gold teeth.

”Small fools,” the man said. ”Why could you not be sensible and stay away, like the others? Now we must take care of you.”

He drew a finger across his throat and made an ugly noise. Pete got the message. His blood ran cold.

”Who are you?” he asked. He stuttered a little, getting the words out.

”What are you up to?”

”Ha!” the man said. ”To the lower dungeon!” He picked Pete up like a sack of potatoes, threw him over his shoulder and started back the way he had come.

Slung over the man's shoulder, Pete couldn't see much in the almost total darkness. He knew they went through a door, down a pa.s.sage, then down a very long flight of winding stairs. They came out in a corridor that felt damp and chilly, went through some more doors, and wound up in a small room like a cell.

A dungeon cell. There were rusty ring- bolts attached to the walls.

Something white, like a coc.o.o.n, was lying in a corner. The smaller Arab sat beside it, sharpening a long knife.

”Where is Abdul?” the Oriental asked. He dumped Pete on the stone floor beside the coc.o.o.n, which turned out to be Jupiter, still wrapped in the net which had caught him.

”He went to get Zelda,” the small Arab said in a deep, guttural voice. ”She and Gipsy Kate are hiding the pearls. We are going to take a vote on what we shall do with these puppies we have caught.”

”I say we just lock the door to this cosy little room and leave them,” the second man said. ”No one will ever find them, and soon the old castle will really be haunted.”

”It's not a bad idea.” The Arab grunted. ”But just to make certain, we ought to let a little blood first.”

He ran the edge of his knife along his thumb, and Pete, watching him, swallowed with difficulty. He wanted to whisper to his stocky partner, but Jupiter was lying so still beside him that Pete was afraid he might be hurt.

”I'll go and see where Zelda is.” The Arab sheathed his knife and stood up. He cast a glance at the two bundles on the floor. ”Come along and give me a hand hiding our tracks. These fish won't get out of the nets very fast.”

”You're right. We must make haste.” The tall Oriental hung his electric lantern on the wall so that it clearly illuminated the two boys. Then the two men hurried out.

Pete could hear their footsteps growing fainter. Then he heard a grinding sound, as of a large rock being moved. Then silence until Jupiter spoke.

”Pete,” he asked, ”are you all right?”

”It depends on what you mean by all right,” Pete told him. ”If you mean no broken bones, yes, I'm fine, I'm dandy, I'm peachy-pie.”

”I'm glad you have not been injured.” Jupiter sounded very upset. ”I must apologise for leading you into unsuspected danger. I was too sure of my own deductions.”

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