A week dragged wearily by and the four Rover boys still found themselves prisoners of Carson Davenport and his gang.
During that time they had been given no chance to escape. For two days they were kept in the close confinement of the cave and after that they were taken out each day for several hours so that they might enjoy the fresh air and the sunshine. But when this was done each had his hands tied behind him and was fastened by a rope to one of the trees while not less than two of the men sat near by, guns handy, to guard them.
“Gee, we couldn’t be any worse off if we were in a regular prison,” was the way Randy expressed himself.
“If we were in a regular prison I think the food would be better,” answered Fred.
For the first three days the food supplied to them had been fairly good. But now it was becoming worse every day. That morning they had had the vilest of coffee and bread that was musty and old, and the previous evening the stew offered to them had made the twins sick.
They were satisfied that Davenport and his crowd were negotiating with not only the twins’ father but with the fathers of Jack and Fred. But they were given only a slight inkling of how matters were progressing. Then they heard the oil man tell Jackson and Tate that he expected Booster to arrive soon.
“And as soon as he comes we’ll put the screws on the boys. That will bring their folks to terms,” said Davenport.
The next day the fellow called Booster put in an appearance, and despite the wig he was wearing the boys to their surprise recognized the young man who had introduced himself as Joe Brooks. The confidence man smiled grimly when Jack spoke to him.
“I fooled you kids pretty neatly, didn’t I, in New York and in Chicago?” said Joe Booster, for that was his real name. “You never suspected that I was in with Davenport, did you?”
“Then you don’t know Fatty Hendry at all, do you?” put in Andy.
“Oh, I met him once,” answered the confidence man carelessly. “I palmed myself off as a friend of one of his cousins and got him to lend me ten dollars. That was when I was pretty well down on my uppers.”
Davenport, Tate, Jackson and Booster had a long conversation and then the four rascals came again to the boys.
“Well, how are you making out?” asked Booster pleasantly. “They give you pretty good grub, don’t they?”
“No, it’s getting worse every day,” answered Fred bluntly.
“Why, I thought they were giving you genuine mocha coffee,” went on the confidence man.
“Giving us dishwater!” retorted Andy.
“And fine stew, too!”
“It made me sick yesterday,” came from Randy.
“Well, you listen to us,” put in Davenport. “Unless you’re willing to do what we want you to, the grub is going to be a good deal worse instead of better. More than that, we’ll keep you in the cave all the time.”
“What is it you want us to do?” questioned Jack, although he already had an idea on that subject.
“We want all of you boys to write a letter to your fathers, stating that they had better pay the money that we have demanded of them and that otherwise you are afraid of what may happen to you. You can tell them that so far you have had the best of food and the best of treatment generally, but that you have been threatened with starvation if the money isn’t forthcoming. We want all of you to make that letter just as strong as you can. You write the letter,” he went on, pointing to Jack, “and all of you sign it with your full names, so that your folks will know it’s a genuine communication.”
“Excuse me, Davenport, but I’m not writing any such letter,” declared Jack flatly.
“Neither am I,” put in Fred.
“Nor I,” added the twins in concert.
“You will write it!” bellowed Davenport, his anger rising swiftly. “If you don’t write it I’ll give each of you a horsewhipping.”
“That’s the talk!” cried Tate.
“Give ’em a licking and no supper,” added Jackson.
“I don’t think you’ll have to whip ’em,” came from Joe Booster, who did not believe in violence of any sort. “Just let ’em go without their supper, and their breakfast to-morrow morning. Maybe then they’ll sing a different tune.”
“I owe ’em a licking for all the things they’ve done against me,” growled Davenport.
“Never mind. It will be enough after we get hold of that money,” returned Booster. “Just cut ’em off from the eats. That’s the way you can bring anybody to terms. I’ve tried it before, and I know.”
“All right then,” said the oil man shortly. And then he and his cronies left the cave.
“Well, they’re a nice bunch, I don’t think!” came from Andy, when the four boys found themselves alone.
“Going to starve us, eh?” muttered Fred. “Do you think they’ll dare do it?”
“It looks to me as if they’d dare to do anything,” came from Jack. “Gee, it’s too bad we didn’t make our escape when we had the chance.”
Randy looked toward the entrance of the cave to make certain that all of the men had departed.
“Let’s try to get away again to-night,” he whispered. “It’s our one hope.”
“I hope our dads don’t turn over that money to them,” went on Jack, his eyes flashing angrily. “That bunch oughtn’t to have a hundred and fifty cents, much less a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Such a demand is the worst kind of a hold-up.”
“Well, such demands have been made before, and the money has been paid, too,” answered Fred. “Don’t you remember that case of the fellow that was held by the bandits in Algeria, and the case of the two girls who were held by the Mexican bandits? Their folks had to come across. Otherwise those people would have been put out of the way.”
Supper time came, but no food was brought to the boys. They, however, were given a bucket of drinking water by Ocker.
“Davenport didn’t want you to have this,” whispered the man, as he handed the water in. “But I told him I wouldn’t stand for letting you kids go thirsty. It’s bad enough to make you go without the eats.”
“Thank you for so much sympathy anyhow, Ocker,” returned Jack, and then went on quickly: “Why does a nice fellow like you stand in with such a bunch as Davenport’s crowd? Why don’t you cut them and help us to get away? We can make it well worth your while.”
“I wouldn’t dare do it, Rover,” muttered the man. “They’d never forgive me, and they’d be sure to get me sooner or later. I’m kind of sorry that I stood in with ’em, just the same,” and then, as Tate appeared at the entrance of the cave, Ocker walked away hastily.
“Gee, maybe we can work on that fellow’s sympathies and get him to help us,” was Randy’s comment.
“Maybe if we make him a worth-while offer he’ll help us to escape,” put in his twin. “Even if they got the money from our folks it isn’t likely that Davenport, Tate and Jackson, along with that Booster, would let Ocker or Digby have any great amount of it.”
The boys wondered what their folks were doing. Of course, they knew nothing about Dick Rover and Sam joining Tom in Maporah.
Davenport, through Booster, had kept a close watch and reported the arrival at Maporah of the fathers of Jack and Fred. Thereupon a demand had been made upon the three older Rovers for the money, which was to be paid in cash. It was to be placed in a package under a tree along Sunset Trail, and the Rovers were to take care that no one was to be in that vicinity during the night or early morning under penalty of an attack from ambush. As soon as the package was safely received by the Davenport crowd the four boys were to be released and set on their way toward Gold Hill.
“Those fellows certainly know what they want,” said Sam Rover to his two brothers. “What are we to do about it?” All efforts to locate the boys had failed and their fathers were frantic, not knowing how to turn or what to do next.
In the meantime Mr. Renton and Mr. Parkhurst, the heavy stockholders in the Rolling Thunder mine, had reached Maporah and there had a short but effective interview with Tom Rover.
“I’ll take charge of things here,” declared Mr. Renton, when he had heard about the boys being held for ransom. “I think I know exactly how to handle Garrish. You go ahead and look for those kids. Garrish won’t get away from me, and neither will the Rolling Thunder mine.” And thereupon Tom turned matters over to the other stockholders who had agreed to act with him.
The water brought to them by Ocker satisfied the boys’ thirst but it did not allay their hunger, and as hour after hour passed and none of their captors presented himself, the lads began to grow desperate.
“I wish I had an ax! I’d try to smash down those logs,” declared Andy. “We might be able to make a rush for it in the dark.”
“I’ve got an idea! I wonder we didn’t think of it before,” said Jack in a low tone. “Here, Randy and Andy, stand back to back and give me a chance to climb up on your shoulders. When I’m up there, Fred, you hand me the lantern. I’m going to inspect those cracks overhead and see if I can’t find some sort of an opening up there.”
The young major, having removed his shoes, was soon standing upright on the shoulders of the twins. Fred passed up the lantern, and Jack had the twins move slowly from one part of the rocky cavern to another.
For a long while Jack found nothing that looked promising, but presently he discovered a stone that seemed to be loose. He told those below to be on the watch and pulled and tugged at the bowlder with all his might. It came down with a crash and a number of loose stones and some dirt followed. Jack immediately leaped down and threw himself on the ground, the others following his example.
“Hi there! What are you fellows doing?” came from the entrance to the cave in Jackson’s voice.
“A loose stone came down! It nearly smashed us!” cried Jack.
“I don’t want to stay here if the roof is coming down on us,” wailed Fred.
“Do as we told you to and you won’t have to stay there,” answered Jackson, and then, after waiting a few minutes more, the man disappeared from the entrance.
Once more Jack mounted to the shoulders of the twins and with caution he poked at the hole which had been started.
“Take off your jacket, Fred, and catch the loose stones so that they don’t make any noise,” he whispered. And this the youngest Rover did.
It was a long, tedious task, and several times the young major was on the point of giving up. But just when he felt that his labors were of no avail he broke through an opening overhead. Immediately the cool night wind struck him and he realized that he had reached the outer air.
Again their gymnastic training stood the lads in good stead. Jack hauled Fred up and then held him still higher, and soon the youngest Rover had crawled through the opening above.
“I’m right here among a lot of bushes,” he whispered, looking down. “It’s a side hole, so there isn’t much danger of its caving in.”
Fred leaned down and assisted Jack up, and then the two cut a long heavy stick and with this assisted the twins to get out of the cave, bringing Jack’s shoes with them. They were but a short distance away from the camp of the men and could hear them talking quite plainly.
Hardly daring to breathe, the four boys crawled through the brushwood until they reached something of a trail. They could see little, owing to the darkness, but managed to make fair progress.
“Thank fortune, we’re out of that!” exclaimed Jack presently. “Now we’ve got to see to it that they don’t catch us again.”
“Right-o!” answered Randy. Then, looking up at the sky, he continued: “See how dark it is—not a star showing. I think it’s going to rain.”
He was right, and in a few minutes more the first of the drops began to come down. Then came a dim flash of lightning, followed presently by a vivid streak across the heavens.
“We’re in for a regular thunder storm,” said Fred. “Gee, I hope the lightning doesn’t strike us.”
On and on went the boys, bumping into more than one tree and sometimes going headlong over the rocks. They had but one purpose in mind—to put as much space as possible between themselves and the Davenport gang.
At last, having moved along for over an hour and being soaked to the skin, they came to rest under the shelter of a rocky precipice. The storm continued, vivid flashes of lightning being followed by claps of thunder that echoed and re-echoed through the mountains.
“We’ve got to go on,” said Jack, at last. “As soon as daylight comes those fellows will be searching for us, and they’ll have a big advantage for they’ll be on horseback while we’ll be on foot.”
Forward they went again, although in what direction they did not know. They were hoping that they were getting farther and farther away from the cave where they had been held captive.
They were passing along the sloping side of the mountain when another flash of lightning followed by a loud clap of thunder startled them and brought them again to a halt. Then came another crash as a tree toppled down not far away.
“Gee, that was close enough!” exclaimed Jack.
He had scarcely spoken when the four boys were startled by a yell of fright. A few seconds later came a man’s voice crying piteously:
“Help! Help! For the love of heaven, help! I’m caught fast under the tree and I’ll be crushed to death! Help!”