"Will Smith is at the cabin!" replied Sandy.

"Just my luck!" shouted Cameron.

"What do you want to know about the code despatch?" asked Sandy.

"I want to know what it contains. And what is more, I'm going to know, too! I want one of you boys to write a note to this Will Smith and get him to come here to this cave."

"Not for mine!" exclaimed Sandy.

George made no verbal reply, but the expression of his face showed that he had no intention of doing anything of the kind.

"It will be the worse for you if you don't!" shouted Cameron.

"Oh, you've got the top hand for a few minutes now," Sandy said, tauntingly, "but you'll soon find out that you're not the only man in the world that's got a gun!"

This last as Cameron flourished an automatic in his hand.

"You'll write the note, or you'll starve to death!" replied Fenton.

"Then we'll starve!" answered George.

"No, we won't starve!" declared Sandy. "We'll get the best of you outlaws in some shape, and give you a beating up that will put you in the hospital for six months!"

Fenton raised his fist as if to strike the speaker, but Cameron caught his arm.

"Not now," he said. "Wait until all other plans have been tried."

"We have other work to do at this time, anyway," Fenton said, with a scowl, "so we'll just lock the door on these young gutter-snipes and leave them to think the matter over!"

The men pa.s.sed out of the small cavern, but before they left the outer one, they rolled a great stone into the opening they had just pa.s.sed through and blocked it firmly on the outer side.

CHAPTER XVII

THE MORSE CODE

"And this," said Sandy, as the great stone began to render the atmosphere of the place close and unpleasant, "is what I call a fine little Boy Scout excursion! Did they leave one of the searchlights?"

"Not intentionally," replied George, "but I swiped one!"

"Well, we mustn't show a light until they get some distance away!"

advised Sandy. "We don't want them to know that we have it."

"And we'll need it badly," George suggested, "if we're to give Bert any attention! I wonder if the poor boy has had any care since he's been here! It doesn't seem to me that they would be heartless enough to leave him here in an unconscious condition very long!"

"You can never tell what such fellows'll do," Sandy observed.

The boys remained silent for a long time, each one busy with his own thoughts. After what seemed an aeon, they saw that it was daylight outside. Then they turned on their electric and made an examination of their wounded chum.

They found that the bandage on his head had been changed, and that his pulse was not so high as when he had been discovered in an unconscious condition at the cabin.

"I guess they've done the best they could," Sandy observed, "and I'm much obliged to them for that! Have you got anything to eat?"

"Now, look here, Sandy," George replied whimsically, "have you any idea that I'd ever go away with you without taking something to eat? You got up from the table one minute and demand something to masticate the next!

You're about the most regular boy at your meals I over knew. What'll you have now, pie or cake?"

"Pie!" laughed Sandy.

"Well, you get a bear sandwich!" replied George. "I've got four great big thick ones wrapped up in paper and stowed away in my pockets. If those ginks had suspected anything of the kind, they would have taken them away from me. They're a b.u.m lot, those men!"

"Produce one of the sandwiches!" demanded Sandy. "They named me Sandy at first because I'm such a hand for sandwiches!"

George brought forth two great slices of bread and about a pound of fried bear meat. Sandy's eyes sparkled at the sight.

"We'll have one apiece now," George suggested, "and one apiece tonight.

But every time they come near the cave, we'll tell them how hungry we are. That will make them think we're suffering."

"You don't think we're going to stay here till night, do you?" demanded Sandy munching away at his meat.

"I hope not," answered George.

"I wonder if Bert's had anything to eat since he got the wallop on the coco?" asked Sandy. "Suppose we mince some of this meat up very fine and feed it to him. He may not know when he swallows it, but it will give him strength just the same."

The suggested plan was followed, and Bert was given quite a quant.i.ty of the tender meat. At first it was necessary to pa.s.s it down his throat with draughts of water, but later, much to the surprise and joy of the boys, he began, to swallow naturally.

"He's coming back to life!" shouted Sandy. "A boy's all right as soon as he begins to eat! Sprinkle some water in his face and we'll see what effect that has."

The boys were so pleased that they almost cheered with delight when at length Bert opened his eyes and looked about.

"Time to get up?" he asked.

"Naw," replied Sandy. "Go to sleep again!"

"That you, Sandy?" asked Bert.

"That's Sandy all right!" replied the boy.

"Why don't you open a door or window and let in some air?" asked Bert.

"Aw, go to sleep!" advised Sandy.

"Nice old dive you've got here!" Bert went on. "Here I've walked about nineteen thousand miles to find a boy named Sandy and a boy named Will, and a boy named Tommy, and a boy named George, and when I find them they shut me up in a rotten old morgue."

"How'd you come to ask for Sandy?" demanded the boy.