CHAPTER XXI

THE CAVERN IN THE WOODS

The four students remembered the part of the big woods which had been gone over before and consequently they did not attempt to search for Frank Bond in that direction. They struck out over a small hill and then along somewhat of a hollow, though which ran a small creek that flowed into the Leming River.

The way was rough and uncertain, and several times they had fairly to force their progress through the bushes. Once Buster Beggs got caught so thoroughly that the others had to turn back to aid him.

"Do you think Frank could have come in this direction?" questioned Roger. "How could he get through?"

"A fellow who is half crazy will do all sorts of queer things," answered Dave. "And as we couldn't find him in the other part of the woods, it appears to me as if he must have come this way."

Over an hour was spent in searching along the creek, but without avail. They called Frank's name a great number of times, but not a sound came back save the call of the birds.

"I shouldn't like to run across any snakes," said Buster Beggs.

"I don't believe there are any very bad snakes in this woods," answered Ben.

They now made another turn and came up to the face of a rocky cliff. Suddenly Dave leaped forward.

"Look! look!" he cried, and held up a handkerchief covered with blood. In one corner were the initials, F. A. B.

"Frank A. Bond," said Roger. "We must be on the right track."

"Oh, if only we don't find the poor fellow dead!" murmured Dave.

Further on the rocks were very rough, and then came a cleft leading into a small cavern. The entrance was dark and partly covered with brush.

"See, the bushes are torn and broken," was Ben's comment. "Somebody has been walking in and out."

They gazed into the cavern, but for a few seconds could see nothing.

"Frank!" called out Dave. "Frank Bond!"

"Help!" came back, in a faint voice. "Help me!"

"He is here!" exclaimed Dave. "Has anybody a match so we can make a light?"

Buster Briggs had some matches, which he used for his bicycle lamp, and with one of these the four boys set fire to some dry brushwood they pulled up. The glare from the flames lit up the interior of the cavern, and they gazed inside, to behold poor Frank Bond lying in a corner on some leaves. The young student was utterly exhausted and lay with his eyes closed.

"Frank, are you hurt?" asked Dave, bending over him. "I mean, are you hurt very badly?"

At the sound of Dave's voice the youth on the leaves opened his eyes for a moment.

"Take me back to school!" he gasped. "Don't--don't let the trolley run over me!"

"Frank, you are safe now--nothing is going to hurt you," said the senator's son. "Tell us where you are hurt."

"I--I----" Frank Bond stared around him. "I thought it was the Plum crowd after me! Whe--where did you come from?"

"From the school. We came out to look for you."

"Oh!"

"What about your hurts?" asked Ben.

"Oh, I got my arm hurt, and my leg, and I fell down and cut my face," answered the sufferer. "I--I don't know how I got here, and I didn't know the way home, and I got hungry and sleepy, and--and----" Frank Bond could not go on, but burst into tears.

"We'll fix you up," said Dave, kindly. "We've brought some lunch with us and you shall have all you want. Start up that fire briskly, fellows."

The fire was built up in good shape, and two torches were brought into the cavern. Then Frank Bond was propped up against a wall and given something to eat and to drink. He was very hungry and ate up fully half of what the four boys carried. Water was then brought in from the creek and his several wounds were washed and dressed. Fortunately none of them was serious, although they had been very painful.

The small student was still in a highly nervous state and the others did all they could to quiet him. He remembered being tied to the trolley track and running away, but could not tell how he had reached the cavern or how long he had remained there.

"I guess I was plumb crazy," he declared. "I thought sure the trolley car was going to run over me!"

At last the others managed to get him to his feet. But he was too weak to walk more than a few steps at a time.

"I--I can't do it," he gasped. "Oh, how will I ever get back to the Hall?"

"Let us take turns at carrying him," suggested Dave. "Frank, you can hold on to my back, can't you?"

The small student said he would try, and putting out the fire the whole party quitted the cavern, the hurt lad on Dave's back. It was quite a load for Dave to master, but he managed it for several hundred yards, when each of the others took a turn. Thus, after hard work, they got Frank to the roadway.

A loud yelling brought some other boys and Andrew Dale to the scene. One of the boys had his wheel and, riding on this, he went back to the academy and had Jackson Lemond come for Frank with a carriage. Then a pistol was fired off three times,--this being the signal showing that the missing one was found. Soon pupils and teachers came trooping back to Oak Hall, all anxious to listen to Frank's story.

As soon as he arrived at the Hall, the small student was taken to a private bedroom and a doctor was sent for to attend him. In the meantime he was given something hot to drink and rolled in blankets, that he might not take cold. Not until that evening did Dr. Clay attempt to get the details of his story from the sufferer.

When the physician arrived he said that Frank's hurts were not of a serious nature. "He has been more frightened than anything else," said the doctor. "He must be kept very quiet for at least a week, and after that, Dr. Clay, you had better let him go slowly with his studies for a month or so."

"I'll do it," answered the master of Oak Hall.

"This lad is of a high-strung temperament and he has been under an unusual mental strain."

"You do not think he will suffer permanently?" asked the good doctor, anxiously.

"Oh, no, but he must be kept quiet."

In an easy kind of way Dr. Clay drew from Frank Bond his whole story of the initiation into the D. D. A. Club. From the lad he learned that Plum and Jasniff had been the prime movers in the so-called fun, and that Poole had backed them up. He at once sent for the three to come to his private office.

"I reckon we're in for it now," growled Plum, on receiving the summons.

"Deny everything," advised Nick Jasniff. He thought nothing of telling a falsehood whenever it suited him.

When the three entered the office Dr. Clay faced them sternly.

"I want to have a talk to you three young gentlemen," said the master of Oak Hall. "I have learned the truth of the Frank Bond affair and I want to know what you mean by such conduct."

The three tried to excuse themselves, but it was to no purpose. The doctor read them through and through, and then gave each a lecture that was never forgotten.

"Fun is fun, but this was not fun," said he. "Bond is a delicate and highly nervous boy, and to do what you did was to make him suffer most horribly. It is a wonder that you did not drive him insane. As it is, he will suffer for a long time to come, and if his parents see fit to prosecute you it will be your own fault if you are sent to jail. More than that, you have disgraced this school, and for that I intend to punish you myself. Each of you must remain inside of the academy grounds for the next two weeks, and in addition I will give you some extra lessons in history to learn, and I want them learned thoroughly. And more than this, if you are ever concerned in such a disgraceful proceeding again I shall dismiss you from Oak Hall."

When the three students left the doctor's office Nat Poole was so cowed that he trembled in every limb. Plum, too, was subdued, but Jasniff was boiling with inward rage.

"I didn't come here to be bulldozed," he declared. "If I want some fun I am going to have it. If old Clay sends me away, I guess I'll find some other school just as good." Jasniff was certainly a bad youth, but the others were still to find out how really bad he was.

After this a week slipped by rather quickly. During that time Dave got word from the Lawrences that Phil was a trifle better physically, but that his head hurt him a great deal. He was still in bed and there was no telling when he would get around again.

"I trust it doesn't hurt his head permanently," said Dave, for at least the fiftieth time. He had heard of a boy who had had his head hurt by a water-wheel and had become silly in consequence.

"Let us hope for the best," answered Roger. "Poor Phil! It would certainly be awful if he didn't get around all right again!"

The injuries received by Phil and Frank Bond put something of a damper on the school and for some time matters ran along very quietly. Plum was troubled in more ways than one. He was afraid he was going to hear from Frank Bond's father or the police, and he was also worrying over his football wagers. He had lost all his spending money and he owed about thirty dollars, and his friends were pressing him to pay up. He had gone to Poole for a loan, but Nat had all he could do to pay his own losses. Jasniff had promised to do something, but since the Bond affair had said nothing more on the subject.

"Say, Nick, I thought you were going to help me get some money," said he one day to his crony, when he could keep silent no longer.

"Haven't you got some money from home?" asked the other boy, with a leer.

"No, my dad can't spare any just now," answered the bully, bluntly. He was growing desperate. His father had written that he must get along without spending money for at least a month more.

"Well, I'll let you know what I can do in a week or so," answered Jasniff, slowly.

"You said that before--right after the football game."

"Well, I haven't been able to see those fellows yet."

"What fellows?"

"Those I want to talk to."

"Can't you hurry it up, Nick? I want some money the worst way--ten or fifteen dollars at least."

The two were alone, down at the old boathouse, and Jasniff was smoking a cigarette on the sly. He blew a cloud of smoke to the ceiling.

"Wonder if I can trust you to keep mum?" he said, slowly and deliberately.

"About what?"

"About a little plan I've got to make some money."

"Haven't you always been able to trust me, Nick?"

"Certainly, but--this is out of the ordinary."

"I never went back on you yet."

"Will you promise to keep silent if I tell you something?"

"Yes."

"I've got a scheme to get hold of several hundred dollars."

"That's good."

"It will take some--er--quiet work on the part of both of us to do the trick."

"Well, as I said before, I am with you."

"Can I trust you absolutely?" demanded Jasniff, looking Plum closely in the face.

"You can."

"Then take a walk and we'll talk the matter over. But remember, if you say a word to anybody about it--well, you had better not, that's all!"

They walked to a secluded spot and there, slowly and cautiously, Nick Jasniff unfolded a plot to get money which filled Gus Plum with curiosity, fear, wonder, and fascination.