Part 26 (1/2)
”Where's the fifth boy?” asked Canfield. ”It seems to me that you're getting quite an acc.u.mulation of boys in here!”
”Two of the boys are Jimmie Maynard and d.i.c.k Thompson!” answered Will.
”You know you informed me quite positively not long ago that the I two lads were hundreds of miles from this place by that time.”
”You might barricade the hold-up men and starve them out,” suggested Canfield, ”that is, if you're sure they're in there!”
”We have just had a wireless from the interior,” Elmer answered.
”There are three men in there, all right!”
”Well, it won't take any longer to starve three out than it would one!” declared Canfield.
”Yes,” Elmer cut in, ”and about the first time the hold-up men got good and hungry, they'd be sending out Tommy's ears or one of George's fingers just as a warning to us not to meddle with their appet.i.tes.”
Before long Jimmie began wig-wagging again, but before any words could be formed the waiting boys heard a distant scuffle, a short, quick cry of alarm, and then the phosphorus-covered palms disappeared from sight.
”They've got Jimmie!” Elmer said in a tone of dismay.
”Well, what are we going to do?” demanded Sandy. ”We've got to do something right away, and that's no story out of the dream book!”
”I don't suppose it would be of any use to rush them,” suggested Elmer.
”They'd mow us down like rats!” declared d.i.c.k.
”It strikes me,” Sandy said, ”that we'd ought to get back further and keep out of sight until we can decide upon some definite plan of action.”
”I've got an idea wandering around in the back of my brain,” Will said. ”If the situation is exactly as I think it is, we may be able to get the best of those hold-up men after all.”
CHAPTER XIX
THE MONEY IN SIGHT
”Not while they have possession of the boys,” Canfield declared dolefully. ”They'll murder those boys if we shut off their supplies!”
”Oh, I don't know about that!” suggested d.i.c.k. ”We've been mixed up in a great many awkward situations but we always managed to save our necks. We'll get the boys out in some way!”
”Look here, Mr. Canfield,” Will said, ”how well do you know this mine?”
”Every inch of it!” was the reply.
”Every inch of every level,” asked Will.
”Yes, sir!” replied the caretaker, rather proudly. ”I can go into any part of it without a light!”
”Then look here, d.i.c.k,” Will directed. ”You chase back to the old tool house and bring back a long rope. And when you return, stop at the second level. Some of us will meet you there.”
”I hope you don't expect to pull these boys up through fifty or a hundred feet of shale?” asked the caretaker.
”I don't know whether my scheme will work or not,” Will answered, ”but it's worth trying! We have to leave at least two here, well armed and take the others with us. You'll have to act as guide, Mr. Canfield, and we'll meet d.i.c.k when he comes down to the second level with the rope. As soon as we get the boys out of their trouble, we can leave the three outlaws in full possession of the mine. If we watch the shaft at the old tool house, they can never get out without our knowing it!”