The Sasquatch Mystery

heard Opie Swisher’s nasal, tired shout: “Fred, run, son!” Soon he stumbled across the yard, croaking hoarsely, “Run, Fred!” After struggling so long up the mountain trail, Opie was exhausted. Ron stepped to the middle of the doorway at the same moment that Opie tried to enter. Opie simply raised his hands and gulped, “You got me. Now, how did you git ahead of me on that there trail?” He didn’t even fight when Ron used a piece of the rope to tie him up.
    No one answered him. The four girls left the cabin and stumbled toward the garden, knees trembling with relief and tiredness. Together they signaled, Bob, bob-white! Bob, bob-white!
    From the top of the trail came the answer, Bob, bob-white. Out of the forest came Knut, Brian, Mart, and Jim.
    “What did you do, fly up here?” Jim panted.
    “Deer trail,” Hallie answered briefly. “We have everything under control.”
    “We caught both Fred and Opie,” Trixie added.
    “Have they told you where Tank and Cap are?” Knut asked.
    By this time, Ron had joined the exhausted Bob-Whites. “Trixie figured that out on the way up. Come on to the mine, fellows, and we’ll set them free.”
    In a straggling row, they passed a neatly fenced-in stake with Tank’s name on it, Anders Anderson. Trixie did not know what she expected a gold mine to look like, but certainly nothing so ordinary as a slag heap, some old wheelbarrows, picks and shovels, and a handmade door set into the side of a very deep gully.
    Hallie and Knut were first to reach the door.
    “It’s locked!” Hallie yelled.
    “What did you expect, a welcome mat?” asked Knut.
    “How can we get in?” Di wailed.
    “I thought this might happen,” said Ron, “so I brought along Tank’s ax.” After much hacking, he was able to remove the hinges from the door frame. Mart and Brian opened the door from the hinge side and dragged it across dirt.
    “Tank!” Knut bellowed. “Are you in there?”
    For a long second, there was only silence.
    “Cap? Tank? Where are you?” Hallie screamed.
    “Back here, dad blame it!” came the feeble but testy answer. Sobbing hoarsely, Hallie snatched Mart’s flashlight and rushed into the cold, damp dark.
    The others followed more carefully. They found Tank sprawled on a folded tarp, with one ankle chained to the wall. Beside him was a pail of water, a burned-out lantern, and a skunk that thumped an angry warning on the rock floor.
    “Is that Mister or Loverly?” Knut asked as he , edged forward cautiously.
    The old miner shielded his eyes from the light and managed a w'eak chuckle. “It’s me Loverly.”
    Hallie knelt to hug Tank’s thin shoulders. “Tank, oh, Tank,” she crooned. “Are you all right? Where’s Cap?” While she patted and murmured, the others managed to set Tank free from his chain.
    “Does it hurt, sir?” asked Brian. “Will you be able to stand?”
    Tank held up wrinkled hands knotted with arthritis. “Let me see vhat ay can do.”
    Willing hands helped Tank to his feet. He wobbled toward the oblong of early morning light at the end of the tunnel, leaning heavily on Mart and Knut.
    Hallie carried Loverly and kept saying, “Where’s Cap? Where’s Cap? Isn’t anybody going to set Cap free?”
    Once outdoors, Tank shook free of supporting hands. Shivering, he wrapped long arms around his rib cage. “Ain’t been so cold since ay locked meself inside me own ice cave,” Tank admitted. He accepted the sweater Jim took off. “Now, vhat’s this yammerin’ about Cap? Vhy’d ya tank he vas vith me?”
    “Y-You mean, he isn’t?” Hallie stammered.

Safe at Last ● 20

    EVERYONE RUSHED back to the cabin to shout questions at the tied-up Swishers. The father and son simply stared back and kept their mouths shut. “We’re not tellin’ a thing,” Opie said sullenly. “All our plans are shot to ribbons, so why should you get anything? I was all set to kill me a bigfoot and get my name in the history books, and Fred here was going to find him some gold. We’d be rich and famous—whooey! It isn’t fair that nothing’s panned out for us.”
    “Let’s search the grounds,” Trixie urged. “They may have Cap chained someplace, too.” It didn’t take long to search the claim, the pump house, ice cave, and woodshed. There was no sign of Cap.
    “We have to go back to camp and start our search from there,” Trixie decided. “But what about the Swishers?”
    “Yust leave them to me!” Tank said grimly. The old miner