a second glance showedhim that the apparently solid trunk was merely a shell, through whichFred had passed completely out of sight.
"Hoi! Fred! Hurt yourself!" cried Scarlett, laughing heartily.
There was no reply.
"Fred! Hoi! Where are you?"
Still no reply. And now, beginning to feel alarmed, Scarlett loweredhimself down, and forced his way through the tangle of little shrubbyboughs growing round him, to the dead trunk, and found himself within abreastwork of rotten bark as high as he could reach, and which crumbledaway as he tried to get up, one great green mossy patch breaking downand covering him with damp, fungus-smelling touchwood.
"Fred! Where are you? Don't be stupid, and play with a fellow. Do youhear?"
Still there was no reply, and Scarlett gave an angry stamp on the softground.
"He's hiding away. I won't trouble about him," muttered the boy. Thenaloud--"Very well, lad. I shan't come after you. I'm going back to thelake side."
Scarlett began to struggle back, making a great deal of rustling andcrackling of dead wood; but he had not the slightest intention ofleaving his companion behind, in case anything might have happened tohim. So he clambered back through the brush of oak shoots on to thesound limb, and walked slowly back to the folk to try and walk along thedead portion of the tree; but before he had progressed six feet, hebegan to find that it was giving way, so he descended, and then slowlycreeping in and out among the dead branches, sometimes crawling underand sometimes over, he began to make his way to the spot where Fred haddisappeared.
It proved, however, a far more difficult task than he had imagined, forpieces of the jagged oak boughs caught in his jerkin; then he found thatin stretching over one leg he had stepped into a perfect tangle ofbramble, whose hooked thorns laid tight hold of his breeches, andscratched him outrageously as he tried to draw his limb back. Findingthat to go forward was the easier, he pushed on, and took three moresteps, vowing vengeance against his companion the while.
"It's horribly stupid of me," he muttered. "I don't see why I shouldtake all this trouble to help a fellow who is only playing tricks, andwill laugh when I find him. Oh, how sharp!"
Still there was the latent thought that Fred might have hurt himself,and Scarlett pressed on; but, all the same, seeing in imagination Fred'slaughing face and mocking eyes. In fact, so sure, after all, did hefeel that his companion was watching him from somewhere close by, thathe kept thrusting the rough growth aside, and looking in all directions.
"I'll give him such a topper for this," he muttered; and then as hestruggled on another foot, he suddenly stopped short, looked straightahead, and exclaimed loudly, "There, I can see you. Don't be stupid,you old ostrich, hiding there. Now then, come out."
Scarlett's ruse was a failure. "He knows it isn't true," muttered thelad. "Serve me right for telling lies. It was only my fun, Fred," hecried hastily, to make honest confession of his fib. "But don't go onlike that. Come out now, and let's get back. It makes me so hot."
He listened, and in the stillness of the wilderness he could have heardany one breathing, if he had been close at hand; but all was perfectlystill, until, high up in a neighbouring tree, a greenfinch uttered itsmournful little harsh note, which sounded like the utterance of the word_wheeze_.
"Surely he hasn't hurt himself," muttered Scarlett; and then aloud, asan uncomfortable sensation came over him--"Here, Fred! Fred! lad, whereare you? Why don't you speak?"
"As if I don't know where he is," muttered Scarlett again, now growingthoroughly alarmed. "He must have slipped and hurt his back.--Allright; I'm coming," he cried. "With you directly, as soon as I can getthrough this horrible tangle.--That's better. Now then, what's thematter? Fred, where are you? I say, do call out, or something. Idon't like it. Fred, lad, are you hurt?"
And all this time he was forcing his way onward, the brambles tearingand the old oak wood crackling. The greenfinch uttered its mournful_wheeze_ once more, and fled in alarm as Scarlett broke down agood-sized branch which barred his way, the rotten dry wood snappingwith a sharp report; and then, panting and hot after his heavy labour toget through so short a space, he forced himself to the place where Fredhad landed, and, to his utter astonishment, found that on his side thewhole of the trunk was gone, merely leaving the shell-like portion whichhad impeded him before, while below the crumbled tree-trunk was a greatgap.
For a few moments he stood there aghast. Then, recovering his presenceof mind, he pushed aside more of the growth which impeded him, andlooked down into a narrow pit which was choked with broken wood andferns.
"Fred!" he shouted; but there was no reply. There, however, beneathhim, he could see his companion's head and shoulders, with eyes closed,or seeming to be in the dim light, and only about five feet below wherehe stood.
Without a moment's hesitation, but trembling the while for fear thatthis might be some terribly deep pit into which his companion might fallif once the broken boughs which supported him gave way, Scarlett triedbough after bough of the old oak to find one upon which he could depend;but they all crackled in a way that threatened snapping if he trustedone; so, reaching back, he got hold of a stout hazel which seemed to bea dozen or fourteen feet high, dragged it down, and holding it bytwisting his hand among the twigs at the top, he began to descend.
At every movement the earth crumbled, and the bed of rotten woodsupporting Fred, as he lay back with his face to the light, shook sothat at any moment Scarlett expected to see it descend into the profoundabyss below. But in spite of this, as he climbed down the shortdistance, he realised the state of affairs--that in its fall the oak hadcrushed in the masonry arch over some old well-like place, leaving thisterrible hole securely covered till the wood had rotted away; and thatnow it had been Fred's misfortune to leap upon the spot, go through, andbe held up by the broken wood, which formed a kind of rough scaffold ashort distance below.
Should he run back for help?
No; he could not leave Fred like that. And yet when he reached him hewas afraid that the slightest touch would send him down; and now herealised how fortunate it was that Fred had been hurt, and had remainedinsensible, for if he had struggled, the possibility was that he musthave gone through at once.
Short as the distance was, Scarlett had to take the greatestprecautions, for, as he tried to get foothold, something gave waybeneath him, and he hung by the hazel, feeling as if all the blood inhis body had rushed to his heart, for there was a loud hollow splash,which went echoing horribly away, and he found himself with his eyes ona level with the old crumbling masonry forming an arch.
He recovered himself though directly, for he could stretch out a handand touch Fred.
The touch had instant effect, for the lad opened his eyes, stared at himwildly, and then said quickly--
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing much, if you are careful. You have fallen, and are hanginghere. Now--"
"Fallen? Oh yes, I remember; the tree," cried Fred. "Oh, my head, myhead!"
"Never mind your head," whispered Scarlett. "Now listen."
"I say, what hole's this? Is it a well?" said Fred, eagerly.
"Don't, pray don't talk. Now, can you reach up and get hold of thehazel above my hands?"
"Dare say I can," said Fred, coolly. "Yes. There!"
"Then be careful. You are held up by that broken wood. Now try anddraw yourself out."
"Can't," said Fred, after one effort. "I'm held tight; wedged in bythis wood."
"Try again; but be careful, whatever you do."
"Wait a moment. Oh, my head, my head! I hit the back of it onsomething."
"Ah, mind!" cried Scarlett, in agony. "Don't think about what isbeneath you, but try to climb up."
"Of course: only my head hurts so. I gave it such a knock."
"Yes, yes," cried Scarlett, impatiently; "but do mind."
"Well, I am minding; only don't be in such a fuss. I must get thispiece of broken bough away."
"No," cried Scarlett, in agony; "don't leave go your hold."
"But can't you see," cried Fred, impatiently, "that this is just like awire trap? I've gone through it, and the points are all round me,holding me from coming back."
"Yes, I see something of the sort; but if you leave go, you may fall."
"How?"
"By passing through. Now, I'll pull you if I can. Make a struggle atonce before you grow weaker."
"Wait a bit. I'm not going to grow weaker. I mean to get stronger.Don't you fidget. I'll be up there in no