Chapter 18 Chapter 17 The Old Man on the Mountain

On Saturday morning, Professor Yadoli's house was silent, which was also planned in advance.Because the professor and the maid Nani had been ordered by the police, it would be inappropriate for him to appear when the Bonn police officer and Stephen Megara left with such a vigorous scene.It is well known that the professor lives with a secret agent from New York.If the professor went for a walk alone, it would definitely arouse the suspicion of interested people, but the professor couldn't go out with the guests, because the guests were no longer there.To put it more clearly, that is to say, when Bonn and Megara got into the police car, the guest was already on the road two hundred miles from Long Island.

It was such a cunning tactic that on Friday, when Bradoudo was under the shadows, Ellery snuck into the garage and drove away in his sports car.Before reaching the highway, he took a detour like a ghost, and only after he got on the highway did he speed up the accelerator and gallop towards Mineola.There, after Prosecutor Esham met him, he drove at high speed in the direction of New York. At four o'clock on Saturday morning, this ancient sports car has arrived in the capital of Pennsylvania.Harrisburg was still asleep, but the two were too exhausted to speak to each other.They stayed at the Senna Hotel. After checking in, the two went back to their rooms to sleep. Ellery asked the hotel to wake them up by phone at nine o'clock. fell asleep.

At 9:30 on Saturday morning, the two were in the car bound for Pittsburgh, miles away from Harrisburg.They didn't even stop for lunch, the sports car was covered with a thick layer of ash, and the two of them were tired from the long and monotonous driving... Although the sports car is quite old, it still has the performance. Still very good.Twice, when patrolmen on motorcycles overtook them, as Ellery was speeding at seventy miles, Esham had to produce proof before the two could go on... 3 p.m. At 10:00, the two were ready to leave Pittsburgh again. Esham finally began to complain: "I can't take it anymore. If I go down, I will starve to death. Anyway, the other party can't escape. Let's eat something first!" When the prosecutor filled his stomach, Eler There was a strange excitement running through Ri's body, so he ate very little.Although his face was full of tiredness, his eyes were shining brightly, and he could see a lot of hope from his eyes without saying a word.Nearly five o'clock, the sports car drove in front of the wooden buildings in Plaza Arroyo.

As the two got out of the car, their joints aching from the long journey, Ersham stretched, while a fat German kept looking at them curiously—Ellery noticed that it was Arroyo Baham, the grocer's owner - also noticed that there were blue cloth clothes on the sidewalk of the county hall from time to time.A scavenger with a broom in his hand, there to clean. Esham yawned and said, "Heh! I really hope this matter can be resolved as soon as possible, Quinn, where do you think the police are?" Ellery took him to the patrolmen's room, and when they knocked on the door there was a muffled answer. "Who! Come in!" The two went in. Officer Luden was still sweating profusely and sat on the chair with his fat body—he seemed to have been visiting Arroyo since Ellery came to visit six months ago. Until now, he has never left that stool.He opened his mouth in astonishment, and the ruddy and wide mouth showed sharp canine teeth.

"Oh... oh..." Luden yelled while walking on the floor with his big feet, "Aren't you Mr. Quinn? Please sit down! Please sit down! Are you still chasing down the guy who killed the principal?" "Well, because there is still the smell of footprints!" Ellery smiled, "Let me introduce you, this person is also an enforcer of the law like you, he is Nassau County District Attorney Ersham in New York State Mr Ersham, this is Constable Luden." Elsham was murmuring something, but he didn't reach out his hand. The police officer smiled and said, "It is said that there was a corruption case in Metropolitan New York last year, but there is no need to be so indifferent!" ——Esham There was still no response—"I'm telling the truth!...Mr. Quinn, do you have any advice?"

Ellery wanted to defuse the embarrassment, so he said with a smile, "Can you sit down? I feel like I've been sitting in a car for centuries." "Please sit down please sit down!" The three of them took their seats, and Ellery said, "Lu Deng, have you met that dull-looking old man in the mountains recently? His name is Grandpa Peter, right?" "Grandpa Peter! Well, it's strange to say that I haven't seen him for weeks. No, he only goes down the mountain once in a while. But this time I haven't seen him for two months. It seems that he must have bought a lot of grain when he went down the mountain last time, you can ask Baham."

"Do you know where the old man lives?" "I think, I know...but why are you investigating Grandpa Peter? Are you going to arrest him? He is an irrelevant lunatic at all! It's just..." Because Esham frowned, the policeman hurriedly Then he said, "Of course it has nothing to do with me! I haven't been to his hut yet—two or three people have been there before, and I heard that there are many caves there, and there are many old wild people living in it, so most of them No one dares to approach it, Grandpa Peter's hut is in that kind of desolate mountain. If you go alone, you probably won't find it."

"Luden, can you show us the way?" Ellery demanded. "Okay! I think it shouldn't be a problem for me to take you there." As soon as he stood up, his fat body swayed like an old bulldog. "Can't you tell others about this?" He casually said asked. "Don't let others know," Esham said. "Please don't tell your wife!" The police officer muttered unhappily, "Don't worry, I don't have a wife. Although I once had one, she has passed away... let's go!" They led to a deserted alley, where Ellery told the policeman and Ersham to wait.He bypassed the wooden building by himself and quickly jumped into the sports car. Two minutes later, the car drove into the alley, and the three of them got into the car and drove away.Lu Deng clung to the car and put his feet on the footboards.

Ellery made several detours according to the instructions of Police Officer Lu Deng, before arriving at the entrance of the mountain, which was quite muddy. "Take the inner one." He explained, "The car must be parked here, we will walk." "You have to walk!" Esham looked up at the slightly steep mountain road and said worriedly. "Don't worry!" Lu Deng said in a hearty voice, "I'll carry you up, Mr. Esham." They hid the car behind the bamboo bushes, looked around, and then took out a slender package from the sports car , Lu Deng watched these situations curiously, because neither of the two guests from afar explained to him.

The policeman lowered his huge head and looked for things in the lush jungle-seeing the way he searched, as if he didn't care, it didn't matter whether he found it or not-and before long, he finally pointed out some tiny footprints to them. Look, and then everyone followed him silently, and climbed up, it was a barren mountain with few people.Because the trees were too dense, there was no sunlight, and the air was very hot. Before they could climb fifty feet, the three of them were already sweating profusely, and Esham began to complain. After they climbed hard for fifteen minutes, the forest became denser and the road became narrower and narrower. The police officer stopped suddenly: "Madu Oris once told me..." He pointed and whispered, "It is here!"

They were carefully led by Lu Deng, and continued to climb, and as the kind policeman said, a huge rock was exposed on the mountainside, and there was a narrow space under the rock, where a simple wooden hut was located. , about 30 feet from the left, right and front of the hut is open.Trees have been cut down.Behind the hut was protected by steep granite rocks—Ellery stared wide-eyed—because the perimeter of the open space twenty feet in front, left, right, and in front was completely surrounded by towering barbed wire. "Look!" Esham whispered, "there's no entrance or exit." There were hardly any gaps in the barbed wire fence; The smoke that comes has this unoffensive feeling. "It's amazing!" Luden muttered to himself, "Why is there such a tight guard? He may be, as I said, a fool!" "This is a troublesome place. You may kick tree roots and be unable to walk after dark." Ellery muttered to himself, "Luden, Prosecutor Ersham and I have something to discuss with you, which is A very unusual thing." Police Officer Lu Deng probably remembered that Ellery once gave him sweets, so he said with great interest: "Don't worry, I'm not a nosy person. You also know that people often make illegal alcohol in the nearby mountains, but I've never been in troubled water for a little money—no problem, what's the matter? What do you want to discuss with me?" "Can you please forget everything that happened today?" Ersham said decisively. "We have never been here, you know? You can't report this to your superiors in Arroyo or elsewhere. You don't know anything about Grandpa Peter." In the big hand of police officer Lu Deng, he held the thing that was taken out of Ellery's pocket.The policeman said honestly: "Mr. Esham, I am deaf, dumb, and blind...do you know how to get back?" "Ok!" "Then do it well - and thank you, Mr. Quinn." Luden turned back to the forest as if indifferently, and he never looked back. Esham and Ellery looked at each other, then shrugged and walked towards the barbed wire. As soon as the two of them stepped into the open space in front of the fence—in fact, it was the moment Esham raised the luggage brought to the top of the wire, suddenly a fierce shout came from the hut: "Stop, go back!" original place." The two were so startled that they couldn't move, and the luggage dropped to the ground.Because at this time, black gun holes were exposed through the window covered with barbed wire, and the muzzle was aimed straight at them. Ellery swallowed, and the district attorney couldn't move as if he had grown roots from the soles of his feet: "That's Grandpa Peter!" Ellery whispered.Then he raised his hands and said loudly, "Wait a minute! Don't be impulsive, we are your friends." During this time, the owner of the gun seemed to be carefully looking at each other, and both sides stood quietly in place. Soon, the same fierce shout came out again: "I don't believe you, you have five seconds to leave, otherwise I will shoot." Esham yelled: "Bastard! We are the police. We brought you a letter specially. It was Megara who asked us to bring it. Come out! For your sake, we don't want others to see us." They didn't move at all, but the fluffy white hair of the old man in the mountain loomed behind the curtain woven with iron wire, and the pair of bright eyes still looked at them in bewilderment. Soon, the head disappeared and the gun seemed to be put away.Afterwards, the heavy, needle-studded door rattled open from the inside, and there stood Grandpa Peter, with a slightly curly beard growing under his chin, his gun lowered, but still pointing warily at both of them. people. "Come in over that fence, there is no other entrance." Although the tone of voice is similar, but the tone has been slightly softened. The two looked at the fence in bewilderment, but before long, Ellery sighed and lifted his foot lightly onto the lowest wire, trying to step over the most secure part. "Hurry up!" Peter said anxiously, "Don't make any wrong decisions, both of you." Esham found a stick on the ground and set aside the barbed wire. Accidentally snagged the wire and tore it, and the District Attorney followed him awkwardly.The muzzle never left them for a moment. After the two walked over, the old man retreated to the hut, and the two followed.Ersham closed and bolted the heavy door without any hassle.If the house is called a residence, it would be the most humble place, but the owner seems to make it as comfortable as possible. There was a sink by the opposite wall, where one might have washed one's face.There are many medicines in the horizontal shelf directly above; there is a small hand-pressed water pump on the sink.It can be seen that there is a well dug under the house. "Get out the letter!" said Grandpa Peter in a hoarse voice. Esham took out the note. The old man in the mountain hadn't put down his weapon yet, staring at the two of them while grabbing the note.He only glanced at the note, but still kept his eyes on the visitor.But when he lowered his head, the situation changed completely.His beard and tattered clothes are still the registered trademark of Grandpa Peter; but the appearance of the whole person has completely changed into another person. He put the gun against the wall, looked at the note in his hand over and over again, and then sit down. "So many Slavic cloths are dead!" he said, and the voice shocked the two visitors. It was no longer the hoarse voice of Grandpa Peter, but was replaced by a deep, noble, sonorous and educated voice. The voice of a middle-aged man. "Yes, he was killed!" Esham replied, "Here is the suicide note, do you want to read it?" "Please give it to me!" The man took Bratt's suicide note from Esham, read it quickly and without any emotion, then nodded and said, "I know...then I Just tell me my name! I'm Andru Pang—the old Andrea Tivar, and I'm still alive. But that stubborn, stupid Thomas..." His eyes lit up , then stood up abruptly and walked to the iron sink.Ellery and Esham looked at each other face to face, what a strange person.Pang tore off his shaggy beard, took off his wig, and washed off the paint on his face... At this time, he was very different from the person who challenged them at the window just now.The short-cropped brown hair set off the resolute ascetic face, and compared with the tattered clothes, it reminded Ellery of sentences such as "distorted, outrageous, asymmetrical, incredible". "I'm sorry, there are no chairs for you to sit... You are the District Attorney of Esham! And you are Mr. Quinn. On the day of the autopsy results investigation court, I saw you sitting in the front row of the auditorium." "Yes!" Ellery replied. He is indeed a strange figure, although there is only one chair, he himself has been sitting on the chair all the time, and it is really puzzling to ask two guests to stand. "Isn't my hiding place good!" he said mockingly to himself. "Is it Kloshak?" "Yes!" Ersham replied in a low voice, and both he and Ellery were very surprised at the same time, because Pang and Megara looked very similar, and they could be seen as brothers at a glance, "According to Stephen's letter -" Pang's voice trembled slightly: "I heard that the word T is used again." "Yes, it's terrible to have your head chopped off. You are Andrew Tever!" The elementary school principal smiled miserably: "In my hometown, my name is Andorea, and my two older brothers are Steven and Doslavbu. Let's go to this country together and re..." His bowed shoulders He sat up straight suddenly, holding the chair handle tightly, his timid eyes turned left and right, always staring at the door and the window wrapped with barbed wire, "I'm fine!" He said in a sharp tone, "I'm not caught Follow it!" In order to calm the other party down, Esham said in an affirmative tone: "Absolutely not! Because we are very careful, there will be no problem. Your brother has been accompanied by the Nassau County Bonn police officer to New York."—— The principal of the primary school nodded—"Even if someone is following him, we have already arranged for plainclothes criminal police to investigate later, and we will definitely be able to find out his whereabouts. Mr. Quinn and I set off last night." Andrea Tivar bit her thin lower lip and said: "It's finally here... This terrible fear can't be explained in words. After twenty years of fear, now the monster will finally appear Do you want to hear our story?" "As things stand," Ellery said softly, "don't you think we're entitled to listen?" "I feel the same way," the elementary school principal replied solemnly. "Steven and I need your full help... What does Steven say?" "He only said that you, him and Blatter are brothers!" Esham said, "What we want to know is..." Andrew Pang stood up, his eyes became very evil, and then he said slowly: "I can't say anything now, before I see Steven, I won't say anything." Because his attitude changed so quickly, the two were dumbfounded. "Hey, how could you do this?" Ersham yelled, "The two of us traveled so far for you, but you—" Because the man picked up the gun again, Ersham backed away. "I don't know if you are really as you claim. The letter is in Steven's handwriting, yes, and the other is in Thomas' handwriting, but this kind of thing can be obtained with a little brains. Do your best to prevent it, but don't want to jump into a clever trap at this critical moment, where is Steven now?" "At Bradoudo!" Ellery replied in a leisurely tone. "Don't be so childish, put the gun down. If you don't say anything until you see your brother--that's all right. Mr. Megara I've thought of this a long time ago, so we don't care about it. As for your doubts, it's a matter of course, no matter what you ask and propose, as long as we can do it, we will definitely agree, right! Mr. Ersham." "Yes!" the district attorney replied displeased.Then he took out the hiking bag, "We've always thought this way, Mr. Tivel, what do you think?" The other party looked at the package with very strange eyes, and it could be seen from his appearance that he was hoping and Struggling on the edge of hesitation and being at a loss, he finally said, "Open it and have a look!" Esham tore off the brown wrapping paper, and inside was the uniform of the Nassau County Police, from boots to pistols. "For fear of making people suspicious," Ellery said, "you're a policeman when you get to Bradoudo, and there are five or six policemen there, and when people see uniformed policemen, they usually just treat them as uniforms." , Mr. Tiver." The headmaster of the elementary school was walking up and down the floor: "Get out of this hut..." he said to himself, "in the past and in the future, I have been very safe here, and I-" "There are bullets in the pistol," Ellery said without emotion, "and there is enough ammunition in the belt, holding a weapon with bullets, and two strong men beside you, are you afraid of being unsafe?" His face was red: "From the eyes of the two of you, I am a cowardly and timid person. Okay! I will go." He began to take off the tattered clothes, wearing a snow-white and good material underwear.This is another contradictory combination.He shyly puts on his police uniform. "Fit!" Ellery said. "Meghalah was right about the size." The principal of the primary school was silent... After he was fully dressed and buckled the gun hanging on the leather belt, he looked much more handsome-tall, strong, and from a certain angle, he could really be called a handsome man .He stroked the weapon with his hand, and seemed to want to use it to increase his courage. "Ready." He said firmly. "Okay!" Esham walked towards the door, and Ellery looked out through the barbed wire window. "Is there no one outside! Quinn." "Maybe not." Esham pulled the latch, and the three of them walked outside quickly... There is no one in the open space, the sun is about to set, and the forest is dyed red by the afterglow of the setting sun.When Ellery huddled under the barbed wire and passed through, Isham followed closely behind. When both of them passed through the barbed wire with difficulty, the two stood and looked at the protected person in uniform. The extremely light body easily crossed the fence. The door—for Andrea Tiever was very careful—was closed, and there was still a thin curl of smoke rising from the chimney, and from the edge of the forest it looked as if it were still inhabited. The three walked into the forest, the forest receded gradually, and the sun gradually set. They carefully searched for the mountain road. In the forest, there were mountains, trails, and shaking figures looming.