The Secret of Pirates' Hill Read online

“She stood up fine!” he exclaimed.

  “Well, thanks, Sergeant,” said Bowden. “I guess the cannon will do for the pageant. I’ll see you later,” he added as he walked away.

  The old man began running his hands along the cannon and talking to himself. “Great piece o’ work,” he declared. He turned to Frank and Joe. “I’d like to tell you a bit about this.”

  “We’d like to hear it a little later,” said Frank.

  The Hardys were eager to locate the old sunken merchantman. When their friends agreed to help, Frank asked Chet to drive to their boathouse in the convertible to pick up the aqualung diving gear. Tony offered the use of the Napoli from which to work.

  When Chet reached the road, Bowden was just driving away. As his car gathered speed Chet saw a piece of paper blow out the window. Picking it up, he examined it curiously.

  “Why, it’s a stock certificate of the Copper Slope Mining Company. It must be valuable,” he mused. “I’d better return it to Bowden.”

  Suddenly he recalled what Frank and Joe had told him about Bowden selling stock to a man in Taylorville. “This certificate might be phony!”

  Chet decided to leave the certificate at the Hardys’ home for inspection later on. He got into the convertible and drove to Bayport.

  Out on Pirates’ Hill, Frank was saying to the old sergeant, “Now tell us about this cannon.”

  Tilton beamed. “Firing a gun like this here one is a pretty risky thing.”

  He went on to explain that the demiculverin most likely had been used at some Spanish colonial fort before the pirates had captured it. The normal life of such a cannon was twelve hundred rounds. But at an outpost, where it was hard to get new weapons, a piece was always fired many rounds beyond that figure, increasing the danger of explosion with each burst.

  “When cracks develop ‘round the vent or in the bore,” Tilton said, “you got to be careful. The muzzle sometimes blows clean off’em!”

  Digging away more sand, the boys found that the cannon was mounted on a mahogany four-wheeled truck carriage used on eighteenth-century ships and garrison guns. It was covered with beautiful leaf designs, wrought in iron.

  “Look!” Joe cried. “It’s chained to a boulder.”

  This convinced the Hardys that they had been right in their deductions. The cannon was placed so that a ball fired from it would strike one particular place in the ocean!

  The boys took sights along the gun barrel and checked them with their compass. The barrel pointed due east. This would make it easy to estimate the approximate spot where the treasure should be. They chafed under the necessity of awaiting Chet’s return.

  “What you fellows aimin’ to do, now that you got this mystery solved?” Tilton asked them.

  “Look for another case, I guess,” Joe replied. “Right now we’re going for a swim.” To himself he added, “And look for the buried treasure!”

  “Hm!” said Tilton. “I ain’t been in the water fer nigh onto thirty years.”

  He climbed off the gun emplacement just as Chet came hurrying across the sand without the diving gear.

  “Something’s up!” Joe declared.

  Puffing, Chet halted. “Frank—Joe, I’ve got big news. Chief Collig phoned your home. Latsky’s been captured!”

  “Honestly?” Frank exclaimed, hardly daring to believe it was true.

  “Great!” Joe cried out. “How?”

  “He finally returned to the cabin. Seems he had money buried near there and had run out of funds,” Chet replied. “The police had no trouble nabbing him.”

  Joe grinned. “Latsky’ll be back in the penitentiary for a long stretch.”

  After a brief discussion about him, Frank looked at Chet. “In all the excitement I guess you forgot our diving gear.”

  Chet laughed and told him it was in the car. The boys said good-by to Tilton and went to pick up the equipment. On the way Chet told the others about the stock certificate Bowden had lost and that Mrs. Hardy now had it.

  “Swell work, Chet!” Frank exclaimed.

  The diving gear was carried to the beach. As the boys waded out to the Napoli, Joe reviewed what they would do. Tony and Chet were to remain aboard the boat, while Frank and Joe did the diving.

  “We’ll work by dead reckoning on the first attempt,” Joe told his pals. “Frank and I will go over the side at the estimated distance from the shore.”

  “Let’s get started,” Tony urged.

  “Hold on!” Frank said. “I think we’re foolish to leave the cannon unguarded with Bowden loose. No telling what he may try to pull.”

  “What do you suggest?” Joe asked.

  “That one of us go back and watch. If Bowden comes, our guard can signal and we’ll get to the hill in a hurry.”

  “I’ll do it,” Chet offered. “But how?”

  Tony took a large yellow bandanna and a clean white rag out of the boat’s locker. He handed them to Chet. “Wigwag with these,” he said.

  “And be sure to hide behind a dune,” Frank cautioned, “so Bowden won’t see you.”

  The others climbed into the motorboat and Tony started the engine. Frank and Joe gave directions to the site of the sunken treasure, using the church spire as a landmark and keeping on a course due east. Tony steered the Napoli carefully while Frank and Joe tried to estimate a distance of two thousand yards from shore.

  “Stop!” Frank commanded presently. “Unless all our reckoning is wrong, the treasure ship must be directly below us.”

  There was silence for a few moments as the full import of Frank’s words struck them all. They might be about to make an intriguing find!

  “Let’s go down!” Joe urged his brother.

  The Hardys donned their gear and climbed over the side.

  Tony, watching Chet intently, suddenly cried out, “Wait, fellows! Chet is signaling!”

  Back on Pirates’ Hill their pal had seen Bowden sneaking up to the cannon. As he watched the man, terror struck his heart. Bowden was ramming a charge of powder into the ancient gun. Then he inserted a cannon ball into the muzzle!

  All this time Chet was wigwagging. The boys on the water interpreted, “Bowden here. Look out for—”

  The missile ready, Bowden ran to the back of the cannon and inserted a fuse into the vent hole. Chet’s hands were shaking with fright. Bowden flicked on his lighter and held it to the fuse, then stepped back.

  “Run!” Chet signaled.

  Boom!

  With a shuddering detonation the demiculverin sent the deadly ball directly toward the Napoli!

  CHAPTER XX

  Divers’ Reward

  WHAM! Smack!

  The cannon ball hit the Napoli a second after the boys had flung themselves away from it. Spray and debris flew in every direction.

  The Hardys, only a few feet away, were knocked unconscious by the concussion. Tony, unhurt, was worried about his companions. He realized that in their diving equipment they would float and could breathe even if they were unconscious. However, he was afraid that his friends might not have survived the shock.

  Catching up to Joe, he was just in time to see the boy move his arms. He was alive!

  “Thank goodness!” Tony said to himself. Then he went to find Frank. To his relief, he too had regained consciousness. Frank removed the mouthpiece of the air hose and took a deep breath.

  “Do you think Bowden meant to kill us?” Tony asked.

  “It certainly looks that way.”

  Just then Joe swam over to them. One glance at the Napoli told the three boys that it was doomed.

  “Too bad,” said Joe.

  “Guess we’ll have to swim to shore. Stick close to us, Tony,” Frank advised.

  The boys struck out toward the distant beach, but they had not swum fifty yards when they heard the roar of a motor.

  “A Coast Guard boat!” Joe called out.

  The launch circled to pick them up. The young lieutenant in charge, Ted Newgate, was glad to see that they were all right. />
  “We heard the report of a cannon and came to investigate,” he said as they were hauled aboard. “What’s going on here?”

  “Someone on the hill tried to blow us out of the water,” Joe answered. “I want to get to shore as fast as possible and find him.”

  The powerful motor kicked up foam as the boat headed toward land. Nearing Pirates’ Hill, Frank gave a cry. “Joe, there’s Dad on the beach with Chief Collig and Chet.”

  Joe shaded his eyes. “And look who’s hand-cuffed to Collig! Bowden!”

  Quickly the boys told the lieutenant about the secret of Pirates’ Hill. The young man was amazed and congratulated them on their good work. Then he put them ashore in the launch’s gig. When the bow hit the sand, Frank and Joe raced across the beach to greet their father, a handsome man in his early forties.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “We’re okay, Dad, but no thanks to Bowden,” Frank replied.

  The police chief said, “You can thank your lucky stars you’re still here to tell the story. The charge against Bowden will be assault and battery with intent to kill. And the Coast Guard will have something to say about his firing without permission.”

  Bowden looked completely beaten. The police chief explained that the man had stolen a cannon ball from the town square, hoping to use it to locate the sunken merchantman.

  “When he spotted you fellows out there, Bowden saw a good chance to eliminate you from the race for the treasure.”

  Joe glared at the prisoner. “We didn’t trust you, but we didn’t think you were a killer.”

  “If the repercussion from that old cannon hadn’t knocked him out, he would have got away before your dad and I showed up,” Collig stated. “He was armed, so Chet wouldn’t have had a chance to stop him. Well, Bowden will get a long stretch in prison to pay for his crimes.”

  Frank asked his father how he happened to have come to Pirates’ Hill. “Because I hoped Bowden was here and I wanted to have him arrested for selling fake stock certificates.” Mr. Hardy smiled broadly. “You’ve helped me solve my own case of bringing a notorious gang of swindlers to justice. I’ve been tracking this fellow’s friends all over the South. They’ve been counterfeiting stock, getting prospective customers through the mail and selling them phony certificates.”

  Joe inquired when Mr. Hardy had arrived from Florida. “Only an hour ago,” the detective said. “When your telegram came, I flew up. Chet clinched matters by leaving the stock certificate that had blown out of Bowden’s car. The instant your mother handed it to me I recognized it as a counterfeit.”

  Hearing this, the prisoner winced, chagrined to think that he had given himself away by carelessly losing the document.

  Collig started to walk toward the shore road. “We’d better get this man behind bars.”

  The others followed. When they reached the police car, the chief phoned headquarters to report he had a prisoner. In turn the sergeant on duty reported that he was holding a suspect for the Hardy boys to identify.

  “Follow me in your car,” Collig directed.

  On their arrival at police headquarters, Frank and Joe were first shown a black skin-diving suit and a yellow-trimmed skull cap.

  “The spearman that shot at us wore gear like this!” Joe cried out. “Sergeant, where did you get it?”

  “From that man over there—Guinness.”

  The Hardys turned to look. “The guy who shot rockets at us Fourth of July!” Frank exclaimed. “Say, Guinness, how did you know we were going to be there that night?”

  Collig informed both prisoners that they did not have to answer any questions, and advised them of their constitutional rights. But Guinness decided to talk.

  “I didn’t,” he said, “but my chance came right then and I took it.”

  Guinness admitted he was in league with Latsky, whom he had met recently. But the prisoner denied knowing Bowden or anyone named Gorman.

  “What about the paper with the name Smedick on it which the police found in your wastebasket?” Frank asked. “Didn’t you know Smedick was Gorman?”

  Guinness said No, but thought Latsky must have discovered Gorman’s alias and dropped the paper on one of his visits to Guinness’s room.

  “Where is Gorman?” Frank shot at Bowden.

  The man did not answer, but this fact gave Frank a lead. As events flashed through his mind, an idea came to him.

  “You had Gorman attacked at the rear of the beach shack and taken away. Later, you hid him in the trunk compartment of your car. We heard him moan!”

  Bowden’s face went ashen. Frank’s surmise had turned the tide. Bowden confessed that he had lied to the boys about Gorman’s character. He had had him trailed and ambushed at the shack by henchmen. When the Hardys arrived unexpectedly, it had been necessary for the thugs to attack them, too. Worried, they had taken the young detectives to the gully and dumped them. Then they had abandoned the car.

  Upon their return to the shack the henchmen had met Bowden and told the story. Later, Bowden had driven past the gully to check and received a real surprise.

  “I had to rescue you because I wanted you to think it was on the level,” Bowden said. “That moan you heard in my car was Gorman. I told you it had been made by the wind.”

  “Where is Gorman now?” Frank demanded.

  “You’ll find him in the room next to mine at the motel, tied up. He’s supposed to be sick and has an attendant. No one else goes in,” Bowden said.

  Chief Collig sent two men immediately to release Gorman. While the others waited, more facts were revealed about the case.

  During a prison term at the Delmore penitentiary, Bowden, whose real name was Bell, had met Latsky who knew a great deal about ancient cannon, including the story of the Battle of Bayport. Each man was determined to find the treasure for himself after being released. It became a bitter race, with Gorman against both of them.

  “First you had to locate the cutlass with the directions,” said Frank.

  “Yes,” Bowden admitted. “Latsky tried to steal the swords from the Bayport Historical Society but failed. Then I took them.”

  “I see. And when you found none of them contained the parchment, you had Gil Fanning sell them. Latsky later bought the five cutlasses but could not locate the clue either.”

  “And you had Chet lured off to be questioned and slugged him. Then you put him in the gully with Frank and me,” Joe said.

  As he was talking, two officers walked in with Gorman and an eighteen-year-old youth.

  Chet gazed in amazement. “That’s the fellow who led me into a trap!” he exclaimed.

  The new prisoner was identified as Gil Fanning, who had been Gorman’s attendant at the motel. He had needed money, so he agreed to work for Bowden.

  “I—I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong,” Gil said. “Then first thing I knew, I was in so deep I couldn’t get out.”

  Bowden admitted that the boy had been his dupe, and hoped that harsh punishment would not be meted out to him. The ex-convict then revealed the names of his henchmen, and Chief Collig ordered their immediate arrest.

  The Hardys turned to Gorman and asked if he felt all right. “Yes,” he replied, “and I’m glad you boys uncovered the secret in the cutlass, instead of Latsky and Bowden.”

  He told them that the directions to the cannon, according to the legend, had been hidden in the cutlass belonging to the pirates’ captain. Along with five other swords it had been given to someone in the Bayport area for safekeeping.

  Gorman had learned about the treasure and the demiculverin from an ancient diary. “It was written by the wife of the merchantman’s captain. She tried for years to locate the site of her husband’s sunken ship.”

  Gorman said he was a direct descendant of the captain and that the diary was his property. After his discharge from the Navy he decided to look for the treasure site.

  “Which I never would have discovered if you boys hadn’t found the cannon, and Mr. Har
dy and the chief hadn’t caught Bowden,” Gorman said.

  “It was probably Latsky,” Joe said, “who threatened Bowden in the message we found on his door and who subsequently sent us a threat.”

  Bowden confirmed this. “He later knocked me out when I was talking to you fellows on the phone.”

  “Who was hiding under the tarpaulin in the boat when Halpen warned us away from the sting ray?” Frank asked.

  “I was,” Guinness replied. “Latsky had hired me to dive for the sunken treasure ship. When you showed up one morning, I thought you were hunting, too. So I shot a couple of spears at you to scare you off.”

  Joe whistled. “When I saw that first spear coming, I had no idea that Frank and I would be involved in an undersea treasure hunt!”

  When the questioning ended, the prisoners were led away and the others left. Mr. Hardy invited Gorman to stay at their home until he had recovered completely.

  “And please forgive Joe and me for suspecting you,” Frank said.

  “I will on one condition,” Gorman replied with a grin. “That you show me where that treasure is and let me share with you whatever the government will let us have.”

  The Hardys laughed and Joe said, “That won’t be hard to take!”

  “But first,” said Frank, “from whatever we get, I suggest that we buy Tony a new and even better Napoli.”

  The others quickly agreed, then Joe said, “I guess this treasure hunt will be the most exciting adventure we’ve ever had.”

  But another was soon to come their way, which was to become known as The Ghost at Skeleton Rock.

  Two days later the whole group, in skin-diving outfits, climbed over the side of the Sleuth and descended to a depth of thirty feet at the same spot they had been fired on by Bowden. There lay the ancient merchantman, its timbers rotted away, and moss and barnacles covering the metal parts.

  Cautiously Gorman and the boys swam in and out, removing the debris. At last their search was rewarded. There, in the uncovered hold of the old vessel, lay a vast quantity of gold bullion. Through their masks, the divers beamed at one another triumphantly.

  The Hardys and their friends had found the ancient treasure!