THE WINDOWS IN THE ROCKY WALLS
"Well, here it's the fourth day we've been out, and nothing doing yet,
Frank!"
Bob spoke gloomily, as though the unsuccessful search was beginning to
pall upon him a little. Boys' natures differ so much; and while the
young Kentuckian had many fine qualities that his chum admired, still he
was not so persistent as Frank.
Nothing could ever daunt the boy from Circle Ranch. Difficulties, he
believed, were only thrown in his way to bring out the better parts of
his nature. The more a fellow found himself "up against it," as Frank
called meeting trouble half-way, the stronger became his character.
"Oh! well, now, Bob, I wouldn't say that," he answered the complaint of
his chum. "Just think what tremendous progress we've been making right
along. And if the very worst comes, didn't Charley Moi say that it was
only a week now before he must get another stock of things to eat, and
won't he have to wait at the place of meeting, for the 'learned sahib'
to appear, and take them from him, as he has done so often? Why, we can
be in hiding nearby, and meet the professor, even against his will."
"That's so," Bob admitted, the argument proving a clincher; "and I
reckon I'm a silly clown to think anything else."
"No, you're only tired, after a pretty tough day, that's all," Frank
declared. "When you've had a rest you'll feel better. I'm more used to
this sort of thing than you are, old fellow; but all the same we must
admit that we're getting the greatest view ever of this old canyon."
"That's so, Frank, and it's worth all the climbing and sliding, too. But
every time we've discovered signs of any of those old deserted homes of
the cliff dwellers, why, we find they've been visited time and again by
curious folks hoping to discover some treasure, or keepsakes of the
extinct people. No chance for the old professor to hide away there."
"But pretty soon we're going to discover a new batch of those caves in
the face of the rock, something unknown to all other searchers. We'll
find it by the aid of this same glass; and because we're looking for it,
high up. In all these other cases you see, Bob, there were shelves of
rock above shelves; and new ladders have been made by the guides, so
that anybody with nerve could climb up and up. Now these ladders give
the thing away. And I've somehow got the notion in my head that in the
case of the rock dwellings where the professor is hiding himself, there
is no outward sign in the shape of ladders."
"But in that case, Frank, how under the sun could the old fellows ever
get up to their dens, which you said must be near the top of a high
cliff?"
"Well, that's something we're going to find out later on, you see,"
replied the other, serenely. "Perhaps they had some way of lowering
themselves from the top by means of a rope, or a stout, wide grape vine.
Then, again, there may be some cleft in the rock farther away, that no
one would notice; but which was used as a trail, running up into the
cliff, and to the rock houses."
"It does take you to figure out these things," declared Bob, in
admiration, as they trudged along, with Charley Moi in advance.
"Then we haven't yet got to the place where the Chinese buyer meets his
employer with the eatables?" Bob remarked after a little silence.
"The last time I asked him he kept saying it was only a little farther
along," replied Frank.
"There, look at him stopping right now; and Frank, he's grinning at us
in a way that can only mean one thing. That must be where he always
waits for the queer old gentleman to show up."
"How about that, Charley; is this the place where you hang out?" asked
Frank, as they hastened to join the guide.
"Allee samee place," replied Charley Moi, waving his yellow hand around
him. "Not know where shaib come fromee, always turn roundee rock," and
he pointed to a large outlying mass that had, ages ago, become detached
from the towering cliff overhead, and fallen in such a fashion as to
partly obstruct the canyon trail.
Frank looked around him eagerly.
"We must be getting warmer all the time," he remarked; "and if you just
take a look at that river right now, you'll see that up yonder the rock
rises up almost from its very flood. When the water is high it must
sweep along against the face of that big cliff. And Bob, something seems
to tell me that somewhere inside of a mile or so, we're going to find
what we're looking for."
"Oh! I hope so!" echoed Bob, with a look of expectancy on his face; for
he always put great reliance on the common sense of his chum; and when
Frank said a thing in that steady tone, the Kentucky boy believed it
must be so.
Frank called a halt then and there.
"We're tired, anyway," he said, "and might as well spend the night here.
Besides, I just want to find a place were I can take a good look through
the glass up at that cliff near the top. It faces the West, all right,
you see; and the indications are that somewhere or other I'll find
signs of the queer windows belonging to some of those cave houses."
The camp was made, and Charley Moi busied himself with his fire. Bob had
some things he wished to attend to; while Frank took the glass, and,
settling down in a place where he believed he could get a fair view of
the upper strata of colored rock, began carefully scrutinizing the
cliff.
"The time is right, because the old Indian said the Westering sun shone
in the mouth of Echo Cave," Frank mused, as he pursued his work, not
disappointed because failure came in the beginning.
Frank had been at work possibly six or eight minutes when he gave
utterance to a low exclamation. Then he fixed his field glasses upon a
certain spot as though something had caught his attention there.
"Bob!" he called out.
"Want me?" asked his chum from the spot where the fire was burning.
"Yes, come here please," Frank continued.
Bob quickly complied with the request. He knew that although his
camp-mate spoke in such a quiet tone, he had evidently made a discovery.
Frank could repress his feelings even in a moment of great excitement,
which was something beyond the ability of the more impetuous Kentucky
lad.
"What have you found, Frank?" he asked, as he reached the side of the
other.
"Here, take the glass," said Frank. "Point it toward that little cone
that seems to rise up like a chimney above the level of the cliff top.
Got it now? Well, let your glass slowly drop straight down the face of
the rock. Never mind the glint of the sun, and the fine rich color. I
know it's just glorious, and all that; but we're after something more
important now than pictures and color effects. What do you see, Bob?"
"Honest now, I believe you've hit the bulls-eye this time, Frank."
"Then you think they're windows, about after the same style as those
holes in the rock where we climbed up the ladders to the deserted homes
of the old time cliff dwellers?" asked the other.
"Sure they are; no mistake about it, either," replied Bob, and then he
gave a low exclamation.
"What did you see?" demanded Frank, as if suspecting the truth.
"I don't know," came the reply; "but something seemed to move just
inside one of those openings. It may have been a garment fluttering in
the breeze that must be blowing so far up the heights; and then, again,
perhaps some hawk, or other bird, has its nest there, and just flew
past. I couldn't say, Frank; but I saw _something_, and it moved!"
Frank took the glass, and looked long and earnestly.
"Whatever it was," he remarked, "it doesn't mean to repeat the act. But
all the same, Bob, I've got a hunch we've found the place, and that Echo
Cave lies far up yonder in that beetling cliff."
"It's a fierce reach up there," remarked Bob, as he scanned the height.
"How under the sun d'ye suppose that old professor could ever get up and
down? Too far for him to have a rope ladder; and even if he had, how
could he reach the place at first? Frank, all the way up, I can't see
the first sign of any rock shelves, where ladders might have rested long
ago."
"That's so," replied the other, reflectively. "The face of the cliff is
as even and smooth as a floor. Nobody would ever look to find a cluster
of cliff dwellers' homes up there; that is, nobody but a man like
Professor Oswald, who has made a life study of such things, and knows
all the indications. But something tells me we're pretty near the end of
our long trail. The only question now is, how can we get in touch with
the hermit of Echo Cave?"
As night settled down the two boys returned to the fire, still
perplexed.