Part 48 (1/2)
”Not much, but I went over my head in water!”
”So did I.”
”Where is d.i.c.k?”
”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 d.i.c.k is here.”
”Neither do I, Tom. I believe somebody fooled us.”
”That's it! And we fell right into the trap!”
”But where can d.i.c.k be?”
”Most likely a prisoner of our enemies,” muttered Tom, bitterly.
Tom's surmise was correct, d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k went off to make sure that Tom and Sam would turn to the left and fall into the water.
”Well, d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k, 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?”