The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs - M. V. Carey [34]
“Touchy as a rattlesnake in a rainstorm,” said Bob. “Elsie has a way with words.”
Jupe stared at Bob in silence for an instant. Then he said, “Oh!”
“What’s the matter?” asked Bob.
“You said something just now,” Jupe answered.
“Yes. I said Elsie has a way with words. She said Mr. Barron is as touchy as a rattlesnake in a rainstorm.”
Jupe grinned. “No. What she really said was he’s cosy as a rattlesnake in a rainstorm!
But that’s close enough!”
“Boys!” called Elsie. She stood at the foot of the stairs. “Supper! Come on down!”
“Jupe, you’re on to something!” said Pete.
“I’ll tell you about it later,” promised Jupe.
When the boys came into the kitchen, Elsie was serving the soup while Mary Sedlack passed plates of hot biscuits.
“You were there,” said Mary to the boys. “Tell them about the message on the radio.
They think I’ve been eating magic mushrooms or something.”
Jupe sat down next to Hank Detweiler. John Aleman and Rafael Banales were already seated. Konrad was opposite Detweiler, carefully not looking at him.
“The message was for Mr. and Mrs. Barron,” said Jupe. “It was from a spaceship that is now orbiting the Earth.”
Pete and Bob sat down, and Elsie put plates of soup in front of them. “If I were you, I wouldn’t tell that to any of the ranch hands,” she said. “Most of them are scared enough already.”
“They aren’t children, Elsie,” said Hank Detweiler. “They’ve got a right to know what’s going on.”
The foreman picked up his spoon, scowled at it, then put it down again. “Mr. Barron made me take the guards off the meadow,” he said. “He doesn’t want anyone up there.”
When no one commented on this, Detweiler went on. “Crazy!” he said. “I just talked to him about taking a bunch of men up over the cliffs into the hills behind the ranch, and he wouldn’t hear of it. He doesn’t want anyone up there. Now Mary says that’s because the world is going to end and the aliens are coming to take the Barrons away. Well, if we have to go through the end of the world, I think we all deserve a little notice.”
“Hank, everybody would panic if they knew about the message on the radio,” said Elsie.
“They’re in a panic now,” said Detweiler. “The only thing that’s keeping them from trampling each other is the fact that nobody’s running. And nobody’s running because there’s no place to run to. Why should the people here run when they’re already in the last safe place there is?”
Detweiler looked searchingly at Jupe. “Mary says Mr. and Mrs. Barron are supposed to go to the meadow tonight and the spaceship will take them away.”
Jupiter nodded. “They’re to rendezvous with the rescue ship at 2200 hours tonight.
That’s at ten o’clock. The spaceship is returning for them and also some people from the planet Omega. I guess those would be the ones who attacked us this morning. Perhaps they’re here to keep the people of Rancho Valverde from leaving and carrying the word to the outside world.”
Jupe took a spoonful of his soup. “They wouldn’t want to be met by a mob when they landed, would they?” he said.
“Just want the Barrons, huh?” said Detweiler.
“No one else was mentioned,” said Jupe.
Detweiler snorted. “That’s a laugh! Why should they want Barron? He’s no genius. He’s rich, that’s all. Do the rich go first class even on doomsday?”
“It’s some kind of gag,” said John Aleman. “Somebody’s playing a joke on us. The radios—it isn’t such a trick to put radios out of commission, or to broadcast special messages. Elsie, I’ll bet if your brother was here he could tell us exactly how it’s being done.”
Elsie didn’t respond to this, but the hand with the deformity went to her throat.
“I’ll bet I could do it myself if I had the right equipment,” said Aleman.
“Probably you could,” said Mary Sedlack, “but if someone’s playing a joke, why are they doing it? They’ve gone to tons of trouble for that joke!”
“Is it possible that Mr. Barron has enemies?” said Rafael Banales. His voice was low and quiet. “He is a rich man and the rich are not always liked. But is