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The Secret of the Caves

the beach. I got to drinking last night and I wandered out of the cave and fell down."

"I'm glad you've decided to be sensible," observed Frank. "We'll go to the cave and get our food when we come back. We didn't know you had a cave."

"I came here just a little while before you boys came."

"Did you bring your trunk?" asked Frank, with a grin. "Anything in your cave you'd like to take back to jail with you?"

Schaum shook his head.

"No," he answered shortly. "Just a pair of blankets. You can have 'em."

"They'll give you blankets in jail."

The boys soon reached their own cave. There was no sign of Chet and Biff, and they realized that the fishers might be far off down the shore by now, so they decided to take Carl Schaum out to the road themselves.

They clambered up the trail through the ravine until they reached the top of the cliff, and then they made their way over the rocks and down the hillside back to the fisherman's cottage. The fisherman was at home, and when he saw the little procession coming down the path he rushed out, anxious to learn what had happened. He was greatly excited when he saw that the villainous-looking Carl Schaum was bound.

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