Planned Strategy.
at the curb stood a rcd-ancl-white taxi, its motor racing and its door open. Before the boys could reach it, the fugitives jumped inside and the cab roared away in the dusk.
"That"s like the cab Dr. Bush took!" Joe shouted. "And look, its license plate is covered!"
"I"ll bet those fellows are working lor him!" Frank cried. The boys gave up the futile chase and returned to the house.
"One of those thugs might have been Dr. Bush," General Smith ventured, when he heard about the doctor"s cab.
"I doubt it," Joe said, and mentioned diet"s photograph. "The doctor has long legs."
Mr. Hardy was trying to quiet his sister and at the same time get her story of the intruders.
"Those-those scoundrels said they were guards from an insane asylum," Aunt Gertrude spluttered. "They said General Smith had escaped and they wanted to take him back. I said he was a friend of ours, and they couldn"t come in!"
"What did they look like?" Mr. Hardy queried.
Aunt Gertrude peered over her eyegla.s.ses. "Do you expect me to fight off cutthroats and remember their looks at the same time?" she asked crisply, her fright gone. "I was too busy to notice, but one was a boy about Joe"s age. He had a round face and peaches-and-cream complexion." The woman closed her eyes and shuddered. "Imagine a baby-faced boy wanting to murder me! What is the world coming to!"
"We"ll find them, Aunt Gertrude!" Joe vowed.
"No, you won"t. No, you won"t," their relative protested. "You"ll not go chasing such criminals. Oh, I knew when that woman telephoned, you should stay out of this. General Smith, we expect you to stay to dinner."
As Aunt Gertrude slumped into a chair, General Smith said he would be glad to stay and talk things over.
"You see how things are, Fent. Will you handle the case ior me?"
"Yes," the detective replied evenly. "Finding the 25 lost gold may be a thousand to one chance, but it would give me great pleasure to nab those two thugs who just tried to break into this house!"
"Great!" the officer burst out. "You"ll start immediately?"
"Not so fast, Jack," Mr. Hardy said. "I must return to Washington tomorrow to testify in the Antonesque case."
General Smith looked disappointed. "But suppose Bush finds the gold before we do?"
"We"ll take care of that," Mr. Hardy a.s.sured him. He turned to his sons. "You fellows can start South at once to lay the groundwork."
"Frank and Joe?" asked the officer in amazement.
"Yes, indeed," Mr. Hardy replied proudly. "My boys help me on many cases. Sometimes they solve "em before I do!"
"But this is different," continued the general, still hesitating. "This may be dangerous."
He tugged the lapels of his tunic with a gesture as if he had suddenly made up his mind to something. "I"ll accompany them to Rocky Run. I have a short leave due. How soon can you boys start?"
"Will tomorrow morning be soon enough?" Joe asked eagerly.
General Smith smiled. "I can see no bugler would catch you boys nappingl"
26 "Our car"s in the shop, but it"s ready row.. We"ll pick it up early in the morning," Frank said.
"Good. Then we"ll leave at nine. We en stop overnight in Philadelphia and make Rocky Run some time the next day."
Twenty minutes later Chet returned, waving a picture. "Hey, how do you like this one?"
he asked enthusiastically.
"It"s a picture of a taxi," Joe remarked. "How"d you happen to snap it?"
Chet beamed. "It"s the one Dr. Bush rode away in."
Frank s.n.a.t.c.hed the picture as Chet, bursting with pride, said, "Guess I"d make a pretty good detective myself, eh?"
"If you"d only snapped the license number," Frank remarked, handing back the photograph.
"Oh, gosh, that"s right," Chet wailed. "But I was running, and I couldn"t go fast after eating those Western sandwiches."
Frank and Joe told their stout friend of the planned trip to the South. Chet"s face fell.
"Gee, just when I thought we were going to have some fun with my camera, you"re going away."
Frank, winking at his brother, said, "Say, Chet, you know we might need a good photographer on this case. How would you like to come along?"
27 "Oh, boy!" Chct beamed. "I might even get the other half of that crook!"
"i he general"s permission to take Chct with them was granted, and the boy hurried home to pack.
"We"d better do some packing ourselves," Frank toid his brotncr.
Their motiicr, who had been out shopping, and had just returned, looked in upon them.
"Good gracious!" exclaimed the sweet-faced woman, who was a head shorter than her two sons. "Another trip?"
The boys told of their plans. She smiled know-ingiy.
"I"ll miss you dreadfully. Arc you taking the proper clothes?"
"We"ll be outdoors most of the time," Frank replied, "exploring an old battlefield."
At the mention of a battlefield, Aunt Gertrude, who had come upstairs, burst out, "Land o" nonsense! You"re taking too much risk. Why, there may be hidden sh.e.l.ls that might explode. And that sun down South. You"re likely to get a sunstroke! Dinner"s ready."
Aunt Gertrude, who had the habit of hooping from one subject to another, hustled downstairs to the kitchen. Her cooking was as savory as her language was peppery. This evening, as a special neat 28 for Frank and Joe she had baked an apple pie and made ice cream. When she brought in the desjert, ihe boys" eyes popped.
"Wny, Auntie!" Joe exclaimed.
"Goodness knows when you"ll eat again," she said tartly. "At least you should start this trip well fed!"
General Smith left immediately after dinner. Frank picked up a history of the Civil War and began reading about battles in the vicinity of Rocky Run. Joe thumbed through the pages of an encyclopedia until he came to an article on bandoleers and ammunition boxes.
As he was deeply engrossed reading that the leather shoulder straps first came into use two centuries ago, and that each one held twelve cylindrical boxes of powder, three loud knocks sounded on the front door.
"It"s Chet," Frank said, recognizing the signal the boys used. "Guess he couldn"t wait until tomorrow."
As Frank opened the door, three young people burst into the Hardy home, laughing. In the lead was lola Morton, Chet"s sister, with Gallic Shaw following. Chet brought up the rear with two large packages.
"Surprise!" Gallic called gleefully. The brown-haired, dark-eyed girl, a friend of Frank"s for several years, took a big white cakebox from Chet and set it gingerly on the hall table.
29 "This is a bon voyage party," announced lola, v/ilo was just as slender and good-looking as her brother was fat. "Here. Take this bag, Joe. But be careful. It"s soda pop."
Frank and Joe carried the refreshments into the kitchen while Gallic went to find the boys" latest phonograph records.
"Don"t yo"-all forget," lola teased Joe, "to bring back a good southern accent." lola thought the younger Hardy was tops among the boys in Bayport.
"We"ll leave that to your brother," Joe retorted, grinning. "He can learn it while he"s eatin"
fu-ried chicken."
After chatting about the trip and dancing until ten o"clock, the young people sat down at the dining-room table for refreshments. They had just finished when a long whistle sounded ominously in the distance.
"Listen!" Frank commanded. "The fire alarm."
Three long, mournful blasts, then two short ones.
"That"s downtown," commented Joe, who knew the location of every fire alarm box in Bayport.
Soon the wail of sirens and the excited clang of bells toid the listeners the fire department was on its way to answer the call.
"Let"s go see where the fire is," Joe suggested.
"Wait till I finish this cake," Chet protested.
SO Just as Chet gulped the last bite, the telephone rang. Frank answered.
"No! Oh, gosh!" he moaned as he returned to the dining room, his forehead creased with anxiety. "Joe, our car"s gone! Burned up! That fire was in the garage!"
The wail that emitted from the three boys brought the older Hardys down from the second floor.
"It"s a shame," said Mrs. Hardy, hearing the bad news.
"We can"t go on the trip," Joe groaned.
"The loss of your car shouldn"t stop you. You can go by bus or train," his father suggested.
"That"s talking sense," Aum Gertrude spoke up. "Lots safer than tearing down there in your own car. Boys under twenty shouldn"t drive cars on wet roads, anyway. It"s going to rain tomorrow."
"I have an idea," Chct exclaimed, beaming. "We"ll go in my jalopy."
Aunt Gertrude snorted. "Put General Smith in that old junk? It hasn"t any top!"
Chet looked downcast a moment, then brightened. "He-he can go on the train," the boy stammered.
Early the next morning a sound which might have been the gasp of a dying goat sounded in front of the Hardy home. The wheezy horn on Chet"s jalopyl 31 Chet came in and laid his battered camera on the bullet.
"Sit down," Mr. Hardy invited. "You"re probably hungry from that trip across town."
"How"d you guess it?" Chet replied, eying a stack of wheat cakes which Mrs. Hardy had set on the table. "Just what I need for the start of a trip."
"You"re not going today," Mr. Hardy told him.
"We"re not?" Chet puffed.
Mr. Hardy pushed his chair back and arose. "I"ll be home at five this afternoon. At that time I"ll have news for you."
"I"ll bet your father"s sending us down by plane," Chet guessed after Mr. Hardy had left the house.
"Maybe he"s going to let us take his car," Frank said.
Promptly at five the three boys met in the Hardy living room. Mr. Hardy walked in witli General Smith.
Joe was worried. "Tell us, Dad, are we going South or not?"
Mr. Hardy"s keen, dark eyes regarded each boy seriously, even Chet, who was putting a roll of film into his camera.
"Yes, you"re going," he said slowly. "Take a look in front of the house."
Frank and Joe looked out the window, then 32 dashed out the door, with Chet a poor third. In Iront of the house stood a new car-a sporty green coupe.
"How do you like it?" asked the detective, regarding the openmouthed look of amazement on the faces of his sons. "Think it"ll perform as well as your old one?"
"Dad, you mean . . . ?" Joe gasped.
"It"s ours?"
"Yes," said Mr. Hardy, grinning broadly. "You can start your trip in the morning."
"Screaming crow!" spluttered Joe. "How do you like that!"
"I"ll take a picture of it," said Chet, unlimbering his camera and looking through the view finder.
"Take her for a spin around the block," Mr. Hardy suggested, "and then come inside.
We have some planning to do with General Smith."
The boys purred around the vicinity in the beautiful, smooth-flowing car for ten minutes before returning to the Hardy home.
"It"s sure a beauty!" Joe exclaimed.