smoke.”
“Ah!” Worthington said. “A pity. I should have been most pleased if you had witnessed the total effect.”
“Maybe
The chauffeur nodded and drove off. Jupiter led his partners into the junkyard. His Uncle Titus and Aunt Mathilda were already asleep inside the little house that adjoined the yard. There was just a dim nightlight on for Jupiter.
Jupiter turned to Pete and Bob. “I don’t know if you’ll like this, but we will have to return to the cave, dragon or not.”
“What?” Pete howled. “Don’t you realize we’re lucky just to be back here alive?”
Jupe nodded. He held his arms up and showed his empty hands. “My torch is still in my belt, just like yours and Bob’s. But in our panic when we ran out of the cave, we forgot all our equipment. My camera, the recorder, the rope. That’s one reason for our going back there.”
“Okay,” Pete said grudgingly. “That makes a little sense, but not too much. What’s your other reason?”
“The dragon itself,” Jupiter said slowly. “I don’t believe it was real!”
His partners stared at him.
“Not real?” Pete demanded. “Are you trying to tell us that thing that frightened us out of our wits wasn’t real? ”
Jupiter nodded.
Bob shook his head. “If that wasn’t a real live dragon, I’ll eat my shirt.”
“I admit it looked like one,” Jupe said.
Pete looked annoyed. “Then what are you talking about?”
“I admit the dragon looked like one,” Jupe repeated. “But it didn’t act like one!
“It’s too late now to discuss it,” Jupe said. “I’ll give you my reasons for not believing that was a real live dragon tomorrow morning. And, if I’m proved wrong next time we visit the cave, I’ll do as you threatened, Bob — I’ll eat
“You won’t have to bother,” Pete said. “The dragon will eat it for you. And whatever else is handy.”
Bob had trouble sleeping. Tired as he was from the harrowing events at the cave in Seaside, he had no sooner closed his eyes than he was being pursued from cave to cave by a monstrous dragon breathing hot steam at him. At last he managed to fall soundly asleep, only to be wakened by his mother calling him for breakfast.
His father was finishing his breakfast when Bob came to the table. He nodded to Bob, then glanced at his watch.
“Good morning, son. Did you have a good time with your friends last night?”
“Yes, Dad,” Bob answered. “Kind of.”
His father stood up, dropping his napkin on the table. “That’s fine. By the way, I don’t know if it’s important, but you seemed interested in the Seaside tunnel yesterday, and after you left, I happened to recall the name of the man who had lost his fortune building it.”
“Oh?” Bob asked. “Who was it, Dad?”
“Labron Carter.”
“Carter?” Bob instantly thought of the Mr. Carter they had met. The one with the bad temper and big shotgun.
“Yes. He lost his vigorous health, too, once the Seaside Town Council turned away from his plans to make Seaside the resort city he had envisaged. The combination of losing his health, fortune and reputation was too much for him — he killed himself.”
“That’s too bad. Did he have a family?”
Mr. Andrews nodded. “His wife died shortly afterwards. His son is the sole survivor.” Mr. Andrews looked thoughtful for a moment. “That is, if he is still alive,” he added. “Remember this all happened over fifty years ago.”
Bob waved goodbye as his father left for the newspaper office where he worked. He added this latest information to his notes. He wondered what Jupe would say when he presented his own evidence. Proof that somebody was still alive who knew about the original tunnel. Somebody with a grudge to bear against the city that had broken his father’s heart. Somebody who had a very nasty disposition.
Bob couldn’t imagine how the present Mr. Carter might try to get even. He put his notes in his pocket, finished his breakfast and hurriedly left.
Perhaps Jupe would be able to tie things up later at the Jones Salvage Yard.
“Golly,” Pete Crenshaw said, an apprehensive note in his voice. “What Bob’s told us about the Carter family sure makes sense, Jupe. More than your remark about the dragon being fake,” he added.
The Three Investigators were gathered together again at Headquarters. Bob had started the meeting by reading his notes, as usual, and had first mentioned Labron Carter. But he had even more surprises for his friends.
“I remembered what you said last night about the dragon,” Bob said. “And I went straight from my house to the library this morning and did a lot of research before our meeting.”
Jupiter glanced at the papers in Bob’s hand.
“I believe it would be most constructive to our meeting this morning, Bob, if you came directly to the point,” Jupe said. “To wit, are there dragons living today, or not?”
Bob shook his head. “Not. No dragons. Not a single book gave any evidence of dragons living today.”
“That’s crazy!” Pete exploded. “Those guys just don’t know where to look. If they spent a little time around a certain cave in Seaside at night, they’d find one, all right. A nice big one!”
Jupe held up his hands. “I suggest we listen while Bob reads his report. Then we’ll discuss it. Continue, Bob.”
Bob looked down at his notes. “The closest thing I found to a dragon is a huge lizard called the Dragon of Komodo. It’s large for a lizard — grows up to ten feet long — but nowhere near as big as the dragon we saw.”
“Maybe one of them got some extra vitamins,” said Pete. “Maybe that’s our dragon.”
“No,” said Bob. “The Dragon of Komodo doesn’t breathe smoke, and it only lives on one small island in the East Indies. And it doesn’t look much like that creature in the cave. I think we can safely say there are no dragons living today.
“But I did find a lot of living creatures that attack, kill and even eat man!” He glanced at his companions. “Do you want me to continue?”
Jupe nodded. “Certainly. We must know our natural enemies — as well as the ones intending to fool us by pretending to be natural. Read your list, Bob.”
“Here goes,” Bob said. “One million people killed each year by disease-carrying insects; forty thousand die of snakebite; two thousand from tigers; one thousand are eaten by crocodiles, and another thousand are food for sharks.” He looked up.
“Notice if you will, Pete,” Jupe said, “no mention so far of any statistics covering the incidence of dragons and humans. Continue, Records.”
“Those are the big numbers,” Bob said. “There are also a lot caused by elephant, hippo, rhino, wolf, lion, hyena and leopard. Some of these are accidents. There are man-killers and man-eaters. A lot are intentional ‘rogue’ killers.
“But according to this book —
