“Where are we running?” Jupiter was panting.
“Right there,” Bob said.
Jupiter stared as Bob ran straight at the wall of dusty green trees and brushwood. “Where? I don’t see… ”
Bob vanished into the heavy brush before Jupiter could finish his question. The First Investigator plunged after the smaller boy — and suddenly found himself running in empty space!
He fell and landed with a thump at the bottom of a narrow gully totally hidden on all sides by the trees and the brushwood. Panting and bruised, Jupiter sat up, dusted himself off gingerly, and glared at his chum.
“You could have warned me,” he complained.
“There wasn’t time. I fell into this gully once when I was chasing a bull snake. They won’t find us in here.”
“Maybe,” said Jupiter, unconvinced.
“Shhhhhhhh!” Bob hissed.
The boys crouched down in the gully and crawled silently to the bank. Bob peered through a thin gap in the brush. The two pursuers were standing not fifty feet away! They were talking, pointing all around and arguing. Jupiter slumped down to the bottom of the gully.
“They know we’re around here somewhere!”
“What do we do?”
“We keep quiet,” the First Investigator pronounced.
They lay silent, listening. The two pursuers were walking and talking somewhere out beyond the dense brush. The boys could hear clearly, but they had no idea what the two dark men were saying — except that it sounded harsh and menacing.
Helpless, the boys could do nothing but wait. The voices came closer. There was the rustle and crash of bushes being searched.
Jupiter whispered, “I’m afraid it’s only a matter of time until they find us. They seem to know that we didn’t run beyond this point.”
“This gully is pretty well hidden. They might miss it.”
“Or they might stumble right into it. Is there any way we can get out of here unseen?”
Bob thought a moment “There’s a big ravine to the left that leads right back down to the road near the Vegetarian League house. Only we’d have to cross about fifty feet of open space from the end of this gully to get there.”
“Fifty feet of open space?” Jupiter’s brow was furrowed with concentration. “Then we have to have a diversion. Something to distract those men from seeing us cross that open space. If we could just get them down in here while we run for that ravine.”
“If we were ventriloquists,” Bob suggested, “we could throw our voices back here. Then, while they were coming down here after us, we could get to the ravine.”
“Bob, that’s it!” Jupiter seemed excited.
“What do you mean that’s it? We’re not ventriloquists. We can’t throw our voices anywhere.”
“Yes, we can! By electronics.” Jupiter picked up his walkie-talkie. “We’ll leave one walkie-talkie here, turned up full volume, with the receiving button held down. Then we’ll go down to the end of the gully closest to that ravine, and —
“And talk into the walkie-talkie so they’ll hear us and think we’re down here!”
“Exactly,” Jupiter said. “They’ll, hear us, come to get us, and while they’re out of sight down here we’ll run to the ravine. By the time they find the walkie-talkie, they won’t know where to look for us.”
Quickly, Jupiter laid his walkie-talkie behind a bush at the bottom of the gully and placed a stone on the receiving button. He picked up Bob’s walkie-talkie, and the two boys crawled silently along the bottom of the gully until Bob nodded that they were as far as they could go.
“You see that big tree across the open space?” Bob whispered. “That’s where the ravine is.”
“Here goes,” Jupiter whispered back. He squatted down and spoke into the walkie-talkie. “Bob! I hear them coming!”
Bob spoke into the speaker. “They won’t find us down here! We’re safe!”
Jupiter listened and heard Bob’s voice, faint but clear, farther back in the gully where they had been hiding. He spoke once more into the walkie-talkie, while Bob peered through the brush to see what was happening.
“They hear it,” Bob whispered. “They’re going into the bushes.”
“Now, Bob!” Jupiter hissed.
They jumped from the gully and ran full speed towards the big tree and the ravine. When they reached the tree, they looked back. The two dark men were nowhere in sight. The boys plunged down into the ravine and scrambled along the bottom towards the road far below.
Breathing hard, they came out into the street a half-block from the Vegetarian League house. The two men were still nowhere in sight.
“We better tell Mr. Harris that the dark men are back,” said Jupiter.
They hastened round the corner to the front door. Jupiter rang the bell. They waited, but there was no answer. Bob began knocking. There was still no sound inside the house. He tried the door, but it was locked. Meanwhile Jupiter was peering in the window beside the door.
“He must have gone out to the estate,” Bob said.
“I guess so,” Jupiter agreed. “We’d better get out of here — fast!”
Without any further discussion they ran to their bicycles and pedalled away at top speed. They didn’t slow down until they were back at the salvage yard.
Aunt Mathilda spied Bob and Jupiter the moment they rode into the salvage yard.
“There you are!.. Jupiter Jones, are you ready to go to the Sandow Estate?”
“Yes, Aunt Mathilda,” Jupiter said, “but we want to get something from my workshop first.”
“You make it short, young man. Konrad and your uncle will be ready in two minutes.”
The boys hurried to the workshop and through Tunnel Two into the hidden headquarters trailer. Pete was still at his post beside the telephone. He started talking at once.
“Why did you break off? I was trying to tell you something important. Two kids called in. They spotted the dark men’s car over on Las Palmas Street, and later they called back to report that the men were chasing two boys!”
“We know,” Bob said ruefully.
“They were chasing us,” Jupiter added. He explained how the dark men had appeared just as Pete was trying to talk to them, and described the chase in the hills.
“Wow!” Pete exclaimed. “You were sure lucky.”
“Jupe was just too smart for them,” Bob said. But Jupiter was not waiting for compliments, he was too busy planning. “If those men are still hanging around the Vegetarian League house, they must want something. I think they might attack Mr. Harris again. If he’s out with Miss Sandow, I’ll see him when I go out there with Uncle Titus, and I can tell him what happened to Bob and me. But in case he should go back to the League before I see him, I think you fellows ought to go over to the house and wait for him.”
“Gosh, First, I have to get home for lunch,” Pete said.
“Me, too,” Bob agreed.
“All right, but get over there again as soon as you can. Maybe you can spot those two men and keep an eye on them.”
“But, Jupe, we just got away from them!” Bob protested.
Jupiter wasn’t bothered by that fact. “I’m convinced that that pair are after something important. I think they can lead us to the Chumash Hoard. Just be careful, and don’t let them see you.”
“That you don’t have to tell us,” Pete said.
“Do you think they’re Yaquali, First?” Bob asked.
Jupiter nodded. “They must be, Pete. Somehow they must have learned about the Chumash Hoard, maybe through some old Indian writings or legends. It’s possible that they understand old Magnus Verde’s message.”
“I wish we did.” Pete sighed.
“So do I,” Jupiter admitted. “It must be the clue to where the Hoard is — ‘in the eye of the sky where no one can find it.’ We’ve got to puzzle it out.”
“But, Jupe, if they’ve figured out what Magnus Verde was saying, what are they still looking for?”
“I just don’t know,” Jupiter said, biting his lip.
At that moment they all heard the distant voice of Aunt Mathilda:
“Jupiter Jones! Now where are you?”
“Don’t forget, go and warn Mr. Harris, and see if you can find those dark men. But don’t let them see you.” Jupiter gave them their instructions once more. “And let’s all think about that message of Magnus Verde’s.”
Bob and Pete nodded, and Jupiter hurried from the hidden headquarters. Out in the salvage yard the First Investigator found Konrad and Uncle Titus already in the big truck. His Aunt Mathilda was loading in a lunch hamper. Jupiter jumped into the cab, and Uncle Titus quickly told Konrad to drive off. Jupiter’s uncle, a small man with an enormous moustache, was a most unusual junkman. He bought anything that interested him, not just because he thought he could sell it but because he I liked it.
Soon the truck was out of Rocky Beach and driving up the steep and winding road into the pass. They reached the top of the pass and drove on to the iron gates of the Sandow Estate. The gates were open. Konrad roared through and pulled to a stop before the barn.
Uncle Titus jumped out as eagerly as Jupiter, excited as he always was when he was about to buy junk for the salvage yard. As they headed for the barn door, Miss Sandow came from the big house.
“You must be Titus Jones,” the birdlike lady said. “I’m pleased to meet you. I hope you find many things you want. I’ve been accumulating this junk for far too long.”
“I’m sure I will, ma’am,” Uncle Titus said with a courtly bow and a flourish of his fine moustache. “You’re sure you want to part with all of it?”
“Oh, dear me, yes! I think it’s best to get it all cleared out. Since my nephew, Theodore, arrived I seem to have more interest in the estate. I want to get everything in order again.”
“Then, with your assistance, Miss Sandow, I’ll go and select what I want to buy,” Uncle Titus said.
Miss Sandow nodded, smiling, and accompanied Uncle Titus and Konrad into the barn. Jupiter lagged behind until he saw them vanish inside. Then he slipped away towards the big house to find Mr. Harris. Ted appeared behind him:
“Are you investigating something, Jupiter?” the English boy said eagerly.
“In a way, Ted,” Jupiter admitted. “I want to talk to Mr. Harris.”
“He’s in the library.”
Jupiter followed Ted into the house. They found Mr. Harris reading the Rocky Beach newspaper in the library. When the vegetarian saw Jupiter, he jumped up and hurried towards the First Investigator.
“Ted has reported his encounter with you boys last night,” Mr. Harris announced at once. “I must apologize for my part in our little deception, and for thinking that you boys might be thieves. Because we suspected that you had the statuette, we thought it would be a good ruse to offer a reward for its return.”
“I understand, sir,” Jupiter said quietly.
“Good. Now tell me exactly what happened to the statuette.”
Jupiter told Mr. Harris about the call for help that Bob and Pete had heard outside the estate wall, and the way the statuette had come flying over the wall. Mr. Harris listened intently, frowning from time to time. When Jupiter reached the part about the laughing shadow, Ted exclaimed:
“A shadow that laughed insanely? That’s strange. I thought I heard a peculiar laugh myself last night.”
“You’re quite sure, Jupiter?” Mr. Harris asked. “It wasn’t some trick of the wind, or the boys’ imagination?”
“No, sir, there is a laughing shadow somewhere on this estate,” the First Investigator insisted firmly. “And I think that whoever the shadow is he’s holding some prisoners here.”
“Really, Jupiter?” Ted said. “Prisoners? I say!”
“But why, Jupiter?” Mr. Harris said. “What is it all about?”
“The Chumash Hoard, sir. I’m sure of it.”
“The what?” Mr. Harris said, incredulous.
“A vast hoard of gold,” Jupiter said, and explained all that the boys had learned about the Chumash Hoard, Mr. Harris and Ted listened openmouthed. When Jupiter had finished, Mr. Harris smiled.
“I see,” he said. “I’m not sure I can believe such a legend — dying words and all — but I’ll accept your contention that there may be some nefarious gang that does believe it. That could be quite dangerous. I’m not at all sure I like you boys being involved in such an affair.”
“Would you repeat what that old Indian said, Jupiter?” Ted asked.
“Well, in essence,” Jupiter explained, “he said that the Hoard was ‘in the eye of the sky where no man could find it.’ ”
“Gosh, what could it mean?” Ted wondered. “And what does it have to do with Aunt Sarah’s statuette? Why did you say that prisoners are being held on the estate?”
Before Jupiter could answer, they heard Miss Sandow calling from outside.
“Theodore! I need you for a moment. Where are you, Theodore?”
Ted hurried out of the house in answer to his aunt’s summons. As soon as he had gone, Jupiter spoke quickly to Mr. Harris:
“Sir, I know the laughing shadow is real because I’ve heard it myself! And I know there are prisoners on the estate, because there was a message inside the amulet when we found it!”
“A message? Inside the statuette?” Mr. Harris looked concerned.
“A call for help,” Jupiter said.
“Have you notified the police?”
“No, sir, we didn’t really have anything to tell.”
“No, I see that.” Mr. Harris seemed to be considering the problem. “When did you see this laughing shadow?”
“Last night just before we met Ted,” Jupiter said, and told Mr. Harris what he and Pete had seen at the lodge on the estate.
“What do you make of it, Jupiter?”
“I think that those four strange shapes were prisoners with bags over their heads! That’s why it looked as if they had no heads at all.”
“What?” Mr. Harris exclaimed. “Four prisoners in Miss Sandow’s lodge? Held by that laughing shadow! Outrageous. How could such things go on right under Miss Sandow’s nose?”
“How much do you really know about Ted Sandow, sir?” Jupiter said blunty.
“Ted?” Mr. Harris gaped and blinked. “You think that Ted is involved? By thunder, I’m going to get to the bottom of this! Come on, Jupiter, I want to look at that lodge!”
Mr. Harris strode to the desk and opened a drawer. When he turned, he held a pistol in his hand.
“And you think that the dark men who attacked you and took the statuette are the same ones who attacked me?” Mr. Harris said as he walked.
“They must be, sir.”
“If that’s true, they may also be the ones who are holding prisoners out here. We had better approach the lodge with caution.”
“They’ll probably be gone by now, sir, especially if the shadow saw Bob and me last night.”
“That remains to be seen. If they’re so bold as to hold prisoners right on the estate, they may not have been scared by two boys. What I don’t understand is what they think they’re up to, you see.”
“I guess I don’t understand that, either,” Jupiter admitted unhappily. “Maybe the prisoners are the ones who really know the secret of where the Hoard is, and those dark men and the laughing shadow are trying to find it.”
“That could be, Jupiter. Yes, you may have hit on it. And perhaps we can catch the ruffians red-handed!”
They hurried on as quietly as they could in the deep forest shadows and came to where the smaller path led down into the bowl-shaped valley. The truck no longer stood in front of the lodge. The building looked much less mysterious in the bright noon sunlight.
Mr. Harris motioned for Jupiter to crouch low in the trees and be silent. Then he began to work his way stealthily down the slope through the trees. Jupiter examined the lodge closely. There was no sign of movement anywhere. The shutters on the lodge windows were open, and so was the front door. As soon as he saw the open door Jupiter was certain that there would be no one inside.