William Arden - The Mystery of the Headless Horse

“The cover might have been hidden by whoever smuggled the sword in to Don Sebastián,” Pico pointed out.

“That’s another fishy part of the story,” Jupe said. “Why smuggle a valuable sword practically into the hands of the enemy? If Don Sebastián needed a weapon, why not take him a gun? He couldn’t very well fight with a jewel-covered ceremonial sword.”

Pico shrugged. “We don’t know for sure there were jewels.”

“Well, here’s what I think might have happened back then,” said Jupiter. “The Americans really arrested Don Sebastián to try to get the Cortés Sword. Yes, Bob, I know what Professor Moriarty said,” Jupe interrupted his account as he saw Bob about to object, “but Frémont’s soldiers could have been greedy, as well as eager to control local leaders. The men in Rocky Beach could easily have heard about Don Sebastián’s fabulous sword. Now, say Don Sebastián had hidden the sword in the statue. When he escaped from arrest, Sergeant Brewster and his two confederates went after him. They decided to try to get the sword for themselves, so they cooked up the shooting story to hide what they were doing. Then they deserted and went looking for Don Sebastián and the sword. Don Sebastián was afraid they’d find the sword where it was, so he got it and re-hid it. He left the cover in the statue — maybe to confuse them.”

“And what happened to Don Sebastián?” Pico said.

“I don’t know,” Jupiter said lamely.

“You don’t know very much, Jupiter,” Pico said, shaking his head, “and all you’ve said is the wildest speculation. Even if you are partly right, and my great-great-grandfather did escape alive, where did he hide the sword, and how will you find it?”

“What about Don Sebastián’s letter, Jupe?” Bob said.

Jupiter nodded quickly, and handed the copy of the letter to Pico.

“Would you translate it, Pico?” he asked, and motioned to Bob. “Write down the translation, Records.”

“Records?” repeated Diego, “why do call him Records?”

“Because he’s the Records and Research man of The Three Investigators,” explained Jupiter, “We sometimes call Pete ‘Second’ because he’s the Second Investigator. And I’m First!”

Pico had been studying Don Sebastián’s letter. “I know this letter,” he said. “My grandfather often read it, looking for a clue to the lost sword, but he never found one.” He translated the letter aloud: “ ‘Condor Castle, 13 thSeptember, 1846. My dear José, I hope you are well and doing your duty as a Mexican. The Yankees are in our poor town, and I have been arrested. They will not tell me why, but I suspect, eh? I am a prisoner in the Cabrillo house near the sea, and they will let no one visit me or even speak to me. The others of our family are well, and all else is safe. Soon, I know, we will meet in our victory!’ ”

Bob looked at what he had written in his notebook.

“That stuff about suspecting why he was arrested,” he said. “You think he meant that the Americans wanted the sword, just as Jupe said?”

“And what about ‘all else is safe!’ ” Pete exclaimed. “Maybe he was telling José the sword was safely hidden!”

“Let me see,” Jupiter said, taking Bob’s notebook. “Perhaps you’re both right. I’m not sure. But I am sure now that Sergeant Brewster was lying in his report!”

“What makes you sure of that, Jupiter?” Pico asked.

“Sergeant Brewster stated in his report of the escape and shooting that Don Sebastián was armed with a sword, probably smuggled to him by a visitor! But Don Sebastián wasn’t allowed any visitors, so he couldn’t have been smuggled a sword! Brewster made that up to justify his story of the shooting, and to make people think that the sword was lost. I’m convinced the whole report was a lie to hide what he and his friends were up to!”

Pico studied the letter. “Yes, I see, but I still — ”

Outside in the rain there was a loud thud, a crash, and then the sound of logs rolling together. Feet pounded away.

“You! Stop!” a voice cried out.

The Investigators and the Alvaros ran from the cottage. They were just in time to see a horse galloping away to the left beyond the barn. A small, white-haired old man stood in the yard.

“Someone was listening at your window, Pico!” the old man cried. “I was coming to speak with you, and saw him! When he heard me, he ran and fell over the stack of firewood. He went behind the barn. He had a horse there!”

“Did you see who it was?” Diego cried.

The old man shook his head. “My eyes are not what they once were, Diego. A man or boy, I could not tell.”

“You are getting wet, Don Emiliano,” Pico said, his voice and manner respectful to the old man. “Come inside, please.”

Inside the cottage, Pico sat the old man near the fire, and introduced him to the boys. Emiliano Paz smiled at them.

“Was he out there very long, sir?” Jupiter asked.

“I do not know. Only now did I come from the house.”

“Who do you think it was, First?” Bob asked. “Why would he be listening at the Alvaro’s window?”

“I don’t know,” Jupiter said, “but I wonder if he heard us talking about the Cortés Sword?”

“Is that bad, Jupe?” Pete said.

“I suspect that Mr. Norris and his people wouldn’t want us to find a valuable sword,” Jupiter said grimly. “Last night, Skinny was pretty interested in what we might be doing.”

“I do not think it matters, Jupiter,” Pico said. “If all your speculations are true, they still tell us nothing about where the sword could be, or even if it still exists at all.”

“I’m sure that Don Sebastián knew those three soldiers were after the sword, and that he hid it,” Jupiter declared stubbornly. “And I’m sure he would have left a clue for his son. If not in that letter, then somewhere. But there should be some clue in the letter. He was a prisoner and in danger, and he must have thought it might be his only chance to tell José where to find the sword.”

They all looked at the letter again. Pico and Diego re-read the original, and the Investigators studied the translation Bob had taken down.

“If there’s a code, I sure don’t see it,” Pete said.

Pico shook his head. “It is a simple letter, Jupiter. I see nothing that could be a clue or a code in the Spanish.”

“Except maybe those hints about everything being safe,” Diego said.

“Jupe?” Bob said suddenly. “That heading at the top, above the date — Condor Castle. What is that? Do you know, Pico?”

“No,” Pico said slowly, puzzled. “A place, I think. People in those days, and even today, often put where they are writing from at the top of a letter. A town, a hacienda, a house.”

“But,” Bob said, “Don Sebastián wrote the letter in a Cabrillo house.”

“And his home was your hacienda,” Jupiter added. “Did you know it by that name? Was it ever called Condor Castle?”

“No,” Pico said. “It was always Hacienda Alvaro.”

“Then why did he write Condor Castle at the top?” Pete cried. “Unless it was some special place that José would know about! A clue!”

Jupiter pulled out his road map of the county. Everyone else peered over his shoulder as he studied it. Then Jupiter sighed and sat back.

“No Condor Castle,” he said unhappily, and then looked up. “Wait! This is a modern map! In 1846 the map would — ”

“I have an old map,” Emiliano Paz said.

The old man left the cottage. The others waited for him impatiently. At last the old man came back with a yellowed old map. Dated 1844, it was half in Spanish and half in English. Both Pico and Jupiter read it carefully.

“Nothing,” Pico said. “There is no Condor Castle.”