CHAPTER XXVI
FENN'S ODD DISCOVERY
Mutual surprise showed on the face of Fenn, as well as on the countenanceof the man who made this surprising announcement in the cave, where wehave left that rather unfortunate youth. The boy, who had been preparedto meet a band of Chinese smugglers, now saw before him the mysteriousperson, who appeared to have some interest in the affairs of Mr. Hayward,and who seemed to be pleased that misfortune should overtake the man whohad recovered from the auto accident near Fenn's house.
"Well, how'd you get here?" asked the man gruffly, advancing closer tothe captive, and holding his torch to throw the light on Fenn's face.
"Slid part way, and climbed the rest," answered the lad, who decided toremain as cool as possible under the circumstances.
"Humph! Well, I reckon you know where you are now?"
"I haven't the least idea, except that I'm under ground."
"Yes, and you're liable to stay here for some time. You'll find, beforeI get through with you, that it isn't healthy, out in this country, topay too much attention to the business of other folks. I'll pay you backfor spying on me. I thought I'd gotten rid of you some time ago, but Isee you're still after me."
"I'm not after you," answered Fenn. "I didn't expect to see you downhere. Nor am I spying on you. You're mistaken."
"Weren't you trying to hear what I was saying--the night of thefire--aren't you in the employ of Robert Hayward?" demanded the man,asking his questions too quickly to permit of any answer.
"I'm not employed by Mr. Hayward, though I know him, and he is a friendof mine," declared Fenn. "I wasn't intentionally listening to what youwere saying that night, but, when I found you were an enemy of Mr.Hayward, I wanted to know more about you."
"How do you know I am his enemy?" asked the man.
"From the way you talked. Besides, why did you chase after me, and tryto catch us on the _Modoc_?"
"That's something for me to know, and for you to find out," replied theman, with an unpleasant laugh. "You're too wise, you are."
"Maybe I'll find out more than you want me to," retorted Fenn.
"No danger. I'm going to put you where you can't do anything for awhile, and, after you've cooled down a bit, I'll think of what to donext. Tom, come here," he called.
A big man approached, and, at a nod from the fellow of the sinistercountenance, gathered Fenn up in his arms, in spite of the resistancethe lad made. Fenn soon found it was useless to struggle, so he remainedquietly in the grip of the burly chap.
"Take him to the inner cave," directed the man, whom the others addressedas Dirkfell, "and then come back. We need you in getting this last loadout. After that we'll take a rest."
Fenn tried to see where he was being carried, but it was almostimpossible in the darkness. There were several flickering torches,stuck in the earthen walls of the cavern, here and there, and, by theglimmers of them, the youth could see men hurrying to and fro. Somecarried picks and others shovels, while some bore boxes that seemed tobe very heavy.
"I wonder what sort of a place I've gotten into," thought Fenn. "Maybeit's--yes, I'll bet that's what it is--a gold mine!"
For a moment the thought of this made his heart beat strangely fast.Then cooler reason came to him, and he recalled that the region aroundLake Superior contained no gold, though there were mines of otherminerals, some quite valuable.
This train of thought was interrupted by the sudden stopping of the manwho was carrying him, as though he was a baby. The fellow stooped down,kicked a door open with his foot, and, the next moment Fenn foundhimself in a small cave, lighted by a lantern hanging over a roughtable, around which several chairs were drawn.
"Here's where you stay until the boss tells you to come out," fairlygrowled the man.
Fenn did not reply, and the fellow withdrew, taking care, as the ladnoted, to lock the door after him. No sooner was the portal closed, thanFenn began an inspection of the place. He took the lantern and held itclose to the door. It was made of heavy planks, and the fastening seemedto be on the outside. As for the remainder of the cave, the walls werecomposed of hard clay, or harder rock. The place was a sort of niche,hollowed out from the larger cavern.
"Well, I seem to be in a pickle," observed Fenn grimly. "That comes ofprying too much into other people's affairs, I s'pose. No help for it,however. I'm here and the next question is how to get away. I wish theboys were with me--no, I don't either. It's bad enough to be heremyself, without getting them into trouble.
"I guess they'll be surprised when they get back to camp and find megone. I wish I'd left some sort of a message. They won't know where tolook for me."
But Fenn did not give his chums credit for their energy. The prisonermade a circuit of his dungeon, and concluded there was no way, atpresent, of getting out. He readily got rid of the rope that fastenedhis arms behind him.
"I will just take another look at that door," mused Fenn, when, havingcompleted his tour of inspection, which did not take him long, he againfound himself in front of the portal. He held the lantern up as high ashe could. "If I stood on a chair I could see better," he reasoned. Hegot one of the rough pieces of furniture, mounted it, and, was justraising the light up to the top of the door when his hand slipped andthe lantern fell, smashing the glass, and extinguishing the wick.
"Hu!" exclaimed Fenn, standing on the chair in the darkness. "Lucky itdidn't explode and set fire to the oil. I'd been worse off then I amnow."
He was in total darkness, and was about to get down off the chair, andgrope his way back to the table, when a gleam of light, showing througha crack in the door, attracted his attention.
"Somebody is coming," he said. "Maybe they're going to let me out. Or,perhaps, they heard the lantern fall."
But, as he looked, he saw that the gleam was not made by a torch orlantern being carried by someone approaching his dungeon. Instead itcame from several torches stuck in the wall of the main cave.
And, by the light of these torches Fenn made an odd discovery. Severalmen were digging in the sides of the cavern, loosening the clay andsoft rock with picks and shovels. They were piling the material inboxes which were loaded into a car, that ran on a small track, and werehurried off, to some place that the boy could not see.
As he watched he saw Dirkfell approach, and, by signs and gestures, forFenn could not hear at that distance, the man urged the laborers to workfaster.
"They're mining," thought Fenn. "It must be valuable stuff, too, or theywouldn't take out such small quantities. And they must be working insecret, or they wouldn't take all the precautions they do, to remainhidden. There's something queer back of all this, and I'd like to seewhat it is."
Fenn applied his eye closely to the crack in the door. He could see themen gathered about a cavity in the cavern wall, on which they wereworking, and, from the way in which they pointed at something the boybelieved they must have come upon a rich deposit of whatever ore theywere mining.
"I wish I was out of this place!" exclaimed Fenn to himself. "If I hadthe boys here to help me I'll bet we could escape, and then there'd be adifferent story to tell.
"There must be an opening, somewhere," he reasoned. "That air comes fromunder the door. It's fresh, so there must be some communication directlywith the outer air, from the big cave."
He stretched out flat on his face, and put his eyes as close as he couldto the bottom of the portal. He saw light beneath it, and, jumping up,exclaimed:
"That's it! I see a way to get out. But I must wait until the men havegone!"
An idea had come to Fenn. The floor of the small cave he was in, was ofearth. Between it and the bottom of the door, was quite a space. If hecould enlarge this space, it might be possible for him to crawl underthe door, and this he resolved to attempt, as soon as it would be safe.
He felt in his pocket to see if his knife was there, and his heart beatmore rapidly as his fingers closed on the handle. It contained a large,strong blade, and he thought he could do his digging with it
. But itwould be necessary to wait until the men got out of the way, and, ifthey worked in two shifts, this would not occur.
Anxiously Fenn waited. Every minute seemed an hour as he sat there inthe darkness, now and then kneeling down to peer under the door, to seeif the men had gone. But, every time, he saw them at their queeroperations, or taking something from the walls of the cave.
He fell into a doze, to be awakened by the entrance of some one into hisapartment.
"Where's the light?" asked a voice Fenn recognized as belonging to theman who had carried him in.
"It fell and broke," he answered.
"Humph! Well, I'll bring another. The boss didn't give no orders toleave you in the dark. Here's some grub. It's supper time."
"What day is it?" asked Fenn.
"Thursday. Why?"
The boy did not answer. He knew, however, that he had been in the cave amuch shorter time than he supposed. It was the evening of the same dayhe had started to follow the smugglers. Now he appeared to have losttrack of them, but he was in the power of a gang as bad, if not worse.
The man brought another lantern, and also some water. The food wascoarse, but Fenn ate it with a good deal of relish.
"Guess you'll have to sleep on the table," the man went on, as he threwsome blankets down. "There's no bed in this hotel," and he laughed.
But Fenn was too busy thinking of his plan to escape, to care about abed. He hoped, now that it was night, the men would stop working. And,in this, he was not disappointed. Some one called a signal through thecavern, and the men, dropping their tools, and taking their torches withthem, filed out of sight of the boy, watching from beneath the door.
He wanted to begin his digging at once, but concluded it would be saferto postpone it a while. He was sure it must have been several hours thathe waited there in the silence. Then, taking an observation, and findingthe outer cavern to be in blackness, he commenced to burrow under thedoor, like a dog after a hidden rabbit.
The big blade of his knife easily cut into the soft clay, and, workinghard for some time, he had quite an opening beneath the portal. He triedto squeeze through, but found he was a bit too big for it.
"A little more and I can slip out," he whispered to himself.
Faster and faster he plied the knife, loosening the earth, and throwingit back with his hands. Once more he tried and, though it was a tightsqueeze, he managed to wiggle out.
"Now!" he mused. "If I don't run into anybody I can get to the foot ofthe shaft, and go up that ladder. Guess I'll take the light."
He reached back under the door, and got hold of the lantern, which hehad placed near the hole, slipping it under his coat so that the gleamswould not betray him. Then, remembering, as best he could which way theman had carried him, he stole softly along, on the alert for any of theminers.
He had not gone more than a dozen feet, and had just turned a corner,which showed him a straight, long tunnel, that, he believed, led to thefoot of the shaft, when, to his consternation, he heard a noise. At thesame time a voice called:
"Hey! Where you goin'?"
Fenn resolved to chance all to boldness. Taking the lantern from underhis coat, that he might see to run through the cave, he sprang forward,toward what he believed was the shaft down which he had come on thetree-trunk ladder.
"Stop! Stop!" called someone behind him, but Fenn kept on.