Part 10 (1/2)
”We may be out all night, but no more than that. You can catch up on your sleep tomorrow.”
The fat boy groaned. ”I want to catch up on my sleep right now. I was up at eight o'clock this morning. Practically the crack of dawn. I'm tired.”
”Come on. I may need you. Joe and I are working on a case.”
Chet protested, but finally disappeared inta the house to notify his parents. He came back, stuffing cookies into his pockets.
”If I had any sense,” he mumbled as they left in the car, ”I'd stay home and go to bed. No good will come of this.”
Nevertheless, he listened with great interest as Frank told of the suspicions of Joe and himself regarding the figure with the flickering torciu 106 ”Gee whiz, I don't mind helping you fellows,” the fat hoy said, ”but when you go marching right into danger------”
”Who said there was going to be any danger?”
”Huh, you can't tell me otherwise,” insisted Chet. ”Any man who would take the trouble to disguise himself by wearing a robe so n.o.body can see his face or his regular clothes, and waves a torch signal------”
Frank laughed. '' You 're right, the man may be dangerous. But tonight we're only going to watch him.”
1' You 're wrong again,'' disagreed Chet. '' If Mr. Hood-and-Torch shows up at all, you'll be right after him, and you'll be dragging me along. I know I shouldn't have come. Say, is there any reason why those guys picked out torches? They could use flashlights to signal with.”
”It's my opinion they think people won't notice the flaming torches,” replied Frank. ”Dad says these thieves are stealing from construction jobs of State or Federal projects. Most construction jobs use smudge pots, and the yellowish light and smoke are very much like that from a torch.”
Frank drove to the boathouse on the bay, where the Hardy boys kept the Sleuth, Sleuth, their their trim, fast motorboat which they had bought with the reward money they had earned in solving one of their first mysteries. In a few 107 minutes they were chugging out into the water, with Frank at the steering wheel and Chet lounging comfortably among the cus.h.i.+ons. He took a cookie from his pocket and eyed it specu-latively.
”If I'm out late, I may wish I had this bite to eat later on. But on the other hand-” He put it into his mouth. ”On the other hand,” he repeated, ”I have to keep up my strength.”
Darkness had fallen by the time the Sleuth, Sleuth, towing a light sixteen-foot canoe, towing a light sixteen-foot canoe, approached the cliffs that towered above the waters of the bay. Far behind, the boys could see the twinkling lights of Bayport. Overhead the night mail plane droned on its way north, its navigation lights gleaming.
”This is a good setting for the capture of a spook,” said Chet. ”What are you looking for?”
Frank was watching the sh.o.r.e line and the cliffs rising dimly against the night sky.
”I'm trying to find the place where that figure was. It wasn't on the Bayport side and yet it wasn't right on the coast-ah! I think it was along here somewhere. There's a little cove just beyond this place.”
He swung the wheel. The Sleuth Sleuth chugged slowly in toward sh.o.r.e. Frank steered the chugged slowly in toward sh.o.r.e. Frank steered the craft carefully into the sheltered spot. He looked back. The jetting ma.s.ses of rock hid the lights of Bayport.
”If our man was signaling to someone down 108 here, he picked a good point. The signal couldn't have been seen out in the main bay.
This is the only place from which it could have been seen at all.”
”You and Joe saw it.”
”We were on land. Anyone on the water would have missed it, unless he came into this little cove.”
Frank switched off the engine. The motorboat drifted silently. There was a rattle, aa he cast anchor in about twenty feet of water.
”What do we do now?” Chet wanted to know, ”Wait.”
”For what?”
”I'm hoping that fellow comes back to signal again.”
”I'm not,” quavered Chet nervously. ”I don't mind a thief in regular clothes. But a spooky-looking one with a hooded robe and a flickering torch-ugh!''
There was no sound but the lapping of waves against the base of the cliffs. It was a dark night, and cloudy, with neither stars nor moon. Chet groaned.
”And I could have been at home having a nice sleep. I don't know why I let myself into these things.”
They waited. Time pa.s.sed slowly. Although Frank kept his eyes fixed constantly on the cliff tops, there was no light, no sound of movement.
Suddenly they heard the faint creak of oars.
109 Frank strained his eyes, peering into the gloom.
There was a splash. Then, from out of the darkness, a small boat loomed up beside the Sleuth so unexpectedly that the boys' hearts jumped. so unexpectedly that the boys' hearts jumped.
”All right, you,” growled a man's voice. ”Move on out of this cove. And make it quick!”
CHAPTER XIII.
FLICKERING TORCHES.
”You two get out of here!” rasped the voice in the darkness of Barmet Bay. ”It's a dangerous place!”
”Y-yas, sir,” said Chet hastily. ”We're g-going. Eight away, sir. Hurry up, Frank St-start the engine.”
But Frank was in no hurry to leave. ”Why s it dangerous?” he asked.
”Get moving!” ordered another man in the boat. ”Don't ask questions.”
”G-g-gosh, Frank, don't argue argue with them,” stammered Chet, ”1-let's leave.” with them,” stammered Chet, ”1-let's leave.”
”There'll be trouble for you if you don't,” 6 aid the first man angrily.
”Are you from the Police Department?” Frank asked, trying to distinguish who was in the other boat.
The strangers were not answering questions. They repeated their order. Their voices had a threatening tone.
”Oh, all right,” said Frank. ”I guess we'd better go back to Bayport. Pull up the anchor,”
he ordered Chet.
The stout boy whipped the anchor up into the boat in such frantic haste he almost tumbled no 111 overboard. Frank started the engine. The Sleuth Sleuth chugged away slowly. The Hardy boy chugged away slowly. The Hardy boy swung the wheel around and headed for the bay.
”And don't come back!” shouted one of the men from the darkness.
The motorboat gathered speed. Chet heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the welcome lights of Bayport in the distance.