What Happened at Midnight by Franklin W. Dixon Page A

gave Aunt Gertrude credit for the clue. She smiled and blushed but said nothing.
    It was not until late that evening, after he had been refreshed by a long, sound sleep, that Joe was able to tell the others what had happened to him. He still looked pale, but good food and rest were beginning to do their work and a trace of color had returned to his cheeks.
    â€œAs you know,” he said, “at Chet’s party I chased into the woods after that man who was looking in our car trunk. As I got near, someone reached out and grabbed me. I couldn’t see his face.”
    Joe said a gag had been jammed into his mouth and a hand clapped over his mouth. Then he was dragged to a car.
    â€œMercy!” exclaimed Aunt Gertrude.
    â€œBut why did he kidnap you if he was only after the secret radio?” Frank asked.
    â€œThere’s another reason,” Joe replied. “I’ll come to that. When we got to his car I tried to fight him, but he’s strong as an ox and managed to tie me up and put me in the back seat.
    â€œThen he drove away. We went down the road for some distance and stopped. Two men came out of the bushes and walked over to us. One said, ‘Is that you, Gross?’ and my captor growled at them, ‘No names.’ When they saw me in the car, the men wanted to know who I was. It seems they didn’t know Gross was going to kidnap me.”
    Joe said there had been a row about it. The other two men had wanted Gross to bring him back, but he was stubborn. “This kid knows too much,” Gross had said. “He saw the rocks. Besides, his father is a detective.”
    â€œThe other men called him a fool and said he should have left me alone and let the other thing go.
    â€œOne of them told Gross they didn’t want the authorities after them for kidnapping. Then they realized it was too late to let me go, because there would be trouble when I got back to Bayport and told my story.”
    Joe said that the two men got into the car and they all rode for about two miles. Then one of the men climbed out and headed across a field toward the bay.
    â€œWe went on, but we hadn’t gone far when Gross lost control of the wheel and we crashed into a ditch. The car was wrecked but no one was hurt. Gross and the other man seemed worried because they were afraid somebody would come along and find them. They took off the license plates.
    â€œGross knew there was an old inn nearby. They agreed to go to it and telephone a friend of theirs to bring a sedan. They took a blanket out of the car. We walked up the road and into a lane where the inn was. Without any warning one of them slugged me from behind.”
    Frank said, “And put you in the blanket.”
    Joe said that later, as he started to come to in the inn, a drug was forced into his mouth and he was made to drink some water. He passed out, and did not wake up until morning, when they were carrying him in the blanket to their friend’s sedan.
    â€œJust as we drove out of the lane and onto the Gresham road,” Joe continued, “I heard a car coming and managed to raise up. It looked like ours, so I tried to signal. Then Gross shoved me down.”
    Joe had been driven to Shore Road and taken to the cave through an abandoned shaft.
    â€œYou were there nearly two whole days!” Frank said.
    â€œMost of the time I was alone. They fixed up a few sacks for me to lie on, but they didn’t pay much attention to me. Once in a while they would bring in sandwiches and water and feed them to me.”
    â€œDid you find out what they’re up to?” Frank asked.
    â€œAt night, when they thought I was asleep, I overheard enough to learn one of the gang’s secrets. They’re smugglers!”
    Aunt Gertrude opened her mouth wide. “Smugglers!” she gasped. “What kind?”
    â€œDiamonds and electronic equipment. That’s probably why they wanted to get Mr. Wright’s special