CHAPTER II

Strange Laughter

the boys and young Ames could hardly believe it. One moment, it seemed inevitable that the boulder would crash into the car. The next instant, they *saw it collide with a jutting rock, change its course and miss the roadster by a dozen feet!

"Whew!" Joe cried. "That was close!"

Dick nodded. "That's the second time today my Jife's been threatened!" he said, grinning. "Must be die season for accidents!"

Frank shook his head grimly. "That was no accident, Dick. That was our man of the mountain!"

Frank focused the field glasses on the spot where lie had seen the creature hiding behind the boulder. As he suspected, the boulder was no longer there ·-and neither was the mountain man.

Joe's lips tightened and he walked toward the slope. "I'm going up after that guy!"

"Joe, wait!" Frank called. "There'll be plenty of

12

Strange Laughter 13

time later to hunt for him. Right now we've got to go on to the camp."

Joe returned reluctantly, and they all walked back to the car.

Suddenly Frank broke into laughter. Sitting on the driver's seat, facing the wheel, was the human skull they had seen tumbling down the mountain. It apparently had bounced into the car after hitting the road.

"Hi, stranger!" Frank said. "What's your name?"

He picked up the skull and looked at it carefully. In the rough descent down the rocky slope, it had become badly battered.

"You're a little tough to recognize, mister," Joe added with a grin, "but you sure brought us luckl We'll appoint you mascot for our new mystery!"

They propped the skull on the ledge behind the seat of the roadster and set out for the camp. After they had traveled a few miles more, Dick showed Frank where to park the car. Shouldering their camping equipment, the two boys and the engineer started up a narrow, winding trail toward the top of the mountain.

Single file, they climbed steadily, brushing aside brambles and placing their feet carefully to avoid stepping on loose stones and turning their ankles. Once Frank was certain they would have to unload a few pieces of their camping equipment in order to ascend a particularly steep and treacherous sectior

14 The Secret of Skull Mountain

of the trail. But they made it-and found themselves standing on the crest of the mountain, looking down on Tarnack Valley.

This was the valley engineers had converted into a reservoir. Far below them, despite the gathering dusk, Frank and Joe could see a thin sheet of water behind a towering white concrete dam.

As they started down toward the dam, Dick explained that the Tarnack River had flowed over the valley bottom, but its course had been diverted to allow the engineers to construct the reservoir. Then, with the dam completed, the river had been rediverted to its old bed, in order that it could fill the reservoir.

"Everything's set for the water to flow into Bay-port," Dick went on, "except for one thing-the water won't rise in the reservoir."

The section of the slope on which the Hardy boys found themselves was covered with trees, rocks and creeping vines which constantly threatened to trip them and plunge them down the steep mountainside. But as they came to a place level with the top of the dam, they saw that the remainder of the slope, clear down to the water, was without a single tree.

Frank and Joe circled the valley with their eyes. There was a clear line extending completely around the sides of the valley-exactly level with the top of the dam. The slopes above the line were thick with ,trees, rocks and foliage. Below the line, the trees

Strange Laughter 15

had been cut down-though in one area a great many shrubs and thickly matted brambles had been allowed to remain.

Frank knitted his brows. "That's queer!" he exclaimed.

"What?" Dick inquired, looking around at him.

"All those bushes and brambles," Frank said, pointing to the slope below them. "When the construction men cut down the trees for the reservoir, why didn't they clear out the underbrush too?"

"They did clear out most of it," Dick replied. "But a few days before the men were finished, a landslide at the top of the mountain tumbled down more rocks and gravel and bushes."

"Wow!" Joe ejaculated. "Anyone hurt?"

"Yes. Three of the men were seriously injured. Then the rest of the construction crew decided it was too risky to clear away the brush at that time, and laid down their tools. Of course, the men are coming back to complete the job," Dick added. "But first, Bob Carpenter and I must find out why the water in the reservoir won't rise."

They continued on down the slope. The way was much easier now, and they made rapid progress. Soon they could make out a small construction shack at the foot of the hill.

Dick cupped his hands to his mouth and called, and Bob Carpenter came out of the shack and stood waiting for them.

16 The Secret of Skull Mountain

"Hi!" he greeted them as they arrived at the camp.

Bob Carpenter was a tall, sun-tanned engineer with an intelligent face and a friendly manner. He studied Frank and Joe with keen interest as Dick introduced them.

"Hardy, eh? You must be Fenton Hardy's sons."

"We are," said Frank.

"In that case, I'm twice as glad to see you," the young engineer said, smiling. He shook their hands firmly and waved toward the .shack. "Welcome to Carpenter's Cottage!"

He strode toward the shack, a well-built man wearing a windbreaker, khaki breeches, and leather boots laced to his knees. Frank, Joe and Dick followed him into the shack and Dick gave him a copy of the evening newspaper.

Bob Carpenter's face grew grim as he read the story on the water shortage, and the muscles of his jaw tightened with anger as he came to the account of his failure to find what was wrong with the reservoir.

Frank leaned forward across the table at which they were sitting. "Mr. Carpenter," he said earnestly, "we'd like to help you-Joe and I. Will you let us?"

Bob Carpenter studied both the boys. "Of course," he said. "I know your reputation as amateur detectives. I'll appreciate any assistance you can give me."

Strange Laughter 17

Joe grinned happily. "Dick said some pretty strange things have been happening up here," he said.

"Yes." Bob Carpenter frowned. "Smoke, for one thing. A thin column of smoke rises from the top of the mountain every so often. I've tried to track it down, but so far I haven't been able to find where it comes from."

"That must be the same smoke we saw!" Frank put in excitedly.

The youth explained what had happened while he, Joe and Dick were motoring along the road at the foot of the mountain. Bob observed that the smoke they had seen probably was coming from the same spot as the column of smoke he had been seeing. Frank had hoped that the engineer could also identify the strange man of the mountain, but Bob Carpenter was as perplexed as the boys themselves.

"He may be a squatter," he declared, "but I never came across one who matches your description."

"Squatter?" Joe asked, puzzled.

"Yes," Dick said. "There were several squatters living in the valley when the contractors moved in to build the reservoir. Most of them gave up their homes and moved back over the ridge to the other side of the mountain. But a few-like Sailor Hawkins and Potato Annie-refused to leave and are still hanging onto their shacks in the valley."

"Would Sailor Hawkins or Potato Annie be likely

18 The Secret of Skull Mountain

to roll a boulder or toss a skull at us?" queried Frank.

Bob laughed. "Possibly. But I doubt it. They're troublesome, but I've no proof that they've tried to scare me away from here."

Joe's interest quickened. "You mean, someone's been tossing skulls at you?"

Bob laughed again. "Not exactly. But I found a skull planted in my knapsack-and another on my worktable."

"Golly!" said Joe. "Where do they all come from?"

"There's an Indian burial ground on the other side of the mountain," Bob told him. "Doubtless, the skulls come from there."

Surveying equipment and tools had been stolen from the camp also, the boys learned. And mysterious explosions had been set off close by. It seemed clear that a determined effort was being made to frighten the engineers away from the vicinity. But who was behind it? Why?

"One thing is certain," Bob Carpenter declared, his jaw set. "I'm not leaving here until I've found what's wrong with the reservoir."

He looked at Frank, then Joe, and then Dick. "I've a hunch that working together, we can lick this thing," he told them.

"You can count on us, Mr. Carpenter," said Frank, and Joe nodded his agreement.

Bob Carpenter smiled. "Call me Bob," he told

Strange Laughter 19

them. He glanced at his watch. "Now, let's hit the sack. We have plenty to do tomorrow!"

It was but a half hour's work for the boys to set up their pup tents close by "Carpenter's Cottage," and soon they were asleep in their cots. But it wasn't long before their sleep was rudely shattered.

An explosion rocked the earth a few hundred feet from their tents, and bits of earth, stones and twigs rained all around them. Then from some distance away, came a shrill, cackling laugh!