A SNEAKING COWARD.
The terror and horror of that day with Black John at the cave was
enough to bring a shudder to Lena. He was truculent and brutal.
Having no longer necessity to make him pretend to be what he was not,
he did not hesitate to frighten her, apparently for the mere pleasure
it gave him.
One thing, however, held him somewhat in check; and that was her
screams, when he became too violent and too brutal. Unless he tied
and gagged her, the only way to keep her from screaming in terror
when he spoke too roughly to her was to keep away from her, and
permit her to have her own way. She could not escape, for he was out
in front of the cave, was armed, and possessed such strength that she
was helpless before him.
Black John’s desire for quiet in and about the cave was caused by his
fear of Buffalo Bill and his pards.
Though he still maintained to the girl the fiction that he had fled
with her from Indians, and was hiding from Indians, a thing on which
she was now skeptical, he did not believe Indians were near, in spite
of the surprising attack they had made.
His fears of Buffalo Bill mounted high. Hence, throughout nearly the
whole of that long and wearing day he lay out on the slope before the
cave, watching the surrounding hills, and the little pass from the
gorge, by which he had reached this point.
He lay almost motionless, too, knowing that to move about was to risk
being seen; while, when he remained still, his clothing blended in
with the dark rock and protected him.
Nevertheless, he was seen, as night came on, not by Buffalo Bill and
his friends, but by that sneaking coward, Toby Sam. Toby Sam knew of
this cave, and had been in it more than once with Black John; and he,
too, had fled toward it for safety after that Indian attack.
Toby Sam’s caution made him mount to an eminence and carefully
inspect the surroundings of the cave before venturing near it.
Knowing just where to look, his keen eyes saw Black John sprawled at
full length on the slope, and the little glint of sunshine which fell
on Black John’s revolver.
“Ho, ho!” he said. “Wonder who else is there? I’ll jes’ see.”
Toby Sam was afoot, having abandoned his horse after he had ridden it
nearly to death. He drew back, so that Black John could not see him,
and then carefully picked his course in roundabout fashion to the
cave.
The sun had set by that time. Still Toby Sam, being a cautious
rascal, did not make his presence known. He was by nature a sneak,
as well as a coward, and he sneaked now upon the man in front of the
cave.
When not far off and on the point of making his presence known to
Black John, who seemed to be alone, he heard Black John speak to the
girl.
It made Toby Sam’s cowardly heart jump with a queer thrill, when he
knew that Black John was speaking of the emeralds.
The girl had said something of an accusing nature, apparently, and
Black John replied:
“Shet up about the emeralds! They’re mine, and I propose to git a lot
of money out of ’em; and on that money we’ll live high.”
Toby Sam flattened himself against the rocks like a lizard when
he heard that, for he knew that Black John had the emeralds,
and he desired to get them. He remained there without movement
until darkness had set in fully; then, with infinite patience and
tortoiselike slowness, he made an advance.
Black John went into the cave and came out again. He was swearing,
and was in an ugly mood. Being hungry had made him ill-tempered.
“A cuss on the emeralds,” he said, “I’d trade the very biggest of ’em
fer a mouthful o’ somethin’ to eat! I dunno but I’d better try to
git out o’ this to-night, fer to stay here long will be to starve to
death.”
The moon came from behind a cloud while Black John sat in front of
the cave; and then Toby Sam saw that he had the precious bag of
emeralds out, and was toying with the gems, all of which he had
picked up again.
For a long time Black John sat there, sometimes muttering, sometimes
as silent as the rocks. Finally he lay down, with revolver in his
hand, again to watch, as he had done the previous night.
For another hour Toby Sam remained as still as if he had frozen into
position.
Black John’s wakefulness of the night before, and his lack of rest
for so many hours, had told on him at last; and Toby Sam heard him
snore.
The time for action had come.
With his cowardly heart knocking against his ribs, Toby Sam began a
stealthy movement toward the sleeping man. Only his wild anxiety to
possess those emeralds could thus have urged him on.
A mouse advancing could not have made less noise.
Within five minutes the deed was done; Toby Sam had felt over the
body of the sleeping man, and had possessed himself of the buckskin
bag that had bulged the inner pocket of Black John’s coat.
Black John awoke, with a snort, before Toby Sam had gone ten yards in
his sly retreat. Perhaps some dim recognition of what had happened
had come to disturb him. He rolled over, stretched out his arms,
breathed heavily, and then sat up.
Toby Sam had become as silent as the very ground on which he lay, and
his body seemed no more than a portion of it.
Black John did not at once discover the loss of the buckskin bag;
but, being uneasy, he rose and walked away from the cave, swinging
his revolver, and peering out along the slopes where the cloud-dimmed
moonlight lay.
Toby Sam took advantage of this to worm along several yards farther;
but again he lay still when Black John returned to the mouth of the
cave. Then Black John discovered that the bag of emeralds was gone.
It was so unbelievable a thing that at first he felt in his other
pockets, thinking he must have misplaced it. Then a great but subdued
oath ripped from his lips. He ran to the mouth of the cave, and
peered in.
Worn out, the girl was asleep, close by the entrance.
Black John stooped down, plucked her by the hair, and, with a jerk
that awoke her and brought from her a scream of pain and fright, he
pulled her to her feet.
Toby Sam was sliding away with eellike silence and speed.
“Hand over them emeralds!” Black John demanded of the terrified girl,
as he pulled her out of the cave, ignoring, in his rage, the danger
which would come from the screams that she uttered. He threw her down
on the ground and kicked her.
“Hand over them emeralds!” he cried, standing above her. “Hand ’em
over!”
She screamed again, and put up her hands.
“You thought you’d play a cute trick on me, eh? Thought you’d sneak
’em out o’ my pocket, and then maybe, hide ’em, and pretend to be
asleep when I looked in on ye? Hand ’em over!”
“I haven’t got them; I don’t know----”
“Oh, ye don’t!” he drew his revolver. “This’ll help you to recklect!
Hand ’em over!”
Toby Sam dislodged a stone in his sinuous flight, and it went rolling
down the hillside. Hearing it, Black John turned around with a jump
of surprise, and stared in the direction of the sound.
Suddenly he felt that perhaps he had not been robbed by the girl, but
that some one else was the thief.
With revolver in hand he began to move in the direction of that
sound, peering on before him.
But Toby Sam was still as crafty as ever. He had wormed into a black
hole, and there he lay, doubled up like an opossum shamming death,
and with no more sound.
Black John came within a yard of him, and did not see him.
“I wonder what made that noise?” he muttered. “Somethin’ started a
stone. Mebbe a cussed coyote.”
He peered long, on the slope of the hill, returning finally to the
cave, when he could discover nothing.
The girl had tried to slip away during his absence, but had become
bewildered, and found herself in a “pocket” of the rocky wall, with
her way now barred by her captor.
“Come out o’ there!” he snarled. “What you doin’ there?”
She came out, trembling.
“Now I ask ye ag’in fer them emeralds!”
“And I tell you I haven’t them!” she screamed at him. “_I haven’t
them_, do you hear, you hateful beast?”