WHO DISCOVERED THE LEAK?
"You've got to explanation me," George laughed as the caretaker left
the room, and the boys began picking up their clothing, preparatory to
the alleged journey. "I can't understand what you mean by saying that
you'll watch out for a boy tramp in the railroad yards."
"It's a sure thing, isn't it?" Will asked, "that the boys we are in
search of are in the mine? We don't know what they're in there for.
They may be hiding there because of some fool notion they have in
their heads, or they may have been sent here for some definite
purpose."
"You bet they've been sent here for some definite purpose," George
replied. "They never came here to work on the breaker without having
some well-defined motive. Boys answering to their description don't
accept such jobs as they accepted here!"
"Well, the boys are in the mine," Will continued. "As stated, we
don't know what they're there for, but we know they're there. Now,
this third boy comes to the mine and works just long enough to get in
touch with the other two. Then he disappears."
"Buys a lot of provisions and goes down the river to leave his hat on
the bank!" laughed Tommy. "I guess that was a pretty poor imitation
of a suicide or a drowning accident, either!"
"But this boy didn't get to be intimate with the two breaker boys,"
contended George. "He talked with them about two minutes after the
fight, according to Canfield, but paid no further attention to them
after that. If he had any secret understanding with them, he must
have done a whole lot of talking in a mighty short space of time."
"The right kind of a boy can say a good deal in a minute and half!"
laughed Tommy. "But suppose we let Will go on and explanation us
about that boy tramp in the railroad yards. I think I know what he's
getting at, but I'm not quite certain. Go on, Will, it's up to you."
"In order to make the connection," laughed Will. "I will state for
the third time that we know that the boys are in the mine. It may
also be well to state, once more, that we are reasonably certain that
this other boy came to the mine for the specific purpose of
communicating with the other two. Now this boy didn't drop into the
river. He dropped the provisions he bought for the boat into the coal
mine, and left them there for the consumption of the two boys inside.
That's reasonable, isn't?"
"Fine deduction, as Sherlock Holmes would say to Watson!" laughed
George.
"But this third boy," Will went on, "doesn't go into the mine. He
stays outside to serve as a means of communication between the boys
who are hiding in the mine and some interested person or persons on
the outside. That's perfectly clear, isn't it?
"That'll do very well for a theory," replied George.
"I'll go you a plate of cookies," argued Sandy, "that Will is right,
and that this third boy is hanging around taking messages from the
two boys in the mine and also to the two boys in the mine."
"Didn't I say it was all right for a theory?" chuckled George.
"Now, the point is this," Will continued. "What are those boys in the
mine for? What do they want there? Why didn't they answer our Boy
Scout challenge when we replied to their call of the pack?"
"If you don't ask so many questions, you won't get so many negative
answers," Sandy advised. "We're here to find the boys, and I don't
see that it makes any difference to us what they're in there or not."
"But we've found the boys now," contended Tommy. "We haven't got our
hands on them yet, of course, but we know they're in there, and we
know it's only a question of time when we get hold of them."
"Well," Will insisted, "I'm going to find a motive before I quit the
case. I'm going to know who sent those boys here, and all about it,
before I make any report to Mr. Horton."
"Go as far as you like," laughed Tommy. "My bump of curiosity is
growing half an inch a day, and will continue to spread out until I
find out exactly what those boys are doing burrowing in a deserted
mine."
"Now, we'll get back to the point we started from," Will explained.
"This boy who is undoubtedly doing duty outside the mine in the
interests of the persons who sent the two boys in, furnishes the clue
to the whole situation! When we find him, and find out what he's up
to, and trace any communications he may make back to their original
source, we'll have the whole case tied up tight!"
"That's right!" declared Tommy. "We'll have the case tied up tight if
we succeed in getting hold of this third boy."
"Oh, go on!" laughed Sandy. "We'll be picking third boys and fourth
boys and fifth boys out of the air the next thing you know. We never
went away on a Boy Scout expedition yet that we didn't find all manner
of kids hanging around on purpose to be discovered. We found them on
Old Superior; and in the Everglades; and on the Great Continental Divide;
and up in the Hudson Bay country, we began to think we had stumbled on
the center of population so far as Boy Scouts were concerned!"
"There's just one thing that's likely to make us trouble," Will
resumed. "And that is the fact that Canfield very foolishly slopped
over to Ventner when explaining the purpose of our visit here. That
bum detective knows now that we're here to search the mine. Of course
he might have received, as Canfield says, most of his information from
outside sources, but the caretaker should have thrown him off the
track instead of telling him exactly what our mission here was."
"But Ventner came here to search for the boys himself!" George broke
in. "At least, he says that he did."
"There's a mystery about the whole matter," Sandy declared, "and I'd
like to help clear it up from beginning to end!"
"We're likely to have a chance!" laughed Tommy.
"What are we going to do all the afternoon?" George asked.
"Wander around town," smiled Will, "and find out about the evening
train, and ask fool questions about the pumps and the mine, and laugh
at the idea of anybody living in there. That'll give Ventner the idea
that we're going for good, I reckon. He's a pretty bum skate to pose
as a detective!"
"I'll tell you what I'm going to do most of the afternoon!" Tommy
declared. "I'm going to the hay! I never felt so bunged up for want
of sleep in my innocent life."
"Haven't you forgotten something?" asked Sandy.
"Sure!" shouted Tommy. "I'm forgetting to eat!"
"And you're forgetting something else!" insisted Sandy.
"Nix on the forget!" declared Tommy. "When I forget my eatings and
sleepings, the world will come to an end!"
"You forgot to read a chapter in your dream book!" said Sandy.
"Never you mind that dream book," Tommy replied. "Whenever you want
to find the answer to any puzzle, you look in that dream book!"
After eating another hearty meal the boys, having already packed their
wardrobes, locked the door of their room and addressed themselves to
slumber.
They were awakened about five o'clock by a loud knocking on the door,
and presently they heard the voice of Canfield calling to them.
"Wake up, boys!" he cried. "I have good news for you!"
"All right, let her go!" shouted Tommy.
"The pumps are working, and the water is lowering in the mine!"
"That's nice!" laughed Sandy.
"And we've found out what caused the sudden flooding," the caretaker
went on. "It seems that a partition, or wall, between the Labyrinth
and the Mixer mine unaccountably gave way. The Mixer mine has been
flooded for a long time and, as it lies above the level of the
Labyrinth, the water naturally flowed into our mine as soon as the
wall was down."
"But what caused the partition to fall?" asked Will, opening the door
for the admission of the caretaker.
"No one knows!" was the answer.
"If you look about a little," Tommy suggested, "I think you'll find
traces of dynamite. Who discovered the break in the dividing wall?"
"A gang under the leadership of Ventner, the detective!" was the
reply.
The caretaker was very much surprised and not a little annoyed at the
effect his answer had upon the four boys.
"I don't see anything humorous about that!" he said as the lads threw
themselves down on the bunks and roared with laughter.
"It looks funny to me!" Tommy replied. "It we had never showed up
here, the mine wouldn't have been flooded. As soon as we start away
or promise to leave the district, which amounts to the same thing,
this cheap skate of a detective finds the break, and all is well
again!"
"Why, you don't think that he had anything to do with the trouble at
the mine, do you?" questioned the caretaker.
"Oh, of course not!" replied Sandy. "Ventner had nothing to do with
cutting the ladder. That fellow will land in state's prison if he
keeps on trying to murder boys by sawing ladder rungs!"
"I had forgotten that,' said Canfield.
"Well, don't forget that this man Ventner is playing the chief
villain's role in this drama!" Tommy advised. "And another thing you
mustn't forget," the boy continued, "is that you're not to say a word
to him that will inform him that he is suspected."
"I think I can remember that!" replied the caretaker.
The boys prepared a hasty supper and then, suit cases in hand, started
for the little railway station. There they inquired about the arrival
and departure of trains, bought tickets, and made themselves as
conspicuous as possible about the depot.
"Keep your eye out for the third boy," George chuckled, as the lads
walked up and down the platform.
"Don't get excited about the third boy," Will replied. "We'll find
him when the right time comes!"
"There's Ventner!" exclaimed Tommy as the detective came rushing down
the platform. "Of course the good, kind gentleman would want to bid
us farewell!"
"I'd like to crack him over the coco!" exclaimed Sandy.
"I'll bet he's got some kind of a fake story to tell," suggested Will.
"He looks like a man who had been working his imagination overtime!"
"News of the two boys!" shouted the detective as he came up smiling.