The Shore Road Mystery/Chapter 21

In a few moments, the Hardy boys had emerged from the passage and stood in a heavy clump of bushes that obscured the entrance to the tunnel in the bluff. Brushing aside the trees, they stepped out onto the beach.

The light they had seen was from a ship, steaming into Bayport Harbor, and in the distance they could see a dim yellow haze—the lights of the city.

Above them towered the rocky bluff. Farther down the beach they saw the break in the cliffs where the gully ran back toward the Shore Road.

"We can't go that way," Frank decided quickly. "The thieves are up in the gully helping get that car out of the mud."

Joe looked up at the steep cliff.

"We certainly can't climb up here."

"We can go out the way we came in. The roadster came down the beach, you remember. We may find the trail back."

​The storm had spent its force and a fine drizzle of rain was now falling. The boys went back down the beach, the flashlight illuminating the way.

By the smoothness of the beach they knew that this was the route the car had followed on the way in. Later on they came to an open stretch of sand. Beyond that lay rocks.

There was a break in the cliff, and by the flashlight, the boys picked out an automobile track in a patch of sand, leading toward low bushes that masked the entrance to a gully.

"This is the place we're looking for," said Frank. "I'll bet the roadster came down through here."

He pushed aside the wet bushes. In the damp grass, the track was still plainly visible. The gully was dank with undergrowth, but there were evidences of a wide trail.

"We're getting there, anyway. From the direction, this ought to take us up to the Shore Road."

"What shall we do then?" asked Joe. "Walk to Bayport?"

"We shouldn't have to. There are farms along the road. We ought to be able to telephone to town."

"To the police?"

"Sure! Police and state troopers. We can't round up this gang by ourselves, and we ​haven't any too much time to get help, as it is."

"Well, we at least know where they can trace the stolen cars. That's one consolation."

"You mean Clancy?"

"In Atlantic City. The police ought to be able to catch him without any trouble."

The boys struggled on up the gully, along the trail that led through the wet woods toward the Shore Road. The underbrush had been cleared away for the passage of the stolen cars, and they found no difficulty following this strange road.

Finally, Frank gave a cry of delight.

"We're at the road!"

He emerged from the bushes, raced across a grassy stretch, and scrambled up onto the highway. It was, indeed, the Shore Road at last.

The boys looked about them. Some distance away they saw a gleam of light.

"A farmhouse! We'll try it."

They hurried down the road, and at length the flashlight revealed the entrance to a lane. Splashing through the water-filled ruts, the boys made their way between the crooked fences toward the dim mass of farm buildings.

"This place seems sort of familiar," remarked Joe.

"I was thinking the same thing."

"I know now! It's the Dodd farm!"

Joe was right. When the boys entered the ​barnyard, in spite of the fact that darkness obscured their surroundings, they knew from the size and position of the buildings that they had reached the Dodd place.

"This makes it easier. They have a telephone," said Frank.

"And that light in the window shows that some one is up."

They hurried to the door of the farmhouse and knocked. In a little while the door was flung open and Jack Dodd confronted them.

"Who's there?" he asked, peering out into the darkness. Then he exclaimed with astonishment: "The Hardy boys! What on earth are you doing here at this hour? Come in!"

Frank and Joe entered. They were wet and bedraggled, and Jack Dodd looked at them curiously.

"I was working late at my studies," he explained. "What happened? Did your car get stalled?"

"We've found the auto thieves—and the stolen cars!" Frank told him quickly.

"They're not far from here, either. We want to use your telephone," added Joe.

"The auto thieves!" gasped Jack incredulously. "You've found them?"

"The whole gang. And if we move fast we'll be able to land the outfit," answered Frank.

Jack quickly realized the situation. There ​was no time to be lost. He led the way into a hallway and pointed to the telephone.

"There you are!"

As it was a rural telephone line, he had to explain to the Hardy boys the proper number of rings necessary to arouse Central.

It took Frank some little time to get Central, as calls at that hour were infrequent out the Shore Road. The boys waited impatiently, but at last a sleepy voice answered the ring, and Frank hurriedly demanded the Bayport police headquarters.

He was soon in touch with the desk sergeant. He outlined the situation quickly.

"The gang were all up in the gully hauling a car out of the mud when we left. They'll be clearing out as soon as they discover their man in the cave, so you'll have to hurry," said Frank.

"I'll put every man available on it right away," the sergeant promised. "I'll call up Chief Collig at his house and tell him, too."

"Fine! Will you notify the state troopers? It's outside the city limits, you know."

"I'll call them up."

"You'll need a strong force of men, for this crowd are armed, and they'll have a hundred hiding places in the woods and along that beach. We'll keep a watch on the gully roads until you get here, and we'll wait for you."

​"Good work! Are you sure it's the gang we've been after?"

"Certain. We found most of the stolen cars."

The sergeant was astonished.

"Found 'em? Where?"

"We'll tell you all about it later. In the meantime, get as many men out here as you can."

The sergeant disconnected abruptly. Frank had a mental picture of the activity that would follow in Bayport police circles on receipt of the news.

Jack Dodd was eagerly waiting for information.

"You mean to say you've actually found the thieves!" he exclaimed joyfully. "Then that means Dad and I will be cleared!"

"I hope so," Frank told his chum.

Briefly, the Hardy lads explained how they had hidden in the locker of the roadster, how the car had been driven away by one of the thieves, how they had overheard the conversation of the gang in the cave, how they had been captured and how they had escaped.

The Dodd household had been aroused, and Mr. Dodd came hurrying downstairs, half dressed. When he learned what had happened he hustled into the rest of his clothes and produced an ancient rifle from the back shed.

​"I want to be in on this," he said grimly. "Those thieves have caused us more trouble than enough, and I'd like to get some of my own back."

Jack snatched up a flashlight.

"We'd better go out and watch the gully roads," Frank said.

"I know the road they drive out!" exclaimed Jack. "It's just a little below the end of our lane. There's an abandoned road that used to lead back to that old right of way, but I don't see how they reach it, for there's a fence to cross."

"Probably they take down the bars and drive through the field," said Mr. Dodd. "Now that you mention it, I always did think part of that fence looked pretty rickety."

They left the house and hurried down the lane toward the main road.

"We'd better split up," Frank suggested. "I have a revolver—it's Joe's, by the way—and Mr. Dodd has a rifle. Jack has a flashlight and so has Joe. Two of us can watch the first gully."

"You and Joe know the place where you came out onto the Shore Road," said Jack. "You'd better watch there. Dad and I will take the upper gully."

"Good! We'll just keep watch until the police arrive."

​They separated at the end of the lane. Frank and Joe hurried off down the road, while the Dodds went in the opposite direction. When the boys reached the gully that led down to the beach they settled down to wait.

Because they were impatient and because they realized that the gang would doubtless scatter to points of safety as soon as their escape was discovered, it seemed to them that the police were a long time in coming. In reality it was not long, because the desk sergeant had lost no time in sending out the alarm.

The roar of approaching motorcycles and the drone of a speeding motor car were the first intimations of the arrival of the police and the state troopers. Even before the machines came into view their clamor could be heard.

Then dazzling headlights flashed over the rise. Frank ran out into the road, waving the flashlight, and in a few moments the first motorcycle skidded to a stop.

"Where are they?" shouted a trooper.

"There are two ways in. We have two men watching the other gully. If you'll put some of your men up there on guard, we can take you down to the beach from here."

The other motorcycles came up, and finally an automobile which was crowded with police officers. Everybody talked at once. The first trooper, however, quickly took charge of the ​impending raid, and in decisive tones he gave his orders.

"Johnson, take three policemen and go on up to the other gully. These lads say you'll find a farmer and his son on guard. They have a flashlight, so you can't miss them. Watch that gully and grab any one who comes out."

One of the troopers got back onto his motorcycle. All but three of the policemen scrambled out of their car. The motorcycle leaped forward with a roar, and the automobile followed close behind.

"All right," said the trooper. "We'll leave one man here to watch the road in case any of them slip through our fingers. The rest of us will go on down this gully."

"Callahan, stay on duty here," ordered the sergeant in charge of the police officers.

Callahan, a burly policeman, saluted. His face, revealed for a moment in the glare of a flashlight, showed that he did not relish the assignment, evidently preferring to go where there was promise of some excitement.

"All right, boys. Lead the way!"

Frank and Joe went across the grass beside the road and plunged into the undergrowth at the entrance of the gully. Their hearts were pounding with excitement. The moment of success was at hand.

​Behind them trooped nine stalwart officers, heavily armed.

Down the sloping gully they went. The trooper in charge fell in step beside Frank and the boy explained the situation that lay ahead.

"Two openings to the caves, eh?" said the trooper. "Well, we have them cornered. That is, if the birds haven't flown."

They came to the beach. Their boots clattered on the rocks as the men hurried forward.

At length the bushes that concealed the entrance to the first tunnel were in sight.