Chapter Ten
CARTER and Gomer were going to assist their friend, but the little men had suddenly surrendered the fight.
"Shazam! Corporal, did the little men try to kidnap you?" Gomer burst out.
Boyle laughed. "No, Pyle. They're not aliens. They're midget crooks."
"See? I knew it, I knew it!" Carter boasted. "They're not from outer space."
"Well, thank heavens for that!" Gomer declared. "'Cause if they were, they sure didn't seem friendly."
Suddenly the Military Police rushed up. "What's going on here?" they demanded.
"There's these little men who stole a bag of flour from Sergeant Hacker," Gomer began. Then his eyes widened. "That's right! Sergeant Hacker!" he exclaimed, remembering.
But he had no need to worry. Sergeant Hacker came bursting through the doors just then, triumphantly holding his bag of flour and dragging one of the midgets by the wrist.
"These guys are stealing my flour!" Hacker said to the MPs. "I suspect they've done in the past, too!"
"Well, we'll just find out what this is all about!" the first MP declared.
"Where're the others?" Carter asked.
"The other three got away," Hacker replied remorsefully.
"Well, we've got three for starters," said the second MP, taking the three midgets and leading them to a near-by Jeep. "They've got a lot of explaining to do."
"What direction did the others take?" Boyle inquired.
"Out the back exit," Hacker answered. "I would've chased them, but this one suddenly fell off the stage and I caught him. I couldn't go after them and him at the same time."
"I'll go after them," volunteered a third MP.
The four Marines split up. Boyle and Hacker decided to follow the third MP, and Gomer and Carter decided to go over to the MP station to question the midgets, who had so far been very silent, not offering any information.
The midgets refused to reply.
"And why are you all dressed up like aliens?" Carter demanded.
Still no reply. The midgets just glared at them in silence.
They tried for several more minutes in vain.
"Maybe a night in the brig will get them to talk," said the first MP, ushering the little men over to the brig cells.
"Why did you sneak on the base?" Gomer called after them. They didn't even look back.
"Those guys are just like other criminals," Carter said as they left the MP station. "No criminal wants to confess to his crimes."
"Oh, no, Sergeant, not all criminals," Gomer protested. "Why, I've known several criminals who confessed immediately after they were caught."
"Well . . . just a few," Carter conceded, not very happy that Gomer had pointed that fact out.
The two Marines walked on in silence. Suddenly, Duke, Frankie, Lester, and Brandon rushed up to them.
"What's up?" they all exclaimed.
"What do you mean, fellers?" Gomer asked.
"What do we mean?" Duke repeated. "Those little men running all over the place—that's what we mean!"
"Just a little excitement," Carter said quickly.
"If you don't mind my saying so, Sergeant," Lester began, "Excitement seems to be very prominent here at Camp Henderson these past weeks."
"It all started with those jewel robberies last month," Frankie volunteered.
"That sure was an odd case, alright," Gomer said, reminiscing. "That haunted house . . . the Jewel Pendant . . . the sabotage on the base . . ."
"By the way, Pyle," Lester broke in, "what occurrences involve the Crawford estate these days?"
"Last I heard, it was still vacant," Gomer responded.
"It is, huh?" Brandon said. "What's that place like?"
"Oh, it's real nice!" Gomer said enthusiastically. "Except for the spooks."
"Pyle!" Carter said in exasperation. "Will you forget about the spooks? It was just crooks fooling around!"
"Oh, I don't know about that, Sergeant," Gomer began. "There were those crooks with their crooked operations, but there's ghosts too."
"Oh, c'mon, Gome!" Duke said, scoffing. "You don't believe that, do you?"
"Well . . . There really are spooks, Duke!" Gomer protested. "The old Remshaw place back in Mayberry was truly haunted!"
"The Remshaw place?" Carter repeated. He hadn't heard this story from Gomer's hometown.
"Uh huh. See, Opie and his friend lost a baseball in there once, and Barney and Andy and me all had to go lookin' for it. And we really ran into spooks!"
"I thought you said it was moonshiners," Boyle said suddenly, coming up behind them.
Everyone jumped.
Gomer quickly remembered where he'd left off. "Oh, yes, Corporal, there were moonshiners. But there were spooks, too."
Carter sighed. There would be no changing Gomer's mind.
"Nothing much. The other three midgets got away." A pause. "How did your interrogation go?"
"They wouldn't talk," Carter said sullenly.
"Everything sure is puzzling," Gomer commented. "This mystery sure is hard to solve."
"This is worse than the Jewel Pendant!" Carter exclaimed.
"Hey!" Boyle exclaimed suddenly. "Maybe we ought to check out Professor Merriweather's office again. We haven't seen it since he disappeared. Maybe there's a clue there."
"But the police must have checked there already," Carter protested.
"They still could've over-looked something," Boyle insisted.
"Golly," Gomer said hesitantly. "I sure hate to go snooping around in someone's office when they're not there."
"Pyle, we're not just looking for gossip," Carter replied. "We're looking for evidence to help us find Professor Merriweather!"
And so Gomer reluctantly agreed to accompany the others on a second visit to Professor Merriweather's office.
"Where're you guys going in such a hurry?" he asked.
"Well . . . We're going to investigate Professor Merriweather's office," Gomer said in low tones.
"What?" Hacker said in disbelief.
"You know, Hacker—that guy who vanished," Carter supplied.
"Surely after his disappearance they wouldn't let just anyone walk through his office," Hacker said.
"Oh, we're not going in the front entrance," Carter insisted. "We're sneaking in the back way."
"You mean through the window again, Sergeant?" Gomer questioned.
"Heavens, no, Pyle! Just the back entrance. We'll sneak up the stairs and try the door," Carter responded as everyone climbed in his two-toned 1959 Dodge sedan.
"Won't the door be locked?" Boyle realized.
"Probably. But I've got a make-shift lock pick." Carter held up a hair-pin.
Hacker started laughing. Gomer and Boyle looked at each other, puzzled.
"Bunny left a hair-pin in the car here the last time we went out," Carter explained. "They make great lock-picks."
"Golly, Sergeant!" Gomer exclaimed, looking at the clock on the dashboard. "It's almost ten-thirty! Maybe we should come back tomorrow."
"Nonsense, Pyle! This is the best time to come," Carter insisted as everyone cautiously got out of the car. "There won't be too many people wandering around and no one'll see us going through the window and arrest us."
"Yeah. They might see us at the door with your hair-pin and arrest us," Hacker shot back.
Carter glared at him as they sneaked up to the back door. Carter waved everyone to silence as he slowly opened the door. After furtively glancing about, he stepped in and waved to the others. "C'mon! It's safe!"
When they were all inside, Carter started looking for the second-story staircase.
"Have you ever been in this way before, Vince?" Boyle asked.
"Well, of course I haven't!" Carter snapped.
"Maybe you should have picked up a map at the front entrance," Hacker suggested.
"At this time of night?" Carter said. "They'd get suspicious for sure!"
"Sergeant," Gomer said in a small voice, "if we get into trouble, no one'll know where we are to come help us."
With an annoyed glance at the Private, Carter waved him off. "We'll call Bunny from the professor's office."
Finally Boyle pointed out a door marked, "Stairs." Carter yanked it open and they all walked up. A very dim nightlight glowed for them.
"Sergeant, I don't think people often use this back stairway," Gomer remarked quietly.
"What makes you say a thing like that, Pyle?" Carter asked as they rounded a corner and went up the second half of stairs.
"Well, I don't think stairs that are used often have cobwebs all over them."
The Marines all looked down. There were cobwebs everywhere.
"But why would that light be on if people didn't come this way?" Carter shot back.
"Well, Vince, it is just a dim nightlight," Boyle pointed out. "They probably don't expect people to come this way very often. The main stairway has bright fluorescent lights."
"He's right, Vince. Can you imagine what people would say if they saw us here?" Hacker said.
"No one'll see us here," Carter replied. He was nervous about that very thing himself, but of course he wouldn't want to tell the others.
By now they had reached the top of the staircase. Boyle opened the door and they slowly advanced out onto the second floor.
"Now which door belongs to Professor Merriweather?" Carter mused.
"What about Miss Alma?" Gomer wondered.
"Who?" Hacker demanded.
"She's his secretary," Boyle supplied, glancing at Carter. "Need I say more?"
"We're coming in the back entrance. We'll see Professor Merriweather's door first," Carter said to Gomer. "We won't meet up with Alma. Now where is that office?"
"Actually, Sergeant, I think we passed it." Gomer replied.
"Huh?" Carter looked around and realized Gomer was right. "Why didn't you say so, Pyle?" he bemoaned, leading the others back down the hall to the right door.
"The lights are all off," Boyle observed.
"Well, of course they are. No one's using it," Carter snapped. He tried the door. As he'd expected, it was locked. He pulled out the hair-pin. "Now to get in."
They waited for nearly ten minutes before they heard a click and the door swung open. It creaked loudly. Everyone froze.
"Golly, Sergeant, do you think someone heard that?" Gomer said worriedly.
"They'd better not have!" Carter replied.
After five minutes of peace and quiet, the Marines decided that no one had heard them and so they entered. Carter flipped on the light.
"You don't suppose someone out on the street would see the light . . . and us?" Gomer asked hesitantly.
"You're right, Pyle." Boyle went over to the window and closed the Venetian blind.
"Now to search!" Carter declared. The four Marines scattered and each searched a certain area.
"I sure feel funny doing this," Gomer said again.
"But Pyle, we're doing it to help the professor!" Carter repeated for the umpteenth time. "Can't you understand that?" His patience was weakening.
"Well, yes, Sergeant, but I still feel funny snoopin' around like this," Gomer insisted.
Carter shot Gomer a Why-Do-I-Bother? look and returned to his files.
"We haven't found a thing!" he declared.
"But there's still a place we haven't visited," Boyle broke in. "That room where the professor took our piece of metal to analyze it."
"Golly," Gomer began, but Carter cut him off.
"Now don't start that ‘I sure feel funny doing this' thing again!" the sergeant warned. "I'm sick and tired of hearing it!"
They all made their way over to the door. Carter once again applied the hair-pin, as that door was also locked.
This time, the door opened.
Boyle found a switch and turned it on. Instantly the room flooded with light.
"It's just different kinds of machines to test the metal out on," Hacker said dismissively.
"But there could be a valuable clue here!" Carter protested, and they all fell to searching again.
"Shazam!" Gomer cried a few minutes later. "Look at this!" He held up a piece of metal.
"So it's a piece of metal," Carter said. "So what?"
"Vince, this isn't any piece of metal," Boyle realized, taking the metal from Gomer and studying it more closely. "This is identical to the piece we found in the field!"
"Huh?" Carter took a closer look at the metal. "Hey! It is!"
"Here's something else," Hacker said suddenly, coming up behind them. He displayed a note.
Carter snatched it and read it aloud. "‘This is your last warning! Do as we say or you'll never see her again!'"
"Mercy! What does it mean?" Gomer exclaimed.
"Reminds me of that phone call we got the last time we were here," Boyle commented.
Suddenly Gomer saw a date in the margin. "It says ‘November 22 is your dead-line!'"
"I forgot all about that," Boyle admitted. "We haven't got much time to solve this case. I'm worried that something disastrous is going to happen on the 22."
Gomer's eyes grew wide. "Shazam!" he exclaimed.
"What is it, Pyle?" Carter said sardonically. "Did you see a ghost?"
"No, Sergeant," Gomer responded urgently. "I just realized. The 22nd is today!"
