Boy Scouts on the Great Divide Part 22

"Have you got a place to cook it?" asked Tommy.

"Have you got any coffee?" asked George.

"I think we'll have to let you boys go pretty soon," one of the outlaws grinned. "If we don't you'll be apt to eat us out of house and home."

"We're some on the eat!" Tommy announced.

After a time the four came, without further incident, to the chain of caverns which Will and Chester had entered some time before.

They paused for a moment in the connecting tunnel, where the fire had been built on the previous night, and inspected the boulder, which lay a short distance from the opening to the dry channel.

"He's been here and gone on in," one of the outlaws said.

"Perhaps some one else has been here," the other suggested.

"The man who showed us where to enter this labyrinth is the only man in the mountains who knows anything about it!" declared the other. "I'm not certain that we didn't leave the stone out of place when we left this morning. But, if we didn't, our friend is certainly down stairs at this minute! I'll drop down and see, anyway!"

"Push the boys in first," advised the other.

"What do you think of this for an elevator?" demanded Tommy as he backed into the opening. "These fellows seem to be foolish--like a fox!"

George followed Tommy into the tunnel as the latter dropped down, and then the figure of one of the outlaws blocked the opening.

For only a minute, however, for the boys heard a succession of pistol shots, and then the sound of voices rang into the cavern they had just left.

The next instant the outlaws crowded into the tunnel, but instead of dropping down, waited near the entrance, weapons in hand.

CHAPTER XVII

A MEETING UNDER GROUND

"Some one's got the combination to this channel, all right!" Chester repeated as he joined Will in the larger cavern.

"Did you see them?" asked Will.

"Can't see anything," was the reply, "it's too dark!"

"Then how do you know there's some one coming?"

"We saw them coming toward the cave, didn't we?" asked Chester.

"Look here," Will exclaimed. "Did you see any one entering the mouth of this tunnel?"

"When the mouth of the tunnel is clear," Chester replied, "there's a faint mist of light visible. While I lay up there watching I heard whispering voices and the entrance was blocked."

"Perhaps they've rolled the boulder in front of it," suggested Will.

"You don't like the idea of being caught like a rat in a trap any more than I do," Chester said, "but I really believe that if we ever get out of here alive, we'll have to head toward the west and make our exit on that side of the range."

"I'd like to know how many people know about this hiding place!" Will grumbled. "If people walk out of the valley and drop down here, there may, for all we know, be others in hiding further down."

"That's a fact," Chester admitted.

"I wish we knew who the people are who are entering the tunnel," Will said. "It may be the robbers, or the detectives, or the sheriffs. It may even be your father, for all we know."

"Well, shall we move on down to see if we can find an outlet?" asked Chester. "That seems to me to be the best thing to do."

"It strikes me that that is the only thing we can do."

The boys were moving on down the almost level floor of the chamber in absolute darkness, for they did not consider it safe to show their electrics when they heard a chuckle in the darkness.

They drew up instantly and listened.

"That's Tommy!" declared Will.

"It can't be," replied Chester.

"Don't you suppose I know that chuckle?"

"Well, the boys weren't with the men I saw near the mouth of the cavern," declared Chester.

The boys listened again for some moments, and then caught sight of a finger of light far up the slope of the tunnel.

"That's a searchlight!" declared Chester.

"It surely is," agreed Will.

While the boys stood in the darkness, waiting and listening, they heard a voice which they had no difficulty in recognizing as that of Tommy.

"This is some bas.e.m.e.nt stairway," the boy said.

The next moment George's voice was heard.

"We must be about nine stories under ground by this time," he said.

There was silence for a moment and then Tommy was heard to ask:

"What's become of our chaperons?"

"There's something doing out in the lobby," the boys heard George say, "and I guess they went back to defend their home and fireside."

"I hope they'll get a couple of bullets in their domes!" declared Chester. "They've helped us out several times, but they've never done it because they wanted to do us a favor!"

"Keep still a minute," Will suggested. "Let's hear what those boys are saying. I'd like to know who they're talking about."