NATURE’S PRISONERS.
But despite the most painstaking investigation of the valley, a task
which occupied them till almost sundown, the two oddly assorted
prisoners were unable to find anything that promised a means of escape.
They reached the spot where they had left the deer and flung themselves
wearily down upon the ground, too disheartened and tired even to voice
their disappointment.
“Gracious! Men imprisoned in a jail could not be more effectually shut
in,” said Jack, at length; “I feel almost like dashing myself against
these rock walls.”
His companion was compelled to admit that their situation did indeed
seem a hard one. For some time they sat buried in thought. Jack’s mind
was back in the camp of the Rangers. He wondered how his friends felt
over his disappearance, and what steps were being taken to find him.
How bitterly his heart ached to see his boy chums again he did not say
for fear of breaking down.
“We _must_ get out of this horrible place,” he cried, at length,
“to–morrow as soon as it is light I mean to examine the cliffs and, if
possible, to scale them.”
“You could not find a place that would afford a foothold,” objected his
companion.
“I’ll try, at any rate. I’d rather almost be dashed to death than drag
out a lingering existence in this valley,” burst out the boy.
“Well, let us have supper,” said Alvarez presently, “there is nothing
to be gained by railing at our fate. If the saints do not will that we
shall escape, depend upon it we will not.”
So saying he rose to his feet, shrugging his shoulders resignedly.
“What a contrast between the indifference of such a race and the
rugged determination of an American,” thought Jack, as he set to work
to rekindle the embers of the fire that had cooked their mid–day meal.
He was blowing them into flame when Alvarez called to him from among
the trees. He had found a species of oak which was burdened with
acorns. These, the Mexican declared, could be made into a kind of
bread if crushed and mixed with water. As this would be a welcome
addition to ungarnished deer meat, Jack was proportionately pleased at
the discovery. The Mexican set to work and ground the acorns between
two flat stones, after which he heated one of the latter till it was
almost red–hot. This done, the acorn paste was spread out on it, and
before long there was produced a rather “doughy” sort of flap–jack or
pan–cake. When one side was done Alvarez turned it till it was nicely
browned. By this time Jack had some broiled venison ready, and they sat
down to their second meal in the Lost Valley with good appetites.
The acorn flap–jack proved to be not at all unpalatable. It was rather
sweet and had a peculiar flavor; at any rate it afforded some variety
to the plain deer meat.
“Well, we shan’t starve here, at least,” commented the Mexican, as they
ate; “there seem to be plenty of deer and small game and an unlimited
supply of acorns for bread.”
“No, I suppose if it came down to that, we could live here for a
century, like two Robinson Crusoes,” agreed Jack, rather bitterly, “but
that’s not my plan. I mean to escape.”
“The young are always hopeful,” rejoined Alvarez, with one of his
all–expressive shrugs; “I suppose you think you can carry out your
plan.”
“I mean to make a mighty hard try at it, anyhow,” said Jack, setting
his lips in a determined line.
That evening as they sat by their camp fire, Alvarez told Jack that he
and his two companions on the raft had been leaders of the northern
wing of the revolutionary army. They had chosen the raft as a medium
to spy from, he explained, because it was possible in that way to
ascertain what the border patrol was doing, without so much risk of
being discovered as would have been the case had they used horses.
“I guess you wish you’d never seen the raft by this time,” commented
Jack, throwing some fresh wood on the fire.
“I do, indeed,” agreed the other fervently.
Soon after this they composed themselves to sleep, but it was long
before Jack closed his eyes.
He was just dozing off when the sound of a furtive footfall made him
sit up, broad awake in an instant. From the darkness two green points
were blazing at him.
“The eyes of some wild beast that has decided to pay us a visit,” said
Jack to himself.
He was just about to arouse Alvarez and get the revolver when the
creature that was prowling about the camp gave a sudden leap. Jack saw
a lithe body launched at him just in time to roll to one side.
The creature, balked in its spring, came down in the midst of the hot
ashes of the smoldering fire. Instantly a piercing howl of anguish
split the night. The Mexican leaped up and appeared to be fully awake
the instant he opened his eyes. At any rate the great, tawny body was
still writhing about in the embers when two shots crackled from his
revolver. The big animal gave a spring and another howl of pain and
then fell over in a heap, rolling to one side of the fire.
“What—whatever was it?” cried Jack, rather timorously, for the
suddenness of the attack had rather unnerved him.
“A mountain lion, and a monster, too,” came the reply. “Come up and
take a look at him.”
“Are you quite sure he is dead?”
“Positive. Wait a minute and I’ll make sure, however.”
So saying the Mexican stooped and picked a glowing coal out of the
fire. He threw it so that it fell on the motionless beast’s hide.
But the animal did not stir. Unquestionably it was quite dead. Jack
approached it, having poked up the fire the better to see the brute. He
marveled at its size. It was indeed a giant of its kind and must have
weighed six hundred pounds or more, and was lithe and sinewy as a cat.
“What splendid condition it is in! I’d like to skin it and take the
hide out of this valley as a souvenir.”
“So you are still certain that we can get out?”
“I am not _certain_, but I don’t want to give over trying till we have
tested every avenue of hope.”
“_Caramba!_ But you Americans are wonderful people! A Mexican boy would
be sitting around crying if he were in the same fix. In the morning we
will take the pelt off this brute, and if we ever do get out, the skin
will always serve as a memento of a dreadful time.”
The mountain lion scare being over, they composed themselves to sleep
again. Jack recollected having read or heard that when a mountain lion
is killed, its mate will find it out and avenge it. But even though the
thought gave him cause for disquietude he was not able to stay awake;
and although distant howlings told him that another puma was in the
vicinity, nature asserted herself and sealed his eyes in slumber.
The sun had hardly peeped above the rim of the bowl–like valley when
Jack and Alvarez were astir. Breakfast was cooked and eaten hurriedly,
and then the great lion was skinned. This done, Jack started out to put
his plans in execution.
The Mexican did not accompany him. He deemed Jack’s mission a useless
one. In fact, it did seem very like an attempt at suicide to try to
scale the valley’s lofty, almost perpendicular walls.