New Adventures of the Mad Scientists' Club Read Online Free PDF Page A

dreamed about what you'd do if you were a bank
robber?"
           
"No, I haven't!" fumed the Chief.
           
"Well, I have," said Henry. "And I'll bet one of our dinosaur
eggs that I know just what they're planning."
            "Is
that so? Well, supposing you tell me."
           
"What about Dinky and Freddy?"
           
"OK, OK! We'll see they get home all right," said the Chief.
"Now, tell me your brilliant idea."
           
"Well, if I were a bank robber I think I'd have a boat waiting at the
railroad trestle over Lemon Creek. And with good luck I'd probably be out into
the lakes and all the way to Canada before you figured out what happened."
            There
was a long silence.
           
"Are you still there, Chief?" asked Henry finally. "Do you want
me to phone Mr. Monaghan's boathouse? You could probably nab them at the mouth
of Lemon Creek if you get a couple of patrol cars down there right away."
            Chief Putney
was fuming and sputtering.
           
"You're a crazy nut, Mulligan!" he said at last. "Now, suppose
you get off the radio and let me be the Chief of Police."
            "I
was just trying to help," Henry said.
           
"That's the kind of help I can do without," said the Chief. "Now
get off the air and let me talk to Officer Riley."
           
"This is Riley, Chief," came a new voice.
           
"Listen, Riley, turn your volume down," whispered the Chief.
"Now, is that kid still around?"
           
"No, Chief. He went back in the barn."
           
"Good! Now listen, Riley. I want you to get two cars down to Monaghan's
boathouse at the river right away. Call him on the phone and tell him to get a
couple of boats ready. I think those crooks might try to make a getaway down
Lemon Creek."
           
"Good thinking, Chief! What about these kids?"

           
"Riley, I think we can play cops and robbers without having those kids
underfoot. Leave 'em there in the barn."
            "I
just thought that direction finder of theirs might come in handy."
           
"You're not being paid to think! Just follow orders."
           
"Right, Chief!"
           
"See that these kids all get home right away," Chief Putney said to
the sheriff's deputy. "Then report to the control center at the Crockers'
barn. I'm heading for Monaghan's boathouse." The Chief's car showered us
with gravel as the driver spun it around and headed pell-mell down the road.
            The
deputy helped us throw dirt over the remains of the bonfire, and then Dinky and
Freddy and I clambered into his car.
            "I
hope the Chief's doing the right thing," he said, as he nursed the car
down the road off the ridge. "It might not be so easy spotting that boat
in the dark. I've been duck hunting in those bulrushes at the mouth of the
creek and they spread out pretty far. There's a lot of places a boat could slip
through without ever getting near Monaghan's boathouse."
           
"They wouldn't get away if Henry was there with our direction
finder," I said.
           
"You got a portable set?"
           
"Sure! We have a battery power pack, and we can take it anywhere."
            The
deputy looked at his watch and rubbed his chin. Then there was a long silence.
Suddenly, when he reached the hardtop of the county road, he flicked on his
flashing beacon and the tires screamed as he pushed the accelerator to the
floor.
           
"This'll be the first time in my life I didn't follow orders," he
said.
            We must
have waked up all of Jeff Crocker's family when we skidded into the driveway
beside the barn. The deputy turned the car around while I rushed in and got
Henry.
           
"They're heading down Lemon Creek, all right -- as close as we can
figure," said Henry, as we piled into the deputy's car with the battery
set. "Jeff'll keep a track on them and let us know if there's any
change."
           
"Hey! What's going on, Sergeant?" a policeman shouted from the
control car