BURIED ALIVE!
As Frank and his party left the mountain side there remained two men
buried alive in the cave whose mouth was closed by the landslide!
"Where are you, Del Norte?" cried one of the imprisoned men, in a
gasping, frightened voice when the roar and rumble of the landslide had
ceased, and they began to realize their terrible position.
"I am here," answered the other. "What can we do, Ridgeway?"
"Do? Why, we can die like dogs! There is nothing else for it. You're
sure there is no other way out of this cave?"
"No other way. Perhaps we can dig out."
"Not in a thousand years! What have we to dig with--our bare hands?"
"I have my knife--the knife with which I was going to cut out the tongue
of that cursed gringo, Merriwell! Why didn't I do it?"
"You know why. Red Ben went back on us, may the fiends take the redskin
cur! He helped Merriwell get away with the girl. When Sears tried to
follow the Indian shot him, and he's buried out there somewhere beneath
that landslide. But he's better off than we are, for he is dead, and we
must die! I can't die, Del Norte! I'm not ready to die! I'm not fit to
die!"
Then the poor wretch began to weep and pray in the utmost anguish of
soul.
Del Norte seemed cowed. He had burned many matches in order that by
their faint glow he might examine the great mass of earth and stone that
was piled on and crushed into the place that had once been the entrance
to the cave. He had seen that a mighty bowlder was blocking the greater
part of the former entrance. That stone alone would be enough to
imprison them hopelessly, but the sounds of the landslide which had made
the mountain roar and shake had satisfied him that the bowlder was held
in place by a mass of earth and timber through which, with the best
implements, it would be impossible to dig in a week.
"Merriwell has triumphed!" muttered the Mexican. "He will have no more
trouble from me."
"Fiends take you!" snarled Ridgeway. "Why did you ever cross my path,
and tempt me to such a death with your money? For the love of Heaven,
light another match!"
"I have but three more."
"Can't you find a brand from the fire? Let's have some light! We had
torches. Where are they?"
"They were extinguished by the rush of air when the slide took place.
I've tried to find them, but failed. I'll try again."
"I'm going mad--mad!" groaned Ridgeway.
Del Norte began to search for the extinguished torches. After a time,
during which his companion wept, prayed, and cursed by turns, he
discovered one of them.
Then he carefully struck one of his matches. The extinguished torch was
a piece of resinous pine, and it burned up quickly, giving a flaring
light and sending up a wavering stream of black smoke.
By the light the two men gazed into each other's ghastly faces. Their
eyes were distended with horror. Their mouths were dry and their lips
drawn back from their gleaming teeth. They looked like beasts.
"Curse you, Porfias del Norte!" snarled Ridgeway. "It was you who
brought me to this!"
"Bah! It was your greed for the money I paid you that brought you here."
"Had I not met you----"
"You might have been hanged for some crime. Dying this way will save you
from hanging."
"Don't talk of hanging!" panted Ridgeway. "If ever a man deserved it you
are that man!"
"But I was not born to be hanged."
"Better that than this kind of a death! At least, you would be out in
the open air, with a chance to breathe. I am stifling! I feel these
walls crowding in upon me! They are going to crush me! Keep them off!
keep them off!"
The wretch flung himself on the ground and writhed with agony and fear.
With the torch in his shaking hands, Del Norte stepped forward and
kicked his abject and fear-tortured companion.
"Get up, here!" he snarled. "We will take one more look. We will see
once more if there is any chance of escape."
Although Ridgeway declared there was no hope, he got up. With the
Mexican leading, they passed back into the cave, being forced several
times to bend low in a crouching position to avoid striking their heads
against the rocky roof.
There were three chambers and only one straight passage from chamber to
chamber. It was a simple matter to explore the entire cave. When they
came at last into the third chamber they soon found themselves at the
end of it, with the dank wall of stone before them.
For some moments they stood quite still, staring helplessly at this
wall.
Suddenly a shriek burst from the lips of Ridgeway.
"Doomed!" he cried. "No escape! I feel the mountain collapsing! The
walls are crowding in upon us! It's the end! Oh, for just one more
breath of free air! For just one more sight of the world outside!"
With that cry, he dropped flat on his face and lay still, as if death
had come to claim him, also.
"Get up!" harshly ordered Del Norte, again kicking the man. "Get up, or
I'll leave you here alone. I am going back."
Why he desired to return to what had once been the mouth of the cave he
could not tell, for there he would be no nearer liberty than in his
present position.
The smoke from the torch was filling the place and making the air foul.
"We'll smother in a little while!" thought the Mexican. "It's a wonder
we have not smothered already."
Again he kicked his companion and called for him to rise.
Ridgeway lifted his head and stared with terrible eyes at his comrade in
misery.
"Did you have a mother?" he asked.
"Of course I did!"
"Did you promise her you would be good?"
Del Norte swore in Spanish.
"I'll not stay here a minute longer!" he declared. "If you stay, you'll
remain in the dark."
"Hold on!" commanded Ridgeway, lifting himself on one hand and
stretching the other out to the Mexican. "Don't you dare leave me!
You're the man who brought this on me! Some one fired a bullet through
your head, but it did not kill you. I wish it had! You thought you bore
a charmed life; you thought nothing could kill you. Lead failed to do
it, but God sent the landslide, and you are as good as dead. Ha! ha!
ha!"
Del Norte started away.
"Stand where you are!" yelled Ridgeway, leaping up with amazing
quickness. "You were not killed by the bullet, and now, for all of the
landslide, you still live. You're a fiend, and you ought to die! I am
commanded to kill you! I must do it!"
The Mexican did not dare turn his back on the raving man. Again he
started away, but this time he moved backward, keeping his eyes on
Ridgeway, who came creeping after him, crouching a little and seeming
ready to spring.
Suddenly Ridgeway leaped. His arms shot out and his fingers closed on
Del Norte's neck.
"I must kill you!" he yelled. "I am the one chosen to do it! Your time
has come!"
The torch fell to the floor and lay there, spluttering and flaring. By
this dim and flickering light a fearful struggle took place.
Ridgeway had obtained a powerful clasp on Del Norte's throat, and the
Mexican could not hurl him off. They staggered against the wall, which
seemed to fling them off. They swayed from side to side, once staggering
over the spot where the torch lay.
Then the Mexican succeeded at last in drawing something from his bosom.
It flashed brightly in the dim torchlight as he struck with it. There
was the impact of a muffled blow, and Ridgeway gave a great start,
seeming to grow suddenly straight and tall.
Again the Mexican struck, but now, instead of growing straighter, the
other man seemed suddenly to collapse. His breath escaped from his lips
in a husky groan, and he dropped in a sprawling heap on the ground at
Del Norte's feet.
The man who remained erect backed off a little, staring at the other.
"I had to do it!" whispered Del Norte. "The fool drove me to it! He was
mad! He had me by the throat, and he would have killed me! I had to do
it!"
Over and over he kept repeating those words:
"I had to do it!"
He felt himself shaking from his head to his feet. On his forehead were
great, cold beads of perspiration. His heart seemed choking him.
The man on the ground moved and groaned.
"I had to do it!" whispered Del Norte.
The torch was going out. The man on the ground lay stretched squarely
across the floor of the cave, which was not more than eight feet wide at
that point. In order to reach the torch it would be absolutely necessary
to step over him.
Del Norte started and then stopped. His teeth were chattering, and his
cheeks were fully as pale as those of the poor wretch at his feet.
The torch burned dimmer.
At last the Mexican summoned all his courage and stepped over the body,
catching up the torch. He swung it until it blazed up brightly.
"I'm sorry," he muttered. "I'm sorry, Ridgeway; but you forced me!"
He stepped back over the body and turned with the torch in his hand to
take a last look. The eyes of the stricken man were staring straight up
at the rocky ceiling, and there was on his face a strangely altered
expression, at which Del Norte wondered. In truth, his look was one of
peace and happiness, and he smiled a little. His lips moved, and faintly
he whispered:
"Mother--it is--your boy--Jack!"
Then those lips were hushed forever.