“You mean-”
“It’s a suit of armor with the moonlight shining on it.”
Hurrying, 99 joined Max. “Then we’ve lost Brattleboro,” she said. “Oh, Max, we’ll never find him now!”
“99, if he’s in this castle, we’ll find him,” Max promised her. “Remember back there where we took a left turn and saw this suit of armor? Well, Brattleboro must have taken a right turn, instead. So, we’ll just go back to where we started, and next time, turn right instead of left. That ought to take us straight to Brattleboro.”
“Unless, after he made a right turn, he made another turn-a left turn, maybe? Or a right turn again? Or two right turns and a left turn? Or-”
“Well, we’ll just hope that we’ll be able to spot that light again.”
“After all those turns, Max?”
“Well, we’ll yell for him.”
“Max, let’s face it, there’s no chance in the world that we’ll ever find him again. Your plan- Max! Look!”
Several yards ahead of them a moving pinpoint of light had appeared.
“Yes! It’s-”
The light was gone.
“Max, that was him, I’m sure of it!” 99 said. “He must have been in one of the cross corridors!”
“Why would the corridor be cross, 99, living in a nice, comfy castle like this?”
“I mean one of the corridors that crosses this corridor.”
“Oh. Yes, that was probably it. Hurry! Maybe we can catch him!”
They ran to the next corridor, then stopped and looked both ways.
“Nothing,” 99 said disappointedly.
“There!” Max pointed. He raced down the corridor in pursuit of a pinpoint of light.
“Max! No! That’s-”
There was a clanging sound.
A moment later, Max returned, looking crestfallen.
“Are you all right, Max?”
“Fine, 99. Fine, that is, as long as there’s no compelling necessity for shaking hands with anyone.”
“Max. . shall we give up?” 99 said gloomily.
“Well, 99, I hate to admit defeat. But it looks as if-”
A pinpoint of light suddenly appeared from around a corner and moved toward them. Max and 99 watched it, fascinated. A few moments later the light reached them.
“Are you two lost too?” Brattleboro’s voice said.
“What gave you that idea?” Max asked cagily.
“I thought you might be having trouble in the dark. Somebody’s been knocking over all the suits of armor.”
“No, no, we’re fine,” Max said. “We’ve been going about this very systematically, checking from room to room. How about you? Any luck?”
“Some.”
“Good.”
“No, it was bad luck. I fell down some stairs.”
“Lucky you weren’t carrying a match,” Max said. “You would have lost your light.”
“That’s not so lucky. I haven’t been able to light my cigar.”
“In that case, too bad you don’t have a match instead of that flashlight.”
“It doesn’t matter. I broke the cigar when I fell down the stairs.”
“Are we going to stand around the rest of the night talking nonsense like this?” 99 asked. “I thought we were supposed to be looking for Lucky Bucky’s and Guru Optimo’s rooms.”
“I knew I was carrying this flashlight around for some reason,” Brattleboro said. “It must be to look for that snake charmer’s room-it’s certainly no good for lighting cigars.”
Brattleboro moved on down the corridor.
“Did you get that conversation?” Max said to 99. “He’s trying to make us think he’s a harmless imbecile.”
“Which part of the conversation, Max? What you said or what he said?”
“99, I was just playing along. I wanted to make him think his trick had worked. He doesn’t want us to know how clever he is. He thinks he’s thrown us off the track. And now, as you’ll see in a second, he’s heading straight for Guru Optimo’s room, convinced that we think that he’s just blundering around blindly.”
“You mean we’re going to follow him
“Come on, 99, before he loses us!”
Moving quietly, they set out after the light once more.
All of a sudden it disappeared.
“Oh, Max! Gone!”
“Aha! But this time I saw where it went!”
Max hurried, with 99 at his heels. A second or so later they reached a door.
“This is the place!” Max whispered. “This is the door to Guru Optimo’s room. And inside we’ll find Brattleboro.”
“Careful, Max. .”
There was a creaking sound as Max turned the knob. Then he flung the door wide open-and peered at a pinpoint of light that was staring back at them.
“Brattleboro?” Max said warily.
“Boy, am I glad to see you!” Brattleboro’s voice replied. “I blundered into this closet, then I couldn’t find my way back out!”
There was silence for a moment. Then Max said, “Look, maybe you better let me take the light.”
“That might be best,” Brattleboro agreed. He handed over the flashlight.
“Thank you,” Max said. “Now, perhaps we can get something accomplished.”
“Take this too,” Brattleboro said, putting two small objects into Max’s hand.
“What are they?”
“The broken cigar that goes with the flashlight,” the KAOS agent replied. “I don’t want to break up the set.”
6
In command of the flashlight, Max led the way along the corridor. He began quietly opening doors and looking into the rooms, searching for either Lucky Bucky or Guru Optimo.
“Nothing,” he continued to report.
“Max-”
“Shhh-”
“But, Max-”
“99, please don’t talk unless you have something important to say. Lucky Bucky could be in any of these rooms, and he might hear you.”
“Would it be important if we’d lost V. T. Brattleboro?”
“Mmmmm. . yes, I think that would fit the category.”
“Max, we’ve lost V. T. Brattleboro,” 99 said.
“What!” Max responded, startled.
“He was right behind me just a moment ago, but now he’s gone.”
“That means he gave us the slip. He knows where Guru Optimo’s room is, and he’s headed straight for it Quick, 99! Follow him!”
“I don’t know which way he went.”
“Look for that pinpoint of light!”
