The Mystery of the Headless Horse by William Arden Read Free Book Online

asked.
    “Sergeant Brewster stated in his report of the escape and shooting that Don Sebastián was armed with a sword, probably smuggled to him by a visitor! But Don Sebastián wasn’t allowed any visitors, so he couldn’t have been smuggled a sword! Brewster made that up to justify his story of the shooting, and to make people think that the sword was lost. I’m convinced the whole report was a lie to hide what he and his friends were up to!”
    Pico studied the letter. “Yes, I see, but I still — ”
    Outside in the rain there was a loud thud, a crash, and then the sound of logs rolling together. Feet pounded away.
    “You! Stop!” a voice cried out.
    The Investigators and the Alvaros ran from the cottage. They were just in time to see a horse galloping away to the left beyond the barn. A small, white-haired old man stood in the yard.
    “Someone was listening at your window, Pico!” the old man cried. “I was coming to speak with you, and saw him! When he heard me, he ran and fell over the stack of firewood. He went behind the barn. He had a horse there!”
    “Did you see who it was?” Diego cried.
    The old man shook his head. “My eyes are not what they once were, Diego. A man or boy, I could not tell.”
    “You are getting wet, Don Emiliano,” Pico said, his voice and manner respectful to the old man. “Come inside, please.”
    Inside the cottage, Pico sat the old man near the fire, and introduced him to the boys. Emiliano Paz smiled at them.
    “Was he out there very long, sir?” Jupiter asked.
    “I do not know. Only now did I come from the house.”
    “Who do you think it was, First?” Bob asked. “Why would he be listening at the Alvaro’s window?”
    “I don’t know,” Jupiter said, “but I wonder if he heard us talking about the Cortés Sword?”
    “Is that bad, Jupe?” Pete said.
    “I suspect that Mr. Norris and his people wouldn’t want us to find a valuable sword,” Jupiter said grimly. “Last night, Skinny was pretty interested in what we might be doing.”
    “I do not think it matters, Jupiter,” Pico said. “If all your speculations are true, they still tell us nothing about where the sword could be, or even if it still exists at all.”
    “I’m sure that Don Sebastián knew those three soldiers were after the sword, and that he hid it,” Jupiter declared stubbornly. “And I’m sure he would have left a clue for his son. If not in that letter, then somewhere. But there should be some clue in the letter. He was a prisoner and in danger, and he must have thought it might be his only chance to tell José where to find the sword.”
    They all looked at the letter again. Pico and Diego re-read the original, and the Investigators studied the translation Bob had taken down.
    “If there’s a code, I sure don’t see it,” Pete said.
    Pico shook his head. “It is a simple letter, Jupiter. I see nothing that could be a clue or a code in the Spanish.”
    “Except maybe those hints about everything being safe,” Diego said.
    “Jupe?” Bob said suddenly. “That heading at the top, above the date — Condor Castle. What is that? Do you know, Pico?”
    “No,” Pico said slowly, puzzled. “A place, I think. People in those days, and even today, often put where they are writing from at the top of a letter. A town, a hacienda, a house.”
    “But,” Bob said, “Don Sebastián wrote the letter in a Cabrillo house.”
    “And his home was your hacienda,” Jupiter added. “Did you know it by that name? Was it ever called Condor Castle?”
    “No,” Pico said. “It was always Hacienda Alvaro.”
    “Then why did he write Condor Castle at the top?” Pete cried. “Unless it was some special place that José would know about! A clue!”
    Jupiter pulled out his road map of the county. Everyone else peered over his shoulder as he studied it. Then Jupiter sighed and sat back.
    “No Condor Castle,” he said unhappily, and then looked up. “Wait! This is a modern map! In 1846