Read Online The House on the Cliff by Franklin W. Dixon - Free Book Online

belligerently.
    â€œI can’t contradict you, but I’m going to turn this over to the police,” Frank told him. “If you know anything more about it, you’d better speak up now.”
    â€œHe doesn’t know anything about it,” shrilled the woman angrily. “Go away and don’t bother us. Didn’t he tell you he found the cap on the road? I told him to burn up the dirty thing. But he wanted to have it cleaned and wear it.”
    The boys turned away, Frank still holding the cap. “Come on, fellows,” he said. “Let’s get out of here.”
    As the boys started down the lane they cast a last glance back at the yard. The woman and the two men were standing just where the young sleuths had left them. The woman was motionless, her hands on her hips. Red was standing with his arms folded, and Klein, the swarthy man, was leaning against a tree. All three were gazing intently and silently after the departing boys.

    â€œHe doesn’t know anything about the cap,” the woman shrilled
    â€œI’m sure that those people know more about Dad’s cap than they’re telling,” Frank said grimly, as the boys mounted their motorcycles and rode back toward Bayport.
    â€œWhat are you planning to do next?” Phil asked as he pulled his machine alongside Frank’s.
    â€œI’m going right to Chief Collig and tell him the whole story.”
    â€œOkay, we’re with you!”
    The boys rode directly to police headquarters and left their motorcycles in the parking lot. Chief Collig looked up as his six visitors were ushered into his office.
    â€œWell,” he said heartily, “this is quite a delegation! What can I do for you?”
    As Frank and Joe took turns, with an occasional graphic illustration from one of the other boys, they told the full story and showed him the bloodstained cap.
    Chief Collig looked grave. “I don’t like the sound of this at all,” he said finally. “We must find your father at once! This cap is a good clue.” Then he went on, “Of course you realize that the area where the Pollitt house is located is outside the limits of Bayport, so my men can’t go there. But I’ll get in touch with Captain Ryder of the State Police at once, so he can assign men to the case.”
    The boys thanked the chief for his help and left. Chet, Tony, Biff, and Phil went their separate ways while Frank and Joe turned toward home. They decided not to upset their mother about the bloodstained cap, but merely tell her that the State Police would take over the search for her husband.
    â€œI still think there’s some connection between Dad’s disappearance and the smuggling outfit and the house on the cliff,” Frank declared.
    â€œWhat I’ve been wondering,” said Joe, “is where those two motorboats came from that day Jones was attacked. We didn’t see them out in the ocean earlier—at least not both of them.”
    â€œThat’s right. They could have come right out from under the cliff.”
    â€œYou mean, Frank, there might be a secret harbor in there?”
    â€œMight be. Here’s the way it could work. Dad suspects smugglers are operating in this territory from a base that he has been unable to find.” Frank spread his arms. “The base is the old Pollitt place! What more do you want?”
    â€œBut the house is on top of a cliff.”
    â€œThere could be a secret passage from the house to a hidden harbor at the foot of the cliff.”
    â€œGood night, Frank, it sure sounds reasonable!”
    â€œAnd perhaps that explains why the kidnapers got away with Jones so quickly on Saturday. If they left the Kane farmhouse just a little while before we did, we should have been able to get within sight of their car. But we didn’t.”
    â€œYou mean they turned in at the Pollitt place?”
    â€œWhy not? Probably Jones is hidden there right