“Mr. Harris is a fraud, sir!” Jupiter shouted. “He’s trying to get the Hoard. We saw him driving away fast from his headquarters. I think he’s gone to the Sandow Estate, and I’m sure he has Bob and Pete.”
“Whoa, Jupiter. Let me see what you have.” The Chief examined the stains on the wrapper. “So he’s not even a vegetarian. The League is a fraud, too. Well, that fits.”
Jupiter gaped. “Fits what, Chief?”
“What I’ve found out,” the Chief said, and his eyes twinkled. “You boys aren’t the only detectives in Rocky Beach. I have been talking to the authorities in Australia. They know nothing about Ted Sandow, but they did know an Albert Harris. Your hunch was right.”
“What did you find out, sir?”
The Chief stood up. “I’ll tell you as we go. There’s no time to lose now. We haven’t found a trace of the missing dark men, but I have a feeling that when we find Mr. Harris we’ll find them. I’ve called Mr. Andrews, and we’ll pick him up on our way. Pete’s dad is away, unfortunately.”
“Where are we going, Chief?” Jupiter wanted to know.
“Why, the Sandow Estate. I’m certain that you’re right about that, too. That’s where we’ll find our villains.”
“Perhaps we ought to take the Rolls-Royce, sir,” Jupiter suggested. “Mr. Harris doesn’t know we use it, and he might try to escape if he sees a police car.”
“A good idea, Jupiter. have my men come along behind in the police car.”
The chief ordered four men into the police car and instructed them to follow the Rolls-Royce but not too closely. Then Worthington drove Jupiter and the Chief to Bob’s house. Mr. Andrews hurried out and climbed in.
“What’s happening, Chief?” he asked in a worried voice. “Have you located Bob and Pete?”
“Not yet, Mr. Andrews, but we will,” Chief Reynolds said.
“How did all this come about?” Mr. Andrews wanted to know.
Chief Reynolds quickly summed up all that had happened to The Three Investigators. “They’ve done good work, Mr. Andrews. You should be proud of them. Without them, Miss Sandow and Ted could be in grave trouble, and we wouldn’t have known until too late. The boys acted well and carefully. They had no way of knowing about Harris. He fooled everyone.”
“Just who is this Harris?” Mr. Andrews asked uneasily.
“A thief and a fraud, as Jupiter and the boys have shown,” the Chief replied as Worthington drove up the winding road towards the pass in the fading twilight. “I just talked with the police in Sydney, Australia. Harris is a wanted man down there. He’s a notorious confidence man, cat-burglar, extortionist, and much more. He’s often posed as the leader of some fake organization to fleece innocent people. He’s even wanted in Mexico, where he operated a fraudulent scheme to aid poor Indians.”
“Mexico, sir?” Jupiter said. “Was he there recently?”
“More than once, and the most recent visit was only a year or so ago. The Australians think he was also in California for a while less than a year ago.”
“That must have been when he learned of the Chumash Hoard and Miss Sandow,” Jupiter decided.
“I suspect that he read about her brother’s death in one of the local papers,” Chief Reynolds explained. “That was probably how he came to seek out Ted Sandow in England.”
They reached the top of the pass, with Worthington driving fast but with perfect control, and raced on in the dark night to the iron gates. The big gold car had long outdistanced the following police car. The gates were open. Worthington swung the car through them with scarcely a slackening in the pace of the powerful machine.
The great car roared on until Worthington brought it to a gentle stop at the front door of the big Spanish-style house. They piled out quickly, and Chief Reynolds motioned everyone to silence. There were no lights on in the house, and no sign of life.
“It looks like no one’s here,” Chief Reynolds said in disappointment
“They may have left some clue, though, as to where they went,” Jupiter suggested.
“Let’s take a look at least,” Mr. Andrews urged. “Bob and Pete may be locked up somewhere inside.”
Chief Reynolds nodded, and signalled to his men in the police car, which had just arrived and parked quietly some distance from the house. While the men spread out around the house, the Chief led Jupiter, Mr. Andrews and Worthington inside.
They searched all the downstairs rooms cautiously, but found nothing. Jupiter bit his lip in chagrin. Were they too late? Had Mr. Harris kidnapped everyone so he could hold them as hostages until he got away with the Chumash Hoard? Then Worthington spoke quietly:
“Gentlemen, I believe I hear something.”
They all listened in the dark house.
Thump — thump — thump — thump!
“It’s upstairs,” Chief Reynolds said. “At the back!”
With the Chief leading the way, his pistol in hand, they mounted the stairs carefully and went along the first floor corridor towards the source of the banging.
Thump — thump — thump!
“In there,” Mr. Andrews said, pointing to a door in the left wall.
The door was locked. Chief Reynolds motioned for them to stand back while he hurled his bulk against the door. It cracked but did not break down. The Chief battered it again, and it flew open. His pistol ready. The Chief led the way into the room.
“There!” Mr. Andrews cried.
Something that looked like an Egyptian mummy lay on the floor in a corner of the dark room, thumping its legs against a wall. It was Ted Sandow trussed up and gagged. They freed the English boy, and he cried:
“Aunt Sarah! Over there!”
The frail little woman was tied firmly to a chair with a gag in her mouth. Worthington released her, and she stared with wide, shocked eyes at all of them.
“I… I… what happened?” Her eyes were dazed, confused. “I remember Mr. Harris bringing me my afternoon tea, and the next thing I knew I awakened here in this chair! My goodness, I’ve never been so frightened. And poor Theodore! On the floor!”
The fluttering little lady hurried to Ted and clucked over him like a hen. Ted smiled at her, then turned to Jupiter.
“After I left you in the library, Jupiter, I came back to find that both you and Mr. Harris had gone. He didn’t return until late afternoon. He told me he had some important evidence about the amulet to show me upstairs. Naturally, I came up with him and suddenly he must have struck me on the head from behind. When I regained consciousness I was tied up like a mummy. I’ve been here ever since.”
“Of course!” Jupiter was beginning to understand the whole plot. “When Mr. Harris and I came back from the lodge, he must have told me that you had driven off somewhere in order to make me suspicious. You hadn’t gone out at all.”
“It also gave Harris a chance to reach his office in time to abduct Bob and Pete,” Chief Reynolds added. “Jupiter had told him that they would be there.”
“Please,” Jupiter groaned, “don’t remind me. I told him everything, and he got us all out of the way!”
“He must be going for the Hoard tonight,” Ted said. “I feel completely responsible. He wormed his way into my confidence to get here. All that about you boys being thieves, and the reward, was his idea. He suggested reaching you by offering the junk. He used me like a toy.”
“Don’t blame yourself, Theodore.” Aunt Sarah tried to console him. “He took me in, too. I even donated money to his League. He had such fine letters of introduction from other vegetarians I know.”
“Forged, I’m sure,” Chief Reynolds said. “A tricky man.”