The Secret of Phantom Lake - Arden William (книги бесплатно TXT) 📗

“He’s right, Chief,” Jupiter said. “Professor Shay is the thief!” He explained all he had deduced. “I suspect that Stebbins never was a thief. I think he discovered that Professor Shay was after the treasure some time ago, so the professor had him sent to prison on a false charge!”

“It’s true!” Stebbins nodded. “When I got out on parole, I came back here to watch Professor Shay and prove my innocence!”

Chief Reynolds looked severely at Professor Shay. “If you have the treasure, Professor, I suggest you tell us where it is right now. It will go easier for you in the long run.”

Professor Shay shrugged. “Very well. Jupiter has beaten me. The back seat of my car is hollow, it’s all under there.”

Two policemen removed the back seat. They took out a pea-jacket, sailor’s cap, muddy boots, heavy trousers — and a rubber mask of Java Jim’s face with black beard, scars and all!

“He just pulled it over his whole head,” Chief Reynolds said. “With the cap, pea-jacket, and disguised voice — he was Java Jim!”

But no one listened to the chief. They were all staring at the glittering mass under the hollow seat. There were rings, bracelets, necklaces, jewelled daggers and boxes, and hundreds of gold coins. The hoard stolen by East Indian pirates from countless ships and towns!

“Wow!” Pete breathed. “It must be worth millions!”

“Fantastic,” Chief Reynolds said.

“I cannae believe it!” Rory said with wonder.

Professor Shay suddenly wailed, “It’s mine, you hear? I’m not the thief— old Angus was the thief! He stole it from my ancestor! I’m a descendant of the Captain of the Argyll Queen’.”

“That is a matter for the courts,” Chief Reynolds said sternly. “After a hundred years, I doubt if you can prove your claim. Your Captain stole it, too — from the pirates. And they stole it in the first place. I’d say it belongs to Mrs. Gunn now. As for not being a thief, perhaps not, but you could go to prison for breaking into houses and assaulting people!”

“And for framing Stebbins!” Bob suggested.

Chief Reynolds nodded. “Take the professor away, men!”

The professor was led away to the police car.

With Chief Reynolds, the others went to the house to get a chest for the treasure, which the chief had to hold as evidence for the time being. In the house, Cluny excitedly told Mrs. Gunn all that had happened. Mrs. Gunn was dazed.

“Then there is a treasure, and you found it?” she marvelled.

“And it’s ours, Mum!” Cluny cried. “We’re rich!”

Mrs. Gunn smiled. “We’ll have to see about that, but I thank you, boys. You are really fine detectives!”

The boys beamed happily.

“Jupe?” Pete said slowly. “I don’t understand one thing. Professor Shay was Java Jim all along and was after the treasure, but you said Rory did burn the shed and lock us in the quarry and try to stop us getting the treasure. Why did he do that?”

Jupiter grinned at Rory. “Well, I’m not sure, Second, but I think I could guess. I think Rory wants to marry Mrs. Gunn, and he was afraid that if she were rich she wouldn’t need him!”

Mrs. Gunn looked at Rory in surprise. The craggy Scotsman turned beet red.

“Why, Rory,” Mrs. Gunn smiled. “I never guessed.”

Everyone grinned at him. Rory blushed even more furiously.

22

Congratulations from Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock sighed behind his desk. The Three Investigators had once again come to his office with an incredible tale.

“So after a hundred years there was a treasure, and despite seemingly impossible difficulties you found it!” the great motion-picture director said. “Very well, I will write an introduction for this case. Such bulldog tenacity must be honoured.”

“Thank you, sir!” Bob and Pete cried.

“We’ve also been honoured with a few pieces of the treasure,” Jupe said. “Mrs. Gunn gave them to us as a reward. And she told us to keep the ring we found in the secret compartment of the sea chest. It turned out to be rather valuable. We thought you might like to have this, sir.” He held out a jewelled Malay dagger. “For your collection. A pirate weapon from the treasure.”

“Thank you, Jupiter,” Mr. Hitchcock said. “But I am, perhaps, even more interested in the story. There could be a movie plot in it. Professor Shay is a descendant of that nefarious Captain of the Argyll Queen?”

“He is, sir,” Jupiter replied. “He’s a real historian, too, and was a sailor in his youth. It was his interest in history and the sea that made him study his own family and discover the story of the treasure. He took the job here to look for the pirate hoard. Stebbins found out what he was doing, so he framed Stebbins and sent him to prison. When Mrs. Gunn gave old Angus’s first journal to the Historical Society, he did notice the missing two months between the end of the journal and old Angus’s murder, as I suspected. He guessed there had to be a second journal somewhere.

“He broke into the Gunns’ house repeatedly to search old Angus’s things. He also traced what Mrs. Gunn had sold. When he missed getting the chest in San Francisco, he came to the roadside museum where he ran into us. Mr. Acres, the museum owner, knew him already, and Shay didn’t want anyone to suspect he was after the treasure, so he used the Java Jim disguise. He invented Java Jim in the first place to keep everyone from guessing he wanted the treasure.

“After he joined with us in the search, he wanted to prove there was a Java Jim, so he cooked up that story of Java Jim breaking into the Historical Society. That was a mistake, because the moment I guessed Shay could be the thief, the story was an obvious lie. Java Jim had no real reason to break into the Society.”

“Ah, the criminal mind,” Mr. Hitchcock said. “Always trying to be too clever, going too far.”

“He’s not really a criminal, sir,” Bob said. “He just got carried away by greed. He says he’s sorry now. Mrs. Gunn has decided that he does have a real claim to the treasure, so she’s giving him a third. He’s going to use it for his defence, and give most of it to the Historical Society for exhibition.”

“Mrs. Gunn is a most generous lady,” the famous director observed. “Perhaps Professor Shay can reform. He will go to prison?”

“Mrs. Gunn won’t prosecute him, and neither will we,” Jupiter said. “There’s no proof he broke into the Gunn house. However, he’ll stand trial for his worst crime — the perjury and criminal fraud in accusing Stebbins and sending him to jail.”

Mr. Hitchcock nodded solemnly. “Young Stebbins was simply following the professor to try to establish his own innocence?”

“Yes, sir,” Pete agreed. “And he was desperately trying to find out how much Shay knew. He saw Shay as Java Jim run from the salvage yard with the oilskin cover, and later saw Java throw it away as empty. It made him realise there was a second journal, and he didn’t know then that we had it. So he went to the lodge to search. Rory saw him and chased him.”

“Later,” Hitchcock deduced, “Stebbins saw you boys with the journal and photographed it so he could know what was going on. He really wanted to help, but he was afraid no one would believe him against Professor Shay.”

“Yes, sir” Bob exclaimed. “He was afraid we’d believe anything Professor Shay told us. So he just followed us all, hoping to find some evidence against Shay and helping us out of tight spots along the way.”

“He’s been completely exonerated,” Jupiter added. “The Historical Society gave him his job back!”

“Excellent!” Mr. Hitchcock boomed. “And what of the romantic Rory?”

“Well” — Jupiter smiled — ”he admits he wants to marry Mrs. Gunn. He tried to stop us only because he was afraid she wouldn’t marry a poor man if she were rich.”

“And what does the lady say to the idea of marriage?”

“She says she’ll think about it,” Pete replied with a grin.