The Mystery of Wandering Caveman - M. V. Carey [16]
“It was as if the animals lived too fast,” said Terreano. “At the end Birkensteen was trying to slow down the ageing process. He had formulated various mixtures that he gave to the chimps in different ways. He worked with the kinds of chemicals that the brain secretes to prompt sleep or waking.
“His work was very daring and very original. He was in line to get the Spicer Grant, which is money that the board of the Spicer Foundation awards every other year to the scientist in residence whose work may be of greatest benefit to humanity. If Birkensteen had succeeded even partially, he could have had more than a million dollars to use any way he chose.”
“What happens now?” asked Pete. “Who’ll get the money?”
Terreano shrugged. “Who knows? Dr. Hoffer here might cure all of our stomach ulcers, or Jim Brandon might give us new insights into our origins, or …”
“Speaking of Brandon,” Hoffer interrupted, “look out there.”
They turned towards the windows. They saw Brandon striding along the pavement, side-stepping other pedestrians. He was making straight for the cafe.
Terreano waved when he came in. Brandon took an empty chair from another table and sat down next to Jupe.
“I’ve got it!” he announced briskly. “I called Sacramento. I’m going to call back after lunch, at which time the governor will be free to talk.”
“The governor will get your hominid out of that cave?” said Terreano.
Hoffer looked at Terreano in surprise. “I thought you two weren’t talking.”
“That was earlier,” said Terreano. “Jim, really, do you think the governor will help?”
“Why not?” said Brandon. “If the state can take property to build roads and schools, why can’t it take property in order to save that fossil? I’m going to ask the governor to have the whole area declared a state historical monument. There could easily be more fossils in the hills, and it would be criminal to lose them because McAfee wants to let the public in at five bucks a head!”
Brandon stopped.
From the park across the way came the renewed blare of the band.
“Five to ten,” said Hoffer. “The ceremonies are about to start over there, and when they’re finished, the mob will march up the road to ogle your cave man. Then they’ll no doubt spread out to look for fossils of their own. You’re too late, Brandon.
It’s going to happen, and you can’t do a thing to stop it!”
Chapter 8
Amazing Events
THE CEREMONIES TO OPEN the cave were late in starting. When Brandon, Terreano, and Hoffer reached the park, together with the Three Investigators, Newt McAfee was already seated on the bandstand with Thalia beside him. She wore a black-and-white print dress, and her white gloves came to her elbows. Seated next to the McAfees was a skinny man in a seersucker jacket, who looked wilted in the bright sunshine.
“That’s Harry Chenoweth,” Terreano whispered to Jupe. “He’s the mayor, and he also owns the drugstore. He’ll be the master of ceremonies. He loves to make speeches.”
A man in a dark suit and a clerical collar joined the McAfees and the mayor.
Terreano identified him as the minister of the First Community Church.
Other important townspeople took their places near the minister. Terreano identified the owner of the Happy Hunter Restaurant and the man who ran the motel.
The supermarket manager was there. So was the assistant manager, and so was a woman who ran a gift shop on one of the side streets. The owner of the Lazy Daze Cafe hurried across the street, and the owner of the garage came to sit in the row behind the supermarket manager.
“They’ve all closed up shop,” said Terrano. “The whole town is out here today.
The cave man could be a big boost to this town. Most of the businesses have been barely scraping by. Now there’s a chance to make some real money. There isn’t anybody in town who isn’t happy about this.”
Jupe looked around the park and saw that almost every civic organization imaginable was represented. There were Campfire Girls and Boy Scouts. There were Shriners, splendid in red fezzes, and Elks, a jovial group identified by a banner. Young men