The House on the Cliff/Chapter 24
CHAPTER XXIV
The Round-Up
The Hardy boys, in the meantime, were in the thick of the struggle.
Frank fought desperately with the smuggler he had assailed in the living room of the house, while Joe raced across the yard toward the trapdoor leading to the underground caves. He found that although three of the smugglers had been captured by officers in the yard and that as many more were fighting to escape, none of the police had as yet learned of the trapdoor down which some of the men had disappeared.
With a shout to a near-by officer who had just succeeded in clapping the handcuffs on one of the smugglers, Joe made his way down the stairs. He heard the officer running over to the edge of the trap and saw the gleam of the flashlight.
"Some of them got out this way!" Joe shouted back to the officer.
The man called to one of his companions and then footsteps clattered on the stairs as Joe went on.
He reached the door that opened into the chamber where his father had been a prisoner, but on entering the room he found it empty. There were evidences of hasty flight and the door on the far side of the room was wide open.
"Secret passages, eh!" exclaimed one of the officers, as he came into the room. He was a state trooper in uniform.
Joe led the way out through the opposite door and down the stairs that led toward the bottom of the cliff. The trooper who had spoken illuminated the way with his flashlight and they clattered on down the stairs until they recahed the storage room. Here, everything was in confusion. The escaping smugglers had evidently endeavored to take with them what goods they could, probably the smaller packages containing drugs, for boxes and parcels were overturned and strewn about the floor.
"You seem to know this place pretty well," said one of the troopers, as Joe led the way across to the opposite door and stepped out onto the landing.
"I've been here before—got in this way," he answered. "There's a water cave below this passage. They've probably made their getaway in the boat."
They hastened down the passageway and came at last to the cave. As Joe expected, the boat was gone.
"They got away," he said, in disappointment, as the trooper turned the flashlight on to the channel between the rocks.
There was a shout from the darkness of the cove.
"Give us a light!" they heard.
Joe gave a shout of joy. It was Tony Prito's voice!
Then Joe and the troopers with him heard the steady beat of a motorboat.
Joe seized the flashlight and ran out along the path leading to the entrance of the cave.
The motorboat was not many yards away. Tony had been searching for the channel.
"Right this way!" Joe called out. "Head toward the right of the cave and you'll be in deep water. A little further! Good!"
As the motorboat drew nearer he saw that it was filled with men and that a rowboat was being towed behind.
"We got 'em," cried Tony exultantly. "They were just getting out of the cove in the boat when we came up."
"Who is with you?" asked Joe.
"Police. The rest of them went up the shore road in a car."
"We've caught the whole gang then. They raided the house and got the rest of the smugglers. We thought these fellows had made a getaway."
"No chance. Although it was mighty close. They pretty nearly slipped out of the cove right under our noses."
The boat came to a stop beside the natural wharf of rock. One or two of the officers, revolvers in hand, clambered out. Three of the smugglers had been captured while trying to escape from the cove in the rowboat.
"If they'd got out we would never have caught them," said Joe. "They were heading out toward a ship."
"A ship!" exclaimed one of the officers, a burly man in plain clothes. He stepped forward. "Did they say anything about a ship?"
"A man named Li Chang has a ship lying in wait outside the bay," said Joe. "I heard them talking about it."
"Good!" exclaimed the burly man. "Now we'll capture the whole outfit." He turned to Tony. "I suppose your boat is good for another little run."
"I'll say it is, sir!"
"I want as many officers as we can spare," said the burly man. "We'll go out and find that ship. Li Chang, did you say?" he added, turning to Joe.
"That was the name."
"I know his ship. We've been trying to catch that villain for years. Darst, go on up and see how the rest of the men made out at the house on the cliff and take as many officers as they can spare. There's a passage up through the rocks, I take it?"
"Regular staircase all the way, sir," remarked Darst, one of the raiding officers.
"Good! Don't lose any time."
The three smugglers were taken out of the boat and handcuffed, then escorted up the stairs, while the burly man, who was the chief of a squad of federal agents undertaking a drive against the smugglers on that part of the coast, remained with the motorboat.
Within a short time Darst returned with three more officers. He reported that a clean sweep had been made at the house.
"They have 'em all handcuffed and sittin' in the kitchen," he said. "Mr. Hardy got Snackley—"
"Snackley?" exclaimed the federal man. "Is it his gang?"
"Yes, sir. He got Snackley in the cellar. One of his sons tackled Redhead Blount, one of Snackley's sidekicks, and held him down until the police came in. When we brought our three in, that finished the round-up."
"It does, so far. We're going out and grab Li Chang from that ship and that'll clean everything up."
The officers got into the motorboat and Joe clambered in beside Tony Prito, who was at the wheel. The craft backed out of the channel into the deeper water of the cove, then sped out into Barmet Bay.
"Once we get out of the bay we should see her lights," said the federal officer. "Li Chang probably has his ship anchored just off the coast."
This proved to be the case. The lights of the vessel were soon descried and the motorboat sped toward it through the night.
When the boat drew alongside, the federal man roared out:
"Ahoy, there!"
A voice answered in Chinese.
"Speak English!" roared the officer. "Throw over a ladder or we'll open fire on you."
"Who there?"
"The police."
Jabbering voices and running footsteps suddenly created a commotion. One of the troopers fired his revolver into the air and very promptly a ladder was lowered over the side of the vessel.
"That's better!" said the federal man, as he clambered up over the rail, revolver in hand. "I'll just talk to your skipper for a minute."
The capture of Li Chang was without incident. When he was told that Snackley and the gang were captured, the Chinaman, who was a small, wizened little fellow with a villainous countenance, blandly submitted to arrest and consented to be taken ashore. There were only two or three members of the crew aboard, the others having shore leave; so two of the federal men were left in charge of the ship until relief could be sent from Bayport, and the motorboat made its way back to the cove.
The round-up was complete. Snackley's smuggling gang had been completely broken up.