The Clue Of The Screeching Owl Part 13

"Honest?" Bobby asked.

With Chet lighting the way in front, Frank followed, carrying the exhausted boy. Joe watched the rear, in case the cat might still be stalking them. The boys worked their way across the side of the hollow until they reached the path.

Soon they had climbed into the clearing, near the ruins of Captain Maguire's cabin. Chain lightning now zigzagged across the sky, showing great piles of 50 menacing clouds. But the rushing wind had already pa.s.sed over, and between the crashes of thunder came lulls of dead silence.

"Look! What's that?" called Joe, pointing off into the distance. The boys had stopped to rest on the very rim of the hollow.

"You mean those lights way down at the other end of the valley?" asked Chet.

"Yes. If my sense of direction is right," continued Joe with rising excitement, "those lights are on the rim of the hollow just above Walter Donner's place!"

"You're right," agreed Frank. "Something is going on over there, fellows, and I don't think it has anything to do with witches!"

"Let's get Bobby home," urged Chet. "Then we can go over there and see what it's all about."

On the double now, Frank, Joe, and Chet 151 hurried with the little boy to where they had parked the yellow convertible.

Soon they were racing down steep Rim Road.

Veering sharply, Frank pulled into the rutted drive by the side of the Thompsons' house. Lights were on in all of the rooms. As the car stopped, Mrs.

Thompson, nearly hysterical, flew out from the porch.

"You must help me! My little boy! He's been gone since supper. I'm so afraid he's lost in the woods, and there's been that terrible scream . . ."

"Hi, Mommy!" said Bobby sleepily from Frank's arms. "Don't worry. I'm okay."

Openmouthed, the astonished mother stared for a moment. Then, s.n.a.t.c.hing her son, she folded him in her arms.

"He was looking for his dog, and I guess he got lost," Chet explained, thinking it wise to say nothing of the mysterious catlike beast for the time being. "But we're going to bring back his dog, too. Aren't we, Bobby?"

Suddenly Mrs. Thompson looked at them intensely. "Tell me," she demanded, "where did you find him? Not in Black Hollow!"

"Yes, we did, Mrs. Thompson," Frank answered. "But don't worry, he's okay. I think it would be best if you put him right to bed. We'll be back to explain everything in the morning."

152 The amazed and grateful woman called her thanks as the three youths jumped into their car. The wheels spun on the gravel road, then the car started up the hill.

"Now," Frank told the others, "we'll drive right around the rim. Hang onto your seats, because it isn't much of a road."

Joe and Chet, peering ahead, saw that Frank was right. The road soon narrowed to a pair of wheel ruts, and in places was dangerously close to the edge of the hollow. A single wrong twist of the wheel could mean a fatal plunge into the valley below.

Frank drove swiftly, but with a firm hand. Though bushes and low branches smacked against the windshield, he did not slow down.

"What's this ahead?" he said suddenly.

The headlights had picked up an abandoned vehicle. Joe jumped out to investigate.

"Just an old jalopy, probably abandoned there a year or so ago," he reported as he got back in the car. "It's parked on the very edge of the bluff."

Frank drove on toward the mysterious lights they had seen earlier. All at once he stopped the car. They had reached a little wider s.p.a.ce in the road.

"There's room here to turn around. We might want to get out of these woods in a hurr^. I think I'll play it safe."

153 He pointed the convertible back in the direction of Maguire's clearing. "Now, let's go. We can't be more than five minutes from those lights."

There were no sounds except those of the storm, which was just about to break.

A flash of lightning and the crack of thunder came simultaneously. It was followed by a continual rumble, and lightning was so frequent that flashlights were unnecessary. Stealthily Frank, Joe, and Chet crept forward along the 51 narrow track.

Suddenly a man's voice was heard saying, "Here! Grab onto the other end of this, will you!"

Quickly the boys ducked into the cover of some bushes. Ahead of them the lightning showed up the dark bulk of a heavy truck. As they watched, two men, struggling and puffing, lifted a long box from the tailgate and carried it between them among the trees at the edge of the hollow.

"Where are they going with it?" Joe wondered in a whisper. "They'll fall over the bluff if they're not careful."

Tense but patient, the youths waited. Still the two men did not reappear.

By now the Hardys were rapidly putting two and two together. The once-baffling clues in the strange case began to fall into place, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

"Listen!" said Frank. "You know the two owls 154 Simon drew, then crossed out? Now that I think of it, he must have meant the birds don't make the sounds. Their cries are man-made! They're signals to these men with the truck: one to stay away, one to come to the hollow. I wonder which is which?"

"Not only that," Joe added. "Someone is playing witch, using the old story of the missing dogs and screams to scare people away while this unloading is going on."

"I'll bet one of the stolen dogs was parceled out by Donner to those hijackers we caught in the station wagon," put in Chet. "The dog acted friendly at first, but the crooks must have trained him to attack on command."

"Sure," Joe declared. "Walter Donner and his gang are hijackers. Probably they're the same gang that Dad is trying to track down."

"Remember how Donner laughed at the police for not catching the thieves?"

Frank reminded them. "He thinks he's pretty cleverl"

"Captain Maguire probably suspected something," he went on. "He came down to investigate and, I'm afraid, was taken prisoner or something worse."

"But if he's a prisoner"-Joe puzzled-"where are they keeping him? Say, remember the door we heard closing in Donner's kitchen, but didn't see-that may be the answer!"

Eager now to learn more, the three friends 155 grew more impatient by the minute as the two men failed to return to the truck.

"We must trail them," Frank decided. "One at a time, and watch yourselves. We can't afford to get caught in a trap now."

First, Frank slipped cautiously from bush to bush, past the silent truck to the trees at the top of the hollow. Joe followed, then Chet.

Warily they peered ahead. The two hijackers were nowhere to be seen. Frank led his companions through the narrow belt of trees and out onto the exposed edge of the bluff. Again they stopped to reconnoiter.

Frank, Joe, and Chet were now crouching in the narrow ridge of small bushes that grew along the rim. Directly in front of them was nothing but bare rocks, curving sharply to the floor of the hol-loxv below.

By now the wind had come up again. Behind them, the trees waved wildly, and even in the brush the boys could feel its force. Constant flashes of lightning threw a clear white light over everything-so clear that every individual tree in Black Hollow stood out distinctly.

By leaning forward slightly, the boys could see the roof of Walter Donner's cabin and the small clearing surrounding it. There were Donner's sheep, moving around nervously in their three-sided pen. But, to the boys' amazement, there was absolutely no trace of the hijackers!

156 "They're not up here and they're not down there," whispered Joe, bewildered.

"Anyhow, how could they get down there, especially with that heavy box? These rocks are much too steep!"

52 Baffled, the boys worked their way along the rim directly above the Donner cabin. Joe led the way, examining the rock face for some possible way into the hollow below.

Suddenly Frank cried out from behind Joe. But the cry was choked off. Turning, Joe and Chet found that their companion had vanished completely, as though swallowed by the earthl

CHAPTER XIX.

Prisoners!

"frank!" Joe and Chet shouted, throwing aside all caution. "Frank! Where are you?"

The only answer was a white glare of lightning lasting fully three seconds.

They could see everything around them plainly. There was no doubt about it: Frank Hardy had disappeared as completely as the two men carrying the box!

"Oh, where is he?" Joe cried in despair, his words drowned out by a terrific blast of thunder.

Now, at last, as though split wide open by the latest bolt, the swollen clouds released their load of rainfall in one vast rush. Sheets of water struck the trees with a crash, and hit the rocks with a loud smacking sound.

But in spite of the tumult, a faint human cry from the ground underneath them reached Joe's keen ears.

"Over here!" he shouted, groping through the downpour to a wide, round bush from which the cry seemed to have come.

"Whoa!" Joe cried suddenly.

The ground gave way beneath his feet. For an instant he felt himself falling in s.p.a.ce. But in that moment the strong arms of Chet Morton hooked under his armpits and hauled him backward to safety.

Snapping on their flashlights, the two boys trained them downward and discovered the mouth of a deep, wide hole, cleverly hidden by the round bush.

As they peered below in amazement at a narrow wooden slide, a familiar voice, sounding far away, called up from below.

"Joe! Chet!" It was Frank.

Carefully Joe and Chet sat down on the slide, grasping the sides. In spite of their caution, they were soon whizzing through the darkness. They tumbled in a heap at the bottom but quickly leaped to their feet.

"Turn on your flashlights," directed Frank. "I lost mine when I fell."

The yellow beams suddenly lit up a fairly high, rock-walled chamber, with pa.s.sages leading from it in several directions.

"Must be the gang's hide-out," said Joe in a low voice. "And they slide their stolen goods down that chute."

Cautiously the three friends moved along one 159 of the rock pa.s.sageways. Abruptly, it was blocked by a low, wooden door.

"Should we open it?" Joe whispered. "It might be a trap!"

"Can't stop now," muttered Frank. Boldly he stepped forward and pushed. The heavy old door swung noiselessly inward.

The next instant the Hardys and Chet gasped in disbelief. A single kerosene lantern dimly illuminated the square, rock-hewn room. A man, with a dirty bandage wrapped around his disheveled gray hair, lay upon a cot. Slowly he turned dull, sunken eyes upon them.

"Captain Maguirel" cried Frank, rushing forward.

The expression in the man's eyes changed instantly to one of lively hope.

"Frank! Joe! Your father got my letter! Thank goodness. Where is Fenton?"

Shakily, the man sat up. Evidently he was still weak from the wound in his head.

"Dad couldn't get here," Frank explained, "so he sent us." Frank introduced Chet, then went on, "We've been hunting you for days, Captain. Right now we must be careful. We don't know where Donner and his gang may be, and we don't want to be captured."

53 When he heard that the boys were alone, Captain Maguire's joy became mixed with concern. "I can tell you where Donner is," he answered.

160 "He and several of his pals are in the cabin. There's a pa.s.sageway to it through that other door." He pointed to one across the room.

As the captain paused, the boys noticed his torn shirt-the sc.r.a.ps they had found in the hollow were of the same plaid flannel.

"You must go for help, boys," he urged. "This gang has been hijacking equipment for the nose cones of rockets. They've also been stealing furs, surgical equipment, and whatever else they dare. They're smart, and they'll stop at nothing."

"We'll go back up the shaft," proposed Chet. "I noticed some steps on one side. And we'll take you with us, sir. We couldn't leave you herel"

"But if the gang finds the captain gone now," Frank pointed out thoughtfully, "they'll know the game is up and clear out."

"Frank's right," agreed Maguire.

"You go then, Chet," Joe decided. "Frank and I will stay here and look out for the captain."

After Chet had left, Captain Maguire began his story.

"When the screams first started, I didn't think much of it. But dogs began disappearing, too. So, recalling the hex legend, I began noting on my calendar the dates on which I heard the screams, as well as any dogs that were missing.

Soon I became convinced there was a connection, and that something underhanded was going on. I even suspected the hollow might be a hide-out for the hi161 jackers. That's why I sent for your father. Then one night my c.o.c.ker spaniel Ginger was stolen and I decided to investigate alone."

The boys nodded and Frank said, "And that's when you were captured."

"Yes," the captain replied sadly. "I took my gun that night and began searching the hollow. I heard something in the bushes and asked who it was.

There was no answer. Then I saw two glaring eyes and heard a scream. It was the puma. I gave it both barrels, but missed."

"Yes, we found your sh.e.l.ls," said Joe.

"Donner heard the shots, sneaked up behind, and slugged me," the captain continued. "The next thing I knew I was in his cabin, and he was pushing aside a section of the rock wall in the kitchen. There was a wooden door behind it.