CHAPTER III

A Hazardous Take-off

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in less than five minutes Frank and Joe were racing through Bayport's dark streets toward Cap Bailey's home.

"I hope Cap's not badly hurt," Frank said worriedly.

Joe's only answer was a nod of agreement. He was concentrating on piloting the speeding car.

By the time the boys reached the Bailey house, the police already had arrived. Frank and Joe dashed up the steps and were immediately recognized by the officer on duty at the door.

"Might have known you fellows would be on hand sooner or later," he said with a grin. "Where's your dad tonight?"

Explaining that Mr. Hardy was on his way to New York, Frank asked about Cap Bailey's condition.

"Oh, he's all right now. Nothing serious," the

18

A Hazardous Take-off 19

policeman assured them, and motioned the boys inside the house.

Cap was sitting on the living-room sofa, holding his head, Mrs. Bailey beside him. A police sergeant was conducting the investigation, and Cap was telling him the details. He was glad to see the Hardys, and after a few brief words with them continued his account.

"My wife and I had just returned from a concert, and I had gone upstairs," he reported, "when I heard her cry out. I ran down and found her struggling as she was being tied up by one of the masked men. The other held a gun on me and told me to stand with my face against the wall. A moment later I felt a blow on my head, and that's all I know."

His wife took up the story. "After that they turned the house upside down, searching for something. They must have been almost an hour at it. Cap was just beginning to stir again when they finally left, and I managed to struggle free."

The police officer checked again with Cap. "Have you looked over your things to see if anything is missing?" he asked.

"Yes, but nothing much is gone. Only a duplicate map I've been making for a trip I plan to take this summer, but it wasn't complete."

Frank and Joe looked at each other with understanding. The map of Wildcat Swamp!

"They didn't get the original?"

20 The Secret of Wildcat Swamp

"No, I had that well hidden. You see, Officer, it's a map of some property out West, that may have some value to it." With the promise that nothing would be made public, he told the sergeant some of the background of the situation.

Meanwhile, another policeman had been searching the entire house for clues of any sort that might have been left by the housebreakers. Now he came up to his superior.

"Sarge, we may be able to get some prints off that back kitchen window. It looks smudgy-unless the marks were made by one of the family."

"No, I washed every window in this house today," Mrs. Bailey asserted. "There were no smudges on any of them."

Hopefully, the police lifted all the prints they could find, and finally left the house. The Hardys' offer to remain overnight, in the event that the housebreakers might return, was welcomed by Mrs. Bailey, even though Cap thought it unnecessary. The boys, after calling home to let their mother know where they were, took turns sleeping, but there was no further visit from any prowlers during the night.

At breakfast Frank and Joe discussed the night's adventure with Cap as they stowed away some of Mrs. Bailey's crisp, brown waffles. Both boys questioned the science teacher closely as to how many people might be aware of his intended trip.

"As I told you, it was no secret at all," he replied.

A Hazardous Take-off 21

"Matter of fact, a reporter from the Bayport Times got wind of it and came around for an interview. He wrote a long article for the paper."

"Good night! Did he mention the location of Wildcat Swamp?"

"No, I didn't tell him that. But I did mention the sign that my uncle had found, and the words 'Here lie the bodies of twenty wildcat.' "

Their conversation was interrupted by the ringing of the telephone. Cap answered it, and came back to the table looking pleased.

"They have a clue to one of the men," he remarked. "They were able to trace those fingerprints on the window to some character named Willie the Penman."

Frank and Joe almost shouted. "Willie the Penman! He's that friend of Flint and Turk," Frank exclaimed. "Now we know there's some kind of hookup between Dad's case and this new business!"

They told Cap and his wife about the series of train robberies which Mr. Hardy had been engaged to investigate, and also about the prison break in which Turk had escaped from Delmore.

"I wonder if Willie or someone else in the gang happened to see that story?" Joe ruminated.

"He could have," Cap said, "although I hardly think he's the type who would be interested in paleontology."

"It certainly begins to sound as if Wildcat Swamp

22 The Secret of Wildcat Swamp

might be a hide-out for escaped criminals, with Turk joining up with Flint and Willie the Penman," Frank observed.

"I take it you fellows are still interested in making the trip?" Cap asked with a grin.

"More so than ever," Frank cried. "The further you get into a case like this, the more it gets under your skin."

"All I ask," Mrs. Bailey interrupted with a worried glance at her husband, "is that you all take care of yourselves. I'm afraid that these men may be very desperate characters."

Joe, who had been silent for several moments, now came up with a new approach to the problem. How would it be, he suggested, if they made the trip by plane instead of by car?

"We could even set out for a fake destination, to throw those guys off the trail in case they try to follow us," he proposed.

Cap and Frank weighed the suggestion and found it thoroughly practical. It would be faster and would cut down time and lessen the opportunity for interference.

"Green Sand Lake might be the ideal destination to announce for public consumption," Cap remarked. "It's well known as a searching area for fossil deposits, and it's only about three hundred miles from Bayport."

From there, they agreed the three could go b) rail to a place closer to Wildcat Swamp. There they

A Hazardous Take-off 23

could procure mounts and make the final stages by horseback. But this phase of the journey they would hope to keep a secret.

Breakfast over, the brothers went off to arrange details for this new jaunt. First they contacted Jack Wayne, a private pilot who had become Mr. Hardy's right-hand man on charter flights. Jack was delighted to accept the assignment, especially when the boys gave him a sketchy outline of the reason for the trip and told him not to let the word get out where they were going.

At home, though, they ran into trouble. During the boys' brief absence, their Aunt Gertrude, who lived with them, had returned from a visit and had taken over on the home front. An elder sister of Mr. Hardy's, this energetic woman had a determined air and an eye that missed little, yet the boys were very fond of her and liked to tease her.

"Going away again I hear," she said as the brothers were carrying their gear down the stairway and out onto the porch. "Fingerprint sets, radio sending and receiving sets. Where are you going, the Antarctic?"

Patiently but hurriedly they told her of having been asked to act as bodyguards and detectives for their science teacher, Cap Bailey.

"Bodyguards!" the elderly lady ejaculated. "Aren't they the ones who always get shot first when someone is going to be assassinated?"

"Don't worry about us, Aunty," Joe said, grin*

24 The Secret of Wildcat Swamp

ning. "We'll duck between the bullets. And we need the radios so we can keep in communication with the undertakers just before the assassination."

With a gasp, Aunt Gertrude threw up her hands, saying she was sure the trip would come to some strange end.

Take-off time was set for early the next morning. Though the Hardys were at the flying field long before the time of departure, Chet Morton was there ahead of them, greeting Jack Wayne and bringing the travelers a box of candy as a parting gift.

"It's only what I would like someone to bring me," he remarked when they thanked him. "And I wouldn't have to be going away, either," Chet added, eying the candy box with a hungry look.

"All right, all right, let's open it right now," Joe said with a laugh. "Help yourself, Chet."

"Why, yes, I will," he remarked, casually removing as many as one hand would hold. "And if you fellows need any help out West, just call on me. Well, I'd better hurry back to the swimming pool. So long."

He drove off and the three travelers climbed into the cabin of the low-winged silver plane. Jack turned the switch and pressed the starter button. The big paddle-bladed propeller became a transparent disk.

Frank and Joe had flown with Jack Wayne many times before. They admired the way he handled his

A Hazardous Take-off 25

plane, Skyhappy Sal, and the carefree smoothness with which he flew her.

After warming the engine to the proper temperature for a take-off, he swung the ship into the wind and lined up on the north-south runway, which paralleled the entrance road.

"All set?"

The three passengers nodded, and Jack shoved the throttle forward. The powerful engine roared, and the plane rolled ahead. As they gained speed, the runway flashing below the windows, suddenly the plane gave a lurch.

Jack yanked the throttle back and the engine's roar died. But their speed was still high, as he eased in the brakes. The next instant a heavy jolt shook Skyhappy Sal. Frank, sitting on the left, saw something dart from beneath the wing on his side and bound away.

A wheel!

It rolled onto the road, just missing a car, and causing it to swerve dangerously out of line.

In the cockpit Jack Wayne fought to keep his careening aircraft from reaching the road and overturning. Desperately he threw all his weight on the right brake. There was a loud, grating splatter as dirt flew up over the windshield.