A DISAPPEARANCE
"Who is that?" demanded Joe Hardy, scrambling to his feet.
There was no answer. He heard the sound of running footsteps gradually
growing fainter.
"Hey, there!" he shouted, now thoroughly aroused. "Fellows! Wake up!"
He stumbled about in the darkness, trying to find his flashlight and
his chums. Then he heard Chet's sleepy voice:
"What's the matter? It isn't morning yet. Lemme sleep."
"Wake up! There's some one prowling around here."
"What's that?" called out Frank, from the darkness.
"There was some one else in the cave just now. He woke me up."
"Perhaps it was only Biff. Hey, Biff!"
A deep sigh. Then Biff mumbled:
"Whaddaya want?"
"Wake up." Frank switched on his flashlight and he turned it on each
member of the startled group. "Everybody here?"
"Sure!" replied Biff, sitting up in his blanket. "What's wrong?"
"Joe says somebody was prowling around the cave."
"It wasn't me. I've been sleeping like a log."
"It wasn't me either," spoke up Chet.
"I guess I was right, then," declared Joe. "There really _was_
somebody. I thought for a minute it might be one of you playing a trick
on the rest of us."
"We're all accounted for," said Frank. He got up and tossed a stick of
wood on the embers of the fire. In a few minutes it began flaming up
brightly, casting a circle of illumination through the cave. "Tell us
about it, Joe."
Joe thereupon told of hearing the mysterious footsteps in the cave, of
calling out and of hearing the exclamation, the crash of the rock, and
the running footsteps as the intruder fled.
"Did he go out the front way?"
Joe shook his head.
"No. He seemed to go farther into the cave, toward the back."
"Well, then," said Frank decisively, "we'll just go and look for him.
If he went that way, he's in the cave yet."
"Aw, let's look for him in the morning," protested Chet, as he rubbed
his eyes. "I think Joe was dreaming."
"It was no dream. I _heard_ him walking around. It wasn't any of us, so
it must have been a burglar--or somebody."
"What would a burglar come around here for?"
"Perhaps it's the chap who piled up all that wood," said Frank. "Maybe
this is his cave and when he came in and heard Joe call out he got
frightened and ran."
"That sounds more reasonable. Anyway, we'll take a look around for him.
He can't be far away."
The boys hurriedly dressed. They were soon wide awake, excitement
having banished all desire for further sleep.
"We were going to explore in here, anyway," said Frank, as he took his
flashlight and led the way toward the back of the cave.
The boys confronted an arch in the rock, an opening that seemed to lead
into a tunnel. They approached it cautiously, and Frank often turned
the light on the floor to make sure that no pitfalls lay before them.
Frank went into the tunnel first. In single file, the others followed.
It was about fifteen feet in length and about six feet high. As the
floor was of solid rock, they were unable to find any foot-prints that
would serve to prove that the intruder had passed that way.
The tunnel led to another cave.
"Why, there's a regular chain of caves in here!" exclaimed Joe, as the
boys stepped out into a massive underground chamber.
"Our cave was only the beginning," said Chet.
In the glow of their flashlights they saw that the cave in which they
now stood had a number of dark openings in the walls. These were,
presumably, tunnels leading into further caves beyond.
"There are a dozen different passages out of here. Our friend might
have taken any of them," said Frank.
"We'll tackle the biggest," suggested Biff.
"Good idea. If we don't get anywhere, we'll try the others."
The largest tunnel was immediately ahead. Frank, accordingly, stepped
into the gloomy passage. The others followed.
"When I was going to sleep to-night, I never thought I'd wake up and
take part in an exploring trip underground before morning," observed
Chet.
Frank gave an exclamation.
"Here's what we were looking for!" he cried.
"What?"
"A footprint."
The others crowded around him.
Clearly discernible in the radiance of Frank's flashlight, the lads
could see the imprint of a boot in a patch of wet sand on the floor of
the tunnel.
"Looks like a fresh track, too," said Joe.
"We're on the right trail. Let's keep moving."
With increasing excitement, the chums pressed forward and in a few
moments Frank stepped out of the passage into another cave. This was
the largest cave of all, an enormous underground vault, and even the
flashlight beams failed to reveal the rocky walls and ceiling.
The floor was rough and broken fragments of rock were strewn about.
"Watch your step," warned Frank, as he made his way across the cave.
The others had flashlights and the floor was well illuminated as the
boys slowly picked their way among the rocks. The far wall of the huge
cavern was still invisible.
"This is a whopper!" said Joe, in an awed whisper.
Frank stopped, with a murmur of annoyance.
"What's the matter?" asked Chet.
"My flashlight. It's on the blink."
Vainly, Frank tried to coax a gleam from the refractory instrument. It
was no use. He put the light in his pocket.
"I'll have to fix it to-morrow," he said. "It won't work any more
to-night by the looks of things."
"Here's mine," offered Biff.
But Frank declined.
"No thanks. One of you chaps take the lead for a while. I can follow
easily enough."
Joe took the lead, as Frank suggested, and the little party moved on
again.
It was rough going. The floor of the cave became piled high with rocks,
evidently from cave-ins that had occurred in times past; in other parts
it was pitted with little gullies and holes. In trying to avoid these,
the chums gradually became separated.
Frank stumbled along behind. He felt the loss of his flashlight, but
said nothing, relying on finding his way by the radiance provided by
the lights carried by the others.
Soon, however, the three lights became scattered. Joe had gone to one
side to avoid a huge boulder; Chet had gone to the other side and
encountered a pit that prevented him from returning to Joe's trail;
Biff had tried to follow Chet and had blundered into a labyrinth of
rocks.
Frank stood uncertainly for a moment, then called out.
"We're getting separated. Wait for me."
The walls of the great cave flung back the echoes time and again.
He heard Joe shout:
"Where are you?"
Had it not been for the glow of Joe's light he would never have known
where the voice came from because the echoes confused him, and the
tones seemed to come from all parts of the cave.
Frank realized that his own shouts would cause the same confusion to
the others.
"Don't move around!" he called, "I'll head toward one of the lights."
But evidently his order was misunderstood, for one of the lights began
to move erratically through the darkness.
Frank went forward. He blundered against a rock and fell, bruising his
knees. He got to his feet and went on, still in the direction of the
nearest glow.
He was confused by the moving lights. Had his own flashlight not failed
him this would not have happened.
Suddenly, he stumbled.
He lurched forward. His foot groped wildly for the firm rock, but there
was nothing to stop his plunge. He had fallen into a pit.
Straight down through the blackness he hurtled, with a wild cry of
terror.
The others heard that cry. They heard a far-off crash, and then the
clatter of falling rock.
Joe was the first to shout.
"Frank!" he called.
There was no answer. The echoes rang back.
Although the other boys shouted time and again there was no answer from
Frank Hardy. They searched frantically, casting the beams of their
lights here and there, but they found no trace of him.