BACK TO FREEDOM.
It is needless to say that Hamp and Jerry accepted Kyle Sparwick's offer
with ill-concealed eagerness. That it was prompted solely by greed made
no difference to them under the circumstances.
They felt that Brick must be rescued at any cost.
Sparwick bound the boys by a solemn agreement to do all in their power
to procure for him a reward of five hundred dollars. They were staggered
by the munificence of the sum, but they did not dispute it. Sparwick
claimed the contents of the pocketbook as part payment in advance. He
allowed Jerry to take possession of the watch.
The affair was settled without delay, and then they turned their
attention to getting out of the cavern.
They regarded this as an easy matter, but a few minutes sufficed to show
them that they were in a very ugly fix.
They first explored the passage beyond the dead bear. It terminated
thirty feet distant in a hard wall of rock. Then they investigated the
other end of the cavern with much the same results. It dwindled to a
tiny crevice, through which a weasel could hardly have squirmed.
"It looks ugly," muttered Sparwick, scratching his head. "The bear must
a-had some way to get in. He never dropped ten feet through that hole."
This was sound logic, as the boys well knew. Hamp suggested another
search. Accordingly the cavern was gone over with extra care and
patience.
The result was the same. No visible outlet existed, save the tiny hole
overhead. Here the prisoners stopped and looked up. They quickly made a
disheartening discovery. It was snowing fast outside. The white flakes
were dropping through the dingy and trampled mass of crust.
"The trail of those rascals will all be covered up," exclaimed Jerry,
dolefully.
"It is out of sight by this time," replied Sparwick. "But that won't
matter much. I can guess purty well where them fellars are going. I
ain't denyin' that time is vallyble, though. There ought to be a way to
climb out of here."
"One of us might get on your shoulders," suggested Hamp.
"No use," Sparwick replied. "There ain't nothin' to ketch hold of but a
rim of snow. It's purty hard, but it wouldn't bear the weight of one of
you chaps."
This was manifestly true. Various other plans were discussed, and
abandoned as impossible.
Soon night came on, and the pale gray light faded away from the crevice.
The boys and their companion were now face to face with a dreadful and
terrifying fact. They were hopelessly entombed underground.
Unless some rescuer should chance that way--and there was slight hope of
this--they were doomed to certain death.
The disaster affected them differently. Sparwick fell into a dull,
apathetic mood, from which he would rouse at times to wring his hands
and groan. The man was plainly a coward at heart.
Outwardly, Jerry and Hamp made a braver show of courage. Perhaps they
didn't realize how black was the prospect. That they still clung to a
ray of hope was shown by their actions. Again and again they traversed
the entire length of the cavern, vainly searching for an outlet that had
no existence.
As the night advanced, they suffered from hunger and cold. Only ten feet
above them were the two sheds, laden with everything needful. The
possession of these would mean, at the least, the power to endure a long
siege of imprisonment.
An idea flashed into Jerry's mind. He brought the rifle, and reached up
with it, standing on tiptoe. He was not tall enough, so he gave the
weapon to Sparwick. The latter was barely able to poke the sleds, but
he could not budge them an inch. They were evidently wedged tightly
across the hole. Their great weight held them there as though in a vise.
Sparwick dashed the weapon from him.
"It's no use," he cried. "I might as well try to move a mountain. A
year's poking won't bring them sleds down."
This ended the hopes of warmth and food. Death by starvation now stared
the captives in the face. A little later, the candle burned to the very
bottom and went out. The remaining one was too precious to light.
Sparwick crawled over against the wall. Jerry and Hamp followed him.
There they spent the night, huddled close to one another for warmth.
The hours of darkness seemed like so many weeks. At last the pallid
light of dawn appeared overhead. Another day had begun its course.
The day wore on with protracted suffering and monotony. Long after it
seemed that night was surely due, the gray streak of light continued to
quiver in the crevice.
At length Jerry sprang fiercely up and lit the precious candle. Lured on
by a hope that was born of despair, he staggered up and down the cavern.
He stared at the slimy walls and roof. From very weakness he reeled
against them time and again. Perhaps his wits were hunger-sharpened, as
he was more alert than usual. At all events, he discovered something
that had previously eluded him.
On the right-hand wall of the cave, close to the dead bear, was a sort
of rude path. It sloped up the rock by crevices and little ledges and
projecting knobs.
Jerry held the candle as far overhead as possible. The light shone into
a narrow, black recess under the roof. He shouted with all his might,
again and again, till the cavern rang with the echoes.
Hamp came in haste to the spot, and close behind staggered Sparwick.
They wonderingly demanded of Jerry what he meant. Possibly they
believed, at first, that suffering had turned his brain.
Jerry pointed out the path and the crevice above it. Then they
understood.
"It is where the bear entered," exclaimed Sparwick. "Look, here's proof
enough."
He gathered from one of the crevices several stiff, black hairs.
Jerry had already commenced the ascent. He held the candle tightly in
one hand as he scaled the rugged face of the rock. Hope mastered
weakness. He did not slip or fall.
His companions were close behind him when he gained the top. Here was a
tortuous passage, three or four feet broad, leading off at right angles
from the main cavern. The little party followed it eagerly.
For half-a-dozen yards it remained level. Then it dropped at a steep
angle for almost an equal distance, meanwhile growing more and more
narrow. Ah! here was the termination at last--not a hopeless wall of
rock, but a mass of soft, powdery snow. This was a sure promise of
deliverance. What could snow mean but that the outer world was close at
hand?
"We are saved!" cried Jerry, as he placed the candle firmly on the floor
of the passage.
"Yes, saved!" echoed Hamp, in a broken, husky voice.
"Derned if we ain't," declared Sparwick. "Dig, youngsters; dig."
He dropped on his hands and knees, and started in.
The boys helped him from each side. They tore furiously at the soft
snow, crushing it down as they advanced.
The tunnel grew deeper and deeper.
Suddenly, the light crust overhead broke of its own weight. All sprang
erect, threshing out with their arms. They found themselves in the open
air, and facing a level stretch of pine forest.
Behind them was the rugged hillside, under which lay the cavern. They
were simply speechless with the joy of that first moment of freedom.
They inhaled long, deep breaths of the frosty air. Twilight was just
falling. It was not yet so dark but that a glimpse could be had through
the trees of the misty, distant surface of Chesumcook Lake.
But hunger and cold were quick to assert their sway.
"We must get the sleds!" exclaimed Hamp. "That's the first thing."
"An' we'll have ter spend another night in the cavern," added Sparwick.
"We sart'nly ain't fit to travel, even if we wanted to push on through
the darkness."
This was too self-evident for denial. The boys regretted the fact, since
every hour of delay seemed to lessen the chances of saving Brick from
the unknown fate that threatened him.