The Mystery Of The Singing Serpent Part 14

Allie looked at the little black box in her hand. "What is it? What's the matter?"

Hendricks s.n.a.t.c.hed the thing and threw it. He threw blindly. It arched high in the air, landed on the sidewalk across the street, bounced twice and hit the wall of Noxworth's little market.

There was a flash and a roar, and the windows of Noxworth's Mini Market collapsed inward!

Jupe had a glimpse of Noxworth's face, white with terror, peering from behind a counter. Then Hendricks was racing down the street after the fleeing tramp.

"It was a bomb!" said Allie. "I thought it was a radio."

"Allie, my girl, you've led a sheltered life," declared Pete. "Hardly any real tramps own transistor radios."

Chapter 20.

Wanted: One Witch Doctor ON THE RETURN TRIP from Los Angeles, Allie sat in the back of the truck with the boys.

"Now the police will question Aunt Pat, won't they?" she asked.

"I'm sure they'll be gentle with her," said Jupe. "After all, she isn't a criminal."

"I wanted to keep her out of this."

"There wasn't any way," Bob told her. "Once the police knew how dangerous Shaitan was, we had to tell them everything."

"Allie, you were great," said Pete. "If you hadn't picked up that bomb, Hendricks' store would have been blown up." He chuckled. "I'd hate to see anything happen to Hendricks.

What a guy! How'd you like the flying tackle when he caught up with that bogus tramp?

And the way he sat on the crook until the cops got there?"

"I enjoyed the look on Noxworth's face more," said Jupe. "The last thing he expected was to have his his windows blown in." windows blown in."

The truck stopped in front of Allie's house. Aunt Mathilda must have been watching for them, because the front door opened immediately.

"Where have you been?" called Aunt Mathilda. "Miss...o...b..rne is much worse. Dr.

Peters is with her now. I had to call him. Did you find her own doctor?"

"No, we didn't." Jupe hurried up the walk. He looked past Aunt Mathilda and saw Dr.

Peters.

"Does she have any close relations here?" asked the doctor.

Allie skidded past Jupe and Aunt Mathilda. "I'm it, at the moment," she said.

"I want to move her to a hospital," Dr. Peters said. "She won't consent."

Allie went up the stairs two at a time. Jupe followed her.

Miss Patricia Osborne looked like a shrunken doll under the covers of her big tester bed.

She turned away when Allie came into the room.

"Aunt Pat, you've got to snap out of this," scolded Allie. "It's all over. Shaitan is a con man and the cops are going to grab him."

Pat Osborne didn't stir.

Allie seized her arm and shook her. "You've got to help yourself now. Come on! You need to be in the hospital."

Miss...o...b..rne touched Allie's hand. "The necklace," she whispered. "Get it, Allie, please?"

Allie pulled away. "No. You can't give the necklace to Shaitan. Didn't you hear what I've been telling you? By this time, Shaitan's in jail where he can't hurt anyone."

"You betrayed him?" Fresh horror showed in Pat Osborne's face. "Allie, he'll blame me!"

"Nonsense!" Allie tugged at one of her wrists. "Come on, now, Aunt Pat."

Jupe took Allie's elbow. "Let her alone," he counseled. He led Allie into the hall. "She can't help herself," he said. "Don't you see? She's more afraid of Shaitan in jail than out.

There's only one thing to do. We fight fire with fire."

"How?" asked Allie.

"She's been bewitched."

"Jupiter Jones, you know that's hogwash!"

"But your aunt believes it, and it's killing her. We have to take off the curse. We have to find another witch doctor. It's in all the anthropology books. When someone's been cursed, you find another witch doctor to send back the curse."

Allie sagged against the wall. "Where do we get a witch doctor?"

"I think I know." Jupiter started downstairs.

In the lower hall, Bob and Pete milled around a worried Aunt Mathilda. The doctor was pacing in the living room.

"That professor at Ruxton University," said Jupe to Bob. "The one who wrote the book on magic. Do you remember his name?"

"Bannister, I think. No. No, it's Barrister. Henry Barrister."

"That sounds right. And Ruxton is just over the hills in the valley." Jupe started for the kitchen, and the two other boys trailed him.

"Are you going to do what I think you're going to do?" asked Bob.

"I am," said Jupe. "We've had black magic, and now we need a white witch. It could be Barrister. He certainly knows the subject."

Jupe took the telephone from the wall and dialed the information operator. "Have you a listing for Henry Barrister in Ruxton?" he asked.

Bob put a pad on the counter in front of Jupe and handed him a pencil. Jupe wrote down a number the operator gave him and hung up. "If only he's at home," he said.

He dialed the Ruxton number. At the other end of the line, a telephone rang and rang.

Then there was a click as someone lifted the receiver.

"Is this Dr. Barrister of Ruxton University?" asked Jupiter.

After a pause, the other boys heard Jupiter say, "Good! My name is Jupiter Jones, Dr.

Barrister, and I need your help. It's difficult to explain over the telephone, but there's a woman here who has had a curse put on her, and we -" Jupiter stopped talking and listened.

"Yes, she's very ill," he said.

Again Jupiter listened.

"Yesterday," he said. "A package was delivered to her. It contained a statue of a serpent."

After a few moments, Jupiter said, "I'm calling from Rocky Beach. The woman's name is Miss Patricia Osborne."

There was another pause, and Jupe said, "That's very kind of you." He gave the address of the Jamison house and hung up.

"He's coming," he told Pete and Bob. "He said he'll bring someone who can take off the curse."

"Hot dog!" crowed Pete. "A voodoo priest, maybe?"

"We'll see," said Jupiter.

The kitchen door opened and Aunt Mathilda put her head in. "Jupiter, what are you doing?"

"I found a doctor, Aunt Mathilda. Dr. Barrister."

"Thank heavens! Dr. Peters isn't able to get anywhere with Miss...o...b..rne. Maybe she'll listen to her own doctor."

"Let's hope so. He's on his way."

"Good. I'll go and sit with her in the meantime. And one of you boys should see to that horse."

Allie drifted into the kitchen. "I'll take care of Queenie," she told Aunt Mathilda.

"The doctor's coming," said Jupe to Allie.

"You found one? That's great!"

Aunt Mathilda went upstairs and Dr. Peters took his leave, fussing and promising to return later. The boys wandered out to the veranda and sat down on the steps. Allie joined them presently. "How long will it be?" she asked.

"Very soon now," said Jupe.

And very soon a car turned onto the street and came at a rapid clip toward the Jamison house. It swerved into the driveway and the motor died. The driver got out and rushed up the walk.

"Jupiter Jones!" said the man.

Jupe started, and so did the others.

"Miss Jamison, I'm very sorry," said the man to Allie. "I had no idea things would go so far."

Jupe stood up. "Just who are you?" he demanded.

"I'm Dr. Barrister, and I should have known better. I thought they were the usual harmless dabblers in magic."

Allie gasped. "You ... you shaved off your mustache!" she managed at last.

The man who had been known as Bentley touched his upper lip and smiled. "It wasn't real. I thought if I was going to be a snoop, I'd need a disguise."

Chapter 21.

Mara's White Magic DR. BARRISTER SAT IN THE Jamison living room and turned the little figure of the cobra in his hands. "An intricate bit of work," he said, "but then, they weren't playing to a primitive audience. A wax doll wouldn't have been convincing."

"Does it matter what the witch uses?" asked Pete.

Barrister put the serpent down. "Not at all, so long as the victim knows he's been cursed. The power of suggestion takes over. The victim is terrified, and the terror doesn't end."

"Can you help?" asked Allie. "Can you make Aunt Pat believe you're taking the curse off?"

"Not I. Do I look like a witch doctor?"

Allie and the boys had to admit that he didn't. Whether you called him Bentley or Barrister, he was the same calm, inoffensive person.

"Your aunt has seen me pushing a vacuum cleaner in this house," he said. "She wouldn't believe in me, but I think she'll believe in Mara. Mara is very convincing. She's waiting in the car. I've explained the entire affair to her and she knows what to do."

"Is she a witch doctor?" asked Bob.

"She's a gypsy, and she does seem to have certain gifts," said Barrister. "She can cure warts, for example, and she has had some success as a fortune teller. She's also mastered a ritual which is guaranteed to send the most stubborn curse back to the one who inflicted it.

You'll have to help her, but you may enjoy that. I'll go get her."

He went out of the room and returned shortly, bringing with him a wrinkled woman whose hair was bound up with a number of scarfs. Mara's blouse was a faded pink, and her wide green skirt reached to the tops of her scuffed shoes. There was an air about her of dust and old clothing, but there was also a brightness. Her black eyes sparkled under s.h.a.ggy brows.

She picked up the serpent. "Is this it?"