CHAPTER XVI

A Phony Exposed

the milling youths now provided an excellent screen for Mug and Baby Face, who kept their knives poised against the backs of the Hardy boys.

"We don't know anything about the Ivory Idol," Frank said calmly.

"Quit kiddin'. We read the papers, too."

"Listen, Merks," Joe exploded. "You'll never get away with this! That tattoo between your eyes is like a signal light and you know it!"

Baby Face was taken aback. "Where'd you learn my name?" he asked. "And how'd you know that's a tattoo?"

"We know about you," Frank replied.

"And the Ivory Idol," Baby Face hissed. "I'll give you three more seconds to start talkin'-"

"Dump!" Joe cried out. Frank instantly recognized the signal for an old trick. Both boys bent

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quickly at the waist, grabbed the ankles of their captors, and pulled hard. Mug and Baby Face lost their holds and dropped to the pavement.

"Into the street!" Frank shouted. They dashed forward the same moment the two gangs of young hoodlums charged at each other. The Hardys were caught in the middle!

They dodged, feinted, and ducked to get clear of the scene. Baby Face and Mug were not far behind, battling to get at them.

Suddenly sirens wailed and police cars and paddy wagons screeched into the area. Several of the youths bolted. A few got away, but most were caught within the police cordon.

Frank and Joe grinned as they waited their turn to enter the paddy wagon. "Just like in the movies," Joe said. "The cavalry arrives in the nick of time."

Frank craned his neck and looked around for Baby Face and Mug. "If we're lucky," he said, "the police will have picked up our playmates."

"All right!" said a big patrolman. "Into the wagon. Hurry it up!" The ride to the station house was short. The gang members were herded together in a large room to be booked. Frank and Joe, who looked out of place among them, identified themselves to the officer in charge and requested that he call Sergeant Bill Thompson at headquarters to verify their story.

Thompson came to the boys' aid immediately.

132 Mystery of the Whale Tattoo

Hearing what had happened, he checked the list of prisoners. "Good news, boys," he reported. "Merks was picked up. Unfortunately Stine got away."

"Too bad," Joe said.

"Well, your job may be a bit easier now that Merks is out of the running," Thompson said. "Come on. I'll drive you to the airport."

He stayed with the Hardys until they boarded their flight. Soon after they were airborne, Frank pulled the copy of the information card on the Society of the Whale Tattoo from his pocket. He and Joe studied it carefully.

Mug and Baby Face, the boys concluded, were not in the society. Neither of them had the proper whale tattoo. Apparently they were independents hired by the society.

"Our first real response," Joe said, "came when we planted the story about knowing where the missing whale was. From that time on, we've been shadowed pretty closely."

"Right. But what about those thugs insisting that we know the location of the Ivory Idol?"

"Frank, I've got it!" Joe slammed his fist on the armrest. "Remember Merks' remark 'We read the papers, too'!"

"The Ivory Idol is in the whale!" Frank interrupted excitedly. "I should've guessed it before now. Kane must have hidden it there before he was killed."

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"It makes sensel We've got to find the whale-and fast!"

It was late in the evening when the Hardys finally reached their home. Their mother and Aunt Gertrude welcomed them warmly and prepared hot chocolate and a tasty snack. As they relaxed, Frank and Joe related their adventures, including their search for Zelemeyer's Circus. But they toned down the more dangerous parts.

"Well, that's not quite the same version Chet told us," Mrs. Hardy said with a twinkle in her eyes. "But I suppose it's close enough."

"Chet's back in Bayport?" Frank asked.

"Yes. Your father felt he could form a new cover much better without Chet. But he's still working on your case, asking everybody about Ze-lemeyer's Circus."

"That's a good thought," Frank nodded. "Maybe Zelemeyer's did play in Bayport."

"Gracious," Aunt Gertrude said, "I meant to tell Chet about Mrs. Hendricks. She went to every one of them before her arthritis got so bad."

"Went to every what?" Joe asked.

"Circus, of course," his aunt replied.

"Sort of a circus nut, you'd call her, I guess," Mrs. Hardy said, and the boys looked in surprise at their mother.

"Well"-Mrs. Hardy looked embarrassed- "you can't live around two teen-agers without picking up some of their language."

134 Mystery of the Whale Tattoo

Her sons laughed, and Frank said, "How do we contact Mrs. Hendricks?"

Miss Hardy went to the telephone, dialed a number, and handed the receiver to Frank.

"Oh, hello," Frank said to the pleasant though somewhat quavering voice of the woman who answered. "I'm Frank Hardy. . . . She's fine. . . . My mother, too.. . . No, nothing's wrong. I wonder if you remember a certain circus in town."

Frank explained, and as he listened to Mrs. Hendricks's reply, his eyebrows lifted. "Yes, go on, please.. . . And you remember a whale? Now, Mrs. Hendricks, please tell me all you can recall."

After listening a few minutes longer, Frank thanked the woman and hung up. Then he grabbed Aunt Gertrude and danced her around the room.

"My goodness, Frank! Are you mad?" she protested. "Careful of my spectacles!"

"For Pete's sake, spill it!" Joe cried.

"Okay. Listen carefully," Frank said as Aunt Gertrude flopped down in an easy chair.

The Zelemeyer Circus had played in Bayport many years before, at the old fairgrounds adjacent to the very spot where the new supermarket was going up. The circus went broke and disbanded. The stuffed whale they were exhibiting was buried on the spot because nobody wanted it.

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"Wow!" Joe exclaimed. "What news! Cousin Elmer should hear this. Hey! Cousin Elmer!"

"Save your breath, Joe," Aunt Gertrude said. "Cousin Elmer is no longer with us."

The boys looked startled. "You mean he died?" Frank gasped.

"Of course not. He left. Flew the coop."

"That's right," Mrs. Hardy confirmed. "Elmer just upped and vanished two days ago without a word to anybody. We found a note on his dresser saying he was sorry he couldn't stay and meet Fen-ton." Their mother got the note and the boys read it.

"That wasn't very polite of him," Frank said.

Aunt Gertrude agreed emphatically. "Indeed not. And the way he ate my apple pie, you would have thought he'd say good-by in person. Not a true Hardy, that's all!"

"He might be the black sheep," Joe said, trying to make light of it, but the boys were instantly suspicious of the man who had accepted their hospitality.

"Anything missing around the house?" Frank asked guardedly.

Mrs. Hardy assured them that nothing had been stolen, and none of Fenton Hardy's records and files had been disturbed.

Frank was still not convinced. "There's something fishy about the whole deal-the way he

136 Mystery of the Whale Tattoo

came early, the way he wouldn't give any details about his past, and now his sudden disappearance."

"But the motive's missing," Joe said. "If he was an impostor, he'd have to have a reason."

"I'm sure he did. It's just that we can't see- Wait a minute!" He looked again at the note Elmer had left, then said, "Joe, do we still have that scrap we saved from the burning of Boko's strongbox papers?"

"Sure."

Joe went to their room to get it and Frank compared the two. "Oh, no! Our guest was none other than Boko the Clown! That sprained arm in the sling was a dodge to hide his whale tattoo!"