The Mystery of the Monster Mountain - M. V. Carey [36]
Konrad tugged at Jupe’s elbow.
“Get up. Quick. Show us where is Anna.”
Jupiter stumbled up. Pete was already running across the meadow, making straight for the woods on the far side. Bob ran after, trying valiantly to keep up with Pete.
Running with the two boys were animals. Jupe saw that the entire meadow was alive with large and small creatures, all fleeing wildly from the threat of the fire.
“Hurry!” urged Konrad.
Hans was ahead of them, following Pete and Bob.
Jupe nodded and forced his trembling legs to carry him across the meadow.
It seemed to Jupe that his legs were made of lead, that he was struggling as if trying to run through deep water. He saw Pete and Bob ahead of him, waiting at the edge of the trees. He stumbled and Konrad grabbed his arm.
“Where?” demanded Konrad.
Jupe pointed to a place where an outcropping of white stone thrust through the grass. “I saw Havemeyer go that way.”
A faint scream came to them then, a high, wordless wail of terror, and they heard a distant pounding, as if someone were hammering at a door with clenched fists.
“Anna!” cried Konrad.
A skunk darted across Pete’s feet and disappeared among the trees.
The scream came again, louder.
“We are here, Anna!” shouted Hans.
The Three Investigators and the Bavarian brothers charged in through the trees in the direction of the screams and pounding. Pete coughed harshly, and Jupe felt that he was strangling in the dim, smoky air.
“Anna?” shouted Hans. “Where are you, Anna?”
“I am here! Who is it? Let me out!”
The Bavarian brothers raced toward the cry, passing Pete and Bob. They crashed through the woods, breaking branches, nailing with their arms. The boys stumbled after them. Suddenly, in a little gully, there was a cabin.
It was a rude affair of planks covered with tar paper, barely six feet square, with a tiny window high up near the roof. In several places the tar paper had peeled away, but on the crude door was a shiny hasp and a bright, new padlock.
When the boys tumbled down the incline into the gully, Hans was heaving at the door with his shoulder. The door didn’t give an inch.
“That is more solid than it looks,” said Konrad. “Don’t worry. Cousin Anna,” he called. “We will get a rock and break the lock.”
“There’s a fire.” The woman’s voice inside the cabin was rough with fear. “I smell a fire. Where is it?”
“Below, near the camping place.” Konrad had found a stone and was weighing it in his hands. “We still have time. We will get you out.”
The woman was silent for a second, then said, “Who is there? Is it … is it Hans?
Konrad?”
Konrad grinned and broke into a spatter of German, then began to pound at the padlock with the rock.
The wind gusted and blew the smoke thickly around them.
“Hurry!” said Hans.
Konrad nodded, and he raised the rock to give the padlock a mighty blow. And then a scream sounded behind him.
Hans,
Konrad,
and
The
Three
Investigators
whirled
around.
Above
them, glaring down into the gully and
beating at the stinging, acrid air, stood a
gigantic humanoid figure. Jupe saw eyes
glinting red, and he glimpsed teeth when
the hairy creature threw back its head and
howled with sheer animal terror.
“The monster!” Bob gulped and
turned white.
“What is that?” cried the woman in
the cabin. “What do I hear?”
“Shhh!” cautioned Jupe.
“Be quiet, Anna,” whispered Hans.
But the creature had heard. Anna’s cry
had reached it through the panic. It
lowered its huge head and brushed at the
tangle of matted hair that hung almost to
its eyes, and it stared through the smoke
at Konrad.
Konrad stood frozen with his back to
the door, the rock in his hand.
There was a low snarl from the being
which had come upon them. The big head lunged forward, and then the beast was rushing at Konrad.
“Watch it!” Pete jumped to one side.
The creature charged past, making straight for Konrad as if he had somehow caused the trouble and filled the air with smoke. Konrad