A HORRIBLE DISCOVERY.
What a lot of grewsomeness a little match can remove, to be sure!
This one did not solve the mysteries of that wondrous cave, but it
removed most of the horror of the explorers. It showed, for instance,
that the furry thing which Mark had vowed was alive was an ordinary
plush-covered chair!
The seven had no time to laugh at that; they were too busy staring. The
feeble light could not reach to the other end of the long vista they
saw, and neither could one of the papers they hastily lit. But it gave
them one glimpse of a most amazing scene.
This cave was indeed a surprising place. The carpet they saw covered
nearly all of the floor. There were chairs scattered about, and other
articles of furniture. There were some curtains draped from the rocky
walls. There were swinging lamps from the vaulted roof. Down in the dim
distance there was even a table--a table with shining white dishes upon
it. And then the light began to flicker.
Quick as a flash Mark seized it and sprang toward one of the lamps.
He was just in time. He whipped off the shade and touched the wick. A
moment later they were standing in a brilliant, clear light, that shone
to the farthest depths of the place.
The seven bold plebes stood in the center beneath the lamp, perfectly
amazed by what they saw. The same idea was flashing across the minds
of all of them. This splendor must belong to some one! Those dishes
up there were set for a meal! And the owner--where was he? Suppose he
should come and find them there? Indian cast a longing glance at the
opening that led to freedom outside.
Probably the wisest course for them would have been precipitate flight.
To be trapped in there by desperate men would be terrible indeed! But
curiosity urged them on. This was a glorious mystery--a mystery worth
solving. It was almost a fairy tale; an enchanted princess alone was
needed.
Now, whether they would have been bold enough to stay and look about
them, had it not been for one occurrence, it is impossible to say.
Texas, glancing curiously about him, caught sight of a familiar object
on a bench to one side, and he leaped forward and seized it. He stared
at it hastily and gave a cry of joy.
It was a revolver! A forty-four calibre, and it was loaded, too!
No power on earth could have moved Texas then; he had a gun; he was at
home after that, and he feared neither man nor devil.
“Let ’em come!” he cried. “I’m a-goin’ to look.”
He strode forward, Mark at his side, and the rest following, peering
into every nook and cranny.
One thing seemed certain. There was no one about. The cave had all
sorts of passageways and corners, but hunt as they would they saw not
a soul, heard not a sound. The place was like a tomb. It was just as
silent and weird and uncanny, and moreover just as moldy and dusty as
the tomb is supposed to be.
Mark examined the table with its queer outlay of dishes. They were all
covered with dust; several had tops, and when Mark lifted them he found
that they, too, were empty but for that. It seemed as if dust were
everywhere.
Mark was recalled from his interesting exploration by an excited
“B’gee!” from Dewey. Dewey was staring at the wall, and as the
others ran up to him he pointed without a word in front of him. There
was a calendar hanging there. And plain as day, the inscription was
still--Tuesday, May the eighteenth, eighteen hundred and forty-eight!
The seven were too mystified by that to say a word. They stared at each
other in silence, and then went on.
The next thing to attract their attention was a long workbench at one
side. Mark wondered how that thing could ever have come in by the
opening, until he saw a box of tools at one side, which suggested
that it might have been built inside. There were all sorts of strange
looking tools upon the bench, and molds, and dies, and instruments
which none of them recognized. Nearby was a forge and a small pair of
bellows, a pot of once molten metal, now cold and dust-covered, stood
beside it; there were bars, too, of what the puzzled crowd took to be
lead.
It was left to the all-wise Parson to discover what this meant. The
Parson picked up one of the dies he saw upon the table. He gazed at
it curiously, blowing away the dust and cleaning the metal. Then,
muttering to himself excitedly, he stepped over to one side of the
cave where soft clay was on the floor, and seizing some, pressed it
into the mold. He held it before his horrified companions, a perfect
image of the United States half dollar; and he spoke but two words of
explanation.
“Gentlemen,” he said, “counterfeiters!”
The amount of excitement which that caused may be readily imagined. A
counterfeiter’s den! And they were in it! Texas clutched his revolver
the tighter and stared about him warily. As for poor Indian, he simply
sat down upon the floor and collapsed.
“Fellows,” said Mark at last. “I say we finish examining this place and
get out. I don’t like it.”
None of them did, and they did not hesitate to say so, either. Nothing
but curiosity, and the fact that they were ashamed to show their fear,
kept them from running for all they were worth. As it was, their
advance was timid and hesitating.
They were almost at the end of the cave then. They could see the walls
sloping together and the ceiling sloping down toward the floor. The
light of the lamp was far away and dim then, and they could not see
very clearly. But one thing they did make out to their surprise and
alarm. The end of that cave was a heavy iron door, shut tight!
There was but one idea flashed over the minds of every one of the seven
at that moment. The money! Here was where the men kept it, in that
firmly locked safe.
“B’gee!” muttered Dewey. “I say we go back.”
Most of them wanted to, and in a hurry. But there were two of them that
didn’t mean to; one was the venturesome and reckless Texas, and the
other was Mark.
“I’m sorry I came in,” said the latter calmly. “But since I’m here I’m
going to see the thing to the end. I’m going to search this cave and
find out what the whole business means. Who’ll help me open that door?”
The Banded Seven weren’t timid by a long shot. They had dared more
desperate deeds than any plebes West Point had ever seen. But in this
black hole of mystery, suggestive of desperate criminals and no one
knew what else, it was no wonder that they hesitated. There was no one
but Texas cared to venture near that shadowy door.
Mark himself was by no means as cool as he seemed. He had made up his
mind to explore the cave, and he meant to do it, but he chose to hurry
all the same. He stepped quickly forward, peering anxiously into the
shadows as he did so. And a moment later his hand was upon the door
knob.
He shook it vigorously, but found that it was firmly set. It reminded
him of the door of a safe, for it had a solid, heavy “feel,” and it
closed with a spring lock, having no key. Mark noticed that as he was
debating with himself whether or not to open it; and then suddenly he
gave the knob a mighty wrench and pulled with all his might upon the
door.
The knob was rusty, and so were the complicated hinges. The door
finally gave way, however, with a creak that was dismal and suggestive.
The others shrank back instinctively as the black space it disclosed
yawned in front of them.
Mark’s heart was beating furiously as he glanced around to peer in. A
musty, close odor caught his attention, and then as the faint light
made its way in, he saw that beyond was still another compartment,
seemingly blacker, and certainly more mysterious than the first. But
Mark hesitated not a moment; he had made up his mind to enter and he
did. Texas, who was at his back, taking hold of the door to hold it.
Those outside waited for but one moment, a moment of anxious suspense
and dread. They had seen their leader’s figure vanish, swallowed up in
the blackness of the place. They were wondering, tremblingly, as to
what the result would be; and then suddenly came a result so terrible
and unexpected that it nearly knocked them down. It was a scream, a
wild shriek of horror, and it came from Mark!
The six outside gazed at each other, ready to faint from fright; Texas,
startled, too, by the weirdness of the tone, sprang back involuntarily.
And in an instant the heavy iron door, released from his hand, swung
inward and slammed with a dismal clang that rang and echoed down the
long, vaulted cave.
The noise was succeeded by a silence that was yet more terrible; not
another sound came from Mark, to tell that he was alive or what. And
for just an instant, paralyzed with fright, the horror-stricken cadets
stood motionless, staring blankly at the glistening door. And then
Texas sprang forward to the rescue. He seized the knob furiously, and
tearing at the barrier with all his strength, flung it wide open.
“Come on!” he cried. “Follow me!”
Texas was clutching the revolver, a desperate look upon his face; the
others, horrified though they were, sprang forward to his side ready
to dare anything for the sake of Mark.
But there was no need of their entering. As the light shone in
the whole scene was plainly in view. And the six stared with
ever-increasing awe. Leaning against the wall, where he had staggered
back, was Mark; his face was as white as a sheet; one trembling hand
was raised, pointing across the compartment. And the rest followed the
direction with their eyes, and then started back in no less horror,
their faces even paler than his. Lying flat upon the floor, shining
out in the blackness white and distinct and ghastly, their hollow eyes
fixed in a death stare upon the roof, were six horrible, grinning
skeletons.
Awe-stricken, those reckless plebes stood motionless, gazing upon the
scene. They were too dumfounded to say a word, almost to think. And
then suddenly, as one man, moved by a single impulse, they faced about
and stole silently out of the place. The iron door clanged once more,
and then, still silent, the plebes marched in Indian file down the
long corridor to where the sunlight streamed in; helped each other out
through the narrow opening; and finally, free at last, drew a long
breath of inexpressible relief under the clear blue sky of heaven.
It was some minutes after that even before they said a word. Finally
Mark spoke.
“Fellows,” he said, “there’s a mystery. Who can solve it?”
The Parson heaved a sigh and raised his voice.
“There were once,” he began, “six counterfeiters, who did their work in
a lonely cave. That cave had two entrances, one of which we know of.”
“And the other lies at the end of the passageway,” said Mark.
“It was a way of escape,” went on the Parson, “in case the other
entrance was discovered by outsiders. But subsequently that entrance
became blocked----”
“And they were caught in their own trap,” finished Mark. “That door
slammed as it did on me, and they were suffocated. And that is all. Let
us go home.”
Still awe-stricken and silent, the rest arose and started to follow
him. But suddenly Texas, the excitable, irrelevant Texas, stopped and
began to gasp.
“Say!” he cried. “Fellers----”
“What is it?”
“D’ye know I never thought of it! That air cave is our’n!”
“How do you mean?”
“There ain’t any one else to own it, that’s what I mean. An’ ef ever we
want a place to hide in----”
“Or haze yearlings in,” came from Dewey.
“It’s ours!” cried Mark. “Just the thing! Hurrah!”