The Rover Boys Down East: or, The Struggle for the Stanhope Fortune

CHAPTER XXVII
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE CAVE

The man ahead hurried along over the rocks so quickly that the Rovers and Larry Dixon had difficulty in keeping up with him.

“He’s a bird for moving,” was the old sailor’s comment. “Splice my main brace! but I wish he’d put a reef or two in his legs!”

The man ahead suddenly made a turn around some rocks. The boys and the tar followed cautiously, so as not to be surprised.

“Wait here, I’ll look ahead and investigate,” said Dick. And he shoved some bushes aside.

A surprise awaited him – but not of the sort he had anticipated. The man had disappeared!

Vainly did Dick look in all directions for him. He was as completely gone as if the earth had opened and swallowed him up.

“Can he have entered some opening in the rocks?” the youth asked himself.

With added caution he moved forward a few steps further. Then, between some dense bushes, he saw a slit in some high rocks. The slit was irregular in shape but not over a foot wide in any one place.

“What do you see?” asked Tom, who, growing impatient, had followed his big brother.

“He seems to have disappeared, Tom,” was the low reply.

“Did he go in there?”

“That is just what I was wondering.”

Dick looked into the slit. It was of uncertain depth and looked dark and uninviting. Then the whole crowd searched the neighborhood. Not a trace of the stranger was discernable anywhere.

“Well, he didn’t fly up in the air,” said Sam. “He must have gone somewhere. Why not look into that opening, Dick?”

“You look out that you don’t get shot!” warned Tom. “That fellow, if he is one of the old freight thieves and the rascal who robbed Mrs. Stanhope of the valise with the fortune, must be a desperate character.”

“If I go in, it will be pistol first,” answered Dick, grimly.

He drew the weapon Captain Wells had loaned him, and slowly but cautiously wormed his way between the rocks. It was so dark he had to feel his way along, and, fearing that he might fall into some hole, he did not advance a step until he was sure of his footing.

“Shall we come?” called Tom, softly.

“Not yet,” answered Dick.

He passed along a distance of fifteen or twenty feet. Then the passageway widened, and he found himself standing on a rocky flooring that was comparatively smooth.

“Gracious! can this be one of the entrances to the smugglers’ cave they told about?” he mused.

He continued to advance, and presently caught sight of a flicker of light, playing over the uneven rocks that formed the roof of the cavern.

“That must come from a campfire!” he murmured. “And if it does. I must have struck the right spot. Maybe this is where they are holding Dora’s mother a prisoner!”

He continued to go forward, and the light of the fire grew brighter. Then of a sudden, he heard a step behind him.

“Will spy on me, will you!” cried a voice, vindictively, and in a trice he was struck a blow on the back of the head. He went down in a heap, and a man leaped on top of him and held him fast. Then commenced a fierce struggle, in the midst of which Dick’s pistol went off, making a tremendous report in that confined space. The bullet struck the rocks, doing no damage.

The pistol had been close to Dick’s head and the discharge caused the smoke to get into his face, choking and blinding him. Then he received another blow, and for a minute or two knew no more.

“Listen!” cried Tom, as the pistol went off. “Dick must be in trouble! Come on, Sam!”

“Yes, but be careful,” was the answer.

“Want me?” asked the old tar, anxiously.

“You had better stay on guard here, for the present,” replied Tom.

“Just as you say, messmate.”

Tom wormed his way between the rocks and Sam followed. The pistol shot was followed by silence, and the two Rover boys did not know what to make of it.

“Shall I call?” asked Sam.

“Might as well,” was Tom’s reply, and both called Dick’s name as loudly as they could.

“Help! help!” came back faintly.

“We are coming!” yelled Tom, rushing forward. “Where are you?”

“I am her – ” was the answer, and then of a sudden all became quiet again, as a hand was placed over Dick’s mouth.

With their weapons ready for use, Tom and Sam ran through the cavern. But all was silent, and the flickering rays from the campfire beyond were too faint for them to see much.

“Dick! Dick! Where are you?” called out Tom.

“To the left!” was the faint reply. “Turn to the left!”

The voice sounded muffled, as if the speaker was being strangled, and with their hearts in their throats, Tom and Sam advanced and at a break in the rocky wall, turned to the left. Hardly had they gone a dozen steps when they plunged downward into space.

“Oh!” came from both, and then followed a mighty splash, as the pair struck the water. Each went down over his head, and on coming up had to strike out to keep from drowning.

“Sam! Sam!” cried Tom.

“I’m here!” was the spluttered-out reply. “Are you hurt?”

“Not much, but I went over my head in water!”

“So did I.”

“Where is Dick?”

“I don’t know.”

“Can he be drowned?”

“Oh, don’t say that!”

It was pitch dark, and only by calling to each other did the two lads manage to get together. Both swam around until their feet touched a rock and on this they stood to catch their breath. The water was all around them.

“Which way did we come, Tom?” asked Sam, after a moment of silence, during which both did what they could to get back their breath.

“I don’t know. I can’t see a thing, can you?”

“No.”

“I don’t believe Dick is here.”

“Neither do I, Tom. I believe somebody fooled us.”

“That’s it! And we fell right into the trap!”

“But where can Dick be?”

“Most likely a prisoner of our enemies,” muttered Tom, bitterly.

Tom’s surmise was correct, Dick was indeed a prisoner of their enemies. He had his hands and his feet bound tightly, and he had been dragged, by Tad Sobber towards the campfire that was burning at the further end of the big cave. In the meantime the fellow who had been followed by Dick went off to make sure that Tom and Sam would turn to the left and fall into the water.

“Well, Dick Rover, this is what you get for following us!” cried Tad Sobber, in tones of triumph. “Perhaps, some day, you’ll learn enough to keep your hands out of my affairs.”

“Sobber, tell me, what have you done with Mrs. Stanhope?” asked Dick, quickly. Even though he felt bruised and shook up, the welfare of Dora’s mother was uppermost in his mind.

“I am not here to answer your questions.”

“You won’t tell me?”

“Not a word.”

“Do you realize that you and Josiah Crabtree have committed a big crime?”

“We have done nothing wrong.”

“Don’t you call stealing and abducting wrong?”

“I haven’t stolen anything. The fortune from Treasure Isle belonged to my uncle and me – the Stanhopes had no right to it whatsoever.”

“I think otherwise – and so did the courts.”

“Bah! Your side didn’t treat me fairly, you bought up the judges! I know you!” stormed Tab Sobber. “The fortune was ours! Now I’ve got it – and I mean to keep it!”

“And what of Mrs. Stanhope?”

“Mrs. Stanhope has acted like a sensible woman.”

“Acted like a sensible woman? What do you mean?”

“She has done what she should have done years ago – she has given her heart to the man who loves her.”

“Sobber, you don’t mean – ” Dick could not go on, for the lump that came into his throat.

“I do mean it.”

“What?”

“I mean that she has become the wife of Mr. Josiah Crabtree!” cried Tad Sobber. “So if you ever marry Dora Stanhope you’ll have Mr. Crabtree for your father-in-law.”

CHAPTER XXVIII
AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POOL

At the announcement of Tad Sobber, Dick could only stare at the speaker for the time being.

Was it really true that Dora’s mother had married the disreputable Josiah Crabtree after all? It made his heart sick to think of such a state of affairs.

“You are telling me the truth?” he asked at last.

“Certainly.”

“I don’t believe you, Tad Sobber.”

“Very well – you can ask Mr. Crabtree – and Mrs. Stanhope, when you see her.”

“If she married Crabtree she was forced to do it.”

“No, she married him willingly.”

“I’ll never believe it. Where is she now?”

“I am not here to answer questions, Dick Rover. You and your brothers came here I suppose to get the best of us. Well, you are nicely caught.”

“What are you going to do with me?”

“You’ll find that out before you are many hours older,” answered Sobber, and turned away.

A quarter of an hour went by and the man who had met Koswell and the others outside of the cavern came back.

“Well, Jim, what about the other Rovers?” questioned Tad Sobber.

“Safe enough,” answered Jim Pally, with a grin.

“Where?”

“Down in the pool.”

“They slipped in?”

“They sure did.”

“I hope they won’t drown,” went on Sobber, uneasily.

“Oh, they are safe enough. I heard ’em swimming around until they found the rocks to stand on.”

“Good enough. Now, what do you think we had better do with this one?”

“Why don’t you make him join his brothers?” answered Jim Pally. And then he motioned Sobber to one side, out of Dick’s hearing. A conversation in a low tone followed. Pally was telling Sobber they had better be on guard, since the Rovers might not be alone. Then he told of the meeting with Koswell, Larkspur and Darkingham; and the two went off to consult with Josiah Crabtree.

Left to himself, Dick tried his best to free himself of the bonds that held him. But the work of making him a prisoner had been done well, and all he did was to cut his wrists and his ankles.

When Sobber and Pally came back they were accompanied by Josiah Crabtree. The former teacher and jailbird wore the same dictatorial look as of yore.

“Ha! so we meet again, Rover!” cried Josiah Crabtree, pursing up his lips.

“Mr. Crabtree, is it true that you have married Mrs. Stanhope?” asked Dick, bluntly.

“Well – er – we are as good as married, yes,” he stammered, taken somewhat off his guard by the suddenness of the question.

“As good as married? What do you mean?”

“I mean she has promised to be my – er – my bride as soon as we can obtain a – er – a minister to perform the ceremony.”

“You are forcing her into this marriage!”

“Not at all, young man, not at all! She is going to marry me of her own free will.”

“I do not believe it.”

“Ha! don’t dare to talk to me in this fashion, Rover!” stormed Josiah Crabtree, glaring at the helpless youth before him.

“Will you let me speak to Mrs. Stanhope?”

“And poison her mind against me? Indeed not!”

“Where is she?”

“She is in safe hands.”

“In your hands?”

“No, in the hands of a very estimable lady, who is doing all that is possible to make her comfortable.”

“Is she well?”

“She is – er – a little bit fatigued by her journey, that is all. She will be quite herself after she has rested for a few days.”

“Mr. Crabtree, you had no right to abduct her.”

“Who says I abducted her? She accompanied me willingly, Rover.”

“I do not believe that, and never will believe it. You mesmerized or hypnotized her, or something of the sort. I know your tricks of old.”

“Ha! don’t dare to talk to me in that fashion!” stormed Josiah Crabtree. “Don’t you dare to do it!” And coming closer he shook his fist in Dick’s face.

“You’d not do that if I were free, Josiah Crabtree!” cried the youth, defiantly.

“Say, we can’t afford to waste time in talk!” interrupted Tad Sobber. “I reckon the best thing we can do with this fellow is to make him join his brothers.”

“And then – ” went on Crabtree, and finished in a whisper which Dick did not catch.

A few minutes later Dick was led back into the cavern towards the pool into which his brothers had fallen. Sobber carried a torch, that threw a flickering light throughout the dismal underground opening.

“Help! help!” came faintly from the bottom of the pool, and looking down those on the rocks high above saw Sam and Tom standing there, in water up to their knees.

“Hello!” cried Dick. “Are you all right?”

“We would be, if we could get out,” answered Tom.

“Hello! It’s the Sobber crowd, with Dick!” murmured Sam.

“I don’t think they are going to aid us,” returned Tom.

A few words passed between Sobber, Crabtree, and Pally, and then while two of the evildoers held Dick the third cut his bonds.

“Now, then, you can join your brothers!” cried Sobber, and gave Dick a shove that sent him headlong. Down he came with a tremendous splash, and then the waters of the pool closed over him.

“You cowards!” shouted Tom, in a rage. “I shouldn’t treat a dog that way!”

“You shut your mouth!” yelled back Tad Sobber. “It serves you right – for following us.”

“Some day you’ll be in jail, Tad Sobber!” shouted Sam. “It’s where you belong.”

All waited for Dick to come up, but second after second passed and the eldest Rover boy failed to appear.

“Something is wrong!” gasped Tom, in alarm. “Maybe his head struck on the bottom,” cried Sam. “If he is dead, you’ll pay the penalty!” he cried, to those on the shore of the rocky pool.

All were worried, for those above had not expected anything of this sort to happen. They looked down, but could see nothing of Dick.

“I’m going to hunt for him!” cried Tom, and leaving the rocks upon which he was standing, he swam with all haste in the direction of the spot where his big brother had gone down. Seeing this, Sam followed his example.

“Perhaps we had better be getting out of here!” muttered Jim Pally, turning pale.

“No! no! let us see if they bring Dick Rover up!” answered Tad Sobber, hoarsely.

The firebrand was swung into a larger blaze and the glare cast on the waters. As the rays lit up the weird scene, Tom set up a sudden shout.

“There he is!”

“Where?” demanded Sam.

“Over yonder! I just saw him bob up. Quick, Sam, before he goes to the bottom!”

The brothers swam to the spot indicated by Tom with all possible speed, and Tom made a dive under the surface. When he came up again he had hold of Dick’s left foot.

“I’ve go – got him!” he gasped. “Hel – help me!”

For reply Sam ranged up by his brother’s side, and between them they raised Dick up and swam with him to the spot where the water was shallow. Then they stood there, in water up to their knees, supporting Dick as best they could. The oldest Rover boy was all but unconscious.

“Going to help us?” yelled Tom, to their enemies.

“What’s the matter with him?” asked Tad Sobber.

“Oh, I fancy he was only shamming!” came from Josiah Crabtree. “Come on away.”

“Don’t you dare to leave us here!” cried Sam.

“Help us out,” came from Tom. “It is your duty to do it.”

“Not much!” answered Tad Sobber, with a sneer. “You can help yourself – if you can!” And with these words he walked away, in company with Crabtree and Pally, leaving the Rovers to their fate in the water and the darkness.

CHAPTER XXIX
A MINUTE TOO LATE

“Of all the rascals!” murmured Tom, as the light faded from sight.

“They are the worst!” supplemented Sam. And then he added: “How do you feel Dick?”

“Oh, I – I guess I’ll come around!” murmured the oldest Rover boy. “But I came pretty close to being drowned!” he added, with a shudder. “I struck something and it about stunned me, and I swallowed a lot of water.”

Tom and Sam continued to hold up their brother until Dick had recovered sufficiently to support himself. As they stood on the submerged rocks, they listened for some sound from their enemies, but none came.

“Maybe they have left the cave,” suggested Sam, after ten or fifteen minutes had passed.

“This is a fierce place,” was Tom’s comment. “It’s just like a great big well!”

“And we are like the frogs at the bottom of the well!” added Dick, grimly. He felt a little weak, but otherwise was all right.

“I looked around when we had the light of that torch,” said Tom, “but I didn’t see any place where a fellow could climb out, did you?”

“Nary a spot, Tom,” answered Sam. “The walls were all as smooth and as slippery as glass.”

“Do you think they mean to leave us here to die?” asked Dick.

“I shouldn’t think they’d be as heartless as all that,” came from Tom. “They’d be afraid of consequences.”

An hour went by – just then it was an age – and at last the boys saw a glimmer of light approaching. It flickered and flared over the walls for fully a minute and then commenced to fade.

“Somebody went past, through the main cave!” cried Tom. “Wonder who it was?”

“The Sobber crowd most likely,” returned Dick.

“But it might be somebody else!” cried Sam. “I’m going to yell and find out.”

He raised his voice in a loud call, and Tom and Dick joined in. Several minutes went by, and they called again. Then they saw the flickering of the light once more.

“Who is there?” came faintly to their ears.

“This way! This way!” shouted one Rover boy after another.

“Be careful of where you step!” cautioned Tom.

“Where are you?”

“This way!” they answered, and kept calling until the light of a ship’s lantern came into view, and they saw Captain Wells and Larry Dixon approaching.

“Well, I never!” ejaculated the captain of the steam tug, as he came to a halt on the brink of the blackish pool. “How in the world did you git down there?”

“Help us out first, and then we’ll tell you,” replied Dick, quickly.

“Didn’t you meet our enemies?” asked Tom.

“Nary a soul have we met since we landed,” answered the captain.

“Which way did you enter the cave?” asked Sam.

“By the slit in the rocks – where you came in,” answered Larry Dixon. “I watched you disappear, and afterwards I heard some yelling. Then I got scared and ran down to the shore and signalled for the steam tug to come in. I told the cap’n all I knew, and he came ashore with a lantern to see what was wrong – and here we be.”

“You’ve come in the nick of time,” said Dick. “Our enemies, the Sobber crowd, are here, and they left us as you see us. I rather think they have Mrs. Stanhope and that fortune here, too, but I am not certain. Help to get us out of here, and we’ll get after ’em without delay.”

“Don’t know how we are going to help you without a rope,” said the captain.

“I saw some rope, down in the big part of this cave,” said Larry Dixon. “Let me have the light an’ I’ll fetch it in a jiffy!”

He took the light and was off on the run. When he returned he was out of breath. In his hands he held several pieces of good, stout rope, parts of the same rope which had been used to make Dick a close prisoner.

“We can splice these,” said the old tar, and while Captain Wells held the lantern, he tied the bits together. Then both he and the captain allowed one end of the rope to dangle down into the hole, while they braced themselves and held on to the upper portion.

“Is it long enough?” asked Captain Wells.

“I think so – I’ll see,” cried Tom, and leaving the rocks he swam over to the rope. He was just able to reach it, and being something of an athlete, went up the rope hand over hand, with his feet against the rocks for added support.

“Now you go, Dick!” cried Sam. “If you are weak and fall, I’ll catch you.”

It was quite a task for Dick to gain the rocks at the top of the pool and once he came close to giving up and slipping back into the water. But he was gritty, and Tom assisted him by leaning down on his breast and extending a helping hand. Then Sam came up, and the three Rovers stood beside the two men who had come to their rescue.

“Phew! I am glad we are out of that!” murmured Sam, as he looked back at the cold and gruesome waters.

“We don’t want to stay here!” cried Dick. “We want to get after the Sobber crowd – before they have a chance to leave the island!”

“How can they leave the island?” questioned Sam. “I don’t think they have a boat. I haven’t seen any.”

“But Jerry Koswell’s crowd has a boat, Sam – that swift motor craft.”

“Do you think they would aid such criminals as Sobber and Crabtree?”

“They might – just to get the best of us.”

“Then the sooner we get after our enemies the better.”

“Where are your pistols?” asked the captain of the steam tug.

“Mine was taken from me by Sobber,” answered Dick.

“And ours are at the bottom of the pool,” added Sam. “We both dropped ’em when we plunged into the water.” And then he and his brothers acquainted Captain Wells and the old sailor with the particulars of their adventures since entering the cavern.

“Well, I still have my pistol!” cried Captain Wells, grimly.

“And I’ve got a good club,” came from Larry Dixon.

“We can arm ourselves with clubs,” said Dick. “But the main thing just now is to keep those rascals in sight. If they slip us, there will be no telling where they will go to.”

With eyes and ears on the alert, the whole party made its way through the big cave, coming out of the main opening, not far from where the campfire still lay smouldering.

“They certainly left in a hurry,” remarked Tom, as he gazed around. “They didn’t wait to pick up all of their provisions.”

“I guess they got scared,” murmured Dick. “Well, they’ll get more scared when they find we are so close on their heels.”

“Where do you suppose they went to?” asked the captain.

“I don’t know. But I think the best thing to do is to go down to where that motor boat was tied up. I don’t think they can leave unless they use that boat – unless, of course, they have some craft we haven’t as yet seen.”

There was a well-defined path running from the cave down to the shore of the island. This they followed, through the patch of woods and over some rocks. Then they came to an opening where were located several dilapidated buildings. Not far from one building were the remains of a recent camp.

“I believe this was the camp Darkingham and those with him made!” ejaculated Dick. “They have gone – maybe they have left the island!”

“Come on, I don’t like this!” put in Tom, and broke into a run for the old dock, and the others followed on his heels.

They were still a hundred yards from the dock when Tom let up a shout:

“There they are!”

“Where?” asked Dick.

“In the motor boat!”

“Who?” questioned Sam.

“The Sobber crowd – and they have Mrs. Stanhope with them.”

“Stop! stop!” yelled Dick, at the top of his voice. “Stop, I tell you! Mrs. Stanhope!”

“Oh!” came from the lady, as she espied the Rovers. “Save me! Save me! Don’t let them take me further away!”

“Put on all speed!” roared Tad Sobber, to Pally, who was at the engine. “Crowd her to the limit! They are after us!”

“Here we go! Hold fast everybody!” answered Pally, and the next moment the motor boat shot out into the waters of Casco Bay.