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THE CAVE IN THE MOUNTAIN
A Sequel to _In the Pecos Country_
by
LIEUT. R. H. JAYNE
Author of _Lost in the Wilderness_, _Through Apache Land_, _In the Pecos
Country_, etc.
New York
The Mershon Company
1894
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. A Strange Guide
II. Alone in the Gloom
III. Strange Experiences
IV. Sunlight and Hope
V. Mining and Countermining
VI. A Daring Exploit
VII. Fishing for a Friend
VIII. Fishing for a Prize
IX. Groping in Darkness
X. "Here We are Again!"
XI. Through the Mountains
XII. Through the Mountains--Continued
XIII. In the Nick of Time
XIV. Between Two Fires
XV. On the Defensive
XVI. Friend or Enemy?
XVII. Fortunate Diversion
XVIII. An Old Acquaintance
XIX. How it was Done
XX. Sut's Camp-Fire
XXI. Safety and Sleep
XXII. Two Old Acquaintances
XXIII. Border Chivalry
XXIV. Night Visitors
XXV. Hunting a Steed
XXVI. Lone Wolf's Tactics
XXVII. The End
CHAPTER I.
A STRANGE GUIDE.
"Well, if he doesn't beat any one I ever heard of!"
Mickey O'Rooney and Fred Munson were stretched on the Apache blanket,
carefully watching the eyes of the wild beast whenever they showed
themselves, and had been talking in guarded tones. The Irishman had been
silent for several minutes, when the lad asked him a question and received
no answer. When the thing was repeated several times, he crawled over to
his friend, and, as he expected, found him sound asleep.
This was not entirely involuntary upon the part of Mickey. He had shown
himself, on more than one occasion, to be a faithful sentinel, when
serious danger threatened; but he believed that there was nothing to be
feared on the present occasion, and, as he was sorely in need of sleep, he
concluded to indulge while the opportunity was given him.
"Sleep away, old fellow," said Fred. "You seem to want it so bad that I
won't wake you up again."
The boy's curiosity having been thoroughly aroused, all tendency to
slumber upon his part had departed, and he determined that if there was
any way by which he could profit any by that wolf, he would do it.
"He may hang around here for a day or two," he mused, as he heard the
faint tappings upon the sand, "thinking all the time that he'll get a
chance to make a meal off of us. So he will, if we don't keep a bright
look-out. It seems to me that he might be driven out."
The more he reflected upon this suggestion of his own, the more reasonable
did it become. His plan was to drive out the wolf, to compel him to show
up, as a card player might say. Considering the dread which all wild
animals have of fire, the plan was simple, and would have occurred to
anyone.
"The camp-fire seems to be all out, but there must be some embers under
the ashes. Mickey threw down his torch somewhere near here."
Carefully raking off the ashes with a stick, he found plenty of coals
beneath. These were brought together, and some of the twigs laid over, the
heat causing them at once to burst into a crackling flame. This speedily
radiated enough light for his purpose, which was simply to find one of
those "fat" pieces of pine, which make the best kind of torches. A few
minutes search brought forth the one he needed, and then, shoving his
revolver down in his belt, he was ready.
The light revealed the large beautiful Apache blanket, stretched out upon
the ground, while the Irishman lay half upon it and half upon the earth,
sleeping as soundly as if in his bed at home. Beyond him and in every
direction was the blackness of night. But, looking to his right, he
discovered the two eyes staring at him and glowing like balls of fire.
The animal was evidently puzzled at the sight before him. Fred dreaded a
shot from the Indians above, and, as soon as he had his torch ready and
had taken all his bearings, he drew the ashes over the spluttering flame.
Save for the torch, all was again wrapped in impenetrable gloom.
The glowing orbs were still discernible, and, holding the smoking torch
above his head, Fred began moving slowly toward them. The animal did not
stir until the lad was within twenty feet, when the latter concluded that
it would be a good thing for him, also, to take a rest.
"Wonder if he's been trained not to be afraid of torches," mused the
little fellow. "I hope he hasn't, and I hope too there won't be any
trouble in scaring him."
The lad dreaded another possibility,--that his torch might be suddenly
extinguished. If that should go out, leaving them in utter darkness, the
wolf would immediately rise to a superior plane, and speedily demonstrate
who was master of the situation.
Fred swung the torch several times around his head, until it was fanned
into a bright flame, after which he resumed his advance upon his foe. At
the very first step the beast vanished. He had wheeled about and made off
in a twinkling.
The lad pressed onward at the same deliberate gait, watching carefully for
the reappearance of the guiding orbs. It was not long before they were
observed a dozen yards or so further on. The wolf was manifestly
retreating. He had no fancy for that terrible torch bearing down on him,
and he was falling back by forced marches. This being precisely what Fred
desired, he was greatly encouraged.
"He is making his way out, and after awhile he will reach the place, and
away he'll go. If he's a wolf or fox, the hole may be so small that Mickey
can't squeeze through, but I think I can follow one of the animals
anywhere."
After going some distance further, Fred noticed that the animal was not
proceeding in a straight line. He would appear on his right, where he
would stare at the advancing torch until it was quite close, when he would
scamper off to the left, and go through the same performance.
"He knows the route better than I do, so I won't try to disturb him,"
reflected the boy as he followed up his advantage, with high hopes of
discovering the secret which was so important to himself and friend. "I
won't crowd him too hard, either, for I may scare him off the track and
fail."
The wolf was evidently a prey to curiosity--the same propensity which has
caused the death of many bipeds and quadrupeds. The action of the torch
puzzled him, no doubt. He had seen fire before, and probably had been
burnt--so he knew enough to give it a wide berth; but it is doubtful
whether he ever saw a flaring torch held over the head of a boy and
solemnly bearing down upon him.
Fred's absorbing interest in the whole affair made him wholly unmindful of
the distance he was traveling. He had already advanced several hundred
yards, and had no idea that he was so far away from his slumbering friend.
The fact was that the singular cave was only one among a thousand similar
ones found among the wilds of the West and Southwest. Its breadth was not
great, but the distance which it ran back into the mountains was amazing.
The wolf was leading the lad a long distance from the camp, and, what was
more important (and which fact, unfortunately, Fred had failed to notice),
the route was anything but a direct one. It could not have been more
sinuous or winding. The course of the cavern, in reality, was as winding
as that of the ravine in which he had effected his escape from the
Apaches, and from which it seemed he had irrevocably strayed. Had he
attempted to make his return, he would have found it impossible to rejoin
Mickey O'Rooney, unless the two should call and signal to each other.
However, the attention of the lad was taken up so entirely with the task
he had laid hold of, and which seemed in such a fair way of
accomplishment, that he took no note of his danger. The wolf was leading
him forward as the _ignis fatuus_ lures the wearied traveler through
swamps and thickets to renewed disappointment.
"He has some way of reaching the outer world which the Indians haven't
been able to find. Of course not; for, if they knew, they would have been
in here long ago. They wouldn't stay fooling around that opening, where
they're likely to get a shot from Mickey when they ain't expecting it.
Now, if the wolf will only behave himself, all will come out all right."
Fearful of being caught with an extinguished torch, the lad kept up the
practice of swinging it rapidly round his head every few minutes. When he
ceased each performance, the flame was so bright that he was able to
penetrate the darkness much further upon every hand.
On one or two of these occasions he caught a glimpse of the creature as it
bounded away into the darkness. In shape and action it was so much like
the mountain wolves which had besieged him some nights before that all
doubts were removed. He knew it was one of those terrible animals beyond
question.
"Wonder how it is he's alone? It wasn't long after I saw that old fellow
the other night, when there was about fifty of them under the tree. One of
them is enough for me, if he doesn't give us the slip. Maybe he has come
in to find out how the land lies, and is going back to report to the
rest."
Fred could not help reflecting every few minutes on the terrible situation
in which he would be should his torch fail, and the other bring a pack of
ravenous creatures about him. They would make exceedingly short work of a
dozen like him.
"It seems good for hours yet," he said as he held it before him, and
examined it for the twentieth time.
The stick was a piece of a limb about as thick as his arm, and fully a
yard in length. It felt as heavy as _lignum vitae_, and, by looking at the
end held in his hand and that which was burning, it could be seen that it
was literally surcharged with resin--so much so that, after being cut, it
had overflowed, and was sticky on the outside. No doubt this, with others,
had been gathered for that express purpose, and there was no reason to
doubt its capacity.
As Fred advanced he caught occasional glimpses of the jagged overhanging
rocks, which in some places were wet, the water dripping down upon him as
he passed. The fact, too, that more than once both sides of the cave were
visible at the same time, told him that the dimensions of their prison
were altogether different from what he had supposed.
"There must be an end of this somewhere," he muttered, beginning to
suspect that he had gone quite a distance, "and I'm getting tired of this
tramping. I hope the wolf hasn't gone beyond the door he came in by, and I
hope he has nearly reached it, for it will take me some time before I can
find my way back to Mick."