CHAPTER VI

A Chase

when Joe pulled up in front of the express office, Aunt Gertrude flew out, pointing to a truck about to pull away from the curb. It was loaded with trunks, bags and boxes.

"Follow himl" Miss Hardy ordered, getting in beside her nephew.

"Why, Aunty?"

"You want to solve the mystery, don't you?" she snapped.

"You mean the expressman is going to lead us to your missing carton?" Joe asked, starting off.

Miss Hardy snorted, then assumed an attitude of patient tolerance. "No. There's no word about my carton. But this morning a carton that looks like mine and like that other one with the raw wool in it arrived at the express office."

44

A Chase 45

"Oh," said Joe. "And it's being delivered somewhere. You think that maybe James Johnson will be there to receive it."

"Now your brain's working," sniffed Aunt Gertrude. "The carton's marked for a Mrs. Harrison, and according to the telephone book Mrs. Harrison lives at that address. But you and Frank and your father said there might be something fishy going on, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to investigate this." · "Good idea," Joe agreed. "By the way, Johnson never called for his carton, did he?" 1 "I forgot to ask."

The expressman ahead was the same one who had made the initial mistake. Joe was eager to reach the Harrison place, but the driver seemed to be in no hurry. He delivered big parcels and little parcels, large boxes and small boxes to various parts of town. ·Finally, with only the carton left, he set off for the outskirts of Bayport. Joe followed doggedly.

At length the truck came to a stop in front of a handsome, modern home on a street with scattered Kouses. The expressman unloaded the carton and carried it to the front steps. Joe was out of the car and at his heels in a minute. The man rang the bell. The gray-haired woman who opened the door looked sharply at Joe.

"Mrs. Harrison?" asked the driver, setting the carton in the hall.

46 The Phantom Freighter

."Yes."

"Sign here, please," he said, handing her a pencil and pointing out a blank space on his pad.

Joe expected the signature to be in the same handwriting as that of James Johnson, and the signer to be a man masquerading as a woman. But he was wrong. The woman's writing was definitely feminine as was her voice.

"Is Mr. Harrison at home?" Joe inquired.

"Mr. Harrison? Why ... er ... no," she answered haltingly.

"This is his carton, isn't it?" the boy asked, still clinging to a hope his errand was not to be in vain.

"What is this?" Mrs. Harrison snapped. "A quiz program?" Abruptly she slammed the door.

The expressman grinned. "Fool's errand for you, eh?" he said to Joe as they returned to the street.

"I'm afraid so," sighed the boy, and got back into the car.

Aunt Gertrude, when she heard the story, was convinced that the transaction was not entirely above-board. · "Ladies don't slam doors in people's faces," she said, annoyed. "People who do it are afraid of something."

The next morning she brought up the subject again and expressed her views about Mrs. Harrison's conduct.

"I never saw such bad manners," she exploded.

A Chase 47

"Which Mrs. Harrison is this?" asked Mrs. Hardy, interested.

"Oh, she lives on Mount Pleasant Drive." replied Aunt Gertrude. "Mrs. Robert Harrison. A very rude woman."

"Why, Gertrude!" exclaimed Mrs. Hardy, shocked. "I know Martha Harrison. She's a lovely person. You mustn't say such things about her."

"You may think she's a lovely person, Laura, but judging from her actions yesterday . . ."

"Yesterday?" said Mrs. Hardy. "Why, Martha Harrison is out of town."

"You're sure?" Joe spoke up excitedly.

"She's attending a convention of women's clubs in Highburg. There isn't anyone home now because Mr. Harrison's in Mexico."

Joe dashed to the telephone and called the Harrison number. There was no answer.

"I'm going out there!" he cried. "Frank, feel well enough to come?" f. "Sure do," his brother answered.

Mrs. Hardy's revelation had convinced Joe that there might well be something strange about the delivery of the carton to the Harrison residence after all.

"Mrs. Harrison can't be in Bayport and Highburg at the same time, that's certain," he said, as the boys got into their convertible.

48 The Phantom Freighter

They hurried out to Mount Pleasant Drive. When Frank rang the bell, there was no answer. A boy who was riding a bicycle along the street said he was a neighbor, and volunteered the information that the Harrisons had closed their house a week before and would not be back until the end of the month.

Frank and Joe returned home.

"I knew it!" declared Aunt Gertrude. "I knew there was something suspicious about that woman the moment I heard she slammed the door in your face, Joe."

"But why would she be living in the Harrison house?" asked Mrs. Hardy, puzzled.

"I have a theory about that," said Fenton Hardy, who emerged from the library to hear the story. "Sometimes crooks watch the social columns of the newspapers for the names of people who are to be away from home. They learn when a house is going to be unoccupied, and then rob it."

"You think there were thieves in the Harrison house?" his wife cried.

Mr. Hardy shrugged. "Perhaps. But in this case, I believe a different kind of crook was using it as a convenient address."

"For the delivery of cartons?" asked Frank.

"Exactly. And they contain stolen goods," guessed the detective. "The crooks may be moving

A Chase 49

valuable stuff from state to state, and by using other people's names and addresses they can't be traced. I suggest that you boys notify the express company. No doubt they'll turn the matter over to the police."

"The carton that came here had raw wool in it," said Aunt Gertrude. "Is that worth stealing?"

Mr. Hardy smiled at his sister. "But something 'Valuable may have been secreted in it."

In the meantime Mrs. Hardy had put in a longdistance call to Mrs. Harrison who was shocked at the news. She said that she had given no one permission to use her house and would come right home ·to see if anything had been stolen.

The boys drove downtown at once and called at the express office, where they told their story to the 'manager, Mr. Nixon. He was concerned and upset 'to hear that his company's services probably were being used to move stolen goods.

"No one has claimed that carton marked Johnson," he said. "I'm going to open it, and if you're right, I'll certainly tell Police Chief Collig about it. Come along."

He led the way to a rear room. There was no carton in sight. All three searched the place but it did not come to light.

"Funny," said Mr. Nixon, scratching his head in perplexity.

"I'm afraid it's been stolen," said Frank. "That.

50 The Phantom Freighter

man calling himself James Johnson was taking no chances."

"You'll report it to the police?" suggested Frank.

The manager shook his head. "I'd rather not turn this over to the police just now," he said. "There would be unpleasant publicity. How about you boys taking the case? I suppose your father's too busy. But I've heard a good deal about your success as detectives and you've been in on this mystery from the start. You know the facts better than anyone else. How about it?"

The boys hesitated. They did not see how they could accept the case in view of their trip with Mr. McClintock. Frank explained this to the manager.

"Fair enough," he replied. "But why not work on it until you leave on your trip? If it hasn't been cleared up by the time you go, I'll turn it over to the police."

"All right," said Frank. "We'll do what we can for you."

When the Hardys came out of the express-company office, they bumped squarely into Mr, McClintock.

"Heard you were here," he said. "I've been thinking about that freighter proposition you suggested. Doesn't sound too bad. But I don't know a thing about freighters. Do you suppose I could see one? Then I'd soon tell you if I'd like that kind of trip."

A Chase 51

"There's one in port now," said Frank. "It's called the Hawk. We can't book passage on it, but at least you can see what a big freighter looks like."

The man climbed into the car. When they reached the water front they found that the Hawk was much lower in the water, though not loaded to capacity. A large sign said, "Positively no visitors," but it was easy to study the details of the ship from the dockside.

Mr. McClintock was pleasantly surprised. "Might be all right to travel on a ship like that," he agreed. "I'll let you know."

"Why not come up to our house to dinner tonight? We'll have more information then. We've left our names at an agency," Joe told him.

"Never eat much at night," said Mr. McClintock. "I don't go out to dinner at people's houses because they always expect me to sit around for a couple of hours afterward and it keeps me up past my bedtime. Now if you want to ask me up to lunch, that's different. I'm hungry anyway."

"Lunch it is, then," laughed Frank. "First of all, we'll telephone the house and let Mother know you're coming."

So Mr. McClintock had lunch with the Hardy family and apparently enjoyed himself immensely. To the amazement of the boys, he and their Aunt Gertrude got along wonderfully. It was obvious that Mr. McClintock approved wholeheartedly of

52 The Phantom Freighter

her, and equally clear that Aunt Gertrude thought highly of him. After he departed, she said as much.

"A very fine man. If you could persuade him to take this freighter trip it would be a good thing for you boys," declared Aunt Gertrude.

Frank and Joe looked at each other. Their relative certainly could be changeable!

Mr. McClintock, apparently, did not need any further persuading about the freighter trip. Early that evening he telephoned the boys, saying he had made up his mind. He not only had decided to go on a freighter trip, but had decided to go right away. In fact, he had already picked the ship.

"The one we saw at the dock looks all right to me. Book passage on it at once and we'll sail as soon as it's ready."

Vainly, Frank explained that the Hawk's captain had already refused them passage. Mr. McClintock had made up his mind.

"Try them again. Offer them double fare. That'll bring them around. I want to go on that boat!"

To please him, Frank telephoned the Klack agency, but he held out little hope that Captain Sharp would change his mind. Mr. Klack himself answered the call.

"No passengers," the man told him. "You couldn't go on the Hawk now anyway," he said. "She sailed a few minutes ago."

A Chase 53

That, apparently, settled it. But the Hardy boys did not know Mr. McClintock. There was a very persistent streak in the man.

"I've made up my mind to take a trip on that boat and I'm going to," he announced, when Frank reported to him over the telephone.

"But how?" Frank asked. "It's gone."

"We can hire a fast motorboat and catch the Hawk," the determined man cried. "Don't you know where to get one?"

Frank was fearful Mr. McClintock was becoming too excited. Quickly he said:

"We own a motorboat. It can go a good deal faster than a freighter and I guess we could overtake the Hawk all right, but ..."

"Then what are we waiting for?" demanded Mr. McClintock. "Throw some clothes into a suitcase. I'll call for you in a taxi in ten minutes."

"But we'll have to find somebody to bring our boat back," said Frank.

"That's your lookout," replied McClintock and hung up.

Mrs. Hardy and Aunt Gertrude, understanding the need for playing along with the man's idea, helped the boys pack, while Joe telephoned to several of his friends. Finally he found Tony Prito, who was willing to go along and bring back their speedboat, the Sleuth, if the Hardys should get on the Hawk.

54 The Phantom Freighter

Mr. McClintock d\d not let the grass grow under his feet. He was at the Hardy house in ten minutes. And ten minutes later the Sleuth was nosing its way out of the boathouse and roaring off into the twilight.

"When this Captain Sharp sees we're determined to go with him, he'll change his mind," predicted Mr. McClintock.

Even granting the freighter a good start, the Hardys knew that the Sleuth should be able to overtake the Hawk by the time it could reach the entrance to Barmet Bay. The regular steamer channel was clearly marked by buoys, and as the speedboat ate up the miles the brothers thought it would be only a matter of time before they would see the lights of the big ship ahead. They sped on and on, peering into the gloom. But no glimpse of the freighter!

"Thought you said this boat of yours was a fast one," jibed McClintock. "Can't you catch up to a slow steamer?"

"There isn't a faster speedboat on Barmet Bay," spoke up Tony, quick to defend his friends' craft.

The moon rose, flooding the bay with light. They could see to the very mouth of the bay. The Hawk was not in sight.

"She's faster than I thought," said Frank.

He put his boat to the limit of her power and they

A Chase 55

came out into the open sea. Nothing but water. There was no freighter; no moving lights to indicate the presence of any ship.

Frank swung the wheel. The motorboat turned.

"Giving up?" demanded McClintock.

"Not entirely," said Frank. "We'll go back to Bayport and find out the Hawk's first port of call. If it's not too far away, we can go there by car and board the ship."

McClintock grumbled a little, but he realized that there was no point in continuing the chase by sea. The speedboat roared back to port. When they reached Bayport the boys learned at the Klack agency that the Hawk was to stop at Southport on Eagle Bay. Frank telephoned to the harbor master there. His reply left them astonished and bewildered.

"That freighter hasn't docked here. We aren't even expecting her. You must have made a mistake."