The Mystery of the Laughing Shadow

with a very big, long, black-and-yellow beak, a ragged brownish crest, a white chest and belly, and a ragged tail. Its body was thick, and its head seemed too big for its size.

“What is that?” Pete asked, staring at the odd bird.

Before anyone could answer, it opened its enormous beak and let out a wild, crazy laugh that seemed to fill the whole canyon.

“The laugh!” Pete yelled. “It was a bird!”

“A kookaburra bird, to be exact,” Jupiter announced, looking remarkably unsurprised. “Known in Australia as a Laughing Jackass. It’s the thing I couldn’t remember — an Australian animal with an almost human laugh.”

Jupiter took a flashlight and aimed it at Mr. Harris. With the bird perched on his head, Harris cast a tall, humpbacked shadow with a birdlike head and beak that jerked and moved about.

“That’s our laughing shadow,” Jupiter said. “Mr. Harris with his pet kookaburra on his head — and the kookaburra is found only in Australia.”

Mr. Harris nodded, and shrugged. “So, it was you who tripped me up, Jupiter? I was afraid something like this might happen, and I tried to get rid of the bird. Unfortunately, it stayed on the estate and kept crying out at awkward moments.”

“Jupiter also spotted your meat sandwich, Harris,” Chief Reynolds said. “You were careless.”

“Ah, that too, eh? I should have dealt more firmly with our stout friend. However, as they say, all is not lost. I presume that you would like young Bob and the Indian boys back safely?”

Mr. Andrews cried, “What have you done with Bob?”

“Don’t try anything, Harris,” Chief Reynolds snapped. “You’re in trouble enough.”

“Too much trouble, Chief. However, I have my way out. It pays to be prepared,” Harris said with a wicked smile. “Now, in that sack you took there is some gold. Not nearly as much as I had hoped to have, but a fair amount. I am willing to trade for it. I will take that gold, no more, and my freedom. You may keep Sanders and Carson to make it look good.”

“Why, you!” Sanders muttered, and lunged at his boss, but the police held him back.

“Tut, tut, Sanders, we must all look out for ourselves, eh? I can’t be greedy. I’ll trade myself and this gold for the boys and the rest of the treasure.”

“No deals, Harris,” Chief Reynolds declared. “We’ll find the boys. You can’t hurt them now that we have you and your men.”

“On the contrary, Chief,” Harris said smoothly. “You see, I prepared for this emergency. The boys are still beyond your reach unless I tell you where they are.”

Chief Reynolds said, “Harris, I warn you that — ”

“No!” Harris snapped, his voice harsh now. “I warn you! Unless you give me the gold, and my freedom, you will never find those boys alive! They cannot escape, and they cannot call for help. They have no food or water. If you let me go with that gold, I will telephone when I am clear and tell you where they are. Otherwise, they will die.”

“You wouldn’t dare! Why, that would be murder!”

Harris smiled. “Perhaps I wouldn’t dare, but you can’t be sure, can you? You have no choice!”

Harris’s own laugh was low in the night. But his pet kookaburra echoed wildly from his perch on the criminal’s head, and the high laughter filled the dark canyon. Mr. Andrews looked pleadingly at Chief Reynolds. Everyone else stared at the grinning Harris. Then Jupiter spoke up.

“No,” he said quietly, “I think we do have a choice. Chief, I am sure I know where the boys are.”

Harris turned his cold eyes towards Jupiter. Chief Reynolds looked doubtful.

“Where, Jupiter?” Mr. Andrews cried.

“Up there,” Jupiter announced, and pointed to the black mountain towering above them. “Magnus Verde’s words were, ‘It is in the eye of the sky where no man can find it.’ We know he was being tricky about saying no man, but I think he was telling the exact truth about the eye of the sky. He didn’t mean the sun or the moon or anything like an eye. He meant a real eye. There, up on the mountain. Indian Head Mountain!”

Everyone looked upwards. Etched against the silvery moonlit sky was a face. A giant rock face with a nose, mouth, and two eyes.

“The left eye is deep in shadows,” Jupiter went on. “I think there’s a ledge up there, and a cave. And that’s where the Chumash Hoard is hidden. Harris must have been up there, too, and when he saw our lights down here he pushed the boys inside and sealed up the opening so they’re trapped.”

Harris muttered, “You think I can climb up there?”

Jupiter nodded. “With the help of the Yaquali boys, yes. The Australian police told us you had been a cat- burglar.”

“Suppose they are there, what can you do?”

“Natches and Nanika can get up there,” Jupiter said. Natches nodded eagerly. “Si! We climb easy. Mucho easy.”

“Are you going to listen to a kid?” Harris demanded of the adults. “I warn you, if you listen to him, and he’s wrong, the whole deal is off! We deal now, or never.”

The adults stood uneasily. Harris muttered an oath. everyone looked at Mr. Andrews and the two Yaquali. Mr. Andrews spoke first:

“I’ll trust Jupiter’s hunch,” he said. The two Indians nodded.

“All right,” Chief Reynolds said, “Natches and Nanika can go up and look. But what if Harris has the boys tied up? If the cave opening is so small, Natches and Nanika may not be able to get inside.”

“I don’t see how Harris could have got inside to tie them,” Jupiter replied. “Unless he had one boy tie all the others, and then tied him up and pushed him inside before sealing the cave. But I don’t believe he had time to do that. However, perhaps I’d better go up, too, just in case I might be able to get inside.”

“You, Jupiter?” Chief Reynolds said, looking at the First Investigator’s sturdy frame.

“Perdone,” Natches said, “I do not think Jupiter can make the climb. He is, yes, too big?”

Jupiter flushed at this reference to his size, but he reluctantly agreed. “I guess Pete will have to go.”

“Si,” Natches agreed. “Strong boy. Tall, not so heavy. He may get inside.”

Pete gulped, “Yeh, I guess it’s me.”

Chief Reynolds herded Harris and his two glowering henchmen into a space between boulders, where they sat sullen and silent while Pete and the two Yaquali prepared for the climb. When they had their equipment ready, the Yaquali roped Pete between them and started up with Nanika in the lead.

From the floor of the dark canyon, the watchers saw them swarm up the cliff face like insects. They mounted rapidly and surely. It was obvious that without Pete the two Yaquali could have climbed the mountain as fast as they walked a street. But they guided the strong boy carefully.

On they went, upwards, and at last they reached the ledge in the eye of the stone face. For a moment they paused at the shadowed ledge, and then they vanished over the edge.

“They made it!” Chief Reynolds cried below.

“With Natches and Nanika, there was no danger, sir,” Jupiter observed. “Now they are in the eye of the sky.”

* * *

High on the ledge, Pete and the two Yaquali saw a large boulder set against the rear wall deep inside the stone eye. On the ledge there was a small pile of gold and a long iron bar.

“Jupe was right!” Pete cried. “This is where the gold is, and Harris used that iron bar to lever the boulder into the cave mouth. Come on, Natches.”

They rolled the boulder away using the lever. Behind the boulder there was a small, dark hole in the cliff. It was far too small for the broad shoulders of Natches and Nanika. Pete took a flashlight.

“Tie a rope round my foot. If I signal, pull me out.”

He crawled into the dark opening. He just barely squeezed through the narrow tunnel, forcing his way forward. Soon he sensed space ahead and a movement of air. He started to crawl faster — but stuck fast.