Page:The Missing Chums.djvu/146

140 Hooper as well. "No more of that. We're tired of listenin' to it. You're the Hardy boys, all right, and it won't do you no good to deny it."

"You've made a mistake!" insisted Chet stubbornly.

"We'll show you how much of a mistake we've made!" roared one of the men. "We brought you out here to tell you something. Our men have got your father at last."

"Mr. Hardy?" exclaimed Chet greatly taken aback.

"Yes, Mr. Hardy!" exclaimed Red, mimicking him. "That shot sunk home, didn't it? We've got him, and we've got you, and we'll starve you into making your mother come across with the money we want. If you have been holding out, hoping your father would come for you, it's no good now. We've got him and we've got you, so you may as well give up."

"There's no use asking us," declared Biff. "We're not the Hardy boys."

Red cuffed him viciously over the ears again. Biff staggered back from the blow.

"Oh, take them back and chain them up again," Red said, in disgust. "Let 'em starve for a while and they'll come around and tell the truth!"

"If I could get loose for about two minutes