For an instant time seemed suspended as the pistol popped in the wind, the Black Vulture moved directly into the path of the charging seaplane, and the two racing antagonists converged towards what seemed an inevitable collision!

Then the seaplane veered sharply, wobbled out of the channel, tore a wing off on a black buoy, and fell over on its side into the water of the cove.

The Black Vulture turned sharply towards the wrecked seaplane. From the ship they could see only the pilot swimming clear of the half-submerged air taxi. When they reached him, Jeremy threw him a life belt with a rope attached. As they hauled the pilot aboard they suddenly saw Joshua Evans. He was swimming away in the opposite direction, pushing a pair of life belts with the black lacquered treasure chest on top of them!

"Wow," the pilot said as he flopped dripping on to the deck, "you guys saved my life! That nut had a gun, wouldn't let me turn back or use the radio after the office called me back to the dock. What is he, a bank robber or something?"

"Something very much like that," Jupiter said as the Black Vulture set out after the escaping Joshua Evans. The owner of the stone tower was still trying to swim away with the treasure chest on the two life belts. But the weight of the chest was too much-it kept tilting and sinking as Evans struggled with it. His dark eyes glared up defiantly at all the faces that lined the rail of the Black Vulture. Finally Evans realized he couldn't save both the treasure and himself. He abandoned the chest and began to swim as fast as he could towards the nearest point of land. The chest wobbled and tilted on its life belts, threatening to sink to the bottom any instant.

"Pete! Bob!" Jupiter cried. "Get the treasure!" Pete and Bob leaped into the water and grabbed the wobbling chest. Together they swam it to the ship, and Jeremy lowered a rope from the yardarm hoist. Pete and Bob tied the chest in a cradle of rope, and Jeremy activated the motorized hoist and lifted the chest, swung it on board, and lowered it to the deck.

"Now for Evans," Captain Joy said as Pete and Bob scrambled back on board.

The Black Vulture resumed full speed and quickly turned directly into the path of the madly swimming Joshua Evans. Sam cried from the crow's nest, "I'll drop a la.s.so, Cap'n. You fellers jump in and get it around that crook!"

The two Joys plunged into the cove along with Pete and Bob and soon surrounded Evans. Jupiter shouted encouragement from the deck. While the captain and Pete grappled with Evans and held him. Bob and Jeremy slipped the loop of rope over his head and under his arms. In the next instant Salty Sam started the hoist. Evans was s.n.a.t.c.hed high into the air, swung in over the deck, and left dangling high on the yardarm like a trussed chicken, flailing and kicking and swearing at everyone.

"I'll get all of you for this!" He squirmed and twisted where he dangled, shouting threats down at them all.

The captain and the boys climbed back on deck, dripping but triumphant. Captain Joy returned to the wheel and headed the Black Vulture back to the Purple Pirate Lair.

"All right, Jupiter," the captain said as he steered towards his own dock, "you'd better tell us what this is all about, and just who Evans really is."

"My guess, sir, is that he's some kind of professional thief," Jupiter said grimly.

"And he's a fifth member of Major Karnes's gang!"

"Gosh, Jupe, how do you figure that?" Jeremy wondered.

"Primarily, Jeremy, because the 'old treasure' isn't a pirate treasure at all. My guess is it's loot from a lot of burglaries, and very modern loot at that!"

High on the yardarm the dangling Joshua Evans cried down to them, "That fat kid is crazy! I'll sue you for this, Joy! Get me down from here!"

"You had better be sure, Jupiter," Captain Joy said.

"I'm quite sure. Captain," Jupiter said firmly. "All along, the one part of the case we couldn't figure out was the around-the-clock stakeout by the gang. I couldn't see any reason that had anything to do with getting you and Jeremy away from the Purple Pirate Lair, so it had to be something else. There had to be more to the case than we knew. They had to be watching someone else."

"Evans!" Bob cried. "They were watching Evans."

"Exactly, Records." Jupiter nodded. "But I admit that it wasn't until Evans showed us the treasure itself that I realized the truth."

"How, First?" Pete cried.

"Yes, Jupiter, how did seeing the treasure help?" Captain Joy wanted to know.

Dangling from the rigging, Joshua Evans flailed and squirmed and swore down at the leader of the detective trio. Captain Joy steered the Black Vulture slowly into its berth at the Purple Pirate Lair.

"Quite simple," Jupiter said. "When Evans showed us his treasure in its black Chinese chest, I knew at once that something was wrong. It was the chest! The bra.s.s fittings were much too shiny, and the chest itself looked much too light. Today we coat bra.s.s to keep it from tarnishing, but in the old days they couldn't do that, so old bra.s.s is either tarnished green or black, or it has a much duller shine from being polished. I examined the chest and saw that the bra.s.s was coated. It was modern bra.s.s, and the chest itself was nothing but lacquered plywood! In the middle of the nineteenth century plywood hadn't been invented. It was a modern chest, and someone had recently burned in William Evans' name to fool us!"

"It could have been an old treasure put into a new chest," Captain Joy considered.

"Not if Evans had just found it," Jupiter pointed out. "But to be sure, when Evans gave us a piece of the treasure, I took a ring that looked modern. Early this morning I took it to Mr. Gandolfi, the jeweller. He was quite angry at me for coming to his house before eight o'clock, but he finally told me that the ring had been made less than five years ago! The whole treasure was modern. Evans must have brought it to the tower himself, and he must have known it was all modern. And since Karnes clearly knew Evans had a treasure, it was a good bet that he knew it was modern too, not pirate treasure."

"But," Bob objected, "if they knew it wasn't pirate treasure, why-"

"Yes, Records," Jupiter said, nodding, "why would they let the police take them to jail without telling anyone it wasn't pirate treasurer Why let Evans get away with telling us it was pirate treasure? There could be only one answer-it was all stolen loot! Loot that Major Karnes and his gang would lose if they told the truth. And that was when I saw the whole answer."

In the rigging Joshua Evans thrashed and clawed at the rope that held him. "Don't listen to that fat oaf! He knows nothing! I'll put him and all of you in jail!"

"What answer, Jupe?" Jeremy urged.

"That Kames and his gang couldn't reveal that the treasure was really stolen loot because they had stolen it in the first place! Evans knew that - because he was one of because he was one of the gang too! the gang too! They were all members of the same gang. Evans had run away with all the loot, and Karnes and the others had come after him to get it back!" They were all members of the same gang. Evans had run away with all the loot, and Karnes and the others had come after him to get it back!"

Chief Reynolds' voice boomed out from behind them all, "Exactly right, Jupiter!

You've done it again!"

The chief, the sheriff, and four of their men stood on the dock looking up at the Black Vulture and Joshua Evans dangling high on the yardarm.

"They're crazy, Chief!" Evans cried, flailing helplessly. "Arrest them! They don't know what they're talking about!"

"I did come to make an arrest," the chief said sternly, looking up at Joshua Evans, "but it won't be these boys. Thanks to them, and to Captain Joy and his quick action, we're not too late. Yes, Jupiter, Major Karnes and his gang are well-known jewel thieves from the East, wanted in at least six states. The whole gang vanished over a year ago, and everyone was afraid they had all escaped with their loot."

"You sent their fingerprints to Washington," Jupiter guessed.

The chief nodded. "A routine procedure nowadays. Their fingerprints matched the gang's, except that all reports said that there were five members of the gang-not four!

I have no doubt at all that Evans' fingerprints will prove him to be that fifth member of the band of thieves! Take him away!"

Convulsed with laughter, Sam Davis lowered Joshua Evans into the waiting hands of the police. The struggling descendant of the Purple Pirate was taken away to a waiting police car while Chief Reynolds and the sheriff congratulated the beaming trio of Investigators.

Chapter 22.

Mr. Sebastian Finds a Legacy SOME DAYS LATER, on another June morning of low fog, the Three Investigators biked up the coast past Malibu and turned off the Pacific Coast Highway on to Cypress Canyon Road. The local road snaked, narrow and dusty, up one of the dry canyons in the foothills of the coast range.

After some distance and seeing no sign of life, the boys reached a ramshackle old building on the left. Formally a restaurant called Charlie's Place, it was now being renovated into a private home. On the side of the building, where there would be a clear view of the sea once the fog lifted, a concrete terrace was being poured.

Somewhere inside the building a high voice was singing in oddly accented English.

"Oh I love to be a Happy Farmer hot dog, A Happy Farmer hot dog is for me, 'Cause when I am a Happy Farmer hot dog, Everyone will want to swallow me!"

As the cheerful but broken singing went on, a thin man with greying hair and a somewhat sad face limped out of the building with his hands over his ears. He peered at the boys through his gla.s.ses, then smiled.

"Well, Jupiter, Pete and Bob! How nice. Ah, I know, another case for me to introduce, is it?"

"Yes, sir," Jupiter admitted with a grin.

"A pretty tricky one too, Mr. Sebastian," Pete exclaimed.

Mr. Hector Sebastian had once been a private' detective back East, but a severe injury had left him with a permanent limp and forced him to retire. He had turned his knowledge and talents to the writing of suspenseful books and chilling movies. Now rich and growing famous, he had met the boys on a recent case and they had soon become good friends. Mr. Sebastian was always ready to help the team with a little professional advice and enjoyed being involved even from a distance in the boys'

investigations. The mystery writer had agreed to try to fill the large shoes of their former mentor, the late Mr. Alfred Hitchc.o.c.k, and introduce their cases.

But at the moment Mr. Sebastian was looking at the boys with a bemused expression. "I would never have expected cowardice in you boys."

"Cowardice, sir?" Pete wondered.

"What else can I call your failure to telephone me to say that you were coming?

Obviously you did not have the courage to announce yourselves and face the music of what Don would whip up for you out of the latest TV Guide!"

The boys laughed at this reference to the packaged concoctions featured in television commercials and so exuberantly prepared by Mr. Sebastian's Vietnamese houseman, cook, and general a.s.sistant, Hoang Van Don.

"But don't think you're home free," Mr. Sebastian warned. "I a.s.sure you that Don can produce an even more inedible dish in five minutes, which he will do the instant he sees you. As a matter of fact, that could be a blessing. Anything he cooks must be better than the jingles he sings, so come in and I shall read your report while Don prepares another delight."

They followed Mr. Sebastian up on to the rickety wooden porch, then in through a lobby that now smelled like the hot dog stand at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

Beyond the lobby was a mammoth room that had once been the dining room of Charlie's Place. The floors were polished hardwood, and huge plate-gla.s.s windows opened out over trees and a vast view of the foggy ocean. At the moment sliding gla.s.s doors were being installed between the enormous room and the new terrace. The room itself was almost bare of furniture, but there was a low gla.s.s-topped table and some patio chairs around a big stone fireplace at one end. At the other end of the room, partially hidden by tall bookshelves, sat a big desk and a typewriter table.

"The writing has been going better since I've started introducing your cases," Mr.

Sebastian said. "You seem to help my mental processes. I'm anxious to read your report. But first you must brave Don's tender mercies!"

He called to his houseman. The terrible singing ceased, and a smiling Oriental man appeared in the lobby. Not much taller than Jupiter, and very slim, Hoang Van Don grinned broadly when he saw the boys. He plainly liked them. He hurried forward, then stopped, horrified.

"Ah, have nothing for lunch! First you eat! Have all-meat Happy Farmer hot dogs, brought fresh from East, for Mr. Sebastian dinner ca.s.serole, recipe on package. But can cook more. Make quick one-hundred-percent imitation artificial Bora-Bora punch of nine fruit-flavour juices. Also two-minute homemade cake ready with no cooking!"

"We can hardly wait," Mr. Sebastian sighed, as Hoang Van Don left happily. "I long for the gourmet meals of the lowest fast-food chain. But never mind my misadventures at the dining table. What is our case today?"

"We call it the Mystery of the Purple Pirate!" Bob said as he took a large envelope out of his backpack and handed it to Mr. Sebastian.

Don reappeared almost instantly with the hot dogs, genuine imitation artificial fruit punch, and two-minute homemade cake. Oblivious to Mr. Sebastian's bleak looks at the food, the boys ate happily while the writer returned to reading the report.

"An interesting case," he said when he had finished. "A severe test of detective skills and equipment, as well as your powers of observation and reasoning. I a.s.sume that this Joshua Evans did turn out to be a member of the Karnes gang?"

"Yes, sir," Jupiter said, nodding.

"His fingerprints were on file in Washington. Once Evans was in jail, Karnes knew the game was up and he told the whole story. They had been stealing for years. The gang had gathered all that loot, and then Evans stole it and disappeared."

"And they are all now in jail, with heavy charges against them?"

"You bet," Pete exclaimed. "Six states in the East are fighting over who gets first shot at them!"

"It's not always good to be popular," Mr. Sebastian said dryly. "I take it Karnes invented his entire pirate-interview operation just to get Captain Joy and Jeremy away?"

"Yes, sir," Jupiter said. "There isn't any such organization as the Society for Justice to Buccaneers, Brigands, Bandits, and Bushwhackers."

"In a way that's too bad," Mr. Sebastian sighed. "It had a fine ring to it! And the around-the-clock stakeout was to make sure Evans didn't run off with the loot again before the gang could get into the tower and find it?"

"Sure," Bob said. "And Evans tied up Captain Joy and Jeremy because he was afraid they would guess the truth after Jeremy commented on how new some of the jewellery looked."

"Only Jeremy never thought anything more of it,"

Pete said. "He wasn't suspicious at all!"

"The error of a guilty man," Mr. Sebastian said. "And a desperate one. He must have cooked up his scheme to fool everyone on the spur of the moment."

"He did," Jupiter nodded. "We gave him the idea by talking about pirate treasure.

When he realized Karnes and the gang had found him and he couldn't get away with the loot without being caught by them, he decided to use us all against each other. He had plenty of time to burn William Evans' name in the chest and put it into the storeroom, and he had various alternative plans."

Mr. Sebastian nodded. "It takes great intelligence to size up a situation and take advantage of circ.u.mstances. Too bad he used his intelligence for criminal purposes."

"Captain Joy is a fast thinker too. He was smart to use the Black Vulture to stop the air taxi," Bob said. "And he got an unexpected bonus-a lot of insurance companies had offered rewards for the return of that loot! Captain Joy offered to share the money with us, but we told him to use it to make the Purple Pirate Lair a super show."

"Something it badly needs, judging by your report'," Mr. Sebastian agreed.

"But the captain was swell enough to give us the money for a new trailing device,"

said Pete. "And he adopted Blackboard, Evans' homeless cat. Said it would add atmosphere to the Lair."

"What about that doc.u.ment Karnes and his crew were studying," Mr. Sebastian asked. "Was it a map?"

"Yes, but just a map of Pirates Cove," Bob explained. "The major had no map that showed where the tunnel was."

"But you said in the report it was impossible to find the tunnel unless you knew it was there. How did Karnes find it?"

Jupiter laughed. "Evans himself told Karnes about the tower and the tunnel one time years ago when they were hiding from the police. Except Karnes didn't know where the tower was and Evans didn't know the tunnel's location. Evans' father had told him the tunnel had collapsed and was useless, so Evans thought it not worth looking for. Evans returned to the tower with the stolen jewels, and it took the rest of the gang a full year to track him down. In searching the tower grounds for the treasure, Karnes discovered the tunnel's boathouse entrance. He and Hubert dug it out so they could sneak into the tower and search for the treasure there."

"And what happened between Evans and Karnes inside that storeroom?"

Bob said, "Evans simply reminded Kames that if he denounced Evans to the police, none of them would ever keep the loot. Kames didn't have much choice-tell and lose it all; keep quiet and let Evans get away. I guess Kames figured he had a better chance of getting the loot eventually by going along with Evans."

"So in the end there was no pirate treasure at the Purple Pirate Lair," Mr.

Sebastian said, "but perhaps a legacy from the Purple Pirate."

"A legacy, sir?" Jupiter asked.

"From the Purple Pirate, Lieutenant William Evans, to his great-great-grandson, Joshua Evans! A legacy of piracy and other thieving crimes! In the end, Joshua Evans proved to be every bit as much a pirate as his notorious ancestor."