"He's disappeared!" Tony groaned. "But where?"

"No! There he is!" Joe exclaimed, pointing off to the right.

A stooped figure had appeared near the water's edge, some yards away. Turning, he started back up the hillside toward the Sh.o.r.e Road.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Joe yelled, and the boys raced after him. Surprisingly, the man made no effort to flee.

"Wai, what is it?" he demanded in a familiar harsh, cracked voice.

"Clams Dagget!" Joe gasped as the boys caught up to him.

"You pests botherin' me again?" Clams showed no signs of discomposure at being detected. "Wai, what do you want now?"

119 "We'd like to know why you were prowling around Dr. Montrose's house," Frank said forth-rightly.

Clams snorted. "You're plumb crazy! Haven't been near that old mansion. Been down here on the beach all evenin'l"

CHAPTER XIII.

A Cryptic Threat.

"don't give us that story!" Tony Prito said hotly to Clams Dagget. "We followed you all the way down the hilll"

The beachcomber flew into a rage. "Oh, you did, did you? Wai, let me tell you young scamps a thing or two!"

In salty language, he informed the boys that they were wrong. Besides, they had no business poking their noses into his affairs. If he ever caught them trying to shadow him, he would have the law on them so fast it would make their heads spin.

"And while I'm at it, I'm going to give you Hardys some advice," Clams ranted. "From now on, you'd better stay away from Rocky Isle! That place is dangerous!"

"What's dangerous about it?" said Joe, a note of doubt in his voice.

120.

121 Clams' eyes narrowed. "Some mighty queer things been goin' on there. I've seen lights blinkin' at night, and they weren't bein' flashed by the park guard on the island. He'd 'a' been in bed, and n.o.body else is supposed to be on Rocky Isle after nine o'clock. It stands to reason, anybody tryin' to snoop-" Clams paused significantly, "might find that place real unhealthy night or day!"

Somewhat surprised by Clams' revelation, the young sleuths tried to elicit further information from him. But the elderly pilot only muttered, "Told you all I know-don't say I didn't warn you." He strode off in the dusk.

The boys trudged back up the hill and again approached the mansion. They rapped on first the front door, then the rear. There was no answer.

"I guess the doctor's out," Frank said resignedly.

During the drive home, Frank remained thoughtful, mulling the evening's events over in his mind. Who was the tall, stooped man the boys had followed from Dr. Montrose's house?

And, if the old beachcomber's claims were true, could the mysterious lights be connected with the junk and the cave hide-out on the hillside?

The next morning when the Hardys arrived at the pier, they found their shipmates already on board the Hai Hau, Hai Hau, preparing for the day's voy122 preparing for the day's voy122 age. Tony was tuning up the outboard, while Biff and Jim were busy polishing woodwork. Chet was talking to prospective pa.s.sengers.

"Hi, slowpokes 1" the chunky lad greeted the Hardys. "You fellows just get out of bed?"

The Hardys laughed and climbed aboard. Tony looked up from the motor and wiped an oil smear off his cheek. "Hey, Biff!" he called. "See if you can find my feeler gauges so I can check these breaker points. I think I left 'em in the cabin."

"Okay."

Biff disappeared into the junk's cabin. A moment later he reappeared, then the boys heard a cry of amazement. Frank saw Biff reach down and pick up a piece of paper.

"Hey, look at this! Another threat!"

Frank, Joe, and the others gathered around tensely to examine his find. The note was badly typed on cheap pad paper, with two words misspelled. It said: Keep youre nose out of my busines or else!

"Where'd you find this, Biff?" asked Tony, who had not seen him pick it up.

"It was lying on the deck wrapped around a stone. Someone must have thrown it up here last night!"

"Clams Dagget probably!" Tony growled. "This sounds just like him!"

"Have you found out who sent the threat?" Sam Radley asked 124 "You may be right," Frank said. "We'd better compare this with the mining-stock letter and see how the typing checks out."

After a hurried conference, the Hardys decided to take the note back to their crime laboratory for immediate study. The other four boys would man the Hai Hau Hai Hau on its daily on its daily cruise to Rocky Isle.

Frank and Joe sped home. While Frank set up the magnifying camera and lights in their bas.e.m.e.nt laboratory, Joe telephoned Sam Radley to report the latest find. The operative promised to come over at once and a.s.sist in a.n.a.lyzing the typed specimens.

When he arrived ten minutes later, Radley asked, "Found out yet who sent the threat?"

"We've just started photographing it," Joe reported. "We think they were both written on the same typewriter."

The detective examined the threatening note for a few moments. "Offhand, I'd say you're right. The three key letters check out at first glance, but we'll need precise measurements to prove it."

With Radley's help, the boys shot a number of magnified close-ups of the typing. Then Frank took the films into the darkroom which the Hardys had rigged in one corner of the bas.e.m.e.nt.

While he was busy with the developing, the radio crackled.

125 "Hal Hau calling Hardys!" Chet's voice came over the loud-speaker. calling Hardys!" Chet's voice came over the loud-speaker.

Joe hastily flicked on the transmitter. "Hardys to Hai Hau! Hai Hau! Come in, please! . . . What's Come in, please! . . . What's up?" he added.

"We just left the pier!" Chet reported excitedly. "And guess who's on board?"

"Skip the games!" Joe said. "Who?"

"Ti-Ming! He's one of our pa.s.sengers!"

Joe was startled. Had the Chinese decided to make their next move out in the open?

And if so, did this forebode trouble aboard the junk?

"Does he know you're calling?" Joe asked.

"I doubt it," Chet replied. "He's up in the bow, acting like a sight-seer."

"Okay. Keep a watch on him. And remember, we have the safety of the pa.s.sengers to think about-so don't let him pull any fast ones!"

"Roger!" the plump lad's voice acknowledged. "Over and out."

Frank and Joe worked closely with Sam Radley in a.n.a.lyzing and comparing the threatening note and the mining-stock letter. Microscopic details and measurements proved that the typed characters were identical in both.

"No doubt about it. These were written on the same machine," Radley concluded.

"However, they must have been typed by different people, judging from the way the keys were struck-not to mention these two misspelled words."

126 "That might've been intentional to throw us off the track," Frank pointed out.

The investigator nodded. "Could be. But it's not easy for a typist to disguise his touch."

"Maybe Tony was right about Clams writing the threatening note," Joe put in, "although I doubt that he's the one who stole the typewriter from the hotel."

"But it means he knows the thief," Frank speculated.

"Not necessarily," Radley said. "The machine could have been sold to an innocent buyer."

The Hardys heaved great sighs. "We're just going in circles," Joe remarked. "All the same, I'm going to check further on Clams Dagget."

"Let's radio the Hai Hau Hai Hau and find out if the fellows have seen his boat," Frank and find out if the fellows have seen his boat," Frank suggested.

"Good idea."

Joe soon made contact with the junk, which had not yet left Rocky Isle on its return trip to Bayport.

"Is Clams' boat around?" he asked.

"Yes, he reached here right after we did," Chet reported. "Had a full load of pa.s.sengers, too. I don't know why he's he's so worried about business!" so worried about business!"

"Well, keep an eye on him too, while you're at it," Joe ordered. "Frank and I want to ask him some questions when he lands."

"Okay, pals," Chet promised and signed off.

During the afternoon, while waiting for the 127 junk to return, Frank and Joe phoned Dr. Mont-rose's office and house. There was no answer either place.

"Must be out on calls," Frank determined. "But what say we go out to his house again this evening?"

"I'm with you."

The boys sat down in the kitchen to chat with Aunt Gertrude while she gathered together the ingredients for a strawberry shortcake. They asked her what she knew about Clams Dagget.

Miss Hardy frowned. "Clams Dagget? Humph! He's an old curmudgeon!" With her usual honesty, she added, "But I'm sure he's harmless."

Joe immediately got out the dictionary to look up curmudgeon. curmudgeon. He chuckled wryly as he He chuckled wryly as he read the definition. "Just an old crab, eh? We think he's that all right, Aunt Gertrude!"

Suddenly the short-wave radio speaker in the bas.e.m.e.nt blared out. Frank dashed down to answer. Chet's voice came over loud and excited. "Frank! Joe! You'd better get down to the dock p.r.o.nto! We'll land in a few minutes. Ti-Ming's causing trouble-hurry up!"

"Be right there!" Frank signed off. A minute later he and Joe were speeding toward the pier. They arrived just as the Hat Hau Hat Hau was mooring. was mooring.

To their amazement, Biff and Chet led Ti-Ming off the junk with his hands tied behind his back!

CHAPTER XIV.

The Newspaper Clue.

"what's this all about?" Frank demanded as he and Joe reached the Hai Hau. Hai Hau.

The dapper Ti-Ming seemed more amused than angry at his being a captive. "I am afraid you will have to ask your friends," he replied with a bland smile. "The whole situation is quite beyond my humble understanding."

"Oh yes? We caught him snooping around the junk!" Chet Morton declared furiously.

Biff, Tony, and Jim vouched for this. But Ti-Ming appeared unconcerned. "I feared I had lost something," he said.

By now a crowd of curious spectators had gathered on the dock to stare at the proceedings. A policeman walked up.

"Mind if we search you?" Joe asked the Chinese.

128.

129 Ti-Ming shrugged. "One can hardly resist with one's hands tied," he answered nonchalantly. "Go ahead."

Frank untied him and requested the policeman to make the search, explaining the reason. Ti-Ming's pockets contained nothing unusual and held no object belonging to the Hai Hau.

"We're sorry this happened, Mr. Ti-Ming," Frank apologized. "If there's any way we can make it up-"

"Please do not trouble yourselves," the Chinese a.s.sured him. "I had, otherwise, a most enjoyable boat trip."

Ti-Ming smiled suavely, bowed, and walked off the pier. Now that the excitement was over, the crowd quickly dispersed. The Hardys and their friends stared at one another, nonplused.

"Pretty slick!" Chet burst out. "But I still think that guy was looking for something on this boat."

"Maybe so," Joe said, "but we can't have him hauled in on just suspicion. He could sue us for false arrest."

Meanwhile, Clam Dagget's motor launch, the Sandpiper, Sandpiper, had pulled up alongside the had pulled up alongside the dock. The Hardys waited until his pa.s.sengers had disembarked, then went over to speak to him.