Mystery of Crocodile Island Read online

  The girls laughed and then told the boys about the jungle attack.

  Danny went on to say that the key ahead was reputed to have been a slave hideout. “I mean an Indian-slave hideout.”

  Ned remarked, “We haven’t been here twenty-four hours and I’ve learned a lot I never knew before.”

  George grinned. “Oh, hadn’t you heard? We three girls and Danny are walking encyclopedias! Just ask us anything you want to know about this place.”

  “Okay,” said Burt. “How deep is the water in Biscayne Bay?”

  George did not hesitate a second. “It runs from nothing to twenty feet.”

  Burt was startled and turned to Danny. “Is she putting us on?”

  “No, she’s not. George is telling the truth. At low tide some of the sand isn’t covered at all. The deep-water channels vary from twelve to thirty feet,” he explained.

  “Wow!” Burt said. “I never would have guessed. That’s interesting.”

  When they reached the key, Danny stayed in the skiff while the others went ashore. As they scrambled over the mangrove roots, the boys seemed to have trouble.

  “This stuff is something!” Dave cried out. “I just turned my ankle.”

  “You have to get used to it,” Bess told him. “And you’d better make sure you don’t turn your whole leg!”

  The young people found it difficult to walk across the coral rock, mangrove, and spiny plants, which grew in profusion. About quarter of a mile from shore they spotted a tumble-down thatched-roof hut.

  Ned remarked, “I thought Danny said this place was uninhabited.”

  “I’m sure it is,” Nancy said. “No one could possibly live in that cabin.”

  They all struggled up to the hut and stared. Its roof was sagging and the building, made of mangrove branches, was ready to fall apart.

  “I’ve seen enough,” Dave announced. “Now I can be a walking encyclopedia myself on the subjects of mangrove trees and coral rocks.”

  Bess was about to say something, but screamed instead, “Look out!”

  “What’s the matter?” George asked her.

  Bess continued to scream and pointed at the branches of trees over their heads. Large black snakes were falling from them in profusion!

  Snakes were falling from the trees in profusion!

  Everyone ran, and the reptiles missed all of them except Ned. One slimy creature landed on his shoulders and instantly wound itself around the young man’s neck.

  “Ugh!” he cried out, trying to pull the snake away.

  Burt and Dave jumped to help him. Burt grabbed the snake just behind its head, while Dave closed his fingers around the body near the end of the tail.

  Bess was still screaming, with the result that all the other snakes scurried off into the underbrush, apparently frightened.

  Within seconds Burt and Dave yanked the reptile from Ned’s neck and shoulders. They flung it away, and with swift humping motions, the snake crawled out of sight.

  “Thanks, fellows,” Ned said. “I’m glad that thing didn’t fasten its fangs in my throat!”

  Bess’s continued screaming had brought Danny dashing through the bushes.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  George told him, and he said, “Don’t worry, Ned. Those snakes are harmless. They live in the water part of the time, but come ashore to hunt for food. I guess they climb the trees to sleep and dry off.”

  Nancy told Danny his passengers were ready to return to the skiff. After they had reached it and climbed aboard, the boy pointed out a police launch in the distance.

  “I wonder where it’s going,” he said.

  Nancy asked, “Isn’t that the direction of Crocodile Island?”

  “Yes, it is,” he replied. “Want to follow it and see what’s happening?”

  “You bet,” everyone replied.

  As they neared the crocodile farm they saw the police launch pull up to the pier. Four officers jumped out and went ashore. Nancy and her friends could hear indistinct voices. They assumed the police were ordering everyone on the island to come out of hiding. When no one appeared, the officers blew whistles. At the same time, the men spread out on the island.

  “I wish we could do something to help,” Nancy said.

  Danny suggested that they go around to the other side of the island and see if any of the suspects were trying to escape in a boat. He put on power and presently the Pirate was rounding the tip of the key.

  “Look!” George exclaimed. “There’s a boat and men are climbing into it!”

  Nancy and Bess cried out together, “The Whisper!”

  “Oh, they’re getting away!” Bess wailed. “What’ll we do to stop them?”

  “We should tell the police!” George declared.

  CHAPTER XIX

  Triple Sleuthing

  “AFTER them!” Burt shouted, and Danny quickly guided the skiff toward the fleeing boat.

  The Whisper was a more powerful craft, however, and stayed well ahead of them. They followed it through the green waterway and it became smaller and smaller in the distance. By the time they reached the ocean, The Whisper was only a tiny dot.

  Nancy heaved a sigh. She felt completely defeated. “I was so sure we would close in on those men,” she said. “Now they’ve slipped through our fingers!”

  Ned patted her shoulder lightly. “Don’t give up,” he said kindly. “We’re bound to get a break.”

  George said, “I think the break is coming right now!” She looked into the sky. A helicopter was making its way toward their skiff.

  “It’s a police helicopter!” Burt pointed out.

  The craft lowered until the young people in the skiff could see the officers aboard. They were shouting through a megaphone, but those on the water could not understand a word.

  “Too bad we don’t have a ship-to-shore or ship-to-ship telephone,” Danny said.

  The only way Nancy could get a message across to the men above was to point in the direction The Whisper had taken. She made motions with her hands to indicate that it was going very fast. Then she put her finger to her lips, hoping the men might translate it to mean “whisper!”

  She could see the pilot bobbing his head and assumed he understood what she meant—that they should follow the suspect boat to the ocean. The copter turned and set off in that direction.

  Dave spoke up. “Too bad we can’t be on hand to witness the capture. I’ll bet the men in The Whisper put up a real fight.”

  Bess said, “Well, I for one would just as soon not witness a battle. Let’s go back.”

  The skiff returned to Crocodile Island. The police launch was gone, but two officers stood on the dock and invited the young people to come ashore. They introduced themselves as Patman and Fifer.

  “Aren’t you Danny Cosgrove and these girls detectives?”

  “Yes.”

  Nancy smiled and said Ned, Burt, and Dave were friends.

  “We’ve made some arrests,” Patman reported. “For one, we caught the man named Yunki.”

  “Oh, the one who hit Mr. Gonzales with a golf ball?” Bess cried out.

  “Yes.” Putnam said they had found him hiding among some bushes. He had readily confessed to hitting the deadly shot toward Gonzales. But Yunki also said that he had not done it of his own accord. Gimler and Sacco had hired him to do not only this but several other illegal jobs. Yunki was well paid for his dastardly work.”

  “Where is he now?” Ned asked.

  Patman told him that the police launch had taken away Yunki and all the other workers, who admitted helping Gimler and Sacco in some illegal secret work but would not say what it was. Two of the men had escaped, however.

  “It’s important that we catch them. They’re the ones who made phone calls and acted as spies whenever necessary.”

  “As far as we know, they are still on the island. They are Gimler and Sacco’s special henchmen named Stryker and Jackson. Unfortunately for them they were not quick enough to follow Gim
ler on The Whisper, which set off in a hurry when you people showed up at the key.”

  Nancy asked if Gimler had gone off with Matt Carmen and Breck Tobin. Patman nodded. “Yunki told us that. We sent word for a police helicopter to go out and intercept the craft.”

  The listening group also learned that the fake Mr. and Mrs. Cosgrove and their daughter, who had posed as Miss Boonton, had been arrested. They were part of the Gimler-Sacco gang. The weapon E-fee dug up belonged to Sacco, who buried it so the police would not find it if they visited Crocodile Island. He left the dog on the deserted key because E-fee had almost bitten one of the men on The Whisper, whose cruelty he hated.

  Nancy looked at the police officers and asked, “Did I understand you to say that you think two of the workmen are still on the island?”

  “Yes. A couple of Sacco’s special buddies, and bad, both of them. They have records.”

  “Where did they go?” Nancy asked.

  “We don’t know,” Patman replied. He walked off to join his fellow officer in another hunt.

  Nancy said to her friends, “Why don’t we start a search?”

  “Great idea!” Ned agreed.

  The others were eager to begin but Bess was cautious. “Maybe the men are armed. If so, we’re walking into danger!”

  Ned hurried off to ask the officers about the firearms. Patman replied, “According to Yunki they were not armed—didn’t have time to go for any. I doubt that you’d be in any danger if you want to look around. Fifer and I must stay within sight of the beach until the launch returns. It took all the captives to jail.”

  Nancy had followed Ned and was alarmed at its import. She asked quickly. “Was one of the prisoners a man named Sol?”

  Patman pulled a pad from his pocket and consulted it. “I have the list of prisoners here. There’s no one named Sol on it.”

  “I’m glad,” Nancy said, “that he’s not with Gimler and Sacco. We’ve talked to him. He’s very nice. Probably he didn’t come back to the island after being in Key Biscayne.”

  Nancy and Ned returned to their friends. She suggested that they separate into couples and make their search on the island some distance from one another. We’ll be couple one, George and Burt, two; and Bess and Dave, three. In case of trouble call out your numbers instead of your names.

  “And, Danny, how about your going around the island in the skiff? If you see anyone or anything suspicious, sound your horn.”

  “Okay,” he agreed.

  The three couples started off on their search. Bess and Dave stopped for a few minutes to look at the crocodiles, and Bess remarked, “If all the workers are gone, who’s going to take care of these reptiles?”

  Dave grinned. “How would you like the job?”

  Instead of answering, Bess made a face at him.

  Just then one of the old male crocodiles grunted, then hissed, and opened its jaws wide. Within seconds he closed them with such a resounding snap that the couple jumped.

  Bess and Dave waited no longer. They took off for a copse of mangroves to start their hunt for the missing suspects.

  Meanwhile, Burt and George tramped through a jungle area, looking up into trees, behind bushes, and on the ground. They stopped every few minutes to listen, but everything was quiet and there was no sign anywhere of the wanted men.

  They came to a low coral cave and stopped. “Isn’t that attractive?” George whispered. “I wonder if those men are hiding inside.”

  “I’ll look,” Burt said.

  “No! They might trap you and attack!”

  “I’ll be careful. Just follow me, but wait when I get to the entrance.”

  The two advanced without making a sound. Slowly they neared the entrance. Then Burt picked up a stone and threw it inside. There was no reaction from within.

  He cautiously peered around the rocky opening and saw the small interior. The walls were jagged and arranged in a moon-shaped pattern, but there was no cement or any other indication that the cave was man-made.

  “It’s empty,” Burt reported. “Anyway, it’s not much of a hiding place.”

  George looked inside. “Isn’t that coral fascinating?” she said. “Think of the millions of tiny polyps climbing up and dying to form layer after layer of coral.”

  “Yes,” Burt said. “But don’t get sidetracked. Never mind the coral now. Let’s look for those missing men.”

  The couple went deeper into the jungle. Rabbits and raccoons scurried away from them. Suddenly the stillness was broken by a loud noise. Something was crashing through the underbrush ahead of them. George wondered if it was an animal. Then they heard human voices.

  “They may be the suspects!” Burt whispered. “Come on!”

  All this time Nancy and Ned were searching along the waterfront, thinking the men might have hidden a second boat among the mangroves and would try to reach it. Suddenly Nancy stopped short.

  “Look!” she said, pointing to a periscope out in the green waterway.

  “It’s moving in the direction of the island!” Ned said, excited. “Maybe it’ll dock here!”

  “Let’s return to the pier,” Nancy suggested.

  She and Ned quickly made their way back, careful to remain shielded by trees at all times. Just before they reached the open areas, the submarine surfaced! It slid in noiselessly. The hatch opened, and two men appeared. They jumped to the dock and disappeared in the direction of the main building.

  Nancy and Ned wondered if the men were aware of the recent events on the island. Obviously they were not worried about being seen. Or were they just desperate?

  Nancy decided on a bold move. “Ned, are you game to go aboard and hide?”

  “Sure thing.”

  “Wait just a second,” Nancy said. She plucked a leaf from a trailing sea-grape bush. Next she picked up a small sturdy stick and scratched out the words, “Going aboard. Couple one.”

  She jabbed the leaf onto a tree twig and beckoned Ned to follow her. Quickly the two went to the open hatch and climbed down the iron ladder.

  “Where can we hide?” Ned asked, looking around.

  Nancy pointed to the upright lockers and opened one. It contained a coiled rope similar to the one she had seen on the sub in Key West.

  Ned checked the adjoining locker. Behind some clothes, many boxes were stacked neatly from the floor to the ceiling. Each one was stamped High Speed Cameras. Bridgeport, Ct.

  “That’s a lot of cameras for a few guys,” Ned remarked.

  “Right,” Nancy said, now suspicious. “Open the next locker.”

  Ned did, and found similar boxes concealed behind raingear. Further search revealed guns, grenades, and explosives in each locker! Ned shook his head in disbelief, and Nancy’s eyes were wide with amazement.

  “Ned!” she exclaimed. “Now I know what the secret of Crocodile Island is! Gimler and Sacco are taking expensive high-speed cameras out of the U. S. They’re smuggling them to someplace, maybe Mexico!”

  As the two hurried back to the ladder, Ned put a hand on Nancy’s shoulder. “You’re right. And this means we’re in great danger. We’d better get out of here before—”

  Just then they heard voices. Two men were conversing rapidly and walking toward Nancy and Ned. The couple, who did not want to be seen, scooted into the first two lockers. She hid behind coiled ropes. Ned managed to squeeze in back of the raingear and stood next to the boxes of cameras.

  They left the doors slightly ajar so they could see who was coming. The two men they had seen leave the sub, reentered it. Quickly one of them turned a handle, which slowly closed the hatch. The other man rotated a wheel that retracted the periscope. Then he started the engine and the sub moved away.

  Nancy and Ned held their breath, wondering what would happen next. The man at the wheel suddenly laughed. He said confidently, “We pulled that one off all right. No more bothering with Gimler and Sacco! Next stop Mexico!

  CHAPTER XX

  Submarine Prisoners

  “M
EXICO!” Nancy thought.

  She and Ned were terrified when they realized that they were being taken out of the country with no chance to call for help. They tried to keep calm and figure out some way to outwit these men.

  The prisoners listened attentively when the men resumed their conversation. One said, “I had no idea when we went into shipping stolen cameras with Gimler and Sacco that we could make so much money. I don’t know why we ever bothered with the small amount we got out of the Crocodile Ecology Company.”

  The other man said, “You forget, Williams, that we needed a cover. I’d say we just got out of there in time. That nosey girl detective and her friends are just too smart.”

  In spite of their predicament, Nancy and Ned smiled at this remark.

  Williams said, “Nothing to worry about now, Captain Frederick. We’re rid of the bunch.”

  The men talked about what they were going to do with all the money they had made.

  Frederick said, “I’ll show those relatives of mine in Mexico what I can do, even if they thought I was a no-good.” He laughed raucously. “How easy the whole operation was! We stole a lot of cameras from the factory in Connecticut and bought a whole lot of others cheap on the black market. And sold them at a three hundred percent profit.”

  Nancy and Ned almost suffocated in the lockers but did not dare miss a word. They learned that the cameras were shipped out at night to a freighter going south. Then they were transferred to The Whisper, which carried them to the submarine. Then The Whisper returned to the key, which was home base. Whenever the submarine came there, the periscope would be hoisted. If any visitors were on the island, an alarm would be sounded and the sightseers sent away.

  Williams said, “It’s too bad we couldn’t fill that order for five hundred cameras. If the buyer in Mexico had only given us a little more time, we wouldn’t have had any trouble.”

  The men were silent for a while, then Williams said, “We won’t be tying up for some time. I think I’ll put away this rope we’re not using. It’s in the way.”