Frank Merriwell's Alarm Part 17

Then the boys below witnessed a terrific struggle on the heights above them.

The man seemed mad with a desire to plunge the knife into Frank, and it was plain that Merriwell did not wish to harm the unknown, but was trying to disarm him.

"What folly! what folly!" panted Diamond. "He'll get his hand free and stab Merry sure! Beat him down, Frank--beat him down!"

Once Frank slipped and fell to his knees. A fierce yell of triumph broke from the man, and it seemed that he would succeed in using the knife at last.

With a groan of anguish Diamond covered his eyes that he might not witness the death of the friend he loved. For Jack Diamond did love Frank Merriwell, for all that he had complained against him of late.

A cry of relief from Rattleton caused Jack to look up again, and he saw Frank had regained his feet and was continuing the battle.

And now the man fought with a fury that was nerve thrilling to witness. His movements were swift and savage, and he tried again and again to draw the knife across Frank's throat.

Jack and Harry scarcely breathed until, with a display of strength and skill, Frank disarmed his a.s.sailant by giving his arm a wrench, causing the knife to fly through the air and fall over the edge of the cliff.

Down to the ground below rattled the knife, and then Diamond said:

"Now Frank will be able to handle the fellow!"

But, flinging his arms about the boy, the man made a mad effort to spring over the brink. For some seconds, locked thus in each other's arms, man and boy tottered on the very verge, and then they swayed back.

Frank broke the hold of the man, striking him a heavy blow a second later. The man reeled and dropped on the edge of the precipice. He scrambled up hastily, but a great slice of rock cleaved off beneath his feet and went plunging downward.

Then the watching boys saw the unknown tottering on the brink, wildly waving his arms in an endeavor to regain his balance. Frank sprang forward to aid him.

Too late!

With a wild scream of despair, the strange man toppled over and whirled downward to his death.

Frank climbed down.

"It's all up with him, poor fellow," said he, as he stood near the body of the unknown man, looking down at the face that was white and calm and peaceful in death.

"Who is he?" asked Harry.

"What is he?" asked Jack.

"I am afraid those questions cannot be answered," confessed Frank.

"That he was a raving maniac I am sure, and he lived in a remarkable cave close at hand; but who he is or how he came to be there in that cave I do not know."

"Well, how you came to be up there with him running you down to stick a knife in you is what I want to know," said Harry.

"That's right," Jack nodded. "Explain it, old man."

Then Frank told them how, after the moon rose the night before, he had taken his wheel with the intention of riding around the camp, feeling he could keep watch as well that way as any. After the moon was well up, he saw there was no one anywhere about, and a desire to revisit the spot where they had seen the skeleton seized upon him. He rode to the spot, but there was no skeleton in the niche among the rocks.

Leaving his bicycle, he climbed up there to examine once more, and to his astonishment, found that what seemed to be a solid, immovable stone had turned in some manner, disclosing an opening.

Then, with reckless curiosity, Frank resolved to investigate further, and he descended into the opening, found some stone steps, and was soon in a cavern. The first thing he discovered was the skeleton, still decorated as the boys had seen it in the first place, and he remained there till he found how it could be placed in view on the block of stone and then removed in a twinkling. He also found a lamp with a strong reflector, which had thrown its light on the skeleton from a hole in the rocks. There was another opening near that, where a person in the cave could look out on the desert, and Frank knew the ghostly voice they had heard must have come from that place.

Merriwell continued his investigations, having lighted the lamp, by the light of which he wandered through the cave. Suddenly he came face to face with an old man, who seemed surprised, but spoke quietly to him.

The old man declared he was "Prof. Morris Fillmore," but did not say what he was professor of, and he volunteered to explain everything to the boy.

This he did, telling how he worked the skeleton to frighten away those who might molest him in his solitude, as he wished to be alone. There was another entrance to the cave, and, in a large, airy chamber a horse was kept. The horse was coal black, but on one side of him was drawn the outlines of the skeleton frame of a horse, and the strange old man explained that he had a suit of clothes on one side of which he had traced the skeleton of a human being. This had been done with phosphorus, and it glowed with a white light in the darkness.

The old hermit had entered the pocket and ridden near the camp of the Indians. When he turned about the skeleton tracings in phosphorus could not be seen, and so the ghostly horse and rider seemed to disappear in a most marvelous manner.

Frank questioned him concerning the treasure, and the old man seemed to grow excited and suspicious. He said something about the treasure being the property of some one who had fled from the destroying angels of the Mormons in the old days, but had perished in the desert. Frank was led to believe that the skeleton was that of the original owner of the treasure.

But when the boy would have left the cave the stranger told him he could not do so. He informed Frank that he could never go out again, and then it was that the boy became sure Fillmore was crazy.

As the man was armed, Frank decided to use strategy. First he sought to lull the man's suspicions, and after being watched closely for hours he found a chance to slip away.

Almost immediately the man discovered what had happened and pursued.

By chance Frank fled out through a pa.s.sage that led upward till the top of the bluff was reached, but he fell and sprained his ankle, so he was unable to get away. The hermit followed, and the mad battle for life took place.

"Well, this is amazing!" gasped Jack. "What are you going to do with that treasure?"

"Take it to some place for safe deposit and advertise for the legal heirs of Prof. Millard Fillmore."

"And if no heirs appear----"

"The treasure will belong to us."

"Hurrah!"

CHAPTER IX.

A NIGHT ADVENTURE.

Frank's plan was carried out. All the treasure was removed from the cavern in which the mysterious old hermit was buried. The hermit's horse was set free, and the boys carried the treasure to Ullin, Nevada, where it was shipped to Carson and deposited in a bank there.

"If it is not claimed in a year's time, boys," said Frank, "we will go about the work of having it evenly divided among us. In that case we will have made a good thing out of this trip across the continent."

Nothing more was seen of the Indians, and the boys continued on their trip until Carson City was reached.

One evening Frank was strolling along alone when a shrill, piercing cry of pain, ending abruptly, cut the still evening air.

"h.e.l.lo!" muttered Frank, as he paused to listen. "Something is wrong with the person who gave that call."

He listened. In a moment the cry was repeated, and this time it ended with a distinct appeal for help.

Frank was unarmed, but he was aroused by the thought that a fellow being was in distress, and he ran quickly to a dark corner, from beyond which the cry had seemed to come.