MISSING
No word came from Chet Morton or Biff Hooper the following day.
Although the parents of the chums tried to allay their fears by
assuming that the lads had not stopped off at Hawk Cove after all or
had neglected to write, as is the way of boys the world over, when
three days passed without further news, the situation became serious.
"They were wrecked in that storm, I know it!" declared Iola Morton,
with conviction, when the Hardy boys called at the farmhouse on the
third day. "Mother is almost frantic and daddy doesn't know what to do.
It isn't like Chet to make us wait this long for some word of where he
is, particularly when he knew we'd be anxious."
"The Hoopers are terribly worried about Biff," Joe put in. "We went
over there last night to see if they had heard anything. Mr. Hooper had
telephoned to nearly all the fishing villages up the coast, but none
of them had seen anything of the boat."
Iola turned pale.
"They hadn't seen the boat at all?"
Frank shook his head.
"Either the boys were wrecked or they were swept out to sea," said the
girl. She turned away and dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. She
was on the verge of breaking down. "Oh, can't _something_ be done to
find trace of them?"
"It's time we were getting busy," Frank agreed. "I think we'd better
organize a searching party."
"With the motorboats?" asked Joe.
"Yes. We can take our boat. Perhaps Tony Prito will be able to come
along with the _Napoli_ and we'll get the rest of the fellows. We can
cruise along the bay and up the coast and perhaps we'll find some
trace."
"Will you do that?" asked Iola, brightening up. "Oh, if you only will!
At least we'll know that some one is searching for them."
"I've been thinking that possibly their boat got wrecked and they were
washed up on an island or on some part of the coast a long way from any
village," Frank observed. "I don't think they've been drowned. They are
both good swimmers and it would take a lot to kill either of them."
"Well, if we're going to go we may as well get started."
"All right, Joe. We'll take some grub with us and count on staying
until we find some trace of them. Perhaps two or three days."
A sudden thought struck Joe.
"How about mother?"
Frank whistled.
"Gosh--I'd forgotten! But perhaps she can get some one to stay with
her. Seeing it isn't a pleasure trip we're going on, she might let us
go."
"Oh, I hope she does!" exclaimed Iola. "As long as we know you boys are
out searching for Chet and Biff we'll be a lot easier in our minds."
"Well, let's go back home and see what arrangements we can make," Frank
said briskly. "The sooner we get away, the better."
The lads mounted their motorcycles and turned toward the city. The idea
of organizing a searching party for the missing chums had occurred to
Frank previously, but he had been waiting, hoping against hope that
some word might be received regarding the two boys. The fact that Mrs.
Hardy would be left alone at home had been the one circumstance that
had prevented him from starting out in search of the chums before this,
but now the situation seemed to warrant action at all costs.
"If mother is afraid to stay at home alone, I guess the trip is off,"
he said to Joe. "But when she knows how serious it is, I don't think
she'll mind."
"I don't like to leave her alone, myself," replied Joe. "But some one
has to organize a searching party. I've been more worried about Chet
and Biff than I'd like to admit."
"Me too."
When the lads returned to the house they found Mrs. Hardy opening the
morning mail. She had a letter in her hand as they entered the living
room and she glanced up with a smile of pleasure.
"We're going to have a visitor."
"Who?"
"Your Aunt Gertrude!"
Frank glanced at his brother.
Well did they know their Aunt Gertrude. She was a maiden lady of
middle-age who spent the greater part of her life in a sort of grand
circuit series of visits to all her relatives, far and near. Aunt
Gertrude had no fixed place of abode. Accompanied by numerous trunks,
satchels and a lazy yellow cat by the name of Lavinia, she was apt to
drop in at any time in the course of a year, brusquely announcing her
intention of remaining for an indefinite stay. Then she would install
herself in the guest room and proceed to manage the household until
the hour of her departure.
Aunt Gertrude was formidable. Her word was law. And, because she was
possessed of a small fortune and a sharp tongue, none dared offend her.
Relatives had discovered that the best plan was to suffer her visits in
silence and pray for her speedy departure.
Now she was coming to visit the Hardys.
"Aunt Gertrude is coming? Isn't that great?" exclaimed Joe.
Mrs. Hardy looked at her son suspiciously. The Hardy boys had never
been known to evince much enthusiasm over Aunt Gertrude's visits
before. The worthy lady had a habit of regarding them as though they
were still in swaddling clothes and she invariably showed a tendency to
dictate as to their food, their hours of rising and going to bed, their
companions, and their choice of literature. Many a Sunday afternoon
she had thrust on them a weighty volume of Pilgrim's Progress and sat
guard over them as they miserably strove to pretend an interest in the
allegorical adventures of Bunyan's hero.
"I didn't think you cared for Aunt Gertrude," ventured Mrs. Hardy when
she saw that both Frank and Joe were beaming with satisfaction.
"When will she be here?"
"This afternoon, according to her letter. She never gives one a great
deal of notice."
"She couldn't have come at a better time. For once in her life, Aunt
Gertrude will be useful," Frank declared, and with that, he told his
mother of their desire to organize a searching party for the missing
chums.
Mrs. Hardy had been deeply concerned over Chet and Biff since their
departure from Bayport and now she agreed that a search should indeed
be conducted.
"And now that Aunt Gertrude is coming, you won't be afraid to stay here
alone," Joe pointed out.
Mrs. Hardy smiled. "And you'll leave me here all alone to the mercies
of that managing woman?"
"There's not much use having us _all_ here. Aunt Gertrude will run
things anyway, whether there's three of us or a hundred."
"Yes, I suppose so. Well, I shan't be afraid to stay here as long as
Aunt Gertrude is in the house. I imagine any burglar would rather deal
with a vicious bulldog. Go ahead on your trip. When do you intend to
start?"
"As soon as we can see Tony Prito and the rest of the boys. We want to
make a real searching party of it. By the way, when will Aunt Gertrude
arrive?"
"On the four o'clock train, I expect."
"Then we'll leave at about three o'clock," declared Frank, with a
grin, for the boys' dislike of their tyrannical aunt was no secret in
the Hardy household.
Mrs. Hardy smiled reprovingly, and the lads hustled away in search of
Tony and the other boys.
Tony Prito was afire with enthusiasm when they broached the subject to
him. A few words with Mr. Prito, and he obtained permission to have the
use of the _Napoli_ for as long as would be necessary.
"We'll start out as soon as we can get ready," Frank told him. "See if
you can get Jerry and Phil to go with you, and we'll go and look up
Perry Robinson. Perhaps he'll come along with us. We don't want to lose
any time."
Perry Robinson, more familiarly known as "Slim," readily agreed to
accompany the boys on the search.
"You bet I'll go," he declared. "When do we start?"
"Three o'clock, if we can be ready by then. Meet us at the boathouse
and bring along some grub."
"I'll be there," promised Slim.
The Hardy boys carried blankets and a small tent down to the boat and
stowed them away. Then came cooking utensils and a supply of food
sufficient to last them for several days. They would, of course, be
able to get supplies at the fishing villages along the coast, but
as they had no idea where their search would lead them they were
determined to take no chances.
"Thank goodness we'll be away from here before Aunt Gertrude arrives,"
chuckled Frank, as the boys were putting on their outing clothes at two
o'clock that afternoon.
"She'll be madder than a wet hen when she finds we've escaped her. If
there's anything she likes better than bossing us around and showing us
our faults, I don't know what it is."
Alas for the best laid plans! Aunt Gertrude must have had some
premonition of the truth. She advanced the time of her arrival by a
good two hours. The two o'clock train brought her to Bayport, bags,
baggage, and Lavinia, the cat. The boys were first apprised of her
advent when they heard a taxicab pull up in front of the house. Joe
peeped out the window of their room.
"Sweet spirits of nitre! Aunt Gertrude herself!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"Let me see!"
Frank rushed to the window in time to see Aunt Gertrude, attired in
voluminous garments of a fashion dating back at least a decade,
laboriously emerging from the taxicab. She was a large woman with a
strident voice, and the Hardy boys could hear her vigorously disputing
the amount of the fare. This was a matter of principle with Aunt
Gertrude, who always argued with taxi drivers as a matter of course, it
being her firm conviction that they were unanimously in a conspiracy to
overcharge her and defraud her at all times.
With Lavinia under one arm and a huge umbrella under the other, Aunt
Gertrude withered the taxicab driver with a fiery denunciation and,
when he helplessly pointed to the meter and declared that figures did
not lie, she dropped both cat and umbrella, rummaged about in the
manifold recesses of her clothing for a very small purse, produced the
exact amount of the fare in silver, counted it out and handed it to the
man with the air of one giving alms.
"And, just for your impudence, you shan't have a tip!" she announced.
"Carry my bags up to the house."
The driver gazed sadly at the silver in his hand, pocketed it and
clambered back into the car.
"Carry 'em up yourself!" he advised, slamming the door. The taxi roared
away down the street.
Frank chuckled.
"That's one on Aunt Gertrude!"
But Aunt Gertrude had no intention of carrying the bags up to the
house. Suddenly she glared up at the window from which the two boys had
been watching the scene.
"You two boys up there!" she shouted. "I see you. Don't think I can't
see you! Come down here and carry up my bags. Hustle now!"
They hustled.