The Secret Of Skull Mountain Part 1

THE SECRET OF SKULL MOUNTAIN.

By FRANKLIN W. DIXON.

CHAPTER 1.

A Mysterious Skull.

"Extra! Extra-a! 'Bayport Faces Water Shortage'! Read all-1 about-t it!"

Standing on a corner of Bayport's main street, the newsboy shouted the headline again.

Scarcely had he finished when a crowd began to surround him, and he was soon selling papers as rapidly as he could pocket the money.

Attracted by the newsboy's cries, Frank Hardy swung the roadster close to the curb and stopped it a few yards from the corner. His brother Joe jumped out of the car and wormed through the crowd, reappearing a moment later with a newspaper.

He slipped into the seat beside Frank, and the tall, dark-haired youth carefully nosed the roadster into the stream of traffic.

"What does the paper say?" Frank asked impatiently, as Joe sat silently reading.

2 Seconds pa.s.sed without a reply. Frank turned his head for a quick look at his brother.

The blond-haired boy, one year younger than himself, was deeply absorbed in the news story, a worried frown on his face.

Frank nudged him. "Joe-snap out of it! It can's be that that bad!" bad!"

The remark, penetrating Joe's concentration, made him look up. "It can't, huh?" he retorted. "Listen!"

He read aloud from the news story as Frank guided the roadster through the thinning traffic: " 'City officials announced today that unless a way is found to fill Tarnack Reservoir, the people of Bay-port may soon be completely without water.

" 'Last week,' " Joe continued to read, " 'work was completed on the dam to impound the water of the Tarnack River, and on the conduit which will carry the water to Bayport. But despite the efforts of the construction engineers, the reservoir will not fill with water-water which Bayport badly needs.' "

"Golly!" exclaimed Frank. "That is is serious!" serious!"

Joe read on: " 'Robert Carpenter, a local engineer, has been employed by the builders of the dam to find out why the reservoir is not filling properly, but so far he has failed to provide a solution-' "

"Carpenter," Frank mused. "That name sounds familiar."

"Yes," Joe agreed. "I'm sure I've heard it before 3 -wait! I've got it! Mr. Carpenter is the engineer d.i.c.k Ames works for!"

"Right, Joe. I bet d.i.c.k is working with him on the water project!"

The roadster was out of the heavy traffic now and Frank turned the car into the road which led toward the boys' home. As he did so, Joe suddenly stiffened and his eyes grew wide with fear.

"Frank! Look out!"

Frank had not noticed the tall young man who, completely absorbed in the newspaper he was reading, had stepped from the curb into the road. Now he was walking directly into the path of the car.

Quickly, the Hardy boy twisted the wheel and jammed on the brakes. The roadster swerved precariously with a screech of tires. Frank caught a glimpse of a frightened face above the newspaper as the car bore down on the young man. For one sickening moment it seemed the roadster would run right over him, then the fender missed him by inches.

Joe leaped out as the car skidded to a stop, and ran back to where the young fellow was standing. A moment later, Frank followed.

"Why, it's d.i.c.k!" he heard his brother exclaim. "d.i.c.k Ames!"

Frank also was surprised. He hadn't recognized the young engineer when he glimpsed his face above the newspaper.

4 "d.i.c.k," he asked anxiously. "Are you hurt?"

d.i.c.k grinned weakly and wiped his forehead with his handkerchief.

"No," he replied. "Thanks to you!" He took a deep breath. "That was a pretty dumb thing for me to do-go jaywalking while reading a newspaper! But I became so interested in the account of the water shortage, I forgot to watch where I was going!"

"Frank and I have just been reading that story," Joe told him. "Are you working with Mr.

Carpenter on the mystery, d.i.c.k?"

"Yes, I-" The tall engineer broke off and stared at the boys suspiciously. "Who told you it's a mystery?" he asked.

Frank grinned as Joe gave him a sly wink.

"It doesn't take a detective to figure out that when water won't fill a reservoir, and an engineer such as Mr. Carpenter can't seem to find the reason for it, there's something mysterious going on," Frank said.

The Hardy boys' interest in mysteries was well known in Bayport. The boys' father, Fenton Hardy, was one of the most brilliant private detectives in the United States, and Frank and Joe, although still in high school, had spent many vacations and afternoons after school helping him to solve baffling mysteries and bring criminals to justice. In solving their most recent case, the mystery of "The Phantom Freighter," the boys had proved even to their famous father that they had become expert amateur sleuths, 5 and both Frank and Joe itched for another mystery to test their abilities.

They were eager to question d.i.c.k Ames about the mystery of Tarnack Dam, but the engineer suddenly turned pale and wavered unsteadily. Frank quickly thrust his hand under d.i.c.k's elbow while Joe took hold of his other arm.

"d.i.c.k, are you all right?" the younger Hardy boy asked anxiously.

Ames rubbed his eyes and looked at them somewhat dazedly.

"Guess I better sit down a minute," he said thinly.

"That's just what you're going to do," Frank told him. "Help me walk him to the car, Joe."

d.i.c.k protested, saying that if they would simply allow him to rest on the curb for a few minutes, he would soon be all right. But the Hardy boys refused to listen.

"You're coming home with us," Joe stated flatly, helping d.i.c.k to the car. "There you'll be able to lie down, if you feel like it. And if that doesn't cure you," he added, grinning, "Aunt Gertrude will stuff you to the ears with the best food you ever tasted!"

Dinner was on the table when Frank and Joe arrived home with d.i.c.k Ames. Both Mrs.

Hardy and Aunt Gertrude met them at the door, and Frank told them what had happened.

Mrs. Hardy, concerned about d.i.c.k, wanted him 6 to lie down at once, but Aunt Gertrude wouldn't hear of it.

"Fiddlesticks!" she scoffed. "The boy's just shaken up. There's nothing wrong with d.i.c.k that a plate of sausage and waffles won't fix!"

d.i.c.k surprised them by agreeing with the tall, solidly built spinster. The fresh air during the drive to the house had greatly revived him, he told them-and the aroma of frying sausage was giving him a ravenous appet.i.te!

Aunt Gertrude's smile was so triumphant that Frank and Joe couldn't help laughing.

Their aunt glared at them suspiciously.

"What are you two idiots chortling about?" she demanded. "Hurry up and make a place for d.i.c.k at the table!"

Aunt Gertrude spent most of her time at the home of her brother, Fenton Hardy. She was very fond of Frank and Joe, and very proud of their success as amateur sleuths. But Aunt Gertrude never allowed her fondness for them to show in her manner, and was apt to be dictatorial toward the boys..

As the Hardy boys and d.i.c.k Ames sat down to large servings of sausage and waffles, they learned that Mrs. Hardy and Aunt Gertrude already knew about the threatened water shortage. A radio announcer had described the situation and urged listeners to limit their use of water to their barest needs.

7 "Humph!" Aunt Gertrude sniffed. "What does he think we've been doing all these years?" She speared another sausage with her fork. "The authorities of this city should be ashamed of themselves. Pa.s.s the syrup, Frank. Why, even five years ago Bayport didn't have enough water. Joe, don't eat so fast. The whole city might burn down any time!"

"Don't say such things, Gertrude!" Mrs. Hardy objected, but the strong-willed spinster kept right on.

She reminded them of the increasing number of families moving into the Bayport area, described the lack of rooms in the schools for the extra children and the inadequate hospital facilities, and ended by predicting a shortage of gas and electricity!

"Wow!" Frank laughed. "That might mean no cooking!" He looked across the table at d.i.c.k, ban-teringly. "d.i.c.k, it looks like we've got to do something to make Bayport the good old town it used to be. Think Mr. Carpenter could use a couple of sleuths to help him find out why the reservoir won't fill?"

Joe looked at d.i.c.k, expecting a bantering reply, but the young engineer seemed to be seriously considering the question. Joe's eyes lit with hope. Maybe he and Frank would soon be involved in a mystery after all!

d.i.c.k was speaking. "He might, at that," he said 8 slowly. "Some pretty strange things have been happening lately on Skull Mountain.

Maybe you can find out what's behind them."

Frank and Joe exchanged a glance of elation-Skull Mountain, where the reservoir was located, was about twenty miles from Bayport. Neither of the boys knew a great deal about the mountain, but what they had heard made the rocky region seem darkly mysterious-a place where anything might happen.

"How soon can you come?" d.i.c.k asked.

"Right away!" Frank and Joe chorused.

"Swell!" d.i.c.k said. "I've got to get back to the camp this evening. We'll drive out there together."

"None of you are going anywhere until you've had your dessert," Aunt Gertrude put in firmly. "Apple cake."

"Why, Aunt Gertrude!" beamed Joe. "The biggest mystery in the world couldn't tear us away until we'd eaten your apple cake!"

An hour later, Frank was driving the roadster along the highway toward Skull Mountain.

Seated in the car with him were Joe and d.i.c.k Ames, and packed in the trunk and along the running board were folded pup tents and cots, hiking clothes and other camping equipment-not to mention a basket of sandwiches and cake Aunt Gertrude had prepared.

The two boys had promised to return home the 9 next day, as Fenton Hardy was in another state working on a case and they did not like to leave their mother and aunt alone for too long a time.

A few miles farther, Frank turned the roadster off the highway onto a dirt road. Directly ahead loomed Skull Mountain. Most of the mountain was thickly covered with trees, but the slope facing the road was scarred by stretches of jagged rock and huge boulders. Scaling the mountain was hazardous, and few people in the area ever undertook the climb.

Now they were at the base of the mountain, and the narrow dirt road wound around the foot of the rocky slope.

Suddenly Joe gripped Frank's arm.

"Frank! Look!" he cried. "There's a fire on Skull Mountain!"

Frank looked in the direction where his brother was pointing, and from his seat on the opposite side of the car d.i.c.k, too, craned his head to see.

A thin column of smoke rose from the trees which obscured the crest of the hill and drifted across the valley. As Frank brought the roadster to a halt, Joe quickly opened the dashboard compartment and whipped out a powerful pair of field gla.s.ses. The two boys and the engineer piled out of the convertible and Joe trained his gla.s.ses on the mountain-top.

"What do you make of it?" Frank asked.

10 "Do you suppose it's the start of a forest fire?" d.i.c.k said worriedly.

Joe did not answer at once. Then, as suddenly as it had risen, the smoke vanished.

There was no sign of flames.

"That's odd!" exclaimed Joe. "Now you see it, now you don't!"

"Let me have a look," Frank suggested.

He took the field gla.s.ses and focused them on the spot where they had seen the smoke. There was no sign of activity whatever. He turned slowly, bringing more of the mountain terrain into his field of vision. Before his eyes, half concealed by a huge boulder, appeared one of the strangest creatures he had ever seen-a gaunt-faced man with fierce eyes, long, s.h.a.ggy hair that made him resemble a sheep dog, and a thick, unkempt beard.

His eyes seemed to burn down at the boy and his mouth hung open in a half-sly, half-foolish smile.

Frank uttered a low exclamation.

"What is it?" Joe demanded excitedly.

"A man," Frank told him, giving Joe the gla.s.ses. "At least, he looks more like a man than anything else!"

Joe trained the field gla.s.ses on the boulder Frank indicated, but he saw no sign of the mountain creature. Disappointed, he gave the gla.s.ses to d.i.c.k, but the young engineer could not detect him either.

"What did he look like, Frank?" d.i.c.k asked, as they turned back toward the car.

Frank described the creature in detail, hoping d.i.c.k could identify him, but d.i.c.k shook his head. He had met some queer people while working on Skull Mountain, he said, but none of them matched Frank's description.

About to enter the car, they heard an ominous rumbling behind them. They turned swiftly, and Joe's jaw dropped.

"Look out!" he shouted.

Hurtling down the rocky slope with ever-increasing speed was a huge boulder-headed straight for the carl Faster and faster rolled the giant rock, crushing shrubs and shale in its path. And tumbling down the slope directly behind the boulder was a round, white object.

"Duck!" yelled Frank.

The two boys and their friend scrambled to safety behind a near-by tree. They saw the boulder strike a huge tree stump and teeter precariously. The small white object kept right on rolling.

"It's a skull!" cried Joe.

The words were barely out of his mouth when the boulder rolled off the tree stump and again rumbled down the slope toward the car.