with greater ease.

Soon something of a hole had been made in the mound.

All at once, with a cry of horror, Bart started back, pointing down into
the hole they had made.

"Look!" he gasped. "That ring--that hand! It is Frank Merriwell's hand!"

And there before them they saw a human hand that seemed to be thrust up
through the ground.

Hans began to pray.

The hand moved--it clawed desperately at the ground!

"It is Frank!" Diamond almost screamed. "He is down there! He has been
buried alive! Dig, fellows--dig! But be careful not to hurt him!"

At that moment the ground caved in at their feet, and up out of it rose
the dirt-covered head of Frank Merriwell. He rubbed the dirt out of his
eyes, and then he cheerfully observed:

"Good-morning, fellows! It seems to be a pleasant morning outside, but
it's a trifle close inside. If you will take hold and pull me out, I'll
be much obliged."

They clutched him--they dragged him to the surface. Behind him lay a
deep, dark hole that was not filled by the earth that had caved in.

"Well, of all things wonderful!" grunted Browning. "Never knew anything
like this before--never heard of anything like this! I believe I am
still dreaming!"

"Frank, are you hurt?" asked Diamond.

"Not much," answered Merry. "They trapped me without much trouble. I
didn't have a chance to get hurt."

"But to be buried under the ground--to be in a grave!"

"Eh? A grave? Why, Great Scott! It is the grave--and the stone with my
name on it! This is the spot where I was caught. I was standing right
here. A man dropped down out of this tree and struck on my shoulders.
He laid me out, and it wasn't hard to tie me up. Then I was towed away
under ground, and a guard was placed over me. It's a close little hole
down there, but the guard left me after he had watched till he was
tired, and then I finally managed to get free, and I tried to dig out
where they had closed up what once was the mouth of the cave."

"What's that?" asked Hodge. "A cave?"

"Exactly; and there was an opening into it here at one time. They closed
it up and made this fake grave over the spot. That's just what they
did."

"But your voice--we could hear it."

"Look at this headstone. There is a hole straight down through it. Below
there is a tube that runs down into the cave. Anyone at the lower end of
the tube can speak so they can be heard here. That is how those
mysterious whispers reached our ears. Oh, it is a great s