CHAPTER XVIII
The Prisoner
Carl Schaum did not awaken. His slumber was too deep. He was quite senseless from the effects of the liquor he had drunk.
"This is luck!" exclaimed Frank. "I wonder how he got here!"
"I suppose he's hiding down in these caves away from the police."
Something beside the bottle near the slumbering man caught Frank's eye. He bent forward and examined it.
It was a small package containing several tins of meat, of the same variety the Hardy boys and their chums had brought with them on their expedition to the caves.
"There's our thief!" Frank declared, with conviction. "It was Carl Schaum who stole the provisions from our cave."
There seemed little doubt that this was the case. The evidence of the package of food was conclusive.
"What shall we do with him?" asked Joe.
Frank groped in his pocket and produced a length of stout cord.
"We'll tie him up first. He's an escaped criminal and it's our duty to turn him over to the police."
"What if he puts up a fight?"
"He's too drunk. Anyway, we should be more than a match for him."
They looked at the man sprawled on the ground. He was snoring loudly, quite oblivious of his danger. Quietly, the Hardy boys took up their positions, one on each side of the fellow, and then with a quick movement they turned him over on his back and pinned his arms behind him.
To their surprise, Carl Schaum did not struggle. He merely groaned in his sleep.
"He's dead drunk," said Frank. "We won't have any trouble with him."
Quickly he flipped the cord about Carl Schaum's wrists, and they bound the unconscious man. Still he did not awaken. When the boys were satisfied that their captive was firmly trussed up they stood back to await further developments.
Carl Schaum snored on.
"I guess we'd better wake him up," said Frank, with a mischievous grin.
"It would take a cannon to waken him, by the looks of things."
"Good cold water should do the trick."
Frank went down to the shore, took off his hat and dipped it in the sea. He hastened back, the hat half full of water, and dashed it in Carl Schaum's face.
There was a splutter. Then Joe, anxious to be in on the fun, filled his hat and flung a copious supply of cold water at their captive.
Carl Schaum blinked, groaned, spluttered again, and tried to sit up.
"This will make us even for stealing my motorcycle," said Frank, as he dashed more water into the fellow's face.
"And this," said Joe, hastening up with another hatful.
Carl Schaum was literally drenched. He opened his eyes, then gave vent to a strangled yell. Frank managed to fling another hatful of water into his face before the boys decided that their captive was sufficiently awake.
"Hey! What's this?" roared Schaum indignantly. He had just discovered that his wrists were bound.
"Just a little joke," said Frank.
Water was streaming down the man's face. He was thoroughly aroused by now.
He was still too dazed to recognize the Hardy boys. As he sat on the beach, with his wet hair down over his eyes, his clothes completely soaked, he was a ridiculous object, and his expression of mingled wrath and surprise made it difficult for the lads to restrain their laughter.
"Lemme go!" demanded Schaum, struggling to release his wrists, without success.
Frank shook his head.
"Nothing doing. You're wanted back in Bayport, Schaum, and that is where you're going."
Schaum gasped.
"Bayport!" he said, after a moment. "Where's that? I never heard of the place."
"Oh, yes you have. You escaped from the Bayport jail, Schaum, and they'll be glad to see you back again."
"You're crazy!" the rascal stormed. "I was never in any jail!"
"How about the stolen automobiles on the Shore Road?"
"And Gus Montrose and the others in the gang?"
Carl Schaum saw that his bluff had failed. Then he looked more closely at the brothers. He turned pale.
"The Hardy boys!" he exclaimed.
"At your service," returned Joe, with a bow.
"You see, we know what we're talking about. Get up, Schaum."
"What are you going to do with me?"
"Get up!" repeated Frank. "We're going to take you out to the road and see that you're turned over to the authorities."
"Don't do that," whined Schaum. "Honest, I never had anything to do with stealing them cars. Let me go."
"You were in the gang, and if they've been punished, it isn't fair that you should get off," insisted Frank. "You escaped from the jail and if you are innocent you had nothing to fear. You'd better get up and come with us."
He prodded the prisoner firmly with the toe of his heavy tramping shoe, and Schaum struggled to his feet. He made many whining pleas for mercy, but the Hardy boys were determined that he should be sent back to Bayport to answer for his participation in the Shore Road automobile thefts.
"I've reformed," sniveled Schaum. "I've gone straight ever since I got out of jail."
"Yes, you have!" laughed Frank. "How about stealing my motorcycle while we were in swimming?"
Schaum looked confused.
"I didn't know it was your motorcycle."
"It doesn't matter whose motorcycle it was. You meant to steal it. That doesn't look as if you've reformed very much. No, you must come along with us."
Unwillingly, Carl Schaum stumbled along the beach with his two captors.
Frank and Joe did not have a very clear idea of what they were to do with Schaum, now that they had captured him. At first they thought of keeping him in the cave, but Joe pointed out that he might get away again and that it would mean too much trouble keeping guard over him.
"And he'd eat too much," added Frank. "That's another little score we have to settle with you, Schaum. You were in the cave the other night and stole most of our provisions."
"I was hungry," whined the prisoner. "I only meant to borrow a little bit of food."
"Borrowers don't come sneaking around when every one is asleep. Where are our provisions now?"
"They're in my own cave," said Schaum sullenly.
"Where is that?"
"Try to find it."
"All right," returned Frank. "When you go back to Bayport you will find yourself facing an extra charge of robbery. We'll lay a complaint against you for stealing our provisions. You've already admitted that you took them, so it will go hard with you."
Schaum wilted at this threat.
"Aw, don't tell on me," he begged. "Your grub is all right. It's in the cave that you'll find not ten feet from where I was lying on the beach. I got to drinking last night and I wandered out of the cave and fell down."
"I'm glad you've decided to be sensible," observed Frank. "We'll go to the cave and get our food when we come back. We didn't know you had a cave."
"I came here just a little while before you boys came."
"Did you bring your trunk?" asked Frank, with a grin. "Anything in your cave you'd like to take back to jail with you?"
Schaum shook his head.
"No," he answered shortly. "Just a pair of blankets. You can have 'em."
"They'll give you blankets in jail."
The boys soon reached their own cave. There was no sign of Chet and Biff, and they realized that the fishermen might be far off down the shore by now, so they decided to take Carl Schaum out to the road themselves.
They clambered up the trail through the ravine until they reached the top of the cliff, and then they made their way over the rocks and down the hillside back to the fisherman's cottage. The fisherman was at home, and when he saw the little procession coming down the path he rushed out, anxious to learn what had happened. He was greatly excited when he saw that the villainous-looking Carl Schaum was bound.
"Have you cotched the man who was firin' off all the guns?" he asked.
Frank shook his head.
"I don't think this is he," he said, remembering that Schaum had reached the caves only a short time in advance of their own arrival. "But he's almost as bad."
"What's he been doin'?"
The Hardy boys explained why they had captured Carl Schaum, and when the fisherman learned that they were going to take their captive out to the main road he promptly volunteered the use of his car, an ancient and decrepit flivver. The boys had been wondering how they would get Schaum out to the road by motorcycle, and the fisherman's offer solved this difficulty.
Accordingly, they all wedged themselves into the ramshackle car and set out for the main road, which they reached in due time. Frank and Joe did not want to waste too much time with Schaum, and they decided to wait in hope that some passing motorist would take the fellow in to the nearest police station.
In a short time a car came into sight and when it came near, Frank stepped out into the road and signaled the driver to stop. The automobile slowed down.
The man at the wheel looked at them curiously.
Then Frank gave an exclamation of delight.
"Why, he's from Bayport!" he shouted to Joe. "It's Mr. Simms."
At the same moment, the driver recognized Frank.
"Hello there, Hardy!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing so far away from home?"
Frank and Joe knew Mr. Simms, having met him at the time of the solving of the Shore Road mystery, because he was one of the automobile owners who had suffered at the hands of the car thieves. The very car Mr. Simms was driving just then had been recovered by the Hardy boys when they had found the automobiles stolen by Gus Montrose, Carl Schaum and the other members of the gang.
"This is luck!" exclaimed Frank. "How would you like to take a passenger back to Bayport with you?"
"Do you want a ride?" asked Mr. Simms. "Hop in."
"I'm not asking for myself. But our friend here is wanted back in Bayport. Perhaps you could take him in."
Mr. Simms looked doubtfully at Carl Schaum.
"Well," he said slowly, "if he's a friend of yours, I suppose it's all right—"
He had noticed that Schaum's wrists were tied.
Frank laughed.
"I was just joking. This is one of the fellows who stole your car last month. Carl Schaum—"
"Oh! The thief that escaped, eh?"
"Yes. We ran across him down along the shore, and we were anxious to turn him over to the police again."
"Put him in the car," said Simms grimly. "I'll put the rascal where he belongs."
Rejoiced at having the prisoner taken off their hands so readily, the Hardy boys bundled Schaum into the rear seat of the automobile. They apologized to Mr. Simms for troubling him, but the man assured them that it was no trouble at all.
"It's a pleasure," he said. "I'll see that he doesn't get away." He glared at Carl Schaum. "So you're one of the scoundrels who stole my car, are you? And you thought you were going to escape a term in jail! You'll have to be mighty smart to do it then, for I'm going to break a few speed records getting you back to Bayport. I'm going to enjoy this trip."
He waved good-bye to the Hardy boys.
"I don't know how you caught him," he said; "but I'll tell the Bayport police to give you the credit. I'm certainly glad I came along in time to drive this guy back to jail, where he belongs."
With that, he drove off and in a few minutes he was carrying out his promise to break speed records on the way back to Bayport, while the helpless prisoner in the back seat was jounced and bounced until his teeth rattled.
Frank and Joe grinned.
"I guess Carl Schaum won't forget that ride for a while."
"Serves the rogue right!" declared the fisherman.
"Well, let's be getting back," said Frank. "The morning is almost gone and we haven't called on Captain Royal yet."