"Dixon, Franklin W - Hardy Boys 014 - The Hidden Harbor Mystery (original)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dixon Franklin W)

AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE


JOE HARDY and Chet Morton spent the rest of the day in the city on a fruitless search for Frank. They made the rounds of the hospitals, the police stations, and the newspaper offices. They interviewed many survivors of the Resolute disaster, but their efforts proved futile. More than thirty members of the ship's passenger list and crew were among the missing. This included Frank Hardy and old Mr. Blackstone.
Late that afternoon the grief-stricken lads boarded a train for Bayport. They had spoken to Fenton Hardy by telephone, and had been urged by him to return.
"You have done all you can, Joe," he said. "I'm not giving up hope yet. We want you to come home."
Chet went to his chum's house when they re turned to Bayport. There they found Mr. and Mrs. Hardy bearing up courageously and fighting for self-control. They listened eagerly to tile account of the wreck.
Mrs. Hardy's face was colorless as Joe related how Frank had insisted upon trying to save Mr. Blackstone in spite of the extra risk he had incurred himself, and pressed a handkerchief to her eyes when the boys told of their desperate swim to shore. From time to time Chet would supplement his chum's story with details of his own.
"It was lucky for us that the current carried us away from the rocks," declared Joe. "If we had been borne up there we might have been battered to pieces."
The telephone rang, interrupting him. Mr. Hardy answered the call.
"Fenton Hardy speaking," he said, as he listened for a moment. Suddenly his face was transformed by an expression of unalloyed relief and gladness. "Good! Good!" he exclaimed. "The steamer Bluebird. Fine! That takes a big load off my mind, I can tell you. Thank you. Good-bye."
"Is it about Frank?" demanded Mrs. Hardy anxiously, as her husband replaced the receiver. "He's alive! You've had some news!"
Fenton Hardy nodded.
"Frank is safe !" he exclaimed. "The telegraph office just called to say that Frank and Mr. Blackstone were picked up by a lumber steamer on its way to Croston. They'll arrive there tomorrow morning."
"Hurrah!" yelled Chet. "Boy, that's great! I knew he'd come through all right."
"What a relief !" exclaimed Mrs. Hardy. "Did they say anything else, Fenton? Was he hurt?"
"Frank is all right, but evidently the old man is in pretty bad shape. Joe, I think you and I had better fly down to Croston first thing tomorrow morning to meet that ship when it arrives in port."
"May I come too, Mr. Hardy?" asked Chet eagerly.
"Of course. Glad to have you."
"Swell. I'll run along home now or my people will be sending searching parties out after me. I'll meet you at the airport in the morning.
At dawn the next day the trio boarded a passenger plane on the coastal run. Mr. Hardy had been so relieved to learn that his sons had escaped with their lives that the matter of the missing handwriting specimens was of small concern. He admitted to Joe, however, that their loss was a serious blow to his hopes of clearing up the case on which he was working.
"Never mind, Dad," said Joe. "Perhaps we can get some more specimens for you."
"And we'll travel by train next time," said Chet.
The boys told Mr. Hardy the entire story of the fight in the stateroom, and the detective was keenly interested.
"Perhaps this man Ruel Rand was after the handwriting specimens," he suggested.
"We thought of that," Joe admitted. "If he was, I'm sure he didn't get them. I'd like to meet him again just the same, and only hope he's alive. His name wasn't on any of the lists of survivors yesterday."
When the plane set them down at Croston, a busy little seaport town, Mr. Hardy and the boys drove to the docks at once and discovered that the Bluebird was just coming into the harbor. They did not have to wait very long be-fore the lumber steamer reached its wharf.
Among the first passengers to disembark was Frank. He was amazed when he saw the little reception committee waiting for him, for it had not dawned upon him that word of his rescue had reached Bayport. He uttered a cry of delight when he saw the familiar faces and in a moment all four were shaking hands and hurling a dozen questions. Chet and Joe wanted to know how Frank had escaped. Frank in turn was equally curious to hear how the other two had reached safety.
"Mr. Blackstone and I got over the side all right," Frank explained, "but he couldn't swim a stroke and I couldn't leave him. We had our life-belts on, of course, so we just drifted. Then along came this lumber steamer. It had already picked up one of the lifeboats, and had turned a big searchlight on the water to locate other survivors. Luckily for us we were seen and taken on board. Oh, here is Mr. Black-stone now. The poor old fellow must be badly hurt."
Down the gangplank came two sailors carrying stretcher on which lay the aged man, wrapped in blankets. Fenton Hardy immediately took charge of the situation.
"He'll have to be taken to the hospital," ~aid the detective, going in search of a telephone to make arrangements for the ambulance.
The three boys went over to the injured man. He was conscious, but when they asked if he were comfortable he did not answer them.
"He has been acting very strangely," said Frank. "That crack on the head didn't do him any good, and he hasn't spoken to me since the Bluebird picked him up. He talked to the captain for a few minutes, but that was all."
When the ambulance arrived they accompanied the injured man to the hospital, where Mr. Hardy took full responsibility for his care and saw that he was given a comfortable room. The head physician, a brisk, middle-aged man who introduced himself as Dr. Forester, made an examination of the patient.
"It's a good thing you brought him here," he said gravely. "He has a serious skull injury. I'll have to operate at once."
"Is it that bad?" gasped Frank.
"Bad enough," admitted the doctor. "The man has been weakened by exposure, too. If he can stand the shock of the operation he will pull through all right, but it is going to be mighty close."
Swiftly Dr. Forester gave orders to an intern and a nurse, and preparations for the operation were soon under way. Mr. Hardy and the boys withdrew from the room and went downstairs.
"It's up to us to locate Ruel Rand," said Joe. "He's responsible for Mr. Blackstone's condition. Of course, Rand may not have escaped from the wreck, but if he's alive I'd like to get my hands on him. Why, if that old man dies it will be just plain murder."
A policeman was standing at the desk in the hospital rotunda. As Mr. Hardy and the boys approached, the officer stepped forward.
"Mr. Hardy?" he asked.
"Yes," acknowledged the detective. "What can I do for you?"
"These are your sons?"
"Two of them. This young man is Chet Morton."
The policeman nodded. "I'll have to ask you boys to come along with me to the station," he said.
The boys looked at one another in bewilderment.
"What's up now?" demanded Frank.
"I'm sorry, but you're under arrest!"