Frank Roscoe's Secret Part 32

"It's against the rules for any of the patients to have a light in their rooms after nine o'clock," remarked Frank. "I wonder what that means?"

"Perhaps your father placed it there for a signal," suggested Fenn.

"I'm going to see!" exclaimed Frank.

Silently the boys raised the ladder to the cas.e.m.e.nt. It was a little too short, but a person stepping from the window and hanging on the sill with both hands could just reach the topmost rung. Frank went up. He threw the signal stones at the gla.s.s. They rattled like hail. The next instant the sash went up. A head was stuck out.

"Is that you, Frank?" a voice whispered.

"Yes, father! Can you come down?"

"Right away. Is everything safe?"

"Everything. Be careful, you will have to make a long step."

"I can do it. I have done more difficult things than this on my travels."

Frank's heart beat high with hope, for he knew from the sound of his father's voice that the prisoner was sane.

Cautiously Mr. Roscoe crawled from the window. He hung by his hands until his feet touched the top rung of the ladder. Then, with Frank preceding him, he went down and was soon on the ground.

"These are my chums, father," said Frank.

"I can't tell how I thank you for getting me from that terrible place,"

said Mr. Roscoe. "But we must hurry away. The guard will make his rounds soon, and if he sees my room empty the alarm will be given."

"Come, boys," exclaimed Bart. "Hide the ladder."

They carried it through the rain back to the ditch and placed it away.

Then Frank and Bart led Mr. Roscoe through the woods to the foot of the cliff where the boat was fastened. Ned and Fenn took their positions under the tree-shelter to wait for morning, when they could start back for camp.

"All aboard!" called Frank, as he helped Mr. Roscoe into the canoe.

At that instant the bell of the inst.i.tution began to ring.

"What's that?" cried Frank.

"The alarm!" exclaimed Mr. Roscoe. "They have discovered my escape."

"Paddle! Paddle!" cried Frank, dipping his blade into the water.

CHAPTER XXIX

THE CURE--CONCLUSION

The canoe, loaded down as it was, answered to the strokes of the st.u.r.dy arms of the boys. It shot forward, breasting the current, and was soon well away from the cliff.

"They'll never catch us now," Frank said. "They'll not think of looking toward the river. We're safe."

And so it would seem, for they heard no sound of pursuit. Afterwards Ned and Frank told their chums that the guards scoured the woods, but did not come upon those in hiding, nor did they find the ladder. It was well that the donkey had been taken back to camp.

Through the storm and the darkness the two boys paddled. It was hard work, but they gritted their teeth and would not give up. The rain had made the river, below the falls, higher, and the current was swift. They carried the boat around the cataract and led Mr. Roscoe through the woods. Frank offered his father food, but the rescued man said he had eaten at the sanitarium a little while before.

"I was afraid you would never find me after they changed my room," he said.

Frank told his father about the man in twenty-seven.

"He was a good friend of mine," Mr. Roscoe said. "A harmless man, though his mind was gone."

They reached the camp about two o'clock in the morning. In a little while Frank had several lanterns lighted and was starting a fire in the portable stove. The donkey was still under the canvas shelter, and Frank, going for some wood, saw the stone still tied to the tail of the beast.

"I guess you'll not bray now," he remarked as he cut the rope. The next instant the animal lifted up its tail and sent forth a loud note. It seemed as though he had been saving it up for many hours. The woods rang with it.

Immediately after it, and before the echoes had ceased reverberating, there came a cry of terror from the tent where Mr. Roscoe was with Bart.

Frank recognized his father's voice.

"Save me! Save me!" cried the unfortunate man. "The cannibals are coming!

They will kill me! Take me away! Hide me!"

Frank sprang toward the tent. Looking in he saw his father crouched under one of the cots, with Bart standing, badly frightened in a far corner. In the eyes of Mr. Roscoe was the gleam of insanity.

"Father! Father!" cried Frank in great anguish. "Don't you know me? I'm your son! I rescued you from the sanitarium!"

"I have no son! I am all alone in the world! I don't know you!" and the poor man tried to crawl further under the cot.

"Oh, what shall I do?" cried Frank.

Outside the rain came down harder than ever and the wind swayed the frail tent. Once more the donkey brayed.

"There they are! There they are!" cried Mr. Roscoe. "They are going to kill me!"

It was the cry of the beast that had sent his frail mind once more into the channel of insanity.

"Oh, what are we to do?" cried Frank again. "Perhaps he is really insane and I have made a mistake in taking him out of that inst.i.tution."

"It wasn't your fault," declared Bart "Any one would have done the same.

Perhaps it will pa.s.s over. He isn't violent."

Though they were much frightened, the two boys tried to coax Mr. Roscoe out from under the cot, but he would not come. At Frank's suggestion, Bart again tied the stone to the donkey's tail, to prevent the braying.

Then they sat and waited for daylight and the arrival of their chums. The hours were long and full of terror. They did not know what to do. They could only wait for morning, and when that came they did not know that they would be any better off.

The rain stopped. Then a pale light began to diffuse among the trees.

It grew stronger. Mr. Roscoe was quieter now, and came from under the cot. Frank persuaded him to lie down, and in a little while his father was asleep.

An hour later Fenn and Ned came in.