“With pleasure!” Nick responded, grinning. “But at present they seem to be perfectly comfortable. Hey, gents?”
The one called Sam looked up dubiously. “Well, I got a pack of cards an’ if yore so inclined, we might—”
Neither Teddy nor Roy heard the rest, for they, followed by Gus and Bug Eye, were running along the trail. Ahead of them they made out a dark splotch against the stone walls. As they came closer they saw that it was an entrance to a cavern.
“The Caves!” Teddy yelled, careless of consequences. “Belle! Ethel! Are you there? Belle!”
“Teddy!”
A figure ran from the opening of the cavern and toward him. The next moment it had cast itself into his arms.
“Oh, Teddy! Roy! We thought you’d never come! Three days we were kept in there! Three days!” Belle was sobbing openly now, catching at Roy and Teddy by turns and kissing them. But in a moment she regained something of her composure, and called:
“Nell! Ethel! Come out! It’s all right! The boys are here! They’ve found us!”
Then on that moonlit ledge was one of the strangest and happiest scenes in which the boys had ever taken part. Bug Eye cheered and Gus chuckled in that inimitable way of his, while the rest took turns congratulating each other. Especially did Nell and Ethel pay outrageous tribute to Roy and Teddy, insisting that they were:
“Oh, so much better than those old knights who rescued ladies from dungeons! And would they consent to sign their names in this little book, please?”