HIDDEN IN THE CAVE.
He was placed on the floor of the wagon, face downward. As the wagon
started it went with a jolt which thrust his face against a rough board
and cut his nose and cheek. More jerks did a series of bruises on his
forehead, his chin and his nose. By almost superhuman effort he managed
to roll over on his side and then on his back.
By the time this was accomplished they had traveled down a dark road
quite a distance. It was so dark Renfro could not see three feet ahead
of his face at first. But his eyes soon got accustomed to the darkness.
And little by little, he began to recognize the tops of the trees and
by the feeling of surroundings to know that they were on the road which
ran off East Washington.
Instinct, more than anything else, told him that they turned off at
the second lane of the first on the Hall place. The first one was only
used by pedestrians. The second was for wagons, but it had been used
so little that it was in a horrible condition. The jolting sensation
was terrible. Renfro realized that his face would have been cut beyond
recognition had he not managed to turn over.
They jolted close to trees, through a lot of low underbrush which
ground against the wheels of the wagon and across a little bridge. The
limbs on one low hanging tree struck his face and scratched it still
more.
The silence, which the couple had maintained in town and along the
road, was now broken. The old woman, whose voice was almost as gruff as
her companion’s complained of the way he drove. He in turn offered to
share the privilege with her if she so desired to seize it.
An imperative “whoa” stopped the horse, suddenly. The man clambered
out, thrashed around the wagon, seemed to be tugging at a door. A
squeaking of rusty hinges followed his efforts, and he called out
gruffly, “Drive on in Maggie, and remember the log on the east side.
You hit it the last time.”
Renfro hoped that Maggie would not hit it this time. He held his breath
while the wagon jolted thru the door into a dark, dilapidated building
which was full of moldy odors. And there the horse stopped. He had to
lie still while they unhitched the horse, all done in the darkness.
They discussed the harness which seemed to be needing repairs from what
they said.
The old man told Maggie to get some food at a bin, but she replied that
she couldn’t find it by just feeling around. She wanted to light the
lantern but he wouldn’t allow her. A trifle crossly she refused to even
try to help farther. And he said surlily, “If you had them 15 years in
the darkness I did, you’d be able to find anything by feel.”
After that she was more patient and seemed to help all she could with
the finishing of the feeding. She came with the old man to the wagon,
and stayed with him while he took out a knife and cut the strap which
tied his legs.
“You walk with me, just as I tell you, or you’ll know what you’ll get,”
the man’s surly voice was charged with a threat which Renfro knew he
would not hesitate to keep.
So he meekly followed his directions and walked between the two of
them. The old woman who seemed to have a more human disposition than
the man, helped Renfro along by holding his arm. They went across
decaying vegetable matter, through a door, close to a manger, and then
into another room, smaller and close and possessing much more moldy
odors than had the others.
There the old man lifted some sort of a door in the side of what seemed
to be a banked part of the barn and they all stepped into a place so
dark that Renfro could not see at all. While the old woman closed the
door, her companion lighted a lantern.
For several minutes the light, though it was dim, blinded Renfro. Then
his eyes gradually became accustomed to the light, and saw that they
were in a narrow passage way. A few feet along it, and they came to
some steps. They went down them--down, down, down, into an opening
which seemed to be a cave. And there Renfro with his hands tied, and
his mouth still bandaged was thrust into another and darker place and
the door, which had been opened to allow him being pushed through, was
shut again.
His first sensation was that he was on solid ground. Then his feet
seemed to give away under him and he fell heavily, his head striking
something sharp and hard. A quick pain, worse than any he had felt
during the short ride, and then Renfro drifted into unconsciousness.
When he came to, it seemed that hours had passed, but it had really
been only a period of some twenty minutes. He was lying on a pallet of
mouldy smelling rugs and comforters. They were full of hard knots which
sent shooting pains through his bruised body.
The room was not entirely dark now. There was a dim light and Renfro
turned a little onto his side, saw that it came from a coal oil
lantern, which emitted much more bad smelling smoke than it did light.
The bandage had been taken from his mouth. But the stout cords were
still on his wrists, and others had again been tied around his ankles.
They were tied in such a manner that if he lay perfectly still they
were comfortable, but if he twisted or attempted to move, they cut into
his flesh like circular knives.
But in spite of the pain caused by his moving, Renfro managed to twist
himself until he could see the nature of the room in which he was
imprisoned. It was cold and damp and mouldy. Odors like those coming
from a musty cellar, in which vegetables had long been stored, were
strong around him.
There was some one in the room but Renfro could not see who it was.
Heavy, rapid breathing behind him--in the direction he felt sure was
the door through which he had been thrown--proved that. He watched
directly above him and to the side of the room he was facing.
And after a little looking he realized that it wasn’t a room at all but
a cave in which he was a captive. The rough jagged wall and ceiling
were of rock, from which hung stalactites now stained and discolored
by the rain and smoke of fires, which had been kept burning in a rusty
coal oil stove.
There was a fire in the stove now, and Renfro was getting some heat
from it. Besides it and the pallet, on which he was lying, Renfro could
see no other furniture in the room. The lantern was flat on the floor.
Renfro shivered. He was cold to the marrow of his bones. He shivered
again and then a long, hard sneeze came out of his nose and throat. It
was followed by another of the same, and then a whole series.
The person behind him stirred and came around the pallet until Renfro
could see her--a swarthy, heavy set woman with a sour, disappointed
visage and stooped, weary shoulders. Over her head she wore the odd
colored scarf Renfro had seen twice on the street--first outside the
little hot dog restaurant and next on East Washington Street.
She looked down at Renfro and he saw that her eyes were not half as
hard and sour looking as her face. Her lips drawn in a straight line
seemed to relax a little in their severity while she looked. And then
she opened them and asked one short word, “Cold?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Renfro sneezed again.
With her free hand, the other was holding something under the scarf,
she pulled the coal oil stove closer to his pallet and then she opened
a door, slipped through it and closed it after her, and Renfro was left
alone--but not for long. When the door opened again, it was the old man
who entered this time, a heavy, horse blanket in his arms.
On his head was the hunting cap with the sharp, low hanging bill.
He spread the blanket over Renfro, gruffly asked him if he wanted
something to eat and, after receiving a negative answer, squatted on
the floor and looked close at the boy.
And Renfro looked back at him. There was instant recognition on the
part of both, the old man who had been in Captain Pete’s cabin and the
boy who had burst in and handed him a sample copy of the Globe.
For quite a time they stared at each other and then the old man
realized that his attempts to frighten Renfro had failed. He gave a
short chuckle, which was more disagreeable than anything else, and then
jerked off his cap.
And in the dim light to which Renfro’s eyes had grown accustomed, was
plainly visible the remainder of the eyebrows, half of each of which
had been left sticking to Judge Wier’s frozen window pane.