How long we lay in that stupor--more than sleep--I cannot tell; but I
was awoke by Tom, and once more we slowly continued our journey, walking
now though--for the absence of fresh perils had given us courage--and
with our arms extended we went slowly on; but ever with the soft earth
of the cave beneath our feet, and the stillness only broken by the
occasional shriek of a bird.
"Say, Mas'r Harry," said Tom after a long silence. "We are only
wandering here and there without finding the passage to go out."
"I have been thinking so too, Tom," I said, as a thought struck me.
Then loudly--"Look out, and see if you can make out anything when I
fire: the flash may guide us."
Taking out my pistol I fired upwards, when it was as if the whole cave
were being crushed up together--thunder, roar, and bellow, in a
deafening series of echoes--echoes succeeded by the rustling as of ten
thousand wings, and shrieks that were deafening--noises which were quite
a quarter of an hour in subsiding.
"We must be near to an opening, Tom," I said, as soon as I could make
myself heard.
"All right, Mas'r Harry, and I've seen it," he said cheerily. "This is
a big place, hundreds of feet over, but the passage out lies here; that
firing of the pistol was a good idea of yours."
He took my hand and stepped out boldly. Then feeling his way with
caution, he exclaimed joyfully that he had found the opening, into which
we stepped, and soon knew by the hollow sound that we were in a rapidly
contracting passage.
From time to time I now flashed off a little powder in the pan of my
pistol, in which instant we were able to see that we were in one of the
riven passages of the cave, similar to those which we had before
traversed; and, faint with hunger, we pressed on, till a distant murmur,
ever increasing, forced itself upon my notice, and in a voice of despair
I exclaimed:
"Oh, Tom, Tom! we are going back, my lad!"
"Mas'r Harry," he exclaimed, "don't be down-hearted. 'Tis so, though;
and I've been thinking it for the past quarter of an hour, but I
wouldn't say it for I wasn't sure. Never mind, let's turn back. That's
the big waterfall we can hear, sure enough. But we can step out bold
now, as we know there's no danger; and when we are in the big place
where we slept, a little powder will show us the way."
A weary walk and we were once more upon the soft earth of the cave where
we had slept--the bird-chamber we called it--when, by means of flashing
off powder, we arrived at a pretty good idea of the size of the place,
and, better still, discovered a fresh outlet.
Danger and disappointment had made me now cautious, and I would not
proceed until, by the expenditure of more powder, we had made sure that
there was no other passage; alarming the birds too, so that they swept
round us like a hurricane.
"Right this time, Mas'r Harry," cried Tom.
Then we were once more on the way, crawling as to pace, as we felt our
way cautiously along.
"If it ever fell out, Mas'r Harry, that we wanted a hiding-place, what a
spot this would be!" said Tom, little thinking that the day was to come
when it should prove the salvation of those who were our truest and best
friends. "Why, I don't believe there's an Indian ever had the pluck to
come a quarter as far, and we know it now well, every foot of it."
"Except the way out, Tom," I said sadly.
"Oh, that's right enough now, Mas'r Harry," he cried. "Cheer up: here's
the birds flying along by the score. Can't you hear their wings
whistle? They're some of those we frightened out coming back again."
I could hear the soft flap of wings plainly enough, and I could not help
feeling hopeful as we toiled on, till suddenly Tom exclaimed:
"Keep back!"
"What is it?" I exclaimed, our voices echoing in a way which told us
that the cave had once more opened out.
"My leg goes down as far as I can reach here, Mas'r Harry. There's a
hole of some kind. Stop till I flash off a bit of powder."
I stood firm, while Tom was busy for a few moments, during which I heard
the click of his flask. Then there were sparks as he snapped off his
flint-lock pistol, but for a few times without effect; but at last he
started a train of powder which burned brightly, showing us that we
stood on a ledge some fifty feet above where there was the flash of
water and many a grotesque rock.
"Why, Tom?"
"Why, Mas'r Harry?"
"Down on your knees!" I cried joyfully as I set the example.
For we were in the first extensive widening out of the cave, at about
five hundred yards from its mouth, having emerged through an opening
hitherto unknown to us from its being upon a ledge forty or fifty feet
above the floor, where in that part it ran on a level with the little
river.
We rose from our knees, weak as two children, and contrived to scramble
down to the bottom, along which we stumbled slowly and without energy
towards the cave's mouth, going back first to where we had left our
guns. Turn after turn, winding after winding, we traversed, and there
was the faint dawning of light in the distance--light which grew more
and more bright and glorious as we advanced, shading our eyes with our
hands, till, utterly worn out, we sank down close to the entrance
amongst the soft, warm, luxurious sand, when I gazed at the pale,
haggard, blood-smeared face beside me, to exclaim:
"Tom, is that you?"
"Mas'r Harry," he replied hoarsely, "poor Missus wouldn't know you if
she was here."
It was the noon of the third day, we afterwards learned, that we had
spent in these realms of darkness, and never did the bright face of
nature look more glorious than it did to our aching eyes. But in spite
of the intense sensation of gnawing hunger we could not proceed till we
had rested. Then after bathing our faces, hands, and feet in the cold
stream, we slowly journeyed to the hacienda.
"Don't say a word about the cave, Tom," I said, as we neared home.
"No, Mas'r Harry, not if you don't wish it," he rejoined, looking at me
wonderingly.
"I have a reason, Tom," I said. "We can say that we have been
exploring, and that will be true, and will satisfy them."
"You ain't done with the cave yet, then, Mas'r Harry?"
"No, Tom," I said, "not yet."