The Sting of the Scorpion (16 page)

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Authors: Franklin W. Dixon

BOOK: The Sting of the Scorpion
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“It's a fire bomb!”
Frank cried.
CHAPTER XIX
A Fiery Trick
 
 
 
 
THE Hardys were frantic with worry for Pop Carter's safety. “He may be in there, unconscious!” Joe exclaimed. “Maybe that's why he didn't answer the phone!”
“I know,” Frank said tersely. “Come on, there's no time to find the watchmen. We'll have to go in over the gate.”
The words were hardly out of his mouth when a loud
boom
shattered the night. The ground reverberated beneath their feet. As the echoes died away, a cloud of smoke could be seen billowing on their right.
“Part of the fence is down!” Frank cried.
Rather than waste time running along the park boundary to the section of wrecked fence, the boys scaled the gate as Frank had originally proposed. Dropping down on the other side, they raced across the grounds toward Mr. Carter's bungalow.
The crackling sound of the flames grew louder as they neared the building. Its walls were ablaze and tongues of flame licked toward the sky from every window.
“Hold it! Someone's coming!” Joe told his brother.
A running figure emerged from the darkness. It was Pop Carter, his wispy hair flying in all directions. Apparently he had pulled on trousers and suspenders over his pajamas.
“Thank goodness!” said Frank. “Are you okay, sir?”
“Yes, yes! But how did this blaze start?”
“Magnesium firebomb, from the way it looked.” Frank hastily related the circumstances that had brought the Hardy boys rushing to the park. “We tried to call and warn you but got no answer,” he added.
Pop explained that he had been roused from sleep by a call from one of the park's two night watchmen, who reported glimpsing an intruder inside the grounds. Pop and the other watchman had hurriedly joined the one who called. Then all three had spread out to search the area.
“Soon as I saw the glow from the flames, I came back to see what had happened. This is terrible!”
The heat from the blaze was intense, adding to Frank's suspicion that it was a magnesium fire bomb. “Another bomb exploded right after your bungalow ignited,” he told the park owner. “It wrecked part of the fence.”
Both bombs, Frank speculated, could easily have been planted during the day or evening by one of the visitors, with timing devices to make them go off during the night hours.
“What about that prowler the watchman sighted?” Joe put in. “Wouldn't he have touched off an alarm when he broke into the park?”
“He should have,” Pop Carter replied, shaking his head in puzzlement. “As I told you fellows the other day, the fence is wired. I can't figure out how he sneaked in!”
“Well, never mind now, sir,” Frank said, sympathetically putting a hand on the old man's shoulder. “The first thing is to fight this fire. You're outside the Bayport city limits, so you'll have to rely on the local volunteer fire brigade till they put through an official call for assistance. What about your two watchmen?”
“They should be along soon,” Pop said anxiously. “Wherever they are, I'm sure they can see the fire by now!”
“Good! And our gang's coming to pitch in. Why don't you go to the nearest phone and call for help, while Joe and I open the front gate for our friends.”
Pop agreed gratefully and gave the Hardys a key before hurrying off. Chet's jalopy was already rumbling up to the entrance by the time Frank and Joe got the gate open. Phil and Biff were with Chet. Tony Prito's pickup arrived moments later, with Leroy Mitchell in the cab beside the driver.
Luckily, hydrants had been installed when the park's water system was put in, along with a water tower to maintain adequate pressure. One of the hydrants was located halfway between Pop's bungalow and a nearby cluster of buildings, which included supply sheds, a veterinary clinic, and half-completed winter quarters for the tropical animals.
The boys quickly unreeled a fire hose, and soon were spraying a lively stream of water over the blaze. They also used buckets to dampen the surrounding brush to keep the flames from spreading.
“Hey!” Joe exclaimed as the Hardys refilled their buckets. “Do you hear that?”
Frank paused and caught the distant sound of an elephant trumpeting. “It's Sinbad!”
“Do you suppose he's just excited by the fire?”
“He's pretty far away to get
that
excited!” A look of dismay came over Frank's face. “Joe, I think we've been tricked!”
“How come?”
“That second bomb, the one that wrecked the fence! It would also knock out the alarm circuit!”
Joe gasped as he caught on. “Which means someone else could have broken into the park. Maybe near the elephant compound!”
“Right! And the whole purpose of the fire bomb,” Frank went on tensely, “was to divert everyone's attention to this area, while the crooks carried out their real raid unnoticed!”
Joe nodded. “Let's see what's going on over that way!”
Dropping their buckets, the Hardys jumped into Tony's pickup truck and sped off toward the animal area.
They leaped out at the gate, scaled over it, and continued down the road leading past the elephant compound. In the moonlit darkness, they could sense the restless movement of animals disturbed by Sinbad's trumpeting.
As they neared the elephant enclosure, a strange scene met their eyes. At least three men with flashlights groped about the low rocky hillock that bordered the creek running through the compound. Some distance away, a fourth was holding Sinbad and his mates at bay with fiery squirts from a flamethrower!
Frank and Joe were thunderstruck. But neither hesitated. They scrambled over the fence and charged toward the trespassers on the rocky rise. The men saw them and turned to fight. Soon fists were flying.
Though outnumbered, the Hardy boys were well trained in boxing, karate, and other forms of unarmed combat. Nevertheless they quickly realized that they were up against tough, professional thugs. The melee began to go against them.
Then two newcomers joined the fray. One, a pudgy roundhouse swinger, rushed in like an angry bear. The other threw lightning punches at a big-jawed crook who had tried to edge around the Hardys and attack from behind.
“Chet and Leroy!” Joe cried to his brother. With fresh spirit, the Hardys pressed their own attack.
“Look out!” Leroy shouted suddenly. “That dude with the flamethrower's coming!” He decked his opponent with a right hook, snatched a hefty rock, and hurled it with all his might as the fourth crook started up the hillock toward them.
The rock hit the man in the arm, knocking his flamethrower into the creek below. With a bellow of rage, he charged up the slope at the boys. The free-for-all took on fresh fury.
Once again, the outcome wavered. Frank, who was trading punches with the nearest intruder, glanced toward the elephants as Sinbad filled the night with a fresh trumpet blast.
A dark figure was running toward them past the three angry tuskers.
CHAPTER XX
Stalled Takeoff
 
 
 
 
FRANK felt a momentary surge of dismay. If the newcomer was one of the gang, he would tilt the odds against them and the fight might be lost!
The man dashed up the slope with long strides, his fists cocked for action. Moonlight gleamed from the visor of his battered white cap. Suddenly Frank realized who the man was.
“Dad!” he cried happily.
Mr. Hardy's arrival brought fresh hope to the hard-pressed youths and glum despair to the gang as the detective's fists began crashing among them. One by one, the criminals were knocked to the ground or gave up. Soon they were lined up with their hands in the air.
Just then Tony, Phil, and Biff appeared.
“You're too late,” Chet crowed, waving his fists overhead like a match-winning boxer. “We've rounded up the whole gang!”
“But we could use some light,” Joe said. “How about going back and asking Pop to turn on the lamps in the compound?”
“I think there's a switch panel in the gatehouse,” Tony reported. “I'll go see.”
“Good. And look for rope while you're at it, so we can tie these creeps up!” Frank called.
As Tony ran off, Frank turned to his father. “How did you get here, Dad?” he asked.
“I had a strong hunch the gang was planning something at Wild World tonight,” Fenton Hardy replied, “especially when I spotted a boat pulling in just below the amusement park area.”
“Then you must be the man the watchman saw,” Frank said. “But how did you get over the outer fence without setting off the alarm?”
Mr. Hardy chuckled. “Good question. It's twelve feet high. But you see, I cleared sixteen as a college pole-vaulter.”
Presently the lights flashed on in the elephant compound, giving a better view of the prisoners. Among them was the dark-haired, heavy-jawed crook with the dimple in his chin who had been one of the two park lurkers described by Chet. Another was the knobby-nosed bruiser whom the Hardy boys had encountered at Sandy Point.
“You were right, Joe,” Frank said. “He must've had a car stashed near the cabin.”
Joe nodded. “Yes. He was just trying to swipe our boat so we'd be stuck out there all night.”
“Too bad you didn't both wind up in that pitfall!” the man growled. “I'd have finished you off then and there.”
“Pipe down!” Mr. Hardy warned, shoving him back in line, “or I'll finish
you
off right now!”
The gang had been looking for a satchel hidden in the enclosure. Only a moment before the fight started, they had retrieved it from one of the deep crevices honeycombing the rocky rise along the creek.
The satchel contained explosives and timing devices as well as several letters and other written material. But there was no time to examine them. Tony returned with rope, and Mr. Hardy supervised tying-up the prisoners. Meanwhile, the boys were occupied with another problem.
“How do you suppose these guys got in?” Frank wondered.
“They probably chopped out a section of the rear fence with wire cutters after the second bomb went off and killed the alarm system,” Joe reasoned.
“But that's wild, mountainous terrain in back of the park. How did they expect to get away afterwards?”
“Maybe some kind of off-the-road vehicle. Once they got back on the highway, they could escape fast enough,” Joe offered.
Frank shook his head doubtfully. “I'm not so sure. They'd be taking an awful chance of being spotted by firemen or police directing traffic. There'll probably be TV crews and all kinds of gawkers on the road before very long.”
Tony, in fact, had reported that firemen and a highway patrol car had now reached the scene.
“The best way to avoid being trapped would be an aerial getaway,” Joe remarked.
Frank's eyes suddenly lit up. “You're right! And I'll bet that's exactly what they planned!”
He dashed out of the elephant enclosure. Joe followed, exclaiming, “You mean they've got a helicopter waiting outside the park?”
“Not a copter. Something a lot quieter. And talking about getting trapped—remember how we got steered into that pitfall setup at Sandy Point?”
“Well, first we sighted the Scorpio symbol, and then that white line painted on the ground nearby—”
“Right. And remember who thoughtfully made sure we'd see it?”
Joe gasped as his brother's meaning sank home. But he did not waste time replying. The two hopped into Tony's pickup, which their friend had driven up, and sped off toward the outer fence enclosing the rear of the animal park.
As expected, a small section had been cut open. Outside this gap in the fence, the glare of their headlights picked out the dark form of a baby blimp!
The boys leaped out of the pickup and ran toward it. The blimp's gas bags began to fill, and the craft started rising slowly off the ground. But the Hardys struggled to hold it down with their added weight! Joe clung desperately to its landing gear while Frank opened the cabin door and yanked the pilot away from the controls.
Squirming aboard, the older Hardy succeeded in switching on the compressor pump. As the airship's envelope swiftly deflated, the blimp settled back to earth with a bump!
The pilot fought frantically, his face a mask of rage. But, between them, the Hardys finally overpowered and frisked him. He was
Eustace Jarman!
“You confounded pests!” he exploded as the boys gripped his arms.
“Speaking of pests.” Joe chuckled, “I'd say a certain scorpion has stung his last victim!”
“You don't have any idea who the scorpion is,” Jarman jeered.
“Yes, we do,” Frank answered. “And we'll be sure when Sam Radley tracks down the firm that made the elephant balloon for you.”
The boys drove Jarman to the elephant enclosure, using his own weapon to keep him cowed. Then all prisoners were taken to the park entrance, where State Police had arrived and were talking to Pop Carter.
The satchel contained crucial evidence. Realizing their position was hopeless, the men broke down and talked freely, despite Jarman's angry protests.
Several weeks earlier, when Fenton Hardy had discovered the terrorists' New York hideout, they had fled the city by car. A breakneck chase ensued. For a long time it appeared that they had lost their pursuers, but the police caught up with them again, and the gang desperately turned into Wild World.

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