CHAPTER XXIV
THE SECRET ROOM
Tom stared uncomprehendingly at the heap of stones. As he stood therehe again heard the murmur of the hidden voices. Some one said:
"I wonder how much longer we'll have to stay here?"
"Jack Fitch, as sure as I'm here!" gasped Tom.
"Hang it all," said a second voice, "I don't see why Tom doesn't dosomething."
"That's Bert Wilson," murmured our hero.
"Maybe he's trying to find us, but doesn't know where to look," spoke athird person.
"That was Dick," mused Tom.
"Oh, he must know we're here," came from the hidden Jack.
"They're around here, they're within talking distance, and yet Ican't get at them!" thought Tom. Once more he looked at the stones,loosely heaped together. A sudden thought came to him. A flood ofmemory--something he had once read in a book.
Kneeling down he placed his lips close to the crevices in the stonesand called:
"Fellows, I'm here! This is Tom Fairfield! Where are you? I've cometo rescue you! I've been trying all the while, but this is the firstchance I've had! Where are you?"
Silence followed his words. Silence, and then came a rush of voices.
"It's Tom!"
"Good old Tom!"
"Here at last!"
"Oh, Tom, get us out! We're almost starved, and we don't know whatthey're going to do with us. Break in and get us out!"
"But where are you?" asked our hero, much puzzled. "I can hear you.Your voices seem to come through a speaking tube. But I can't see you.Can you look out of a window and see me?"
"No," Jack Fitch answered back. "We're in some secret room in the oldmill. The only window is a skylight. But where are you?"
"Near a pile of stones at the side of the mill. How were you broughtin?"
"The old hermit, Skeel, and Sam and Nick. They made us prisoners,bound us, carried us off in your motorboat, and brought us here. Theyblindfolded us and carried us up. To the third story, I guess, thoughwe never could find the staircase," said Jack, through some crackleading to the pile of stones.
"I found the secret stairway," answered Tom. "I saw it on the plans.It's built inside the wall, but how to get to it I don't know.Unless--hold on, wait a minute!" he called eagerly. "I've just thoughtof something! Oh, fellows, I believe I'm on the trail!"
Eagerly Tom began casting aside the stones of the pile. He workedfeverishly, oblivious of any of his enemies who might see him. Stoneafter stone he cast aside, and then he found what he had suspected andsought.
Concealed under the pile of small, loose stones was a trap door and aflight of steps leading into the earth, and beyond them Tom could see astone passage--a tunnel. It seemed to lead toward the mill.
"I'm coming boys!" he called. "I've found it! The way to the secretroom! I'm coming!"
Abandoning his blanket and package of food, and taking only hiselectric flashlight and the small axe, Tom climbed down the steps. Adamp, musty odor greeted him, but he did not halt. He had a momentarythought that he might meet the hermit, or some of his enemies, but hedid not hold back. Instead he ran boldly forward, his lamp giving himlight enough to see.
Now he was fairly within the tunnel, which had been hollowed out ofthe earth, and lined with stones to prevent a cave-in. On Tom ran,calling from time to time, but he could no longer hear his companions'voices. At first a fear came to him that he had been discovered, andhis chums removed to some other part of the mill. Then he realizedthat, because of some peculiar acoustic property of the tunnel, hecould only hear them at the heap of stones. On and on he ran.
Presently he came to an old door that closed the tunnel. The portal waslocked, but a few blows on the rotting wood from the hatchet openedthe way for him. He saw before him a flight of stairs leading up, andopposite the lower landing was another door.
"This is the secret staircase," decided Tom, "and that other door isthe way they get into it from the second floor of the mill, but it mustbe pretty well concealed. I'm in between the walls now, and the boysare up there!"
He paused a moment to flash his light upward, and saw that the coastwas clear. Then up the stairs he bounded. He listened as he reached thetop, and heard the murmur of voices.
"Here I am, boys!" he cried.
"Tom! Tom!" came the answering shout.
At the head of the stairs was another door. Tom pushed on it, but itresisted his efforts.
"No time now to stop at trifles," he murmured. "I'm going to smashit!" and smash it he did. It gave way with a crash, and Tom fairlytumbled into a large room. A hasty glance around showed that theapartment was empty, and another look disclosed the gun, fixed to thewindow sill in such a way that it looked as if someone was pointing it.
"And that nearly fooled me!" mused Tom. "But where are the boys, Iwonder?"
He looked about. The room was a large one, and, opening from it wereseveral apartments and halls. They were rudely fitted up, and in onewere a stove and cooking utensils.
"Here's where the hermit has been living," thought Tom, "and I guessthe others have been hanging out here with him, too. But where are mychums?"
There was no sign of them in any of the rooms, and for a moment ourhero feared it had all been some dream--even the sound of the hiddenvoices. And yet he knew it could not be a dream.
"Jack! Dick! Bert!" he called. "I'm here! Where are you?"
He paused, listening for an answer. It came, faint and as though fromafar off.
"Here we are," replied a voice. "We're in some secret room. Listenwhile we pound on the wall, and that may guide you."
There came a faint tapping. Tom strained his ears to listen. He advancedtoward one wall, and then to another, until he had located the placewhere the sound was heard most plainly.
"I get you!" he cried. "The secret door must be somewhere around here.Here goes for a try at it."
He looked over the wall for a sign of some secret spring, or somethingon which to press to make the door fly back, but he saw nothing. Then,realizing that he was losing valuable time, he raised the hatchet andbegan chopping. The chips and splinters flew in all directions, and atabout the tenth blow something gave way.
Whether Tom hit the secret spring, or whether he broke the mechanism,he did not stop to find out. A door flew open, revealing a passage, anddown this our hero ran. A second door confronted him--an ordinary door,fastened with a padlock on the outside. A few blows sufficed to breakthis, and a moment later Tom had burst into the secret room where hischums were prisoners.