THE PRISONER
Carl Schaum did not awaken. His slumber was too deep. He was quite
senseless from the effects of the liquor he had drunk.
"This is luck!" exclaimed Frank. "I wonder how he got here!"
"I suppose he's hiding down in these caves away from the police."
Something beside the bottle near the slumbering man caught Frank's eye.
He bent forward and examined it.
It was a small package containing several tins of meat, of the same
variety the Hardy boys and their chums had brought with them on their
expedition to the caves.
"There's our thief!" Frank declared, with conviction. "It was Carl
Schaum who stole the provisions from our cave."
There seemed little doubt that this was the case. The evidence of the
package of food was conclusive.
"What shall we do with him?" asked Joe.
Frank groped in his pocket and produced a length of stout cord.
"We'll tie him up first. He's an escaped criminal and it's our duty to
turn him over to the police."
"What if he puts up a fight?"
"He's too drunk. Anyway, we should be more than a match for him."
They looked at the man sprawled on the ground. He was snoring loudly,
quite oblivious of his danger. Quietly, the Hardy boys took up their
positions, one on each side of the fellow, and then with a quick
movement they turned him over on his back and pinned his arms behind
him.
To their surprise, Carl Schaum did not struggle. He merely groaned in
his sleep.
"He's dead drunk," said Frank. "We won't have any trouble with him."
Quickly he flipped the cord about Carl Schaum's wrists, and they bound
the unconscious man. Still he did not awaken. When the boys were
satisfied that their captive was firmly trussed up they stood back to
await further developments.
Carl Schaum snored on.
"I guess we'd better wake him up," said Frank, with a mischievous grin.
"It would take a cannon to waken him, by the looks of things."
"Good cold water should do the trick."
Frank went down to the shore, took off his hat and dipped it in the
sea. He hastened back, the hat half full of water, and dashed it in
Carl Schaum's face.
There was a splutter. Then Joe, anxious to be in on the fun, filled his
hat and flung a copious supply of cold water at their captive.
Carl Schaum blinked, groaned, spluttered again, and tried to sit up.
"This will make us even for stealing my motorcycle," said Frank, as he
dashed more water into the fellow's face.
"And this," said Joe, hastening up with another hatful.
Carl Schaum was literally drenched. He opened his eyes, then gave
vent to a strangled yell. Frank managed to fling another hatful of
water into his face before the boys decided that their captive was
sufficiently awake.
"Hey! What's this?" roared Schaum indignantly. He had just discovered
that his wrists were bound.
"Just a little joke," said Frank.
Water was streaming down the man's face. He was thoroughly aroused by
now.
He was still too dazed to recognize the Hardy boys. As he sat on the
beach, with his wet hair down over his eyes, his clothes completely
soaked, he was a ridiculous object, and his expression of mingled
wrath and surprise made it difficult for the lads to restrain their
laughter.
"Lemme go!" demanded Schaum, struggling to release his wrists, without
success.
Frank shook his head.
"Nothing doing. You're wanted back in Bayport, Schaum, and that is
where you're going."
Schaum gasped.
"Bayport!" he said, after a moment. "Where's that? I never heard of the
place."
"Oh, yes you have. You escaped from the Bayport jail, Schaum, and
they'll be glad to see you back again."
"You're crazy!" the rascal stormed. "I was never in any jail!"
"How about the stolen automobiles on the Shore Road?"
"And Gus Montrose and the others in the gang?"
Carl Schaum saw that his bluff had failed. Then he looked more closely
at the brothers. He turned pale.
"The Hardy boys!" he exclaimed.
"At your service," returned Joe, with a bow.
"You see, we know what we're talking about. Get up, Schaum."
"What are you going to do with me?"
"Get up!" repeated Frank. "We're going to take you out to the road and
see that you're turned over to the authorities."
"Don't do that," whined Schaum. "Honest, I never had anything to do
with stealing them cars. Let me go."
"You were in the gang, and if they've been punished, it isn't fair that
you should get off," insisted Frank. "You escaped from the jail and if
you are innocent you had nothing to fear. You'd better get up and come
with us."
He prodded the prisoner firmly with the toe of his heavy tramping
shoe, and Schaum struggled to his feet. He made many whining pleas for
mercy, but the Hardy boys were determined that he should be sent back
to Bayport to answer for his participation in the Shore Road automobile
thefts.
"I've reformed," sniveled Schaum. "I've gone straight ever since I got
out of jail."
"Yes, you have!" laughed Frank. "How about stealing my motorcycle while
we were in swimming?"
Schaum looked confused.
"I didn't know it was your motorcycle."
"It doesn't matter whose motorcycle it was. You meant to steal it. That
doesn't look as if you've reformed very much. No, you must come along
with us."
Unwillingly, Carl Schaum stumbled along the beach with his two captors.
Frank and Joe did not have a very clear idea of what they were to do
with Schaum, now that they had captured him. At first they thought of
keeping him in the cave, but Joe pointed out that he might get away
again and that it would mean too much trouble keeping guard over him.
"And he'd eat too much," added Frank. "That's another little score we
have to settle with you, Schaum. You were in the cave the other night
and stole most of our provisions."
"I was hungry," whined the prisoner. "I only meant to borrow a little
bit of food."
"Borrowers don't come sneaking around when every one is asleep. Where
are our provisions now?"
"They're in my own cave," said Schaum sullenly.
"Where is that?"
"Try to find it."
"All right," returned Frank. "When you go back to Bayport you will
find yourself facing an extra charge of robbery. We'll lay a complaint
against you for stealing our provisions. You've already admitted that
you took them, so it will go hard with you."
Schaum wilted at this threat.
"Aw, don't tell on me," he begged. "Your grub is all right. It's in
the cave that you'll find not ten feet from where I was lying on the
beach. I got to drinking last night and I wandered out of the cave and
fell down."
"I'm glad you've decided to be sensible," observed Frank. "We'll go to
the cave and get our food when we come back. We didn't know you had a
cave."
"I came here just a little while before you boys came."
"Did you bring your trunk?" asked Frank, with a grin. "Anything in your
cave you'd like to take back to jail with you?"
Schaum shook his head.
"No," he answered shortly. "Just a pair of blankets. You can have 'em."
"They'll give you blankets in jail."
The boys soon reached their own cave. There was no sign of Chet and
Biff, and they realized that the fishermen might be far off down the
shore by now, so they decided to take Carl Schaum out to the road
themselves.
They clambered up the trail through the ravine until they reached the
top of the cliff, and then they made their way over the rocks and down
the hillside back to the fisherman's cottage. The fisherman was at
home, and when he saw the little procession coming down the path he
rushed out, anxious to learn what had happened. He was greatly excited
when he saw that the villainous-looking Carl Schaum was bound.
"Have you cotched the man who was firin' off all the guns?" he asked.
Frank shook his head.
"I don't think this is he," he said, remembering that Schaum had
reached the caves only a short time in advance of their own arrival.
"But he's almost as bad."
"What's he been doin'?"
The Hardy boys explained why they had captured Carl Schaum, and when
the fisherman learned that they were going to take their captive out to
the main road he promptly volunteered the use of his car, an ancient
and decrepit flivver. The boys had been wondering how they would get
Schaum out to the road by motorcycle, and the fisherman's offer solved
this difficulty.
Accordingly, they all wedged themselves into the ramshackle car and set
out for the main road, which they reached in due time. Frank and Joe
did not want to waste too much time with Schaum, and they decided to
wait in hope that some passing motorist would take the fellow in to the
nearest police station.
In a short time a car came into sight and when it came near, Frank
stepped out into the road and signaled the driver to stop. The
automobile slowed down.
The man at the wheel looked at them curiously.
Then Frank gave an exclamation of delight.
"Why, he's from Bayport!" he shouted to Joe. "It's Mr. Simms."
At the same moment, the driver recognized Frank.
"Hello there, Hardy!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing so far away
from home?"
Frank and Joe knew Mr. Simms, having met him at the time of the solving
of the Shore Road mystery, because he was one of the automobile owners
who had suffered at the hands of the car thieves. The very car Mr.
Simms was driving just then had been recovered by the Hardy boys when
they had found the automobiles stolen by Gus Montrose, Carl Schaum and
the other members of the gang.
"This is luck!" exclaimed Frank. "How would you like to take a
passenger back to Bayport with you?"
"Do you want a ride?" asked Mr. Simms. "Hop in."
"I'm not asking for myself. But our friend here is wanted back in
Bayport. Perhaps you could take him in."
Mr. Simms looked doubtfully at Carl Schaum.
"Well," he said slowly, "if he's a friend of yours, I suppose it's all
right--"
He had noticed that Schaum's wrists were tied.
Frank laughed.
"I was just joking. This is one of the fellows who stole your car last
month. Carl Schaum--"
"Oh! The thief that escaped, eh?"
"Yes. We ran across him down along the shore, and we were anxious to
turn him over to the police again."
"Put him in the car," said Simms grimly. "I'll put the rascal where he
belongs."
Rejoiced at having the prisoner taken off their hands so readily, the
Hardy boys bundled Schaum into the rear seat of the automobile. They
apologized to Mr. Simms for troubling him, but the man assured them
that it was no trouble at all.
"It's a pleasure," he said. "I'll see that he doesn't get away." He
glared at Carl Schaum. "So you're one of the scoundrels who stole my
car, are you? And you thought you were going to escape a term in jail!
You'll have to be mighty smart to do it then, for I'm going to break a
few speed records getting you back to Bayport. I'm going to enjoy this
trip."
He waved good-bye to the Hardy boys.
"I don't know how you caught him," he said; "but I'll tell the Bayport
police to give you the credit. I'm certainly glad I came along in time
to drive this guy back to jail, where he belongs."
With that, he drove off and in a few minutes he was carrying out his
promise to break speed records on the way back to Bayport, while the
helpless prisoner in the back seat was jounced and bounced until his
teeth rattled.
Frank and Joe grinned.
"I guess Carl Schaum won't forget that ride for a while."
"Serves the rogue right!" declared the fisherman.
"Well, let's be getting back," said Frank. "The morning is almost gone
and we haven't called on Captain Royal yet."