The young people were stunned. “A hundred million—” Irene gasped.
Danny began turning the scanning knob. The shellfish vanished and the streaks began to move sideways, as the ray swept across the wall of stone.
Suddenly Irene cried, “Stop!”
A set of slightly curved bars came into view. On the other side of them could be seen the distant silhouette of a man, bent over and tapping at something with a shadowy hammer.
“The clam digger!” Joe gurgled.
“No, it’s not,” said Danny. “It’s—it’s Dr. Tresselt!”
“But look,” Irene said, in a hushed voice. “He’s in a cage!”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The Creature in the Rocks
Joe’s active imagination went right to work. “Prison!” he said, his eyes wide. “There must be a race of underground people—like the Morlocks in The Time Machine—people who have never seen the sun. They must have sneaked up on him and captured him, and now he’s languishing in one of their dungeons.”
Danny cocked his head, eyeing the screen of the C-ray. “Looks more to me as if he’s just calmly collecting rock samples,” he said.
“He’s trying to chop his way out,” Joe persisted.
“It’s a great hypothesis, Joe,” said the Professor, “but I think Danny’s more likely to be right. What we take for bars are just some kind of rock formation—perhaps stalagmites of a slightly different composition than the others.”
Danny had been studying the machine. “Well, now we know where he is,” he said. “The depth setting is on fifty feet. It’s about thirty feet from here to the wall of the cave. So he’s another twenty feet beyond. I’ll bet it’s just the next tunnel.” He jumped up. “I’m going to see.”
The Professor raised a hand and said, “Now, don’t go charging off in all directions at once.”
“I won’t,” Danny laughed. “Anyway, this is easy. All I have to do is follow the passage back to the glittering cavern, and then take the next tunnel to the right as I come out. He should be about the same distance down that one. Joe can come with me to see that I don’t get into trouble.”
“That’s a good idea,” Joe said. “But who’s going to keep me from getting into trouble?”
“If you boys promise to be very careful, you may go,” said the Professor. “But don’t go chasing off on your own explorations. Don’t take any branch tunnels. For goodness’ sake, don’t you go getting lost.”
“We’ll be careful,” said Danny. “Come on, Joe.”
Together, they climbed the gravel slope. The rope was still hanging where they had left it, and they had no trouble getting back to the top of the little cliff. They plunged into the tunnel, Danny in front with the flashlight, and went as quickly as they could until they came out once more in the big cavern with its “Altar” and its sparkling walls. Danny at once turned to his right. There, between two thick folds of rippled green stone was one of the smaller openings they had noticed before.
“Too bad you can’t see footprints in the rock,” said Joe.
“Yes, but I’ll bet anything this is the way he went,” Danny answered.
They entered, stooping. The floor of this passage was uneven and jagged, and it sloped steeply downward. It was, in fact, more like a deep fissure than a tunnel, as if an earthquake had moved and split the rock and opened a narrow way down to the depths.
“How far shall we go?” Joe asked. “Maybe this isn’t the way at all. How are we going to tell?”
“Hard to say.” Danny climbed over a sharp knife-edge, holding the light above his head to keep it from banging against the stone. “Can’t judge distance in this one because it isn’t flat, like the other. Let’s go on for a while, and then worry about it if nothing turns up.”
But as it happened, they didn’t have too far to go. A few moments later, Joe, who had paused to wait for Danny to climb down out of his way, spotted a yellow glow on the walls ahead. An instant later, they could both hear, quite clearly, the clink and tap of a hammer.
They slid down a last sloping slab and found themselves in a chamber whose dull gray and brown walls were in sharp contrast to the big cavern they had just left. Dr. Tresselt was on his knees examining some bits of stone by the light of his lantern, which stood on a point of rock nearby.
“Dr. Tresselt!” said Danny. “We’ve found you!”
The geologist glanced at them over his shoulder. “Urn?” he said, in an abstracted tone. “Were you lost?”
Danny laughed. “No, sir. But you are.”
“I am?” The geologist raised his eyebrows. “I don’t feel lost. I know where I am.”
Then, slowly, as the meaning of Danny’s words penetrated, his expression changed. “Oh, dear,” he said. “I am sorry. I assure you, I didn’t mean to wander off. But you see, I noticed those same red streaks at the entrance to this passageway, and I just couldn’t resist investigating. The further I went, the more clay I found. Look about you—! This chamber is not limestone like the others, but was hollowed out of petrified mud. I have found the fossils of several fresh-water mollusks, too. See?”
He held out what looked like small, dark pebbles.
Danny said, “But where’s the cage?”
“What?” said Dr. Tresselt. “What are you talking about? You’re in the cave.”
“But where are the bars?”
“Why should there be bars in a cave?”
“Not cave, Dr. Tresselt,” said Joe. “Cage. C-a-g-e.”
“Cage? This isn’t a cage. Why do you keep calling it one?”
“We saw it on the C-ray screen,” Danny said. “Just as plain as could be. Big curving bars, and you were inside them.”
“Well, I’m not,” Dr. Tresselt said. “I’m afraid my friend Euclid expects too much from that invention of his. What you saw was probably a defect of some sort—something wrong with the machine.”
“There’s nothing wrong with the C-ray,” said Danny, firmly. “We saw one of those fossil shellfish you’ve found, stuck in the stone. But it’s certainly very funny that there isn’t anything here that would look like bars.” He flashed his lamp all about the small chamber. “Anyway, let’s join the others. We’ll have to decide what to do, now that the Professor has hurt his ankle.”
“How did that happen?” asked Dr. Tresselt, gathering up his things.
“He slipped on some gravel and twisted his leg. Maybe you’ll have some idea how to get him back up the cliff.”
They hurried back up the steep passage and were soon standing once more on the top of the cliff. Dr. Tresselt was agile and used to climbing, and he went down the sheer face like a mountaineer. Joe followed, and then Danny untied the rope and let it fall so that they could use it if necessary.
Professor Bullfinch waved, as they picked their way down the gravelly slope. “We’ve been expecting you,” he said. “We watched you boys find Dr. Tresselt, on the C-ray screen.”
“Do you mean to say that that thing works?” Dr. Tresselt said.
“Perfectly. How do you think we found you? We saw you through the wall of the chamber. By the way, what was that rock formation that looks like a cage?”
“A cage? Danny said something about that,” said the geologist. “There was no such formation where I was. Let me see that apparatus.” He squatted down and stared at the screen of the C-ray. He whistled softly between his teeth, and said, “Is there any way of moving the picture from side to side?”
“Oh, yes. We watched you as you climbed back up the passageway. This is the scanning dial. Turn this button to one side or the other.”
Dr. Tresselt did so. “What about focus?” he asked.
Professor Bullfinch showed him what to do. For a few moments he sat absorbed, moving first one knob, then the other. On the screen, a strange shape grew, its outlines clear and dark. It looked li
ke a fan, with a large hole below it like an eye, then a curved eagle’s beak, and two spiky horns jutting forward.
“Congratulations, Euclid!” Dr. Tresselt said, in a voice that trembled with excitement. “Your C-ray is more than a success. Look at that! Doesn’t it look familiar?”
The Professor stared. Then, almost in a whisper, he said, “It does indeed. A fossil skull. The skull of a dinosaur!”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Light Your Pipe!”
The Professor put a finger on the fanlike shape showing on the screen. “One of the Ceratopsia,” he said. “And from the three horns, I would say it was Triceratops.”
“My feeling, too,” agreed Dr. Tresselt.
“And what we thought were the bars of a cage—”
“Were its ribs, somewhat out of focus!”
“A tri—sephera—what you said,” Joe put in. “You mean, one of those giant prehistoric lizards?”
“The fossil skeleton of one, Joe,” said Dr. Tresselt. “And a fine specimen, too, I should judge, although I can’t make out all the details from this shadow picture. You can see the long horns and sharp beak, and the big bony shield that swept up behind the head to protect the neck. Watch, now, as I move the ray. You can see the ribs, and there’s part of the backbone and the long heavy tail.”
“If it wasn’t in the cave with you,” said the Professor, “where was it?”
“I think I can answer that,” Dr. Tresselt said. “It’s embedded in the wall between this cave and that one.”
“In the solid limestone?” said the Professor. “Isn’t that a little unusual?”
“It would be exceedingly unusual, if the wall were really limestone,” said Dr. Tresselt. “But I’ll explain all that later. Meanwhile, we’ve got the problem of what to do with you. Can you walk at all?”
Professor Bullfinch got carefully to his feet and took a step or two. He winced. “It’s pretty tender,” he said. “However, I think I can hobble along on it.”
“Hobbling won’t get us very far, not along these underground ways,” said Dr. Tresselt, thoughtfully. “If the ground were fairly level it wouldn’t be so bad, but I don’t quite see how you’re going to get over that fallen stone slab, for instance.”
“Maybe we could make a stretcher out of a jacket and two long poles,” said Irene. “That’s one of the things they taught us in my first-aid class.”
“Poles? Where would we get them, in these caves?” Dr. Tresselt asked.
“Maybe we could use long, thin stalactites,” Danny suggested.
The Professor shook his head. “I think you’d find them harder to break off than you imagine,” he said. “In any case, I doubt that you could carry me all the way back. No, Alvin, I’m afraid we’ve got to face it. You will have to leave me here.”
Dr. Tresselt pursed up his lips in a soundless whistle. Then he said, “Wouldn’t think of it.”
“But you must. You can all go back and when you’re out you can send help back for me. As long as I have my pipe and tobacco and some matches, and one of the flashlights, I’ll be all right.”
“Well, I won’t leave you, Professor,” said Irene. “I’ll stay here and keep you company. Let the boys go back.”
“Alone? I don’t like that idea,” the Professor said.
“And I don’t want to leave you here, either,” said Danny.
“Well, we can’t send Dr. Tresselt back by himself,” said Dr. Tresselt, with a grin. “I might find something interesting along the way, and get side-tracked, and forget where I was supposed to be going.”
The Professor sighed. “We’re not getting anywhere with this discussion,” he said. “Somebody has got to go. What else can we do?”
“We could try hoddering for hep,” Joe said, thickly. “Or sed up smoke sigdals.” He sneezed loudly, and, taking out his handkerchief, blew his nose like a trumpet.
The Professor couldn’t help laughing. “Smoke signals,” he said. “A very good idea, Joe. Or we might try sending a telegram: Trapped in cave send help love to all. I’m afraid that wouldn’t work, either.”
Danny clapped his hands together, so sharply and suddenly that they all jumped and turned to look at him.
“Wait a minute!” he cried. “That’s it!”
“Whad’s id?” said Joe.
“You!” Danny exclaimed.
Joe stepped back a pace. “Now, waid a middud—”
“Your nose,” Danny went on, excitedly. “And smoke signals. I’ve got it! That’s what I’ve been trying to remember ever since we got stuck down here.”
Dr. Tresselt looked completely baffled. “Nose?” he mumbled. “Smoke signals? I’m afraid this is too deep for me.”
“Danny,” said the Professor, “pull yourself together. Tell us what you mean.”
Danny had been capering about madly. Now he stopped. “Your pipe!” he said. “Professor—light your pipe!”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Into the Open
The Professor gave a long sigh. “My poor boy, he said. “Just sit down for a minute and rest, and try to relax.”
“See if there’s any water left in the canteen,” said Dr. Tresselt, in a worried tone. “Maybe a cold compress on his forehead—”
Danny laughed merrily. “Don’t worry,” he said, “I haven’t gone crazy. I told you there was something I was trying to remember. Well, when we first stood up there on the top of the cliff and looked down into this chamber, Professor Bullfinch said there was a current of air blowing through. But we had so many other things to think about that we forgot it. Later, when he lit his pipe and started blowing smoke rings, they floated up perfectly a little way and then dissolved. If we’d thought about it, then, we’d have seen where the breeze was coming from.”
“Of course!” said Dr. Tresselt.
“And then Joe sneezed,” Danny continued.
“Look at him. His eyes are watering and his nose is all red. Irene, you know what that means.”
“His allergy!” said Irene. “He’s allergic to goldenrod.”
“But there’s no goldenrod down here,” the Professor objected.
“No, but there’s lots of it on Rose Hill, and the far side of Sugarloaf is covered with it,” said Danny. “Do you know what I think? I think we’ve traveled right through Sugarloaf, under the ground, and now we’re near the surface on the side facing Rose Hill. The air is blowing in here from some hole leading to the outside, and it’s carrying goldenrod pollen. It can’t be too far from the outside, or I’d guess there wouldn’t be enough pollen to start Joe’s allergy working. Right?”
“By George, I believe the boy has something,” said Dr. Tresselt.
“He has the makings of a scientist,” said Professor Bullfinch, proudly. “Hold on, now, while I light my pipe. Then we can trace the course of the air current by watching the smoke.”
In a short time, he had his pipe going. Dr. Tresselt focused the beam of one of the battery lamps on the plume of blue smoke. Deliberately, the Professor puffed away and sent three round, fat smoke rings floating lazily above his head. They wavered, and shredded away.
“That way!” Danny pointed to the wall of the cave opposite the side down which they had climbed. “Dr. Tresselt, you help the Professor. Professor, keep blowing smoke and walk toward that wall. Come on, Joe and Irene, bring the other lights and let’s see what we can find.”
The wall at which he had pointed rose in a gradual slope above their heads. At the bottom, it consisted of boulders and large chunks of broken stone. But when they had climbed over these, Danny, standing on a flat outcrop, gave a yell.
“There’s earth here!” he cried. “In among the stones, there’s plain old dirt.”
Irene clambered a little higher and flashed her light at the Professor’s smoke cloud. “I think the air is blowing from up here,” she said. �
�Yes—I can feel it on my face. Warm air, a steady stream of it.”
Danny joined her, and together they crawled up still further until they were near the rocky roof of the cave.
“Turn off your light,” Danny said to Irene. And when she had done so, he tapped her arm and said, “Now look over there, to your left, where that big chunk of rock is.”
She blinked. A faint pencil of yellow light shone through a crack in the earth.
“It’s sunlight,” said Danny, with satisfaction.
He scrambled over to the crack and began to dig recklessly, throwing out the dirt with both hands like a puppy.
“Watch out!” squealed Irene. “You’re showering me!”
He stopped, but already he had made a hole as big as his head. The others, down below, could see the golden daylight come streaming in.
“This is all loose dirt,” Danny said. “It seems to be held in place by a few big slabs of stone. If Joe comes up here and helps me, we can really excavate.”
In a very short time, the two boys had grubbed away an opening large enough for Danny to squeeze through. He went out, headfirst. An instant later, he grinned down at them and waved.
“I’ve got a pointed stick,” he said. “Watch out, Joe. Now you’re going to see the dirt fly.”
He attacked the edges of the hole, and with Joe helping as best he could from the inside, they soon made it large enough so that the men could get out.
“Professor Bullfinch,” Danny called. “Do you think you can crawl up the slope with the rope to help you?”
“My trousers may suffer,” the Professor answered, “but I think I can manage.”
Irene brought the rope up and climbed out of the hole. She and Danny held it fast, while Dr. Tresselt and Joe helped the Professor up over the rocks at the bottom. Then, holding the rope to steady himself, the Professor slowly and laboriously made his way up to the edge of the hole, and so out into the sunlight.
The others followed, bringing the C-ray and the knapsacks. They stood on the hillside, blinking, and Joe spoke for all of them when he said, “It feels as if we’d been let out of school half a day early!”
Danny Dunn and the Fossil Cave Page 7