"The Mystery of the Screaming Clock" - читать интересную книгу автора (Артур Роберт)
5The Room of Clocks
THE ROOM WAS SCREAMING.
First it gave a high-pitched wail, like a frightened baby. Then it bellowed like a furiously angry man. Next it changed to a wild, animal-like cry which was the scream of a panther. Then from all sides came wails, screams, shrieks, bellows and animal snarls that blended into the most frightening sound any of the boys had ever heard. They sat side by side on a couch, cold chills running down their backs, and listened.
Harry sat at a desk, manipulating a set of switches to make the room scream. It was now apparent to The Three Investigators that all of the clocks in the room were equipped with screaming devices, probably similar to that in their alarm clock, and Harry was making them scream one by one and all together, with the ease of much practice.
He grinned at them, enjoying their amazement, and finally turned all the switches off, letting the room become silent.
“Bet you never heard anything like that before,” he said. “You can see why your clock didn’t mean anything to me. I’m used to clocks screaming.”
“Is this room soundproofed?” Jupiter asked. “If it isn’t, the neighbours will certainly be calling the police by now.”
“Of course it’s soundproofed,” Harry said loftily. “This is Mr. Hadley’s screaming room. He used to sit here at night and make all the clocks scream. He taught me how to do it before he — anyway, he taught me.”
“Did something happen to Mr. Hadley?” Jupiter asked.
“No, of course not. Why should it?” Harry flared up.
“You started to say, ‘before he — ’ then you stopped. I thought you might have been going to say something happened to him.”
“He went away, that’s all. What’s it to you, anyway?”
“We started out to investigate a screaming clock,” Jupiter said. “Now we’ve run into a whole roomful of screaming clocks. It seems to me we have a much bigger mystery. Why should anyone have so many clocks fixed so they could scream like people and animals? It just doesn’t make sense.”
“I’ll buy a double helping of that,” Pete agreed. “It’s about as wacky as anything I ever heard of.”
“It was Mr. Hadley’s hobby.” Harry was defensive now. “A hobby doesn’t have to make sense. He wanted a hobby nobody else had and he collected screaming clocks. What’s your hobby?” He shot the final question at Jupiter.
“Solving mysteries,” Jupe said. “Like this one.”
“I tell you there isn’t any mystery here!”
“Well, maybe there isn’t a mystery but something’s bothering you. You act as if you hate everybody. Why not tell us about it? Maybe we could help somehow.”
“How could you help?” Harry flared up. “I mean, there’s nothing bothering me. Except you guys. You’re bothering me. Now why don’t you get out and leave me alone.”
He ran to the door and opened it.
“This way out!” he said. “And don’t come back because — oh!” He broke off suddenly. The front door of the house had opened and a large man was coming in. He was not too tall, but he was very broad across the shoulders. He looked at Harry, then stared at the three boys. He scowled.
“What’s this, Harry?” he demanded. “You’ve brought friends in the house to play, to make a lot of noise, to upset me? You know I must have absolute quiet.”
“We aren’t making any noise, Mr. Jeeters,”
Harry said, his tone sullen. “Anyway, this room is soundproof.”
The big man gave Bob, Pete and Jupiter a long look, as if memorizing their appearance.
“I’ll have to have a little talk with your mother,” he said.
He went on up the stairs.
“What’s he got against you bringing anybody in the house?” Bob asked, puzzled. “It’s your house, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s Mr. Hadley’s house,” Harry said. “My mom is the housekeeper. We’ve been living here since Mr. Hadley went away, and we rent the upstairs floor to Mr. Jeeters because we have to have money to keep the house running. Now you’d better get going. You’ve caused enough trouble as it is.”
“All right,” Jupiter said. “Come on, Bob, Pete. Thanks for showing us the other screaming clocks, Harry.”
He led the way out into the hall, where he picked up their own screaming alarm clock from the telephone table. He stowed it in the zipper bag and they all went out to where Worthington had the car parked.
“Well, we didn’t get very far with this investigation,” Pete grumbled as they climbed into the car. “I guess a man can collect screaming clocks if he wants to. That’s the end of your mystery, Jupe.”
“I suppose so,” Jupiter agreed. He spoke to the chauffeur. “We’re in Hollywood, Worthington, so let’s stop at World Studios and ask if Mr. Hitchcock can see us. He might be interested in our clock.”
“Very good, Master Jupiter,” replied Worthington. He started the car.
“Wait a minute, Worthington,” said Bob suddenly.
Harry Smith was running down the walk from the house. Pete rolled down the rear window and Harry leaned in, breathing hard.