“Yes,” Jupiter agreed. “That’s how he knew about the island. But he didn’t find anything. If he had, he wouldn’t have stood around there watching us.”
“That makes us even,” Bob said. “We didn’t find anything, either.”
Bob’s words cast a pall over the sailing-boat, and they sailed the rest of the way in silence. Professor Shay stared after the now vanished motorboat. When they docked in the marina, there was no sign of Stebbins, his boat, or his Volkswagen.
“I shall report that villain to the police at once,”
Professor Shay said angrily. “He did break into your office last night.”
“I didn’t actually see him, sir,” Jupiter pointed out.
“But you know he did, and at least I can alert the police to the young blackguard!”
“What a day!” said Pete. “We let a crook slip out of our hands, and we couldn’t find the treasure.”
The professor shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry, boys. This treasure hunt looks hopeless. Perhaps a hundred years is just too long ago.”
“I must admit we’re making little progress,” Jupiter said.
Cluny cried, “There’s still more than a month left in the second journal, fellows! Don’t stop now!”
“I’m afraid,” Professor Shay said sadly, “if you do go on, I’ll have to leave it to you boys. I mustn’t neglect my work. But I’ll be most eager to hear if you do discover something.”
They watched the professor walk to his station wagon and drive off. Cluny looked at the boys hopefully.
“Jupe?” Pete said. “We’re not quitting, are we?”
“We’d better all go to lunch,” Jupiter said unhappily. “I want to think awhile. Then we’ll go to Phantom Lake and decide.” He sighed. “Something in this case is eluding me.”
Dejected, the boys got on their bikes and started home.
“I believe we made a completely erroneous assumption, Records!” Jupiter announced eagerly. “It gives me an entirely new conception of old Angus’s puzzle!”
Bob grinned as he held the receiver. For once he wasn’t bothered by Jupiter’s big words. It was the old Jupe talking again, all traces of dejection gone.
“Meet at the yard,” Jupiter instructed. “I have a plan!”
Bob hung up and got his bike. When he arrived at the salvage yard, he saw Jupiter and Pete standing by the pickup truck with Hans. He loaded his bike into the truck at Jupe’s direction, then climbed in with the others. Hans drove off.
“I told Uncle Titus that Mrs. Gunn might have some junk to sell, which is true,” Jupiter explained, but said nothing more. Pete and Bob knew better than to question him. The stocky boy never revealed his surprises and deductions until he was ready.
Cluny was standing on the steps of Gunn Lodge when the truck drove up. Jupiter asked for Cluny’s mother. The red-headed boy led them round the house to an old stone-and-wood shed at the back. Inside, Mrs. Gunn was repotting a large hibiscus in a big redwood tub.
“Ma’am,” Jupiter said at once, “we all assumed that the load Angus had in his boat on the trip to the island was something he took there. But I read the passage again, and I’m convinced now that it was something he brought from the island! Can you think of anything here that could have come from there?”
Mrs. Gunn smiled. “My goodness, Jupiter, how could I know that? I wasn’t here, and I suppose he could have bought anything from that Cabrillo squire.”
Jupiter nodded as if he hadn’t really expected her to know.
“Try to think, ma’am,” he said. “Meanwhile, I’ve thought of a whole new interpretation of old Angus’s message. He says,
“Wow!” Pete exclaimed. “That would explain why the ghost town and the island didn’t tell us anything!”
Cluny said, “What’s the next step then, Jupe?”
“There are two more steps, Cluny,” Jupiter said, and took out the thin journal.” On November 21, 1872, Angus wrote,
Then, until the next step, there are his usual laconic entries about ‘work progressing’ — plus two strange comments.”
Jupiter looked up. “November 23 —
”
“That’s when he knew he was being watched,” Bob said.
Jupiter nodded. “I can see him, fellows — alone out here, waiting for his wife and son. Unable to run, and maybe tired of running anyway. He had a premonition, perhaps, that he wasn’t going to escape, so he decided to hide the treasure. There wasn’t much time, so he used what he was building for Laura as a message to her.”
“You said one more step to go?” Cluny reminded him.
Jupiter said, “On December 5 he wrote.
I wonder if Angus was thinking, when he wrote that, of the wreck and the treasure.”
Jupiter closed the thin journal. “I looked up the Ortega brothers last night. They were well-known owners of a brick and stone yard in Rocky Beach, so Angus must have bought a load of bricks or stones for what he was building. There’s still an Ortega Building Supplies Company, perhaps they have records!”
“Then we’ll go there!” Cluny cried.
“We will,” Jupiter agreed, “but we’ll split up and go to Santa Barbara, too. We know that Stebbins photographed the journal, so we’ve got to hurry now! Bob and Pete will go to the Ortega Company in Rocky Beach. Cluny and I will drive up to Santa Barbara with Hans. If we can discover what Angus bought up there, Cluny might recognise it.”
“Is Uncle Titus going to let Hans drive you, First?” Bob asked.
“He will — as a favour to Mrs. Gunn.” Jupiter grinned. He turned to Cluny’s mother. “If you could sell us some old stuff from your house, Mrs. Gunn, and ask Hans to drive Cluny up to Santa Barbara as a favour.”
Mrs. Gunn laughed. “You have a devious mind, young man. But I’ll do it; I have a few things your uncle might like. On one condition — you boys will carry this hibiscus out to the front for me! I was going to call Rory from the house, but since you’re here you can help.”
“We accept!” Jupiter said eagerly. “Come on, fellows.”
The big redwood tub was very heavy, so they set it on two long two-by-fours that they found in the old stone shed. Each boy took an end of a two-by-four. Struggling, they carried the hibiscus round to the front of the house. As they set it down in place on the steps, they heard a car coming fast, and Professor Shay’s station wagon drove up.
“I had to come and warn you, boys,” Professor Shay said as he walked up quickly. “I reported young Stebbins to Chief Reynolds, and he checked the rascal’s record. He was released on parole six months ago, and if he did break into your headquarters, that is a parole violation! Stebbins knows that, boys, so he could be quite dangerous. Capture would mean return to prison!”
“Six months ago?” Pete said. “That’s when the break-ins started here, Jupe!”
“Yes, Second, it is,” Jupiter agreed grimly. “I think —” He stopped, his eyes suddenly alert. He sniffed at the air. “Fellows — Do you smell something? I —”
Pete sniffed. “Smoke! Something’s burning!”
“It’s from behind the house!” Cluny cried. They ran to the corner of the house. After a moment they saw it — smoke billowing from the old stone shed.
“The shed’s on fire, boys!” Mrs. Gunn exclaimed. All at once Jupiter began to feel the pockets of his jacket and to pat at his trousers. He looked at his hands as if surprised that he wasn’t holding something. Panic filled his eyes.
“The journal!” The First Investigator said in despair. “I put it down when we carried the tub! It must be in the shed!”
“It’s all in the loose timber pile!” Cluny cried.
Outside, Jupiter, Mrs. Gunn, and Professor Shay listened to the sounds of the fire extinguisher and of jackets beating at the flames inside. Moments later the smoke thinned, and then all but stopped. Pete came out triumphant. He held the thin journal.
“Barely singed, Jupe!” the Second Investigator crowed. “Lucky, too, because it was very near the fire.”
Jupiter took the journal and flipped through the pages to be sure they were all right.
Suddenly they became aware of someone running towards them. It was Rory! He was shouting and pointing off behind the stone shed.
“O’er tha’ way! The rear o’ the shed! I saw him, ye fools! Watching he was, no’ a minute ago!”
“We can stop him!” Professor Shay cried. They all ran past the shed towards the thick brush and trees at the end of the valley. Rory was in the lead.
“There! In wi’ the trees!” Rory shouted. “Making for the high road he is!”
Spread out, they all plunged in among the trees, crashing through the heavy brush. Professor Shay was over to the right in an attempt to head off the escaping arsonist. Rory was somewhere up ahead. Jupiter and Bob, bringing up the rear, stopped a moment to scan the dense undergrowth under the grey-green live-oaks.
There was a sudden silence, as if everyone had stopped the chase to listen. Up ahead a voice muttered that the scoundrel was hiding. Jupiter and Bob began to move cautiously on again. They went some fifty yards in the shadowed brush and trees. Something snapped in the brush! “Bob!” Jupiter whispered, peering around. The cry came right by Jupiter. A figure leaped out of the brush, and Jupiter went down in a tangle of arms and legs and loud yells.
“I’ve got him! Fellows! I’ve got him!” Pete called.
“Help!” Jupiter echoed.
“Pete!” Bob groaned. “It’s us! You’ve got Jupe.”
Jupiter blinked up at Pete on top of him. “What?”
“Ulp,” Pete said. “I thought… I mean heard… ”
“Get off me!” Jupiter said, struggling to get up. He brushed at his clothes. “Try to look before you jump, Second.”
Pete grinned. “Well, you thought I was a criminal too, didn’t you?”
“Boy, did you two look funny!” Bob said.
All three Investigators were laughing when Professor Shay, Rory, and Cluny came slowly back and found them. The professor’s eyes jumped with anger behind his rimless glasses. His round pink face was almost comic with frustrated fury. Rory glowered.
“Got clean away, blast him,” the Scotsman said. “I saw him clear, though. That Java Jim it was, from the way you’ve told about him.”
“Stebbins, you mean, McNab,” Professor Shay disagreed. “I saw —”
“Ye’re daft, man!” Rory snapped. “I saw the beard ‘n all the sailor garb the boys described!”
“Moustache, you mean,” Professor Shay insisted. “That black hair must have —”
“Don’t ye think I’d know that Stebbins having seen him?”
“But —!” Professor Shay began, and then seemed to think. “Well, I could be mistaken, I suppose. You saw better than my glimpse.”
“That indeed I did,” Rory said. “I ha’ nae doubts.”
“Then,” Jupiter said urgently, “there’s no time to lose! If Java Jim tried to destroy the journal, it only mean one thing — he thinks he knows all he needs to find the treasure! We’ll have to move fast now. Come on, men!”
Jupiter led the way back through the dense brush to the massive old house. Mrs. Gunn stood waiting anxiously. Hans was with her, having left the truck to investigate all the excitement. “The vandal escaped,” Rory growled. “If I’d come from the house a minute sooner, I’d ha’ collared him.”
“You were in the house, Mr. McNab?” Jupiter asked.
“That I was, boy. Smelled the smoke.”
“Arson should be reported,” Professor Shay said. I only came to warn you about young Stebbins being a parole violator, and now I must get back. But I’ll stop at the police station and report Java Jim and this latest outrage.”
“Ay, ye better,” Rory agreed. The surly Scotsman’s voice was grudgingly friendly. “It’s an apology I may be owing ye, boys. I’m not saying there is any treasure, but I know now that others besides ye yersel’s think there is.” Rory shook his head. “Dangerous men, I’m thinking. For the police to handle. It’s no’ a job for boys.”
Professor Shay nodded. “I’m afraid I must agree, boys.”
“Perhaps?” Mrs. Gunn began doubtfully. “We’re not in any danger, ma’am,” Jupiter said quickly. “It’s obvious that Java Jim thinks he has all he needs. He didn’t try to attack us. And at the island, Stebbins ran away. It’s the treasure they want, and our best course is to find it first! Bob and Pete are careful, and Cluny and I will have Hans with us.”
“I’m still no’ liking it,” Rory insisted.
“I’m sure the boys will be responsible,” Mrs. Gunn said quietly. “They’re old enough now.”
“Thanks, Mum!” Cluny beamed.
Professor Shay smiled. “I have faith in their judgment too, Mrs. Gunn. Now I must attend to my duties. But keep me informed, eh, boys?”
The little professor returned to his station wagon and drove off. Rory reluctantly helped Hans load the truck with the items Mrs. Gunn was letting Uncle Titus have. Then he walked towards Mrs. Gunn’s old Ford.
“Ye all may ha’ time to waste, but not I,” Rory said grumpily. “That fire burned the small generator in the shed. I’ll ha’ to go to ha’ it repaired.”
Rory drove the Ford back to the burned shed, and Bob and Pete got their bikes from the truck to ride to Rocky Beach.
“Look sharply,” Jupiter admonished them before they rode away. “These are the last two steps of old Angus’s course!”
Then Jupiter and Cluny climbed into the truck, and Hans started north for Santa Barbara.
“Faster, Hans,” he urged. “We must get there first!”
“We get there in good time, Jupe,” Hans said placidly. “Hurry too much, maybe we don’t get there at all.”
Jupiter sat back chewing on his lip. Cluny, who had been looking at old Angus’s second journal, looked up in confusion.
“Jupiter, I just noticed this entry for Santa Barbara doesn’t say where Angus went! Where do we go when we get there?”
Hans grunted. “Santa Barbara is big town.”
“Big enough to have well-kept records,” Jupiter said a little smugly. “We’re going to find where Angus went by using the one important fact he did give us.”
“What’s that Jupe?” Cluny asked.
“That he bought something at a shop that had recently been gutted by fire!” Jupiter said triumphantly. “In 1872 Santa Barbara was small enough for the newspaper to write about any local fire!”
They reached the lush outskirts of Santa Barbara in mid-afternoon and found the imitation-Moorish building of the Santa Barbara Sun-Press on De La Guerre Plaza. The receptionist sent them to a Mr. Pidgeon on the second floor. The editor was a thin, smiling man.
“In 1872?” Mr. Pidgeon said. “No, we weren’t in existence then. There was a local paper, though, and you’re right, young man, a fire would have been reported.”