“I am smarter than that fat show-off! You can just sweat it out in there. If Fatso Jones is so smart let him rescue you. I’m taking off. So long, wise guys!”
Bob looked despairingly at Pete, then walked over to the locked door. He could hear Skinny going downstairs. After a long time, they heard the back door slam.
Bob and Pete looked at each other hopelessly as Bob moved away from the door. They were obviously in a bad spot.
“The windows are barred,” Pete said, “and that other door is locked, solid.”
“It’s an old house,” Bob suggested. “How about the walls or the floor? Maybe we can find a weak spot — a loose board or something.”
Pete wasn’t optimistic, but he inspected the floor while Bob studied the walls. Unfortunately there were no weak spots in the floor.
“The walls are solid as a rock, too,” Bob said glumly. “Maybe Jupiter or Mr. Harris will come soon,” Pete suggested.
“Our bikes are still in that alley, Jupe’d see them.”
“Sure,” Pete agreed, “he’d know we were in here somewhere.”
The boys grinned at each other, but the grins were feeble. Each was aware of the fact that he was trying to convince the other that Jupiter would somehow come to their rescue.
“Maybe,” Bob said weakly, “Mr. Harris will come back.”
“And maybe he won’t, or not for a long time. Maybe he won’t come back until tomorrow.”
“There has to be some way out!” Bob insisted.
They looked all round the small room again without much real hope. They were stuck, and they knew it. Trapped by that stupid Skinny Norris.
“Bob!” Pete cried, staring at something behind his fellow investigator. “The door! It opens inwards. The hinges are right there inside.”
“We can push out the hinge pins!”
“Sure, it’ll be easy. Boy, is that Skinny dumb.”
“But we don’t have any tools,” Bob said.
“Oh, yes, we do.” Pete pulled out his heavy scout knife with its many strong blades and quickly went to work. The hinge pins were covered with old paint, and were very stiff. Pete began to sweat as he struggled to loosen them.
Bob stood anxiously beside him, trying to help as much as he could.
Finally, the last hinge pin fell into Pete’s hand. Bob grasped the upper hinge, and Pete grabbed the lower. They counted to three and pulled. The door swung inwards, broke free of the lock, and fell to the floor with a loud crash.
They lunged through the doorway together and headed, for the staircase. From down below came the unexpected sound of heavy footsteps.
Someone — or something — was coming up the stairs.
14
Jupiter Has a Hunch
At the Sandow Estate Jupiter had been working feverishly carrying the junk from the barn to the truck. The First Investigator was alarmed by Mr. Harris’s worry over Bob and Pete. Although he was sure that Bob and Pete could take care of themselves, Mr. Harris might be right about their being in danger. Jupiter wanted to contact Chief Reynolds right away.
When the truck was finally loaded, Jupiter climbed into the cab and chewed on his lower lip as Miss Sandow came from the house to talk to Uncle Titus.
“Mr. Jones,” the birdlike lady said, “I can’t imagine what you’ll do with all that ancient clutter of mine.”
“Don’t you worry, ma’am,” Uncle Titus said gallantly, twirling his enormous moustache. “I’ll sell it all at a handsome profit, I’m sure. Now you just see that you charge me properly.”
“Goodness, I wish Ted were here. I haven’t the slightest notion what to charge. Knowing your boys seems to have made Theodore so happy, I really feel I should give it to you. Especially if they can find my little statuette for me.”
“Find your statuette?” Uncle Titus sounded puzzled. Jupiter held his breath, for Uncle Titus wasn’t always pleased about the boys being investigators. But this time the peppery little man was too happy about his truckload of new junk to be displeased. He nodded. “Well, the boys do seem to have a knack for that sort of thing. Now, let’s consider what I owe you, ma’am.”
Jupiter almost bit a piece out of his lip in impatience, but at last Uncle Titus settled his business, and the truck rolled out of the estate in the direction of Rocky Beach. Konrad drove at his usual headlong pace and soon they reached the salvage yard. Jumping out of the truck, Jupiter rushed to the hidden trailer. Aunt Mathilda and Uncle Titus were far too excited by their purchases to notice his quick escape.
He crawled into headquarters through the main tunnel, and emerged through the trapdoor in the floor. Bob and Pete were not there. Quickly, the First Investigator activated the telephone-recording machine. There were no messages at all. Worried now, and remembering Mr. Harris’s instructions, Jupiter crawled back out and left the junkyard through Red Gate Rover.
He walked the few blocks from the salvage yard to Rocky Beach police and headquarters. He asked at once for Chief Reynolds and, because the boys were well-known to the Rocky Beach police, he was soon sitting across a desk from the Chief himself.
“Well, what can I do for you, Deputy?” Chief Reynolds said with a smile. He was referring to the honorary junior deputy title given to the boys for help on a previous case.
“We’re working on a case, sir,” Jupiter said quickly, “and I think we need to call you in now.”
“All right, suppose you tell me all about it.”
“There isn’t time, sir! Mr. Harris… ”
“Slow and steady, Jupiter,” the Chief instructed. “Start at the beginning. That’s the way to give a report.”
“Yes, sir,” Jupiter agreed reluctantly. He started to tell the Chief about the first night Bob and Pete had seen the amulet and the laughing shadow. He talked rapidly in an effort to finish his story as fast as possible.
“Whoa!” Chief Reynolds stopped him. “A laughing shadow? Bob and Pete must have been letting their imaginations run high, don’t you think?”
“No, sir,” Jupiter said. “Last night I heard it myself, and it was really spooky. It was tall, too, but I didn’t think it looked humpbacked. Pete and Bob were closer, of course, and they said it had a beaky nose and small head that kept jerking around.
“While Pete and I were watching it, a truck drove up with four headless midgets!”
Chief Reynolds coughed. “Headless midgets?”
“Well, no, not really. I mean, sir, they looked like that, but I think they had bags over their heads. They were prisoners in that lodge, you see, and someone had put bags on their heads so that they couldn’t see.”
“And you think that it could have been one of those ‘midget’ prisoners who called for help and threw the amulet over the wall?”
“That’s right, sir,” Jupiter said. “I think one of those prisoners stole the amulet and then hid his message for help in it. When he was recaptured, he threw it over the wall in the hope that someone would find it.”
“In a hidden compartment? Pretty slim chance, Jupiter.”
“I’m sure he was desperate, Chief. Maybe he expected some friends to be around, but they weren’t and we found it. Then the two dark men attacked us to get the amulet hack. They probably wanted the amulet for itself. I doubt if they even knew about the message.”
“Dark men?” Chief Reynolds snapped. “What dark men?”
“I’m sorry, sir, you’re right about telling it in order. I forgot to mention them.” The First Investigator described the two dark men who had pursued the boys and attacked Mr. Harris.
“Oh, those men!” the Chief sounded almost relieved. “Well now, they’re easier to believe in than laughing shadows and headless midgets. We’re looking for that pair ourselves after their attack on Harris. All right, Jupiter, let’s go and see your Mr. Harris at once.”