CAMPING IN THE BREAKER
"And so I says to myself, says I, give me a good husky band of Boy
Scouts! They'll do the job if it can be done!"
Case Canfield, caretaker, sat back in a patched chair in the dusky,
unoccupied office of the Labyrinth mine and addressed himself to four
lads of seventeen who were clad in the khaki uniform of the Boy Scouts
of America.
Those of our readers who have read the previous books of this series
will have good cause to remember George Benton, Charley ("Sandy")
Green, Tommy Gregory and Will Smith. The adventures of these lads
among the Pictured Rocks of Old Superior, among the wreckers and
reptiles of the Florida Everglades, in the caverns of the Great
Continental Divide, and among the snows of the Hudson Bay wilderness
have been recorded under appropriate titles in previous works.
The four boys were members of the Beaver Patrol, Chicago. Will Smith
was Scoutmaster, while George Benton was Patrol Leader. They wore
upon the sleeves of their coats medals showing that they had passed
the examination as Ambulance Aids, Stalkers, Pioneers and Seamen.
Instructed by Mr. Horton, a well-known criminal lawyer of Chicago, the
boys had reached the almost deserted mine at dusk of a November day.
There they had found Canfield, the caretaker, waiting for them in a
dimly-lighted office. The mine had not been operated for a number of
months, not because the veins had given out, but because of some
misunderstanding between the owners of mines in that section.
The large, bare room in which the caretaker and the Boy Scouts met was
in the breaker. There was no fire in the great heater, and the tables
and chairs were black with dust. A single electric light shone down
from the ceiling, creating long, ghost-like shadows as it swayed about
in a gentle wind blowing through a broken window.
"Well," Tommy Gregory said, as the caretaker paused, "you've got the
Boy Scouts, and it remains for you to set us to work."
"And a sturdy looking lot, too!" grinned the caretaker.
"Oh, Mr. Horton wouldn't be apt to send a lot of cripples!" laughed
Sandy Green. "He's next to his job, that man is!"
"I presume he told you all about the case?" suggested Canfield.
"Indeed he did not," replied Will Smith.
"Not a thing about it?" asked the caretaker.
"He only said that you would give us full instructions."
"That's strange!" Canfield observed thoughtfully.
"Perhaps he thought we wouldn't want to undertake the job if we knew
exactly what it was!" suggested Sandy.
"It is a queer kind of a job," Canfield admitted, "but I don't think
you boys would be apt to back out because of a little danger."
"I wanted to back out several times," laughed Tommy, "but, somehow,
these others boys wouldn't permit me to."
"Go on and tell us about it," urged Sandy. "Tell us just what you
want us to do, and then we'll tell you whether we think we can do it
or not."
"You've got to find two boys!" replied Canfield.
"Mother of Moses!" exclaimed Tommy. "I hope we haven't got to go and
dig up blond-haired little Algernon, or discover pretty little
Clarence, and turn a bunch of money over to him!"
"I think these two boys may have money coming to them," the caretaker
replied. "There must be money back of it or the friends of the lads
wouldn't be giving me cash to spent in their interest."
"Where are these boys?" asked Will.
"I've heard the opinion expressed that the boys are somewhere in the
mine!" answered Canfield. "I can hardly believe that they are, but it
has been suggested that we may as well begin the search under ground."
"Where do these boys belong?" asked George.
"Anywhere and everywhere," was the reply. "Jimmie Maynard and Dick
Thompson came here as breaker boys six months ago. They were ragged
and dirty, and appeared to be as tough as two young bears. They
worked steadily until the day before the mine closed down and then
they disappeared."
"That's easy," declared Tommy. "They got tired of work!"
"That may be," answered the caretaker, "but they certainly didn't get
tired of drawing their pay. They went away leaving about eight
dollars the two of them in the care of the company."
"Then something must have happened to them!" Will suggested.
"Who's looking for these boys?" asked George.
"A New York lawyer," was the reply. "I know nothing whatever about
the man. In fact, I don't know why he wants to find out where the
boys are. He sends me money and tells me to continue my quest
until the boys are found, and then to send them to New York."
"So you have entire charge of the search," said Sandy, tentatively.
"Yes," was the reply, "except for Joe Ventner. He's a detective sent
on from New York by this Burlingame person, the lawyer to whom I
referred a short time ago."
"What part of the world is he searching?" asked Will.
"He seems to think that the boys ran away because of some childish
prank put on by them the night before. They broke some windows in a
couple of shanties down by the tracks, or, at least, the other boys
say they did, and Joe thinks they ran away because of that. He
accounts in that way for them not calling after their pay envelopes."
"So he thinks they've gone out of the country, does he."
"Yes," was the reply. "He comes back here every few days to ask if I
have heard anything regarding the youngsters, and then goes away
again. If you leave it to me, I don't think the fellow is working
very hard in the case. There's a half a dozen saloons in a little
dump of a place about ten miles away, and my idea is that he puts in a
good deal of his time there."
"You don't seem to take to this detective?" asked George.
"Oh, I don't know, as he's so much worse than the average private
detective," replied the caretaker. "He's out for his day's wages, and
the easier he can get them, the better it suits him."
"So you don't know who wants these boys, or what they're wanted for?"
asked Will. "Lawyer Burlingame never took you into his confidence so
far as to post you on the details of the case?"
"He never did!" answered the caretaker.
"Is he liberal with his money?" asked George.
"He pays all the bills I send in," was the answer. "And seems to keep
this bum detective pretty well supplied with ten dollar bills."
"We may have to investigate this investigator!" laughed Sandy.
"Did Mr. Horton say anything to you about your lodgings while here?"
asked the caretaker. "It's getting too cold here for me, and we may
as well be shifting to warmer quarters."
"You said a short time ago," Will began, "that you rather thought we
ought to begin this search in the mine itself."
"That's my idea!" answered the caretaker.
"Do you think the boys are hiding in the mine?"
"Well, there are some things connected with the case which point in
that direction," replied Canfield. "For instance, there's a lot of
queer things going on underground."
"Ghosts?" demanded Tommy.
"You're not steering us up against a haunted mine, are you?" asked
George with a wink at his chum. "That would be too good to be true!"
"I haven't said anything about ghosts or haunted mines," chuckled the
caretaker. "I'm only saying that there are queer things taking place
in the mine. Now there's Tunnel Six," he went on, "I have seen lights
there with my own eyes, when I know there wasn't a person within two
miles of the spot except myself. And I've heard noises, too! These
unaccountable noises which make a man think of graveyards and ghosts."
"But why should two healthy, active boys want to seek such a hiding
place?" asked Will. "It certainly can't be very pleasant in the dark
and damp tunnels! Besides, where would they get their provisions?"
"I'm not arguing the case, lads," the caretaker replied, "I'm placing
the case in your hands without instructions. I only suggest that you
look in the mine first, but you don't have to do that unless you want
to!"
"I don't see how we can find fault with that arrangement!" laughed
Will. "And now," he went on, let's arrange about our lodgings. In the
first place, who knows that we are here on this job?"
"Not a soul, unless some one saw you coming into the breaker!"
"That's just as it should be," Will went on. "Now I propose that we
camp out in the breaker. There must be a cozy corner somewhere, under
the chutes, or in back of a staircase, or away up under the roof,
where we can camp out while we are going through the mine."
"You won't find the old breaker a very comfortable place to live in,"
suggested Canfield.
"Well, we can line the walls of some little cubbyhole with canvas if
necessary, and you can string a wire in so as to give us electricity
for heating and lighting, and we can live as comfortable as four bugs
in a rug. If we keep out of sight during the day time, no one will
ever suspect that we are here."
"Have it your own way!" replied Canfield. "I'll see that you get
plenty to eat and plenty of bed clothing."
"That'll help some!" laughed Tommy. "During the night we can travel
through the mine with our lights, and during the daytime we can crawl
into our little beds and sleep our heads off!"
"When do you want your first load of provisions?" asked Canfield.
"Right now, tonight!" replied Sandy.
"Well, come along then," Canfield said, rising from his chair, "and
I'll let you pick out a spot for your camp, as you call it."
After quite an extended search through the breaker the boys selected a
small room on the ground floor, from which one window looked out on
the half deserted yard where the weigh-house stood. The room was
perhaps twenty feet in size each way, and the walls were of heavy
planking. The whole apartment was sadly in need of it scrubbing, but
the lads concluded to postpone that until some future date.
"I can bring in cot beds and bedding," the caretaker announced, "and
string the electric wire for heating, lighting, and cooking before I
go to bed. That will leave you all shipshape in the morning, and you
can then begin your cleaning up as soon as you please."
The caretaker was as good as his word, and before ten o'clock the cots
and bedding were in place, also an electric heater and an electric
plate for cooking had been moved into the apartment.
Not considering it advisable to go out for supper, Canfield had also
brought in provisions in the shape of bacon, potatoes, eggs, bread,
butter, coffee, and various grades of canned goods, so the boys had
made a hearty meal and had plenty left for breakfast. While cooking
they had covered the one window with a heavy piece of canvas.
"Now you're all, tight and snug for the night," the caretaker smiled,
as he turned back from the door and glanced over the rather
cozy-looking room. "If I'm about here during the night, I'll look in
upon you again."
Canfield stepped out and closed the door behind him. Then he came
back and looked in again with a big smile on his face.
"Do you boys know anything about mines?" he asked.
"Not, a thing!" replied Tommy.
"Then don't you go climbing down the ladders and wandering around in
the gangways tonight," the caretaker warned.
"Say, there's an idea!" Tommy said to Sandy, with a wink, as Canfield
went out. "How do you think one of these mammoth coal mines looks,
any way?"
"Cut that out, boys!" exclaimed Will. "If I catch one of you
attempting the ladders tonight, I'll tie you up!"
"Who said anything about going down the ladders tonight?" demanded
Tommy.