THE GROUND OPENS AT THE RIGHT TIME.
Jack dropped but a few feet and landed unhurt in absolute darkness.
“Thought you’d drop in.”
It was Bob’s voice and the next moment Bob’s arm was about his shoulder.
“Keep perfectly still now and they may go past us,” he whispered.
“But suppose they drop in too?”
“I think they are too far to the right. Listen.”
The sound of their pursuers could be plainly heard now as they pushed
their way rapidly through the woods.
“I tink we geet ’em plenty queek, now,” they heard one say.
“Oui, they only leetle distance off,” another answered.
“You bet we mak’ short work dis time we geet em.”
But their voices were growing fainter and soon died out all together.
Bob gave a big sigh of relief.
“Talk about luck,” he said. “Whoever dug this bear pit and covered it
over so slick certainly did us a good turn.”
“He sure did. They’d have had us by this time.”
“We’d better stay right where we are for awhile. When they find out that
we aren’t ahead they may come back.”
He was correct in his surmise for inside of a half hour they heard them
returning.
“Here they come,” he whispered. “Keep perfectly still and perhaps they
won’t find us.”
Then men were now talking rapidly in French and they could only catch a
word here and there, but they got enough to understand that they were
puzzled to know what had become of them.
“Don’t move,” Bob whispered. “They are pretty close.”
For fully a half hour they could hear the men beating the woods all
about them but their luck held and finally they must have given up the
search for all was quiet. They waited another half hour to be sure that
they were not coming back then Bob said:
“Now the question is are we going to be able to get out of here.”
It was pitch dark in the pit, the covering having sprung back into place
as soon as they had dropped through. By feeling about they found that it
was nearly circular and about eight feet in diameter, with perpendicular
walls.
“How deep should you say this pit is,” Bob asked. “Not far from eight
feet, I should judge.”
“Just my estimate. Now, you’d better get up on my shoulders and see if
you can climb out.”
But the pit was a little deeper than they had thought, and standing on
his brother’s shoulders, Jack found that he could barely touch the
covering with the tips of his fingers.
“No go that way,” he announced as he jumped down.
“Then I’m afraid we’re in a pickle.”
“Where’s your flash?”
“Lost it yesterday morning. It must have fallen out of my pocket. Got
yours?”
“I have it all right but the battery’s played out. It must have been a
punk cell that fellow gave me for it hasn’t been used but a little. Wait
till I see him again.”
“If you ever do,” Bob said and then quickly added, “I didn’t mean to say
that. We’ve been in worse fixes than this and came out all right.”
“Yep, but I don’t recall any of them just now,” and Bob noticed a note
of despair in his brother’s voice.
“How are you fixed for matches?” he asked.
“Got a box about half full.”
“Suppose you light one and we’ll take a look. I used the last one I had
the other night.”
Jack struck the match and as the light flared up they looked eagerly
about them but the sight was not encouraging. Beside themselves there
was absolutely nothing in the pit.
“Doesn’t seem to be much here to work with,” Jack said gloomily as the
match died out “Not a whole lot that’s a fact.”
“Suppose we can dig toe holds in the side?”
“I’m afraid it’s too soft but we can try it.”
Bob’s surmise was correct. They had no difficulty in digging niches in
the sides of the wall with their knives but the earth was so soft that
it crumbled away as soon as they tried to step in them.
“Failure number two,” Bob tried to make his voice as cheerful as he
could but feared that he was not very successful.
“How about the third?”
“The third is going to be slow but I believe it will be sure. You said
that you could just touch the top didn’t you?”
“Yep, just brushed it.”
“All right then. Now all we’ve got to do is to take our kit spoons and
dig into the wall till we get a mound a foot or more high, then I guess
you can make it.”
“Brains do come in handy once in a while for a fact,” Jack declared much
more cheerfully.
They lost no time but went about the task at once. To their great
satisfaction they found that the work went much faster than they had
thought it would. The wall was of soft dirt, and with the strong spoons
they could scrape it down with little difficulty. Every few minutes they
would stop and heap the dirt up in a mound against the side of the pit
and pat it down with their feet. It was just damp enough to pack well
and in a little less than two hours Bob declared that he believed they
had a pile high enough.
“If it’ll only hold,” he said as he tested it with his weight while Jack
struck a match and held it close.
“It’s none too solid,” he announced. “But mebby she’ll do.”
He got to his brother’s shoulder’s while he stood to one side of the
mound.
“Go easy now,” he cautioned as Bob stepped forward.
“Easy it is.”
But alas for their hopes. The added weight of Jack was to much for the
mound of dirt and it gave away just as his fingers reached the covering.
“I was afraid it wasn’t strong enough,” Bob said as Jack again jumped
from his shoulders.
“And your fears were well founded, worse luck,” Jack groaned.
“Well, no use in crying over spilt milk or dirt either for that matter.
We’ll have to dig more down and build it stronger that’s all.”
So they worked for another hour when Jack declared that they must have
about enough dirt to fill the pit with.
“If we keep on much longer we can build a mound clear to the top,” he
declared.
This time they took more pains in packing the earth good and solid and
it held. Jack found that his head just hit the covering when he stood on
Bob’s shoulders. Leaning his back against the wall he reached up with
his hands and started to make an opening. This proved easy as the top
was spanned with long poles which in turn were covered with boughs on
which was laid a covering of dirt and leaves. Quickly he pulled aside
some of the boughs letting in a flood of light.
“Steady now,” he called. “I’m going up.” Grasping hold of two of the
poles he had little trouble in raising himself through the opening and a
moment later was on the ground.
“Just a minute now till I find a pole for you to climb up on,” he called
back.
In a few minutes he had found what he wanted in the shape of a small
fallen pine and in another five minutes Bob was standing by his side.
“One more scrape conquered.”
“Yes, and I was just wondering if we’d always be as fortunate,” Bob said
soberly.
“Here’s hoping,” Jack replied as he began to strap his pack on his back.
So much time had been lost that they abandoned all hope of reaching the
camp that night.
“We ought to get in in time to make Bangor with the bikes before
tomorrow night, so it won’t make a whole lot of difference,” Jack said
hopefully as they started off.
“If we weren’t so short of grub it wouldn’t be so bad,” Bob returned as
he took an extra notch in his belt. “What I wouldn’t do to a good square
meal right now is a shame.”
“Reckon I could do something in the eating line myself,” Jack laughed
back.
They camped that night near the spot where they had seen the vanishing
cabin. The last crumb of their supply was gone when they finished their
supper and even then Jack declared that he was not half filled up.
“Never mind; it’s not good to eat too much just before going to bed, and
I’ll get a mess of trout for breakfast,” he promised.
He kept his word, and after a hasty breakfast the following morning they
started off in excellent spirits.
Bob’s leg was much better and Jack noted with great satisfaction that
the inflammation had entirely disappeared when he examined it just
before the start.
They saw nothing of their enemies and reached the camp just after eleven
o’clock.
“You look as though you’d had a pretty hard tramp,” the proprietor
greeted them as they came into the office.
“Oh, not so bad,” Bob replied easily. “We’re leaving right after dinner.
Please make out our bill.”
“Somehow I don’t quite trust that man,” Bob said as they went to their
cabin.
“He’s got a bad eye if you ask me.”
They waited impatiently for the dinner horn to sound and at the first
welcome blast they quickly made their way to the dining-room.
“There, I’ll bet he didn’t make much profit on that meal,” Jack laughed
as he pushed back his chair some forty minutes later.
“I reckon he made up for it on the ones we missed.”
When they went into the office to pay their bill the proprietor tried
adroitly to learn something about their trip. But they answered him
evasively and escaped as soon as they could without being rude.
“Guess he didn’t get much information though he tried hard enough,” Bob
grinned as they returned to the cabin for their wheels.
“You’d make a dandy lawyer, the way you sidestepped him.”
“You were no slouch yourself when it comes to that.”
They reached Bangor shortly before five o’clock and made their way at
once to the address given them by the Captain. They were fortunate
enough to find the officer in and alone.
“Well, well,” he said as he shook them warmly by the hand. “I was just
thinking about you boys and wondering what had become of you. Didn’t
know but what I’d have to send out a relief expedition.”
It took the boys a good half hour to tell their story. The captain made
no comment, except to ask a question now and then, until they had
finished, then he said:
“I don’t think I need tell you that you have done more than well, but I
thought I told you that I didn’t want you to get into any danger.”
“Pardon me, but as I remember it, you said ‘unnecessary danger,’” Bob
replied.
“Well, perhaps I did use the adjective,” the captain laughed. “But,
necessary or unnecessary, it seems that there was danger enough. But the
good Lord sent you back unharmed and successful, for which I am deeply
grateful. If anything had happened to you I could never have forgiven
myself,” and the boys were somewhat surprised to see tears in his eyes.
“What do you make of those vanishing cabins, sir,” Jack asked.
“It’s as big a mystery to me as it can be to you. It’s certainly a
strange tale you tell.”
“I’d find it hard to believe myself if I hadn’t seen it, or perhaps had
not failed to see it,” Jack smiled.
“Don’t think for a minute that I doubt what you have told me,” the
captain said quickly.
“I didn’t mean it that way,” Jack assured him. “I meant that it does
sound incredible.”
“Well, there is, of course, some explanation to it and we’ll get to the
bottom of it before long or know the reason why,” the captain smiled.
“And now I want you to take a couple of days’ rest as my guests. Oh,
your Uncle Samuel pays the bills,” he added as he saw the boys exchange
glances.
“But we don’t really need any rest, sir,” Bob assured him.
“Better let me be the judge of that You see, it will take me all of that
time to make arrangements, and I imagine there’s no great hurry. They
won’t be apt to send over another load for a few days at any rate.”
“Might I ask how you intend to go at it?” Jack asked.
“You can ask anything,” the captain smiled, “but that is a pretty hard
question to answer just at present because, candidly, I don’t know. What
would you suggest?”
“Well, we were discussing the thing while we were watching that cabin
and wondered if there was any way in which you could chase that fellow
in a plane. Frankly, we couldn’t figure out how you could do it, as
they’d be sure to see you and signal him not to light.”
“You didn’t run across any other place near there where a machine could
take off, I suppose?”
“There’s none this side of it, that’s sure,” Bob replied.
“I supposed not, and it’s probably about the same the other side.”
“Not much doubt about that, I’m afraid.”
“Well, let’s go to supper and we’ll talk it over later. But you’d better
call up your folks first. I know they must be anxious about you,” the
captain proposed.
It took but a few minutes to get connected with their home in Skowhegan
and they learned that their parents were much worried about them. They
told them something of their experiences but left out all about the
danger they had incurred.
“Time enough to tell them about that later,” Bob explained as he hung
up.
“Can you arrest them on Canadian soil?” asked Bob as they were about to
leave the office.
“It could be done, I suppose, but I’d much rather get that fellow with
the goods this side of the line.”
They went to the hotel where the captain was stopping and he secured a
fine room for the boys next to his own.
“This’ll make it handy for us,” he explained.
After supper they spent a very enjoyable evening at the theatre with the
captain, but nothing more regarding plans for the capture of the liquor
runners was said.
“We’ll have a good long talk about it in the morning,” the captain told
them as he bade them goodnight.
“He’s sure one peach of a man,” Jack declared as they were undressing,
and Bob heartily agreed with him.