Comrades on River and Lake Part 30

What bothered them greatly, was the way the smugglers would enter the bas.e.m.e.nt, and to guard against a surprise, they decided to separate; so Pod was stationed on the steps leading above in easy reach of the electric b.u.t.ton, Fleet crouched in the corner near where the canned fruit was stored, and Tom in another corner back of the stairway and a few feet beyond the speaking tube.

The boys pictured in their minds a plan of the cellar and the relative positions of each other, then Tom gave the signal for lights out and Pod turned the b.u.t.ton which flooded the cellar with darkness. On the cry, "Lights!" from Tom, he was to turn the b.u.t.ton again, when the boys would cover the smugglers with their revolvers and demand their surrender.

Their plan thoroughly mapped out in this fas.h.i.+on, they became silent.

Some minutes pa.s.sed before they had any sign of the approach of the smugglers. Then they heard the creaking of door hinges. Just where this door was located they could not determine, but it seemed beneath the bas.e.m.e.nt. Then they could hear voices discussing something in low tones.

Then, suddenly, Tom heard a low, sc.r.a.ping sound almost at his side, where a large empty vinegar barrel had stood, and reaching out his hand to touch the barrel, he felt it move slowly upward!

There was, then, an opening in the floor of the bas.e.m.e.nt, not the walls, which the barrel had at least partly concealed. He drew back against the wall, so that the smugglers would not brush against him in making their ascent into the bas.e.m.e.nt.

"It's dark as pitch," he heard a voice say. "But I'll get a light. The kids are all asleep long ago. Bill, you make for the stairway and switch on the lights. We want to get out of this as soon as we can."

There was a grunted response to this, and the boys could hear the man called Bill tip-toeing toward the stairway. Pod and Fleet had heard the conversation, and knowing that they were prepared to act, when he heard the footfalls of the man, Bill, on the bottom step, Tom called quickly:

"Lights!"

Pod snapped the b.u.t.ton, and instantly the bas.e.m.e.nt was flooded with a yellow glow.

"Hands up!" cried the three boys in unison, as they covered the three men who appeared before them. The fourth man had been only partly through the trap-door when the lights came on, and he dropped quickly back, pulling the trap shut behind him.

Pod found himself covering the burly Bill, who had paused with one foot on the steps. Fleet took the man nearest him, evidently the leader of the little party, and Tom covered the other man who was near the trap-door, and not more than four feet away from him.

For a few seconds, following the command of the boys, there was complete silence. It was broken by a laugh from the man whom Fleet was covering.

"Well, it looks like you'd made a good haul this time, kids," he said.

"Just what can we do for you?"

"Stand right still until we tell you to move," said Fleet.

"This is a nice mess!" growled the fellow called Bill.

"A bloomin' bad one, say I," said the man Tom was covering, speaking with a slight accent that marked him at once for an Englishman.

"Sorry you gentlemen find yourselves in such a predicament," said Tom, "but there have been altogether too many mysteries about this lodge to suit us."

"What you going to do with us?" queried Bill.

"Never mind; you'll learn that soon enough. How many more are there of you?"

"There's six in the room below and four more in the pa.s.sageway," said the leader, lying glibly. "So you'd better let us go, and take a sneak while you can. We'll get the best of you in the end."

"There's only one more in your party," said Tom, making a shrewd guess, "and I guess we'll find a way to get him."

"Oh, you won't get any of the others," said Bill. "They're out on the river by this time. Don't you s'pose we leave things clear for our escape when we come over here?"

"You are no doubt deluding yourselves into believing that your friend below will get safely back to the other island," said Tom, "but it happens that we have three of our boys at the other end of the tunnel, all heavily armed. Now, figure it out, if you can."

"And somebody's getting in his fine work," cried Fleet, as the dull sound of a revolver shot came to them from below.

CHAPTER XXI-AT BAY

Let us leave the boys in the cellar and see what Chot and Truem were doing in the pa.s.sageway, as well as the cause of the revolver shot which had been audible to those above.

After closing the ma.s.sive door and fastening it securely, Chot and Truem waited silently in the pa.s.sageway for the developments they were sure would not be long in coming.

After a few minutes they heard sudden footsteps in the room beyond the door, then some one began rattling the door in a strenuous effort to get out. Of course, this was the fourth member of the smuggler quartet, who had escaped down the trap when Pod switched on the lights. But Chot and Truem, not knowing how their chums were faring in the bas.e.m.e.nt, thought the entire band of smugglers was making an effort to escape.

So when the door began to tremble, Chot called in a loud tone:

"Stop, or I'll shoot you through the door!"

Evidently surprised at finding enemies in the pa.s.sageway, as well as in the bas.e.m.e.nt, the man inside ceased his efforts. But he said nothing, and after a short pause, Chot said again:

"Do you surrender?"

"Yes," came the voice from within.

"Well, we're going to open the door, and you're to come through with your hands in the air-and _empty_! Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"You agree?"

"Yes."

"All right; Truem, open the door just enough to let him through," said Chot, taking up a position half behind the door, his revolver ready for use.

Truem did as requested, and the form of a man came quickly through, and seeing Chot, leveled a revolver at him and fired.

But Truem had seen the move, and he knocked up the smuggler's arm. The bullet whistled harmlessly against the ceiling of the pa.s.sageway. Then the smuggler found that he had tackled more than he could handle, for both boys leaped on him, threw him quickly to the floor, and choked him into complete submission.

"I surrender," he cried faintly, as Chot's grip tightened on his throat.

"You told us that before, then tried treachery," said Truem. "Don't let go of him, Chot."

But such an appealing look came into the man's eyes that Chot, after taking his revolver, and feeling in his pockets for other weapons, released him and jumped to his feet.

The smuggler was dazed. His head had struck the stone floor with no gentle force, and he gasped slightly as he drew his lungs full of air.

"You've got me, all right," he said. "There ain't no more fight in me."

"Where are the others?"

"In the same fix, I guess. I was the last man through the trap, and just as I was about half way up, some feller switched on the lights and covered my three pals. Then I dropped back. I didn't know there was anyone on this end."