A MIDNIGHT ROBBER
There was a quick scamper of feet as Will stepped out, then silence!
"Where did he go?" asked George, joining big chum on the outside.
"Down the ladder!" replied Will.
"Why don't we go and see where he went?"
"That might be a good idea," Will replied. "Do you think it's safe
for us to try to navigate that shaft in the dark?"
"We can stick to the ladders, can't we?" asked George.
"We ought to find out where the kids hang out," Will argued. "I'd
like to get my hands on one of them!"
"I don't think we're likely to do that tonight," George answered.
"It seems to me that about the only way we can catch those fellows is
to set a bear trap. They seem to be rather slippery."
Will, clad only in pajamas and slippers, moved toward the shaft and
looked down. It was dark and still below, and he turned back with a
little shudder. The situation was not at all to his liking.
"Well, are you going down?" asked George.
"Sure, I'm going down!" Will answered. "I'm only waiting to get up my
nerve! It looks pretty dreary down there. If we could use a light I
wouldn't mind, but it's pretty creepy going down that hole in the
darkness."
"Then suppose we wait until morning," suggested George.
Will leaned against the shaft timbers and laughed. "It'll be just as
dark in here in the morning, as it is now!" he said. "I think we'd
better go on down tonight and see if we can locate the fellows."
The two boys passed swiftly down the ladder, paused a moment at the
second level, and then passed on to the third. The gangways leading
out from the shaft were reasonably dry now. Lower down the dip they
were still under a few inches of water.
"I don't see how we're going to discover anybody down in this blooming
old well!" George grumbled. "There might be a regiment of state
troops here an we wouldn't be able to see a single soldier!"
"We can't show a light, for all that!" declared Will. "We've just got
to wait and see if they won't be kind enough to show a light."
"You guessed it," chuckled George, whispering softly in his chum's
ear, "there's a glimmer of light, now!"
"I see it!" Will replied.
The boys left the ladder and moved out into the center gangway. They
could see a light flickering some distance in advance, and had no
difficulty in following it.
"That's an electric torch!" Will commented.
"Perhaps, if we follow along, we'll be able to track them to their
nest," George suggested, "and, still, I don't care about getting very
far away from the shaft. We might get lost in these crooked
passages."
"Yes," replied Will. "Some one might head us off, too. I don't care
about being held up here in pajamas."
The mine was damp and cold, and a wind was sweeping up the passage
toward the shaft. The boys shivered as they walked, yet kept
resolutely on until the light they were following left the main
gangway and disappeared in a cross heading.
"That means 'Good-night' for me," whispered Will, "for I'm not going to
get out beyond the reach of the rails. I guess we'll have to go back
and invent some other means of trapping those foxy boys."
As Will spoke the light reappeared and moved on down the gangway
again. Then, for the first time, the boys saw a figure outlined
against the illumination. Will caught his chum by the arm excitedly.
"That isn't one of the boys at all!" he exclaimed.
"Well, how large a population do you think this mine has!" demanded
George. "If it isn't one of the boys, who is it?"
"That bum detective!" answered Will.
"So he got in here at last, did he?" chuckled George. "Well, it's up
to us to find out what he's doing in here!"
"Do you think that is the gink who was prowling around our room?"
asked Will. "If he is, then our little trip in the country doesn't
count for much!"'
"The fellow who visited us," George argued, "was light and quick on
his feet. This bum detective waddles a lot like an old cow."
"Then we've passed the boy who called to see us, and failed to leave a
card," grinned Will. "We may meet him as we return!"
"Here's hoping we bump straight into him if we do meet him," George
exclaimed. "I'm just aching to get my hands on that fellow!"
"I'm not particularly anxious to catch him just yet," Will suggested.
"I want to find out what the kids are up to before we pounce down upon
them."
While the boys stood in the passage, whispering together, the light
moved on until it came to a chamber which seemed to be rather shallow,
for the reflection of the searchlight was still in the gangway.
"Now we've got him!" exclaimed Will. "I think I remember that chamber,
and, unless I'm very much mistaken, it opens only onto this passage!
While he's poking around in there, we'll sneak up and see what's he's
doing!"
Before the boys reached the entrance to the chamber they heard the
sounds of a pick. When they came nearer and looked in they saw the
detective poking away at heap of "gob" which lay in one corner of the
excavation. He worked industriously, and apparently without fear of
discovery. Now and then he stooped down to peer into a crevice in the
wall, but soon went on again.
"I wonder if he thinks he can find two boys in that heap of refuse?"
laughed George. "I wonder why he don't use a microscope."
The detective busied himself at the heap of refuse for a considerable
length of time, and then began further Investigation of little breaks
in the wall. Using his pick to enlarge the openings he made a
systematic search of one break after another.
"Looks like he might be hunting after some pirate treasure," George
chuckled. "I never heard of Captain Kidd sailing over into the
sloughs of Pennsylvania. Did you?"
"That tells the story!" Will whispered. "The fellow is here on some
mission of his own. That story of his about being in quest of the
boys is all a bluff! I reckon he had heard somewhere that two boys
were missing and came here with the fairy tale!"
"Well, he's got a good, large mine to look in if he's in search of
treasure," George suggested. "He can spend the rest of his days here,
provided the operators don't get sore on him."
While the boys looked, Ventner turned toward the entrance to the
chamber, and they scampered away. Turning back, they saw him pass out
of the place where he had been working and into a similar excavation
farther on. There he worked as industriously as before.
"You see how it is," Will suggested. "The fellow is hunting for
something, and doesn't know where to look for it! So it's all right
to let him go ahead with his quest for hidden wealth, or whatever it
is he's after. When he finds it, we'll not be far away!"
"I like this walking about in my naked feet," George grunted in a
moment. "I had my slippers on when I came down the ladder, but I
either had to take them off and carry them in my hands or lose them in
the mud."
"Same here!" Will said. "I'm going back to my little cot bed right
now and go to sleep. I think we have the detective sized up and we
can catch the kids some other night."
"Me for the hay, too," George exclaimed. "I don't think I was ever
quite so sleepy in my life!"
"Now, on the way back," Will cautioned, "we ought to keep still and
keep a sharp lookout for the person who was sneaking around our
quarters."
"Whoever it was may be between us and the shaft," George suggested.
"If I thought so," Will argued, "I'd just stand around and wait until
they pass us on the way in. I don't want to find those boys just
now. There's a mystery connected with this mine which the caretaker
knows nothing about, and which Mr. Horton never referred to when he
sent us down here.
"We wouldn't be able to breathe if we didn't discover an air of
mystery every fifteen minutes," George declared.
Half way back to the shaft the boys, who were walking very softly in
their stockinged feet, heard a rattle as of a moving stone or piece
of coal in the passage, and at once drew up against the side wall.
While they stood there, scarcely daring to breathe, they sensed that
some one was passing them in the darkness. The tread was light and
brisk, and they thought they heard a soft chuckle as the unseen figure
breezed by them.
"I'll bet the lad who was listening near our door never came down the
shaft until after we did!" George whispered after the figure had
passed by.
"That's very likely!" agreed Will.
"Then he may have been poking around our quarters while we have been
gone."
"That's very likely, too."
Believing the way to be clear now, the boys hastened on toward the
shaft. Just as they reached the foot of the ladder they heard a
sound which sent the blood throbbing to their checks.
"He's making fun of us!" exclaimed George.
"It looks like it," admitted Will.
The sound they heard was the low, complaining snarl of the Wolf.
"The nerve of him!" exclaimed George.
"Perhaps he'll answer now!" Will suggested.
Then followed the "slap, slap, slap!" of the Beaver Patrol.
No answer came from the darkness beyond the shaft.
"He's got his nerve with him!" declared Will. "When I get hold of
him, I'll teach him to answer Boy Scout challenges!"
When the boys got back to their quarters they found Tommy and Sandy
sitting in the darkness with their automatics and their searchlights
in their hands. One of them turned on a finger of light as the boys
entered but immediately shut it off again.
"What's coming off here?" demanded Will.
"Do you know what those fellows did?" asked Tommy. "They came here
while we were asleep and stole about half our provisions!"