The Great Brain

by John D. Fitzgerald

  “I am going to organize a posse to search for the Jensen boys,” he told Papa with a worried look on his deeply tanned face.

  Tom laid aside The world Almanac which he had been reading. “I can give you a clue, Uncle Mark,” he said. “Allan had a candle sticking out of his hip pocket when we met him and Frank this afternoon. They told us they were going exploring.”

  “I was afraid of that,” Uncle Mark said. “The boys were last seen near Skeleton Cave.”

  I couldn’t blame Uncle Mark for being worried. The first thing every kid in Adenville had to promise when he went exploring was not to go near Skeleton Cave. It was a mammoth cave that had never been explored. Papa had told us the cave apparently had several levels, with passages and labyrinths extending for miles. The only part of the cave that had been explored was the big entrance chamber and a passageway leading to a smaller chamber. In the smaller chamber there were fantastic limestone and stalactite formations. Passages led off from the smaller chamber in two directions.

  It was called Skeleton Cave because two skeletons had been found inside the smaller chamber.

  Papa put on his hat and coat and left with Uncle Mark. Mamma came home a few minutes later. She made us boys go straight to bed. I was so frightened I didn’t think I could fall asleep. When I did, I had a nightmare about Tom and me being lost in the cave.

  When Tom, Sweyn, and I entered the kitchen for breakfast the next morning, I could tell from Mamma’s eyes that she had been crying. Papa looked as if he had been up all night.

  “Did they find them?” Sweyn asked as we sat down at the big kitchen table.

  Papa shook his head as he helped himself to some fried eggs and bacon from the big platter on the table. “There isn’t any doubt the boys are lost in the cave,” he said.

  Tom, Sweyn, and I ate as fast as Mamma would let us. Then she made us remain at the table until Papa was through eating. We ran all the way to Cedar Ridge where the entrance to Skeleton Cave was located. It looked as if the whole population of Adenville was on Cedar Ridge, standing around in large and small groups. We arrived just as Uncle Mark drove up with Mr. Harmon of the Z.C.M.I. store sitting beside him on the wagon seat. I could see six big bales of half-inch rope and a dozen lanterns in the wagon. Uncle Mark drove the team right up to the entrance to Skeleton Cave.

  “What are they going to do?” I asked with a feeling of awe.

  “The rope is so the search party can find their way back out of the cave,” Tom explained. “And they will need the lanterns for light. Let’s go someplace where we can see into the big chamber of the cave.”

  Sweyn and I followed Tom to a big boulder. Sweyn boosted me and Tom up first. Then Tom lay on his belly with me sitting on his legs to hold him while he helped Sweyn up. From the top of the boulder we could see right into the big entrance chamber of the cave.

  Uncle Mark, Mr. Harmon, Mr. Jensen, and half a dozen other men quickly unloaded the wagon. Then Uncle Mark took one end of a bale of rope and tied it securely to a big boulder in the entrance chamber. Then with several men helping him Uncle Mark began unwinding the bale of rope and coiling the rope carefully, When they finished with the first bale, Uncle Mark tied the end of it to the beginning of the next bale, and they began unwinding that bale with Uncle Mark coiling the rope carefully. They kept doing this until all six bales of rope had been spliced together and they had one continuous piece of rope.

  “Those are five-hundred-foot bales of rope,” Tom said. “That means the searching party can enter into the cave for a distance of three thousand feet.”

  We watched as Uncle Mark took one end of the spliced rope and tied it around his waist. Then he picked up a lantern and lighted it. We saw him motion to Mr. Jensen and several other men to pick up lanterns and light them. Then with Uncle Mark in the lead and with Mr. Jensen and five other men each carrying a lighted lantern and holding on to the rope, they all disappeared into the passageway leading to the smaller chamber in the cave.

  I lay on my stomach on the big boulder and watched with a feeling of horror as the spliced coil of rope began to slowly unwind. Deeper and deeper into the cave the search party went as the rope continued to uncoil. And finally the end of the rope tied to the boulder by Uncle Mark became taut.

  “That is as far as they can go,” Sweyn said.

  “They will have to get more rope,” Tom said, “so they can go deeper into the cave.”

  Sweyn turned his head. “I guess that is why Papa is coming up the ridge with Bishop Aden,” he said.

  I turned around and saw Papa with the Mormon bishop, whose long beard appeared pure white when contrasted with the wide-brimmed black hat the Mormon bishop always wore. I didn’t understand what Sweyn meant.

  “What has Papa being with Bishop Aden got to do with getting more rope?” I asked.

  “They will have to get more rope from Cedar City, and the Z.C.M.I. store there is probably the only place that carries it,” Sweyn answered.

  “How come they’ve only got stores owned by the Mormon Church in Utah?” I asked.

  “Shucks, J.D.,” Tom said, “there are other stores in the larger towns and in the cities.”

  “How come they don’t have any in the squall towns?” I asked.

  “Because the people who live in small towns are mostly Mormons,” Tom said, “and the Mormons must give their business to a store owned by their church.”

  We watched Papa and Bishop Aden enter the entrance chamber of the cave, where they stood waiting until the search party returned. The men in the search party came through the passageway leading to the smaller chamber just the opposite of the order they went in, with Mr. Jensen in the lead and Uncle Mark coming out last. They had left the rope in the cave and found their way back by following it. Uncle Mark put down his lantern and gave an order we couldn’t hear. I watched as several men began pulling the rope from the cave and coiling it. Then Uncle Mark began talking to Papa and Bishop Aden.

  Tom looked up at the sun. “It’s time for lunch,” he said.

  Papa arrived home just a few minutes after we did. He appeared to be worried. He just pecked at his homemade sausages and mashed potatoes and gravy.

  “Bishop Aden sent a telegram to Cedar City this morning,” he told Mamma. “They sent a wire back saying they would send all the rope they have on hand at the Z.C.M.I. store there. They are sending it by team and wagon rather than wait for the next train. It should arrive here this afternoon.

  “Is there any hope?” Mamma asked.

  “There is always hope,” Papa said, “but Mark told us the passageways after you get into the cave aways run out in all directions. It is going to take time to explore them all. I can’t help blaming myself in a way.”

  “But why?” Mamma asked.

  “As editor and publisher of the Adenville Weekly Advocate I should have demanded in editorials a long time ago that the entrance to the cave be dynamited shut,” Papa said.

  My two brothers and I were back on top of the boulder on Cedar Ridge when the wagonload of rope arrived from Cedar City that afternoon. The team pulling the wagon was covered with lather and had been driven hard. There were eight bales of rope in the wagon. We watched the rope being unloaded and spliced to the other rope and then coiled until the one continuous piece of rope made a large pile in the big chamber of the cave.

  “With those eight bales,” Tom said, “added to the other six bales, the search party can now penetrate a distance of seven thousand feet into the cave. That is more than a mile.”

  “We aren’t going to be able to watch it,” Sweyn said. “By the time we get home and do our chores it will be time for supper.”

  Mamma made us go to bed at our usual time that night despite our protests. The next morning at breakfast we learned from Papa that Frank and Allan and Lady hadn’t been found, although the search had gone on all through the night. We had just finished eating when Uncle Mark came to the house. He had a two-day growth of beard on his face and had been without sleep fo
r two nights.

  “I’d like to see you alone,” he said to Papa.

  They went into the parlor with Papa shutting the sliding doors between the dining room and parlor.

  I followed Tom out to our backyard because I knew what he was going to do. His great brain had long ago figured out a way to eavesdrop on anybody in our parlor. We were without doubt the best-informed kids in town on things parents didn’t want their children to hear.

  I watched Tom climb up to the roof of our back porch and then crawl up the edge of the roof until he was on top of the house. I held my breath as he stood up like a tightrope walker and walked across the pointed top of the roof until he came to the chimney for the fireplace in our parlor. He got hold of the top of the stone chimney and, using a crack for a footrest, hoisted himself up until his head was above the chimney. My brother had told me the stone chimney of the fireplace magnified voices in our parlor so he could hear every word spoken.

  I waited nervously for Tom, who seemed to be taking his time listening. At last I saw him coming back down. His freckled face was grim as he jumped down from the roof of our back porch and joined me.

  “Uncle Mark doesn’t seem to think they will ever find Frank and Allan and Lady,” he told me.”

  “Is he going to give up?” I asked, shivering as I thought of poor Frank and Allan and Lady doomed to die in the blackness of Skeleton Cave.

  “They’re going to keep trying,” Tom said, “but Uncle Mark says it is hopeless. He told Papa the search party found an underground river in the cave, and Frank and Allan and Lady could have fallen into it and drowned. He said that the current is so swift it could have carried them all to their deaths.”

  “Gosh, T.D.,” I said sadly, “that means Frank and Allan and Lady are goners for sure.”

  “Even if they are alive,” Tom said, “Uncle Mark told Papa they are probably going farther and farther into the cave, trying to find their way out. And he said it would take an army months to fully explore all levels of the cave.” Tom shook his head. “If they don’t find them alive it is going to cost me a fortune.”

  “How do you mean it will cost you a fortune?” I asked.

  “Skip it, J.D.,” Tom said quickly, too quickly.

  “Maybe your great brain can save the day,” I said without much hope.

  Tom straightened up. “Now that the grown-ups have just about given up,” he said, “I guess it is up to me to save Frank, Allan, and Lady. I’ll put my great brain to work on it.”

  We walked to our barn. Tom gave me orders to stand guard and not let anybody in the barn. Then he went into the barn and climbed the rope ladder up to his loft to put his great brain to work.

  I was disappointed when Mamma called us for lunch. Tom came down from his loft when I hollered up to him. He reported that his great brain hadn’t came up with a plan for saving Frank, Allan, and Lady.

  “But don’t worry, J.D.,” he said confidently. “My great brain has never failed me.”

  After we had eaten lunch, Tom went back up to his loft while I stood guard outside the barn. Brownie came into the corral. He wanted to play. I always played and romped and wrestled with Brownie because he never played with other dogs before Lady had come along. He began barking as we started to play. I was afraid the barking would disturb Tom and tried to make Brownie stop. He thought. this was more playing and barked louder. The barn door suddenly opened and Tom came out. I thought he was going to be mad at me for letting Brownie bark. Instead he flashed me a triumphant grin.

  “I knew my great brain would save the day,” he said. “Come with me, J.D., and bring Brownie with you.”

  Tom led us right up to and into the big entrance chamber of Skeleton Cave. Several men were there, including Mr. Jensen who was arguing with Uncle Mark. “What kind of a marshal are you? My two boys are lost in that cave and it is your job to find them.”

  “I can only push the search party so far,” Uncle Mark said patiently. “We haven’t had a wink of sleep in two days. Just give us a few hours to get some rest and then we’ll continue the search.”

  Tom walked up to Uncle Mark. He tapped his finger on his forehead. “My great brain has figured out a way to save Frank and Allan and Lady,” he said.

  Mr. Jensen pushed Tom to one side. “Get that boy out of here,” he ordered Uncle Mark. ‘This is no time for kids and their kid games.”

  “Don’t you dare shove that boy again.” Uncle Mark said. Then he looked at Tom. “If you have any idea how to rescue the Jensen boys, please tell me.”

  “First we have to go to the Jensen place,” Tom said. “Then we have to stop at the meat market.”

  “Of all the infernal nonsense,” Mr. Jensen said. “Marshal, get this boy out of here and get on with the search.”

  “Look Mr. Jensen,” Uncle Mark said sharply, “I’m grabbing at straws and so should you by this time. Then he took off his holster and revolver and handed them to Don Huddle, the blacksmith. “I’m making you a deputy marshal, Don,” he said. “Stand guard and don’t let anybody go into that cave, and that goes for Mr. Jensen too.” Then he looked down at my brother. “Let’s go, Tom.”

  “J.D. and Brownie have to come too,” Tom said.

  I was thrilled and grateful to be included. Tom led the way to the Jensen home and around to Lady’s doghouse in the backyard.

  “Lady is in heat,” Tom said. “I want Brownie to get inside her doghouse and smell that Lady is in heat.”

  Brownie began to whimper as he entered the doghouse and smelled around in it.

  Then Tom led the way to the Deseret Meat Market.

  “We want a big piece of beef liver,” he told Mr. Thompson, the butcher.

  Uncle Mark tried to pay for the meat. Mr. Thompson refused to take any money when told the liver was going to be used to try and rescue the Jensen brothers.

  “It doesn’t make sense,” Mr. Thompson said, “but take it with my blessing.”

  When we returned to the entrance chamber of the cave, Mr. Jensen was sitting on a rock, crying. Tom sat down on the ground. He rubbed the piece of liver on the soles of his toes and then handed the meat to Uncle Mark.

  “Brownie has the scent of Lady being in heat,” he told Uncle Mark. “He will find Lady for us in the cave, and Frank and Allan will be with her. We will stop every once in a while and rub the liver on the soles of our shoes. This will give Brownie a scent to lead us back out of the cave.”

  Uncle Mark grinned as he sat down and rubbed liver on the soles of his shoes. “The next time I need a Sherlock Holmes,” he said, “I’ll know where to go.”

  Papa came into the cave as Uncle Mark was lighting a lantern. He looked at Tom and then at Uncle Mark. “What is going on here?” he asked.

  “Tom has figured out a way to find the Jensen boys if they are alive,” Uncle Mark answered.

  “You don’t think for a minute I’m going to let my son go into that cave without a search party, do you?” Papa demanded.

  “We are depending on Lady being in heat to give Brownie the scent that will enable him to lead us to her,” Uncle Mark explained. “If I take a search party along, it will distract the dog. And I’ve got to take Tom with me so Brownie will have somebody he knows and trusts along.”

  “Don’t worry, Papa,” Tom said confidently. “We’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail with Frank and Allan and Lady.”

  “If anything happens to you, son,” Papa said — and I knew how concerned he must be when he called Tom son — “I’ll never forgive myself.”

  “Nothing is going to happen to me,” Tom said. “Can we go now please?”

  “Are you afraid?” Papa asked.

  “Heck, no,” Tom said as if becoming impatient with Papa.

  Papa looked at Uncle Mark. “I know you wouldn’t do this if you didn’t think it safe,” he said.

  “I can’t deny there is some risk,” Uncle Mark said, “but we’ve got to think of those boys in there.”

  Papa knelt in the dirt and em
braced Tom. “Good luck, son,” he said and his voice was husky.

  I wasn’t the least bit scared. Maybe it was my confidence in my brother’s great brain. Maybe it was my confidence in my dog. I felt no fear at all as I watched Uncle Mark enter the passageway to the cave. In one hand he held a rope leash which he had attached to Brownie and in the other he carried a lighted lantern. Tom followed carrying the piece of liver wrapped in the brown paper they lead gotten from the meat market.

  They had been gone about fifteen minutes when Mrs. Jensen and Mamma came into the entrance chamber of the cave. Mrs. Jensen walked over to where her husband was still sitting on a rock.

  “What were the marshal and Tena’s two boys doing around Lady’s doghouse?” she asked.

  Mr. Jensen looked up at his wife. “The marshal thinks the Fitzgerald boy’s dog might find Lady from her scent in the cave,” he said. “There is still hope, my dear.”

  Mamma just stood there staring at Papa but saying nothing.

  “I had to let the boy try it,” Papa finally said. “Mark said it was the only way.”

  Mamma still said nothing as she walked over and put her hand in Papa’s.”

  Just then Sweyn came running into the cave’s chamber. He looked at Papa and Mamma and then sat down on the chamber floor beside me.

  “What’s going on?” he whispered.”

  I told him.

  Sweyn shook his head when I finished. “Old T.D. sure has courage,” he said. “I wouldn’t venture into that cave for anything.”

  “I would have gone with them if Uncle Mark had asked me,” I said.

  “Like fun you would,” Sweyn said loudly. “They say there are monsters and big snakes in the cave.”

  “That will be enough of that,” Papa said sternly as Mamma made the sign of the cross.

  Don Huddle, who was standing guard over the entrance chamber of the cave, let Mrs. Olsen and Mrs. Winters enter. They were Mrs. Jensen’s next-door neighbors. They were carrying a big wicker basket between them. They set the basket down in the middle of the chamber and removed a tablecloth from it. The basket was filled with sandwiches, glasses, and two big jugs of milk.