Chapter 3
Frank sat bolt upright!
He heard noise inside the tent. Chet and Joe stormed out covered with sweat. Chet had his revolver stuck in his belt.
"Did you hear that, Frank?" Chet asked tersely. Before Frank could give an affirmative answer the hollow was shaken again by another scream. Frank looked to his left.
"It's coming from the east! Come on, someone is in trouble!" he said quickly checking his Ruger. Armed with their sidearms and a flashlight they started running towards the east. The hideous cackling repeated itself again. They ran even harder when hearing it. After five minutes of near sprinting they stopped abruptly. The trio had come to the edge of a wide river. The torrent was moving quickly. Frank rested his hands against his legs and looked up.
"We're screwed! There's no way we can get across this river now in the dark." Joe nodded and looked up.
"The screaming stopped. There's no way we could track the person anyway." Frank nodded grimly.
"But you can bet I will be investigating the other side of that river tomorrow!" He said firmly. The group retraced their steps back to camp. Frank looked at his watch and smiled to Chet.
"You're up next, pal. Wake Joe at four." Chet nodded and took a seat in the shadows. He sat in the portable chair and once again made sure his weapon was loaded. He did not want to take a chance in the event anyone visited early that morning. The night wore on without further incident and he woke Joe at a few minutes past four.
"Your turn, Joe." he said falling into the sleeping bag Joe had just surrendered. Joe took a seat at his post and looked about the darkness. A certain eerie feeling came over him. Almost as if he was being watched. Joe had his gun in an ankle holster and kept the strap open in case he needed it. In spite of the uneasiness, his watch went by without any incident. By seven, the alarm on Chet's watch had them up. He and Frank slowly rose up and stretched. They walked out to the smell of coffee which perked them up. Joe was knelt over a small fire and had coffee poured by the time they reached him. Frank took a cup.
"Thanks bro. This will help." He said. Chet smiled gratefully and took his cup.
"Quite a night, huh?" He asked the brothers. "Just what the Hell do you think that was?" Frank shook his head.
"Well, it Sounded like a woman screaming. Seemed like she was almost being tortured." Joe nodded.
"Almost sounded not quite human. But have no idea what would sound like that other than a woman in distress." Frank looked up.
"The answer is probably on the other side of that river." he said firmly. Joe took a drink.
"But how do you suggest we get over there? That river looked pretty powerful." Frank shrugged.
"Maybe we can scale over it with a rope or something." Chet had vanished into the tent a moment earlier. He came out with one of the duffels and a smile on his face. Frank looked at him.
"It's too early to be smiling, Chet. Do you have an answer to our problem?" Chet nodded and held up the large bag. He unzipped it and Frank and Joe's eyes widened as Chet pulled out a large yellow looking piece of rubber.
"A raft?" Frank asked in amazement. Sure enough Chet had laid out what appeared to be a large yellow inflatable boat.
"That's right!" He said with a prideful smile. Joe looked at the huge craft and then gave Chet a smirk.
"Well, if we have any energy left after we blow the Titanic up, it might work." Chet held up a finger then bent down. He pulled out a metal tab that seemed to be attached to the raft and suddenly the raft inflated automatically. Joe and Frank jumped back as the raft inflated to over twelve foot long. Frank looked down astounded.
"Chet, never let it be said you don't come prepared. Good work!" Joe gave a thin smile to his stout chum.
"One question, Chet. This is great to be sure. But you seem to have inflated it here and not at the river which is about a mile away." Chet looked down. He frowned for a minute, but then a smile returned to his lips.
"Well, we can always fill it with the supplies we need and carry it that way." Joe rolled his eyes slightly then smiled.
"Well, a tad precarious, but I think we can manage. Ok, let's do it." The group filled the raft with just what they needed. short wave, weapons, blankets, water, a small supply of food and a rope. They did their best to camouflage the supplies they left behind even though the tents themselves were fair game should anyone come along. They carried the raft along, often getting hung up in branches. But after thirty minutes they finally arrived at the spot they had been the night before. Frank looked to the river.
"Pretty strong current. Wish I had a speedboat." Chet smiled as he fished through his pack. He pulled out a small portable motor. Frank looked up with a smile.
"A motor for the raft? Chet, you are a genius!" Chet smiled and attached the small power motor to the rear of the raft. With a couple swift pulls the motor sputtered into life. Chet smiled with satisfaction. Frank and Joe jumped in. Chet revved the motor and launched the raft forward into the river. Frank and Joe smiled at the ease the boat took off from the edge. The current was strong however, and ten foot into the water the motor started to sputter. Within a few more foot the motor totally died out. Chet turned to it immediately and started to pull on the starter cord furiously. He tried in vain. He worked furiously as the current picked up the raft and took it downstream.
"Stupid, cheap, Chinese motor!" Chet grunted as he wrestled with it. Frank and Joe looked about the raft for the oars. A fearful look came to their faces. Joe leaned over to Chet who was still feverishly tinkering with the motor. Joe smiled tensely.
"Chet, in your quest to be a genius and bring along everything the experienced woodsman needs, did you by chance buy oars for this raft?" he asked. Chet managed a sheepish smile.
"Ok, so I forgot." he said tersely. By this time the current had swallowed them into the main torrent in the stream. Without a working motor or oars they were defenseless to control the raft which was gaining speed by the second. "What's going to happen to us?!" Chet wailed.
Frank managed a faint smile.
"I imagine the river will eventually narrow at some point, assuming there are no drops or these treacherous rocks don't do us in. Then we should be able to grab an overhanging branch and stop." Chet looked dubious as he and the others grabbed the side rails as the current swept them downstream. All they could do was to hope that the boat wouldn't get ripped to bits on the jagged rocks. They drifted at a blinding pace for nearly half an hour. Relief came when the river channel started to narrow. Frank sat up and looked about.
"I see some low hanging branches. I will jump and try to grab them. Joe, make sure you grab my feet if I jump too high." Joe nodded. Frank positioned himself, making sure he was ready. Just as they started to approach the branches Frank jumped up and grabbed a group of low hanging branches firmly. Joe wrapped his arms around his brother's legs and dropped to a seated position. They had stopped! They were sitting in the stream, current still strong. They were about nine foot off of a densely wooded shoreline. Frank looked to Chet.
"Chet, grab that length of rope and lasso a dead stump. He nodded, and after four tries he got the rope around a nearby stump. He pulled the rope firmly and tied the other end to the boat rail. Frank let the branch go and dropped back to a seated position.
"Ok, Chet, pull us in." he said with exhaustion. Chet slowly tugged on the rope and pulled the raft towards shore. It was hard pulling against the current but finally he managed to get the raft ashore. Frank and Joe jumped out, then Chet. They pulled the raft onto the shore line and sat in a small clearing by a thicket. Chet looked up.
"Well, it's a cinch we are still in the hollow" he said looking up and seeing very little light was penetrating the dense woodland canopy. Joe smiled.
"Oh yeah. We are still in the hollow. Just a hell of a lot deeper in it. What say, Frank? Thirty or forty minutes at fast current. Safe to assume we are a good fifteen plus miles deeper into the hollow." Frank nodded grimly.
"This place is definitely huge. It will take a year to search it at this rate. What should we do?" Chet looked worried.
"We also have a minimal amount of supplies and are now pushing twenty miles from our stockpile. No way we can walk that far with the limited supplies in this terrain." Frank looked grim. They sat silently for a while. Chet suddenly had a thought cross his mind. He took on a smile. Frank and Joe looked at him questioningly.
"You have a thought, Chet?" Joe asked anxiously. Chet held out his hands.
"How about calling in reinforcements?" he said. Frank rubbed his chin.
"Elaborate, Chet." Chet smiled and leaned back against a rock.
"We have the short wave. Why not see if we can contact Bill or Tony to come out and give us a hand?" Frank smiled already reaching for the radio. Joe grinned.
"That would work fine." He looked out at the water and a thought struck him. He eagerly looked about.
"Frank, do you have the map?" he asked. Frank nodded and handed it over. Joe took it and eagerly studied it. A few moments later he looked up with a smile.
"Just as I thought. This river links to a bigger river up outside the hollow. And that river snakes about and comes out to a channel that feeds to the Atlantic. In short, they could conceivably take the Sleuth and come by water and pick us up right here!" Frank smiled again and with this information flipped on the short wave. He tuned it in to a frequency that the Hardys and their closest friends kept tuned to through similar radio sets. He tried to make contact but there was no response. He looked down dejectedly.
"Damn, neither of them has their radios on!" Chet smiled and reached in his pocket. He pulled out his cell phone.
"We can always try this method." he said holding the phone up. Frank rolled his eyes.
"Chet, as you pointed out on the way down here there is nothing but a bunch of farms and not much else. I doubt there is any signal in this area." Chet shrugged and turned his phone on none the less. He gave a triumphant smile as he turned the face of the phone towards Frank. It showed signal. Not a very powerful one, but a signal none the less. Frank looked amazed.
"No Wal-Marts around here, but there is a satellite or cell tower pointed somewhat in this direction. Go figure." He smiled and took the phone. He punched in Bill Hooper's phone number. Within seconds his pal was on the line.
"Hey Bill? Frank. What's up? Yeah? Cool. Say, I was curious what you were up to for the next several days? Yeah. We are here in eastern Pennsylvania. We are in a little jam. Was wondering if you and possibly Tony could get the Sleuth and head over here. Huh? Yeah. We were looking the map over and it could work. Sure. Yes, this is Chet's cell, so ring me back here. Yep. Thanks Bill. I will be right here waiting. Bye!" He said and hung up. He looked to the others.
"He is calling Tony up to see if he will tag along." Joe and Chet nodded. Chet passed around a water bottle and they sat and waited. Within five minutes the cell phone went off. Frank flipped it on.
"Frank here." he answered. "Yeah. That would be great. You can? Great. Ok, I am going to look at the map and read you the directions to get here. Got a pen? Ok. Here goes..." he said and proceeded to relay directions on how they could get to the hollow via water. Within ten minutes Frank was confident Bill had the directions and finished up. He smiled and tossed the phone back to Chet.
"They should leave within the hour!" He said with a relieved smile. Chet looked up.
"Great. How long do you think it will take them to get here?" Frank looked down at the map.
"Well unless I miss my guess and if they don't dawdle, should be six to eight hours." Joe nodded.
"That isn't bad. We can hold up here pretty easy with our supplies for eight hours." Chet and Frank nodded. The group went about making a makeshift camp in the clearing area next to the river's edge. Chet pulled out a coffee pot from his pack. Joe looked up smiling.
"Always resourceful, Chet. Thank god you brought the coffee." Chet smiled and made a small fire. He put the kettle on the embers after the fire burned down a bit. Frank looked around a bit.
"We should still stay on alert. If the captain did disappear down here that means something bad is afoot. Keep on the ready." Chet nodded nervously. He pulled his revolver out of his belt and made sure it was loaded. A moment later he heard a noise in the bushes. He held up a hand suddenly. Frank and Joe looked alert. Frank removed his gun slowly and looked about. He had also thought he heard a noise. Joe had not heard anything. He looked about straining to hear.
"Shhhh." Frank whispered. The rustling noise came again. It seemed to be coming from a group of shrubs nearby. The rustling occurred again. Chet gained some bravery and cleared his throat.
"Whoever is in those bushes, come out now or you will regret it!" he said. Nothing. A few more sounds but no one emerged. Chet leveled his gun in the direction of the bushes.
"You have to the count of three! One! Two! Three!" Chet pulled back the hammer on his revolver. "Last chance!" he said firmly. Hearing nothing, he looked to the others. Frank shrugged, still not sure what was making the noise. A moment later the group was relieved to see a rabbit emerge from the bushes. Chet smiled, then raised an eyebrow.
"Hey guys, I don't know about you, but roast rabbit sounds pretty good." He said taking aim. Before Joe could raise a hand to object, Chet fired. The rabbit virtually exploded. Chet made a face as Joe looked at him.
"As I was about to say, Chet. It isn't wise to shoot a rabbit with a .44 magnum loaded with three hundred grain cartridges. Look at that thing. There isn't enough meat left for a snack for you!" Chet grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry, Joe. Wasn't thinking." he said. Frank looked about the woods.
"Well, if anyone didn't know we were here, they know now with that canon of yours going off." He said. Chet looked back at him with mock disgust.
"Oh yeah, like that Ruger Super Blackhawk .454 conversion isn't a bigger canon than mine. Not to mention costs about fifteen dollars every time you fire it!" Frank smiled.
"Ok, ok. But at least I didn't fire it." Joe laughed at the two. He pulled out his considerably smaller thirty-eight snub revolver.
"This is all you need, boys. Unless we go elephant hunting." he smiled and reached down by the fire to retrieved the coffee and poured some. He sat in silence for a few moments.
"Nothing to do now but wait." Frank nodded with a look of consternation.
"I'd like to go hunt for some clues but if we got on into the woods too deep we might not make it back to this area where I told Bill we would be." Chet shrugged.
"We will be able to cover this hollow a lot easier by boat. Judging by the map, this river snakes all through this hollow." Joe nodded. He took out a deck of cards.
"Might as well amuse ourselves. Poker anyone?" Chet and Frank opened their wallets and sat down. Chet looked to Joe who was shuffling cards with speed and grace. He smiled to Chet, who looked dubious but put his money down.
"Ok, I will play. But if I catch a hanger I will not be happy." Joe looked innocently at him.
"Would I deal off the bottom of the deck?" He asked incredulously. Chet gave a slight smile.
"I guess since it's not strip poker with my sister, we will be safe." He said with a grin. Joe had once used some creative dealing when playing the game with his girlfriend, Iola. She later beat him senseless for the prank.
The three friends spent much of the morning trading their money back and forth. By three in the afternoon Chet was up about three hundred dollars. His cell phone rang. Chet flipped it open.
"Yo? Hey Tony. What's up, dude? Really? That was pretty good time. I'm not sure how deep we are, but a guess would be at least ten miles. But since I don't know where it is for certain, I am just guessing. Ok. Yep, we will keep an ear and an eye out for you. See you guys soon!" He hung up.
"They are near the hollow. They said they just refueled in a place called Treeport." Frank nodded.
"Good to hear. We are burning valuable time." He said looking at his watch. Chet looked at his watch also, then up.
"What's the plan when they get here?" he asked. Frank stood up.
"We will head back to the original camp and pack more supplies and figure out which areas will be best to search first." Chet nodded.
They sat there watching the river flow and waiting for their friends to arrive. Twenty minutes later they were rewarded. The sound of a motor could be heard down the river. Sure enough the familiar sight of the Sleuth came into view. Their friends, Bill Hooper and Tony Prito were in front scanning the river's edge. A few moments later they spied the group near the beach on the right side. Tony guided the Hardy's boat over to them. Joe grabbed a rope that Bill threw out and pulled the boat in enough so they could get off without having to get too wet.
"Hey there!" Frank called. "Good to see you guys." Tony cut the motor and stepped out and waded in.
"Hi guys." he greeted cheerfully. He looked down at the raft and to them.
"You guys drifted on the fast current twenty miles in that thing?" he asked with disbelief. "You could have gotten hurt on these rocks. I am shocked you didn't tear that thing to shreds within half a mile. It looks sturdy but not exactly something you make a long float trip in."
"Let us help you roll that thing up." Bill said and they assisted in getting the raft rolled up and stowed on the boat. They also packed up the rest of the supplies and were ready to go. They all got aboard and Joe started the Sleuth back up. The motor turned over with a steady hum.
The trip back upriver was done quickly and with ease thanks to the powerful Sleuth. Within ten minutes they had arrived at the spot where they launched the raft. Frank grabbed the rope and jumped out and pulled the Sleuth as close to the edge as he deemed safe. He secured the boat and the others followed him down through the woods as he led the way back towards their camp. Within twenty minutes they approached the camp site. Tony and Bill looked at the huge tents wide-eyed.
"Quite the little hotel camp you guys have here. Not very discreet though." Tony commented. Joe gave a thin smile.
"Well, Chet didn't want any little tent." He said. Chet grinned.
"See, now we have guests, so these tents are in order. Had we gotten that little four midget tent then Tony and Bill would have had to rough it." Bill raised his eyebrows looking the tents over.
"Hmm, Chet. Looks like you could fit another thirty guests here at least. But I guess we won't have any space issues. Plenty of room for all." Joe laughed and opened the tent.
"Just stow your gear in there guys." he offered. Chet helped Tony store excess supplies in the tent. Bill looked about the tents. He smiled to Frank.
"Gee, did you guys go in on this Grand Hotel or was this out of Chet's gratitude?" he asked. "Those tents had to cost four figures. They are pretty high grade and quite sizable." Frank smiled and shook his head.
"Those are Chet's. He and Joe went to Sports World. From what Joe told me he dropped about ten large on the stuff. A lot of which is still in his Yukon." Bill whistled.
"That Yukon is sweet. I am guessing he must have blown most of that reward he got." Frank smiled.
"Looks like he spent some." he said. About a month earlier when Frank and Joe had taken vacation, Chet had stayed behind and a missing child case came in. Chet managed to locate a missing daughter of a prominent investment broker and for his efforts received fifty thousand dollars as a reward. Chet knew that the Hardys didn't have a surplus of spare cash so he didn't ask Joe for anything when they bought the camping supplies. A few minutes later Chet came out of the tent and began preparing a fire. He looked over his shoulder to the others.
"You're hungry, right?" he asked with a half-smile. Frank nodded.
"By all means." he said. Tony took out a large cooler he had brought and set it down by the table.
"Brought some refreshments." he said popping the cooler open. He passed out Coronas. Joe smiled thankfully taking a bottle of the Mexican imported beer from him.
"Good thinking Tony. Nothing like a brew after a little float trip." he said. Chet had set up a grill over the fire and placed several steaks on it. He turned to the others.
"So, what's the plan?" he asked. Frank took the map out an studied it.
"We can take the boat to the northern most part of the hollow and start a foot search and sweep back and forth. The captain had to possibly leave a clue somewhere." Chet turned the steaks and looked up.
"We didn't find anything so far. Not even a broken branch. He must have entered the hollow from another point so it will be hard to determine where he may have been." Tony stood up and lit a cigarette.
"What clues do you have to go on?" Frank recounted the investigation of the cabin and finding the place in a bit of disarray. The calendar notations and the potentially missing rifle. Then he told about the scream that they had heard just last night.
"You sure it was a woman?" Tony questioned? "A lot of animals in a place like this. Some animals can sound just like a screaming woman." Joe half smiled.
"Well, sounded like a woman to me, Tony. But of course, I can't be sure since I did not actually see her." Chet smiled and took the steaks off the fire. He brought them to the table and served them. Frank looked up.
"No wine?" He asked with a bit of humor. Chet smiled back and went and pulled a bottle of wine out of his rucksack. He walked back towards them and Joe grinned.
"That better not be domestic, Chet!" he said having trouble keeping a straight face. Chet looked back with a hurt expression.
"It's Italian. 1974. A good Chablis." Tony raised an eyebrow carrying along the gibe.
"Chablis with red meat? Chet, are you nuts!?" he asked with a hurt expression. Chet smiled back.
"I'm sorry, Tony. But my wine cellar is poorly stocked with Clarets. You shall just have to make do." Bill gave a chuckle at the banter and looked up.
"I'm fine, Chet. Filet Mignon and well-aged Italian Chablis is considerably more than I would have hoped for in a camp in the middle of the woods. I had thought my meal of the day would have been hot dogs." Chet smiled.
"Well, when we run out of steak and wine then we will have hot dogs and beer. Good enough? I'd hate to delusion you." Bill took a sip of wine.
"Sounds good, Chet. You are sometimes impractical about things, but there are usually rewards that go along just the same." Chet sat in thought for a moment. Then looked up with a half-smile.
"Well, you know me. I try to make up for other areas in which I lack. Tony smiled at this cryptic response.
"Areas you lack? Hell Chet, you recently got paid a fifty large fee. You have a nice apartment. A business as a partner in one of the finest detective agencies in Bayport. You date an absolute babe..." At this Chet stood up.
"You say so..." he said without much emotion and walked out of the tent. Tony looked confused.
"What's that all about?" He asked dumbfounded. Frank shifted a bit and looked down but said nothing. Bill shrugged.
"You got me. But perhaps it shows how little we really know." Joe looked off into the distance in thought. Then he downed the rest of his wine and stood up. He walked outside.
Frank looked at the overcast sky and despite the vast umbrella of trees that covered the hollow. He felt rain drops and the sky cast an even more ominous darkness. He sighed.
"Looks like we are here for the night guys. Between the rain and it getting a whole lot darker in the last fifteen minutes, I'm afraid we wouldn't have much luck on our search." Joe nodded looking about.
"Yeah," he agreed. "By the time we got the boat up north it would be really dark. Not that it isn't really dark now." he said as he went about turning some kerosene lamps on. Chet was cleaning the chamber of his gun out. Having fired it earlier it had residue built up. He ran a brush through it. After removing all dust and powder he reloaded it and looked up. Bill walked over with a smile.
"Does that thing build up a lot when you..." his words were cut short by a rustling noise in the brush along the hillside that bordered the clearing where their camp was. Bill held up a hand and looked out into the darkness. The others listened intently. Tony smiled.
"Relax guys, there is a thousand different animals that could have made that sound." Frank nodded.
"That did happen earlier and Chet toasted a rabbit... But we can bet that if the animal that made that sound was of the two-legged variety we are definitely opening ourselves up with this well illuminated hotel of the forest." Chet rolled his eyes and looked over to him.
"Well the minute we get shot at, we can break camp. Sheesh!"
As if an ironic answer to his statement, a number of rifle shots rang over their heads!