Jupiter scrambled out, and together they ran the boat up on to the sand.
“We made it,” Pete gasped.
“But we’re marooned!” Jupiter cried. “How do we get off this island, Pete? We must get back to stop the robber!”
“Gosh, Jupe, it’s just a small, deserted island — rocks and trees and an emergency shelter. I don’t see how we can get back until tomorrow, at least. Boats pass in the day.”
“Tomorrow could be too late,” Jupiter insisted. “Come on, where’s that emergency shelter?”
Pete led the way to a small cabin with a smaller shed.
The cabin contained nothing but a crude wooden table, some chairs and bunks, and a small stove and some food. The shed behind had two small boat masts, two booms, a small rudder with a long tiller handle, and piles of rope and boards. There were nails and tools, and that was all.
“There’s no radio, Jupe,” Pete said. “We’re stuck until morning when we can hail a boat, or someone looks for us.”
Jupiter didn’t answer. He was looking at the contents of the shed. “Pete, could we sail back in the boat if we had a sail?”
“Maybe — if we had a mast and a rudder.”
“We have a mast and a rudder now, and that tarpaulin in the boat would make a sail!”
Pete was dubious. “Those masts are too big, Jupe, even if we had a way of stepping one in the boat”
“Stepping? What do you mean?”
“That’s a nautical term for fixing a mast into a socket or supporting frame,” said Pete. “You’ve got to hold the bottom of the mast in place somehow.”
“Well, what about the booms? They’re half as long. Could we step one of them?”
Pete pondered. “Yes, we could step it through a hole in a seat. There’s a saw in the shed, and a hatchet. We could use boards to brace the boom at the bottom of the boat! Jupe, I think — oh, no, I forgot! We can’t do it!”
“Why not?”
Pete stood glum. “The rowing boat doesn’t have a keel. Not even a centreboard or sideboards. The boat would capsize in the wind. Even if we didn’t capsize, without a keel we couldn’t sail straight.”
Jupiter sat down heavily. He chewed on his fingers, and stared at the useless booms and masts in the shed. He looked at the long masts. “Pete?” he said. “Would those masts float?”
“I guess so. You want to ride home on a mast?”
Jupiter ignored Pete’s humour. “What if we took some long boards and nailed them to the masts. Then we nail the other ends of the boards to the gunwales of the boat, and — ”
“Outriggers!” Pete cried. “Jupe, it’ll work! They won’t be perfect, but we don’t have more than a mile to sail! With the wind as it is, the outriggers will hold the boat up!”
“Hurry then, Pete! We must get back right away!”
“Then you think this Khan is the bank robber, Bob?” Chief Reynolds asked again.
“Yes, sir!”
“I was beginning to wonder if the robber had really fled Rocky Beach. Too many people have claimed to have seen him, but no one actually has.”
“That’s just what Jupe said,” Bob said.
“Jupiter is a bright lad,” Chief Reynolds acknowledged.
“He thinks the robber is still after what he hid in the crooked cat,” Bob said, “and I think Khan was searching Andy’s equipment trailer. That proves he’s the robber! He was looking for what he had hidden.”
“Yes, that could well be, boys,” the Chief said.
“Khan is a strange man. He stayed aloof from us,” Mr. Carson said. “He never got friendly with anyone.”
“Well, we’ll find him,” Chief Reynolds said grimly.
The police, and Mr. Carson’s roughnecks, had spread out over the entire area. They were searching the open lot, all the carnival booths and tents, and vehicles. No cars or trucks had been reported missing. They were combing the old amusement park again, and searching all along the edge of the ocean, and through the streets and buildings near the carnival. After still another hour they had found no trace of the boys or Khan.
“I’m worried,” Chief Reynolds admitted at last. “They seem to have vanished into thin air. But we won’t give up. I think that that old amusement park is the key, so I have men searching all through it again for — ”
Shouts came suddenly from far off inside the amusement park.
“It’s my men!” Chief Reynolds exclaimed. “They’ve found something! Follow me, boys!”
The boys and Mr. Carson hurried after the Chief through the hole in the high fence. At the edge of the dark ocean they saw a knot of policemen and roughnecks.
“Have you found them? The boys?” Chief Reynolds demanded.
“No, Chief,” a policeman said, “but we found him!”
The knot opened, and two policemen pushed Khan forward. The strong man shook them off like flies and glared.
“What the devil does this mean!” Khan demanded.
The bearded strong man’s muscles gleamed in the hard yellow light of the electric lanterns.
“Tell us what you’re doing here, Khan!” Mr. Carson snapped.
“That’s my business, Carson.”
Bob couldn’t hold himself back. “He’s the robber! Make him tell what he’s done to Jupe and Pete!”
“Robber?” Khan roared. “I’m not the robber, you fools! I chased him. I told you that.”
“And what have you been doing for the last three hours while we looked for you?” Chief Reynolds wanted to know.
“I came back here to look for the robber on my own! I had a hunch that — ”
“He’s lying!” Bob cried hotly. “I’ll bet even that beard is false!”
Before Khan could move, Chief Reynolds reached out and grabbed his beard. Khan hurled the Chief off and the black beard came off in the Chief’s hand! They all stared at Khan.
“All right,” Khan said, “of course it’s false.” The strong man went on to pull off his sideburns and wild wig, revealing himself as a young man with close-cropped light hair. “We all wear costumes in the carnival. What’s a strong man without a black beard?”
“But you never took off your beard and hair, Khan!” Mr. Carson said. “You were hired wearing that beard and hair! You let us think that was your real appearance — even when the San Mateo police questioned us all!”
Khan waved his massive hand. “You know why, Carson. I’m used to working better shows than your two-bit carnival. I didn’t want to be recognized and have my reputation ruined.”
“I don’t think he’s even a strong man!” Andy cried.
“Is he Gabbo, Dad?”
“No,” Mr. Carson said, looking closely. “He’s not Gabbo.”
“But he is lying!” Bob accused hotly. Khan faced them all menacingly, his muscles bulging.
“Am I, boy? Then — ”
Khan was staring out towards the ocean. “What —?”
“Chief, look!” a policeman cried.
Everyone looked out at the ocean. On the moonlit water was a strange sight — a lopsided, half-collapsed out-rigger boat sailing raggedly up to the shore with Pete and Jupiter on their feet and waving to them with broad grins.
“It’s them!” Bob said.
“Pete, Jupe!” Andy shouted.
Jupiter and Pete beached their ungainly craft and came running up to rejoin their friends. In a matter of minutes they had told the whole story of their hours on the ocean and the island.
“You sailed back in that?” Chief Reynolds asked.
“Pete is an excellent sailor,” Jupiter replied, “and we had to get back at once! I think I know where to find what the robber has been looking for! I don’t think he’s found it yet!”
“But we have the robber, Jupe!” Bob said “It was Khan there all along, just as you suspected,”
Jupiter looked at the strong man standing surrounded by policemen and glaring angrily at them all. I.
“No,” Jupiter said. “Khan isn’t the robber.”
Khan growled, “I told them that, boy.”
“He’s an impostor, Jupiter,” Mr. Carson said, “and he was searching Andy’s trailer. You saw him!”
“No, sir, I don’t think he was,” Jupiter said politely but firmly. “When Pete and I were under the tarpaulin in that boat, I realized that there must have been two men, and that Khan was chasing the real robber. When he heard us in the fun house, he thought we were the robber.”
“How do you deduce that, Jupiter?” Chief Reynolds asked.
“He warned us that he saw us, Chief,” Jupiter said “That is how a pursuer acts, not someone being pursued. The real robber would have wanted to remain hidden from us!”
The chief nodded, “Well, yes, I see. But you can’t — ”
“Also,” Jupiter went on boldly, “Khan was bare to the waist when we saw him, and wearing only those tights. His hands were empty. He had no place to carry a pistol or a knife, and the man who set us adrift had both a pistol and a knife!”
“The boy is smarter than any of you,” Khan declared.
“Finally,” Jupiter added, “in the boat we distinctly heard the sound of soft, rubber-soled shoes on the man who cut us loose. You can all see that Khan is wearing his heavy boots.”
Khan laughed. “I told you I was in the clear.”
“Well, Mr. Khan, I wouldn’t say that,” Jupiter pronounced. “I believe you are an impostor, and you are up to something you don’t want known! You are in the carnival for some devious purpose. I expect Chief Reynolds can find out if he asks the right questions in the right place.”
The First Investigator was looking at Khan with a cool smile. The strong man glanced round, and then looked straight back at Jupiter. At last he sighed.
“I guess you are a smart boy at that,” Khan said. “All right. Yes, I’m here for a secret purpose. I’m a real strong man, but I retired a few years ago to become a private detective. My real name is Paul Harney, and Andy’s grandmother hired me to keep an eye on Andy and the show. She honestly believes that carnival life is wrong for Andy. She sent me to protect him and to see how dangerous the show is.”
“You didn’t cause our accidents?” Mr. Carson demanded.
“No, but when they began to happen I became worried. I did try to persuade you to close the show, Carson. I snooped around because the accidents seemed to endanger Andy, and I wanted to be sure they were just accidents.”
“You were protecting Andy?” Mr. Carson said.
“Yes, Carson. That was my job,” Khan replied.
Jupiter frowned. “Most commendable, Mr. Khan, or Harney, but I don’t think it’s the whole truth. You were at Andy’s equipment trailer because you suspected that what the robber wanted might be in the trailer. You weren’t protecting Andy!”
Khan’s eyes glittered. He was silent for a moment. Then he nodded. “You’re right, son. After the police questioned us all in San Mateo, I had a hunch that the bank robber was a member of the carnival. I’m a detective, and it would help my reputation if I caught a bank robber by myself. So I began to investigate. After Andy’s cat was stolen, I guessed that the robber had put something in those crooked cats. But no one in the show fits the robber’s description, and by now he has what he wanted. It wasn’t in one of those cats after all.”
“Jiminy,” Andy said. “I guess it fell out of the cat.”
Everyone else nodded glumly. All except Jupiter.
“On the contrary, fellows,” the First Investigator declared. “What the robber wanted was in a crooked cat, and I believe that it still is in a crooked cat!”
“But, Jupiter,” Andy protested, “I only had five crooked cats, and the robber found them all!”
“No, Andy, you had six cats,” Jupiter declared triumphantly. “You had five you gave out here, but you have a sixth crooked cat — and we all saw it!”
Pete gaped. “We did, Jupe?”
“Where, First?” Bob demanded.
“Right before our eyes the first night,” Jupiter said dramatically. “So obvious we overlooked it. You recall that first night in Andy’s truck when Andy showed us his broken — ”
Andy cried, “My broken prizes! In my work-basket! There is a crooked cat. It was burned in the San Mateo fire!”
“So it was in the shooting gallery the night of the fire,” Jupiter said. “The robber hid whatever it is in that crooked cat, but it was damaged by the fire, and Andy took it away to repair. The robber never thought of that! But in the boat I realized that if the robber was still trying to get Pete and me out of the way, he still didn’t have what he wanted even after searching Andy’s trailer. I reasoned that there had to be a sixth crooked cat — and then I remembered Andy’s work-basket!”
“Wow,” Pete exclaimed in awe. “We’d never have thought of that, First.”
“I never did, and I had the cat!” Andy said.
“It looks like the robber didn’t think of it, either boys,” Chief Reynolds said with a smile. “Fine work, Jupiter! I’m proud to have you as a junior assistant deputy.”
Jupiter grinned proudly. “Well, sir, it was only logical once I realized — ”
The First Investigator’s words trailed off, and his head came up alertly. He looked round in the dark night.
“Chief! Someone is running away from here!”
Then they all heard it — someone runing fast, back towards the amusement park fence. The crowd of police and roughnecks all turned to look.
“Who is that running away?” Chief Reynolds demanded.
“I don’t know, sir. We’re all here,” a policeman said.
“Some man, he was standing here I think,” a roughneck said. “I didn’t notice who he was.”
“Did anyone notice a stranger?” Mr. Carson asked.
Everyone shook his head. Then Bob exclaimed:
“Where’s Khan!”
The strong man was nowhere to be seen!
“Quick, everyone,” Jupiter suddenly cried. “Whoever it is heard all about the sixth cat! Hurry, Chief!”
They all ran across the abandoned amusement park and through the hole in the fence. As the last customers stared at them, they dashed through the carnival to where the trucks and wagons stood. Andy dashed inside his trailer. He came back out almost at once.
“The crooked cat, it’s gone! He got it!”
Chief Reynolds cried, “Block all exits!”
“Search the grounds!” Mr. Carson ordered his roughnecks.
The police and roughnecks went into action.
“He’s got the crooked cat,” Chief Reynolds, declared, “but he won’t get out with it! We’re too close behind him.”
“Chief?” Pete asked. “Could it be Khan?”
“Was he lying all the time, after all?” Mr. Carson wondered.
“I don’t know. He’s a slick talker,” the Chief said.
“Maybe he was hired by Grandma,” Andy said, “but is the bank robber, too.”
“I’ve known detectives to go wrong,” Chief Reynolds said grimly. “But if he has, this time we’ll get him. We’re too close for him to have time to examine the cat and dispose of it. He’ll have to try to leave the grounds, and we know what he looks like now.”
“What if it isn’t Khan, sir?” Pete asked. “We won’t know who it is then, and he can hide the cat and just wait.”
“No, Pete,” Chief Reynolds shook his head. “This carnival isn’t that big. We’d find the crooked cat and him. Sooner or later he must try to escape now, and we’ll have him. He can’t possibly get out with that cat. Jupiter I think — ” The Chief turned to find the First Investigator. Jupiter was nowhere around!
“Jupe!” Pete called.
“Jupiter? Where are you?” Chief Reynolds shouted.
There was no answer.
“I don’t remember seeing him with us at all!” Bob said.
“Not since we left the old amusement park,” Mr. Carson said.
“Well, he can’t be far,” said Chief Reynolds.
Pete said shakily, “Unless he saw the robber and followed him!”
“Now be calm, Pete,” Mr. Carson said.