When Will and Sandy entered the cabin with Ed Hannon, Cameron sprang up to meet them. There was a show of excitement in his manner as he exclaimed:
"So you found the lost boy, did you?"
"No," Will replied, "this is not the lost boy, but it is a lost boy!"
"Where did you come from?" asked Cameron hastily, regarding Ed with a pair of bold, black eyes. "How long have you been in this district?"
"I came from Katalla today," answered the boy.
"Tonight, you mean," corrected Cameron.
"I started early this morning," replied Ed, "but I guess I've been wandering around the country a good deal. It seems that I came up to the cottage from the north."
Cameron sank back into his chair with a look of satisfaction on his face. The boys now busied themselves getting a substantial meal for Ed, and the boy was soon attacking a generous slice of bear steak.
If Cameron had the plans bearing the thumb marks, he was certainly the man to keep them concealed if he believed them to be of any value whatever to any one. If he did not have charge of the plans, then the chances were that Vin. Chase, the crooked clerk, had them and that any reference to them in the presence of Cameron would be communicated as soon as possible to the actual holder.
Will was certain that Cameron was the man who had given the name of Len Garman by Mr. Horton in the interview in which he had received his instructions. At that time he did not believe that Cameron, or Garman, whichever his name was, knew anything whatever of the thumb prints on the plans.
He did believe, however, that the fellow would fight to the death for the drawings, not because he believed them to be of value as evidence, but because he believed them to be of great value to one in quest of mining machinery suitable for that section of the country.
Directly Cameron began pacing to and fro in the cabin and occasionally glancing out of the window. There were only a few stars in sight and no moon, but for all that the fellow appeared greatly interested in the landscape outside.
"Are you expecting some one?" Will finally asked.
"Certainly not," was the reply. "Why do you ask such a question?"
"Because you seem anxious about something."
"I am anxious about something," replied Cameron seating himself by Will once more. "I don't like the idea of this boy coming in here with his story of being lost on the moraine.
"You think he came here for a purpose?"
"I must say that I do!"
Will saw that Cameron was fearful that Ed had brought in a message of some kind, and so talked to the point for some moments in the hope of drawing the miner out. But the miner only stared at Ed with his evil eyes and said nothing of importance.
"I know what's eating you, old fellow," Will thought to himself. "You think that there's a gang of Boy Scouts scattered over the moraine looking for Bert, and you're afraid they'll find him!"
Sure enough this prognostication seemed to be the true one, for directly Cameron drew on his head net and leather gloves and walked to the door. He paused there a moment and turned back to say to Will:
"It will soon be morning, and I desire to get to the point of my investigation before daylight. I have been very courteously entertained and shall return to your cabin at night, with your permission."
"I guess it's your cabin rather than mine!" replied Will with a smile. "I think you are acting very decently about our taking possession of it. Of course you'll always find food here as long as we remain."
With a wave of the hand at the group of boys gathered about the table, Cameron went out and closed the door. They heard him moving heavily along toward the east and then came silence.
"He's stopping to see if he's watched," suggested Sandy.
"He'll be watched all right!" George declared.
"But how?" asked Sandy.
"I'm the original sleuth!" George replied with a grin. "I can follow the fellow by the sound of his footsteps, even if he is wearing moccasins!"
"Does any one doubt that Cameron is the man formerly known as Len Garman?" asked Will.
The boys all shook their heads, but Ed turned an inquiring face toward the speaker.
"He gave the name of Cameron here, did he?" he asked.
Will nodded.
"Well, that isn't the name I heard him called by at Katalla," Ed declared.
"So you saw him at Katalla, did you?" asked Sandy.
"Yes, I saw him at Katalla two days ago. He seemed to have a lot of business with a young fellow who appeared to be a stranger in the town."
"What name did ho give there?"
"Brooks!" replied Ed.
"Well, we mustn't stand here chinning while the fellow is getting out of sight," suggested George. "I'm going to take after him right now!"
"Wait," Sandy suggested, "and I'll go with you."
"Do you think he will go straight to Bert?" asked Will.
"I have no doubt of it!" was the reply.
"It's just this way," George went on, "Cameron is suspicious that a great effort is being made to discover the whereabouts of the kidnapped boy, and he can't rest easy until he knows that he is safe. Besides, the fellow would like to know whether Bert had regained consciousness."
"Yes, I presume he is anxious to learn what the code despatch he stole contains," Will answered.
"There was some talk," Sandy said, directly, "about Bert regaining consciousness before he left the cabin. Do you think that possible?"
"No, I don't!" replied George. "I should have heard a struggle had anything of the kind taken place. The fact of the matter is," the boy went on, "that Cameron thinks some one is after the drawings he values so greatly. He found Bert here with the code message and naturally concluded that the cipher referred in some way to his plans."
"Well, come on, then," Sandy urged. "We'll have to be moving if we follow Cameron. I think we've talked too long already."
"Don't you worry about that," Will declared. "Cameron will hang around the cabin for half an hour or more in order to see if any one leaves. Before any one goes out, we'll turn off the light and make a noise like going to sleep. Then, when all is good and dark, you two can slip out and locate the miner if you can."
"Locate him?" repeated Sandy. "We've got to locate him. He'll go straight to Bert and that's exactly where we want to go."
The boys made a great commotion in the cabin as if preparing for bed, and finally the lamp was extinguished, leaving the room in complete darkness.
"Now, be careful when you open the door," whispered Will.
For a wonder the door opened noiselessly on its hinges, and was closed without the slightest jar. Directly Will heard a soft tap at the window and pressed his face against the pane.
"Cameron is still in sight," Sandy's voice said, "and not very far away. He seems to be satisfied that we've all gone to bed, and is heading for the west. Looks like he was following the trail we followed when we went out after fish."
"Go to it, then," Will said. "Don't expose yourselves by being too rash, and don't come back in the morning without bringing Bert with you."
"You watch me!" Sandy replied, and then he was gone.
When the federal officer appeared in front of the spirited team, announcing that he had a warrant for the arrest of the boys, Tommy and Sam both whispered to the driver to cut loose with the whip.
"Run him down!" Tommy insisted.
"Jump the rig over him!" Sam advised.
The doctor, however, stretched forth a detaining hand and the driver held in the horses.
"That's right!" Frank exclaimed.
"You mustn't get into any quarrel with the officers," Dr. Pelton suggested. "We can soon settle this matter."
"Je-rusalem!" exclaimed Tommy. "Here we've been hanging around an old blacksmith shop all day, and skulking through the streets, and not getting half enough to eat, only to get pinched at the last minute! If I had my way, I'd bump that officer on the coco and make for the landing. We can't stay in this blooming little burg all the rest of our natural lives. Will will be anxious."
"Now don't get excited!" laughed Frank. "We'll get out in, a few minutes, all right."
"If it was so easy to get out in a few minutes," argued Tommy, "why didn't you get out hours ago?"
Frank only laughed as the impatient question and sprang out of the carriage. The doctor alighted, too, and they both stood for a moment in close consultation with the officer.
Jamison, who was now very drunk, stood weaving about in the street, demanding that all the boys, and the doctor, and the driver of the carriage, be thrown into jail on a charge of piracy.
"Don't you think," Frank suggested to the officer, "that this man is too drunk to be out on the street?"
"Why, of course he is," replied the officer beckoning to an associate who stood watching the group from the next corner.
When the associate came up, Jamison was ordered under arrest, and was taken away with many threats and exclamations of rage.
"I don't like this man Jamison any better than you do," the officer said, speaking to Frank and Dr. Pelton, "but the case did look rather bad for the boys, and I had to do something."
"He collected three hundred dollars of me, for a trip to and from Cordova," Frank explained, "and then tried to maroon us on one of the Barren islands. There's a member of his crew back here in the blacksmith shop who will tell you the same story."
"So you paid him three hundred dollars, did you?" asked the officer.
"Yes, sir," answered the boy.
"And you have proof that he tried to maroon you?"
"Yes, sir!"
"And you took the boat only to enforce the contract you had made?"
"That's the idea!" replied Frank.
"Then I'm not going to bother with the case at all!" replied the officer. "If you had come to me with this story the minute Jamison began to rave about arrest, you wouldn't have been put to all this inconvenience."
"I think," grinned Frank, "that Jamison ought to pay us back the three hundred dollars, because he never brought us to Cordova at all, and even if he had, he wouldn't have earned the money until he returned us to Katalla. He ought not to keep the money."
"That's a fact!" exclaimed the officer with a smile at the boy. "I'll go down to the jail and make him give it back."
The officer started away, and Tommy and Sam sat in the carriage regarding Frank with wide open eyes.
"Say, who is that kid?" Tommy asked.
"I don't know," replied Sam.
"Did you notice that any time he said anything to the officer that the officer just fell right in with his ideas?"
"Sure I did," was the reply.
"And did you notice how the doctor paid special attention to every remark he made?"
"I couldn't help but notice it," was the reply.
"Well, that kid's got these fellows up here buffaloed all right," Tommy declared. "And that being the case, I wonder why he didn't use some of his influence hours ago and get us started on the road to Katalla."
"I give it up!" Sam replied.
Frank and the doctor stood talking together for a few moments, and then the federal officer returned and handed two hundred dollars in bank notes over to Frank.
"Jamison thinks he ought to have a hundred dollars because he paid the tug for bringing him and his crew in," the officer said, "and because he's going to let you run his motor boat up to Katalla."
"What do you know about that?" whispered Sam.
"I'll bet that boy's father is president of the United States," replied Tommy. "Or he may be king of England."
"Whoever he is, he's got a pull," replied Sam.
"Drag!" exclaimed Tommy. "Whenever a man's got a dead sure cinch like that, it's a drag and not a pull!"
"Well," the doctor said, "we're losing time! We may as well go to the wireless office and get our code message. I presume it's ready for delivery by this time."
"It's about time we were thinking about that boy with his head in a sling, too!" Tommy suggested.
"It won't take us long to get there now," Doctor Pelton remarked.
The Gulf of Alaska was remarkably smooth, when the vicious habits of that body of water are taken into consideration, and the boys made the run to Katalla without accident in little less than three hours, arriving at the floating dock with the sun still more than three hours in the sky.
"Now for the rotten part of the journey," Tommy suggested. "If we hadn't had to wait for the wireless after we landed at the dock we should have arrived here in time to reach the cabin before dark."
"Who's got the wireless?" asked Sam.
"Frank's got it tucked away under his uniform!" laughed Doctor Pelton. "He wouldn't even let me take a look at the envelope!"
"Do you know what's in it, Frank?" asked Tommy.
"Sure I do," was the reply.
"Then, what's all this mystery about? Why don't you pass the information around?" demanded Tommy impatiently.
"All in good time!" laughed the boy.
"I don't see any use of all this mystery!" Tommy grumbled, turning to Sam, "I get shut out of the inside features of every game I'm in!"
"Now, how do we get to the cabin?" asked the doctor.
"Walk, I suppose," grumbled Tommy. "It's only about fourteen or fifteen miles, and the country between the two points is mostly on end. We ought to get there by an hour or two after midnight, if we don't stop to play marbles on the way."
"If you will all wait here a few moments," Frank said, "I'll go and see what I can do in the shape of a rig."
"A rig!" repeated Tommy. "Fat lot of fun you'd have driving a rig over that moraine!"
"Of course we can't drive clear to the cabin," Frank replied, "but we can get quite along way from the coast if we have a strong team and a good wagon!"
"Yes, I remember smooth country somewhere on the route," replied Tommy.
"But even at best," Frank explained, "we shall have to walk five or six miles, so we may as well be getting busy."
In a very few minutes Frank returned with a pair of strong horses and wagon more desirable for its strength than its comfort.
"Where'd you find it?" asked Tommy.
"Sent a wireless ahead asking for it!" replied Frank.
"I wish you'd send a wireless over to the cabin," Tommy grinned, "and ask the boys to have supper all ready when we get there, and you might suggest that Sandy and George meet us a half a mile this side with a pie under each arm."
"I believe if that kid should ask to have some one dip him a blue blazer out of an ice cold spring it would be done," Sam whispered to Tommy, as the party clambered into the wagon.
"He's certainly got a drag somewhere!" replied Tommy.
"Things are running pretty smoothly boys," suggested Doctor Pelton as the straggling buildings of the coast town disappeared from view.
"They're running too smoothly!" exclaimed Tommy. "First thing we know, there'll be a cylinder head blowing out, or a volcanic eruption, or something of that kind. We've been having things altogether too easy ever since we landed at Cordova."
"Just listen a moment," Frank said, "I guess there's something going to happen, right now!"
There came a long, low rumbling sound, apparently moving from east to west, followed by a tipping of the moraine which almost brought the horses to their knees.
"It would never answer," Tommy grumbled, "for us to make a trip to Alaska without bunting into a glacier ready to smash up things!"
"That's not a glacial slide!" Frank said. "It's an earthquake!"
"An earthquake?" repeated Tommy. "I thought they never had earthquakes in Alaska any more!"
"There are few weeks when there are no earthquakes!" was the reply.
"Well, when's it going to stop quaking?" asked Sam, springing out of the wagon. "It seems to me that we're getting a sleigh ride!"
The others followed his example, and stood in a moment within fifty feet of a slowly widening chasm which seemed to run from east to west across the entire moraine. They had just reached the timber line when the disturbance began, and now they saw trees a hundred feet in height and from six to eight inches in diameter dropping like matches into the great opening in the earth.
"Gee!" exclaimed Tommy. "The breath of the earthquake is enough to freeze one! I wish I had a couple of fur coats!"
The boy expressed the situation very accurately, for the opening of the moraine revealed the mighty mass of ice which lay under it. The glacier which had lain dead under the mat of vegetation for how many hundred years no one would ever know, showed far down in the great cavern, and a gust of wind sighing through the ragged jaws laid a chill over the little party.
Slowly the chasm widened. The ground under the boys' feet seemed to be unsteady. With a swaying motion it dropped off toward the coast, except at the very edge of the cavern, which seemed to be doubling down like a lip folded inside the mouth.
"It strikes me," Frank said, "that we would better be getting the team out of the track of that chasm! If we don't, the horses and wagon will take a drop."
Tommy and Sam both sprang forward, but it was too late! The southern line of the chasm seemed, to drop away for fifty feet or more, and trees and rocks crashed into the opening. The horses and the wagon went down with the rest. The screams of the frightened horses cut the air for an instant, and then all was silent.
"Rotten!" cried Tommy.
"Fierce!" shouted Sam.
"Awful!" declared Doctor Pelton.
Frank stood looking at the ever-widening chasm for a moment and then faced toward the coast.
"We'll have to walk around it now, I'm thinking," Tommy said, in a moment. "And a nice job we've got!"
As far as the eye could see the chasm extended, now growing in size, now contracting. A pale blue mist rose out of the opening, and the air was that of an August day no longer.
The sliding motion continued, and the chasm increased its width.
"Will it never stop?" asked Sam, almost thrown to the ground by a quick convulsion of the surface.
"Not just yet!" replied the Doctor gravely. "I can tell you in a moment just what has taken place. The weight of soil and timber on top of the dead glacier is shifting. The volcanic action tipped the moraine to the south and it broke, opening the way to the ice below. There is no knowing how serious the break may be. For all we know, the upheaval may send this whole moraine into the Gulf of Alaska."
"That's a cheerful proposition, too!" Tommy exclaimed.
"I wish I could get close enough to the chasm to look down," Sam observed. "I'll bet it's a thousand feet!"
"You'd better not try that!" advised Frank.
"The question before the house at the present moment," the doctor said, "is how I am going to get to my patient."
"Can't we get across this little crack in the earth?" asked Sam.
"That depends on the length of it!" answered Frank. "If the Doctor's theory is correct, this whole point has cracked away from the glacier above. In that case, we may be obliged to in some way work ourselves to the bottom of the chasm and up on the other side."
"We never can do that!" Sam insisted.
"Alaska is full of just such gorges as this one," Frank explained. "The whole country is resting on an icy foundation, and earthquakes find congenial conditions when it comes to cracking the crust. We don't know how long this chasm is, but the chances are that it isn't as long now as it will be!"
"Yes," agreed the doctor. "The chances are that the chasm started here today will continue to grow in length until it cuts across the point of land between Controller bay and the Bering glacier. I have known chasms of this character to travel fifty miles in a night, and I have known them to walk with such dignity that it took them ten years to go ten miles."
"But there must be some way of getting across it!" exclaimed Tommy. "Everything has been going all right up to now, and we're not going to be kept away from the cabin by any such playful little earthquake as this!"
"We'll do the best we can," Frank said gravely.
The boys turned to the east and west and traversed the line of the chasm for long distances. In places the width was not more than thirty feet. In others it was at least a hundred. Occasionally the walls of soil and ice sloped down at an angle of forty degrees, in other places the wall was vertical.
Within an hour the sound of running water was plainly heard, and the boys understood that the convulsion of nature had opened a reservoir somewhere in the glacier, and that the long chasm would soon become a rushing torrent. The prospect was discouraging.
"I wish we had an airship!" suggested Tommy, as they came back to the starting place, a few minutes before the night closed down upon the moraine. "It's provoking to think that we can't get across a little chasm not any wider than a street in old Chicago!"
"I think I could get along very well with a derrick!" said Sam.
After a long conference, it was decided to keep to the west and endeavor to pass around the chasm in that direction.
"We certainly can't remain here inactive," the doctor argued. "We've got to go one way or the other, and I think the chances are better toward the west!"
"It will soon be good and dark," cried Tommy, "and then we'll have to make some kind of a camp for the night."
"I've got a searchlight with me," suggested Frank.
"So've I," answered Tommy.
"I'll tell you one thing we forgot," Sam cut in. "You didn't make Jamison give up your automatics!"
"Don't you ever think we didn't," Tommy answered. "That is," he continued, "the officer made him give them up. At least he brought them back when he came from the jail!"
"Seems to me," Tommy added, looking at Frank critically, "that you've got some kind of a drag with the people at Cordova."
"Never mind that now," Frank replied. "What we need now is some kind of a drag to get us across this chasm."
The electrics illuminated only a narrow path, but the boys and the doctor made fairly good time as they advanced toward the west.
After walking at least a mile and finding no narrowing in the surface opening, the boys stopped once more for consultation.
While they stood on the edge of the chasm considering the situation, a bright blaze leaped up some distance to the north.
"Some one's burning green boughs!" exclaimed Tommy.
"How do you know that?" asked Sam.
"Look at the white smoke!" answered Tommy. "I guess if you had made and answered as many Boy Scout smoke signals as I have, you'd know how to make a smudge."
"It's so bloomin' dark I couldn't tell whether the smoke is while or black!" declared Sam. "I can see only the bulk of it."
"If it was good and black," Tommy answered, "we couldn't see it so plainly. And, come to think about it," he added, laying a hand excitedly on Frank's shoulder, "there are two columns of smoke."
"I see the two now," Frank answered. "One column has just begon to show. You know what that means, of course!"
"It means a Boy Scout signal for assistance," replied Tommy.
Doctor Pelton turned to the boys with an anxious face.
"Do you really mean that?" he asked.
"Sure we do!" replied Tommy. "Two columns of smoke ask for help."
"Then there must be Boy Scouts in trouble on the other side of the chasm!" the doctor concluded.
"That's about the size of it!" Frank exclaimed.
"Look here," Tommy declared, "we've just got to get across that crack! I wonder if it would be possible to find walls so slanting that we could pass down this side and up the other."
"Well, even if we did," Sam argued, "there's a rush of water at the bottom. I don't see how we could get across that."
"I know how we can get across it if we find the walls accommodating," Tommy exclaimed. "You saw how the trees tumbled into the chasm, didn't you? Well, if we can find a place where the moraine was heavily wooded, we'll find a bridge of tree trunks across any water there may be at the bottom! And the bridge may not be very far down, either!"
"Great head, little man!" laughed Frank.
"You ought to consider the matter very seriously before entering the chasm at all," suggested the doctor. "Remember that it is uncertain as to size and that the walls are liable to crumble."
"But see here," exclaimed Tommy, "there's a Boy Scout signal for help on the other side, and we've just got to get across! For all we know, the cabin may have been wrecked by the earthquake, and the boys may have been injured in some way!"
"I'm game to go!" shouted Sam.
"Of course I'll go with you," the doctor went on. "In fact, I am satisfied that you are doing the right thing in making the attempt to cross. I only uttered a warning which we must all heed whenever we come to a place where a crossing seems possible."
The boys soon discovered a place where the walls did not appear to be very steep and where the mass of trees which had fallen completely covered the bottom. Then, cautiously feeling their way, they crept down.
When George and Sandy left the cabin they saw the figure of the miner very dimly outlined away to the west.
"We ought to get closer," Sandy whispered. "First thing we know, he'll duck down into some hollow, and that'll be the last of him for the night. I guess we can creep up without his catching us at it."
"Of course we can!" replied George. "He's making so much noise himself that he can't hear us! He wouldn't make much of a Boy Scout when it came to stalking, would he?"
The boys succeeded in getting pretty close to the miner; so close in fact, that occasionally they heard him muttering to himself as he stumbled over rocks and occasionally became entangled in such underbrush as grew along the top of the moraine.
"We can't be very far away from the place where the bear tried to beat me up," Sandy whispered, as they drew up for a moment. "I wouldn't mind having a bite out of that same bear just about now!"
After a time they came to the head waters of the creek in which Will and Sandy had fished, and saw Cameron standing on the other side.
"He's going into the mountains!" whispered Sandy.
"That's exactly where he's keeping Bert," George agreed.
In a short time Cameron paused in his walk and uttered a low whistle.
"What do you think of that?" asked Sandy. "He's going to meet some one here. And that means," the boy went on, "that he's had a pal watching Bert while he's been away."
"And it also means," George added, "that we can't be very far from the spot where Bert is concealed. I hope so, anyway, for I'm about tired enough to crawl into my little nest in the cabin."
"I should think you'd talk about sleep!" scoffed Sandy. "You slept all the afternoon!"
"If you mention that long sleep of mine again," George said half-angrily, "I'll tip you over into the creek. I'm sore over that myself!"
While the boys stood waiting end listening an answering whistle came from the side of a mountain not far from the rivulet.
"There's his chum!" whispered Sandy. "If we get up nearer, we may be able to hear what they say."
The boys crept along under the dim light of the infrequent stars, and finally crouched down behind an angle of rock which was not more than twenty feet removed from where Cameron stood.
They had hardly taken their position when a second figure made its appearance. The two stood talking together in whispers for a short time and then started to walk away.
"There's something doing, all right!" exclaimed Sandy.
"Yes, indeed, there is!" agreed George. "They wouldn't come out into such a hole as this after midnight to tell each other what good fellows they are, or anything like that."
"I'm getting suspicious!" Sandy chuckled.
"Why suspicious?"
"Because those fellows whispered!"
"I see the point," replied George. "From our standpoint those fellows were all alone here in one of the wild places of Alaska, yet they drew close together and whispered when they communicated with each other!"
"They wouldn't do that," urged Tommy, "unless they were afraid of being overheard. It shows that they believe some one to be watching them."
The two men were now moving quite swiftly up the slope of the mountain. At times they were entirely hidden by the luxuriant growths, and at times they came out on little bald spots where rock outcropped to the exclusion of vegetation. The boys followed on into the thickets, pausing now and then to listen for the sounds of the advance of the others.
Presently they came to a shelf of rock which overlooked the valley of the rivulet. They paused for a moment to listen for the sounds of those in advance when a strong electric searchlight was thrown on their faces and they saw the grim, round barrel of an automatic pointing at their breasts.
"You may as well hand over your automatics, boys!" Cameron said.
"And be quick about it, too."
This last sentence came from a thin, cadaverous looking fellow whose face was only half revealed through the meshes of the head net.
There was nothing for the boys to do but to pass over their revolvers. Their searchlights were also taken from them, and then their hands were tied tightly behind their backs.
"Did you have a pleasant tramp through the woods?" asked Cameron.
"Say," growled Sandy, "if you'll just turn my hands loose, I'll give you a poke in the jaw!"
"That wouldn't be polite!" sneered Cameron.
"Don't take any lip from the young imps," snarled the other. "They've given us enough trouble already!"
"You're a foxy old gink!" exclaimed Sandy. "I wish I had you on South Clark street, Chicago, for a few minutes!"
"So that's why you came to the cabin is it?" asked George.
"Certainly," replied Cameron. "I had an idea that you'd follow me away! You see I figured it out exactly right!"
"Why did you want to make trouble for us?" asked Sandy.
"Because you're too smart!" answered Cameron.
"What do you mean by that?"
"When you sat sizing me up in the cabin while I was eating supper," Cameron went on, "you informed me as plainly as words could have done that you knew me to be the man who had abducted your friend."
"You didn't show that you knew," George suggested.
"I tried not to show that I knew," answered the other.
"What'd you steal Bert for?" asked Sandy.
"I needed him in my business," answered Cameron.
"Come, don't stand here all night talking with the little guttersnipes!" exclaimed Cameron's companion. "We've got work to do!"
"March along, then, boys!" Cameron ordered.
The lads were now pushed forward into a cavern which opened on the shelf of rock where they had been taken prisoners. The opening in the mountain side seemed to be of considerable size, for the boys passed from an outer chamber of fair dimensions to two smaller ones further in.
In the last of these chambers, on a huddle of blankets, lay the boy for whom they had been searching.
"Is he dead?" asked Sandy.
"No such luck," snarled Cameron.
"If you'll untie my hands, I'll look after him," George said.
The bonds were cut and George bent over the still figure.
"Has he regained consciousness at all?" he asked.
Cameron turned to his companion.
"Tell them, Fenton," he said, "whether the lad woke up during my absence. You were here all the time?" he added.
"Yes, I was here all the time!" answered Fenton. "And the lad never opened his eyes once. That was a deuce of a blow you gave him, Cameron!"
"And what did you gain by it?" demanded Sandy.
"We'll show you directly what we gained by it!" Cameron answered.
Seeing a bucket of water at one side of the cavern, George carried it over to the heap of blankets where the boy lay and began bathing his forehead and wrists. The boy groaned feebly but did not speak.
"What did you hit him with?" asked George angrily.
"The handle of my gun!" was the sullen reply.
"Why?" asked Sandy.
"Because I wanted to get a paper he had."
"Well, you got it, didn't you?" asked the boy.
"Yes, I got it!"
"And much good it did you, too!" said George angrily.
"Look here!" Cameron almost shouted, "can either one of you boys read that code despatch?"
George shook his head.
"Is there any one at the cabin who can read it?"
"I have never known of any member of the party reading the cipher," replied George. "I never have seen a code despatch before."
"You are lying to me!" shouted Cameron. "The boy to whom the despatch was addressed can certainly read it! Which one of you bears the name of Will Smith? Don't lie to me now!"
"Will Smith is at the cabin!" replied Sandy.
"Just my luck!" shouted Cameron.
"What do you want to know about the code despatch?" asked Sandy.
"I want to know what it contains. And what is more, I'm going to know, too! I want one of you boys to write a note to this Will Smith and get him to come here to this cave."
"Not for mine!" exclaimed Sandy.
George made no verbal reply, but the expression of his face showed that he had no intention of doing anything of the kind.
"It will be the worse for you if you don't!" shouted Cameron.
"Oh, you've got the top hand for a few minutes now," Sandy said, tauntingly, "but you'll soon find out that you're not the only man in the world that's got a gun!"
This last as Cameron flourished an automatic in his hand.
"You'll write the note, or you'll starve to death!" replied Fenton.
"Then we'll starve!" answered George.
"No, we won't starve!" declared Sandy. "We'll get the best of you outlaws in some shape, and give you a beating up that will put you in the hospital for six months!"
Fenton raised his fist as if to strike the speaker. but Cameron caught his arm.
"Not now," he said. "Wait until all other plans have been tried."
"We have other work to do at this time, anyway," Fenton said, with a scowl, "so we'll just lock the door on these young gutter-snipes and leave them to think the matter over!"
The men passed out of the small cavern, but before they left the outer one, they rolled a great stone into the opening they had just passed through and blocked it firmly on the outer side.
"And this," said Sandy, as the great stone began to render the atmosphere of the place close and unpleasant, "is what I call a fine little Boy Scout excursion! Did they leave one of the searchlights?"
"Not intentionally," replied George, "but I swiped one!"
"Well, we mustn't show a light until they get some distance away!" advised Sandy. "We don't want them to know that we have it."
"And we'll need it badly," George suggested, "if we're to give Bert any attention! I wonder if the poor boy has had any care since he's been here! It doesn't seem to me that they would be heartless enough to leave him here in an unconscious condition very long!"
"You can never tell what such fellows'll do," Sandy observed.
The boys remained silent for a long time, each one busy with his own thoughts. After what seemed an aeon, they saw that it was daylight outside. Then they turned on their electric and made an examination of their wounded chum.
They found that the bandage on his head had been changed, and that his pulse was not so high as when he had been discovered in an unconscious condition at the cabin.
"I guess they've done the best they could," Sandy observed, "and I'm much obliged to them for that! Have you got anything to eat?"
"Now, look here, Sandy," George replied whimsically, "have you any idea that I'd ever go away with you without taking something to eat? You got up from the table one minute and demand something to masticate the next! You're about the most regular boy at your meals I over knew. What'll you have now, pie or cake?"
"Pie!" laughed Sandy.
"Well, you get a bear sandwich!" replied George. "I've got four great big thick ones wrapped up in paper and stowed away in my pockets. If those ginks had suspected anything of the kind, they would have taken them away from me. They're a bum lot, those men!"
"Produce one of the sandwiches!" demanded Sandy. "They named me Sandy at first because I'm such a hand for sandwiches!"
George brought forth two great slices of bread and about a pound of fried bear meat. Sandy's eyes sparkled at the sight.
"We'll have one apiece now," George suggested, "and one apiece tonight. But every time they come near the cave, we'll tell them how hungry we are. That will make them think we're suffering."
"You don't think we're going to stay here till night, do you?" demanded Sandy munching away at his meat.
"I hope not," answered George.
"I wonder if Bert's had anything to eat since he got the wallop on the coco?" asked Sandy. "Suppose we mince some of this meat up very fine and feed it to him. He may not know when he swallows it, but it will give him strength just the same."
The suggested plan was followed, and Bert was given quite a quantity of the tender meat. At first it was necessary to pass it down his throat with draughts of water, but later, much to the surprise and joy of the boys, he began, to swallow naturally.
"He's coming back to life!" shouted Sandy. "A boy's all right as soon as he begins to eat! Sprinkle some water in his face and we'll see what effect that has."
The boys were so pleased that they almost cheered with delight when at length Bert opened his eyes and looked about.
"Time to get up?" he asked.
"Naw," replied Sandy. "Go to sleep again!"
"That you, Sandy?" asked Bert.
"That's Sandy all right!" replied the boy.
"Why don't you open a door or window and let in some air?" asked Bert.
"Aw, go to sleep!" advised Sandy.
"Nice old dive you've got here!" Bert went on. "Here I've walked about nineteen thousand miles to find a boy named Sandy and a boy named Will, and a boy named Tommy, and a boy named George, and when I find them they shut me up in a rotten old morgue."
"How'd you come to ask for Sandy?" demanded the boy.
"The name struck me as being funny!" was the reply. "Where are the others? Are you here alone?"
"George is over there on the floor," replied Sandy. "Ring off, now, and go to sleep! You're in no shape to talk."
"I remember something about getting a dip on the head," Bert said in a moment, evidently after long cogitation. "What was there about it?"
"You got it!" replied Sandy. "Go to sleep!"
"If you'll give me some more of that meat, I'll go to sleep!"
George pushed forward about half of one of the sandwiches and the boy began eating it greedily. In a moment, however, his arm dropped to his side and he appeared to be unconscious again.
"He's too weak to go at the grub like that," George advised, turning on the light. "We'll have to be careful!"
But Bert was not unconscious again. He was only sleeping.
"I'd like to know what brought him out of that trance," remarked George as the boys sat regarding the youngster with inquiring eyes.
"I don't know any more about it than you do," answered Sandy, "but, if you'll leave it to me, setting the stomach to work put the blood in circulation, and that swept the cobwebs out of his brain."
"Sounds all right, but I don't believe it!" replied George.
The day passed slowly. Bert slept continuously until George's watch told him that it was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon. Then he opened his eyes for a few moments, finished the rest of the sandwich and went to sleep again.
"Weak as a cat!" exclaimed Sandy.
The boy had scarcely closed his eyes when Cameron's voice was heard at the entrance.
"Are you boys ready to write that note?" he asked.
"Come in here a minute," requested Sandy. "I want to get a good poke at that ugly mug of yours!"
"You won't feel quite so lively after going hungry for a day or two," sneered Cameron. "You needn't mind about the letter, anyway," he added. "I have information that there's a boy coming in from Cordova who can read the code despatch and we're laying for him now."
"I don't want to seem to be irreligious," Sandy replied, "but I beg leave to state that if I owed the devil a debt of a thousand of the greatest liars on earth and he wouldn't take you and call the debt square, I'd cheat him out of it! Your fabrications are too cheap!"
"Don't get fresh now," advised Cameron. "If you do, I'll come in there and take it out of your hide!"
"Come on in!" urged Sandy. "I'd just like to get a good crack at your crust! I think I could fix you up in about five minutes so you'd want to lie in bed for about five months!"
"Aw, what's the good of stirring him up!" whispered George.
"I want to get him so mad that he'll say something that he wouldn't say if he wasn't angry!" replied Sandy. "What's your idea about this boy coming in, anyway? Do you believe it?"
"No!" was the reply. "There isn't any one to come in. And even if there was, there is no way in which he could be notified that he was coming! So you see, he's just lying for the fun of it!"
"Well, I'm sorry, boys," Cameron observed, "that you won't take advantage of the offer I'm making you. I brought a basket of provisions with me, and you might be having a square meal in five minutes if you'd only do what I ask you to do."
"I thought you didn't want the letter now!" scoffed Sandy.
"Oh, I'll get it all right whether you write it or not!" answered Cameron. "But if you have anything to say to me, you'd better say it now, because you won't see me again until tomorrow morning. I've just come from the cabin, and the boys there are about wild over your disappearance. I explained that I found your hats not far from a piece of torn and bloody turf, and that seemed to make them feel worse than ever."
"Oh, they're on to you all right!" replied Sandy. "You can't make anything stick with them. They know that you're the outlaw who stole Bert, and they know that you haven't any more right to the cabin than they have. You'll go sticking your nose around that domicile some time and get it knocked off! It's a two to one bet right now that they know that you've caught George and I in some kind of a trap."
"Let him alone," advised George. "What's the use of starting anything? He can make us trouble if he wants to!"
"Run along now," continued Sandy. "We were having a quiet little snooze when you butted in. It's all right this time, but don't you ever do it again. Here's hoping you remain away until morning!"
Cameron was heard to pass through the outer caverns and all was still, about the place. Notwithstanding the assumed lightheartedness of the boys, they realized that they were in a serious situation.
"I'm going to dig this stone out!" declared Sandy shortly after the departure of the miner. "I believe we can move this beautiful door if we go at it right. Come on and help me push."
The boys pushed with all their might, but the stone was firmly blocked on the outside, and could not be moved.
"It's after five o'clock," George said looking at his watch, "and if we do anything tonight, we'll have to do it right away. What time did Tommy say he would be back with the doctor?"
"There was some talk about his being back early in the evening," replied Sandy. "And that gives me an idea!" the boy continued.
"Pass it out!" said George.
"First," Sandy said, hesitatingly, "let me ask a question. Do you know how the boys are going to get in from the coast? What I mean is, have you any idea which way they will take on leaving Katalla?"
"That's all a guess," replied George.
"They may come this way, though," suggested Sandy.
"Yes, if they keep straight to the north until they strike the valley of this little creek and then turn east to the cabin, they'll be apt to pass this way."
"Here's hoping they do," Sandy said fervently.
"I don't see how that will help," George complained. "We're shut up in a hole, and might yell for a thousand years without being heard."
"Just you wait a minute," Sandy advised. "Let me see that searchlight of yours. Have you the red and blue caps with you?"
"They're right at the end," replied George. "Just unscrew that cover and take them out. I thought you knew where to find everything connected with an electric searchlight!"
Sandy unscrewed the false cover at the end of the battery case and brought forth two celluloid caps; one blue, and one red.
"It's been so long since we've used these Boy Scout signals," he add, "that I've almost forgotten which color we use for the dash and which for the dot when we signal in the Morse code."
"The red is the dash," explained. George. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to hoist a signal of distress," laughed Sandy.
"Expect it to show through the rocks?"
"I guess it'll show out of any opening we can look out of!" exclaimed Sandy. "I'm going to put on the red cap and set the light where it'll shine through the two outer caverns. If any of the boys come within sight of it, they'll understand the scrape we're in."
"Great head!" exclaimed George. "The boys will be coming back from Katalla before long, and Will and Ed will naturally be searching for us, so we're pretty sure to have the signal seen and answered before morning!"
"That's our only hope!" replied Sandy. "Unless our Boy Scout signal brings one party or the other, we're likely to starve to death in this rotten old cavern. Let's see how it works," the boy went on, screwing the red celluloid cap firmly over the eye of the electric.
After seeing that everything was in order, he switched to the blue cap. In both cases the light worked perfectly.
"There you are!" he said with a chuckle. "If one of the boys sees the red light, he'll read it for a Morse dash and if he sees the blue light, he'll read it for a Morse dot!"
After the departure of George and Sandy from the cabin, Will and Ed decided that the best thing they could do would be to go to bed. They had been without sleep for many hours, and were thoroughly exhausted.
"I am anxious to know what success George and Sandy have in chasing Cameron," Will said, as he disrobed in the dark and tumbled into his bunk, "but I don't see how we can help matters any by sitting up."
No answer came from the bunk occupied by Ed save a prolonged snore, and Will knew that his companion was already in the land of dreams.
When Will awoke it was broad daylight and the sun was high in the heavens. Looking at his watch, he was surprised to see that it was after twelve o'clock. In a moment, he heard Ed stirring in his bunk, and then the boy sat up, rubbing a pair of sleepy eyes.
"That was a corker!" Will exclaimed.
"Have any of the boys returned?" asked Ed.
"Oh, they're back before this, of course," Will answered. "They've probably gone outside in order to give us a chance to sleep!"
"I don't see any indications of their presence," Ed said. "Everything looks exactly as it did when we went to bed last night."
Will, after arranging his head net, and drawing on a pair of gloves, opened the door and cast an anxious glance over the landscape.
"They haven't been out here!" he said. "What do you think it means?"
"It means that they're giving that fat miner along chase!" answered Ed.
"I'm afraid they're in some trouble," replied Will apprehensively.
"Suppose I look for them while you get breakfast," suggested Ed.
"Good idea," replied Will "I'll get pancakes and coffee and eggs for breakfast and then, after we eat, we'll both go out and look for the boys. I'm afraid they've been led into a trap!"
"How about leaving the cabin alone?" asked Ed.
"The cabin can go hang!" answered Will.
Ed returned in half an hour and reported that no trace of the lost lads had been discovered. The boys then ate breakfast and started away.
"Which way did they go?" asked Ed,
"Sandy said they were headed to the west."
"Then to the west we go," Ed exclaimed, darting forward in advance.
The boys searched patiently until five o'clock without discovering any trace of the missing lads. Then, they returned to the cabin and prepared supper. As they came within sight of the cabin they saw a stout figure dodging away into the grove of trees to the east.
"That's that sneak of a Cameron," Will said. "If he keeps shoving his ugly nose into our business, I'll ornament it with lead!"
After supper the boys loaded their pockets with sandwiches and a bottle of cold coffee and set forth again.
"I don't think we went far enough to the west," Will said, as they made their way over the moraine. "You remember the line of hills across the little creek? Well, I have an idea that if the boys have been captured they have been taken there."
"And if Bert has been hidden away anywhere in this vicinity," Ed answered, "he is there, too! In fact," the boy added, "it is my belief that if the miner is responsible for the disappearance of George and Sandy the three boys will be found together somewhere!"
"You are probably right!" Will agreed. "The miner and his gang wouldn't care about watching two separate points."
"I don't think they'd be apt to murder the boys, do you?" asked Ed.
"No, I don't think they would," Will replied. "Outlaws of the Cameron stamp resort to all sorts of tricks and crimes, but they usually fight shy of murder. I'm afraid, however, that the boys will be starved or beaten up."
It was seven o'clock when the boys finally came to the south bank of the rivulet, in the vicinity of the plaee where Sandy had encountered the bear. The sun was now well in the west and the south side of the line of cliffs lay in heavy shadows.
"If there's any deviltry going on," Will said, pointing to the summits above, "it's right over there under those peaks!"
"I guess there's plenty of room under the peaks for mischief to be plotted," Ed suggested, "I can see pigeon holes all along the cliff."
"Caves, do you mean?" asked Will.
"Sure," was the reply. "Those cliffs are of volcanic formation, and some of the strata are softer than others, and the water has cut into the heart of the range in many places."
"One would naturally suppose that such openings would be filled with ice in Alaska," Will suggested.
"They may be filled with ice in the winter," answered Ed, "but in the summer time they are hiding places for bears and crooked miners."
The boys advanced to the edge of the stream and Will swept his field glass along the distant slope.
Presently he handed the glass to Ed.
"Tell me what you see," he said.
"I see something that looks like the eye of a wild animal looking out over the valley!" answered the boy. "What can it be?"
"My first idea was that some one had built a fire in a cave," Will answered, "but the more I look at it, the more I suspect that the light comes from an electric."
"Then that must be the boys!" exclaimed Ed excitedly.
"But why don't they come on out?" asked Will, anxiously.
"Perhaps they have found Bert and don't want to leave him!" suggested Ed.
While the boys watched the red light, which seemed to glimmer from the very extremity of the cavern, it turned to blue!
"Now I've got it," cried Will almost dancing up and down in his excitement, "you know what that means, don't you?"
"I can't say that I do!" replied Ed.
"It seems to me that the Portland Boy Scouts are not very well posted," laughed Will. "One of the boys—which one, I don't know, of course—is talking to us in the Morse code!"
"Still I don't understand," said Ed.
"The red light means a dash," Will explained, "and the blue light means the dot. Now we'll see if we can catch what the boy is saying."
"But where does he get the red and blue lights?" asked Ed.
"From red and blue caps screwed over the electric searchlight," was the reply. "All of our electrics are provided with these signal caps."
"There, the light is red again!" cried Ed.
"I'll show how how it works," Will said, bringing out his own flashlight and unscrewing the false cover from the loading end.
Directly he had the blue and red caps out, and then the red one was fastened over the eye of the searchlight.
"There, you see!" Will exclaimed turning on the light. "We've got a beautiful red light and that means a Morse dash."
"I see," answered Ed. "And when you turn on the blue, that means a dot. I learned the Morse code, of course, when I was admitted to the Boy Scouts, but I never knew that it was used in that way."
"I wonder if he sees this?" asked Will as he swung the red light back and forth in the growing twilight.
"We'll have to wait and see," replied Ed. "Of course, he'll answer if he knows we're here!"
Swiftly the light changed from red to blue and from blue back to red again. This took place several times and then Will said:
"Now, count!"
"Red," said Ed. "Red again. Red again."
"That's 'O'," exclaimed Will. "I guess we've got him at last!"
"Now there's another red," Ed went on. "Now there's a blue. Then one more red. Ob, this seems to be easy!"
"That's 'K'!" cried Will. "O.K., don't you see? O. K. That means that he knows we're here!"
"Glory be!" shouted Ed. "The boys are all right or they wouldn't be signalling. I hope they've found Bert!"
Will signalled back "O.K.," and then the lads turned back up the rivulet, the idea being to cross over to the north side.
"I want to find out why the boys don't show themselves instead of signalling," Will explained. "There must be some good reason."
After a walk of half a mile upstream the boys found it possible to cross without wading, and then they turned down toward the mouth of the cavern where the lights had been seen.
As they did so, two figures detached themselves from a group of trees which stood not far to the east and followed stealthily along behind them.
If the lads could have heard the conversation carried on at that time between Cameron and Fenton, they would have proceeded on their way with less confidence.
"Just what we've been looking for!" chuckled Cameron.
"We surely have them trapped now!" replied Fenton.
"They'll naturally step into the outer cavern to see why their chums don't walk out, and when they do so, we'll hold them up with our guns until we can build up a barrier which will keep them in."
"One of the boys certainly must understand the code we are so anxious about," Fenton observed. "That's the kid we want. We've certainly got to find out what that message contains! If the people in the east are trying to steal our plans, we certainly ought to know it!"
The boys, however, heard nothing of this talk and passed on down the north side of the creek. As soon as they came opposite the cavern, in sight of the light once more, they stopped and began signalling.
As they did so, Cameron and Fenton came nearer and waited anxiously for the lads to enter the cavern.
"I'd like to know what all that signalling means!" said Cameron.
"Boy Scout signals," replied Fenton.
"You can't read them, can you?" asked the miner.
"Of course not," replied Fenton, "I'm no Boy Scout!"
The boys continued to signal back and forth until the situation was fairly well understood. Will and Ed knew that Bert had been found and that all three were barricaded in the cave.
They were disposed to make their way to the rescue of the boys without further delay, but George advised them to wait until it became darker, as Cameron might return at almost any moment. The news that Bert had regained consciousness was very welcome and, confident of their ability to thwart the plans of the miner, the boys looked forward to quiet hours in the cabin.
Of course the boys had no suspicion that their enemies were close at hand watching every movement. Cameron and Fenton became impatient, after a time, and began advancing slowly toward the boys, who were now not very far from the mouth of the outer cavern.
Something better than an hour passed, and then George signalled from the interior of the cavern that it might be well for the boys to come up and begin the work of removing the rocks which barred their egress.
"Sneak In," George signalled. "Don't show yourself more than you have to. Cameron may be about! It may be that he has seen our signals already!"
Sandy replied that he had not discovered any indications of the presence of the miner, and the two boys advanced to the shelf of rock which faced the opening. It was nine o'clock then.
"What's that strange noise?" asked Will as they moved along the shelf.
"You've got me!" replied Ed, "The ground's tipping!"
There came a deafening crash and the whole face of the cliff fell away! When Will and Ed regained their feet and looked through the dust which was rising over the scene, they saw that there was no longer any cavern in view. The rock on which they stood was sliding down the slope.
"Buried alive!" cried Will with a sob, "Buried alive!"