“At least,” Jupiter said solemnly. “Big and wet and shiny. Sort of a —”
“Monster!” Pete finished the sentence for Jupiter.
“The Old One!” Bob exclaimed.
The three boys looked at each other nervously. They did not believe in unknown monsters, but what could have made such big, wet marks?
Then a powerful glare of light fixed the three boys like moths against the wall. A harsh voice called from behind the dazzling light.
“What’s goin’ on here?”
A figure came slowly towards them — a bent, twisted figure with a wild white beard, carrying an enormous-looking rifle.
“Them passages goes a far piece inside,” he said in a high, cracked voice. “You young-uns could get lost mighty easy in there.”
The old man’s red-rimmed eyes gleamed wickedly.
“Got to be mightly careful here,” he croaked. “Got to know the country, yessir. Seventy years I lived out here, never lost my scalp. No sir. Got to think ahead, that’s the story. Know the country and fight the enemy.”
“Scalp?” Pete stared. “You fought Indians? Here?”
The old man waved his ancient rifle. “Injuns! I’ll tell you about Injuns, I will. Lived with Injuns all my life. Fine people but hard enemies, yessir. Almost lost my scalp twice. The country and Apache country. Sneaky, the Apaches. But I got away.”
“I don’t think there are any Indians now, sir,” Jupiter said politely, “and we won’t become lost.”
The old man’s eyes suddenly focused on the boys. For the first time he actually seemed to be seeing them. “Now?” he repeated. “Of course there’re no Injuns now. Are you boys crazy? You must be, wandering around in the cave. Strangers around here, eh?” His voice was lower now, and steadier, and he had lost his wild look.
Bob was the first to reply. “Yes sir, we’re from Rocky Beach.”
“We’re staying at The Crooked-Y with Mr. and Mrs. Dalton,” Jupiter explained. “Mr….?”
“Ben Jackson. You boys can call me Ben,” the old man said. “The Daltons, eh? Fine people, yes-siree. I was passing this old cave and thought I heard someone yell out. Guess that was one of you, eh?”
“Yes sir,” Jupiter said, “but we weren’t lost. You see, we mark our way so we always know how to get back.”
“Blaze a trail, eh? Well now, that’s mighty smart. I reckon maybe you would have been okay out in the big country in the old days. What are you doing in here, anyway?”
“We’re trying to find out what makes the moaning sound,” Bob explained.
“Only it stopped as soon as we came in,” Pete added.
Suddenly the old man seemed to crouch. His eyes clouded again, and grew wary. The change was so startling that for a moment the boys could almost imagine they were looking at a different person.
“Moanin’, eh?” Ben’s voice was high-pitched again. “Folks say it’s El Diablo come back. Not me, no sir. I say it’s The Old One, that’s what I say.
“The Old One lived in this here cave long before any white man showed up,” he went on. “Time don’t mean anything to The Old One. You boys stay out of here or The Old One’ll get you sure. Jess Dalton, he better stay out, too. The sheriff, all of them. The Old One’ll get them all!”
The old man’s voice crackled in the dark shadows of the cavern. Bob and Pete looked nervously at Jupiter, who was watching old Ben intently.
“Have you ever seen him, Mr. Jackson?” Jupiter asked. “The Old One, I mean? Have you seen him here in the cave?”
“Seen him?” the old man cackled. “I seen something, yessir. More’n once I seen it.”
The old man looked around warily, and then once again he changed. His twisted body straightened, his eyes cleared, his voice lowered and became calm.
“Well, you boys better come on out with me now. Can’t leave you yelling in here, eh?”
Jupiter nodded. “I think we’ve seen enough for now anyway. You’re quite right, it does seem easy to become lost in here.”
The old man picked up his electric lantern. Its bright light made the shadows of the cave seem far less menacing.
They soon found their way out into the quiet valley. As the old man walked them to their bikes, Jupiter cocked his ear towards the cave to listen. But the moaning sound did not come again. They thanked Ben Jackson for coming in to find them and said good night.
“You’re smart boys, yessir,” the old man said. “Only The Old One’s smarter than anyone. You boys better be careful. You tell Jess Dalton, The Old One is watching, yessir.”
The old man’s cackling laughter followed the boys as they rode down the dirt road in the moonlight. Rounding a curve, Jupiter suddenly stopped his bike.
“Oooff!” Pete grunted, narrowly missing him.
Bob stepped on his brakes. “What’s wrong, Jupe?” he asked.
“The Three Investigators do not give up until a job is completed,” Jupiter said, his bike already turned round and headed back the way they had come.
“I think we should go back to the ranch,” Bob said.
“So do I,” Pete added quickly.
“Two to one, Jupe,” Bob pointed out.
But Jupiter had already started pedalling back the way they had come. Bob and Pete watched for a moment, then began to follow him. They both knew there was no stopping Jupiter once he had an idea in his head.
When they caught up with The First Investigator, he was peering cautiously around the curve in the dark road.
“It’s all clear,” Jupiter said. “Come on.”
“What are we doing, Jupe?” Bob asked as The First Investigator got off his bike.
“We’re going to leave the bikes here and walk,” Jupiter explained. “We’ll try to keep out of sight.”
“Where do we walk to?” Pete wanted to know.
“I just noticed that this road curves around Devil Mountain towards the sea,” Jupiter explained. “I want to see if there is another entrance on the ocean side.”
Bob and Pete followed Jupiter down the dark road. The valley was shadowy in the moonlight. Shapes seemed to loom up out of the night as they walked — trees and boulders and dark gullies.
“There are three puzzles that have come to our attention to-night,” Jupiter said as they walked. “First, why did the moaning stop when we were inside the cave? I noticed that the wind was still blowing when we came out, so it wasn’t the wind that changed.”
“You mean something else made the moaning stop?” Bob asked.
“I’m sure of it,” Jupiter said firmly.
“But what?” demanded Pete.
“Perhaps something or someone who saw us,” Jupe replied. “Second,” he went on, “it seemed to me that Ben Jackson really wanted us to get out of that cave. I wonder why?”
“The way he changed was spooky,” Bob said, and he shivered, as if to prove it.
“Yes,” Jupiter mused, “he is a most peculiar old man. It almost seemed as if he was two different people living in two different times. In fact, I couldn’t help feeling that he was putting on some kind of performance.”
“Maybe he was really worried about us, Jupe,” Pete said. “I mean, if he really has seen… The Old One.”
“Perhaps,” Jupiter agreed. “And that’s our third problem — the black, shiny thing you saw, and those marks on the cave floor. I’m sure they were water marks. Of course there may be a pool in the cave, but it’s also possible that there’s another entrance to the cave on the ocean side. And that is what we’re going to look for!”
After the boys had walked a little farther, the road ended abruptly at an iron gate. Beyond it, two narrow paths, one to the left and one to the right, led down the rocky cliff. Far below, a white line of surf glowed in the moonlight. The boys climbed the fence and looked down over the steep cliff.
“We’ll go to the right, towards the cave,” Jupe said. “Pete had better lead and I’ll come last. We’ll rope ourselves together the way mountain climbers do. Then if we come to any difficult places, we’ll cross them one at a time.”
The boys quickly roped themselves together at their waists, and Pete led the way down the narrow path. Below, the sea surged in and out among giant black rocks made silvery by the moonlight. At low points on the path, spray flew up to drench the boys. Three times they had to turn and face the cliff to inch across narrow ledges.
At last the path led sharply downwards and they found themselves on a small white-sand beach. The beach was deserted now, but there was considerable evidence that people had been swimming there — empty beer cans, soft-drink bottles, and the remains of picnic lunches.
“We’ll look all along the cliff for some form of opening,” Jupiter decided.
The cliff face was heavily overgrown with scrubby bushes and stunted trees, and hidden in many places by large boulders. With their lights the boys searched behind the bushes and boulders. But they found no entrance to the cave.
“I think we’re looking in the wrong place, Jupe,” Pete said.
“Where else is there to look?” Bob asked.
“Well,” Pete explained, “no one has told us about another entrance. If there is one, I’ll bet it’s hard to get to.”
“You mean it’s not here on the beach?” Bob asked. “But it has to be near here because that path is the only way down.”
“I think you’re right,” Jupiter said. “Bob, you come with me. We’ll search on the right side. Pete, you go left.”
The rocks bordering the beach were slippery with seaweed and mussels so Jupiter and Bob had to pick their way cautiously. Jupiter kept his flashlight aimed at the cliff face in order to look for an opening.
Finally, they reached a point where they could go no farther unless they plunged into the water. Discouraged, they were turning back when they heard Pete shout.
“I found it!”
Bob and Jupiter scrambled over the wet rocks and ran pell-mell down the beach. At the far end, Pete was standing on a big flat rock. Between two giant boulders, they saw an opening in the cliff face. It was a small opening, and only a foot above the sea.
“I can hear the moaning again,” Pete said. “Listen.”
There was no mistaking the sound.
Pete shone his flashlight into the entrance. It was black, wet and very narrow. The tunnel seemed to bore directly into the cliff face as far as they could see.
“Maybe it doesn’t go anywhere,” Bob speculated.
“No,” insisted Jupiter. “It must go into the cave or we wouldn’t hear the moaning.”
“It sure looks small,” Pete said doubtfully.
Jupiter squatted and peered into the opening. “I think we can enter safely if we’re careful. Bob, you’re the smallest so we’ll tie the rope to you and you’ll go in first.”
“Me? All alone? I thought we were all going to go in together.”
“That would be the wrong way to do it, Bob,” Jupiter explained. “When entering an unknown passage, the correct way is to send one person in, with a rope on him, while the other two remain outside ready to pull him out instantly if he encounters any danger.”
“Sure,” Pete added. “In those prison camp films, when the soldiers dug tunnels to escape, they always tied a rope to the man who was inside the tunnel. If he pulled once on the rope they hauled him out.”
“Exactly,” Jupiter said with a trace of annoyance. The First Investigator did not like to have anyone suggest that his ideas were not original. He turned to Bob. “Remember, pull hard on the rope if you get into any trouble. We’ll pull you out.”
Somewhat unconvinced but game, Bob tied the rope firmly around his waist. Cautiously he crawled into the narrow tunnel.
Inside it was dark and cold. The ceiling was much too low for him to stand up, and the walls were wet and slimy with green sea moss. He had to inch along on his hands and knees. As he crawled slowly forward, beaming his flashlight ahead, crabs scuttled away, their claws scraping on the damp rock.
After Bob had gone about thirty feet, the ceiling suddenly inclined sharply upward. He stood up. His flashlight beam showed that the tunnel still led straight ahead, but it had become wide and dry, and angled upward.
“Jupe! Pete! It’s okay,” he called back into the tunnel.
Soon both Pete and Jupiter were standing beside him.
“It’s all dry here,” Pete observed.
“This part must be above the high-tide mark,” Jupiter said. “I’ll start marking our trail, and you and Bob listen for the moaning so we can go in the right direction.”
They moved ahead, Jupiter stopping every ten feet or so to leave question marks in white chalk. After some forty feet they emerged into still another of the vast caverns that seemed to honeycomb the interior of Devil Mountain. Once more many dark passages led out of the large room.
The boys looked at each other in dismay.
“Well, here we go again,” Pete said.
“This mountain is nothing but tunnels,” Bob sounded discouraged. “How will we ever trace the sound?”
But Jupiter was not really looking at the new cavern or the many tunnel exits. He was listening.
“Have either of you heard the moaning since we came in?” Jupe asked.
Bob and Pete looked at each other.
“Gosh, no,” Bob said.
“Not since we were outside!” Pete agreed.
“I didn’t hear it all the time I was crawling,” Bob added.
Jupiter nodded thoughtfully. “As soon as we enter, the moaning stops. A most suspicious circumstance. Not once, which could be an accident, but twice now.”
Pete was puzzled. “You think maybe we do something when we come in? I mean, maybe we change something without knowing we change it?”
“That’s one possibility,” Jupiter acknowledged.
“Another explanation might be that someone sees us,” said Bob. “But how could anyone have seen us on that beach in the dark?”
Jupiter shook his head. “I admit I’m at a loss to explain it myself. Perhaps it is just — ”
They all heard the sound at the same moment. A faint and distant jingling of bells, and the clip-clop, clip-clop of a horse’s hoofs.
“A horse!” Bob exclaimed.
Jupiter turned his head and listened intently. The sound seemed to come from the wall of the cavern.
“It’s… inside the mountain!” Jupiter said.
Bob protested. “It can’t be, Jupe. It has to be from another part of the cave.”
Jupiter shook his head. “If my sense of direction is correct, the other part of the cave is to our left,” he said. “We are facing the side of the mountain — and no tunnels go in that direction!”
“Maybe we better get out,” Pete suggested.
“I think,” Jupiter said hurriedly, “Pete is right. Let’s go!”
The boys pushed pell-mell against each other in their scramble for the narrow exit. Pete reached the small tunnel first and began to crawl through. Jupiter and Bob followed right behind.
They tumbled out into water up to their knees, and floundered across the flat rocks till they sprawled at last on the white sand of the beach. They lay there panting.
“Where did that noise come from?” Bob finally broke the silence.
“I don’t know,” Jupiter admitted reluctantly. “But I think we’ve done enough exploring for one night. Let’s start back.”
Bob and Pete were only too glad to follow the First Investigator back up the narrow trail. They had nearly reached the iron gate at the top of the cliff when Jupiter suddenly stopped. In the darkness Pete almost ran into him.
“What are you doing, Jupe!”
Jupiter didn’t reply. He was staring up at the twin peaks of Devil Mountain.
“What is it?” Bob asked in a whisper.
“I just had an idea,” Jupiter answered slowly. “And I also thought I saw something move up there on the mountain where — ”