The Sign Of The Crooked Arrow Part 4

38 "How many bullets. .h.i.t Dad?" Joe put in, his voice trembling.

"He wasn't shot by a gun," Mrs. Hardy said, putting a comforting hand around Joe's shoulder.

"He wasn't?" Frank asked incredulously.

"No," their mother replied. "He was ..."

"Mrs. Hardy!" It was the doctor's voice. She hurried back into the room. "Your husband wants to see his sons," the physician said.

Fenton Hardy, struggling through the limbo between consciousness and unconsciousness, had heard the far-off voices of his boys and had roused sufficiently to call them weakly. Now he was completely out of the anesthetic, and had opened his eyes.

"Dad!" Frank whispered, taking the open hand extended toward him.

Joe pressed close to his brother. "How are you, Dad?"

"I'm all right," Mr. Hardy said, forcing a smile. "I'll be up and out of here in no time."

"Mother said you weren't shot by a gun," Frank said. "What did hit you?"

Fenton Hardy turned his head with effort, to get a better look at his sons.

"An arrow," he said.

"It hit him high in the left leg," the physician said. "A nasty wound, deep to the bone."

39 Aunt Gertrude continued the story, giving her brother a chance to rest.

"Your father said he was investigating a vacant house on the outskirts of town, which he thought some of the Bayport thieves were using as a hideout."

"Were they inside?" Joe asked.

"No," continued their aunt. "The place was empty, but just after your father left the house, an arrow came from behind and hit him."

Mr. Hardy carried on. "Then I staggered to the road for help."

"Did you see the guy who shot you?" Joe asked.

"No, son," he replied. "He must have been waiting in the bushes behind the house."

After pausing a moment, the detective continued, "Phis means I can't go to Cousin Ruth's. Would you boys like to take my place?"

Frank and Joe looked at each other, then nodded in unison.

"I know Chet will be disappointed when you postpone your camping trip," Mr. Hardy added, "but-say, why don't you take Chet along?"

The physician interrupted, "That's all for now, please. Mr. Hardy must rest."

"You boys go along with Aunt Gertrude," Mrs. Hardy said. "I'll not leave your father until he's better!"

40 Frank and Joe kissed their mother and said good-bye to their father. Then they left with Miss Hardy.

At the hospital entrance the three ran into Sam Radley, Mr. Hardy's operative, who was hurrying into the building.

"How's Mr. Hardy?" he asked breathlessly. "I just learned he's here."

Frank told the tall, worried investigator all he knew of the attack. Sam frowned when he heard about the arrow.

"It's most unusual," he remarked.

"Why the d.i.c.kens would anybody shoot him with an arrow?" Joe asked.

"Probably," Sam replied, "to escape detection. It'll be harder to trace an arrow than a bullet. Where's the arrow?"

"At the police station," Aunt Gertrude said. "My brother ordered it sent there immediately."

"We'd better take a look at it," Sam suggested.

The investigator took Aunt Gertrude in his car, while the boys drove their coupe to the police station. Alone in the car, Frank said to Joe: "Does something click about this whole case?"

"Yes," Joe replied slowly. "The arrow!"

"That's it," Frank said. "First Dad picked up the words 'crooked arrow' on his recorder.

Then we 41 found the crooked arrow on the watch and tie clasp."

"And now Dad is shot with an arrow by an unknown archer." Joe put in.

"It all seems to add up," Frank reasoned. "But to what? One thing's clear. Some crook or crooks are afraid of Dad."

The two cars arrived at the station house about the same time. Aunt Gertrude, Sam, and the boys were ushered into the office of Chief Collig. He sat at his desk examining an arrow.

"h.e.l.lo, boys," he said. "Awfully sorry to hear what happened to your father."

"Any clues to the a.s.sailant?" Frank asked.

"None at all. My men searched the place and found a trampled spot in the weeds, where the culprit apparently drew a sight on your father, but nothing else."

"See that you find the man!" Aunt Gertrude blurted out with indignation. "The idea of anybody shooting my brother! And with an arrow, no less. What's happened to police protection in Bay-port?"

"We've tried our-"

"Your best isn't good enough!" Aunt Gertrude interrupted the chief. "I'll find that scoundrel my= self and punish him!"

42 As Sam Radley looked on with approval, Frank asked, "May I see the arrow, chief?"

Collig handed him a short, thick shaft with a sharp steel tip. On the end, near the nock, were three white feathers.

"This could kill a man," Frank said seriously, turning the arrow in his fingers.

"Sure could," Chief Collig agreed. "Your father was lucky."

"Look at those feathers," Joe observed. "They're all the same color."

"Aren't they supposed to be?" Aunt Gertrude spoke up.

"Two of the feathers on an arrow," Joe explained, "are usually the same color, such as red. The other, known as the c.o.c.k feather, stands at right angles to the nock, and is of a different color."

"Then an expert archer must have shot this arrow," Frank added. "He didn't need a colored feather to show him which was the c.o.c.k feather."

"Right," Sam said. "And he didn't mean to kill your father; just incapacitate him. Well, we've got to look for an expert archer."

"Then we'll start on the Indians in town," Frank suggested, giving Joe a significant glance.

"We have only four of 'em in Bayport," Chief Collig told the boys. "And they're all honest, so far as I know."

43 Nevertheless, Frank and Joe got the names of the Indians. They might be honest, but they might have some dishonest relative visiting them who would bear investigating!

After bidding Sam good-bye and taking Aunt Gertrude home, the boys started out to question the four local Indians in the factory section of town. All were skilled at trades and had worked well for their employers, the Hardys learned. None had visitors and none had handled a bow in his life. They emphatically denied any knowledge of the shooting of Mr.

Hardy.

"Looks as if Bayport's Indians are innocent, all right," Frank said. "That makes it harder to solve this new mystery."

"And we haven't much time left to find the archer," Joe reminded his brother, "if we're going to Cousin Ruth's."

"We'd better tell Chet of the change in our plans," Frank said. "Think he'll go out West with us?"

Joe grinned. "We'll say Cousin Ruth has a good chuck wagon!"

Chet Morton, chubby, food-loving friend of the Hardy boys, lived on a farm a short distance outside Bayport. When they arrived, Frank pulled up alongside the porch of the rambling Morton home, lola Morton, Chet's sister, was on the porch.

44 "h.e.l.lo, lola," shouted Joe, blus.h.i.+ng a little. He was rather fond of lola. "Where's Chet?"

"Behind the barn," the girl replied.

Frank parked in front of the barn and the boys made their way to the back. Suddenly they spied their stocky friend Chet, crouching like a football lineman. Rus.h.i.+ng at him was a big man, his arms outstretched.

Then, faster than the eye could follow, he grabbed Chet and flipped him into the air!

CHAPTER VI.

Poisoned Arrowhead.

chet landed on the ground with a thud. Frank and Joe rushed to his aid. As the elder brother quickly knelt beside his fallen friend, Chet looked up and said casually: "Hi, Frank! What did you think of that flip-flop?"

As Chet rose to his feet and called to the young man who had tossed him, the Hardys looked puzzled.

"Come here, Russ." He grinned. "I want you to meet two friends of mine."

A pleasant-looking fellow greeted them. He had a slender waist and broad shoulders, which looked all the st.u.r.dier because of his crew haircut.

"This is Russ Griggs," Chet said as the young man shook hands with Joe and Frank.

"He's teaching me judo."

"Chet's a pretty good pupil," Russ said, tugging at his belt. "But he's quite a load to toss over your shoulder."

"Russ is an ex-Marine," Chet went on proudly. "He learned all this stuff when he was in the Orient."

"Gosh," Joe said, "we thought you were murdering Chet!"

"Not quite as bad as that." Russ laughed. "We were just working on a movement against the back."

Frank and Joe exchanged glances. What was Chet up to now? They asked him.

"Well," Chet said, grinning, "I'm always getting into some kind of jam helping you fellows solve a mystery. I figure Russ can teach me something useful."

"Not a bad idea," Joe chimed in. "Might be good for us too, eh, Frank?"

"We know a couple of judo holds already," Frank said, "but that last one you used on Chet was a honey !r'

"It's easy enough, if you're fast," Russ told them. "Here, I'll show you how it goes."

As Frank stepped forward, the ex-Marine showed him the fundamentals of the hold, taking each step slowly.

"Now, try it on me," he said.

Hardly were the words out of his mouth when 47 the husky Russ went zooming through the air like a rocket bomb. Frank was an apt student.

"Hey!" Russ shouted. "I didn't expect you to move that fast!"

The boys laughed and the judo expert showed them a variety of other holds.

"Now," Chet said as perspiration trickled off his chin, "bring on the villain!"

After the young man had left, Frank and Joe quickly told Chet about the attack on their father.

"Shot by an arrow!" Chet exclaimed in amazement, and added, "Gosh, I'm sure sorry to hear he got hurt."

"We'll have to postpone our camping trip," Joe told him.

"I can understand that," Chet said sympathetically. "You want to be near your dad."