VICTIMS OF THE QUAKE
The broad rock upon which the boys stood slid down the declivity for
some distance and brought up against a thicket of trees which stood not
far from the bank of the creek. The boys were fairly thrown from their
feet as the rock struck, but fortunately they were not injured in the
least. It was quite dark now, and the dust rising from the disturbed
earth made the scene still more dim.
The first thing the boys heard when they scrambled to their feet was a
faint moan and then a call for help.
"Sandy! George!" called Will.
There was no answer from above, but a faltering voice was heard just at
the edge of the thicket, where the rock had crushed into a hemlock of
unusual size.
"Help," the voice said. "Help!"
Will threw his searchlight in the direction of the sound and soon saw a
writhing figure in the underbrush which had been crushed down by the
fall of the rock.
"Who are you?" asked Will.
"Fenton," was the answer.
"Where'd you come from?" asked the boy in amazement.
"For God's sake," exclaimed the writhing man, "don't stop to ask
questions now. My leg is smashed under the rock upon which you are
standing! It is enough to say that I came here with Cameron!"
"Where is Cameron?" asked Will. Fenton pointed further down the slope.
"He fell over in that direction when a rock struck him," he said.
Will and George made a thorough examination of the slope where the
cavern had been before wasting any time on their injured enemies.
They called loudly to George and Sandy but received no answer.
"I'm afraid," Ed said, "that the boys were crushed under the falling
rocks! If they were, we ought to leave the men responsible for their
death where they are! They are not deserving of human help!"
"And yet," Will replied, "I can't find it in my heart to leave them in
such a plight. We ought at least to see if we can get them out of their
present cramped quarters."
After much exertion the boys managed to manufacture something like a
handspike from one of the broken saplings, and with this they began
prying at the heavy rock. It gave, but slowly.
While they worked away, hoping every instant to be able to draw Fenton
from under the stone and so lessen his sufferings, they saw the hand of
the man they were so unselfishly assisting stealing toward his hip
pocket.
"Watch him!" whispered Will. "He means to shoot us as soon as he is
released! That shows what kind of a dirty dog he is!"
As the rock was lifted by slow degrees and propped so that its weight
was not so heavy upon the unfortunate man the boys saw that his hand was
creeping closer to his hip pocket.
When at last the weight was removed, Fenton's first act was to attempt
to draw his weapon. Ed kicked it from his hand and then proceeded to tie
the fellow's wrists together behind his back.
"You're a dirty sneak," the boy exclaimed, "or you wouldn't try to kill
the people who have saved your life! From this time on, you get no
assistance from us!"
"I didn't mean anything!" whined Fenton.
"Don't lie about it!" fritted Will. "Where's Cameron?"
"You'll find him lower down!" was the reply.
"I hope he's broken his neck!" Ed cut in.
But Cameron had not broken his neck. Instead, he had broken an arm, and
one foot had been badly bruised by a falling stone. He was unconscious
when the boys lifted him and laid him in an easier position.
The two men were at once searched for weapons and left for the time
being to take care of themselves. There was no fear of their escaping,
for one of Fenton's legs had sustained a compound fracture and Cameron's
foot was badly injured.
"What next?" asked Will as the two boys stood facing the spot where they
believed George, Sandy and Bert to be buried under many tons of rock.
"It seems as if we ought to do something for the boys!"
"I'm afraid it's too late!" replied Ed, dejectedly.
"We never can dig under those rocks without help," commented Will,
"therefore, I think we'd better be on the watch for Tommy and Frank and
the surgeon. They surely ought to be somewhere near the cottage by this
time, if not already in it."
"If they've had such blooming bad luck as we have," Ed observed,
"they're probably in jail somewhere! I don't think I ever saw anything
in a worse mess! The very Old Nick seems to be after us!"
"This," Will observed with a grave smile, "is what we call a quiet
little Boy Scout excursion! We have visited the Pictured Socks, the
Everglades, the Great Continental Divide, the Hudson Bay country and got
trapped in an anthracite mine in Pennsylvania since we started out on
our quests for adventure."
"You seem to have found adventure all right!" smiled Ed.
"You bet we have!" replied Will.
The boys made still another inspection of the spot where the cliff had
fallen, and thought that they heard a faint call from the inside.
"They are there!" cried Will. "I'm sure they're there, and alive!"
"But they can't live there very long!" suggested Ed. "So we'd better be
doing something to get them, out!"
"The first thing to do," Will stated, "is to signal to the other
fellows. I'm sure Tommy and Frank must be in with the surgeon before
this!"
"There'll be plenty of work for the surgeon, I imagine," Ed added.
"I'm afraid so," Will admitted.
"But how are you going to signal to the cabin?" asked Ed.
"Indian smoke signals!" was the reply.
Almost before the words were out of Will's mouth, Ed was gathering both
dry and green branches from the thicket.
"If the boys are at the cabin, or even on their way there," Will
continued, "they'll be sure to see the signal, for the night is not so
very dark now, and the land where we are is considerably higher than the
moraine upon which the cabin is built. We'll have to get a blazing fire
of dry wood and then pile on green branches."
"That ought to make a smudge visible ten miles off!" said Ed.
"Not quite so far as that!" smiled Will, "but it's a sure thing the
signals ought to be seen as far as the cabin."
"Perhaps this earthquake shook the cabin down," suggested Ed. "I heard a
racket over to the south which seemed to indicate that the moraine was
being crumpled up like a piece of leather in a blaze."
"It seems to me," Will agreed, "that the earthquake did change the map
of Alaska in some particulars. Now, if you've got enough dry wood, we'll
start the fire and in five minutes we'll be ready for the green boughs!"
Two roaring fires were soon going on the mountainside, and then both
Cameron and Fenton pleaded to be assisted nearer to the circle of
warmth. They were both shivering with the cold.
"We ought to give you a swift toss into the blaze!" exclaimed Will. "And
we may do it, too," he went on, "if we find that our chums have been
brought to their death by your abducting them!"
"We had nothing to do with their being in the cave!" lied Cameron.
"What were you doing in the edge of the thicket?" asked Ed.
"We were watching you and your friends," was the reply. "We thought that
you were in quest of our mine!"
"Did you see those red and blue lights?" asked Will.
"Certainly we did," replied Cameron.
"Well, they told the story of what has taken place since the boys left
the cabin to follow your footsteps last night, so you may as well save
your breath. Lies won't help you any!"
However, the lads managed to bring the two men closer to the fire and
then set about piling on more green boughs.
"Now," Will said, as he stood regarding the two columns of smoke with no
little satisfaction, "if our friends are within five miles of us, they
ought to understand that we are in need of a little friendly
assistance."
Time and again the two boys went back to the place where the cavern had
been and listened patiently for some further indication that their
friends were still alive. Several times they heard the rumbling of a
voice but they could not distinguish the words of it.
Finally Will went back to where Cameron lay on the ground by the fire
and asked abruptly:
"Is your name Garman, Cameron or Brooks?"
The fellow gave a quick start of surprise but made no answer.
"Is this man Fenton the clerk who stole the machine drawings?" was the
next question. "Where are the plans now?"
"I don't know anything about any plans!" declared Cameron.
"What do you fellows expect to do with the plans?" asked Will.
"We haven't got them!" was the surly reply.
"Don't lie about it!" Will advised. "We know that the plans were sent to
Fenton's employer and that Fenton stole them."
"How do the plans concern you?" demanded Cameron.
"We don't want the plans because they are alleged to represent a
valuable invention," Will replied. "We want them because they are needed
in the criminal court of Chicago."
"I suppose you boys planned this costly and dangerous expedition for the
purpose of seeing how the plans look!" sneered Fenton.
"That's about the size of it!" replied Will.
"Well, we don't know anything about the plans!" declared Cameron, "and
we wouldn't give you any information on the subject if we did!"
"All right," Will replied. "We can tie you up out here and the mosquitos
will do the rest!"
Before Will could ask the question which was on his lips, three quick
pistol shots came from the south.
"There!" the boy said excitedly, "the signals have brought a response!"
"Friend or foe?" asked Ed.
"That's more than I know!" Will replied.