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

The boys were about to go into the main house when a voice came out of the night--a deep, harsh voice.

"What have you boys been up to?"

On the porch something moved and the boys made out the small, wiry form and sharp, weather-lined face of Luke Hardin, the ranch foreman.

"Big place, this ranch," Hardin said. "Get lost mighty easy."

"We're used to open country and mountains, Mr. Hardin," Jupiter replied. "You don't have to worry about us."

The foreman took a step towards them. "I heard what you've been up to. Moanin' Valley, that's what. That place ain't fit for youngsters, hear? You stay away from there!"

Before the boys could protest, the door of the ranch house opened and a small, peppery woman with grey hair and a deeply tanned face bustled out.

"Nonsense, Luke!" Mrs. Dalton snapped. "The boys aren't children. They seem to have a heap more sense than you do."

"Moanin' Valley ain't a good place," Hardin said stubbornly.

"A grown man like you," Mrs. Dalton exclaimed. "Afraid of a cave!"

"I ain't afraid," Hardin said slowly. "But I ain't afraid to face facts, neither. I lived around here all my life. Even when I was a boy I heard about Moanin' Valley. I never believed the stories then, but now I ain't so sure."

"Fiddlesticks! It's just old superstition and you know it!" Mrs. Dalton said. Though she spoke bravely, Mrs. Dalton couldn't quite hide the fact that she, too, was worried.

"What do you think causes the moaning, Mr. Hardin?" Jupiter asked the foreman.

The foreman squinted gravely at Jupiter. "Don't know, boy. No one else does, either. We've looked, but no one's found anything. Nothin' we could see, that is."

The foreman's eyes seemed to glow in the dark. "Indians always did say that no one could see The Old One!"





3

El Diablo's Escape



"LUKE!" Mrs. Dalton cried.

But the foreman stood his ground. "I ain't saying I believe the stories. But a man's got to look straight at things. That cave's started moanin' again, but so far nobody's found nothin' to explain it. If it ain't The Old One, what do you reckon it is?"

With that, Luke Hardin walked down off the porch towards the bunkhouse. Mrs. Dalton stared after him with a worried expression.

"I'm afraid this is affecting all of us," Mrs. Dalton said. "Luke's as brave a man as I ever saw. I never heard him talk that way before."

"I wonder why he decided to talk to us about The Old One?" Jupiter asked thoughtfully.