Chapter XXIX: To the Rescue

Jack and his two chums, waiting in the dark of the cave, wondered who it was approaching. They had guessed it would prove to be the two men who had gone down the road shortly before in Cora's car, but this was only a guess. And whether these two were the same men who had first taken the machine was, of course, only a conjecture.

"What'll we do, Jack?" whispered Paul, from behind a barrel where he was crouching. "Jump out on 'em?"

"No," was the answer. "Not at first. Let's see what their game is and then we'll have better evidence against them. Just lie low and wait."

"Here they come!" cautioned Walter.

The sound of the footsteps and of the voices was nearer now, and presently the boys saw the glimmering reflection of light on the rocky and dirt sides of the cave.

"We've got to work lively!" said a man's voice. "Those campers are beginning to suspect there's something wrong. We'll have to clear out, bag and baggage, presses, engine and everything."

"That's right," added another. "Lucky we have the car. We can take most of the stuff in that if we have time, and set it up somewhere else. This graft is too good to give up."

"Where'll we take it?" a third voice asked, and the boys, who could not see the speakers, wondered how many of them there were.

"Oh, we can stow it away at----" began the man who had spoken first when there came an interruption from his companion.

"No names!" he cautioned.

"Who's to hear?"

"You can't tell. Since those boys opened up the floor of the bungalow, there's no telling what might have happened. Besides, I don't want old Jason to know where we are going. I'm going to get rid of him; he's more trouble than help."

"Especially with that horrible boy of his," some one said. "Ugh! I can't bear the creature!"

"Still he's been useful. He did the tricks all right. But it was a mistake to go to the bungalow. That's caused all the trouble. We should have stuck to this end of the cave."

"We had to have an emergency exit," declared one of the men, "and the bungalow was the best."

"Yes, until these campers came. Now that jig is up."

"Yes, the whole business is up, I'm afraid. Well, let's see what we can get out now before we're found."

Jack and his chums could hear the men moving about boxes and barrels. They seemed to be taking them outside. What was in the packages the boys could only guess. And Jack was wondering what he and his companions could do if the men in the cave should suddenly discover the presence of the intruders.

Jack peered out from behind his barrel and had a glimpse of a man moving about in the light of a lantern the criminals had brought into the cave with them. But the man's legs alone were visible and Jack could form very little idea from them of how the man looked.

"Isn't this enough for one load?" asked one of the men. "We don't want a breakdown."

"Oh, that machine will carry more," declared another. "We did a fine stroke when we picked that up. I wonder if those girls have an idea where their car went to?"

"They'll have one soon," thought Jack, gritting his teeth. "The nerve of you!"

"Let's go back and get that little numbering press," suggested a man. "It's too valuable to leave, and it won't take up much room. Come on, and pick up what we can. The fewer trips we make, the better it will be for us. Come on."

The light flickered and the footsteps of the men died away.

"I say Jack!" called Walter, after a moment's pause.

"Yes, what is it?"

"What's the matter with our going outside and getting Cora's auto now. It's got a lot of their stuff in it that will be fine for evidence against them. It's our best chance--just slip out now and get Cora's car."

"That's right," agreed Paul. "If we let them get away with it again we may never see it."

"All right," agreed Jack. "You two go out and capture the car. Do whatever you think best about it. I'll stay here and follow the men when they come out. If they have some of their machinery that will be additional evidence against them. Go ahead."

Paul and Walter hurried out, leaving Jack alone in the dark cave. They left him the lantern, saying they could find their way out by means of matches. Jack felt a little apprehensive as he was left alone, knowing that at least three men, who might prove desperate criminals, were in the cave with him. And if they discovered him, and knew that he was one of those working against them--well, Jack did not altogether like to speculate on what might follow.

Those seeking to solve the mystery were now divided into three parties. There was Jack, alone in the cave, waiting for the return of the three men. Walter and Paul were on their way outside to get the automobile. While Cora and her chums were prisoners of the old man and his imbecile son.

Walter and Paul reached the outer end of the cave without incident, and just without the wooden shack found Cora's car standing unguarded and well-laden with packages and some small bits of machinery.

"Caught with the goods!" chuckled Paul. "This game is coming right into our hands now. What shall we do?"

"Drive the car as near to the bungalow as we can," decided Walter. "The girls will be anxious about us, anyhow. We can leave the car with Mr. Floyd and then come back to Jack."

A quick examination showed that Cora's car, though it had been sadly misused, was in shape for running. It responded at once to the self-starter and Walter and Paul were soon chugging down the road, taking off the spoils of the ticket counterfeiters.

"Camp Surprise ahoy!" called Walter as he ran the car as near as he could to the bungalow. "Girls, where are you? We've got great news! We've solved the mystery!"

There was no answer to the hail, and Paul looked at his chum rather apprehensively as they alighted.

"They don't seem to be here," he said.

"They must be," Walter argued. "There's Mrs. Floyd. We'll ask her."

"Why, aren't the girls in the bungalow?" asked the chaperon, wonderingly. "I have been away a little while, and just got back. They were here when I left."

A quick search through the bungalow failed, of course, to disclose the presence of Cora and her chums. The entrance to the secret passage was still open, but Walter, running down the steps, reported that the girls were not there, and that the blocking door was closed.

"But we'll soon have it open," he said. "We have permission from Mr. Haight to tear down the obstruction."

"Where is Mr. Kimball?" asked Mr. Floyd, who had been summoned by his wife from a bungalow not far away, where he was making some repairs.

"He's up in the cave, keeping watch on the counterfeiters," said Paul. "It's a great story!"

Thereupon he and Walter gave a short account of the movements of themselves and Jack up to the present.

"But where are the girls?" asked Paul. "We must find them."

"Perhaps they went up to the cave Cora found," suggested Walter. "Let's go there and look."

"First we'd better see if Jack doesn't need help," Paul said. "I guess the girls know enough to keep out of danger, and it's daylight yet. We'll go to Jack."

"I'll take charge here," said Mr. Floyd. "I've got a man working with me at the other bungalow, and he and I will stand guard over the auto. When you come back, if the girls haven't returned, we'll go after them."

This plan was deemed the best to follow, and Paul and Walter hastened back on foot to the cave where they had left Jack.

Cora and her friends, made prisoners in the cave by the old man and his horrible, grinning, half-witted helper, felt faint and sick as they realized what might be the outcome. For a moment none of them spoke. The old man laughed, showing his blackened teeth--a strange contrast to his white beard--and then he chuckled:

"Police spies; eh? Come to catch the old man! But he was too smart for ye; wasn't he? He caught you; didn't he?"

"What do you mean by locking us in?" demanded Cora. "Open that door at once and let us go!"

"And call away that--that horrid idiot!" half-sobbed Belle. "If he catches hold of me----"

"Oh, Bombee won't hurt you; will you, Bombee?" said the old man, patting the half-witted youth on the head. "That is, he won't if you do as I say, and don't try to run. Bombee's like a dog. He's my pet, so he is. Hi, Bombee! Do a trick for the ladies!"

The idiot gave a shrill cry, bounded up on a box and stood on his head, his legs kicking in the air.

"See!" chuckled the old man. "Bombee minds me. If I was to tell him to bite you he would, but I won't tell him."

"You let us go!" demanded Cora, her thoughts in a whirl with the strange ideas that came to her mind.

"I didn't ask you to come here," snapped the old man. "And them as comes uninvited must stay until they're let go. Ye can't go out and bring in the police."

"But if--if we promise not to tell the police?" faltered Bess.

"I wouldn't trust you," snarled the old man.

"Then there must be something here about which you are afraid," said Cora, boldly. "Why do you fear the police?"

The man gave her a sharp glance.

"Never you mind that," he said. "When the others come I'll know what to do with you. I'll make you----"

He paused and seemed to be listening. At the same time the idiot gave a whimpering cry.

"Some one's coming!" snarled the old man. "The police, maybe. You've sent 'em. But they won't find you. Quick, Bombee--the secret room--open the door!"

The half-witted creature bounded forward, and caught up a club. Bess screamed, fearing the fellow was going to attack them. But the idiot merely put the stick in a hole in the wall, and pressed on the lever with all his might. A heavy plank door swung out, revealing a black room.

"Into that with you!" cried the old man.

"No!" screamed Cora.

"In there with you or I'll----"

He looked so terrible, and made such a threatening gesture, and the half-witted youth seemed so ready to do his master's bidding that the girls shrank back from the claw-like hands of the old man, and fairly ran into the secret room opened by the helper. Once inside they heard the door close after them.

"Oh!" gasped Belle. "This is terrible, Cora! What shall we do?"

"Keep quiet a minute. Let me think. Oh, oh!"

Hazel flashed on her light.

"Thank heaven for that!" moaned Belle. "We can at least see."

The girls looked quickly about them. The light showed them that they were in some sort of office. There were desks and chairs in it, and on the desk were a number of papers, while innumerable tickets were scattered about. The girls attached no significance to them at first. There was an incandescent lamp swinging above the desk, and Cora turned the black key. At once there was light, showing that the gasoline engine, the rumble of which could still be heard, operated a small dynamo.

"Oh, what shall we do?" gasped Bess.

"Listen!" whispered Cora.

From the cave outside came the murmur of excited and angry voices. There followed sounds of great activity, as if boxes and barrels were being moved about. Once or twice came a snarl from the idiot, and the commanding voice of the old man. The other voices the girls could not recognize.

"I'm going to call for help," said Cora. "That may be the boys come to rescue us. Come on, girls! We'll all shriek!"

This they did, uniting their shrill voices in an appeal for help. Cora caught up a paper-weight from the desk and hammered on the door of their prison. But neither their calls nor the pounding brought an answer. The noise in the outer cave continued. The men seemed to be quarreling among themselves now.

Then came silence. The girls called again but with no result. They listened. Not a sound came from beyond the door.

"What has happened?" asked Bess.

"I can't even guess," Cora said. "But don't worry. We'll get out of here some time. Meanwhile, let's see if we can by any means open the door."

Events were now happening in several different places--events connected with the boys and the counterfeiters.

Jack was waiting in his hiding place, wondering what would next take place, and he was getting rather tired of his cramped position, when he heard footsteps coming back.

"Here's where I do a sleuthing act and follow them," he decided. But he was hardly prepared for what followed. The footsteps broke into a run, and there were excited voices calling one to another. There was the crash of falling boxes, and above everything came a strange unearthly yell, like that of some animal in pain.

"What in the world----" began Jack.

There was a rush of several bodies past his hiding place. Jack looked up over the head of the barrel in time to see four men, one carrying a lantern, dash along the cave, and behind them came another with abnormally long arms.

Pausing a moment to allow the fleeing ones to get a little ahead, Jack followed. His brain was excitedly thinking.

"There'll be a grand ruction in a minute," Jack chuckled to himself. "Things will happen with a vengeance."

He heard cries of rage from the shack at the mouth of the cave. Advancing into it, but keeping himself concealed, Jack peered out. He noted that the automobile was gone, and from the absence of Paul and Walter he argued that they had driven away in it.

The talk of the men confirmed this.

"They've dished us!" exclaimed one, angrily.

"The car's gone!" faltered another. "We were too slow!"

"What are we going to do?" asked a third.

"Cut and run for it!" some one answered. "The game is up. Scatter, and we'll meet again, later. Lively's the word!"

Jack looked out to see the two men he and his chums had observed before, with a third one, start for the wooded slope of the mountain. Then he saw the old man and the half-witted helper.

"Wait--wait for me!" pleaded the aged one. "I can't run fast, I'm all crippled with rheumatism! Wait!"

"We can't wait. Look out for yourself," one man flung back unfeelingly over his shoulder. "It's every one for himself."

"Ah! desert me, would you!" cried the old man, shaking his fist at the fleeing ones. "But I'll get even with you. Old Jason will get even! I'll let the girls out of the cave, and tell them the whole story! I'll let the girls out of the secret room in the cave!"

Jack had been in two minds whether to advance and speak to the old man, or follow the fleeing ones, but as he heard these words he knew something else now called for his attention.

"The girls in the cave!" he murmured. "It must be Cora and the others he means. They must have gone into the cave while we were in town. I've got to rescue them. Let the men go! I must help the girls."

Catching up his lantern, Jack dashed back into the dark cavern.

"I'm coming, girls! I'm coming!" he cried. "To the rescue!"