05 The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure by Robert Arthur

Author:Robert Arthur [Arthur, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

41 | P a g e

Chapter 11

A Wild Chase

“Help!” shouted Pete. “The gnomes have me!”

“They’ve got me, too!” Jupiter grunted, trying to brush off the small creatures who seemed to be swarming all over him. “They trapped us!”

He swung his arm. The rope was still tied to his wrist and Pete still held the other end. It caught some small creature in the neck. They heard a gurgle and a shrill scream and the tiny man went flying.

Jupiter was free. But the gnomes would return to the attack. He could hear Pete grunting and thrashing around nearby. Jupiter reached out, got a good hold of a leather jacket and pulled. The little man came loose and Jupiter swung him through the air and let him go.

He came down with a satisfying thud and a high-pitched squeal.

With Jupiter’s help, Pete tossed off his other attacker and the two boys pressed close together in the darkness, panting. Jupe untied the rope and put it in his pocket.

“What do we do now, Jupe?” Pete gasped.

“Try to find the door we came in and go back out,” Jupe said. “It’s behind us – this way, I think.”

They backed up until they bumped against a wall. Jupe felt around and found the handle of the iron door. He rattled it but the door wouldn’t budge. They were locked in!

“We’re trapped all right.” Jupe’s voice was glum. “Why did you have to rush in so fast, Pete? You should have guessed that’s what they wanted us to do.”

“I thought I had them,” Pete confessed. “And I just pulled you along after me, didn’t I?”

“Yes,” Jupe answered. “And that’s what they wanted. To get us inside. And now – listen!”

In the darkness, they heard shrill whistles to the right and left of them.

“They’re getting ready to attack again!” Pete exclaimed.

“We have to get out of here!” Jupiter said. “Maybe we can force our way out the front of the theater.”

“How can we find it in this darkness?”

“Our flashlights. In our excitement, we have been forgetting them. That is one effect of fright – it clouds the thinking processes.”

Pete slapped his leg. His flashlight was still clipped to his belt. He thumbed it on, and a beam of light shot out, cutting the darkness. A second later Jupiter’s light was added to his.

Tiny figures tumbled for cover as the light hit them, and small voices chattered in a shrill, strange language. Apparently the gnomes were more wary now. They knew Pete and Jupiter were not to be overcome so easily.

The two boys were in the backstage region of the movie house. Here, large rectangular canvas “flats” were stacked in rows, left over from the days when the theater

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