CHAPTER V

Captain Sharp

joe leaped to the railing. He saw Frank hurtle down past the steel side of the freighter, not three feet from the pier. His body was twisting and turning as if it were limp. The impact of the boom evidently had knocked him out. He struck the water with a resounding smack.

Joe scrambled out of his coat and flung it aside. He leaped up onto the rail, balanced a moment, then dived.

It was a thirty-foot drop, but the boy struck the water cleanly, just a few yards from the place where Frank had disappeared. Under water, he opened his eyes. Catching sight of a dark object a short distance away, he raced toward it, then shot to the surface, one arm around his brother.

Joe swam with him toward a ladder hanging from the pier, wondering how badly Frank was hurt. He was greatly relieved when the boy made a con-

36

Captain Sharp 37

vulsive movement and began to struggle and thrash about.

"It's okay. Take it easy," muttered Joe.

Two longshoremen, having seen Frank's mishap, had rushed to the edge of the dock. Now they reached down and hoisted the two boys out of the murky water. They carried Frank, not yet fully conscious, to a small office inside the loading shed. Joe followed, breathless and frightened.

"Get a doctor!" ordered one of the men.

But the other acted instantly. He started giving Frank first aid at once. Presently the boy opened bis eyes and looked around dully.

"Thank goodness you came to," said Joe in relief.

"He wouldn't 'a if it hadn't been for you," spoke tip one of the men. "I saw the whole thing. He'd 'a drowned if you hadn't got him." ; Frank weakly smiled his thanks. "Take-me- home," he gasped.

f He was carried to the convertible and Joe took die wheel. The men offered to go along, but Joe declined their assistance, saying he was sure that his brother would be all right. At the Hardy home there was great consternation when the boys' mother and Aunt Gertrude saw Joe assisting Frank up the Steps. They scurried about, talking, advising and getting Frank to bed as fast as possible with a heating pad.

38 The Phantom Freighter

"Oh, I'm okay now," the boy insisted. "Just got a little headache. That's all." When the two women finally left the room, he said to Joe, who had showered and changed his clothes, "Listen. I think I was bumped on purpose by that boom."

"Really?"

"Yes. I saw that guy who tried to put us off the Hawk motioning to someone on the dock. I'll bet he was signaling for him to swing the boom so it would hit us."

Joe's jaw snapped into a determined position. He said between clenched teeth, "That fellow's not going to get away with this." He left the room and started down the stairs.

"Better not go alone," Frank called.

Joe might have objected, but at this instant the front door opened to admit Biff Hooper, a schoolmate of the Hardy boys. Biff was on the wrestling team and had muscles like steel.

"Hil" Joe called. "You're the very person I'm looking for. I need a bodyguard. Want to go give a big, tough guy a good sock?"

"Since when have you stopped doing that yourself?" grinned Biff.

The two boys went out the door. On the way to the dock in the Hardy convertible, Joe explained what had happened. Biff, though a wrestler, never picked fights, and by the time they reached the

Captain Sharp 39

flawk he had convinced Joe he had no proof that the affair had been anything but an unavoidable accident, and there was no point in starting trouble.

"Just the same, I'm going aboard," declared Joe, "and finish what I started to do-see the captain."

The two boys mounted the ladder. The seaman the Hardys had encountered before was not in sight. No loading was going on. Two of the crew lounged on deck. One of them jumped up.

"What you want?" he asked.

"To see your captain," Joe replied.

"What about?"

"I'll talk to him."

"You will, eh?" the man said sneeringly. "Not if I say you can't. And if I say you can't see Captain Sharp, you can't. Understand?"

Joe and Biff turned red and a fight might have started then and there if the captain himself had not appeared. Captain Sharp lived up to his name. He was a tall, thin-featured, narrow-jawed man with keen, cruel eyes.

"What do you want?" he snarled.

"I'm trying to book passage on a freighter for three people," Joe explained.

Captain Sharp shook his head abruptly. "You're on the wrong ship," he answered shortly. "Can't accommodate you."

40 The Phantom Freighter

"A man on the dock told me you carry passengers."

"We used to," the captain said. "But not any more. It didn't work out. There's no point in dis* cussing it." He made a gesture of dismissal.

"We'd be willing to pay well-"

Joe's attempt to continue the talk was cut short.

"No passengers at any price!" cried the captain. "Now get off and stay off!"

The boys left the Hawk and went back over the side. Biff Hooper was indignant. "I don't see why he had to be so nasty," he said. "You'd think we were a couple of criminals."

"Looks suspicious to me," Joe said, then laughed. "I don't mean us. I mean the Hawk."

"Say," said Biff, "I know where you can book passage. At Klack's Agency. It's not far from here. Next street."

He led the way to a dingy-looking establishment with several blackboards in the window. On them were chalked such legends as Cook Wanted, Fireman (First class) for S. A. Cruise and Stokers Wtd..

"A lot of freighter crews are signed up here," Biff explained. "They book freighter passengers as a side line."

Mr. Klack was out. A stringy-haired blonde girl, chewing vigorously on a wad of gum, looked languidly at the boys and inquired what they wanted.

"I'm looking for a freighter . . ." Joe got no further than that for she interrupted him.

Captain Sharp 41

"You?" she mumbled, shifting the gum so she <»uld speak more clearly. "You're kidding."

"What makes you think I'm kidding?" asked Joe. "I want to go on a freighter as . . ."

"You ain't the type," drawled the girl.

"Look," said Biff Hooper, "some friends of mine ..."

"Oooh! Such muscles!" said the young lady admiringly. "Now if you was the one who wanted to sign up-"

< "I'm not looking for a job," laughed Joe, catching <m. "I simply want to . . ."

"If you don't want a job, why did you come arround here botherin' me, then?" The girl looked annoyed.

, "I want to book passage for three people- freighter passage."

"Then why didn't you say so in the first place?" asked the girl. Turning to Biff she remarked again, "Such muscles!"

Joe grinned. Biff turned red. "Never mind my muscles," he said. "Can you fix up my friend with freighter passage?"

The girl shook her head. "I can take his name. But there's no ships in port-none takin' passengers, that is. If somepin' turns up, I'll let you know."

She condescended to write down Joe's name, street address and telephone number, all the while darting admiring glances at the brawny Biff.

42 The Phantom Freighter

Crimson with embarrassment, Biff fled. Out in the street he glared at Joe Hardy. "If you tell any of the fellows at school ..."

"About what?" asked Joe innocently. "Just because a beautiful and intelligent young woman admires your muscles . . ." he teased.

"Okay, okay," grinned Biff, shamefaced. "Can I help it if I've got biceps? But for the love of Pete, don't tell anyone what that dizzy girl said."

Joe promised to keep the secret of Biff's "conquest." The wrestler left his friend a few minutes later, and Joe went home. Frank had fallen asleep and Mrs. Hardy said he was not to be disturbed.

Aunt Gertrude, she told them, had gone to the express office to see what she could do about the missing carton. Joe had barely begun to tell his mother about his suspicions regarding the Hawk, when the telephone rang. The boy answered it, but the first word from the other end of the line made him hold the receiver far away from his ear.

"Joel" Aunt Gertrude called loudly and excitedly. "Come down here right away! Quick!"

"Tell me . . ."

"Don't argue. Get into the car and hurry down here right away!"

"But, Aunt Gertrude, if you'll . . ."

"Joe Hardy, there isn't a minute to lose!" she exclaimed.

Captain Sharp 43

"But where are you, Aunty?"

"Why, at the express office, of course!" replied Aunt Gertrude. "There's a chance to solve the mystery! Hurry!"

"I'll come right down," Joe promised, and raced from the house.