Meanwhile Frank was getting busy. He sprang toward the battery of levers. With his heart in his mouth he pulled one back, not knowing if his act would create a tremendous explosion. Nothing happened, however.
Relieved, he threw lever after lever out of position. Only one of them refused to respond.
This jammed, and all his efforts to bring it in line with the others 177.
were useless. He could not afford to spend any more time struggling with it, so he ran out of the room and into the signal compartment.
There he hastily set every signal working.
Frank then rushed to the switchboard which controlled phones in the grounds, clapped the head-piece to his ears, and plugged in the first number on the apparatus.
"What is it, Chief?" answered a strange voice.
"All clear out!" snapped Frank. "Tell everyone you see."
"Why, what"s wrong-----?"
"Those are my orders. Leave the place at once."
Frank plugged in another number. A second voice answered respectfully: "Yes, sir?"
"Warn everyone to clear out immediately and ask no questions. Everything is going to be blown sky-high in less than a quarter of an hour."
He heard a gasp at the other end of the line, then cut the connection short to plug hi another call. To the man who answered he gave the same curt message. He kept this up until he had warned everyone to whom he spoke.
Frank was working against time. Now he ran to the chamber that stored the electrical equipment, and s.n.a.t.c.hed up a pair of rubber gloves and a set of pliers.
A switch on the wall which he guessed to be the master switch had caught his eye, so he threw this into reverse. There were others labelled "DYNAMITE CHAMBER,"
"GUNPOWDER," "HIGH EXPLOSIVE Sh.e.l.lS," and so on. To make sure of com178 plete destruction of Vilnoff"s system he attacked all the wires leading from them. In a frenzy he snipped them with the pliers, and ripped them clear of the wall.
He realized that at any moment he might accidentally set off a connection that would blow him up and lay waste the entire countryside. Yet he worked grimly, hoping to save the lives of innocent people. Frank"s aim was to wreck VilnofF s entire deadly mechanism as completely and as thoroughly as he possibly could.
In the meantime, what had happened to Joe?
When he had clambered through an open trap-door into the night air he did not think that there was one chance in a thousand that he would be able to locate the cabin where Tofnotch was hidden. was hidden.
Great was his relief when he stumbled out and found himself on a road not far from the bridge which held the sinister sign post.
Joe ran down the road. As he did so, he was startled by an alarm bell which began to clang behind him. At the same time red lights flashed among the trees, and the hand grew crimson again. Its uncanny fingers twisted convulsively as they had done when the boys had defied its warning.
Not knowing that his brother"s activities in the signal control room were already having their effect, the first thought of Joe was that something had gone wrong; that Vilnoff had revived and overcome Frank, and was now signalling for help. For a moment he was almost tempted to go back but decided that it would be better to follow out his original plan.
"Nothing could have happened," he convinced himself finally. "Vilnoff is dead."
179.
He hastened across the bridge and up the road beyond. The distance seemed long, but in reality it was not far to the clearing. Frank and Joe had lost much time following the stream and blundering through the brush. The path cut straight through the thickets, and past the cabin where Ivan was imprisoned.
As he reached this building, the door opened and a figure came running out into the night. The moon appeared from behind a cloud just then, and by its wan radiance Joe recognized Ivan, the jockey.
"Ivan!" Joe shouted, rushing across the clearing. "Ivan I"
The jockey hurried toward him.
"Who is it?" he asked. "Oh, Joe Hardy. I got the note. I"ve been expecting you. But what happened? The man who was guarding me cleared out a few minutes ago, looking as if he was scared to death. There"s a phone in the cabin and he got a message. What"s up?"
"Plenty," gasped Joe. "Quick 1 I know where Topnotch Topnotch is hidden. We must get word out is hidden. We must get word out to my father and the police at the west gate. There"s a plot -to blow up this whole place-and damage Bayport, In a few words he told of the proposed twenty and then ten minute periods of explosions.
Ivan was mystified, but asked no further questions. He hurried along at Joe"s side.
The road continued across the clearing and wound through another stretch of shrubbery until the next open s.p.a.ce unfolded before them. In the moonlight Joe could see the stable where Topnotch Topnotch was hidden. was hidden.
,l8o As he ran toward the building, a new plan formulated itself in his mind. Joe was not a skilled horseman and he doubted his ability to reach the west gate in time, even on Topnotch. Perhaps Ivan might make it! Perhaps Ivan might make it!
Moreover, there was another angle to the affair. The fleeing helpers of Vilnoff should escape death, of course, but they should not escape punishment for their secret work. He would try to nave them captured!
Joe stumbled up to the cabin entrance and tugged at the cross-bar. It fell away and the door swung open. There was a whinny of welcome from the dark interior of the stable.
"Topnotch!" shouted Ivan gleefully as he sprang inside. shouted Ivan gleefully as he sprang inside.
He returned in a moment leading the high-spirited animal by the bridle. Topnotch Topnotch nuzzled his master lovingly.
"Will you ride him?" asked Joe. "Will you ride him to the west gate?"
Ivan shook his head.
"I won"t go without my father," he answered.
"Your father?" exclaimed Joe in surprise. "Who is he? Is he here?"
"His name is Vilnoff," answered the jockey.
Joe was stunned. Vilnoff the father of Ivan Evans, the jockey 1 He could not believe it.
"But your name is Evans."
Ivan shook his head.
"My real name is Vilnoff," he said. "It"s a long story, Joe. My father kidnapped me and brought me here because he didn"t want me to continue my career as a l8l jockey. I"ve forgiven him for it. I won"t leave here " without him."
Joe laid a hand on the jockey"s arm.
"Ivan," he said quietly, "I wish I had known about this. Your father is dead. He preferred death to capture, and it is no doubt best. But you can help to keep innocent people from dying. Will you ride-to the west gate now and warn my my father? Look-here"s a map." father? Look-here"s a map."
Joe whipped out the sketch Frank had found. On it he pointed to the road leading to the west gate.
"My father is dead!" said Ivan dully. "You are sure of that?"
"I"m sorry, Ivan, but it"s true."
The jockey noaded. Then, with a m.u.f.fled sob, he sprang up onto the horse"s back. He took a quick glance at the note, crouched low, dug his knees into T of notch"s T of notch"s sides, and the sides, and the gallant animal leaped forward as if it were at the raising of a race-track barrier. In a moment horse and rider had vanished into the darkness of the road at the other side of the clearing.
Joe wheeled about and began running toward Road One, which would bring him to the river. He had gone no more than a few steps when the ground suddenly shook violently beneath him, a great tree crashed nearby, and there was a dull, rumbling sound like thunder beneath the earth"s surface!
The twenty minutes were up!
CHAPTER XXV.
MYSTERIES SOLVED.
the echoes of the explosion died away. Then all was still.
Would there be another one? Had Frank failed? Had he perhaps been killed, trapped there in the underground hideout? These terrifying questions flashed across Joe"s mind as he broke into a run and hurried down the road.
At length he came to the gate over which he and Frank had climbed when they had come into the forbidden territory with its electrically charged fence. He vaulted it and hurried on through the night.
Soon the road turned and dipped toward the river. He ran down the slope and at last caught sight of the water gleaming in the moonlight. He stumbled the last remaining paces to. the river"s edge.
The Sleuth Sleuth was still safe at her anchorage in the inlet. There was now another craft in was still safe at her anchorage in the inlet. There was now another craft in the bay as well -a bulky, unwieldy barge. A thick hawser tied around a convenient tree-trunk prevented the huge craft from drifting away with the current.
Now that Joe had reached the river in safety and was only a few yards away from the Sleuth, he was undecided as to what to do next. Should he wait, on the chance that Frank he was undecided as to what to do next. Should he wait, on the chance that Frank would eventually find his way 182.
183.
to the inlet? Or should he race to Bayport in the boat and notify the police of what had happened?
There had been no more explosions, which was a good sign, he reflected. One ten-minute period had gone by. Frank must have succeeded! He did not know, of course, that the one blast that had occurred had been caused by the jammed lever in the underground control room, and that it had done comparatively little damage.
Joe decided to wait a few minutes. It was just as well that he did so, for soon he heard a confused shouting, followed by a thudding of footsteps on the road above. He slipped into the dark shadow of a clump of trees. In a few moments about a dozen men came running down to the water"s edge. They were badly frightened, gabbling among themselves in a foreign language. These were no doubt some of VilnoS"s hirelings, thrown into panic by the working of their master"s diabolical scheme.
Joe rushed out of the gloom, and pointed to the big, flat-bottomed boat. He could see that the men were panic-stricken and did not know what to do.
"Take to the barge!" he shouted. "To the barge!"
They were too frightened to question his authority. One of them with a shout went splashing out into the water and began climbing over the side of the barge. The others followed him like so many sheep, knocking one another down, and fighting for places on. the boat.
In the meantime Joe was busy untying the heavy hawser from the tree trunk. When the last of the aliens had climbed aboard the boy hurled the big rope into the water, and cast the barge adrift.
104 The current took the craft in its grip and drew it away from the sh.o.r.e. It was some time, however, before the bewildered foreigners discovered their plight and realized that they were drifting steadily and remorselessly out in midstream. When they did, they set up a wild uproar, screaming imprecations and curses. But the water was deep and cold. Even if any of the men were able to swim it was soon evident that none of them intended to risk a plunge.
"That will hold you fellows for a while," remarked Joe with satisfaction.
He sat down on the bank and watched the big barge with its terrified freight drift out upon the current that would carry it down the river and into Barmet Bay.
Two more ten-minute periods pa.s.sed. No further explosions occurred.
A little later Joe heard more voices and footsteps on the road above him.
"How many of Vilnoffs men are there?" muttered Joe, hiding himself again.
Then he heard Frank"s voice say, "I told Joe I would come back to the Sleuth Sleuth iO were to iO were to get out alive. If he sent Ivan out to the west gate he must have come down here himself.""
"What"s all the racket out on the river?" demanded another voice.
There were three men with Frank. Each of them carried a flashlight, and Joe caught the gleam of uniform b.u.t.tons. He stepped out of his hiding place.
"I knew you"d succeed, Frank!" he said grimly.
"Joe! Then you"re safe!"
185.
"Not only safe, but I"ve captured a boatload of prisoners in the bargain. There must be a dozen of Vilnoff"s henchmen yelling like mad out in that barge. I set "em adrift."
Frank and the policemen crowded around Joe Hardy. When he explained what had happened one of the officers uttered a whoop of joy and began running up the road.
"Just what we wanted!" he cried. "We were afraid the others had made a getaway. I"ll radio to Headquarters and they"ll send a couple of police boats out to tow that gang into Bayport and lock "em up."
"You caught some others?" inquired Joe.
"A bunch," said the officer.
"I think they got Gus and Pete," Frank commented.
"Good!" said Joe. "They deserve punishment, Some people stoop pretty low to make easy money."
Frank quickly told Joe everything else that had happened. Ivan had reached the west gate with his message. Fenton Hardy and a squad of policemen had already rushed into Vilnoff"s "forbidden territory" only to find that the madman"s helpers had scattered. Frank had completed his work effectively and rushed out, meeting the police. He had revealed the hiding places of the munitions, which were immediately placed under a strong guard.
"If you don"t mind, boys," one of the constables now said to the Hardys, "I"d like to shake hands with you. Seems to me that you fellows saved Bayport from a terrible disaster tonight.
When I think of my wife and kiddies asleep at home, not knowin" what threatened "em-----"
l86 He said no more, but extended a rough hand, which Frank and Joe shook warmly. The other officer did likewise.
"Will we wait here for Dad and Ivan?" asked Joe.
"They"re going home by car. We"ll meet them at the house."
"Let"s go, then."
Before the Hardy boys departed they showed the constable the place where Frank had dumped the case of munitions into the water from the sinister speed-boat.