The Hunniwell boys and the platinum mystery
“Now we’ll have to take it slowly,” Rogers said as he stopped and mopped
his face as it was very hot.
The face of the cliff reflected the rays of the sun and, as Gordon
declared, made the place feel like a furnace.
“The sun will be over it in a short time and then I guess it will be
cooler,” Rogers told him.
“Well, it doesn’t seem as though it could get much hotter,” Gordon
sighed.
Here the cliff was a little higher than it had been up to this point
and they were determined not to miss anything. So they walked slowly
along keeping their eyes fixed on the rocks. They had gone about an
eighth of a mile from where they had stopped when they reached a rift in
the cliff. The opening was not more than three feet wide but reached
from the bottom to the top.
“This isn’t a cave,” Rogers said, “but it’s possible that it’s the
place.”
“It doesn’t go back more than about fifty feet,” Gordon said as he stood
in the entrance.
“Well, it won’t do any harm to take a look at it now that we’re here.”
“Of course we’ll look it over and thoroughly too.”
So they worked their way slowly along the narrow pass climbing over huge
rocks and stopping every minute or two to examine the ground as well as
the walls.
“Just as like as not this wasn’t here a hundred years ago,” Gordon
grunted when they had covered about thirty feet.
“Perhaps not,” Rogers agreed.
“It’s cooler in here anyhow and that’s one thing to be thankful for.”
“Yes, the shade after that hot sun is very grateful.”
“I reckon the sun doesn’t get in here for a very long time each day,”
Gordon said glancing up. “Great guns!”
“What is it?”
“Someone was watching us from up there,” Gordon whispered.
“Nonsense.”
“I tell you I saw him. He was right by that shrub there.”
“You’re sure?”
“Dead certain, although he dodged back mighty quick.”
“Jap?”
“I’m not so sure about that. I only had a glimpse of him, but I think it
was.”
“Think it was the same one?”
“Don’t know.”
“Well, he’s had time to get back all right, but I didn’t expect him so
soon.”
“Look out!”
Gordon jumped to one side and not an instant too soon for a rock about
the size of a man’s head struck the ground where he had been standing.
Roger’s face was as white as a sheet of paper when Gordon looked at him
and he felt, as he afterward told him, rather weak in the knees.
“That was a bit too close for comfort,” he gasped.
“Follow me,” Rogers said as he turned and ran for the entrance of the
rift, and Gordon needed no urging. “That rock came mighty near getting
you,” he said as soon as they were safely out on the sand.
“But I don’t get his idea.”
“His idea was plain enough: he meant to kill us.”
“But why should he want to do a thing like that?”
“That’s not so plain. But we’d better get back and see if Bill is all
right. There may be more than one of them after us.”
“There’s one anyhow all right,” Gordon said as he started after Rogers
on the run.
Bill was cleaning the motor of the Albatross when they got back and
looked up in surprise as he heard them.
“Found it all ready?” he asked.
“Seen anyone around here?” Rogers asked instead of replying to his
question.
“Not a soul.”
“Well, we have,” Gordon told him.
“You have?”
“And he pretty near got one of us,” Gordon added.
“You mean——?”
“Yep, just that,” and Gordon told him what had happened.
“That’s serious,” Bill said when he had finished.
“I’ll say it is,” Rogers agreed.
“And it means that we’ve got to find out what’s up before we do any more
searching after the lost treasure,” Bill told them.
“You hit the nail on the head that time,” Rogers declared.
“And the best way to do it is to take the plane and make a search all
over this part of the island,” Bill advised.
Ten minutes later they were in the air and for two hours flew back and
forth until they had covered the entire end of the island. But not a
sign of human life did they see, and about six o’clock they returned to
camp greatly disappointed.
“But there’s plenty of places where a fellow could hide so that we
couldn’t see him from the plane,” Rogers told them as they climbed from
the cockpit.
“And it doesn’t mean a thing that we didn’t see him,” Gordon added.
“Or them,” Bill amended.
“But we’ve got to find him or them,” Gordon insisted.
“Or else give up and beat it home,” Bill grinned.
“Not on your life,” Gordon snorted. “I’m not going to be run off by any
little two by four like that fellow.”
“I thought not,” Rogers said. “But one thing’s certain. We must not go
below those cliffs again till we know what’s up. We haven’t a chance
against a fellow up on top with a good sized rock.”
“Not a chance in the world,” Gordon agreed. “How about some eats?”
Supper was rather a quiet meal. No one seemed to have much to say, each
being busy with his own thoughts and, even when they were gathered
around the fire after darkness had fallen conversation languished.
“I’ll take the first watch until one o’clock,” Bill finally said.
“Call me then,” Rogers told him.
“And when do I come in?” Gordon demanded.
“I’ll call you at four,” Rogers promised.
“After it gets light: nothing doing. It’s nine now and Bill will watch
till twelve and you till three and then I’ll finish it out. Get me?”
“All right, have it your own way,” Rogers laughed.
“And you call us if you see or hear the least thing that seems
suspicious,” Gordon added as he rolled himself in his blanket and
crawled into his tent.
“I won’t take any chances,” Bill promised as he put some more wood on
the fire.
CHAPTER VII
WHERE IS GORDON?
The night passed without incident except that Rogers did not call Gordon
until nearly four o’clock and as a result received what he designated “a
bawling out for fair.” Breakfast was an early meal as they were all on
the anxious seat and were eager for action. So, as soon as the meal was
over they held a council of war to decide what steps to take.
“There’s one thing about it,” Rogers opened the discussion, “and that is
that we’ve got to do something.”
“Fact?” Gordon asked in a joking tone.
“What I mean is that we’ve got to take the offensive,” Rogers explained.
“The fact that he or they made no attack on us last night seems to
indicate that they’re going to play a waiting game.”
“And that doesn’t suit us at all,” Bill declared. “We want to get on
with the work we came out here to do.”
“Spoken like a soldier,” Gordon told him.
“But we’ve got to keep away from the cliffs until we know it’s safe. As
it is now they have all the advantage and we don’t want to stop any
stones with our heads.”
“Or with any other part of our anatomy for that matter,” Bill added.
“How about taking a stroll along the top of them?” Gordon suggested. “We
couldn’t find him or them with the help of the plane but maybe we can do
it on foot.”
“That’s what I was going to suggest,” Rogers said. “But I’m not sure as
it will be safe,” he added soberly.
“Well, I’d rather take a walk on the top of them than down below the way
things stand now,” Gordon told him.
“So would I,” Rogers told him, “but that doesn’t make it safe, you
know.”
“But I don’t believe the fellow, whoever it was, is armed,” Bill
declared. “If he had been he’d have used his gun instead of a stone.”
“That sounds reasonable, but it isn’t certain,” Rogers told him.
“Well, there are only two certain things in this world, so I’ve heard,
and they are death and taxes,” Gordon smiled.
“But I think it’s a safe bet that he hasn’t got a gun,” Bill insisted.
“All right, but we’ve got to be careful,” Rogers in turn insisted. “Now
if you boys will stay here and guard the camp I’ll take a walk and see
what I can find.”
“Did you hear what I heard, Bill?” Gordon asked.
“I heard something that doesn’t go,” Bill laughed.
“Not an inch, it doesn’t. Say, Steve, just what do you take us for?”
“Well, I only thought——”
“Just turn your thoughts in another direction,” Gordon interrupted. “You
know it doesn’t need but one to guard the camp.”
“All right, all right. You two match to see who goes with me.”
“How about all three of us matching to see who stays?” Bill suggested.
But on that proposition Rogers put his foot down flat and nothing could
change him. “No,” he declared, “I’ll take either one of you but I won’t
stay here and let you both go and there’s no use in wasting time over
it.”
It was finally decided that Gordon would stay, and after cautioning him
to keep his eyes open, Rogers and Bill started off.
“You don’t suppose do you that that fellow, whoever he is, knows what
we’re here for?” Bill asked after they had gone a short distance.
“I hardly see how he could,” Rogers told him. “Of course he probably
suspects that we’re hunting for something.”
“But if he does I shouldn’t think he’d want to bump us off till we find
it.”
“That’s so, too. I hadn’t thought of it in that way.”
“Seems to me more likely that in some way we’re treading on his toes if
you know what I mean.”
“You mean that he’s hunting for something and that we’re in his way?”
“Something like that.”
“Well, that may be it.”
By this time they had reached the top of the cliffs a little to the
right of the pathway along which they had reached the shore. The ground
here was very uneven and covered with rocks of all sizes interspersed
with clumps of low bushes with here and there a tuft of tall grass.
“Gee, but there are as many good hiding places along here as Carter has
liver pills,” Bill declared. “A fellow could keep out of sight of an
army easily enough.”
“That’s a lot,” Rogers laughed.
They walked or rather picked their way slowly along the edge keeping
both eyes and ears alert for the sight or sound of the man or men they
were hunting. But they finally reached the rift, where the rock had been
thrown the day before, without seeing or hearing anything at all
suspicious.
“Well, I reckon we’ve drawn a blank so far,” Bill whispered as they
stood close together on the edge of the rift.
“Looks very much that way,” Rogers agreed. “But, to tell the truth, I
didn’t really expect anything different.”
“And neither did I,” Bill agreed with a slight smile.
“Well, what’ll we do now? Go back keeping farther from the edge?”
“I suppose that’s the logical thing to do.”
“But you don’t think it’ll do any good, eh?”
“Frankly, I doubt it.”
“So do I, but we’ll try it. I don’t know of a better plan, so come on.”
Half an hour later they were back again at the point opposite the camp
and, as Bill put it, knew just as much as when they started.
“And no more,” Rogers smiled.
“But the discouraging part of it is that we may have passed within a few
feet of him and never knew it.”
“Like hunting for a needle in a hay stack,” Rogers declared.
“Well, we might’s well get back to camp and hold another council of
war.”
“I reckon.”
But when they arrived a few minutes later a surprise awaited them.
Gordon was nowhere in sight. Everything seemed in perfect order and
there was no sign that anything out of the ordinary had taken place
except that he had disappeared.
“Probably gone to the spring for water,” Rogers suggested.
“I’ll take a look,” Bill said and started on the run.
But he was back in a few minutes with word that the missing boy was not
there. “I’ll give him a call,” he said as he put his fingers to his lips
and sent forth a loud whistle. “That’ll get him if he’s within a half
mile,” he declared.
But the whistle brought no response, and for a moment the two looked at
each other without speaking. Then Bill broke the silence:
“Something’s happened and we’ve got to find out what. We must look for
signs.”
But a thorough search all about the camp revealed nothing. There was not