CHAPTER XXII

the letter

"JtrsT like a clam, that fellow Hanleigh!" exclaimed Biff Hooper.

"He sure doesn't want to talk," Frank Hardy agreed. "I thought we could scare him, but I guess there's nothing doing."

"He didn't come back here to make friends with us. He was making another try at that notebook, that's what he was doing. It must be mighty important to him." Joe was eyeing the coat Hanleigh had folded so carefully and put under his head. "Wonder why he wouldn't take a pillow. He wasn't taking any chances on letting that coat get away from him."

The boys looked at one another significantly.

"Perhaps he has some important papers in the pocket," whispered Chet.

"Fine chance we have of getting at them."

"I don't know about that," said Frank. "Where there's a will, there's a way. Let him sleep a little longer and we'll see if we can't get at them."

The storm raged fiercely outside the cabin. The blizzard had grown in fury. The trees bowed before the bitter wind. The boys idled

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The Letter 185

about, waiting for the moment when they could attempt to secure the coat from beneath the head of their sleeping enemy.

At last Frank nodded.

Hanleigh was snoring. Frank went over to the wall and took down his own coat. He folded it carefully, then beckoned to Joe.

Together, the boys tiptoed over to the head of the bed.

While Joe held Frank's coat, Frank gently grasped the coat under Hanleigh's head and began to withdraw it.

The man stirred uneasily. His snoring ceased.

The boys stepped back.

Hanleigh turned over on his side. The coat was almost entirely free. The boys waited a few moments, then went toward the man again.

With a quick movement, Frank drew the coat from beneath his head, while at the same instant Joe slipped the other in its place. They stepped back.

Hanleigh groaned in his sleep, stirred again. His groping hand reached for the coat and he drew it closer to him. In a few moments his snoring again resounded through the cabin.

The boys retreated to the kitchen.

"I don't like the idea of going through a man's private papers," said Frank reluctantly; "but in this case I think there is some excuse.

186 The Mystery of Cabin Island

Hanleigh is up to some crooked business here and it's our duty to find out what it is."

"That's right," agreed the others.

Frank felt the inside pocket of the coat. He encountered a bulky sheaf of papers and these he removed. Most of them were letters, but one in particular appeared to be a legal document.

He unfolded this document and brought it over to the window. The others crowded about him.

"Better keep an eye on Hanleigh, in case he awakes," Frank suggested. "Watch him, will you, Biff I"

Biff went over to the door.

"He's still asleep," he whispered.

"Good."

Frank read the document over to himselfc then he gave a low whistle of amazement.

"This clears up a lot of things," he said.

"Bead it," whispered Joe anxiously.

Frank read the document. It was a letter addressed to Hanleigh and was from a lawyer in New York City. It was as follows:

"dear Snt:

"This is to advise you that your late uncle, John Sparewell, named you as sole heir in his will, which has just been probated. Under the provisions of the will you will benefit to the extent of all Mr. Spare-well's property, consisting of two lots of around ou

The Letter 187

the outskirts of Bayport, cash in the bank amounting to three hundred and fifty dollars, and all personal papers and belongings. In his will, Mr. Sparewell made particular mention of a notebook which was to be given into your hands after his death, stressing its importance as containing information of great value. He also gave these instructions:

" 'My nephew is to take this notebook, with the accompanying key to the cipher which I shall leave in a sealed envelope, and when he has made himself aware of the contents of the message I wish him to go to the place mentioned and procure the object referred to. This is to be returned to its rightful owner. In return for this favor, I name my nephew, George Hanleigh, as my sole heir."

'' We hereby take pleasure in forwarding to you tha notebook and the sealed envelope mentioned by our deceased client and truit you will carry out his instructions to the letter.

"Yours very truly, "flint and flint, Attorneys at Law."

When Frank had concluded the reading of this document there were expressions of amazement from the other boys.

"So that's how he came to get the notebook!" eaid Chet. "John Sparewell was Hanleigh'a uncle!"

"And Sparewell," observed Frank, "is dead."

"Well, that clears up so much of the mystery," said Joe. "But it looks as if Hanleigh is up against it just as much as we were. W«

188 The Mystery of Cabin Island

klow the secret of the cipher message and it iidn't do us any good."

"Perhaps he knows something else. Spare-well may have given him further instructions in that sealed envelope."

Frank looked through the other papers he had taken from Hanleigh's pocket. He was interrupted by a sudden whisper from Biff.

"Be careful!"

"What's the matter?"

"He's waking up."

Frank thrust the papers back into the coat pocket. There would be trouble when Hanleigh' learned how he had been tricked. Then Biff sighed with relief.

"False alarm. He turned over again. He's Btill asleep."

Frank went back to the papers, relieved. He searched through them carefully. But he did not find what he sought. There were no further references to the cipher, to the sealed envelope, or to John Sparewell.

"Nothing else here," he reported finally.

"We'd better put the coat back under his head," Joe suggested.

Frank returned the papers to the pocket in which he had found them.

"We're liable to wake him up if we try to put the coat back now," he said. "I think we ought to wait until he has had his sleep. Then

The Letter 189

the rest of you can keep him occupied while I slip the coat back where it belongs."

"And we'll ask him what he knows about Sparewell," said Chet.

"Oh, we'll have questions to ask him, never fear. He won't want us to go to Elroy Jefferson with the news about Sparewell."

Outside, the storm was at its height. They heard a distant crash.

One of the trees at the edge of the cliff had fallen before the force of the gale. The wind was sweeping across the island at terrific speed.

"If this keeps up, we'd better watch ourselves!" remarked Biff. "There are a couple of big trees right near the place. If they blow-over, they're liable to wreck the cabin,"

'' Certainly is a wicked wind!'' Frank agreed. "And it doesn't seem to be dying down, either."

Hardly were the words out of his mouth than there was a rending, crackling sound immediately above the cabin. Then, with a rush and a roar, something went sweeping past the window. At the same instant there came a grinding noise, followed by a thud and a crash on the roof.

"One of the trees blew down!" shouted Biff, in alarm.

"The chimney is going!" warned Joe.

190 The Mystery of Cabin Island

Crash!

Another impact on the roof. There was a shower of mortar and fragments of stone in the fireplace.

"Back to the kitchen, fellows 1" yelled Frank. 'The chimney is falling inl"

CHAPTER XXIII the chimney collapses

fkank hakdy ran over to the bed where Hanleigh was sleeping. The uproar on the roof had already aroused the man somewhat1 and he was stirring restlessly. Frank shook him.

"Get up!" he shouted. "The chimney is caving in!"

Hanleigh sat up quickly.

"What?" he demanded, rubbing his eyes.

"Get up! It's dangerous here. The storm blew down one of the trees and it struck the chimney!"

There was another crash. Stones and rocks went bumping and rolling down the roof, and more debris came tumbling into the fireplace.

Hanleigh needed no second urging. He sprang out of bed, then halted with a groan of pain.

"My ankle!" he said.

"I'll help you." Frank seized him by th*. arm, and Hanleigh hobbled out into the kitchen, where the others were gathered. The cabin was creaking and swaying in the violent wind. Every little while they could hear an additional

191

192 The Mystery of Cabin Island

fragment of the chimney come crashing down onto the roof.

"Is the chimney coming down!" demanded Hanleigh eagerly.

They looked at him in surprise. Instead of being frightened, the man actually appeared glad of the mishap.

"If that other tree blows over and hits it, the chimney will be wrecked," said Frank sharply. "I can't see anything to look forward to in that."

Hanleigh was silent, but there was a look of undisguised elation in his swarthy face.

The wind was a hurricane by now.

Wilder and wilder it blew. The snow was so heavy that the boys could not see more than a few feet beyond the window. The chimney was no longer breaking up and the steady thump and clatter of rocks on the roof had ceased. The fireplace was half full of mortar and bits of stone.

"We'd better stay where we are," said Frank. '' We 're safe enough in the kitchen. If that chimney collapses it will mean trouble for any one in the outer room."

Hanleigh limped over to a chair and sat, down.

"Might as well be comfortable," he muttered.

"Certainly," agreed Frank. He swung Around to face the man. Then, quite calmly,

The Chimney Collapses 193

he said: "When did John Sparewell die?"

Hanleigh was taken completely off his guard by the sudden question.

"About eighteen months ago-" he began. Then he halted. "What do you know about John Sparewell?" he demanded.

"We know he was your uncle. And we know he disappeared from Elroy Jefferson's home with the rosewood box fifteen years ago. We know a lot more than you think, Hanleigh."

"You found that notebook!" shouted the man.

"Of course."

"You bad no right to read it. The notebook was mine. I'll have the law on you for reading it."

'' The law will be interested in that notebook, Hanleigh. You're none too anxious to let the police see it, or Mr. Jefferson either."

The shot told. Hanleigh's lips curved in a snarl.

"What if Jefferson does see the notebook? What do I care if you turn it over to him or to the police? It won't do any of you any good. The only important thing in the whole book is written in cipher, and I defy you to solve it!"

He sat back, triumphantly.

"We have solved it," Joe told him.

"What?"

Hanleigh started forward, his eyes staring--

194 The Mystery of Cabin Island

"We solved the cipher."

Consternation was written on Hanleigh's face. He groaned.

"You didn't-you haven't found it?" he gasped.

"Found what?"

The man's eyes became cunning.

"Don't you know?"

Frank shook his head.

"We have found nothing, so far. I think you 'd better tell us what you were looking for. What should we have found?"

Hanleigh sat back, sighing with relief.

"There is nothing," he said. "Not now."

"Why-have you found it already?"

He nodded.

"Yes. I found it several days ago. There is nothing for you boys to gain by looking further."

"Then why," asked Joe, "did you come back here to-day?"

Hanleigh licked his lips, and was silent.

"You're bluffing again, Hanleigh," said Frank. "If you had found what you were looking for, you wouldn't have kept coming back to the cabin. You found yourself up against the same problem that we did. We searched that chimney, high and low-and found nothing. Neither did you."

Hanleigh shrugged.

The Chimney Collapses 195

"I've talked too much. You won't get any more out of me. I wish I had kept my mouth shut.''

"Just as you wish, Hanleigh," remarked Frank casually. "I think we're all in the same fix. You don't know any more than we do. But I warn you that we will keep an eye on you. If you do learn the secret of the chimney, you won't keep it."

Hanleigh laughed sneeringly.

"Then you'll wait a long time-----"

He was interrupted by a startling sound.

The shrieking wind had proved too much for the second of the tall trees that towered above the cabin. It gave way before the gale. With an ominous crackling, with branches snapping like pistol shots, it began to fall. The boys could hear the gathering roar as the great tree plunged down toward the roof of the cabin.

Hanleigh leaped to his feet in fright, then! sagged helplessly against the wall as his injured ankle refused to support his weight.

"We're done for!" he shouted, in terror* "The cabin is falling ml"

Crash!

The tree had struck the chimney. There was a deluge of stones on the roof. The boys cowered in the kitchen. If the roof gave, they might be seriously injured. Hanleigh, a picture of abject fright, crouched in the corner.

196 The Mystery of Cabin Island

With a hideous roar, the chimney collapsed.

At the same time, the great tree went sweeping down past the side of the cabin. When it struck the chimney its downward course had been diverted.

The falling stones broke great holes in the roof of the cabin and came crashing down into the living room. A cloud of dust rose from the fireplace. A stone crashed to the floor, rebounded and smashed a pane of glass. It seemed as though the din would never end.

"Let's get out of here!" Hanleigh was babbling, white with fear. "Let's get out. We'll be killed! The whole place is coming down about our ears."

"We're all right!" snapped Frank. "Be quiet!"

Had any of them been in the living room they would probably have been seriously injured. The weight of the fallen chimney had broken in the roof and stones were still crashing through to the floor below. The fireplace was wrecked.

At last the uproar died away. Snow was sifting through the hole in the roof, and when Frank peeped through the doorway he could see the jagged fragments of the chimney rising above the gap.

"I guess it's all over now," he said calmly.

Chet restrained him.

The Chimney Collapses 197

"You're not going in there?" he said, "Frank, don't be foolish! You'll be killedl"

"There won't be any more falling stones0 The rest of the chimney is pretty firm. I'm anxious to investigate. Where's that flashlight!"

"I'm coming, too," declared Joe, realizing Frank's motive. "This may be a lucky thing for all of us."

"Lucky?" groaned Biff. "Do you call it lucky to have the chimney fall in and ·wreck the place?"

"We'll see."

Frank picked up the flashlight. He looked out into the living room again. It was a scene of desolation. Great stones, and quantities of debris, dust, and mortar lay all about. Then, followed by Joe, he left the kitchen and picked his way among the rubbish over to the fireplace,