CHAPTER ELEVEN
IN BLUEBEARD'S CAVE
The buckboard was drawn out of the path and left beside the cave; thenHepsy was unhitched and tethered to a tree with enough rope to allow herto graze. But she kept turning her head to look quizzically at thescouts, as much as to say:
"Huh! you thought you had played a trick on me, but I managed to turnthe tables, after all!"
"Verny, Hepsy's got a wicked gleam in her eyes, just as if she dumped usout on purpose," laughed Julie, slapping the horse on the shoulder.
Mrs. Vernon was too busy unpacking a pasteboard box to reply, so thescouts stood about her asking questions about the package.
"I brought a number of thick candles and a box of matches. Each one ofyou girls must carry a candle, while I go first and carry the electricflashlight," explained Mrs. Vernon.
"How exciting!" cried Joan, trying to light her candle.
"Just like explorers in an unknown jungle," added Julie.
"Caves, I should say, Jule," corrected Ruth, laughingly.
"Well, are we all ready?" now asked the Captain, seeing that each scouthad the candle lighted.
"All ready for the great adventure," laughed Julie.
In the first lap of the exploration nothing unusual occurred as thefootpath ran over smooth stone and sand, while the vaulted ceiling andsidewalls were far enough away to make the cave seem really larger thanit was.
"It doesn't make one feel very spooky," said Ruth.
"Let's wait until we get in where the water drips and the queerformations hang from the roof. That is where the hunter said theweirdness of the place impressed you," explained Julie.
They continued deeper into the mountainside, and the air felt cooler,while the domed tunnel grew perceptibly smaller. The girls were silentnow, being very careful to follow closely behind the Captain.
"I think it is quite spooky enough for me," whispered Betty, taking holdof Mrs. Vernon's skirt.
"If you feel this way, now, what will you do when we get away in!"laughed Julie.
The laugh echoed madly and hurled its sounds back again at the scouts,and the entire party stopped suddenly with fright.
"Oh! It was only an echo of Julie's laugh," sighed the Captain, inrelief.
"But what a horrible maniac's cry it was!" gasped Joan.
Betty was shivering with nervousness, when Julie again laughed, to hearthe echoes come back.
"_Please_ don't do that!" cried Ruth, closing her ears, and at the sametime dropping the candle.
Its light was extinguished, and the candle must have rolled into somecrevice, for it could not be found, even though the flashlight and othercandles were used to hunt for it.
"You'll have to creep close beside me," said Julie, linking Ruth's armthrough hers.
The cave now narrowed down so that they had to stoop to go on. Aboutfifty feet further, the tunnel forked. Two separate tubes ran atdiagonal lines with each other.
"Which shall we take first?" asked Joan, comparing the two openings.
"'My mother told me to take this one,'" counted Julie, her fingerpointing to each tunnel alternating on each word she spoke. It was theright-hand opening that was on the last count.
Mrs. Vernon laughed. "Well, we will go this way and see why your 'mothertold you to take this one.'"
The scouts laughed, too, but the echoes failed to ring back asrepeatedly as in the front tunnel.
"That means we are near the end of this tube," said Joan.
"I'm glad of it! I don't like to be away in here," admitted Betty.
"The roof is coming down to bump our heads, Verny," said Julie, who wasnow leading.
"Then we must soon retrace our steps and take the other tube, as thiswas the short one that leads nowhere. The other must be the tube thatleads to the stalactite cave," said Mrs. Vernon.
The scouts proceeded a few feet further but the aperture was becomingtoo small to follow comfortably, and the Captain said:
"Well, we may as well turn around, girls."
As she spoke a low moan seemed to come from the ground, and the girlshuddled close to the Captain.
"What was it, Verny?" whispered Julie, fearfully.
Mrs. Vernon gravely turned her flashlight over the walls and ceiling ofthe rocky tunnel, then moved it slowly over the ground about them.
Just when the scouts began to feel courageous again, thinking the soundwas some other form of hallucination in the cave, the light fell upon aform doubled up against the side of the rocky wall.
The scouts saw it about the same time the Captain did, and fourhigh-pitched, excited young voices screamed fearfully, causing thetunnel behind them to echo with ear-splitting yells of terror. Even Mrs.Vernon shivered at the uncanny sight and sounds.
Betty and Ruth had hidden their faces in the Captain's skirt, as if thiswould defend them from danger. But Julie and Joan stood their groundbeside the Captain, trying to peer in advance of their position to seewhat the form could be.
"Is he drunk?" whispered Joan.
"Maybe he is murdered," ventured Julie, causing the others to shiveragain.
"No--he moaned, so he is not dead. I must find out what is the matter,"replied the Captain, bracing herself for the unpleasant task.
"Oh, Verny! Please don't!" wailed Betty.
"He may be hoaxing us like Hepsy did--better call to him and tell him wehaven't a jewel or a cent with us," cried Ruth.
But the form remained inanimate. Not another sound was heard other thanthe cries and talking of the scouts.
Mrs. Vernon went over slowly, keeping the electric light directly uponthe form. The two other girls held their candles so that the footpathshowed distinctly, as they walked beside the Captain. Ruth and Bettyclung to each other where they had been left standing.
"Here! Get up!" ordered Mrs. Vernon, pushing the body gently with herfoot.
But there was no sound or motion from the form.
The coat had been removed, but the undergarments looked like good ones,so Mrs. Vernon stooped down the better to see. The right arm was so bentupwards that it covered the face, and it seemed as if the man wassleeping that way.
"Wake up! Do you hear me?" called the Captain, again.
The fearful quiet was the only effect of the second demand, so then Mrs.Vernon carefully removed the arm from the face.
"Oh!" shrieked Julie and Joan, falling back suddenly, and even theCaptain cried with horror.
"Help! Help!" screamed Ruth, not sure of what was happening to herfriends.
But the movement of the arm must have caused an instance ofconsciousness in the man, as he made another faint sound like a sigh ora moan.
"Girls, something has happened to this man, and we have to use ourscout-sense to try and carry him out to the air," said Mrs. Vernon,turning to the girls.
"Oh, dear me! I'm afraid to go any nearer. He may die if we move him,"said Joan, fearfully.
"He'll surely die if left here alone. It may be days or even weeksbefore any party again visits this Cave," said Mrs. Vernon,emphatically.
"How terrible! We just can't let him die, then," admitted Julie.
"Do we have to help you?" wailed Ruth, from the rear.
"Betty and you will have to carry the lights, while we three try tocarry him," answered the Captain.
"If only we had a blanket!" sighed Julie.
"It would have been so easy to make a stretcher, then," added Joan.
"We'll have to contrive one from my skirt, girls. I have a full skirton, and the pleats at the belt can quickly be ripped out."
Even as she spoke, Mrs. Vernon slipped off the plaid skirt and beganpulling at the belt. But it was well-sewed and would not give way.
"Here, let me chew open some of the stitches," said Joan.
"No, no! I have an idea--let me burn the threads with the candle-flame,"called Julie.
"Good! Now touch it right there," said the Captain, as she held the beltover the flame.
In a few moments, the scorched and smoking skir
t belt gave way to thestrength of the pull Mrs. Vernon used on it, and once the stitchingbegan, it easily ripped across the entire width.
"That scorching also reminds me, girls! I've heard said that smokingwool will revive a fainting person. We will try it as soon as we havehim out of this smothering place," said the Captain.
An impromptu stretcher was then contrived of the skirt, and the threebearers lifted the unconscious man upon it. They managed to carry theform over to the spot where Betty and Ruth held the lights, but themoment Ruth saw the gash on the head, and the blood trickling from it,she screamed and clung to Betty.
"Don't, Ruth--don't hang on to me like that!" wailed Betty. "I'm going tofaint, if you don't let go of me!"
"Betty Lee! You'd better not!" cried Julie, desperately.
"We haven't time to hold you up and try to revive you," added Joan.
"Children, start ahead and show us the way, or we'll all be taken toCourt to testify why we let this man die," ordered the Captain, hopingby such awe-inspiring words to make Betty and Ruth see the necessity ofself-control.
Ruth managed to take the extra candle from Betty's shaking hand, andsay: "Come on, Betty, we'll both be in jail for murder if we don't."
As this was Ruth's interpretation of Court, and it seemed to have thedesired effect, Mrs. Vernon thought best not to correct her. The twofrightened girls led the way with the lights and the three bearers ofthe still unconscious form followed.
Finally they reached the open, and the man was placed upon the grassnear the Cave entrance. "If he doesn't regain his senses in a fewmoments, we will have to try that burnt wool," said Mrs. Vernon,watching the patient very closely, while the scouts bathed his head withthe water they had brought in a bottle.
But the fresh air seemed to have the hoped-for effect, for the manheaved a deep sigh and slowly opened his eyes. At first he merely staredright up at the green foliage of the trees, but as his strength cameback, he tried to see who was bathing his forehead.
"Do you feel better, now?" inquired Mrs. Vernon, softly.
The man tried to speak but couldn't, so Julie whispered: "Maybe he'sbeen in there for days, and needs food."
"Some of you girls run and bring the hamper up," said Mrs. Vernon, butthe patient had heard.
"No--all right," he managed to gasp.
After what seemed an eternity to the scouts, the man had survived farenough to sit up and lean against the front seat of the buckboard whichthe girls had removed and carried over.
"I fear you have had a bad accident," said the Captain. "Do you knowwhat happened to you in the Cave? Maybe you fell from a shelf of rock."
"No--tramps did it."
The girls cried out, but the Captain gave them a severe look thatquieted them at once. Then she held the cup of water for the man to sip,and he freshened up visibly.
"Girls, all four of you go for the hamper, as we must eat our dinner uphere. You can take turns in carrying it, you know," said the Captain.
The scouts preferred to hover about and hear about the tramps, but Mrs.Vernon's word was law, so they started down the hill. On the way, Ruthsaid, complainingly:
"We ought to hitch that lazy old horse to the buckboard and make herpull the load up the hill."
"She'd balk halfway up, Ruth, and make us pull _her_ up the rest of theway," retorted Julie, laughingly.
Mrs. Vernon fanned the cut and bruised face, and wished the man couldtell who he was. As if in answer to her thoughts, he whispered: "Did youfind my card-case in the coat pocket?"
"No, the tramps who maltreated you so, stole everything."
The man was not yet aware that he was in his shirt-sleeves, but now heglanced at himself and frowned.
"I beg your pardon, but you see my appearance is unavoidable," murmuredhe, while a flush rose to his pale face.
"Oh, don't think of form just now--let us help you back to a normal stateas soon as possible," replied Mrs. Vernon, earnestly.
"I am a stranger in these parts, having left the train that goes to NewYork, because I heard there were some marvelous caves of stalactiteformation in this mountain. I was told to find a young hunter on top ofthis crest who would guide me," whispered he.
"But I must have missed my way, as I found myself at the Cave itself,before I even found the trail that goes to the hunter's cabin. I had agrip which I left outside, and taking my flashlight out of it, I startedin alone." The speaker rested a few moments, then continued: "As Ireached the branch where the two tunnels fork, I heard voices. So Ihailed, thinking it might be the hunter escorting a party through theCave. Then suddenly the voices were silenced.
"That should have warned me that all was not right, but I hurried on,hoping to meet some one. Instead I suddenly was struck directly in theface with a sharp rock. The blow staggered me, but I leaned against thewall, until two hard-looking villains crept along the tunnel thinking Iwas unconscious.
"One of them had on stripes, so I judged they were escaped convicts. Ifought them off, but the blows from a cudgel and the loss of blood fromthe gash made by the rock, weakened me so that I remember no more untilI opened my eyes and found you bending over me."
"How horrible! But how grateful we are that we visited the Caves to-day.What day was it that you went in there?"
"Let me think: I left the train at the Junction on the evening of Julythird, and stopped at a country inn for the night. Early on the Fourth Iclimbed the mountains, and visited the Cave. What day is it now?"
"Why this is the Fourth still! You must have been attacked but a shorttime before we found you. It is now noon," exclaimed Mrs. Vernon,showing her dread of lurking rascals by calling to the girls to hastenup the hill.
"Thank heavens! Then we may catch them before they get out of thecountry," said the man.
"My name is Mrs. Vernon, and I am camping in these woods with my girlscouts. But I should dread having them go about alone after this."
"My name is Mr. Gilroy, and I certainly feel greatly obliged to yourscouts and to you, Madame, for your aid."
"If only we were not so far from camp, or such a long ride to Freedom.You could have medical attention there, and notify the police of thisassault."
"My dear Madame! I, too, have been an enthusiastic camper and can helpmyself better than the physicians can. Give me a few hours' rest, and Iwill be as well as ever," said Mr. Gilroy.
The scouts now came puffing up with the hamper, registering many threatsagainst Hepsy for her untimely trick. As they came over and stood besidethe Captain, she introduced them to Mr. Gilroy. They were delighted tofind him so far recovered, and they said so in girlish words andexpressions.
The scouts displayed as hearty an appetite as if nothing unusual hadhappened, but Mrs. Vernon was too concerned over the news of some trampsbeing at large to enjoy her dinner; she put two and two together anddecided that this was what the young hunter wished to warn her about.
Mr. Gilroy seemed to like the eager attendance on him shown by thegirls, but he ate sparingly of all the many goodies they urged upon him.
When the dinner was over, Mrs. Vernon said: "We must leave the hamperhidden somewhere, girls, and call back for it another day. The back seatwe must leave here, also."
"Why?" asked the scouts, wonderingly.
"Because we must contrive some sort of couch on the floor of thebuckboard for Mr. Gilroy; you girls will sit on either side, or at theback of the buckboard. I can manage to crowd in one extra scout on thefront seat. As Ruth is the slenderest one, I think it had better be sheand Betty for the front seat, while Joan and Julie mount guard overtheir patient."
The girls seemed to think the plan a good one, so the hamper and extraseat were soon hidden inside the Cave.