The Tower Treasure Part 3

"Oh, I'm glad you're going to get your car back! Callie exclaimed.

"But I haven't got any money," Chet groaned.

"Who's the man?" Frank demanded.

There was another long pause before Chet answered. Then, looking at the waiting group before him, he announced simply, "Sm.u.f.f. Oscar Sm.u.f.f !"

His listeners gasped in astonishment. This was the last thing they expected to hear. The detective was selling information as to where Chet would find his missing jalopy!

"Why, that cheap so-and-so!" Joe cried out angrily.

Chet explained that Sm.u.f.f had said he was not in business for his health. He had to make a living and any information which he dug up as a detective should be properly paid for.

Frank shrugged. "I suppose Sm.u.f.f has a point there. How much does he want for the information, Chet?"

"His fee is twenty-five dollars!"

"What!" the others cried out.

After a long consultation it was decided that the young people would pool their resources. Whatever sum they could collect toward the twenty-five dollars would be offered to Oscar Sm.u.f.f to lead them to Chet's car.

"But make it very plain," Frank admonished, "that if it's not your jalopy Sm.u.f.f leads us to, you won't pay him one nickel."

Chet put in a call to Sm.u.f.f's home. As expected, the detective grumbled at the offer of ten dollars but finally accepted it. He said he would pick up the boys in half an hour and take them to the spot.

About this time Mr. and Mrs. Morton returned home. Chet and Iola's father was a good-looking, jolly man with his son's same general build and coloring.

He was in the real-estate business in Bay-port and ran the farm as a hobby.

Mrs. Morton was an older edition of her daughter Iola and just as witty and lighthearted. But when she learned what had transpired and that her son had been threatened, she was worried.

"You boys must be very careful," Mrs. Morton advised. "From what I hear about Sm.u.f.f, this red-haired thief could easily put one over on him. So watch your step!"

Chet promised that they would. "Good luck!" Callie called out, as Sm.u.f.f beeped his horn outside the door. "And don't be too late. I want to hear the news before I have to go home."

Frank, Joe, and Chet found Sm.u.f.f entirely uncommunicative about where they were going. He seemed to enjoy the role he was playing.

"I knew I'd be the one to break this case," he boasted.

Joe could not resist the temptation of asking Sm.u.f.f if he was going to lead them to the thief as well as to the car. The detective flushed in embarra.s.sment and admitted that he did not have full details yet on this part of the mystery.

"But it won't be long before I capture that fellow," he a.s.sured the boys. They managed to keep their faces straight and only hoped that they were not now on a wild-goose chase.

Twenty minutes later Sm.u.f.f pulled into the town of Ducksworth and drove straight to a used-car lot. Stopping, he announced, "Well, here we are. Get ready to fork over that money, Chet."

Sm.u.f.f nodded to the attendant in charge, then led the boys down a long aisle past row after row of cars to where several jalopies were lined up against a rear fence. Turning left, the detective finally paused before a bright red car.

"Here you are!" said Sm.u.f.f grandly, extending his right hand toward Chet.

"My money, please."

The stout boy as well as the Hardys stared at the jalopy. There was no question but that it was the same make and model as Chet's.

"The thief thought he could disguise it by painting it red," Sm.u.f.f explained.

"Is that your guess?" Frank asked quietly.

Oscar Sm.u.f.f frowned. "How else could you figure it?" he asked.

"Then there'll be yellow paint under the red," Frank went on. "Let's take a look to make sure."

It was evident that Sm.u.f.f did not like this procedure. "So you doubt me, eh?"

he asked in an unpleasant tone.

"Anybody can get fooled," Frank told him. "Well, Chet, let's operate on this car."

The detective stood by sullenly as Frank pulled out a penknife and began to sc.r.a.pe the red paint off part of the fender.

CHAPTER V.

The Hunt Is Intensified "HEY!" Oscar Sm.u.f.f shouted. "You be careful with that penknife! The man who owns this place don't want you ruinin' his cars!"

Frank Hardy looked up at the detective. "I've watched my father sc.r.a.pe off flecks of paint many times. The way he does it, you wouldn't know anybody had made a mark."

Sm.u.f.f grunted. "But you're not your father. Easy there!"

As cautiously as possible Frank picked off flecks of the red paint in a spot where it would hardly be noticeable. Taking a flashlight from his pocket, he trained it on the spot.

Joe, leaning over his brother's shoulder, said, "There was light-blue paint under this red, not yellow."

"Right," Frank agreed, eying Sm.u.f.f intently.

The detective reddened. "You fellows trying to tell me this isn't Chefs jalopy?" he demanded. "Well, I'm telling you it is, and I'm right!"

"Oh, we haven't said you're wrong," Joe spoke up quickly. Secretly he was hoping that this was Chet's car, but reason told him it was not.

"We'll try another place," Frank said, straightening up, and walking around to a fender on the opposite side.

Here, too, the test indicated that the car had been painted light blue before the red coat had been put over it.

"Well, maybe the thief put blue on and then red," said Sm.u.f.f stubbornly.

Frank grinned. "We'll go a little deeper. If the owner of this establishment objects, we'll pay for having the fenders painted."

But though Frank went down through several layers of paint, he could not find any sign of yellow.

All this time Chet had been walking round and round the car, looking intently at it inside and out. Even before Frank announced that he was sure this was not the missing jalopy, Chet was convinced of it himself.

"The Queen had a long, thin dent in the right rear fender," he said. "And that seat cushion by the door had a little split in it. I don't think the thief would have bothered to fix them up."

Chet showed his keen disappointment, but he was glad that the Hardys had come along to help him prove the truth. But Sm.u.f.f was not giving up the money so easily.

"You haven't proved a thing," he said. "The man who runs this place admitted that maybe this is a stolen car. The fellow who sold it to him said he lived on a farm outside Bayport."

The Hardys and Chet were taken aback for a moment by this information.

But in a moment Frank said, "Let's go talk to the owner. We'll find out more about the person who brought this car in."

The man who ran the used-car lot was very cooperative. He readily answered all questions the Hardys put to him. The bill of sale revealed that the former owner of the red jalopy was Melvin Schuster of Bayport.

"Why, we know him!" Frank spoke up. "He goes to Bayport High-at least, he did. He and his family moved far away. That's probably why he sold his car."

"But Mr. Sm.u.f.f said you suspected the car was stolen," Joe put in.

The used-car lot owner smiled. "I'm afraid maybe Mr. Sm.u.f.f put that idea in my head. I did say that the person seemed in an awful hurry to get rid of the car and sold it very cheap. Sometimes when that happens, we dealers are a little afraid to take the responsibility of buying a car, in case it is stolen property. But at the time Mr. Schuster came in, I thought everything was on the level and bought his jalopy."

Frank said that he was sure everything was all right, and after the dealer described Melvin Schuster, there was no question but that he was the owner.

Sm.u.f.f was completely crestfallen. Without a word he started for his own car and the boys followed. The detective did not talk on the way back to the Morton farm, and the boys, feeling rather sorry for him, spoke of matters other than the car incident.

As the Hardys and Chet walked into the Morton home, the two girls rushed forward. "Did you find it?" Iola asked eagerly.

Chet sighed. "Another one of Sm.u.f.f's bluffs," he said disgustedly. He handed back the money which his friends had given to help pay the detective.

Frank and Joe said good-by, went for their motorcycles, and took Callie home. Then they returned to their own house, showered, and went to bed.

As soon as school was over the next day, they took the gray wig and visited Schwartz's shop. The owner a.s.sured them that the hair piece had not come from his store.

"It's a very cheap one," the man said rather disdainfully.

Frank and Joe visited Flint's and Ruben Brothers' shops as well. Neither place had sold the gray wig. Furthermore, neither of them had had a customer in many weeks who had wanted a red wig, or who was in the habit of using wigs or toupees of various colors.

"Today's sleuthing was a complete washout," Joe reported that night to his father.

The famous detective smiled. "Don't be discouraged," he said. "I can tell you that one bit of success makes up for a hundred false trails."

As the boys were undressing for bed later, Frank reminded his brother that the following day was a school holiday. "That'll give us hours and hours to work on the case," he said enthusiastically.

"What do you suggest we do?" Joe asked.

Frank shrugged. Several ideas were brought up by the brothers, but one which Joe proposed was given preference. They would get hold of a large group of their friends. On the theory that the thief could not have driven a long distance away because of the police alarm, the boys would make an extensive search in the surrounding area for Chet's jalopy.

"We'll hunt in every possible hiding place," he stated.

Early the next morning Frank hurried to the telephone and put in one call after another to "the gang." These included, besides Chet Morton, Alien Hooper, nicknamed Biff because of his fondness for a distant relative who was a boxer named Biff; Jerry Gilroy, Phil Cohen, and Tony Prito. All were students at Bayport High and prominent in various sports.

The five boys were eager to co-operate. They agreed to a.s.semble at the Hardy home at nine o'clock. In the meantime, Frank and Joe would lay out a plan of action.

As soon as breakfast was over the Hardys told their father what they had in mind and asked if he had any suggestions on how they might go about their search.

"Take a map," he said, "with our house as a radius and cut pie-shaped sections. I suggest that two boys work together."

By nine o'clock his sons had mapped out the search in detail. The first recruit to arrive was Tony Prito, a lively boy with a good sense of humor. He was followed in a moment by Phil Cohen, a quiet, intelligent boy.

"Put us to work," said Tony. "I brought one of my father's trucks that he isn't going to use today." Tony's father was in the contracting business. "I can cover a lot of miles in it."

Frank suggested that Tony and Phil work together. He showed them the map, with Bayport as the center of a great circle, cut into four equal sections.

"Suppose you take from nine o'clock to twelve on this dial we've marked.

Mother has agreed to stay at home all day and act as clearing house for our reports. Call in every hour."

"Will do," Tony promised. "Come on, Phil. Let's get going!"

The two boys were just starting off when Biff and Jerry arrived at the Hardy home on motorcycles. Biff, blond and long-legged, had an ambling gait, with which he could cover a tremendous amount of territory in a short time. Jerry, an excellent fielder on Bayport High's baseball team, was of medium height, wiry, and strong.

Biff and Jerry were a.s.signed to the section on the map designated six to nine o'clock. They were given further instructions on sleuthing, then started off on their quest.

"Where's Chet?" Mr. Hardy asked his sons. "Wasn't he going to help in the search?"

"He probably overslept. Chet's been known to do that," Frank said with a grin.

"He also might have taken time for a double breakfast," Joe suggested.

Mrs. Hardy, who had stepped to the front porch, called, "Here he comes now. Isn't that Mr. Morton's car?"

"Yes, it is," Frank replied.

Chet's father let him off in front of the Hardy home and the stout boy hurried to the porch. "Good morning, Mrs. Hardy. Good morning, Mr. Hardy. Hi, chums!" he said cheerily. "Sorry to be late. My dad had a lot of phoning to do before he left. I was afraid if I'd tried to walk here, I wouldn't have arrived until tomorrow."

At this point Mr. Hardy spoke up. "As I said before, I think you boys should work in twos. There are only three of you to take care of half the territory."

The detective suddenly grinned boyishly. "How about me teaming up with one of you?"

Frank and Joe looked at their dad in delight. "You mean it?" Frank cried out. "I'll choose you as my partner right now."

"I have a further suggestion," the detective said. "It's not going to take you fellows more than three hours to cover the area you've laid out. And there's an additional section I think you might look into."

"What's that?" Joe inquired.

"Willow Grove. That's a park area, but there's also a lot of tangled woodland to one side of it. Good place to hide a stolen car."