TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS
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Victor Appleton >> TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS
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"I don't believe those scoundrels will listen to reason,"
replied the diamond man, "but I agree with Mr. Damon that we
ought to go on. We may find some other means of reaching the
cave--if we can discover it, and we'll take a chance with the
men."
"Forward it is, then!" cried Tom. "I have a revolver, and I can
supply one of you gentlemen with another. They may come in useful
in an emergency. Let's go back to camp, take a little lunch in
our pockets, and try to scale the mountain."
They were soon on their way up the dizzy path once more, and,
as they advanced, they found it growing more and more dangerous.
In some places they found it almost impossible to get around
certain corners, where there was barely room for their feet. As
Tom remarked grimly, a fat man never could have done it.
Fortunately they were all comparatively thin, for their hard
work, and not too abundant food, since they had left the airship,
had reduced their weight.
Up and up they went, higher and higher, sometimes finding the
path wide enough for two to walk abreast, and again seeing it
narrow almost to a ribbon. They hardly dared look down into the
chasm at their left--a chasm filled, in part, with the rocks and
boulders tossed into it by the lightning bolt.
Tom was in the lead, and had just made a dangerous turn around
a shoulder of rock--one of those places where he had to extend
both arms, and fairly hug the cliff before he could get around.
But, when he had made it, and found himself on a broad pathway,
cut in the living rock, he gave a great shout--a shout that
caused his companions to hasten to his side. They found the young
inventor pointing to a clump of bushes and small trees.
But it was not the shrubbery that Tom desired to call to their
attention. They saw that in an instant, for, dimly seen through
the leaves, was something black, and, as they looked more
closely, they saw that it was a great hole in the side of the
mountain--a vast cavern, opening like a tunnel.
"The cave! The cave!" cried Tom. "The diamond makers' cave!"
Hardly had he spoken than two men, each one carrying a gun,
showed themselves in the mouth of the cavern, and, instant later
they both ran toward the little party of adventurers.
CHAPTER XVII--THE PHANTOM CAPTURED
Surprise held Tom and his friends almost spellbound for the
moment. The young inventor's hand went toward the pocket where he
carried his revolver. Mr. Jenks, who had the only other weapon,
sought to draw it, but he was stopped by a gesture of one of the
two men with guns.
"Hold on, strangers!" the man cried. "I know what you're up to!
Better not try to draw anything--it might not be healthy. Now,
then, who are you, and what do you want?"
The question came rather as a surprise, at least to Tom and Mr.
Jenks. They had taken it for granted that these men--if they were
the diamond makers--would know Mr. Jenks, and guess at his errand
in coming back to Phantom Mountain. But, it seemed, that they
took them all for casual strangers.
No one answered for a moment. Tom caught the eye of Mr. Jenks,
and there was a look of hope in it. If ever there was a time for
strategy, it was now. Evidently Munson, the stowaway on the
airship, had not yet been able to send a warning to his
confederates. And neither of the two men recognized Mr. Jenks as
the man who had been defrauded of his rights. It might be
possible to conceal the real object of the adventurers until they
had time to formulate a plan of action.
"Well," exclaimed the man with the gun, impatiently, "I ask you
folks a question. What do you want?"
Fortunately, neither Mr. Damon nor Mr. Parker replied. The
former because he deferred to Tom and Mr. Jenks, and the
scientist because he was busy inspecting some curious rocks he
picked up. As it turned out this was the luckiest thing he could
have done. It lent color to what Mr. Jenks said a moment later.
"What are you doing up here?" demanded the man again. "Don't
you know this is private property?"
"We--we were just looking around," answered Mr. Jenks, which
was true enough; as far as it went.
"Prospecting," added Tom.
"After gold?" demanded the second man, suspiciously.
"We'd be glad to find some," retorted the lad. At that moment
Mr. Parker began breaking off bits of rock with a small
geologist's hammer which he carried. The men with the guns looked
at him.
"So you think you'll find gold up here?" asked the one who had
first spoken.
"Is there any?" inquired Tom, trying to make his voice sound
eager.
"Nary a bit, strangers," was the answer, and the two men
laughed heartily. "Now, we don't want to seem harsh," went on the
man who seemed to be the spokesman, "but you'd better get away
from here. This is private ground, and dangerous too--how'd you
ever get up the trail--we heard it was destroyed."
"There is still a narrow path," said Mr. Jenks. "We came up
that--the lightning and landslide haven't left much of it,
though."
Mr. Parker looked quickly up from the rocks at which he was
tapping with his small hammer. "You have terrific lightning up
here," he said. "I am much interested in it, from a scientific
standpoint. I predict that some day the entire mountain will be
destroyed by a blast from the sky."
"I hope it won't be right away," spoke one of the men. "Now I
guess you folks had better be leaving while there's a path left
to go down by."
"Might I ask," broke in Mr. Parker, as calmly as though he was
lecturing to a class of students, "might I ask if you have
noticed any peculiar effect of the lightning up here on the
summit of the mountain? Does it fuse and melt rocks, so to
speak?"
"What's that?" cried the spokesman, with a sudden flash of
anger. The two men looked at each other.
"I wanted to know, merely for scientific reasons, whether the
lightning up here ever melted rocks?" repeated Mr. Jenks.
"Well, whether it's for scientific reasons or for any other,
I'm not going to answer you!" snapped the man. "It's none of your
affair what the lightning does up here. Now you'd all better
'vamoose'--clear out!"
"All right--we'll go," said Tom, quickly, at the same time
motioning to Mr. Jenks to agree with him. The eyes of the young
inventor were roving about. He saw what looked like a second
trail, leading down the mountain, from the far side of the cave.
He was convinced now that there was another way to get to it.
Possibly they might find it. At any rate nothing more could be
done now. They must go back, for the cavern was too well guarded
to attempt to enter it by force--at least just yet.
"Yes, we'll go back," assented Mr. Jenks.
Mr. Parker was tapping away at the rocks. He looked toward the
black mouth of the big cave. On what corresponded to the roof of
it, some distance back from the entrance, he saw a slender metal
rod sticking up into the air.
"May I ask if that's a lightning rod?" he inquired innocently.
"If it is, I should like to ask about its action in a mountain
that is so impregnated with iron ore.
"You may ask until you get tired!" cried the spokesman, again
showing unreasoning anger, "but you'll get no answer from us. Now
get away from here before we do something desperate. You're on
private ground and you're not wanted. Clear out while you have
the chance."
There was no help for it. Slowly our friends turned and began
to go down the dangerous trail. They were soon out of sight of
the two men who stood before the cave, with their guns ready, but
neither Tom nor any of his companions spoke for some time.
When they had rounded one of the most dangerous turns the young
inventor sat down to rest, an example followed by the others.
"Well," asked Tom, "do you think those are some of the diamond
makers, Mr. Jenks?"
"I certainly do, though I never saw those two men before. If I
could once get inside the cave, I could tell whether or not it
was the one where I was practically held a prisoner. But I'm sure
it is. I know some of the men used to go off every day with guns,
and not come back until night. I have no doubt they were on
guard, just as these two are. And, also, I think I heard them
speak of a second entrance to the cavern. The one we just saw may
not be the main one, through which I was taken."
"I believe we are on the right track," ventured Mr. Damon, "but
we will either have to go up there after dark, which will be
risky, on account of the narrow trail, or else we will have to
find some other path."
"The last would be better," spoke Tom.
"That rod of metal sticking up on top of the cave interested
me," said the scientist. "Did you hear anything of that when you
were here before, Mr. Jenks?"
"No. Probably that is only a lightning rod, or it may be a
staff for a signal flag. But what surprises me is that those men
didn't suspect that we were seeking to discover their secret.
They took us for ordinary prospectors."
"So much the better," remarked Tom. "We have a chance now of
getting inside that cave. But we will have to go back to camp,
and make other plans. And we must hurry, or it will be dark
before we get there."
They hastened their steps, pausing only briefly to eat some of
the lunch they had brought along, and to drink from a spring that
bubbled from the side of the mountain. It was getting dusk when
they got back to their tent. They found nothing disturbed.
"I wonder if we'll see that phantom again to-night?" ventured
Tom, as they were sitting about the campfire a little later.
"Probably not," remarked Mr. Jenks. "I don't believe the ghost
will venture down the dangerous trail after dark, and the gang
may think that the warning given us by the two men on guard at
the cave will be sufficient. But if we don't leave here by
to-morrow I think we will have another visit from the thing in
white."
It was about an hour after this when Tom was collecting some
wood in a pile nearer the fire, so as to have it ready to throw
on, in case there was any alarm in the night, that he happened to
look up toward the summit of the mountain. A slight noise, as of
loose stones rolling down, attracted his attention, and, at
first, he feared lest another landslide was beginning, but a
moment later he saw what caused it.
There, advancing down the steep and dangerous trail was the
figure in white--the phantom. Instantly a daring plan came into
Tom's head. Dropping the wood softly, he moved back out of the
glare of the fire.
"Mr. Jenks!" he called in a whisper.
The diamond man, who was behind the tent, came toward Tom.
"What is it?" he asked. Then, as he saw the ghostly visitor, he
added: "Oh--the phantom again! What's it up to?"
"The same thing," replied Tom, "but it won't do it long, if my
plan succeeds."
"What plan is that, Tom?"
"I'm going to try to capture that--that man--or whatever it is.
Will you help?"
"Surely!"
"Then let's work around behind it, while Mr. Damon and Mr.
Parker come up from in front. We'll solve this part of the
mystery, anyhow, if it's possible!"
The two other men were soon told of the plan. Meanwhile the
thing in white had advanced slowly, until within a few hundred
feet of the camp. They could see now that it was no shaft of
light, but some white body, shaped like a tall, thin man, draped
in a white garment. The long arms waved to and fro. There was no
semblance of a head.
"You and Mr. Parker go right toward it, slowly, Mr. Damon,"
advised Tom. "Mr. Jenks and I will make a circle, and get in
back. Then, if it's anything alive we'll have it."
The "ghost" continued to advance. Tom and the diamond man stole
off to one side, their buckskin moccasins making no sound. Mr.
Damon and the scientist went boldly forward.
This movement appeared to disconcert the spirit. It halted,
waved the arms with greater vigor than before, and seemed to
indicate to the adventurers that it was dangerous to advance. But
Mr. Damon and Mr. Parker kept on. They wanted to give Tom and Mr.
Jenks time enough to make the circuit.
Suddenly the stillness of the night was broken by a low
whistle. It was Tom's signal that he and Mr. Jenks were ready.
"Come on! Run!" cried Mr. Damon.
The scientist and the eccentric man leaped forward.
The "ghost" heard the whistle, and heard the spoken words. The
thing in white hesitated a moment, and then raised one arm. There
was a flash of lire, and a loud report.
"He's firing in the air!" cried Tom. "Come on, we have him
now!"
Undaunted by the display of firearms, Mr. Damon and Mr. Parker
kept on. They could hear Tom and Mr. Jenks running up in back of
the figure. The latter also heard this, and suddenly turned.
Caught between the two forces of our friends, the "ghost" was at
a loss what to do.
The next instant Tom, who had distanced Mr. Jenks, made a
flying tackle for the figure in white, and caught it around the
legs. Very substantial legs they were, too, Tom felt--the legs of
a man.
"Wow!" yelled the "ghost," as he went down in a heap, the
revolver falling from his hand.
"Come on!" cried Tom. "I have him!"
His friends rushed to his aid. There was a confused mass of
dark bodies, arms and legs mingled with something tall and thin,
all in white. Suddenly the moon came from behind a cloud and they
could see what they had captured--for captured the phantom was.
It proved to be a rather small man, who wore upon his shoulders
a framework of wood, over which some white cloth was draped. It
had fallen off him when Tom made that tackle.
"Well," remarked the young inventor, as he sat on the
struggling man's chest. "I guess we've got you."
"I rather guess you have, stranger," was the cool reply.
CHAPTER XVIII--BILL RENSHAW WILL HELP
They were all panting from the exertion of the run up the
mountain and the contest with the phantom--a phantom no longer--though,
truth to tell, the struggle was not nearly so fierce as
Tom had expected. He thought the "ghost" would put up a stiff
fight.
"Got any ropes to tie him with?" asked Mr. Damon, who was
helping Tom hold the man down.
"Ropes? You aren't going to tie me up are you, strangers?"
asked the captive.
"That's what we are!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks. "We've had trouble
enough in this matter, and if I've got one of the gang, perhaps I
can get some of the others, and have my rights. So tie him up,
Tom, and we'll take him to camp.
"Oh, you needn't go to all that trouble, strangers," went on
the man, calmly. "If one of you will get off my chest, and the
other gentleman ease up on my stomach a bit, I'll walk wherever
you want me, and not make any trouble. I haven't got a gun."
"Bless my gloves! But you're a cool one," commented Mr. Damon,
as he complied with the man's request, and got up from his
stomach. "But look out for him, Tom. He had a gun, for he fired
it in the air."
"He hasn't it now," answered the young inventor. "I knocked it
from his hand when I leaped for him."
"That's what you did," assented the man, as he got up, while
Tom kept a tight hold of him, as did Mr. Jenks. "What kind of a
grizzly bear hug do you call that, anyhow, that you gave me?"
"That was a football tackle," explained Tom.
"I allers heard that was a dangerous game!" remarked the former
phantom simply. "Well, now you've got me, what are you going to
do with me?"
"Take you where we can have a good look at you," replied Mr.
Jenks, as he kicked aside the wooden framework, and the sheet
which had made the "ghost" appear so tall. "So this is how you
worked it; eh?"
"Yep. That was the 'haunt' stranger. I made it myself, and it
worked all right until you folks come along. I rather suspicioned
from the first, when I played the trick over on 'tother side of
the mountain, that you wouldn't be so easy to fool as most
prospectors are."
"Oh, so you're the only ghost then?" asked Tom.
"I'm the only one."
By this time they had reached the camp. Tom threw some light
logs on the fire, which blazed up brightly. As the flames
illuminated the face of their captive, Mr. Jenks looked at him,
and cried out:
"Why it's Bill Renshaw!"
"That's me," admitted the man who had played the part of the
phantom, "and thunder-turtles! if it ain't Mr. Jenks who was once
in the diamond cave with us. Whatever happened to you? I never
heard. The others said you got tired and went away."
"They took me away--defrauded me of my rights!" declared Mr.
Jenks, bitterly. "But I'll get them back! To think of Bill
Renshaw playing the part of a ghost!"
"They made me do it," went on the man, somewhat dejectedly. "I
wanted to be at work in the cave, but they wouldn't let me."
"Is this man one of the diamond makers?" asked Tom, in great
surprise.
"He is--one of the helpers, though I don't believe he knows the
secret of making the gems," explained Mr. Jenks. "He was one of
the men in the cave when I was there before, and he and I struck
up quite a friendship; didn't we, Renshaw?"
"That's what, and there ain't no reason why we can't be friends
now; that is unless you hold a grudge against me for firing at
you. But I only shot in the air, to scare you away. Them's my
instructions. I'm supposed to be on guard, and scare away
strangers. I'm tired of the work, too, for I don't get my share,
and those other fellows, in the cave, get all the money from the
diamonds."
Tom Swift uttered an exclamation. A sudden plan had come to
him. Quickly he whispered to Mr. Jenks:
"Make a friend of this man if possible. He evidently is
dissatisfied. Offer him a sum to show us another way into the
cave, and we may yet discover the secret of the diamond makers."
"I will," declared Mr. Jenks, quietly. Then, turning to
Renshaw, he added:
"Bill, come over here. I want to have a talk with you. Perhaps
it will be to our mutual advantage."
He led the former phantom to one side, and for some time
conversed earnestly with him. Mr. Jenks told the story of how he
had been deceived by Folwell and the others who were at the head
of the gang of diamond makers. The rich man related how they had
taken his money, and, after promising to disclose the secret
process to him, had broken faith, and had drugged him, afterward
taking him out of the cave.
"I want only my rights, and that for which I paid," concluded
Mr. Jenks. "Now, I gather that these men haven't treated you
altogether fairly, Bill."
"Indeed they haven't. I helped 'em to the best of my ability,
and all I get out of it is to stay out on this lonely side of the
mountain, and play ghost. They owe me money, too, and they won't
pay me, either, though they have lots, for they sold some
diamonds lately."
"Then they are still making diamonds?" asked Mr. Jenks,
eagerly. "Have you seen them? Do you know the secret?"
"No, I don't know it, for they won't let me in on it. I'm
always sent out of the cave just before they make the gems. But I
know they've made some lately, and have sold 'em. I want my
share."
"Look here!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks, quickly, wishing to strike
while the iron was hot. "I'll make you a proposition. Show us how
to get into that cave, unknown to the diamond makers, and I'll
pay you twice what they agreed to. Is it a bargain?"
Bill Renshaw considered a moment. Then he thrust out his hand,
clasped that of Mr. Jenks, and exclaimed:
"It is. I'll take you into the cave by an entrance that's
seldom used. There are four ways to get in. The one where the two
men drove you back is the rear one. The front one is on the other
side of the mountain, but it's so well concealed that you'd never
find it. But I can take you to one where you can get in, and
those fellows will never know it. And, what's more, I'll help you
if it comes to a fight!"
"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks. "I think we'll discover the secret
of the diamond makers this time," and he went to tell the others
of the success of his talk. Bill Renshaw had been converted from
an enemy into a friend, and the former phantom was now ready to
lead Tom and the others into the secret cave.
"We'll start in the morning," decided Mr. Jenks, who, after
many disappointments, at last saw success ahead of him.
CHAPTER XIX--IN THE SECRET CAVE
Tom Swift was up at break of day, and the others were not far
behind him.
"Now for the secret cave!" cried the young inventor as he gazed
up the mountain, in the interior of which the mysterious band of
men were making the diamonds.
"Have you made any plans, Bill?" asked Mr. Jenks of the former
phantom, who had cast his lot in with the adventurers. "What will
be the best course for us to follow?"
"You just leave it to me, Mr. Jenks," was the answer. "I'll get
you into the cave, and those fellows, who, I believe, are trying
to do me out of my rights, as they did you out of yours, will
never know a thing about it."
"Bless my finger-nails!" cried Mr. Damon. "That will be great!"
We can get in the cave, and watch them make the diamonds at our
leisure."
"They don't make them every day," explained Renshaw. "It seems
they have to wait for certain occasions. Mostly they make the
diamonds when there's a big storm."
"A big storm" asked the scientist with a sudden show of
interest. "Do you mean one of those electrical storms, such as we
had the other night?"
"That's it, Mr. Parker, though why they wait until there's a
storm is more than I can tell."
"Perhaps they know that on such occasions no one will venture
up the mountain," spoke Mr. Damon.
"No, it isn't that," declared the scientist. "I think I am on
the track of a great scientific discovery, and I will soon be
able to make observations that will confirm it."
"Well, I'm going to make an observation right now," said Tom,
with a laugh. "I'm going to see what there is for breakfast."
"And that reminds me," came from Mr. Jenks, "shall we move our
camp, Bill, and take the tent with us to the cave?"
"I hardly think so," was the answer. "I think the best plan
would be to conceal the tent somewhere around here, in case you
might need it again. You can also store what food you have left."
"But, bless my appetite, we don't want to starve in that
diamond cave!" objected Mr. Damon.
"I'll see that you don't," declared Bill Renshaw. "I'll take
you in there, unbeknownst to those fellows, and I'll provide you
with plenty of food and water. You see the cave is so big that
there are some parts they never visit."
"And we can stay in one of those parts, and eat?" asked Tom.
"Sure," answered Bill.
"And watch the diamond makers at work?" asked Mr. Jenks.
"That's it," replied the former phantom.
"Then the sooner we get started the better," remarked Mr.
Damon. Mr. Parker said nothing. He appeared to be thinking
deeply, and was tapping at some rocks with his little hammer.
The advice of Bill Renshaw was followed, and the tent, and what
food remained, was concealed in the bushes, with rocks piled over
to keep away prowling animals. Then they started for the secret
cave.
The man who played the part of a ghost picked up the framework
and white cloth that had formed his disguise.
"I'll still have to use this," he explained, "for I don't want
those fellows to know that I'm helping you. I'll continue to play
the spirit of the mountain, but there won't be much need of it. I
don't think any more people will come prospecting out here."
"Have you heard of the arrival of Farley Munson?" asked Tom, as
he related the facts about the stowaway.
"He hadn't arrived up to a day or so ago," answered Bill. "I
guess he's still traveling. Farley is one of the heads of the
gang," he added, "and a dangerous man."
As Bill led the way toward the cave, taking a route that the
adventurers had never suspected led to it, he explained that the
cavern was a large one, capable of holding an army.
"But there's only a small part of it used by the diamond
makers," he added. "They work in a small recess, near the summit
of the mountain. The little cave, where I'm going to take you,
opens off from it by a long passage. And, except that you'll be
pretty much in the dark, you'll be quite comfortable. There are
tables, chairs, and some bunks in the place. I can get you some
lights, and plenty of food."
"But, if you are seen taking away food, won't the others
suspect something?" asked Tom.
"I do pretty much as I please," said Bill. "I go and come when
I like. All I'm supposed to do is to watch my two sides of the
mountain, play the ghost, and give warning when any one is
coming. Sometimes I leave black and white messages, like the one
I put on your tent. Those fellows fix 'em up for me. I've told
'em about you, though I didn't know who you were, and they think
you have gone, for the two men on guard at the rear entrance so
reported. Sometimes I stay out on the mountain for a couple of
days at a time, when the weather's good, and don't go back to the
cave. Those times I take food with me, and so if they see me
making off with some supplies they'll think I'm going to camp
out."
"It doesn't look as though we'd ever get into a cave near the
top of the mountain, going this way," said Tom, as they marched
along. "We're going down, instead of up."
"That's the secret of this trail," explained Bill. "We go down
in a sort of valley, and then go up a pretty stiff place, and
then we're on a direct trail to the entrance I told you about.
It's a steep road to climb, but I guess we can manage it."
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