Part 30 (1/2)
”I'm with you!” exclaimed Bob.
”Me, too,” joined in Helen, jumping up with alacrity.
”Now, some more of you will go off and get lost,” cried Belle. ”I--I wish we were all home. I'm--I'm sorry we came to this old island.”
”Baby!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed her brother, poking her. ”Do be still. Ralph isn't going to get lost--what d'ye think he is?”
”How'll we see our way?” Helen asked Bob and Ann.
”Feel it. We'll go in the dark. Then we can see their lantern the quicker.”
”There's no wood here fit for torches,” Bob admitted. ”And I have plenty of matches. Come on! We sha'n't get lost.”
”What do you really suppose has happened to them?” demanded Helen of Bob, as soon as they were out of hearing of the camp.
”Give it up. Something extraordinary--that's positive,” declared the big fellow.
They crept through the tunnel, Bob lighting a match occasionally, until they reached the first crack in the roof, open to the sky. It was not snowing very hard.
”Of course they wouldn't have tried climbing up here to get out,” queried Helen.
”Of course not!” exclaimed Ann. ”What for?”
”No,” said Bobbins. ”They kept straight ahead--and so will we.”
In five minutes, however, when they stopped, whispering, in a little chamber, Ann suddenly seized her companions and commanded them to hold their breath!
”I hear something,” she whispered.
The others strained their ears to hear, too. In a moment a stone rattled.
Then there sounded an unmistakable footstep upon the rock. Somebody was approaching.
”They're coming back?” asked Helen, doubtfully.
”Hus.h.!.+” commanded Ann again. ”Whoever it is, he has no light. It can't be Ruth.”
Much heavier boots than those the girl of the Red Mill wore now rattled over the loose stones. Ann pulled the other two down beside her where she crouched in the corner.
”Wait!” she breathed.
”Can it be some wild animal?” asked Helen.
”With boots on? I bet!” scoffed Bob.
It was pitch dark. The three crouching together in the corner of the little chamber were not likely to attract the attention of this marauder, if all went well. But their hearts beat fast as the rustle of the approaching footsteps grew louder.
There loomed up a man's figure. It looked too big to be either Tom or Ralph, and it pa.s.sed on with an a.s.sured step. He needed no lamp to find a path that seemed well known.
”Who--what----”
”Hush, Helen!” commanded Ann.