“Upstairs!” snapped the detective curtly. Without taking his eyes off Snackley he said to the man on the cot.
“We’ll come back for you later—Mr. Jones.”
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.