The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs - M. V. Carey [14]
“Jupe!” cried Pete. “Look!”
The cliffs to the north of the ranch were enveloped in strange blue flames! The eerie fire leaped skyward like sheets of cold brilliance.
“What on earth?” cried Charles Barron.
For an instant the fire almost hid the bare granite surface of the cliffs. Then dense billows of white smoke gushed from the land beyond the reservoir.
Doors slammed. Feet pounded on the road. There were cries of wonder and of fear.
Then, from out of the billowing, gleaming cloud on the land, an oval-shaped object rose. It hovered in the air, silver in the light from the blazing cliffs. Then it lifted upward. In seconds it was above the cliffs, vanishing into the night sky.
The blaze on the cliffs dwindled and died. There was silence at the ranch—a frozen moment when no one dared to move. Then, “Holy cow!” said Pete. “A flying saucer!”
Chapter 7
An Innocent Victim
“PREPOSTEROUS!” said Charles Barron.
No one answered him.
Mrs. Barron came out of the house and down the steps. “Charles!” she said excitedly.
“Did you see it?”
“I’m not blind,” said Barron. “Whatever it was, I saw it. Hank! Rafael! John!”
Barron pointed towards the northern cliffs. “We’re going to see what in tarnation is going on!” he announced.
Jupe heard the roar of a car engine on the road. He turned to see the soldiers’ jeep spurting up the lane. It stopped with a lurch just short of the ranch house.
“Mr. Barron?” Lieutenant Ferrante leaped from the vehicle and started towards the ranch owner. “Are you all right?” he said. “What happened? We saw the fire!”
“I will keep you informed of all developments that concern you,” snapped Barron. “In the meantime, take yourself and your jeep off my property.”
“Charles!” exclaimed Mrs. Barron. “Really! You needn’t be so rude!”
“I’ll be as rude as I choose, Ernestine,” said Barron. “Lieutenant, I’m waiting.”
Ferrante climbed back into the jeep. The driver threw the engine into reverse and the jeep backed away from the people who had gathered on the drive. It made a tight turn and sped down the lane.
“Pablito!” said Barron. He beckoned to a thin boy who had been watching the scene.
“Yes, Mr. Barron?” said the boy. He appeared to be eight or nine years old.
“Go down to the fence and find your father and tell him that the guards are to shoot the tyres of that jeep if the soldiers try to bring it through the gate again.
Immediately one of the women spoke up. “Pablito will not go with such a message,” she said. “If there must be such a message, I will go.”
“Charles, all of this hardly seems necessary,” said Mrs. Barron. “That poor young man with the jeep is only trying to do his job.”
“He’s trespassing and I will not put up with trespassers, whatever their age, status, or government affiliation,” announced Charles Barron. “We had better get that clear immediately or we’ll be up to our hips in refugees and parasites.”
Barron turned again to Detweiler. “Hank, you and Rafael and John and I will go to the upper meadow and see what in the name of fury has been going on there.”
“Yes, Mr. Barron,” said Detweiler. The foreman looked puzzled and curious, but not at all frightened.
“I think we should be armed,” said Barron. He took a key ring from his pocket and handed it to Banales, who had come out of the ranch house. “You know where the guns are,” he said. “Get a rifle for each of us, and make sure they’re loaded.”
“Charles, you won’t shoot anyone, will you?” said Mrs. Barron.
“Not unless I have to,” her husband answered.
Unseen by any of the adults, Jupe tugged at Pete’s sleeve and beckoned to Bob. The three boys slipped back through the crowd on the lane and took shelter in the darkness between two of the cottages.
“If we want to know what really happened up there, we’d better beat Barron and the others up to the reservoir,” Jupe told his friends. “Barron might just decide to keep the facts to himself.”
Pete gulped. “Jupe, those guys have rifles.”
“Barron just promised not to shoot anyone,” said Jupe, stretching the truth. He trotted off