Part 40 (1/2)
And you had better stop too, Merwell!”
”Don't yo-you shoot at us!” screamed Link Merwell, in sudden terror.
And then he ran with all speed for the nearest trees and dove out of sight. The next instant Jasniff disappeared, likewise.
Dave was now thoroughly aroused, and he resolved to do his best to run the rascals down and corner them. s.h.i.+fting his shotgun once more to his back, he ran on in the direction the pair had taken, and Roger, Phil, and the captain and the Englishman followed.
Listening occasionally, they could hear Jasniff and Merwell cras.h.i.+ng through the undergrowth and at the same time calling to each other.
Evidently they had become separated and were trying to get together again.
As they advanced into the forest, Dave caught sight of Merwell. He was behind a low fringe of bushes and an instant later disappeared.
”Stop, Merwell!” he called out. ”It won't do you any good to run. We are bound to catch you, sooner or later.”
”Yo-you let me alone, Dave Porter!” spluttered Merwell. He was almost out of breath, so violent had been his exertions.
Dave kept on and soon reached the low bushes. Then he saw Merwell again, this time leaping for some brushwood between two tall rocks.
”I've got you now!” he said, sharply. ”You may as well give in!”
”Oh, Porter, please let me--” commenced Link Merwell, and then Dave's hand caught him by the shoulder and whirled him about.
As this happened something else occurred that filled both pursued and pursuer with alarm. The gra.s.s and brushwood under their feet began to give way. Then of a sudden Link Merwell sank from sight, and Dave disappeared after him!
In the meanwhile Phil and the others kept on in the direction Nick Jasniff had taken. Twice they caught sight of the former bully of Oak Hall, but each time he was further away than before.
”You'll not catch me!” cried Jasniff. ”You might as well give up trying.” Then he dove into another section of the forest and they saw no more of him.
”What has become of Dave?” asked Phil, when he and Roger came together, a little later.
”I thought he was with you, Phil.”
”And I thought he was with you.”
”He went after that other chap,” put in Captain Sanders. ”Perhaps he caught him. They were over in that direction,” and the captain pointed with his hand.
All proceeded in the direction indicated. But they did not catch sight of either Dave or Merwell.
”Well, this is strange, to say the least,” remarked Phil, after they had called out several times. ”What do you make of it, Roger?”
”I'm sure I don't know, Phil. They can't have gotten so far away but what they could hear us call.”
”Maybe they fell into one of the caves,” suggested Captain Sanders.
”If they have, we had better hunt for Dave at once,” returned Roger.
CHAPTER XXV-LINK MERWELL'S STORY
Down and down and still down went Dave, with Link Merwell in front of him. Daylight was left behind with a suddenness that was appalling.