Hardy Boys Collector's Boxed Set by Franklin W. Dixon

Author:Franklin W. Dixon [Dixon, Franklin W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Mysteries & Detective Stories
ISBN: 9781557091536
Publisher: APPLEWOOD
Published: 2010-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

100 The Mystery at Devil's Paw

slacks, socks, and loafers. The luminous hands on his watch pointed to 12:20. He strolled toward the water, listening to the sighing of the night breeze in the tall pines.

Suddenly another sound broke the stillness- the soft plash of an oar, then a clink of metal containers rattling against one another! Frank strained his eyes in the darkness, every sense alert. The next second he shouted:

"Wake up, fellows! Someone's stealing our canoe and gasoline!"

As Frank raced toward the dock, Joe, Chet, Ted, and Tony burst out of their tents and sprinted in their bare feet. Too late! The noise of a motor roaring into action told them the intruder was making a clean getaway!

Reaching the water's edge, Frank saw their ca> noe and gasoline untouched! The raider's boat kicked up a violent wake as it streaked off. Suddenly the strange man stood upright and hurled something toward the island. As the object struck the little wooden dock next to the canoe, it burst with a dull thud and yellow flames shot high into the air!

Frank's face blanched in the blinding glare. "It's a fire bomb!" he yelled.

CHAPTER XII

Dinosaur Detective

"tony, get our axes!" Frank commanded as the dock burst into flame. To the others he cried, "Follow me!"

As Tony dashed back to camp, Frank kicked off his loafers and plunged into the water. With his jackknife, he slashed the lines holding the boats.

"Chet, take our motorboat! Ted, pilot yours!"

Joe, meanwhile, was frantically attaching the canoes by towlines to the crafts. "Okay! Take off!"

Chet and Ted revved up their motors and sped into the middle of the river. The Hardys, seared by the heat from the fiery dock, beached Tony's boat at a safe distance, then hastily scrambled ashore.

Tony was already hacking at the dock timbers. "There's an axe and a hatchet for you fellows!" he called.

Half the wooden structure was a crackling mass 101

102 The Mystery at Devil's Paw

of flames. Shielding their faces as best they could, the three boys quickly cut away the remaining supports. Then Frank levered up the planking with his axe.

"Okay! Into the water!" he gasped.

Straining every muscle the trio ripped up the flimsy structure and hurled it into the water. It sank with a hissing cloud of steam. Panting and streaked with perspiration, the boys watched as the Fames died out.

"Wow!" Tony muttered. "If that fire had spread to the brush, our whole camp would have gone up in smoke!"

Once the danger of an explosion was past, Chet and Ted returned with the boats and canoes. These were moored to the blackened stumps of the dock pilings. Then all of the boys trudged back to camp.

"Good thing you were awake, Frank," Ted remarked wryly.

"We should have kept up our night watches," Joe added. "Tony, I think you and Chet need more protection after we three leave the island."

"At least," Frank concurred, "report what happened right away."

"I'll do it now," Tony replied.

Warming up his radio, Tony tuned to the agency's special frequency and spoke into the microphone: "Kooniak calling Juneau! .

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