Hal Kenyon Disappears

by Gordon Stuart

Hal spent some time gazing out through this opening. At first he looked for the approach of rescuers, but as time grew into more than an hour and nobody appeared, he continued to gaze because it was more pleasant to do so than to rest his eyes on the darkness of the cave.

Once only he yielded to an impulse to make an exploration of his prison. This he did because he had become extremely tired of standing in one position so long. Indeed, he was almost ready to pitch over into the falling water when he finally dropped to his hands and knees and began to feel about him.

The floor of the cave was fairly smooth, but so damp that his trousers and underclothing became wet to the skin at the knees in a short time. This, however, did not bother him, and he continued his exploration for several feet back.

Satisfied with this he arose to his feet and went through a few simple calisthenic exercises that he had learned at Lakefarm. This warmed him up and he returned to the edge of the cave. He would have been glad to lie down and sleep until morning, but the uncomfortable dampness of the floor and the fear of catching a bad cold caused him to remain erect.

How much longer he continued to stand and look out, principally at a handful of stars, he did not know. It was a monotonous occupation, and he found it wise to stand back several feet for fear lest, in a moment of dizziness or drowsiness, he lose his balance and pitch forward and down with the falling water. Suddenly, however, he became very wide awake and attentive, for several lights were approaching some distance down stream on the right shore.

Apparently they were lanterns. At once Hal surmised correctly who carried them and was certain that they were coming to his rescue. Probably Frank was with them, he further reasoned.

But when he saw the lights separate, two coming upstream and two going down, he was puzzled. What could this mean? Why did they not ford the river at once and come up on the other side? Here was the only place to help him out of his prison.

He could see the lights of Dr. Byrd and Mr. Porter until they approached close to the cataract, when the falling water shut off his view of them. They remained out of his sight, however, for presently they walked down stream again, stopping near the rapids. The light of their lanterns made their forms fairly distinct.

Presently Hal saw the other two men from down stream rejoin them. He looked closely for a fifth member of the party, a boy, but was disappointed. As he observed the four now engaged in a seemingly puzzled discussion, the waterfall prisoner decided that it was time for him to do something to attract attention. Was it possible that they did not know where he was? The idea seemed ridiculous; and yet what other explanation of their manner and actions could be given?

So he let out a lusty scream, and then watched for its effect. Apparently it had none, so he gave another and another. The men continued their discussion, paying no attention to his cries. Hal guessed that the sound of his voice was drowned in the noise of the waterfall. This conclusion threw him into despair. All sorts of direful forebodings now crowded his brain. Maybe Frank was drowned after all, and the searching party was looking for both of them. If this was true, they would drag Frank’s body from the river, while he, Hal, would be left to starve to death behind the cataract because he was unable to make his presence known.