"Arthur, Robert - The Three Investigators 010 - The Mystery of the Moaning Cave" - читать интересную книгу автора (Arthur Robert)

"Then what----" Bob began, but Jupiter was no longer crouched beside him. The stocky First Investigator was trotting off to the right along the ridge. Pete and Bob leaped up and followed. The sun was almost gone now in the crevasse between the coast mountains, and a hazy purple light hung over the valley.

Jupiter stopped after some fifty yards. The moan came again. He listened carefully, his hand cupped behind his ear.

Pete stared, puzzled. "What are we doing, Jupe?"

Jupiter didn't answer. Instead he turned and walked almost a hundred yards in the opposite direction.

"Are we just going to walk all over this ridge, Jupe?" Bob asked, as puzzled as Pete by Jupiter's strange actions.

Before Jupiter could reply, another eerie moan floated through the valley. "Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh--ooooooooo--oooo!"

Jupiter turned to them. "No, Bob, we've completed the experiment."

"What experiment?" Pete blurted out. "We haven't been doing anything but walk!"

"We have listened to the moan from three different points on this ridge," Jupiter explained. "In my mind I drew imaginary lines from where I listened to where the moans appeared to originate. Where the three lines crossed is the exact source of the sound."

Bob suddenly understood. "Sure, Pete," he said. "It's called triangulation. Engineers use it all the time."

"Precisely," Jupiter said. "Of course, the way I did it was very rough, but it will serve our purpose."

"What purpose, Jupe?" asked Pete. "I mean, what did we find out?"

"We have found that the exact source of the sound is that cave in the mountain--El Diablo's Cave," Jupiter announced.

"Gee, Jupe," Pete exclaimed, "we knew that already. Mr. and Mrs. Dalton told us."

Jupiter shook his head. "Good investigators do not accept what other people report without checking it themselves. Witnesses are often unreliable, as Mr. Hitchcock has told us many times."

Jupiter referred to the motion picture director, Alfred Hitchcock, who been a good friend of The Three Investigators ever since they had embarked on their adventures by trying to locate a haunted house for him to use in a film.

"I guess you're right," Pete said. "Mr. Hitchcock did show us how little witnesses really see."

"Or hear," Jupiter added, "But now I have no doubt that the moaning does come from El Diablo's Cave. All we have to do is find out what is moaning, and----"

The stocky boy did not finish his sentence, for the moan rolled out once more--weird and chilling in the deep twilight of the shadowy valley. "Aaaaaa-hhhhhh--ooooooooooooo--oooooo--oo!"

Even Jupiter shivered this time, as long shadows began to creep across the valley.

Pete swallowed hard. "Gosh, Jupe, Mr. Dalton and the sheriff have searched the cave three times already. They didn't find anything."

"Maybe it's some kind of animal," Bob volunteered.

"It doesn't sound like any animal I ever heard," replied Jupiter, "and, anyway, the sheriff and Mr. Dalton would have found traces of any normal animal. They're expert hunters and trackers."

"Any normal animal?" Pete repeated uneasily.

"Maybe it's some animal no one knows is here," Jupiter said. "Or maybe," and the First Investigator's eyes sparkled, "it's El Diablo himself!"