The Mystery of the Kidnapped Whale - Marc Brandel [3]
Hastily they said goodbye to the whale.
“Take care of yourself and keep wet,” Bob told it. “We’ll be down early this afternoon to see you get back in the ocean.”
The three boys put on their socks and sneakers, picked up the pump, the spade, and the hose, and hurried off. They were at the top of the cliff, retrieving their bicycles, when Jupiter heard a sound behind them.
About two miles offshore a small outboard cabin cruiser was chugging slowly past. There were two men on board, but the boat was too far away to see what they looked like.
Then Jupe saw a flash of light from the boat, then another and another.
“Looks like they’re signaling,” Pete said.
The First Investigator shook his head. “There’s no pattern to the flashes,” he said. “My deduction is that one of those men is using a pair of binoculars, and those flashes are the reflection of the sun on the lenses.”
It sounded reasonable and ordinary enough to the other two Investigators, but Jupe didn’t pick up his bike. He was still watching the boat, which was turning toward the shore now.
“Come on,” Pete told him impatiently. “Stop trying to make a mystery of everything. Hundreds of people along this coast go out every day to look at the gray whales.”
“I know,” Jupe agreed as they pushed their bicycles toward the road. “But the man on that boat wasn’t watching the whales. He had his glasses turned the wrong way. Toward the shore. In fact, it seemed to me that he was watching us.”
“Maybe he saw us save the whale,” said Bob indifferently, and Jupe dropped the matter.
Jupe’s Aunt Mathilda was waiting for them when they reached the salvage yard. She was a kind, cheerful woman who enjoyed living in the small coastal city and running the junk business with her husband. She enjoyed having Jupe live with them, as he had ever since his
parents had died. But the thing she enjoyed most in life was putting the boys to work.
“You’re late,” she greeted them as they cycled into the yard. “I suppose you’ve been busy with one of your puzzles again.”
Jupiter had never explained to his aunt that he and Bob and Pete were serious investigators, taking on professional cases for all kinds of people who needed their services. Aunt Mathilda thought they were just members of a club that met to solve riddles they found in newspapers and magazines.
The boys put in several hours’ hard work in the junkyard before Aunt Mathilda gave them their lunch and told them they could have the rest of the day off.
It was after three before the Investigators reached the cove again. The tide was coming in fast over the sand. They left their bicycles at the top of the cliff and hurried down to the beach.
Pete, who could run faster than the other two, was the first to reach the pool. He stopped abruptly, his back stiffening with dismay, as he stared down into it.
Jupiter and Bob joined him. They were dismayed, too, when they saw what Pete was staring at.
The improvised pool was still there in the dry sand. And it was still full of water. But that was all there was in it.
The little whale had vanished!
Chapter 2
Ocean World
“MAYBE IT MANAGED to flip itself onto the beach,” Pete said, “and worked its way back into the ocean somehow.”
He didn’t sound as if he believed his theory himself.
“I hope so,” Bob said. But there was no hope in his voice. The whale would have had to travel a long way before it reached water deep enough to swim in.
Jupe didn’t say anything. He had moved away from the pool and was pacing in circles, staring down at the sand.
“One truck,” he said thoughtfully, returning to the others. “With a four-wheel drive. It came down from the road and across the beach. Then it backed up to the pool. It stayed there long enough to sink several inches into the soft sand. Someone had to put boards under the front wheels to get it moving again. Then it drove back to the road.”
Jupe showed his friends