Tintin and the Golden Fleece pendulum, Calculus insists that the gold is still right above them. Cutting away at the paint on the ship's railings Tintin realizes that they are in fact the camouflaged gold. The chest contained the real railings, and was just a red herring. Haddock finally returns the gold to Tetaragua. The main square in the capital is renamed Paparanic Square, and Haddock receives Tetaragua's highest decoration, the Order of the Scarlet Cheetah. Back home at Marlinspike Hall, Haddock hires Clodion as his cook, and Calculus keeps Romulus as a pet and a test subject for his inventions of a flying birdcage.
Tintin and the Lake of Sharks with laughing gas and take the children away. Tintin and Haddock pursue them but fail to rescue Niko and Nouchka. The criminals leave behind a message on a tape player from their leader, "King Shark", who tells the heroes (with a voice which is startingly familiar to Tintin) that they will get the children back in return for Calculus' invention. Tintin himself is to do the exchange and is not to call the police. Tintin, Haddock, Calculus and the detectives search the house for bugs, and Tintin discovers a secret passage that leads to Madame Black's walkie-talkie hidden in the