The Cave in the Mountain / A Sequel to In the Pecos Country

g for

Table of

The majority of men, if put to the test of making their way out of that cave by shin

ssed his ear against the tough, untanned rope and listened. He could hear the scraping of the hands and the friction of the limbs against the rope, working ste

I can't tell till I get a sight of him. It may be an Apache, and I'd be

or three chambers of the revolver undischarged and he did not believe that it would be necessary to use them. The simple presentat

e moon, near her full, shed such a light over t

ible to any one who might be looking upward, and half a dozen rifles pointed and fired at that juncture could scarcely fail of fatal results. The lad's misgivings incre

d, as he straightened up, and, rising to his fe

feet, where his vision w

hing more than his head, and if he don't take that out of

ating the difficulties of his position and the fat

he asked, in a cautions

he noticed that work upon

himself, "but he doesn't

ead, and you may do the speaking after y

he was within a foot or two of the opening. One m

your hand," he added; "you

moonlight. The exhausted warrior, feeling that the critical moment was at hand, when all depended upon prompt and decisi

oiling upward that he was almost entirely thrown off his guard. Because of this, the cunning Apache would have secured his foothold and clambered out upon the d

pping out his revolver as before, he shoved it directly into his face,

and he failed altogether. He was supporting himself at this moment by one hand, and he acted as if

as if the lasso had been cut. It is generally easier to go down than up hill, and the work of twenty minutes was undone in a twinkling. A

at was an Indian; but I ought to have suspected it when I called to him and he didn't make any answer. T

edskins would guard all approaches to the lower end of the lasso, and his friend be shut o

, as he carefully took it in hand, "but then it's no use to th

it, to test whe

would not remain so, the lad gave it a sudden jerk, which brought it f

nce of getting out of here is poorer than ever. I am afraid Mickey

When it became absolutely apparent that no other way was open, he would make the plunge down th

as he lay upon the ground, carefully considering the m

, without going to a distance which would cause any danger of losing his way, and signal to him. The great obstacle to this was that, as he could readily see from the distance he had gone over since emerging therefrom, it would be utterly impossible to send a signal

d in fully as desperate situations as he had pulled through by showing

d the situation, it was not to be supposed that he was not posted fully as well. If he could see no chance of getting a pull at the rope, he could easily keep out of the way of the redski

ssue of events. He was powerless to do anything until the si

The profound stillness remained unbroken during all that time. The murmur of the cascade had a faint, distant sound, as if it came from the ocean, many long leagues away, but there was nothing

rope, or he can't come up here," was the reasonable conclusion

fety immediately before their eyes, especially when they could cover him with their rifles if he should succeed in giving them the slip at the start. Then it appeared anything but reasonable to suppose that the Indians would remain directly below him, waiting for the

m to grasp the lasso, and ascend without further delay. Too much precious time was being wasted. Fort

ng placed it thus within easy reach, he let it pass over his hand, holding it so delicately poised that the slightest disturbance was sure to be detected. He was in

l attention and waited. A second later the jerk was repeated so distinctly that there could be no mistake. The lad gave it a twitc

efore. Yes; some one was