CHAPTER XXV

A Double Find

Derek’s cuts from the giant band shells were many but not deep ones. Biff and his uncle cleaned the cuts, treated them with a disinfectant, and put Derek to bed.

The Dutch boy was not seriously wounded, but he was suffering from shock. The thing to do, Biff knew, was to keep him warm and quiet. Charlie Keene gave Derek half a sleeping tablet, and the boy finally dozed off.

“What a day! Two narrow escapes. We should never have gone back,” Charles Keene said. “You didn’t tell me there were clam and conch shells in that bed.”

“Didn’t know they were dangerous,” Biff replied.

“And just to see if we could find some black pearls,” his uncle commented.

“Let’s open the oysters we dug,” Biff suggested. “Derek seems to be all right.”

An hour later, Biff came back to the tent. Derek stirred restlessly in his sleep. Biff lighted a lamp Derek suddenly sat upright. Biff went to his side.

“You all right, Derek?” Biff asked.

“I—I guess so. I was dreaming. But—” Derek touched a bandaged cut gingerly. “Sure, I’m all right.”

“This may make you feel even better.”

Biff held out his hand. He thrust it under Derek’s eyes. The hand held a black pearl.

The next morning, convinced they had located Brom Zook’s fabulous pearl fishery, camp was broken. Gear was stored in the cabin cruiser. The tent was struck. By noon the four pearl searchers were back in La Trinité.

The party’s happiness was mingled with sadness. One adventure was over. Derek’s father’s claim was safe. The quest had been successful. But Brom Zook, Derek’s father, was still missing.

“I can’t ask you to stay with me any longer,” Derek said. “You’ve done more than enough for me.”

“I’ll stick with you as long as you want me to, Derek,” Charlie Keene said.

“That goes for me, too, Derek,” Biff added, hoping his uncle would not mention school. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to stay on in Martinique for a while. I’m going to every town and village on the island until I make as certain as possible my father isn’t here. Then—then—” Derek stopped.

Biff knew what his friend was thinking. He knew that Derek would then have to come to the conclusion that his father had been lost at sea.

“What about you, Crunch? Where are you going?”

“Crunch go back up mountains. Stay with little brother for while.”

“You found him? You didn’t tell us that!” Biff exclaimed.

“You too busy finding pearls. Crunch no want to bother you.”

“Well, we said we’d try to clear your brother. We still mean to do so, don’t we, Uncle Charlie?”

“We certainly do, Crunch.”

“You come with Crunch to talk to little brother?”

“You bet, Crunch,” Biff replied.

“Maybe Crunch can help Derek too,” the Indian said.

“How? What do you mean?” Biff demanded.

“Crunch maybe help Derek find father.”

Derek touched the Indian on the arm. “Anything you do will help, Crunch. But have you any clue?”

“Crunch not sure. Hear about white man up in mountain called Carbet.”

Derek grabbed the Indian by both shoulders and shook him. “Tell me! Tell me about the white man,” he urged.

“Little brother tell story. Little brother live in mountains, in small shack. Tell about sick white man. White man come to mountains two months, maybe three months, maybe more. Long time ago. Get very sick. Priests take white man in. Maybe your father.”

“Can we go there right now?” Derek asked excitedly.

“Take long time. Hard trip up mountains.”

They started out late that afternoon. Night overtook the party before their journey was half completed. Exhausted by the hard day and the excitement of Crunch’s clue, the first real one Derek had, all four slept in the open.

By midmorning the next day, they reached the shack where Crunch’s brother Moti lived. Moti told the same story Crunch had told the day before.

“Is this place far from here?” Derek asked eagerly.

“One hour away,” Moti replied.

From Moti’s description of the place, Uncle Charlie came to the conclusion it was a small monastery.

Moti led them to it. A bearded monk took them inside. Derek babbled out the story of his search. The monk bowed his head.

“Please wait,” he said.

The monk went down a long, narrow passage. He turned a corner and was out of sight.

Derek’s heart was throbbing. Biff and his uncle were tense with hope.

Minutes passed. The shuffling of feet was heard. The monk was halfway back to the waiting group when another figure came into the passage. He was tall, gaunt, wasted by illness.

But there was a smile of happiness on his face.

Derek Zook raced down the passageway to meet his father.

* * * * * * * *

Biff, his uncle, Derek, and his father were sitting in the patio of the Sans Souci. Hummingbirds darted in and out of the bougainvillea which poured over the terrace. It was the afternoon of the day after Brom Zook had been found.

Brom Zook’s story was short. On the day he had mailed the letters and pearls to his son and to Charles Keene, he discovered he was being followed. He had thought it best to disappear into the hills until his claim could be filed and acted upon.

In the hills, he had become ill of a tropical fever. He had been found by a monk and carried to the monastery. There he had lain close to death for weeks, not knowing what was going on about him.

Only in the last two weeks had he come back to his senses. The monks had insisted that he stay with them until he was strong enough to travel.

“Well, I guess that about winds up my stay here in the Caribbean,” Biff said. “I’ve got to get back to good old Indianapolis and school.”

“We’ll hate to see you go, Biff,” Derek said. “Won’t you come back and visit us?”

“Or maybe you could come to Indianapolis,” Biff invited.

“I’d like to,” Derek said eagerly.

“One more piece of business,” Uncle Charlie cut in.

“What’s that, Keene?” Brom Zook asked.

“I’d like to make sure that we found the same pearl fishery you discovered.”

“Good idea.” Brom Zook glanced at his watch. “I’m anxious to get back to Curaçao. Why don’t you get everything ready, and the boys and I will take a run down the coast in the boat? They can show me their spot.”

“Good. You ought to be back in a couple of hours. I’ll find Crunch, and he can help me,” Charlie said.

“What about Crunch, Uncle Charlie? Is he going back with us?”

“No, Biff. He’s going to stay here until I send back word about his brother. I talked to Moti. I feel sure we can straighten things out in Curaçao.”

“Tell Crunch and Moti they can count on that,” Brom Zook said.

The run down the coast was a pleasant one. Biff steered the cruiser over the spot where they had located the pearls.

“Does this look like the place, sir?” Biff asked.

Brom Zook took a sight on an island to the cruiser’s portside.

“This is it, all right. And there should be thousands of dollars’ worth of pearls beneath us.”

As Biff, Derek, and his father were approaching the harbor in Baie du Trésor, they saw Dietz and Specks in their boat, heading in the direction of the pearl fishery.

“Won’t do them any good now,” Brom Zook said. “The injunction he obtained has been cancelled.”

They watched the boat until it was nearly out of sight.

“Look!” Derek shouted excitedly.

Brom Zook and Biff looked in the direction Derek was pointing. They saw the ugly, menacing clouds, forerunners of a _chabasco_.

“It’ll strike in a few moments,” Brom Zook said.

“And right at the spot we last saw Dietz,” Biff shouted. The winds were already getting heavier in the harbor.

“We can do nothing to help them. We’re too far away.” Derek’s father said soberly.

The _chabasco_ struck. Dietz’s boat was right in the center of its fury. There was little chance that he and Specks would escape the storm’s vengeance.

_A Biff Brewster Mystery Adventure_ MYSTERY OF THE CARIBBEAN PEARLS

By ANDY ADAMS

A mirror-image “twin” with a Continental accent, a pair of matched _black_ pearls coveted by a sinister would-be claim-jumper, and a mammoth Carib Indian who refrains from crushing a man at the command of “voodoo” spirits confront Biff Brewster when he leaves his Indianapolis home to answer an urgent SOS from his uncle, Charles Keene.

Keene, on a trouble-shooting assignment in the Netherlands, Antilles, sends the SOS in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to save a valuable pearl fishery, belonging to his friend, Brom Zook, from being “staked” by thieves. Zook, who must prove his right to the pearl fishery claim within the set time limit, has mysteriously disappeared.

Biff and Derek, Brom Zook’s seventeen-year-old son, accidentally board the same plane in Miami and innocently exchange “identities” to play a joke. However, the joke backfires when Biff is kidnapped at the Willemstad Airport by the unscrupulous adventurers who want the pearl fishery.

But Biff, no stranger to mystery or challenging situations, uses his head and his courage at the crucial moments. His adventures in captivity, his use of “voodoo” to engineer escapes, his repeated changes of identity with his “twin,” Derek, their search for the lost pearl fishery and its rightful owner, and their final triumph over their adversaries are component parts of the tale told in _Mystery of the Caribbean Pearls_.

The Bret King MYSTERY STORIES

By DAN SCOTT

THE MYSTERY OF GHOST CANYON

Truck rustlers butcher cattle on Rimrock Ranch, confronting Bret with Western outlaws who combine thievery with science to outwit the law.

THE SECRET OF HERMIT’S PEAK

When a wild mountain lion and a gang of thieves invade Desolation Peak at the same time, Bret unlocks the fascinating secret of the mountain.

THE RANGE RODEO MYSTERY

From the moment the cow town of Tovar plans a revival of its colorful local rodeo, trouble stampedes Rimrock Ranch, until Bret outsmarts a band of big-time gangsters.

THE MYSTERY OF RAWHIDE GAP

Bret and his plane become involved in an international mix-up, uncovering a bizarre underground plot aimed at the federal government of the United States.

THE MYSTERY AT BLIZZARD MESA

The Navajo reservation is snowbound, and Bret King and his friends join the emergency airlift, only to run headfirst into treachery and skulduggery.

THE SECRET OF FORT PIONEER

Bret King and his friends become interested in a “jinxed” movie company which has been hampered by bad weather, bad tempers, and a series of sinister mishaps.

GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_ New York 10, N. Y.

Transcriber’s Notes

--Silently corrected a few typos.

--Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

--In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.