The Secret of the Old Mill (15 page)

Suddenly the brothers came to another turn and the ground began to slope sharply upward.

“Maybe we're getting close to the end,” Frank conjectured hopefully.

Spurred by possible freedom, he put on a burst of speed. Joe did the same. A moment later Frank stopped unexpectedly and Joe bumped into him.

“What's the matter?” he barely whispered.

“Dead end,” reported his brother.

Squeezing up beside Frank, Joe reached out and touched a pile of stones blocking their path. The boys now could hear the heavy breathing of their pursuer.

“Let's move these stones,” Frank urged. Both Hardys worked with desperate haste to pull the barrier down. They heaved thankful sighs when a draft of fresh air struck their faces.

“The exit!” Joe whispered in relief.

The brothers wriggled through the opening they had made and found themselves in a rock walled space.

“It's the cave by the river, Joe!” Frank cried out. “Someone put back the rocks we removed!”

The boys clicked on their flashlights and started toward the entrance of the cave.

“We beat 'em to it!” Joe exclaimed.

“That's what you think!” came a harsh voice from the entrance.

The glare from two flashlights almost blinded the Hardys. Docker and Markel, with drawn revolvers, had stepped into the cave,

CHAPTER XX

FoR a second the two armed men stared in disbelief at Frank and Joe. “The Hardy boys!” Docker snarled. “So you're the snoopers we've trapped!”

There was a scuffling in the tunnel behind the boys. A stocky man, huffing and puffing, emerged from the tunnel. The Hardys recognized him in stantly : the counterfeit passer, Victor Peters.

The newcomer gaped at the Hardys. “What are they doing here?”

“A good question!” Markel snapped at his accomplice. “You told us on the two-way radio you'd locked 'em up with the truck.”

Peters whined, “I
did.
They must've broken out.”

“Obviously.” Docker gave him a withering look.

Frank and Joe realized that Peters had not returned to the old farmhouse.

Docker whirled on them. “How did you escape?”

The boys looked at him coldly. “That's for you to find out,” Joe retorted.

“It's a good thing Markel and I decided to head 'em off at the cave,” Docker added angrily. “Otherwise, they would have escaped again.”

The Hardys could see that the men were nervous and edgy. “I'm not the only one who made a mistake,” Peters growled. “I told you a couple of days ago to get rid of that kid Ken when these pests started asking about him, and then found the tunnel. We could have thrown 'em off the scent!”

While the men argued, the Hardys kept on the alert for a chance to break away. Markel's eye caught the movement, and he leveled his revolver. “Don't be smart!” he ordered. “You're covered.”

Peters continued the tirade against his confederates. “Docker, you should've finished these Hardys off when you put 'em in the boat that night! And you”—Peters turned on Markel—
“you
could have planted a dynamite charge in their boat instead of just monkeying with the throttle.”

The Hardys, meanwhile, were thankful for the precious minutes gained by the men's dissension. “Tony and Chet might come back in time with help,” Joe thought.

Simultaneously, Frank hoped that Ken Blake had carried out his whispered instructions.

Docker glanced nervously at his watch. “Blum ought to be here,” he fumed.

“Who's Blum?” Frank asked suddenly. “One of your counterfeiting pals?”

Docker, Markel, and Peters laughed scornfully. “No,” said Markel. “We're the only ones in our exclusive society. Paul Blum doesn't know anything about our—er—mill operation, but it was through him we got the jobs at the gatehouse. The whole deal really paid off double.”

Docker interrupted him with a warning. “Don't blab so much!”

Markel sneered. “Why not? What I say won't do these smart alecks any good.”

Joe looked at the guard calmly. “Who paid you to let the green panel truck into Elekton?”

All three men started visibly. “How'd you know that?” Markel demanded.

“Just had a hunch,” Joe replied.

The former guard regained his composure. “We'll get our money for that little job tonight.”

Frank and Joe felt elated. Paul Blum, whom these men expected, must be the sabotage ring-leader! “So that's what Markel meant by the deal paying off double,” Frank thought. “He and Docker working the counterfeit racket on their own—and being in cahoots with the saboteurs.”

Frank addressed Markel in an icy tone. “You call blowing up a building a ‘little job'?”

The counterfeiters' reactions astonished the Hardys.
“What!”
bellowed Markel, as Docker and Peters went ashen.

Joe snorted. “You expect us to believe you didn't
know
explosives were in that truck?”

Victor Peters was beside himself with rage.
“Fools!”
he shrilled at Docker and Markel. “You let yourselves be used by saboteurs? This whole state will be crawling with police and federal agents.”

The gatehouse men, though shaken, kept their revolvers trained on the Hardys. “Never mind,” Docker muttered. “Soon as Blum shows up we'll get out of here and lie low for a while.”

Frank and Joe learned also that Docker and Markel actually were brothers, but the two refused to give their real names.

“You, Docker, are known as The Arrow, aren't you?” Frank accused him.

“Yeah. Next time I'll use
you
boys for targets!” the man retorted threateningly.

The Hardys kept egging the men on to further admissions. Docker and Markel had been approached several months before by Blum who tipped them off to good-paying jobs at the Elekton gatehouse. Docker had cleverly forged references and identification for Markel and himself.

As soon as he and Markel had obtained the jobs, Blum had instructed them to buy the truck secondhand in another state, and told them only that Markel was to lend Blum the truck on a certain day when notified, let him through the gate, then out again soon after closing time. The guard would be handsomely paid to do this.

When Markel and Docker had become settled in the mill, the two had discovered the secret room and tunnel, which once had been a settlers' escape route. The men had wasted no time in setting it up for their counterfeiting racket, and often used the nondescript green truck to sneak in the required equipment.

“Who rigged up the electric-eye signal?” Frank queried.

“My work,” Docker replied proudly.

As the boys had surmised, Peters, an old acquaintance of theirs, was “the old man” at the deserted farmhouse. When the boys had left the mill that morning Docker had radioed Peters, telling him if the Hardys showed up at the farm, he was to trap them.

“No doubt you planned to finish us off when you came back,” Joe said.

Peters nodded.

Frank said to Docker, “I must admit, those twenties are pretty good forgeries. The police think so, too.”

The counterfeiter smiled in contempt. “Your fat friend sure was fooled.”

He explained that his skill at engraving, which he had learned years ago, had enabled him to make the plates from which the bills were printed.

“Which one of you rode Ken's bike and left the typed warning for our father?” Frank asked.

“I did,” Markel replied promptly.

“Why? He wasn't involved with the counterfeiting case.”

We thought he was when we overheard a company bigwig say Fenton Hardy was ‘taking the case.' ”

“Yeah,” Docker said. “I wasn't kidding when I sent the warnings—on paper and by phone.”

He had acquired some sheets of bond paper from Elekton on a pretext; also the Manila envelopes used to deliver the bogus money to Peters. Docker admitted he had “unloaded” the counterfeit twenty at Pritos' yard by mistake.

Peters broke in abruptly. “We'd better get rid of these kids right now!”

The three men held a whispered conference, but Docker and Markel did not take their eyes from the Hardys. Suddenly the boys' keen ears detected the put-put of an approaching motorboat.

One thought flashed across their minds—Chet and Tony were bringing help. But in a few minutes their hopes were dashed! A heavy-set, dark-haired man peered into the mouth of the cave.

“Blum!” Markel said.

“Who are these kids?” Blum asked, squinting at Frank and Joe.

“Their name is Hardy—” Docker began, but Blum cut him short.

“Hardy!” he said sharply. “Listen—I just gave Fenton Hardy the slip at the Bayport dock. He was on a police launch.”

“We've got to move fast!” Markel urged. “Docker and I caught these sons of his snooping. Pay us what you promised and we'll scram.”

Blum looked disgusted. “Stupid amateurs! You let kids make it so hot you have to get out of town?” The heavy-set man pulled out his wallet. “Here's your cut for letting me into the plant,” he continued scornfully. “I'm glad to get rid of such bunglers.”

“It's not just these kids that made it hot for us!” Docker stormed. “If we'd known you were going to blow up that lab, we never would've gotten mixed up with you.”

The Hardys noticed that Paul Blum appeared startled at Docker's words.

Frank spoke up boldly. “Sure. We all know you're back of the sabotage. Who pays you for doing it? And who's
your
inside man at Elekton?”

Blum glared, then in a sinister tone replied, “You'll never live to sing to the cops, so I'll tell you. Several countries that want to stop United States progress in missiles are paying me. My friend in the plant is a fellow named Jordan.”

The saboteur revealed that his accomplice had first carried out smaller acts of sabotage, the ones which Chet had heard about from his father. It had been Blum himself who had driven the truck into the grounds and placed the dynamite in the laboratory. “Jordan and I gave your father the slip, then, too!”

“You guys can stand here and talk!” snapped Peters. “I'm going. You'd better take care of these Hardys.” He backed out of the cave and raced off.

The counterfeiters discussed heatedly whether “to get rid” of Frank and Joe immediately, or take “these kids” and dispose of them later.

“That's your worry!” Blum said.
“I'm
taking off!”

“Oh, no, you're not. You can't leave us in the lurch.” Markel waved his gun meaningfully.

At that instant there was a crashing noise outside the cave. The three men swung around.

This was all the Hardys needed. They hurled themselves at their captors, forcing them backward onto the rocky beach. From the woods they heard Chet yell, “Here we come, fellows!”

Frank had tackled Blum, and Joe was wrestling with Docker on the beach.

Tony Prito yelled, “Got you!” as he took a flying leap at Markel and brought him to the ground.

The older men, though strong, were no match for the agile Hardys and the furious onslaught of Chet and Tony. Finally the struggle ended.

The saboteur and counterfeiters were disarmed and lined up before the cave, their arms pinioned behind them by Joe, Chet, and Tony. Frank took charge of the revolvers.

“Good work, you two!” he said to his friends.

Chet, out of breath, grinned proudly. “I'm glad Tony and I stuck around when we saw these guys high-tailing it through the woods.”

Now Frank turned to the prisoners. “Okay. March!” he ordered.

But before anyone could move, footsteps were heard approaching through the woods. A moment later Chief Collig and another officer appeared. With them, in handcuffs, was Victor Peters.

“Chief! Are we glad to see you!” Joe exclaimed.

The chief stared in amazement at the boys and their captives. “I got your message from Ken Blake,” he told Frank. “Looks as if you have your hands full!”

“Oh, we have!” Joe grinned, then, puzzled, he asked his brother, “What message?”

“Just before I left the house I told Ken to call Chief Collig if we weren't back by eleven, and tell him where we had gone.”

While Blum and the counterfeiters stood in sullen silence, the four boys learned that Ken had called the chief just minutes after Fenton Hardy had left in the police launch in pursuit of Paul Blum.

“When we reached the mill we met this crook running out of the woods.” Chief Collig gestured toward the handcuffed Peters. “I recognized him from Chet's description. When we found phony money on him, he told me where you were, hoping to get off with a lighter sentence.”

“You rat!” Docker's face contorted with rage.

At that moment the group became aware of a police launch churning toward them, the beam from its searchlight sweeping the water. In the excitement, no one had heard the sound of its engine.

“Dad!” cried the Hardys, spotting the detective's erect figure standing in the bow. Soon the launch was beached, and Mr. Hardy, with several officers, leaped ashore.

“Well,” Mr. Hardy said sternly when he saw Blum, “you won't be escaping again.”

The captured lawbreakers were handcuffed and put aboard the launch. Mr. Hardy looked at his sons and their friends proudly. “You've done a yeoman's job—on both cases, yours and mine,” he said.

After the police cruiser had departed, Frank and Joe led their father and the others into the mill cellar and showed them the secret room.