The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs - M. V. Carey [30]
The boys thanked her. After she disappeared into the Miranda house, Pete looked at his pals and grinned. “I’ll bet there’s no one in the ranch house right now,” he said. “Elsie’s getting her skirt fixed and the others are off doing their jobs. What say we take a look around?”
“Okay, but I don’t think the ranch house is a safe place to hide a field telephone,” said Bob.
“But the house holds clues to the people who live in it,” said Jupe, “and one of those people is our spy! Come on, let’s go!”
Chapter 13
A Message from Outer Space
THE BOYS WORKED QUICKLY, keeping alert for the sound of someone returning to the ranch house. In minutes they had examined Hank Detweiler’s room. They saw that Hank possessed a number of trophies, which he had won in calf-roping contests, and also clear title to a Ford pickup truck. There was no evidence that he wrote letters or that he ever received any.
“A loner,” Jupe decided, “with little interest in material things and mementos. He’s hardly got any personal possessions.”
“So he wouldn’t even care about gold, right?” said Pete.
Jupe shrugged. “We can’t tell for sure. Maybe he hoards his money. Or maybe he just likes to live simply.”
The boys went on to John Aleman’s room and found a bookcase crammed with books on hydraulic power, on electricity, on engineering, even on aero-dynamics. And under the bed Pete discovered a pile of paperbacks on science and space. Some of the titles were intriguing.
“Here’s one called The Ancient Future,” said Pete, holding up a book. “It’s by Korsakov.
Didn’t he write that other book that Mrs. Barron talks about?
“Parallels,” said Jupiter. “Yes, he did.”
“Here’s more,” said Bob, who had opened Aleman’s closet and found a carton of paperbacks. He picked them up one by one and read the titles aloud. “The Crowded Cosmos.
The Second Universe. And Black Holes and Vanishing Worlds. And lots more.”
“I didn’t know it was so busy in outer space,” said Pete.
“I didn’t know so many people had been there,” Bob remarked. “Is it important that Aleman reads this stuff? Do you suppose he’s studying, trying to figure out how the Barrons will react to things?
“But that’s what really doesn’t make sense,” Bob went on. “I mean, if the soldiers want to hoodwink Mr. Barron, aren’t they going at it the wrong way? Mrs. Barron is the outer-space nut. So why would crooks work so hard to make him believe in visitors from another planet?”
“They may know that Barron isn’t a man who doubts his own eyes,” said Jupe. “They did stage a very convincing takeoff of a flying saucer, and Barron saw it himself.”
“Jupe, maybe he’s right to believe,” said Pete. His voice was suddenly nervous.
“Suppose we’re the ones who are wrong? Suppose there really is a spaceship?”
“No,” said Jupiter. “If there is really a spaceship, why are those imposters camped down on the road?”
“I don’t know,” said Pete miserably. “I just don’t understand. What will anyone get out of faking a spaceship? Mr. Barron’s gold? How will a flying saucer help anyone get that?”
“If you were going to leave the Earth and travel to another planet,” said Jupe, “what would you take with you?”
“Oh,” said Pete. “Yeah. I see. I’d take the thing that was worth most to me. But so far nobody’s asked Mr. Barron to pack up his gold and fly away.”
“Maybe they’re just softening him up,” said Bob. He piled the paperback books into the carton again, and decided that the book collection might mean nothing more than that Aleman liked science fiction adventures.
“Just the same,” he said, “I’m going to keep an eye on Aleman.”
The boys went down the hall to the room occupied by Elsie Spratt.
“Not very neat,” said Pete when he opened the door.
“It sure isn’t,” said Jupiter. He gazed at the wilderness of tubes