The Mummy Case (10 page)

“Now I'd like to see our friend the pharaoh,” Joe said finally.

“Come with us,” Chet offered. “We'll lead you to him.”

The four descended into the hold and found the mummy crate untouched. Then they reported to Captain Baker, who was on the bridge supervising the unloading of the cargo destined for Cyprus.

When they had finished their story, he smiled. “You did a wonderful job. You deserve a day off!”

“Oh, we wouldn't leave the
Admiral Halsey while
it's docked,” Frank said. “Someone could carry the mummy right off the ship!”

The captain shook his head. “Not if you wait until all the unloading is done. Around three o‘clock many of the crew will have shore leave, and I can station a man who's on duty right next to the crate. Chet and Biff will remain aboard, too, and can double-check on your ancient friend.”

Frank and Joe did not need further convincing. In the afternoon they strolled around Nicosia in the hot sunshine, enjoying their leisure. Most of the people they saw spoke Greek and wore Greek dress, but the Turkish minority could be identified by their own language and costume.

“It seems so peaceful now,” Frank commented.

“Just as well,” said Joe, who, like his brother, recalled there had been much violence between Greeks and Turks on Cyprus. “I'd rather not run into terrorists who throw bombs around like baseballs.”

Sampling some of the local snacks, the boys walked through town until they came to an open area where a carnival was going on. The ticket seller called out to them in Greek, held up two tickets, and gestured with his thumb toward the entrance.

“He wants us to go in,” Frank interpreted. “What do you say, Joe? Let's see how it stacks up against the Bayport Carnival.”

“Okay. I'd like a few zany rides after the heavy stuff we ran into on Rubassa. It'll be a treat to relax.”

Joe paid for two tickets, then led the way into the carnival grounds. They heard barkers appealing to the crowds to come in and see the sideshows. A roller coaster roared up and down steep rails and a Ferris wheel lifted its patrons high above the throngs on the ground.

“It's just like our carnival at home!” Frank exclaimed. He bought a guidebook in English and turned the pages while Joe pointed to a gaudy sign portraying a monster with scowling face and clutching hands. Beneath the figure were some words in Greek and Turkish punctuated with enormous exclamation marks.

“I'd hate to meet him in a dark alley,” Joe commented, gesturing toward the monster. “Does the book say anything about this sideshow? What do those words mean?

Frank flipped the pages until he saw an illustration of the sign. “Here it is. The words mean Tunnel of Horrors. It's a boat ride through a dark tunnel and you get to see vampires, zombies, and were- wolves. Want to go?”

“Why not? »

Frank bought the tickets, and the boys entered a flat-bottomed boat with two seats large enough to hold six people. They sat side by side in the back. The man in charge gave the boat a push onto a flowing current kept on the move by an electrical generator.

The boat floated about five yards, then was carried by the current into the black mouth of the tunnel. Almost at once, a vampire screamed at them from an illuminated niche on one side of the tunnel. Its fangs were bared and its eyes blazed.

Joe felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck. “That's too real for comfort,” he muttered. “It's enough to give anybody the jitters.”

“Whoever makes these things is pretty good,” Frank agreed. “They're only rubber, cloth, and plastic with lights around them. And they're held in place by wires. But you'd think they were alive and ready to jump at you.”

Further on, a zombie materialized in the darkness, glowering at them. By now Frank and Joe were enjoying the thrills of the Tunnel of Horrors.

“Hi,” Joe called to the zombie. “What's your name—Frankenstein?”

“He's shy,” Frank said. “Doesn't want to tell us.”

The boat drifted into darkness again. The flicker of a light told them they were about to confront another monster. This time it was a snarling werewolf.

“There's Rover,” Frank laughed. “I bet he's s somebody's family pet.”

“He's lost, Frank. Let's take him home. Aunt Gertrude can use him for a watchdog. She wouldn't have to worry about burglars with him in the house.”

The boat floated on through the darkness, and the Hardys saw more of the horrors advertised in the tunnel, next being a spider the size of a Saint Bernard perched in the middle of a web. The mechanism controlling it caused the insect to rush to the edge of its web, where it seemed to be drooling venom from its snapping jaws.

“It's the last one, I think,” Frank said.

“No, there's one more,” Joe declared. “See that light on the ledge up ahead? I wonder what kind of monster this one is.”

“Oh, I don't believe it!” Frank cried out. “Look who's here!”

A weird face became visible, a face with cloth bandages wound around. A couple of black eyes glared through holes in the wrapping.

Frank and Joe doubled over with laughter. “Hi, Tut!” Joe addressed the apparition as the boat drifted up beside it. “Come aboard! There's always room for a pharaoh!”

Suddenly the mummy's face lurched forward and the light illuminating it snapped out. In the darkness, the strange figure leaped into their boat. A moment later they felt the sting of tear gas spraying into their faces!

Frank and Joe collapsed into the bottom of the boat, gasping, wheezing, and shielding their eyes from the chemical. The intruder thrust a piece of paper into the pocket of Frank's shirt, then jumped onto the ledge on the opposite side and disappeared into the darkness.

The boat drifted out of the Tunnel of Horrors into daylight at the point where the ride ended. There was no sign of the mummy anywhere.

It took the Hardys some minutes to recover from the blinding effects of the tear gas. Finally Joe gasped, “He was the guy who looked through our porthole! He must have followed us from the ship.”

He leaned over and picked up two objects from the bottom of the boat. One was a flashlight and the other a pencil-sized tube with a button near one end.

“He used the flashlight to illuminate himself on the ledge,” the boy declared. “And this tube is a miniature tear gas gun. That's what he sprayed us with. He must have dropped them when he jumped out of the boat.”

Frank reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “I felt him put something in there,” he said, holding up the note. “Joe, listen to this! It says, ‘Remember the mummy's curse. Get away while you can!' ”

The Hardys looked at one another, wondering what it could mean.

“That guy's warning us,” Joe said. “He followed us from the freighter and sneaked into the Tunnel of Horrors while we were getting the tickets.”

“And he's still in there now!” Frank exclaimed. “Come on, we'll trap him.”

Making sure no one was watching, he stepped out of the boat onto the ledge used by the maintenance men who kept the tunnel in working order. Joe followed, and they edged their way back into the darkness. Moisture from the water moving along below them made their footing slippery.

“I wonder how deep it is,” Frank muttered over his shoulder.

“Not deep enough to drown in,” Joe said. “But you could sprain your ankle if you slipped.”

They inched along the ledge. A boat filled with laughing teenagers floated past, then silence fell again. Moving along the wall, Frank came to a door. Pausing for a moment to be sure of his footing, he turned the knob and pushed the door open.

Light shone in their faces and they found themselves going out of the tunnel into the daylight of the carnival grounds. There was no sign of the man in the mummy mask!

“Foiled again!” Joe exclaimed angrily. “No doubt our friend walked right out of this door and disappeared in the crowd five minutes ago!”

Frank nodded. “Maybe he's been here before and knew the setup.”

They got back to the
Admiral Halsey
a half-hour before it was scheduled to leave. The crew had already returned and were getting the ship ready for departure.

“Let's see if we can find Biff or Chet,” Frank suggested, and the boys started to look for their friends. They found both of them in the galley.

“Guess what happened!” Chet called out when he saw the Hardys.

“Oh, oh,” Joe said apprehensively. “Is something wrong with the mummy?”

“Not the mummy. But the mask is gone!”

“Disappeared!” Biff confirmed. “That weirdo must have sneaked back to the lifeboat when we were busy watching the crate in the hold.”

“That doesn't surprise me,” Joe declared. “He took it and followed us into Nicosia. We saw him at the carnival!”

“But he gave us the slip,” Frank added.

Chet and Biff were astounded when the Hardys told about their ride through the Tunnel of Horrors.

“I wonder if he came back to the ship,” Chet said. “If he didn‘t, and one of the crew is missing, we'll have an idea who he is.”

“Good thinking,” Frank said. “Suppose you two check out the sailors while Joe and I have a look at the mummy.”

Once more the Hardys found the crate untouched. Later they met Chet and Biff again, who reported the crew all present and accounted for.

“I'm sure the culprit is a seaman,” Frank declared. “But which one?”

The
Admiral Halsey
continued on course in its voyage across the Mediterranean to Egypt. The four youths from Bayport kept the lifeboat under surveillance, hoping the man they were after would return to hide the mask again. But he never did.

Finally Egypt came into sight. The freighter entered the seaport of Alexandria in the Nile delta and tied up at dock. The gangplank was lowered, Egyptian officials went aboard to talk with Captain Baker, and the sailors of the ship opened the hatch over the hold. Egyptian stevedores, or longshoremen, moved cranes and cargo nets into position and lifted boxes, bales, crates, automobiles, and other items out of storage onto the dock.

Frank and Joe were waiting outside for the mummy crate to appear while Chet and Biff were in the hold to signal the Hardys when the case had been picked
^up
by the crane.

“Here it is!” Joe called out as an oblong container appeared high in the air and swung over the dock area. The crate hung there, swaying from side to side at the end of a cable while the operator of the crane prepared to lower his burden to the ground.

Suddenly the cable began to fray! Some of its strands broke under the weight, and the cargo lurched to one side!

“It's going to fall!” Joe shouted to the crane operator in alarm. “It'll be smashed if it hits the ground!”

The man sat frozen for a moment, as if afraid that another movement of his machine might make the cable snap. Frank ran to an untended cargo net. Starting the motor, he quickly raised the net up and eased it under the crate.

Just then the cable snapped in two. The crate tumbled into the net, and Frank lowered it to the dock.

Joe ran over to him. “Take a bow!” he said fervently. “You just saved the pharaoh!”

Frank wiped perspiration from his brow with his fingertips. “Well, I was lucky that this cargo net was on hand. ”

The stevedores lifted the crate from the net and carried it to a small truck with the words CAIRO EGYPTIAN MUSEUM on both sides. Frank and Joe introduced themselves to the driver, who invited them in halting English to ride with him.

Just then Chet and Biff ran down the gangplank. “Hey, you can't leave without saying good-bye!” Chet complained.

Frank laughed. “Of course not, especially since you helped us so much during the trip. We really appreciate it, fellows.”

“Too bad you aren't going back with us,” Biff spoke up. “This time it would be fun only!”

“We're flying home as soon as we've delivered the mummy,” Joe said. “And we'll beat you to Bayport!”

Frank and Joe climbed into the truck while their friends waved, then returned to the ship. The driver started the engine to begin the long run from Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast up to Cairo at the apex of the Nile delta.

He maneuvered his truck through the outskirts of the Egyptian capital and finally entered Independence Square. The Hardys saw a broad, open area made up of concentric circles where ten avenues came together. Buildings occupied by departments of the Egyptian government stood on one side of the square with the Nile-Hilton Hotel nearby. There the boys dropped off their bags, then continued to the Cairo Museum, which was located at one corner.

The truck stopped and the driver motioned for the boys to get out. A staff member was waiting and greeted Frank and Joe with a friendly smile.

“My name is Mahmoud Salim,” he said. “I am in charge of our new acquisitions. I understand that you know my brother, Najeeb Salim, who works for the Egyptian Museum in New York.”

The Hardys admitted knowing Najeeb without voicing the fact that he was a suspect in the statuette theft.

“We came in his place because he was ill,” Joe said.

Mahmoud Salim nodded. “He telephoned me about the heliomin in his coffee. I am happy to say he is getting better.”

Two men came out of the museum and carried the mummy crate inside. The boys and Salim followed.

“This is where the crate will be opened,” the Egyptian said when they had reached a large room in the basement. “Professor Fuad Kemal will be in charge. He is our expert on mummies. However, he is not here at the moment. The case is safe here, so I suggest that you—how do you say—kill time by viewing the museum. I would call to your attention the beautiful objects from the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen. ”