When they reached the camp-fire, it had burned so low that they threw on
considerable more wood before sitting down to their lunch. As it flamed
up and the cheerful light forced the oppressive gloom back from around
them, both felt a corresponding rise in spirits.
“It was lucky that I brought along that maat,” remarked Mickey, as he
produced the venison, already cooked and prepared for the palate. “It's
a custom that Mr. Soot Simpson showed me, and I like it very much. You
note that the maat would be a great deal better if we had some salt and
pepper, or if we could keep it a few days till it got tender; but, as it
is, I think we'll worry it down.”
“It seems to me that I never tasted anything better,” responded Fred,
“but that, I suppose, is because I become so hungry before tasting it.”
“Yees are right. If ye want to know how good a cup of water can taste,
go two days without drinking; or if ye want to enjoy a good night's
rest, sit up for two nights, and so, if ye want to enjoy a nice maal of
victuals, ye must fast for a day or two. Now, I don't naad any fasting,
for I always enjoyed ating from the first pratie they giv me to suck
when I was a few waaks old.”
“Well, Mickey, you've been pretty well around the cave, and I want to
know what you think of our chance of getting out?”
The face of the Irishman became serious, and he looked thoughtfully
into the fire a moment before answering. Disposed as he was to view
everything from the sunshiny side, Mickey was not such a simpleton as to
consider their incarceration in the cave a matter that could be
passed off with a quirp and jest. He had explored the interior pretty
thoroughly, and gained a correct idea of their situation, but as yet he
saw no practical way of getting out. The plan of diving down the stream,
and trusting to Providence to come up on the outside was to be the last
resort.
Mickey did not propose to undertake it until convinced that no other
scheme was open to him. In going about the cave, he struck the walls in
the hope of finding some weak place, but they all gave forth that dead
sound which would have been heard had they been backed up by fifty feet
of solid granite. Among the many schemes that he had turned over in
his mind, none gave as little promise as this, and he dismissed it as
utterly impracticable.
He could conjure no way of reaching that opening above their heads. He
could not look up at that irregular, jagged opening without thinking how
easy it would be to rescue them, if they could make their presence known
to some one outside. There was Sut Simpson, who must have learned that
he had gone upon the wrong trail, and who had, therefore, turned back to
the assistance of his former comrade.
The latter knew him to be a veteran of the prairie, one who could read
signs that to others were like a sealed book, and whose long years of
adventure with the tribes of the Southwest had taught him all their
tricks; but whether he would be likely to follow the two, and to
understand their predicament, was a question which Mickey could not
answer with much encouragement to himself. Still there was a possibility
of its being done, and now and then the Irishman caught himself looking
up at the “skylight,” with a longing, half-expectant gaze.
There were several other schemes which he was turning over in his mind,
none of which, however, had taken definite shape, and, not wishing to
discourage his young friend, he answered his question as best he could.
“Well, my laddy, we're going to have a hard time to get out, but I think
we'll do it.”
“But can you tell me how?”
Mickey scratched his head in his perplexed way, hardly feeling competent
to come down to particulars.
“I can't, exactly; I've a good many plans I'm turning over in my head,
and some of them are very fine and grand, and its hard to pick out the
right one.”
Fred felt that he would like to hear what some of them were, but he did
not urge his friend, for he suspected that the fellow was trying to keep
their courage up.
They had finished their meal, and were sitting upon the sandy soil,
discussing the situation and throwing an occasional longing look at the
opening above. They had taken care to avoid getting directly beneath it;
for they had no wish to have man or animal tumble down upon their heads.
Now and then some of the gravel loosened and rattled down, and the clear
light that made its way through the overhanging bushes showed that the
sun was still shining, and, no doubt, several hours still remained
to them in which to do any work that might present itself. But,
unfortunately, nothing remained to do.
Whatever were the different schemes which Mickey was turning over in his
mind, none of them was ripe enough to experiment with. As the Irishman
thought of this and that, he decided to make no special effort until the
morrow. He and Fred could remain where they were without inconvenience
for a day or two longer, but it was necessary, too, that they should
have their full strength of body and mind when the time should come to
work.
“Sometimes when I git into a sore puzzle,” said Mickey, “and so many
beautiful and irritating plans come up before me that I cannot find
it in my heart which way to decide, I goes to slape and drames me way
through it, right straight into the right way.”
“Did you ever find your path out of trouble?” inquired Fred.
“Very frequently--that is, not to say so frequently--but on one or
two important occasions. I mind the time when I was coorting Bridget
O'Flaherty and Mollie McFizzle, in the ould counthry. Both of 'em was
fine gals, and the trouble was for me to decide which was the best as a
helpmate to meself.
“Bridget had red hair and beautiful freckles and a turn-up nose, and she
was so fond of going round without shoes that her feet spread out like
boards; Molly was just as handsome, but her beauty was of another style.
She had very little hair upon her pad, and a little love-pat she had
wid an old beau of hers caused a broken nose, which made her countenance
quite picturesque. She was also cross-eyed, and when she cocked one eye
down at me, while she kept a watch on the door wid the other, there was
a loveliness about her which is not often saan in the famale form.”
“And you could n't decide which of these would make you the best wife?”
“Nary a once. The attraction of both was nearly equal.”
“But how about their housekeeping? I've often heard father tell what a
splendid housekeeper mother was, and how he would rather have his wife a
good housekeeper than beautiful.”
“But the trouble was, I had both. I've described you the charms and
grace of each, and when I add that both were elegant housekeepers, ye'll
admit that my dilemma was greater than ever. They both handled the broom
to perfection; they could knock a chap clane across the cabin and out of
the window before ye could know what was coming. Me mither used to say
it was the housekeeping qualities that should decide, and she told me to
call upon 'em sometime when they was n't expecting me, and obsarve the
manner in which they handled things. Wal, Bridget was the first one that
I sneaked in upon. I heard a thumping noise as I drew near, as though
something was tumbling about the floor, and when I peeped through the
door, I saw that Bridget and her mother was having a delightful love-pat.
They was banging and whaling each other round the room, and, as the old
lady had her muscle well up, it was hard to tell which was coming out
ahead. Of course, my sympathies were with the lovely Bridget, and I
was desirous that she should win--but I didn't consider it my duty to
interfere. I supposed the old lady had been trying to impose too much
work on Bridget, and, therefore, she had rebelled, and was lambasting
her for the same. My interest in the little affair was so great, that
I pushed the door ajar, and stood with me mouth and eyes wide open.
It wasn't long before I began to get worried, for, from the way things
looked, the owld lady was getting the upper hand. I was thinking I would
have to sail in and lend a helping hand, when Bridget fotched the old
lady a whack that made her throw up the sponge. Wid that I felt so proud
that I sung out a word of encouragement, and rushed forward to embrace
my angel, but, before I could do so, she give me a swipe that sent me
backward through the door, busting it off, and I was out of the ring.
“The interview was very satisfactory,” continued Mickey, “and I wint
over to take a sly paap at Molly. As I drawed near the little hut on
the edge of the wood, I did n't hear any such noise as I noticed over
at Bridget's house. All was as still as it is here this minute. Me first
thought was that they all had gone away, but when I got nearer, I noted
my mistake. Molly's mother was busy sewing, and sitting near her was her
charming daughter Molly, leaning back in her chair, with her head thrown
still further back, her mouth wide open, and she a-snoring. I've no
doubt that she had become exhausted from overwork, and was taking a
little nap. The mother looked up as I stepped softly in, and I axed
her, in an undertone, how long her pet child had been asleep. She said
between two or three hours, and that she would wake her up, if Molly
hadn't told her before closing her eyes that if she dared to disturb her
before her nap was finished, she'd break the old lady's head. Knowing
the delicate relations that existed betwaan us, she suggested that I
should arouse her, she being afraid that she would sleep so long that
she would starve to death before she awoke. I wanted to come at the
matter gintly, so I took a straw and tickled Molly's nose. She snorted
a little, and rubbed it with her fist, but didn't open her eyes. I'd
undertook the job, however, and I was bound to do it, or die. So I
wiggled at her nostrils, and she made a yell and a jump, and was wide
awake. I don't mind me all that took place just then. Things was kind of
confused, and, when Molly lit on me, I thought the cabin had tumbled in.
My senses came back arter a while, and when I got my head bandaged up, I
wint home to dream over it.”
“And what was your dream?” asked Fred.
“In my slumbers, I saw both my loves going for each other like a couple
of Kilkenny cats, until there was nothing of aither lift. I took that as
a sign that naither of 'em was interested for me, and so I give them up,
sneaking off and sailing for Ameriky before they learned my intintions.”