DELIVERANCE
A second night of fruitless search upon the rocky wall passed before
the old Indian came to the spot which he had thought so near, full
twenty-four hours before. He had fed his hunger upon the few wild
plums he had found, and more than once he had descended to the flume
to slake his thirst; then reclimbed the height again, for there he
knew lay the road of his goal. Again and again he tapped the solid
rock or the scant earth about it for a response to that magical tip
upon his rod; and now, as the second day lightened the gulch, the
response came.
The staff forsook his hand, as it had been a creature of volition, and
stood upright upon a smooth-faced bowlder. It needed all the man's
strength to wrest it thence, and, grasping it securely, he carefully
descended, for the last time, the precipitous wall. Always the staff
tugged at his grasp, seeking the earth, but he carried it still toward
a clump of gnarled trees which appeared to him like the faces of
long-lost friends. It seemed to him that in all the half century since
he looked upon them, neither branch nor twig had altered. So had they
been on that sad day when the last of the padres had brought him
hither and shown them to him. Beneath their roots lay the secret he
had kept so well.
But the cave--what had become of that? And the stout shaft of hewn
timber which led below into the heart of earth?
"Alas! I deceive myself. I have forgotten, for I am old; not young as
I seemed to me. I have come in vain," he complained, in his thought;
and with a gesture of despair, in his hunger and weariness, the
shepherd sank upon the ground and dropped his face on his breast.
Long he sat thus, till there came to him upon the silence the answer
no call could have awaked. He began to hear sounds. The creeping of
some heavy body amid the chaparral, coming nearer, more distinct. Some
wild shrubs sheltered him from sight, and, peering through their
twigs, he watched in breathless silence. Ah! Reward!
It was Ferd who approached, as cautiously as if he were conscious of
those gleaming eyes behind the mesquite, and who, turning in his path,
entered a point among the trees which even Pedro had not suspected of
leading any whither.
It was now the Indian's part to creep after this crawling creature;
and he did so as swiftly, almost as silently, as if he were the
dwarf's mere shadow. Always he kept a screen of leaves between them,
less needed soon, as the unconscious guide led the way out of the
sunlight into the depths of gloom. The cave at last!
But the half-wit, Ferd? Had he guessed its secret?
On and on, it seemed interminably. Now and then the dwarf would pause
and listen, but at every halt there was utter silence behind him. Then
onward again, and at length into a spacious place, around the walls of
which great jagged rocks made recesses of impenetrable gloom. With one
arm outstretched, feeling his way, and with his precious staff secured
against his back within his blanket, Pedro paused in such a recess
just in time, for the dwarf had struck a match and lighted a lantern.
This he swung round his head, peering in each direction, and blinded,
maybe, by the very rays with which he sought to disclose any possible
follower. Satisfied that he was alone, Ferd moved onward again, and
Pedro followed, hugging the chamber wall and screening himself in
every shadow.
But Ferd had no longer any fear of discovery or any thought of aught
save that which lay before him. The passage was higher now and he
could easily stand upright; the Indian also rising to his feet, though
he had to bow his head lest it should brush the ceiling.
The dwarf began to talk aloud, to himself, apparently; but after a
moment of this muttering, grew silent again. He had come to the mouth
of a black pit which seemed to descend into great depths. In reality
the depth was not so great; yet to anyone within it escape was
impossible without help from above. Into this hole Ferd peered,
holding the lantern so that its rays fell straight downward, and
calling in a jeering voice:
"Is the 'captain' ready yet?"
"Oh, Ferd! good Ferd! Please, please let me out!" answered a voice
that thrilled old Pedro's heart with joy.
"All right. The money first."
"But I have no money. You must help me up!"
"Down there safe. Is you hungry?"
"No, Ferd. The food you took out of Aunt Sally's pantry kept me from
that."
The dwarf threw himself backward, on the rocky floor above, and
laughed loudly, yet his mirth was shortlived. Pedro's hand was on his
throat before a movement had been heard, and Pedro's voice was calling
into the pit:
"Here am I, Sunny Face. Wait. I come."
During all the hours of her imprisonment, Jessica's courage had not
faltered, but, at the sound of that blessed cry, it suddenly gave way
and she burst into a paroxysm of sobs and tears, which effectually
prevented her hearing the struggle that ensued in the gloom between
the shepherd and the hunchback. For though the lantern had not been
extinguished, as it rolled from its owner's hand, it had fallen upon
its one glass side and gave no light.
For a time, even the Indian feared the issue of that battle in the
dark and the abnormal strength of the dwarf's long arms; but the
craft, if not the whole vigor of his own youth remained with him, and
at a chance opportunity, he whipped off his blanket and smothered his
opponent's face therein.
The blanket was almost priceless, and, next to his staff, his dearest
possession; but when its heavy folds had subdued the other to
unconsciousness, he did not hesitate to tear it into strips. With
these Ferd was promptly bound, hand and foot. Then Pedro recovered the
lantern and again called to Lady Jess:
"I find a way. Wait."
"Oh, Pedro! I know your blessed voice! There's a rope somewhere. Ask
him. Quick--quick!"
"Wait."
But the dwarf had almost immediately recovered his breath, recognized
his opponent, and now directed the search. With a few superstitious
ranchmen, he shared the belief that Old Century was under supernatural
protection, and that it was extremely dangerous to meddle with one so
guarded. Of all who might have traced him to that hidden spot, here
was the last he wished to meet; and now that he knew himself beaten,
he began to whimper and plead in a cowardly way:
"Let me up, Pedro. Ferd'll take little lady out. Just fun, to make big
talk. Ferd never hurt the 'captain;' no Ferd is a good boy, Pedro.
Ferd is a good boy. Poor Ferd! Pedro, let poor Ferd go."
The only attention the shepherd vouchsafed the whiner was to put his
own foot under the inert body and roll it well back from the pit's
mouth. He had found the rope, a long and costly lariat which he
recognized as having once been the property of Jessica's father, and
he secured it about an upright timber that he tested and saw was still
firm. Then he took the handle of the lantern between his teeth and
slipped swiftly down the shaft.
As he reached the bottom Jessica threw herself upon his breast with a
fresh outburst of joy and tears. But he dared not tarry below even
with an apparently helpless enemy above, and, giving her the rope, he
tersely bade her:
"Climb!"
With an intuition of his fear, she promptly obeyed him and stood guard
over the lariat lest Ferd should make a fresh attempt upon it. Yet it
seemed an interminable time that Pedro stayed below; and when at last
he came above, she held him fast, not willing again to let him go.
But he was in no haste. Allowing her to keep between himself and the
cavern's wall, even intrusting to her care the curious staff that now
persisted in dancing along the cavern's floor in an elfish way which
amazed the girl, he made a circuit of the place. At one spot he
paused, and a single grunt of satisfaction escaped him. Then he seized
a loaf of bread from a shelf-like niche and began to eat it eagerly.
He even pointed to another, lying in the same place, but Jessica shook
her head.
"No, no. I am not hungry. He gave me plenty of stuff to eat. Lots of
things that have been missing from the kitchen and puzzled Aunt Sally
so. Oh! Pedro, let us go! Shall I ever see her again? or my precious
mother? How long has it been? It seems forever. Come, come! Oh!
come!"
"Wait," was the imperturbable answer, and the only one she could win
from him. She was alive and well. He had found her. There was no cause
for haste, nor had he ever hasted in his long life. The man who wastes
his time in hurry loses all. He had found what he sought. This was the
very pit, the forsaken shaft of which the padre told him. It led to
what no other person dreamed. Was he to be balked of his purpose, for
the child's whim? No. It was for her, even, that he tarried.
In his groping about the cave the lantern had revealed some loose
fragments of rock which he now pushed in front of the dwarf's body,
thus making him a more secure prisoner; and, satisfied that all was
now safe, he descended again into the old shaft, leaving Jessica in
darkness.
Her impatience was almost unbearable, and escape seemed as distant as
ever, but there was nothing left except that "waiting" Pedro had so
constantly advised.
It was rewarded, at last, by his call from the pit, and even his calm
voice was now shaken by excitement.
"Come, Sunny Face!"
Leaning over the edge of the hole, she saw him point toward the rope
and understood that he wished her to descend, but with a shiver of
distrust she declined.
"Come."
This time the order was peremptory and she obeyed it, sliding swiftly
down, to be caught and safely deposited on the floor of the shaft.
Placing the lantern in her hand, the Indian began to gather a strange
collection of articles from one corner of the narrow chamber and to
display them to her. As each was held up, an exclamation of surprise
broke from her, but even she had grown mostly silent now, and her
interest prevented fear. When a goodly heap had been piled beside her,
she found her voice again, saying:
"I reckon everything that's ever been lost from Sobrante since it
began is down here. Elsa's little leathern bags with their knitted
covers; Beppo's plumes; Marty's watch, that he thought he had lost in
the gulch; Wun Lung's carved image. Oh, Pedro! how dreadful and yet
how splendid!"
The shepherd allowed her rhapsodies to answer themselves. Though his
eyes betrayed his complacency, he had more serious work on hand, and,
pointing upward, he commanded:
"Fetch the padre's staff."
Lady Jess now realized that obedience was the shortest road to
freedom, so climbed and descended the rope again, with the ease gained
by her gymnastic training under the "boys'" tuition. But she took
into the pit, beside the staff that curious basket which she had once
seen Ferd carrying up the canyon and over which she had, most
fortunately, just then stumbled.
"See, Pedro! This will do to hold all those things!"
The Indian "saw," indeed, that this was a bit of his own handiwork
which had been missing from the mesa, for many moons. He nodded
gravely, but was more eager for the staff than for his lost property;
and, taking the lantern again to the inner wall of the shaft, he set
the rod upon its point. It remained motionless, exactly upright, where
he placed it; and now, truly, the old man paused to gaze upon it in
wordless delight. He was so rapt and still that the girl grew
frightened and awestruck, watching his odd behavior, and begged him:
"Tell me what that means, Pedro! The thing is bewitched."
"Ugh!" said the Indian, arousing from his contemplation, and, stooping
began to dig amid the loose stones at his feet, with the only tools at
his command--his own lean fingers. For these he sometimes substituted
a bit of rock, and to Jessica it seemed as if he would never give over
his strange task. When she had begun to really despair of the
liberation which had seemed so near a while ago, he ceased his labor
and stood upright, holding something shining toward the lantern's
light. To the girl it appeared as only another worthless stone, of a
pretty, reddish hue, but wholly unworthy the toil which had been spent
to secure it. She was further surprised, if anything could now
surprise her, to see the Indian place the fragment carefully within
his shirt front and tighten his belt afresh below it. Then he lifted
the basket she had filled with the articles they had found and
motioned her upwards again.
"Now, we're really going, aren't we, Pedro?"
"Yes, Sunny Face. We go."
Indeed, he was as eager for departure as heretofore he had been loath.
Releasing the dwarf's feet from their bandages, he helped his prisoner
to them and gently propelled him forward by a kick of his own
moccasined toe. Thus compelled, Ferd led the way, the shepherd at his
heels, carrying the basket slung upon the staff over his shoulder, and
his free hand pressed closely against his breast where he had placed
the gleaming stone. Behind him walked impatient Jessica, with the
lantern, and in suchwise the little procession came swiftly and
silently to the end of the passage and stood once more under the free
air of heaven. Here they had to halt, for a moment, till their vision
became accustomed to the dazzling light; then with a cry of rapture,
the "captain" darted from her comrades and sped wildly down the rocky
gorge.