Part 14 (2/2)
The four beneath it tried once more. Now they all could hear something sliding sideways.
”All together now!” Chet said, puffing. ”One, two, three!”
The heave that followed did the trick. A heavy object above toppled with a crash, and the trap door opened. As before, Chief Petty Officer Bertram insisted upon being the first one out. There was not a sound from the grounds nor the house and not a light in evidence. He told the others to come up but cautioned: ”This may be an ambush. Watch your step and if anything starts to pop, you two boys go back down through the trap door.”
Suddenly there was a sound of cars turning into the lane leading to the Pollitt place. The vehicles' lights were so bright that Bertram said, ”I believe it's the police!”
A few moments later the cars reached the rear of the old house and state troopers piled out. Chief Petty Officer Bertram hurried forward to introduce himself to Captain Ryder of the State Police. The two held a whispered conversation. From what the boys overheard, they figured that the troopers planned to raid the house.
Just as the men seemed to have reached a decision, everyone was amazed to see a man appear at the rear window of the second-floor hall. He held a gun in his right hand, but with his left he gestured for attention.
”My name's Snattman,” he announced with a theatrical wave of his hand. ”Before you storm this place, I want to talk to you! I know you've been looking for me and my men a long time. But I'm not going to let you take me without some people on your side getting killed first!” He paused dramatically.
”Come to the point, Snattman,” Captain Ryder called up to him. He, too, had a gun poised for action should this become necessary.
”I mean,” the smuggler cried out, ”that I got three hostages in this house-Fenton Hardy and his two sons!”
Chet and Tony jumped. The boys had found their father, only to become captives themselves. And now the three were to be used as hostages!
”What's the rest?” Captain Ryder asked acidly.
”This: If you'll let me and my men go, we'll clear out of here. One will stay behind long enough to tell you where the Hardys are.” Snattman now set his jaw. ”But if you come in and try to take us, it'll be curtains for the Hardys!”
Chet's and Tony's hearts sank. What was going to be the result of this nightmarish dilemma?
In the meantime Frank, Joe, and their father, for the past hour, had despaired of escaping before Snattman might carry out his sinister threat. After the smuggler left the attic, they had heard hammering and suspected the smugglers were nailing bars across the door. The Hardys tiptoed to the foot of the stairway, only to find their fears confirmed.
”If those bars are made of wood,” Frank whispered, ”maybe we can cut through them with our knives without too much noise.”
”We'll try,” his father agreed. ”Joe, take that knife I got from Malloy.”
As Detective Hardy sat on the steps, leaning weakly against the wall, his two sons got to work. They managed to maneuver the knives through the crack near the k.n.o.b. Finding the top of the heavy crossbars, the boys began to cut and hack noiselessly. Frank's knife was already dull and it was not long before Joe's became so. This greatly hampered their progress.
Half an hour later the boys' arms were aching so badly that Frank and Joe wondered how they could continue. But the thought that their lives were at stake drove them on. They would rest for two or three minutes, then continue their efforts. Finally Joe finished cutting through one bar and started on the second of the three they had found. Ten minutes later Frank managed to cut through his.
”Now we can take turns,” he told his brother.
Working this way, with rest periods in between, the boys found the task less arduous.
”We're almost free!” Joe finally said hopefully.
Just then, the Hardys heard cars coming into the driveway. They were sure that the police had arrived because of the illumination flooding the place even to the crack under the attic door.
It was less than a minute later that they heard the cars come to a stop outside and then Snattman's voice bargaining for his own life in exchange for his hostages!
”Let's break this door down and take our chances,” Frank whispered hoa.r.s.ely.
”No!” his father said. ”Snattman and his men would certainly shoot us!”
At this instant Frank gave a low cry of glee. His knife had just hacked through the last wooden bar.
Turning the k.n.o.b, he opened the door and the three Hardys stole silently from their prison.
From the bedroom doorway they peered out to where Snattman was still trying to bargain with the police. No one else was around. The boys and their father looked at one another, telegraphing a common thought.
They would rush the king of the smugglers and overpower him!
CHAPTER XX.
The Smuggler's Request AS THE three Hardys crept forward, hoping to overpower Snattman before he saw them, they heard a voice outside the house say, ”You'll never get away with this, Snattman! You may as well give up without any shooting!”
”I'll never give up!”
”The house is surrounded with troopers and Coast Guard men!”
”What do I care?” Snattman shouted, waving his arms out the window. ”I got three hostages here, and I've got one of the Coast Guard.”
”He's in the house too?”
Snattman laughed. ”Trying to catch me; eh? Well, I'm not going to answer that question.”
There was silence outside the house. This seemed to worry the man. He cried out, ”It won't do you any good to talk things over! I got you where I want you and-”
Like three stalking panthers Frank, Joe, and their father pounced upon the unwary smuggler. Mr. Hardy knocked the man's gun from his hand. It flew out the window and thudded to the ground below. The boys pinned his arms back and buckled in his knees.
From below came a whoop of joy. ”The Hardys have captured Snattman!” The voice was Chet Morton's.
”My men will never let you in here!” the victim screamed. He snarled, twisted, and turned in his captors'
grip.
Mr. Hardy, fearful that Snattman would shout to order his men upstairs, clamped a hand over the smuggler's mouth. By this time there was terrific confusion inside and outside the Pollitt place. State troopers and the Coast Guard men had burst into both the front and rear doors.
Others guarded the sides of the house to prevent any escape from the windows. A few shots were fired, but soon the smuggling gang gave up without fighting further. The capture of their leader and the sudden attack had unnerved them.
The Hardys waited upstairs with their prisoner. In a few moments Chet and Tony appeared and behind them, to the utter astonishment of Frank and Joe, were Biff, Phil, and Jerry.
Stories were quickly exchanged and Mr. Hardy praised Frank's and Joe's chums for their efforts.
All this time Snattman glowered maliciously.
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