DOWN THE TRAP DOOR

It seemed that in the semi-darkness of the woods Ca.s.sey did not at once recognize the radio boys. He was talking excitedly to his companions in his stuttering tongue and he was almost upon the boys before he realized who they were.

He stopped still, eyes and mouth wide open. Then, with a stuttered imprecation, he turned and fled. The men with him stayed not to question, but darted furtively into the woods.

"Come on, fellows!" cried Bob, with a whoop of delight. "Here's where we nail Dan Ca.s.sey, sure."

The boys, except poor Jimmy, were unusually fleet, and they soon overtook Ca.s.sey. Bob's hand was almost upon him when the man doubled suddenly in his tracks and darted off into the thick underbrush.

Bob, with Herb and Joe close at his heels, was after him in a minute. He reached a clearing just in time to see Ca.s.sey dash into an old barn which had been hidden by the trees.

The boys plunged into the barn with Jimmy pantingly bringing up the rear. In Bob's heart was a wild exultation. They had Ca.s.sey cornered.

Once more they would bring this criminal to justice.

"You guard the door," he called in a low tone to Joe. "See that Ca.s.sey doesn't get out that way, and Herb and I will get after him in here."

The barn was so dark that they could hardly see to move around. There was a window high up in the side wall, but this was so covered with dirt and cobwebs that it was almost as though there was none.

However, Ca.s.sey must be lurking in one of those dark corners, and if they moved carefully they were sure to capture him!

There was a loft to the barn, but if there had been a ladder leading up to it it had long since rotted and dropped away, so that Bob was reasonably sure the man could not be up there.

It was eery business, groping about in the musty darkness of the old barn for a man who would go to almost any lengths of villainy to keep from being caught.

Suddenly Bob saw something move, and, with an exultant yell, jumped toward it. Once more he almost had his hand upon Ca.s.sey when--something happened.

The floor of the barn seemed to open and let him through, and his chums with him. As he fell through the hole into blackness he had confused thoughts of an earthquake. Then he struck bottom with a solid thump that almost made him see stars.

He heard similar thumps about him and realized that Herb and Jimmy had followed him. Whatever it was they had shot through had evidently magically closed up again, for they were in absolute darkness.

"Well," came in a voice which Bob recognized as Jimmy's, "I must say, this is a nice note!"

"We've been pushed off the end of the world, I guess," said Herb, with a sorry attempt at humor. "Who all's in this party anyway? Are we all here?"

"I guess so," said Joe, and at the sound of his voice Bob jumped.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "I thought you were going to guard the door."

"That's what I should have done, but I played the big idiot," retorted Joe bitterly. "I couldn't resist coming after you fellows to be in on the big fight. I suppose while I was trailing you boys somebody sneaked in the door and signed our finish."

"Looks like it," said Bob, feeling himself to make sure there were no bones broken. "And now, instead of delivering Ca.s.sey to justice we're prisoners ourselves. Say, I bet the old boy isn't laughing at us or anything just now."

"I'm awful sorry, Bob," said Joe penitently. "I thought if I kept my eye on the door----"

"Oh, it's all right," said Bob generously. "Accidents will happen and there's no use crying over spilled milk. I suppose the most sensible thing for us to do right now is to hustle around and find a way out of this place."

"Maybe there isn't any," said Jimmy dolefully. "Then what'll we do?"

"Stay here and let the rats eat us, I guess," said Herb cheerfully, and Jimmy groaned.

"Gosh, don't talk about eating, old boy," he pleaded. "I'm just about starved this minute."

"You'll probably stay starved for some little time longer," said Bob unfeelingly. He had risen cautiously to his feet, and finding that their prison was at least high enough for them to stand up in, reached his hands tentatively above his head.

As, even by standing on tiptoe, his fingers encountered nothing but air, he decided that they must have dropped further than he had thought at the time.

A hand reached out and took hold of him and he realized that Joe was standing beside him.

"Must have been some sort of trap door opening inward, I guess," said the latter. "You didn't see anything, did you, Bob?"

"No. It happened too suddenly. One minute I was reaching forward to grab hold of Ca.s.sey and the next moment I found myself flying through s.p.a.ce."

"Humph," grunted Joe. "It was lucky for Ca.s.sey that we all happened to be in a bunch," he said. "He couldn't have gotten rid of us so quickly if we'd been scattered about----"

"As we should have been," added Bob. "Just the same," he added, after a minute, "I don't suppose it would have done any good if one of us had been left up there. It must have been the men who were with Ca.s.sey who sprang the trap on us; and if that's so, the fight would have been three to one."

"I'd like to have tried it just the same," said Joe belligerently. "I bet Ca.s.sey would have got a black eye out of it, anyway."

For some time they groped around the black hole of their prison, hoping to find some way of escape, but without success. They were beginning to get tired and discouraged, and they sat down on the floor to talk the situation over.

The queer thing about this hole in the ground was that it possessed a flooring where one would have expected to find merely packed-down dirt.

The flooring consisted of rough boards laid side by side, and when the boys moved upon it it sounded like the rattling of some rickety old bridge.

"There's some mystery about this place," said Bob. "I bet this is a regular meeting place for Ca.s.sey and whoever his confederates may be. In case of pursuit all they would have to do would be to hide in this hole and they'd be practically safe from discovery."

"I wonder," said Herb, "why Ca.s.sey didn't do that now."

"Probably didn't have time," said Bob. "I was right on his heels, you know, and probably he didn't dare stop for anything."

"And so they turned the trick on us," said Joe. "And it sure was a neat job."

"Too neat, if we don't get out of here soon," groaned Jimmy. "I bet they've just left us here to starve!"

"I wouldn't put it beyond Ca.s.sey," said Herb gloomily. "It would be just the kind of thing he'd love to do. He's got a grudge against us, anyway, for doing him out of Miss Berwick's money and landing him in jail, and this would be a fine way to get even."

"Well, if that's his game, he's got another guess coming," said Bob, adding excitedly: "Say, fellows, if that was a trap door that let us down into this hole, and it must have been something of that sort, we'll probably be able to get out the same way."

"But it's above our heads," protested Herb.

"What difference does that make?" returned Bob impatiently. "One of us can stand on the other's back, and we can haul the last fellow out by his hands."

"Simple when you say it quick," said Joe gloomily. "But I bet that trap door is bolted on the outside. You don't think Ca.s.sey's going to let us off that easy, do you?"

"Well, we could see anyway," returned Bob. "Anything's better than just sitting here. Come on, let's find that trap door."

This feat, in itself, was no easy one. They had wandered about in the dark so much that they had become completely confused.

Since Herb was the slightest, he was hoisted up on Bob's shoulders and they began the stumbling tour of their prison. It seemed ages before Herb's glad cry announced a discovery of some sort.