The Secret of the Crooked Cat - Arden William - Страница 21

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Jupiter scrambled out, and together they ran the boat up on to the sand.

“We made it,” Pete gasped.

“But we’re marooned!” Jupiter cried. “How do we get off this island, Pete? We must get back to stop the robber!”

“Gosh, Jupe, it’s just a small, deserted island — rocks and trees and an emergency shelter. I don’t see how we can get back until tomorrow, at least. Boats pass in the day.”

“Tomorrow could be too late,” Jupiter insisted. “Come on, where’s that emergency shelter?”

Pete led the way to a small cabin with a smaller shed.

The cabin contained nothing but a crude wooden table, some chairs and bunks, and a small stove and some food. The shed behind had two small boat masts, two booms, a small rudder with a long tiller handle, and piles of rope and boards. There were nails and tools, and that was all.

“There’s no radio, Jupe,” Pete said. “We’re stuck until morning when we can hail a boat, or someone looks for us.”

Jupiter didn’t answer. He was looking at the contents of the shed. “Pete, could we sail back in the boat if we had a sail?”

“Maybe — if we had a mast and a rudder.”

“We have a mast and a rudder now, and that tarpaulin in the boat would make a sail!”

Pete was dubious. “Those masts are too big, Jupe, even if we had a way of stepping one in the boat”

“Stepping? What do you mean?”

“That’s a nautical term for fixing a mast into a socket or supporting frame,” said Pete. “You’ve got to hold the bottom of the mast in place somehow.”

“Well, what about the booms? They’re half as long. Could we step one of them?”

Pete pondered. “Yes, we could step it through a hole in a seat. There’s a saw in the shed, and a hatchet. We could use boards to brace the boom at the bottom of the boat! Jupe, I think — oh, no, I forgot! We can’t do it!”

“Why not?”

Pete stood glum. “The rowing boat doesn’t have a keel. Not even a centreboard or sideboards. The boat would capsize in the wind. Even if we didn’t capsize, without a keel we couldn’t sail straight.”

Jupiter sat down heavily. He chewed on his fingers, and stared at the useless booms and masts in the shed. He looked at the long masts. “Pete?” he said. “Would those masts float?”

“I guess so. You want to ride home on a mast?”

Jupiter ignored Pete’s humour. “What if we took some long boards and nailed them to the masts. Then we nail the other ends of the boards to the gunwales of the boat, and — ”

“Outriggers!” Pete cried. “Jupe, it’ll work! They won’t be perfect, but we don’t have more than a mile to sail! With the wind as it is, the outriggers will hold the boat up!”

“Hurry then, Pete! We must get back right away!”

Over two hours had passed since Bob had first told his suspicions to Chief Reynolds. So far the police had found no trace of Jupiter, Pete or the missing Khan. Chief Reynolds paced just outside the entrance to the carnival. Inside, crowds of people were enjoying themselves, unaware of the drama around them. Mr. Carson, Bob and Andy waited uneasily.

“Then you think this Khan is the bank robber, Bob?” Chief Reynolds asked again.

“Yes, sir!”

“I was beginning to wonder if the robber had really fled Rocky Beach. Too many people have claimed to have seen him, but no one actually has.”

“That’s just what Jupe said,” Bob said.

“Jupiter is a bright lad,” Chief Reynolds acknowledged.

“He thinks the robber is still after what he hid in the crooked cat,” Bob said, “and I think Khan was searching Andy’s equipment trailer. That proves he’s the robber! He was looking for what he had hidden.”

“Yes, that could well be, boys,” the Chief said.

“Khan is a strange man. He stayed aloof from us,” Mr. Carson said. “He never got friendly with anyone.”

“Well, we’ll find him,” Chief Reynolds said grimly.

The police, and Mr. Carson’s roughnecks, had spread out over the entire area. They were searching the open lot, all the carnival booths and tents, and vehicles. No cars or trucks had been reported missing. They were combing the old amusement park again, and searching all along the edge of the ocean, and through the streets and buildings near the carnival. After still another hour they had found no trace of the boys or Khan.

“I’m worried,” Chief Reynolds admitted at last. “They seem to have vanished into thin air. But we won’t give up. I think that that old amusement park is the key, so I have men searching all through it again for — ”

Shouts came suddenly from far off inside the amusement park.

“It’s my men!” Chief Reynolds exclaimed. “They’ve found something! Follow me, boys!”

The boys and Mr. Carson hurried after the Chief through the hole in the high fence. At the edge of the dark ocean they saw a knot of policemen and roughnecks.

“Have you found them? The boys?” Chief Reynolds demanded.

“No, Chief,” a policeman said, “but we found him!”

The knot opened, and two policemen pushed Khan forward. The strong man shook them off like flies and glared.

“What the devil does this mean!” Khan demanded.

The bearded strong man’s muscles gleamed in the hard yellow light of the electric lanterns.

“Tell us what you’re doing here, Khan!” Mr. Carson snapped.

“That’s my business, Carson.”

Bob couldn’t hold himself back. “He’s the robber! Make him tell what he’s done to Jupe and Pete!”

“Robber?” Khan roared. “I’m not the robber, you fools! I chased him. I told you that.”

“And what have you been doing for the last three hours while we looked for you?” Chief Reynolds wanted to know.

“I came back here to look for the robber on my own! I had a hunch that — ”

“He’s lying!” Bob cried hotly. “I’ll bet even that beard is false!”

Before Khan could move, Chief Reynolds reached out and grabbed his beard. Khan hurled the Chief off and the black beard came off in the Chief’s hand! They all stared at Khan.

“All right,” Khan said, “of course it’s false.” The strong man went on to pull off his sideburns and wild wig, revealing himself as a young man with close-cropped light hair. “We all wear costumes in the carnival. What’s a strong man without a black beard?”

“But you never took off your beard and hair, Khan!” Mr. Carson said. “You were hired wearing that beard and hair! You let us think that was your real appearance — even when the San Mateo police questioned us all!”

Khan waved his massive hand. “You know why, Carson. I’m used to working better shows than your two-bit carnival. I didn’t want to be recognized and have my reputation ruined.”

“I don’t think he’s even a strong man!” Andy cried.

“Is he Gabbo, Dad?”

“No,” Mr. Carson said, looking closely. “He’s not Gabbo.”

“But he is lying!” Bob accused hotly. Khan faced them all menacingly, his muscles bulging.

“Am I, boy? Then — ”

Khan was staring out towards the ocean. “What —?”

“Chief, look!” a policeman cried.

Everyone looked out at the ocean. On the moonlit water was a strange sight — a lopsided, half-collapsed out-rigger boat sailing raggedly up to the shore with Pete and Jupiter on their feet and waving to them with broad grins.

“It’s them!” Bob said.

“Pete, Jupe!” Andy shouted.

Jupiter and Pete beached their ungainly craft and came running up to rejoin their friends. In a matter of minutes they had told the whole story of their hours on the ocean and the island.

“You sailed back in that?” Chief Reynolds asked.

“Pete is an excellent sailor,” Jupiter replied, “and we had to get back at once! I think I know where to find what the robber has been looking for! I don’t think he’s found it yet!”

“But we have the robber, Jupe!” Bob said “It was Khan there all along, just as you suspected,”

Jupiter looked at the strong man standing surrounded by policemen and glaring angrily at them all. I.

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