Quickly he described the location of the hidden inlet where the Napoli and the robbers' stolen craft were concealed. Lieutenant Parker immediately dispatched men to the spot.
'With a twenty-minute head start,' Joe said, 'Fritz Stark and the other two probably will get away.'
'But the cutter could pick them up easily,' Jerry put in.
'Right,' said Frank. 'Those men know they haven't a chance against the Coast Guard. I think they're hiding here.'
'Where?' asked Mr. French.
'We'll comb the island,' Lieutenant Parker said.
'Let's search this cave first,' Frank suggested. 'There's a slight draft coming from the back. That might mean there's another chamber.' Slowly Frank played the beam of his flashlight over the rear wall until he spotted a narrow crevice. He stepped quickly over and shone his beam into it.
'Look!' he exclaimed softly. Joe, Chief Collig, and Lieutenant Parker crowded around. In front of them, well inside the opening, hung a piece of burlap. Frank slipped into the crevice and pulled the rough curtain aside. A long rock passage was revealed.
'Come on!' Joe exclaimed. 'Let's go!'
As Joe stepped forward, Chief Collig clamped a hand on his shoulder. 'Hold it,' the chief ordered. 'Let the armed men go first. Those crooks are desperate and won't hesitate to use their guns.' Reluctantly, all three boys heeded the order.
At Collig's signal, Parker drew his service revolver and led the men into the narrow rock
corridor. The chief and his two policemen followed, with Frank, Joe, and Jerry impatiently
bringing up the rear.
The narrow passage twisted and turned. Only one kind of sound could be heard-the heavy
breathing of the pursuers. Suddenly there came an earsplitting crack! A gunshot from up front!
'Halt!' Lieutenant Parker's voice rang out. 'Do not return fire!'
The file of men flattened against the rocks. The boys craned to see what was happening.
In a chamber at the end of the passage, their hands tied, stood Chet and Biff! Behind them
were Stark and Pops, a cloud of gun smoke above them.
Though the two men were using the captives as shields, and the situation was desperate, Frank, Joe, and Jerry were jubilant. They had found their missing chums!
The Coast Guardmen and the police were forced to stand by helplessly, not daring to endanger
Chet and Biff. But Joe saw a chance to change the situation. At a signal, he motioned Frank and Jerry to back out of the passage quietly. The three dashed from the cave.
'Stark and Pops got in there, somehow,' Joe said. 'They didn't come past us. There must be another entrance out here.'
Hastily, in the gathering twilight, the boys examined the irregular face of the bluff. Suddenly Frank pointed to a big dark crack in the rock. As they neared it, a man's figure loomed in the opening.
Without hesitation the three boys hurled themselves on the man and bore him to the ground.
He hit with a thud, the fight knocked out of him.
'It's Nick Glaser,' Joe whispered as Jerry whipped off the man's belt and bound his arms securely with it.
'Okay,' Jerry replied, 'I'll watch him. Don't worry, he won't get away.'
The Hardys slipped into the dark crack from which the man had emerged. Snapping out his
flashlight, Frank groped forward as fast as he dared. Soon he could make out the yellow glare of the rescuers'
flashlights, and the backs of Pops and Fritz Stark, standing behind Biff and Chet!
'For the last time, I tell you throw down your guns,' Stark ordered, 'if you don't want these kids hurt!'
Without pausing, Frank and Joe charged forward. Together they let drive with two bruising
tackles. The legs of the criminals buckled underneath them. The revolvers flew from their hands and the men landed, dazed, on the floor of the cave. The police and seamen were upon them in
a second.
'Frank! Joe!' cried Chet, overjoyed. As soon as his hands were untied, the stout boy grabbed his pals and hugged them in his excitement.
'O-of! Hey, don't crush us!' Joe protested, laughing.
'We thought you'd never find us in this place!' Biff put in, rubbing his chafed wrists.
'We were plenty worried ourselves,' Frank admitted.
'They took us to Shantytown first in Stark's car.' Chet spilled out the story. 'Were they mad when they found out we weren't you and Joe!'
'But they were afraid to let us go,' Biff went on, 'so they took away our costumes and brought us here in a small boat.'
'On the way, they threw our masks overboard,' Chet said, 'hoping you'd think we drowned.'
'We found yours,' Frank told him.
'Because it was made of rubber,' Biff put in. 'Mine was only paper, so it was lost.'
'And the day we got here, Pops went for the postcards,' Chet continued. 'Fritz Stark dictated what we had to write.'
'We told them you wouldn't be fooled,' Biff added, 'but Pops took the cards back to Northport and mailed 'em, anyhow.'
'We found out a lot,' Chet continued. 'This outfit is part of a national ring of bank robbers.
Duke, Moran, and Glaser were sent first to 'case' the banks around here and decided on
Bayport.'
'Do you know where the loot is?' Joe asked.
'Right here, I'll bet!' Chet pointed at his feet. 'I noticed loose earth the first day.'
Immediately Frank and Joe, aided by the two policemen, began to scoop away the earth with
pocketknives and their bare hands. In a few minutes they had dragged out the canvas sacks
filled with money!
'Now, one more thing,' Joe said. 'Let's search for the rest of the Yokohama radios.'
'They're right over here,' Biff volunteered, and led the others to a shadowy corner of the cave where an opened crate stood. 'Chet and I have been tied up next to them all the time. Those crooks were sure mad at Sutton-said it was his fault they only dared sell three.'
'Jerry has the last member of the gang outside, Chief Collig,' Frank concluded. 'Once you handcuff him, we can all go back home.'
Lieutenant Parker said he would take charge of the stolen boat and return the craft to its
owner. A seaman was assigned to bring in the Napoli.
The evening shadows were lengthening as the rest of the party boarded the cutter. First of all, Frank told Jerry and Joe about Tony. They were relieved he had not been seriously injured. By
the time the boat entered the wide mouth of the bay, the harbor lights were twinkling.
News of the capture had been radioed ahead, so the Morton and Hooper families were on the
pier to embrace their sons. Fenton Hardy, too, came forward to congratulate Frank and Joe and
their chums.
'A fine job,' he said. 'And you'll be glad to hear,' he went on, 'that the bank robbery ring has been put out of business nationally as well as locally. The leader's arrest this afternoon at a secret hideout in California clinched matters.'
A cheer arose from the whole group. Nodding modestly, Mr. Hardy explained, 'The robbers we rounded up here talked, hoping for clemency, so that made the job simple.'
When Mr. Hardy finished speaking, Collig boomed out, 'I congratulate you, boys. You solved three mysteries at once. And you even helped us round up two crooked dockmen.'
For a moment the Hardys were silent, wondering how soon another case might come their way.
They were to find out in the near future while Hunting for Hidden Gold.
