That evening, Frank sat at the table with the others for dinner. Glenn had been grateful Frank hadn’t been seriously injured. Frank had a slight concussion. He had been lucky. He had also spent most of the day resting.  

When they finished dinner, Frank and Joe went out on the porch and made their way into the darkness. The sky was perfectly clear. The stars seemed to light up the sky.  

When they were away from the house, Frank asked, “Was Nancy really there or was I imagining it?”  

“You weren’t imaging,” Joe said.  

“What is she doing here?”  

“I think she’s on a case. I didn’t want you to blow her cover.”  

“I wonder what she’s working on,” Frank said as they continued walking.  

“I don’t know, but we have our own case to solve.”  

“You’re right. We need to find out why the cattle are disappearing.”  

“I looked around while you were resting, but I didn’t come up with anything.”  

They stopped by the wooden fence of the corral for the horses. Frank leaned his back against the fence. He looked at the house. “You know, I think Jennifer is hiding something.”  

“Why do you think that?”  

“Just the way she’s been acting.”  

“What could she be hiding though?”  

Before Frank could respond, he noticed some movement behind the house. He could see someone running into the woods. He took off after the person without a word to Joe. He had a feeling whoever he was after was involved with the missing cattle.  

As he ran, he could hear someone running behind him. He knew it was Joe. He put on a burst of speed and tried to follow the sound of movement in the woods.  

Frank stopped quickly and heard Joe stop beside him. The woods were quiet. All they could hear was the hoot of an owl. Both of them looked around.  

Frank asked, “Do you see anything?”  

“Nothing,” Joe panted.  

They both continued to look around for a few minutes. Joe broke the silence. “Did you see who it was?”  

“No,” Frank said. “Come on. Let’s head back.”  

They made their way back toward the house. Frank said, “In the morning we will check the fences out again. There has to be a clue somewhere. We need to find out what’s happening.”

“We will.”  

They returned to the house and approached the front porch. They porch light was on. Lisa was sitting on the steps. She still had on her short shirt and tight shorts.  

“Come sit beside me, Joe,” Lisa said with a smile.  

Joe sat down beside her while Frank went up on the porch. He leaned against the railing.  

“Maybe you could answer a few questions,” Joe said.  

“I’ll answer anything you ask,” Lisa said sweetly.  

Frank smiled as Joe looked at him. He tried to hide the smile, but he was unsuccessful.  

“When we were riding this morning, we saw tow guys up on the hill. Do you know who they are?” Joe described the two men to Lisa.  

“That’s Stan and Dave,” Lisa said. “They work for William.”  

“What do you know about them?”  

Lisa looked at Joe. “Stan is a local. He grew up in town. He’s a good guy.”  

“What about Dave?”  

“I don’t know that much. Dave hasn’t been around long. I’ve only seen him once or twice. There are rumors he doesn’t work hard and has a short temper.”

“What about Stan?” Frank asked.  

“From what I know, Stan wants to have a ranch of his own some day. He’s working to saving money for his ranch.”  

At that moment, Glenn stepped out on the porch. Glenn said, “It’s late and we have a lot of work to do in the morning.”  

Lisa got up and went inside with Glenn. Frank and Joe followed behind. They both knew they needed some kind of lead. They knew Glenn was right, they had a lot of work to do in the morning.  

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.