The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints - M. V. Carey [26]
The man named Demetrieff made a quick motion with his gun and Bob fell silent.
“It would be most inadvisable for us to leave this gaping hole in your yard,” said Jupiter. “Some other member of the Chaparral Walking Club might cut across this way and fall in. Would you be liable, Mr. Demetrieff, or would it be General Kaluk?”
Again the bald general laughed. “You have a nimble set of wits, my friend,” he told Jupiter. “I believe, however, that the owners of this house would be liable. However, as I said, broken bones are unpleasant things. Demetrieff, there are some planks behind the stable.”
“I think it’s a garage,” ventured Bob.
“No matter. Get them and put them over the hole.” The older man looked down through the gap at broken shelves and earth floor. “It seems that we have an extension to the foundation of this building which projects out under the garden. A wine cellar, I should think.”
Demetrieff hauled a pair of damp and dirty planks from behind the garage and dropped them hastily into place across the hole.
“That should take care of the matter, at least for the moment,” said General Kaluk. “Now we shall go into the house and you will tell me about this Chaparral Walking Club of yours. You will also tell me your names, and why you chose to walk across this piece of property.”
“We would be delighted,” said Jupiter.
The man named Demetrieff gestured towards the kitchen door, and General Kaluk led the way. Jupe and Bob trailed after the general. They went through a dusty and disused kitchen to the library, where the general sat easily in the folding chair next to the card table and ordered Jupiter and Bob to sit on one of the folding beds in the room.
“We cannot offer you lavish hospitality,” said the general. His bald head gleamed in the light from the fireplace. “A glass of hot tea, perhaps?”
Jupiter shook his head. “Thank you, sir. I don’t drink tea.”
“Me, neither,” said Bob.
“Oh, yes,” said the general. “I forget. There is some custom about American children, is there not? No tea or coffee — or wine. You drink milk, do you?”
Jupiter admitted it.
“Well, we have no milk,” said the general. Demetrieff stood to one side, a little behind the general.
“Demetrieff, have you heard of this Chaparral Walking Club?” asked the general.
“Never,” said Demetrieff.
“It’s a local thing,” said Jupiter quickly. “Walking in the chaparral is more pleasant by day, but sometimes hikers try the paths on fine nights like this. You can hear the animals stirring in the underbrush as you pass. Sometimes, if you stand still for a long time, you can see the animals. I saw a deer once, and several times a skunk has crossed the road in front of me.”
“Fascinating,” said the man named Demetrieff. “And I suppose you also watch birds.”
“Not at night,” declared Jupiter truthfully. “You do hear an owl occasionally, but you never see one. In the daytime, the chaparral is alive with birds, but—”
The general held up one hand. “A moment,” he said. “Chaparral. This is a new word. Will you explain to me, please, what it is?”
“It’s a community of growing things,” said Jupiter. “The plants you see on this hillside are all part of the chaparral community – they are dwarfed trees and shrubs –
the scrub oak and juniper and the sage, and at higher elevations the manzanita. They are extremely hardy plants which can survive on very little rainfall. California is one of the few areas where chaparral exists, so there is great interest in the plants.”
Bob sat silently and marvelled at Jupiter’s almost total recall of an article on chaparral that had appeared in a recent issue of Nature magazine. Total recall, Bob knew, was not uncommon among actors who had to remember lines, and Jupiter had once been a child actor.
On went Jupiter Jones, and on and on, describing the smell of chaparral in the spring, after the rains. He was telling how it held the hillsides firm when General Kaluk suddenly lifted one hand.
“Enough,” said the general. “I share your admiration for chaparral. Courageous plants, if plants can be said to have courage. Now,