Free The Mummy Case by Franklin W. Dixon

the lady tried to poison the two assistant curators with heliomin!”
    â€œIt seems they’ve been on your trail ever since,” Linos said tersely. “That’s too bad, Norma. It could mean trouble if they told anyone else about their suspicions. And before they can cause any more problems, I vote we finish them off!”
    Norma shook her head. “Let’s hold them here. They’re worth more alive than dead!”
    â€œWhy bother?”
    â€œBecause their father is Fenton Hardy, the famous American investigator from Bayport. He may be after us, too. If so, we can blackmail him into giving up or else he’ll never see his sons again!”
    Linos nodded. “You have a point. But I don’t want to take both of them right now. Let’s lock one in the tower until we need him. If we don‘t, he can stay there forever!”
    Two gang members pushed Joe upstairs into the small room at the top of the lighthouse. They tied his hands and feet and tossed him into a corner. Then they slammed shut the heavy wooden door behind them, turned the key in the lock, and went downstairs again.
    â€œWe’d better get going,” Linos commanded. The five men took Frank outside and pushed him into the van, which Reggie Watson had moved out of the undergrowth. He had been busy reconnecting the brakes. While he was finishing up, the gang stood around waiting. Norma, who was the last to leave the lighthouse, joined them.
    One of the men leaned on the side of the van, watching their prisoner through the window. Now and then he turned to his companions, adding a word or two to the conversation. During one of those moments, Frank surreptitiously put his hand into his pocket and removed a tiny pellet from the detective kit his father had given him.
    â€œI sure hope this works,” he thought as he casually leaned his left arm out the open window on the other side. Then he quickly tossed the pellet toward the motorcycles.
    Boom! The explosion went off, startling the gang members, who turned in the direction of the sound. They started toward the bikes to see if they were all right.
    In the split second that his captors were occupied by the explosion, Frank wrenched open the van door, leaped out, pushed Norma out of the way, and ran into the woods.
    â€œCatch him!” Norma Jones screamed. “Don’t let him get away!”
    Frank could hear the gang pushing through the underbrush after him. Turning along a gully, he crossed a small hill and found himself in a grove of tall trees with bare patches of ground on either side. Some of the gang were coming up behind him, and sounds ahead told him others were closing in from that direction. Apparently they had split up and he was caught in the middle!
    The bare ground beyond the trees offered no cover and they were about to recapture him!
    Desperately Frank shinnied up the tallest tree and hid among the foliage. He saw the men come together beneath him. They began a heated argument about where their prisoner had gone.
    â€œHe must have taken a different direction!” Linos roared. “We’ll have to fan out and beat through the woods till we find him!”
    The gang split up into pairs, with Norma joining Michael Linos and Reggie Watson. Soon the sound of their footsteps faded away.
    â€œI’ll have to try to get Joe,” Frank thought frantically and slid down the tree. Quietly he hurried to the lighthouse. No one seemed to be around, so he rushed up to the second floor. The gang had left the key in the lock, and, with a sigh of relief, Frank opened the door.
    Joe was elated. “How’d you manage—”
    â€œSh!” Frank said. “Tell you later.” He severed Joe’s bonds with his miniature knife, then the two tiptoed down the stairs as fast as they could. There was still no sign of the gang.
    â€œWe’ll make a beeline for the van,” Frank hissed. “Let’s hope the keys are still