CHAPTER II

A Dangerous Chase

His face grim, Warden Duckworth ordered his car, then dashed from the office.

"Come on, Frank!" Joe cried, starting down the long, low-ceilinged corridor.

"I wonder how Turk ever got out," Frank said, racing after his brother.

Reaching the outer prison yard, they saw guards everywhere, on alert with rifles in case more of the prisoners should try to take advantage of the confusion and make a break.

"I was told," Duckworth said to the man at the gate, "that Turk may have escaped by jumping into a butcher's truck as it left the prison. Did you see which way the truck headed?"

"Yes, sir. North on Route 403. It was a National Meat truck."

Three emergency trucks came roaring to the gate from the prison garage, followed by the warden's

10

A Dangerous Chase 11

car. As the Hardys climbed into it, Duckworth advised them to remain at the prison, but they assured him that they would keep out of harm's way.

At his direction, the trucks split up outside to comb the countryside. Individual armed guards tramped on foot in search of the fugitive, while the motor crews toured the near-by roads.

"Best thing for us to do," Duckworth instructed his driver, "is to follow 403."

The route passed through a sparsely settled wooded section for several miles before it entered a town of any size. The tires of the warden's car squealed as it took the curves at almost full speed.

"Do you think the truck driver planned this with Turk?" Frank asked.

"I'm not sure," the warden replied. "Usually an escape involves more than one prisoner. I'd be more inclined to think-"

"Look!" Joe cried. "There's a delivery truck ahead. I think I can make out the name. Yes, it's a National Meat truck!"

"You boys stay below windshield level," Duckworth ordered. "I'm going to force him to stop. It wouldn't surprise me if the driver is Turk himself. If so, there may be trouble. Get down!"

With a burst of speed, they raced past the truck, sounding the siren. With no attempt at resistance, the driver slowed and came to a stop.

Warden Duckworth jumped out, gun in hand.

12 The Secret of Wildcat Swamp

When the butcher's driver saw the gun, his jaw fell.

"What's the big idea?" he shouted.

"You may be carrying an escaped prisoner!"

The driver went white as the warden approached the rear doors of his truck and flung them open.

"If Turk was ever in here, he's gone now," Duckworth said disappointedly. "I'll radio the other men."

Frank and Joe got out and spoke to the truckman. "Do you mind if we have a look inside your truck?"

"Go ahead."

Climbing into the cool interior, the boys began examining it carefully for clues to the missing convict.

"Here's something," cried Frank almost immediately, as he picked up a small wooden box. "Why, it looks like some kind of homemade radio set."

It proved to be a miniature receiving set, so small that it fit snugly in the palm of Frank's hand. As he turned a knob, the gadget began to sputter.

"Repeating Turk," it suddenly announced. "Freight delayed. Hook 138576 at three Rock Spring."

As suddenly as it had begun, the voice broke off.

"That sounded like Flint's voice!" shouted the warden. "I'm sure that was Flint!"

"But what did all the gibberish mean?" queried Joe. "Was Flint in on Turk's escape?"

A Dangerous Chase 13

"Might have been," Duckworth retorted tersely. "Turk worked in the electrician's shop in the prison and took several courses in radio mechanics while he was there. He may have rigged up this communications system as part of a planned break."

"So when Flint and Willie the Penman got out they could tip him off on how to get away," Joe suggested.

"That's the way it might have worked," agreed the officer.

" 'Freight delayed. Hook 138576 at three Rock Spring,' " Frank repeated. "Sounds as if a railroad freight may be part of the plan. You said Turk was a locomotive engineer at one time, didn't you?"

"That's right!"

"I don't know what 'Hook 138576' could mean, but three Rock Spring might mean time and place. It's almost three o'clock now-and Rock Spring isn't far from here!"

"Let's get moving. Rock Spring in a big hurry!" Duckworth shouted at his police driver, and they scrambled aboard for the mile and a half drive to the railroad line.

"There's a water tower on the line at Rock Spring," Joe recalled. "But the road doesn't go in that far, Warden."

"We'll have to make the last half mile on foot."

Reaching the end of the bumpy country road, they all jumped out of the warden's car and headed

14 The Secret of Wildcat Swamp

for the rail line. Frank and Joe, still in good condition from track work during the spring, soon outdistanced the others. But before they reached the right-of-way they could hear the heavy thunder of a freight train.

"Maybe we're too late," Frank said, puffing. "Hey! Here comes a car numbered 138576! I'll bet that's what the message meant!"

Before Frank could answer, the car had rumbled past them. Suddenly the sliding door of the boxcar began to glide open. Then, as car 138576 moved still farther ahead of the boys, a large, well-padded hook was extended from the interior.

"Look, Frank!" Joe shouted. "That man!"

Out of the bushes alongside the right-of-way dashed a burly figure. Timing his sprint perfectly, he pulled up just as the hook reached him. With a desperate grab he caught it, and was immediately drawn inside the car. The freight thundered on.

"That must have been Turk!" Frank exclaimed.

By the time they reached the rails, the caboose had rolled by. The boys ran along the track behind the caboose for a short distance. There was no trainman in sight to hear their shouts or see their frantic signals.

Minutes later, Warden Duckworth and the driver caught up with them. Frank breathlessly explained the strange getaway of the fugitive they believed to be Turk.

A Dangerous Chase 15

"I'll phone from my car," the warden said, "and have the freight searched at the next station."

Contacting the prison, he asked the operator to relay the message to the railroad authorities. Then they drove back and waited in his office for word. When the report came, it was discouraging. The railroad police had opened car 138576 at the next stop, ten miles ahead, but had found it empty.

"Turk and his buddy inside must have seen you boys and were smart enough to sense that someone was on their trail. They must have left the train somewhere along the stretch between where Turk got aboard and the next town. But we'll catch up with Turk somewhere. Prisoners don't break out of here and stay out-very long!"

The Hardys remained in the warden's office for a while, hoping that there would be further news of the fugitive. When none was forthcoming they agreed that they should get home as quickly as possible and tell Mr. Hardy of the escape of Turk.

"This convinces me that Flint is up to his old tricks again," Mr. Hardy said. "But to what extent I can't tell. All I do know is that there has been a series of freight train robberies throughout the country, and it's up to me to figure out how to put a stop to them."

"Who engaged you to take this case, Dad?" Joe asked.

"The North American Railroad League. That's

16 The Secret of Wildcat Swamp

a group of railroad executives. They've been losing a lot of property in train robberies, and believing that the various thefts were the acts of a single gang of bandits, they think I can break up the racket."

Mr. Hardy then went on to explain that the robbers, so far as he had been able to find out, had used either of two methods in their plan of operation.

"Sometimes," he said, "they throw a road block at strategic points, where the engineer can't see it in time to stop his train. In this way they create wrecks and make their hauls during the confusion.

"At other times they manage to send false messages by radio, and induce the train crew to switch certain boxcars to specified lonely sidings. Then they just move in and loot them."

"Sounds like a pretty slick outfit," Joe remarked. "They seem to have their organization well lined up."

"Yes, they have. That's what makes them so tough to handle," his father affirmed.

"Dad," Joe asked, "do you suppose the phrase 'twenty wildcat' is some kind of password?"

Frank, who had been listening quietly, offered an additional idea. "It's possible that the railroad thieves have some kind of headquarters near where Cap's uncle was digging for the fossil. Maybe a cache where they hide their loot."

"That would certainly account for their not wanting any strangers in that immediate territory," Mr.

A Dangerous Chase 17

Hardy agreed. "They may have been trying to discourage Bailey by holding him up on that first trip. As a matter of fact, they probably planned to steal the map his uncle left."

The Hardys spent another half-hour considering various angles to the case, then the boys' father said he must get some papers ready for a flying trip to New York.

"I'm getting the eleven-o'clock plane, so I'll be there first thing in the morning for a conference with the League officials," he explained.

After a taxi had taken Fenton Hardy to the airport, the boys discussed their own trip, and the clothes and equipment they ought to take.

"I suppose we'll be on horseback a lot of the time," Frank remarked.

It was nearing midnight before the brothers had their gear packed. They were about to start for bed when the telephone's shrill ring disturbed the peace of the big, frame house.

Frank answered the call, as Joe stood near by. A woman's voice, edged with hysteria, said:

"This is Mrs. Bailey, Frank. I've already called the police, but I think you should know what has happened here."

"What, Mrs. Bailey?"

"Two masked men broke into our house and ransacked it. They attacked my husband and left him unconscious!"