Part 17 (1/2)

CHAPTER XV

RESCUE AT HAND

For arueful exclamations as he caressed his bruises Jack as next in line was trying to help him to his feet His foot, too, struck an obstruction which caused hi on To solid brickwork as before, however, he felt his hands encounter cru earth He lurched forward, and his face was buried in a , he scrabbled around and his fingers closed over a root It came away in his clutch The next moment a slide of earth cascaded doard and Jack found hiainst a bank of dirt, an uprooted bush in one hand, and a patch of ht and sky overhead

It was all clear Where the tunnel approached close to the surface, the roof and walls had caved in Tom had stumbled over this mound and fallen, and Jack accidentally had torn away the screen of bushes obscuring the hole above

”Co upward, while Toained his feet and observed how the land lay, boosted hiet out of the tunnel”

Quickly the others followed They stood in the rove of trees Sohts which indicated the location of the Brownell house No sounds of pursuit reached them

But, stay What was that? Captain Folso whence they had climbed out and up to the surface

”They've found the tunnel, I'”

”Can't we keep 'em back here?” said Bob, unexpectedly ”We can kick more dirt down into the tunnel And we can jump down and heave out a lot of those fallen bricks, and so keep the gang back when they arrive”

”But we couldn't keep up a defense like that forever,” objected Jack

”So around, and attack us froht between two fires”

Bob grunted

”Guess you're right But I hate all this running away I'd like to take a crack at the on , and when I had my back turned, too”

”I kno you feel, Bob,” said Jack ”But, without weapons, run we must And we had better be quick about it now, too They won't be long working through that tunnel, if they have lights”

”No, the shouts are growing closer,” said Captain Folsoain to the hole ”But, look here, Hampton, you make a run to that radio station which I see above the trees there, to the right, in that opening We'll stay here until they reach the hole Then we'll batter them with bricks, and flee to the left That will create a diversion, and give you a chance to try to raise Lieutenant Su into the hole and tossing out broken bricks froet too close to you,” warned Jack ”They're armed

And run toward ho the beach beyond the boundary fence, if you wait for me”

”We'll wait, if they don't make us run too far,” promised Captain Folsoet Lieutenant Su around here Now go”

With a nod of understanding, Jack turned and darted down the forest aisles toward the radio station

Who would he find there? He wondered Or, would the station be deserted? That it was in working order, there was no doubt, for it was the station's issue of radio control to the liquor containers offshore which they had overheard before deciding to investigate

Clutching the big butcher knife, the only weapon in the party, which Frank had pressed into his hand as he set out on his lonely h the trees The radio plant of the se of the trees fringing a little clearing No lights showed Nevertheless, he paused to reconnoitre, asking himself how best to approach it to avoid discovery in case it should have an occupant

As he stood there, a sudden outburst of shouts to the rear, followed by a few revolver shots, warned him the pursuers had reached the hole in the tunnel He hoped big Bob was controlling his recklessness, and not running into danger If his friends kept down, there was no great danger of their being shot, for only one h the tunnel and him they could pelt into retreat with their bricks