Part 34 (1/2)

”You're all right, Captain Joe,” Case exclaimed. ”You can't forget that lost channel any more than we can.”

”I don't know whether there's a lost channel or not,” the captain replied, ”but I do know that there's a fresh supply of water coming into this stream right about here.”

Case took a field gla.s.s and looked up the stream.

”There surely is a current starting in close to that bank,” he finally said. ”I can see sticks and bubbles popping up from the bottom.

There's a spring there, all right.”

Alex took the gla.s.s and studied the river for a long time. Then he seized Captain Joe by the shoulder and pointed.

”Say,” he said, ”there's a nude body coming up out of that eddy Case saw. You can see it under the water, drifting down this way.”

The boy dropped the gla.s.s clattering on the deck and sprang into the water.

”Here, here, boy! Come back!” cried Captain Joe.

”It's Clay!” shouted Jule. ”Can't you see it's Clay!”

In a moment, Jule was in the water, too, and both boys were diving after the figure they had seen in the eddy.

They caught it in a moment, and managed to get it to the boat. Captain Joe and Case supplied ropes, and in an incredibly short s.p.a.ce of time, Clay lay stretched out on the deck.

”He's dead!” cried Alex ”I just know he's dead!”

”They stripped him of his clothes and threw him in!” wailed Jule.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE LOST CHARTER IS FOUND

An instant after being laid on the deck, however, Clay opened his eyes and smiled up into the faces of his friends.

”He'll be saying, 'Where am I?' in a minute!” Alex cried, dancing joyfully about the prostrate figure. ”That is the usual thing in stories, you know. He'll have to say, 'Where am I?' and I'll have to tell him that he mustn't talk. Look at him grin.”

”What gets me,” Captain Joe said, lifting the boy into a sitting position, ”is how you came up from the bottom of the river without ever diving down to it. It looks uncanny.”

”The lost channel!” answered Clay weakly.

”You found it, did you?” asked Alex.

”Boys, boys,” said Captain Joe, ”never mind the lost channel until we get this boy dressed and fed up.”

The processes suggested by the captain were quickly accomplished, and in a short time, Clay sat in the cabin telling of the adventures of the morning. The boys listened wide-eyed.

”Now let me get this thing right,” Captain Joe said. ”You went into a whirlpool above the falls and came out into a cavern?”

”That's just it, exactly,” Clay replied, still weak from his exertions. ”I landed on a ledge, where I lay unconscious for a few moments and then followed down the channel of the underground river.

There is plenty of room in the cavern,” he continued, ”and plenty of fresh air, but the place is shy on light. I fell many times in the darkness.”