The House on the Cliff
Chapter 8: A Cap on a Peg
Sam,
the truck driver, announces to the worried Mrs. Hardy that he actually saw Mr.
Hardy walking down the road near the Pollitt place on Monday, the same day Mr.
Hardy left! Excitedly Frank and Joe set out for the Pollitt place. At Mrs.
Hardy’s insistence, they take along Tony, Phil, Chet and Biff. Arriving at the
old place, the sleuths creep silently up the lane. To their surprise, the house
has been repaired! A woman is hanging clothes on a clothesline, while a man
gathers wood from the woodshed. The group of boys approaches to question the
couple, when another stout, red-haired man appears from the kitchen door. Quite
grumpily the two men and women deny knowing anything about the missing Mr.
Hardy. They inform the boys they do not like snoopers! However, it is too late
– Frank has spotted a brown cap hanging inside the kitchen door, identical to
the hat his father was wearing when he disappeared!
