Frank and Joe Hardy are determined to bring to justice the vicious criminals who kidnapped their detective father while he was investigation sabotage of a road-building project in the Kentucky wilderness. After Mr. Hardy's escape, the two young sleuths are spurred into action when he mumbles the word "Felix" and they discover a dossier of a notorious ex-convict was stolen from his files. The trail leads them to New York City but ends abruptly in a cemetery With the new clue of a spiral symbol the boys head to Kentucky as part of a highway construction crew to track down the kidnappers and saboteurs.