Read Online The Secret of Skull Mountain by Franklin W. Dixon - Free Book Online

suggested.
    â€œCould be,” Frank agreed, studying the name thoughtfully. “Yes!” he cried out. “It’s Foster spelled backward!”
    Joe was elated. “That’s proof Kleng is mixed up in Dr. Foster’s disappearance!”
    The boys grinned at one another, and Frank looked at Callie with admiration. “Do you know where the message came from?” he asked her.
    â€œChicago,” Callie answered promptly. “And I have something else to tell you,” she added, her eyes sparkling. “Guess who came to see Mr. Kleng while I was in there?”
    â€œThe tall, thin man!” Frank exclaimed.
    â€œYes,” Callie said triumphantly. “Mr. Kleng called him ‘Sweeper.’ ”
    â€œI thought so,” Frank remarked grimly. “Sweeper is the man we saw on the mountain, talking to Sailor Hawkins and one of the men who held me up.”
    Joe spoke up. “And Kleng might have been the other one. We’d better have a talk with him.”
    â€œYou can’t!” Callie exclaimed. “He locked up his shop right after I left. He said he was leaving town!”
    The boys exchanged glances of dismay. If Kleng left Bayport, they might never solve the two mysteries.
    â€œDid I do a good job for you?” Callie asked.
    â€œYou were a doll,” Frank said warmly. “Come on. We’ll drive you home.”
    At Callie’s house Frank asked to see a telephone directory. “I’m going to look up Kleng’s home address,” he explained to Joe. “If he told Callie the truth, maybe he’s still home packing.”
    Frank wrote down the street and number, then drove to the plumber’s house.
    It was a drab, two-story frame dwelling, set back from the street by a short lawn. As the boys went up the steps to the porch, they saw that the shades were drawn.
    No one answered the doorbell. Joe tried to peer through a window, but the shade completely shut off his view.
    They returned to the car. As Joe got in, he looked over his shoulder. Was it his imagination —or had he glimpsed a woman’s face staring at them from an upstairs window?
    He told Frank about his suspicion, and his brother deliberated. “If it was Kleng’s wife, he can’t have gone away for good. We’ll go back some other time and try our luck.”
    Mr. Hardy had returned when the boys arrived home. They showed him Frank’s copy of the telegram Kleng had received, and he studied it with great care.
    â€œWe must do our best to keep track of Kleng,” the detective remarked.
    Frank told him of the possibility that the plumber had left Bayport. Mr. Hardy frowned.
    â€œHe may have gone to Chicago.” He reached for the phone and dialed information in that city. While the call went through, he reread the telegram message. “I’ll try to trace the sender of this message,” he told the boys. “Through him we may pick up Kleng.”
    Frank and Joe left their father to complete his call.
    As Frank closed the door to Mr. Hardy’s study, he said to Joe, “The sooner we take the Sleuth and begin looking for the articles we dropped into the reservoir last evening, the better. The tide will be going out in another hour.”
    The boys drove to the boathouse where they kept their trim white craft. Frank stepped into the cockpit and pushed the starter button.
    The motor failed to catch. As Frank put out his hand to try again, the boys heard the uneven roar of a motorcycle behind the boathouse. Then it stopped.
    Joe saw a tense look come over his brother’s face. “That motorcycle!” Frank whispered. “It sounds like the one Sweeper was riding the night he held me up!”

CHAPTER IX
    Tiger Trouble
    FRANK leaped from the Sleuth and ran toward the rear of the boathouse. Joe followed, close on his brother’s heels.
    The motorcycle was parked in a nearby shed, but its rider was nowhere to be seen. In a