The Secret Panel (12 page)

By nine o'clock the three friends were on their way in the convertible. Frank made no stops until they came to a red traffic light some distance out of town. The signal began to hum peculiarly as it changed to green.

“Another singing light!” Joe exclaimed. “Maybe ten minutes' drive from here—”

“Now listen, fellows,” Chet interrupted, “you promised we'd hunt for that man Griff—”

“Okay,” Frank said, and turned right.

Two minutes later they reached the public dock where the Hardys had lost the men the evening before. The boys jumped out and began to search in the roadway for clues.

Joe was the first to notice a narrow dirt road which branched off to the left along the water's edge. Judging from tall patches of grass growing in it, the road was not used often. But there was a set of freshly made tire tracks.

“Come over here!” Joe called excitedly, and pointed out his discovery. “These may mean something. Let's follow them!”

The three hopped into the car. Almost unconsciously Joe glanced at his watch, for he had become accustomed to timing their ten-minute rides from the “singing” traffic lights. Now he subtracted two minutes. Where would they be in eight more?

The road twisted and turned, finally coming out on the highway. Here the tire marks Frank had been following became intermingled with others.

Joe was excited. “Go on, Frank!” he cried. Two minutes later Joe called a halt and pointed.

“At last,” he yelled, “we've solved it!”

“Solved what?” Chet demanded.

Words tumbled from Joe's lips. Just ahead was the Mead mansion, and they were ten minutes' drive from singing light number three!

“Remember when we were checking the fuse box and you got a shock that knocked you cold?” Joe asked Frank.

“Sure do.”

“When I was in the library I heard a groan and raced back to you in the kitchen, thinking something had happened to you.”

Frank looked startled. “I didn't groan. It was someone else!”

“Exactly!”

“Say, would you fellows mind telling me what you're talking about?” Chet demanded.

“Sure we'll tell you,” Joe replied. “There's probably a hidden room in the Mead house. You get into it through a secret panel. And behind that panel are the two people who have been kidnapped.”

“I'll bet you're right!” Frank agreed, his heart pounding. “Lenny Strvker and Martha Johnson! I'd better hide the car 11. case anyone's watching. We'll go the rest of the way on foot.”

“Now listen, fellows,” Chet spoke up, “you're not going to get me mixed up in anything dangerous. I only came along to find that guy who got my money and then stole my boat.”

“Chet has a point there,” said Frank. “Suppose we go by a roundabout route to the Mead boathouse first and see if the dory's there?”

Chet trailed the Hardys through a patch of woods to the water's edge. Then, creeping forward on their hands and knees, the boys made their way cautiously along the bank to the boathouse. Certain that no one had seen them, Frank stripped off his clothes and swam under the door of the building. Minutes later he returned, his eyes shining excitedly.

“It's in there!” he whispered hoarsely. “The dory with the funny Y on it!”

“Gosh! You mean it?” Chet whooped.

“Quiet!” Joe hissed. “Do you want to spoil everything?”

“Time to act!” Frank said tersely. “Chet, you take the car and bring Dad here at once. Tell him to give our special Hardy rap on the front door. Joe, you and I'll go inside the house and look for the secret panel!”

 

 

 

 

CHET left at once, returning to the main road by the route through the woods. He sighed in relief as he reached the convertible and opened the door. Another twenty minutes and—

“Hold it!” A voice hissed in his ear and a hand was laid on his shoulder.

Chet's heart almost stopped beating as he was pulled around roughly and stood looking into a leering face.

“Finally we've got you snoopers where we want you!” the man growled. “Come along. You're goin' to spend a little time with me while the boss takes care of those friends of yours, the Hardys!”

Frank and Joe, meanwhile, stealthily made their way to the Mead mansion. Using the boathouse as a cover, then the shrubbery, they finally reached the mansion without walking in the open. While Frank unlocked the front door, Joe kept a sharp lookout. They were sure nobody had seen them.

Noiselessly the door swung open. They stepped into the somber hall. This time, as a precaution against alerting anyone to their presence, they did not try the lights. Knowing their way around, they quickly tiptoed from room to room. Satisfied that no one was in the house, they began to hunt for a secret panel.

Not a word was spoken. Taking it for granted that the secret opening was somewhere near where Joe had heard the groan, the boys concentrated their efforts on the library. Dividing the work, they started to examine the walls inch by inch.

Every bit of dark, ornate molding was scrutinized. They ran their fingertips lightly over the paneling that gave off the smothery smell of dust. Frank stifled a sneeze in his handkerchief.

Several minutes ticked by, then Joe quietly left the library and went to the front door. He opened it slightly and looked out. Squinting, he studied every bush. All was still.

He returned to Frank and whispered, “The coast is still clear. Nothing is stirring outside.”

“Okay. We've covered everything but the fireplace and the walls on either side of it!” Frank got up from his knees and stretched his aching back. The floor molding had yielded nothing. He looked at his watch and was startled to find that they had been in the house for an hour.

“I wonder where Dad is,” he whispered.

Joe shrugged. “We're not finished yet, anyway.”

“He must have been out when Chet got there. I hope he comes soon.”

Once more the boys went to work. It was almost an hour later when Frank—tapping, pushing, and pulling at bits of the heavily carved paneling near the fireplace—made a discovery. On a design of an oak tree, one leaf proved to be movable. Beneath it was a metal disk.

“Hey, Joe, I've found something!” he said in a hushed tone.

Joe leaped across the room to his brother. “What in the world is that?” he asked, surprised.

“I don't know. It's not a keyhole, that's for sure.”

Together the boys tried to slide the disk aside, but were unsuccessful. Suddenly Frank had an inspiration. Pulling his compass from his pocket, he held it near the disk. There was a definite attraction between the piece of metal and the compass needle!

“A big magnet must make this thing work!” Frank concluded. “Maybe there's one hidden somewhere in this room.”

Joe grinned. “What a wild guess! Besides, we've checked this room so thoroughly that we certainly would have found it!”

Nonetheless Frank began to search, moving slowly about the room. Suddenly the compass slipped from his hands and landed on the rug with a dull thud.

Frank bent over to pick it up, but drew his hand back when the compass moved. “Holy crow! Am I dreaming? This thing has legs!”

“What do you mean?” Joe stared at the compass. It slid over the floor as if by magic. “This place must be hexed!”

“Maybe not,” Frank replied. “The compass could be pulled by the magnet I dreamed up.”

“You're a genius, Frank!”

Both boys fell to their knees and examined the floor. Joe, too, was convinced now that a large magnet must be hidden underneath. They pulled up a corner of the rug where the compass had stopped moving. After a frantic search they found a board which was not nailed in place. Lifting it, they grinned in delight. On a beam lay a large magnet!

“I'll try it against the wall!” Frank said, picking up the heavy piece of steel. He hurried to the metal disk and directed the magnet toward it. Suddenly there was a clicking sound. At the same moment a large section of the wall on which the tree was carved began to slide.

Frank and Joe held their breath. As the opening became larger they found themselves peering into a room. They gulped in amazement. On a cot lay a young man. Beside him stood the missing nurse, Martha Johnson !

Joe was first to step over the threshold of the secret room. As the woman recognized him, terror came into her eyes.

“No! No!” she cried out. “Don't come in!”

The warning was spoken too late. Two men had been lying in wait for them on either side of the panel, poised to attack.

Frank and Joe, taken unaware, fought like tigers, but a third member of the gang appeared from the library and joined in the fracas. Frank and Joe were overpowered. They recognized two of the men.
Griff and Jeff!

“We've got you at last!” Jeff panted. “That's the end of your meddling in our affairs!”

In the meantime Miss Johnson had edged toward the doorway, hoping to escape. But Griff caught her arm.

“Oh, no, you don't!” he hissed. “You're not going anywhere!”

The boys were bound hand and foot, and left on the floor. The criminals surveyed their work, satisfied grins on their faces.

An agonized groan came from the patient on the cot. Griff began to laugh hoarsely.

“You can have that sick kid all to yourselves now,” he jeered. “You been wantin' to find him!”

He picked up the magnet from the floor. “Come on, men,” he said, then turned to the others. “You won't be able to get out of here—unless I let you. And I don't intend to!”

The three men stepped through the opening into the library. As the Hardys watched in horror, the secret panel closed.

 

 

 

 

AFTER Griff and Jeff and their accomplice had left, Miss Johnson deftly began to unfasten the ropes which bound the Hardys. As soon as they were free, the boys dashed to the panel and tried to open it.

“It's no use,” the woman told them. “I've tried and tried.”

“And there's no other way out of this room?” Frank asked.

The nurse said there was not a window or door in the place. She had searched in vain.

“But fresh air gets in here somehow,” Frank pointed out.

“I've concluded it comes through the ceiling. But, as you see, that's very high and there's no way to get up to it.”

Frank and Joe were annoyed with themselves for being trapped. Their only hope now was that Chet had reached their father and that he would be able to figure out how to open the panel.

“But maybe Jeff and Griff will take the magnet with them,” Joe said apprehensively.

The boys looked and looked for a means of escape, but could find none. Finally they sat down on the floor to talk over the situation.

“Please tell us everything that happened to you after you left our house,” Joe said to the nurse.

Before Martha Johnson could begin her story, the youth on the cot groaned again, and tried to get up. The nurse rushed to his side and held him down. She asked Frank to get a tablet and a glass of water from the table and give it to the patient. In a few moments he became quiet.

“Lenny Stryker, no doubt,” Frank said.

“Yes. How did you know?” Miss Johnson asked.

“Conjecture. We've been looking for him.”

“This boy is dreadfully ill,” Miss Johnson went on. “He should be in a hospital.”

“Can we ask him some questions?”

“It wouldn't do any good. He has such a high temperature that he's delirious most of the time.”

“How did you find out who he is, then?” asked Joe.

“I heard the name mentioned. I don't know how he got mixed up with those awful people. They were afraid to let him go because he might have notified the police.”

“Do the three men come here often?” Frank asked.

The nurse stated that at least one of them came once every day to bring food and anything needed for Lenny. No one had ever stayed very long until the night before. Then the tall one called Jeff had posted himself in the room.

“I was sure something was going to happen,” she said. “That's why I had an eye on the secret panel when it began to open. Oh, I wish you hadn't gotten yourselves into this trouble!”

Frank and Joe tried to reassure her. They mentioned having sent Chet Morton to bring Mr. Hardy.

“Suppose your friend never reached him?”

“Why do you say that?” Joe asked.

Miss Johnson said that she had overheard the men talking about posting guards on the grounds. The boys' spirit sank.

“Maybe Chet is a prisoner himself somewhere now,” Frank said worriedly.

“That would account for Dad's not getting here,” Joe added. Then a worse thought struck him. “Suppose Dad's a prisoner, too!”

Martha Johnson looked desperate. “What are we going to do?”

“Right now all we can do is sit tight and wait,” Frank said.

Joe changed the subject. “How did they get you here, Miss Johnson?”

The nurse told how she had been captured right after leaving the Hardy home. Someone on the street had started to pass her, then whirled around and grabbed her arm. She had screamed, and a chloroform-drenched handkerchief had been held against her face. When she regained consciousness, she was in an automobile, and a short while later was imprisoned in the hidden room.