The Mystery of the Haunted Mine

Book excerpt: Moquedas, or Tonto, The Brave, as he is known to his companions, Mehitabel Lee and Ronnie Jones, with whom he shares many adventures, while hiking with them in the canyons around their town of Highland Boy, come across a deep abandoned mineshaft. When Ronnie drops a pebble into it to determine its depth, instead of a rock-against-rock echo or the sound of a splash, they hear a screeching throbbing wail as though from a tormented witch. Thus begins the adventure of a lifetime for the three companions. They are determined to learn more about the legends, which have caused the people of Highland Boy to be fearful of the thundershowers, whose brilliant flashes of lightening and building-shaking thunder, come to town about the same time each year. The elders, the town marshal and doctor, relate stories of the old days: Of a romance between ill-fated lovers, whose mishaps in days gone by, have led to the mysteries that cause the haunting, screeching laughter and wails of despair that accompany the thunder and lightening. Determined to end the grief of the lovers and end the troubles that plague the town, the adventurers set out to learn all they can and rid the town of its nightmarish history. They bravely face the missions that they have laid out for themselves in order to achieve their goals. Finally, in the coroner's dark, rat-infested warehouse, the adventurers find the key that will help them solve the mystery of the haunted mine and bring peace to their beloved town. They vow to return the key, a message of love, to its rightful place, in the haunted mine.