The Mystery of the Silver Spider - Артур Роберт. Страница 2

At this point a man pushed his way through to them. He was a slender young man with pleasant, alert features, and he came from a black car that had stopped behind the limousine. As soon as he spoke it was obvious that he was American.

“Excuse me, Your Highness,” he said, “but we are falling behind schedule. I’m happy there wasn’t an accident but we ought to be getting on if we’re going to tour the city today.”

“I’m not especially interested in touring the city,” Djaro said. “I’ve seen a lot of cities. What I want to do is talk to these boys some more. They’re the first American boys I’ve really had a chance to meet.

“Tell me,” he added, turning to The Three Investigators, “is Disneyland fun? I’ve been looking forward to visiting it very much.”

They assured him that Disneyland was the greatest, that it shouldn’t be missed. Djaro seemed pleased, but wistful.

“It really isn’t much fun being surrounded by bodyguards,” he said. “Duke Stefan — that’s my guardian and the Regent who is running Varania until I am old enough to be crowned prince — apparently gave orders not to let anyone near me for fear I’d catch cold or something. It’s ridiculous. I’m not an important head of state whom someone might want to assassinate. Varania has no enemies and I’m really quite unimportant.”

He paused a moment, then seemed to make up his mind.

“Will all of you come to Disneyland with me?” he asked. “Show me around and everything? I’d appreciate it very much. I’d like some friends with me for a change.”

The request took them by surprise. However, they were perfectly agreeable to a visit to Disneyland, and had nothing else planned for the day. Jupiter made a phone call to his aunt at The Jones Salvage Yard, using the telephone in the Rolls-Royce, while Djaro looked on with great interest. Then the other men squeezed into the U. S. escort car, and Bob, Pete and Jupiter clambered into the limousine with Prince Djaro and the tall, sharp-featured man who had been making such a fuss about the near-accident.

“Duke Stefan will not like this,” he said with a dark frown. “He said to take no risks.”

“There is no risk, Duke Rojas!” Djaro said curtly. “It is time Duke Stefan learned to like what I like. In two months I will be ruler of my country and my word will be the law, not Duke Stefan’s. Now tell Markos to obey all traffic rules henceforth. This is the third time we have almost had a serious accident because he persists in acting as if we were at home in Varania. Let there be no more such happenings!”

Duke Rojas fired off a string of foreign words, and the driver of the car nodded. They got under way again and the boys observed that the driver obeyed all traffic laws after that and drove cautiously.

In the forty-five minutes it took them to get to Disneyland, Prince Djaro was so full of questions about America, and California in particular, that all three were kept busy answering. Then, when they reached Disneyland, they were too busy enjoying themselves on the rides and other attractions to talk much.

At one point, noting that Duke Rojas had lagged behind, Prince Djaro, with a gleam in his eye, suggested they slip away for another trip on the little train that circled the park. Bob, Pete and Jupiter agreed. They ducked quickly behind a crowd of people, then ran up the steps into the miniature station and boarded a train that had just come in. As they rode around the rim of the park, they could see the Duke and his men futilely searching for them below.

When they finally descended, Duke Rojas came running up with several of his men. But before he could open his mouth, Djaro snapped at him, “You did not stay with me.

You fell behind. This shall be reported to Duke Stefan.”

“But — but — but —” the man sputtered.

Djaro cut him short. “Enough! We go now. I am only sorry my schedule will not let me come back again.”

Back at the big car, Djaro ordered Duke Rojas to ride in the following car with the bodyguards. So on the way back to Rocky Beach the four boys could talk freely.

Prince Djaro asked them about themselves, and The Three Investigators took turns telling him how the firm had been started, how they had become friends of Alfred Hitchcock, the mystery writer, and of some of the adventures they had had.

“Brojas!” the European boy exclaimed. “Oh, but I envy you. American boys have so much freedom. I wish I wasn’t a prince — well, I almost wish it. It is my duty to lead my country, small though it is. I have never been to school — I’ve had tutors all my life — so I have few friends, and I’ve never done anything exciting until this trip to America. Today is the most fun I’ve had in all my life.

“May I call you my friends?” he asked. “I’d like to very much.”

“We’d be glad to be your friends,” Pete said.

“Thank you.” Prince Djaro grinned. “Do you know, today is the first time I’ve ever really talked back to Duke Rojas? It shocked him. It will shock Duke Stefan. They’re in for a lot more shocks. After all, I am the prince and I intend to — how do you say it?”

“Assert your authority?” Jupiter suggested, but Bob said, “Throw your weight around.”

“That’s it, throw my weight around,” Djaro said gleefully. “Duke Stefan is in for some surprises.”

By now they had reached Rocky Beach. Jupiter gave the driver instructions for finding The Jones Salvage Yard, and in a few moments they pulled through the big iron front gate.

As they got out, Jupiter invited Djaro to see Headquarters. Regretfully, Djaro shook his head.

“I’m afraid there isn’t time,” he said. “Tonight I have to go to a dinner of some sort, and tomorrow we fly back to Varania. The capital city of Varania is Denzo, and I live there in a palace built on the ruins of an old castle. It has about three hundred rooms, and it is drafty and not too comfortable. That’s one of the penalties you have to pay for being a prince.

“No, I can’t stay, though I would like to. I have to go back and get ready to rule my country. But I’ll never forget you and some day we’ll meet again, I’m sure of it.”

With that he got into the big limousine and drove away, followed by the smaller car oozing bodyguards at every window. The three boys watched him go.

“For a prince, he seemed like a nice guy,” Pete remarked. “Jupe — Jupe, what are you thinking about? You’ve got that look on your face!”

Jupiter blinked.

“I was wondering,” he said. “Thinking back to this morning when we almost ran into Djaro’s car, didn’t anything strike you as strange about the incident?”

“Strange?” Bob sounded puzzled. “No, just lucky — lucky we didn’t crash, that is.”

“What are you getting at?” Pete asked.

“Markos, the driver of Djaro’s car,” Jupiter said. “He came out of that Stop street right in front of us. He must have seen us. But instead of speeding up to get out of our way, he put on the brakes. If Worthington wasn’t a superb driver, we’d have crashed into the car exactly where Djaro was sitting. He’d probably have been killed.”

“Markos just got rattled and did the wrong thing,” Pete suggested.

“I wonder,” Jupiter murmured. “Oh, well, I guess it isn’t important. It was fun meeting Djaro. I don’t suppose we’ll ever see him again.”

But Jupiter was wrong.