Hardy Boys Mysteries - 038 Mystery At Devil's Paw by Franklin W. Dixon

Author:Franklin W. Dixon [Dixon, Franklin W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub

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

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! … Can you read me?”

Dinosaur Detective 103

Fortunately, the station kept an operator on duty around the clock. After hearing Tony’s report of the fire-bomb attack, he consulted his superiors by telephone, and then called back. “We’ll send out two men first thing in the morning!”

Much relieved, the five boys drank some hot cocoa which Chet had brewed. Ted volunteered to stand the first watch during the remaining hours of darkness. Then the others crawled into their sleeping bags. The rest of the night passed quietly.

Shortly before ten o’clock the next morning a boat arrived at the island, bringing the two agents from Juneau. They came ashore, carrying a small but powerful two-way radio set, which they turned over to the Hardys.

“The chief thought this might come in handy on your trip up the Kooniak,” one of the men explained. “If you get a lead on the gang, he’d like you to report to Juneau at once.”

“Thanks. We’ll do that,” Frank promised.

Half an hour later the Hardy brothers and Ted set off, paddling to the western shore of the river. Here they unloaded the two canoes and made the portage around the falls.

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