The Caves of Fear: A Rick Brant Science-Adventure StoryGoodwin, Harold L. (Harold Leland)
Science
The Caves of Fear: A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story
Goodwin, Harold L. (Harold Leland)
Detective and mystery stories; Scientists -- Juvenile fiction
Zircon went through the opening an inch at a time, on hands and knees.
The others followed, to find themselves in a cave almost identical to
the one they had left, except for the stone waterfall. This cave, too,
had walls broken in a number of places.
Rick and Zircon flashed their lights around, seeking the next step. Then
Rick caught a quick glimpse of something red that moved! Quick as a
flash he shifted his hand on the stock of his rifle, pointed it like a
pistol, and fired. The red object vanished!
The thunderous echo of the shot reverberating through the cave drowned
out his yell. He sprang through the entrance where he had seen the flash
of red and found himself in still another cave. Scotty was right behind
him.
"What is it?" Scotty demanded.
"I think it was a man," Rick said quickly. "He was wearing something
red. Come on, he can't be very far from here."
"Which way?"
There was no way of telling which way the man had gone. There were a
half dozen openings in the cave walls. Rick pointed at the two biggest.
"You take that one and I'll take this." Rifle ready and flashlight held
in front of him, he ran through the break in the wall he had indicated.
Scotty hurried to the other.
If only they could get their hands on even one man, Rick thought, they
might force him to serve as their guide! He passed through another cave,
choosing the biggest entrance on the opposite wall. As he went through
it, he was certain he saw a movement, as though the quarry had just
rounded a corner. He let out a yell and lengthened his stride. In a
second he reached the corner, rounded it, and found himself in an odd
cave with countless pillars, formed when stalactites from the ceiling
and stalagmites from the floor had joined together. It was a veritable
labyrinth. He started through it, got perhaps fifty feet, and stopped.
The man he had chased surely knew his way around the caves. There was no
hope of overtaking him now. Better rejoin the others, Rick thought. It
was senseless to get too far away from his companions.
He turned and started back, then hesitated, not sure of the way he had
come. The corridors formed by the limestone pillars led in all
directions.
"I must have come this way," he muttered, and started off. Then he
stopped again, playing his light around. He couldn't be sure. Suddenly
worried, he ran forward and was brought to a halt by a solid wall. He
turned and hurried along it, seeking an opening. He found one, but
smaller than the one through which he had come. He plunged on, found a
big opening, and went through it into an irregular cave unlike any he
had seen before. He turned to retrace his steps, and his eyes met a wall
where the openings were separated only by glistening partitions of
limestone. He couldn't even be sure of the one through which he had just
entered.
He licked lips that were suddenly dry. "I can't lose my head," he told
himself sternly. "I've got to stay calm."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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