The Sinister Signpost Part 4

A strand of the metal ran along the top of the fence and Joe's trousers had become firmly snagged just when he was half-way over.

"I'm glad you went first," chuckled Frank. "Now I'll know enough to crawl under under the the barrier."

Joe, trying to balance himself across the top rail, was making an effort to release his trousers from the spikes when he suddenly lost his balance and toppled over. There was a rending, tearing sound, and by the time the lad sat up he saw that he had left a substantial portion of his pants on the jagged wire.

Frank was laughing hilariously at his brother's plight -so much so, in fact, that he failed to notice that another strand of barbed wire ran along the under side of the fence.

R-r-r-ip! Frank scrambled through, crestfallen to discover that the sharp points had torn a jagged rent in the back of his coat.

45.

"Maybe we'll save time by crossing this field," observed Joe disconsolately, trying to survey the damage to his trousers, "but it is mighty hard on clothes." Then, with a grin when he saw that Frank had not escaped scot-free, he added, "Aunt Gertrude would probably tell you that 'he laughs best who laughs last!'"

They continued their journey across the field. They were not half-way to the opposite enclosure when they discovered that they were not alone on the property. About fifty yards ahead they spied a flock of goats grazing peacefully. The animals raised their heads and looked at the boys.

"If there is a billy goat in that outfit I hope he has a quiet disposition," observed Frank.

There was was such a creature in the flock. It moved a little apart from the other animals, such a creature in the flock. It moved a little apart from the other animals, gazing at the intruders with marked suspicion. Then, with a bleat of wrath, he began trotting toward them.

"Run for it! "yelled Joe.

The boys raced for the fence. Seeing them in flight, the animal lowered its head and set out in pursuit Joe reached the fence first and cleared it at one bound. Frank got over it too, but was given considerable a.s.sistance by the goat, who arrived there almost simultaneously. He went sailing over the low fence and landed sprawling in a thicket. The creature then uttered a bleat of triumph and walked away.

"Whew! What a race!" gasped Joe, fanning himself with his hat. "Are you hurt?"

Frank crawled out of the bushes, rubbing himself.

"Only my dignity!" he answered. "Gosh, I never knew a goat could travel so fast."

46 "I never thought we could, either. We'd cross the line first at any Bayport High track meet if we could keep up that pace all the time. I'll bet we broke every record for the hundred-yard dash."

"Somebody better put up a 'danger' sign here, too," suggested Frank.

Slightly shaken by their mishaps, the boys continued on their way, crossing through the thickets for a little distance and eventually coming to the abandoned road they had followed the previous evening. In the daylight they were able to distinguish the heavy tracks more clearly, and followed them for several hundred feet from the place where they had been obliged to give up their former search.

Suddenly the ruts branched off from the road altogether, and led directly into the brush and shrubbery. On a nearby tree the lads saw a placard, which read: "Danger-Keep Out-Target Practice."

The Hardy boys were in no mood to quit now.

"I can't hear any shooting," remarked Joe. "Let's push on."

"I don't believe in signs anyway," returned his brother. "At least not that one."

"Do you think it was put there just to keep people away?"

"If Topnotch Topnotch is hidden in this shrubbery, then this marker may have been put there just to is hidden in this shrubbery, then this marker may have been put there just to frighten off any searchers."

The ruts led down a sort of rough trail from which trees had been cleared away. It looked like an abandoned road originally cut through by settlers, or a 47.

right-of-way hacked through the forest for a power transmission line.

Suddenly from around a bend in the trail just ahead there bounded a huge dog. It was a vicious-looking animal, and when it saw the boys, stood stock-still for a moment, growling ferociously.

The Hardy boys halted.

"I don't like the looks of this," muttered Joe.

Frank tried to win the animal's friends.h.i.+p. He whistled to it and patted his knee invitingly.

"Come on, old fellow!" he said.

The dog was distinctly hostile. With an angry snarl it suddenly broke into a run, heading directly toward the lads, its teeth bared.

Frank and Joe did not remain to argue the matter, but leaped from the trail, each picking out a substantial looking oak which they climbed hastily to safety. The dog, barking loudly, rushed from one tree to the other, leaping and clawing at the trunks.

It was an awkward predicament. The worst part of it was the dog showed no disposition to go away, and finally sat down growling at the foot of the tree in which Joe had taken refuge.

"Treed like a couple of racc.o.o.ns!" grumbled Joe bitterly.

The woods were very thick, and Frank noticed that a heavy branch of another tree was within reach of the one upon which he was perched. This gave him an idea. He gripped the other limb, swung out on it, and hauled himself hand-over-hand until he came within reach of a branch of still another tree.

"Come on!" he called to his brother.

40 This Joe did, but the dog saw what his prospective victims were doing and stood his ground, barking furiously.

"Reminds me of a couple of apes!" Joe laughed, swinging himself over into the boughs of a huge oak.

In this manner, crawling, swinging, and leaping, the Hardy boys penetrated deeper and deeper into the woods while die frantic beast below them circled about in the undergrowth.

The lads' hope that the animal might lose itself was in vain. They could hear the snapping of twigs and the crackling of leaves all too clearly.

"What's worrying me," panted Joe, as he sat in the crotch of a huge bough to rest, "is how we're ever going to find our way out of this wood even if we do get rid of the dog."

Through the foliage Frank noticed a little clearing straight ahead. He swung himself into the next tree to get a better view. As he did so, he uttered a yell of astonishment.

"We've found it, Joe! I can see the van I"

CHAPTER VI.

THE SERVICE STATION.

there, in a secluded little clearing in the very heart of the forest, stood the van that had pa.s.sed them the afternoon they had driven to the football game at Seneca.

Frank could see it quite plainly now. He was so excited by the discovery that he called out to his brother, forgetting that the closed truck might be occupied. When he realized what he had done he crouched down, watching to see if anyone had been alarmed by his shout.

No one appeared, however, so he swung his way through the branches until he reached a heavy limb that extended directly over the top of the van. A few minutes later Joe joined his brother. Frank dropped to the roof of the big vehicle, and the younger Hardy soon followed.

Their enemy, the dog, had not been shaken off. He scrambled through the thickets and set up a terrific barking when he came in sight of his quarry.

"Some watchdog!" fumed Joe.

The rear door of the van was open, otherwise the lads might have been trapped on the roof. As it was, they were able to swing themselves down into the truck. The floor was not sufficiently near the ground to permit the dog to reach them, despite its frenzied leaps.

With the exception of a heap of old horse blankets in a a corner the place was empty. corner the place was empty.

There were a pail and a curry-comb, sufficient indication that the truck certainly had been used for the transportation of a horse.

Frank had not forgotten his flashlight this time. He played the beam on a dark corner near the front of the vehicle, and suddenly pounced upon something lying on the floor.

"What have you found?" asked Joe.

The object was merely a cardboard tag, yet it was important, for on it was written: TOPNOTCH PRESCOTT STABLES.

There was no further doubt in their minds now. They were surely on the trail of the missing race-horse I Suddenly the dog's barking ceased. In the distance the Hardy boys heard a sharp whistle, and a voice call out: "Here, Rusty!"

The animal abruptly left its siege of the van and rushed across the clearing, to disappear in the bushes.

"Someone is coming!" snapped Frank, as he hurriedly closed the door. "Get under those blankets!"

The boys dived toward the corner, sprawled out, and pulled the wool coverings over themselves. They were none too soon, for a few moments later they heard someone walking across the clearing.

51.

"Down, Rusty!" growled a voice presently. "What's the matter? Why did you raise all that racket?"

The newcomer was standing at the back of the truck. The Hardys heard a creaking noise as he pulled open the door. Presumably he peered inside and satisfied himself that the van was empty, for he said, "Nothing in here, you crazy hound! Must have been a squirrel you were chasing."

Frank and Joe waited in an agony of suspense. Finally, to their relief, they heard the man's footsteps retreating across the clearing.

"Come on, Rusty!" growled the stranger.

Then a dead silence fell over everything once more. Frank and Joe took no chances on being discovered, however. They waited a full five minutes longer before they dared venture out from beneath the blankets.

They thoroughly examined the truck and the clearing where the van had been abandoned, but could find nothing in the way of a clue to Topnotch. Topnotch. Frank searched in the Frank searched in the hope of seeing the hoof-prints of the horse, but the clearing was unmarked save for the deep ruts made by the van itself.

"Well, that proves one thing, anyhow," he announced. "Topnotch "Topnotch wasn't brought here in wasn't brought here in the truck."

"Right. The horse was removed at some other place and then the machine was driven into the woods and hidden here."

Nothing was to be gained by remaining in the clearing any longer. If the boys could only locate the man who had visited the van and called the dog away they felt that they might be on the track to the solution of the mystery. Yet, when they set out to attempt to pick 52 up his trail, they found themselves completely baffled. The barking of the dog could be heard no longer, and after half an hour's futile search the lads were forced to give up their quest.

The problem of getting back to the main road now faced them, and they solved it by following the tracks of the van until at last they reached the spot where they had parked their car the previous day. It was almost dark before they finally reached the cross-roads and set out on foot toward the main Bayport highway, where they could find a bus to the city.

The Hardy boys were foot-sore and tired by the time they came in sight of such a conveyance. To their disgust it was just pulling away from the front of a service station and refreshment stand. They hurried out, waving and shouting, but the driver took no notice of them. In a moment the vehicle was speeding off toward Bayport, its tail-light twinkling ironically in the gloom.

"Now we'll have to wait another half-hour," grumbled Joe. "What a break! We haven't had any luck at all today."

"I'm hungry. Let's go over to the service station and see if we can dig up something to eat."

The place in question was small and shabby, with a tiny lunch room at one side. The proprietor, a stout, sour-looking individual named Gus, doubled in the role of cook and waiter. When Frank and Joe asked for soda and sandwiches he merely nodded indifferently and disappeared into the kitchen.

The boys waited several minutes, but still there was no sign of the sandwiches. Frank filled in the time by 53.

telephoning home to notify his mother that he and Joe might be late to dinner. At length Gus appeared with some food that was far from appetizing looking. The bottles of soda he offered were warm.

The boys were just finis.h.i.+ng this excuse for a meal when a truck, painted green, pulled up in front of the service station and a stout fellow in overalls climbed out. He came into the lunch room and flung his gloves on the counter.

"h.e.l.lo, Gus!" he shouted. "Well, I went over there-----"

The proprietor silenced him with a look, and then came over to the boys' table.

"You fellows about finished?" he demanded roughly.

"Yes," answered Frank.

"O.K., then. Pay up and beat it. This ain't no waitin' room."

"I wouldn't call it a restaurant, either," returned Frank, handing the man some change.

"If there's nothin' else you want, clear out," ordered Gus in a surly voice.

"Nice, hospitable fellow, isn't he?" remarked Joe as the brothers stepped outside.

"Won't even let us wait inside until the bus comes along."

"There's something queer about that place," Frank said. "Gus wanted to talk to that driver but he didn't want to be overheard."

The boy stepped over to the green truck, glanced at the licence plates, and jotted down the number on the back of an envelope. Through the windows of the lunch room the boys could see the two men in earnest conversation. It was quite dark now so the Hardys 54 had no fear of being seen by the burly proprietor as long as they remained in the shadows and outside the ring of light from the petrol standards.

They edged closer to the windows. One of them was partly open, and through it they heard the driver say: "I tell you, the sign didn't work."

"Did you go in, Pete?" asked Gus.

"Sure, I went in anyway. Told me I'd lose my job! Huh! They wouldn't dare. I could tell plenty. Why, listen-----"

"Not so loud, Pete," cautioned the proprietor.

The truckman lowered his voice, and the boys could distinguish nothing further of the conversation. Then the Bayport bus came rolling down the highway and pulled up to a stop in front of the service station. The Hardys quickly got aboard and the vehicle drove away.

There were only a few pa.s.sengers. Among them Frank noticed a familiar face. It was that of their jockey acquaintance.

"h.e.l.lo, there," said Ivan. He got up from his seat and pointed to the rear where all the places were unoccupied. "Let's go back there. I've something to tell you. I was just on my way to Bayport to call on you fellows."