by Roy J. Snell
CHAPTER XVII IN THE DARKNESS
After what seemed to Jo Ann an interminable time the cable appeared, andMr. Eldridge was pulled up the shaft.
"I feel better now that he's up safely," Jo Ann said, breathing morefreely.
"I don't know which I dread worse--going up in that awful bag or stayingdown here in this terrible dark," Peggy groaned.
Noticing that Peggy's flashlight was not on, Florence asked, "Why don'tyou switch on your flashlight? That'll help some."
"It won't turn on. When I bumped against that dynamite box, I got soscared I dropped it. It must've got broken then."
So worried over Manuel was Jo Ann that she paid little heed to Peggy'scontinued laments. If only this awful suspense about him was over! Surelyhe must be only unconscious. If he were, when they got out they couldhelp give him first aid. She'd had first-aid training in her scout work."I wish I could go up first and see if I could do anything for him," shetold herself.
Just then she heard Peggy say, "I believe I'll go up first. I can't standthis creepy darkness. I keep thinking that smuggler's hidden down hereand----"
"Peggy's so upset and nervous, she'd better go up first," Jo Ann admittedto herself reluctantly. Aloud she said, "All right, Peg, you go next. Seewhat you can do to help Manuel."
"But, Jo, Manuel's dead!" she wailed.
Jo Ann shook her head as she answered, "I can't believe that he is."
Shuddering, Peggy went on: "I'd planned to wait for you two before I tooka step when I got up. The lights are off up there. Whoever killed Manuelmust've cut off the lights."
"Mr. Eldridge'll have some kind of a light, surely. If Manuel'sbreathing--I can't help feeling that he is--do everything you can forhim."
Soon the quivering Peggy was inside the bag and being slowly pulled upthe shaft. When, however, she had ascended only a short way, somethingwent wrong with the cable, and the bag hung suspended--motionless.
Peggy's terrified shriek echoed and re-echoed through the shaft.
"Horrors!" gasped Florence. "I hope the cable's not stuck. Sometimesit'll get stuck that way for an hour or more."
"You'll be all right in a minute," Jo Ann called up to Peggy. "Don't getscared." In a low voice she added to Florence, "I hope I'm telling thewhole truth."
To their vast relief, in a few minutes the bag began to move upward oncemore.
"Thank goodness!" Florence ejaculated. "Which one of us had better go upnext? I'd like to, but if you----"
Jo Ann's impulse was to speak up, "Let me go," but, instead, she replied,"You go on. I have a flashlight, and you haven't."
Several minutes later, with mingled feelings of relief and fear, shewatched Florence being pulled up till she was above the reach of theflashlight's beam. All was eerie blackness now. The shadows began to takeon weird ghostlike shapes. Was that a man crouching over there? Thesmuggler?
An involuntary shudder shivered through her body. She must not let herimagination run riot this way. She steadied her lower lip to prevent itstrembling.
At last the bag loomed into view, and after an anxious wait she gotinside it. Slowly--painfully slowly she began to ascend.
When she was about halfway up, the cable suddenly spun around, knockingthe bag against the rocky side of the shaft. She felt a stingingsensation in her right arm as it struck the rocks. Clutching herflashlight more tightly and cringing with pain, she lifted her arm toprotect her light. It was too late. The flashlight had been broken--badlysmashed.
In another moment she had forgotten about her injured arm and brokenflashlight in a more serious trouble. The bag was stuck--not movingeither up or down. She stifled a shriek that was threatening to escapeher lips. No wonder Peggy had cried out. And it was worse this time.There was utter darkness below. No one to call up comfortingly from thebottom of the shaft. No one at the top either. Both girls were probablyhovering over Manuel now, if he---- Had they found by now that he reallywas dead?
She must shut out that terrifying picture from her mind. It seemed,though, to be outlined against the darkness in a glaring light thatrefused to be blotted out. How long would she have to hang this way inmidair, seeing this horrible picture?
"Better to hang suspended than to be dashed to the bottom on thoserocks," she told herself. "Peg was in the same plight, and now she's upsafely. But then she was stuck only two or three minutes, and you've beenhere ten or fifteen at least," she reminded herself discouragedly.
Endless ages dragged on, it seemed to her, as she hung there. Would thissuspense never end? Had anything happened to Jose? Had he been killed,too?
At last, when her hopes had almost ebbed away, she felt the bag movingupward. Actually going up now. As she neared the top and drew in deepbreaths of the fresh air, a great wave of gratitude swept over her.
Once safely out on the ground, she began feeling her way through thedarkness toward the light on her left. Jose hurried up just then with alantern in his hand.
"Tell me about Manuel--he is not dead, is he?" she asked him quickly.
"I think he is. He look dead when I see him," Jose answered brokenly."That wicked Luis--he knock him down. I catch Luis and tie him to atree." He gestured to the right.
"Luis! That miner Mr. Eldridge discharged for stealing?"
"Yes."
"But why did he want to hurt Manuel? Manuel didn't discharge him."
"Manuel tell him to keep away." Jose went on to explain that Luis hadthrown a crowbar back of the switchboard, so the _malacate_ would notwork, and that when Manuel had tried to grab him Luis had knocked himdown. There was a triumphant tone in his voice as he added, "I catchLuis. I fix him."
"How did it happen that you came up here? You didn't come with us."
Jose hesitated a moment, then replied, "I saw you come up here, and Ithink _El Senor_ need me. He tell me to take Luis down to the big housenow. I leave you now."
On nearing the _malacate_ Jo Ann could see Manuel's inert figure lying onthe ground, Mr. Eldridge bending over him, and the girls standing nearby.
"Is he----" Jo Ann left her question unfinished, but both girls knew whatshe meant.
"He's still alive," Florence whispered. "Unconscious. I could feel hispulse. His skin is a clammy cold. I wish I had some hot-water bottles toput around him."
"Thank goodness he's still alive!" Jo Ann exclaimed softly.
"We've put our sweaters over him," Peggy added, gesturing to the sweaterson Manuel's body. "I can't think of anything else to do."
"We might heat some rocks or bricks and put around him," Jo Ann suggestedeagerly.
"Good idea," approved Mr. Eldridge, who had overheard her. "I'll helpyou. We must do something to help him, since it'll be hours before we canget a doctor here."
They hurried about gathering wood and soon built a small fire on someflat stones. As soon as the stones were hot, they pushed them out of thefire, then covered them with some old pieces of a torn blanket.
"We must be absolutely certain these rocks'll not burn him," Jo Anncautioned. "Persons suffering from shock are more easily burned thanusual. My scout book said never to put anything hot next the patient tillit could be held against your face for a minute without feeling too hot."She tested each stone before passing it on to Mr. Eldridge to place nextto the unconscious figure.
After that was done, Jo Ann began rubbing his arms toward the body.
"Why's she doing that?" queried Peggy in a low voice.
"I think it's to restore the circulation."
When Jo Ann was still rubbing his arms, Manuel's eyelids began toflicker.
"He's beginning to become conscious," Mr. Eldridge said, low-voiced. "Assoon as Jose comes back he and I'll carry him down to the house. Thereisn't any serious bleeding, so I feel sure it'll be safe to carry himnow. We'll have to make a stretcher."
No sooner had he finished speaking than Jo Ann dashed away, returningshortly with two poles. Mr. Eldridge immediately jerked off his coat andpulled the
poles through the sleeves, then tied a piece of blanketsecurely to the poles also. By that time Jose was back from taking Luisto the house. With Mr. Eldridge's help Jose tenderly lifted the injuredman upon the improvised stretcher and set off down the trail, careful tohold the poles as steady as possible.
The girls followed close behind, Jo Ann bringing up the rear.
"Do you know where Jose took the prisoner?" Peggy asked Jo Ann.
"Yes. To our house."
"Gracious! That's awful. I'll never be able to sleep a wink tonight,knowing he's in the same house that we are."
"It's the safest place to keep him in the camp. The walls are as thick asa regular prison's, and there're iron bars to all the windows. Besides,Jose'll guard him."
"It makes me shivery all over to know he's under our roof."
"I don't believe even a Houdini could escape from that house," Jo Annassured her. "You'll be safe. Don't worry."
