The Flickering Torch Mystery Part 6

"I sure will," grinned their one-time chum. "Well, if this isn't a coincidence. I was just sitting here thinking about the Hardy boys, and the door opens and in they walk.''

'' What made you think about us ?" asked Joe.

"I was just on the point of going into Bayport to look you fellows up. I'm in a peck of trouble.''

"Trouble?"

"Plenty of it. And I want you to help me out."

CHAPTER VIII.

THE COPPER WIRE.

"it's this way," explained d.i.c.k Ames. "Aa you know, when I left Bayport High, I went to engineering college. I've been lucky to get a summer job. It helps the old bank roll."

"A job near here?" asked Frank.

'' Yes. A highway construction project. You must know about it."

"We were over there just last night," said Joe.

"It's a pretty good job, and naturally I'm eager to make good. But I've run into trouble.''

"Tell us about it," Frank urged.

"I'm responsible for ordering and checking the materials we use in the construction work Ordinarily there isn't much to it. If a fellow is careful, and has a head for figures, he can handle that part of it easily enough-providing nothing goes wrong."

"What has gone wrong!" inquired Joe.

"Plenty." d.i.c.k Ames looked worried. ''We've been losing materials."

Frank looked at his brother. The same thought was in their minds. They were remembering the case on which Fenton Hardy was Working-the case that involved the disappearance of materials on State and Federal projects.

"Do you mean supplies have been stolen?"

"I wish I knew," said d.i.c.k Ames. "All I know is that my books show certain materials received on the job. But my check-up figures don't tally. We need so much steel, for instance, when we have to build a culvert. My books show that we received the steel. But when we start to use the stuff, we find we have only half the amount we need.''

Frank whistled softly. "That's serious."

"You're dead right it's serious. It's bad for me, because I'm held responsible. I'm on the spot. If it keeps up, I'm not only in danger of losing my job--"

"But also of being suspected," said Joe.

"Eight. The contractors may not believe I don't know anything about the missing materials."

"Do you suspect any of the workmen?" Joe asked.

d.i.c.k sighed. He was plainly worried.

"I haven't a speck of evidence against anyone. As I say, I 'm not even certain the stuff is being stolen. There are one or two of the workmen I don't care for, but I can't prove anything against them."

They heard the rumble of a heavy truck in the road outside the ice cream parlor. It pulled into view, slowed down, and came to a stop in front of the general store across the street.

The man at the wheel got out.

68 "That's one of them now," remarked d.i.c.k Ames, watching the driver who went into the store. '' Fellow named Hefty Cronin.''

"Hefty Cronin!" exclaimed Frank. "I thought that driver looked familiar.''

"Do you know him?" asked d.i.c.k in surprise.

'' We know him,'' smiled Joe. '' Ban into him in Bayport the other day.''

"You mean he almost ran into us," us," corrected Frank. He told d.i.c.k about their experience corrected Frank. He told d.i.c.k about their experience with the burly truck driver.

"That sounds like Cronin all right. He's a rough character." d.i.c.k frowned as he gazed out the window. "I wonder what he is doing in the village with the truck at this time. It's after work hours."

Frank slipped down off the stool on which he had been perched. "Just on a hunch," he said, "I think we'll give Hefty's truck the once-over. Come on, Joe.''

"I'll go with you," volunteered d.i.c.k.

"I think it would be better if you stay out of sight. If Cronin should come out of the store and see you looking through his truck, it might give him ideas. He'd know you suspect him, and if he's guilty, it would put him on his guard."

'' You 're right.'' d.i.c.k sat down again. " I '11 wait here until you come back.''

The Hardy boys slipped out of the ice cream parlor. Hefty Cronin was still in the general store. Through the big front window Frank 69 could see the man in conversation with the store owner, but the driver's broad back was turned to the street.

Frank and Joe made their way quickly to the truck. It appeared empty, however, except for a few burlap bags piled in one corner. Frank took another quick glance at the store window. Hefty had not turned around, so the boy pulled himself into the truck and pulled the burlap bags aside.

On the floor lay a large coil of copper wire. The boy covered it again with the burlap bags, and jumped down from the truck.

"Find anything?" asked Joe.

"A roll of wire. It might not mean anything, of course. He was buying wire when we saw him in Bayport, remember."

'' It might mean something to d.i.c.k. Let's tell him."

Hefty Cronin was still absorbed in conversation with the storekeeper. When the boys returned to the ice cream parlor, they were pretty sure neither man had seen them.

"Cronin isn't carrying much cargo tonight," Frank said to d.i.c.k Ames. "Just a big roll of copper wire."

d.i.c.k looked astonished.

"Copper wire! What's he doing with material like that in his truck after hours?"

"Shouldn't he have it?"

"Certainly not. All construction materials are supposed to be stored on the job. And 70 Hefty just came from there.'' d.i.c.k was frowning. He headed toward the door. "I'm going to ask him about this.''

The young engineer hurried out of the ice cream parlor. He was halfway across the road, when Cronin emerged from the general store. The Hardy boys remained where they were. If the men were going to get into trouble over that coil of copper wire, they did not need to be mixed up in the affair.

"Just a minute, Cronin. What do you have in that truck?" they heard d.i.c.k Ames ask the driver.

"Nothin','' grunted Cronin. "I'm on my way back to Bayport."

d.i.c.k leaned over the side of the truck, flicked back the burlap bags. The coil of wire lay revealed.

"Do you call that nothing!" he asked. "There's a lot of wire in that coil. Valuable stuff, too.''

Hefty Cronin rubbed his jaw. He was taken aback by d.i.c.k's sudden move and the discovery of the hidden wire.

"I think you'd better explain about this," said d.i.c.k quietly.

"Well, gimme a chance to explain, then," grumbled the truckman. "Is there anything wrong with me takin' a coil of wire back to the dealer I got it from?"

"Why are you taking it backf We need that wire on the job."

71 "Look," said Cronin in a surly voice, "there's only a hundred feet of wire in that coil, see.

Well, there's supposed to be a hundred and fifty. The dealer shorted us fifty feet, so I'm takin'

it back so he can see for himself. He's got to make good!"

d.i.c.k looked a little uncertain. Cronin's ready explanation did not leave him with much to say.

"All right, then," he answered. "I'll check on that wire in the morning, and I'll expect to see a hundred and fifty feet."

"What's the matter with you, anyhow?" growled the man. "Do you think I'm a crook?

Here I am goin' out of my way to see we're not cheated, and you jump all over me."

"That will be enough, Cronin," said d.i.c.k Ames, and turned away.

''It ain't enough. I 'm not goin' to be bawled out by any whippersnapper still in college. I won't stand for it, see."

d.i.c.k did not answer. He crossed the road and returned to the ice cream parlor.

Growling, Hefty got back into his cab and slammed the door. The truck rumbled off.

d.i.c.k did not look happy when he faced the Hardy boys. "You heard that?" he said helplessly. "What could I do? For all I know, he may have been stealing that wire, but I couldn't prove it."

"He had a pretty smooth story," agreed Frank.

72 "He didn't tell it any too politely, either," Joe remarked.

"You see what I'm up against," d.i.c.k said. " I 'm losing materials and I 'm responsible.

But unless I can catch the thief red-handed, I'm out of luck. This copper wire, for instance, is very scarce. State and Federal projects need plenty of it. A thief could steal that wire, and sell it right back to the government at a good price!"

The boys agreed that this was possible. But Frank had another suggestion.

'' Perhaps the material isn't stolen for its cash value at all.''

d.i.c.k Ames looked puzzled. '' Why else would anyone take it?"

"Perhaps the thieves need the material for some underhanded scheme. Perhaps they can't buy it at all. Or don't want to buy it in the ordinary way, for fear the stuff will be traced to them."

This solution had not occurred to d.i.c.k. "I never thought of figuring it out that way. You mean it might not be an inside job at all?"

"Right," said Joe. "If you're not busy, d.i.c.k, I suggest we three go out to the construction job, and keep an eye on the place where the supplies are locked up."

"I'm with you," said d.i.c.k. "Come along. My car is right here at the door."

Frank asked d.i.c.k to stop the car. "I just saw a light in that field." Briefly he told his friend he and Joe were watching the place.

73 "Please pull over and turn off your lights. I want to investigate.''

He and Joe jumped from the car and started icross the field. They could see nothing.

"What did you see?" asked the younger boy.

"I believe it was one of those red gla.s.s reflectors on the back of a bicycle. The kind that only shows up when a light is turned on it," explained Frank.

"And our headlights showed it up!"

"Exactly."

Suddenly Frank crouched down, holding his flash just above the ground. A narrow single track had left an impression in the soft earth.

"You were right," said Joe.

The Hardy boys studied the impression, and followed it a few yards toward a bare patch of ground. There the imprint was distinct-the track of a bicycle tire. They would walk a few yards at a time in darkness, then play the light on the ground, hoping the rider ahead of them would not detect their presence. The tracks of the bicycle led in the direction of the Grable office.

'' Maybe we 're really going to catch the thief this time," whispered Joe excitedly.

But disappointment was to be theirs again. Suddenly the office was lighted up. Asa Grable stood inside. Silhouetted against the bright interior was a man arriving on a bicycle.

He jumped off, leaned the wheel against the side of the building, and went inside.

74 "Archibald Jenkins!" exclaimed Frank. "Well, let's go back to the car. I thought for a few minutes we were on the track of something big."

"Just the same, there's something strange about Mr. Grable's a.s.sistant," declared Joe, as they made their way back. "With a perfectly good road to ride upon, why does he choose to go through a b.u.mpy old field!"