The Pentagon Spy Read Online Free PDF Page B

ground. But both felt rather uneasy on the roof of Hammerley’s barn.
    To reach the weather vane, they had to crouch on their hands and knees, then edge their way along the apex, with disaster on either side should they slip. Finally the trio reached the middle of the roof, and the Hardys had a close-up view of the Flashing Arrow.
    A Pennsylvania Dutch craftsman had beaten flat copper into the likeness of an eagle with its head back in a defiant gesture, its beak open as if to attack, and its wings spread for flight. The eagle’s talons gripped the arrow on which it perched. One end of the arrow was pointed, while the other end expanded into simulated feathers. A bar through the center of the arrow held the weather vane in place on the roof.
    Frank and Joe edged their way around Morven and sat on opposite sides of the Flashing Arrow so that they could inspect it together. They were struck by the beauty of the workmanship.
    â€œLook, it’s loose,” Frank said, lifting the weather vane from its bar. “How come?”
    Morven shrugged. “Beats me. It had a collar that held it on the bar.”
    â€œWhere’s the collar now?”
    â€œSearch me,” Morven said. “Maybe the workmen who fixed the roof took it.”
    Frank replaced the weather vane on the bar, noting that it could still turn in the wind without falling off. Joe swung it around until the arrow pointed in his direction. He wiggled to sit next to Morven, with his legs dangling down one side of the roof, and explored the pointed end with his fingertips.
    â€œSay, this arrowhead isn’t welded on,” he said. “It’s screwed on.” Grasping the arrowhead between his thumb and forefinger, he gave it a sharp twist that caused it to move.
    â€œLet’s see,” Morven said. He rose and leaned toward Joe. Just then his foot seemed to slip and he fell heavily against the young detective. With a cry of surprise, he righted himself with his hand, but Joe was knocked off balance and toppled from the apex of the roof.
    While Frank stared in horror, his brother slid down the steep slope and plunged over the side of the barn!

5
    Joe’s Close Call
    Without hesitating, Frank skidded down the roof to a point where he could brace his feet against the gutter. Joe was hanging onto the gutter by his fingertips! The force of his fall had swung one foot against the wall, where the sole of his shoe had come to rest on a fastening that held a drainpipe against the side of the barn.
    Quickly Frank grabbed his brother’s wrists. Joe swung one knee over the gutter and with Frank’s help hauled himself back onto the roof. He lay there for a moment, breathing heavily after his near-fatal accident.
    â€œThat was some ride you took,” Frank said, his voice still tense.
    â€œI’m glad I didn’t finish it,” Joe puffed. Catching his breath, he followed Frank back to the apex of the roof where Morven was waiting.
    â€œI’m sorry about your fall,” the foreman said apologetically. “My foot slipped. Are you all right?”
    â€œDon’t worry, I do this all the time,” Joe said coldly. He suspected that it had not been an accident. Carefully wedging himself next to the weather vane, he resumed unscrewing the arrowhead and noticed that the arrow formed a hollow tube.
    â€œThat makes it light enough to turn with the wind,” he reasoned. After peering in and finding the tube empty, he screwed the arrowhead back on.
    Deciding that they had seen enough, Frank and Joe descended the roof with Morven, dropped through the skylight, and rejoined Chet in the loft. Their roly-poly friend, who had watched Joe’s close call, was pale, and his hands trembled slightly.
    â€œYou sure know how to scare a guy,” he said to Joe, trying not to show how upset he was.
    â€œSorry about that,” Joe said. “I didn’t know you were watching. What’d you find in the