"It's no use," the woman told them. "I've tried and tried."

"And there's no other way to get out of this room?" Frank asked her.

The nurse said there was not a window or door in the place. She had searched in vain.

"But fresh air gets in here somehow."

"I've concluded it comes through the ceiling. But, as you see, that's very high and there's no way to get up to it. I shouted until I was hoa.r.s.e. This room is soundproof."

Frank and Joe were annoyed with themselves for being trapped. Their only hope of escape now was that their father would be able to figure out the way to open the secret panel.

173.

174 "But maybe Jeff and Griff will take the magnet away with them!" Joe cried out.

The boys looked and looked for a means of escape, but they could find none. Finally they sat down on the floor to talk over the situation.

"Please tell us everything that happened to you after you left our house," Joe said to the nurse.

Before Miss Johnson could begin her story, the patient on the cot groaned again, and tried to get out of bed. The woman rushed to his side and held him down. She asked Frank to dissolve a tablet in a gla.s.s of water on the table and give it to the patient. In a few moments he became quiet.

"This boy is dreadfully ill," Miss Johnson said. "He should be in a hospital. Oh, those wicked people, to keep him here."

"Do you know who he is?" Frank inquired.

"I believe his name is Lenny Stryker," the nurse answered. "I don't know how he got mixed up with those men. I judge from their conversation his being shot was an accident.

They're afraid to let him go for fear he'll notify the police."

"Do the men come here often?" Frank asked.

The nurse revealed that someone came once every day to bring food and anything else needed for Lenny. No one had ever stayed very long until the night before. Then the tall one called Jeff had posted himself in the room.

"I was sure something was going to happen," she stated. "That was why I had my eye on the secret 175 panel when it began to open. Oh, how I wish you had not gotten yourselves into this trouble!"

Frank and Joe tried to rea.s.sure the woman. They mentioned having sent their friend Chet Morton to bring Mr. Hardy.

"Your father is a great detective," Miss Johnson conceded, "but maybe your friend never reached him."

Frank and Joe jumped. They had not thought of this possibility. Miss Johnson went on to say she had overheard the men talking about posting guards on the grounds. The Hardys'

spirits sank.

"Probably Chet is a prisoner himself somewhere," Frank said, worried.

"That would account for Dad not getting here," Joe added. Then, as a worse thought struck him, he cried out, "Gee, maybe Dad's a prisoner too!"

As the hours dragged by, their fears increased. Also their hunger. They wondered if anyone would bring food. There seemed little likelihood of this now, because the crooks no doubt would make their escape while they had the chance.

"They've taken everything of value out of this room, anyway," the nurse said presently.

"What were they?" Frank asked.

"Mostly ornaments; beautiful things."

"Did anyone come besides the two men who were here today?"

"Oh, yes," Miss Johnson replied. "The man they call the Boss."

176 The nurse described him as a tall, slender, middle-aged man with long, thin fingers.

"His fingers almost haunt me," the woman said. "He used them the way you imagine a ghost would."

Frank and Joe were excited by her information. They thought at once of their father's theory that a clever, inventive person was opening the museum doors by some unusual method.

"What else did the men say?" Joe asked the nurse eagerly.

"They talked very little," Miss Johnson answered. "But one thing I did hear them say: they planned to take their loot away by boat, as that was the only safe method."

"By boat!" both boys exclaimed.

They knew the harbor police were constantly on the lookout for suspicious boats. There had been no report of any thieves prowling about the bay. What sort of craft did the Boss have, and where had he gone in it?

"I'll bet I know what kind of boat he used," said Frank suddenly. "One of those little underwater craft Mr. Dwyer makes."

Joe agreed, and thought the crook probably was far away by this time. More hours dragged by.

Miss Johnson told how she had been captured after leaving the Hardy home. Someone on the street, who seemingly was only going to pa.s.s her, took hold of the woman's arm. She had screamed, then suddenly a handkerchief had been held against Trouble in the Dark 177.

her face. Some strong-smelling drug on it had made her faint. When the nurse regained consciousness she was in an automobile, and a few minutes later was brought into the mysterious room.

"I have no idea where I am," she said.

Frank and Joe told her. Miss Johnson had never heard of the Mead house, and was intrigued to learn that the owner had installed doors and windows without visible hardware.

The boys refrained from speaking of the museum robberies or any other angle of the mystery, because Lenny Stryker was stirring again.

Suddenly the patient leaped from his cot. Wild-eyed, the boy tried to run around the room. Miss Johnson and the Hardys caught hold of him, but he fought them off like a tiger.

A moment later the light went out. Lenny became quiet at once, and for several seconds there was absolute silence. Then came an indistinct, grating noise. The Hardys were sure the secret panel was opening!

Quickly they made their way toward the noise and Frank whipped out his flashlight. But before he could snap it on, Lenny started off again and knocked it to the floor. Screaming and waving his arms, the delirious young man made it impossible for the others to get to the secret panel.

CHAPTER XXII.

A Distracted Family.

suddenly the light went on in the mysterious room. Chet Morton was sprawled on the floor. He looked up in terror, then relaxed as he spied the Hardys. Picking himself up, he gasped: "Gee, it's you fellows! Am I glad!"

But Chet's momentary elation faded when the brothers did not return his enthusiasm.

They pointed to the delirious youth, who now lay in a heap on the floor, and introduced Miss Johnson, the nurse.

"Gosh!" Chet cried. "Let's get out of here!"

"We can't," Frank told him simply.

Chet Morton's eyes roved around the room. Then he caught on. Joe nodded, saying, yes, they were prisoners.

"We're behind the secret panel which can't be opened except with a large magnet. And that magnet isn't here."

The stout boy sat down on the floor and wagged his head. Why, oh, why had he let himself get into this fix? Every time he tried to help the Hardys on a case, he got himself into trouble. He vowed then and there this was positively the last time. Then he shuddered.

"Maybe this will will be the last time," he thought ruefully. Looking up at his friends he added, be the last time," he thought ruefully. Looking up at his friends he added, "What are we going to do?"

"I take it you never contacted Dad," said Frank. "Suppose you tell us what happened to you."

After they lifted Lenny to the cot, Chet mournfully related how he had got no farther than the boys' roadster before being captured. He had been taken to the Mead boathouse and locked inside.

"I've been there ever since," he said. "Once that guy called Griff brought me some food.

Oh------"

The boy stopped speaking as he suddenly remembered something. From his pockets he pulled out several sandwiches wrapped in paper, and pa.s.sed them around to the others in the room. For once Chet did not talk about being hungry himself, and insisted the Hardys and Miss Johnson eat every bit of the food.

"Isn't there any other way to get out of this room?" Chet wanted to know presently.

"None that we've discovered so far," Frank told him. "But let's try again."

While Miss Johnson did what she could for the patient, the three boys began another minute examination of the paneled woodwork in the room. This 180 went on for some time. Every piece of carved design seemed to be intact.

They had about decided to give up the search when Frank came to a section where a bird had been cut into the wood. It perched on a tree branch about five and a half feet above the floor. The boy studied the bird's head and body carefully. Then on a hunch he put his fingers on its heavily feathered wing. Gently he pushed it up and suddenly the wing moved.

"Come here!" he cried excitedly.

The other boys leaped to his side. Miss Johnson turned the lamp so that its beam shone directly on the bird. Beneath its wing three tiny slits were revealed.

' 'The symbol!" Joe yelled instantly. ' 'The strange open Y!"

For several moments everyone stared in amazement. Miss Johnson came over to look at the boys' discovery.

"What is it?" she asked.

Frank looked toward Lenny Stryker and put his fingers to his lips. Miss Johnson a.s.sured the youth that her patient could not hear what was being said.

"I don't know what this is," he said. "But we've found this strange mark several times and we think it's a clue to a gang of thieves. Somehow Lenny Stryker got mixed up with them."

"You think this house is their headquarters?" the nurse asked.

181 "It begins to look that way," Joe replied.

He told her of the stranger they had met on the road some time before, how he had given them a key to the house, and asked them to turn off a light in it. The man had said he was John Mead, and wore a ring with the peculiar symbol on it.

"Since then we've heard that one of the gang wears such a ring. We don't know whether or not he's the person we met on the road."

"Did you happen to notice whether any of the men who came here wore such a ring?"

Frank asked the woman.

After a moment's thought Miss Johnson said she could not be sure. The tall man called the Boss had worn a large signet ring, but the nurse had not noticed the design. She recalled, however, that he had mentioned the word "museum" once.

Frank was sure the strange symbol under the bird's wing had a significance. There must be something hidden beyond it! After working on the slits for several moments, he gave up.

Joe, then Chet, took a turn. Even Miss Johnson, intrigued by the idea, tried her hand at it, but not one of them could make any impression on the slits in the wall.

More hours dragged by. The prisoners became hungry and discouraged. They took turns pounding on the secret panel, but they felt sure, from the almost noiseless thuds produced, that the panel door was heavily insulated and so the sounds were deadened.

182 "It's eleven o'clock," groaned Chet. "We've been gone from your house over twelve hours."

Back at the Hardy home Frank and Joe's mother and aunt were frantic. They had not thought much about the boys' absence until evening. Mr. Hardy had gone out and could not be reached. Unable to stand the strain any longer, Mrs. Hardy went to the telephone and called the Morton home.

"Is Chet there?" she asked the boy's mother.

"No, he's not in. Who is this?"

Mrs. Hardy revealed with a sinking heart that Chet had left the house with her sons directly after breakfast and she had not heard from any of them since.

"It's unusual for them not to telephone if they're going to stay away," she said. "But I'm sure they'll be home soon," she added, trying not to alarm Mrs. Morton.

"Oh, I hope so," the other woman replied anxiously. "Those boys sometimes get into such dreadful situations. It worries me when I don't hear from Chet."

It was fortunate for her peace of mind that the conversation ended at the moment it did.

Mrs. Hardy had barely said good-bye when the telephone rang again. This time it was Chief Collig on the wire.

"Mrs. Hardy," he asked brusquely, "are Frank and Joe there?"

"No."

183 "Then let me speak to Mr. Hardy."

"He's not here either. Oh, wait a minute. Someone's at the door."