Page:The House On The Cliff.pdf/70

 "Who!"

"The rascals that tied us up. They took Jones away with them."

"Kidnapped him?"

"Yes―kidnapped him! There were four of them. They broke in here and tied up my wife and me. Then they went upstairs and carried Jones away with them. They dumped him into an automobile and made a getaway."

"Four men!"

"Four of the ugliest looking scoundrels you ever laid eyes on."

"How long ago?" asked Frank quickly.

"They didn't leave ten minutes ago. If you had been here just a few minutes earlier you would have met the whole crowd of them." The farmer was angry and excited. "But there's time yet. You can catch 'em. They went down the shore road."

"Come on, Joe!" shouted Frank. "Let's chase them. They've kidnapped Jones."

Joe needed no urging. The Hardy boys left the farmer and his wife rubbing their chafed wrists and ankles and hastened out of the house over to their motorcycles. Within a few seconds the staccato roar of the powerful machines broke out on the still air, and then they went rocking and swaying down the lane out on to the shore road.

"Some high-handed proceeding, I'll say,"