The Mystery Of The Nervous Lion Part 6

Jupiter watched the saloon roar out of the yard. He felt like hugging his uncle.

A few minutes later, The Three Investigators were crawling through the big pipe leading to Headquarters. As soon as they were inside, Jupe squinted into the See-All periscope, which let him see over the piles of junk outside the trailer.

"All clear," he reported. "Mr. Olsen hasn't returned."

"Gos.h.!.+" Bob exclaimed. "You could have knocked me over with a feather when your Uncle t.i.tus backed you up."

"Six thousand dollars!" Pete said. "And I thought that you you were off your rocker!" were off your rocker!"

Jupiter nodded. "I don't blame you, Second. But Uncle t.i.tus has an affection for the circus that goes far beyond his usual desire to do business and make a reasonable profit."

"What beats me," Bob said, "is why everyone wants to buy bars all of a sudden?"

"You should have asked your Aunt Mathilda who the other buyer was-the one who bought up the whole lot," Pete said to Jupe.

Jupe was about to reply when the telephone rang.

"h.e.l.lo, Jupiter Jones speaking."

They could all hear the incoming voice through the loudspeaker attachment. "Hi, Jupe. This is Mike Hall. How would you fellows like to come back to our place again tonight?"

"I don't know if we can get away, Mike," Jupe said. "Why-is anything wrong at Jungle Land?"

"Not exactly," Mike said. "I just thought you'd like to see the gorilla. He just arrived."

"Swell," Jupe said. "Is he a big one?"

Mike laughed. "Big enough. Of course, he'll keep, but our big problem is still with George. And I hope you remember that he gets nervous after dark."

"We haven't forgotten, Mike. As a matter of fact, we were discussing that same point - that we don't know yet what goes on there after dark."

"Well, here's your chance to find out," Mike said cheerfully.

"All right, Mike. We'll try to get permission, and then it'll be just the matter of arranging transport."

"Great," Mike said. "I can meet you at the gate. You coming by pickup truck again?"

"I don't think so," Jupe replied. "This time I believe we'll be using the Rolls."

There was a gasp. "You have a Rolls-Royce?" Mike asked. Then he began to laugh loudly.

"Ask him what's so funny," Bob said.

"I heard that," Mike said. "It's funny because Mr. Jay Eastland acts like such a big shot, you know. And that's the car he drives to impress people."

Jupe consulted his watch. "We'll be there about nine, Mike, after dinner. As soon as I call Worthington."

"Worthington? Who's he?"

"Our chauffeur."

There was loud laughter from the other end. "Wow!" Mike managed to say finally.

"Okay, see you later."

Jupiter replaced the phone. "I guess I should have explained to Mike we don't actually own the Rolls and Worthington."

"It's better this way," Bob put in. "At least we cheered him up. The way things are going at Jungle Land, he needs a laugh."

Promptly at nine o'clock that evening, the gleaming old Rolls-Royce rolled up to the main gate at Jungle Land.

Jupe peered out of the window. "I thought Mike said he would meet us here."

There was an overhead light illuminating the gate area. Beyond that, Jungle Land was dark. Palm leaves rustled in the night breeze. From the distance came strange chattering sounds.

Pete jumped out and opened the gate. As the Rolls pa.s.sed through, he closed it again and got back into the car. "I'm glad Worthington is driving us in," he said.

"This place is kind of scary at night."

Following Pete's unerring sense of direction, Worthington threaded his way through several junctions and side roads. As he was about to turn up the road leading to the big white house on the hill, Pete touched the dignified chauffeur's shoulder.

"Hold it a second, Worthington."

Jupe raised his eyebrows. "What's up, Pete?"

"I thought I heard shouting up ahead - and some other noises."

They waited, concentrating on listening. Soon they all heard sounds in the undergrowth. Then they heard the faraway wail of a siren.

Bob pointed into the dark. "Look! Searchlights!"

As their eyes watched the blue arcs of light sweeping the skies, they became aware of cras.h.i.+ng sounds directly ahead of them. They heard the rasp of heavy breathing. In the next instant, a figure broke out of the jungle. The headlights of the Rolls picked him out clearly as he ran across the road.

His eyes were wide and staring. Sweat glistened on the dirt-streaked face under the old Aussie campaign hat. There was no mistaking the man caught for a brief moment in the bright headlights.

"Hank Morton!" Bob exclaimed.

"Running wild through the woods - and looking mighty scared," added Pete. "I wonder what he's been up to now."

The panting man plunged into the thick jungle on the other side and disappeared.

The cras.h.i.+ng sounds of his flight gradually diminished.

They heard angry cries up ahead, and saw the beams of bobbing torches.

"It looks like some kind of trouble," Bob said, peering out.

"Let's see what's going on," Jupe cried.

In a moment the boys were scrambling out and running. A voice called out.

"Jupiter! Bob! Pete!'

Jupe turned, peering uncertainly into the darkness.

A torch signalled. "Over here. It's me - Mike."

He directed them with the torch until they were together. Jupe noticed Mike was breathing hard. Behind him, dim figures were walking slowly through the jungle, swinging torches from side to side, and then up towards the trees. A few men were holding rifles.

Jupe caught his breath as he took in the eerie scene. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Did George break out again?"

"It's not George this time," Mike said breathlessly. "It's a lot more trouble than that."

"What happened?" asked Bob. "Some of those men have rifles. Are they looking for Hank Morton?"

"Who?"

"Hank Morton," Pete said. "We just saw him running scared. He broke out of the jungle below the hill and ran across the road."

"So that's it!" Mike Hall said grimly. "I knew it!"

"Knew what, Mike?" Bob demanded. "What's going on here?"

"The gorilla I told you about," Mike began. "He broke out of his cage and escaped!"

"When?" Pete demanded. "You mean there's a wild gorilla running loose here?"

"It happened a little while ago, right after Doc Dawson brought George home this evening."

"A wild gorilla and a lion," Jupiter said thoughtfully. "I don't know much about how those two species get along, Mike. Would a gorilla be that frightened at the presence of a lion that he would break out of his cage?"

Mike shrugged. "Jim knows more about that than I do. But after what you told me, I'm not at all sure he did break out of his cage."

"What do you mean, Mike?" asked Pete.

"I mean somebody could have let him out. Somebody who hated my Uncle Jim bad enough to pull a stunt like that. You said yourselves you saw him running through the woods.

"Unless I'm dead wrong, it was Hank Morton who let him out!" he said bitterly.

Chapter 10.

In the Dark JUPE SHOOK HIS head. "Hank Morton could have been running through the woods for any number of reasons. That's not proof that he let your gorilla escape. Perhaps if we could see its cage, we might find some clues."

"Okay, you fellows are the investigators," said Mike. "Maybe you'll discover something." He led them up the hill. "Say, where's that Rolls-Royce you said you were coming in?"

"Down at the foot of the hill," said Bob. "Worthington is used to us. He'll just wait until we show up again."

Mike chuckled and brought the boys to a clearing at the side of the house. Lights blazed in every room, lighting up the nearby area. Mike pointed and The Three Investigators found themselves staring at a large, empty cage.

"The s.h.i.+pment arrived not long after you left this afternoon. There were two cages this time and-"

"Two cages?" Jupe asked.

A snarling, spitting sound behind him made him whirl in fright. Bob and Pete flinched.

"Gos.h.!.+" Bob gasped. "What was that?"

Mike directed his flashlight to the far end of the house. "I guess I should have warned you first. Take a look! Isn't that a beauty?"

The boys looked in awe at the sinister creature caged barely twenty feet from them. As they slowly approached, it snarled again.

"It's a black panther," Mike said. "How do you like it?"

Gleaming yellow eyes stared unwinkingly at them from behind thick iron bars. As they took another cautious step forward, the panther hissed. Its mouth opened, showing long, white pointed fangs. Hastily, the boys stepped backward.

Bob gulped. "I like him fine. Just so long as he stays locked up in that cage."

"Wow!" Pete exclaimed." Look at those muscles! If you ask me, that panther looks a lot tougher than old George."

As if acting in support of Pete's observation, the beast snarled and lunged at the bars with a frightening thud. The boys retreated another step, watching the black animal warily.

"It would be a pretty good fight, at that, Pete-lion against panther," Mike said.

"Panthers, this kind, are really leopards. They strike like lightning. They've got terrible raking claws as well as sharp teeth. But don't let George fool you with his dumb, gentle act. He's still a lion-a good-sized one at that-over four hundred pounds-and he's simply too big and powerful for the panther. No panther ever beat a lion yet, that I ever heard of. It would take a tiger to do it."

The boys stared in silence at the animal pacing restlessly in its cage. "I kind of agree with Pete," Bob said finally. "This baby looks real mean and tough. What do you think, Jupe?" He looked around. "Jupe?"

The First Investigator was spotted by the cage the gorilla had escaped from. He motioned them over.

"What's up, Jupe?" asked Bob.

"This cage has been tampered with, fellows," Jupe announced. "While I'm not certain that Hank Morton was responsible for the gorilla getting out, somebody was!"

"How can you tell?" asked Pete.

Jupe pointed dramatically to the side of the cage. "See there? One bar has been removed. The adjoining two are bent. The bars are set approximately six inches apart.