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Page 17
"As soon as I get out of this," Will stated, "I'm going to make it my
business to find out whether that detective is regularly employed on
this case. He looks to me like a crook."
It was dreary waiting there in the sealed-up chamber, and the boys
found themselves dropping into long intervals of silence while they
listened for the gurgle of the water which would indicate that the
great pumps had been set in motion.
During one of these intervals of silence they heard sounds which
brought them to their feet in great excitement. Almost unable to
believe his ears, Will turned to George with a question on his lips:
"Did you hear that?" he asked.
"Of course I did!"
"I did, too, but I thought I must be dreaming."
"No dream about that!" replied George. "That's the call of the Beaver
Patrol!"
"And that means that Tommy and Sandy are not far away!"
"We heard the call of the Wolf Patrol not long ago," suggested George.
"I wonder if this blooming old mine is chock full of Boy Scouts of
assorted sizes. There can't be too many here to please me!"
The boys returned the Beaver call but no answer came. At times they
thought they heard whispers coming from the dark reaches of the
cavern, but they were not quite certain.
"There may be real Beavers in here for all we know!" suggested Will.
"That's all you know about it!" chuckled George. "Beavers only
operate in running water."
"Well, isn't that water out there running?" asked Will.
"No jokes now!" replied George. "I've got all I can endure now
without standing for any of your alleged witticisms!"
While the boys sat in the boat, occasionally moving it from side to
side, a shaft of light appeared directly above the point where the
shale had been heaped up. It moved swiftly about for an instant and
then dropped out of view. It was a moment before either boy spoke.
"That's some of Tommy's foolishness!" Will declared.
George repeated the Beaver call several times, but no answer came.
"That's a searchlight, anyway!" insisted Will. "And I don't believe
these ginks in the mines have electric searchlights to lug around with
them!"
Will unshipped an oar and struck the water with the flat of the blade
several times, exerting his whole strength.
"Keep it up!" advised George. "That sounds exactly like a beaver's
tail connecting with the surface of a stream!"
"Yes, keep it up!" cried a voice out of the darkness. "Keep it up,
and perhaps some beaver'll come along and build a dam to get you out
of that mess you're in! You're always getting into trouble, you two!"
"You've got your nerve with you!" exclaimed Willy, half-angrily.
"Here you go out in the night and get lost, and we come out after you,
and the mine gets flooded, and we get tied up between the solid wall
and a bend in the passage, and then you blame us for getting into
trouble!"
"Can you climb?" chuckled Tommy, throwing the rays of his searchlight
on the boat. "If you can just mount up on that pile of shale and work
your way through the opening between the two levels. This might have
been used as a sort of an air hole a few hundred years ago," he went
on, "but I'll bet that not one out of a hundred of the miners of today
know that there is an opening here!"
Leaving the boat, the boys mounted the pile of shale and were soon
making their way up the rugged face of the shaft in the direction of
the level, which ran along above the one now being flooded.
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