The large man looked around as if he was trying to spot somebody, before glancing at the Hardys and growling, "You’re in a bit of a hurry, ain’t you? Maybe I better just hold you here until I find out what’s going on!"

Frank glanced back and forth between the fiendish individual and his friends. "We don’t have time for this!" he remarked with a look of determination. "Let’s go!" The boys stormed directly at the large man, so fast that they caught him off guard and knocked him to the side.

"I think it would be best that you got out of here before we come back with the police!" Frank shouted over his shoulder, to the prone figure stretched out on the ground. Within minutes, the boys were back in the bunkhouse.

"Aren’t we going to call the police?" asked Chet Morton, who had started munching on an apple he had placed under his pillow.

"No," Frank replied, as he flopped down on his cot. "They’d never be able to find him tonight. He knows this place too well."

"Besides, we want him around," added Joe. "We believe that he’ll lead us to Black Jack Pepper."

The boys decided to put off any more investigating until the next day, and they all turned in for the night. Fortunately, they didn’t have the heavy workload anymore, so they could sleep much later than they had been. Shortly before noon, they enjoyed a late breakfast in The Thirty Year Porch kitchen.

"Laura!" Aunt Gertrude bellowed, as she glanced over the inventory sheet. "There is nothing missing. Everything listed on this sheet is here!"

"I can’t help what that paper says," replied Mrs. Hardy. "The kitchen is missing supplies. I counted everything yesterday."

Frank glanced at the others and smiled. Then, he looked at his mother and aunt. "Excuse me, Miss Gertrude, Miss Laura. I noticed that you seem to be having a disagreement. May we be of some assistance?"

"Frank," his mother replied. "I counted the supplies yesterday. There are a good amount of items missing, but the inventory sheet says different."

"Are you sure?" Joe Hardy spoke up. "Could you have made a mistake, Mo…" He had to catch himself before he accidentally called his mother Mom. However, he cleverly covered up by saying Madam.

"I’m positive," she replied. "There is definitely some food missing!"

Just then, one of the other women who work in the kitchen walked by. "We’ve got more missing food?" she asked.

"Yes, and a large amount," responded Mrs. Hardy.

An idea suddenly struck Frank and he asked, "How many times has this happened?"

"I don’t know for sure," the other woman replied. "I know it wasn’t long after that Garth Buckle was hired. He started making trouble right from the start." She looked around to make sure no one could hear her. "If you ask me, that man is a bad egg. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he was the one that had been taking the food." She then laughed nervously. "I’m sure I’m wrong, because if you say there’s some missing today and it wasn’t missing yesterday, then it couldn’t have been Garth. You know, he was thrown out yesterday morning."

After their late breakfast, the boys decided to go back to the apple orchard and search for clues.

"That explains it!" Joe blurted out.

"Explains what?" asked Jerry Gilroy.

"That explains how Garth has been feeding the fugitives," explained Frank. "He’s been taking it from the kitchen and changing the inventory sheet to cover his tracks."

"Great Scott!" exclaimed Joe, as the boys came to an abrupt halt. The tree that had fallen last night was gone without a single trace to be found. Not only that, but their bed sheet and the reflectoscope were both gone, too.

"Well if that don’t take the icing off the cake!" remarked Biff Hooper.

"Cake?" Chet quickly looked around him. "I don’t see any cake!"

"That’s a figure of speech!" Jerry replied to the plump youth.

"They must have chopped it up," surmised Frank. "And carried it off."

"But I don’t even see a tree trunk where it was cut down!" protested His brother.

"Let’s see." The older Hardy boy walked over between the two trees, where the sheet had been hanging earlier. "The tree fell this direction." He pointed towards the west. "That means it must have come from that direction." He pointed towards the east, directly at a large apple tree.

At first glance, the tree appeared perfectly normal, except for the fact that it was the only one in the orchard that didn’t have apples on it.

"That’s mighty peculiar!" Frank remarked, as he and the others walked up for a closer look.

Biff took his fist, wrapped a few times on the trunk, and then glanced at the others with a look of bewilderment. "It’s hollow!"

"You’re right!" exclaimed Frank, as he began tapping on the tree.

"Look at this!" Jerry pointed at the base of the tree. "It’s not even attached to the ground!"

"I think this whole thing is fake!" Joe remarked, as he pulled one of the leaves off. "They’re plastic!"

"They must have it rigged so that it can be laid over on it’s side," deduced Frank.

"But why?" Chet asked, puzzled. "What would be the purpose in that?"

"I don’t know," Frank replied, as he started pushing on the tree. "Give me a hand will you?" he asked the others.

However, even with everyone pushing, the tree didn’t budge.

"It’s not going anywhere!" Biff Hooper remarked as he stopped pushing. "We may as well give up." He then leaned against a low hanging limb that almost instantly moved backwards. The muscular youth was caught off balance, and he fell to the ground. "Hey! What’s the big idea?"

Before anyone could respond, the whole tree started shaking and making creaking noises.

"It’s moving!" Frank shouted, as the boys jumped out of the way. Moments later, the tree came crashing down, missing the Hooper lad by inches.

"Biff!" Joe shouted, as the group of young sleuths ran to their friend’s side. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"I’m fine," Biff replied, as he was being helped to his feet. "There’s not even a scratch on me!"

"Good." Frank turned towards the tree. "Now that we know you’re all right, Let’s have a look at the damage you caused."

"Leaping Lizards!" Jerry exclaimed, as he gazed at the base of the uprooted object. There were gears and levers clearly visible inside the hollow tree.

"That’s how it was able to move so easily," Frank stated, as he looked closer. "But why would they go to all of this trouble?"

"Hey," Chet shouted, as he examined the area where the tree had been standing. "I think there’s a trap door here!"

"That’s exactly what it is!" exclaimed Joe, after the boys had pulled the wooden door to the side, revealing a flight of stairs that lead down into the ground.

"I’m not going down there," Chet stuttered. "There’s no telling who or what’s down there!"

"You don’t have to," Frank replied, as he started down the stairs. "You and Jerry can go call the police and tell them to met us here."

The pudgy youth turned and looked at the Hardys in amazement. He couldn’t believe that they were actually letting him off the hook. He then tightened his lips and said, "I can’t believe you’re going to leave me out! After all that I’ve done for you. That’s gratitude for you!" He then grinned nervously. "But who’s to look a gift horse in the mouth?" Grabbing Jerry by the wrist and half dragging him behind, he took off running.

After the remaining boys had had a hearty laugh, they started down the stairs into the cold, dark earth.

"I wish we had brought a flashlight," Frank said, as they trudged along the long, dark tunnel at the bottom of the stairs. "It’s as dark as night down here."

"It feels like we’ve just come into a large open space," Biff remarked, as he began to rummage through his pocket. "I wish I had brought some matches with us."

"Here you go, Pal," a gruff voice spoke out of the darkness.

"Thanks, Joe!" Biff replied, taking the match that he was just handed.

"For what?" Joe Hardy asked, puzzled.

"This match!" replied Biff.

"I didn’t hand you a match," Joe stammered, nervously. "Frank, did you hand Biff a match?"

Before the older Hardy could reply, Biff struck the match across the bottom of his shoe. As the light began to illuminate the area, the image of a fourth person began to come into view.

"I’m the one who handed you that match!" the fiendish Garth Buckle growled, just as he reached out and clapped a hand on the back of each of the Hardy Boys.

Suddenly someone turned on a switch, bathing the entire area in light. Apparently the underground cavern had been wired for electricity. As the darkness began to fade, more than a dozen figures were slowly brought into view.

"Great Scott!" exclaimed Joe Hardy. "It looks like Rogues Gallery down here!"

"I’ll tell the world!" remarked Biff Hooper. "Every thug, fiend, cad and scoundrel from a thousand mile radius is right here."

"Is that a fact?" Black Pepper stepped up behind the boys.

Frank Hardy glanced around the room of cutthroat villains and then nervously replied, "Of course, we do mean that in the nicest way possible."

"I’ve been meaning to get even with you Hardy boys," the notorious outlaw ranted. "Ever since you cheated me out of my hidden gold!"

"Don’t you mean your stolen gold?" Joe corrected Pepper. "You stole it from a group of miners years ago!"

"You’re absolutely right!" Black Jack replied, as he pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. "We are fiends, cads and scoundrels, but we have seen the error of our ways."

"You have?" asked Biff Hooper, who was starting to fall for Pepper’s lie. Of course, the Hardys didn’t believe a word he said. "That’s very good," continued the muscular youth. "You’ll find things will go much easier for you now that you have decided to go straight."

"You’re right," Pepper sneered at the group of young sleuths. "It’s going to be a lot easier because we’re going to tie you so tight that you’ll never escape!"

"You know, we’d love to stay and chat," Joe glanced back towards the way that they had came and said, "But we’ve really got to be going now."

In a flash, all three boys started at a full run towards the exit. Unfortunately, they didn’t get very far when they were subdued by more than a dozen angry faces. Before they could even realize what was happening, they were all three bound hand and foot with strong ropes. They were then dragged into a small crevice in the side of the cavern. After that, the other men walked away into another area of the underground cave. Only Buckle and Pepper remained to sneer at the Bayportians.

"There’s no use struggling!" Garth Buckle growled. "Even if you could manage to free yourselves, you couldn’t possibly escape."

"What do you plan on doing with us?" Joe Hardy demanded. "Torture, starvation, or hold us for ransom?"

"Joseph!" Frank shouted. "Would you keep quiet and stop giving them ideas?"

"Don’t worry!" Pepper laughed. "We’ve got a nice set up here. We wouldn’t want to spoil it by holding you for ransom."

"That’s good," Biff breathed a sigh of relief. He then began to look worried again. "You didn’t say anything about the other stuff!"

Pepper and Buckle both laughed a fiendish laugh as Garth draped a blanket over the opening, completely concealing the Hardys and Biff Hooper from view. "We don’t want to clutter up the place!"

"You fiend!" the youngest Hardy shouted in anger. "You’ll never get away with this!"

"Joe!" Frank blurted out. "Can’t you keep quiet?"

"Quiet? I think that I’ve got a right to make a fuss!"

"I agree," replied Frank, in an angry voice, "But now is not the time!"

"I can’t believe that they’re arguing!" Biff thought to himself, leaning back against the dirt wall. "Ouch!" he exclaimed, as a sharp object suddenly jabbed into him. It felt like a piece of metal jutting out of the wall. "What luck!" he remarked, suddenly realizing that he could use the edge to cut through the ropes.

"Hey guys!" He tried in vain to get the other boys’ attention, but they were too busy arguing to hear him, so he carried on working with his ropes by himself.

"Not the time!" Joe replied in a more than aggravated tone. "Can you think of a better time?"

"Yeah, when we’re not being held captive," retorted Frank. "Look, they’ve got us outnumbered four to one!" He then glanced up at the low hanging ceiling. "I don’t think that we need to antagonize them!"

Joe started to say something else, but he realized that there was actually something in what the older Hardy had said. "You’re right," he finally forced himself to admit. "Those fiends just make me so angry. They can’t get away with this!"

"You’re right," replied Frank. "They can’t and they won’t!"

"I suppose that you’ve got a plan?" Joe asked, in a civil tone.

"Well, first of all," Frank replied. "We need to get out of our ropes."

About this time, Biff, who had already finished untying himself, leaned forward. He propped his elbow on his lap and rested his chin in his hand. "Okay, then what?" he grinned.

"Then, we…" Frank cut his sentence short as it dawned on him that his friend had already freed himself.

"How did you do that?" Joe asked, surprised.

"I’ll explain it later," Biff grinned, as he helped the others with their ropes.

Slowly pulling the curtain back, the oldest Hardy boy stated, "There’s a passage near the back leading away from the main room."

"Can we sneak past the others?" Joe asked, as he tried to look over Frank’s shoulder.

"We can try," Frank replied. "They’ve all got their backs to us, but we‘ll have to take it very slowly." He then glanced back at the others. "Get down on your hands and knees, and follow me."

One by one, the three boys crawled across the floor, slowly making their way to the passageway on the opposite side of the room. Every inch seemed like a mile. Every second felt like an hour. Fortunately for the lads, the crooked men were too busy talking amongst themselves to even notice them. After they finally reached the darkened passageway, the boys crawled through the opening one after another. They continued on hands and knees for about twenty yards before Frank remarked, "I think that we’re safe now."

"Here let me help you up," a hand reached out and grasped the dark haired youth around the scruff of his neck. He was then hauled to his feet.

"Thanks, I…" he gasped in horror as realized who had just helped him. "You again!"

"That’s right," Garth Buckle growled. "It’s me again!" He then shouted at the men in the other room, "Hey, the kids somehow managed to escape! Somebody come and help me!"

Within seconds, the trio of young detectives was back in their bonds and being shoved back into the same crevice they were held in before.

Joe glanced at Frank. "You know something? This is beginning to get monotonous!"

"I’ll just take care of this!" Pepper jerked the metal plate out of the dirt wall. "Let’s see you escape now!"

As the fiendish men began to laugh, a thought suddenly struck Frank. "Hey!" he shouted. "You’re not planning to let us go, are you?"

"Say, you are the bright one, aren’t you?" Buckle laughed.

"I just thought that you wouldn’t mind answering a few questions," replied the dark haired youth.

"I don’t see why not," Pepper and Buckle both agreed. "What do you want to know?"

"Who’s idea was this hideout?" Frank asked.

"That was mine!" Buckle replied, proudly. "I found this underground shaft shortly after I started working here. To keep it hidden, I devised a way to use that fake tree as a door. I’ve helped a lot of escaped convicts over the past six months." He grinned as he patted his wallet. "Of course, they all pay me well!"

"Where do they get the money?" asked Joe.

"Most of them have some hidden here and there. Others," he paused to laugh, "Just steal it!"

"But we figure it’s worth it," added Pepper.

Glancing at Black Jack, Joe asked, "Who was it that broke into the ranger’s station?"

"Eh?" Pepper looked confused. "I don’t know anything about that."

Apparently, the man in the ranger’s station didn’t have anything to do with either Pepper or Buckle. He was only a vandal and a sneak thief that Joe had accidentally run across.

"Who tried to run us over with the jeep near camp?" asked Frank.

"That was probably Lefty," surmised Pepper. "I told him to stick around for a while. He only showed up here this morning."

"Do you have any more questions?" Buckle spoke up. "Not that this information will ever do you any good. I…"

Suddenly, the familiar sound of the fake tree creaking and then falling to the ground could be heard coming from outside the cavern. Within moments, the police, who were followed by Chet Morton and Jerry Gilroy, raced down the staircase into the large room.

"Nobody move!" an officer shouted. "Give yourselves up!"

As expected, the desperate men tried to put up a fight. It didn’t last very long, because the police outnumbered the convicts two to one, and they had them quickly subdued.

In all of the confusion, Pepper and Buckle grabbed up a couple sticks of dynamite that they had stashed under a rock next to the passage in the back of the cavern.

"They’re escaping!" shouted Joe Hardy.

"They won’t get far!" the police sergeant replied, as he and two other officers started in pursuit. But just as they reached the darkened tunnel, a great explosion was felt that shook the entire underground cavern. The passageway started to collapse, as dirt and debris began to fly everywhere!