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voice that he was as disturbed as they were over the situation.
    â€œGo to the Coast Guard station as fast as possible and ask for help!” the famous manhunter advised. “Meantime, I’ll call Washington!”
    â€œOkay, Dad!”
    Joe gunned the engine, and in seconds the Sleuth was carving a double bow wave of water as it sped toward the Barmet Bay Coast Guard station.
    Much to their relief, a lieutenant was waiting to receive them, and a launch was already warmed up and ready to shove off. “Your dad must have called some important people,” the officer told the Hardy boys. “We’ve had an urgent request from the FBI as well as official authorization from our own department!”
    The launch cruised swiftly across the bay and soon had the Ark pinned squarely in the glare of its powerful searchlights. As they pulled alongside the converted cruise liner, the lieutenant called out through an electric bullhorn:
    â€œPrepare to receive a boarding party!”
    Frank and Joe were allowed to accompany him. Both boys enjoyed the dismayed, trapped expression on the captain’s face as the Coast Guard lieutenant barked, “You realize you could be hauled up before a board of inquiry and perhaps have your license suspended for what you did to these boys tonight?”
    â€œThey had no business trespassing on my ship!” the captain blustered.
    â€œDon’t give me that bilge!” the officer snapped. “This is the twentieth century! We’re not living back in the days of keelhauling, and you’re not Captain Bligh! Now then, we’re here because fears have been expressed about the safety of a young man named Buzz Barton. We’d like to see him, please.”
    A white-robed man with a shaved head, who seemed somewhat older than most of the culties, spoke up. “We Children of Noah don’t allow our brothers and sisters to be harassed by anyone, including the United States Coast Guard!”
    The lieutenant stared at him coldly. “Nobody’s interested in what you allow, mister, and we’re not here to harass anybody. Well, Captain?”
    â€œDo you have a search warrant?”
    â€œNo, because I’m not searching for anyone. I’m asking to speak to one of your passengers. And I might add that I’m doing so at the urgent request of the FBI. Now, do you want to cooperate or don’t you?”
    The captain hemmed and hawed and continued to bluster, but he was clearly uneasy over the Coast Guard’s unexpected intervention.
    In the end, he conducted the lieutenant and the Hardy boys to a cabin below deck, where Buzz Barton lay asleep on the bunk. When awakened, he seemed somewhat vague and confused, but there was no sign that he had been physically harmed.
    â€œAre you aboard of your own free will?” the lieutenant asked.
    â€œY-Y-Yes, sir.”
    â€œDo you wish to remain aboard, or would you rather go back ashore with your friends?”
    Buzz hesitated, blinking. Frank and Joe were unable to read the expression in his eyes. “I prefer to stay aboard,” he mumbled at last.
    The Noah cultie who had protested earlier now beamed triumphantly at the Hardys and the Coast Guard officer. Since there seemed to be no further reason to intervene, the boarding party returned to their launch.
    Glumly the Hardy boys arrived at the Coast Guard station and cruised back to the Bayport marina in the Sleuth.
    After breakfast the next morning, Frank called Vern Kelso, the network executive at the Federated Broadcasting System whom Micky Rudd had mentioned. “We’re investigating that vandal who’s impersonating the Apeman,” Frank explained. “I wonder if you could spare time, sir, to talk to my brother and me?”
    â€œYou bet I can! We’ll all be grateful for anything you fellows can do to find this pest and expose him.” Kelso said that Micky Rudd had already told him about calling in the Hardy