"Arthur, Robert - The Three Investigators 002 - The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot" - читать интересную книгу автора (Arthur Robert)

sedan. complete with chauffeur, for a period of thirty
days. Having thus acquired transportation, a vital neces-
sity here in California where distances are great, he and
his two friends immediately formed the firm of The Three
Investigators to solve whatever mysteries, riddles, enigmas
or conundrums they could come upon.
Their base of operations is The Jones Salvage Yard,
a super junk yard run by Titus and Mathilda Jones.
JupiterТs uncle and aunt. Their Headquarters is an old
thirty-foot home trailer which they have equipped with an
office, a photographic darkroom and a tiny laboratory,
and hidden from public view behind towering piles of
ordinary junk so that it must be entered through certain
secret passages which they have constructed.
Now that I have told you this much, you are on your
own. I disclaim all further responsibility. Proceed at your
own risk!
ALFRED HITCHCOCK
6
1
A Cry for Help
УHELP! Ф The voice that called out was strangely shrill
and muffled. УHelp! Help!Ф
Each time a cry from within the mouldering old house
pierced the silence, a new chill crawled down Pete Cren-
shawТs spine. Then the cries for help ended in a strange,
dying gurgle and that was even worse.
The tall, brown-haired boy knelt behind the thick
trunk of a barrel palm and peered up the winding gravel
path at the house. He and his partner. Jupiter Jones, had
been approaching it when the first cry had sent them div-
ing into the shrubbery for cover.
Across the path. Jupiter, stocky and sturdily built
crouched behind a bush, also peering towards the house.
They waited for further sounds. But now the old. Spanish-
style house, set back in the neglected garden that had
grown up like a small tropical jungle, was silent
УJupe!Ф Pete whispered. УWas that a man or a
woman?Ф
Jupiter shook his head. УI donТt know,Ф he whispered
back. УMaybe it was neither.Ф
УNeither?Ф Pete gulped. It certainly hadnТt been a
child, and if it was neither a man nor a woman, that left
only possibilities he didnТt care to think about
The two boys waited. The heat of a summer day in
Hollywood was heavy and oppressive.
All around them were palm trees, bushes, and flowers
gone wild. Once this had been a lovely garden but years
of neglect had turned it into a wilderness. The house be-
yond it was in disrepair, too.