The Mystery Of The Singing Serpent Part 4

Worthington let the Ford drift to the right and brought it to a stop on the unpaved shoulder of the road. "I counted eleven cars," he said.

The boys looked back and saw the red-haired woman join Ariel and Pat Osborne outside a huge iron gate with spikes on the top. Ariel spoke briefly to the two women, then stepped to the wall near the gate. He reached up and took something from a niche in the wall.

"I think that's a telephone," said Bob.

It was a telephone. Ariel held the receiver to his ear, listened, then said a few words and replaced it in the niche. Seconds later, the watchers in the car heard a strident buzz. Hugo Ariel leaned on the gate and it swung open. The two women followed him through and the gate closed behind them.

Worthington and the boys waited, not speaking. No more cars appeared on Torrente Canyon Road. No one else approached the big gate. After fifteen minutes, Jupiter opened the door of the Ford. "The gathering of the fellowship must be complete," he announced.

"It now remains for us to discover what kind of fellowship it is."

The others got out of the car and followed Jupe to the gate in the brick wall. "Your Uncle t.i.tus would love to have this," said Bob admiringly, touching one of the scrolls which decorated the gate.

"I doubt that it's for sale," said Jupiter. He took hold of the polished bra.s.s handle and tried to force it down, then up. It would not budge. "Locked," he said. "I expected as much."

Pete was investigating the niche near the gate. "Shall we try the phone?" he said. "No dial. It must connect directly with the house."

"I say, Master Pete," warned Worthington.

Pete grinned and took the phone off its hook. He heard a clicking noise, and then, "The night is dark," said a voice on the telephone.

"Ah . . . well, yes, it soon will be," said Pete. "Sir, I represent the United Cookie Company, and this week we're offering a special on chocolate -"

The phone clicked and went dead.

"They aren't interested in cookies?" asked Jupe.

"They sure aren't." Pete replaced the receiver. "Darnedest way to answer a phone I ever heard. You know what he said? He said, 'The night is dark.' "

"Part of a pa.s.sword, no doubt," said Jupiter. "If we were members of this fellowship, we would know what to answer."

Bob looked in through the gate. "It is is getting dark," he said, "and look at that house. getting dark," he said, "and look at that house.

You can just make it out up at the end of the drive. There isn't a single light in the place."

It was true. No windows glowed in the house. It appeared only as a hulking ma.s.s against the evening sky.

"There are eleven cars parked on the road," said Jupe. "Two of the cars brought three people - the three we saw go in through the gate. That means there are at least nine more people visiting that house. Twelve in all."

"What are they doing?" asked Worthington. "There should be some some light." light."

"There may be heavy drapes," said Jupiter.

"And they could be using candles," Bob pointed out. "Candles seem to be important to these people, and they wouldn't show through drapes."

The Three Investigators stood in the darkening road and thought of the group that had gathered at the Jamison house the night before, of the candles glowing in the dining room and the goblet that had been pa.s.sed from one person to another. And they thought of the sound they had heard - the terrible, tuneless singing.

"I wonder if we'll hear it tonight," said Pete, almost to himself.

"Hear what?" asked Worthington.

"We aren't sure, Worthington," said Jupiter. "We think it's what Ariel calls the voice of the serpent. However, we'll never learn anything standing here."

"There might be another gate," said Bob.

"There might," agreed Jupe, "and it might even be unlocked. Most people are very particular about the locks on their front doors, but very few bother about their back doors.

It's a thing that causes the police no end of work."

"All right," said Pete. "Let's go and see."

"Worthington, why don't you stay in the car and keep the motor running?" said Jupe.

"We don't know anything about this fellowship. It's possible that we may have to leave, and leave quickly."

The chauffeur hesitated. "Very well," he said. "I'll turn the car around and keep the motor running." He walked away up the road, and the boys heard the door of the Ford open and close and the motor start. Headlights blinked on, and Worthington made his U-turn and coasted down past the gate. He went on for about fifty feet, then pulled to the side of the road. The headlights went out, and the road was suddenly very, very dark.

"I wish we'd brought a flashlight," said Pete.

"We're better off without one," Jupe told him. "We don't want to attract attention.

Let's go."

The Three Investigators began a careful circuit of the brick wall. They walked slowly, stopping from time to time to listen. They heard no sound from beyond the wall. Once Bob jumped and almost cried out when some small creature scuttled across his feet and dashed away.

"A fox," said Pete quickly.

"Did you see it?" asked Bob.

"No, but let's just say it was a fox."

"Quiet!" warned Jupe.

But then they were back on the paved road. They pa.s.sed Worthington and his softly purring car. They arrived at the big gate again. Their tour was finished and they had found nothing. There was no second gate. They knew only that the property was large - almost a block square - and that there were no near neighbours, and that the house at the head of the drive was still dark.

"We must get over that wall," decided Jupiter. "Pete, you're the athlete. I can lean on the wall and you can climb on my back."

"You're out of your mind!" declared Pete.

"I see no other way," said Jupe. "If you won't do it, I must, but it seems to me that you're the logical one. Once you get on top of the wall, you can help me up and we can help Bob. It's the only way we can get in to see what's happening in that house."

Pete sighed, as he had many times since joining Jupiter Jones and Bob Andrews. "I'm not sure I want to see," he muttered. But when Jupe bent, put his arms over his head and braced himself against the wall, Pete came through. He put one knee on Jupe's back, touched the wall with his hands, placed a sneakered foot on Jupe's shoulder and stood.

"Here goes," he said, planting both hands on the top of the wall. He pulled himself up.

He sat on the wall a moment to survey the dark grounds around the darker house. Then it happened.

The alarm bell rang first - an ear-shattering, persistent clanging.

"Get down!" cried Jupe from the roadway.

Floodlights blazed suddenly. There were eight of them, two at each corner of the wall.

Pete clutched at the bricks, caught and blinded by the blue-white glare.

"Jump!" shouted Jupiter.

Pete tried. He swung himself around and let his legs drop outside the wall. But then, under his hand, a brick slipped, gave way and fell. And Pete fell, too. Backward, inside the wall!

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Chapter 7.

Caught!

PETE LANDED ON HIS BACK on soft turf. He rolled a bit and brought himself to his knees. The alarm bell stopped clanging. Pete blinked and turned his head away from the glare of the floodlights.

A thickset man stood between Pete and the wall.

"You little sneak," said the man. He did not move, but his voice chilled Pete. "Just what do you think you're doing here?"

Pete opened his mouth to say something and found that his throat was suddenly very dry. He began to get up, and the man took a single menacing step toward him. Pete froze, half- crouching.

"Pete?" called Jupiter Jones from the other side of the wall. "Pete, did you find him?"

The man shifted and looked around. "Who's that?"

There were quick footsteps beyond the wall, and Jupe appeared at the gate. "Hey, mister,"

he said to the man who stood over Pete, "did you see him?"

Pete felt himself begin to relax. Jupiter Jones was putting on an act, and whatever act it was, Pete knew it would be a good one.

"See who?" asked the man.

"The cat," replied Jupiter brightly. "I'm going to get it if I don't find him. He's a seal point Siamese, and my mother doesn't know he's out. I saw him go over your wall."

"Tough!" said the man.

"He's probably up a tree someplace," said Jupe.

"Too bad." The man turned away from Jupe, pushed back a mane of gray hair with one hand, then scowled at Pete. "You, kid," he said. "Out!"

Pete stood up.

"Hey, please!" called Jupe. "Let me in and I'll help my friend look for the cat."

"Help him look my foot!" The man took Pete by the elbow and pushed him toward the gate.

"My mother will murder me!" protested Jupe.

"We've all got problems," snarled the man. "Beat it or I'll call the cops."

Jupiter retreated a step and watched. As the man neared the gate, his hand went out to touch something in the ivy that grew up the inside of the wall. The gate clicked.

"You come over that wall again and you're going to have more to worry about than a lost cat," said the man. He opened the gate and thrust Pete out onto the road, then slammed the gate shut.

"If you should see the cat ..." began Jupe.

"Scram!" shouted the man.

Jupe and Pete turned and walked a few paces down the road to the place where Bob waited. The floodlights at the corners of the property blinked out, leaving them in darkness.

"Whew!" said Pete.

"Good thinking, Jupe," murmured Bob.

The boys heard the man go a few paces up the drive and then stop.

"He's waiting to make sure we leave," whispered Jupiter. "We'd better walk away, and Worthington can follow with the car. That man is already suspicious. If he sees us get into a car, he'll know we weren't simply looking for a stray cat."

"Let's go," said Pete quickly.

The boys straggled toward Sunset Boulevard, talking loudly of the elusiveness of cats, the value of Siamese in particular, and the dreadful fate that awaited boys who allowed their parents' pets to escape. As they came abreast of the Ford, Jupe whispered to Worthington to follow them in a few minutes.

The Investigators halted at Sunset and Torrente, well out of sight and hearing of the big house.

"Interesting household," said Jupiter. "There is a gathering there with at least twelve people present, but we saw no lights. There is an alarm system which I imagine is activated by an electronic device on top of that wall. And one needs a pa.s.sword to enter the gate."

The Ford came gliding down the road and stopped. The boys opened the doors and got in.

"A thoroughly obnoxious person!" exclaimed Worthington, waving his hand in the direction of the house.

"Could you hear him?" asked Pete.

"He was loud enough," said Worthington. "I was tempted to take steps. Did he hurt you, Master Pete?"

Pete slumped back in his seat. "No, but I don't think it would have bothered him if he had."

Worthington started to edge out into the traffic on Sunset Boulevard. There was a truck approaching from the left, and as Worthington waited for it to pa.s.s, a car spurted down Torrente Canyon Road and shuddered to a stop next to the Ford. The driver of the car gunned the motor impatiently.

"That's the orange sports car," said Bob. "The twitchy hairdresser is on her way."