Painfully the costume dealer drew himself to a sitting position. "It was terrible," he answered shakily.

"Where am I? I was blindfolded by the men who brought me here."

"You're in a cave on Hermit Island," Joe told him. "How are you mixed up in this, Mr. French? I wondered once if you belonged to the gang."

"No!" the man protested. "You must believe me, boy. The mental anguish I've gone through since I sold those men the masks for the robbery I I neglected my business entirely-didn't even check my stock.

"Fritz Stark and Nick Glaser were in the shop when you stopped in for your costumes that afternoon.

They had come to pick up the masks they'd ordered. I asked if they were going to a party.

Glaser laughed and said, 'Yes-a big surprise party!' When I went in the back to get the masks, I heard them laugh again and mention the bank."

"So you put two and two together," Jerry said.

"That's right. I guessed they were crooks."

"You should have tipped us off," Joe said. "Why didn't you go to the police?"

Mr. French said brokenly, "I had made the mistake of telling them my suspicions and who you were.

They said they'd kill me and harm my family if I talked. I sent my family away for safety."

"Why did you come to our house that night?" Joe asked sympathetically.

"The other morning they began to use my store as one of their meeting places and told me to give my a.s.sistant a short vacation. I heard them bragging they were going to kidnap you and your brother. Later something snapped inside me. Robbery is bad enough, but I couldn't let them get away with kidnaping no matter what they did to me. So I went to tell your father everything."

"But Frank and I answered the door," Joe prompted.

"Yes," French agreed. "When I saw you were safe, it confused me. Besides, I had a strange feeling I was being followed. I didn't know what to do, so I came away without telling my story."

"What happened then?" Joe asked.

"Well, when Fritz Stark and Nick Glaser came to the shop early yesterday afternoon, I got my nerve back and told them I'd spill everything if they didn't let me alone."

"What did they do?" Jerry asked.

"Stark said they'd let me alone if I'd do two things for them. First he made me put the gorilla and the magician suits in the window. They were a signal to the rest of the thieves to knock three times at the back door. The gang was going to have a meeting about something."

Joe laughed grimly. "Yes, to plan to kidnap Frank and me. I guess that's why they used our costumes in the window."

"There was only one costume-a skeleton suit -on display this morning," Jerry remembered.

"Fritz Stark put it there last night. He took my key. I overheard him say a single costume meant 'Danger.

Stay away,'" French explained.

"Stark put up the warning signal too late. He didn't know then that half the gang was in jail."

"That's right," the man said. "It was after he left the skeleton warning that he found out Ben and the others were captured."

"I'll bet the second thing they wanted you to do, Mr. French, was to sell three radios to the hi-fi shop,"

Joe guessed.

"Yes," said the man, surprised, "and immediately. Glaser walked down to the shop with me and waited on the sidewalk. As I came out, Stark drove up in their car, forced me to get in, and blindfolded me. The last thing I remember before I came to in this cave was trying to break loose and jump out."

"They must have slugged you," Joe said. "But what good will it do you to know all this?" Mr. French said despairingly. "We'll never get out of here alive. These men mean business!"

"So do we," Joe promised grimly. In rapid whispers he told the despondent man how he and Frank, by offering themselves as bait, had trapped Ben Stark and his two henchmen. "But we haven't been able to find Chet and Biff. Do you know where they are?"

The costume dealer shook his head helplessly. "No. You can see for yourself they're not in here. I wanted to look for the stolen money, but naturally I didn't dare. This is the end for us, I'm afraid."

Joe tried to rea.s.sure him. "My brother is free. When Jerry and I fail to show up, he'll bring help."

"I only hope he's in time," said Mr. French. "I heard these men planning to leave here in a little while.

They said they'd dispose of me before they push off."

Jerry looked grimly at Joe. "That goes for us too, I guess!"

As dusk fell, the prisoners waited anxiously. While Joe tried to keep Mr. French's spirits up, Jerry watched Stark and Pops pa.s.sing and repa.s.sing before the entrance.

"Joe," he said after a while, "I haven't seen those two guys outside for the last ten minutes. Do you think something's up?"

The three prisoners stiffened, all senses alert.

"Sh!" Joe hissed suddenly. "Listen!" In the distance they heard a motorboat.

"That's a big one," Jerry whispered excitedly. "Sounds like a cutter."

"It's coming here!" Joe said as the sound grew louder. Suddenly it ceased and they heard shouts in the distance, then closer.

"It's Frank!" Joe exclaimed. "Sing out, everybody!"

"Halloo! Frank! Help! In here!"

Their voices rang and echoed hollowly against the rock walls. Before long, the beam of a flashlight pierced the cave opening.

"Joe! Jerry!" came an anxious, familiar voice. "You okay?"

"Back here, Frank!" Joe called eagerly to his brother.

Seconds later, Frank and two young Coast Guardmen were cutting the ropes that bound the prisoners.

"Mr. French!" cried Frank in recognition. "So the gang had you, too! Are Chet and Biff here?"

"No!" his brother replied worriedly. "And neither are the bank robbers."

Already the cave was filled with men. Flashlight beams flickered up and down the damp walls. Seamen and policemen stood by with guns ready. Chief Collig and Lieutenant Parker hurried into the cave.

"You boys all right?" he demanded.

"We're okay," Joe answered, "but we must go after the robbers. Two of them-Fritz Stark and Pops-were here twenty minutes ago. And Nick Glaser, who drove the getaway car, was here too."

"They probably spotted the cutter and headed for their boat or the Napoli," said Joe.

Quickly he described the location of the hidden inlet where the Napoli and the robbers' stolen craft were concealed. Lieutenant Parker immediately dispatched men to the spot.

"With a twenty-minute head start," Joe said, "Fritz Stark and the other two probably will get away."

"But the cutter could pick them up easily," Jerry put in.

"Right," said Frank. "Those men know they haven't a chance against the Coast Guard. I think they're hiding here."

"Where?" asked Mr. French.

"We'll comb the island," Lieutenant Parker said.

"Let's search this cave first," Frank suggested. "There's a slight draft coming from the back. That might mean there's another chamber." Slowly Frank played the beam of his flashlight over the rear wall until he spotted a narrow crevice. He stepped quickly over and shone his beam into it.

"Look!" he exclaimed softly. Joe, Chief Collig, and Lieutenant Parker crowded around. In front of them, well inside the opening, hung a piece of burlap. Frank slipped into the crevice and pulled the rough curtain aside. A long rock pa.s.sage was revealed.

"Come on!" Joe exclaimed. "Let's go!"

As Joe stepped forward, Chief Collig clamped a hand on his shoulder. "Hold it," the chief ordered. "Let the armed men go first. Those crooks are desperate and won't hesitate to use their guns." Reluctantly, all three boys heeded the order.

At Collig's signal, Parker drew his service revolver and led the men into the narrow rock corridor. The chief and his two policemen followed, with Frank, Joe, and Jerry impatiently bringing up the rear.

The narrow pa.s.sage twisted and turned. Only one kind of sound could be heard-the heavy breathing of the pursuers. Suddenly there came an earsplitting crack! A gunshot from up front!

"Halt!" Lieutenant Parker's voice rang out. "Do not return fire!"

The file of men flattened against the rocks. The boys craned to see what was happening.

In a chamber at the end of the pa.s.sage, their hands tied, stood Chet and Biff! Behind them were Stark and Pops, a cloud of gun smoke above them.

Though the two men were using the captives as shields, and the situation was desperate, Frank, Joe, and Jerry were jubilant. They had found their missing chums!

The Coast Guardmen and the police were forced to stand by helplessly, not daring to endanger Chet and Biff. But Joe saw a chance to change the situation. At a signal, he motioned Frank and Jerry to back out of the pa.s.sage quietly. The three dashed from the cave.

"Stark and Pops got in there, somehow," Joe said. "They didn't come past us. There must be another entrance out here."

Hastily, in the gathering twilight, the boys examined the irregular face of the bluff. Suddenly Frank pointed to a big dark crack in the rock. As they neared it, a man's figure loomed in the opening.

Without hesitation the three boys hurled themselves on the man and bore him to the ground. He hit with a thud, the fight knocked out of him.

"It's Nick Glaser," Joe whispered as Jerry whipped off the man's belt and bound his arms securely with it.

"Okay," Jerry replied, "I'll watch him. Don't worry, he won't get away."

The Hardys slipped into the dark crack from which the man had emerged. Snapping out his flashlight, Frank groped forward as fast as he dared. Soon he could make out the yellow glare of the rescuers'

flashlights, and the backs of Pops and Fritz Stark, standing behind Biff and Chet!

"For the last time, I tell you throw down your guns," Stark ordered, "if you don't want these kids hurt!"

Without pausing, Frank and Joe charged forward. Together they let drive with two bruising tackles. The legs of the criminals buckled underneath them. The revolvers flew from their hands and the men landed, dazed, on the floor of the cave. The police and seamen were upon them in a second.

"Frank! Joe!" cried Chet, overjoyed. As soon as his hands were untied, the stout boy grabbed his pals and hugged them in his excitement.

"O-of! Hey, don't crush us!" Joe protested, laughing.

"We thought you'd never find us in this place!" Biff put in, rubbing his chafed wrists.

"We were plenty worried ourselves," Frank admitted.

"They took us to Shantytown first in Stark's car." Chet spilled out the story. "Were they mad when they found out we weren't you and Joe!"

"But they were afraid to let us go," Biff went on, "so they took away our costumes and brought us here in a small boat."

"On the way, they threw our masks overboard," Chet said, "hoping you'd think we drowned."

"We found yours," Frank told him.

"Because it was made of rubber," Biff put in. "Mine was only paper, so it was lost."

"And the day we got here, Pops went for the postcards," Chet continued. "Fritz Stark dictated what we had to write."

"We told them you wouldn't be fooled," Biff added, "but Pops took the cards back to North-port and mailed 'em, anyhow."

"We found out a lot," Chet continued. "This outfit is part of a national ring of bank robbers. Duke, Moran, and Glaser were sent first to 'case' the banks around here and decided on Bayport."

"Do you know where the loot is?" Joe asked.

"Right here, I'll bet!" Chet pointed at his feet. "I noticed loose earth the first day."

Immediately Frank and Joe, aided by the two policemen, began to scoop away the earth with pocketknives and their bare hands. In a few minutes they had dragged out the canvas sacks filled with money!

"Now, one more thing," Joe said. "Let's search for the rest of the Yokohama radios."

"They're right over here," Biff volunteered, and led the others to a shadowy corner of the cave where an opened crate stood. "Chet and I have been tied up next to them all the time. Those crooks were sure mad at Sutton-said it was his fault they only dared sell three."

"Jerry has the last member of the gang outside, Chief Collig," Frank concluded. "Once you handcuff him, we can all go back home."

Lieutenant Parker said he would take charge of the stolen boat and return the craft to its owner. A seaman was a.s.signed to bring in the Napoli.

The evening shadows were lengthening as the rest of the party boarded the cutter. First of all, Frank told Jerry and Joe about Tony. They were relieved he had not been seriously injured. By the time the boat entered the wide mouth of the bay, the harbor lights were twinkling.