“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.”
The Chief summoned two of his men, and with Jupiter they hastened out to the Chief’s car. They drove straight to the old house of the Vegetarian League. As they turned into the deserted street on the edge of the town, Jupiter saw Mr. Harris’s car parked in front of the house.
“He must be here,” Jupiter said. “That’s his car.”
Mr. Harris opened the front door before they had a chance to knock. Looking straight at Jupiter, he asked anxiously, “Where are Bob and Pete? I was expecting to find them here.”
“I don’t know,” Jupiter said. “I thought they’d be here, too. Did you find Ted anywhere?”
“No, I didn’t. I thought I spotted his car near your salvage yard, but if it was Ted he got away from me. I came straight home.” For the first time, Mr. Harris looked curiously at Chief Reynolds.
“Oh!” Jupiter suddenly remembered, his manners. “This is Chief Reynolds, Mr. Harris. He’s going to help us.”
“It was good of you to come over, Chief,” said Mr. Harris in his usual brisk manner. “We seem to have some problems here. When those intruders first broke up my meeting, I thought it was just an attack by some typical anti-vegetarians. They can be quite fanatical, you know. But from what Jupiter has told me, I’m beginning to understand that it may be much more serious than that.”
“You mean the laughing shadow and those headless prisoners?” Chief Reynolds asked.
“Well, perhaps the boys are a bit overwrought about those matters. I understand they don’t really agree on what the laughing shadow sounded like. But it does seem as if there is some plot afoot involving Miss Sandow’s gold statuettes.”
Chief Reynolds looked thoughtful. “The Chumash Hoard is a local legend, and it may well exist. From what I’ve heard, a lot of people might risk a great deal to get it.”
“And do a great deal,” Mr. Harris said grimly. “But I’m worried about Bob and Pete. According to Jupiter, they should be here.”
“We’d better have a look around,” Chief Reynolds decided, “in case they were here before you returned.”
Inside, Mr. Harris and Jupiter searched the ground floor. Chief Reynolds and his men examined the upper floors. When they met again outside Mr. Harris’s office, no one had found a trace of Bob and Pete. Jupiter was alarmed.
“They’ve got to be around here somewhere!” he declared.
Mr. Harris frowned. “You don’t think that perhaps they saw the dark men and followed them?”
“That would be just like the boys,” Chief Reynolds acknowledged.
“But they would have reported in, sir,” Jupiter said.
“Perhaps not at once, Jupiter,” Mr. Harris said.
“That’s right,” the Chief agreed. “They might not have had a chance yet. But I don’t much like the idea of them trailing after those two men like that.”
Jupiter was not convinced, but he had to admit that if Bob and Pete had spotted the two men they might well have tried to follow them and find out where they were hiding. It was what he himself would have done.
“I think we’d better start looking for the boys,” Chief Reynolds decided.
“At once!” Mr. Harris agreed. “But before you go, Chief, I’d like you to take the second amulet to your office. I don’t want to keep it here.”
They went into Mr. Harris’s office. The vegetarian strode to his safe, opened it, and took out a small box. He carried the box to his desk, which was littered with the remains of a hurried meal.
“Pardon the mess, I was eating a snack at my desk,” he said, sweeping the debris into his wastepaper basket, and opening the box. “There, that’s what all the fuss seems to be about.”
They crowded round and looked down at the second grinning little gold man. The Chief examined it, shaking his head in bafflement over what importance it could have, then passed it along to Jupiter. The First Investigator opened the secret compartment, but found it was empty.
“No message in this one, sir,” he said.
“Then it looks as if those two ruffians are after the amulet itself, wouldn’t you say?” Mr. Harris commented. “I’ll feel better with it in the hands of the police. At least, no one can steal it, and we can turn our attention to tracking down the villains and finding out what they’re up to.”
“Maybe Bob and Pete can tell us where to find them,” Chief Reynolds said. “That is, if we can just locate Bob and Pete. Come on, Jupiter, I think we’d better start looking for them.”
“Call me the instant you have any information and let me know if there is anything I can do,” said Mr. Harris. “Tomorrow I’m going to ask young Ted Sandow some questions.” Harris’s voice sounded stern. “I hope he has an explanation.”
Outside on the street again, the Chief and his men hurried to their car. Jupiter followed more slowly, his keen eyes searching the hot, sunny neighbourhood. Suddenly, the stocky First Investigator pointed to the small alley between two old houses across the street.
“Chief! I see something! Tyre marks over there!” Jupiter raced across the street. Chief Reynolds caught up with him in the narrow alleyway.
“They were here, Chief! I recognize a patch in Bob’s tyre tracks. They must have been hiding in this alley, watching the house. Look, on the ground there!”
Where Pete had crouched, waiting, there was a small pile of stones in the shape of a crude cone.
“Pete always piles stones like that,” Jupiter said. “It’s a reflex.”
“Then they must have seen someone and followed them. Their bikes aren’t here.”
Jupiter looked all round the alley. “I don’t know, sir. They should have left some sign if they had done that. We always carry coloured chalk to leave a trail.”
“They probably didn’t have time. We’ll send out an All-Points Bulletin on them at once. I don’t think we ought to alarm their parents yet.”
“No, sir,” Jupiter agreed. “Possibly they’re back at the salvage yard by now.”
“I hope so, son,” Chief Reynolds said. “I only wish we had more to go on. I’m sure we’ll find, the dark men eventually, but I wish I had a better idea of who that laughing shadow could be.”
“He’s tall, sir. We know that. And the two men are quite short. Ted Sandow is tall.”
“But you boys are familiar with Ted Sandow’s voice, right? Wouldn’t you know if he was the laughing shadow?”