Part 38 (2/2)
”The question is, if those Britishers were here, where did they go to?” asked the captain.
”Let us call,” suggested Dave. ”They may be in some part of this cave where they couldn't hear the shots from my gun.”
All called out several times, and listened intently for a reply.
”Hark! I hear something!” cried Roger. ”Listen!”
They strained their ears, and from what appeared to be a great distance they heard a human voice. But what was said they could not make out.
”Too many echoes here,” declared the captain. ”A fellow can't tell where the cry comes from.”
”Well, let us investigate,” said our hero.
They moved forward and backward, up one pa.s.sageway and down another, calling and listening. At times the voice seemed to be quite close, then it sounded further off than ever.
”This sure is a mystery!” declared Phil. ”What do you make of it, Dave?”
”I am beginning to think the call came from somewhere overhead,”
answered our hero. ”Captain, see if you can flash a light on those rocks to the left of our heads.”
Captain Sanders did as requested, and presently all in the party saw another pa.s.sageway, leading up from a series of rocks that formed something of a natural stairway. Up this they went, Dave leading the van. Then they came to a small opening between two rocks.
”Help! help!” came in a half-smothered voice. ”Help, please. Don't leave me here in the dark any longer!”
CHAPTER XXIV-JASNIFF AND MERWELL
”It's a man!”
”One of the Englishmen!”
”You are right, lads,” came from Captain Sanders. ”And see, he is bound hands and feet to the rocks!”
What the master of the _Golden Eagle_ said was true, and as the firebrand was flashed on the scene, the chums could do little but stare in astonishment.
Lying on his back between the rocks was the Englishman named Giles Borden. Hands and feet were bound with a strong cord, which ran around a projection of the rocks in such a manner that the prisoner could scarcely move.
”Who tied you up?” questioned Dave, as he and Phil set to work to liberate the prisoner.
”Geswick, Pardell, and Rumney,” groaned the prisoner. ”Oh, if only I had my hands on them!”
”Why did they do it?” asked Captain Sanders.
”They wanted to rob me-and they did rob me!” answered Giles Borden.
”Oh, help me out of this wretched hole and give me a drink of water! I am dying from thirst!”
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