The House on the Cliff/Chapter 16
CHAPTER XVI
The Secret Passage
It was very dark.
"I wish we had a light," whispered Joe.
"I have a flashlight in my pocket. But we can't use it now. Those men may be still around."
"Wouldn't the water spoil it?"
"No; I have it in a waterproof case. We can feel our way around these rocks until we get into the cove."
Cautiously, the boys made their way along the treacherous rocks. Once Joe lost his footing and slipped into the water with a splash. Instantly both boys remained motionless, fearing the sound had attracted the attention of the men in the cove. But there was not a sound.
Joe was ankle-deep in water, but he clambered up on the rocks again and they continued their journey.
They had landed at a point some twenty-five yards away from the entrance to the cove, but the rocks were so treacherous and the journey was so difficult that the distance seemed much longer.
"It must be Snackley and his gang, all right," whispered Frank, as they went on through the night. "Didn't you hear one of those men use a Chinese name?"
"He said something about Li Chang's share."
"Li Chang is probably the fellow who brings the dope to the coast. They bring the stuff into this cove by motorboat and rowboat and it is distributed from here. Dad said Snackley was smuggling dope."
"It must have been Snackley who ordered us away from here. He seemed like a leader of some kind."
"Five thousand dollars reward if we lay our hands on him!"
They had now reached the place where the seemingly solid coast line was broken by the indentation of the cove. They had feared that the cliff might be too steep at this point, but they found that it sloped gradually to the water and that there was a narrow ledge on which they could walk, one behind the other.
Here, they realized, the dangerous part of the adventure began.
It was very lonely in the shadow of the steep cliffs, and the loneliness was intensified by the distant moaning of the surf and the beat and wash of the waves against the reefs. Far in the distance they could see the reflection of the lights of Bayport through the mist and once or twice they could hear the murmur of Tony's motorboat as it sped away down the bay.
"I hope they bring back lights and guns with them," muttered Frank.
"Who?"
"The police."
"Don't worry. If they get word that Snackley is cornered they'll send out a squad of militia."
The boys rounded the point and began to make their way directly along the shore of the cove. Dense thickets and bushes grew right to the water's edge and the boys were afraid of making too much noise, as they realized that the two men they had heard talking in the boat might be close by—perhaps even waiting to pounce upon them in the darkness.
Their hearts beat quickly with the knowledge of the risk they were running, but neither lad thought of turning back. They were not thinking of the smugglers alone—they were thinking of their father.
When they reached the first of the thickets they paused. They knew that the crackling of the branches would betray their whereabouts if there was any one within hearing distance. For a while they did not know just what to do. Then Frank began to lower himself from the rock on which he was standing into the water.
"If it isn't too deep we can wade around," he whispered.
The water, fortunately, was shallow, and did not come up to his knees. He signaled to Joe to follow, and Joe accordingly slipped quietly down into the water beside him.
Then, without a word and moving as slowly as possible, Frank went on, wading through the water, close to the outstretched branches that overhung the shore.
It seemed as though they were wading at the bottom of a deep pit, for the high walls of rock ranged all about them and after they had penetrated into the cove some little distance the entrance was lost to view, being hidden by an angle of the cliffs. When they looked up they could see the gloomy greyness of the night sky above.
The cove was still in deep silence, so finally Frank concluded that the men who had entered the place in the boat had retired to some secret hiding place. Inasmuch as they could not hope to discover anything without a light, he withdrew the flashlight from its case, and then switched it on.
The yellow beam of light revealed the pallid leaves of the bushes by the shore and the naked walls of rock above. But although Frank turned the flashlight in every direction about the cove there was no sign of the rowboat in which the two men had arrived.
It had vanished utterly.
Although the lads were prepared for the disappearance of the smugglers, they were not prepared for the disappearance of the rowboat. But they searched for it in vain. The light revealed nothing of the craft.
"I wonder where they hid it!" whispered Frank.
They began a systematic search of the bushes around the cove, remaining as quiet as possible, but although they made almost a tour of the place it was soon evident that the boat had not been beached under cover of any of the thickets.
"It must be hidden in a cave of some kind," Frank decided at last. "And that's where the smugglers are."
Once again they began a search of the bushes.
They were still wading in the water and their feet were now very cold, but they searched patiently and carefully, brushing aside the branches, peering into the bushes, but it seemed they were to find nothing but the uncompromising rocks and moss beyond.
At last, however, as they were approaching a part of the cove which they had not visited before, Frank, who was in the lead, stumbled suddenly forward. His groping feet had failed to encounter bottom and he had lost his balance.
With great presence of mind, he kept the searchlight high in the air. He had stepped into a deep hole, and although he was up to his neck in water he kept his arm raised, keeping the flashlight free of the wetness.
"Here! Take the light," he gasped, in a hoarse whisper.
Joe leaned over and grasped the flashlight.
"Deep water here," muttered Frank, as he tried to scramble back into the shallows.
But the hole into which he had fallen was a sudden drop and it was necessary for Joe to grasp his brother's outstretched hand before he could regain the shallow water. At length, soaked to the skin, Frank again stood beside his brother.
"Good thing it wasn't any deeper," he remarked.
"The bottom is pretty level around here. It's funny there should be a deep hole like that."
Frank gave a sudden exclamation.
"I know how that came to be there," he whispered. "That's a channel! See how close it is to the shore. The water shouldn't be so deep right there."
"Why should it be a channel?"
"To let that motorboat get into shore—or the rowboat. They'd run aground otherwise. Give me the light. I'll bet we've found where that boat was hidden."
He played the flashlight on the surface of the water and then they could see clearly that the bottom of the cove was broken by a deep channel at that point, several feet in width, leading directly toward a clump of bushes at the shore.
Keeping well to the side of the channel and in the shallow water, the Hardy boys made their way over to the bushes.
Then, when the beam of the flashlight was cast on the dense covert of branches, the mystery was clear.
Beyond the bushes was a dark opening in the rock.
"A cave!" exclaimed Frank, in a suppressed tone.
It was so cleverly concealed that it could not have been seen in the clear light of the day except at close quarters. The glare of the flashlight, however, cast the dark opening into prominence behind the screen of leaves.
This, then, was the explanation of the boat's disappearance. There was a channel in the cove enabling the smugglers to row the boat directly into this cave in the rock. This also probably explained the presence of the motorboat.
"They went in here," said Joe.
"We'll explore it."
Having gone so far, there was no going back. The boys were fully determined to keep on the track of the smugglers. They did not know what lay behind the darkness of that silent and mysterious opening in the rock. But they meant to find out, no matter what the risks.
Cautiously, they advanced into the bushes, which gave way protestingly before them. The branches whipped their faces. The water was still shallow, for there was a narrow ledge along the side of the channel and, moreover, it was now low tide.
At last the bushes closed behind them. The Hardy boys were standing in the entrance to a secret passage, pressed close against the rocky wall of the cave.