The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs - M. V. Carey [15]
“But Jupe,” pleaded Pete, running after him, “we just saw a flying saucer! There might be aliens up by the dam!”
“All the more reason for us to get there first!” said Jupe.
Pete groaned but followed along with Bob.
It was dark in the shadows near the sheds, but once the boys started across the fields to the north of the parking area, they moved swiftly. In the moonlight they could see the dam, and when they came to the edge of the pasture between the cultivated fields and the dam, they saw sheep grazing. Several bleated in protest as the boys passed. Pete jumped in fright at the sound, but he kept going. Soon the boys were scrambling over the rocks at one side of the dam.
That afternoon Hank Detweiler had mentioned there was a meadow beyond the dam, although he had not actually showed it to them. He believed that the valley containing Rancho Valverde had once been a lake bed. In some long ago age a great earthquake had torn the lake bed in two and lifted the northernmost section above the level of the rest of the valley. Part of this upper level was now covered by the reservoir, and the rest was a meadow that sloped up away from the reservoir to the base of the cliffs.
When the boys reached the top of the dam, they followed a path around the reservoir to the grassy land on the far side of the water. Pete looked fearfully around. Were the aliens up here? He could see no one but his friends. And there was no trace of the fire that had blazed on the cliffs. In the moonlight the boys saw only naked rocks and the grass that made a dark silver carpet between the reservoir and the cliffs.
“We should have brought a light,” said Bob. He started through the knee-high grass, but before he had gone many feet he stumbled and almost fell.
“Careful!” warned Jupe.
Bob took a step backward. “Jupe!” he said. “Pete! Hey! There’s something …
something here!”
Jupe and Pete hurried to his side and knelt in the grass.
“Oh, no!” exclaimed Pete. “A body! Is he … is he alive?”
Jupe leaned close to the still body of a man. “Yes. He’s still breathing.”
There was the sound of voices near the dam, and the clatter of dislodged stones rolling down an incline. Charles Barron and his men were coming.
Jupe gave a mighty heave and the man on the meadow rolled over on to his back. His face showed white in the moonlight. The eyes were closed and the mouth was partly open.
His breath came in quick gasps.
There was a faint odour now. It was the smell of singed hair.
“All right!” Charles Barron shouted. “Hold it right there! One move and I’ll blow your head off!”
The boys blinked in the glare of flashlights.
“Why, it’s the boys from the salvage yard,” said Barron.
“Mr. Barron, this man is hurt,” Jupiter called.
Barron and Hank Detweiler hurried forward.
“De Luca!” exclaimed Barron. “Simon de Luca!”
Detweiler knelt and held his flashlight close to the man’s face. He touched de Luca cautiously.
“He’s got a lump right behind the ear,” said Detweiler, “and … and some of his hair’s burned off!”
The unconscious man stirred.
“Okay, Simon,” said Detweiler. “We’re with you.”
The man opened his eyes and stared up at Detweiler.
“What happened?” asked Detweiler.
De Luca moved his head, then winced. “Did I fall?” he asked. He looked around slowly.
“The sheep! Where are the sheep?”
“In the lower field, the other side of the dam,” said Detweiler.
De Luca sat up carefully. “I don’t understand,” he said. “I came out to check on the sheep. I came almost to the dam. Everything was okay.”
He looked anxiously at Detweiler. “I was in the lower meadow,” he said. “That’s the last thing I remember. How did I get here? Did you bring me?”
“No, we didn’t, Simon,” said Detweiler. “These boys found you here. Do you remember seeing anything? Flames? Smoke? Anything at all?”
“Nothing,” said de Luca. He put his head in his hands, and for the first time he touched his hair. “What’s happened?” he cried. “My hair! What is the matter with my hair?”
“Simon, you got kind of singed,” said Detweiler.
Banales knelt