Ted led them directly to a low, brick barn behind the house. Inside, they found a great jumble of furniture, bric-a-brac, household items of the past, and some things they could not even name. There was so much dust on everything that it seemed as if nothing had been touched for at least fifty years.
"Aunt Sarah seems to have been something of a hermit, chaps," Ted observed. "I"m sure she has no idea what"s here."
Jupiter, who loved old junk as much as his Uncle t.i.tus, looked at the mounds of forgotten relics in awe. "It"s a bonanza! Look at that spinning wheel! And that old lap writing desk for travellers."
For an hour the boys picked happily over the great, dusty piles, completely forgetting the amulet, the Chumash h.o.a.rd, and the weird laughing shadow. Then, at last, Jupiter gave up and stood back looking at the piles.
"Uncle t.i.tus is going to want just about all of it, and we haven"t even made a dent."
"Why not come up to the house, then," Ted suggested. "We"ll have some lemonade and biscuits, and you can talk to Aunt Sarah."
Bob and Pete, remembering their real reason for wanting to come to the Sandow Estate, nodded quickly and looked at Jupiter. This was just what they wanted, but no one would have guessed it from seeing Jupiter"s impa.s.sive face.
"That sounds fine, Ted," the First Investigator agreed. "Konrad can start making a partial list of what"s here."
"I"ll send a beer out for him," Ted said.
"A beer is good." The Bavarian grinned.
Inside the big, house, the boys were taken into a cool, informal room with dark, antique Spanish furniture. Ted went to ask the maid to bring the lemonade. When he came back, he was with a bird-like woman whose hands fluttered up to her neat white hair. Her pale eyes lit up with pleasure.
"I"m Sarah Sandow. I"m so glad to see that Theodore has found friends. He tells me you"re from the salvage yard. I want to dispose of everything. I"ve been letting things acc.u.mulate for far too long."
"Yes, ma"am," Jupiter said, as Bob and Pete nodded.
"Now that Theodore is here I"m beginning to take an interest in things again. The estate is in dreadful disrepair."
The maid brought in the lemonade and biscuits, and Miss Sandow served them herself. She seemed happy to have the boys in the house.
"After last night," she explained, as the boys began to eat, "Ted convinced me that it wasn"t safe to have all those things lying out in the barn."
The boys tensed, and Jupiter said, "Last night, ma"am?"
"A gold statuette was stolen. From under our noses," Miss Sandow said indignantly.
"It was one of two which my poor brother Mark left behind when he had to run away.
They were all I had of Mark"s."
"It was really my fault, chaps," Ted explained. "You see, my dad had mentioned that my grandfather had told him about two little gold statues. I found them lying forgotten at the bottom of a drawer and was examining them in the library. I left the library, and when I came back one of them was gone?"
"You don"t know who took it?" Jupiter asked.
"We know it was some boy. Mr. Harris saw him."
"That I did, boys," said a deep voice from the direction of the door.
The boys turned and saw a healthy-looking man in a bright sports jacket and Bermuda shorts that displayed his long, k.n.o.bbly legs. His grey eyes had a twinkle in them. His hair was sandy-coloured, and a small scar on his ruddy face give him a perpetual smile.
Ted introduced them, explaining that Mr. Harris was a friend of his Aunt Sarah"s.
"Interested in our robbery, are you, boys?" asked Mr. Harris with a smile.
[image]
He spoke with an English accent that was somehow different from Ted"s. It sounded to Jupiter like a slightly c.o.c.kney accent.
"Saw a boy running from the house and chased him to the gates. When I got there, though, I couldn"t find him. He must have had friends. So I suppose we"ve seen the last of that statuette."
"Perhaps we could help, sir," Jupiter said quietly. "We have had some success in recovering lost and stolen articles."
"And solving mysteries, too," Pete declared.
Mr. Harris laughed. "You sound like detectives."
"Yes, sir," Jupiter said. "We are, in a small way. This is our card."
Jupiter handed Mr. Harris one of their large business cards which read: THE THREE INVESTIGATORS THE THREE INVESTIGATORS "We Investigate Anything"
First InvestigatorJupiter Jones Second InvestigatorPeter Crenshaw Records and ResearchBob Andrews Mr. Harris laughed. "Well, now, perhaps you could get Miss Sandow"s statuette back. Detectives, by jove, and you have solved mysteries?"
"We sure have!" Pete exclaimed. "Chief Reynolds of the Rocky Beach police even made us deputies."
"Did he indeed?" Mr. Harris grinned, looking at the card in his hand.
From his chair across the room, Ted asked, "What are the question marks for, fellows? You don"t question your abilities, do you?"
"The question marks are our symbol,"
Jupiter explained, looking towards Ted with a frown. "They stand for all the mysteries we attempt to solve. Sort of a trademark."
"That"s great,"
Ted said with enthusiasm. "Let the boys try, Aunt Sarah, and I"ll work with them!"
"But, Theodore,"
Miss Sandow objected. "There may be a gang of thieves.
Would it be safe for boys?"
"Miss Sandow is right," Mr. Harris said. "Robbery is not a matter for boys."
"We"re always careful, ma"am," Jupiter said, "and we would go to Chief Reynolds if we found anything serious. If it was a boy who took the statue, we might be in a good position to help. We"ve found that boys are often less afraid of other boys. All we would do is try to locate the statuette."
"There, Aunt Sarah," Ted declared. "You can see that the boys are responsible, and Chief Reynolds trusts them."
"Well," Miss Sandow said doubtfully. "I suppose it is rather a minor matter to take to the police directly."
Mr. Harris became serious. "The police do have too much to do to look for a trinket without any evidence as to where it is. Possibly three boys could try to find out what did happen to it and then inform the police. If they promised to be very careful."
"Oh, they will!" Ted cried. "I say, why not offer a reward, Aunt Sarah? The boys will deserve it if they find the statuette."
Miss Sandow smiled at Ted. "Well, as long as you all promise to do nothing at all dangerous. If you do find it, I will certainly be glad to give you a reward. Suppose we say fifty dollars."
"Then it"s settled," Ted said. "Smashing! Can you come for lunch tomorrow so we can plan our work?"
"I"m not sure the boys would enjoy our lunch," Mr. Harris said hastily. "Miss Sandow and I are vegetarians, boys. We eat only vegetables. I happen to be president of the Vegetarian League. Miss Sandow has given me great a.s.sistance getting our League started in Rocky Beach. You must attend a lecture. I"m giving one this afternoon as a matter of fact."
"We"d like to, sir," Jupiter said, "but now we"d better go back and help Konrad. My uncle will be anxious to know what Miss Sandow has to sell. We won"t be able to start looking for the statuette until later."
"I"ll help you," Ted said. "And don"t forget the reward. Aunt Sarah won"t even ask where you found the statue."
"No questions asked, eh, boys?" Mr. Harris laughed.
The boys excused themselves and went to rejoin Konrad.
Inside the barn, Jupiter looked around to see if they were alone, then drew Bob and Pete into the shadows.
"Did either of you notice it?" Jupiter demanded with a grim look on his face.
"Notice what, Jupe?" Pete asked.
"Ted asked about the question marks on our card."
"People always ask, Jupe," Bob said.
"But Ted hadn"t seen our card when he asked!"
Bob blinked. "You"re right! Harris had the card!"
"You mean he knew about us all the time?" Pete said.
Jupiter nodded. "He knew about our card, which means he was lying to us. He didn"t have to talk to us about selling the junk. If that was all he really came to the yard for, he could have talked just to Aunt Mathilda. Fellows, the junk was just an excuse to meet us us !" !"
Chapter 7.
Ghost-to-Ghost Hook-up "BUT HOW DID HE KNOW about our card?" Pete wondered.
"Skinny must have told him," Bob said.
"No," Jupiter said emphatically. "He knew about us before he went to Skinny, I"m sure of that. Skinny wouldn"t have told him about our card, he"s too jealous of us.
Anyway, if he"d learned about The Three Investigators from Skinny, he would have said so."
"And he didn"t!" Bob was beginning to understand. "He pretended he didn"t know we were investigators, before we told him."
"You mean," Pete said, "that he"d found out who we were but didn"t want us to know he knew?"
"But why?" Bob asked. "What reason could he have for not wanting us to know he"d seen our card? He came to us."
Jupiter pondered the question. "There could only be one reason, fellows. It must be that the way he found out reveals something that he doesn"t want us to know." Suddenly the First Investigator frowned. "Fellows, do you both have all your cards?"
Bob and Pete searched their pockets where they always carried a few of the cards.
Pete exclaimed: "One of mine is missing! I"m sure I had five."
"I bet you dropped one near the gate last night," Bob said. "You probably did it when you pulled out your handkerchief to wrap up the amulet."
"And Ted found it," Jupiter added. "That means he must have been there! But he didn"t want us to know!"
"Gosh," Pete said, "do you think he stole the amulet?"
"Perhaps, Pete," Jupiter said ominously.
"But, Jupe," Bob objected, "why would he want to hire us if he"s the one who stole it? I mean, Ted was the one who persuaded Miss Sandow to hire us. He pushed hard for us."
"Maybe too hard," Jupiter observed. "He almost forced his aunt to hire us. Look, fellows, he must suspect that we have the amulet. He wants it back. That reward was his idea, and he made a point of saying no questions will be asked about where we found it if we turn it over. He"s inviting us to return it for the reward."
"How would that help him?" Bob pointed out. "We"d give it to Miss Sandow. Why didn"t he come to us in private? He could have."
Jupiter looked annoyed. "I admit I"m baffled about that. But two things are sure now; first, Ted wants the amulet; and second, his getting it back is much more important than any value it has."
Pete groaned. "And we"ve lost it. There"s no way we can get it back."
"But maybe there is," Jupiter said. "I"ve been thinking about that ever since the man stole it. With his unusual appearance and clothes he"ll have a hard time hiding in Rocky Beach. He should be easy to spot. We"ll just use a Ghost-to-Ghost Hook-up!"
"Sure!" Pete looked enthusiastic again.
"He should be easy for kids to find," Bob said.
"Let"s help Konrad and get home fast," Jupiter suggested.
An hour later they had listed everything they thought Uncle t.i.tus might want, and were on their way home. They reported to Aunt Mathilda, who was so fascinated by the list of Miss Sandow"s junk that she never noticed the boys slip away to their headquarters. Once inside the hidden trailer, they went to work setting up the Ghost-toGhost Hook-up.
This was the name Jupiter had given to a method he had devised for locating someone by using all the kids in Rocky Beach, or the whole area if necessary. It was a brilliant scheme because it was so simple. The boys simply phoned all their friends and asked for the information they wanted. If their friends couldn"t answer, the friends then phoned their friends who were not known to the investigators. In this way, they could contact every kid in the area in almost no time.
The Three Investigators prepared their description of the man in white and his battered car, mentioning the fact that another man had been with him, and then phoned their friends. They left the telephone number of their headquarters and asked anyone who saw the men or the car to contact them at once. Within an hour nearly every boy and girl in Rocky Beach would be looking for the dark man.
"Now," Jupiter grinned, "we wait."