CONCLUSION
"Bright boys up there!" exclaimed Will, as the unwelcome news of the
escape of the robbers came down the old shaft.
"Me for the elevator?" shouted Tommy.
All four boys, Will, Elmer, Tommy and Sandy started in a mad race down
the gangway. As they carried their searchlights with them, and as Mr.
Carson and Mr. Buck moved at a slower pace, the latter gentlemen were
soon feeling their way through the dark tunnel.
"We've just got to head 'em off!" grunted Tommy as the boys passed
along at a pace calculated to break the long distance running records.
"I don't believe they'll make for the main shaft anyway," Sandy
panted.
"I don't believe they will, either," Will declared, "but if we get to
the lift first, we'll be dead sure they don't got out!"
Will was in advance as they swung into the lighted space about the
shaft. The first thing be observed was that one of the cages was just
starting upward. He sprang to the push button and almost instantly
the cage dropped back to the third level again. The power was on in
honor of the visit of the president of the company.
"Pile in, boys!" he shouted. "We'll stop at the second level!"
The man at the top responded nobly to the quick signals given to start
and stop, and in a very short space of time the elevator stood at the
second level. The bar was down, but Will threw it aside and stepped
out into the passage. There he saw the bank cashier and the miner
standing cowering against the wall only a few feet from the shaft.
"What are you doing here?" asked Will.
"We started to the top," the miner replied, "but stopped here because
we thought there might be need of our assistance on this level."
"Why on this level?" asked Will, observing that the miner was pretty
thoroughly frightened. "I haven't heard of any disturbance here!"
"But there has been a disturbance here!" insisted the cashier. "We
heard scuffling out there in the darkness, but as we had no lights, we
could not investigate. My friend, the miner, had a light on the lower
level, but he lost it as we made our way out to the shaft."
"Has any one passed up the shaft?" asked Will.
The miner shook his head.
"Then we're on time all right!" cried Will exultantly. "We have the
outlaws headed off!"
The heavy voices of the two men who had been left on the lower level
now came rumbling up the shaft.
"What do you mean by leaving us in this plight?" demanded Carson.
"Lower the cage and take us to the top!"
"Stay down there and look after your money!" cried Sandy, mockingly.
"I think I know where my money is!" shouted Carson.
"I wish I knew!" returned Sandy.
In the moment of silence which followed, the boys instantly and heard
the call of the Beaver Patrol ringing down the second level.
"George seems to be alive anyway!" laughed Tommy.
A moment later a snarling sound which seemed to emanate from a whole
pack of Wolves reached the ears of the boys.
"Why didn't you tell me there were wild animals in the mine?" shouted
the cashier. "Let me into that cage immediately!"
"Don't be in a hurry," advised Tommy. "All the Wolves and Beavers
you'll find in here won't do you any harm!"
While Carson and Elmer's father continued to call from below, and
while the Boy Scout challenges rang in the second level, two pistol
shots were heard not far away from the shaft.
The cashier and the miner both broke for the cage, but were turned
back at the point of Sandy's automatic revolver.
"You stopped here because you though you might be of some assistance,
you know," the boy said. "Now you just remain here long enough to
help out."
"But there are people being murdered in there!" cried the cashier.
Two more shots came from the gangway and then the stout figure of the
detective came staggering into the circle of light around the shaft.
He had evidently been wounded seriously, for he fell as he drew near
to where the boys were standing and raised his eyes in a piteous
appeal for help. Will stooped over and felt of his pulse.
"You're about done for!" the boy said in a husky tone. "Who did it?"
"Those two hold-up men," was the faint reply.
"Where are they now?" asked Will.
"I fired back," replied the detective wit a grim smile, "and I guess
they're lying on the floor of the passage!"
Will bent closer over the wounded detective while Tommy and Sandy
started down the gangway on a run, closely followed by Elmer.
"Why did they shoot you?" asked Will.
"I found the money," Ventner replied, "and hid it in a crevice in the
wall, and they found it. When we managed to escape by cutting the
ropes I saw them take the money and disappear in the darkness. I
followed on and accused them of the act and they shot me! Then I shot
back, and I guess it's a pretty bad mess, when you take it altogether!"
"Where is the money?" asked Will.
"They have it in their possession," was the reply, "if they haven't
hidden it again."
Before the wounded detective could continue, George, Jimmie, Dick,
Canfield, Sandy and Tommy came running out of the gangway.
"Where's Elmer?" asked Will.
"We left him back there talking with one of the hold-up men," replied
George. "They're both badly hurt, and won't last long!"
"I'm not sorry!" moaned Ventner.
A moment later, Elmer came out of the passage with a bill-book of good
size in his hand. He lifted the book gaily as he entered the
illumination.
"I'll bet he's got the money!" exclaimed Tommy.
"Sure he has!" replied Will, and Elmer nodded.
The voices of Carson and Buck again came roaring up from below.
"Why don't you lower the cage?" Carson shouted. "I'm going to have
every one of you arrested as soon as I find an officer! You can't
work any of your gold brick schemes on me!"
"We may as well drop down and take them aboard," laughed Will.
Carson was swelling with rage when he step onto the platform of the
list. He shook his fiercely under Will's nose, and announced that
would have him wearing handcuffs before night.
"How much reward was offered for the return that two hundred thousand
dollars?" asked the boy without paying any attention to the angry
demonstrations of the banker.
"Twenty thousand dollars!" replied Carson. "But you'll never get a
cent of it. I hired a party of Boy Scouts to come here from Chicago
and look into the case, but they never came near me."
"When you write to Chicago again," Will replied with a smile as the
elevator stopped at the second level, "just tell Mr. Horton that the
Beaver's didn't succeed in getting the money, but that the Wolves did.
Elmer has the money in his possession this minute!"
"Impossible!" shouted Carson.
"Hand him the money, Elmer," requested Will.
Carson snatched the bill book as it was held out to him and began
looking through the ten thousand dollar banknotes which it contained.
"The next time you get drunk and fall out of your machine, don't
accuse every one you meet of robbing you!" Sandy cut in.
"Are you the boys who came on from Chicago?" demanded Carson.
"Sure," replied Will.
"I guess I'm an old fool!" admitted Carson. "Here I've been roaming
around about half a day accusing you boys of stealing my money, when
all the time you were planning on returning it to me!"
"Do we get the reward now?" asked Will.
"Twenty thousand and expenses!" replied Carson. "I'll settle with
Elmer and his chums later."
"It's a shame to take the money!" declared Sandy, but Will gave him a
sharp punch in the back and he cut off any further remarks which he
might have had in his mind.
The story ends here because the adventure ended with the finding of
the money. The old tool house was deserted that night. The two
hold-up men and the detective recovered after a long illness in a
Pittsburgh hospital. The detective was permitted to go his way after
promising to keep out of crooked detective deals in the future. He
never told how or where he received his information about the lost
money. The hold-up men were given long sentences in prison.
A few weeks later, when the mining company resumed operations at the
Labyrinth, Tunnel Six was walled up. Mr. Carson, the president,
declared that it made what few hairs he had left stand on end to think
of the experiences he had endured there!
However, there are still stories about the breaker, that on dark,
nights, when the wind blows, and the rain falls in great sheets, there
are mysterious lights floating about Tunnel Six.
Jimmie and Dick often tell exactly how these lights were made and how
they enjoyed themselves down in the bowels of the earth, but
superstitious miners still claim that the boys were not responsible
for all the lights which burned there!
Dick and Jimmie also have their joke with the Beaver Patrol boys
whenever they meet, declared that if they had not finally relented and
dropped the string the boys had carried into the mine for their own
protection, they would still be wandering around in the Labyrinth
Mine.
"And now," Will said as they settled down in their old room on
Washington boulevard, "we going to be good boys from this time on and
remain in Chicago and stay at home nights!"
However, in three days, the boys were preparing for another bit of
adventure, the details of which will be found in the next volume of
this, series entitled:
"Boy Scouts in Alaska; or, The Camp on Glacier."
The End