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The Secret of the Caves

"Perhaps somebody just put up the sign for a joke. Let's take a peep inside."

Frank advanced toward the cave.

But at the entrance he paused. He peered into the gloomy beyond and then turned back to his companions.

"The sign isn't a joke," he said quietly. "Somebody lives here!"

"Lives there!" ejaculated Chet incredulously.

"Come and see for yourself."

Curiously, the lads crowded into the entrance of the cave. They saw at a glance that Frank was right. In the gloomy interior of the cave they could see a crude table, a mattress with blankets, and on a ledge of rock was an improvised cupboard consisting of an old soap box. That the cave had only been recently tenanted they saw by the fact that the box held some canned goods and some other provisions that had certainly not been there long.

"Well, I'll be switched!" declared Joe. "We have a neighbor."

"We certainly have. And if I'm not mistaken, here he comes now."

Frank was looking down the beach. The others turned.

"What a queer duck he is!" exclaimed Biff.

"I'll say he is!" ejaculated Chet Morton. "Where do they get 'em like that?"

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