“Perhaps you’re right. I hate to admit it, though. I was sure we had stumbled on a red-hot clue.”
Frank scrutinized the last of the clippings.
“Nothing about him in this one either. I can’t figure it out. Beyond the fact that all these stories deal with lectures, there is no connection between them. They’re all by different men and all on different subjects.”
At that moment Joe espied a small box close by. He opened it, and out tumbled a second mass of clippings.
“Gee, look at this!” he exclaimed.
“More lectures?” questioned his brother, with a sigh.
“Lectures? No!” shouted the younger Hardy boy. “It’s a murder case! Look, Frank!”
“You’re fooling!”
But even as he spoke Frank Hardy scanned the sheet of newspaper his brother held towards him. There, in glaring headlines, were the words
Barton Bixby Shot Down
Former Naval Officer Kills Old Friend With a Shotgun
Police Follow Clues in Vain
There followed a long account of a killing that had taken place in Richmond three weeks before. A certain Lieutenant Patwick had murdered a former friend who had spoken ill of him at a club. Patwick had then fled to parts unknown. The lieutenant was said to be of a nervous, high-strung temperament.
“Gosh! he may not be Todham Todd after all,” remarked Frank. “He may be this Lieutenant Patwick simply trying to conceal his true identity.”
“Or else gone crazy because of his crime,” added Joe.
There were several other clippings concerning the crime. Evidently the perpetrator had outwitted both police and detectives.
“We’ll have to look into this,” said Frank soberly.
“You bet. For all we know—”
Joe stopped speaking and thrust all the clippings behind him. A shadow had darkened the mouth of the cave.
“Who is in there?” an angry voice bellowed.
XX
The Shotgun
So quietly had the man approached the cave mouth that the Hardy boys were taken completely by surprise. They wheeled about.
There, in the entrance, stood Captain Royal.
Evidently, it took him some time to become accustomed to the dim light of the cave, for he was peering intently at the boys, but with no sign of recognition on his face.
“Who’s that?” he shouted impatiently. “Answer me!”
Frank gulped. Then, trying to achieve a confident tone of voice, he said:
“Why, hello, Captain. We just dropped in for a visit.”
But Captain Royal was not appeased.
With a roar of wrath, he advanced into the cave.
“I know you now!” he bellowed. “I know you. It’s those boys who were here yesterday. Don’t deny it!”
“Sure!” said Joe. “It’s only us.”
The captain came closer.
“What are you doing in my place?” he demanded. “Stealing, eh?”
“We’re not stealing,” returned Frank indignantly.
“Yes, you are!” Captain Royal was plainly angry. “You came here to steal all my money and my jewels. I know it! You waited until I went out and then you sneaked in here to rob me.”
“Now, Captain, be reasonable,” pleaded Frank. “We just came here to have a little talk with you. If we wanted to steal we would have cleared out long ago.”
“You came to steal!” insisted the old man. “Don’t tell me anything different. Why can’t you leave an old man alone? I’ve never done you any harm.”
“Certainly not. We had no intention of disturbing you—”
Just then Captain Royal caught sight of the mass of clippings and papers. His face was suddenly distorted with fury.
“My papers!” he shrieked. “You’ve been at my papers!”
He made a sudden lunge toward the boys. So quickly did he rush at them that neither Frank nor Joe had a chance to escape. Captain Royal grasped each lad by the collar.
“You’ve been at my papers! My precious papers! I knew you came here to steal something!”
He shook them roughly.
“I’ll teach you to come prowling around my cave!” he roared. “I will teach you to look at my papers.”
The Hardy boys struggled to free themselves, but Captain Royal was stronger than he looked, and he kept a tight grip on their collars. Frank almost wriggled free, but the captain tightened his grasp. As for Joe, he told his chums later that “the old lad shook me until my back teeth rattled.”
The captain was raging and roaring almost incoherently in a terrible outburst of wrath. There was now little doubt in the minds of the Hardy boys that the man was a lunatic. What would happen to them at the hands of this madman?
At first they had not taken Captain Royal’s outburst seriously, but now Frank realized that they might be in genuine danger.
He lashed out with his fists and dealt the captain a blow in the ribs that brought a startled grunt. At the same time, Joe wriggled to one side and tried to trip the old gentleman. But Captain Royal was alert and wary. He would not let go, and although he lost his balance and tumbled to the floor of the cave, he dragged the boys with him.
“Break loose, Joe!” shouted Frank. “He means business.”
But this was more easily said than done.
The trio sprawled on the floor of the cave, Frank and Joe fighting desperately to get out of the clutches of their captor, but the old man clung to their collars like grim death.
“I’ll teach you!” he panted. “I’ll shoot both of you.”
His words sent a thrill of fear through the boys. They knew now that they were dealing with a maniac and they realized that in his present frame of mind, he was quite capable of carrying out the threat.
Joe had fallen in such a way that his collar had become twisted, and with Captain Royal still grasping it, he was almost choked. He could not turn without increasing the throttling pressure, so he was quite helpless. As for Frank, in spite of his struggles, he was unable to break the captain’s hold.
“I have the better of you!” chuckled the old man fiendishly. “You can’t get away from me. Try to kill me, would you! I’m going to shoot you both.”
He began to struggle to his
