THE HERMIT'S POWER.
Around the shore of the cove the two boys went toward the hut. As they
approached it Frank placed his hands to his mouth in the form of a
horn, and shouted:
"Oh, Gabe! Oh, Mr. Blake!"
His voice came back in a distinct echo from a distant rocky steep, but
that was all the answer he received. The rising breeze stirred the
open door, seeming to wave it at the boys in derision, but the air of
loneliness about the place was oppressive.
"There's no one about," said Frank.
"Not a soul," agreed Harry.
They reached the cabin and looked in. It had not been occupied for two
months, at least.
"Big Gabe is dead or gone," said Merriwell, with sincere regret. "I
hoped to find him here."
"Well, let's see if his boat is all right," came anxiously from
Rattleton. "That is what we want to know most."
Leaving their wheels leaning against a tree, they hastened to the spot
where the boat lay moored at a short distance from the shore.
"We'll have to swim to get it," said Frank. "It is plain that other
boat in which we saw Belmont and the dwarf was used by Gabe to get
from the shore to the sailboat."
Frank stripped off quickly and plunged into the lake, although the
water was cold, as he well knew from recent experience.
Out to the boat he swam, came up by her stern, and got in without
difficulty, which was a very neat thing to do, as the average boy
would have tried to crawl in over the side, with the probable result
of upsetting the boat.
"How's she look, Merry?" called Harry, anxiously.
"O. K.," answered Frank. "There's some water in her, but it is a small
amount, and the sails are well reefed. They may be somewhat rotten,
but we'll be careful of them."
"How are we to get our wheels on board?"
Frank stood up and surveyed the bottom, which he could do with ease,
because of the unruffled surface of the cove, as the wind did not
touch it there.
"There's a channel leading up to that large rock," he said. "I'll
bring the boat up there."
"Look out to not get her aground so she can't be brought off," warned
Harry. "That would be a scrape."
"I'll look out."
Frank did not find it difficult to get up the anchor, and then, with
the aid of a long oar, he guided the boat to the rock.
In the meantime, Harry had hastened to bring the bicycles down to the
cove, and they were all ready to be taken on board. This was
accomplished, and Harry followed them.
"Now away, away," he cried. "We'll set our course for yonder shore."
"Of course," punned Frank, and Rattleton made a grimace.
"Bad--very bad," he said. "That habit has been the cause of more
sudden deaths than anything else of which I know."
Frank laughed, and they pushed the boat from the great rock.
Rattleton set about unfurling the sails and getting them ready for
hoisting.
"Are you a sailor, Merry?" he asked, as if struck by a new thought.
"Am I?" cried Frank. "Ha! ha! also ho! ho! Wait a wee, and you shall
see what you shall see."
"Then you have been to sea?"
Frank gave the other boy a look of reproach.
"And you had the nerve to do that after saying what you did about the
bad pun I made a short time ago!" he cried. "Rattleton, your crust is
something awful!"
They made preparations for running up the sail, saw that the tiller
was all right and the rudder worked properly, and looked after other
things. The bicycles were in the way, but that could not be helped.
Harry aided Frank in setting the sail, and, with the aid of the oar,
the boat was worked out to a point where they could feel the breeze.
"By Jove! this is rather jolly," commented Rattleton, as they began to
make headway. "With a fair wind, we'll run over there in a short time,
and then--then if we can find that girl!"
"My boy, your face is aglow with rapture at the thought," smiled
Frank. "You have been hit a genuine heart blow. Look out that it
doesn't knock you out."
Away they went, making fair speed, although the boat was decidedly
crude and cumbersome.
The mountainous region beyond the lake was wild and picturesque, but,
fortunately, the boys found a cut that led down to the very shore of
the lake.
They reached a spot where they could run up close to the shore, which
enabled them to take their bicycles off without trouble.
The boat was made fast, the sails having been reefed once more, and
then the lads deliberately mounted their wheels and attempted to ride
into the cut.
This was not so difficult as might be thought, for they found what
seemed to be an antelope "run" that led from the shore, and they
pedaled along that path.
"It was somewhere in this region that we found the retreat of the gang
of money makers when I was here before," said Frank.
"What's that? A gang that made money?"
"Yes."
"I suppose they had some kind of an old hut here-abouts in which they
did the work?"
"They had a cave--a most wonderful cave it was said to be. That cave
had never been fully explored, and---- By Jove!"
Frank interrupted himself with the exclamation, a strange look having
come to his face.
"What is it?" asked Harry.
"I have an idea."
"Put us on."
"That cave, my boy--that cave!"
"What about it?"
"It is said that Carter Morris, the queer old miner, lives in some
sort of an underground place."
"That's right!" cried Rattleton, catching Frank's meaning, and growing
excited.
"He has some sort of mysterious mine."
"Sure, old man!"
"And he wrote Bernard Belmont that Mildred Morris was buried from the
sight of the world."
"Now, you believe----"
"I do--I believe it possible that man may be occupying the very cave
once occupied by the counterfeiters."
Rattleton was following Frank along the path, and he nearly ran
Merriwell down in his excitement.
"You know the way to that cave?" he shouted. "You can find it?"
"I might be able to do so, although I am not sure of it. I can try.
Even if we find the cave, we may not find the man and girl there."
"It is a chance, anyway. It's the best we can do."
After they had proceeded into the mountains some distance, Frank began
to look for a slope they could scale, so they might get out of the
pass.
It was finally found, and, with their wheels on their backs, they
labored to the top. Getting down on the other side was even more
difficult, but they succeeded.
Then Frank led Harry a wild chase, till Rattleton was pretty well
played out. His head had ceased to bleed, and he had removed the
handkerchief, but he could feel that the blow had taken not a little
of the stamina out of him.
"How long are you going to keep this up, Merry?" he asked.
"We must be somewhere near that cave," declared Frank. "It is getting
toward night. I hoped to be fortunate and find it before dark."
"If we don't----"
"There's another day coming. We have hard bread and smoked beef in the
carriers, and we can find water here. We're not nearly as bad off as
we were on the Utah desert."
"That's right. That was a bad fix, but we pulled out of it all right.
If our clothes were somewhat drier I could regard the approach of
night with greater complaisance."
"Our clothes are nearly dry, and they will be much more so in two
hours."
They continued the restless search, Frank seeming utterly tireless.
Rattleton admired him for his resistless energy and unwavering
determination and confidence.
Fortune must have smiled on them, for, as they were making their way
along a narrow cut, they turned a short corner and beheld the dark
mouth of a cave just ahead of them.
Both lads stopped and stood beside their wheels, uttering exclamations
of satisfaction.
"Is that it, Frank?" asked Harry.
"It may be one of the entrances to the old cave of the
counterfeiters," answered Merry. "That cave has several mouths. This
is not the one I saw, but----"
"It is a cave, and it may be the one we are searching for. Come on!"
"What are you going to do?"
"Go in."
"We can't go in without torches."
"That's right--dead right! Was so excited I didn't think of that.
But--hooray!--we have found it!"
"Don't be so sure yet. We'll go up and look in."
They approached the mouth of the cave.
Suddenly, as they came near, there was a roar from within, and out of
the cave rushed a man whose long hair and beard were white, and whose
clothes were rude and worn.
The boys halted in amazement, staring at this man, who also stopped.
Frank spoke to Harry:
"It must be Carter Morris!"
"It is!" cried the old man, whose ears had caught the words. "How do
you know me? What right have you to know my name? I am buried--buried
from the world!"
"Crazy as a bedbug!" whispered Rattleton.
"Oh, crazy, am I!" sneered the man, much to Harry's astonishment, for
it had not seemed possible he could hear that whisper. "That's what
they think--the fools!"
Rattleton clutched Frank's wrist.
"Look," he panted; "she is coming! There she is!"
Out of the darkness within the mouth of the cave advanced the strange
girl they had seen in the canoe. She was hatless, and she looked
marvelously pretty with her golden hair hanging about her ears and
reaching down upon her shoulders.
"Well, she is a fairy!" admitted Merriwell. "If you win that, you'll
be a lucky lad, Rattles."
"Ha! ha! ha!" harshly laughed the man, without a trace of mirth in
face or voice. "That is all they think of, the fools! That is what
brings them here! They know you are rich, my dear--they know it! And
they seek to win you! But you are dead to the world--dead and buried!"
"Mr. Morris," said Frank, speaking quietly, "we have a message for the
young lady."
"Bah!" cried the man.
"It is from her brother," said Frank.
"Bah!" repeated the hermit.
But the girl started forward, crying:
"My brother--what do you know of him?"
The man put out his hand and held her back.
"It is a trick," he declared--"a shallow trick! They think to fool you
that way. Don't listen to them, child! Let me talk to them."
Then he turned on the boys, his face dark with anger.
"Go away from here!" he cried. "Every moment you remain here your
lives are in danger! If you care to live, go away at once!"
The girl looked frightened.
"We can't go away till we have delivered our message," said Frank,
calmly, as he started forward.
"Back!" cried the strange old man, flinging out his hand with a
warning gesture. "It means death if you advance another step!"
The girl looked more frightened than ever, and the boys halted again.
"The old pirate!" whispered Harry. "We must save her from him somehow,
Frank! I know he is detaining her against her will."
Again that harsh, mirthless laugh.
"You know a great deal," sneered the man; "but you do not know enough
to go away and save your lives! You do not know my power, but you
shall feel it!"
The girl cried out and started to lift a hand. Then the man stepped to
the right and touched the wall of stone.
To Frank and Harry it seemed that the mountains fell on them and beat
them down with a great blow that stretched them helpless and senseless
on the ground!