, and dropping his
share of the burden, Colon sprang back in alarm, as a voice seemed to
come up out of the very earth at their feet, saying:

"Keep back there, you fellows, or you'll be tumbling down on top of me!"

"Hello! there, Fred, where under the sun are you?" demanded Bristles,
looking around him in sheer amazement.

"I've fallen into some sort of cave here, that's all!" came back in a
muffled voice.

CHAPTER VIII

THE TELL-TALE PIN

Colon and Bristles stood there, and looked at each other in dismay, upon
hearing Fred say that he had met with such a strange misfortune.

"Well, if that doesn't beat my time!" the latter exclaimed. "And to
think that while you and I talked back there, our chum was lying down in
some old black hole. What if he's broken his leg, or even sprained an
ankle,---Riverport will miss a good man in this Marathon race, believe
me!"

"Let's see if we can find the hole where Fred slipped down," suggested
Colon.

"And be careful we don't go the same way, too," added Bristles, drily.

At that they started to move carefully forward, closely examining every
foot of the way as they went. In a short time Colon uttered a cry.

"Found it, have you?" demanded Bristles, with a disappointed grunt, for
he had hoped to be the lucky one himself.

"Look there where that root sticks up!" the other called out, pointing as
he explained. "Seems to me there might be a gap of some sort. Let's
creep a little closer and find out. Yes, that's the hole, and no
mistake, Bristles. And Fred---he must have slipped down so fast he just
couldn't grab hold of anything. If he did, it gave way, and went down
along with him."

They accordingly crept forward, and began to stare down through the
opening.

"Why, what's this I see?" ejaculated Bristles. "Somebody's got a light
working down there, Colon!"

"It's our chum, I reckon," the tall boy told him, after another look.

"What, Fred?" persisted Bristles. "But whatever would he be striking a
match for, I want to know?"

"To look around, I should say," Colon informed him, and the statement
seemed so simple that it apparently convinced Bristles on the spot, for
he hastened to remark:

"Well, that sure would be just like Fred now, to think of finding out
what sort of a coop he'd dropped into, the first thing. Hello! down
there!"

"Hello! yourself, Bristles!" came back the cheery answer.

"First of all, tell us if you got hurt any, Fred!"