The cries came from Chet Morton. Frank and Joe, starting up, blinked sleepily.

"Chet's having a nightmare," thought Joe.

But as he became wider awake, he saw a tall shadowy figure hovering over the bundle that was Chet MortonI

CHAPTER XVII.

Help!

As frank and Joe got out of their sleeping bags, to spring upon the intruder, Chet Morton unexpectedly began to guffaw.

"Aw, stop it! Ha-ha! Cut it out, will you?"

The black figure had not moved, but Chet was thrashing about on the ground, laughing convulsively.

"Chet!" Joe cried as he groped for his flashlight. Then he muttered to Frank, "Has he gone out of his mind?"

"N-no," gasped Chet. "Stop licking my face, Mystery! How can a fellow talk?"

Two flashlight beams illuminated the scene in the same instant. Standing nearby was the mute boy, Simon. The little beagle, with tail whipping about happily, was leaping on Chet with fierce affection.

140.

141 "Oh boy!" Joe exclaimed, grinning. "You gave us a scare, Simon."

"We can't keep Mystery with us now," said Frank. "We don't know where we'll be from one day to the next."

Scooping up Mystery with a quick movement, Frank thrust the animal into Simon's arms. "Simon, please look after our dog a little longer. Okay?"

To their astonishment, Simon placed the beagle on the ground. Then, pointing quickly at Frank, Joe, and Chet in succession, he waved them away frantically with both arms.

"He says for us to clear out," interpreted Joe. "He must mean we're in some danger! What is it, Simon?"

Frank had already put pad and pencil into the mute boy's hands. Now, while Frank and Joe shone their lights on the page, he quickly sketched a picture of 47 a small, windowless cabin, with a gun barrel pointing menacingly from the door!

"Donner's place," Joe muttered. "And he has a gun. Well, we knew that already.

We weren't going near there tonight, anyhow."

"Hold on," Frank warned. "He's drawing something else."

Simon had not yet finished. Next to the cabin he drew sketches of two owls seated side by side. With amazing skill, Simon sketched in the fierce 142 owl eyes and beak of each. But one of the birds had high-pointed ear tufts; the other seemed to have no ears at all, and had a round, masklike face similar to that of a monkey.

"Great sketches," Joe commented. One of his hobbies was ornithology. Now, studying the drawings, he told the others, "The one with the prominent ears is the screech owl. He does the wailing. And monkey face, here, is the barn owl.

He does the screeching."

"Hey! What are you doing?" Chet asked suddenly.

Simon, after drawing two very accurate pictures, suddenly took his pencil and crossed them both out. Once again he waved the boys away from him.

"I don't get it," said Frank, puzzled. "Are you afraid of the owls?" Simon shook his head vigorously.

"Do you connect their cries with the witch of Black Hollow and want to protect us from her?" Again Simon shook his head.

"Maybe he means Donner is going to shoot the owls," suggested Chet. More denials.

"I give up," said Joe. "But listen, Simon. Witches, owls, Donner-n.o.body is going to drive us out of these woods! We're staying! Get it?"

Peering intently at the determined faces of his new friends, the strange boy looked frustrated. He gathered up Mystery in his arms, and as 143 silently as he had appeared, glided off among the trees.

"Wish I knew what he was driving at," Chet remarked.

Meanwhile, Frank and Joe had switched off their flashlights to save the batteries. As the three stood together in silence, a faint flicker appeared in the sky.

"Lightning," Frank commented. "Very far away as yet. Must mean a storm's coming, though. I wish there were a cave, without rattlesnakes, for us to take shelter in."

"Don't worry," Joe a.s.sured him. "The storm's far away; it may never reach here. Let's get some shut-eye."

Thoroughly tired, the three friends lay down once more and fell asleep immediately. Some time later Joe suddenly found himself wide awake. His heart was pounding violently. The luminous dial of his watch told him that nearly two hours had pa.s.sed.

The darkness seemed thicker, the air heavier than a few hours earlier.

"Frank! Chet! Did you hear it?"

"Yes," came Frank's tense, whispered answer. "There it is again!"

The heavy, oppressive silence was shattered by a scream-a horrible drawn-out cry. Again it sounded, this time harsher and higher-pitched. Then a third time.

144 "That's a human being in trouble!" exclaimed Frank, leaping to his feet.

"Quick! Roll up your sleeping bags and shove 'em out of sight underneath these bushes. Let's go! Somebody needs our help!"

"This witch may be more real than we thought," said Chet as he hurriedly slipped into his shoes. "Do you suppose she's-she's torturing Captain Maguire?"

Fully awake now, and every sense alert, the boys listened intently while the blood-chilling screams were repeated. To add to the weirdness, the woods were illumined by a flash of lightning.

"That cry was in the hollow, and not too far from here," Frank directed.

48 "Let's go!"

"Turn on all flashlights!" Joe called as he rushed forward. "Speed is important!"

The three boys dashed along the path into Black Hollow.

"Halt!" Frank ordered, as the screams came once more. Carefully he placed their direction. "We won't go down to the floor of the valley," he decided.

"The cries seem to be coming more from the side. We'll stick to this upper path instead!"

Once again the young detectives rushed forward, halfway up the steep, partly wooded side of the hollow. But within a few seconds Frank halted them again.

"Now what?" Joe asked breathlessly. "I don't hear any more screaming."

145 "There's something else. Don't you hear it?" Straining his ears to their utmost, Frank listened intently.

But hearing was difficult, for the night was no longer a quiet one. The wind that comes before a thunderstorm was now sweeping through the hollow like an onrushing wave. In the frequent flicker of lightning, huge trees could be seen waving wildly and showing the pale undersides of their leaves. The limbs creaked. The wind hissed in the leaves. But through it all, Frank's ears seemed to detect another sound.

"What is it?" queried Joe.

"A kind of thin, human voice calling. But with this wind, I can't be sure!"

Just then, there came a long flicker of lightning. Joe pointed to a nearby tree. Perched motionless on a limb was a full-grown owl, its huge eyes unblinking even in the vivid glare. Then darkness closed in again.

Suddenly the air was rent by a terrifying scream from the valley floor! Frank, Joe, and Chet were startled. As they crouched, breathless, upon the rock where they had halted, the snap of twigs on the ground alerted them to the movement of a heavy body in the woods just below.

Frank and Joe kept their eyes fixed upon a small gra.s.sy clearing to their left.

Suddenly something huge, black, and solid, moving catlike upon all fours, padded unhur146 riedly into the gra.s.sy area. Then noiselessly it glided into the blackness of the trees on the other side.

"A wildcat!" Joe's heart raced with excitement. "So that's what's been making those horrible screams!"

"But this isn't wildcat country!" Frank protested.

"Hush!" Joe signaled.

Over the sound of the wind and the growl of thunder, the boys distinctly made out a thin, quavering voice.

"Skip-py!" it called. "Skip-py!"

"Good grief, it's Bobby Thompson!" Chet cried out in horror. "He's down there looking for his lost dog!"

"He must be somewhere among those trees ahead, where that big cat disappeared just now!" exclaimed Frank.

As he spoke, the howling scream of the mysterious catlike beast ripped through the night once more. From the same direction came a little boy's frightened sobbing: "Oh, Skippy, where are you? I want my mother. Help!"

Frantically Frank, Joe, and Chet raced and stumbled forward along the rocky side of the hollow. The big cat sounded off again. Bobby Thompson's pathetic whimpering grew louder and nearer.

147 "Oh-h, I'm afraid! I want to go home!"

"He must be around here somewhere! Bobby!" Joe called out. "Stay where you are and don't move! We're coming to help you!"

Suddenly the path of the three boys was blocked by the spreading limbs and branches of a large tree, growing up from the floor of the hollow just below.

49 Bobby's sobs seemed very close now!

In desperation, Frank, Joe, and Chet swept the valley floor below with the beams of their flashlights. At first, they saw only the storm-whipped branches of the trees.

"There!" cried Frank at last.

The yellow beams had finally located the little boy. Wearing a jersey and short pants, he stood cowering at the base of the big tree just below them. He was hiding his face with one arm, and had raised the other in an effort to protect himself.

A few short yards away, a pair of malevolent green eyes glowed in the flashlight beams.

Unblinking, the eyes stared at their prey. The big animal coughed deep in its throat. The tail lashed about savagely as the beast crouched for the kill.

CHAPTER XVIII.

A Harrowing Rescue frank Hardy appraised the situation in a single swift glance. With an iron nerve, he issued crisp orders.

"Joe, you're the lightest. Into the tree I You haul Bobby up! Chet, this boulder is loose from the rain. Put your back to it. Roll it down on that cat!"

Meanwhile, Frank shone the beam of his flashlight directly into the eyes of the puma, in an effort to delay the creature's death-dealing spring as long as possible.

Joe had already swung himself into the big tree. In another moment he had crawled out on the low-hanging limb directly over Bobby's head. Seeing the beams of the flashlights, the small boy looked up and spotted Joe. But Joe and the branch were several feet out of Bobby's reach!

148.

149 Thinking quickly, Joe hooked his knees over one limb, and his toes underneath another. Head downward, reaching with both arms, he swung into s.p.a.ce between the cat and the boy.

"Bobby! Grab my hands! Quick!"

Paralyzed with fear, Bobby hesitated. In the same instant, the powerful black beast, with a snarl, shot forward. There was a sudden loud crash of underbrush. The animal whirled, then jumped lightly sideways to dodge the heavy boulder tumbling down the hillside.

Quickly Joe grabbed Bobby's thin wrist and yanked the boy, one-handed, upward until he could grasp Bobby's waist with his other arm. Then, with a tremendous effort, he snapped both himself and Bobby into a sitting position of safety upon the limb.

Frustrated, the big cat raged for a moment on the ground below. Then it disappeared in the woods.

Sweating profusely from his effort, Joe handed the limp boy through the branches of the tree to Frank.

"Nice work with that rock, Chet," Joe gasped, as he fought to recover his breath. "It gave me the extra second I needed!"

Bobby Thompson was sobbing again, but now it was with relief, as he buried his face against Frank's chest.

"Don't worry, Bobby, ole fellow," said Chet.

150 "We'll take you home. We know where your dog is, and we're going to get him back!"