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right,” Nancy shouted, as she scrambled to her feet. Then she leaned over the boy. “Tell me what happened to you. Didn’t you know about this place?”
    “No, and I didn’t see the hole in the dark,” he replied. “But how am I going to get out of here?”
    “Can you stand?” Nancy asked, wondering if the boy had any further injuries.
    With her assistance he got up. “I guess I’m all right except for this arm.” It hung limp at his side.
    “I’m so sorry,” Nancy said. She then asked him to try climbing the ladder by using one hand for support. “I’ll help boost you,” she offered.
    With the old wooden ladder now groaning and cracking, she managed to help him until those above could grab his uninjured arm and the back of his coat and pull him to safety. Nancy scrambled up the few remaining steps.
    Ned began to question the boy, who said his name was Jim Gorgo.
    “We’ll take you to a hospital,” he offered. “Have you any choice about which one?”
    “No,” Jim replied. “But I guess the River Heights General would be the best.”
    He was helped into the rear seat. “You’re regular folks,” he commented. “And I’m mighty lucky you happened to come along.”
    Nancy spoke to him kindly. “Jim, you’re a very good sport. I know that you’re in pain, but please explain why you were in that particular spot in the woods.”

    The rickety ladder gave way.
    The boy took so long to answer that she and Ned thought he was being evasive.
    Finally he said, “I might as well tell you the truth. A man sent me for a package that was supposed to be left at the old oak tree. I thought I’d take a shortcut, but now I’m sorry I did.”
    Ned asked him, “Are you a member of the gang who tried to beat us up?”
    “Oh no,” Jim replied quickly. “I don’t know anything about that. I came here on my own. The man who wanted the package said he’d pay me well for getting it. I wasn’t supposed to tell anybody, but you folks have been so good to me, it’s the least I can do.”
    Jim suggested that maybe one of the boys would like to go back and get the package and deliver it himself.
    “I guess the man wouldn’t care as long as he gets the package.”
    Nancy and Ned exchanged glances. She asked Jim, “What’s the man’s name?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Oh come,” said Ned, “you must. Otherwise, how would you know where to deliver the package?”
    Again Jim took a long time before answering. Then he said, “Honest, I’m telling the truth. I don’t know the man’s real name. He told me to call him Fleetfoot.”
    Fleetfoot!
    Nancy was so delighted she could hardly keep from showing it, but she calmly asked, “Maybe one of us could make the delivery. Where would we find this man?”
    Jim answered, “You know where the Waterfall Motel is?”
    “Yes,” Nancy replied.
    “Well, I don’t think Fleetfoot’s staying at the motel,” Jim said, “but he told me to meet him in the garden there.”
    “That sounds easy,” Ned said. “As soon as we leave you, we’ll decide.”
    In a few minutes the group reached the hospital. Ned drove up at once to the emergency entrance and went for a nurse, who came outside with a wheelchair. Jim climbed into it. Again he thanked the young people for rescuing him; then the nurse opened the door and pushed the new patient inside.
    At this moment the other two couples drove up. “That boy is lucky,” Dave remarked. “If we hadn’t happened to go out there, he might have died of starvation in that pit.”
    The thought sobered the others, and there was little conversation as Ned turned Nancy’s car and they all went back to the site of the old oak tree. The package was still there. Dave got out of the other car and brought it to Nancy.
    “Thanks,” she said. “Now which of you boys is going to the Waterfall Motel to deliver this?”
    Dave said, “Suppose I do the errand alone. Fleetfoot has never seen me and won’t suspect my motives are anything but