The Rover Boys Down East: or, The Struggle for the Stanhope Fortune

“Help! help!” came back faintly.

“We are coming!” yelled Tom, rushing forward. “Where are you?”

“I am her – ” was the answer, and then of a sudden all became quiet again, as a hand was placed over Dick’s mouth.

With their weapons ready for use, Tom and Sam ran through the cavern. But all was silent, and the flickering rays from the campfire beyond were too faint for them to see much.

“Dick! Dick! Where are you?” called out Tom.

“To the left!” was the faint reply. “Turn to the left!”

The voice sounded muffled, as if the speaker was being strangled, and with their hearts in their throats, Tom and Sam advanced and at a break in the rocky wall, turned to the left. Hardly had they gone a dozen steps when they plunged downward into space.

“Oh!” came from both, and then followed a mighty splash, as the pair struck the water. Each went down over his head, and on coming up had to strike out to keep from drowning.

“Sam! Sam!” cried Tom.

“I’m here!” was the spluttered-out reply. “Are you hurt?”

“Not much, but I went over my head in water!”

“So did I.”

“Where is Dick?”

“I don’t know.”

“Can he be drowned?”

“Oh, don’t say that!”

It was pitch dark, and only by calling to each other did the two lads manage to get together. Both swam around until their feet touched a rock and on this they stood to catch their breath. The water was all around them.

“Which way did we come, Tom?” asked Sam, after a moment of silence, during which both did what they could to get back their breath.

“I don’t know. I can’t see a thing, can you?”

“No.”

“I don’t believe Dick is here.”

“Neither do I, Tom. I believe somebody fooled us.”

“That’s it! And we fell right into the trap!”

“But where can Dick be?”

“Most likely a prisoner of our enemies,” muttered Tom, bitterly.

Tom’s surmise was correct, Dick was indeed a prisoner of their enemies. He had his hands and his feet bound tightly, and he had been dragged, by Tad Sobber towards the campfire that was burning at the further end of the big cave. In the meantime the fellow who had been followed by Dick went off to make sure that Tom and Sam would turn to the left and fall into the water.

“Well, Dick Rover, this is what you get for following us!” cried Tad Sobber, in tones of triumph. “Perhaps, some day, you’ll learn enough to keep your hands out of my affairs.”

“Sobber, tell me, what have you done with Mrs. Stanhope?” asked Dick, quickly. Even though he felt bruised and shook up, the welfare of Dora’s mother was uppermost in his mind.

“I am not here to answer your questions.”

“You won’t tell me?”

“Not a word.”

“Do you realize that you and Josiah Crabtree have committed a big crime?”

“We have done nothing wrong.”

“Don’t you call stealing and abducting wrong?”

“I haven’t stolen anything. The fortune from Treasure Isle belonged to my uncle and me – the Stanhopes had no right to it whatsoever.”

“I think otherwise – and so did the courts.”

“Bah! Your side didn’t treat me fairly, you bought up the judges! I know you!” stormed Tab Sobber. “The fortune was ours! Now I’ve got it – and I mean to keep it!”

“And what of Mrs. Stanhope?”

“Mrs. Stanhope has acted like a sensible woman.”

“Acted like a sensible woman? What do you mean?”

“She has done what she should have done years ago – she has given her heart to the man who loves her.”

“Sobber, you don’t mean – ” Dick could not go on, for the lump that came into his throat.

“I do mean it.”

“What?”

“I mean that she has become the wife of Mr. Josiah Crabtree!” cried Tad Sobber. “So if you ever marry Dora Stanhope you’ll have Mr. Crabtree for your father-in-law.”

CHAPTER XXVIII

AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POOL

At the announcement of Tad Sobber, Dick could only stare at the speaker for the time being.

Was it really true that Dora’s mother had married the disreputable Josiah Crabtree after all? It made his heart sick to think of such a state of affairs.

“You are telling me the truth?” he asked at last.