The small student was still in a highly nervous state and the others did all they could to quiet him. He remembered being tied to the trolley track and running away, but could not tell how he had reached the cavern or how long he had remained there.
"I guess I was plumb crazy," he declared. "I thought sure the trolley car was going to run over me!"
At last the others managed to get him to his feet. But he was too weak to walk more than a few steps at a time.
"I—I can't do it," he gasped. "Oh, how will I ever get back to the Hall?"
"Let us take turns at carrying him," suggested Dave. "Frank, you can hold on to my back, can't you?"
The small student said he would try, and putting out the fire the whole party quitted the cavern, the hurt lad on Dave's back. It was quite a load for Dave to master, but he managed it for several hundred yards, when each of the others took a turn. Thus, after hard work, they got Frank to the roadway.
A loud yelling brought some other boys and Andrew Dale to the scene. One of the boys had his wheel and, riding on this, he went back to the academy and had Jackson Lemond come for Frank with a carriage. Then a pistol was fired off three times,—this being the signal showing that the missing one was found. Soon pupils and teachers came trooping back to Oak Hall, all anxious to listen to Frank's story.
As soon as he arrived at the Hall, the small student was taken to a private bedroom and a doctor was sent for to attend him. In the meantime he was given something hot to drink and rolled in blankets, that he might not take cold. Not until that evening did Dr. Clay attempt to get the details of his story from the sufferer.
When the physician arrived he said that Frank's hurts were not of a serious nature. "He has been more frightened than anything else," said the doctor. "He must be kept very quiet for at least a week, and after that, Dr. Clay, you had better let him go slowly with his studies for a month or so."
"I'll do it," answered the master of Oak Hall.