"Laura!" Gertrude Hardy shouted at the top of her lungs as she desperately clung to the side of the car, which was overhanging the five thousand foot drop off. As soon as Mrs. Hardy realized what was happening, she didn't waste any time in attempting to rescue the older woman. Leaning over the seat, she reached out, took hold of Gertrude’s silvery hair, and pulled her back in the car. Laura then put the old car in reverse and slowly backed it away from the ravine. After turning it around, she started back down the road to the Route 29 turn off.

"This is the way we should have gone in the first place!" She thought to herself. Gertrude was so shocked over what had happened that she hardly uttered a word for the remainder of the trip. Needless to say, this pleased Miss Hardy very much. Even though Laura was glad that Gertrude had not been harmed, she couldn't help but to enjoy the peace and quiet that she felt during the remainder of the trip.

In the meantime, the Hardy boys and their friends had been enjoying the peaceful serenity of the great outdoors. After lunch, they decided to go on a nature hike. Their destination was Monstrous Mountain.

"A hiking we will go!" Chet sang out. "A hiking we will go! Hi ho the merry o', a hiking we will go!" Chet had been singing the same thing over and over again, for about forty-five minutes, and it was beginning to wear on the other boys’ nerves. "A hiking we will go!" Chet continued to sing loudly.

"Chet..." Joe tried to interrupt.

"A hiking we will go!" Chet didn't hear Joe.

"Chet..." Joe repeated, a little louder this time.

"Hi ho the merry O'," Chet continued.

"Chet!" Joe screamed out.

"A hiking we will go!" Chet finished, and then he glanced at Joe. "What's the matter, chum?"

Joe hesitated for a moment, and then he replied, "No offense Chet, but could you knock off the caterwauling for a while?"

Chet just smiled in his easygoing manner. "Okay, pal, but do you know what you're problem is? You just don't appreciate classical music when you hear it!"

About this time, the boys just happened to wonder upon an old abandoned campsite at the foot of a rocky hillside, which was the base of Monstrous Mountain. There were empty tin cans and other garbage strewed about everywhere.

"Who could have done this?" asked Biff Hooper, "This is a disgrace!"

"I'll tell the world!" agreed Jerry Gilroy.

Obviously, the boys were all shocked over the way that some previous campers had thrown their garbage around, as if they were the only people in the world. "It was carelessness!" they remarked.

"This ought to be against the law!" Chet added with a very serious tone.

"Chet, it is against the law," Frank replied, shaking his head. "Some people just don't realize that when they throw their garbage around like this, not only does it ruin the area for other campers, but if an animal was to eat this junk it could make it very sick!"

"Well, let's don’t just stand here!" Jerry removed some leather gloves from his hip pocket as he said, "Let's clean this mess up!"

"Whoever did this should be made to clean it up," protested Biff.

"You're right," agreed Frank. "But when thoughtless people are concerned, it’s usually left up to more thoughtful citizens like us to pick up the mess that they've made. This is why we’re taking it upon ourselves to clean this area up. It's our duty. In fact, it's the duty of every good American to help keep this land clean and free of trash, no matter what form it may come in. Why this is what made our country great. Ordinary citizens, just like the five of us, banding together for a common good."

Frank stopped his speech when he suddenly noticed that all of the others were giggling beyond control. The entire time he had been giving his patriotic speech, Chet Morton had been humming The Battle Hymn of the Republic! Suddenly all of the boys, including Frank, howled with laughter. Chet had not meant any disrespect and he completely agreed with Frank, but he could never resist the opportunity to lighten up the situation.

After they had a good laugh, they all started cleaning up the area. Unknown to any of the fun loving boys, up on a rock ledge, about two hundred feet above their heads, were three men spying upon them with binoculars.

Just then, a fourth man walked up. "What do you see?" he asked.

"A group of kids," replied one of the men.

"Give me the binoculars!" he ordered another man.

"Sure thing, Mr. Pepper… uh..." the man stuttered, as he suddenly remembered how he had been told not to speak his leader’s name. "Uh... Black Jack.... I mean Boss!"

Black Jack Pepper didn't respond, he just jerked the binoculars from out of the man's grasp. Then he gazed down in the direction of the group of happy campers.

"What?" he shouted. "I can't believe this!"

"What is it, Boss?" the men asked.

"It's those Hardy Boys!" Jack shouted in disbelief. "How did they find me?"

"Who are the Hardy Boys?" asked one of the men, with a puzzled look.

"They're the brats that had me sent down the river," he replied. "After they busted up my operation."

"What operation?" asked another man. "Were you sick boss?"

"Back in Bayport," Pepper began to explain, after he had slapped the dimwit on the back of his head. "I had it pretty good," He then gritted his teeth. "That is, until they started meddling in my business!"

He paused a moment while he sat down on a nearby rock. "I had another gang."

"Like us, Boss?" asked one man.

"Yeah," Pepper frowned. "They were just as stupid as you!" He half smiled. "Anyway, we would heist cars, and not just ordinary ones, but the top of the line in automobiles! After we would get a hold of them, we'd fix them up so that nobody would recognize them!"

"How did you stay ahead of the police?" asked one of the men.

"We had a secret cave," Pepper replied. "It had a secret entrance that nobody could find!"

"Then how did those kids find it?" the same man spoke up again.

"The old Trojan Horse," Pepper frowned. "They hid inside of the trunk of their car. When one of my men spotted it, he naturally assumed it had been abandoned."

Pepper stood up and began pacing the ground. "After they were inside the cave, they somehow managed to sneak back out. Of course, they called the cops on me, and the rest, as you know, is history!"

"What are we going to do now?" asked one of the men.

"If they're really after me again," replied Pepper, "Then we have no choice but to stop them." He then turned and started to walk off.

"How?" asked the most talkative minion.

Pepper came to a sudden stop and then turned on his heel. With a look of exasperation, he shouted, "Look! There are only two safe trails that lead to where we’re going. The other one is all the way around on the other side of the mountain."

The men starred at him with blank expressions on their faces.

"Look!" he continued, annoyed. "All you have to do is dynamite this trail and block their way." He then turned and continued walking away from his men.

By now, the Hardys and their chums had just about finished cleaning up the area. All that was left to do was to cover the old campfire with dirt.

"This is strange," remarked Joe. "The ashes are still warm."

Frank walked over and felt of the remnants of the old campfire. "This means that whoever did this hasn’t been gone from this area long, maybe even as close as three or four hours ago."

Out of the corner of his eye, Frank noticed a trail leading away from the campsite. It appeared to be heading straight up Monstrous Mountain. The footprints left on it were very clear, because the ground was quite muddy from the rain. Immediately, Frank and Joe gave each other a knowing glance.

"Whoever camped here has evidently gone up the mountain side!"

"They did?" Biff asked, as he joined his friends. "Well then, let's just go after them and teach them a lesson about cleaning up after their selves!"

Jerry and Chet agreed. "We'll let them know in no uncertain terms that we didn't enjoy having to clean up after them!" said Jerry.

Since the boys all agreed they should find the litter bugs, they wasted no time in starting up the steep cliff side trail of Monstrous Mountain.

"Wait a minute!" Frank suddenly threw up his right hand in alarm. They had been hiking for about of a half an hour when he did this.

"What's wrong?" asked Joe, puzzled.

"I thought..." Frank started to speak, but then paused. "I thought I saw a couple of men on a rock ledge just above us."

"It was probably just a mirage," Chet grinned. "You were probably just seeing things."

Even though Frank knew that mirages generally only occurred in the dessert, he decided to take Chet’s advice and shrug it off. Then the boys started on their way again.

"Where did you see those men?" Joe asked, as they were passing directly underneath the rock ledge.

"They were right up there." Frank pointed towards a mound of huge boulders. "But I couldn't tell what they were doing."

"Maybe it was the campers that we're after," suggested Biff.

Just then, a loud explosion was heard from directly above their heads. The ground began to shake violently and suddenly all of the boulders that had been suspended over their heads came loose. In seconds, they would be down directly on top of them!