Traja pátrači
- Jupiter, Peter a Bob – dostanú v jeden deň dva listy, ktoré
sľubujú nové prípady. V prvom z nich ide o strateného kocúra,
druhý však vyzerá náozaj záhadne – stará egyptská múmia,
ktorú chce istý profesor egyptológie skúmať, šepká, keď sa k
nej priblíži. Peter a Bob si chcú od dobrodružstiev na chvíľu
oddýchnuť a zaoberať sa niečim pokojnejším. Tak sa dohodnú, že
Jupiterovi povedia o stratenom kocúrovi a až keď pani Banfryovej,
majiteľke kocúra, sľúbia pomoc, prezradia mu aj záhadnú múmiu.
Najskôr však budú musieť nájsť kocúra – už to predsa
sľúbili.
Celkom im to
však nevýjde. Vďaka periskopu si všimnú, že Jupiter prichádza
s defektom na bicykli, ale Peter pred ním predstiera, že to dokázal
vydedukovať zo zaprášeného kolena, špinavých rúk a odtlačku
pneumatiky na jednej z nich. Jupiter sa zatvári uznanlivo, ale
svojou ďalšou vetou Petra s Bobom šokuje: „Ale
také schopnosti by sa nemali mrhať hľadaním strateného kocúra.“
Tí nechcú veriť vlastným ušiam. Čo?! „Takými
majstrovskými schopnosťami v umení deduktívneho myslenia a
logického uvažovania by sa nemalo mrhať pri stíhaní abesínskeho
kocúra, ktorý sa stratil zo svojho obvyklého revíru,“ zopakoval
Jupiter, schválne použijúc učený spôsob vyjadrovania, ktorí
tak neznášali. „Detektívi s vašimi schopnosťami by sa mali
pustiť do väčšej hry, ako je, povedzme, …“ na chvíľu sa
odmlčal, akoby tuho premýšľal, „... ako je, povedzme, záhada
tritisícročnej múmie, ktorá šepká svojmu vlastníkovi tajomné
posolstvá v neznámom jazyku.“ Jupiter už pred
príchodom do Hlavného stanu zavolal po auto (ktoré mali so šoférom
tridsať dní k dispozícii vďaka výhre v súťaži) a o chvíľu
boli všetci traja na ceste za profesorom Yarboroughom.
Po príchode k
profesorovi sa dozvedia o múmii Ra-Orkona a od komorníka aj o
kliatbe, ktorá je vraj s múmiou spojená. Podľa nej každý, kto
Ra-Orkona vyruší, zomrie. Profesor sa za tieto reči o kliatbe
hnevá a ani Jupiter sa ňou nenechá odradiť. Hneď vyskúša svoju
prvú hypotézu – či by múmia nemohla šepkať vďaka vysielačke
(takto teda fungovalo to „čítanie myšlienok“!). Petrovo
rozprávanie do vysielačky pôsobí síce podobne ako šepkanie
múmie, ale nič podobné v sarkofágu nenájdu. Zato však spadne
socha egyptského boha Anubisa a maska, a vonku ich takmer zasiahne
padajúca žulová guľa. Egyptská kliatba?
Samozrejme, že
nie. Kto mal teda na svedomí takéto „nehody“? Kto bol záhadný
čarodejník Sardon, ktorý povedal líbyjskému rodu Hamidovcov, že
Ra-Orkon je ich predok, ktorý sa chce dostať do svojej vlasti, aby
dosiahol pokoj? Hamid je preto v Amerike,
aby za každú cenu získal Ra-Orkona. Čo všetko preto urobí? Čo
hovorí múmia v jazyku, ktorý sa podobá na starú arabčinu? Ako
môže múmia šepkať? A prečo vlastne šepká? To všetko sa
dozvieme. Aj to, ako to súvisí so strateným kocúrom pani
Banfryovej. Jedinou záhadou mi tak zostáva, ako môže človek
zodpovedný za krádež múmie (a iné veci) chcieť ísť po
odhalení pracovať na Stredný východ pre Organizáciu spojených
národov...
Translation from English; the original title is Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators in The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy.
The Three
investigators - Jupiter, Peter and Bob – receive on a one day two
letters, which promise new cases. The first one concerns a lost cat,
but the other one seems really mysterious – an old Egyptian mummy,
which a certain egyptology professor wants to study, whispers, when
he gets close to it. Peter and Bob want to take a break from
adventures for while and do something calmer. So they agree on
telling Jupiter only about the lost cat and only when they promise
help to Mrs. Banfry, owner of the cat, they'll reveal also the
mysterious mummy. But firstly, they'll have
to find the cat – they already promised it.
However, it
doesn't really work out. Thanks to a
periscope they notice that Jupiter comes with a defect on the tire of
his bicycle, but Peter pretends to
him that he
was able to deduce it from the dust on his knee, dirty hands and mark
of a wheel on one of them. Jupiter at first appears appreciative, but
with his next sentence he shocks both Peter and Bob: “But
such skills shouldn't be wasted on looking for a lost cat.”
Those
don't want to believe their own ears. What?! “Such
master skills in the art of deductive reasoning and logical thinking
shouldn't be wasted on chasing an Abyssinian cat that got lost from
the usual ground,” repeated Jupiter, intentionally
using the erudite speech, which they so much hated. “Detectives
with your skills should enter a greater game, such as, let's say, …”
he paused for a while, as if he was thinking hard, “such as, let's
say, a mystery of a three thousand-year-old mummy which whispers
mysterious messages
to
its owner in an unknown language.” Jupiter
already before coming to Headquarters had called a car (which they
had available with a driver for thirty days as a prize from a
competition) and after a short moment tall three of them were on the
way to professor Yarborough.
After arriving
to the professor, they learn about the mummy of Ra-Orkon and from the
butler also about a curse which is allegedly connected with the
mummy. According to it, everyone who disturbs Ra-Orkon, will die.
Professor is getting angry about these rumours about the curse
and neither Jupiter gets turned off by it. He immediately tests his
first theory – whether the mummy couldn't whisper thanks to a
walkie-talkie (so this is how that “mind reading” worked!).
Peter's talking into the walkie-talkie sounds similar to mummy
whispering, but they don't find anything similar in the sarcophagus.
However, a statue of an Egyptian god Anubis and a mask fall, and
outside they get almost hit by a falling granite ball. Egyptian
curse?
Of
course not. So who is responsible for such “accidents”? Who was a
mysterious wizard Sardon who told to Lybian family
of Hamids
that Ra-Orko were their ancestor who wants to get to his land to
achieve peace? Because of this, Hamid is in America to get Ra-Orkon
at any cost. What will he do for that? What does the mummy say in a
language which seems similar to ancient Arabic? How can a mummy
whisper? Why does it whisper? We get to know all this. Also, how is
it connected with the lost cat of Mrs. Banfry. The only remaining
mystery for me therefore is, how can a person, responsible for theft
of the mummy (and more), want after his conviction
to
work on Middle East for the United Nations...
P.S.
The
translation of
the quotes to
English is mine. Once I read about an early computer translator, for
which, when translating the
idiom „Out of
sight, out of mind“ from some language to another (I don't remember
which languages they
were), the
result was „a
blind idiot“. I
am
curious how much my
translation differs from the original, but it's
certainly better
than that! ;-)
