Tony said he had also discovered that the fisherman moored at a small inlet to the north along the coast.

The Napoli and the Sleuth sped to the area.

A makeshift dock extended from a narrow crescent of sand at the base of a high bluff with a "No Trespa.s.sing" sign nailed to it. Several buoys dotted the water out from the sh.o.r.e.

As Frank gazed at the peaceful scene, he wondered: Could stolen cars be shipped out by sea from this beach? The possibility seemed unlikely. Not only was the water cluttered with buoys, but the only gra.s.sy slope leading down to the beach was too steep for cars to descend.

The two boats ran farther up the coast. Frank gazed at the sh.o.r.e through binoculars. Seeing nothing suspicious, they turned back.

They were pa.s.sing along the fisherman's secluded beach when Joe's hands tensed on the wheel at an eerie sound. Something had sc.r.a.ped against the Sleuth's bottom!

"I'm going overboard to take a look!" Frank said. He stripped to his shorts, kicked off his shoes, and dived in.

The sc.r.a.ping sound had stopped by the time Frank was under water and he found no sign of any rocks beneath the craft. Another thought occurred to him. Had somebody intended to sabotage the Sleuth as he had Jack's boat? Frank could find no evidence of this on the bottom of the Sleuth.

Climbing back into the boat, he reported this fact, then suggested they move along the coast for more sleuthing.

As they left the area, Frank watched the coast through binoculars. Suddenly he said, "Joe! Slow down! I want to get a better look at the top of that bluff!"

Through the two eyepieces, he could see a lone figure peering, through similar gla.s.ses, at the boys. As the man removed his binoculars before disappearing into the brush, Frank's recognition was instant.

Carlton Melliman!

CHAPTER XII.

Planted Evidence?

"MELLIMAN!" Joe exclaimed.

The boys told Tony of their visit from the unctuous New York businessman.

"I wish we could trail him," said Frank. "But we'd never catch him."

"On whose property is that bluff?" Tony asked.

Joe referred to a map. "According to this, that beach is part of Birnham's property! He owns land on both sides of Sh.o.r.e Road."

As Frank headed back to the Bayport dock area, he said, "Slagel, Birnham, a spider-man, and now Melliman-they're like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. But I think we're at least fitting some of them into place."

Back in their crime lab, the brothers discussed the latest leads in the mystery.

"We must find out where the shipment mentioned in the telegram is to take place," Frank declared. "It must be a load of stolen cars."

Joe suggested the possibility of the cars being moved out of the Bayport area by truck.

"I'm thinking of Birnham's covered produce job that blocked us. It's big enough to carry two cars at a time."'

Suddenly an idea came to Frank. "When Chet and I had that narrow squeak with Birnham's tractor I noticed a truck-maybe Birnham's-heading south on Sh.o.r.e Road past us."

"Let's call Chief Collig and suggest his patrols take a look inside the truck."

"Good idea."

The Bayport chief proved reluctant at first to conduct the search, largely because the farmer himself had been the first victim of the automobile thieves. But at length he promised to do so.

Collig mentioned that the police, too, were being flooded by letters of protest over the continuing thefts.

Another car had been stolen-and recovered-in Bridgewater that morning.

"Jack Dodd's identification bracelet was found under the front seat," he added.

"Planted, of course," said Joe. "The poor guy."

"We're inclined to agree," Collig said. "We're running twenty-four-hour patrols, and, with the Bridgewater department, several roadblocks. I hope we'll have some word on your friends or their uncle soon."

But when the chief called after receiving reports from his men, the result was a disappointment to the boys. The Birnham truck, returning from Bayport to the farm, had been halted but only empty crates had been found inside.

By suppertime Joe said he was completely recovered and suggested that they watch Pembroke Road that night.

"Joe," said Frank, "remember your idea about the gang's decoy tactics? We may be up against the same trick at Pembroke. The postmark on that last note, tire marks near Pembroke, maybe even Slagel's moving to Bridgewater-it's just too pat. A couple of those thefts could be phonies to draw the police and us away from Sh.o.r.e Road!"

Joe agreed, and they decided to watch only the farm that night. The boys wired their father in code about the net and Melliman, then changed into fresh sport clothes and telephoned Chet they wanted him along.

They picked him up in Mr. Hardy's car, and stationed themselves beyond a rise in the road. From there they had a better view of the dirt lane leading to Birnham's farm.

Shortly after midnight, it began to rain, and the boys shivered under wet ponchos for four hours. Finally, having spotted nothing suspicious, they returned to the car and drove back toward Bayport. Chet looked longingly at an open frankfurter stand as they pa.s.sed it.

"How's the diet?" Joe asked. "You've lost weight. But it'll be a phenomenon when one Chester Morton loses his appet.i.te!"

"My spirits, not my appet.i.te are dampened," Chet chattered, as he huddled in the back seat with a large box of raisins. "Do you th-think Birnham, Slagel and Company are Maying Mow for a wh-while?"

"Could be," Frank said. "They may have found out we weren't at Pembroke Road tonight. Not knowing where we were, they decided to play safe."

The sun had not yet risen as they pa.s.sed the vacant Dodd farmhouse silhouetted ominously against the dawn sky.

"Frank, somebody's inside the house! I just saw a light flicker in an upstairs window!"

Applying the brakes, Frank reversed direction and drove as silently as possible down the farm road.

Chet seemed disposed to stay locked inside the car but finally accompanied the others quietly around to the backyard. Above the shadowed screen porch, a slight glow was visible in Jack's second-floor bedroom.

The back door was locked. Joe tried a window. "It's open!" he whispered. He noticed Chet trembling.

The stout youth swallowed.

"I'm n-not scared. Just c-cold!"

Joe preceded the others through the window, where they paused and listened. They heard the faint thump of footsteps overhead.

"Careful!" Frank whispered.

Tiptoeing, he led the way through the kitchen.

They had just reached the foot of the stairs when Chet sneezed. Both Hardys winced as the raucous sound echoed through the house. The footsteps above stopped for a moment, then resumed at a rapid pace. Soon they ceased altogether. There was only silence.

Flushing and gesturing apologetically, Chet followed the brothers hurriedly up the stairs into the darkness of the hallway. Motioning Joe to guard the stairway, Frank played his flashlight into Jack Dodd's abandoned room. When the beam touched a half-open drawer, he flipped on the wall switch.

The room was empty. Frank crept down the carpeted hall, searching one by one three other rooms before returning with a shrug to the others.

Chet, his face pale with fear, was the first to break the silence. "N-n.o.body here. Let's go!" He started for the stairs but was beckoned back.

While Frank beamed his flashlight down the stairs to spot anyone coming up, Joe and Chet looked around Jack's room. Except for the open drawer, there seemed to be no disorder. Joe was about to open the closet door when Frank called out in a loud voice: "I guess n.o.body's up here. Let's head back to the vein of gold."

Sensing his brother's strategy of flushing out anyone inside the closet, Joe led Chet to the hall. Turning off the lights, the three boys walked downstairs. They had just turned toward the kitchen when a deep voice came from the top of the steps.

"Excuse me, are you the Hardy boys?"

Both brothers' flashlight beams revealed a mustached man dressed in slacks and a navy-blue hooded sweater.

Joe, starting cautiously up, answered, "Yes. Are you-"

"Martin Dodd." The man smiled. Turning on the lights, he came down and shook hands cordially with each of the boys. "I'm sorry about the cloak-and-dagger game, but I had to be careful."

There was no doubt but that the tall, middle-aged man was the professor whose picture they had seen.

He led them to a small den in the rear of the house.

"When I got word of my brother's and nephew's arrests, I knew somebody had plotted against them. I could have gone to the police but thought I might be able to find them by working undercover. And also,"

he added, "because a private mystery is involved. Moreover, I didn't want any publicity because of my position at the college."

"Then it was you who left the Pilgrim clue at our house!" Frank said.

"That's right. I hoped to get your father's help, but finding he was away, I decided to leave you the clue in the hope that-separately-you two or I might hit upon its solution. I couldn't chance your giving me away to the police."

The energetic professor agreed that his relatives had been victims either of an accident or a kidnapping, though he failed to see how news of the lost Pilgrim treasure could have reached other ears. Of the Sh.o.r.e Road thefts, or Slagel or Birnham, he knew little.

"Then you didn't reach Bayport until after your relatives had disappeared?" Chet asked.

"No. I heard the news over the radio. It was then that I decided to leave my car in another town and camp in the northern Bayport area. With authorities already dragneting the region for my relatives, it seemed best for me to work from the Pilgrim-clue angle. While I've had little success in decoding it yet, I feel strongly that something may have happened to them while tracking down-or being forced to track down-the clue."

As Martin Dodd spoke, a cordial relationship began to develop between the boys and the astronomy professor.

He went on, "Jack had written to me about trying to get your help on our mystery, but I didn't know you and wanted to be extra careful." The professor smiled. "That is why I watched you several times when I heard your voices in the woods."

"Then it was your footprints we spotted," said Frank, "and you who inquired about the gold in Bayport."

Dodd nodded. "I've used a disguise whenever I went into town. I wish you and I had had more success with the black-willow clue or the plant drawing."

Martin Dodd told the boys he was interested in astronomy and carried telescopic equipment on his trips.

He now unfolded a small piece of paper and handed it to Frank. It was a photostat of a note in the same handwriting as that in the Pilgrim clue, except that it contained several numbers, angles, estimations, and the words: "the evening ftar erefcent."

"I owe you boys an apology," the professor said. "I didn't give you this, which is also part of Elias Dodd's last message, and refers to the position of the planet Venus in the late summer of 1647."

"Which might help locate the treasure site?"

"Yes. Elias Dodd attempted, before dying, to cite his position relative to that of Venus. If his estimation was accurate, it may indeed pinpoint the location." The professor paused. "I believe I am on the verge of solving these calculations, which seem to be leading me farther east each day."

Chet mulled over the piece of paper. "These sure are complicated numbers!"

"That is why I didn't include them with the rest of the message," Martin Dodd replied. "The fact that he called Venus the 'evening star' indicates its crescent was in a period of eastern elongation.

As you may know, the motions of Venus are irregular, with identical phases for a given month recurring only about every eight years."

"Then there is a deadline for solving the Pilgrim mystery!" Frank exclaimed.

"That's right, Frank, and time is running out, since this particular phase of Venus won't be seen in August again for another eight years. Boys, the progress you've made so far astonishes me. I think by working together we may find the treasure, but more important, my brother and nephew before it is too late."

"Let's meet early tomorrow afternoon," said Frank. "We'll come here."

"Very good."

On the way home Chet dozed in the back seat. When they arrived at his farm, he asked, "What's hatching, guys?"

"Some work for you. Game?" Joe said.

Chet was cagey. "Tell me first."

"Will you try to follow Birnham's truck on its rounds today? It's big and red."

"Oh, sure," Chet agreed.

The Hardys arrived home to find a hearty breakfast awaiting them. As they ate, the brothers discussed the purchase in Harpertown of a used car as part of a plan for solving the case. "I'll go," Frank offered.

Joe remained at home and greeted Chet when he stopped in before his reconnaissance errand.

"Chet! You look starved!" Aunt Gertrude observed.

"Suppose so." He yawned. "Do feel kind of empty. But no food, thanks. I've decided I'm not so interested in land vegetation any more."

"You mean you're going to break your diet?" Joe asked.