Part 15 (1/2)

CHAPTER XIX.

AUNT GERTRUDE STEPS IN.

the Hardy boys were taken completely by surprise!

They had been in and out of so many tight fixes in the course of their adventures as amateur detectives that by this time, they had come to pride themselves on their ability to look ahead and to guard against traps. And this was a trap they had entered with their eyes open. In spite of all their caution, they had been outwitted.

The boys struggled furiously. Enveloped in the heavy folds of the cloaks, they were almost helpless. The two hooded figures overpowered them easily. The frightened horses, after rearing and plunging in terror, suddenly bolted and raced off down the path in the direction of the distant stables.

m.u.f.fled by the heavy cloth, the boys' shouts did not carry more than a few yards away. At that hour of night the grounds of the Experimental Farm were deserted. Frank and Joe, gtill fighting, were bound with ropes and dragged off down the path and through a clump of bushes. In a driveway near at hand a car was parked beneath some trees.

159.

160 One of the hooded figures wrenched open the door. The boys were bundled into the back seat. The other man slid behind the wheel, while his companion jumped in and stood guard over the boys. The automobile leaped forward, its lights dimmed.

Frank knew that struggle was useless. They had walked right into a trap, and he bitterly realized that they should have been smart enough to have avoided it. As the car sped through the night, he set his mind to estimating the length of the journey, and to trying to ascertain the direction the car was taking. It veered to the right, stayed on a rough road for a few minutes, then made a wide swing to the left. Presently it struck a smooth stretch of roadway, continued on this for about a hundred yards, swung to the right again. It ran along a rough, b.u.mpy surface, and finally slid to a stop.

”I could almost believe we've been going in circles,” thought Frank.

The boys were lifted from the car. They were dragged and pushed through a doorway, then given violent shoves. A door thudded shut. They heard a mocking laugh and then the echoes of footsteps as the men hurried away.

”Joe!” Frank called out through the stifling folds of the hood. ”Are you here, Joe?”

A m.u.f.fled shout indicated that his brother had been thrown into the same prison. Frank worked furiously at the ropes. They had been hastily tied, and in a few minutes he managed 161 to wriggle free. He wrenched at the hood and worked it clear of his head.

He could see nothing. The place was in utter darkness. Near by he could hear Joe grunting and panting in his efforts to extricate himself. Frank groped his way through the darkness to his brother's side. He tugged at the ropes and soon the other boy was free.

”Where are we?” gasped Joe, getting to his feet.

”In the dark, and that's all I can tell. A fine pair of detectives we are!” Frank grumbled with disgust. ”Letting ourselves be caught!”

”Stuck our heads right into the trap like a couple rabbits!” Joe groaned.

He felt in his pockets, and finally discovered a match. Then he groped bis way forward, until his outstretched hand came in contact with a concrete wall. He lit the match.

Its meager flame revealed that they were in a small, square room, with concrete floor and walls. There were no windows-only a ventilator set high in one wall, close to the ceiling.

The heavy wooden door was locked.

”We're in a tough spot!” muttered Joe, worried. The match burned down and flickered out, ”If those fellows don't come back and let us out, we may starve to death.''

”Here's another match,” said Frank. The flame blazed up. ”I thought I saw something over there.”

By the tiny light Frank investigated. In one 162 corner of their prison he found a hox. Evidently it had been left there for them, as it contained several loaves of bread, a large bottle of water, cold meat and cheese-enough food to last them a week.

”Well,” said Frank, relieved, ”at least they don't mean to starve us. But from the quant.i.ty of food, I figure they intend to leave us here for a few days.”

”And what's going to happen in those few days?” remarked Joe.

The brothers realized now that the conspirators had set another trap similar to the first one. If the fire at the Hardy home had been meant to keep the boys out of the way, this trap had the same purpose.

”That ventilator is pretty high up. But maybe one of us could reach it.” Joe took up a position against the wall. ”Try climbing up on my shoulders.”

Frank's match flickered out. He felt his way across the room, put his foot in Joe's cupped hands, and managed to scramble up. He pulled himself up high enough to see through the ventilator. There was nothing but pitch darkness, although he could detect rain.

He even thought he could scent a faint odor of flowers.

”I think we're still on the Experimental Farm property,” he said as he leaped to the floor.

'' Remember those concrete storage houses we saw on our first day here? I have an idea we're locked in one of them.”

163 ”The storage places are in a field at the far end of the farm. n.o.body ever comes near them. We could shout ourselves hoa.r.s.e and we'd never be heard.”

”That,” said Frank, ”is probably why the men in the hoods brought us here.” Gloomily he sat down on the floor with his back against the wall. ”No use fooling ourselves, Joe. We've been neatly tricked, and I think we're going to be here for a long, long time.”

The boys stared into the darkness. They wondered how much time would elapse before they would be missed. There would be a search, of course. But who would think of looking in the old storage vaults ?

”Aunt Gertrude will say it serves us right for falling into such a simple trap,” groaned Joe.

”She'll say anyone should have known that message was a fake.”

And in this Joe was right. That, in fact, was exactly what Aunt Gertrude did say after she returned to Mrs. Trumper's farmhouse the next morning. Their relative had not come there to stay. Because of the fire, the Hardy home was undergoing repairs, and she felt that her services were urgently needed to supervise these operations.

But when she had opened the bag she had packed so hastily when she had left Mrs.

Trumper's, she made a discovery. In her excitement, Aunt Gertrude had packed a considerable quant.i.ty of the widow's personal papers.

164-She had been giving them some study, hoping to prove her belief that Hal Wortman had cheated the shy little woman when he bought some of her farm acreage.

Aunt Gertrude realized that the papers must be returned, so she journeyed back to the widow's house that morning from Bayport. It was then that she learned her nephews were still away.

”Staying out all night, eh!” sniffed the boys' relative. ”Up to more of their silly detective work, I'll be bound.” Actually Aunt Gertrude did not consider detective work silly. She was secretly proud of her nephews' achievements in that line.

For some time she expected them to show up any minute, but as the morning wore into noon and no word came from them, she became disturbed. She telephoned to the S. E. F.

and to Mr. Grable. Frank and Joe had not been seen.

”What in the world can have become of them?” fumed Aunt Gertrude.

”A note came for them yesterday. I have it here,” said Mrs. Trumper. ”As soon as the boys read it, they went away.”

'' Let me see that note!'' Aunt Gertrude read the crumpled missive with rising suspicion.

Then she snorted. ”A fake!” she declared. ”A transparent fake. They've been kidnaped!”