The Masked Monkey
Authors: Franklin W. Dixon
The Tower Treasure
The House on the Cliff
The Secret of the Old Mill
The Missing Chums
Hunting for Hidden Gold
The Shore Road Mystery
The Secret of the Caves
The Mystery of Cabin Island
The Great Airport Mystery
What Happened at Midnight
While the Clock Ticked
Footprints Under the Window
The Mark on the Door
The Hidden Harbor Mystery
The Sinister Signpost
A Figure in Hiding
The Secret Warning
The Twisted Claw
The Disappearing Floor
The Mystery of the Flying Express
The Clue of the Broken Blade
The Flickering Torch Mystery
The Melted Coins
The Short-Wave Mystery
The Secret Panel
The Phantom Freighter
The Secret of Skull Mountain
The Sign of the Crooked Arrow
The Secret of the Lost Tunnel
The Wailing Siren Mystery
The Secret of Wildcat Swamp
The Crisscross Shadow
The Yellow Feather Mystery
The Hooded Hawk Mystery
The Clue in the Embers
The Secret of Pirates' Hill
The Ghost at Skeleton Rock
The Mystery at Devil's Paw
The Mystery of the Chinese Junk
Mystery of the Desert Giant
The Clue of the Screeching Owl
The Viking Symbol Mystery
The Mystery of the Aztec Warrior
The Haunted Fort
The Mystery of the Spiral Bridge
The Secret Agent on Flight 101
Mystery of the Whale Tattoo
The Arctic Patrol Mystery
The Bombay Boomerang
Danger of Vampire Trail
The Masked Monkey
The Shattered Helmet
The Clue of the Hissing Serpent
The Mysterious Caravan
The Witch master's Key
The Jungle Pyramid
The Firebird Rocket
The Sting of the Scorpion
Hardy Boys Detective Handbook
The Hardy Boys Back-to-Back The Tower Treasure/The House on the Cliff
Celebrate 60 Years with the World's Greatest Super Sleuths!
THE MASKED MONKEY
FRANK and Joe Hardy are called upon to find a wealthy industrialist's son who has mysteriously disappeared.
Did Graham Retson flee from his home because he was at odds with his father, or was he kidnapped? Finding the answer turns into something more dangerous and larger in scope than Frank and Joe ever bargained for. The only clue in the case leads the two young detectives to South America, where the intrigues of evil adversaries almost cost them their lives. Involved in this complex mystery are a fierce-looking monkey trained to be a killer, a school of voracious, man-eating piranhas, a ruthless gang of passport thieves, and a cleverly operated change-your-identity mill for criminals.
Only through their courage and perseverance do the Hardys solve one of the toughest cases they have ever tackled.
“I have to get out of here!” Frank thought
The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories
®
THE MASKED MONKEY
BY
FRANKLIN W. DIXON
GROSSET & DUNLAP
Publishers ⢠New York
A member of The Putnam & Grosset Group
P
RINTED ON
R
ECYCLED
P
APER
P
RINTED ON
R
ECYCLED
P
APER
Copyright © 1972 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by Grosset & Dunlap, Inc., a member of The Putnam & Grosset
Group, New York. Published simultaneously in Canada. Printed in the U.S.A.
THE HARDY BOYS
®
is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 71-180994 ISBN: 978-1-101-65729-4
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
       I  A P
UZZLING
D
ISAPPEARANCE
      II  B
OUNCING
B
ALLS
     IV  A G
HOSTLY
F
IGURE
     VI  U
NDERGROUND
V
OODOO
     IX  A C
URIOUS
N
UMBER
S
EVEN
      X  A
DRIFT
ON
THE
A
MAZON
     XI  D
ANGEROUS
S
TRANGER
    XX  U
NMASKING
THE
G
ANG
A Puzzling Disappearance
“Y
OU
mean your eighteen-year-old son drew fifty thousand dollars from his bank account and then disappeared?” dark-haired Frank Hardy asked incredulously. His blond brother Joe, sitting beside him on a sofa, also looked bewildered.
The two teen-age investigators from Bayport were in the posh office of J. G. Retson, owner of a stone quarry near Granite City. He sat behind his desk, rocking nervously in a high-backed chair.
“Yes!” Retson answered Frank's question. “That's exactly what I mean. The fifty grand is gone, and so is Graham.”
“And you want us to find him?”
“That's right!” Retson declared, striking the desk with his fist. “Find him and bring him back home. Tell him he can be anything he wants to be. He has my word on that.”
“Sounds as if there's been a family quarrel,” Joe observed.
Retson threw his hands in the air with a pained expression. “Graham and I didn't understand each other as a father and son should,” he confessed. “He had some weird ideas I didn't go along with. But things will be different when he gets home. I won't try to change him any more.”
The industrialist paused. All choked up, he pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket and dabbed at his eyes.
The Hardy boys felt embarrassed. They waited silently until Retson regained his composure.
“We'll do our best,” Joe assured him. “But we'll need some clues. How long has Graham been missing?”
Retson folded his handkerchief and replaced it in his pocket. “Two months,” he replied.
“You must have made some effort to find him in that time,” Frank said.
“Of course. I went to the Granite City police when he didn't come home after a few days.”
“Any results?” Joe asked.
“Nothing. Every lead petered out. Chief Carton calls it the most baffling case he's ever worked on. And he's cracked some big ones.”
Frank stared out the window while he puzzled over the mysterious disappearance of Graham Retson. Then he remarked, “Sir, you obviously
think we might succeed where the police failed. Why us?”
“I know your reputation as detectives,” Retson replied. “According to the papers, you've helped your father on many of his cases.”
Retson was referring to Fenton Hardy, the renowned detective, who had been a member of the New York City police force before becoming a private investigator. Frank, eighteen years old, and Joe, a year younger, were well experienced in tracking down criminals. Their first case was
The Tower Treasure
, and their latest success,
Danger on Vampire Trail.
But this seemed to be a different kind of mystery.
