The Mystery of the Singing Serpent - M. V. Carey [31]
“Okay, Jupe, but watch it,” said Bob.
“I will,” promised Jupiter.
He heard his friends slip back to the kitchen. Then the kitchen door opened and slammed shut. He heard shouts from the grounds outside. Allie yelled, and he heard the clamor of the alarm bell. Floodlights blazed in the yard, and from the road came the sound of cars starting.
Jupe waited. Soon there was quiet — the quiet of an empty house. Jupiter opened the door, looked around the hall, then hurried across to the ritual room, where he hid behind the black drapes. After a time there were steps on the drive outside. The inhabitants of the house on Torrente Canyon came into the hall and closed the door.
“Just kids,” said one voice. “Kids get curious.”
“You have to hand it to them, Max,” said a second voice. It was the voice of the man who had occupied the throne. “They sure moved going over that wall.”
Jupiter Jones smiled to himself. Bob, Pete and Allie had gotten clean away — and he now intended to find out whatever he could!
Chapter 15
The High Priest’s Scheme
JUPITER FOUND A SMALL TEAR in the black hangings that shrouded the ritual room. He stood stock still, so that he would not reveal his presence to the men in the room, but his fingers worked at the little tear, making it bigger. Soon he could look out into the room, and he saw the man named Max touch a switch near the door. An overhead light clicked on.
Jupiter almost sighed. By flickering candlelight, the ritual room had had a dark fascination. Now that fascination was gone. Jupe saw that the covering on the table was dusty, and that the hangings in the room were cheap and sagging. The silver candlesticks were dented and flecked with tarnish.
If the room was shabby, the two men in it were equally worn. The man with the gray hair
— the man who had thrown Pete off the grounds — was going from one tall candle to another, snuffing out the flames. Deep lines ran from his eyes down to the corners of his mouth. He was beginning to run to fat, and a double chin drooped over the top of his dark shirt.
His companion lolled on the throne, absently stroking the carved cobra on one of the arms. He had pushed the chair back, the better to put his feet on the table. In the full light, Jupiter saw that his ghastly paleness was not natural. Some greenish, chalky substance was caked in the creases around his mouth and beside his nose.
“That telephone system at the gate is a total bust,” said the man in the chair.
The man named Max snuffed out the last of the candles and sat down wearily. “Look,”
he said, “I could go down and stand at that gate and check everybody who comes through, but that won’t work either. You can’t fight kids. They’ll get in somehow, and they talk.
We’ve made a bundle here. Why don’t we fold the operation and move? You can have a fine time being Dr. Shaitan in San Francisco or San Diego or Chicago. Let’s go before things hot up for us.”
“But Max, the best is yet to come,” said the man called Dr. Shaitan. He reached up and pulled off his black cap. Jupe wanted to laugh. The high priest of the sinister fellowship had flaming red hair. An instant later, the black cape was unfastened and thrown aside. The man took a crumpled tissue from his pocket and dabbed at his chalky face. The greenish powder came off in streaks, revealing pink skin.
“Do you have to do that here?” complained Max. “You’re getting that stuff all over the place.”
“I’m thinking.” Dr. Shaitan rolled the stained tissue between his hands. “It’s taken us a long time to set up this bunch of pigeons. The Enderby woman came through like clockwork when her landlady went to Dubuque, and old man Robertson made a beautiful donation when the power of the singing serpent was invoked to keep that building contractor from putting up a high rise next to his house. Pat Osborne hasn’t paid off yet, but she will and it will be juicy. Hugo Ariel will see to it.”
“It may be so juicy that we won’t be able to handle it,” said Max.
“We can handle anything,” declared Shaitan. “You just