068 Rough Riding by Franklin W. Dixon

Author:Franklin W. Dixon [Dixon, Franklin W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: hbfiles new, hbfiles
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

FRANK SLAMMED INTO JOE like a tackle, and the force of the impact carried them both several yards. The brothers lay sprawled on the ground as the hay wagon flew past to crash into the cement wall of the arena. Hay and splinters of broken wood flew all around them.

"What in the world?" Joe sputtered as he slowly picked himself up. He surveyed the broken hay wagon and brushed hay from his jeans. "That was too close. We could have been crushed against that wall like bugs on a windshield."

"Someone must have given that wagon a push," Frank said, getting up and gazing in the direction the wagon had come from. No one was in sight.

"Are you guys okay?" a roustabout called, running from a gate. "I was up on a catwalk over the bleachers, and I just about screamed my lungs out trying to warn you."

"Did you see the wagon start to roll?" Frank asked. "Was there anyone near it?"

The cowhand shook his head. "No, it was already rolling when I noticed it. I didn't see any-one around except you guys." He studied the wrecked wagon. "Well, I'm sure glad you guys weren't hurt. I better go find someone to get this mess cleaned up."

"Let's check out the spot where the wagon was parked," Frank suggested to Joe.

They retraced their footsteps until they saw ruts from the wagon's big wheels cut into the ground. Two wooden blocks lay off to the side. Frank pointed at them.

"Those were under the wheels to stop it from rolling. Someone must have kicked them out."

"Someone who doesn't want us investigating Buck's shooting," Joe speculated.

Frank nodded. "We should have warned Matt not to tell people we were working on this case. It's too late now since everyone seems to know. We'll just have to be extra careful from now on."

"Let's keep this little incident to ourselves," Joe suggested. "The last thing Matt needs is to start worrying about us, too."

Frank agreed. They continued on to Buck's RV, a gleaming new camper parked next to Rocket's horse trailer. The Hardys stepped inside and gazed in shock at the interior.

"Someone beat us to it," Frank said. The RV had been ransacked. Drawers and cupboards were opened, the foam mattresses on the beds and couches were overturned, and papers were strewn everywhere.

"We'd better let Detective Davis know about this," Joe pointed out. He felt something stick to his shoe just then and lowered his head to check it out. He'd stepped on the gummy flap of a large manila envelope that was lying on the floor. He bent down and retrieved it, holding it by one corner. A sheaf of papers fell out and landed on a small table. Yellowed newspaper clippings and handwritten letters lay on the table. Frank moved over to stand beside Joe.

"Look at this," Joe said, pointing to one of the articles. "This clipping tells of a car crash that killed a man and woman." He scanned the tiny print of the article below the picture.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.