"The secret is, someone wants to keep everybody away from Skeleton Island, that"s all," Jupe told them. "I figured that out yesterday. The mystery is, why?"
Just then Mrs. Barton came into the room to answer the doorbell, and Jupe fell silent. Chief Nostigon came in, his raincoat dripping.
"h.e.l.lo, boys," he said. "Mrs. Barton, I"d like to talk to these lads if you don"t mind."
"Of course not, Chief." She went back out to the kitchen and the chief hung up his raincoat and took a seat. Deliberately he lit a cigar.
"Boys," he said, "I don"t mind telling you things look bad for your friend Chris. We made a search and found those stolen camera lenses in a little woodshed behind the shanty where he lives with his father."
"He didn"t steal them!" Bob said hotly. "We know he didn"t!"
"Maybe not," Chief Nostigon agreed. "But the evidence is all against him.
Everybody knows he"s trying hard to raise money to get his father back to Greece."
"He doesn"t have to steal to do it!" Pete exclaimed. "He has money! And the chances are he"ll find some more!"
"Oh." The chief gave them a long look. "Now that"s very interesting. He has money, has he? And he may find more. Meaning just what?"
Pete, realizing he had given away the secret of the doubloons, was silent.
"Boys," the chief continued, "I like Chris and I want to help him. Now, n.o.body will tell me exactly what happened yesterday. Just that you kids got into some trouble and had to be rescued. I think I understand why you"re keeping it such a secret. If you found some treasure and the word gets round, Skeleton Island will be swamped with treasure hunters in no time.
"Just the same, I think you ought to tell me. Maybe I can help young Chris. So suppose you give me the whole story."
They hesitated. Then Jupiter made up his mind.
"Yes, sir," he said. "Pete, go and get the canvas bag."
Pete went upstairs. A moment later he returned with Chris"s bulging canvas sack.
Pete spilled the contents out on the sofa. With a soft clinking sound, between forty and fifty shiny doubloons slid on to the cushions.
Chief Nostigon"s eyes widened.
"By Jiminy!" he said. "That"s real pirate treasure. And Chris found that?"
"Chris and Bob and Pete." Jupiter said. "In an underwater cave on The Hand. Chris wants to go back and look for some more. That"s why we"re keeping it a secret."
"Mmm." Chief Nostigon pulled at his chin. "Well, you can count on me. I won"t blab."
"So you see," Bob said eagerly, "Chris wouldn"t need to steal anything. He has money and may find more."
"Boys." the chief answered, "I"m afraid that doesn"t prove anything. You see, these doubloons were found after after the camera lenses were stolen. So Chris didn"t know he was going to have money. That means appearances are still against him." the camera lenses were stolen. So Chris didn"t know he was going to have money. That means appearances are still against him."
It was true. Bob scowled as he realized it. Pete jammed his hands into his pockets.
Jupiter coughed again. He blew his nose. Then he spoke up.
"Excuse me, Chief," he said. "I admit Mr. Crenshaw and Mr. Norris and Jeff Morton think the secret of Skeleton Island is solved that Chris was causing all the trouble. But I"m sure they"re wrong. There"s someone else, someone we don"t know about, behind it. There has to be. Let"s look at all the facts from the beginning. Now to start with "
At that moment Mrs. Barton came in.
"Supper, boys," she said. "Oh, I didn"t know you were still talking. Well, talk as long as you like, Chief."
As she started to leave the room, the pile of gold coins on the sofa caught her attention. Her eyes widened and she bustled out. She hurried down the long hall to the telephone, and a moment later was talking in an excited whisper.
"My goodness, Ella May," she said. "What do you think? Those boys staying at my house really are here to help hunt for treasure. Why, I just saw an immense pile of gold pieces they found. Yes, they must have found them out on Skeleton Island. My goodness, I don"t know how much there was but it seemed like a lot. It"s probably just their share. I"ll bet there"s lots more out there!"
She hung up and dialled another number. Unaware that news of their find was being broadcast to the town, the boys were still deep in conversation with Chief Nostigon.
Jupiter was outlining everything that had happened. First he mentioned the ghost scares that had kept people away from Skeleton Island for years. Then he reminded the chief of the troubles the movie company had had ever since it set up camp on Skeleton Island. He told again how he and Pete and Bob had been marooned their very first night in Fishingport.
Finally he brought up his warning of the previous day by the tall, thin man, a man with a mermaid tattooed on his hand. The chief rubbed his chin.
"Could have been Bill Ballinger," he said. "Peculiar, mighty peculiar. Go on, boy."
Jupiter told of the way Chris"s boat had been smashed and sunk, and finished up by saying "Chief Nostigon, doesn"t the pattern seem pretty clear? Because there is a pattern. The pattern is to keep people away from Skeleton Island. First the ghost scares kept the local people away. Then, when the movie company came, someone tried to hara.s.s them into leaving.
"When word got out we three were coming to town, somebody must have thought we were more important than we were. They had that Sam Robinson maroon us on The Hand to scare us into going back.
"Then I was warned we weren"t wanted and should go back to Hollywood. And almost at the same time, someone was sinking Chris"s sailing-boat, to keep him from sailing round Skeleton Island. And if this wasn"t enough, someone stole those camera lenses and dropped Chris"s knife at the scene to implicate him and put him in jail.
"The whole pattern points to keeping everybody away from Skeleton Island."
"Well now," the chief said, "it does look that way. I"m going to have to turn this over in my mind. As for Chris, I"d like to let him out, and Doctor Wilbur will go bail for him, but Judge Harvey has to sign the papers and he"s away on business. Can"t do anything until he comes back. But I"ll sure work to get him loose."
With that he said goodbye and left. Pete hurriedly put the gold doubloons back into their sack and carried them upstairs to hide under his mattress.
When he came back down again, supper was on the table. Mrs. Barton served them with a funny little knowing smile. Finally, as she brought out custard for dessert, she could keep quiet no longer.
"Aren"t you naughty boys," she said reproachfully, "telling me you folks weren"t on Skeleton Island to hunt for treasure."
They looked at her in surprise.
"But really, Mrs. Barton " Jupiter began.
"I saw!" she said. "I saw the great heap of gold pieces you were showing the chief. I didn"t mean to spy, but when I came into the room, there it was on the couch. I think it"s very exciting."
The boys looked at each other in dismay.
"Did you tell anyone, Mrs. Barton?" Jupiter asked.
"Just my three best friends," Mrs. Barton said. "I couldn"t help it, it was so exciting to see all that treasure. How much was it?"
"Not nearly as much as you think, Mrs. Barton," Jupiter said. "And it wasn"t found on Skeleton Island at all."
"Now you can"t fool me, young man!" She wagged a finger at him. "Tomorrow come sunup you"re going to have company out on that island. I do think quite a few people will sail over and try their luck at digging for treasure. Oh my, yes! I"d go, too, if I were a little younger and spryer. I"m sorry to say it, but local folks are a little bit peeved that you outsiders should come in and find treasure on Skeleton Island when the town is so poor and needs it so badly." She started collecting the dishes.
"But I mustn"t talk so much," she said. "Goodness, I"m just a chatterbox when I get started."
She went to the kitchen, leaving the three boys very upset.
"That does it!" Pete exclaimed. "Why, half the town will be out on Skeleton Island tomorrow. They"ll never be able to finish the movie now. And I guess it"s our fault."
"I guess it is, all right," Bob said. "Your father will be stopping in to see us soon, Pete. What shall we tell him?"
"We"ll have to tell him the truth," Pete answered. "Won"t we, Jupiter?"
"I guess we will," Jupiter agreed. "But I"m having an idea. Let me think about it for a while."
He continued thinking as Pete and Bob listlessly turned the pages of some old magazines in the parlour.
Shortly after dark Mr. Crenshaw and Harry Norris arrived. They announced that Roger Denton would be back the following morning and shooting would begin in a day or so on the island. However, they had decided against making the short subject about the boys diving for treasure. The incident in the underwater cave was only one reason.
The cloudiness of the water and Jupiter"s cold also had helped them make up their minds.
Normally the boys would have been deeply disappointed, but now they had too much on their minds to give it much thought.
They told Mr. Crenshaw and Mr. Norris what had happened and the two men uttered exclamations of dismay.
"That ruins everything!" Mr. Crenshaw cried. "Why, treasure hunters will swarm all over us like locusts. We"ll never convince anybody we aren"t here to hunt for pirate gold."
"I have an idea," Jupiter said slowly. "I mean, it might help save the situation. Why not film all these people sailing out to the island and racing around looking for treasure?
You could get a short subject out of it, called maybe, "Treasure Fever". You could never hire so many people, but they"ll be coming of their own accord and it might make a swell picture."
Harry Norris thought for a moment.
"It"s coming to me," he said. "Sure, this is a disaster, but maybe we can turn it into an a.s.set. Say we show somebody finding some treasure, and the word gets round, and the whole town sails out to look, and we photograph them all digging... Yes," he turned to Pete"s father, "I think we can swing it. The thing to do is to organize this treasure hunt. Now here"s my idea "
Swiftly he outlined his plan for keeping the digging under control.
"Instead of trying to keep people off the island," he said, "we"ll invite them to come and dig! We"ll get Doctor Wilbur to go on the local radio and invite people to dig for treasure on Skeleton Island tomorrow. We"ll say we don"t believe there is any treasure, but they"re welcome to look. And we"ll offer a prize of five hundred dollars, to be won by a draw held in the evening. That will convince them we don"t believe in any treasure.
"The conditions will be that everybody who comes to dig registers with us for the prize draw, and that they don"t damage the merry-go-round or the roller coaster. Then in the evening we"ll be hosts for a big clambake for everyone, and hold the draw for the prize. We can shoot pictures of all the frenzied digging and we"ll get an interesting short subject we can call "Treasure Fever," as Jupiter suggested. Then, when it"s all over, people will be convinced there"s no treasure and leave us alone and we can finish off the scenes for Chase Me Faster Chase Me Faster without being bothered." without being bothered."
"I think it"ll work," Mr. Crenshaw said. "Let"s get over to the hotel and phone Mr.
Denton in Philadelphia. You boys " he turned to The Three Investigators "stay put.
Go to bed soon. You can come out to the island tomorrow to see the fun. But for now don"t get into any more trouble!"
"But Dad, about Chris " Pete began.
"That boy can stay in jail a few days to teach him a lesson," his father replied.
"Come on, Norris."
The men went out in a hurry. The boys slumped back into att.i.tudes of despondency.
"Gosh, I was hoping we could persuade them Chris didn"t do anything," Pete said. "But they won"t even listen."
"Adults don"t like to listen to kids when their minds are made up," Bob observed.
"Anyway, Jupe, you sort of saved the day with your idea for making a short subject about the mob of treasure hunters."
Jupiter didn"t answer. He was thinking again. His mind was buzzing round, going over and over the facts they had.
"Don"t overdo the thinking," Pete advised him, trying to sound humorous. "You might burn out a bearing."
Jupiter coughed loudly. Then a look of satisfaction came over his round face.
"What is it, Jupe?" Bob asked alertly. "You"ve actually thought of something?"
"I believe I have deduced a logical reason why you found gold doubloons in that hidden cave underneath The Hand," he said.
"You have?" Pete almost shouted. "What? And use short words. This is no time for long ones."
"Bob, let"s go and look at your notes," Jupiter said. "I want to read that part about Captain One-Ear and his last stand against the British again."
The three of them trooped upstairs. Swiftly Bob found the place. He read about how the old-time pirate had been surprised at night by British troops. He had fled with his chests of treasure, been chased, and landed on The Hand. In the darkness he had eluded his pursuers, but when daylight came they surrounded him and captured him.
But his treasure chests were empty, and the British realized he had emptied all the treasure overboard to keep them from getting it. And just where in the mile of water he had emptied the chests he refused to answer. All he would say was, "Davy Jones has the doubloons in his grasp and n.o.body will see them again until Davy Jones decides to give them up."
"Well?" Bob asked.
"Don"t you see?" Jupiter replied. "If he had just dumped the doubloons overboard, he"d have said they were in Davy Jones"s locker locker. But he said "grasp." Now what do you grasp with?"
"Your hand, of course!" Bob said excitedly. "Golly, Jupe, you mean "
Jupiter nodded. "It"s the only logical answer," he said. "After he saw he couldn"t escape, Captain One-Ear emptied all his stolen treasure down the blowhole. Then he teased the British by saying it was in Davy Jones"s grasp, meaning it was inside The Hand. Even if they had figured out what he meant, they wouldn"t have been able to get it. So it stayed hidden down in that underwater cave all these years."
"Then there must be lots more!" Pete exclaimed. "Chris was right! There may still be a fortune down in that cave! "
"I don"t think so," Jupiter said. "Remember, it was loose coins he poured down the blowhole. Three centuries of tides and waves have had time to bury most of them pretty deep or to carry them out into the bay. There might be a few more doubloons under the sand there, but I doubt if there are many. You found just what the ocean left."