The Mystery Of The Nervous Lion Part 16

"You'll find him back at my house," said Jim Hall. "He'll be waiting for us."

The two men looked startled.

"He's not going anywhere," Jim Hall stated. "George is looking after him."

Dobbs looked at him wide-eyed. "George - the lion?"

Jim Hall nodded. Stevenson grinned. He clapped Jupe on the shoulder. "Okay, Investigator - you already found half a million. Would you like to try for another?"

Jupe stepped forward to the cage. Pointing to the second bar he had selected, he said dramatically, "You will note, gentlemen, that this bar is not as rusted as the first one that was extracted from the lion's cage. The gorilla was a recent arrival and therefore -"

Bob and Pete exchanged grins. They knew how their leader loved to make the most out of a situation.

Doc Dawson laughed harshly. His shoulders sagged. He looked like a man who had bet a lot of money and lost. "Hurry it up," he said. "I'd like to see how much I lost before I tell you everything."

Chapter 21.

Some Questions from Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k A WEEK LATER, The Three Investigators sat in Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k's office, being congratulated.

"Thank you, sir!" chorused the boys.

"There are a few small points I should like to have cleared up," Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k told them. "This barbarous device - the metal shredder - am I to a.s.sume that your nearly fatal engagement with it was accidental?"

"Yes, sir," Bob said. "Bo Jenkins and Doc Dawson tied us up and tossed us into an old junked car. They did it merely to get us out of the way. They never expected that the crane would drop the car on the conveyor belt."

Alfred Hitchc.o.c.k nodded. "I would hope they would be more careful next time, if indeed there should ever be one, about the process they select for discouraging interlopers." He laced his fingers together. "This Hank Morton person - where does he fit in? Did he let George out deliberately and then wound him? And why was he running away the night the gorilla escaped? Was he involved in that, too?"

"No, sir," Bob said." No to all of those questions. He came back to Jungle Land after being fired because he was suspicious of Doc Dawson. According to Hank Morton, Dawson made it look as if he had mistreated the animals, and Jim Hall took his word for everything. Dawson, of course, was trying to replace him with Bo Jenkins.

When Morton came back, Doc decided to fix him for good. He let George out himself, planning to blame it on Morton.

"George cut himself accidentally out in the jungle. I guess he didn't know how to take care of himself out there, since he grew up in captivity. When Morton led us out to him, he was only teasing us. He knew George and could handle him. But when he stepped away for a minute, Bo Jenkins found him and hit him over the head. So Morton was blamed for that, too.

"That night when the gorilla broke loose, Morton was trying to find Bo Jenkins.

Instead he ran into the gorilla and was frightened away, just as Bo Jenkins was."

"What about the panther's escape?" asked Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k. "Did Doc Dawson engineer that?"

"No, sir," replied Pete. "At least, he said he didn't. We think it was a real accident.

We're just grateful that Doc saved our lives. Mr. Stevenson said that might be a point in Doc's favour when his case comes to trial."

Alfred Hitchc.o.c.k glanced down at the papers on which Bob had summarised the adventure. "Ah, yes, Mr. Stevenson, the government agent, also known as Olsen and Dunlop. You say he was planted with the Jay Eastland movie company by the authorities, to watch the smugglers?"

"Yes, sir," Jupe said. "He happens to be an expert on firearms and was available to Jay Eastland in that capacity. Eastland was acting so violently against Jim Hall, however, that he aroused Stevenson's suspicions. As it turned out, Eastland had nothing to do with the smuggling itself. But he was trying to take advantage of the contract Jim Hall had agreed to. He could have used an extra fifty thousand dollars and was hoping to pin something on Hall. But he couldn't, and since filming is over, Jungle Land is safe."

"Now as to the smuggling itself," said Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k. "Doc Dawson enlisted the aid of this Bo Jenkins to help retrieve the hollow bars. The diamond s.h.i.+pments originated in Africa, taking advantage of Cal Hall's deliveries of animals to his brother here. Was Dawson the ringleader? Did he plan the entire operation or was he merely an accessory? Exactly how did he fit in?"

"Doc Dawson planned it all," answered Jupe. "The diamonds were stolen from the surface portion of a deposit at Mwadui in the s.h.i.+nyanga district of Tanzania. The smugglers followed Cal Hall to the port of Dar-es-Salaam and there switched the cage bars, first on George's cage, then on the gorilla's. When George left Africa, they alerted Doc Dawson with that coded cable."

"And why didn't Doc Dawson take the diamonds from the lion's cage as soon as it arrived?" Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k asked Jupe.

"Because he was expecting a gorilla to arrive with more diamonds soon afterwards.

Only two s.h.i.+pments were planned. I guess he figured that the first lot were safe where they were, hidden in the cage bar, so he could wait till the second lot came and then clear out with a million dollars' worth of gems. But the gorilla didn't come for a long time. Meanwhile, Doc Dawson came down with the flu. While he was sick, Jim Hall threw out the lion's cage. It got broken up in the sc.r.a.p yard and the bars misplaced.

By the time Doc caught up with it, it was too late.

"It was also too late because by then the authorities were on to the smuggling operation. Stevenson wouldn't tell us how they learned about it - said he was sorry but he couldn't divulge his sources. When he and Dobbs got Dawson with the evidence, his confederates in Africa were rounded up."

The director tapped Bob's report again. "You surmised that George was being made nervous by the various attempts to get at the bar with the diamonds. Were you correct in that a.s.sumption?"

"Yes, sir. At first, I think, George was only restless because he was cooped up in the house at night. But then Stevenson and Dobbs started prowling around, which upset George."

"I still do not understand," rumbled Alfred Hitchc.o.c.k, "why Doc Dawson, a respectable veterinarian, would become a diamond smuggler."

"That's easy," offered Pete. "He was a smuggler before before he came to Jungle Land. he came to Jungle Land.

He'd been through Africa and pulled various small jobs there years before. When he found out about Cal and Jim Hall's operation, it seemed perfect for his plans. So he joined up with them, using his skill with animals to get by, while he planned the entire diamond operation in Tanzania. He really did love animals, but he also loved the excitement of getting rich quick and dangerously."

"Not to mention criminally," added Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k. "I believe we are well rid of the fellow. He failed in his biggest attempt, the always tempting million-dollar haul.

And you boys thwarted him by dint of clever deductions and perseverance. I'm proud of you all. You solved a most perplexing mystery."

"Mystery is our business!" said Jupiter Jones.

THE END.