Then settlers began to come to California from the East, and slowly the land of the Delgados was given away, lost, or stolen. After the Mexican War, California became part of the United States, and more and more Americans arrived to settle the land, especially after the great Gold Rush of 1849. By 1880 almost all the great domain of the Delgados was gone, except a small area about the size of The Crooked-Y that included Moaning Valley.
The last of the Delgados, Gaspar Ortega Jesus de Delgado y Cabrillo, was a brave and fiery young man who grew up hating the American settlers. He thought as them as thieves who had stolen his family"s land. Young Gaspar had little money and no power, but he longed to avenge his family and regain his land. He decided to become the champion of all the old Spanish-Mexican families who had been in California for so long. Hiding out in the hills, he became an outlaw. To the Spanish people he was a new Robin Hood. To the Americans he was nothing more than a bandit.
The Americans named Gaspar Delgado El Diablo El Diablo - The Devil - after the mountain where he had his cave headquarters. But for two years they could not catch him. He stole tax money, scared away tax collectors, raided American government offices and stole their funds, and generally helped the Spanish-speaking Californians and terrorized the Americans. - The Devil - after the mountain where he had his cave headquarters. But for two years they could not catch him. He stole tax money, scared away tax collectors, raided American government offices and stole their funds, and generally helped the Spanish-speaking Californians and terrorized the Americans.
But in 1888 El Diablo was finally captured by the sheriff of Santa Carla County. In a famous trial, which the Spanish-speaking people said was a fake, he was sentenced to hang.
Then, two days before he was to be executed, some friends helped him in a daring daylight escape. El Diablo climbed over the roof of the courthouse, jumped several feet to another roof, and finally leaped on to the back of his waiting black horse.
Wounded in his escape, and closely pursued by the sheriff and his posse, El Diablo rode to his hide-out in the cave in Moaning Valley. The sheriff and his men blocked all known exits, but they did not go inside. They thought that El Diablo would have to come out when he became hungry, or when his wound became too painful to endure.
Though they stood watch for several days, there was no sign of El Diablo. But all the time they waited, they heard a strange moaning coming from somewhere inside the cave.
Naturally they a.s.sumed that the moans came from the wounded bandit. Finally the sheriff ordered his men inside. They searched every pa.s.sage and cavern for four days, but found nothing. They searched the whole countryside, too. But they never uncovered a trace of El Diablo - not him, or his body, or his clothes, or his pistol, or his horse, or his money.
Nothing.
El Diablo was never seen again. Some said that his faithful sweetheart, Dolores de Castillo, had gone into the cave through a secret entrance and helped him escape, and that they had fled far away to a new life in South America. Others said that friends spirited him out and then hid him in rancho rancho after after rancho rancho for many years. for many years.
But most people said that El Diablo never left the cave, that he simply remained hidden where the Americans could not find him, and that he was still there! For many years, every time there was an unsolved robbery or act of violence, it was said to have been El Diablo, still riding through the night on his great black horse. The moaning continued somewhere inside the cave, which became known as El Diablo"s Cave.
"Then," Professor Walsh concluded, "the moaning suddenly stopped. The Spanish-speaking people said that El Diablo had grown weary and given up his raids - but that he was still in the cave waiting for a time when he would be really needed!"
"Gosh," Pete exclaimed. "You mean some people think he"s still there in the cave?"
"How could he be?" Bob asked.
"Well, boys," the professor said, "I"ve done a great deal of research on El Diablo. For example, all his old pictures show him wearing his pistol on the right hip, but I am certain he was left-handed!"
Jupiter nodded thoughtfully. "The stories about such a legendary figure are often false."
"Exactly," Professor Walsh said. "Now the official story has always been that he died of his wound that night in the cave. But I have studied the record closely, and I am convinced that his wound could not have been fatal. Since he was only eighteen years old in 1888, it is entirely possible that El Diablo is still alive!"
The Investigation Begins
"DON"T be ridiculous, Walsh!" Mr. Dalton exploded. "Why, that would make him almost a hundred years old. A man that old isn"t likely to be running around the countryside!"
"I think you"d be surprised how spry a man of a hundred can be," Professor Walsh said quietly. "There are reports of men in the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia who still ride and fight when they are a hundred or more. Anyway, our phantom isn"t doing much more than moan from a cave."
"That"s true, sir," Jupiter said.
"Also," Professor Walsh pointed out, "it is entirely possible that El Diablo might have descendants. Perhaps a son or even a grandson is carrying on his career."
Mr. Dalton began to look a little less sceptical. "That sounds more likely. The people who had the ranch before us never used Moaning Valley, but we are planning to build a range corral out there. Perhaps some descendant doesn"t want El Diablo"s legend interfered with."
"Jess, that could be the answer!" Mrs. Dalton cried. "Don"t you remember? Some of our older Mexican ranch hands were against our plan to use Moaning Valley even before the moaning began."
"And they were among the first to leave us," Mr. Dalton exclaimed. "Tomorrow I"m going to talk to the sheriff and see if he knows of any descendants of El Diablo."
"Perhaps you"d all like to see a picture of El Diablo," Professor Walsh said. He took a small picture from his pocket and pa.s.sed it around. It showed a slim young man with burning, dark eyes and a proud face. The picture, which was obviously a photograph of a painting, seemed to prove that El Diablo had been little more than a boy. He wore a wide-brimmed, high-crowned black vaquero vaquero sombrero, a short black jacket, a black shirt with a high neck, and tight black trousers that flared at the bottom above shiny black pointed boots. sombrero, a short black jacket, a black shirt with a high neck, and tight black trousers that flared at the bottom above shiny black pointed boots.
"Did he always wear black?" Bob asked.
"Always," Walsh replied. "He said that he was in mourning for his people and his country."
"He was a bandit and nothing more, and tomorrow I"ll talk to the sheriff to see if any fools are trying to continue his legend," Mr. Dalton said firmly. Then the lean rancher smiled. "And interesting as I admit El Diablo is, a ranch doesn"t run itself. I have work to do tonight, and you boys must be tired from your trip. I expect I"ll be working you hard tomorrow. Pete"s Dad said you wanted to learn all about how a ranch operates, and the only way to learn is to do the work."
"We"re really not at all tired, Mr. Dalton," Jupiter said briskly. "Are we, fellows?"
"Not at all," Bob agreed.
"Gosh, no," Pete echoed.
"It"s still early and a clear night," Jupe went on, "and we"d like to look around the ranch as much as we can. The beach is especially interesting at night. There"s some remarkable flora and fauna up here along the sea-sh.o.r.e that only appears at night."
Mr. and Mrs. Dalton looked impressed. Jupiter"s correct use of so many big words always made adults think that he must be older than he actually was. Bob and Pete, however, were aware that Jupe had more on his mind than a walk along the beach. They tried to look as wideawake as possible.
"Well ..." Mrs. Dalton began dubiously.
"Why not, boys?" Mr. Dalton decided. "It"s early, and I expect the first night on a ranch is too exciting to be wasted in sleep." He turned to his wife. "Do them good, Martha.
Better to look around the beach tonight, because I"ll be keeping them pretty busy starting tomorrow."
"All right then," Mrs. Dalton smiled. "Off with you, but no later than ten o"clock. We get up early here."
The three boys did not wait for further talk. They carried their cookie plates and milk gla.s.ses to the kitchen and went out the back door.
As soon as they were out of the house, Jupiter started to give instructions. "Pete, you go to the barn and get that long coil of rope I saw hanging there. Bob, you go up to your room and get our chalk and our flashlights. I"ll get our bikes ready."
"Are we going to the cave, Jupe?" Bob asked.
"Right. That is the only place to solve the mystery of Moaning Valley."
"The cave?" Pete gulped. "Now? Couldn"t we see more in the day-time?"
"The moaning only happens at night," Jupiter pointed out, "and when you"re inside a cave day-time doesn"t make any difference. Besides, the cave doesn"t moan every night. We know that it"s been moaning tonight, and if we don"t go now we might have to wait for days."
By this time the other two were convinced. They moved swiftly into operation, and shortly afterwards the three boys met at the ranch gate.
Pete tied the long coil of rope to his luggage carrier, and they bicycled away along the narrow dirt road. The night was warm and the moon was up now, shining down on the silvery road that lay ahead.
Although the Crooked-Y Ranch stretched for miles along the sh.o.r.e of the Pacific Ocean, the sea itself was hidden by the coastal mountains. In the moonlight the rocky mountains were tall and silent, and the green live-oak trees looked like pale white ghosts. As they rode, the boys could hear the herds of cattle moving restlessly in the fields, the horses snorting and whinnying close to the road.
Then suddenly, without warning, the eerie moan floated out across the valley.
"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh-oooooooooooooooooo-oooooooo-oo! " "
Even though they had expected it, Pete and Bob both jumped nervously.
"Good," whispered Jupiter. "The moaning hasn"t stopped."
They quietly parked their bikes and from the high ridge looked across the moonlit valley at the dark opening of El Diablo"s Cave.
"Gosh, Jupe," Bob said. "I keep thinking I see things moving."
"And I hear noises," Pete added.
"Yes," Jupiter said firmly. "But that is your imagination. In eerie surroundings like these, the simplest sound seems frightening. Now are we all ready? Bob, check the flashlights again."
Bob tested the flashlights and Pete looped the rope over his shoulder. Each boy took his piece of chalk in his hand.
"Caves can be dangerous unless you take the proper precautions," Jupiter explained.
"The main dangers are falling into chasms and becoming lost. We have the rope in case any of us fall, and by marking our trail with chalk no one will become lost. We will stay together at all times."
"Shall we mark our trail with question marks?"
"Right," Jupiter said. "And we will also use arrows to indicate the direction we have taken." The question marks in chalk were one of his most inspired inventions. The boys used them to leave a trail. The marks instantly made it clear that one of the investigators had been in a place. Since Jupiter"s chalk was white, Pete"s blue, and Bob"s green, it was even possible to tell exactly which one had made the marks.
"Well," Pete said. "Are we ready?"
"I believe we are," Jupiter said, satisfied at last.
The boys took a deep breath, and then began to walk down the slope of the ridge into the valley.
Once more the moan wailed out in the night "Aaaaaahhhhhhh-ooooooooooo-oooooo- oo! " "
A swift current of cold air came to meet them as they neared the dark opening of the cave. Jupiter, in the lead, had already switched on his flashlight when suddenly he heard a rumbling sound.
"What"s that?" Bob cried.
The sound grew louder. Because of the strange echoing effect in the bowl-shaped valley, it seemed to come from all around them.
"Look up there!" Pete shouted, pointing.
A giant boulder was tumbling down the steep face of Devil Mountain in a shower of smaller stones.
"Jump!" Pete cried.
Bob hurled himself sideways out of the path of the hurtling boulder.
But Jupiter stood frozen, staring at the great rock as it fell straight towards him.
Chapter 5.
El Diablo"s Cave
PETE threw himself at Jupiter, knocking the First Investigator away from the mouth of the cave. The boulder struck the ground with shattering force directly where Jupiter had been standing.
Bob scrambled to his feet. "Are you all right?" he asked anxiously.
Pete stood up. "I think so. Are you, Jupe?"
Jupiter got up more slowly and brushed at his clothes. His eyes had that faraway look that they always got when he was thinking.
"I was unable to move. A most interesting mental reaction," he mused. "It"s similar to the way a small animal becomes paralysed when a snake looks at it. The animal literally can"t move, and is easily caught when it could have escaped."
Bob and Pete both stared at their friend as he coolly a.n.a.lysed such a narrow escape from injury. Jupiter gazed up at the side of Devil Mountain in the moonlight.
"There seem to be many loose boulders up there," Jupe observed, "and the mountain-side is very dry. I imagine it"s quite common for rocks to fall here. The naval gunnery probably loosened them in many places."
The three boys approached the big rock. It was buried deep in the ground only a few yards from the entrance to El Diablo"s cave.
"Look, there are marks on it!" Bob was pointing at the boulder. "Gosh, Jupe, do you think someone pushed it down on us?"
"There are are some marks," Jupiter said after he had examined the rock more carefully. some marks," Jupiter said after he had examined the rock more carefully.
"Of course that is not so surprising."
"It hit against a lot of other rocks on its way down," Pete pointed out.
"We didn"t see anyone up there," Bob said.
Jupiter nodded. "Still, someone up there might not want to be seen."
"Gee, maybe we better go back," Pete said.
"No, but we"ll be even more careful," Jupiter said. "At least rocks can"t fall down a mountain at us when we"re inside the cave."
With Jupiter in the lead, the boys entered the cave. They turned on their flashlights, and Bob marked the first question mark and arrow at the entrance.