CHAPTER XII

THE STRANGE TREE

"bad news?" repeated Frank. "What has happened, Mr. Prescott?"

"I can't tell you over the telephone. Do you mind if I drop in for a few minutes? I'd like to see your father."

"Dad isn't in town just now. But you're welcome to come over anyway."

"Fine. I'll be there within half an hour."

Frank turned away from the telephone. He wondered what had happened to prompt this unexpected call from the owner of T of notch.

"All right, you fellows," he said to Chet and Bill. "Now is your chance to get a taste of a real live mystery. We'll let you sit in on our little chat with Mr. Prescott."

Mrs. Hardy prepared sandwiches and cocoa for the boys. While they were enjoying this light repast Frank and Joe explained the Topnotch case to the extent of their own knowledge of the affair. Chet and Bill, therefore, knew all the essential facts in the affair by the time Mr. Prescott finally arrived.

The man from Kentucky looked worried and anxious. "When will your father be back?" he asked abruptly. "I want him to take this case."

9'

92 THE SINISTER SIGN POST

"Dad has been pretty busy," replied Frank. "He may not return tonight at all. Perhaps you'd like to tell us what has happened."

The gentleman sank into a comfortable armchair.

"All that has occurred," he said heavily, "is that I've been swindled out of twenty-five thousand dollars."

"You paid the ransom!" cried Joe.

"Yes, I paid it, but I didn't get Topnotch back."

The boys were shocked. It was bad enough to pay a huge ransom for the stolen race-horse, but to lose the animal after acceding to the kidnappers' demands was a real tragedy.

"They sent me letters," explained Mr. Prescott. "They proved to me that they actually had Topnotch in their possession by mentioning a certain hidden mark on his body. I left the money at a place we agreed upon and the horse was to have been sent to the Spur-town track stables by truck. But the crooks double-crossed me. Your father will have to take this case for me."

"My brother and I could fill in until Dad comes home," offered Frank.

Mr. Prescott looked dubious.

"I appreciate your help, of course," he said politely, "but after all this case is one for a real detective such as Fenton Hardy. A great deal of money is involved, you realize."

Chet broke in at this moment. "I guess you don't understand, Mr. Prescott," he said. "The Hardy boys are real detectives. They aren't professionals, perhaps, but they have solved plenty of mysteries that specialists have failed in."

THE STRANGE TREE 93

Chet loyally went on to tell the caller about some of the sensational cases which the Hardy boys had handled. The horse owner was surprised and interested. His manner altered at once.

"Well, then, until your father returns you may substitute for him," he said. It was evident, however, that Mr. Prescott hoped Fenton Hardy would soon be back and take the case into his own hands.

After the man had left the house the boys discussed the Topnotch affair and agreed that they should get busy as soon as possible. Bill and Chet were enthusiastic over the prospect of assisting, and agreed to be back at the Hardy home early next morning to spend the whole day searching for the stolen race-horse.

"Bring some lunch along and a couple of flashlights," advised Frank. "We may be away until dark."

"Where are we going?" asked Chet's cousin.

"You'll know when we get there," laughed Joe. "Be prepared to do plenty of walking."

It was the Hardy boys' intention to go back to the clearing where they had seen the van and make a thorough investigation, in the hope of picking up some further clue that might help them to trace the crooks.

Next morning, however, the boys were unable to start out as early as they had planned. A telegram arrived from Fenton Hardy asking them to remain at the house to receive a message from a client who would be driving through Bayport during the afternoon. It was important that they receive the man personally, so the boys were obliged to wait. It was not until after three.o'clock that he called and left some papers for a case Mr. Hardy was handling.

94 THE SINISTER SIGN POST

Chet and Bill had been waiting out on the back porch for more than an hour before Joe and Frank were finally free. Then, with their sandwiches, flashlights and compasses they all piled into Chet's car and set out in the direction of Spurtown.

At the cross-roads the stout lad was instructed to turn to the right. They proceeded along the abandoned road as far as they could, then got out of the car and went on foot. They passed the sign that advised trespassers to "keep out," and followed the winding trail until they reached the place where the dog had chased Frank and Joe into the woods.

The animal did not appear. The four lads walked down the trail unmolested. At length Frank spied wheel marks in the ground.

"These must have been left by the van when they moved it," he said, as the boys made their way to the clearing.

This time they searched every inch of the ground very thoroughly, but without finding anything in the nature of a clue.

"Strikes me that this detective business is just a lot of plain, ordinary hard work," remarked Bill Morton.

"You asked for it," replied his cousin unsympa-thetically.

The boys left the clearing and picked up another trail that led still deeper into the woods. This one was wide enough to permit passage of a truck. Although they examined the ground carefully, they could find no wheel marks or any evidence that such a vehicle had passed that way.

"The ground is hard and plenty of leaves have fallen

THE STRANGE TREE 95

during the past few days," said Joe. "Even though we can't find any tracks, I have a hunch that the van came this way after it was driven out of the clearing."

Suddenly Frank stopped, a puzzled expression on his face.

"That tree, Joe!" he exclaimed, pointing to a bare, leafless oak some distance ahead. "I saw its branches move."

"What of it?" demanded Chet's cousin.

"There isn't any wind."

"Gosh, I never thought of that. Then what is it that makes the branches move?"

"That's what puzzles me," returned Frank.

"It's a queer-looking tree, too," remarked Joe. "All the boughs grow in the same direction."

Joe and Frank advanced carefully. The closer they came to the odd looking growth the more unnatural it appeared. Once again they were sure they saw a movement in the stiff, bare branches.

On close inspection they received a distinct surprise. The tree was artificial!

The branches were merely wired to the trunk, and the whole object appeared to be set in an iron base partly covered with dead leaves.

"Now what do you make of that?" exclaimed Joe, profoundly astonished.

"I guess those branches did move after all," Frank said. "They must be some sort of a signal. That's why they all point in the same direction."

"If it's a signal, how is it worked?"

"Mechanically, I suppose. It has certainly been put here for some purpose."

96 THE SINISTER SIGN POST

Chet and his cousin came up at this moment. When they learned about the artificial oak, Bill Morton began to look nervous.

"I-I don't think we ought to fool around here any longer," he quavered. "Let's go on home."

"Just when things are beginning to get interesting? Not me," rejoined Chet.

Frank and Joe were very curious about the strange tree. They did not doubt but that it was a signal of some kind. However, they could not discover what made it move. They walked back and forth and jumped on the ground near the strange growth, but nothing happened.

"Queer!" said Frank. "There may be other trees like it somewhere a little ways ahead. Let's go on."

They went forward through the woods, following the trail all the while, but found no more artificial trees. Before they had traversed more than a few hundred yards, however, their progress was suddenly thwarted. A high barrier of barbed wire rose before them.

"A fence in a forest!" exclaimed Joe. "I wonder what's the reason for that?"

They could not go ahead, so they made their way along the barbed-wire enclosure in the belief that it did not extend very far. Soon they came to a sign hanging from the top strand. It emphatically warned trespassers away from the place.

PRIVATE KENNELS

Vicious Dogs at Large

KEEP OUT1

THE STRANGE TREE 97

Frank and Joe looked at each other.

"I don't believe it!" declared the latter.

"You don't believe that sign?" exclaimed Bill Morton. "Why, it says in black and white that there are vicious dogs inside. You couldn't get me to go in there for anything."

"I think it's a hoax. What do you say, Frank? Are you game to climb that fence with me?"

"Sure. Chet and Bill can stay here and keep watch."

Frank made this suggestion because he knew that Chet's cousin had no desire whatsoever to test the authenticity of the sign. Then, too, Chet himself was not very enthusiastic about climbing the fence.

"O.K.," said Joe Hardy without further delay, hunting out the nearest post.

He then began to scale the strands of wire, clambered over the fence without getting caught on the barbs and dropped to the ground. Frank followed, and in a few moments the two boys had disappeared into the gloom of the trees.

"If this is detective work," said Bill Morton, looking around apprehensively, "then I'd rather be back in school."

Chet waited with his cousin in the gathering twilight. He was restless, and suggested that they might as

' OO / O

well investigate the fence a little while the Hardy boys were absent. The two lads followed it for a short distance through the woods. Then the trees thinned out.

"Why, I see a gate!" exclaimed the fat boy.

The barbed wires were broken by a stout wooden gate, chained and padlocked. A road led up to it

90 THE SINISTER SIGN POST

through the woods and wound off among the trees inside. On the gate-post was a sign similar to the one the boys had seen on the fence.

Chet sauntered over to examine the padlock and chain. Timidly his cousin followed.

"Do you hear anything?" asked Bill, looking around.

Chet listened. In the distance the boys could hear a steady throbbing and humming.

"It's a car of some kind," remarked Chet. Then, as the sound became steadily louder, he said, "By golly, it's coming this way!"

"Oh, gosh!" quavered Bill. "We'll both be captured!"

There was no doubt but that a truck was lumbering through the woods, raiding along the trail by which they had come at a good rate of speed. Chet wasted no time. He flung himself on the ground and began heaping dead leaves over himself.

"Hurry!" he urged his cousin. "Cover up and they'll never see us."

Bill did not have to be coaxed. Frantically he began burrowing among the leaves, and in a few minutes there was nothing but a pair of mounds to indicate the presence of the two boys.

The truck lurched unsteadily and came to a halt at the gate. Chet and Bill heard someone unfasten the padlock. The chain rattled. The machine passed through. A moment later the gate was closed and secured again. Then the lumbering contraption rumbled away inside the enclosure.

In a few minutes Chet sat up, brushing the leaves aside.

THE STRANGE TREE 99

"I hope Frank and Joe don't run into any trouble-----"

he began.

Then his heart began to pound. From out of the depths of the woods on the other side of the fence he heard a long-drawn, heart-rending scream!