A MYSTERIOUS CAVE
Running at top speed the four boys hastened down the street toward where
the automobile accident had occurred. Several other persons followed
them.
"They've gone over the cliff!" cried Fenn.
"No, the rear wheels are caught on the edge!" declared Ned. "You can just
see the back part of the car!"
"But the man and young lady must be pitched out! It hangs nearly straight
up and down!" said Frank.
"I wonder if they could possibly be alive?" asked Fenn, as he hurried
along, a little in the rear of the others, for, because of his stoutness,
he was not a good runner. "I'll never forget how she looked up to me, as
if she wanted me to save her."
By this time the chums had reached the broken fence that had proved so
ineffectual a barrier to the cliff. They leaped over the shattered
boards, accompanied by a number of men and boys.
"Gee! They're goners!" exclaimed a boy named Sandy Merton, peering over
the edge of the cliff. "It's a hundred feet to the bottom!"
"I wonder what caught the auto?" said Bart. "Why didn't it fall?"
"A wire caught it," answered Fenn. "Look," and he showed his chums
where several heavy strands of wire, which had been strung on the fence
to further brace it, had become entangled in the wheels of the auto as
they crashed through. The wire was twisted around some posts and, with
the broken boards from the barrier, had served to hold the car from
going over the cliff. There it hung, by the rear wheels only, a most
precarious position, for, every moment, it was in danger of toppling
over.
"But where are the people?" asked Frank, as he peered over the edge of
the cliff. "I can't see them?"
"They're all in pieces," declared a gloomy looking man. "They're broken
to bits from the fall."
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Bart. "Here, let me have a look!"
Lying flat on his face he peered over the edge of the precipice. Then he
uttered a cry.
"I can see them!" he shouted. "They've landed on the ledge, not ten
feet down. They're under some bushes!"
"Get some ropes, quick!" cried Fenn. "We'll haul 'em up before the auto
falls on 'em!"
"No danger of that," declared Bart. "They're off to one side. I'm afraid
they're badly hurt, though."
"Somebody go for a doctor!" urged Fenn.
"I will," volunteered Jim Nelson, who had the reputation of being the
laziest boy in the town of Darewell. Perhaps he was afraid of being
asked to help haul the auto back from the perilous position.
"Telephone for 'em!" called Frank, knowing Jim's usual slowness, and
realizing that the lazy youth would welcome this method of summoning the
medical men.
"Tell 'em to come to my house," supplemented Fenn. "We will carry the
man and girl there."
"Good idea," commented Frank. "You've got more room than any of these
houses near here," for, in the immediate vicinity of the cliff there
were only small cottages, and some of them were unoccupied.
"But how are we going to get 'em up?" asked Fenn.
By this time a large crowd had gathered. Some had brought ropes, and
there were all sorts of suggestions as to how the rescue should be
effected.
"I'll get them; or at least I'll go down and put a rope around them, so
they can be hauled up," suddenly declared Frank. "I know how to reach
that ledge. There's not much danger. Where's a rope?"
Several were soon produced, some neighboring clothes lines being
confiscated. It seemed that all the crowd needed was some one to give
orders. In a few minutes, with a rope tied around his waist Frank was
being lowered over the cliff. Willing hands let him down until he was
on the ledge. Then, having fastened the rope about the form of the
unconscious young woman, padding it with his coat, so the strands would
not cut her, he gave the signal to haul up. There was a cheer as the
body was laid gently down on the grass at the top of the cliff, and
some one called:
"She isn't dead! She's breathing!"
It was harder work for Frank to adjust the rope about the man's body, as
he was very heavy, but the lad accomplished it, and the crowd above
hauled the unfortunate automobilist up. Then Frank was raised from the
ledge.
"Carry 'em to my house," cried Fenn. "The doctors will soon be there if
Jim hasn't forgotten to telephone for 'em."
On stretchers, improvised from pieces of the fence, the bodies, of which
that of the girl alone seemed to contain life, were carried to Fenn's
house. The crowd followed but, at the door a constable named Darby, at
Fenn's orders, refused admittance to all save the three chums, and those
who had borne the stretchers.
"The doctors will need room to work," declared Fenn, when there were
murmurs at what was his right, to exclude the mob from his home. "I'm
glad mother's out," he said. "This would scare her into a fit."
"The doctors are coming," said Jim, who came into the house a moment
later, after the man and young woman had been laid on beds where Fenn
directed. "I telephoned to all in Darewell, but only three were home."
"That ought to be enough," declared Fenn. "I hope they can save their
lives. There doesn't seem to be any evidences of injuries."
The medical men, under the direction of Dr. Fanwood, the eldest of the
practitioners, made hasty examinations of the two victims of the
accident.
"I think we'll have to operate on the man," declared Dr. Fanwood. "We'll
need several things from my office. Who can go for them?" and he looked
at Fenn, whom he had doctored ever since Fenn was a baby, on the few
occasions when that healthy youth needed medicine.
"We'll go!" offered Frank, Bart and Ned at once.
"I guess we can use all three of you," decided Dr. Fanwood. "Dr. Kyte
and Dr. Feldon will need things from their offices. Now I tell you what
to do, just take our horses and carriages, which are tied out in front,
and drive after the things. That will be quicker."
Then, the three physicians having given the chums a list of what they
needed, proceeded to get ready for the operation. The girl was in a
semiconscious condition, but a hasty examination showed that the worst
she was suffering from was shock. She could be left alone for a time.
While the medical men were preparing to attend to the man, Constable
Darby kept guard in front of the house, before which it seemed as if half
the population of Darewell was gathered. Jim Nelson was sitting in the
front hall, ready to go on an errand if needed, but, on the whole, rather
hoping that he would not be required to run. The hasty telephoning had
been quite a strain on his lazy nature. Fenn, at the suggestion of Dr.
Fanwood, remained in the room where the young lady was, to be at hand in
case she recovered consciousness.
"My, things have happened suddenly," thought Fenn, as he looked at the
silent form on the bed. "We were just wishing for something like our old
adventures again. This seems to promise a good beginning."
The four boys, who, because of their intimate association, and from the
fact that they lived in the town of that name, were known as "The
Darewell Chums," had been through some lively times together, as has
been related in the previous books of this series. In the first volume
called "The Heroes of the School," I related how the four took part in
a peculiar mystery, and solved it to their satisfaction, though, at one
time, when they went up in a balloon, and were captured by the enemy,
it looked rather dubious for them. The boys were wide-awake lads, full
of energy and resources, and they managed to free themselves from a
difficult situation.
Their home town was on the Still River, which flowed into Lake Erie, and
Darewell was a few miles from that great body of water, on which they
often enjoyed themselves rowing or sailing.
In the second volume of the series, "Ned Wilding's Disappearance," there
was set down the story of what happened to Ned when he tried to do a
little financial business on his own account. He went to New York, and
there by some curious mis-chances, he had to hide, almost as if he had
committed a crime. But, by the aid of his chums, and a poor lad whom
they once befriended, Ned was rescued.
In the third volume, "Frank Roscoe's Secret," I told of a queer case of
persecution. Frank and his chums went camping and Frank's manner, which
had been not only strange but sometimes unaccountable, became still more
curious and bewildering, for one of his good nature. His chums did not
know what to make of him, and there was considerable worry on their
part.
But it turned out that Frank was the one who had to worry, because of
the danger to his father, whom he had always supposed was dead, but who
turned out to be alive, though in captivity. How the boys discovered
Frank's secret, and how they helped him to rescue his father was related
in the book together with various other happenings during their
encampment in the woods.
And now the Darewell Chums seemed to be in for another series of
adventures, if Fenn was any judge. The young woman on the bed tossed and
turned in the fever of a delirium. The lad became rather frightened, and
was going to call one of the doctors, though he knew they must be very
busy preparing for the operation.
Suddenly the young woman sat up straight in bed. Her light jacket, which
had not been removed, bore many dirt-stains, where she had fallen upon
the ledge. She struggled to get it off. Fenn started to help her,
thinking one of her arms might be broken. Suddenly she exclaimed:
"The cave! Oh, the cave! It was hidden but I can see it now! And the
men! See, there are the men, digging, digging, digging! I must stop
them! They will take all--"
She fell back upon the pillows.
"What cave? Where is it? Can I help you?" asked Fenn eagerly.
"The cave! They are in it!" exclaimed the young woman again. "The
mysterious cave! If I could only find it! I must find it--my father--his
wealth--search for the cave--I--he--"
"Yes, yes," spoke Fenn, advancing to the side of the bed. "Perhaps I can
help you find it!"
He hardly knew what he was saying, so great had been the strain of the
accident, and so strangely did the words of the young lady affect him.
She opened her eyes, which had been closed when she was talking. A look
of consciousness came over her face.
"Was I speaking?" she asked in different tones than that she had used
before. "Did I say anything? What has happened? Where am I? Where is my
father?"
"The automobile went over a cliff," explained Fenn. "You were hurt, and
so was your father, but not badly, I hope. He is here. The doctors are
with him."
"I must--Oh, let me go to him," and she arose from the bed. "What did I
say just now?" she demanded suddenly. "I know I was unconscious, but I
was saying something."
"It was about a cave," replied Fenn.
"Oh!" she exclaimed in such a voice that Fenn was alarmed. "I was afraid
so! Why did I do it? Forget it, please! Forget that I ever mentioned it!
I don't know--"
She seemed about to say something more, but her face suddenly became
pale, and she fell back on the pillows.
"Doctor!" cried Fenn, very much frightened.
"Ah, I'm just in time, I see," remarked Dr. Kyte, coming into the room
at that moment. "I'll attend to her now, Fenn. She has only fainted."