2

AAllffrreedd HHiittcchhccoocckk aanndd TThhee TThhrreeee IInnvveessttiiggaattoorrss

iinn

TTHHEE MMYYSSTTEERRYY OOFF TTHHEE GGRREEEENN GGHHOOSSTT

RRoobbeerrtt AArrtthhuurr

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AAllffrreedd HHiittcchhccoocckk aanndd TThhee TThhrreeee

IInnvveessttiiggaattoorrss TTRRAAJJAA PPTTRRAAII

iinn 44 TTHHEE MMYYSSTTEERRYY OOFF TTHHEE GGRREEEENN GGHHOOSSTT ZZhhaaddaa zzeelleennhhoo ssttrraaiiddllaa

RRoobbeerrtt AArrtthhuurr RRoobbeerrtt AArrtthhuurr

UUppoozzoorrnneenniiee pprree iittaatteeaa!! Are you ready to confront a ghost? Well, ready or not,

youre about to meet one. Youll also come up against some strange pearls and a little dog who plays no part in the story because he does absolutely nothing. Or does he? Sometime doing nothing is as important as doing something. Chew on that for a while. In the meantime I could tell you about a lot of other strange episodes in the story youre about to beginbut Im sure youd rather read about them yourself. So instead Ill do what I promised Ill introduce you to The Three Investigators.

Nechcem nikoho strai, ale pokladm si za povinnos upozorni vs, e na nasledujcich stranch sa stretneme, ako u nzov knihy naznauje, so zelenm straidlom. Okrem straidla stretneme sa tu aj so zvltnymi perlami a so pskom, ktor nehr v prbehu nijak lohu, pretoe vbec ni nerob. Alebo hr? Nerobi ni je niekedy tak dleit, ako urobi nieo. O tom ete bude treba porozma. Mohol by som vm poveda o mnohch alch nezvyajnch udalostiach, vzruujcich dobrodrustvch a naptch situcich, s ktormi sa stretnete, ale viem, e si ich pretate radej sami. Uspokojm sa teda s tm, e uvediem Troch ptraov, ako som im to sbil. Uvdzam ich u po tvrt raz a musm sa prizna, e v prvch prpadoch som o nich vemi pochyboval. Teraz sa mi vak Jupiter Jones, Bob Andrews a Peter Crenshaw celkom zapili. Myslm, e vm bud dobrmi spolonkmi na veer zhady, dobrodrustva a naptia.

Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews make up this junior detective firm. They use their spare time to solve any mysteries that come their way, and I mean any. No puzzle is too bizarre or obscure for them. The boys live in Rocky Beach, California, a town on the Pacific Coast a few miles from. Hollywood. Pete and Bob live with their parents, and Jupiter lives with his aunt and uncle, Titus and Mathilda Jones, who own and operate the Jones Salvage Yard. In that rather extraordinary junkyard you can find almost anything.

Tto traja chlapci si zaloili spolok Troch ptraov a vo vonom ase rieia vetky mon zhady, s ktormi sa stretn. ij v Rocky Beach, v Kalifornii, v meste na pobre Tichho ocenu, niekoko kilometrov od Hollywoodu. Bob a Peter bvaj u rodiov a Jupiter bva so strkom Titusom Jonesom a tetou Matildou Jonesovou, ktor vlastnia a ved Jonesov bazr, skvel zbern, kde lovek njde skoro vetko.

One thing you cant find in this junkyard is the Headquarters of The Three Investigators. Its a thirty-foot mobile home that Titus Jones was never able to sell. So Jupiter and his pals use it as their office and have it hidden from sight under a great mound of junk. The adults have forgotten about the trailer. Only The Three Investigators know its there, and they keep it a mystery by using secret passageways to enter and exit. The entrance they use most is called Tunnel Two. Its a piece of corrugated pipe that runs from their outdoor work shop, partly underground, beneath some junk, and under Headquarters. After crawling through the pipe, they enter Headquarters through a trap door. And the inside of Headquarters is a lot more than a bare room. The boys have rigged up a small laboratory, a darkroom, and an office with a desk, typewriter, telephone, tape recorder, and a lot of reference books. All the equipment was rebuilt by The Three Investigators from junk that came into the salvage yard.

V tejto zberni stoj na dvore asi dev metrov dlh obytn prves, ktor sa pokodil pri nejakej nehode a ktor sa Titusovi Jonesovi nikdy nepodarilo preda. Dovolil Jupiter ovi a jeho priateom, aby si z neho urobili modern Hlavn stan pre svoj podnik. Je v om mal laboratrium, tmav komora a kancelria so stolom, psacm strojom, telefnom, magnetofnom a mnohmi prrukami. Cel zariadenie pozostva z vec, ktor sa dostali do zberne a ktor si Jupiter s chlapcami prirobili. Hans a Konrd, siln plavovlas bratia z Bavorska, ktor pracuj v zberni ako pomocnci, na Jupiterovu iados upravili hromady odpadu okolo prvesu tak, aby ho zvonka nebolo vidie. Dospel na zabudli. Vedia o om len Traja ptrai. A aby sa tajomstvo neprezradilo, chodia do Hlavnho stanu tajnmi vchodmi.

But my three young friends dont spend all their time in this secret trailer. Sometimes they need to travel long distances on a case. When that happens they can use a gold-plated Rolls-Royce complete with chauffeur which Jupiter won the use of in a contest. The boys have this privilege for thirty days. For local travel, they ride their bikes or sometimes get Hans and Konrad, the big Bavarian yard helpers, to give them a lift in one of the salvage yard trucks.

Najastejie pouvaj ako vchod Tunel . 2, ktor tvor dlh pokriven elezn rra, vedca z ich dielne iastone pod zemou, pod odpadom a pod Hlavnm stanom. Ke sa ou preplazia, dostan sa do Hlavnho stanu cez sklpacie dvere. Existuj ete in vchody, ale o tch si pohovorme, a ke sa k nim dostaneme.

But my three young friends dont spend all their time in this secret trailer. Sometimes they need to travel long distances on a case. When that happens they can use a gold-plated Rolls-Royce complete with chauffeur which

Na vie vzdialenosti maj chlapci k dispozcii pozlten rolls-royce aj so ofrom. Toto auto, ktor mu pouva tridsa dn, vyhral Jupiter v sai. In pouvaj svoje bicykle a dakedy sa zvez s Hansom alebo Konrdom na

4

Jupiter won the use of in a contest. The boys have this privilege for thirty days. For local travel, they ride their bikes or sometimes get Hans and Konrad, the big Bavarian yard helpers, to give them a lift in one of the salvage yard trucks.

niektorom z nkladnch ut, patriacich zberni.

Now that youve heard the background info, let me introduce the boys. Jupiter is stocky in fact, some people might even call him fat. He has a round face which can look stupid. But this is misleading, because Jupiter has an excellent mind, as hed probably tell you himself. He has many good qualities, but modesty isnt one of them.

Jupiter Jones je zemist, svalnat a trochu bucat. Zl jazyky o om hovoria, e je tun. M okrhlu tvr a asto nahlply vraz. Ale to je len taktick trik. Skrva sa za nm prenikav inteligencia. Jupiter m vborn pam a je na to dos pyn. M vea dobrch vlastnost, ale prlin skromnos medzi ne nepatr.

Pete is tall and very athletic. Hes Jupiters right-hand man at trailing suspects and carrying out other dangerous exploits.

Peter Crenshaw, vysok, hnedovlas a svalnat, vynik telesnou zdatnosou. Je Jupiterovou pravou rukou pri stopovan podozrivch osb a pri inch nebezpench podujatiach.

Bob has a smaller build than the two. He has a lot of courage and hes in charge of gathering background data for the cases the boys handle. He has a part-time job in the local library, which makes a vast array of reference books available to him.

Bob Andrews je tlej, m svetlejie vlasy a viacej ho priahuje tdium. Hoci je vemi odvny, m na starosti predovetkm zznamy a vskum. Je zamestnan na polovin vzok v miestnej kninici, kde me pre Troch ptraov zska vea informci.

Vetko toto som vm povedal, aby som nemusel rui nasledovn rozprvanie opakovanm informci, ktor niektor z vs u mono poznaj, ak tali o predchdzajcich prpadoch ptraov.

Thats enough introducing. Hold on to your chairs. The green ghost is about to scream!

V kadom prpade, vpred! Zelen straidlo sa u prve chyst vykrknu!

ALFRED HITCHCOCK ALFRD HITCHCOCK

CChhaapptteerr 11 PPrrvv kkaappiittoollaa TThhee GGrreeeenn GGhhoosstt SSccrreeaammss VVkkrriikkyy zzeelleennhhoo ssttrraaiiddllaa

The scream took Bob Andrews and Pete Crenshaw by surprise.

Bob Andrews a Peter Crenshaw neakali vkrik.

Standing in a driveway overgrown with weeds, they were studying an old, empty house as big as a hotel. One end was torn down where the wreckers had begun on it. Moonlight made everything misty and unreal.

Stli na skromnej ceste, ktor bola zarasten burinou, a prezerali si star przdny dom, vek ako hotel, ktorho jedna as bola u zbran. Pri mesanom svite vetko vyzeralo neurit a neskuton.

Bob was talking into a portable tape recorder, slung around his neck, describing the scene. He interrupted himself to turn to Pete and say:

Bob mal na krku zavesen prenosn magnetofn a nahrval na svoje pozorovania a opis okolia. Po chvli prestal hovori a obrtil sa k Petrovi:

"A lot of people think that house is haunted, Pete. Its too bad we didnt think of it when Reginald Clarke was looking for a haunted house for one of his pictures." Mr. Crenshaw was a special-effects expert in Hollywood. Bob was referring to the time they had tried to find a genuine haunted house for a director friend of his.

"Peter, vea ud si mysl, e v tomto dome stra. koda, e sme na to nepomysleli, ke Alfrd Hitchcock zhal straideln dom pre jeden zo svojich filmov." Mal na mysli as, ke sa zoznmili so znmym filmovm reisrom a rozltili zhadu Straidelnho zmku.

"I bet Mr. Clarke would have liked this place all right," Pete agreed. "But I dont. In fact, every minute Im getting more nervous. What do you say we get away from here?"

"Pnu Hitchcockovi by sa toto miesto urite pilo," shlasil Peter. "Ale mne sa nepi. Naozaj, ctim sa oraz vmi nesvoj. o povie, nemali by sme u odtiato ods?"

That was when the scream came from the house. Vtedy sa z domu ozval vkrik. "EEEeeeee-aahhhhhh!" It was a high-pitched sound,

almost more animal than human. The hair stood up on both boys necks.

"I-aahhhhh!" Bol to vysok zvuk, pripomnajci skr hlas zvieraa ako loveka. Obidvom chlapcom sa postavili vlasy dupkom.

"Did of hear that?" Pete gulped. "Now we are getting out of here!"

"Poul si to?" preglgol Peter. "Pome odtiato!"

"Wait!" Bob said, standing his ground despite an impulse to run. As Pete hesitated Bob said, "Ill turn up the tape recorder in case we hear anything else. Thats what Jupiter would do."

"Pokaj!" povedal Bob, hoci aj on len s nmahou premohol chu zuteka. Ke Peter zavhal, povedal: "Zapnem magnetofn pre prpad, e by sme ete nieo zauli. Jupiter by urobil to ist."

He was referring to Jupiter Jones, their partner in the firm of The Three Investigators, who was not with them.

Hovoril o Jupiterovi Jonesovi, ktor tie patril k Trom ptraom, ale ktor teraz nebol s nimi.

Pete began. But Bob had already turned up the volume control and pointed the microphone at the empty, moldering old house among the trees.

"No" zaal Peter. Ale Bob u zapol magnetofn a zamieril mikrofn na przdny, rozpadvajci sa dom medzi stromami.

"Aaaaaaahhhhh ahheeeee eeeeee!" The scream came again and died out slowly, in a most unsettling manner.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh ahhiii iiii!" Znovu sa ozval vkrik a pomaly tchol, budiac hrzu.

"Now lets go!" Pete said. "Weve heard enough!" "Ale teraz u pome!" sril Peter. "U sme pouli dos!" Bob was in full agreement. They spun around and started

to run down the old driveway to where their bikes were parked.

Bob shlasil. Obrtil sa a rozbehli sa po starej ceste k miestu, kde mali odloen bicykle.

5

Pete was fleet as a deer, and Bob ran faster than he had run for many years. After a fall down a rocky slope, he had broken his leg in several places and for a long time he had had to wear a brace. However, the leg had healed well, and after a long period of exercises, Bob was told, just the previous week, that he could discard the brace.

Peter utekal ako jele a Bob u niekoko rokov nebeal tak rchlo ako teraz. Dlho musel nosi podporn prstroj, pretoe raz spadol na kamenistom svahu a zlomil si na niekokch miestach nohu. Ale noha sa dobre zahojila, a po dlhom ase cvienia mu prve minul tde povedali, e si u me podporn prstroj da dolu.

Now, without it, he felt so light he could almost fly. But fast as they ran, neither lie nor Pete got very far.

Teraz sa bez neho ctil tak ahk, e takmer lietal. Ale nech beali akokovek rchlo, nedostali sa aleko.

Strong arms suddenly and unexpectedly stopped them. Zrazu ich neakane zastavili siln ruky. "Ah-ulp!" Pete grunted in surprise as he ran headlong

into someone behind him. Bob, too, was brought up short by plunging into a man who grabbed him and held him.

"Ach!" vykrkol prekvapene Peter, ke prudko do niekoho vrazil. Ani Bob sa nedostal alej, lebo vrazil do akhosi mua, ktor ho zachytil a dral.

They had run full tilt into a group of men who had come up the driveway behind them as they stood listening to the eerie screams.

Vleteli plnou parou do skupiny muov, ktor prili po skromnej ceste a k nim, km chlapci povali straideln vkriky.

"Whoa, boy!" the man who had grabbed Pete exclaimed good-naturedly. "You nearly knocked me down!"

"Hej, chlape!" vykrkol dobrosrdene mu, ktor chytil Petra. "Skoro si ma zvalil!"

"What was that sound?" asked the man who had caught Bob from falling as the boy ran blindly into him. "We saw you boys standing and listening."

"o to bol za zvuk?" optal sa mu, ktor zachytil Boba, ke ten do neho slepo vrazil a len-len e nespadol. "Videli sme vs, chlapci, ako ste stli a povali."

"We dont know what it was," Pete spoke up. "But it sounded like the ghost to us!"

"Neviem, o to bolo," ozval sa Peter. "Ale nm sa to zdalo ako straidlo!"

"Ghost, nonsense! It could be someone in trouble! Maybe it was just a tramp."

"Straidlo? Nezmysel! Mono niekto potrebuje pomoc! Mono to bol iba nejak tulk "

The five or six men in the group into which the boys had plunged all began to speak at once, ignoring Pete and Bob now. The two boys could not see their faces clearly. But they all seemed well-dressed and spoke like typical dwellers in the pleasant neighborhood that surrounded the overgrown grounds and the empty house, known as the Green estate.

Vetci piati alebo iesti mui, do ktorch chlapci vrazili, zaali zrazu hovori jeden cez druhho a na Petra a na Boba celkom zabudli. Chlapci im nevideli dobre do tvr, ale vetci boli pekne obleen a hovorili ako obyvatelia prjemnej tvrte, ktor obklopovala zarasten pozemok a przdny dom, znmy ako Zelen panstvo.

"I think we should go inside!" One man with an unusually deep voice spoke loudly. Bob couldnt make out his features, except to see that he had a moustache. "We came over here to look at the old building before it got torn down. We heard somebody scream. Somebody may be inside, hurt."

"Mali by sme s dnu!" povedal nahlas mu s neobyajne hlbokm hlasom. Bob nemohol rozozna jeho rty, ale zbadal, e m fzy. "Chceli sme sa pozrie na tto star budovu, ete km ju nezrcaj. Pouli sme niekoho kria. Mono je niekto dnu a je zranen."

"I say we should call the police," said a man in a checked sports jacket, a little nervously. "Its their duty to investigate such things."

"Ja som za to, aby sme zavolali polciu," povedal trochu nervzne mu v krovanom portovom kabte. "Takto veci maj vyetrova oni."

"Someone may be hurt," the deep-voiced man said. "Lets see if we can help. If we wait for the police he might die."

"Niekto je mono zranen," povedal mu s hlbokm hlasom. "Pome pozrie, i mu meme pomc. Km by prila polcia, mohol by zomrie."

"I agree," spoke up a man wearing thick glasses. "I think we should go inside, and look around."

"Shlasm," ozval sa mu s hrubmi okuliarmi. "Mali by sme s dnu a uvi, o sa d robi."

"You can go inside, Ill go get the police," said the man in the checked coat. He had turned away when a man who led a small dog on a leash spoke up.

"Vy mete s dnu a ja zavolm polciu," povedal mu v krovanom kabte. Obrtil sa a vtedy sa ozval mu, ktor viedol na remeni malho psa.

"It may be just an owl or a cat thats gotten inside," he said. "If you call the police for that, youll look pretty foolish."

"Mono je to len sova alebo maka, ktor sa dostala dnu," povedal. "Bud vs poklada za blzna, ak preto zavolte polciu."

The man in the checked coat hesitated. Mu v krovanom kabte zavhal. "Well" he began. At that point a large man, the biggest

in the group, took the lead. "Ale" zaal. Vtedy sa ujal vedenia najsilnej mu zo skupiny.

"Come on," he said. "Theres half a dozen of us and we have several flashlights. I say we look inside first, and then call the police if its necessary. You two boys you can go on home, youre not needed here."

"Ide sa," povedal. "Sme iesti a mme niekoko bateriek. Najprv sa ta pozrieme, a a potom, ak bude treba, zavolme polciu. Vy, chlapci, mete s domov, vs tu u nepotrebujeme."

He strode up the flagstone path that led toward the house, and after a moments hesitation, the others followed him. The man who was leading the small dog picked it up and carried it, and the man in the checked coat, somewhat reluctantly, brought up the rear of the group.

Vykroil na cestiku dlden kamemi, ktor viedla k domu. Po ch vilke vhania sa za nm pobrali aj ostatn. Mu, ktor viedol malho psa, ho zdvihol na ruky, a chlap v krovanom kabte iel trochu zdrhavo na konci.

"Come on," Pete said to Bob. "Like he said, they dont need us. Lets go home."

"Pome," povedal Peter Bobovi. "Povedal, e ns nepotrebuj. Pome domov."

"And not find out what made that noise?" Bob asked. "Think what Jupe would say. Wed never hear the end of it. Were supposed to be investigators. Anyway, theres nothing to be scared about now, therere so many of us."

"A nezistme, o to bol za krik?" optal sa Bob. "Len uv, o by povedal Jupiter. Nikdy by nm to neprestal vyta. Sme predsa nejak ptrai. A okrem toho, nemme sa oho b. Ve ns je tu vea."

He hurried up the path after the men, and Pete followed him. Outside the big front door, the men were milling

Ponhal sa po cestike za mumi a Peter za nm. Chlapi neisto postvali pred vekmi dverami domu. Potom siln

6

around uncertainly. Then the big man in the lead tried the door. It opened, showing a black cavern of hall way inside.

mu, ktor ich viedol, stlail kuku. Dvere sa otvorili a pred nimi sa objavila ierna chodba.

"Use your flashlights," he said. "I want to find out what it was we heard."

"Zanite baterky," povedal. "Chcem zisti, o sme to vlastne pouli."

With his own flashlight on, he led the way inside. The others crowded close at his heels, and three more flashlights cut bright paths into the darkness. As the men entered, Pete and Bob quietly slipped inside behind them.

Voiel prv s rozsvietenou baterkou. Ostatn mu li tesne v ptch a alie tri baterky razili jasn cestiky do tmy. Ke mui voli, Peter a Bob potichu vkzli za nimi.

They found themselves in a big reception hall. The men who had flashlights shone the beams around, and they could all see that the walls were covered with what had once been creamcolored silk tapestries, with Oriental scenes on them.

Ocitli sa vo vekej, prjemnej hale. Mui svietili baterkami dookola, take vetci videli steny pokryt niem, o voakedy bolo krmovostriebornmi tapisriami s orientlnymi vjavmi.

An impressive flight of stairs curved down into the hall. One of the men shone his light on it.

Psobiv schodite sa stalo z haly na prv poschodie. Jeden z muov na zasvietil.

"That must be where old Mathias Green fell down and broke his neck fifty years ago," he said. "Smell the air! This place has been shut up for the whole fifty years."

"Tu asi padol star Mathias Green pred pdesiatimi rokmi a zlomil si vz," povedal. "Ovoajte vzduch! Celch pdesiat rokov sa tu nevetralo."

"The house is supposed to be haunted," someone else said. "And Im willing to believe it. I only hope we dont see the ghost."

"Hovor sa, e v tomto dome stra," povedal in mu. "Som ochotn tomu veri. Ale dfam, e straidlo nestretneme."

"Were not getting very far with our search," said the big man. "Lets start by searching the ground floor."

"Zatia sme ete skoro ni neprezreli," povedal silk. "Zanime od przemia."

Staying in a group, the men began to go through the big rooms on the ground floor. The rooms were empty of furniture. Dust lay everywhere. One wing of the building had no back wall. That was where the wreckers had started to tear the building down just that day.

Mui spolu zamierili do vekch miestnost na przem. V izbch nebol nijak nbytok. Vade plno prachu. Jedno krdlo domu nemalo zadn stenu. Prve v ten de zaali budovu rca.

The group found nothing but echoing, empty rooms through which they walked hesitantly, talking in hushed whispers. They tried the other wing of the mansion. Finally they came into what must once have been a big parlor. There was an impressive fireplace at one end and tall windows at the other. The men gathered in front of the fireplace, uneasily.

Nenali ni okrem ozvajcich sa przdnych izieb, cez ktor prechdzali vhavo, rozprvajc sa iba eptom. Prezreli druh krdlo domu. Nakoniec prili do niekdajieho salnu. Na jednom konci bol orientlny kozub a na druhom vysok obloky. Mui sa znepokojene zhromadili pred kozubom.

"Were not doing any good," one man said in a low voice. "We should call the police"

"Nerobme dobre," ticho povedal jeden. "Mali by sme zavola polciu"

"Sssh!" another voice cut him off. Everyone froze into silence. "I thought I heard something," the second man said in a low whisper. "It may be just an animal. Lets turn off all the lights and see if anything moves."

"!" preruil ho in hlas. Vetkm zamrzli slov na perch. "Myslm, e som nieo poul," ticho zaepkal druh mu. "Mono je to len zviera. Zahaste vetky svetl a uvidme, i sa nieo pohne."

All the lights winked out. Darkness engulfed the room, except for some very faint moonlight coming through the dirty windows.

Vetky svetl zhasli. Miestnos pohltila tma a cez pinav obloky prenikal len vemi slab mesan svit.

Then someone said in a gasping tone, "Look! Over by the door!"

Potom ktosi prestraene povedal: "Pozrite! Tam, pri dverch!"

They all turned. And they all saw it. A greenish figure was standing by the door through which they had entered. It seemed to glow slightly, as if with an inner light, and to waver a bit as though it were insubstantial mist. But as Bob stared at it, unconsciously holding his breath, it seemed to him to be the figure of a man in long, flowing green robes.

Vetci sa obrtili. A vetci to videli. Pri dverch, ktormi voli, stla zelenkast postava. Zdalo sa, akoby zvntra vyarovala svetlo, a mihotala sa ako hmla. Ale ke Bob na u pozrel, podvedome zatajil dych. Zdalo sa mu, e je to postava mua v dlhom, splvajcom zelenom rchu.

"The ghost!" a rather weak voice gulped. "Old Mathias Green!"

"Straidlo!" ozval sa ktosi slabm hlasom. "Star Mathias Green!"

"All lights on!" the big man said sharply. "Shine them that way!"

"Zanite vetky svetl!" povedal ostro siln mu. "Posviete tm smerom!"

But before the lights went on, the greenish misty figure seemed to glide along the wall and dart out through the open door. It vanished as three flashlights beamed light toward it.

Ale km zaplili svetl, hmlist zelenkast postava akoby prekzla popri stene a mihla sa za otvorenmi dverami. Len o tri baterky vrhli na u svetlo, zmizla.

"I wish I was someplace else," Pete whispered into Bobs ear. "Beginning about an hour ago."

"Chcel by som by niekde inde," zaepkal Peter Bobovi do ucha. "U aspo hodinu."

"It may have been a flash from an auto headlight," a man said firmly. "Just coming in a window. Come on, lets have a look in the hall."

"Mono to bol iba zblesk z reflektora auta," povedal pevne ktorsi mu. "Nhodou zasvietil do okna. Pome sa pozrie do haly."

They all trooped noisily out into the hall and flashed their lights around again. There was nothing to be seen. Then someone suggested that they turn the lights out once more. They waited in silence and darkness again; the small dog one man carried in his arms whimpered slightly.

Vetci sa hlune nahrnuli do haly a znovu svietili dookola. Nebolo tam vak ni. Ktosi navrhol, aby ete raz zhasili svetl. Znovu akali v tichu a tme. Mal pes, ktorho mu niesol na rukch, trochu zaskual.

7

This time Pete spotted the figure. The others were looking around them, but he happened to glance up the stairs and there, on the landing, was the greenish figure.

Tentoraz zbadal postavu Peter. Ostatn sa obzerali dookola, ale on nhodou pozrel na schody, a tam na odpovadle stlo zelenkast zjavenie.

"There it is!" he shouted. "On the stairs." "Tam je!" zakrial. "Na schodoch." They all turned. They all saw the figure move from the

landing and glide up toward the second floor. Vetci sa obrtili. Vetci uvideli postavu, ako sa z odpovadla zakrda na prv poschodie.

"Come on!" shouted the big man. "Its someone pulling a gag on us. Follow him and catch him!"

"Pome!" zakrial siln mu. "Niekto ns tu vod za nos. Pome za nm a chyme ho!"

He led the way pell-mell up the stairs. But when they got to the second floor, they found nothing.

Bezhlavo sa rtili hore schodmi. Ale ke prili na prv poschodie, nikoho tam nebolo.

"I have an idea." It was Bob who spoke. He was asking himself what Jupiter Jones would have done if he had been there, and he thought he knew.

"Mm npad," ozval sa Bob. Spytoval sa sm seba, o by urobil Jupiter, keby teraz bol s nimi a mal dojem, e na to priiel.

"If anybody came upstairs ahead of us," he said, as the men turned to him and someone shone a light on his face so that he had to squint, "theyd leave tracks on the dusty floor. If they left tracks, we can follow them."

"Ak iiel niekto pred nami po schodoch," povedal, ke sa mui obrtili k nemu a niektor z nich mu posvietil do tvre, take musel zamurka, "nechal by stopy na zaprenej dlke. Ak nechal stopy, meme ho sledova."

"The boys right," the man with the dog exclaimed. "You fellows, shine your lights here on the floor of the hall, where none of us has walked yet."

"Chlapec m pravdu," vykrkol mu so psom. "Priatelia, posviete sem na dlku v hale, kadia ete nikto z ns nepreiel."

Three flashlights glowed on the floor. There was dust, all right, plenty of it, but nothing had disturbed it.

Tri baterky osvietili dlku. Bolo tam vea prachu, ale ni ho neporuilo.

"Nobodys been up here!" The speaker sounded baffled. "So what did we see go up these stairs?"

"Tu nikto nebol!" ozval sa zmten hlas. "o to teda ilo hore schodmi?"

Nobody answered that, although everyone knew what everyone else was thinking.

Nikto neodpovedal, hoci kad vedel, na o myslia ostatn.

"Lets turn out the lights and see if we see it again," a voice suggested.

"Zhasnime svetl a uvidme, i sa uke ete raz," navrhol jeden hlas.

"Lets get out of here," someone else said, but there was a chorus of agreement with the first speaker. After all, there were eight or nine of them counting Pete and Bob and nobody wanted to admit to being scared.

"Pome odtiato pre," povedal niekto in, ale vetci shlasili s tm prvm. Koniec koncov, bolo ich sedem alebo osem - ak rtame Petra a B oba a nikto nechcel prizna, e sa boj.

In the darkness at the head of the stairs, they waited. Stli v tme pri schodoch a akali. Pete and Bob were staring down the hall when someone

whispered sharply. Peter a Bob hadeli do haly, ke niekto ostro zaepkal:

"To the left!" he said. "Halfway down the hall." "Vavo! V polovici haly!" They spun around. A green glow, so faint it could hardly

be seen, stood beside a doorway. The figure grew clearer. Definitely now it was a human-shaped figure in green flowing robes like a Mandarins.

Obrtili sa. Pri dverch stlo zelen svetlo, ktor bolo sotva vidie. Postava sa stvala zretenejou. Teraz to bola urite udsk postava v zelenom splvajcom rchu ako mandarn.

"Lets not scare it," somebody said in a low voice. "See what it does."

"Nevyplame ju," povedal ktosi ticho. "Pozerajme, o urob."

They all waited silently. Vetci ticho akali. The ghostly figure began to move. It glided down the hall

close to the wall, to the very end. Then it turned the corner, or seemed to, and vanished.

Straideln postava sa zaala pohybova. Zakrdala sa tesne popri stene a na sam koniec haly. Potom zala za roh, aspo tak sa zdalo, a zmizla.

"Follow it, slowly this time," someone murmured. "Its not trying to get away."

"Sledujme ju, ale pomaly," zamrmlal niekto. "Neodchdza."

Bob spoke up again. "See if there are any footprints now, before we go down the hall," he suggested.

Znovu sa ozval Bob. "Skr ako prejdeme halou, pozrime sa, i teraz nechala nejak stopy," navrhol.

Two flashlights winked on and played up and down the hallway.

Rozsvietili dve baterky a pohybovali sa sem-tam po hale.

"No footprints!" The deep-voiced speaker sounded a bit hollow. "Not a trace of a print in the dust. Whatever it is, its floating on air."

"Nijak stopy!" ozval sa duto hlbok hlas. "Ani jedna apaj v prachu. Nech je to okovek, vzna sa to vo vzduchu."

"Weve come this far, we have to go on," someone else said firmly. "Ill lead the way."

"Dostali sme sa a sem, teraz musme pokraova," povedal odhodlane ktosi in. "Ja pjdem prv."

The speaker, the big man, strode out boldly down the hall. The others followed. They came to a cross corridor, where the green figure had turned, and stopped. Someone shone a light down the other hallway. Two open doors showed in its beam. Beyond the doors the hallway ended in a blank wall.

Silk, ktor to povedal, pustil sa smelo do haly. Ostatn ho nasledovali. Prili k prienej chodbe, do ktorej zaboila zelen postava, a zastali. Niekto zasvietil do druhej chodby. Vo svetle sa ukzalo dvoje otvorench dver. Na konci chodby za dverami bola hol stena.

They shut off the lights and waited. In a moment the green, ghostly figure glided out of one of the open doors, down the hall, hugging the wall, and stopped at the blank wall where the hall ended. Then, very slowly, it faded out.

Zahasili svetl a akali. O chvu straideln zelen postava vykzla z jednch otvorench dver, pokraovala popri stene a zastavila sa na przdnom mre, kde sa hala konila. Potom sa postupne strcala.

As if, Bob said later, it had oozed right through the wall. "Akoby prela stenou," povedal neskr Bob. And there were no footprints in the dust! A v prachu neboli nijak stopy. Nor, when the police came later after the men had called

them, could Chief Reynolds or any of his men find a thing. Ke potom prila polcia, ktor mui zavolali, ani erif Reynolds, ani nikto z jeho ud ni nenaiel. V dome

8

There was no trace of a human being in the house, no one hurt, no animal. Nothing.

nebolo ani stopy po udskej bytosti, nijak ranen, nijak zviera. Ni.

Being a policeman, Chief Reynolds did not like to believe that eight reliable witnesses had seen a ghost, or heard a ghost scream. But he had no choice. Because later that night a watchman reported that he had seen a greenish, ghostly figure lurking near the rear entrance of a big warehouse. It had faded away when he approached. Still later, a woman phoned to the police in a panic, saying a moaning noise had awakened her and she had seen a greenish figure standing out on her patio. It had vanished when she turned the light on. Two truckers at an all-night restaurant said they saw a ghostly figure beside their truck.

erif Reynolds nechcel veri, e by osem spoahlivch svedkov videlo straidlo a poulo ho kria. Ale neostvalo mu ni in. Lebo v t ist noc, o nieo neskr, strnik hlsil, e videl straideln zelenkast postavu, ktor striehla pri zadnom vchode vekho obchodnho domu. Ke sa priblil, zmizla. Neskr telefonovala na polciu vyplaen ena, ktor vraj zobudilo stonanie a na dvore videla st zelenkast postavu. Ke zaplila svetlo, postava zmizla. Dvaja ofri z nonej retaurcie hovorili, e videli straideln postavu pri svojom nkladnom aute.

But finally, Chief Reynolds had a call from two radio patrol car officers who said they had seen a figure in Rocky Beachs Green Hills Cemetery. Reynolds hurried down there and stepped inside the big iron gate of the cemetery. Standing against a tall white monument was a green, ghostly figure that, as he approached it, sank into the ground and was gone.

A nakoniec erifovi Reynoldsovi volali dvaja policajti z hliadkujceho auta, e videli postavu na cintorne GreenHills v Rocky Beach. Reynolds sa tam hne ponhal a vekou eleznou brnou voiel na cintorn. Pri vysokom bielom pomnku stla straideln zelen postava, ale ke sa priblil, prepadla sa do zeme a zmizla.

The Chief flashed his light on the monument. erif posvietil na pomnk. It was the monument to the unfortunate Mathias Green,

who had fallen down his stairs and broken his neck fifty years before in the great, old mansion.

Bol to pomnk neastnho Mathiasa Greena, ktor pred pdesiatimi rokmi vo vekom starom dome spadol zo schodov a zlomil si vz.

CChhaapptteerr 22 DDrruuhh kkaappiittoollaa

SSuummmmoonnss ffoorr BBoobb aanndd PPeettee PPrreeddvvoollaanniiee pprree BBoobbaa aa PPeettrraa "AAAhhhhhhh eeeeeeee!" The ghostly scream sounded

again. But this time it did not bother Bob and Pete. It was coming from the tape recorder.

"Aaahhhhh iiiii!" Znova sa ozval straideln vkrik. Ale tentoraz Bob a Peter ostali pokojn, pretoe sa ozval z magnetofnu.

The Three Investigators were in their concealed, mobile-home Headquarters in The Jones Salvage Yard, and Jupiter Jones was listening intently to the tape that Bob had recorded the previous evening.

Traja ptrai boli vo svojom tajnom Hlavnom stane v Jonesovom bazri a Jupiter pozorne poval z psky zvuky, ktor Bob nahral predol veer.

"Therere no more screams, Jupe," Bob said. "The rest is just conversation when those men met us, before I remembered the machine was running, I shut it off when we went in the house."

"Viac vkrikov tam u nie je, Jupiter," povedal Bob. "Ostatok je u len rozhovor pri stretnut s tmi mumi, pretoe prstroj bol zapnut a vypol som ho, a ke sme li do domu."

Jupiter, however, listened to everything. The voices of the men who had spoken the previous night were quite clear, for Bob had had the recording volume all the way up. When the tape ended, he shut it off, pinching his lower lip, a sign his mental machinery was spinning.

Ale Jupiter si vypoul vetko. Hlasy muov, s ktormi sa rozprvali predol noc, boli celkom zreten. Ke sa pska skonila, vypol magnetofn a zaal si prstami poahova spodn peru, o bolo znakom, e tuho rozma.

"That sounded to me like a human scream," he said. "It sounded like somebody screaming as he fell down a flight of stairs, and at the end dying out because he didnt have strength enough to scream any more."

"Mne to znie ako udsk vkrik," povedal. "Znie to, akoby niekto krial, ke pad zo schodov, a na konci hlas zanik, akoby u nemal viac sl kria."

"Thats just what it does sound like!" Bob exclaimed. "And thats what happened in that house fifty years ago. Old Mathias Green, the owner, fell down the stairs and broke his neck. He probably screamed as he fell!"

"Veru, tak to znie!" vykrkol Bob. "A to sa aj stalo v tom dome pred pdesiatimi rokmi. Star Mathias Green, majite, spadol zo schodov a zlomil si vz. Pravdepodobne pri pde vykrkol!"

"Now wait a minute, wait a minute!" Pete objected. "Why should we hear him screaming fifty years later?"

"Moment! Pokaj!" protestoval Peter. "Ako by sme mohli pou vkrik po pdesiatich rokoch?"

"Perhaps," Jupiter said solemnly, "the scream was a supernatural echo of a scream first uttered fifty years ago."

"Mono," povedal vne Jupiter, "bol ten vkrik nadprirodzenou ozvenou vkriku, ktor prv raz zaznel pred pdesiatimi rokmi."

"Dont say things like that!" Pete objected. "I dont like to hear them. How could we hear a fifty-year old echo?"

"Nehovor tak veci!" namietol Peter. "Nerd to povam. Ako by sme mohli pou pdesiatron ozvenu?"

"I dont know," Jupiter answered. "Bob, you are in charge of records and research for the firm. Please give me a detailed account of what happened and what you have learned of the history of the Green mansion."

"Neviem," odvetil Jupiter. "Bob, ty m na starosti zznamy a vskum. Prosm a, podaj mi podrobn sprvu o tom, o sa stalo a o si sa dozvedel o histrii Zelenho panstva."

Bob drew in a deep breath. Bob sa zhlboka nadchol. "Well," he began, "Pete and I rode over last night to look

at the place when we heard they were starting to tear it down. I thought I could do a good story on it and have it ready for the first issue of the school paper in the fall. I took along the tape recorder so I could talk my impressions into it, to use later for the writing.

"Nu," zaal, "vera veer sme sa s Petrom vybrali k domu, o ktorom sme sa dopouli, e ho id bra. Myslel som si, e by som mohol o om nieo pekn napsa pre prv jesenn vtlaok kolskch novn. Zobral som si aj magnetofn, aby som si nahral svoje dojmy, o ktorch by som neskr napsal.

"Wed been there about five minutes, and the old house Boli sme tam asi p mint, ke vyiel mesiac, a star

9

was looking mighty spooky, when the moon came up. Then came the scream. The first one. I turned up the volume of the recorder in case there was another scream because I knew it would be important for you to hear it."

dom vyzeral nramne straideln. Potom sa ozval prv vkrik. Zapol som magnetofn pre prpad, e by sa ozval al. Vedel som, e to bude pre teba vemi dleit."

"Very good," Jupiter said. "You are thinking like a detective. Ive already heard on the tape what the men said. Proceed with your entry into the house."

"Vemi dobre," povedal Jupiter? "Uvauje ako detektv. o hovorili mui, to som u poul. Pokrauj, ako ste voli do domu."

Bob described in detail how they had searched the house, how they had seen the ghostly green figure first downstairs, then on the landing, then upstairs, and then how it had finally glided down the hall and melted through a solid wall.

Bob podrobne opsal, ako prehadali dom, ako videli straideln zelen postavu najprv na przem, potom na odpovadle, na prvom poschod, a nakoniec ako sa zakrdala halou a stratila sa v pevnej stene.

"And no footprints," Pete said. "Bob thought of that, and he made sure the men with flashlights examined the floor carefully."

"A nenechala nijak stopy," povedal Peter. "Bob na to myslel a presvedil muov s baterkami, aby starostlivo prezreli podlahu."

"Excellent work," Jupiter said. "How many men saw this green apparition with you?"

"Vborn prca," povedal Jupiter. "Koko muov videlo to zelen zjavenie?"

"Six," Pete told him. "es," povedal Peter. "Seven," Bob contradicted him. "Sedem," protireil mu Bob. They looked at each other. Pete spoke first. Pozreli na seba. Prv sa ozval Peter. "Six," he said. "Im positive. The big man who led us, the

fellow with the deep voice, the man with the little dog, a man who wore glasses, and two others I didnt notice much."

"Urite es," povedal. "Siln mu, ktor ns viedol, chlapk shlbokm hlasom, mu s malm psom, mu v okuliaroch a al dvaja, ktorch som si vemi nevimol."

"Maybe youre right," Bob admitted, unsure of himself. "I counted them inside, when they were all moving around. Once I got six and twice I got seven."

"Mono m pravdu," priznal Bob, ktor si nebol ist. "Ja som ich rtal vntri, ke sa vetci pohybovali. Raz som nartal es, druh raz sedem."

"It probably doesnt matter," Jupiter said, forgetting for a moment his own rule that in any mystery the smallest fact might be very important. "Now give me the background of the old house."

"Na tom vemi nezle," povedal Jupiter, zabdajc na vlastn pravidlo, e pri kadej zhade me by i najmenia vec vemi dleit. "Povedz mi teraz nieo o minulosti toho starho domu."

"Well," Bob said, "we left the house and the men broke up into groups. One group said theyd call the police. This morning the papers were full of the story. I stopped at the library on the way over here, but they dont have any information about the Green mansion because it was built so long ago before Rocky Beach was even a town or had a library.

"Teda," povedal Bob, "opustili sme dom a mui sa rozdelili do skupn. Jedna skupina zavolala polciu. V raajch novinch sa o udalosti vea psalo. Na ceste sem som sa zastavil v kninici, ale nenaiel som nijak informcie o Zelenom panstve, pretoe ho postavili vemi dvno, ke Rocky Beach nebolo ete mestom a nebola tu ani kninica.

"But according to the story in the papers, it was built way back, sixty or seventy years ago, by old Mathias Green. He was a skipper in the China trade, and supposed to be a very tough man. Not too much is known about him, but it seems he got into some kind of trouble when he was in China and had to leave in a hurry. He came back here with a beautiful Chinese princess for a bride. One story says he quarreled with his only relative, a sister-in-law up in San Francisco, and came down here to live.

Poda dajov v novinch postavil ho star Mathias Green asi pred esdesiatimi alebo sedemdesiatimi rokmi. Obchodoval s nou a hovorilo sa o om, e to bol vemi nepoddajn lovek. Vea sa o om nevie, ale zd sa, e si v ne narobil nejak neprjemnosti a musel odtia narchlo ods. Vrtil sa sem so svojou snbenicou, prekrsnou nskou kanou. Jedna verzia hovor, e sa pohdal so svojou jedinou prbuznou, vagrinou zo San Franciska, a priiel bva sem.

Another story says he feared the vengeance of some Chinese nobles, maybe the family of his wife, and he built his big house down here to hide. This region was pretty wild back then, you know.

Poda inej verzie sa vraj bl nejakch nskych achticov, asi prbuznch svojej manelky, a preto si tu postavil vek dom, v ktorom sa ukryl. Vie, tto oblas nebola vtedy vemi osdlen.

Anyway, he lived in style in the Green mansion with a whole bunch of Oriental servants. He liked to put on green robes like a Manchu noble. He used to have his supplies brought up to him by team and wagon from down in Los Angeles, once a week, and one day the driver of the wagon found the house empty. Except for Mathias Green. He lay at the bottom of the stairs with his neck broken.

Tak i onak, na Zelenom panstve bola cel hba orientlnych sluhov. Mathias Green si rd obliekal zelen rcho ako mandusk achtici. Zsoby mu dovali raz do tda z Los Angeles na voze alebo nkladnm autom. Jednho da ofr naiel dom przdny. Bol tam len Mathias Green. Leal pod schodmi so zlomenm vzom.

When the police finally got there, they decided that he had been drinking and had fallen down and killed himself and that the whole bunch of servants had fled in the night, afraid theyd be blamed. Even the Chinese wife was gone.

Ke tam konene prila polcia, usdila, e sa opil, spadol zo schodov a zabil sa, a e vetko sluobnctvo sa rozpchlo do noci, lebo sa blo, e ich obvinia z vrady. Dokonca i nska manelka zmizla.

They could never find anybody to tell them anything. In those days most Chinese in this country were very secretive and afraid of the law, so all the servants either went back to China or went up to San Francisco and lost themselves in Chinatown, there.

Nenali nikoho, kto by im mohol nieo poveda. ania, ktor tu ili, boli vtedy zva vemi tajnostkrski, bli sa zkona, a tak sa vetci sluhovia alebo vrtili do ny, alebo odili do San Franciska a tam sa roztratili v nskej tvrti.

Anyway, the whole thing stayed a mystery. His widowed sister-in-law in San Francisco inherited his estate, and used the money he left her to buy a vineyard up in Verdant Valley, near San Francisco. She refused to live in

Cel vec ostala zhadou. Majetok zdedila jeho ovdoven vagrin zo San Franciska. Za peniaze, ktor jej zanechal, kpila vinohrad vo Verdant Valley blzko San Franciska. V dome bva nechcela, ale nechcela ho ani preda. Ani po

10

the house or to sell it either. Even after she died, it was just left here to rot. Finally, though, this year a Miss Lydia Green, the sister-in-laws daughter, sold the property to a developer who is going to tear down the house and build some modern houses on the grounds.

jej smrti sa o dom nik nestaral. Konene tohto roku slena Ldia Greenov, jej dcra, predala dom, ktor sa m zbra, aby sa na pozemku mohli postavi modern domy.

"Thats why the house was being torn down. And well, thats about all I can tell you."

Preto teda dom braj. A nu, to je vetko, o ti mem poveda."

"Very well summed up, Records," Jupiter complimented Bob. "Now let us examine the newspaper accounts."

"Vemi dobre si to zhrnul," pochvlil Jupiter Boba. "Prezrime si teraz sprvy z novn."

He spread out several newspapers on the desk of the tiny Headquarters office. There was a Los Angeles paper, a San Francisco paper and the local paper. The local paper had the biggest headlines about the strange events of the night before, but the big city papers gave it plenty of space, too, with dramatic headlines such as:

Rozprestrel na stole v malej kancelrii Hlavnho stanu niekoko novn. Boli tam noviny z Los Angeles, San Franciska a miestne noviny. Miestne noviny psali o udalostiach predolej noci s najvmi titulkami, ale i v novinch z vekomiest im venovali vea miesta s dramatickmi nadpismi ako:

SCREAMING GHOST LEAVES WRECKED HOME TO BRING TERROR TO ROCKY BEACH

VRIESKAJCE STRAIDLO OPA ZBRAN DOMOV A PRINA HRZU BO ROCKY BEACH

GREEN GHOST AT LARGE IN ROCKY BEACH AS HOME IS TORN DOWN

ZELEN STRAIDLO V ROCKY BEACH NA SLOBODE, PRETOE MU BRAJ DOMOV

GREEN GHOST LEAVES WRECKED HOME TO SEEK NEW LODGINGS

ZELEN STRAIDLO OPA ZBRAN DOMOV A HAD SI NOV PRSTREIE

The stories that followed were written in a humorous vein, but they gave the facts as Bob had just stated them. Missing was the fact that Police Chief Reynolds and two of his men had actually seen the green figure in the cemetery. He preferred to keep that to himself. He didnt want to be made a laughing stock.

Potom nasledovali prhody psan humornm tnom, ale uvdzajce vetky fakty tak, ako ich pred chvou povedal Bob. Chbalo tam vak, e erif Reynolds a dvaja jeho udia skutone videli na cintorne zelen postavu. erif si to nechal radej pre seba. Nechcel riskova, e sa stane terom posmechu.

"The paper says," Jupiter remarked, referring to the Rocky Beach News, "that the ghost was seen outside a big warehouse, then later in a womans patio, and finally among some big trucks outside a truckmens diner. It almost looks as if the ghost was looking for someplace else to stay, now that his home is being torn down."

"V novinch sa pe," poznamenal Jupiter, narajc na Rocky Beach News, "e straidlo videli pri vekom obchodnom dome, potom na dvore u tej eny a nakoniec medzi kaminmi pri retaurcii. Vyzer to skoro tak, akoby si straidlo, ktormu teraz braj dom, skutone hadalo nejak in prstreie."

"Yeah," Pete said with a note of sarcasm. "Maybe he was hitchhiking away from Rocky Beach."

"Hm," povedal utipane Peter, "mono odilo z Rocky Beach autostopom."

"Perhaps." Jupiter chose to take the remark seriously. "Although ghosts are not commonly supposed to need mundane means of transportation."

"Mono." Jupiter sa rozhodol bra tto poznmku vne. "Hoci o nadprirodzench bytostiach nie je znme, e by pouvali pozemsk dopravn prostriedky."

"Long words," Pete groaned. He put his head down on his arms as if floored by Jupiters language. "Long words Jones! You know I dont know what mundane means."

"Paneboe, Jones," zapel Peter a chytil si hlavu do dlan. "Vie vemi dobre, e ti nerozumiem, ke sa vyjadruje takto zloito."

"It means ordinary or everyday," Jupiter told him. "The whole thing seems very mysterious. Until further facts emerge"

"Znamen to, e sa nevozia v autch," povedal Jupiter. "Cel zleitos vyzer vemi zhadne. Km nevyjd na svetlo alie fakty"

He was interrupted by his aunts voice. Mrs. Mathilda Jones was a large woman, and her voice was a powerful one. It was she who really ran The Jones Salvage Yard, the family business.

Preruil ho tetin hlas. Pani Matilda Jonesov bola objemn ena so silnm hlasom. Viedla Jonesov bazr a bola hlavou tohto rodinnho podniku.

"Bob Andrews!" the boys heard her calling. "Come out from behind all that junk and show yourself. Your father is here and wants you. Pete, too."

"Bob Andrews!" pouli ju chlapci vola. "Vyjdi spoza toho odpadu a uk sa. Je tu tvoj otec a chce sa s tebou rozprva. Aj s Petrom."

CChhaapptteerr 33 TTrreettiiaa kkaappiittoollaa

TThhee HHiiddddeenn RRoooomm TTaajjnn mmiieessttnnooss In a moment all three boys were scrambling through the

long section of corrugated pipe which formed Tunnel Two, the secret entrance they used most. They had put some old carpets on the bottom, so that the corrugations didnt bruise their knees, and they could slither out through the exit as fast as eels. In a moment they were threading their way through the stacks of junk which Jupiter had had Hans and Konrad, the yard helpers, arrange to hide their workshop and Headquarters. They emerged in the open space around the neat shack which served as the office for the salvage yard.

O chvu u vetci traja liezli dlhou pokrivenou rrou Tunela . 2, tajnm vchodom, ktor najastejie pouvali. Spodok bol vystlan starmi kobercami, take sa mohli pohybova rchlo ako hory a nepootkali si kolen. Vzpt sa u predierali pomedzi odpad, ktor tam na Jupiterovu iados navili Hans a Konrd, pomocnci v zberni, aby dielu ani Hlavn stan nebolo vidie. Vynorili sa pri bde, ktor slila ako kancelria.

There Mathilda Jones waited, talking with Bobs father, a tall man with twinkling eyes and a brown moustache.

Tam akala Matilda Jonesov a rozprvala sa s Bobovm otcom, vysokm muom s tmavmi fzmi a murkajcimi oami.

"There you are, son!" he said. "Come along, we have to hurry. Chief Reynolds wants to talk to you. You, too, Pete."

"Tu si, synak!" povedal. "Po, musme sa ponha. erif Reynolds sa chce s tebou rozprva. Aj s tebou, Peter."

11

Pete gulped. Chief Reynolds wanted to talk to him? He thought he knew what about the events of the previous night.

Peter preglgol. erif Reynolds sa s nm chce rozprva? Vedel o om - o udalostiach predolej noci.

Jupiters round features looked eager. "May I go, too, Mr. Andrews?" he asked. "After all, were a team. All three of us."

Jupiter sa dychtivo optal: "Smiem s i ja, pn Andrews? Patrme predsa k sebe, vetci traja sme ptrai."

"I guess one more boy wont matter." Mr. Andrews smiled. "But come along. Chief Reynolds is outside in a police car and were going to ride with him."

"Myslm, e sa ni nestane, ak pjde aj ty," usmial sa pn Andrews. "Ale pome. erif Reynolds ak vonku, v aute. Pjdeme s nm."

Just outside the gate a black sedan was waiting. Police Chief Reynolds, a bulky man, a bit bald, was at the wheel. His mouth and chin looked grim.

Hne pred vchodom akala ierna limuzna. Za volantom sedel erif Reynolds, tun mu s malou pleinou. Vyzeral nazlostene.

"Good work, Bill," he said to Bobs father. "Now lets get there fast. And listen youre a local man were neighbors. Im counting on you to help me handle the outside press if this thing well, if this crazy business turns into something even crazier.

"akujem, Bili," povedal Bobovmu otcovi. "A teraz rchlo pome. Povaj, ty si odtiato, sme susedia. Spolieham sa na teba, e mi pome - ak by sa z tejto pochabej zleitosti vykulo ete nieo horie."

"You can count on me, Chief," Mr. Andrews said. "While we drive over to the Green mansion, why dont you let my son tell you what he and his friend observed last night."

"Me sa na ma spoahn, erif," povedal pn Andrews. "Ale km prdeme k Zelenmu panstvu, mj syn by ti mohol porozprva, o vera veer so svojm priateom videli."

"Yeah, shoot, boy," Chief Reynolds said, starting the car down the road at breakneck speed. "Ive heard it from a couple of the men who were there, but lets hear how you saw it."

"Tak spus, chlape," povedal erif Reynolds, uhajc krkolomnou rchlosou. "Poul som o tom od viacerch ud, ktor tam boli, ale som zvedav, ako ste to videli vy."

Bob swiftly told him what he and Pete had observed the previous evening. Chief Reynolds chewed his lips as he listened.

Bob mu rchlo vyrozprval, o s Petrom vera zaili. erif Reynolds si hrzol pery, ke ho poval.

"Yes, that sounds just about like what the others told me," he said gloomily. "Even with so many witnesses Id say it was impossible only"

"To ist mi povedali aj ostatn," zachmril sa. "I ke je toko svedkov, povedal by som, e je nemon "

He stopped. Bobs father, who was a very good reporter, looked at him sharply.

Zarazil sa. Bobov otec, ktor bol dobrm novinrom, na neho ostro pozrel.

"Something tells me, Sam," he said, "that you saw that green ghost yourself. Thats why you arent speaking up louder to say that it is impossible."

"Sam, nieo mi vrav, e ty sm si videl zelen straidlo," povedal. "Preto nechce dopoveda, e je to nemon."

"Yes." The chief let out a gusty sigh. "I saw it, too. At the cemetery. Standing by the marble shaft erected to old Mathias Green. And confound it, as I watched it, that green figure just sank down into the ground where the grave is and vanished!"

"Tak je," vzdychol si erif. "I ja som ho videl. Na cintorne. Stlo pri mramorovom pomnku starho Mathiasa Greena. A doerta, ke som ho pozoroval, t zelen postava sa prepadla do zeme a zmizla."

Pete, Bob and Jupiter were sitting on the edge of the seat, listening with great excitement. Bobs father looked quizzically at the chief of police.

Peter, Bob a Jupiter sedeli na krajku sedadla a dychtivo navali. Bobov otec figliarsky mrkol na erifa.

"Can I quote you on that, Sam?" he asked "Mem sa pri psan na teba odvolva, Sam?" optal sa. "No, you know darned well you cant!" Chief Reynolds

exploded. "Thats off the record. You boys! I forgot you were here! Dont go repeating what Ive said, you hear?"

"Nie, vie dobre, e neme!" vybuchol erif Reynolds. "Nesmie sa to rozchri. Chlapci! Zabudol som, e ste tu! Nikomu nepoviete ani slovo, poujete?"

"We wont, sir," Jupiter assured him. "no, pane," ubezpeil ho Jupiter. "Altogether" Chief Reynolds continued, "that green figure

was seen by let me see now. Two truckers at the diner. The woman who telephoned in. The night watchman at the warehouse. Myself and two of my men. The two boys"

"Vcelku," pokraoval erif Reynolds, "t zelen postavu videli dvaja ofri nkladnho auta. ena, ktor nm telefonovala. Non strca v obchodnom dome. Ja a dvaja moji chlapi. Dvaja chlapci"

"That makes nine, Sam," Mr. Andrews put in. "To je dev, Sam," ozval sa pn Andrews. "Nine, plus the six men who wandered over to look at the

old place," Chief Reynolds said. "Fifteen altogether. Fifteen witnesses to a ghostly figure!"

"Dev, plus iesti mui, ktor sa prili pozrie na ten star dom," povedal erif Reynolds. "Spolu ptns. Ptns svedkov, ktor videli straidlo!"

"Were there six men at the Green mansion, Chief," Jupiter asked eagerly, "or seven? Pete and Bob cant agree."

"erif, boli v Zelenom panstve iesti, alebo siedmi mui?" dychtivo sa optal Jupiter. "Peter a Bob sa nemu dohodn."

"Im not sure," the Chief grumbled. "Four men reported what happened. Three of them said there were six, and one said there were seven. I didnt talk to the others couldnt locate them, Guess they didnt want publicity. But either way, there were fifteen or sixteen witnesses and thats too many to imagine something. I sure wish I could play it down as a gag or something, but after seeing it myself - watching it just disappear into a grave - well, I cant!"

"Neviem celkom presne," zamrmlal erif. "tyria mui vypovedali, o sa stalo. Traja hovorili, e boli iesti, jeden tvrdil, e boli siedmi. S ostatnmi som sa nerozprval - nemohol som ich njs. Asi nechc, aby sa o nich hovorilo. Na tom tak nezle, i je svedkov ptns alebo estns, i tak je ich prli vea na to, aby si nieo vymysleli. Najradej by som bol, keby sa z toho vykul nejak art alebo nieo podobn, ale o mem robi, ke som sm videl, ako t potvora zmizla v hrobe!"

Now the car turned up the weed-grown driveway of the old Green mansion. By daylight it looked very impressive,

Auto zaboilo na burinou zarasten cestu, ktor viedla do starho Zelenho panstva. Panstvo vo dne vyzeralo vemi

12

even though one wing was partly torn down. Two policemen stood guard at the door, and a man in a brown suit seemed to be waiting impatiently with them.

pekne, hoci jedno krdlo bolo u iastone zbran. Pri dverch stli dvaja policajti a mu v hnedom kabte, ktor, ako sa zdalo, na nich netrpezlivo akal.

"Wonder who that is?" Chief Reynolds muttered as they got out. "Probably another reporter."

"Ktovie, kto to je?" zamrmlal erif Reynolds, ke vystpili. "Asi al novinr."

"Chief Reynolds!" The man in the brown suit, an intelligent looking-man who spoke rapidly in a pleasant voice, came toward them. "Are you the chief? Ive been waiting for you. Why wont these men let me go into my clients house?"

"erif Reynolds!" Podiiel k nim inteligentne vyzerajci mu v hnedom kabte a spustil prjemnm hlasom: "Vy ste erif? akm na vs. Preo ma tto mui nechc pusti do domu mojej klientky?"

"Your clients house?" The chief stared at him. "Whore you?"

"Dom vaej klientky?" erif na neho pozrel. "Kto ste?"

"Im Harold Carlson," the man said. "Actually it is Miss Lydia Greens house. Im her lawyer and also a distant cousin of hers. I represent her interests. As soon as I read this mornings paper about the events of last night, I flew straight down here from San Francisco, rented a car and drove out here. I want to investigate. The whole thing sounds like fantastic nonsense to me."

"Som Harold Carlson," povedal mu. "Tento dom teraz patr slene Ldii Greenovej. Som jej advokt a vzdialen bratanec. Zastupujem ju. Hne ako som sa z raajch novn dozvedel o verajch udalostiach, priletel som zo San Franciska, poial som si auto a priiel som. Chcem sa na to pozrie. Zd sa mi, e cel vec je fantastick nezmysel."

"Fantastic, yes," Chief Reynolds said, "but I dont think its nonsense. Well, Im mighty glad youre here, Mr. Carlson. Wed probably have had to send for you otherwise. I posted my men to keep out curiosity seekers and thats why they wouldnt let you in. But well all go in now and look around. I have here two boys who saw everything last night, and theyll point out exactly where the er, strange manifestations took place."

"Fantastick, to no," povedal erif Reynolds, "ale nie je to nezmysel. Som vak vemi rd, e ste prili, pn Carlson. I tak by sme asi museli po vs posla. Postavil som sem svojich ud, aby zadrali zvedavcov, a preto nechceli pusti ani vs. Ale teraz pjdeme vetci dnu a poobzerme sa. Tto dvaja chlapci vera vetko videli a presne nm uku, kde stra kde sa to odohralo."

He introduced Mr. Andrews, and Bob, Pete and Jupiter. Then Chief Reynolds led the way into the house, leaving his two men outside, on guard. Inside, in the big, dimly lit rooms, there was still a sense of the spookiness of the night before. Bob and Pete pointed out to the chief exactly where they had all been, and where the greenish figure had first appeared.

Predstavil pna Andrewsa, Boba, Petra a Jupitera. Potom ich erif Reynolds zaviedol do domu, ponechajc muov na stri. Vntri, vo vekch erch izbch, vldlo ete stle mton ovzduie predolej noci. Bob a Peter ukzali erifovi, kde presne vetci stli a kde sa po prv raz objavila zelenkast postava.

Then Pete led them upstairs. Potom ich Peter zaviedol hore. "It just glided up these stairs and along the hall," he

said. "Before we followed it, the men examined the floor for footprints. That was Bobs idea. But there wasnt a mark in the dust."

"Zakrdala sa tmito schodmi a halou," povedal. "Skr ako sme sa pustili za ou, mui prezreli podlahu, i sa tam nenjdu stopy. To bol Bobov npad. Ale v prachu nebola nijak stopa."

"Good work, son," Mr. Andrews said, and clapped Bob on the shoulder.

"Dobre, synak," povedal pn Andrews a potapkal Boba po pleci.

"Then the ghost went down that hall" Pete pointed "and stopped against the wall at the end. After that it just melted through the wall and vanished."

"Potom ilo straidlo cez halu," ukazoval Peter, "a zastavilo sa pri zadnej stene. Potom prelo stenou a zmizlo."

"Mmm." Chief Reynolds scowled as they all stood staring at the blank wall. Harold Carlson, the lawyer, was shaking his head helplessly.

"Hm." Ako tak stli a hadeli na przdnu stenu, erif Reynolds sa zamrail a Harold Carlson, advokt, bezradne krtil hlavou.

"I dont understand it," he said. "I just dont understand it. Of course, there have always been stories about this house being haunted, but I never believed in them. Now I dont know. I just dont know."

"Nechpem," povedal. "Jednoducho nechpem, Samozrejme, hovorilo sa, e v tomto dome stra, ale ja som tomu nikdy neveril. Teraz neviem. Jednoducho neviem."

"Mr. Carlson," Chief Reynolds asked, "have you any idea whats behind that wall?"

"Pn Carlson," optal sa erif Reynolds, "neviete, o by mohlo by za touto stenou?"

The other man blinked. Advokt zamurkal. "Why no. What could be behind it?" "Nie. o by za ou mohlo by?" "Thats what were here to find out," the chief said. "And

why Im glad youre here. "This morning, one of the men engaged to wreck the house was working on a ladder, ripping some of the siding off the outside. Apparently this hallway is over the section downstairs that has been partly taken down, and this upper portion came next. Anyway, he saw something. And he stopped work and called me."

"Na to sme tu, aby sme to zistili," odvetil erif. "A preto som rd, e ste tu i vy. Dnes rno jeden z chlapov, ktor pracuj na brake, strhval na rebrku vonkajie obloenie. Tto chodba sa zrejme nachdza nad asou, ktor u iastone zbrali. Potom sa bude pokraova tu. Skrtka, ten lovek nieo zbadal. Prestal pracova a zavolal ma."

"Saw something?" Mr. Carlson frowned. "Good heavens, what?"

"Nieo zbadal?" zamrail sa pn Carlson. "Preboha, a o?"

"He couldnt be sure," Chief Reynolds said bluntly. "But he thinks theres a secret room behind that blank wall. And now that youre here, were going to open it up and see whats inside."

"Nebol si celkom ist," otvorene povedal erif Reynolds. "Ale domnieva sa, e za touto przdnou stenou je tajn izba. Kee ste tu, meme ju otvori a pozrie sa dnu."

Harold Carlson rubbed his forehead and looked at Mr. Andrews, who was busy making notes.

Harold Carlson si pochal elo a pozrel na pna Andrewsa, ktor si usilovne robil poznmky.

"A secret room?" he said, in utter bewilderment. "Theres "Tajn izba?" optal sa so zjavnm prekvapenm. "Ani v

13

no mention of a secret room in any of the family stories about this house."

jednom rodinnom prbehu o tomto dome sa nespomna nijak tajn izba."

Pete and Bob and Jupiter were almost hopping with suppressed excitement as the two policemen came up the stairs, one carrying an axe and the other a crowbar.

Peter, Bob a Jupiter ili z koe vyskoi od potlanho vzruenia, ke prili hore dvaja policajti, jeden so sekerou a druh so sochorom.

"All right, men, get an opening in that wall," Chief Reynolds said. To Mr. Carlson he added, "Im sure thats what you want, isnt it?"

"Noe, chlapi, urobte otvor do tej steny," vyzval ich erif Reynolds. Potom sa obrtil k pnu Carlsonovi: "Urite ste i vy zvedav, vak?"

"Of course, Chief," the man from San Francisco told him. "After all, the house is coming down anyway."

"Samozrejme, erif," odvetil mu zo San Franciska. "Aj tak pjde cel dom dolu."

The two policemen attacked the wall with vigor. Soon they had a hole in it. It was plain that beyond it lay a sizeable space, now quite dark. When the hole was big enough for a man to get through, Chief Reynolds approached it and flashed a beam of light inside.

Dvaja policajti sa energicky pustili do steny. oskoro do nej urobili otvor. Za nm sa nachdzal dos vek priestor, teraz celkom tmav. Ke otvor bol u tak vek, e sa dalo ceze prejs, erif Reynolds podiiel k nemu a zasvietil dovntra.

"Good grief!" he said and climbed through the opening into the secret room. Hastily Mr. Carlson and Bobs father followed him, and the boys could hear their exclamations of excitement and consternation from within.

"Paneboe!" zvolal a preliezol otvorom do tajnej izby. Pn Carlson a Bobov otec ili hne za nm, a chlapci zauli zntra vkriky divu a zdesenia.

Quietly Jupiter slipped through the hole, too, and after him Pete and Bob. They were in a small room, about six by eight. A little daylight came through a crack in the outside wall that the wreckers must have pulled loose. It was no wonder the men were excited.

Jupiter sa potichu premykol otvorom a za nm Peter a Bob. Ocitli sa v malej miestnosti, asi meter a pol krt dva a pol. Cez puklinu vo vonkajej stene, ktor zrejme robotnci urobili predtm, vnikalo dnu trochu svetla. Nie div, e mui boli uasnut.

There was nothing in the room but a coffin. V miestnosti nebolo ni okrem truhly. It rested on two trestles, objects of polished wood similar

to sawhorses. The coffin was magnificently carved and polished on the outside, but it was the inside that was now getting the mens attention.

Leala na dvoch podstavcoch z letenho dreva. Truhla bola zvonku ndherne vyrezvan a leten, ale muov uptal jej obsah.

The three boys crept up beside them and peered in also. All three gasped.

Chlapci sa postavili k nim a nakukli dnu. Vetkm trom vyrazilo dych.

There was a skeleton in the coffin. They could not see it very well because of the magnificent robes, partly destroyed by age and decay, which hid it. But it was sure enough a skeleton.

V truhle bola kostra. Nebolo ju dobre vidie, pretoe ju zakrvali ndhern aty, iastone poznaen asom a rozkladom, ale bola to urite kostra.

For a moment no one said anything. Then Harold Carlson spoke.

Chvu vetci mlali. Napokon sa ozval Harold Carlson.

"Look!" he said. "This silver plate on the coffin. It says, Beloved wife of Mathias Greene. Rest close by and undisturbed."

"Pozrite!" povedal. "Na truhle je strieborn ttok. Je na om napsan: Tu odpova v pokoji milovan manelka Mathiasa Greena."

"Old Mathias Greens Chinese wife!" Chief Reynolds said huskily.

"nska manelka starho Mathiasa Greena!" chrapavo povedal erif Reynolds.

"And everyone always thought she had run away when he died," Bobs father added, in a hushed tone.

"A vetci sa domnievali, e ula, ke zomrel," ticho dodal Bobov otec.

"Yes," agreed Harold Carlson. "But look at this! This is something Im going to have to take charge of, Chief, for the family."

"no," prikvol Harold Carlson. "Ale pozrite, o je tu! erif, to patr rodine, ja sa o to postarm."

He reached into the coffin. What he did the boys couldnt see because the bodies of the men blocked their view. But a moment later Mr. Carlson held up a long string of round objects which were a curious dull gray color in the beam from the chiefs flashlight.

Vopchal ruku do truhly. Chlapci nevideli, o rob, pretoe mui im zaclali vhad. O chvu pn Carlson ukzal dlh nru okrhlych predmetov, ktor mali vo svetle komi-srovej baterky zvltnu matn siv farbu.

"These must be the famous Ghost Pearls that Great-uncle Mathias is reported to have stolen from a Chinese noble. They were the reason he had to flee China and go into hiding. Theyre immensely valuable. We thought they were gone forever that when Great-uncle Mathias broke his neck, his Chinese wife cleared out with the pearls and went back to the Orient. Instead, theyve been here ever since."

"To s urite tie povestn straideln perly, ktor strko Mathias ukradol istmu nskemu achticovi. Preto musel opusti nu a skrva sa. Maj nesmiernu hodnotu. Mysleli sme, e ich u viac neuvidme - e manelka strka Mathiasa, ke si zlomil vz, zmizla i s perlami a vrtila sa do vlasti. A zatia perly boli stle tu."

"And so has she," Bobs father commented. "A ona tie," poznamenal Bobov otec.

CChhaapptteerr 44 ttvvrrtt kkaappiittoollaa AAnn UUnneexxppeecctteedd PPhhoonnee CCaallll NNeeaakkaann tteelleeffoonntt

In Headquarters, the next day, Pete was busy clipping stories and pictures from the newspapers while Bob pasted them in a large scrapbook. Mr. Andrews hadnt been able to do much about cutting down on the publicity Rocky Beach received in connection with the story of the Green mansion and the green ghost.

Na druh de Peter v Hlavnom stane vystrihoval z novn lnky a obrzky a Bob ich lepil do vekho vstrikovho albumu. Pnu Andrewsovi sa nepodarilo zabrni, aby sa prhoda so zelenm straidlom na Zelenom panstve v Rocky Beach nedostala na verejnos.

Probably the story of the ghost would not have held the Sama prhoda so straidlom by asi nenarobila tak vek

14

publics interest very long. But when it was followed by the discovery of a secret room and the skeleton of Mathias Greens wife wearing a rope of famous pearls around her neck some of the headlines seemed bigger than the front pages they were on.

rozruch. Ale ke potom objavili tajn miestnos a kostru Greenovej manelky, ktor mala na krku nru povestnch perl - boli toho hne pln noviny.

Now the reporters were digging back into the past and recounting the events of Mathias Greens history. Their articles told that he had been a reckless captain in the China trade, and had sailed into the teeth of any storm he met, daring the elements to faze him.

Novinri teraz vynali na denn svetlo cel histriu Mathiasa Greena. Psali vo svojich lnkoch, e bol nebojcnym kapitnom, ktor obchodoval s nou, vedel eli kadej brke a nebl sa nijakch prekok.

They revealed that he had been a personal friend and adviser of several Manchu nobles, and that he had received gifts of jewels from them. But the Ghost Pearls hadnt been given to him. He had stolen them and then hastily left China with his bride, never to return. The rest of his life had been spent in seclusion in the Green mansion.

Objavili, e bol osobnm priateom a poradcom niekokch manduskch achticov a e dostal od nich perky. Ale straideln perly od nich neboli. Tie ukradol, a potom aj so svojou nevestou opustil nu a nikdy viac sa ta nevrtil. Zvyok ivota strvil v stran na Zelenom panstve.

"Imagine all this happening right here in Rocky Beach!" Bob paused to exclaim. "You know what Dad and Chief Reynolds have figured out?"

"Predstav si, e toto vetko sa odohralo tu, v Rocky Beach!" vykrkol Bob. "Vie, o zistil otec a erif Reynolds?"

He was interrupted by the scrape of metal. That was the iron grating over the outside entrance to Tunnel Two being moved aside. Then, presently, there was a muffled scrambling noise that was Jupe crawling through the long corrugated pipe that formed Tunnel Two. And then came the code rap on the trap door, which now opened upward, to allow Jupiter to crawl in, looking sweaty and hot.

Preruil ho kovov trkot. Niekto odsval elezn mrieku, ktor bola pred vchodom do Tunela . 2. Hne nato pouli tlmen ramot. Bol to Jupiter, ktor sa plazil dlhou pokrivenou rrou - Tunelom . 2. Potom nasledovalo dohodnut zaklopanie na sklpacie dvere; otvorili sa dohora a vliezol nimi Jupiter, cel spoten a rozhoren.

"Whew!" he said. "Its hot." Then he added, "Ive been thinking."

"Fuj!" povedal. "To je ale horava." Potom dodal: "Rozmal som."

"Better be careful, Jupe," Pete said. "Dont overdo it. By the sweat youre in, your brain bearings must have been overloaded. We wouldnt want them to burn out and leave you just an ordinary guy like the rest of us."

"Mal by si si da pozor, Jupiter," povedal Peter. "Aby si to neprehnal. Poda toho, ako vyzer, musia by tvoje mozgov zvity vemi preaen. Bola by to vek koda, keby ti vypovedali slubu a ostal by z teba len tak obyajn chlapec ako my ostatn."

Bob chuckled. Pete was actually very proud of his friends mental ability. But Pete couldnt help cutting Jupe down to size once in a while. It didnt hurt any because Jupiter Jones was not by nature an especially modest boy. Jupe gave Pete a sour look.

Bob sa ukrnul. Peter bol v skutonosti na svojho priatea vemi pyn, no niekedy sa nemohol zdra tipavej poznmky. Nikomu to neublilo, pretoe Jupiter nebol zvl skromn. Jupiter vrhol na Petra prkry pohad.

"I have been deducing." He lowered himself into the swivel chair behind the burned desk with which their Headquarters office was furnished. "I have been figuring out what happened there in the Green mansion many years ago."

"Rozmal som." Hodil sa do otavej stoliky za obhorenm stolom, ktor tvoril nbytok ich Hlavnho stanu. "Dedukoval som, o sa stalo na Zelenom panstve pred mnohmi rokmi."

"You dont have to, Jupe," Bob said. "My dad told me what he and Chief Reynolds have figured out."

"Nemusel si sa namha, Jupiter," povedal Bob. "Otec mi povedal, o zistil so erifom Reynoldsom."

"What I have decided," Jupe said, seeming not to hear Bob, "is that first"

"Priiel som na to, e " pokraoval Jupiter, akoby nepoul Boba, "po prv "

"Dad and Chief Reynolds agree that Mrs. Green probably died of some illness," Bob went right on. He was seldom in possession of inside information like this, and he didnt intend to be cheated out of telling it. Then her husband, the old sea captain, put her in that wonderful coffin but he couldnt bear to be really parted from her. So he put her in that little room at the end of the corridor and closed up the window. Then he plastered and papered over the door so no outsider would guess there was a secret room.

"Otec a erif Reynolds sa zhoduj v tom, e pani Greenov zomrela na nejak chorobu," nedal mu dopoveda Bob. Zriedkakedy mal takto dobr informcie a nechcel si necha ujs prleitos, aby ich povedal. "Potom ju jej manel, star nmorn kapitn, poloil do ndhernej truhly, ale nechcel sa s ou navdy rozli. Uloil ju teda do tej malej miestnosti na konci chodby, zamuroval oblok i dvere a vytapetoval stenu, aby nikto nepriiel na to, e tam je tajn miestnos.

That way she stayed with him, you might say. How long this lasted theres no way of guessing, but then one night Mathias Green stumbled coming down the stairs.

Tak teda ostala u neho. Ako dlho tam bola, to sa ned zisti, ale jednej noci sa Mathias Green potkol, ke schdzal po schodoch.

When the servants saw he was dead, they panicked. They slipped away in the night. They either went up to Chinatown in San Francisco and lost themselves there with their relatives, or they went back to China. Some of them may have been in this country illegally. In any case, Chinese in those days were very clannish and didnt give any information to white men if they could help it, so their running away was perfectly natural.

Sluhovia sa vyakali, ke ho uvideli mtveho. Rozpchli sa. Niektor odili do San Franciska a roztratili sa medzi prbuznmi v nskej tvrti, alebo sa vrtili do ny. Niektor mono ani nemali povolenie i v tejto krajine. Nech je, ako chce, ania vtedy drali vemi pohromade a belochovi by za ni na svete neboli ni povedali. Preto ich tek bol plne prirodzen.

The only relative was Mr. Greens sister-in-law, who inherited everything. She used the money to buy a big, vineyard up near San Francisco Verdant Valley

Vetko zdedila vagrin pna Greena, jeho jedin prbuzn. Za peniaze si kpila vek vinohrad nealeko San Franciska - vinohrad vo Verdant Valley. Tu nikdy

15

Vineyard. She never came down here at all. Neither did Miss Lydia Green, her daughter, who owns Verdant Valley now and is the owner of the Green mansion since her mother died. For some unknown reason they just let the old house sit there all this time. Until this year Miss Green finally agreed to sell it to developers."

nebola. Ani slena Ldia Greenov, jej dcra, ktor po smrti svojej matky zdedila Verdant Valley i Zelen panstvo, nikdy nevkroila do tohto domu.Mali na to asi nejak dvod, e nechali star dom po cel as len tak. Konene tohto roku sa slena Greenov rozhodla dom preda."

"And when they started to tear it down, old Mathias Greens ghost got annoyed," Pete put in. "Thats why he screamed, and was seen going into the hidden room. He was paying a last visit to his wife. After that he well, apparently he just left."

"A ke ho zaali bra, duch starho Mathiasa Greena sa nahneval," ozval sa Peter. "Preto vrieskal a iiel do tajnej izby. Bol sa rozli so svojou enou. Potom no, asi jednoducho zmizol."

Jupiter looked slightly annoyed. This was just about what he had figured out himself. However, he contented himself by assuming an air of superiority.

Jupiter vyzeral trochu nahnevane. Sm dospel k takmu istmu vysvetleniu. Uspokojil sa vak s tm, e sa zatvril pohdavo.

"You seem pretty sure it was a ghost," he remarked. "And also that it was Mathias Greens ghost."

"Ste si akosi vemi ist, e to bolo straidlo," poznamenal, "a e to bol duch Mathiasa Greena."

"We saw it. You didnt," Pete retorted. "If that wasnt a ghost, Ive never seen one!"

"Ty si ho nevidel. My no," odvrkol Peter. "Nech sa prepadnem, ak som ho nevidel."

Of course, he never had seen one at least not previously. But he ignored that fact.

"If it wasnt a ghost, what was it?" Bob asked. "If you can think of any other possibility, Chief Reynolds would probably give you a reward."

"Ak to nebolo straidlo, o to teda bolo?" optal sa Bob. "erif Reynolds by sa ti asi odmenil, keby si priiel na nieo in."

Jupiter blinked. "What do you mean?" Jupiter zamurkal. "Ako to mysl?" "Yes," chimed in Pete, also looking interested. "What

about the chief?" "Naozaj," pripojil sa Peter, ktorho to tie zaujalo, "o je so erifom?"

"Well, we all heard him say yesterday he saw the ghost," Bob told them. "And Dad tells me the chief is pretty upset because officially he cant admit there is any such thing as a ghost. And so he cant order his men to try to catch it for him. But he still cant forget he saw it, and so maybe there are ghosts. He would certainly be grateful to anybody who could either prove it was a real ghost, or if it wasnt, exactly what it was we all saw."

"Vera sme vetci pouli, ako povedal, e videl straidlo," povedal Bob. "Otec mi povedal, e erif je poriadne zmten, pretoe radne neme pripusti, e by existovalo nejak straidlo. Preto ani neme prikza svojim uom, aby sa poksili ho chyti. Ale neme zabudn na to, e ho sm videl, e teda straidl existuj. Urite by bol van kadmu, kto by mohol dokza, e to bolo alebo skuton straidlo, alebo nieo in, a v tom prpade, o sme to teda videli?"

"Mmm." Jupiter was beginning to look pleased. "I believe we should take on this case of the green ghost just as a favour to Police Chief Reynolds. Besides, I have a feeling there is a lot more to this mystery than any of us guess."

"Hm." Jupiterovi sa zjavil na tvri spokojn vraz. "Myslm, e by sme sa mali uja tohto prpadu u kvli policajnmu erifovi Reynoldsovi. Okrem toho, zd sa mi, e je omnoho zhadnej, ako si myslme."

"Now wait a minute!" Pete yelled. "He hasnt asked us to take on any case for him. And I draw the line at investigating green ghosts!"

"Pokaj!" vykrkol Peter. "Nepoiadal ns predsa, aby sme sa tohto prpadu ujali. A ja odmietam ptra po zelench straidlch!"

Bob, however, was as interested as Jupiter. Boba to vak zaujalo tak isto ako Jupitera. "Our motto is, We Investigate Anything," he reminded

Pete. "Id like to know for myself if we really saw a ghost or not. But how would we start trying to catch one?"

"Nae heslo znie: ,Vyptrame vetko'," pripomenul Petrovi. "Ja sm by som chcel vedie, i sme skutone videli straidlo, alebo nieo in. Ale z ktorho konca sa do toho pustme?"

"We will review the case from the beginning," Jupiter said. "First, was the ghost seen again last night?"

"Preberieme si prpad od zaiatku," povedal Jupiter. "Po prv, videli straidlo vera veer?"

"Not according to the papers," Bob said. "And Dad said he heard from Chief Reynolds that no new reports have come in."

"Poda novn nie," odpovedal Bob. "erif Reynolds povedal otcovi, e nijak nov sprvy neprili."

"Did your father interview the men who saw the phantom figure the other night?" Jupiter asked Bob.

"Rozprval sa tvoj otec s mumi, ktor videli przrak v t noc?" optal sa Jupiter Boba.

"He went around with Chief Reynolds," Bob answered. "They could only find four of them. The big man, the man with the little dog, and two neighbors. They all said the same thing exactly what Ive put in my notes."

"Zali za nimi so erifom Reynoldsom," odvetil Bob. "Ale nali len tyroch. Toho silnho mua, mua s malm psom a dvoch susedov. Vetci hovorili to ist - presne to, o som si zaznamenal."

"What about the other two? Or three?" "A o al dvaja? Alebo traja?" "They couldnt locate them. Dad said they probably didnt

want publicity, didnt want to be kidded by their friends about seeing a ghost. Though Im sure there were three others, not two."

"Tch nemohli njs. Ako hovor otec, asi nechceli, aby si z nich znmi uahovali, e videli straidlo. Ale ja som presveden, e boli traja, a nie dvaja."

"How did these men come to visit the old Green mansion anyway?" Jupe asked.

"Ale predsa, ako sa vbec dostali na Zelen panstvo?" optal sa Jupiter.

"They all said a couple of men came along from up the road and suggested they all go see the mansion by moonlight before it was torn down. They made it seem like a good idea. So the men went. As they came up the driveway, they heard the scream, and you know the rest."

"Hovorili, e na ceste stretli dvoch muov, ktor navrhli, aby si vetci li obzrie dom pri mesanom svetle, km ho ete nezbraj. Vetkm sa to zapilo a li. Ke prili na skromn cestu, pouli hrzostran vkrik, a to ostatn u pozn."

"Has the wrecking of the mansion stopped?" Jupiter asked.

"Zastavili branie domu?" optal sa Jupiter.

16

"For the time being, anyway," Bob said. "The chief has had the house searched for more secret rooms, but there arent any. Still, hes having it guarded against sightseers and Dad said there was some talk that the whole deal for tearing it down and building a new development might fall through now, because of the bad publicity."

"Na urit as," povedal Bob. "erif dal prehada dom, ale nijak alie tajn miestnosti sa nenali. Dal ho stri pred zvedavcami a otec hovoril, e poul tak rei, e pre zl poves by sa mohlo branie a nov vstavba zastavi."

Jupiter thought hard for several minutes. Jupiter chvu usilovne rozmal. "Well," he said finally, "we might as well play over the

tape you recorded, Bob. Its just about all we have in the way of clues."

"Bob, pustme si ete raz to, o si nahral," povedal nakoniec. "To s zatia jedin stopy, ktor mme."

Bob switched on the tape recorder. Once again the eerie scream rang in their ears. Then they heard the conversation of the men who had joined them that night. Listening, Jupiter frowned.

Bob pustil magnetofn. Znovu zaznel prern vkrik. Potom bolo pou rozhovor muov, ktor sa k nim pridali tej noci. Jupiter poval so zmratenm elom.

"Something about that tape stirs an idea in my mind," he said, "but I cant quite get it. I heard a dog bark a little. What kind of dog was it?"

"Ke povam tento zznam, nieo mi chod po rozume," povedal, "ale neviem presne, o. Poul som tam teka psa. Ak to bol pes?"

"What difference does it make what kind of dog it was?" Pete exploded.

"o na tom zle, ak to bol pes?" vybuchol Peter.

"Anything may be important, Pete," Jupiter said loftily. "Velio me by dleit, Peter," povedal naduto Jupiter.

"It was a little wire-haired fox terrier," Bob told him. "Do you have any ideas yet, Jupe?"

"Bol to mal foxterir s krtkou srsou," povedal Bob. "Pomohlo ti to nejako, Jupiter?"

Jupiter was forced to admit he didnt. They played the tape again, and again. Something about it bothered Jupe, but he couldnt figure what it was. Finally they put the recorder away and began to study the newspaper clippings, one by one.

Jupiter musel prizna, e nie. Znovu a znovu prehrvali zznam. Jupitera nieo na om znepokojovalo, ale nemohol prs na to, o. Nakoniec magnetofn odloil a zaal si po jednom prezera novinov vstriky.

"It certainly looks to me as if the green ghost had moved out of town," Pete said finally, with satisfaction. "They were tearing his house down so he left!"

"Zd sa mi, akoby sa zelen straidlo vysahovalo z mesta," konene spokojne povedal Peter. "Braj mu dom, tak odilo!"

Jupe was trying to think of an answer to that when the phone rang. He picked it up.

Jupiter mu chcel na to odpoveda, ale vtom sa ozval telefn. Zdvihol slchadlo.

"Hello?" he said. They could all hear the conversation through the loudspeaker attachment he had rigged up on the telephone.

"Hal?" povedal. Rozhovor pouli vetci cez zosilova, ktor zostrojil a k telefnu pripojil Jupiter.

"This is long distance," a womans voice said. "I have a call for Robert Andrews."

"Tu medzimesto," ozval sa ensk hlas. "Mm vzvu pre Rberta Andrewsa."

The boys stared at each other. It was the first long distance call any of them had ever had.

Chlapci pozreli na seba. Bol to ich prv medzimestsk hovor.

"For you, Bob," Jupiter handed Bob the receiver. "Bob, to je pre teba," Jupiter podal Bobovi slchadlo. "Hello," Bob said. "This is Bob Andrews." His voice

squeaked slightly from excitement. "Hal," ozval sa Bob. "Tu je Bob Andrews." Hlas mu od vzruenia trochu preskakoval.

"Hello, Bob." It was another womans voice that spoke. This one was obviously quite an old woman, though her voice was strong. "This is Miss Lydia Green, calling from Verdant Valley."

"Hal, Bob," ozval sa in ensk hlas. Zrejme to bola dos star ena, hoci hlas mala siln. "Tu je Ldia Greenov z Verdant Valley."

Lydia Green! The niece of old Mathias Green whose ghost if it was a ghost Bob and Pete had seen!

Ldia Greenov! Neter starho Mathiasa Greena, ktorho ducha - ak to bol duch - videli Peter a Bob!

"Yes, Miss Green," he said. "Povam, slena Greenov," povedal. "I want to ask a favour of you," Miss Green said over the

phone. "Could you and your friend, Peter Crenshaw, come to Verdant Valley?"

"Mm k tebe prosbu," povedala slena Greenov. "Mohol by si prs so svojm priateom Petrom Crenshawom do Verdant Valley?"

"Come to Verdant Valley?" Bob asked in bewilderment. "Do Verdant Valley?" Bob bol v pomykove. "I very much want to talk to you," Miss Green said. "You

saw my uncles well, his ghost two nights ago and I want all the details from an eye witness. What he looked like, what he did, everything. You see" and for a moment her voice faltered "you see, the ghost has come to Verdant Valley. Last night I I saw him in my room."

"Musm sa s vami srne rozprva," povedala slena Greenov. "Videli ste vy ste videli pred dvoma dami ducha mjho strka a ja by som chcela vedie vetky podrobnosti od oitch svedkov. Ako vyzeral, o robil, jednoducho vetko. Vie " na chvu zavhala, "vie, straidlo sa zjavilo vo Verdant Valley. Vera veer som videla som ho vo svojej izbe."

CChhaapptteerr 55 PPiiaattaa kkaappiittoollaa

TThhee GGhhoosstt AAppppeeaarrss AAggaaiinn SSttrraaiiddlloo ssaa zznnoovvuu zzjjaavvuujjee Bob looked at Jupiter. Jupe was nodding his head, to say

yes. Bob pozrel na Jupitera. Jupiter prikvol na shlas.

"Why, sure, Miss Green," Bob said into the phone. "I guess Pete and I could come. That is if its all right with our families."

"Zaiste, slena Greenov," povedal Bob do telefnu. "Myslm, e Peter i ja budeme mc prs, ak ns nai pustia."

"Oh, Im so glad!" Miss Green seemed to sigh with relief. "Naturally I called your families first and your mothers

"To som rada!" uahen si vydchla slena Greenov. "Rozprvala som sa u s