Read The Secret of Skull Mountain Online
Authors: Franklin W. Dixon
The Secret of Skull Mountain (2 page)
Joe gave a low whistle. “It looks spooky all right!”
The mountain was a high, dark, forbidding mass. Although it was thickly covered with trees, the slope just above the road was scarred by stretches of jagged rock and huge boulders. Few people in the area ever undertook the hazardous climb to the summit.
Suddenly Joe gripped Frank's arm. “Look!” he cried out. “A fire! It might be a forest fire!”
Frank braked the car as Joe whipped the field glasses from their case. The boys and Dick Ames piled out of the car and Joe trained the binoculars on the mountaintop. A thin column of smoke rose from the trees which obscured the crest of the hill, then drifted across the valley.
“It's not a forest fire,” said Dick. “We've seen it before.”
“What is it then?” Frank asked. “Somebody living up there?”
“I don't know and neither does Bob Carpenter!” Dick answered. “We have a hunch the smoke is connected somehow to the trouble at the reservoir.”
Joe started toward the slope. “Come on! Let's look for that fire now!”
“Hold it,” said Dick. “I know a trail we can use. We'll make better time.”
The boys hurried down the road in the direction they had come, keeping an eye on the curling smoke. The path Dick showed them led up the mountain through the low brush toward masses of boulders near the top.
They climbed rapidly, glancing often at the summit.
As suddenly as it had arisen, the smoke vanished. “Now you see it, now you don't!” ex claimed Joe.
“Let me have a look,” Frank suggested. He focused the field glasses on the spot where they had seen the smoke. “Nothing in sight now.”
Frank turned slowly, examining the mountainside. Suddenly, from behind a boulder, appeared one of the strangest-looking figures he had ever seen. The man was gaunt-faced, with fierce-looking eyes, long shaggy hair, and a thick beard. Frank uttered a low exclamation.
“What's wrong?” Joe demanded.
“Look at that funny guy up there,” Frank said, handing his brother the glasses.
Joe trained the binoculars on the boulder Frank indicated, but saw no sign of the bearded man. Disappointed, he gave the glasses to Dick, but the young engineer could not detect him either.
“What did he look like, Frank?” Dick asked as they turned back toward the car.
Frank described the man, but the engineer shook his head and declared that although he had met some odd people on Skull Mountain, none of them matched the description.
As the three started down the hill, a rounded white object rolled past them and lodged against a bush.
“A skull!” Joe exclaimed. As he picked it up, the trio heard an ominous rumbling. They faced about swiftly.
Hurtling down the slope was a huge boulder!
“Look out!” Frank shouted, and they leaped aside.
Crack! The boulder struck another and dislodged a mass of loose rock.
A rain of rocks and brush and boulders came roaring down around them!
“A landslide!” Joe yelled.
CHAPTER II
Strange Laughter
“RUN!” Frank shouted.
Joe, Frank, and Dick Ames scrambled to get out of the path of the thundering mass of rocks. Minutes later the landslide roared into silence below and dust filled the air.
Coughing, Joe got to his feet. “Frank-Dick!” he called and was relieved to hear answering voices.
The three met where the trail had been, now a wide, raw strip of earth, scoured clean of rocks and brush.
“Whew!” Joe exclaimed. “That was close.” He was so shaken he did not notice that he was still clutching the skull.
“That's the second time today my life's been in danger,” Dick said. “Must be the season for accidents.”
Frank shook his head angrily. “That was no accident, Dick. I'm pretty sure that our man of the mountain caused the landslide. The first big boulder looked like the one he had been hiding behind.”
Joe's lips tightened. “I'm going after that guy!”
“Wait, Joe!” Frank said. “It's no use. Soon it'll be dark. We'd better push on to camp.”
Joe looked down at the skull in his hand. “I wonder if our mountain man rolled this down, too.”
Dick looked grim. “That's not the first one I've seen around here, and I'll bet it's not the last.”
Joe grinned. “Well, Bony doesn't look much like a good-luck charm, but why don't we appoint him mascot for our new mystery?”
When the boys reached the car, they propped the skull on the dashboard and set out for the camp. After they had traveled another mile, Dick showed Frank a clearing where he could park.
“We'll have to hike from here,” the engineer explained.
The three shouldered their camping equipment and started up a narrow, winding trail toward the top of the mountain.
For a time, they climbed steadily. Then the path grew steep and treacherous. Rockslides had blocked it in places, and at several points heavy rains had washed away large chunks of earth.
Finally Joe halted. “It's too steep!” he said. “I can't keep my footing unless I unload some of this gear-my pack's throwing me off balance.”
“We'd better not leave anything here,” Frank pointed out. “We haven't any equipment to spare.”
“There must be an easier way to reach the reservoir,” said Joe. “How did the dam-builders truck in supplies?”
“They cut a road up the other side of the mountain,” Dick replied, “but it's not paved. We've had so much rain lately, I was afraid your car would stick in the mud.”
“Let's try this way,” Frank suggested, pointing to a narrow branch of the trail which sloped more gradually.
The alternate path proved to be easier climbing and soon they were standing on a crest overlooking Tarnack Valley.
“There it is!” Dick said, pointing downward. “Our big headache!”
Far below, through the gathering dusk, Frank and Joe could see the reservoir, a shimmering sheet of water behind a towering white concrete dam.
“You don't need to know much about engineering to know that's great,” Frank remarked. “It's super.”
“It must have been a tough job to build,” Joe remarked as they started down toward the dam.
Dick explained that the Tarnack River had flowed over the valley bottom. “Its course had to be diverted before the engineers could construct the reservoir. When the dam was completed, the river was rediverted to its old bed.”
Joe looked down at the dam in admiration. “So the river flows along the way it always has, and at the same time it does a whole new job!”
“It ought to work that way,” Dick said. “We have to find out why it doesn't. Everything's set for the water to flow into Bayport. But we can't release it until we're sure we can maintain the proper level in the reservoir. So far, the water hasn't risen high enough.
“Right now, Bayport is being supplied by Upstate Reservoir, a hundred miles north of here. But so many towns have sprung up in this area that Upstate can no longer take care of us. Day by day the amount we get dwindles.”
Dick told the boys that the dam had been built by the Coastal Power and Light Company. “When it's working, it will supply electricity to this whole region as well as water to Bayport. But so far it's a multimillion-dollar dud!”
Frank and Joe scanned the valley. Trees had been cleared from a point level with the top of the dam down to the water's edge. The high banks of the reservoir were covered with vines and low shrubs. There was one patch of high, thick bushes.
Frank knitted his brows. “That's odd!” he exclaimed. “Shouldn't all of those bushes have been cleared?”
The construction men did take out most of them,” Dick replied. “But a few days before they were finished, they were caught in a rockslide.”
“Anyone hurt?” Joe asked.
“Yes. Three of the men were seriously injured. Then the rest of the crew decided the job was too risky and laid down their tools. We'll have the job completed when the ground freezes and there is less danger of a landslide.”
The three continued down the slope. The way was much easier now, and they moved rapidly. Soon they could see a small construction shack among the trees some distance above the reservoir.
Dick cupped his hands to his mouth and called down. Bob Carpenter came out of the shack. “Hi!” he replied as the others approached him. The engineer was tall and sun-tanned, with an intelligent face and a friendly manner. He studied Frank and Joe with keen interest as Dick introduced them.
“Hardy? You must be Fenton Hardy's sons.”
“We are,” said Frank.
“In that case, I'm twice as glad to see you,” Bob Carpenter said, smiling. He shook their hands firmly and waved toward the shack. “Welcome to Carpenter's Cottage!”
The engineers led the way to the shack, and as the boys followed, they noted that it was sturdily built. Some distance to the rear was an equipment hut, a pile of sand, and one of lumber. Inside, Dick lit a kerosene lamp and gave Bob the evening newspaper.
Bob Carpenter's face grew grim as he read the story of the water shortage.
“This paper's pretty rough on me,” he remarked. “If I don't lick this problem, boys, it could lick me. My professional reputation won't be worth a nickel!”
“You and Dick are not trying to do this job alone, are you?” asked Frank.
“No,” replied Bob Carpenter. “I have a six man work crew staying in a cabin over at the foot of the dam. They've been using electronic equipment to listen for a leak along the shores of the reservoir.”
“But there's so much ground to cover,” Dick put in, “that it'll take a long while.”
“Maybe we can save you time by getting to the root of the trouble, Joe said. “Let us have a crack at the case.”
“Dick says some strange things have been going on here,” Frank said. “Tell us about them.”
“Well, one strange thing is the smoke,” Bob said, frowning. “A thin column of it rises from the top of the mountain every so often. We've searched carefully, but haven't found any sign of a fire.”
âDick told us about that. And we just saw the same smoke!” Frank said.
The youth related what had happened while he, Joe, and Dick were driving along the road at the foot of the mountain. Frank had hoped that Bob Carpenter would be able to identify the strange man of the mountain, but the engineer was perplexed.
Suddenly Frank felt a prickling at the back of his neck. He whirled and looked at the dark window behind
him. Had someone been peering into the shack?
“I'm going to take a look around outside,” he said quietly.
him. Had someone been peering into the shack?
“I'm going to take a look around outside,” he said quietly.
“I'll go with you,” Joe insisted.
Taking flashlights, they stepped outside. Darkness lay on the mountain with a light mist over the reservoir below. The boys separated and began circling the shack.
Suddenly Frank heard a scurrying sound and the crackle of twigs. He flashed his light, and saw a bush spring back in place. He ran to the spot, but saw no sign of anything moving.
“What was it?” Joe whispered as he came up to him.
Frank shrugged. “Maybe only an animal.”
They went back into the shack.
“Find anything?” Bob asked.
Frank shook his head. “Who is on the mountain beside yourselves?”
“There are some squatters in this area,” Bob replied, “but I never came across one who matches your description.”
“Squatters? ”Joe repeated.
“Yes,” Dick said. “There were several squatters living in the valley when the contractors moved in to build the reservoir. Most of them gave up their homes and moved back over the ridge to the other side of the mountain. But two-Sailor Hawkins and Potato Annie-refused to leave and are still hanging onto their shacks on the mountainside.”
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