CHAPTER XVIII

Bird Dogs

frank cut the engine instantly and the plane's wild gyrations came to halt a few moments later.

"Joe, Chet! You all right?" Frank yelled.

"I'm okay," Joe answered. "What happened?"

"Don't know."

Hearing a groan behind them, Frank and Joe turned to see Chet, his eyes glazed, his forehead marked with a red splotch from a bang against the cabin wall. The Hardys quickly unfastened their seat belts and loosened Chet's.

"Don't move," Frank cautioned. "We'll get help."

The chubby boy's eyes were clearing. "No, no," he mumbled. "I'm okay. Just a king-sized headache." He probed his injured head. A lump was appearing rapidly. "Ugh! Lucky I'm thick-skulled. What'd they do-drop the roof on me?"

Sirens wailed. Two crash trucks sped across the 145

146 Mystery of the Whale Tattoo

field to the stricken plane, their red lights flashing. They squealed to a stop and men jumped from the vehicles with fire extinguishers.

"My brother and I weren't hurt," Frank told them, "but Chet has a nasty bump on his head."

Chet insisted he was all right, but one of the men advised that he see the airport doctor. They helped him from the plane and into one of the crash trucks which then sped off.

First making sure there was no danger of fire, Frank and Joe examined the plane. Two mechanics arrived in a jeep to probe for the cause of the trouble.

"She just whipped off to one side and began ground-looping," Frank explained. "Felt as if I'd lost a wheel."

Joe bent down and inspected the left wheel. "In a way you did lose one," he announced. "This wheel is locked solid."

Frank examined it, too. Joe was right. With the help of the mechanics, the boys tried to push the plane ahead. Its left wheel would not turn.

"That's impossible," one of the mechanics named Hank said. "We checked the wheel bearings just yesterday. There was enough grease on them to keep it turning for a year."

Frank leaned closer and sniffed. "Joe, can you identify that odor?"

Joe shook his head.

"We haven't any proof yet," Frank said, "but

Bird Dogs 147

I'll give odds that this is sabotage. There are half a dozen acids which lay dormant until activated by heat." Frank reasoned that such an acid could have eaten into the bearings, causing them to freeze.

"We'll check it out for you," Hank said.

The mechanics lifted the left landing gear and wheel onto a dolly. Then they climbed into the jeep with the boys and towed the plane back to the hangar area.

While Frank and Joe waited for Chet to return from the doctor's office, they checked to see if they could rent a plane for the afternoon. They were disappointed that nothing was available except a helicopter-and neither of them was qualified to fly such a craft.

"That's just great," Joe said. "While we're stranded, those crooks will find the whale and then the Ivory Idol will be gone for good."

"Wait a minute," Frank said. "Jack Wayne has his helicopter rating!"

"You're right. Let's phone him."

Jack informed the Hardys he would be at the airport within an hour. Heartened by this, the boys returned to the doctor's office. They found Chet smiling.

"Nothing broken," he said. "But I'm supposed to take it easy for the next few days."

Chet was told of the proposed helicopter trip. He volunteered to stay at the airport and keep an

148 Mystery of the Whale Tattoo

eye on the Hardys' plane. "I'll keep a lookout for any suspicious characters," he added.

"We'd appreciate it," Frank said. "But are you sure you're up to it?"

Chet nodded. "You could do me one favor, though."

"What's that?" Joe asked.

"Bring me that black case I had with me in the plane."

"Sure. But what's in it? You've been lugging that thing around with you ever since this investigation began."

"In it, my good man," Chet said, "are the tools of an artist. All my scrimshaw equipment. You don't think I'd let little things like a stolen whale and an ivory statue interfere with my hobby, do you?"

They brought Chet his case and got him positioned just outside the hangar in which their damaged plane was being examined.

Jack Wayne had arrived and checked out the helicopter. When Frank and Joe were securely strapped into their seats, Jack started the engine, let it idle a while, then engaged the rotors.

The copter lifted slowly from the ground, skimmed a few feet down the runway, then shot straight up into the air. They were on their way. Jack freed one hand and passed an air chart to Frank and Joe.

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"That line in black grease pencil," he shouted over the roar of the engine, "represents a direct route from where the whale was stolen to the point at which you found the balloons."

"That's one of the problems," Frank answered. "Joe and I flew over every inch of that route and we didn't find a trace of the whale."

"What are the red elliptical lines you've drawn in, Jack?" Joe asked.

"Now there's where we might have some luck," the pilot answered. "Taking into consideration the meteorological data about the storm on the night of the theft, those red lines indicate ways in which the weather balloons carrying the whale might have drifted off course."

"I see," Joe said. "So if we search along these routes we might find the spot where the whale tore loose."

"That's the idea."

The first two areas they covered turned up nothing and consumed valuable time. Joe was discouraged. "Cheer up," Jack told him, "we still have two more to go."

"What happens if we draw blanks there too?" Joe asked.

"We'll just have to think of something else," Frank said.

Fifteen minutes later Jack pointed down to a field bordered by a small stand of trees, beyond

150 Mystery of the Whale Tattoo

which lay a sparkling lake. "Somebody else seems to have lost something, too," he said.

Three men were covering the ground bird-dog fashion. "Let's go down and take a look," Frank said. He pressed the binoculars to his eyes.

Jack brought the helicopter lower. As it neared the ground, the three men looked up, pointed, then ran for the woods. "It's Tim Varney and Mug Stine!" Frank exclaimed. "And Rembrandt is with them!"

"Rembrandt!" said Joe. "Well, I'll be a crosseyed monkey. He certainly had us fooled."

The three men disappeared into the woods. Moments later, several white puffs of smoke appeared from the shadows of the forest. Bullets pierced the helicopter's Plexiglas canopy near Frank's head. Jack Wayne sent the aircraft leaping skyward.

"That was a close one." Frank took a deep breath.

"We're out of range now," Jack said. He radioed the airport, giving their position and reporting the fact they had just been fired upon. Wayne gave the criminal's names to the tower operator and requested that Police Chief Collig of Bayport be notified immediately.

"Man, would I like to get my hands on Rembrandt!" Joe said as the helicopter hovered. "I'll bet if we examined his right fist we'd find a three-part whale tattoo. Who would have thought

Bullets pierced the helicopter's canopy

152 Mystery of the Whale Tattoo

of looking for a thing like that on a man whose entire body is covered with tattoos?"

"I guess we all goofed," Frank said, and added, "Suppose we keep an eye on those birds until the police get here."

Wayne circled over the woodland, but there was no sign of the trio. Finally the Hardys decided it was futile to keep up the surveillance. Also, seeking out the lost whale was more important.

Frank turned to the pilot. "Jack, there's nothing we can accomplish here. The police will have to find those men by themselves. Let's continue on the search route."

"Okay by me," Wayne replied.

He manipulated the controls and the helicopter moved forward. Past the trees, they flew over a cabin at the side of the lake. A speedboat was moored at the cabin's pier. Wayne came down for a closer look. The place appeared to be deserted.

"I think we can skirt around the lake," Joe said. "The whale wouldn't- Hey! Wait a minute!"

The thought that stopped Joe occurred to Frank at the same time. "Do you think it might have fallen into the water?"

"Why not?" Joe said with excitement. "If the whale went down in the lake, that would certainly account for the fact that no one has spotted it."

"Jack," Frank said, "take her up and move directly across the lake."

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The pilot complied. From their vantage point, they could see far down into the clear water. The bottom was covered partly by weeds, partly by sand and jagged rocks.

Near the opposite end of the lake, Joe shot out his arm and shouted, "Lookl"

Below them on the bottom of the lake they spied the dark silhouette of the whale!