"I can see them!" he shouted. "They've landed on the ledge, not ten feet down. They're under some bushes!"

"Get some ropes, quick!" cried Fenn. "We'll haul 'em up before the auto falls on 'em!"

"No danger of that," declared Bart. "They're off to one side. I'm afraid they're badly hurt, though."

"Somebody go for a doctor!" urged Fenn.

"I will," volunteered Jim Nelson, who had the reputation of being the laziest boy in the town of Darewell. Perhaps he was afraid of being asked to help haul the auto back from the perilous position.

"Telephone for 'em!" called Frank, knowing Jim's usual slowness, and realizing that the lazy youth would welcome this method of summoning the medical men.

"Tell 'em to come to my house," supplemented Fenn. "We will carry the man and girl there."

"Good idea," commented Frank. "You've got more room than any of these houses near here," for, in the immediate vicinity of the cliff there were only small cottages, and some of them were unoccupied.

"But how are we going to get 'em up?" asked Fenn.

By this time a large crowd had gathered. Some had brought ropes, and there were all sorts of suggestions as to how the rescue should be effected.

"I'll get them; or at least I'll go down and put a rope around them, so they can be hauled up," suddenly declared Frank. "I know how to reach that ledge. There's not much danger. Where's a rope?"

Several were soon produced, some neighboring clothes lines being confiscated. It seemed that all the crowd needed was some one to give orders. In a few minutes, with a rope tied around his waist Frank was being lowered over the cliff. Willing hands let him down until he was on the ledge. Then, having fastened the rope about the form of the unconscious young woman, padding it with his coat, so the strands would not cut her, he gave the signal to haul up. There was a cheer as the body was laid gently down on the gra.s.s at the top of the cliff, and some one called:

"She isn't dead! She's breathing!"

It was harder work for Frank to adjust the rope about the man's body, as he was very heavy, but the lad accomplished it, and the crowd above hauled the unfortunate automobilist up. Then Frank was raised from the ledge.

"Carry 'em to my house," cried Fenn. "The doctors will soon be there if Jim hasn't forgotten to telephone for 'em."

On stretchers, improvised from pieces of the fence, the bodies, of which that of the girl alone seemed to contain life, were carried to Fenn's house. The crowd followed but, at the door a constable named Darby, at Fenn's orders, refused admittance to all save the three chums, and those who had borne the stretchers.

"The doctors will need room to work," declared Fenn, when there were murmurs at what was his right, to exclude the mob from his home. "I'm glad mother's out," he said. "This would scare her into a fit."

"The doctors are coming," said Jim, who came into the house a moment later, after the man and young woman had been laid on beds where Fenn directed. "I telephoned to all in Darewell, but only three were home."

"That ought to be enough," declared Fenn. "I hope they can save their lives. There doesn't seem to be any evidences of injuries."

The medical men, under the direction of Dr. Fanwood, the eldest of the pract.i.tioners, made hasty examinations of the two victims of the accident.

"I think we'll have to operate on the man," declared Dr. Fanwood. "We'll need several things from my office. Who can go for them?" and he looked at Fenn, whom he had doctored ever since Fenn was a baby, on the few occasions when that healthy youth needed medicine.

"We'll go!" offered Frank, Bart and Ned at once.

"I guess we can use all three of you," decided Dr. Fanwood. "Dr. Kyte and Dr. Feldon will need things from their offices. Now I tell you what to do, just take our horses and carriages, which are tied out in front, and drive after the things. That will be quicker."

Then, the three physicians having given the chums a list of what they needed, proceeded to get ready for the operation. The girl was in a semiconscious condition, but a hasty examination showed that the worst she was suffering from was shock. She could be left alone for a time.

While the medical men were preparing to attend to the man, Constable Darby kept guard in front of the house, before which it seemed as if half the population of Darewell was gathered. Jim Nelson was sitting in the front hall, ready to go on an errand if needed, but, on the whole, rather hoping that he would not be required to run. The hasty telephoning had been quite a strain on his lazy nature. Fenn, at the suggestion of Dr.

Fanwood, remained in the room where the young lady was, to be at hand in case she recovered consciousness.

"My, things have happened suddenly," thought Fenn, as he looked at the silent form on the bed. "We were just wishing for something like our old adventures again. This seems to promise a good beginning."

The four boys, who, because of their intimate a.s.sociation, and from the fact that they lived in the town of that name, were known as "The Darewell Chums," had been through some lively times together, as has been related in the previous books of this series. In the first volume called "The Heroes of the School," I related how the four took part in a peculiar mystery, and solved it to their satisfaction, though, at one time, when they went up in a balloon, and were captured by the enemy, it looked rather dubious for them. The boys were wide-awake lads, full of energy and resources, and they managed to free themselves from a difficult situation.

Their home town was on the Still River, which flowed into Lake Erie, and Darewell was a few miles from that great body of water, on which they often enjoyed themselves rowing or sailing.

In the second volume of the series, "Ned Wilding's Disappearance," there was set down the story of what happened to Ned when he tried to do a little financial business on his own account. He went to New York, and there by some curious mis-chances, he had to hide, almost as if he had committed a crime. But, by the aid of his chums, and a poor lad whom they once befriended, Ned was rescued.

In the third volume, "Frank Roscoe's Secret," I told of a queer case of persecution. Frank and his chums went camping and Frank's manner, which had been not only strange but sometimes unaccountable, became still more curious and bewildering, for one of his good nature. His chums did not know what to make of him, and there was considerable worry on their part.

But it turned out that Frank was the one who had to worry, because of the danger to his father, whom he had always supposed was dead, but who turned out to be alive, though in captivity. How the boys discovered Frank's secret, and how they helped him to rescue his father was related in the book together with various other happenings during their encampment in the woods.

And now the Darewell Chums seemed to be in for another series of adventures, if Fenn was any judge. The young woman on the bed tossed and turned in the fever of a delirium. The lad became rather frightened, and was going to call one of the doctors, though he knew they must be very busy preparing for the operation.

Suddenly the young woman sat up straight in bed. Her light jacket, which had not been removed, bore many dirt-stains, where she had fallen upon the ledge. She struggled to get it off. Fenn started to help her, thinking one of her arms might be broken. Suddenly she exclaimed:

"The cave! Oh, the cave! It was hidden but I can see it now! And the men! See, there are the men, digging, digging, digging! I must stop them! They will take all--"

She fell back upon the pillows.

"What cave? Where is it? Can I help you?" asked Fenn eagerly.

"The cave! They are in it!" exclaimed the young woman again. "The mysterious cave! If I could only find it! I must find it--my father--his wealth--search for the cave--I--he--"

"Yes, yes," spoke Fenn, advancing to the side of the bed. "Perhaps I can help you find it!"

He hardly knew what he was saying, so great had been the strain of the accident, and so strangely did the words of the young lady affect him.

She opened her eyes, which had been closed when she was talking. A look of consciousness came over her face.

"Was I speaking?" she asked in different tones than that she had used before. "Did I say anything? What has happened? Where am I? Where is my father?"

"The automobile went over a cliff," explained Fenn. "You were hurt, and so was your father, but not badly, I hope. He is here. The doctors are with him."

"I must--Oh, let me go to him," and she arose from the bed. "What did I say just now?" she demanded suddenly. "I know I was unconscious, but I was saying something."

"It was about a cave," replied Fenn.

"Oh!" she exclaimed in such a voice that Fenn was alarmed. "I was afraid so! Why did I do it? Forget it, please! Forget that I ever mentioned it!

I don't know--"

She seemed about to say something more, but her face suddenly became pale, and she fell back on the pillows.

"Doctor!" cried Fenn, very much frightened.

"Ah, I'm just in time, I see," remarked Dr. Kyte, coming into the room at that moment. "I'll attend to her now, Fenn. She has only fainted."