Part 13 (2/2)
”We've sure wasted a lot of time,” he remarked. ”I wonder how Frank and Joe are making out.”
”Hope they found Mr. Hardy,” Chet added.
There was no more conversation until the boys turned into the bay. The Coast Guard station for the area was a short distance along the southern sh.o.r.e of the bay and Tony headed the Napoli directly for it. He pulled up at the dock, where two patrol boats and a cutter were tied.
The two boys climbed out and hurried up to the white building. As they were about to enter it, Chet and Tony were amazed to find Biff Hooper and Phil Cohen coming out of it. Jerry Gilroy, another Bayport High friend, was with them.
”Well, for Pete's sake!” the three cried out, and Biff added, ”Boy, are we glad to see you! Where are Frank and Joe?”
”Still hunting for the smugglers,” Chet replied. ”What brings you here?”
Biff explained that an hour ago Mrs. Hardy had telephoned him to see if he had heard from Frank and Joe. She confessed to being exceedingly worried about her sons. Mrs. Hardy knew they had gone to look for their father and she was in a panic that they had been captured by the same men who were possibly holding her husband.
”I told her I'd round up a couple of the fellows and go on a hunt,” Biff went on. ”Jerry thought maybe Frank and Joe had come back to town and were somewhere around. We looked, but we couldn't find them anywhere, s(r) we borrowed Mr. Gilroy's car and came out here to tell the Coast Guard. They're going to send out boats. You'd better come in and talk to Chief Warrant Officer Robinson yourself.”
The boys hurried inside. Quickly Chet and Tony told of the Hardys' suspicion that they had found the entrance to the smugglers' hide-out.
”Can you send help out there right away?” Chet asked. ”We'll show you where the secret tunnel is.”
”This is astounding,” said Chief Robinson. ”I'll order the Alice out. You can start within five minutes.”
”I'll phone Mrs. Hardy right away,” Jerry offered. ”I'm afraid, though, that the news isn't going to make her feel too good.”
While Jerry was gone, Chet told the chief warrant officer that the Hardys thought they knew the names of two of the men who were involved in the smuggling racket. Chet revealed the Hardy suspicions about Snattman being one and Ali Singh the other.
”We think Ali is a crewman on the Marco Polo that's going to dock early tomorrow morning in Bayport,”
Chet continued. ”Frank and Joe got a tip that makes them think this is the deal: While the s.h.i.+p is offsh.o.r.e, Ali Singh pitches stolen drugs overboard and one of the smugglers picks the package up in a speedboat.”
Robinson raised his eyebrows. ”Those Hardy boys certainly take after their father,” he remarked. ”They have the makings of good detectives.”
Biff told the Coast Guard officer of the boys' adventure at the haunted house on their first visit to the Pollitt place. ”Frank and Joe are sure there is some connection between the house and the smugglers.”
”And they are probably right,” the chief remarked. ”I'll call the State Police at once and tell them the latest developments in this case.”
The boys waited while he made the report. Jerry, who had just finished telephoning Mrs. Hardy, said that she seemed even more worried than before but relieved that the Coast Guard was going to take a hand.
The chief warrant officer then told the boys he would get in touch with the captain of the Marco Polo at once by s.h.i.+p-to-sh.o.r.e telephone. The connection was made and the boys listened with great interest to the conversation. The captain had a booming voice which they could hear plainly.
”Yes, I have a sailor named AH Singh,” he replied in answer to Chief Robinson's question. ”He's a member of the kitchen crew.”
After he had been told that Ali Singh was suspected of stealing drug s.h.i.+pments and dropping them overboard to a confederate, he said, ”That would be pretty easy for him to do. Singh probably throws them out when he dumps garbage into the water, even though he's not supposed to do it. The drugs could be in an inflated waterproof bag.”
”Captain, will you have someone keep an eye on this Ali Singh without his knowing he's being watched?”
Chief Robinson requested. ”I'll send a patrol boat out from here to watch for any of his gang who may be in a small boat waiting to pick up something he dumps overboard. How far offsh.o.r.e are you?”
”About sixteen miles from your headquarters,” was the answer.
”Will you keep in touch with the patrol boat?” Robinson requested. ”It's the Henley, in charge of Chief Petty Officer Brown.”
”I'll do that.”
”Ali Singh can be arrested when your s.h.i.+p docks.”
As the conversation was concluded, a uniformed coastguardman came in. He was introduced as Chief Petty Officer Bertram in charge of the Alice, which would follow Tony and Chet to the smugglers'
hide-out.
”I'm ready, sir,” he told his chief, after a short briefing. He turned to the boys. ”All set?”
Chet and Tony nodded. As they turned to follow Bertram, Biff, Phil, and Jerry looked glum.
Noting the expressions on the three boys, Chief Robinson leaned across his desk and said, ”I guess you fellows were hoping to be in on this too. How would you like to go on the Henley with Chief Petty Officer Brown and watch the fun?”
The eyes of the three boys lighted up and Phil said, ”You mean it?”
”Do you want a formal invitation?” Chief Robinson asked with a laugh.
He rang for Chief Petty Officer Brown, and after introducing the boys, he explained what the mission of the Henley was to be.
”I understand, sir,” Brown replied. ”We'll leave at once.”
The three boys followed him down to the dock and went aboard. They met the other Coast Guard men and the fast patrol boat set off. It seemed to the boys as if the sixteen miles were covered in an incredibly short time. The lights of the Marco Polo loomed up in the distance.
”She's moving very slowly, isn't she?” Biff asked their skipper.
”Yes, she's making only about four knots.”
”So it would be easy for a small boat to come alongside and take something from her?” Phil suggested.
”Yes, it would.” Quickly the officer picked up a telescope and trained it on the large craft. ”The galley hatches are on the left and the tide is coming in,” he reported. ”Anything thrown overboard will float toward sh.o.r.e.”
He ordered the wheelsman to go past the Marco Polo, come down the other side, and approach within three hundred yards, then turn off the engine and lights.
When they reached the designated spot, Petty Officer Brown ordered everyone on board the Henley not to talk or to move around. The Marco Polo's decks, as well as the water some distance from the craft, was illuminated by light from some of the stateroom portholes. Biff, Phil, and Jerry crowded close to the chief as he trained his powerful binoculars on the galley hatches, so he could give them a running account of anything that might happen. The officer reported little activity aboard the Marco Polo and the boys a.s.sumed that the pa.s.sengers either were asleep or packing their luggage in antic.i.p.ation of landing the next morning.
Suddenly Petty Officer Brown saw one of the hatches open. A small man, with a swarthy complexion and rather longish coal-black hair, appeared in the circular opening. He looked out, then raised a large pail and dumped its contents into the water. Quickly he closed the hatch.
”Ali Singh!” the three boys thought as Brown reported what he had seen.
They watched excitedly to see what would happen now.
Suddenly Biff grabbed Phil's arm and pointed. Vaguely they could see a long pole with a scooping net fastened to the end of it appear from outside the circle of light and fish among the debris. Petty Officer Brown reported that apparently the person holding the pole had found what he wanted, for he scooped something up and the pole vanished from sight.
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