Free Mystery of the Samurai Sword by Franklin W. Dixon Page B

why it happened.”
    â€œIf you’re right, his chauffeur must have been in on it,” Frank pointed out.
    Both aides agreed. “But there is no hope of learning anything from him,” said Oyama.
    â€œWhy not, sir?”
    â€œBecause he is fanatically loyal to his master. You see, he has a small daughter, who was born with a heart defect. Mr. Satoya had her flown to a hospital in Texas and paid for an expensive operation that saved her life. Now that fellow would die before he would betray anything which his master wished to keep secret.”
    On a sudden impulse, Frank decided to phone Warlord from the hotel lobby. As he had hoped, the dancer accepted his call.
    â€œWe’ve found out about the fight you had with a Satoya worker, and how you were forced to leave Japan,” Frank said. “We’d like to hear your side of it, just out of fairness.”
    There was a brief silence. Then Warlord said, “Okay, you win. Come on over to the college and I’ll tell you the whole story.”

11
    A Crooked Offer
    â€œWe’ll be right over,” Frank promised and hung up.
    Joe was excited when he heard the news. “Maybe something’ll break now!”
    â€œMaybe. But we’d better not get our hopes too high. This may turn into another blind alley.”
    The boys sped to Bayshore College. After parking their car in the student lot, they found Yvor Killian and his troupe practicing their numbers in the gymnasium again.
    The dancer’s manner was somewhat embarrassed as he greeted the Hardys.
    â€œCome over and sit down, please, where we can talk in private,” he said, gesturing toward some folding chairs in one corner of the gym.
    When they were all seated, Killian began, “About three years ago, before I formed my present troupe, I studied the martial arts in Japan.”
    â€œHow come?” Joe asked.
    â€œBecause I thought they might add an important touch to the kind of dance spectacle I was interested in creating. I enjoyed learning the Japanese fighting skills and the way they were taught, partly because it was all so different from our American self-defense sports like boxing, for example. But there was one student, named Noguchi, with whom I never got along. He hated me—maybe because his father had been killed fighting the Americans during the war.”
    Killian said the bad feelings between them erupted one day during a practice match. Noguchi had refused to “pull” his blows. This enraged Killian. They were soon fighting in deadly earnest, and before their instructor could stop them, Killian hit his opponent with a karate chop, seriously injuring him.
    The dancer’s head drooped for a moment and his face took on a bleak expression as he recalled the unpleasant situation.
    â€œI instantly regretted it,” he went on, “and I tried to make amends by visiting Noguchi at the hospital and apologizing. But by then the damage was done. Noguchi worked for the Satoya Corporation, and their company lawyers pressed charges against me with the police. As a result, I was asked to leave the country.”
    â€œTough break,” Frank sympathized.
    Warlord shrugged. “Just one of those things, I guess. Noguchi recovered, but I still feel guilty about what happened, so I’ve tried to forget the whole business. If the news ever came out, it probably wouldn’t do my career any good, either.”
    â€œDon’t worry, it’s not going to leak out through us,” said Joe.
    â€œNo, I’m sure of that—now. But at the time I got your call and heard what you wanted to see me about, I guess I lost my head. I thought you were going to drag up that old scandal and try to pin something on me. Sorry about that.”
    â€œForget it,” Frank said. “But we do have another question...”
    â€œShoot.”
    â€œYou told us you thought Satoya intended to bid on that sword at the Palmer-Glade Auction