William Arden - The Mystery of the Laughing Shadow

“Would you repeat what that old Indian said, Jupiter?” Ted asked.

“Well, in essence,” Jupiter explained, “he said that the Hoard was ‘in the eye of the sky where no man could find it.’ ”

“Gosh, what could it mean?” Ted wondered. “And what does it have to do with Aunt Sarah’s statuette? Why did you say that prisoners are being held on the estate?”

Before Jupiter could answer, they heard Miss Sandow calling from outside.

“Theodore! I need you for a moment. Where are you, Theodore?”

Ted hurried out of the house in answer to his aunt’s summons. As soon as he had gone, Jupiter spoke quickly to Mr. Harris:

“Sir, I know the laughing shadow is real because I’ve heard it myself! And I know there are prisoners on the estate, because there was a message inside the amulet when we found it!”

“A message? Inside the statuette?” Mr. Harris looked concerned.

“A call for help,” Jupiter said.

“Have you notified the police?”

“No, sir, we didn’t really have anything to tell.”

“No, I see that.” Mr. Harris seemed to be considering the problem. “When did you see this laughing shadow?”

“Last night just before we met Ted,” Jupiter said, and told Mr. Harris what he and Pete had seen at the lodge on the estate.

“What do you make of it, Jupiter?”

“I think that those four strange shapes were prisoners with bags over their heads! That’s why it looked as if they had no heads at all.”

“What?” Mr. Harris exclaimed. “Four prisoners in Miss Sandow’s lodge? Held by that laughing shadow! Outrageous. How could such things go on right under Miss Sandow’s nose?”

“How much do you really know about Ted Sandow, sir?” Jupiter said blunty.

“Ted?” Mr. Harris gaped and blinked. “You think that Ted is involved? By thunder, I’m going to get to the bottom of this! Come on, Jupiter, I want to look at that lodge!”

Mr. Harris strode to the desk and opened a drawer. When he turned, he held a pistol in his hand.

Mr. Harris gripped the pistol grimly as he and Jupiter moved silently along the forest path towards the lodge. The vegetarian’s ruddy face was serious and determined as they hastened on under the shadows of the trees.

“And you think that the dark men who attacked you and took the statuette are the same ones who attacked me?” Mr. Harris said as he walked.

“They must be, sir.”

“If that’s true, they may also be the ones who are holding prisoners out here. We had better approach the lodge with caution.”

“They’ll probably be gone by now, sir, especially if the shadow saw Bob and me last night.”

“That remains to be seen. If they’re so bold as to hold prisoners right on the estate, they may not have been scared by two boys. What I don’t understand is what they think they’re up to, you see.”

“I guess I don’t understand that, either,” Jupiter admitted unhappily. “Maybe the prisoners are the ones who really know the secret of where the Hoard is, and those dark men and the laughing shadow are trying to find it.”

“That could be, Jupiter. Yes, you may have hit on it. And perhaps we can catch the ruffians red-handed!”

They hurried on as quietly as they could in the deep forest shadows and came to where the smaller path led down into the bowl-shaped valley. The truck no longer stood in front of the lodge. The building looked much less mysterious in the bright noon sunlight.

Mr. Harris motioned for Jupiter to crouch low in the trees and be silent. Then he began to work his way stealthily down the slope through the trees. Jupiter examined the lodge closely. There was no sign of movement anywhere. The shutters on the lodge windows were open, and so was the front door. As soon as he saw the open door Jupiter was certain that there would be no one inside.

Mr. Harris wasn’t taking any chances. He continued to slip silently down through the trees until he reached the edge of the open clearing at the bottom of the valley. There he stopped for a moment, surveying the lodge. On the rim of the valley, Jupiter fidgeted under the enforced inaction. But then Mr. Harris left the trees and ran to a corner of the lodge, holding his pistol in one hand, Jupiter watched him peer in at a window.

Mr. Harris left the window and ran round to the open front door. He went inside quickly. Jupiter waited. He could hear a lot of noise inside the lodge. Then Mr. Harris appeared at the door and waved. Jupiter scrambled down the path and joined the vegetarian in front of the lodge.

“Empty, lad. I looked under everything. Not a hair of them, but they were here all right. Look.”

Mr. Harris displayed a pair of small white trousers of a homespun material exactly like those worn by the two dark men.

“I should guess that it was Indian clothing, right enough. It looks as if your dark men were here. And the truck you saw was really here, too. There’s an oil patch on the roadway. Dry, though. I’d say the truck has been gone for some time.”

“Is there any sign of where they might have gone, Mr. Harris?” Jupiter asked.

“None that I could find, but let’s take another look. Maybe you can spot something.”

They went inside the lodge. Jupiter surveyed the scene. It was clear that the men he had seen last night had left the lodge in a hurry. Empty bottles lay around on the tables; remains of a meal had dried and hardened on unwashed plates still on the tables. But Jupiter could find nothing that gave even a hint of where the men had gone.

“I guess there’s nothing here,” he said, at last. “But I’m sure they must be somewhere on the estate!”

Mr. Harris shook his head. “It’s an awfully large estate, Jupiter. And most of it is mountainous. I’m afraid the rascals are gone. I’m sure that when you spotted them you blew their entire scheme and they ran.”

“I don’t think so, sir,” Jupiter insisted. “I think they’re still trying to find something. They chased Bob and me when we left your office.”

“Chased you? At my house?” Mr. Harris stared at Jupiter in astonishment. “But what could they want from you now?”

“Not from us, Mr. Harris. From you!” Jupiter declared.

“From me? What on earth could they want from me?”

“There must be something, sir. After they stole our amulet, they attacked

you during your lecture. Then when we left your office today they chased us again. They must have thought that you had given something to us.”

“Well, I’m… By Jove!” Mr. Harris cried. “The other statuette! I took it to my office for safe-keeping the very night the first one was stolen. I insisted Miss Sandow entrust it to me. I had completely forgotten about it. They must want both amulets.”

Jupiter nodded eagerly. “They probably need both of them to tell them where the hoard is.”

“Yes, that’s probably it,” Mr. Harris agreed. “What I don’t understand is how those men could have known I had the second amulet at my office.”

“They must have seen you take it there.”

“Impossible. It was in a box, and I carried it in my pocket. They couldn’t have spied on me in my office, either.”

“Could one of your assistants have told them?” Jupiter asked.

“No, they’re old friends and staunch vegetarians. Anyway, they knew nothing about the amulet.”

Jupiter chewed at his lower lip, a sure sign that he was concentrating. “Well, sir, Miss Sandow herself must have known you had it. So that’s one person.”

“I hardly think that Sarah Sandow is in cahoots with the thieves. Even if she wanted to look for the Hoard, she already had the amulets. And Sarah and Ted are the only — ”