The Secret of the Caves Read Online Free Page A

manager’s explanation. “Three boys came here and told me you Hardys wanted one of the cottages where it would be quieter. So we moved you in there bag and baggage.” The man added, “It only costs two dollars more a night. You’re getting a bargain.”
    â€œWhere is this cottage?” Joe asked.
    â€œOver there,” the man said, pointing to one of the little houses. It was lighted inside.
    The boys hastened over, and as they passed the window they saw a stocky youth standing inside. Frank flung open the door. “What’s the meaning of this?” he demanded.
    The young man whirled around. Frank and Joe saw that he was wearing a black half-mask. At the same time, the closet door burst open and out jumped four other masked youths.
    â€œHey, what kind of a joke is this!” Joe cried out as the intruders jumped both Hardys. They struggled furiously, but the combined weight of the masked boys finally bore Frank and Joe to the floor. They were bound and gagged, then tied securely to two long planks.
    Without saying a word, the Hardys’ assailants loaded them into a station wagon parked behind the cottage. They were driven out of the motel grounds and along the main highway for several miles. Then the driver turned left onto a dirt road and stopped a mile farther on.
    The brothers were lifted out, carried a short distance through some low brush, and laid crosswise on a railroad track. Then the masked quintet vanished into the darkness.
    Frank squirmed and tugged at his bonds. Joe did too, but neither boy could loosen the ropes which secured them. Beads of perspiration stood out on their foreheads. Then came a sound which struck terror into their hearts. In the distance they heard the ominous growl of an approaching diesel locomotive!

CHAPTER IV
    A Hazing Trick
    CASTING hopeless glances at each other, Frank and Joe struggled desperately at their bonds while the diesel locomotive drew closer.
    The rumble of the wheels grew deafening. But then, as if by a miracle, the engine throbbed past, leaving only the clickety-clack of freight cars trailing in its wake.
    Unscathed but shaken, Frank and Joe continued to work at the ropes which secured them to the planks. By straining until his muscles ached, Frank stretched his bound wrists to where he could dimly see a spike protruding from a railroad tie. Over and over he snagged the knot upon the spike. Each effort loosened the rope a little more. Finally it fell open.
    With his wrists released, Frank tore out his gag and reached over to do the same for Joe.
    â€œWhew!” Joe gasped. “I thought our goose was cooked!”
    â€œIt would have been an awful way to say good-by to mother earth,” Frank replied grimly, quickly freeing himself from the plank.
    Then he released his brother. The two boys stood up and stretched painfully, massaging their cramped muscles. Twenty yards away the polished rails of another railroad line glimmered in the moonlight.
    â€œLook, these tracks we were on are rusty,” Frank noted.
    â€œMust be a spur line,” Joe said, “which isn’t used any more.”
    â€œA great way to give a guy gray hair at a tender age,” Frank remarked.
    â€œIt wasn’t funny,” Joe said, between clenched teeth.
    â€œI’ll say not,” his brother agreed. “I’d like to find the nut who planned this trick!”
    â€œIf I see him first, I’ll take care of that joker,” Joe said.
    After walking along the tracks some distance, the boys came to the highway. There they flagged a friendly trucker, who readily agreed to drive them to their motel.
    Jouncing up and down in the cab beside the driver, the Hardys continued to speculate.
    â€œYou suppose what happened to us was just a crazy mix-up?” Joe asked in low tones. “Why should those fellows pick on us?”
    Frank frowned. “I have a hunch the whole thing was intended to scare us away from Kenworthy