CHAPTER VIII

THE TATTOOED HEAD

"No, my collection is safe, thank goodness," declared Phineas Carter when Frank called on him.

He was a jolly, red-faced business man who had retired and now lived quietly. When the Hardy boy showed him the two early American coins, he was tremendously interested, and offered to buy them on the spot.

"I'll give you a good price for them. I'd like to have them for my collection.''

"I'm sorry, Mr. Carter, but they're not for Sale. I thought possibly they had been stolen from a private collection.''

"So now you 're trying to find a coin collector who has been robbed, eh? That's reversing the usual procedure. Well, I'm glad to say my pieces haven't been touched. There was a, Stranger around yesterday, though, who wanted to see them. Queer-looking old duck."

"An elderly man wearing dark spectacles?"* asked Frank eagerly.

"Why, yes. Do you know him?"

Thinking of the old man who had tried t& buy one of the counterfeit coins from Aunt Gertrude in the railway station, tho boy replied:

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56 The Melted Coins

"I don't know hiifl. exactly, bnt I did run across a person of that description who was interested in coins. You say he was looking at your collection?"

'' Said he might be interested in buying something from it, but I didn't have what he was looking for," returned Mr. Carter. "He told me his name was Batchy.''

Frank thanked the collector and left the house. He was excited now. In again crossing the trail of the old man at the station, he wondered if he had uncovered an important lead.

"I'll go see Doctor Wakefield," the boy decided. "If Batchy has been to visit him, I'll know there's something in the wind."

Doctor Wakefield lived a few blocks away. He was a retired college professor, and coin collecting was his hobby. Stooped and gray-haired, he blinked at Frank over his spectacles when the youth announced the purpose of his call.

"It seems to me a number of people are interested in my little collection," he beamed. "A man came around to look at my coins only yesterday.''

"Is that so?" said Frank. "Did he want to buy any?"

"That's what he said. But I didn't have anything he wanted. He was an old fellow by the name of Batchy. You aren't buying coins, are you?"

"No. I have a couple of rare ones that were

The Tattooed Head 57

found, and I thought they might have come from a collection. I was wondering if you had lost any."

"No," smiled the professor. "I was looking at them not ten minutes ago, and I am sure that every coin is in its proper place. I haven't lost

any."

"I'm glad of that, Doctor Wakefield."

After Frank had seen the display and admired it, he asked how many coin collectors there were in the United States.

The professor smiled. '' Somewhere between ten and twenty thousand," he replied.

"Whew!" whistled Frank.

"I belong to a numismatic club," went on Doctor Wakefield. "The study of coins gives one a good knowledge of history, geography, and the customs of people. Some of the ancient rulers used to commemorate nearly everything fttey did by setting it forth on a new piece of money. One old Roman Emperor had ten thousand varieties issued!"

"He must have loved himself a great deal," laughed Frank. "If a person tried to colled those and nothing else, he'd need a museum to hold them all."

"One of our living kings has a hundred thousand rare coins," said the professor. "So you see my collection is very insignificant. I doubt that any thief would be interested in it. But if I should lose anything, I'll let you know."

Frank expressed his appreciation for the

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The Melted Coins

time given him, then went home. Aunt Gertrude wanted to know what was going on.

"I never saw such a family," she said. "In. and out, in and out all the time," she scolded. "Your father won't be back for lunch, and your mother has gone to a club meeting. Never saw such a household for people gadding about all the time. I come here for a visit, and I might as well be in Siberia for all the attention I get."

Frank realized that this was just Aunt Gertrude's way of expressing extreme pleasure at the fact that she had been entrusted with the management of the household in Mrs. Hardy's absence. Privately, he knew she often wondered how the family got along without her during the periods when she was not visiting them.

At noontime Joe telephoned his brother and was told of Frank's recent adventure, including the story about the calls of the mysterious old man on the collectors.

"First, Mr. Ratchy wants to buy a counter^ feit coin," said Frank speaking in a low voice on the upstairs telephone. "Then he visits two coin collectors, looking for something they don't have!"

"Do you think that might have been an excuse to see how valuable the collections were? He really didn't want to buy any of them?" asked Joe.

"Exactly. Well, I found out one thing. If

The Tattooed Head 59

*hose coins from the Morton field were stolen from a collection, they probably weren't stolen in Bayport, as Mr. Carter and Doctor Wake-field are the only two who own very many pieces."

Joe reported that he and Chet had unearthed nothing of value. Just then Frank heard his name called. He hung up the telephone and came downstairs. His mother, who had just returned from her club meeting, was in the living room opening her purse. Aunt Gertrude stood near by.

"I'm glad you're back, son," she smiled. "Will you do an errand for me?"

"Anything you like, Mother," said Frank promptly. Then he gasped as Mrs. Hardy took from her purse a large roll of bills. "Looks as if you've been to the bank."

"Looks as if I should go to the bank," declared Mrs. Hardy. "You know I'm treasurer of the club. Today most of the members paid their annual dues and I'm simply swamped ·with money," she laughed.

"The sooner it's out of this house, the better," declared Aunt Gertrude tartly. "It's an invitation to thieves to come in here and ransack the place."

"Don't worry, Gertrude, I haven't any intention of keeping it. It has to go to the bank v& Mawling before closing time.''

"Mawling?" exclaimed Frank in surprise.

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The Melted Coins

Mawling was a small village several miles from Bayport. "What's the matter with, the banks right here in the city f''

"Well, the club account has always been kept there because the first treasurer lived in Mawling, and it was more convenient for her. After she retired, we didn't bother to transfer the account."

"All I can say," said Aunt Gertrude, "is that the sooner the money is safe in the Mawling bank, the better it will be for all of us. Why, there must be several hundred dollars in that roll."

'' Frank can drive over as soon as we 've had lunch," decided Mrs. Hardy.

Her sister-in-law shrugged. '' It seems to me that it wasn't so long ago a thief got in here during lunch hour."

The meal was eaten without any excitement, however, except that Aunt Gertrude kept getting up and going to the door every few minutes.

Despite this, she failed to see a sinister, furtive-eyed man who had slunk across the lawn. From a vantage point among some bushes underneath a window, he had been eavesdropping ever since Mrs. Hardy had entered the house. At last, with a grim smile on his face, he tiptoed away and climbed into a car parked by the curb some distance down the street.

Soon afterward Frank left the house with

The Tattooed Head 61

the money in his pocket. When he drove out of the garage ten minutes later, the other automobile drew away from the curb and started down the road in pursuit.

After leaving the outskirts of the city, Frank turned onto a road that led to the village of Mawling. In the rear-vision mirror he noticed the other car some distance behind, but paid it no particular attention. It did not occur to him that there was anything significant in the fact that the machine behind neither gained on him nor lost ground the whole time.

A lonely side road offered a short cut to the village. Hardly had Frank left the main highway before he noticed that the other car was overtaking him. He pulled over to let it pass, but it came alongside, forcing him toward the ditch. Frank looked up in alarm.

Then he saw that the driver was masked!

A crash was imminent. The man had cut off the boy. Frank jammed on the brakes before he was forced into the ditch. At the same moment he flung open the door and jumped.

He had a pretty good idea of what the masked person was after-the thick roll of money he was taking to the bank in Mawling! Like a streak of lightning the boy leaped over the ditch, but just beyond it was a fence. He had nearly cleared this, when the man lunged forward and tackled him.

The struggle was brief. Frank fought vigorously, but his assailant was bigger and stronger.

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The Melted Coins

During the battle, the youth tried to pull off the mask to catch a glimpse of the other's face. It moved slightly to one side, but did not come off.

In the struggle Frank did rip open the front of the fellow's shirt. The boy had a glimpse of a strange design tattooed on the man's chest-a design in the crude likeness of a Spanish woman's head.

Then something struck him violently on the skull. As he pitched forward, everything went black.

Grinning evilly, the hold-up man went through the boy's pockets, and made his escape. Frank was left lying on the ground.