The Aldens wriggled out of the cave to have lunch in a warm, sunny spot.
“Let’s put down our picnic blanket right here,” Henry said. “That way we can keep an eye on this cave.”
Jessie set out the sandwiches. “What is it about these caves?” she wanted to know. “Every time we go inside, somebody wants us out of there. First it was Crystal Hollowell. Now it’s Mr. Pitt and Mr. Lyme.”
“They’re searching for something, that’s for sure, ” Henry said. “But what could be under all that mud and dirt?”
“Real diamonds!” Benny answered, very sure of that. “Those bad guys made big holes with that shovel. And know what? Maybe Joe Caveman is their partner, too. He had a book that said Treasure on it. Diamonds are treasure.”
“Now don’t get your hopes up,” Violet said, looking up from Benny’s rock guide. “Your book says nearly all diamonds are found in South Africa. I don’t think diamonds are the treasure everyone’s looking for in the caves.”
Jessie borrowed the rock book. “I’m going to read about the Rockville diamonds again to see if we can’t find our own treasure. Now where’s that page with the—hey, wait! Look at the photographer’s name under the picture of this rock.”
Henry studied the photo Jessie was pointing to. “It says: ‘photograph by Crystal Hollowell.’ ”
“Crystal Hollowell!” Jessie cried. “It can’t be the same person. She said she studied animals.”
Violet looked over Jessie’s shoulder. “That’s what she said, but when we saw her in the cave, she was doing something with rocks.”
Jessie flipped through the pages of the rock book. “Listen! It says here that sometimes streaks of silver are found inside a special kind of lead. And, listen to this: ‘Such lead deposits can be found in certain types of limestone.’ These caves are made of limestone! I bet that’s what Miss Hollowell and everybody else is looking for—silver!”
“I bet for sure that Miss Hollowell took this picture,” Benny said. “Maybe if we don’t find our Rockville diamonds, we’ll find silver instead. Then we’ll be rich.”
Jessie laughed. “It’s hard to find the kind of silver they’re talking about in this book, Benny. You have to be a rock expert to know what to look for. Those men were searching for something, and so was Miss Hollowell. But maybe it’s not silver, maybe it’s something else.”
“But what?” Violet asked.
“Don’t forget Joe Caveman!” Benny cried.
“How can we forget Joe Caveman?” Jessie said with a laugh. “You won’t let us!”
“Can we go back into this cave?” Benny begged. “Can we?”
“I’d like to go back, too,” Violet added, forgetting all her worries about getting lost.
Henry nodded. “Sure thing! I’m glad you changed your minds. I’d sure like to snoop around in there. But first let’s go back to the cabin and get our safety gear. Oh, one other thing. We have to let Mr. Howe know we’ll be caving here this afternoon.”
After gathering up their things, the Aldens waited by the side of the road for the traffic to go by.
Suddenly, a truck that was driving by slowed down in front of the Aldens. But a second later, it sped up again and disappeared.
“Did you see who that was?” Henry asked.
“Crystal Hollowell,” Jessie answered. “She took off like a rocket when she saw who we were.”
Jessie checked down the road. “If we run, maybe we can see if she went to the other cave. It’s not far from here.”
“Good idea,” Henry said. “Let’s go.”
Jessie was right. After racing down a ways, the Aldens spotted Crystal Hollowell’s truck. Then they saw her, right by the sinkhole entrance.
“Let’s try to catch up with her,” Jessie said. “Oh, Miss Hollowell, Miss Hollowell!”
Hearing her name, Crystal Hollowell whirled around to see who was shouting for her. When she saw the Aldens, she marched back to her truck and threw her big duffel bag inside.
Jessie ran over to the truck. “Wait up. We wanted to ask you something. Benny, hand me your rock book.”
By the time Benny pulled his book from his backpack, Crystal Hollowell had started up her truck. “I’m in a hurry, so step back.”
But Jessie Alden was much too fast for Crystal Hollowell. She opened the rock book and stuck it through the truck window. “Did you take this photo, Miss Hollowell? It has your name underneath it.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Miss Hollowell answered without even looking at the book. “I’ve got to go.” With that, the young woman stepped on the gas and sped away.
The Aldens hurried back to the cabin to get their safety gear.
When they came down from the Little Nose Cliff again, they had everything they needed to go caving—except time.
“I guess we should just look around the big cave we found this morning,” Henry said. “There’s not enough time to go back to the sinkhole cave, too. Besides, I left a note to Mr. Howe telling him where we’d be and that we marked the place with a bandana.”
“The bandana!” Violet cried when the Aldens started searching for the cave entrance. “It’s gone!”
The children walked along slowly, checking along the rock for the opening they had entered just hours before.
“This is strange. I don’t see the entrance we dug out,” Henry said. He ran his hand along the rock to feel for the cool spot. “It should be easy to find since we scooped out all that rock and dirt.”
Benny ran ahead to look for the spot. “I’ll find it! I’ll find it!” But he found no bandana sticking out and no cave opening.
“A cave can’t just disappear,” Jessie said, walking up and down. “Let’s think. This morning when we crossed the road, we were standing next to that road sign. The cave opening has to be right near there.”
“Hey, the entrance has been covered up! That’s why we didn’t see it,” Henry shouted when he checked the rock. “Somebody took the dirt and rock we dug out and pushed it back into the entrance!”
It didn’t take long for the Aldens to dig out the entrance again. Soon, they were inside the cave. Now that they had four flashlights, there was plenty of light inside.
“Hey, there are those bootmarks again—the ones with the heels,” Jessie said, aiming her flashlight at the cave floor. “Those aren’t our footprints, and they’re not big enough to belong to Mr. Pitt or Mr. Lyme. Let’s follow them.”
Henry cut up many pieces of reflective tape. “This time we’ll put lots of tape high and low. Benny, take this stick and drag it along the floor as we walk. Whenever we get to a turn, make an ‘X’ in the mud. If we leave enough markers, there’s no way anyone can erase every single one.”
With their safety rules all set, the Aldens walked through the tunnel that branched off from the first room of the cave.
“Wow!” Benny yelled a few minutes later, running ahead. “You won’t believe what I just found.”
Benny’s voice was coming from a room-sized space off the side of the tunnel. Squeezing in behind, Henry, Jessie, and Violet beamed their flashlights into the space.
“It’s like a small living room,” Violet said. “There’s a folding stool, some books—even a sleeping bag.”
“Whom could this belong to?” Jessie said.
“Not to the person we’re trailing, that’s for sure,” Henry said, aiming his flashlight at the floor. “There’s only one set of footprints in here, and they’re way bigger than the ones we were following.”
Violet picked up a book lying on the stool. “Look what I found.”
The other children’s eyes grew huge. Soon everyone was laughing very hard.
“It’s—it’s . . . ” Henry started to say before he burst into laughter again.
“Treasure Island,” Jessie finally managed to say between fits of laughter. “It’s the book Joe Caveman was carrying the day we saw him. He wasn’t looking for a treasure at all. He was just reading—”
“Treasure Island!” Benny cried. “That’s the book you read me last summer about a shipwreck.”
Jessie put her arm around Benny. “Remember how much you liked it?”
Benny nodded. “Not as much as I like real treasures. That’s a funny joke on us.”
The next thing the children heard wasn’t a funny joke at all. Loud, stomping footsteps echoed in the cave.
“Quick!” Henry whispered. “Turn off your flashlights. Maybe we can see who’s going by.”
“Or coming in,” Violet whispered when a bright spotlight suddenly lit up the chamber.
“Who’s in here?” a man’s voice boomed.
There was no use hiding. The Aldens came out from the shadows.
“Joe Caveman!” the children yelled all at once.
“I guess you found my hideout,” the tall stranger said.
Benny burst out with a question. “What are you hiding in your hideout?”
Joe Caveman pointed to himself. “Me. I’m hiding me.”
Violet swallowed hard. “Is someone looking for you?”
For the first time, Joe Caveman smiled. “Everybody’s looking for me, young lady. My five children, my wife, my boss. I never get a second to myself. I come down here for some peace and quiet on my days off to do a little reading and some exploring. I’m a spelunker.”
“We’re ’lunkers, too,” Benny said. “But we don’t read books down here. We’re looking for diamonds and silver and two men who made us get lost.”
“Whoa, young fella, slow down,” Joe Caveman said. “I hope you folks weren’t the ones who hammered the walls at the sinkhole entrance where I first ran into you. There were some rock chips over there.”
“That wasn’t us,” Benny said. “That was a lady who tried to scare us. She said we’d get flooded even though it was sunny out.”
“Never saw her,” Joe Caveman said. “As for the two men you mentioned, I wonder if they’re the pair I chased out of here after I caught them digging up the cave.”
“We saw them, too,” Jessie said. “They took down all our reflective tape to scare us, and they cut our brother Henry’s rope. Everybody seems to want us out of here.”
Violet looked up at the tall stranger. “Do you want us out of here, too?”
Joe Caveman smiled at Violet. “Not at all. Sorry I was so gruff the other day. I’d just settled my things down in a good spot when those men came down making a racket with their digging and yelling. All these caves connect, so I moved on and found this hideout farther in. But caves are public places—wonderful places if you know what you’re up to. I can see you children are very careful cavers, so I don’t mind that you’re down here. Hope I didn’t scare you the other day.”
“You did,” Benny said with a laugh. “But not for long.”
“Good.” Joe Caveman picked up his belongings. “I guess I’ll be off. Half the fun is trying to discover a spot where nobody can find me.”
With that, Joe Caveman was gone.
Benny ran after him. “Hey, wait!” he said. “You forgot something.”
Joe Caveman turned around. “What?”
Benny handed Joe Caveman his book. “Your treasure.” |