"Well, fat do you whind--I mean what do you find?" cried Rattleton, impatiently.
"Not a thing," was the disgusted reply. "It has gone, sure as fate!"
"So have my cigarettes!" groaned Browning.
"The treasure--is any of that there?" asked Harry, eagerly.
"Not a bit of it."
"Well, that"s what I call an unfair deal," murmured Bruce. "It is a blow below the belt. If the old skeleton had desired to go away, none of us would have objected, but it might have left the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs with which it was adorned."
Frank was puzzled, and the more he investigated the greater grew his wonder. He knew they had seen the skeleton, yet it had vanished like fog before a blazing sun.
Jack shrugged his shoulders and shivered, saying:
"There"s something uncanny about it, old man. I believe it is a warning."
"Nonsense!" cried Frank. "What sort of a warning?"
"A warning of the fate that awaits all of us."
"You are not well, Jack."
"Oh, it is not that! First we see a lake of water, and that disappears; then we see this skeleton, and now that has vanished. You must confess that there is something remarkable in it all."
"The vanishing of the mirage came about in a natural manner, but----"
"But you must confess there was something decidedly unnatural about the vanishing of the skeleton."
"It was removed by human hands--I will wager anything on that."
"Then where is the human being who removed it?"
"I don"t know."
Unable to remain below, Rattleton came climbing up to the niche.
"I"ve got to satisfy myself," he said, as he felt about with his hands, as if he expected to discover the vanished skeleton in that manner. "I can"t see how the blamed old thing could get away!"
"Well, you can see quite as well as we can," acknowledged Frank. "It is gone, and that is all we can tell about it."
The boys satisfied themselves that the thing had really disappeared, and they could not begin to solve the mystery. After a time they returned to the ground.
"It am de debbil"s work!" a.s.serted Toots. "Don" yeh mek no misteks "bout dat, chilluns."
They held a "council of war," and it was resolved that they should go on through the pa.s.s and try to find the second water-hole before darkness fell.
Already night was close at hand, and they must needs lose no time.
"We can come back here in the morning and see if we"re able to solve the mystery," said Merriwell. "I, for one, do not feel like going away without making another attempt at it."
"Nor I," nodded Rattleton.
"It is folly," declared Jack, gloomily. "I say we have been warned, and the best thing we can do is get away as soon as possible."
"By golly! dat am de firs" sensibul fing I"ve heard yo" say in fo"
days!" cried Toots, approvingly.
They picked up their wheels, and soon were ready to mount.
"Here"s good-by to the vanishing skeleton for to-night," cried Frank.
He was answered by a wild peal of mocking laughter that seemed to run along the face of the cliff in a most remarkable manner.
"Ha! ha! ha!" it sounded, hoa.r.s.ely, and "Ha! ha! ha!" came down from the rocks, like a mystic echo.
"O-oh, Lordy!"
Toots made a jump for the saddle of his bicycle, but jumped too far and went clean over the wheel, striking his knee and turning in the air, to fall with a thump on the back of his neck.
"Mah goodness!" he gurgled, as he lay on the ground, dazed by the shock of the fall. "De ol" debbil done gib meh a boost then fo" suah!"
The other lads looked at each other in perplexity.
"Well, wh-wh-what do you think of that?" stammered Rattleton.
"He ought to file his voice, whoever he is," coolly observed Browning.
"It"s a little rough along the edges."
"It strikes me that somebody is having fun with us," said Merriwell, a look of displeasure on his face.
"What are you going to do about it?" asked Harry.
"We don"t seem able to do much of anything now. Come on."
Toots scrambled up, and they mounted their wheels. As they started to ride away, a hollow-sounding voice cried:
"Stop!"
"Oh, riv us a guest--I mean give us a rest!" flung back Rattleton.
"Stop!" repeated the mysterious voice. "Do not try the pa.s.s. There is danger beyond. Turn back."
"I told you it was a warning!" cried Jack. "What do you think of it now?"
"I think somebody is trying to have a lot of sport with us!" exclaimed Frank.
"Well, what are you going to do?"