envelopes had not contained bona fide Elekton. papers at all!
"What does Mr. Peters look like?" asked Joe, a note of intense excitement in his voice.
"Average height and stocky, with a sharp nose. Sometimes he'd be wearing sunglasses."
"Stocky and a sharp nose," Frank repeated. "Sunglasses." Meaningfully he asked Joe, "Whom does that description fit?"
Joe jumped to his feet. "The man who gave Chet the counterfeit twenty at the railroad station!"
The Hardys had no doubt now that the mysterious Victor Peters must be a passer for the
counterfeit ring!
CHAPTER XVI
A Might Assignment
GREATLY excited at this valuable clue to the counterfeiters, Frank asked, "Ken, who gave Mr.
Markel the envelopes for Victor Peters?"
"I'm sorry, fellows, I don't know."
The Hardys speculated on where Peters was living. Was it somewhere near Bayport?
Joe's eyes narrowed. "Ken," he said, "this morning we found out that sometimes you'd ride up that dirt road to the deserted farmhouse. Was it for any particular reason?"
"Yes," Ken replied. "Mr. Markel told me a poor old man was staying in the house, and a couple of times a week I was sent there to leave a box of food on the front porch."
"Did you ever see the 'poor old man'?" Frank asked. "Or the green panel truck?"
The Hardys were not surprised when the answer to both questions was No. They suspected the
"poor old man" was Peters hiding out there and that he had made sure the truck was out of sight whenever Ken was expected.
The brothers were silent, each puzzling over the significance of what they had just learned. If the truck was used by the counterfeiters, how did this tie in with its being used for the sabotage at Elekton?
"Was The Arrow in league with the saboteurs? Did he also have something to do with the
envelopes sent to Victor Peters?" Joe asked himself.
Frank wondered, "Is The Arrow-or a confederate of his working at Elekton-the person
responsible for the warnings, the attack on us, and the tampering with the Sleuth?"
"Ken," Frank said aloud, "I think you'd better come and stay with us for a while, until we break this case.
Maybe you can help us."
He did not want to mention it to Ken, but the possibility had occurred to him that the boy might be in danger if the counterfeiters suspected that he had given the Hardys any information
about Victor Peters.
Ken was delighted with the idea, and Mrs. Smith, who knew of Fenton Hardy and his sons, gave
permission for her young charge to go.
As a precaution, Frank requested the kindly woman to tell any stranger asking for Ken Blake
that he was "visiting friends."
"I'll do that," she agreed.
Ken rode the back seat of Joe's motorcycle on the trip to High Street. He was warmly welcomed
by Mrs. Hardy and Aunt Gertrude.
"I hope you enjoy your stay here," said Mrs. Hardy, who knew that Frank and Joe had a good reason for inviting Ken. But neither woman asked questions in his presence.
"Your father probably will be out all day," Mrs. Hardy told her sons. "He'll phone later."
While lunch was being prepared, Frank called police headquarters to give Chief Collig a report on what had happened at the deserted farmhouse.
"I'll notify the FBI," the chief said. "I'm sure they'll want to send men out there to examine that truck and take fingerprints. Elekton," the chief added, "had no record of any employee answering The Arrow's description."
"We're working on a couple of theories," Frank confided. "But nothing definite so far."
After lunch the Hardys decided their next move was to try to find out more about the contents
of the envelopes Ken had delivered to Peters.
"We could ask Elekton officials straight out," Joe suggested.
His brother did not agree. "Without tangible evidence to back us up, we'd have to give too many reasons for wanting to know."
Finally Frank hit on an idea. He telephoned Elekton, asked for the accounting department, and
inquired
where the company had its printing done. The accounting clerk apparently thought he was a
salesman, and gave him the information.
Frank hung up. "What did they say?" Joe asked impatiently.
"All Elekton's printing is done on the premises!"
"That proves it!" Joe burst out. "The setup with Ken delivering envelopes to Peters isn't a legitimate one, and has nothing to do with Elekton business."
Meanwhile Ken, greatly mystified, had been listening intently. Now he spoke up. "Jeepers, Frank and Joe, have I been doing something wrong?"
In their excitement the Hardys had almost forgotten their guest. Frank turned to him
apologetically. "Not you, Ken, We're trying to figure out who has."
Just then the Hardys heard the familiar chug of the Queen pulling up outside. The brothers
went out to the porch with Ken. Chet leaped from his jalopy and bounded up to them. His
chubby face was split with a wide grin.
"Get a load of this!" He showed them a badge with his picture on it. "I'll have to wear it when I start work. Everybody has to wear one before he can get into the plant," he added. "Even the president of Elekton!"
Suddenly Chet became aware of Ken Blake, "Hello!" the plump boy greeted him in surprise. Ken smiled, and the Hardys told their friend of the morning's adventure.
"Boy!" Chet exclaimed. "Things are starting to pop! So you found that green truck!"
At these words a strange look crossed Frank's face.
"Chet," he said excitedly, "did you say everybody must show identification to enter Elekton's grounds?"
"Yes-everybody," Chet answered positively.
"What are you getting at, Frank?" his brother asked quickly.
"Before yesterday's explosion, when we saw the gate guard admit the green truck, the driver didn't stop-didn't show any identification at all!"
"That's true!" Joe exclaimed. "'Mr. Markel doesn't seem to be the careless type, though."
"I know," Frank went on. "If the green truck was sneaking in explosives-what better way than to let the driver zip right through."
Joe stared at his brother. "You mean Markel deliberately let the truck go by? That he's in league with the saboteurs, or the counterfeiters, or both?"
As the others listened in astonishment, Frank replied, "I have more than a hunch he is-and Docker, too. It would explain a lot."
Joe nodded in growing comprehension. "It sure would!"
"How?" demanded Chet.
Joe took up the line of deduction. "Markel himself told Ken the envelopes were for the printer.
Why did Docker say Ken wasn't at the mill the day I saw him? And what was the real reason for
his being discharged?"
"I'm getting it," Chet interjected. "Those men were trying to keep you from questioning Ken.
Why?"
"Perhaps because of what Ken could tell us, if we happened to ask him about the envelopes he delivered," Joe replied. Then he asked Ken if Markel and Docker knew that Joe had picked up the envelope the day of the near accident.
"I didn't say anything about that," Ken replied. The boy's face wore a perplexed, worried look.
"You mean Mr. Docker and Mr. Markel might be-crooks! They didn't act that way."
"I agree," Frank said. "And we still have no proof. We'll see if we can find someone way or another."
The Hardys reflected on the other mysterious happenings. "The green truck," Frank said, "could belong to the gatehouse men, since it seems to be used for whatever their scheme is, and they
are hiding it at the deserted farmhouse."
"Also," Joe put in, "if Victor Peters is the 'old man,' he's probably an accomplice."
"And," Frank continued, "don't forget that the bike Ken used was available to both Docker and Markel to deliver the warning note. The arrow shooting occurred near the mill; the attack on us in the woods that night was near the mill. The warning note found in Chet's car was put there