Free The Hidden Harbor Mystery by Franklin W. Dixon Page A

he watched the boys.
    â€œTimmy’s been sort of shadowing you,” the old man explained. “He was afraid you’d make trouble for me if you found me.” Grover smiled at his grandson. “These gentlemen are all right, Timmy. No need to fear.”
    At this point Joe decided to try a new lead. “Grover,” he began, “do you know why the Rands and Blackstones are fighting over the border line property again? Is it because the Blackstone family fortune is buried on it somewhere?”
    â€œAlso, where’s Hidden Harbor?” Frank added.
    For a moment Grover blinked at the boys in amazement. “How’d you all know about that?”
    Quickly Joe recounted the discovery of the captain’s note while the boys were marooned at the lighthouse.
    â€œYou all know about as much about it as I do,” Grover informed them. “Old Mr. Clement Blackstone, they say, buried his money and family papers before he sailed away to England. That was while the Civil War was going on. Mr. Clement never came back. He died over there—after the war. Then the Rands and Blackstones started feuding about that land.”
    â€œWhere was the treasure buried, exactly?” Joe pursued. “Didn’t anybody ever dig it up?”
    â€œSeems they kind of lost track of things, somehow,” the old man answered, obviously puzzled himself. “My daddy told me when I was a boy he once heard it was buried at the mouth of Hidden Harbor, but I don’t know any Hidden Harbor.”
    â€œHmm, that’s something new, anyhow,” Joe observed. “At the mouth of the harbor.”
    â€œIt’s the key to the whole case,” Frank declared earnestly. “Not the money, but the papers. They’ll tell us how the fortune was made. They might prove Bart’s story!”
    After a moment’s reflection, he injected a new idea. “You say everybody ‘lost track’ of the fortune, Grover,” Frank said. “Didn’t the feud die down just about the same time? There must be some connection.”
    â€œYou mean,” Joe put in, “both families wanted the disputed land in order to locate Clement’s buried fortune. But after they ‘lost track’ of it, the land wasn’t important to them any more?”
    â€œRight,” Frank said. “The feud has started up again because somebody found a clue to the fortune.”
    â€œI can’t be rightly sure,” Grover suddenly declared, “but it seems to me Professor Rand is kind of looking for that money. Fact is, he was the one started up this feuding. Mr. Blackstone, he’s a rich man—he doesn’t need any more money than he’s got. But Mr. Rand—well, you boys have seen his house. He sure could use a fortune.”
    â€œThat’s a logical idea,” Joe agreed.
    â€œThen what is Blackstone making such a fuss about?” demanded Chet, bewildered.
    â€œOh, Blackstone may not want the money,” Joe pointed out. “It’s those family papers he doesn’t want found, because they contain proof of something he doesn’t want publicized.”
    â€œI get it! The piracy and smuggling charges!” Chet exclaimed. “The evidence Bart needs!”
    Frank nodded decisively. “All this boils down to one thing, fellows: We must find Hidden Harbor and find it fast, before Bart’s case comes to court!”
    Suddenly Joe held up his hand, warning for silence. From outside the room, the sound of leather heels striking upon brick reached them.
    â€œSomebody’s comin’ down the passage,” Grover whispered nervously.
    Quickly the old man bent over the lamp chimney and gave a strong puff. The old beverage room was plunged into total darkness. The footsteps passed by, unhurried, in the direction of the plantation house.
    â€œWho could it be?” Frank asked Grover.
    â€œI don’t know, sir,” was the answer.