Missing Mail

The night of the graduation exercises at the Bayport high school arrived, differing little from similar events in past years but of profound importance to the members of the graduating class and their parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Hardy were there, very proud of their two boys, and Mrs. Hardy beamed with pleasure when Frank and Joe, dressed in their finest clothes and looking very uncomfortable, stepped up to receive their diplomas. Chet Morton was so nervous and embarrassed that he stumbled on the way to the platform and ended by dropping the diploma when it was handed to him.

All the girls looked their prettiest, the boys looked their handsomest, the principal of the school excelled himself in the speech he had made at every graduation for the past fifteen years, various prominent citizens expressed their pride in the young people, and Callie Shaw, as class valedictorian, won the hearts of all by her valedictory address.

There were other numbers on the program, including a violin solo by Iola Morton, an exceedingly vigorous recitation by Biff Hooper, an accordion solo by Tony Prito and-to cap it all-the antics of a burlesque orchestra organized by Chet. In this, Chet was in his element, wearing a fireman's hat and a huge false mustache. Frank and Joe Hardy, wearing stovepipe hats and red wigs, alternated at a bass drum; Jerry Gilroy, in a coat that reached to his heels, performed upon a saxophone that wouldn't work and from which Chet produced a string of sausage at the critical moment; Phil Cohen tortured a flute that was capable of but one note. The burlesque orchestra assaulted the ears of the audience for some time, with no music whatever, but with such earnestness that the hearers were doubled tip with laughter.

This was the high spot of the program, so far as the boys were concerned, and it ended the graduation exercises. When they left the school that night they all felt a little sad, as they knew they were leaving it for all time, " unless, " Chet Morton said, " they invite us back some day when we're very famous to address the students on 'The Secret of Success.' "

" In the meantime, " said Frank, " what are we going to do this summer? "

" I'd like another outing, " Joe volunteered.

" Too much excitement for me, " returned Chet. " Last summer we were going to have a nice quiet trip down the coast, and look what happened. We got mixed up with a gang of smugglers and had no end of trouble."

" It finished up happily enough, didn't it? " said Frank. " Even if you did get lost! "

" This summer, I'd like to have a nice quiet holiday in a nice quiet cabin, with a good beach, where we can swim and loaf around and eat and sleep and not have anything to worry about."

" Sounds attractive, " Joe admitted. " Where are you going to find this place, and how can we get there? "

" How about Cabin Island? " suggested Biff Hooper.

The others were thoughtful.

" You've had worse ideas, Biff, " said Chet Morton. " Do you think Mr. Jefferson will let us go there? "

Frank laughed.

" Why not? Didn't we find his missing stamp collection? Didn't he say we could have the use of the island and the cabin any time we wished? There won't be any trouble so far as that's concerned."

" I think an outing to Cabin Island would be the real thing, " Joe declared. " What do you say to organizing a trip? We can take the motorboats, use Cabin Island as our headquarters, then work out from there so we can go wherever we wish."

" You have a head on your shoulders, " Chet approved. " When we get tired of camping we can go exploring. When we get tired of the motorboats we can loaf around Cabin Island."

" Joe and I have the summer free, " said Frank. " After that, we'll either go to college or go into business with our father."

" Don't you know yet? "

" We want to go in with dad, " said Joe promptly. " But he and mother seem bent on having us go to college. I think we'll have a lot of arguing yet."

" In the meantime, don't let it spoil your summer, " advised Chet. " Well, if you want to go on this outing, be sure and count me in. We can dig up some of the other fellows and we ought to have a bang-up good time."

" You can't dig up many of them, " came from Joe.

" Why not? Any fellow ought to jump at a chance like that."

" Well, some of them wouldn't be allowed to leave home-got to work and all that. And some are on the ball team and have to practice when they aren't playing a game. And Dick Koylet and his crowd are going on an auto tour."

" Well, we'll get somebody-if we go, " put in Frank.

Next day when the Hardy boys told their parents about the outing they had planned, Mr. and Mrs. Hardy glanced at one another.

" Don't you think you had better be making your preparations for going to college? " suggested Mr. Hardy.

" If you wait too long, perhaps you may not be able to get in, " their mother ventured.

" Do we have to go to college? " asked Frank.

Mr. Hardy looked dubious.

" You know, your mother and I have always had that in mind for you."

Joe groaned.

" I'll make a rotten lawyer."

" And I'm sure I'll be a pretty punk doctor, " declared Frank. " Dad, won't you let us go into business with you? We like detective work. It's the only thing we'll ever be happy at. Haven't we done fairly well with the cases we've had so far? "

" Yes, you've done well. I'll admit that. Still-I think I'd rather see you go in for something else."

" Would you want us to go in for something we wouldn't enjoy? " said Joe. " A person can't be a success in his work unless lie really likes it."

" That's true, " returned Mr. Hardy, weakening a little. " Well, I must have time to think it over."

Frank offered a suggestion.

" Let us go on our outing first, and by the time we come back we can settle the whole thing. We'll be back in plenty of time to go to college, if you really insist that we go."

Mrs. Hardy nodded. " I think that's fair enough, Fenton, " she said to her husband.

" All right, then, " agreed the detective. " We'll let the matter rest for the time being, and as soon as you boys return from your trip we'll go into it thoroughly. But you must promise to abide by my decision. I don't want to send you to college against your will, but I do want to do what's best for your future."

" We understand that, " said the boys. " It's for our own good. But we do want to be detectives."

Mr. Hardy smiled.

" You seem to have your minds made up, at any rate. Well, let it go at that. Have your outing and enjoy yourselves. Then we'll settle the whole matter, once and for all."

However, the lads had little time in which to proceed with their plans for the outing. They did not see Chet Morton that afternoon and the trip was not discussed with any of the other lads they met. Next morning, as they were having breakfast, their father came into the dining room.

" After breakfast is over, " he said, " come into my study. I want to have a little talk with you."

" We'll be there."

When their father had gone, they fell to wondering why he wanted to see them.

" I can't think of any mischief we've been into-except breaking that pane of glass in the garage, " said Joe.

" He wouldn't scold us for that. I intended to put in a new pane of glass today."

" There's something in the wind."

They hurried through the remainder of the meal, anxious to learn the reason for the summons. When they went into the study, Mr. Hardy was reading a long typewritten letter which he placed to one side.

" I've been asked to handle a case, " he explained at once, " and I thought maybe you could help me a little. Sometimes you hear of things that I mightn't learn about. This is a serious case and just now I'm trying to make up my mind how to go about it."

" What has happened, Dad? " asked Frank.

" I received this letter this morning from the postal authorities, explaining the circumstance. It seems that several bags of valuable mail have disappeared from one of the hangars at the airport near here."

" Stolen? "

" They couldn't have disappeared any other way. The mail, as you know, is very carefully guarded. In this instance, the train that was to take the mail into the city was a few minutes late and the sacks were accidently left unguarded. When the train arrived it was found that the mail had disappeared. The matter is being kept quiet for the time being, in the hope that we may get a clue. But so far the whole business seems to be a complete mystery."

" Haven't they any idea who stole it? " asked Joe.

" No idea at all. The only men around, so far as they know, were the usual airport officials and pilots. Practically all of them are above suspicion. From the looks of the case, I'm inclined to think some outsider may have been hiding near by, watching his chance, and when he saw the sacks left unguarded he simply seized them and cleared out."

Frank leaned forward in excitement.

" I think we can help you a little, " he declared. " We may know something about that very robbery."

" Already? " exclaimed Fenton Hardy, astonished.

Frank and Joe thereupon told their father about their adventure in Beach Grove on the day of the picnic. They told that they had seen Giles Ducroy and his two companions near the old cabin, how they had followed the men and listened to their conversation.

" Ducroy was trying to get these other chaps to go in with him on some crooked deal, and they were afraid because they said it was too dangerous, " explained Frank. " Ducroy told them they'd make ten thousand dollars apiece out of it. Perhaps that was what he meant. He planned to steal some of the mail bags."

Fenton Hardy was interested.

" Certainly a suspicious conversation, " he admitted. " Still, the mail bags weren't worth any thirty thousand dollars, if what the post office people tell me is correct. They were worth about two thousand dollars at the most. Besides, Giles Ducroy is already under suspicion."

" Has he been arrested? " asked Joe.

Fenton Hardy shook his head.

" When the theft occurred, the authorities first thought of Ducroy, because they knew he had been discharged and was probably looking for a chance of revenge. So their first action was to investigate his movements on the day of the robbery."

" And what did they find? "

" He wasn't near Bayport at all. He was in Philadelphia-at least, he has such an alibi."

" Can he prove it? " asked Frank.

" He had two witnesses to prove it. So nothing could be done against Ducroy."

" I'd like to know who those witnesses were, " said Frank. " I don't believe he was in Philadelphia at all."

The boys were openly dubious about Ducroy's alibi.

" He's a slick one, Dad, " declared Joe. " He may look dumb, but he's not as dumb as he looks."