Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

Chapter Seven: ON THE FLYING EXPRESS

Frank and Joe Hardy walked back to town in the wintry cold. Along the way, they could see across frozen Barmet Bay all the way out to the black line of demarcation where the ice met the cold waters of the Atlantic.

"Too bad we have so much sleuthing to do today." Joe gazed longingly at the smooth wind-blown ice. "It'd be fun to take a ride on the ice-boat."

"Speaking of ice-boats," Frank put in, "let's go down to the harbor. Maybe we'll find Ike Nash and Tad Carson down there. We need to talk to those fellows."

"We sure do," Joe agreed. "I'm sure they know plenty about what happened at Cabin Island yesterday!"

The boys walked down to the main street of the city and then turned east and headed toward the harbor. Usually busy with commercial and transportation activity, the big bay and harbor area were now very quiet, almost deserted. Only a few people were milling about. The big ferries that plied the East Coast waters were all frozen in at dockside. Yachts and smaller boats were pulled up out of the water in their cradles and covered for the season, and others were stored in individual boathouses that lined the shore both north and south. Frank and Joe headed north on the harbor road toward their own boathouse where their own motorboat was stored.

"What say we check out the Sleuth," Frank suggested. "Just to make sure everything is okay, if you know what I mean."

Joe chuckled. "I know what you mean, all right. Ike and Tad are sure to be peeved at us because of the things that happened in the last week, but I hope they have the sense not to vandalize our property."

The boys need not have worried. The boathouse was in good order, the Sleuth wenched up out of the ice as should be, and the ice-boat in the berth outside was untouched.

Frank said smugly. "I guess they know better than to wrangle with us."

Joe nodded readily. "Those two are nothing but big talkers. Let's go and see if they're down by their ice-boat."

The boys continued up the shoreline to the spot where Ike and Tad berthed their craft. The two boys in question were there, unfurling the sail of their new boat in preparation for departure onto the ice. They glowered at Frank and Joe when they saw them approaching.

"Going out on the bay, chaps?" Frank asked cordially.

"Doggone! If it ain't the Hardy boys," Ike Nash returned in mocking tones. "Are you guys out solving a mystery? Looking for clues, eh?"

Joe sent him and his chum a sardonic grin. "As a matter of fact, we are. We'd like to know what you fellows were doing at Cabin Island yesterday."

Tad Carson let the sail fall open and turned angrily to face Frank and Joe. "What makes you think we'd tell you anything? You gotta be joking!"

"No joke at all," Frank said to him in a stern tone. "If you don't tell us what we want to know, we'll inform Chief Collig that you two boys were at Cabin Island yesterday at the time of the fire. Would you rather be questioned by the police chief down at the police station?"

Ike and Tad glanced at each other with worried expressions.

"If the police find out that the fire was deliberately set, you two could be implicated and charged with arson," Joe warned them. "It bodes no good to clam up about it. We're not disposed to involve you in trouble if you come clean with us and tell us what happened."

"And besides," Frank put in, "a little boy was left deserted on the island yesterday, and his father is missing, perhaps abducted. There will be an investigation into his disappearance."

Ike and Tad shared another worried look. Then Ike stepped out of the boat onto the ice. Tad leaned against the mast, frowning.

"We'd better tell them what we know," Ike said to him. "If their old man gets involved with this, it could be our ruin."

"He's already involved," Frank declared. "He's working on an angle of the case right now."

Both Ike and Tad winced visibly at this announcement.

"Well, you tell them, Ike," Tad said, glaring at his chum. "It was your idea to get us involved in the first place."

"Aw, dry up," Ike tossed back at him. "I don't recall having to twist your arm to get you to agree."

"Just tell us what happened," Frank demanded impatiently. "Every minute counts. We have to find the boy's father!"

"Oh, all right!" Ike Nash glared at them for a moment, then, "We took the man and his little boy out to the island yesterday. He offered us ten dollars to do it. We offered to wait and give him a ride back, but he said he had to meet someone there and would ride back with him."

Frank looked at Ike and then at Tad. "Is that it?"

The two troublesome lads looked at each other again, warily. Tad snarled and blurted out, "Go on, tell them!"

"Okay already!" Ike turned back to face Frank and Joe. "We dropped them off down by the island's boathouse. But we were suspicious, you know? Why would a man with a little boy go out to the island in this weather to meet somebody?"

Frank and Joe nodded. "We'd be suspicious, too."

"So we waited a while and followed them," Ike went on. "They had gone up to the cabin. When we got up that far, it was already on fire. The boy's father was arguing with another man in the clearing, a real strange looking fellow, and the poor kid was looking on, scared as the dickens."

"What do you mean by strange looking?" Frank asked. "Was he a big guy dressed in a robe-like cloak and a tall fur hat?"

Ike nodded. "Right. Like Mister Swami himself. There was another fellow with him, too, but a normal looking guy."

Frank and Joe exchanged glances. Probably an assistant of Question Mark's! Someone to help him burn down the cabin.

Ike continued. "We could see there was trouble, with the old cabin on fire and all, and the two men fighting. So we got the heck out of there. We didn't want to be involved, you know? We got back on the ice and rounded the island. That's when we ran into you guys in your boat."

"You didn't see the boy's father after that?" Frank asked.

"No," Tad put in. "Last time we saw him was on the island. But we saw that goofy Swami guy again, just a few minutes ago."

Frank's eyes popped wide. "Where?"

"Right here. He was walking up the road toward town. He gave us a real dirty look when we stared at him. What the heck does he expect, walking around dressed like that, eh?"

Frank and Joe looked at each other in exasperation.

"We just missed him!" Joe growled. "We were probably in our boathouse when he walked by!"

Frank grabbed Joe's arm. "Let's go. Maybe we can catch up with him." He turned to Ike and Tad. "Thanks for the information. We won't say anything about it to Chief Collig or our dad."

The boys hurried back up the road toward town, running over the crunchy snow and ice. Their eyes searched ahead for any sight of the man they believed to be the cult leader named Question Mark.

"Boy, wasn't it just our luck to miss him!" Frank expostulated. "I wonder what he was doing down here in the harbor?"

"Could be he went back out to Cabin Island," Joe suggested, "looking for his lost stick-pin. You know, I've been wondering why he broke into the house last night. If he was after Bobby, how did he know Bobby was there? Same with the stick-pin. How would he know we had it?"

Frank shrugged. "It's possible that several of the Mysterians are working here in Bayport, like that real estate agent. I bet he's one of them. And they might know Dad's working on the case. Question Mark might have broken in to see if Dad had any information or evidence about them."

Joe agreed to those possibilities. "Good thing Aunt Gertrude scared him away!"

The boys were soon back on the main street of town. They looked to see if any of their chums were around, but no one was in any of the places where they usually gathered, like the pool hall or the soda fountain in the drug store.

Suddenly Frank grabbed his brother's arm. "Look!" he hissed, pointing to a man who had just walked out of a bank on the other side of the street.

Joe had to struggle not to shout out loud in triumph. It definitely was the man they were looking for! Tall and broad, he wore the long robe-like cloak embellished with mystical signs. Atop his head was the tall furry hat that made him look like some kind of Russian wizard. His skin was a dark olive tone and his features were bold and sharp, with a nose like the beak of a hawk.

"It's Question Mark, for sure!" Joe exclaimed. "Let's tail him. I wonder where he's going. Can you believe he walks the streets in that get-up?"

People were looking at him as he passed them by, but the man seemed oblivious to their curious glances. He strode forth down the sidewalk in a bold confident manner.

"He must know everybody is looking at him," Frank replied. "Perhaps he likes the attention that garb gets him."

The Hardy boys crossed the street and fell in behind the strange looking man who walked along ahead of them at a rapid gait.

"Perhaps he's going to meet some of the other Mysterians," Joe mused. "They may even have an office here in town, for all we know."

"Well, if that's what he's going to do, we'll be right behind him!"

They followed the Grand Master of the mysterious cult at a sensible distance, making sure there were enough people on the sidewalk between them to offer cover should the man look back. But he kept his gaze forward and hurried on as if with a distinct determination to arrive at his destination quickly.

"Where in tarnation is he going?" Joe wondered, after they had trailed the man for several blocks.

The cloaked figure suddenly turned up a side street, hastening in the inland direction away from the bay.

"I bet he's going to the train station," Frank responded. "It's right up that street just another block."

The boys made the turn, following about thirty feet behind on the busy street filled with shoppers and office workers.

Joe groaned. "If he gets on a train, we're done for. We'll lose him for sure!"

"Not on your life," Frank said grimly. "We have plenty of money with us from the funds Elroy Jefferson gave us for finding the stamp collection. We'll buy train tickets and follow him. He may be going back to New York."

Soon the big stone building came into view and the man in the embellished cloak turned down the walk and hastened through the main doors. Frank and Joe had to hurry closer behind him than they would have liked, but the station was crowded and they did not want to lose sight of the man.

They followed him to one of the ticket windows and got in line close behind him. Frank edged up even closer to the man as the cult leader stepped up to purchase a ticket.

"New York City," he heard the man gruffly tell the clerk. "And I need to get there fast. One ticket on the Flying Express!"

The clerk responded, "It's leaving in a couple minutes. You'll have to hurry."

The ticket was purchased and the man in the cloak hastened away toward the gates. Seconds later the boys purchased two return tickets to New York City and then raced off through the gates, after the urging of the clerk, to the platform where the Flying Express was chugging and clanging, big wheels squealing as it began to inch forward.

"Wow, we just made it!" Frank exclaimed, as he grabbed the rail and scrambled up the steps of the final coach car.

"Tell a fellow about it!" Joe grumbled, his cap almost flying off as he clambered after his brother.

They hastened into the car, warily looking around at all the passengers to locate their quarry, the man in the fur hat and robe-like cloak.

Frank nudged his younger brother. "There he is, way up in the front of the car. Let's sit back here. It'll be easy to keep an eye on him now."

Joe could see the man sitting up ahead in a seat by himself and gazing out the window as the train gained momentum and roared past the city streets. "All right, we can sit right here."

The brothers shuffled into the last seat in the car and plopped down, breathing hard from their recent exertions of following the man through town at breakneck speed.

"Good night!" cried Joe suddenly, slapping his knee. "Mother and Aunt Gertrude will surely both have kiniption fits when they find out about this!"

Frank nodded sagely. "They won't like it at all and we'll really be in hot water. But we'll telephone them as soon as we get the chance and explain everything to them."

Joe chuckled. "I can just hear Aunt Gertrude. First thing out of her mouth will be, 'Well, I never!' She says that all the time, eh? 'Well, I never!'"

Frank smirked. "I guess all we can say to that is, 'She should have!'"

The boys sat back and had a much needed high-spirited good laugh as the Flying Express roared on it speedy way to New York City.

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency 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.