"Carey, M.V. - The Three Investigators 32 - The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs" - читать интересную книгу автора (Carey M.V)

"I don't intend to have anything happen to it," snapped Barron. He got into the Mercedes and started the engine. An instant later he was manoeuvering the car into the empty space next to the office, and the larger of the two salvage-yard trucks was rolling through the gate with a load of scrap lumber.

The brown-haired woman smiled at Hans. "My husband really doesn't mean to be unkind," she said. "He'sа.а.а. he's got an impatient nature andа.а.а."

"I can drive a car," said Hans. "For years I am driving for Mr Jones and I do not have accidents."

Hans then turned on his heel and walked away.

"Oh, dear!" said Mrs Barron. She looked helplessly from Uncle Titus to Jupiter and from Jupiter to Aunt Mathilda, who had just come out of the office.

"What's the matter with Hans?" said Aunt Mathilda. "He looks like a walking thunderstorm."

"I'm afraid my husband was rude to him, Mrs Jones," said Mrs Barron. "Charles is in a testy mood today. The waitress at breakfast spilled the coffee, and Charles gets so upset when people don't do their jobs well. Nowadays they often don't, you know. Sometimes I wish that the time for deliverance was really here."

"Deliverance?" said Uncle Titus.

"Yes. When the rescuers come from Omega," said Mrs Barron.

Uncle Titus looked blank. But Jupiter nodded with understanding.

"There's a book called They Walk Among Us that tells about the rescuers," Jupiter explained to his uncle. "It's by a man named Contreras. It describes a race of people from the planet Omega. They are keeping watch over us, and eventually, after a catastrophe overwhelms our planet, they'll rescue some of us so that our civilization won't be lost forever."

"Oh, you know about the deliverance!" cried Mrs Barron. "How nice!"

"Ridicu--" Uncle Titus started to say when Aunt Mathilda spoke up in a brisk, no-nonsense tone. "Jupiter knows about a great many things," she said. "Sometimes I think he knows too much."

Aunt Mathilda then took Mrs Barron's arm and led her away. She was talking rapidly about the virtues of several used kitchen chairs when Jupe's closest friends, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews, ambled into the salvage yard.

"Morning, Pete," said Uncle Titus. "How are you, Bob? You're just in time. Mrs Jones has a big job lined up for you boys. She'll tell you about it as soon as we finish with these customers."

Without waiting for an answer, Uncle Titus went off with Mr Barron, who had locked his car and who now seemed to be angry with the world in general rather than with Hans in particular.

"You missed the excitement," said Jupiter to his friends, "but there may be more."

"What happened?" demanded Bob.

Jupiter grinned. "We've got a bad-tempered customer. But when he isn't yelling at Hans, he's picking out very unusual items to buy." Jupe gestured toward the back of the yard.

Jupiter's uncle and aunt were showing Mr and Mrs Barron an old-fashioned treadle sewing machine which was still in working order. As the boys watched, Uncle Titus lifted the machine and carried it towards the other things that Charles Barron had purchased that day. These included two wood-burning stoves, a churn with a broken handle, an ancient hand loom, and a hand-cranked phonograph.

"What a pile of junk!" said Pete. "What are those people going to do with a broken churn? Turn it into a plantpot?"

"Maybe they collect antiques," guessed Bob.

"I don't think so," said Jupe, "though some of those things are old enough to be antiques. But the Barrons seem to want to use everything. Mr Barron has been questioning Uncle Titus to make sure they can. Some of the things are broken, like the churn, but all of them can be fixed again. The stoves are already in good shape. Mr Barron took the lids off and looked at the grates to make sure they were intact, and he's buying all the stovepipe we have on hand."

"I'll bet Aunt Mathilda is happy," said Pete. "Now she can unload some of that junk she thought she'd never get rid of. Maybe she'll get lucky and those people will turn into steady customers."

"She'd like that, but Uncle Titus wouldn't," said Jupe. "He can't stand Mr Barron. The man is rude and unreasonable, and he's been in a rage since he arrived at eight this morning and found the gate still locked. He said it didn't do much good for him to get up before dawn if everyone else in the world slept until noon."