A TREACHEROUS FOE
"There seems to be fewer twists and turns in this level than on the
one below it," Tommy explained, "and I guess we can find our way out
readily enough. If we don't," he went on, "I shall be obliged to eat
a ton or two of coal to keep from starving to death."
"Serves you right!" declared Will. "You had no business getting up in
the middle of the night and wandering off into the mine!"
"What did you do?" demanded Tommy.
"We waited until morning, and then enlisted the services of the
caretaker," replied Will. "So far as I can remember, this is about
the nine hundredth relief expedition we've been out on in search of
you boys!"
"Seems to me," Tommy chuckled, "that you're the lads that were in need
of the relief expedition. We found you boxed up in a chamber in a
boat."
"But we wouldn't have been in any such mess if we hadn't started out
to look you up!" George declared.
"We should have been back before you got out of bed this morning, if
some one hadn't cut our string," replied Sandy. "We had a cinch on
getting out, but some geezer led us a fool chase by cutting our cord
and steering us around in a circle."
"Did you see any one?" asked Will.
"Not a soul!" was the reply. "But there's some one in here, just the
same. We heard the call of the Wolf Patrol a long time ago and we've
heard it several times since."
"What do you mean by some one cutting your string?" asked George.
"Why," replied Sandy, "we tied the loose end of a ball of twine to one
of the shaft timbers and unwound the ball as we moved along, expecting
to follow it back when we wanted to get out.
"How do you know some one cut it?" asked Will.
"Perhaps you broke it," George suggested.
Sandy took a piece of the cord from his pocket and passed it over to
George with a shy chuckle.
"See if you can break that!" he said.
George tried his best to break the string, but it remained firm under
all his strength.
The boys now fell into a discussion of the ways and means of getting
out of the mine.
"I believe," Sandy exclaimed, "That if we follow the current of air
which the rising water is forcing out of this old shaft, we will come
to the entrance. As you all know, a current of air takes the shortest
way to any given point, and this one ought to blow straight toward the
shaft."
"Great head, that, little boy!" laughed Tommy.
After proceeding some distance the steady thud, thud of the pumping
machinery was heard, and the boys understood that the efforts of the
caretaker were at last bringing results. The sounds also aided them
in direction, and in a short time they stood at the shaft on the
second level.
When they came out to the timber work, Will, who was in the lead,
motioned to the others to remain in the background.
"What's doing now?" whispered Sandy.
"There's a man working on the ladders," explained Will in a low
whisper. "I can't see him yet, but I can hear the sound of a saw."
"He may be cutting the rungs," suggested Tommy.
"That's the notion I had," replied Will. "Suppose we all get around
behind the air shaft and wait until we can find out what he is up to.
It may be that bum detective, for all we know."
"What would he be doing there?" questioned Sandy.
"Sawing the rungs!" whispered Will. "He wouldn't cut them down, of
course, but he might saw them so that they would break under our
weight and give us a drop of a couple of hundred feet."
"It doesn't seem as if any human being would do a thing like that!"
cried George. "It would be a wicked thing to do!"
While the boys whispered together, the sound of sawing continued. The
man engaged at the task was evidently unfamiliar with such work, for
they heard him puffing and blowing as the saw cut through the wood.
"He's cutting the rungs, all right!" Will said in a moment. "And that
cuts off our escape until the cables can be put in motion and the
cages started. I wish I had him by the neck!"
"We'll get him by the neck, all right, before many days," Sandy cut
in, "if we can only get a sight of him so as to be sure of his
identity."
Presently the man ceased working, and they heard him ascending the
ladders, step by step. In a moment the saw which he had been using
dropped from his hands and clattered to the bottom of the shaft.
Then they heard him springing swiftly forward, and directly they knew
that he had reached the top. The boys all looked disgusted.
"And we never caught sight of him!" exclaimed Tommy.
Will now walked around to the front of the shaft and looked down. The
saw which had been used lay shining on the lower level.
"I'm going down after that!" he said in a moment.
"Yes, you are!" whispered Tommy.
"I got to have it!" insisted Will.
"Well, go on and get it, then," laughed Sandy. "You've got to show
me!"
"I don't think he cut the rungs between this level and the next one,"
George interposed. "It may be safe to use the lower ladders."
"I can soon find out!" Will declared.
The cutting had been done between the second level and the top. The
ladders below seemed perfectly safe. After testing them thoroughly,
Will trusted himself on one of the rungs and let himself down slowly,
bearing as much weight as was possible on the standards.
He was at the bottom in a moment, and in another moment stood by the
side of his chums with the saw in his hand.
"I don't think that's so very much!" Tommy exclaimed.
"Right here, then," Will explained, "is where you get your little
Sherlock Holmes lesson! This is a new saw, as you all see. It
probably never was used before. Now the man who did the cutting
bought this at some nearby store. Don't you see what it means?"
"That's a fact!" cried Tommy. "We can find out who bought the saw,
and so discover the gink who tried to commit murder by sawing the
ladders."
"And look here," Will went on, "do you see these threads hanging to
the teeth of the saw? Do you see the color?"
"Blue!" replied the boys in a breath.
"That's right, blue. Now, what sort of a suit did the detective wear
this morning? It was blue, wasn't it?"
"Sure it was!" replied George. "A blue serge! I noticed it
particularly because it wasn't much of a fit."
"Well, these are blue serge threads!" commented Will.
"That's right, too," admitted Sandy.
While the boys still stood at the second level they heard some one
moving down from the top. Will rushed around to the ladder and looked
up.
He could not see the face of the man who was climbing down, but he
could see that he did not wear a blue serge suit.
In a moment he called out to him, asking some trivial question
regarding the action of the pumps. When the man looked down he saw
that it was Canfield. The caretaker seemed surprised at finding the
boys at the second level. He kept on descending.
"Wait!" Will called. "Stop where you are!"
"But I've got to find out what's the matter with the machinery at the
bottom," the caretaker called out. "There's something wrong there!"
"Then you'd better take long steps," replied Will, "for if you put any
weight on those rungs, you're likely to land at the bottom of the
shaft. The rungs have been cut!"
"I can't believe that!" replied Canfield.
"Suppose you look and see!"
The caretaker advanced cautiously downward until he came to where a
fine line of sawdust lay on one of the rungs.
"Do you know who did this?" he asked.
"We think we do," replied Will, "but this isn't any time for long
stories. The first thing for us to do is to get back into the breaker
and cook Tommy and Sandy three or four breakfasts apiece!"
"So you found them, did you?" asked Canfield.
"No; we found them," shouted Tommy.
"Well, how're you going to get out?" asked the caretaker.
"Get a rope," directed Will, "and throw it over the sound rung lowest
down, and we'll climb up until we can trust our weight on the ladder."
This plan was followed, and in a short time the boys all stood, hungry
and tired, in their room in the breaker. Tommy made an instantaneous
dive for the provisions which had been brought in the night before.
"Nice old time we've had!" he exclaimed, with his mouth full-of pork
and beans. "I guess we're some Boy Scouts after all!"
"I'm going to tie you up tonight!" Will declared.
While the boys talked and ate the caretaker darted to the door leading
to the passage which ended at the shaft.
He returned in a moment looking both angry and frightened.
"The pumps have, stopped!" he said. "The line will probably be
flooded before tomorrow morning. The very devil seems to have taken
full charge here today. I never saw anything like it!"
"There are boys in the mine who will be drowned!" exclaimed Tommy.
"I'm not so sure of that," answered Canfield. "It was only a
suggestion on my part that the boys we are in search of have taken
refuge under ground. I think I must have been mistaken!"
"Do you know, whether these breaker boys belonged to the Boy Scouts or
not?" asked Will. "Did you ever see any medals or badges on their
clothing which told of Boy Scout experiences?"
"Sure they belong to the Boy Scouts!" declared the caretaker, "and that
is the very reason why I sent for Boy Scouts to help find them."
"What Patrol did they belong to?" asked Will.
"If you had heard them howling like wolves around the breaker night
after night," was the reply, "you wouldn't ask what patrol they
belonged to!"
"Then they are in the mine!" shouted Tommy.
We all heard the call of the pack, but the funny thing is that they
wouldn't show themselves.