CHAPTER XIX
The Final Fact
Rick and Scotty slept late the following morning and were awakened forbrunch by Dr. Miller. The boys took advantage of the few moments alonewith the scientist to give him the complete story of their adventure inthe tunnel, after which they pledged him to secrecy.
"It's one thing to tell people a ghost is a fake," Rick explained. "It'sanother to dramatize it. I'm working on an idea that may do it, but onlyif we keep quiet and make our plans carefully."
"I'll keep the secret," the scientist assured him. "And I won't evenscold you for going into an obviously unsafe mine because I hope thehours before you found your way out were lesson enough. By the way,Belsely wants to talk with you. Call him when you've eaten."
"Yes, sir. And thank you."
During their combination lunch and breakfast, the boys had to put upwith comments from Jan and Barby. Dr. Miller had refrained from scoldingthem for foolhardiness, but the girls were not so reticent. The boysbore it stoically, but Rick resolved not to divulge their secret toBarby at any cost. Let her get a shock with the rest of the ghostfanciers.
Belsely was out when they phoned, but he called back a short time later."Meet me at the edge of the orchard," he requested. "Got to talk withyou."
The boys excused themselves and went to keep the rendezvous.
"Didn't get a chance to talk with you last night," the farmer said."Didn't you wonder a little at how fast rescue got to you?"
"We did at first," Rick explained. "Then we realized you had seen us. Wewaved at you and you waved back. So we guessed the mine was the firstplace you'd look."
"True, true. But that's only part of the story. I saw you go in themine, you see. Then I went back to fence makin'. Pretty soon I heard theput-put of that scooter and along came the ice-cream man. He parked thescooter and sort of sniffed around here and there, and then he walkedover and went into the mine. I did some sneakin' myself, to where Icould see what he was doin'. He was looking at footprints, like he wasan injun trackin' the hero on a Western TV show."
"Those must have been his tracks we saw on the way in," Scottyinterjected. "Big feet, which he has, and a reason for wanting to knowhow far into the mine we'd gone the first time add up to Mr. Frostola."
"I suppose. Well, he went in a ways and stayed a bit, then he came outand went back to his scooter and just sat on it. Pretty soon there was arumble, and a cloud of dust came pourin' out of the mine. I knew rightaway you was trapped in there. Had to be, from the noise. Don't know howhe did it, though. There was no explosion."
Rick explained about the rotted timbers. "He could have done a littlepushing, or even cutting into the rotten wood with a knife. That wouldhave done it. Maybe he pushed until the beams started to crack and thenhurried out, only it took a few minutes for the beam to let go all theway."
"That could have been it. Well, I wandered over and asked what the dustwas, and he said cool as you please that he didn't know. Probably acave-in inside somewhere. Well, I put on an act about you two poor ladsgoin' in and he pretended to get excited, too. We went in, and I tellyou it looked bad."
"Looked bad from our side, too," Rick said.
"I believe it. It was a job for machinery, all right. I hurried to thehouse and told Dr. Miller, and we phoned town, but the man with thescoop was out on a job. The Frostola man was still hangin' around when Istarted for town, and he hadn't moved when I got back. I did nothin'about him because I wanted to talk to you first. Took some time for thescoop to get there, but it certainly did the job."
"And we're mighty grateful," Rick told the farmer. Scotty echoed him.
"By the way, Mr. Belsely, was anything ever said about a second tunnelin the mine?" Rick asked.
The farmer considered. "Seems to me there was some mention about such asecond tunnel, back when I was a boy, but I never heard about it since.I was born and brought up in this town, and I've never seen a sign ofone. Course that doesn't mean there never was, because it might havefallen in."
Rick made a quick decision. "It didn't," he stated. He went on to tellBelsely what had happened the day before, pledging him to quiet for afew days at least to give them a chance to solve the puzzle thatremained.
The farmer was delighted. "This will give me a tale to tell from now on!Once you say I'm free to talk, that is. Well, whaddaya know! That springpipe has been there since Hector was a pup, and no one ever wonderedabout why it went in the hill sideways until you came along! Of courseCollins must have known--him and Hilleboe, because they were the oneswho replaced the pipe a few years back."
Rick remembered that Dr. Miller had spoken of the pipe being replaced.If Collins and Hilleboe had put in the new pipe, they may have driven itinto the hill as Dr. Miller had said, but they had most certainlyconnected it with the vertical pipe inside the tunnel.
"Likely," Belsely agreed. "One more thing. We got a daylight ghosttoday. Saw him arrive by car about half an hour ago. He went up to thecornfield with a suitcase of some kind. Thought you'd like to know."
They were delighted to know! The chance to see someone operating bydaylight was too good to miss. They said a quick farewell to Belsely andhurried off across the field.
There was no one in sight as they crossed the picnic grounds, but whenthey climbed to the top of the hill and stood on the edge of thecornfield, they could see a man in khaki clothes bending over somethingbetween the rows of corn plants.
"Just what the ghosts were doing," Rick exclaimed. "Let's hurry and findout what he's up to!"
They walked swiftly down the rows of corn, making no attempt atconcealment. This was a frontal attack. The stranger saw them coming andstood up.
Rick looked him over. The man was about forty, tanned and clean-shaven,with horn-rimmed glasses. Not at all a ghostly type.
The boys walked right up to the man and gave him a cordial hello, whichthe stranger returned.
"We couldn't help being curious," Rick said. "Do you mind if we watch?"
"Not at all." He indicated the open suitcase at his feet. It contained abuilt-in instrument with a meter and earphones. There was also a tubularattachment on the end of a thick wire.
Rick recognized it at once and a thrill shot through him. The strangerwas somehow connected with the mystery.
"Isn't that a Geiger tube?" he asked.
The stranger answered casually, "That's what it is. This is called asurvey meter. Most people know it as a Geiger counter. It's verysensitive."
Rick knew better, but he wanted to probe for more information. "Are youin Civil Defense by any chance?" he asked.
"Nope. I'm a geologist. My outfit is making a routine survey of the areafor radioactive ores. We don't expect to find any, but there was adiscovery in Maryland recently and we don't want to overlook any bets."
Rick was sure now that no bets were being overlooked. Any geologistwould eliminate the area simply on the basis of its rock formations withno need of making a field survey.
He operated largely by instinct when there was a need, and this wasclearly the right occasion. The man looked clean cut and respectable,and the daylight operation separated him from the nightly prowlers.
"You might find some Janigite around here," Rick said casually, andwatched sharply for the reaction.
"Possibly. Saw an interesting sample of it yesterday." The stranger wasoffhand in his reply, but his eyes twinkled behind the glasses.
"So did we. It was wrapped in a cement bag."
The response was quick. The stranger held out his hand. "I'm RogerBennett from the Atomic Energy Commission. You're the boys who notifiedJANIG about the cement bags."
Rick and Scotty identified themselves, and Bennett nodded. "I know JohnGordon of the Spindrift staff. We worked together on a test project afew years ago. Now, what's the story?"
The boys told him what they knew, ending with yesterday's discovery.
The AEC man nodded. "This field is 'hot,' did you know that? It'sobvious that powdered carnotite was spread here before the c
orn wasplanted. And from your story, it was spread in the field across thecreek, too."
Ghosts with a cart had marched up and down the fields, hunting for theghostly dead ... the image flashed through Rick's mind and he exclaimed,"The cart! That was why the ghosts needed the cart! They were luggingbags of powdered carnotite and spreading it around the fields whenBelsely saw them!"
"You've hit it," Scotty agreed.
Rick explained to Bennett about the ghosts and the cart, and then addedBelsely's reports on the times when two or three ghosts had walked thefields without a cart. "Scotty and I saw three of them once, and it's acinch they were using a survey meter to check the ground forradioactivity. But why? That's what has us going around in ghastly,ghostly circles. Why spread carnotite and then come back to measure it?"
Bennett smiled. "I think I know, but I'd like to see this mine of yours.Can it be arranged?"
Scotty said swiftly, "I'd better act as a lookout to intercept theFrostola man if he comes. I'll delay him while you two go into themine." He was gone at a ground-eating pace.
Rick led the AEC man to the hidden mine entrance. "I don't have aflashlight with me."
"No need. What we want will be right at the entrance, I'm sure."
They crawled in on hands and knees, the AEC man pushing his bag beforehim. Inside, he looked around and selected several small pieces of rock.
"We'll check the samples, but it's just a formality. I recognize thisstuff. It's carnotite. You can see the yellow streaks clearly. That'sthe uranium color. Of course the rock is mostly gray, so that's thecolor of the powdered ore."
"Then the mine really contains radioactive ore?" Rick asked eagerly.
"Only what was put here, I'm afraid."
With this cryptic comment Bennett opened his case and checked thesamples. Rick watched the meter climb. They were radioactive, all right,but of low ore level, not at all dangerous.
"We'd better get out of here," Bennett said. "I'd rather not bediscovered at this point. When your friend Scott comes back I'll tellyou what has happened."
Scotty rejoined them as they reached the cornfield again. They walkedwith Bennett to his car, and listened to an explanation that madeeverything clear.
"This is a game as old as mining," Bennett told them. "It has happenedbefore, and it will happen again. Uranium is the treasure metal now,where gold used to be. So the game uses uranium. The game is known assalting."
"Salting?" Scotty asked. "I've heard it in connection with gold mines,but I can't remember exactly what it means."
"It means putting evidence of high-grade ore in a likely place, but onewhich actually contains no real pay dirt. For instance, in country wheregold may be found, the technique for salting used to be firing goldnuggets into the ground with a shotgun, by replacing the buckshot withthe nuggets. Then, when the victim was allowed to try panning gold forhimself, he'd come up with the nuggets and think he was getting naturalgold."
"And in this case, powdered carnotite was used in the fields, and chunkswere put in the mine, to make victims think uranium was present," Rickadded. He could see the picture pretty clearly now. "The carnotite wasput in and then the field was planted with corn to make it look asinnocent and natural as possible, I suppose."
"That's how I figure it. There's no uranium around here, except for thevery small percentage that one can often find associated with somevarieties of lead. We'll find that someone has been pulling a very cuteconfidence game, bringing clients here by night, showing them theradioactivity--by letting them hear the clicks in the earphone of acounter, probably--and then selling them either shares in a mine orpieces of property."
"And using the ghost to scare the townspeople away so there would be nointerference," Rick finished. "But how can we prove all this?"
"You won't have to. I brought a man with me, and dropped him off intown. His name is Joe Taylor, and he's an FBI agent."
"The FBI?" Scotty looked puzzled. "But bunco games or con games,whatever you call them, aren't a federal offense! How does the FBI getin on it?"
"Because the carnotite was federal property. It was stolen from aloading platform at our Grand Junction facility. We know this, becausethere is no record of any transaction, and we can identify the source bythe chemical composition of the sample."
"But how could anyone steal stuff from AEC?" Rick asked.
"Easily, in this case. There is no purpose in protecting ore with thesame security we give the processed stages, like green salt, forexample. No one could possibly steal enough ore to do any good, becauseit takes many tons to produce even a gram of uranium. Ore moves bycarloads, on normal railroad or truck bills of lading, from privatecompanies who mine it. No security is required, you see, because no onehas the capability of getting out the metal even if they could stealthousands of tons of ore."
Rick understood this. He had seen the plant at Oak Ridge where uraniumwas extracted by the gas diffusion method. The plant covered acres. Onlya government could afford such a facility.
"But couldn't the carnotite have been stolen from a privately ownedmine?" he asked.
"Possibly, but we will assume it was in our hands when it was taken.This is because we want to discourage this kind of thing, and the FBItaking action is very discouraging to thieves."
The boys appreciated this viewpoint. "I hope the FBI doesn't interferewith Rick's plan for exposing the ghost," Scotty said.
"I don't think you'll find Taylor hard to persuade. I'll suggest he stopby and hear your story. It will help him. Then you can outline your ownplans."
"We'll be waiting," Rick assured the AEC expert. "Before you go, what'syour idea about the changing number of ghosts? Was that when the clientswere brought to see the Geiger counter work?"
"That would be my guess," Bennett agreed. "You'll probably find that theghost took them on a conducted survey of the mine and the fields to showthem what valuable property he was offering for sale--or for shares in amine."
Scotty objected, "But the ghost wore the luminous blue head. Any clientswould think that was mighty peculiar, to put it mildly, unless they knewthey were being parties to something illegal."
Bennett chuckled. "It's one of the key factors in a really big con gameto make the client think he is getting something for nothing, or maybeeven a shade outside the law. Confidence men say that everyone has a'little larceny in his soul.' I'm sure that's not true, but enoughpeople do so that they can be swindled by an illegal offer."
Rick snapped his fingers. "Dr. Miller's property, and the fact thatHilleboe owned only part of the mine! That's the reason for the ghoststhat walked by night. It has to be! The swindlers would tell theirclients only part of the land was available and they needed funds to buythe rest of it--but the inspection had to be held by night to keep theowner from suspecting he had a uranium mine on his property."
Bennett asked, "Was Dr. Miller actually approached with an offer tobuy?"
"Yes," Scotty replied. "It was a good offer, too. That must mean theswindlers were doing a good business and needed more land to sell."
"Not necessarily. They probably wanted the Miller property more as asafety factor than anything else, in case someone got wind of what wasgoing on and tried to horn in. They probably didn't actually sell land,only speculative shares in a mine to be developed. That's the usualtechnique. The secrecy and mystery, and having a phony ghost for aguide, were just added elements of drama to help with the selling. Theclients thought they were in on a great big secret."
Rick grinned. "They were. We've just managed to untangle it, with yourhelp."
"Delighted," Bennett said. "But you'll find Taylor much more of anexpert than I. See you later, boys, I'm sure."
They watched as the AEC man drove off. "I'm pretty sure we have theanswers," Rick said happily. "Hilleboe probably is the boss, since heowns the property, but Collins is in on it to some extent because heknew about the upper mine tunnel, and acted as agent for Hilleboe. Andour pal the Frostola man is in it up to his hip pockets."
> "He's the ghost," Scotty agreed. "Both in the tunnel when the machine isrun, and at night when the ghost walks. At least he is part of the time.Of course there's no reason why someone else couldn't be the ghost, too,maybe two or three different people."
"Someone else was the ghost the first night," Rick remembered, "becausethe Frostola man was watching."
"Good thing we don't have to prove any of this," Scotty concluded. "TheFBI is on the job. They'll get the proof."
"But we're the ones who'll bury the ghost for good," Rick promised.
CHAPTER XX
Death of a Ghost
Dr. Miller planned a large cook-out and picnic party in the mine area,and he issued invitations to people from the town of Lansdale, to thestaff of Spindrift Island's scientific foundation, to Mr. Bennett of theAEC, and to a number of folks who preferred for reasons of their own toremain anonymous for the time being.
The reason, Dr. Miller said, was to get all his friends together for onebig shindig before he and his family returned to Spindrift Island wherea new project was waiting.
Even Jan and Barby knew no other reason than this.
Meanwhile, the boys were busy preparing to "bury the ghost for good."What made the plan difficult was that it had to be done publicly, and insuch a way that it wouldn't interfere with police activities.
The boys met with Taylor, the FBI agent. He was a good-natured young manwho might have been a lawyer, but under the attractive grin and readychuckle, Rick could sense that Taylor could be a very tough man indeedif need be. The agent listened to their plans and laughed outright.
"I like it," he said. "We must do this, if only for the effect on theFrostola man when he sees what has happened. It's turning the tables onthat joker, and he deserves it."
Rick sensed more than met the ear in that statement. "You know somethingabout him?" he asked.
"Quite a bit. He's not exactly Public Enemy Number One, or even NumberFifty, but he's well known to the police of most large cities. Hespecializes in confidence games with a technical angle. He's quiteoriginal. You can bet he dreamed this whole thing up and planned it downto the last detail, then sold the others on it. I don't know how he metHilleboe, but we'll find out. Of course he met Collins throughHilleboe."
"Does the Frostola company know he exists?"
"Sure. He wouldn't slip on a detail like that. He got the job withoutdifficulty, since the route was vacant. If it hadn't been vacant, he'dhave worked out some other kind of cover."
Rick made a telephone call to a friend in New York, and as a consequencehad to fly to Washington National Airport in two days to pick up a smallpackage.
Mr. Belsely let it be known around town that Dr. Miller didn't reallywant to hold the party at the mine area because of the ghost, but had noother place large enough--and he had to give the party for professionalreasons; his scientific friends had long wanted to see his Virginiahome. The farmer made sure the Frostola man heard the story.
There was only one final step necessary on the day of the big event.With Belsely watching one road and Scotty watching the other, Rick wentinto the upper mine tunnel for the last time. He had with him equipmentand a specially made item that was essential to his plans. He workedswiftly, sure that the Frostola man wouldn't notice the slight change,which involved only a foot of film on the continuous strip.
He finished and called Belsely and Scotty off their posts. Now all wasin readiness.
There were gallons of potato salad and coleslaw, mountains of rolls,barrels of punch, and enough hot dogs to feed a small army. Wood waspiled for the fires, paper plates were stacked high. All was inreadiness.
Rick flew again to Washington and made connections with the plane thatbrought his parents and Julius Weiss, the little mathematician. Theother Spindrifters were out of town, so couldn't come.
It was a gala occasion, enjoyed by everyone. Rick ate half a dozen hotdogs himself, while Scotty maintained his reputation as a goodtrencherman with two on top of that. They consumed salad until thebursting point was near, and so was darkness.
Then Rick wandered casually over to a parked car where one man, repletewith picnic chow, was listening to his radio.
It wasn't a broadcast receiver, however. The man was a lieutenant of theVirginia State Police. His car was radio equipped, although notidentified as a police car. It kept him in touch with his men.
"Your boy went into the mine a few minutes ago," he reported.
Rick breathed a sigh of relief. Now, if the ghost producer didn'texamine things too closely ... but he wouldn't. Everything lookednormal, and the extra film wasn't prominent.
It was almost nine o'clock.
Rick found Scotty. "Let's get grandstand seats."
"Okay."
Barby, Jan, and the Millers had a table directly under the tree in whichthe boys had waited in vain for the Blue Ghost, and had hidden from thenight prowlers. This was no accident. Rick's mother and father were withthe group. Weiss was off at another table with Bennett of the AEC, deepin a discussion of some obscure point of nuclear physics.
A car drove up and Rick waited to see who emerged. One person who wasmissing had arrived just in time. Rick walked over and told the FBIagent to get a good location from which to watch the show.
"Just got in from Washington," Taylor said. "We picked up Hilleboe andthree associates. They talked freely when they saw we had 'em cold. Beenactually selling pieces of the land, through Collins, at fantasticprices. We'll pick up Collins on the way back tonight."
Rick saw him to a good location and rejoined Scotty. They hurriedly toldthe folks at the table that they wanted grandstand seats and went upinto the tree. Besides having a good seat, Rick also wanted to see if hewas correct about being able to see the bright projector lens from thetree.
Now that they knew what to look for, it was absurdly simple. Theycouldn't see the port open, but they saw the white flash of dry ice asit dropped from the port into the pool.
The mist rose.
The party group was silent now. Only a very few knew what the outcomewould be; most knew only that the Blue Ghost was about to appear.
The mist thickened, expanded.
The Blue Ghost materialized. He held out his hands to an invisible lovedone. He looked appealing.
He recoiled, then put hands to his chest. They came away bloody. Hestretched them out ...
And then a new sequence materialized in the mist, a sequence of words instark red against the icy white of the background.
BE PREPARED! BUY BLUE GHOST HEALTH INSURANCE
For a long breath there was shocked silence, then the crowd belowdissolved into laughter.
"Let's go," Rick shouted.
He would have given much to see Barby's expression, but time was runningout and he and Scotty had ground to cover. They dropped from the tree,scrambled up the hill past where the white mist was fading, and dashedacross the cornfield.
"Hurry!" Scotty exclaimed.
"I'm hurrying," Rick assured him, but made his legs go faster.
They went across the hilltop with great strides, broke into the openbeyond the cornfield, dodged thorns, and panted to a stop just above theopening of the second tunnel.
The fast sprint had gotten them there in time.
The Frostola man spurted from the tunnel as though a real ghost wasafter him.
Four state troopers grabbed him so fast that his legs continued to makerunning motions even after his feet were lifted off the ground.
Rick caught a glimpse of blue light from the corner of his eye andwhirled to see the Blue Ghost approaching! For a moment he thought areal ghost had somehow appeared to be in on the capture of the phonyone, then at close range he saw that the ghostly head was nothing morethan a transparent plastic head of the kind used to display men's hats.
The apparition walked up to the speechless Frostola man and said calmly,"Boo!"
Taylor, the FBI agent, removed the apparatus from his head; Rickrecognized him in the blue glow. "We found y
our other head underneaththe ice cream in your scooter," he said conversationally. "In the falsebottom. We also found your Geiger counter. Any comments?"
The Frostola man had recovered somewhat from the shock of his capture.
"What can I say?" he demanded. "When I saw that wordage on the mist, Iknew someone was onto the act. I only delayed long enough to readit--backward--from where I was. Then I got out and ran into troopers.All right. You found the secret of the ghost, and that I have a Geigercounter. So what? Practical jokes aren't illegal, and anyone can own asurvey meter."
"But selling shares in a nonexistent mine with intent to defraud isquite a different matter," the agent said. "We've been collectingevidence for a few days, including some from clients of yours who wereinterested in knowing the field had been salted. And we've picked upCollins and Hilleboe."
The Frostola man sighed. "Well, it was good while it lasted. I suspectedthings were getting risky when those two kids charged into the mist, butI hoped maybe the cold spray had cooled them down a little. When itdidn't, I tried to scare them off by trapping them in the mine. Nointent to harm, either. I knew they'd be dug out in short order."
"We were," Rick agreed. "Only while the rescuers were digging in, wewere busy finding the upper tunnel. After that, it was easy."
"I saw the rescue," the Frostola man said. "You came out the same wayyou went in. That fooled me completely; I just figured you hadn't gonebeyond the pile of rocks between the tunnels."
A trooper sergeant pointed to the police car waiting on the dirt road."Come on. We'll take a ride to town and get you booked. Don't worryabout your scooter. It will be taken care of."
"Eat all the ice cream you want," the Frostola man said grandly. "Be myguests. I won't be needing it."
"Not for some years," Taylor agreed. "Come on, lads. Let's get back tothe picnic."
"We're with you," Rick said. "Lead the way." He chuckled suddenly. "Itwas a pretty good effect, wasn't it? The lab did a good job, and theFrostola man didn't see that a new chunk had been spliced in."
"A very good effect," Scotty agreed. "Only stand by for misery and woe.Barby and Jan won't like this! After all, we destroyed a historicromance."
The picnic crowd was eating again when the boys returned. They locatedthe family and Rick strained to see the girls' faces, but it was toodark.
Barby's voice said sternly, "Is that you, Rick Brant?"
He admitted it, rather meekly. "Uh-uh."
"Rick Brant! You knew all the time ... I mean, while Jan and I were ..."
Barby's voice was trembling. He thought she was in tears. He hoped not;she shouldn't take legends so seriously ...
Agent Taylor joined the group and chuckled. "You should have seen thatFrostola man come out of the tunnel! I guess that final commercialshocked him silly."
"He wasn't the only one," Barby said swiftly, and to Rick's amazementshe and Jan Miller burst into peals of laughter.
This wasn't the reaction Rick had expected. "But the romance," he saiddoubtfully. "I mean, you should be brokenhearted ..."
"I'll never understand girls," Scotty said darkly.
"It was like sitting through the same movie too many times," Barbyexplained.
Jan added, "Really, we were getting a little bored with the same act. Ifthe ghost had only changed his routine a little ..."
There was real pride in Barby's voice as she declared, "And how do youget rid of a boring ghost? You get my brother Rick to turn him into acommercial. Rick Brant's Sponsored Spooks!"
Rick was so relieved at Barby's reaction that he let her have the lastword. Besides, there were new events to think about, for Hartson Branthad brought word of a new project the Spindrift Foundation had agreed toundertake, one that would shake the very earth to its depths, and one inwhich Rick Brant and Scotty would play a major part.
_The_ RICK BRANT SCIENCE-ADVENTURE _Stories_
BY JOHN BLAINE
THE ROCKET'S SHADOW
THE LOST CITY
SEA GOLD
100 FATHOMS UNDER
THE WHISPERING BOX MYSTERY
THE PHANTOM SHARK
SMUGGLERS' REEF
THE CAVES OF FEAR
STAIRWAY TO DANGER
THE GOLDEN SKULL
THE WAILING OCTOPUS
THE ELECTRONIC MIND READER
THE SCARLET LAKE MYSTERY
THE PIRATES OF SHAN
THE BLUE GHOST MYSTERY
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