A TIMELY RESCUE
Fenn's fear, and his fierce desire to escape from the cave, lent him
speed. Forward he went, faster than he had ever run before. Suddenly
there loomed up before him a dim, hazy light, but it was the illumination
from the sun, and not from an artificial source.
"It must be morning!" the boy thought. "I worked at that hole all night.
But how is it that the sun shines down the shaft? I didn't believe it
could. There's something strange here!"
All these thoughts flashed through his mind while he ran on, intent on
distancing his pursuer, who was close behind him. Fenn could hear the
man's footsteps. Once more the fellow shouted:
"Hey! Stop! You don't know where you're goin'!"
"I don't, eh?" thought Fenn. "Well, I guess I do. I'm going to get away
from you, that's where I'm going."
The dim light became plainer now. Fenn could see that it came through
an opening in the cave; an opening that was close to the ground. Clearly
then, this could not be the shaft down which he had come. He was
puzzled, but he kept on.
He threw away the lantern, for he did not need it any longer to see
where to go. Several other voices joined in the shouts of alarm, and in
urging Fenn to stop. He did not answer but kept on.
"If I can once get outside they'll not dare to carry me back," the lad
reasoned. "It's only a little farther now."
He was panting from the run, for the exertion, following his illness,
and the experience he had gone through, was too much for him. He felt
that he could go no farther. Yet he knew if he halted now the men would
get him, and he feared for the consequences that might follow his
attempt to escape.
"Oh, if only some of the boys were here!" was his almost despairing
thought. "If ever I needed help I do now!"
The light was so good now that Fenn could distinguish the sides of the
cave. He saw that he was running along a straight tunnel, quite high and
wide, but which narrowed, like a funnel, as it approached the opening
toward which he was speeding.
"I wonder if there's room for me to get out?" he thought. "And I wonder
where I'll be when I get out?"
"Hold on! Hold on!" yelled the man back of Fenn. "You'll get hurt if you
go any farther!"
"And I'll get hurt if I go back," whispered Fenn, pantingly.
"Stop! Stop!" cried another voice which the lad recognized as Dirkfell's.
"Come back! I'll not harm you!"
"He's too late with that promise," Fenn thought.
A few seconds later he was at the opening of the cave. He fairly sprang
through it, finding it large enough to give him passage standing upright.
He leaped out, so glad was he to leave behind the terrors of the dark
cave, and the mysterious men, who seemed so anxious to keep him a
prisoner.
"Free!" Fenn almost shouted as he passed the edge of the opening. He was
about to give an exultant cry, but it was choked on his lips.
For the opening was on the sheer edge of a cliff, without the semblance
of a foothold beyond it, and below it there sparkled the blue waters of
Lake Superior!
Fenn felt himself falling. He was launched through the air by his leap
for liberty, and, a moment later, the lake had closed over his head!
Meanwhile Mr. Hayward, followed by his daughter, Frank, Bart and Ned was
hurrying along, bent on discovering and rescuing Fenn. True, they did
not know where he was, but Mr. Hayward had a clue he wished to follow.
As he hastened along, he told the boys what it was.
"My daughter and I have been sort of living in the woods for the past
week," he said. "We have taken auto trips as far as the machine would
go, and then have tramped the rest of the way. I want to see how my land
is. It is some property I bought a good while ago, and which I never
thought amounted to much. But I have a chance to sell it now, and I may
dispose of it.
"I was looking along the lake shore, the other day, for some of my land
extends out there,--and I saw a boat, containing some Chinese and a
white man. It was being rowed up and down the shore, and I thought, at
the time, the men acted rather suspiciously. They seemed to be waiting
for something to happen. I was too busy to pay much attention to them,
but I believe now that they were part of that smugglers' band you speak
of."
"Why didn't you tell the police, father?" asked Ruth. "To think of poor
Fenn being captured by them."
"We are not sure he is captured by them, Ruth," said Mr. Hayward. "At
any rate I'm going to the point on shore near where I saw the boat. It
may be there is a tunnel running from that place on the hill, where Fenn
disappeared, right down to the lake. In that case we may find some trace
of him there. This region used to be worked by some ancient race, I
understand, who dug deep into the earth after certain minerals and ores.
There are several tunnels, shafts and queer passages through the hills
and along shore, I have heard; shafts that used to give access to the
mines. They have long been abandoned, but it is just possible that the
smugglers may have discovered and utilized them."
"Maybe they're hiding in a cave, somewhere, now," suggested Ned, "and
perhaps they have Fenn a prisoner."
"Oh dear! Isn't it dreadful!" exclaimed Ruth, with a shudder. The other
boys could not help wishing she was as anxious about them as she was
over Fenn. It made up, in a great measure, for all he was likely to
suffer, Bart thought. He looked closely at Ruth. She seemed strangely
excited, as though she feared some nameless terror.
"This way!" called Mr. Hayward, leading the little party of rescuers
through a short cut, and down a sloping bank to the shore of the lake.
"Here we are. Now the boat, when I saw it, was right opposite that
little point of land," and he motioned to indicate where he meant.
At that instant Bart saw something black bobbing about on the surface of
the lake.
"What's that?" he cried, pointing to it.
"A boat!" exclaimed Ruth. "There is the boat now, daddy!"
"It's too small for a boat," replied Mr. Hayward. "It's a man! It's some
one in the lake!" he added excitedly. "And he's about done for, too!
I'll swim out and get him!"
Before any of the boys could offer, or indeed make any move, to go to
the rescue, Mr. Hayward had thrown off the heaviest of his clothing and
plunged in. With powerful strokes he made for the black object, which,
as the others could see, was a person making feeble efforts to swim
ashore.
With anxious eyes the three chums and Ruth watched the rescue. They saw
Mr. Hayward reach the bobbing head, saw him place an arm about the
exhausted swimmer, and then strike out for shore.
A few minutes later the man was able to wade. In his arms he carried an
almost inert bundle.
"I got him, boys!" he called.
"Who?" asked Ruth.
"Fenn Masterson! I was just in the nick of time. He was going down for
the final plunge," and with that he laid the nearly-unconscious form of
Fenn down on the sandy shore.