The Incident at Skull Crossing by Gregory Avila-Shah

         “Come on Joe!”called dark-haired Frank Hardy.          “I’m coming,” called his younger brother, blond-haired Joe hardy.  “I’m on the phone with Tony.”  Tony Prito’s one of the Hardy’s friends and has a wonderful boat called the Napoli.  The two boys were in a boat race against their friends Tony Prito and Biff Hooper.        “Okay! I’m done!”called Joe as he darted down the stairs.  “I’ve made arrangements with Chet to drive us to the boathouse.  Chet Morton was another of the boys’ friends.  Chet was a jolly chubby boy with blond hair and owns a yellow jalopy he calls the Queen.  Minutes later, the boys were with Chet driving to the dock.          “I packed a big cooler for the race,” said Chet.  Later the boys reached the dock to find Tony and Biff with Cally Shaw and Iola Morton.          “Hope you don’t mind,”grinned Tony. “They forced me to bring them here.”        “Well, let’s suit up the Sleuth,” called Joe.          A couple of minutes later the boys were racing Tony, Biff, and Iola in Sleuth.  Suddenly a crucial BOOM filled the air followed by rain and high winds.        “We’d better get home!” called Tony from the Napoli.  As if in response a bolt of lightning hit the Napoli squarely in the stern.  Suddenly the Napoli burst into flames.          “Help!” called Tony.        “We can’t just leave them there,” said Chet.  So the boys ripped up several floorboards of the Sleuth and tied them together then thrust the makeshift bridge over to the burning Napoli.  Then Frank clambered over to the boat closely followed by Joe and Chet.  On the Napoli Frank was shouting to everyone to climb onto the Sleuth.  When everyone was safely on board the Sleuth the boys lifted the “Bridge” and put aside the boards.        “Those might come in handy again,”said Iola jerking her thumb over to the boards.  The storm was still raging so the boys couldn’t turn the boat around to home.        “So now what?”asked Biff.”Well, our only choice is to go with the storm.”          So the boys and the girls went with the storm for twelve hours until they beached on an abandoned island.        “Where in the name of dead rotten codfish are we?” swore Chet.          Cali pointed to a sign that read SKULL ISLAND.  Under the word “ISLAND” was a faded skull.          “We’re going to have to stay here,” said Tony.        “What other choice do we have?”  asked Biff.          “I’m starving,” cried Iola. “I haven’t had anything since three twenty, now it’s almost nine!”        “Luckily Chet brought a cooler,” said Frank.        “Well, then, get it!”cried Iola.        Chet started to go the Sleuth when the group heard muffled talking.          “Chet forget the cooler, get our camping gear and flashlights!” said Joe.        So Chet got up and walked over to the Sleuth and got the boys things.  Joe quietly put on his pack and turned on his flashlight and motioned for the others to follow.  Soon they reached an opening in the rocks and saw that two people were conversing.        “We’ll need to rob another bank!” said the male in a high voice.          “No!” said the female in the lowest possible voice.  Suddenly Joe sprung into the cave and tackled the man.          “You little rascal!” screeched the woman.  Then she grabbed Joe and tied him up.  Then, she went outside and  tied up Frank, Chet, Cally, Iola, Tony and Biff.  Then with a loud cry she said:  Nobody attacks Rufus McGreedy and Delilah Gabbs!!!  Then she and Rufus McGreedy fled, leaving the kids in darkness.  Chet was the first one to break the silence.          “I’ve got Joe’s knife between my toes.”        “Genius!” cried Frank.  Then Chet passed the knife to his hands and cut the ropes binding him.           “Well, you could untie us, you know, instead of looking at us!” said an annoyed Iola.  So Chet cut their bonds.          “So now what?” asked Frank.          “We escape,” replied Biff.  So the group clambered out of the cave and followed a stream to a waterfall.          “Thank the stars!” cried Cally.  “I’m bone thirsty.”        So everyone took a drink and Frank and Joe filled their flasks.        “We have to head on,” said Iola.  Everyone followed Frank and Joe to a thick forest.  Suddenly the group heard a deafening CRACK! Frank turned around to come face to face with a bear. “ ROWAARWOR!” cried the bear in Frank’s face, pushing his hair back.  That got everyone going.  They all started running away from the bear but it followed them.  Then, Frank pulled out some food from his pack and flung it.  Then the bear turned around and followed the food.“I’m glad that’s over!” said Biff.“Look!” pointed Chet. “A tower!”“Maybe it has a phone!” cried Joe.  So they all rushed towards the tower.        “Look, there’s the door,” pointed Joe.  “Maybe we can get inside.”  And they did.  “And look!” pointed Biff, “A phone!”  So Frank and Joe made two calls, one to the Police and one to their dad, Fenton Hardy.  About three hours later the boys heard Chief Collig outside the house with Fenton Hardy making the arrests of Rufus McGreedy and Delilah Gabbs.  Then Chief Collig thanked the group for solving the mystery of many bank robberies around the United States.  “Turns out that those crooks kept all the money in that tower,” said Chief Collig.“Well, I am glad that it’s over!” laughed Chet. The End