"Joe! Maybe it"s a rescue party!" Frank said.
But the boys were doomed to disappointment, for into the circle of firelight stepped the gang"s American henchmen carrying their mine detectors.
"So you caught "em, eh?" said the man with the green cap.
"Yeah," another chuckled. "I hear those Hardys are just a couple of amateur detectives."
"Boy, I wish Dad were here now," Joe thought, furious. "We"d show "em who are amateurs."
To add to the misery of the trapped quartet, their captors brought a steaming tin of stew to the 175 guard. The aroma wafted to their nostrils, causing their mouths to water. But they remained silent, determined to ask no favors.
Soon the group around the campfire were eating and joking loudly.
"Now that the Hardys and their friends are tied up," Stransky said, "we can go ahead in our search without any more trouble from those interlopers."
"What about the reinforcements, boss?"
"They"re on the way," Stransky replied. "They"ll skip past Prito and his fat friend tonight.
With ten more fellows helping, you should find that-er-lost cargo in no time."
Frank and Joe exchanged glances of alarm. If they could only warn Chet and Tony of the impending peril! "It looks as if it"s curtains for all of us!" Joe whispered glumly. The Hardys"
hope was fading like the flickering flames of the camp-fire.
With the meal over, the captives and their guard were swallowed up in the shadows.
Frank had even started to doze when suddenly he was snapped to consciousness by the sudden sound of: Oomph!
Startled, the Hardys saw to their astonishment that it was their guard who had uttered the sound! This was followed by the crack of fist meeting jaw. Then there was silence. Frank and Joe, as well as Robbie and Fleetfoot, stared into the gloom.
176 Suddenly a voice close to them whispered, "How"re you fellows? All right?"
"Chet!" Frank gasped in disbelief. "Are you alone?" Frank gasped in disbelief. "Are you alone?"
"No, I"m here too," came another voice.
"Tony!" Joe said in m.u.f.fled but joyful tones.
"Well, we took care of that guy for a while," said Chet. "I jumped on his middle, then Tony socked him."
"Sure good see you!" Fleetfoot said.
"You bet!" Robbie spoke up. "Hope you brought a sharp knife."
"Right here. I"ll have you out in a jiffy." Tony glanced quickly at the men about the camp-fire. Some were now asleep, others were lolling about. Desultory chatter m.u.f.fled the sound of Tony"s knife as it cut through the strands of the seine.
"There," he said finally. "You"re free. Let"s get out of here."
"Where to?" asked Chet.
"Robbie"s copter," replied Frank. "I think we can make it this time."
Tony held out a small compa.s.s attached to his belt. The luminous face gave the group their bearings. Then, with Fleetfoot in the lead, the six stealthily crept away.
Keeping tensely on the alert for signs of detection from the enemy, they proceeded for some 177 time in dead silence. Finally, feeling they were safely out of earshot, Joe asked Chet and Tony, "How"d you find us, fellows?"
"Easy," Tony said. "We spotted that campfire a mile away."
As the boys walked on, Chet told Frank and Joe how they had become worried about their friends" long absence.
"Tony got half a dozen guards as replacements to take charge at the island," he added, "so we could come to look for you."
Frank slapped the stout boy affectionately on the shoulder. Chet"s loyalty was unswerving.
Once Fleetfoot had found the slope leading to the helicopter, the party cautiously traversed the rocky terrain. Frank and Joe, with the aid of Tony and Chet, carried the cans of gasoline from their hiding place. Reaching the helicopter, they fueled it. Robbie, meanwhile, checked the instrument panel, as Fleetfoot looked on with awe.
"Me get whirlybird ride now?" the Indian boy asked.
"Right!" Joe said. "You certainly deserve it!"
Preparations for the flight went on under mounting tension. Every few moments Frank or Joe glanced up at the rocky cliff to see whether or not Stransky"s men were pursuing them.
Finally Robbie announced, "Okay, fellows, we"re set to go, but I"ve got bad news."
178 "What"s that?" Joe said.
"I can"t take all of you out in one trip. Two must be left behind."
"I"ll stay," Joe volunteered.
"Me too," offered Chet without hesitation.
Frank protested at first, saying he wanted to stay with his brother. But Joe insisted that Frank go back to give details of their adventure.
With snappy salutes, Chet and Joe bade their companions farewell. The door of the helicopter closed. With a whining sound, the rotors turned, at first slowly, then whirring into action.
Suddenly, above the noise of the rotors, Joe and Chet heard a volley of rifleshots ring out from the cliff.
"Run for cover!" Joe cried out.
The two boys darted behind a boulder. "Will the copter get off in time?" Joe wondered, his heart pounding. The lives of Frank and the three others aboard were at stake!
Breathlessly, Joe and Chet watched as the helicopter rose, gained sufficient alt.i.tude, and took forward flight. The lights of rifle fire still winked on the brow of the cliff. In return, the helicopter blinked its running lights.
"Thank goodness!" Joe exclaimed. "They"re safe!"
In the helicopter, meanwhile, Robbie had worked feverishly to get out of range of the snipers. Their first warning of enemy fire had been a 179 bullet ripping through the fuselage close to Frank"s head.
Now beyond reach of the foreigners" guns, Frank, Tony, and Robbie conferred. "Better contact Juneau p.r.o.nto," Frank said.
"Right!" Robbie flicked on the radio.
It took only a few minutes to relay the urgent summons. The operator at the seaplane base promised to alert the proper authorities, not only in the state of Alaska, but also in British Columbia.
"Now what?" Tony asked.
"We"ll stand by," Frank replied. "Shouldn"t take long."
His conjecture proved correct. In a matter of minutes fighter aircraft of both the United States and Canadian forces came streaking low over the woods. Robbie had pinpointed their location.
As if by magic, it suddenly turned daylight as powerful magnesium flares attached to parachutes lighted the entire area. This was followed by more billowing chutes-paratroopers! They ringed the area and their walkie-talkie reporti could be heard plainly over the radio of the hovering helicopter.
The action was swift and conclusive. A few scat" tered bursts of machine-gun fire, and the troops had rounded up the entire gang.
"Good show. Better than cowboy movie!" Fleet-foot exclaimed.
180 The others laughed. Then Frank urged, "Let"s get an Army helicopter to go down with us and pick up Joe and Chet."
Robbie radioed the request and received an affirmative reply.
"We"ll stand by to follow you in," came the Army pilot"s voice.
With rotors whirling, Robbie set his craft down at the place where they had left the two boys. Magnesium flares still drifting down from the sky illuminated the area. Finally Chet and Joe dashed out from between two large boulders. They reached the helicopter as the Army craft came in alongside.
"Frank!" Joe called excitedly as his brother jumped down from the helicopter. "We found itl We found it!"
"What?" Frank asked, running up.
"The moon rocket! It made a crater just beyond the place where we were hiding."
Joe and Chet led the others to the spot. Only part of the metal tube could be seen protruding from the sandy spot where the rocket had landed.
"This is it all right!" Robbie declared as he examined the words etched into the tube"s smooth surface.
Moments later, a colonel from the Air Force joined the boys. When told about the find, he quickly swore them all to secrecy.
"You"ve all done your country a tremendous 181 service," he praised the Hardys and their friends, then hastened off to radio a coded report to Washington.
A little later Robbie"s group took off in his helicopter, while Joe and Chet boarded the Army helicopter for the ride back to Juneau.
"Wow, what excitement!" Joe exclaimed as he sat down.
At the moment Joe had no way of knowing that more excitement was to come the Hardys" way very soon. In their next adventure, THE MYSTERY OF THE CHINESE JUNK, the two young sleuths are plunged into danger when they try to find the key to a baffling puzzle.
The Hardy boys and their friends rendezvoused at the air base in Juneau. There, they learned that Remo"s reinforcements had been captured at the mouth of the Kooniak. Frank and Joe quickly put through a radio message to their father in Bay-port and took turns telling of their adventures.
"I"m mighty proud of you boys," Fenton Hardy said, after hearing the full story. "Are you going back for the buried treasure?"
"Tomorrow, Dad."
Just then, Tony Prito brought in more news, which was relayed by Frank to Bayport. The prisoner, nicknamed "Watchdog," had finally confessed to police that his real name was Shad Yawke. He had been hired by the Stranskys to terrorize the stream guard on duty in the Kooniak.
182 He had also hired the salmon poachers to mislead the Hardys, in case they should guess the foreign ring"s true purpose-that of finding the moon rocket.
Yawke confirmed Frank"s suspicion about the star-heel imprint which the boys had found in so many places. It was the trade-mark of a foreign manufacturer whose shoes were worn by the alien gang.
"A stupid oversight by the Stranskys," Joe commented.
The captured henchman admitted, too, the hurling of the fire bomb and the looting of the Indian grave houses by the gang. Further grilling revealed that he knew about the ancient Indian paddle. One of the gang had taken the blade and subsequently lost it when spying on Tony Prito.
Mr. Hardy supplied his sons with additional information about Romo Stransky"s activities.
"When Romo learned from his twin that Tony was sending for you boys," Mr. Hardy related, "he started buying all those plane seats."
"And was he the truck driver who forced us off the road?"
"Yes."
"Well, I guess that clears up the mystery, Dad. We"ll be home soon." Frank said good-by and hung up.
At that moment Chet walked into the radio room, his face beaming bright as an airplane beacon. "There"s one thing I didn"t tell you fellows about."
"What"s that? Did you dig up some more crooks, Chet?" Frank asked with a twinkle.
"No," the boy said. "I caught a salmon, a twenty-pound beaut. We"re going to have a real feast tonight. Fleetfoot will cook it Indian style."
Frank and Joe chuckled. "Here"s one time I"m with you," Joe said, pumping the stout boy"s hand. "I"m hungry."
"Me too!" Frank agreed heartily.
"Call the fellows together." Joe grinned. "This"ll be one salmon the Alaskan bears won"t get!"
THE END.