Plot Summary (revised Edition)
While leaving the baseball field the Hardy boys are approached by a blind peddler with a warning for their father Fenton Hardy. Then the boys take their boat, the Sleuth out on Barmet Bay for a ride and to watch the testing of a new hydrofoil boat named the Sea Spook. While admiring the new boat they almost have a collision with it, allowing them a reason to board the boat where they find a glass eye, presumably belonging to Mr. Lambert who was test driving the boat. When the boys try to track down Mr. Lambert he goes missing and Bill Braxton, the owner of the Sea Spook is attacked at his boathouse and the Spook is searched. Meanwhile Fenton Hardy examines the warning from Henry Zatta, the blind peddler, and declares that it must be warning them to keep away from the Goggler Gang. They then realize that Mr. Lambert is actually a hoodlum named Spotty Lemuel.
Their discussion is interrupted by an old man at the door named Zachary Mudge who is staying at Doc Grafton’s Health Farm, a luxurious resort overlooking Barmet Bay. Mr. Mudge tells them that he would like to purchase the Sea Spook. The boys decide to go to a movie at the Bijou but as they arrive they see a man wearing the disguise of the Goggler Gang running away with the cashbox. Later, the boys travel up the river in the ‘’sleuth’’ to speak to Mrs. Lunberry, the owner of a Jeweled Silva which was recently stolen, on behalf of their father who is going to take on the case. Upon returning they are summoned to Doc Grafton’s Health Farm by their chum Chet Morton, who has taken summer employment there. During the course of their travels they keep seeing suspicious vehicles, specifically brand new Torpedo sedans. This clue leads them to Izmir Motors, owned by Malcolm Izmir. The boys try to search Mr. Izmir’s house but are attacked by his guard dogs. Upon returning home they find their house has been burglarized and their fathers safe blown open.
They learn from Chief Collig that the Bijou holdup man was actually Nick Cordoza, and that he had broken into Mr. Izmir’s house, but Mr. Izmir had refused to press charges. The boys also learn from Mr. Mudge that the Izmir syndicate has gone broke. They also suspect that Doc. Grafton’s resort is actually a hideout for crooks who are getting plastic surgery to alter their looks, based on Chet’s report that he saw a mummy in an off-limits building on the Health Farm and their guess that Mr. Izmir is the head of the Goggler Gang because his name can be shortened to Mal I, which may mean ‘evil eye’. Fenton Hardy goes undercover at the resort while Chet and the Hardy boys investigate by sneaking on to the Health Farm. They all end up captured by Spotty Lemuel and Rip Sinder. They are rescued when Chet calls the police, who arrest the villains and several other crooks that were staying at the Health Farm.
Read more about this topic: A Figure In Hiding
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