CHAPTER XIII
The Four Men
Profound darkness enveloped the Hardy boys.
The blackness of the icy pool was no blacker than the darkness of the air above.
Frank rose spluttering to the surface, unharmed by his fall, and as he splashed about, his first thought was for his brother.
"Joe!" he shouted. "Joe!"
There was no answer except from the echoes, and the rocks shouted mockingly back at him. "Joe. . . . Joe. . . . Joe. . . ." growing fainter and fainter until they died away to a mere whisper.
Then there was a splashing almost at his side, as his brother rose to the surface of the pool and struck out blindly.
"Are you all right?" called Frank.
"I'm all right!" gasped Joe.
"Keep beside me. We'll try to find the edge of this pool."
Frank swam forward, groping ahead, until at length his fingers touched the smooth rock at the water's edge. But the rock was almost vertical and it was so smooth and slippery that there was no hope of a handhold. He swam to one side, feeling the rock as he went. Despair seized him as he found that the rock still rose steeply above. If they had fallen into a circular pit they were doomed.
In pitch darkness, then, they battled their way about the border of the pool until at length Frank's searching fingers closed about a rocky projection that seemed to indicate a change in the surface of the cliff.
He was right. There was a small ledge at this point, and he was able to drag himself up on it. There was room enough for both of them, and he turned and grasped Joe's hand, dragging him up on the rock after him. They crouched there in dripping clothes, breathing heavily after their exertion. Presently Frank began to grope upward, still examining the surface of the cliff.
He found that it sloped gradually, and that the surface was rough, with a number of footholds.
"I think we can climb it," he told Joe. "It's mighty dark, but if we can ever get back on the main ledge again we'll be all right." He said this because he judged that the place that they had found was on the side of the pool that lay toward the entrance of the cave. If they had emerged on the other side and had regained the ledge they would have been in another dilemma, because they might not have been able to cross the treacherous breach in the trail that had proved Frank's downfall.
Frank groped his way up the face of the slope. He dug his foot against the first ledge and raised himself, clutching at a projection in the rock above. Then, scrambling for a further foothold, he managed to draw himself up. Here the slope became even more gradual and by pressing himself close against the rock, he was able to crawl on up, until at length he came to a flat shelf of rock that he recognized as the main ledge that they had followed from the entrance to the cave.
"I'm up!" he shouted back to Joe, and then he heard a scraping on the rocks, as his brother also began the ascent.
Joe made the climb without difficulty and in a short time rejoined his brother on the ledge.
"I guess we'd better go back," Frank said. "This cave seems to lead to nothing but trouble. We're better off out in the open."
"Is the flashlight lost?"
"Yes, I think it smashed when it fell against the rocks. Anyway, I'm not going back to look for it in the dark. That ledge was treacherous enough even when we had the light."
Step by step, proceeding cautiously, the Hardy boys made their way back toward the entrance to the cave. Their return journey was not so precarious because the entrance to the cave shone before them as a vague gray light and guided them on their way.
They reached the entrance at last and again stepped out into the bright sunlight. At first they were dazzled, after the blackness of the cave.
"First of all, we're going to dry our clothes," declared Frank, as he hunted around among the rocks for sticks that might serve for firewood. "I'm soaking wet."
"Me too. Thank goodness, it's warm out here."
"I'm glad I carried the matches in this waterproof case, or we'd have been out of luck."
They managed to find enough sticks and dry leaves to enable them to start a fire and soon they were standing about in various stages of undress, drying their soaked garments before the blaze. This occupied some time and it was mid-afternoon before they were able to proceed. They had taken some sandwiches with them from the boat and they made a lunch of these while their clothes were drying so that eventually, when they donned their garments again, they were warm, fed and contented.
"Where do we go from here?" inquired Joe.
"Anywhere but into caves," his brother replied. "I think we might as well follow along the shore again. One thing is certain—there have been people on this island, and not long ago at that. Why—"
Suddenly he stopped.
"Listen."
They remained quiet. Frank had heard what seemed to him like a distant shout, and as they listened he heard it again. It was a faint call that echoed among the rocks far ahead of them.
The boys looked at one another. Frank pressed his fingers against his lips as a caution to remain silent. Then, from among the rocks above them they heard another shout, clearer this time, evidently in response to the one they had first heard. The first shout was again repeated; then silence fell.
"That proves it," said Frank quietly. "There are people on this island."
"They're calling to each other."
"Sounded like that."
"We'll head down in the direction of the place that first shout came from. It was some one calling to some one else back up here among the rocks."
They went on in the direction from which the first call had been heard. For over ten minutes they proceeded carefully among the rocks until finally Frank caught sight of a curling column of smoke against the sky.
"Campfire," he said.
To approach this fire it was necessary for them to change their course and go up through the shrubbery toward higher ground. They moved slowly because they did not want to be seen until they had ascertained whether the strangers were friends or foes—and they were strongly suspicious that it might prove to be the latter.
A moving object ahead caught Frank's eye and he crouched down in the bushes, motioning to Joe. They peeped through the undergrowth and before them they could see a flat surface of rock in the center of which a fire had been built. Three men were about the fire. Two of these were sprawled in the grass at the verge of the rock while one was standing beside the fire stirring the contents of a pot that hung from a tripod above the blaze. It was this man that had first caught Frank's eye.
The strangers had not noticed the Hardy boys' approach.
"We'll crawl up closer," whispered Joe.
Frank nodded.
They began to make their way quietly forward through the bushes. Frank, who was in the lead, kept a wary eye for snakes and also kept watching the three men about the fire. The boys' approach demanded the utmost caution.
Foot by foot they made their way closer to the trio about the blaze until at last they were so close that they could distinguish what the men were saying. Also, they could distinguish the faces of the speakers.
They were the three men who had been in the motorboat the day of the storm in Barmet Bay!
Although the boys had expected this, they could scarcely restrain murmurs of astonishment. This proved definitely that the motorboat they had seen that morning was the same motorboat that had followed them in Barmet Bay.
The boys listened.
"No answer to that letter yet, is there?" one man was asking.
The fellow by the fire shook his head.
"No answer yet. Oh, well, we can wait."
"We can't wait forever," grumbled the other. "I'm not keen on staying on this confounded island much longer.
"There's lots worse places," remarked the man at his side significantly.
"What do you mean?"
"Jail."
"Oh, I suppose so. But I wish this business would get cleared up. I want to get back to the city and have a good time."
"We all want to get back. But there's no use rushing things," said the man standing by the fire. "We'll be well paid for our waiting."
"Do you think we've made a mistake? I tell you, it's been worrying me. If we've gummed up this job by doing a trick like that I'll never forgive myself."
"No—there's no mistake. Don't worry about that," scoffed the man at the fire. "Didn't we look things over mighty careful-like before we started?"
"Yes," admitted the other slowly. "But they keep harpin' on that tune all the time and I'm beginnin' to think there may be somethin' in it."
"Where's Red?" demanded the third man. "Didn't you call him?"
"Yeah, I called him. This is him now. He's comin' down from the grove."
Suddenly Frank clutched his brother by the arm and flattened himself against the ground. A footstep sounded immediately behind them. Twigs crackled.
Unobserved, a man had approached to within a few feet back of them, striding silently through the deep grass.
The boys remained motionless, wondering if they had been seen. For a breathless second they lay rigid in the bushes, then the footsteps passed by within a few inches of Frank's outstretched hand. They heard his deep voice:
"When did you all get back?"
"Just a few minutes ago," replied the man at the fire. "We left the boat in the bay. Anything new?"
"Nothing new," growled the deep voice. "The prisoners are still safe and sound." One of the other men chuckled.
"Have they quieted down yet?"
"No!" growled the newcomer. "They kicked up a big fuss all the time you were away. Still keep sayin' we've made a mistake."
"Mistake, nothin'!" the man by the fire declared. "There's been no mistake about this job! They can't fool me!"