The Mystery of the Death Trap Mine - M. V. Carey [17]
“Well, it’s too late to worry about newspapers,” said Allie. “I just talked to Mr.
Kingsley.”
“Kingsley’s different,” Uncle Harry said. “Your folks aren’t likely to pick up a copy of the Twin Lakes Gazette anywhere in the Far East. Now I want you to stay inside for the rest of today. You, too, boys. And stick close by tomorrow, too, if those people are still around.”
“Mr. Osborne,” said Jupe, “we had hoped to go to Lordsburg tomorrow.”
“What for?” asked Uncle Harry.
Jupe put his hand into his pocket and took out the pebble he had found in the mine. “I wanted to show this to a jeweler. It’s the pebble I found yesterday in Death Trap Mine.”
Harrison Osborne smiled. “I suppose you think it’s a gold nugget. Well, it isn’t. There’s no gold here. But I do have to go into Lordsburg later this week. You and Allie can come with me. As a matter of fact you can all come along. I wouldn’t think of leaving you at home. I’m afraid of what you’d get into.”
Uncle Harry went outside to get rid of the reporters. The Three Investigators and Allie spent the rest of the day reading and playing Monopoly. From time to time Allie ran upstairs to stand on the landing outside the bunkroom and look out toward Wesley Thurgood’s property. She reported gleefully that Thurgood was standing guard with a shotgun, and that the dog, exhausted with barking at curiosity seekers, had gone to sleep.
That evening the boys went up to the bunkroom early. From their windows they could see a light on in Thurgood’s cabin. But even before they got into bed, Thurgood put out his light. Soon the lights went out in Mrs. Macomber’s house across the road.
“Guess everybody’s tired tonight,” said Pete. He rolled into his bunk. “I know I am, but I’m darned if I know why.”
“Some kind of delayed reaction,” said Bob. “It was spooky, seeing that guy in the mine yesterday. I know he was a crook and all, but that was a nasty way to go.”
“I wonder what he was doing here,” said Jupe aloud. He had wondered it to himself many times that day. “Perhaps we’ll find some trace of him in Lordsburg.”
“You really going to show that pebble to a jeweler?” asked Bob.
“It can’t hurt,” said Jupiter, “and it will give us an excuse to go off by ourselves while we’re there. I’m sure Uncle Harry doesn’t want us to concern ourselves with the dead holdup man in any way — but we are concerned.”
“Allie isn’t,” said Bob as he put out the light. “She’s just concerned with Wesley Thurgood, and I don’t think we’re going to find any connection between Thurgood and the crook.”
“Maybe not, but I’m bothered by the fact that Thurgood didn’t find the body himself,”
Jupe replied. “He wasn’t even curious enough to explore his own mine, which is very strange indeed.”
The boys dozed off, each thinking of the man in the mine, each wondering how he had come to be there and exactly how he had met his death.
It was very late when Pete awoke. He frowned in the darkness and listened intently.
Something had moved outside, beyond the open windows. He lifted himself on one elbow when the sound came to him again — a lurching, sticky squeak.
“Jupe!” He kept his voice low. “Bob! Listen!”
“Huh?” Bob turned over. “What is it?”
“Someone just opened the barn door.” Pete was up and crossing to the window in his bare feet. He leaned on the sill and looked out. Bob and Jupe joined him.
“The door’s closed now,” said Bob.
Then the boys saw a light moving inside the barn, dancing on its dusty side windows.
The light flickered and went out, and then flared up again.
“Someone’s lighting matches!” said Jupe. “Come on.”
It took only seconds for the Investigators to pull on shirts and jeans and stick their bare feet into sneakers. They crept down the stairs and opened the front door without a sound.
The moon had set when they came out onto the drive. They groped toward the barn with Jupe in the lead. They had almost reached the barn when Bob put his foot down on a rock in the drive, turned his ankle, and let out