THE MISSING MOTORCYCLE
"I wish I were a boy," sighed Callie Shaw.
Iola Morton looked up from her ice-cream soda.
"Me, too."
"It's tough luck that you're not," said Joe Hardy. "We'd like to have
you along on the trip with us."
"Boys have all the luck. Girls have to stay at home."
The Hardy boys, Chet Morton, and Biff Hooper were celebrating their
departure by treating Callie Shaw and Iola Morton--and incidentally,
themselves--to ice-cream at the Bon Ton Confectionery Shop. Iola, a
plump, dark girl, was Chet's sister, and fully as fun-loving as her
brother. Of all the girls at Bayport High she was the special favorite
of Joe, as Callie Shaw, brown-haired and brown-eyed, was above all
other girls in Frank's opinion.
"This one is my treat," Joe announced. "Another soda won't hurt any
one."
It was a warm afternoon and the others promptly accepted. Six tall,
frosted glasses of soda, pink and white and orange in color, were
placed before them and imbibed with many gurgles of satisfaction.
"Well, sis," remarked Chet, "I don't know but that I'd trade places
with you."
"Yes, you would!" said Iola ironically. "You wouldn't give up that trip
for a million dollars."
"I've just been thinking that you're lucky to be staying in town.
You'll be able to have ice-cream sodas and we shan't."
"That's true, too," said Joe reflectively. He was very fond of sodas,
and he had not considered the matter in this light before.
"Yes, but think of all the fun you'll have. And if you find any
treasure in those caves you'll be able to eat ice-cream sodas for the
rest of your lives."
"Our lives wouldn't last very long if we did nothing but eat sodas
after we came back," laughed Frank. "How about another?"
The girls shook their heads. Chet groaned.
"This is my fifth to-day," he said. "I _could_ take another but I
wouldn't have any room left for supper. Guess we'd better quit."
"We'd better," agreed Biff. "If you're sick to-morrow morning we'll
start without you."
The thought of this possibility drove all desire for another ice-cream
soda from Chet Morton's mind and the boys and girls left the Bon Ton.
As they would not be seeing one another again before the start of the
trip, Callie and Iola said good-bye to Biff and the Hardy boys.
"We'll miss you," Callie assured them. "The town won't seem the same
without you."
"It won't be, either," grinned Chet. "It'll be a lot quieter when we
clear out."
"Our house will be quieter, at any rate," Iola agreed. "It'll be a
relief when you're gone, Chet."
"That's a sister for you! Frank, you and Joe are lucky. You have no
sisters."
"I don't know about that," replied Frank. "If we had sisters like
Callie and Iola we wouldn't have any kick."
Chet and his sister, in spite of all their good-natured banter, got
along very well together. So, with much laughter and good wishes, the
friends parted, and the Hardy boys went home to finish their packing.
Next morning found the four boys bowling along a country road leading
out of Bayport, on the first stage of their journey to the caves on
the coast. Greatly to their disappointment, Tony Prito had been unable
to come with them, as his father needed him. Biff Hooper and Chet rode
together. Frank and Joe, of course, had each his own motorcycle.
It was an ideal summer morning, cool and bright. The boys carried their
blankets and cooking utensils, but they had agreed it would be best not
to carry too many provisions, as food could be purchased along the way
as it was needed.
"This won't be our first experience searching through caves," called
out Frank, who was in the lead of the little procession.
"It will be old stuff to you chaps," answered Biff. "I sure wish I had
been with you when you were going through the caves below the Shore
Road."
He referred to the experience of the Hardy boys when they were in
search of the automobiles that thieves had hidden in secret caves
beneath the cliffs along the Shore Road above Barmet Bay.
"By the way," said Chet, "did you know that one of that gang of rascals
escaped from jail the other day?"
This was news to the others. When the Hardy boys discovered the stolen
cars they also aided in the round-up of the gang of automobile thieves,
some of whom had been sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. Others,
who had been merely tools of the ring-leaders of the outfit, were given
lighter sentences in the local jail.
"Who was that?" asked Joe.
"Carl Schaum. He made a getaway the day before yesterday. The police
were keeping quiet about it because they thought they might catch him
again before the news leaked out. But he's clear away."
"Carl Schaum!" exclaimed Frank. "He was one of the chaps who got off
lightly."
"And to my mind he was one of the worst rascals of the lot," added Joe.
"Well, he's at large now. They haven't been able to trace him. He's a
tough bird, all right."
"Carl Schaum used to live around here, didn't he?" asked Biff.
"Sure. He used to live just outside the city. He's been in and out of
plenty of scrapes. A real bad egg."
"Oh, probably the police will pick him up again," Biff said. "He won't
get very far. It's a cinch he won't hang around Bayport."
"Not if he knows what's good for him," remarked Frank.
The road the boys had taken went south and then east toward the coast,
through a beautiful countryside. The boys had been on their way a
little over two hours, but already they were hot and dusty. Just at
that moment, Joe spied a flash of blue among the trees beyond an
inviting shady lane.
"Looks like a lake down there," he said. "What say we investigate?"
"I'm game," said Chet. "Maybe we can have a swim."
As time was not pressing and the boys were traveling leisurely, in no
hurry to reach the caves, they at once fell in with the suggestion.
Frank headed down the lane and in a few minutes the lads were riding
beneath shady trees down toward the banks of a small lake that lay calm
and clear among the woods. There was a wide, sandy beach, and with
whoops of delight the boys at once brought their motorcycles to a stop,
parked them beneath the trees by the road, and raced gayly down through
the grass.
It was one of the finest natural swimming places they had ever seen and
the boys lost no time flinging off their clothes and splashing out into
the cool water. For about half an hour they enjoyed themselves as only
boys can, swimming and diving, until at last, refreshed, they came up
onto the beach and donned their garments again.
Their motorcycles had been parked just out of sight of the beach,
because the road ran past the lake, about a hundred yards distant.
However, the boys had given little thought to the safety of the
machines because the lake was in a secluded spot and there was no sign
of human habitation near by.
"I'll race you back!" shouted Frank, as they began to dress.
There was a mad scramble for clothes. Chet adroitly hurled one of
Biff's shoes into a thicket, thinking thereby to get a head start on
his chum, but Joe sat on Chet's trousers as he drew on his own socks,
and Chet hunted in vain for the essential garments, losing more time
than Biff did. All this byplay took time, and Frank, in the meanwhile,
was dressing hastily but calmly, and was ready before any of the
others. With a yell of triumph, he darted up the grassy slope.
Joe was next. Shoelaces dragging, he set out in pursuit. Chet did not
even bother to put on his shoes but hastened after, his shirt open, and
hanging onto his trousers with one hand while he fastened his belt.
Biff, plunging about in the bush in search of the missing shoe, was
last.
"First up!" shouted Frank. Then the others heard him give a sudden
exclamation of surprise.
"What's the matter?" called Joe.
He ran up in time to see Frank standing in the roadway, an expression
of consternation on his face.
"The bikes!" he exclaimed. "There are only two here!"
"What?" yelled Joe.
"One of our bikes is missing! What do you know about that!"
As Chet and Joe hastened up they saw that he was right. Where three
motorcycles had been parked beside the road, there were only two left.
Frank's motorcycle was gone!