The House on the Cliff
Chapter 16: Quick Work
Discouraged
at their predicament, Frank and Joe are amazed to see their father working off
his ropes. Through quick thinking, the senior detective kept his muscles flexed
while being tied up. Now his bonds are slightly loose and he wriggles out of
them! As Mr. Hardy tiptoes over to release the boys, a creaking board wakes the
sleeping guard, Malloy. The detective flings himself onto the smuggler and gags
him, and a silent struggle ensues. The two roll across the floor, exchanging punches,
until Mr. Hardy manages to grab Malloy’s gun. At the boys’ prompting, he also
seizes the guard’s knife, and hurriedly cuts Joe’s ropes away. After Joe
releases Frank’s bonds, the boys tie Malloy up with the same ropes on the cot.
Free again, the trio decides to sneak down to meet the Coast Guard, who should
be on the way. But no sooner have they entered the stairway then they hear
voices approaching from below! The Hardys quickly turn and ascend more stairs
to a trap door, which Mr. Hardy knows to lead out into the woodshed on the
Pollitt property. After heaving the logs off the top of the trapdoor, the
detectives steal silently out of the woodshed into the dark, shadowy yard.
