Read Online The Alaskan Adventure by Franklin W. Dixon - Free Book Online

“The tracks get deeper off to the left. The thief must have pushed or pulled it here from the path, loaded the meat on it, then gone off in the direction of the woods.”
    From the darkness David’s voice called, “Joe? Frank?”
    â€œOver here, David,” Joe called back.
    When David joined them, the Hardys quickly explained what they had found—and not found—inside the shed. David muttered a string of words in Athabascan. Joe didn’t understand a single one, but he was sure they weren’t compliments.
    â€œWe found the tracks of a sledge,” Frank told him, and held the lantern near the marks.
    To Joe’s surprise, David got down on his hands and knees and put his face close to the tracks and felt the snow. When he stood up, he said, “Thiswas Uncle Peter’s sledge. And the theft was just after sunset.”
    â€œHow can you tell?” Frank asked.
    â€œFrom the way the snow looks and feels on the bottom and sides of the track,” David told him. “Let’s find out where the thief went.”
    As Joe had suspected, the trail led into the woods. They hadn’t followed it more than fifty yards when David held up a hand and said, “Wait—there’s something in the bushes on the left.”
    Frank held the lantern up at arm’s length. Joe narrowed his eyes and stared in the direction David had indicated, but he couldn’t make out anything more than a dark shape.
    David laughed aloud. “It’s our moose meat!” he said. “The thief must have dropped it here. We’ll have dinner after all!”
    They carried the frozen carcass back to the shed. While Joe and Frank sawed off a roast-size piece for dinner, David went back to follow the trail of the thief. A few minutes later he returned with the news that the thief had pulled the sledge around to the front of the cabin and left it there.
    â€œI told Joe I thought the thief wasn’t after the meat at all,” Frank said as they walked back to the cabin.
    David nodded. “What he wanted was to cause trouble for us. First he set our cabin on fire, then he threw the log through the window, then he doctored the fruit that made Uncle Peter sick, and now this. Somebody must hate us very much.”
    Joe was tempted to say that the incidents could have occurred for business reasons, not personal ones. He kept quiet. A business motive would probably upset David even more than the thought of having a personal enemy.
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    The next morning, while David was taking care of his huskies, Frank and Joe went into town to pursue their investigation. The first person they ran across was Curt Stone.
    â€œHi, boys,” Curt said when he saw them. “How are you enjoying your stay?”
    â€œFine,” Frank said. “Say, can we ask you about that basket of fruit?”
    â€œAsk away,” Curt replied. “What basket of fruit?”
    â€œThe one you sent to Peter and Mona yesterday,” Joe told him.
    â€œNope, not me,” Curt said easily. “Though, now you mention it, I should do something to show my sympathy, with all the trouble they’re having. I heard someone tried to steal their meatcache last night. Terrible, the things that happen.”
    â€œHow did you hear about that?” Frank asked.
    Curt shrugged. “I told you. News travels fast in a little place like this,” he said. “But what’s this about a basket of fruit?”
    â€œPeter and Mona got a basket of fresh fruit yesterday, with your card in it,” Frank explained. He studied Curt’s face, which didn’t change, then went on. “Peter got sick after eating one of the apples.”
    Curt gave him a hard look. “I don’t like what you’re hinting at,” he said. “I didn’t send any fruit to anyone yesterday.”
    â€œWhat about your card?” Joe asked.
    â€œHalf the population of Glitter