Pete sighed. "You"re always so logical. But I suppose you"re right. For Chris"s sake, though, I hope he finds a lot more so that he can take his father back to Greece."
The mention of Chris reminded them of his plight, and they became gloomy again.
But there was nothing they could do, and soon they went to bed.
Pete and Bob fell asleep right away. Jupiter, however, couldn"t sleep. His mind was turning over with special sharpness now. There was still another mystery to be figured out. He had all the facts, he was sure, if he could only put them together correctly.
He thought about old Captain One-Ear, fooling the British by dumping his treasure down the blowhole. Then, abruptly, a bit of conversation he had heard and almost forgotten came back to him. And all of a sudden everything clicked into place.
"That"s it!" he exclaimed, sitting up suddenly. "Ten years! That"s what happened. It has to be. Bob, Pete, wake up!"
The other two awoke and yawned sleepily.
"What is it, Jupe?" Pete asked. "A nightmare?"
"No!" said Jupiter excitedly. "You two have to get your clothes on and row out to Skeleton Island. I"ve just deduced the real secret of the island."
Rapidly he explained to them what he had just figured out. They listened with mouths open, and when he had finished, Pete said, "Jupe, you"re a genius! You have to be right it"s the only answer that makes everything fit."
"I don"t know why it took me so long," Jupiter said. "Anyway, I"m sure that"s the answer. You get out to the island and check on my deductions. Then go down and wake up your father, Pete, and the others. Show them what you find. Then let them take over."
He looked wistful. "I"d go with you," he said, "but I ache all over."
"You"ve done enough, Jupe," Bob said. "This will get us out of the doghouse, all right. It"ll be nice to be a hero for a change. But why not wake up the men and have them help us hunt?"
"Because," Jupiter said, "I might be wrong. They"d be very angry at us for waking them up. If I"m wrong, you can just row back here and n.o.body will be the wiser."
"Well, okay," Pete said. "Though I would like to tell Dad. But we"ll do it your way."
In five minutes he and Bob were dressed and had their flashlights. They tiptoed downstairs and let themselves out of the house.
Jupe lay back in bed, feeling terrible. Why did he have to catch a cold, anyway? But it couldn"t be helped and there wasn"t any danger There wasn"t any danger!
A new thought hit him like a wallop from a baseball bat. Of course there was danger!
There was terrible danger, if only he hadn"t been so pleased with himself he"d forgotten to think about it. Why, Pete and Bob might be killed!
Bob and Pete in a Tight Spot
PETE PULLED HARD at the oars of the small rowing-boat, which they had been lucky to find tied up at the movie company"s pier. By the dim light of the stars, they were heading for Skeleton Island.
"There it is," whispered Bob, as the island suddenly appeared like a black blob in the darkness in front of them.
Pete had a keen sense of direction. He rowed them towards the little bay near the amus.e.m.e.nt park. The land grew closer and then was on both sides of them, and Pete eased quietly forward until the bow of the rowing-boat nosed up on the sand. Bob jumped out and pulled the boat up on the beach.
"Now we have to go through the amus.e.m.e.nt park," Pete said in a low voice. "Then up the path to the cave. I wish Jupe hadn"t said not to wake up Dad."
"So do I," Bob agreed. "I wouldn"t mind some company now. Do you think you can find the way in the dark, Pete?"
"Sure," Pete answered. He hesitated a moment. It was very dark, and silent, except for the little noise of water lapping up on the beach. "Well," he said, "we better get going."
He led the way, using the flashlight just long enough to get a glimpse ahead. In a moment they were inside the ghostly ruins of Pleasure Park.
The roller coaster was a big skeleton against the sky. It gave Pete a landmark, and he skirted round it and past the merry-go-round. At the rear fence of the park, he stopped.
"Darn it," he said in a low voice. "I"m going to wake up Dad. It"s not because I"m nervous, although I am, but Dad ought to know what we"re doing. After all, he told us to stay at Mrs. Barton"s and well, I think he ought to know what Jupe figured."
"Okay," Bob agreed, almost whispering.
"Let"s do that. I"ll feel better, too."
They turned round. And then they stopped dead in their tracks, their hearts beating fast. Somebody was behind them.
Somebody big. Somebody who now flashed a brilliant light in their faces and growled, "All right, stand still! I"ve got you dead to rights!"
Both boys froze. They couldn"t see a thing with the light shining in their eyes. Then a surprised voice said, "Thunderation! It"s Bob and Pete! What do you think you"re up to, sneaking round on the island like this?"
The man lowered the light to the ground.
Now the boys could see him, but they had already recognized his voice. It was Tom Farraday, the guard.
"You could have got hurt," he said. "I thought you were somebody out to damage the rides that"ve been fixed up. Come on now, explain yourselves."
"Jupiter figured out the secret of this island," Bob said. "We came out to see if he"s right."
"The secret of the island?" Tom Farraday sounded puzzled. "What are you driving at?"
"There really is treasure hidden on it," Pete told him. "At least, Jupe is sure there is."
"Treasure?" The guard obviously didn"t believe them. "What treasure?"
"Well, you see " Pete began. But Bob interrupted.
"You helped Jupiter figure it out," he said. "You gave him the clue he needed."
"Now wait a minute!" the guard rumbled. "I don"t know what you"re talking about."
"The other morning," Bob said, "you were telling us how the Ballinger brothers held up your armoured truck ten years ago, stole a hundred thousand dollars, and crippled your left arm."
"Yes? What about it?"
"Well," Pete put in, "you also told us how the Ballingers were captured by the Coast Guard in a disabled boat, and how the Coast Guard saw them dump some packages overboard. The stolen money, everybody thought."
"Sure it was. What else?"
"Well," Bob went on, "it was just ten years ago that someone started scaring people away from this island by starting up the story of the ghost on the merry-go-round again.
Jupiter said it couldn"t be a coincidence that the hold-up was ten years ago and the campaign to keep people off the island also started ten years ago. He said they had to be connected."
"I don"t get what you"re driving at." Tom Farraday sounded puzzled.
"Don"t you see?" Pete said importantly. "The Ballinger brothers tried to make a getaway by boat and their engine broke down. They must have managed to get here to Skeleton Island and hide the stolen money. Then they pushed off again, determined that if they did get caught, everybody would think the money was lost. That way, when they got out of jail, they could come and get it and slip away quietly.
"You said yourself they got out of jail just a couple of weeks ago. But obviously they haven"t come for the money yet, because with the movie company on the island they"ve been afraid to risk getting caught."
"Jumping fishhooks!" Tom Farraday said. "Say, you make it sound true! But supposing the Ballingers did hide the money on this island, does your friend have any idea where it could be?"
"Jupiter says it would have to be some place high and dry," Bob told him. "Canvas sacks and paper money buried in the ground would rot. The best high and dry place on the island is "
"The old cave!" Tom Farraday exclaimed. "It has plenty of cracks in the rocks where sacks of money could be hidden."
"That"s what Jupiter thinks," Pete agreed. "It"s the only place high and dry enough to keep the money safely."
"Except," Bob put in, "that tomorrow hundreds of people will be swarming over this island on a mammoth treasure hunt, so someone is bound to go exploring that cave.
That"s why we came over right away, tonight, to look for the hidden money."
"By golly, I think you may be right!" Tom Farraday exclaimed. "Think of it, all that money hidden in that cave ten years now and n.o.body guessing until you kids came here.
Why didn"t I ever think of it myself? Well, there"s only one thing to do. Let"s go and see if the money really is there."
"We were going to get Mr. Crenshaw," Bob said.
"No need for that," Tom Farraday told them. "Since they have to be up so early, let them sleep. If we find the money we can lug it down and wake them up. If we don"t find it, you kids can slip back home and n.o.body"ll be the wiser."
"Well " Pete began, but Tom Farraday had already turned. "Follow me," he said.
"I know the path."
Tom Farraday moved rapidly through the trees, the boys close behind him. The whole scene was hushed and spooky, and Bob was glad they had encountered Tom Farraday. It made him feel safer to have the big burly man along.
"Oof!" Bob grunted abruptly. Someone had stepped out from behind a tree and grabbed him. Powerful hands had him in a vice-like grip.
"Mr. Farraday, help!" Bob managed to gasp. Then a strong hand covered his mouth and he couldn"t make a sound. He heard a scuffle behind him, a grunt from Pete, and then silence. But Tom Farraday, ahead of them, was free and he had a gun. He would Tom Farraday turned. He didn"t seem the least bit surprised. Nor did he draw his gun. "Good work!" he said. "They didn"t have time to yell."
"No thanks to you!" said the man holding Bob. "Suppose they had gone to the camp first and woken up those movie people? We"d be in the soup!"
"But they didn"t, Jim, and we"ve got them," the guard said, sounding nervous. "So it"s all right."
"It"s not all right," said the tall, thin man who had Pete in his grasp. "Now we"ve got to get rid of them. But we"ll tend to that later. First we get them to the boat. Then we get the money. Then we take care of these snoopy, interfering kids."
"Sure, Bill, sure," Tom Farraday agreed quickly. "Is it true what they said about the money being hidden in the cave?"
"Never mind if it"s true or not. That"s our business!" growled Bob"s captor.
"It"s my business, too!" Tom Farraday said. "After all, one third of that money is mine and I"ve waited ten years for it. Not to mention getting a crippled wing from your clumsiness! "
"Shut up! You talk too much!" the man called Bill said. "You"ll be taken care of.
Now take off your shirt and tear it into strips. We have to gag these kids and tie their hands."
"But "
"Move!"
"All right, all right."
Tom Farraday slipped off his jacket, removed his shirt, and rapidly tore it into strips.
Bob"s stunned mind began to work again. Bill and Jim those were the names of the Ballinger brothers. And now it was apparent that Tom Farraday was their accomplice!
He must have helped them work out the hold-up in the first place. He had let himself be slugged to throw off suspicion, but they had hit him too hard and broken his collarbone.
Ever since then he had been waiting for the Ballingers to recover the money they had hidden, so that he could get his share.
Bob"s racing thoughts were interrupted as the hand covering his mouth was removed. He opened his mouth to yell, and as he did so, Tom Farraday shoved a wadded-up piece of shirt into his mouth. Another strip was tied round his head to hold the gag in place. A moment later Bob"s arms were twisted behind him and Tom Farraday was tying a strong strip of cloth round his wrists. He was effectively tied and gagged.
When Pete was also bound and gagged, the two Ballinger brothers gripped them by their jacket collars.
"Now, kids," Bill Ballinger rasped in their ears, "march ahead of us. Don"t try any tricks or you"ll be very, very sorry!!"
Bob stumbled along over rough ground. He could hear Pete being forced along behind him. How far they stumbled through the darkness, neither Pete nor Bob could tell. But after what seemed a long time, they came out at a pebbly beach. Dimly they could see a large motor-boat drawn up on sh.o.r.e.
"Get aboard, you two!" growled Bill Ballinger. Awkwardly the boys climbed over the bow of the motor-boat into the open s.p.a.ce in front of the engine.
"Now, down!" Ballinger growled and gave them a shove that sent them toppling in a heap.
"Jim, get me the fishing-line. I"m going to make sure these kids don"t escape while we"re busy." A moment later Bob felt himself being wound in the heavy fishing-line, until he was tied up like a well-wrapped bundle. Then the two men rolled him to one side and proceeded to tie Pete just as securely.