“There! About three miles east in the mountains.”
Jupiter grinned. “Tomorrow, fellows, we’ll get on our bikes and pay a visit to Mrs. Angus Gunn!”
The day was clear and cold when the boys cycled out of the salvage yard early the next morning. But by the time they stopped at a side road in the mountains, the sun was hot.
“There it is,” Pete said, wiping his brow. “Phantom Lake Road. It goes right on up into the mountains.”
“And steep,” Jupiter moaned. “We’ll have to walk the bikes up. Come on.”
The boys pushed their bikes up the side road, winding through tall trees. A creek beside the road, full now in winter, accounted for the trees in the dry mountains.
“I wonder where they got the name —” Bob said. “Phantom Lake, I mean. I never heard of any lakes in our mountains.”
Jupiter frowned. “That is odd, Records.”
“There are some reservoirs,” Pete pointed out.
“Not named Phantom Lake,” Bob said, “and I don’t —”
All three boys heard the car. Ahead of them and above, coming fast down Phantom Lake Road. They could hear its tyres squealing on the curves long before they could see it. Then the car came into view, careering towards them.
“It’s the green VW!” Pete exclaimed.
“Is it Java Jim?” Bob cried.
“Quick!” Jupiter said. “Hide!”
They flung their bikes off the road and jumped into the bushes as the small foreign car bore down on them. It flashed past — and screeched to a skidding stop. A man jumped out and started to run towards them.
“Hey! You kids! Stop right there!”
The man wasn’t Java Jim. He was a small, thin, younger man with a thick moustache and wild black hair. He was dressed all in black. He ran towards the boys, his dark eyes blazing.
“What do you kids want?”
The boys backed away.
“Run!” Pete cried.
They began to run up the edge of the road. The young man shouted again and ran after them. They crashed through the undergrowth.
“Who… who is he, Jupe?” Bob said, panting,
Pete said, “Let’s get away first, and ask later!”
“Maybe we should stop and talk to —” Jupiter began.
Before he could finish, another sound seemed to fill the woods — the hoof beats of a galloping horse. The boys paused. A horseman appeared riding hard through the trees to the right of the road. Something long flashed in his hand as he rode.
“Wha… what… ” Pete stammered.
“Look!” Jupiter cried.
The horseman angled past them towards the green VW. The wild-haired young man had already turned and run back to his car. As the boys watched he got into it, started up, and skidded away in a cloud of dust towards the highway below. The horseman pursued the car for a few yards, then wheeled his horse and galloped back to the boys.
The great horse reared to a stop and the rider glared down at them. He was a short, stocky man with a harsh red face and fiery blue eyes. He wore a tweed jacket and narrow, almost skin-tight plaid trousers. The thing that had flashed in his hand was a long, heavy, basket-hilted sword!
“So! I’ve got you rascals! You’ll make no move now!”
“But —!” Jupiter started to protest.
“Silence!” the horseman thundered. “I’m not knowing what you and that older ruffian are doing here, but I will!”
Pete blurted out hotly, “We weren’t with —!”
“You can tell your lies to the police! Now march!”
“But, sir,” Jupiter started to say again, “we —”
“March, I said!” the angry horseman commanded.
He waved the long sword menacingly and urged his horse at the boys. They shrank, back, and quietly began to march up the road deeper into the mountains.
“Ten minutes later the road topped a ridge and dipped down into a high wooded valley surrounded by dry, rocky mountains. At the bottom lay a narrow pond, about twice as long as a football field. There was a small, hilly island in the pond with pine trees on it, and what looked like some kind of beacon — a tall pole with a lantern on it. A series of stones led from the island across a narrow channel to the shore.
Pete gaped. “Is that supposed to be the lake?”
“Ye’ll no talk!” the horseman growled behind the boys. “On down with you now.”
The boys hurried on down the mountain road in the hot sun. After another moment, Pete whispered, “Some lake. It’s a puddle!” As the road curved down to the bottom, a house came into view. Set on high ground above the pond, it was a big old three-storied house of roughly plastered stone. A square tower with a battlement formed the middle section of the house and gave it a strange, alien air. Flanking the tower were two wings with dormer windows. The tangled old vines on the walls failed to soften the building’s harsh lines.
“Wow!” exclaimed Pete under his breath. “That house looks more like a fortress! You could stand on the tower and spot your enemies miles away!”
“It is an odd house,” Jupiter whispered back. “In fact, it doesn’t seem to belong here at all.”
The stocky horseman dismounted. “Inside wi’ ye!”
They went into a vast entry hall of panelled wood hung with tapestries, old weapons, and the heads of elk and deer. Faded Oriental rugs lay on the wooden floor. Everything was old and worn. The red-faced man herded them with his sword into a large living-room full of massive old furniture. A fire smouldered in an enormous stone fireplace but the room was still chilly.
A small woman was sitting in a chair in front of the fireplace. A redheaded boy about Bob’s size stood beside her. He wore the same tight plaid trousers as the horseman.
“You got him, Rory!” the boy cried.
“That I did not,” the horseman said. “The villain escaped in his car, but I’ve collared his confederates.”
“Why,” the woman said, “they’re only boys, Rory! Surely they can’t —?”