A BATTLE IN MID–AIR.
But Jack Merrill’s mind never worked quicker or to better effect than
in an emergency. He perceived the instant that the creature crouched
that its intention was to spring on him. Swift as a flash he reached
down and seized a stone.
As the bob–cat hurled itself into the air Jack’s arm shot out. The
stone sped from his hand and caught the creature fairly between the
eyes. Had a bullet struck it the animal could not have been checked
more effectually. It dropped to the ground, rolled up in a furry ball,
scratching and spitting furiously, and then, with a yowl of rage and
pain, it lost its footing on the edge of the watercourse.
The last Jack saw of it the creature plunged over the brink of the
precipice up which the Border Boy had so laboriously toiled. As he
heard the body go rolling and bumping down toward the valley, Jack
shuddered. Had things turned out differently he might have been in
its place, for the boy well knew that if once the maddened animal had
fastened its claws in him he would not have stood a chance without a
weapon.
Jack sat down to rest once more, this time keeping a cautious lookout
for any other wild creatures; but none appeared, and it was evident
that his theory that the animal had accidentally dropped from above was
a correct one.
“Well,” said Jack to himself, after an interval, “if I’m to get to the
top of that cliff I’ve got to start in right now. Ugh! It doesn’t look
as if I could possibly make it; but then it’s equally certain that I
can’t climb down again. The thought makes me sick; so I’ve _got_ to
tackle it. There’s no other way out of it.”
Fortifying himself by a cooling drink, to which he added another wash,
the boy prepared to take up his task again.
Above the dry watercourse the cliff shot up more precipitously than
the part he had already traversed below it; but Jack steeled himself
to the thought of the dizzy climb. Knife in hand he worked his way
up, clinging to the face of the cliff desperately at times, and again
resting where some vagrant bush offered him a hand or foothold.
In the meantime, below in the valley, Alvarez, returning from a hunt
for more food, began to worry about the boy. Not a bad man at heart,
Alvarez was a true son of the Mexican revolution. He decided that all
Americans, or Gringoes, as he contemptuously called them, were the born
foes of the Mexicans. It had been with this conviction that he and his
companions had set out to spy on the Rangers who, they thought, menaced
them, instead of merely patrolling the Border to prevent lawless acts
on American soil.
Since his brief acquaintance with Jack, however, Alvarez had found
cause to revise his opinion. Himself a courageous man, he admired
courage and grit in others, and of these qualities we know Jack
possessed full and abundant measure.
Returning, then, from his hunt with some quail and rabbits, Alvarez
began to be seriously alarmed about Jack. Not for one moment did the
Mexican deem it possible that the lad could have actually found a way
to scale those awful cliffs. He had confidently expected that on his
return to camp he would find Jack awaiting him. When, therefore, he
could see no trace of the boy his alarm was genuine and deep.
He carefully deposited his game out of harm’s way in the trees, and
then set out to see if he could find any trace of the boy to whom he
had become attached in their short acquaintance.
As he advanced below the cliffs he carefully scanned the foot of the
precipitous heights for what he dreaded to find; for Alvarez had begun
to fear that Jack had made a daring attempt to escape and summon help
and had met death in a fearful fall from the rocky crags.
“The boy would have been mad to attempt such a climb,” he muttered, as
he moved along, “why, not even a mountain goat could find a foothold
up yonder. It is impossible that he should have tried such a thing.
It would have been sheer madness. And yet—and yet when it comes to
such things the Gringoes are assuredly mad. They will dare anything it
seems.”
Musing thus the Mexican traversed the greater part of the valley,
pondering deeply over the possible fate of his young friend.
“It is a thing without explanation that he could have climbed even a
few feet up those cliffs,” ran the burden of his thoughts; “yet if he
has not, why do I not see a trace of him here below?”
“_Caramba!_ Can it be that he has slipped on a lofty crag and is
suspended high above the valley, injured, perhaps dying, and beyond
reach of human aid?”
On and on trudged the Mexican, growing more and more alarmed every
instant.
Suddenly, as he cast his eye up toward the summit of a lofty precipice,
his attention was caught by an object moving slowly up its surface,
like a fly on a high wall.
The Mexican gazed steadily at it. He believed that it was an eagle
or condor hovering about its nest in the dizzy heights, but still
something odd about the moving object arrested and gripped his
attention irresistibly.
“No, it is not an eagle,” he muttered, “but, then, what is it? No
quadruped could climb that cliff. What, then, can it be?”
The sun was sinking low over the western wall of the cañon and the
valley itself was beginning to be shrouded in purple shadow. But at
that great height the light was still bright. Suddenly the moving
object emerged from a patch of shade cast by an overhanging rock.
Simultaneously the Mexican almost sprang into the air under the shock
of his amazement. He crossed himself and then his lips moved.
“By the Saints! It’s Jack Merrill!” he cried, in a hollow voice.
For an instant he stood like a thing of wood or stone, every muscle
rigid in terrible suspense. And all the time that tiny speck on the
cliff face was moving slowly and painfully upward.
Clasping his hands the Mexican stood riveted to the spot. Then his dry
lips began to move.
“The saints aid him! The brave boy is working his way to the top of the
cliff. He has neared its summit. But can he win it? And, see, there are
the steps he has cut in the lower cliff face. It must be that he is
working his way upward still by those means. Santa Maria! What courage!
“I dare not call out to him. At that fearful height one backward look
might cause him to lose his hold and plunge downward like a stone. Oh,
if I could only help, only do something to aid him! But, no, I must
stand here helpless, unable to move hand or foot.
“Never again will I say anything against a Gringo. No boy south of the
Border would dare such a feat. See now! _Caramba!_ For an instant he
slipped. I dare not look.”
The Mexican buried his face in his hands and crouched on the ground.
Emotional as are all of his race, the sight of that battle between life
and death, hundreds of feet above him, had almost unstrung him.
At last he dared to uncover his eyes again and once more fixed them on
the toiling atom on the sunlit cliff face.
But now he burst out into tones of joy.
“Sanctissima Maria! See, he is almost at the summit. Oh, brave Gringo!
Climb on. May your head be steady and your hands and feet nimble.”
The sweat was pouring down the Mexican’s face, his knees smote together
and his hands shook as he stood like one paralyzed, stock still,
watching the outcome of Jack Merrill’s fearful climb. His breath came
fast and the veins on his forehead stood out like whip cords. As he
watched thus his lips moved in constant, silent prayers for the safety
of the young Border Boy.
At last he saw the infinitesimal speck that was Jack Merrill reach the
summit of that frowning height. He saw the boy thrust his knife into
his belt, and watched him place one hand on the ridge of the precipice
and draw himself up.
The next instant the cliff face was bare of life. The fight with death
had been won. But Alvarez as he saw Jack attain safety on the summit
of the precipice sank back with a groan. The strain under which he had
labored had caused the Mexican to swoon.
As he lay there perfectly still three figures appeared at the upper
end of the valley in the direction of the Pool of Death. They began
advancing down the valley just as Alvarez opened his eyes and staggered
dizzily to his feet.