"Jupe?" Pete said. "Isn"t that the ca.s.sette Captain Joy and Jeremy recorded on?"
Both Jupiter and Bob stared at the Second Investigator, then quickly looked back at the major. He was still rewinding the ca.s.sette.
"It has to be!" Bob exclaimed. "That Carl left the ca.s.sette on the recorder, I remember! No one was in the room after Captain Joy left until the major and Hubert came back, and they didn"t go near the recorder until just now!" He blinked at his companions. "The major"s erasing Captain Joy too!"
"Which means," Jupiter said, "that they don"t even want the story of the Purple Pirate."
"But they let Captain Joy talk for over half an hour," Pete said.
"And sent away everyone else," Bob said.
"So whatever they do want," Jupiter said, "has something to do with Captain Joy and Jeremy."
"But what do they want?" Bob exclaimed.
"What"s going on anyway?" Pete wondered.
"That," Jupiter said grimly, "is what we have to find out. My stomach tells me lunchtime is approaching. Let"s return to the salvage yard for something to eat. This afternoon we"ll watch Major Karnes and his friends, and we"ll talk to Captain Joy."
Jupiter grinned at his fellow detectives. "The Three Investigators have a new case!"
Chapter 4.
The Purple Pirate Lair BUT THE THREE INVESTIGATORS were in for a surprise. To their dismay, Uncle t.i.tus insisted that Jupiter go with him on an overnight buying trip all the way to San Luis Obispo. Bob had to work unexpectedly long hours at the library when a staff member called in sick. And after catching up on his neighbour"s yard work, Pete found himself a.s.signed to a long-postponed garage cleanup at home. Thus, it was a full two days later when the frustrated boys gathered in their hidden trailer headquarters just after 11:00 a.m. to begin their investigation into the strange doings of Major Karnes.
"I went by that empty store last night," Jupiter reported, "and Captain Joy and Jeremy were there, recording their stories."
It was quickly decided that Pete and Jupiter would bike out to Pirates Cove and Bob would carry the First Investigator"s latest ingenious tool.
"It"s an invisible trailing device," the stout leader explained. "We can follow someone even if he"s out of sight!"
Pete examined the small unit dubiously. About the size of a pocket radio, it was a metal container filled with a thick liquid. A tube at the bottom narrowed to a hollow point like an eyedropper. There was a small valve in the tube and a magnet on the side of the container.
"What does it do, First?" Bob asked.
"It leaves a trail invisible to anyone except us. The magnet attaches it to any metal vehicle. The liquid in the container is invisible until you shine an ultraviolet light on it.
There"s a special valve in the tip that releases a single drop at regular intervals, leaving a trail that can be easily followed by someone with an ultraviolet torch."
"And we," Bob guessed, "now have an ultraviolet torch?"
"Of course," Jupiter said, grinning. He handed Bob a small torch with an odd-looking bulb.
"Uh, guys? What is ultraviolet light?" Pete said, looking sheepish. "I must have missed that cla.s.s or something."
"It"s light with a wavelength shorter than the light we can see, Pete," Bob explained. "People sometimes call it black light because it makes special materials glow iridescent in the dark. If you shine it on the special material in a dark room, you can see the material glow but you can"t see the light beam itself."
"I remember now. The other light we can"t see is infra-red, right?" Pete said.
"Does your gimmick work in daylight, Jupe?"
"Yes, but the trail doesn"t glow as much, which is probably better," the First Investigator said. "Bob can attach the container to the major"s car and follow the trail on his bike. The liquid will keep dripping at regular intervals for approximately two hours."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Bob said.
Bob packed the trailing device and torch in a small backpack, and then the three boys crawled out through Tunnel Two and got their bicycles. Bob rode off into town while Pete and Jupiter headed north towards the city limits and the ocean. Jupiter thought aloud as he and Pete hiked.
"I doubt it is a coincidence, Second, that Major Karnes asked only those outside the city limits to tape their stories."
"Another setup to fit the Joys, right?"
"It seems most likely," Jupiter agreed.
Pirates Cove was a shallow indentation in the coastline several miles north of Rocky Beach. There was a small village of a few houses and shops, some fishing boats, and an air taxi service along the upper part of the cove. The tourist attraction was on the lower part. As the boys biked up the road along the cove, a crude sign announced: THE PURPLE PIRATE LAIR An Exciting Adventure for the Whole Family!
They found the tourist attraction just past an abalone factory. The Lair was on a small peninsula in the cove, with a ramshackle wooden fence enclosing it on the land side. Outside the fence were two parking lots. Across the road to the boys" right, was a thick grove of trees with a fence beyond.
Only a few cars were in the dusty parking lots this early in the day. Several couples sipped soda and waited near the ticket booth outside the gates while their unruly young children kicked each other and screamed. A wooden sign over the booth said "BLACK VULTURE" SAILS AT 12, 1, 2, 3, 4 DAILY. Inside the booth was a stocky man with a weathered face. It was difficult to tell his age, since his skin looked wrinkled beyond its years by constant exposure to the wind. He wore a striped sailor"s shirt, a black eye patch, and a red bandanna around his head, and was announcing the thrills of the ride.
"Shiver me timbers, ye landlubbers, everyone"s a pirate for a day at the Purple Pirate Lair! Sail across Pirates Cove under the skull and crossbones on the sinister square-rigger the Black Vulture if you dare! Battle among the islands! Smell the gunpowder and see the pirates attack! Only a few tickets left! The Black Vulture sails in twenty minutes! Don"t be left behind!"
The families peered around at each other as if wondering who had bought all the tickets, and then straggled into line at the booth. Pete and Jupiter joined them. When Jupiter reached the ticket window, he spoke firmly to the husky ticket seller, his voice low and very serious.
"We must speak at once with Captain Joy, my good man. An urgent matter."
The ticket man"s one visible eye glared at Jupiter.
"Cap"n don"t talk to no one durin" a show!"
"But," Jupiter protested, "the show hasn"t-"
"Cap"n"s aboard! Anna!"
And with that the bl.u.s.tery sailor disappeared out the back of the booth, and a teenage girl came running in to take his place. She had olive-coloured skin and straight black braided hair.
"How many, please?" she asked the boys in a heavy Spanish accent.
"We need to locate Captain Joy at once, miss," said Jupiter.
"No understand. Two tickets, please?" the girl asked uncertainly.
"Swell work, Jupe," Pete said. "What do we do now?"
"I suggest we purchase our tickets and go on the ride. We might get to speak to Captain Joy, and we may learn something about our mystery."
After buying their tickets, Jupe and Pete moved through the wide double-wire gates into a broad central promenade between two long, low frame buildings. The promenade led up to a dock where the Black Vulture was tied, with its gang- plank down ready to board.
The ship was a full-sized replica of a two-masted square-rigger, painted all black and flying the black-and-white skull and crossbones Jolly Roger flag from its mainmast.
The two low buildings on either side had obviously once been stables or early garages. The building on the left had been divided into three separate stalls, one serving cold drinks and ice cream, the centre one selling souvenirs, and the last offering coffee and hot dogs. The building on the right was open along the front and displayed nautical and piratical exhibits - it was a museum. Both buildings flew the skull and crossbones, and another Jolly Roger flapped over the gates.
Everything was small, in need of paint, shabby, and rundown.
To the right of the promenade, behind the museum, the boys could make out rows of live oak trees with a boathouse and a stone tower beyond. Just off sh.o.r.e began a chain of four small islands in the cove, none large enough to be habitable. Beyond the islands the boys could see a small seaplane taking off from the air taxi service on the far side of the cove.
"The Purple Pirate Lair certainly isn"t very impressive," Jupiter observed.
"Bob told us Captain Joy wasn"t too successful," Pete said. "Maybe that"s got something to do with what Karnes is up to."
"That is quite possible, Second," Jupiter agreed.
They walked along the broad promenade, glancing at the museum on the right. It held dusty swords and rusty guns, statues of pirates and sea captains crudely moulded out of yellowing wax, and shabby costumes that looked more like Halloween decorations than museum displays. As the boys neared the dock of the Black Vulture, they saw a small figure in a loose shirt and baggy buccaneer pants, "Hey," Pete exclaimed, "it"s Jeremy Joy!"
The boy didn"t seem to notice Pete, but hurried away up the gangplank of the Black Vulture, moored broadside to the pier. Captain Joy himself was pacing the quarterdeck at the back of the ship. The slender owner of the Purple Pirate Lair wore a long black coat, high boots, a wide leather belt, and a cutla.s.s. A tricorn hat like his son"s, with a red feather sticking up, was on his head. He also had what looked like a steel hook instead of his left hand! He roared down at the tourists coming aboard.
"Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum! Get aboard, me hearties, and be quick about it!
There"s a rich galleon pa.s.sing, and the tide"s right. We"ll weigh anchor and sail to pluck that fat prize!"
Jupe and Pete obediently boarded the vessel with the tourists. Suddenly the voices of pirates singing sea songs and emitting bloodcurdling yells boomed out of loudspeakers set in the rigging above the deck, and cardboard figures of pirates with eye patches, and knives in their teeth sprang up around the deck. A single sail flapped out on the foremast, and the Black Vulture began to move away from the dock. It was obviously motorized.
"Gosh," Pete said. "It sure isn"t very real with that canned singing and the motor."
The small knot of tourists on the deck looked around somewhat glumly at the cardboard pirates and single flapping sail.
Suddenly the violent sound of wind and surging waves poured from the loudspeakers. With the fake weather sounds, the fierce recorded pirate yells, and the canned singing, the Black Vulture put-put-putted put-put-putted out into Pirates Cove. out into Pirates Cove.
"Why would Karnes and his gang be curious about this dumb ride?" asked Pete.
"I don"t know, Second," said Jupe. "Keep your eyes open!"
Chapter 5.
Bob Makes a Discovery WHEN BOB ARRIVED at the walled courtyard on De La Vina Street, he found the high wooden gates locked. So he went around the block and climbed over the back wall again. He cautiously crept through the bushes and weeds and peered in at the same rear store window he had watched two days earlier. No one was inside, and he settled down in the bushes to wait.
Fifteen minutes later he heard the heavy wooden gates creak open. A vehicle drove into the courtyard. Soon Major Karnes strode into the back room of the empty store, carrying a paper bag. The small man seemed to be alone. Bob watched him sit down at the desk, take a container of coffee out of the bag, and drink it. When Karnes had finished, he took a folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket and spread it out on the table.
He bent over the sheet with a small ruler and made some measurements.
The results seemed to please him.
He wrote something in a small notebook. Then he stood and listened, and Bob heard a second vehicle drive into the courtyard.
Karnes went towards the door into the front of the shop. Bob crept through the bushes along the side wall to the front and saw yet another vehicle-a large truck-moving in through the gates.
From the cover of the bushes along the side wall, Bob studied the three vehicles now in the courtyard. There was the truck that Carl had gone off in two days before.
There was a white ice cream van. And there was a large lorry with a cherrypicker or platform at the back that could be raised and lowered; the name ALLEN"S TREE SERVICE was on the side. Major Karnes was talking in an undertone to two drivers-an ice cream vendor in a white uniform and a tree-care man in work clothes, with tools hanging from his heavy leather belt. Both of the newcomers had their backs to Bob, but there was something familiar about them. Bob was wracking his brain, trying to think where he had seen the two drivers before, when they climbed back into their trucks and drove out of the courtyard, leaving the wooden gates open.
Major Karnes went back into the empty store. Bob left his hiding place in the bushes and crept up to the front of the shop. He heard the major"s raised voice through the open front door.
"Yes, all right, you dolt! I"ll give you ten minutes."
Bob heard the telephone slam down. Quickly he took Jupiter"s trailing device from his backpack and hurried to the truck still parked in the courtyard. He reached under the van and stuck the magnet on the inside of the steel frame, the dropper of the container pointing down. Then he jumped back into the bushes and waited again. He didn"t have long to wait this time.
The little major came hurrying out of the empty store, got into the van, and drove through the gates. Outside he stopped, got out, and locked the gates. Then Bob heard the van drive away. He raced to the back wall, scaled it, and found his bike where he"d locked it to a telephone pole.
Pedalling hard, he rode back to the wooden gates, then switched on the small ultra violet torch.
The trail of luminous purple dots was clear and led off to the right! Bob grinned and started out in pursuit.
The purple dot trail turned towards the ocean and then towards the freeway. Bob became worried. If Karnes went on to the freeway, there was no way Bob could follow him on a bicycle. That was a mistake in Jupiter"s thinking about the new device. Or was it? Bob could hear the stout First Investigator saying that, obviously, if someone they were trailing took the freeway, they were probably going too far to be followed on a bicycle anyway! And as Bob grinned to himself at Jupiter"s imagined explanation, he saw with relief that the dots turned away from the freeway and directly into a large shopping centre.
Bob rode slowly among the hordes of parked cars in the shopping centre lot, looking for the van. Feeling a little foolish to be shining a torch on the ground in broad daylight. Bob was relieved to see that most of the shoppers were inside the stores. But he couldn"t spot the van anywhere. He continued to follow the trail of dots until they vanished around the comer of a hardware store. Dismounting, Bob peered warily around the corner. The van was parked at the side door of the store, its rear doors wide open. As Bob watched, Karnes came out of the hardware store followed by the enormous Hubert. Hubert was carrying what looked like an armful of old potato sacks.
Hubert stacked the sacks inside the van, and then the two men returned to the store. Bob was aching to look inside the van, but it was too risky to try it when the major and Hubert might reappear any minute. And they did! This time Hubert trotted after his jaunty little boss with an armload of what looked like large torch batteries. He put those inside the van, too, and closed the doors.
"Step on it, you moron," snapped Karnes. "I need something to eat."
Both men climbed into the cab of the van and drove away. Frustrated, Bob waited till the van was out of sight so the major would not see him and recognize him. Then he followed the trail of ultraviolet paint once more. He was pedalling rapidly when he rounded another corner of the parking lot and almost ran straight into the rear of the van! Gulping, he looked quickly around for the major and Hubert. The van was parked in front of a fast-food restaurant, and Bob saw the two men inside ordering at the counter. Now was his chance!
He opened the rear doors of the van and stared inside. He saw the piles of old potato sacks. He saw the torch batteries. And he saw a pile of shovels and pickaxes, crusted with dirt-fresh dirt from recent digging!
Chapter 6.
A Pirate Attacks!
AS THE BLACK VULTURE chugged across Pirates Cove, Captain Joy"s voice boomed out of the loudspeakers along with the sounds of wind and waves and the yells of the pirates.
"Welcome to the Purple Pirate Lair, the biggest, most spine-tingling learning experience north of Los Angeles! You will relive the infamous history of the Purple Pirate of Pirates Cove and his equally villainous a.s.sociates. Our story begins in the year 1818, when two black ships dropped anchor off the coast of Alta California. They were the 38-gun frigate Argentina, under the command of the French privateer.