"Hey," Mr. Santos said, "sorry, Captain. The major he takes them off to the recording lab, I think."

"Why does he do that, Santos?" Jeremy asked.

"He got to edit them, eh? And he got to make copies for the society directors, you know? Hey, let's get started now, okay?"

Santos sat Jeremy at the desk and pushed the record b.u.t.ton on the tape recorder.

Then he retreated to a corner near the door and started reading a comic book as the captain began his pirate stories.

The First Investigator sat in the dark bushes watching the captain and Jeremy inside the back room. Where were Major Karnes and Hubert? They had left Carl still watching the Purple Pirate Lair, and had left Santos with the captain and Jeremy as they taped pirate stories for twenty-five dollars an hour. It was a method of payment that gave the captain every reason to take as long as possible to tell his stories.

Why? Jupiter had a strong hunch why, and an even stronger hunch where the major and Hubert were going!

The single lamp outside the Lair shone on the ticket booth and the locked wooden gates. In its dim light Pete could make out no movement in the deserted parking lots.

There was only the waxing and waning of the red point of light inside the cab of the tree-service truck, where Carl smoked and watched. From time to time a car pa.s.sed on the road, and once an air taxi took off from the cove.

Then a van came slowly and almost silently along the road from the direction of Rocky Beach. It entered the parking lot, turned off its lights, and coasted to a stop outside the locked gates of the Purple Pirate Lair. The door opened, and Major Karnes and Hubert got out!

"Records!" Pete whispered into his transmitter. "The major and Hubert just got here!"

Behind the store on De La Vina Street, Jupiter listened closely as Bob relayed Pete's report. His eyes were excited.

"Just as I guessed. Records! The whole taping session is just a ruse to get the captain and Jeremy away from the Purple Pirate Lair so that Karnes and his gang can dig for something they know is on the grounds, or they think is there!"

Bob's voice crackled low, "Pete says Karnes and Hubert are just waiting in front of the gates. Now Carl has crossed the parking lot to join them. It looks like Carl is picking the padlock on the gates. The major and Hubert are back in the van and driving inside. They're going real slow, Jupe, very quiet. No lights. Now they're inside.

Carl's closed the gates, and now he's going back to the tree-service truck. Pete can't see the van or Karnes anymore."

Jupiter chewed on his lip. "Records, tell Pete to follow them. It's vital that he get inside the Lair."

In the dark of the trees Pete shook his head. "No way I can go through the gates.

Carl's up in that hydraulic lift now; he'd spot me for sure. I can't go over the fence either. It's too smooth and high, and Carl would be sure to see me on it anyway."

"Jupe says there's got to be some way to get inside and see what they're doing,"

Bob relayed.

Pete's eyes searched the whole area for some way to get into the Purple Pirate Lair without being seen at once by Carl.

"Maybe," Pete said after a pause, "I can circle around the abalone factory. The Lair's fence runs right into the near side of the building. But if I go around to the far side, maybe I can climb on to the pier and then swim across to the Lair. That way Carl couldn't spot me."

In the silence of the night Pete waited for the walkie-talkie to answer. Beyond the fence across the road there was no sound, no light.

"Second," Bob's voice relayed, "it just might work. But be careful!"

Chapter 12.

Ten Sacks Full UNDER THE TREES Pete watched the shadow of the tree-service truck only a few hundred metres away. The glowing and fading point of red light told him that Carl was still up on the hydraulic lift, probably so that he could see over the fence of the Purple Pirate Lair.

The Second Investigator studied the road and the empty parking lots. If he stayed on his side of the road, moving away from Carl until he was opposite the abalone factory, he could race across the road to the side of the factory away from Carl.

Taking one last quick look to make sure Carl was still up in the cherry-picker, Pete went low and fast through the trees and then across the silent road to the far side of the abalone factory. Shielded from Carl, he stood there motionless for some time, listening hard. He saw no movement and heard no sign that he had been spotted.

Pete then slipped along the wall of the building to the point where it met the cove.

He struggled up the crossbeams and ledges on the side of the factory until he was high enough to drop over the fence separating the factory from its pier. After catching his breath, he dropped down, thudding softly on the wooden planking. Groping his way through the darkness, he walked a short distance out on to the pier. The black water of the cove glinted below him. The peninsula and buildings of the Lair were dimly visible across the water, about ten metres away.

Pete soon realized with a sigh that there was no way to cross that water except to drop right into it and swim. Feeling around along the surface of the pier, he found a long rope used for tying up boats. He pulled it towards him and found that one end was still attached to something stationary. With a deeper sigh and a shiver at the chill of the June night, Pete lowered himself down and down until he reached the surface of the water.

There he hesitated for a long minute, braced himself for the icy plunge into the black water, and then let go and dropped!

And stood up to his ankles in the shallowest water!

Red-faced, and looking quickly around to make sure no one had seen his death- defying plunge into an inch of water, he waded quickly towards the land of the Purple Pirate Lair behind the high fence.

He trotted low and silent to the dark trailer where Captain Joy and Jeremy lived. There were no signs of life.

He saw and heard nothing around the dark ship, which creaked in its dock. He then moved on down the main promenade between the souvenir and refreshment stand on one side and the nautical-piratical museum on the other side. All the buildings were closed and shuttered now. There wasn't a trace of the major's van.

Pete went around behind the museum building and all the way back to where the bow of the ship towered dark in the night. He bent to his transmitter. "Records, I'm inside the fence and have checked the trailer, the buildings, and the ship-and I haven't seen or heard a thing. Not even the van. I don't get it, but they're just not here!"

After a pause Bob's voice came low in Pete's ear. "First says they have to be there somewhere, Second. He says keep searching."

Pete groaned, but turned and moved into the thick live oaks that separated the tourist area from Joshua Evans' stone tower and rundown old boathouse. He stood among the oaks, watching and listening. The only sound was a light wind and the lapping of the cove water against the sh.o.r.e. And the only light was from a single window on the first floor of the tower - a window that faced the wooden fence at the front of the Lair.

The Second Investigator whispered into his transmitter, "There's a light in Joshua Evans' tower. I'll try to get a closer look."

Pete made his way through the oaks to the fence and then used the fence for cover until he came level with the tower. Then he got down and crawled to the lighted window. Inside, Joshua Evans was alone, reading in an easy chair. As Pete watched, Evans raised his head as if to listen. He did this more than once. Pete became alarmed. Was Pete making some noise he couldn't hear himself? He backed quickly away from the window. His foot hit a watering can which rolled away, banging in the night.

Pete flattened himself on the ground and froze!

The tower door opened sharply, and Joshua Evans stepped out into the shaft of light, his gun in his hand! The powerful man looked around quickly. Pete shivered. If Evans came towards him ...

"Meeeeoooooooowwwwwww. " "

A black cat ran out of the darkness and began to rub against Evans' leg. The man laughed and lowered his pistol.

"So it's you, Blackboard. I must be getting old and jumpy. Inside with you, you rascal."

Evans picked up the black cat and returned inside. Pete wiped the sweat from his forehead. If the cat hadn't appeared ... He quickly crawled back to the fence and then to the oak trees.

"Tell First that the light in the tower turned out to be Mr. Evans reading," said Pete into his walkie-talkie. "I still can't see or hear anything of Karnes and Hubert.

It's as if they just vanished."

Hidden in the backyard of the empty store, Jupiter pondered.

"The van has to be there somewhere, Records!" The stout First Investigator looked at his watch as he waited. It was already almost eleven o'clock. Bob's whisper came.

"Second says all those old stable buildings have double doors at the back, big enough to drive a van through. But if he tries to get inside and the major is there, Pete is sure to be seen."

Jupiter transmitted, "No, it's imperative we're not seen until we know what's going on. What else can Pete do?"

Inside the back room of the empty shop, Santos was opening a paper bag and serving doughnuts to the captain and Jeremy. Bob relayed Pete's next idea.

"Pete thinks the best thing he can do, First, is to hide near the gates and try to see where the van comes from when the major and Hubert leave."

Jupiter nodded. "That sounds like the best way. I think ... wait! I think the taping session is over. Yes, it's exactly eleven o'clock and the captain and Jeremy are getting ready to leave."

At the corner of the museum building near the Lair's front gates, Pete lay on his belly and peered up the main promenade towards the dark shape of the Black Vulture in its dock. He heard only the wind and the small waves and the creak of ship's wood and metal.

Pete felt himself growing drowsy. Struggling to keep awake, he propped his chin on his hands and blinked his eyes rapidly. Then the van was there, coming straight down the promenade towards the gates with its lights off! He hadn't heard the engine start or seen from which direction the van had turned into the promenade. Pete quickly checked his watch-11:00.

He flattened himself in the shadows as the van stopped silently at the wire gates.

Hubert lumbered down and pushed the gates open. The van drove through and stopped to wait for him. As it stopped, its rear doors swung open. Before Hubert got the gates closed the light from the pole lamp at the Lair's entrance gave Pete a clear view into the back of the van. It was loaded with rows of full sacks!

Major Karnes snarled from the driver's seat, "You idiot, the back doors weren't locked! Lock them and get in the van!"

The huge man shuffled quickly to do Karnes's bidding. After closing the van doors, he paused a long moment and stared at the exact spot where Pete was hiding!

The boy sucked in his breath and froze.

"You dolt, what's taking so long!" came from the front seat.

Scratching his head, Hubert climbed back into the van. The headlights flicked on and then the van disappeared into the night. Pete bent to his transmitter.

"Records! Karnes and Hubert just left. Hubert may have spotted me. I never saw where they came from or where they'd been, but I got a look into the back of the van.

It's loaded with those sacks, and they're all full of something!"

From the bushes on De La Vina Street, Jupiter had watched the captain and Jeremy leave the store and heard their truck drive away. As soon as the Joys left, Santos slammed the window shut and turned the air conditioner back on. Then he rewound the captain's tapes and put one back on the machine to be used for more recording. The whole recording operation was some kind of trick.

Now Jupe listened to Bob tell him about the full sacks in Karnes's van. He was excited.

"Full? Then whatever they're after is in those bags! Can Second get a closer look?

See what's inside the bags?"

"No, the van's already gone. Pete says Carl is still outside watching, so he'll have to leave the way he came, and will meet us later at HQ."

"All right," Jupiter said. He bit his lip. "Records, get here to the store as fast as you can."

Less than fifteen minutes later Jupiter heard a van drive into the courtyard out the front. Then Major Karnes came into the back room with Hubert plodding behind him. The major and Santos stood for some time in conference while Hubert finished the bag of doughnuts and stared vacantly out into the June night. Jupiter crouched lower behind a bush. Then Santos motioned to Hubert, who followed him out like a reluctant elephant. They were going to change the stakeout at the Purple Pirate Lair, Jupiter was certain.

Jupiter heard a scratching sound on the wall behind him.

He spun around in the darkness.

One white hand appeared over the top of the wall, then another. Jupiter searched the ground near him for a weapon.

His hand closed over a large branch.

A head began to show over the wall. Hair, gla.s.ses ... gla.s.ses?

"Okay, First, I'm here,"

whispered Bob and silently flung himself to the ground. He crouched beside the relieved First Investigator.

"Am I glad to see you, Records. Take my place here. I'm going to find out what's in those sacks and retrieve our trailing device! If Karnes looks like he's leaving, warn me."

Jupiter crawled away into the silent night towards the front courtyard. Bob watched Major Karnes get up and start to pace the room as if thinking hard. Every few seconds the small man impatiently hit the top of his riding boots with his crop.

Jupiter's voice came softly from Bob's walkie-talkie.

"All right, Records. I've got the device and I've looked into all ten bags. Let's go to Headquarters."

"Jupe!" Bob said, almost loudly. "What's in the sacks?"

But Jupiter had already signed off and slipped out the front gates to his bike on the street. Bob hurried to join him, and they rode to the salvage yard. Pete joined them shortly afterward in their hidden house trailer.

Jupiter displayed the badly dented trailing device - now worthless - which had obviously hit an obstacle in the road, and got bashed in.

"Our funds are too low to buy another," sighed Bob.

"Never mind that!" cried Pete impatiently. "Jupe, what was inside the sacks in Karnes's van?"

"Dirt," Jupe said.

"Dirt?" Pete and Bob said at the same time.

"Dirt and rocks," Jupiter repeated. "Ten sacks full of very dry dirt and rocks."

"But ..."Pete wondered, "why?"

"So that no one will know that they're digging at the Purple Pirate Lair. They're removing the evidence," Jupiter said grimly. "Tomorrow we go back to the Lair and prove to Captain Joy that the taping is a hoax. Then we find out where Karnes is digging, and why!"