GROPING IN DARKNESS.
It is proper, at this point, to introduce some history of the movements of
Mickey O'Rooney, after the separation between himself and his young
friend. The latter, it will be remembered, left him sleeping upon the
Apache blanket, at the bottom of the cave, while he, the lad, went off in
pursuit of the wolf, which came so near leading him to destruction, but
which, in the end, conducted him to freedom and safety.
The Irishman slept for several hours longer, as soundly as if he lay in
his own bed at home. He was sorely in need of sleep, and, having convinced
himself that there was no danger to be apprehended, he transferred all his
anxiety over to his young friend while he sailed off into the land of
dreams. When he awoke and recalled where he was, he spoke to Fred; but,
receiving no reply, supposed he was asleep, and passed his hand about in
quest of him. After groping several minutes in vacancy, he muttered:
"Be the powers! if he hasn't fell out of bed, as me brother Tom used to
remark to the ould gintleman, after he'd kicked me out of the same. The
fall ain't far enough to hurt him seriously, but these laddies have a way
of getting hurt, where a man couldn't do it, if he tried."
After calling and searching further, he struck a match and held it up. A
transient glimpse was gained of an area of several hundred feet, in which,
it is needless to say, he saw nothing of his young friend.
"Be the powers! but he strayed away," added Mickey, somewhat impatiently.
"He thought there was something that it would pay to chase, and he's gone
off, and, of course, will be lost."
With a view to bringing him back, the Irishman called his name, whistled,
and, after a time, fired his gun. The echoes were not so loud as when Fred
had fired, but the racket was sufficient to make him confident it would
reach the ears of the boy, if he were not asleep or injured.
Mickey, as will be seen, formed the right opinion of the action of his
young friend, and hoped that he would be able to work his way back to
camp, as they called it, without any mishap or assistance from him.
"He thinks there's another door that opens into the sunshine, and that
isn't locked, and, if it is, he can pick the kay. He may work away till he
becomes weary, and then he'll be back here, and we'll hare to contrive
some other way, or it may be that good luck will lead him to the opening
for which he sighs. Heaven grant that the same may be the case."
He waited, and watched, and hoped, as the hours passed by, until he began
to believe that something serious had happened to him. At intervals he
repeated his signals, but on no occasion was there anything like a
response.
It was an odd juxtaposition of events that, at the very moment he uttered
some of the calls, the despairing kid was doing the same thing, and,
although each strained his ears to the utmost, yet neither suspected the
truth.
The hours and the time passed on, until happening to look up at the
opening, Mickey saw the prepared blanket slowly descending, just as Fred
looked upon it from the ridge.
"I'm obliged to yees," he said, in an undertone, "but I don't find myself
in pressing naad of the same. I have one here, but if ye insist on my
taking that, I'll not quarrel with yees."
He resolved that when it came down within his reach he would cut the
lasso, and take it, but before it reached the ground he had changed his
mind.
He knew what the intention of the Apaches was, but he was not deceived for
an instant.
"I'll not do anything at all," he muttered; "I'll not interfere, where
it's so difficult to decide upon me duty, as the owld lady obsarved when
the bear got her husband down. I'll let 'em think I'm aslaap, and see what
they'll do."
And thus, as the reader already knows, the rolled-up blanket was lowered
and raised again without molestation, almost grazing the upturned face of
the Irishman as it did so.
"And the next will be one of the spalpeens himself. Begorrah! there he is
this minute!"
Just as he anticipated, a short time after the blanket began its descent,
enfolding the form of one of the swarthy warriors, the Irishman at once
detecting the ruse.
His rifle was brought to his shoulder, but yielding to a whim, which he
could hardly explain, he lowered it, without firing, resolved that he
would do nothing at all, unless compelled to in self-defense. About this
time an idea began to dawn upon him that silence and inaction upon his
part might do himself more good than the most vigorous defense.
He might shoot the first Indian, and then the others would only keep
themselves out of reach, and he would be no nearer escape than before. On
the other hand, if he studiously forced himself into the background, they
might begin to believe that he had discovered the means of exit which was
unknown to them. He had no fear of not being able to keep out of their
way, where he had such abundant room and where no light possibly could
reach the interior and reveal his presence to a hundred searchers. If they
chose to attempt to carry torches, then he could pick them off at his own
convenience.
And so it came about that Mickey stood quietly by, and permitted the whole
five Apaches to slide down the rope like so many monkeys, while he raised
no hand in the way of protest. Not knowing how many the party numbered, he
could not conjecture how many were left when the five had come down, and
the business stopped for the time, but he knew, as a matter of course,
that they would not enter the cave without leaving reinforcements upon the
surface.
By the time the last man landed, Mickey had moved back to a point a
hundred yards away from where the group were gathered, where he was seated
upon a large rock.
"If any of 'em undertakes to flash a bull's eye in me face, I kin dodge
down behind the same," was the way in which the Irishman reasoned it.
At such a time, and in such a place, the faculty of hearing was about the
only one that could be counted upon, and, sliding softly off the rock,
Mickey applied his ear to the earth. If the Apaches were moving about, the
noise made by their feet was so slight that he could not be certain
whether they were actually branching out and groping for him, or whether
they were the sounds produced by the natural shifting of the feet of a
group of men standing together.
Matters stood thus for some time, when the last Indian suddenly came
through the opening and plumped down upon the ground below, his start on
this journey being such that he was probably considerably shaken up by the
involuntary trip.
"Ye spalpeens must be more careful in coming down-stairs," muttered
Mickey, who supposed that the whole thing was an accident, as in his own
case.
But it was not long before he heard the voice of Fred Munson, calling from
above, and, as each word was distinctly heard, there was no room for any
misunderstanding of the situation. The Irishman was literally dumfounded.
"Be the powers! if it isn't the most wonderful thing that ever happened,
as Mrs. Murphy remarked when Tim came home sober one night. That laddy, in
hunting around, has struck upon some hole that leads out, and he's forgot,
or else it was so hard to find his way back to me, he has gone round to
that place, and now hollers down at me.
"Begorrah," added Mickey, a moment later, "it must be that he shoved that
spalpeen overboard, and there isn't anybody left up there in the way of
Apaches but one, and he ain't an Apache, but a gintleman named Fred
Moonson. Here's to his health, and if this thing gets any more delightful,
I'll have to give a whoop and yell, and strike up the Tipperary jig."
The exultant fellow had hard work to keep his spirits under control when
he fairly understood the brilliant exploit that had been performed by his
young friend.
"It is almost aqual to my gineral coorse," he he added; "but I must try
and hold in till I can get the laddy by himself. Then I'll hammer him, out
of pure love, as ye may say."
Mickey managed to contain himself, but did not attempt to reply to the
direct call which was made upon him. That, in one sense, would have been
fatal, as it would have "uncovered" his position. The Irishman was
quick-witted, and it occurred to him that the last incident which had
happened at the entrance to the cave might be turned to good account. If
he continued to remain in the background, the Apaches were likely to
conclude that he, too, was beyond their reach.
Thus matters stood until the signal was made to him, when he deemed it
wise to make a cautious reply, merely to apprise the lad that he was there
within call, and understood the situation through and through.
Mickey was very apprehensive when, some time after, he discovered that one
of the Indians was ascending the rope. He was not so apprehensive when he
came down again. The result of this repulse was much more decisive than
Fred had supposed. The warriors seemed to suspect that they were throwing
away time in attempting to outwit one who held such an immense advantage
over them, and who was too wide-awake to permit them to steal a march upon
him.
The delighted Irishman knew, from the sounds, that the redskins were
moving away from the spot, not with the idea of staying away altogether,
but that they might engage upon a little reconnoissance which might
possibly open the way that they were so anxiously seeking. One of the
redskins passed almost within arm's length of him, never suspecting, as a
matter of course, that he was brought into such proximity to a mortal
enemy. Mickey only breathed until assured that there was quite a distance
between him and the Apaches.
"Now it begins to look as though there's a chance for me," he concluded;
"and if me laddy will let down the lasso, I'll thry the bootiful
experiment of shinning up it, though I much fear me that it will be the
same as a greased pole."
He moved with the utmost circumspection toward the spot, being able to
locate it by means of the moonlit opening overhead, and when he was near
it he halted and listened.
"I don't obsarve that any one is loafing about here, getting in the way of
honest folks."
Just then he ran plump against an Apache, whom he did not suspect was so
near him.
The redskin uttered a grunt of anger, no doubt suspecting that it was one
of his own friends.
As quick as lightning the Irishman drew back and struck a blow that
stretched the warrior senseless.
"I'll tache ye to be grunting around here when a gintleman runs again ye.
Ye ought to be ashamed of yourself."
Mickey had already strapped his rifle to his back, and, groping about, he
felt the end of the lasso dangling in front of his face. The same instant
he grasped it and began the ascent.