He and Biff watched in fascination as Frank and Joe began to set up the telescope. First they unfastened
the tape with which the tube and tripod legs were tied together. Joe turned the three legs down and
pulled out the extensions to the desired height. Then Frank secured the tripod legs with a chain to keep
them from spreading.
"What's next?" Biff asked.
"To get proper balance for the main telescope tube we slide it through this trunnion sleeve toward the eye
end, like this." After doing so, Frank tightened the wing nuts on the tripod lightly.
Joe picked up the balance weight from the carrying case and screwed it into the right side of the
telescope tube about one third the distance from the eyepiece.
"This'll keep the whole thing from being top heavy," he pointed out.
"And what's this little telescope alongside the big one for?" Chet queried.
"A finder," Frank explained. "Actually, it's a small guide telescope and helps the observer sight his big
telescope on the object more easily."
"It's as clear as mud," Chet remarked with a grin. He squinted through the ends of both the large and the
small telescopes. "I can't see a thing," he complained. Joe laughed. "And you won't until I insert one of
the eyepieces into the adapter of the big telescope and put another eyepiece into the finder."
In a few minutes the Hardys had the fascinating device working. By turning a small knob, Frank slowly
swung the telescope from left to right, and each boy took a turn looking out across the water.
"Not a boat in sight!" said Chet, disappointed.
Frank had just taken his second turn squinting through the eyepiece when he called out excitedly, "I see
something!"
He now began a running account of the scene he had just picked up. "It's not very clear . . . but I see a
boat . . . must be at least six miles out."
"What kind of boat?" Joe put in.
"Looks like a cruiser ... or a cutter. . . . It's not moving. . . . Want to take a look, Joe?"
Frank's brother changed places with him. "Say, fellows, a man's going over the side on a ladder . . . and,
hey! there's a smaller boat down below. . . . He's climbing into it."
"Can you see a name or numbers on the big boat?" Frank asked excitedly.
"No. The boat's turned at a funny angle, so you can't see the lettering. You couldn't even if the weather
was clearer."
"Which way is the man in the small boat heading?" Biff asked.
"He seems to be going toward Barmet Bay."
Joe gave up his position to Biff. "Suppose you keep your eye on him for a while, and also the big boat.
Maybe it'll turn so you can catch the name or number on the box."
Chet had been silent for several moments. Now he said, "Do you suppose they're the smugglers?"
"Could be," Frank replied. "I think we'd better leave and report this to Dad from the first telephone we-"
He was interrupted by the sudden, terrifying scream of a man!
"Wh-where did that come from?" Chet asked with a frightened look.
"Sounded as if it came from inside," Frank answered.
The boys stared at the house on the cliff. A moment later they heard a loud cry for help. It was followed
by another scream.
"Somebody's in there and is in trouble!" Joe exclaimed. "We'd better find out what's going on!"
Leaving the telescope, the four boys ran to the front door and tried the knob. The door was locked.
"Let's scatter and see if we can find another door," Frank suggested.
Frank and Joe took one side of the house, Biff and Chet the other. They met at the rear of the old home
and together tried a door there. This, too, was locked.
"There's a broken window around the corner," Biff announced. "Shall we climb in?"
"I guess we'd better," Frank answered.
As the boys reached the window, which seemed to open into a library, they heard the scream again.
"Help! Hurry! Help!" came an agonized cry.
CHAPTER II
Thief at Work
JOE was first to slide through the broken window. "Wait a moment, fellows," he called out, "until I
unlock this."
Quickly he turned the catch, raised the window, and the other three boys stepped inside the library. No
one was there and they ran into the large center hall.
"Hello!" Frank shouted. "Where are you?"
There was no answer. "Maybe that person who was calling for help has passed out or is unconscious,"
Joe suggested. "Let's look around."
The boys dashed in various directions, and investigated the living room with its old-fashioned furnishings,
the dining room with its heavily carved English oak set, the kitchen, and what had evidently been a maid's
bedroom in days gone by. Now it was heaped high with empty boxes and crates. There was no one in
any of the rooms and the Hardys and their two friends met again in the hall.
"The man must be upstairs," Frank decided.
He started up the front stairway and the others followed. There were several bedrooms. Suddenly Chet
hung back. He wanted to go with his pals but the eeriness of the house made him pause. Biff and the
Hardys sped from one to another of the many rooms. Finally they investigated the last of them.
"Nobody here! What do you make of it?" Biff asked, puzzled.
Chet, who had rejoined the group, said worriedly, "M-maybe the place is haunted!"
Joe's eyes were searching for an entrance to the third floor. Seeing none, he opened three doors in the
hall, hoping to find a stairway. He saw none.
"There must be an attic in this house," he said. "I wonder how you get to it."
"Maybe there's an entrance from one of the bedrooms," Frank suggested. "Let's see."
The boys separated to investigate. Suddenly Frank called out, "I've found it."
The others ran to where he had discovered a door behind a man's shabby robe hanging inside a closet.
This in turn revealed a stairway and the group hurriedly climbed it, Chet bringing up the rear.
The attic room was enormous. Old newspapers and magazines were strewn around among old-fashioned
trunks and suitcases, but there was no human being in sight.
"I guess that cry for help didn't come from the house at all," Biff suggested. "What'll we do now? Look
outdoors?"
"I guess we'll have to," Frank answered.
He started down the steep stairway. Reaching the foot, he turned the handle of the door which had
swung shut. To his concern he was not able to open it.
"What's the matter?" asked Chet from the top of the stairway.
"Looks as if we're locked in," Frank told him.
"Locked in?" Chet wailed. "Oh, no!"
Frank tried pulling and pushing the door. It did not budge.
"That's funny," he said. "I didn't see any lock on the outside."
Suddenly the full import of the situation dawned on the four boys. Someone had deliberately locked them
in! The cries for help had been a hoax to lure them into the house!
"You think somebody was playing a joke on us?" Biff asked.
"Pretty rotten kind of joke," Chet sputtered.
Frank and Joe were inclined to think that there was more to it than a joke. Someone had seen a chance
to steal a valuable telescope and two late-model motorcycles!
"We've got to get out of here!" Joe said. "Frank, put your shoulder to the door and I'll help."
Fortunately, the door was not particularly sturdy and gave way easily. Frank glanced back a moment as
he rushed through and saw two large hooks which he had not noticed before. They had evidently been
slipped into the eyes and had been ripped from the framework by the crash on the door.