The Secret of the Golden Pavillion (7 page)

When they turned back toward the beach, George suggested that they all swim ashore. Nancy and Ned, the last to leave the catamaran, thanked the boat’s owner for a fine sail, then headed for the beach. Reaching it, the pair sat down to dry of and talk.

“Tell me in detail about your trip,” Nancy requested. “Just what did happen to the plane?”

“Actually, I’m not sure,” Ned answered, “but I had a feeling we were never in any great danger. The radio went dead, so of course we had no communication with any airports. First one of our engines conked out, then another. At this point the pilot decided that the best thing to do would be to turn back.

“While we were waiting at the Los Angeles airport for the motors to be put in shape again, something rather unusual happened, Nancy. A man came up and asked if he might join our group.”

Ned went on to say that the man explained he had missed the commercial flight to Honolulu and it was imperative he get to the Islands as soon as possible. “His papers and identification were in order, so there was no reason to refuse him. But, somehow, I didn’t like him. Nancy, he had a habit of drumming on window sills, chair arms, and tables with his finger tips. It made us nervous.”

Hearing this, Nancy sat up very straight. Looking at Ned intently, she asked, “And did this man raise his forefingers and touch them together?”

It was Ned’s turn to look surprised. “Yes, he did, Nancy. For Pete’s sake, how did you know that?”

QUICKLY Nancy gave Ned full details regarding the thief who had stolen Mr. Drew’s brief case. Ned in turn furnished a description of the man who had begged a ride on the Emerson plane.

“I’m sure he’s Jim O’Keefe,” Nancy stated.

“But he used the name of Tim O’Malley,” Ned told her. “All his papers, tickets, and identifications were made out in that name.”

“I wonder if O’Malley is his real name or an alias,” Nancy mused. “Anyway, we know he’s in the islands of Hawaii. Let’s hope we can trap him.”

“From all you tell me,” Ned said, “this fellow sounds dangerous. I’m glad I’ll be around to help you nab him.”

Nancy decided that as soon as she was dressed she would put in a telephone call to River Heights. She told Ned that she wanted to tell her father about this latest development and ask his advice.

“But let’s have a short sail and another swim first,” Ned suggested.

They walked across the beach to the others, who were eager for another sail.

George said with a chuckle, “Once the mystery starts breaking at Kaluakua, we’ll be kept hopping, with no time for water sports.”

“I’m sure it won’t be that bad,” Nancy said, smiling. “I’ll give you sleuths a few hours a day for fun.”

“Oh, thanks so much,” Dave said with an exaggerated bow.

The six young people swam out to a catamaran and climbed aboard. Soon they were whipping along once more toward Diamond Head.

“I wish we had some of this breeze in River Heights,” George spoke up presently. “It seems to me that every time I go sailing on the Muskoka River at home the wind dies down and leaves me stranded.”

“Oh, well, there’s one thing we can brag about,” Bess said loyally. “You can’t beat the ice skating on our river.”

When the sailboat returned to the area in front of the Halekulani, Dave asked, “Anybody want to dive in and race to shore?”

“Not in this balmy surf,” Bess answered. “I’ll race you in colder water some time.”

The whole group swam leisurely to the beach and joined Hannah Gruen and the Armstrongs. Nancy told of her decision to telephone her father.

“Suppose we all meet in half an hour for luncheon,” Mr. Armstrong suggested.

Nancy placed the call as soon as she reached the apartment the girls were using. Then, while waiting for the call to come through, she dressed. Twenty minutes later the telephone rang.

“Dad!” Nancy exclaimed joyfully “Oh, it’s good to hear your voice. How are you?”

Mr. Drew assured her that he was almost completely recovered. “I’ll be able to start out on the trip soon,” he said. “But some things have come up which will keep me in California longer than I planned, so I shan’t be able to join you as quickly as I had hoped.”

Nancy told him of the presence of Jim O‘Keefe, alias Tim O’Malley, in Honolulu. The lawyer said he would pass along the information to Police Captain McGinnis and to Mr. Sakamaki.

“And do be careful,” Mr. Drew begged his daughter. “The police here have picked up a few more reports on the Double Scorps. They’re a dangerous gang.”

“I promise,” said Nancy. “But please don’t worry. Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong are ready to help, and of course the three boys will be around all the time.”

“I’m glad of that,” replied Mr. Drew. “Mr. Sakamaki gave me a message for you. He said that while he would like the mystery solved, most important of all, he hopes you and the others will have a good time at Kaluakua.”

“I’m sure we shall,” said Nancy. “Best of luck on your journey, Dad. I’ll be looking for you.”

She said good-by, then relayed the messages to Bess and George. Bess looked a little frightened. “I don’t like this Double Scorps business. Maybe we ought to stay here at the hotel and just go out to Kaluakua in the daytime to work on the mystery.”

Nancy shook her head. “Not me. If you want to remain here, Bess, all right, but I’m going right out there and be on the spot when things happen. And don’t forget, there may be a lot of sleuthing to do—even at night.”

“And,” added George, winking at Nancy over Bess’s head, “ghosts never walk in the daytime and we want to find the one who dances at night.”

Bess looked startled for a moment, then realized that her cousin was teasing. “Oh, I’ll go of course,” she said.

The three girls joined the rest of the party in the open-air restaurant. From their table they had a lovely view of the water, the beautiful flower gardens, and the enormous hau tree which stood to one side.

The visitors enjoyed a first course of ripe, sliced pineapple, then, for a main dish, had delicious
mahimahi,
a native fish. During the meal, Ned suggested that the boys rent a car which they could use out at Kaluakua.

“You mean we may have to make a quick getaway?” George asked with a twinkle.

“You never can tell,” Ned replied. “And also, we’ll need it to run into town on errands.”

The others thought Ned’s idea of renting a car a good one, so the three boys went off with Mr. Armstrong to make arrangements. An hour later they returned with a salmon-colored convertible.

“Oh, it’s yummy!” Bess called out from the hotel porch where the group was waiting. “Ned, you’ll want to take it home with you.”

“I’m afraid I will,” said the young man, who was grinning from ear to ear. “Climb in, girls.”

The six friends stepped into the convertible. Hannah rode with the Armstrongs. Ned followed Mr. Armstrong through the attractive, tree-shaded streets, and then along a shore drive. Half an hour later he turned into a driveway lined with hibiscus bushes in full bloom.

In the distance they could see a two-story white concrete mansion with a large columned front porch. In front of the house were croton bushes with varicolored leaves and near the driveway stood two royal poinciana trees with flaming red flowers.

“This is just heavenly,” declared Bess, as Ned stopped the car in front of the house and she stepped out.

From across a green lawn came a middle-aged man and a woman. He was short and dark, she blond and tall. They came up to the visitors and bowed.

“I am Kiyabu and at your service,” the man said. “Welcome to Kaluakua. I hope your stay here will be very pleasant.” He motioned for the woman to come forward. “This is my wife, Emma.”

Emma, who said she was a New Englander, shook hands with the newcomers and told them everything was ready for their stay. She would show the visitors to their rooms while Kiyabu took care of the baggage.

Hannah and the girls followed the woman inside the spacious house, exquisitely furnished with Oriental pieces and draperies. Emma explained that she and her husband lived in a small cottage on the grounds not far from the main house.

“There is telephone service, and please call us whenever we can help you,” she added.

In answer to a question from Bess, she told the mainlanders that Kiyabu was half Polynesian and half Japanese. “He is very proud of Kaluakua. Whenever you would like a tour of the grounds, he will be glad to take you.” She smiled. “I’m sure you are eager to see the Golden Pavilion.”

“Indeed we are,” said Nancy.

“In the meantime,” Emma went on, “I shall start preparing dinner. Hawaiians usually eat rather late, but maybe you would like to set your own dinner hour.”

“I think that while we are here,” Hannah Gruen spoke up, “we should follow the customs of the Hawaiians.”

Soon the bags were brought upstairs, and after unpacking, the young people joined Kiyabu for a stroll around the sprawling grounds of Kaluakua. The estate included a tennis court and a fine stretch of bathing beach on which lay an outrigger canoe. Screened from the house and set in a beautiful private garden, not far from the water, was the Golden Pavilion. The visitors gazed at it in awe.

“I have never seen a more beautiful pavilion,” said Nancy, entranced, as they came close to it.

The black-and-gold tile platform, hacked in a few places down to its concrete subfloor, was about three feet from the ground. Latticework of wood over concrete painted white circled the building below the floor. It had a diameter of some twenty feet. Short flights of steps led up to the platform on two sides.

The golden columns which supported the roof were round and glistened in the sunlight. The roof itself, completely of gold, was patterned in the graceful shape of a plumiera flower.

“It looks like an Oriental temple,” George remarked.

“And so artistic,” Bess spoke up admiringly. Recalling that Nancy had suggested it might have been erected over a grave and was lovely enough to be a memorial, she said, “Somebody must be buried beneath it.”

Kiyabu smiled. “But not anyone human,” he said. “However, it might be a grave of one of the helpers of the Queen of Sharks.”

Startled by this remark, the others looked at Kiyabu for a further explanation. “You have never heard the story of ancient Pearl Harbor?” he asked. When they replied no, he went on:

“The Hawaiian name for Pearl Harbor is Puuloa, and the old Polynesians had a legend that it was the home of the Queen of the Sharks. Her name was Kaahupahau. She was a very kindly shark and lived in a place built in a cavern on the Honolulu side of Pearl Harbor.

“She loved the human race and ordered her shark people never to attack them. Part of their work was to keep man-eating sharks away from this whole area. The people who lived around were very friendly to these sharks and it is even said they sometimes rode on their backs.”

Bess gave a little shudder. “It’s a lovely story, but just the same I wouldn’t want to meet a shark out in these waters.”

Kiyabu was about to reply to this when he turned quickly and looked toward the beach. No one was on it, but a worried look came over the Hawaiian’s face.

“Is something wrong?” Nancy asked him quickly.

Kiyabu shrugged, but as the group started walking back to the house, he fell behind to talk to Nancy and Ned. “I heard strange whistling,” he explained.

“Yes, I heard it too,” said Nancy.

“I do not like it,” said Kiyabu. “It may mean trouble. The other day Emma and I heard the same whistling on the beach. We went to investigate, but could find no one. When we returned to our cottage, it had been ransacked.”

“You were robbed?” said Nancy. “How unfortunate!”

“That’s the funny part of it.” Kiyabu frowned. “Nothing was taken, but the intruder certainly was looking for something. Our house was a shambles.”

“Have you any idea what he was looking for?” Ned asked him.

The caretaker said no, but he was sure it had something to do with the mystery of Kaluakua. Nancy asked Kiyabu if he thought perhaps the recent claimants to the estate might have been there hunting for something to help them prove their case.

“Who knows?” Kiyabu said noncommittally. “But there is something else which I think you should know. Not long before Mr. Sakamaki Sr. died, a number of small valuable articles disappeared from the house—statuettes, some of them copies of old Polynesian pieces, and others that were genuine antiques from the Orient.

“Emma and I were greatly disturbed when we discovered that they were missing,” Kiyabu went on. “I asked Mr. Sakamaki about them, but he just smiled at me. ‘They are safe, Kiyabu,’ he said. ”But the executors have not been able to find any of them.”

“It certainly sounds as if they had been stolen,” Ned declared.

Kiyabu did not agree. “Mr. Sakamaki was very ill, but he managed to keep good account of everything. I’m sure he told me the truth when he said the items were safe. But where are they? The old gentleman was not strong enough to carry them outside the house and bury them.”

Nancy was quiet for a few moments, then suggested, “Perhaps Mr. Sakamaki had a visitor and gave the pieces to him.”

“Either that, or the person stole them and warned the old man not to say anything,” Ned remarked.

Suddenly Kiyabu’s eyes narrowed and his jaws set. “Maybe it was the man who brought the odd fish,” he declared.

“TELL us about this man and the strange fish,” Nancy urged Kiyabu.

The Hawaiian described the fish as being only a few inches long, with rough, scaleless skin. Because of its color and mottled markings the fish blends with the seaweed where it lives, and its paired fins enable the creature to climb about.

“This frogfish,” Kiyabu went on, “has a great mouth, and on the snout above it is a slender ‘rod’ with a flap at the tip. The frogfish uses this as bait to lure the shrimp he eats.”