A Cousin's Conspiracy Part 29

"It may be a good plan. Who is the farmer?"

"His name is Ezekiel Mason."

"I know where he lives. He is the last man I should suppose would be capable of such mischief."

"He could have done nothing without the Quaker's help."

"Very well, we will take the farm on the way. Still I don't know that we shall learn anything beyond what we already know."

Before leaving the cave they disguised themselves as farm workmen. In this dress they approached the farmhouse, but there was something that diverted them from their original purpose and led them to keep their distance.

Sitting on the portico was a tall man dressed as a Quaker.

"That's the man!" said Hugh quickly. "That's the man who drove up to the jail last evening with your brother."

James Fox looked at him closely.

"It is best to let sleeping dogs lie," he said. "We will push on to the jail."

CHAPTER XIX

LIVING WITH THIEVES

Meanwhile Ernest was left in the cave with Frank. He had been brought in blindfolded and was therefore ignorant as to the entrance or exit. He thought he might, without arousing the boy's suspicion, seek information from him on these points.

"Are there many rooms here, Frank?" he asked.

"Oh, a good many," answered the boy.

"Have you been in many?"

"I have been around with papa."

"I should like to go around," said Ernest. "Suppose we take a little walk."

The boy was quite ready to accept any suggestion from Ernest. So he took his hand and they went from the main room farther into the cavern.

Ernest found that only the portion near the entrance had been furnished.

Beyond there was a large amount of empty s.p.a.ce. Here and there a small light revealed trunks and boxes arranged without regard to regularity.

These, Ernest conjectured, contained stolen articles which had acc.u.mulated during the years in which the dreaded outlaws had been a power and a menace in the neighborhood.

It occurred to him that he would like to open some of these boxes, but the companionship of the boy prevented.

He ventured to ask, however: "What is in those boxes, Frank?"

"I don't know. Something of papa's and Uncle John's."

As they kept on they reached parts of the cavern which were quite empty.

The Fox brothers were in the position of householders who occupied a house too large for their needs.

By and by the lamps ceased and the portion farther on looked dark and gloomy.

"I am afraid to go any farther, Ernest."

"Why, Frank? What are you afraid of?"

"There may be wild animals there."

"But how could they live there?"

"I don't know, but papa told me there were some."

Ernest understood why the boy had been told this. It was to prevent his going too far. But it made Ernest all the more eager to continue his explorations.

"Even if there were any wild animals I would protect you, Frank."

"But we may not find our way back. It is so dark," said the child with a shudder.

"I won't go farther. But, see, it seems to be lighter."

At a point fifty feet farther on, through a rift in the roof, a gleam of light entered the cavern.

Ernest was anxious to trace this, for, as he judged, it came from some outlet, through which he might possibly obtain deliverance.

"Stay where you are," he said. "I will just go forward and see what I can."

"Don't stay long," entreated Frank nervously.

"No, I won't."

Ernest was just as well pleased to go forward alone, for if there were really, as he supposed, an outlet, it was as well that Frank should not have his attention drawn to it, lest he should speak of it to his father and so reveal the fact of their explorations. This might excite the suspicion of James Fox and put a stop to their further walks.

Continuing on alone, Ernest then saw, perhaps fifteen feet above him, an opening some three feet in diameter, through which he could obtain a glimpse of the clear sky above.

It made his heart beat with exultation and longing. There was freedom if he could only manage somehow to lift himself up to the outlet and make his way through it.

"What is it, Ernest?" asked Frank.

"Oh, it is nothing," answered Ernest with studied indifference. "It isn't anything you would care to see."

The little boy accepted this a.s.surance, for he did not feel the interest that excited Ernest.

"Let us go back," he said, as he resumed his clasp of Ernest's hand.

"Yes, we will go back. Have you ever been as far as this before?"