"Great Scott!" exclaimed Joe Hardy. "What’s going on?"

Again, the distinct sounds of a woman screaming rang through the air.

"It came from this way!" Frank shouted, as he raced towards the kitchen of the country inn. Dashing through the side door, they immediately spotted Garth Buckle stretched out full length on the floor. Aunt Gertrude was standing over him with a rolling pin in her hand.

"When I came in," Miss Hardy peered over the rim of her glasses as she started her explanation. "I spotted that scoundrel taking money out of Laura’s handbag!"

"I had just stepped out of the room for a moment," remarked Mrs. Hardy.

Just then, the owner of the inn came in, followed by three other men. He was immediately made aware of the recent events.

"Buckle!" the owner of the Thirty Year Porch shouted at the petty thief, who had just come to and was staggering to his feet. "I’ve had enough of your shenanigans. You’re fired!"

"What?" Garth roared. "You can’t fire me!"

"I can and I did!" the old man replied. "Now take your belongings and get out of here before I change my mind and have you arrested!"

Glancing around at the serious expressions on the faces of the four men, Garth decided that it was best to leave.

"You haven’t heard the last of me!" he shouted as he stormed off.

As the villain walked away, everyone stood silent and motionless for several moments. Chet was the first to move. Without saying a word, he turned on his heel, walked back to his tree and stretched back out.

Just as the two Hardy boys were leaving the room, Joe glanced at Aunt Gertrude and remarked, "That was quick thinking, Miss Gertrude. You remind me a lot of an aunt of mine."

"I do?" she replied, suspiciously. "Why?"

"Because," Joe continued, "She’s the only other lady that I know of who can qualify for the middle-weight championship with a one punch knock out!"

"Thank you," Gertrude crumpled her brow. "I think."

Back in the bunkhouse, Frank Hardy couldn’t help but think of Garth’s last words: "You haven’t heard the last of me!"

"We’ll have to keep a watch out for him," he glanced at his brother with a serious look on his face. "He’s just liable to sneak back in and cause trouble for us."

Just then, the door to the boys’ room opened, and two figures were seen standing in the doorway. "We’re the new hired help," one of them spoke up. "We were told to report to Frank and Joe Stevenson. You’re suppose to fill us in on our duties."

"Biff! Jerry!" Joe exclaimed. "When did you get here?"

"Just now," Biff grinned, as he plopped down in the chair next to the door. "We came in just as they were escorting some fiendish looking character off the property."

"He looked like a real skunk!" added Jerry. "Do you fellows know anything about him?"

Frank and Joe exchanged a knowing glance and replied, "Do we ever!" They then began to explain how they had come to make the acquaintance of the infamous Garth Buckle.

"Have you discovered anything about Black Pepper?" Biff asked, as he and Jerry began to unpack their belongings.

"Not yet," replied Frank. "But we haven’t really had a chance to look the place over very well. We’ve been really busy."

"We plan on making a good search tonight," Joe added as he glanced out the window. "But we’ll need your help."

"You know that you can always count on us!" Biff remarked, plopping back down in the chair by the door. "What do you need us to do?"

"We plan on starting with the stable," replied Frank. "But there’s always somebody on guard there. We need you two to distract him, while Joe and I have a look around."

"That’s sounds easy enough," Jerry remarked. He glanced over at the pile of empty candy wrappers on the table in the corner of the room. "Where’s Chet?"

"Mr. Hollywood is lounging underneath that old maple out front there!" Joe pointed out the window.

"What?" Biff asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"A stand up comic!" Jerry howled with laughter after being informed of their plump friend’s recent antics.

"He’s actually pretty good," Joe chuckled. "At least, the audience seems to like him."

"We just don’t know what he’s got planned for tonight," added Frank. "He told us that he’s got a big surprise arranged."

After catching the newcomers up, Frank and Joe informed them of their duties at The Thirty Year Porch.

"You’ve got to be joking!" Jerry gulped as he glanced around at the mess in the dinning room, after the lunch crowd had cleared. "They expect us to clean this up?"

"That’s the general idea," Joe grinned, and he slapped a mop into the other boy’s hand.

"Until you got here," Frank stated. "Joe and I had to clean this whole place by ourselves!"

After the dining room was cleaned and all the dishes had been washed, the boys once again retired to the bunkhouse.

"We’ll have a little rest before the dinner rush," Frank stated as he collapsed on his cot. "Unless we get called on to clean up a guest’s room."

"I thought that was the maid’s job," replied Biff.

Before the eldest Hardy Boy could reply, a loud blundering noise was heard coming from just outside the bunkhouse. A small piece of paper was then slipped under the door. Joe and Jerry both rushed outside and looked around, but they didn’t see anyone.

"What does the note say?" Biff leaned over Frank’s shoulder and tried to read the mysterious paper for himself.

"It says," Frank raised his voice as he began to read aloud. "I know where you can find Pepper. Meet me tonight in the apple orchard just after midnight."

"Gosh!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Our first lead!" Joe remarked, taking the paper.

"I don’t like it," Frank remarked as he began to stroke his chin. "It’s got to be a trap."

"What are you going to do?" asked Biff.

"I don’t know yet. We’ll have to think this out."

Just then, there was a brief knock on the door before it was flung open. A young woman stood on the other side with a mop and a bucket in her hands. "We need someone to come and clean up room 203. Little Billy Thompson has made a mess in there."

Joe glanced at Biff and Jerry and replied with a grin, "They’re your men. They’ll be more than happy to clean it up!"

After the newcomers had gone, Frank and Joe decided that they needed to take what little chance they had to get some rest before the dinner rush. Stretching out on their cots, neither boy stirred again until someone rapped on their door to let them know it was time to go back to work. Back at the inn, they joined Biff and Jerry, who were already busy cleaning up after guests, washing dishes and taking out the garbage.

"I can’t wait for this vacation to end," Jerry groaned as he walked near Frank.

"How come?" Frank asked, perplexed.

"Because," Jerry explained, "I can’t wait to get back to school where we can relax and take it easy with only eight hours of study a day. This quiet little camping trip is about to do me in!"

"I know," Frank grinned. "And to think we felt sorry for Perry Robinson when he told us that he would have to help his father landscape the Applegate estate. I think…"

The dark haired lad cut his sentence short as he spotted his aunt a few feet away, attempting to wait on a table.

"Excuse me," Gertrude tried to override the woman who was talking at the top of her lungs, but the oblivious lady kept right on as if Miss Hardy hadn’t said a word. After a few more failed attempts, Gertrude turned to walk away.

"Just a minute!" The woman at the table shouted. "Where are you going? Can’t you see we’re ready to order?"

"I tried to take your order," Gertrude suddenly exploded in fit of rage. "But you were too busy flapping your fat jaws!"

"Well! I never!" the woman shouted in outrage. "I’m not accustomed to being talked to this way by the hired help. I want to speak to the manager."

Before the situation could go any further, Frank rushed over and said, "That won’t be necessary, Madam. I’ll be happy to take your order, and I do apologize for any inconvenience."

"Well that’s more like it!" the lady huffed.

After taking the woman’s order, the older Hardy followed his Aunt to the entrance of the kitchen.

"The way she spoke to me!" Gertrude raved. "It was like I wasn’t even there. She treated me as if I was lowlife just because I was the waitress. First, she ignores me. Then, she shouts at me. I’d like to see her waiting on tables and being treated like that. Then she would know how it feels. I wouldn’t treat anybody like that. I…"

"But Aunt Gertrude," Frank tried to remind his aunt of the way she had treated their waitress earlier, but as usual she wasn’t listening.

"It’s a disgrace!" she shouted. "A person like that should be horse whipped. Why if I had my way…" She kept talking even after she had stepped into the kitchen and closed the door. Frank grinned slightly as he turned on his heel and went back to work.

Later on, after everything had settled down, it came time for Chet to come back on stage. He had the audience rolling in the aisles from the minute he walked out.

"Say, he is good," Jerry remarked to the other boys gathered near him by the kitchen door.

"I wonder what his surprise is going to be," Joe pondered, as he watched his plump friend perform.

"Frank and Joe’s mother says to their father, ‘I let your sister move in with us and I don’t say a word. I let her eat all of her meals with us and I even let her take over the running of the house. She pushes me around and sometimes calls me by the wrong name but I still don’t say a word. Don’t just sit there, say something!’ Their father looks puzzled for a moment and then replies, ‘My sister? I thought she was your sister!’"

After the laughter had died down, he gazed out into the audience at Frank and Joe. "I’ve got a surprise for you tonight, folks," he announced.

"My cousins have been trying to get it out of me all day, but I wouldn’t tell. Well, this it. I’m going to sing." He pointed towards the band stage, "Let’s have a nice ballad."