The Mystery at Bob-White Cave

whole thing and work fast, before they get back. It was right over in this stream that Trix found the fish we do have.”
    Mart went down on his haunches and beamed his head lamp into the shallow water.
    Trixie peered into the water, got up, went farther along the spring, and crouched again. “That’s strange,” she said. “I can see shadows on the bed of the stream, but I can’t see anything in the water, can you?”
    “They’re the shadows of crayfish,” Brian said. “They’re transparent, like the one you have in the bucket. Though you can see right through them, the light doesn’t go through very well, so a shadow is left. There aren’t any fish here. Let’s look farther along the stream.”
    Carefully they made their way around the hard flowstone, across wet clay, and over slippery rocks.
    “It’s the blackest black in this cave that I ever saw in my life,” Honey said.
    Mart laughed. “You can’t see blackness.”
    “I wonder. Let’s put out our lamps and find out how dark it would be.”
    “Not now!” Trixie said quickly. “Not when we’re trying to find the fish!”
    “Just for a little while,” Honey said. “The rest of us would like to try it. That is, I think so. Wouldn’t you?”
    “We’ll never have a better chance,” Brian said. “You can imagine you’re a ghost fish, Trixie, and tell us where a bunch of spelunkers could find you.”
    Trixie laughed good-naturedly and put out her carbide lamp.
    One by one, the others did the same.
    The darkness was unbelievable. Not a person could see an inch in front of his face. It was eerie—and also frightening.
    “Are we all here?” Honey asked breathlessly.
    They laughed aloud to reassure themselves.
    “Let’s join hands,” Linnie suggested. “Then we won’t be so scared.”
    “Who’s scared?” Mart asked, but he grasped Linnie’s hand and held it hard. His voice echoed and reechoed in the vaulted room.
    Somewhere there was a rustling noise, as though a large animal had moved.
    The drip-drip of the stalactites boomed as drops fell to waiting pools.
    A fragment of limestone broke from the ceiling and dropped with what seemed a deafening crash.
    A strange, weird sound came from inside the wall, a scratching sound, then a low moan!
    “Was that someone groaning?” Trixie asked with a trembling voice.
    A muffled sound answered her, unintelligible but unmistakably human.
    “There’s someone besides us in this cave!” Trixie cried and turned on her flashlight.
    Other flashlights clicked, illuminating faintly the expanse of wall across the stream.
    A deep, low moan came again, then the words “Get me out!”
    “Hold it!” Jim answered. “We hear you.”
    Hurriedly the Bob-Whites lit their carbide lamps and gathered at the opening from which the voice came.
    Trixie, more daring, her light leading her, crawled ahead into the tunnel. Not far from the opening, the passage narrowed sharply, and just ahead of her she saw blue-jeaned legs and the soles of shoes.
    “Can you hold on a minute?” she asked.
    “Get me out!” the voice cried.
    Trixie backed. “There’s a man stuck in there,” she said. “Jim, you’re the strongest. He’ll have to be pulled out.”
    So Jim crawled in and tugged. The walls of the tunnel were slimy and wet. Jim pulled and pulled. Brian and Mart pulled at Jim’s feet.
    “He’s easing out!” Jim cried. “Don’t jerk my legs off. He’s sliding on the wet clay. Get out of the way, Brian, Mart. Here we come!”
    The boys inched back through the opening. Then Jim came out, covered with slimy yellow clay.
    Then Slim!
    The Bob-Whites’ former guide was a sorry sight. His hands and face were masked over with clay through which blood oozed from raw scratches. He sat on the floor, gasping yet snarling, in spite of near exhaustion and suffocation.
    “Wait till he gets his breath,” Trixie said. “Then we’ll soon find out what he’s doing in Bob-White Cave.”
    Slim muttered angrily.
    “And why he broke all the beautiful stalactites,” Honey added indignantly.
    “Let’s give him a drink of water before we ask him anything,” Trixie said. She opened her canteen and held it to him.
    Slim slapped it to the ground. “Don’t do me no favors!” he said. “Let me out of here!”
    “That’s enough of that!” Brian said disgustedly. “You’re nothing but a stupid bully. You must have gone crazy to do all the damage you did around here.”
    “Yeah,” Slim agreed slyly, “yeah...