by Clair Blank
Chapter V
PURSUIT
Gale's left hand clasped tightly in that of Phyllis and with Galeholding her gun tightly and ready for instant action should the needarise, the two walked forward. They tried to make as little noise aspossible, but though they walked on tiptoe, the sound echoed back tothem dully. The ground underfoot was rough and uneven. On both sides ofthem the earth walls were damp and cold. The air was heavy and musty andthe girls shivered as they tried to walk bravely forward. From up aheadof them came a sudden sound as of a boot heel striking against stone.
"There he is!" Phyllis said in a sharp whisper. "What'll we do?"
"Follow him and see where he is hiding," Gale returned.
Slowly and with the utmost caution the girls crept forward. Once whenthey came to a turn in the passage they were unprepared for it andstumbled into the wall. Thereafter as they walked along, Phyllis keptone guiding hand against the wall. Suddenly her hand came in contactwith something round and small set in a large niche in the wall.
"Hold on, I've found something, Gale," she said. "I wish we had aflashlight."
"What is it?"
"I guess it's a candle. It _is_ a candle, and it's been lit recently,too, because the end is still warm and the wax isn't hard yet."
"Keep it, maybe we'll find some matches," Gale laughed.
They came to a turn in the passage and for a moment a little speck oflight showed ahead of them. But suddenly it flickered and died out.
"I'll bet it was another candle," Phyllis whispered. "But if that wasthe man we are after who blew it out, he is awf'ly far away from us."
Gale stood still and Phyllis stopped also. Over and about them wassilence. As they stood there they seemed to imagine all sorts of sounds,footsteps, whispers from unseen antagonists, scurrying of mice in thepassageway.
"I don't like this," Phyllis said nervously. "Let's go back to camp andget Tom or Jim."
"If you will lead the way out," invited Gale.
"You mean to say we are lost in here?"
"Well, I haven't the faintest knowledge in which direction the entrancelies," Gale said candidly. "Do you?"
"It is back of some place," Phyllis said uneasily. "We've got to findit."
"We've got to find it if we want to get out," Gale agreed. "Suppose weturn around and walk the other way."
A mocking laugh arose from somewhere in the passage and echoed loudlyand weirdly. Both girls shivered from the ominous tone of it. Theywalked along, Phyllis' hand against the wall to guide them, but soon herhand touched empty air.
"There's a turn here," she cautioned.
"It's a cross passage," Gale said. "Passages on both sides of us, butwhich one do we take?"
Again that taunting laugh rumbled from behind them.
"Whichever way we go, I hope it is away from him," Phyllis declaredtrembling. "That laugh gives me the jitters, it is so melodramatic. Soonhe will be telling us we are in his power."
Gale laughed nervously as the girls continued along the right handpassage. Phyllis stumbled wildly over something and shrieked madly asher exploring fingers came in contact with something cold and hard.
"What is it?" Gale demanded.
"It f-feels like a s-skull," Phyllis murmured with difficulty.
"Don't be silly," Gale said, repressing a shudder. "Probably only arock. Come along, the girls will begin to worry about us soon."
"They would worry more if they knew we were lost in here," Phyllisdeclared.
They walked on for what seemed hours, straining their eyes into thedarkness for that bit of light which would mean they were near theentrance, straining their ears to catch unfamiliar sounds.
"G-Gale, do you really think we will find the way out?" Phyllis askedafter a long while.
"Of course," Gale said staunchly, with far more cheerfulness than shefelt. "We can't stay in here forever."
"No," Phyllis said and her voice shook uncontrollably. "Soon we wouldstarve."
Gale, her own nerves on edge with the darkness and their hopeless searchfor the opening, recognized the hysteria in her friend's voice. Butbefore she could remonstrate, there arose that maddening, tauntinglaugh.
"Gale," Phyllis said hysterically, "I can't stand it! I can't! If wedon't find the entrance soon, I'll----"
Gale shook her sternly. "Phyllis! Pull yourself together! Don't you see,that is just what he is trying to do, get us rattled? Of course we'llfind the entrance. We've got to, but for goodness sake don't go topieces now. Wait until we get back to camp and then we'll scream andtear our hair."
The picture of the two of them screaming and tearing their hair was alittle too much for Phyllis' sense of humor and she laughed jerkily.
"It wouldn't be so bad," she said, Gale's arm about her shoulders, "ifRelentless Rudolph would stop laughing."
"That's a good name for him," Gale smiled.
They stood together in the darkness, trying to fathom a way out of theirpredicament.
"Gale, do you suppose----" Phyllis began.
"What?" her friend encouraged.
"This sort of thing was what your uncle was thinking of when he gave usthose revolvers?"
"I shouldn't be surprised," Gale said slowly.
"I wish I had mine now," Phyllis wailed. "A lot of good it does us in myslicker."
"I've got mine," Gale reminded her, "but we haven't seen anything toshoot at yet."
"Why do you suppose he, Relentless Rudolph, is trying to scare us so?"was Phyllis' next question.
"I haven't the faintest idea," Gale answered. "Unless he is trying toscare us so we will be afraid to send the police after him."
"Not much chance," Phyllis said indignantly. "I'd like to lead thepolice here, myself. If this cave didn't give me the jitters," sheadded. "Let's get going--some place."
Hand in hand they started off again. This passage had a more hollowsound than the others. Their footsteps, for they no longer bothered totread silently, sounded like thunder in their ears. The ground wasgetting more uneven and suddenly they bumped ignominiously into thewall.
"That's the end of that," Phyllis said in a tired voice. "We'll wearourselves out before long."
They went back the way they had come and when they came to the crosspassages, chose one going in the opposite direction. Their steps werelagging, and their eyes burned from straining them to catch one glimpseof daylight.
"Phyllis! Look! The entrance!" Gale cried joyously.
"Hurray! Let's run!" Phyllis said eagerly.
All their tiredness was gone now. They raced eagerly for the patch oflight ahead of them and burst out upon a valley of green.
"I was never so glad to leave any place," Phyllis said, sinking downbeneath a tree and leaning wearily against the trunk. "Rest a couple ofminutes and then we'll go back to camp."
"Phyllis," Gale said slowly, gazing about them first this way and thenthat. "This isn't the same place where we went in."
"No," Phyllis agreed thoughtfully, after looking around, "it isn't.Don't tell me we're lost again! At that," she said calmly, "I'd ratherbe lost out here in the open than in those underground passages."
"Come on," Gale said impatiently, "we can't sit here all day. We have tofind the camp."
The sun was high overhead. It was hours since they had left their campsite. What must the others be thinking? Had Tom or Jim started out tofind them?
"Maybe we could stay here and let 'em find us," Phyllis said, relaxedand lazy.
"We can't stay here," Gale said decidedly. She hit upon a suddeninspiration to make her friend bestir herself. "We are too close to thecave, the bandit might pursue us," she added smilingly.
That was enough. Phyllis jumped to her feet and started to climb overthe uneven ground through the trees. At the top of the rise they sawtheir camp nestling beside the little creek in the valley. Thesubterranean passages they had been in led directly through the hillwhich they had started to climb earlier in the day. F
rom where theystood now, they could see the partly hidden entrance which they hadfirst discovered. On their way down the hillside they took particularcare not to go near the mouth of the cave, lest they should see and beseen by the bank bandit.
When they returned to the camp the others greeted them with mingledexclamations of curiosity and thankfulness.
"We had about decided that you were lost," Carol declared.
"You would have been right----" Gale began.
"Hold on!" Phyllis exclaimed. "Who is that with Jim?"
The girls saw Jim approaching the campfire where they were all gathered,and with him was the man who two days before had brought the news of theescape of the bank bandits to the K Bar O.
"Are you still hunting for the escaped robbers?" was Phyllis' eagerquestion the minute the two men came within hearing distance of thegirls and Tom.
"Shore!" he answered promptly.
"Well," Phyllis smiled over the sensation she knew her words wouldcreate, "we saw one of them this morning."
"You what? Where? Are you sure it was one of them?" The questions pouredfrom all present.
"Oh, we're sure all right," Phyllis said. "He scared us out of a month'ssleep. I've christened him Relentless Rudolph the way he followed us andlaughed at us."
"Followed you? Laughed at you?" Janet echoed. "What _do_ you mean?"
"Explain yourself," urged Carol.
So while the others listened Gale let Phyllis tell of their morning'sadventure. Phyllis recreated vividly with words the suspense they hadfelt while fumbling around in the dark of the passages. The other girlswere quite beside themselves with excitement when she had finished.
Armed with flashlights and the revolvers they always carried now Tomfollowed Jim and the special deputy into the cave when Gale and Phyllishad shown them the entrance.
The girls returned to the camp to await the return of the three andtheir prisoner. They had no doubts that if the bandit was still in thecave, the three men would find him and bring him back to face justice.
"But there might be another exit to the cave that you don't know about,"Virginia mused to Phyllis and Gale. "Even now he might be miles away."
"Well," Phyllis said uncomfortably, remembering the thief's laughter,"the farther he stays away from me, the better."
"I hope nothing happens to Tom," Virginia said with a worried frown forher brother. "If there is any danger, he is bound to rush right intoit."
"Don't worry," Gale consoled her, "Tom is old enough to take care ofhimself. While we are waiting, I'm going to have some target practice soI'll know how to handle this revolver."
"A good idea," Phyllis declared jumping to her feet. "We'll have ashooting match."
Virginia tacked a large piece of paper to a tree and paced offtwenty-five feet. From her mark Gale tried her luck at hitting theirtarget. When she had finished they discovered that one of her sixbullets had just nicked the edge of the paper. The others had gone clearpast the tree. Phyllis was not even as lucky. None of her tries wassuccessful.
"You couldn't hit a barn door if you were inside the barn," Carolteased.
"You couldn't do any better!" was Phyllis' spirited retort. "Give us achance, we'll show you."
The sun fell farther and farther in the west. The girls nervously idledaway the time, keeping anxious eyes on the hill opposite where theyexpected Tom and his companions to reappear. But the minutes flew andthe others did not come. The sun dropped from sight, leaving a trail ofglorious colors in his wake. From the east, night like a pearly grayblanket covered the sky.
Virginia sliced bacon in the frying pan over the fire. Gale made coffeeand soon inviting aromas of their supper drifted on the air.
"The smell of food will bring Tom if nothing else does," Virginiadeclared laughingly.
But it grew later. Darkness with its impenetrable shadows closed down.The girls huddled about the campfire, watching the fantastic shadows theflames threw over the tents. They had had their supper and put asidethings to be warmed when the others returned.
"Do you suppose they could have gotten lost like we did?" Phyllis askedafter a long and heavy silence.
"They had flashlights," put in Madge. "They shouldn't have."
"Ah, but you don't know that place!" Phyllis shivered, "It gives me thecreeps to think of it."
"What's that?" Virginia cried suddenly.
They listened attentively. A stick cracked as a heavy foot trod on it.In the fitful firelight's gleam they could see three shadowy figurescrossing the creek.
"Tom?" Virginia called uncertainly.
"All safe," Tom's hearty voice assured her.
"But where is the bandit?" Valerie asked excitedly.
"That's what we'd like to know," grumbled Tom. "We searched that placeall through but there was no one in there."
"But we did see him," Phyllis insisted. "He must have escaped before yougot there."
"That's what we figgered," Jim put in. "We found footprints of a man,but escaping the law seems to be that fella's strong point."
"He won't escape all the time," murmured the deputy. "We'll catch upwith him some day."
The girls, Virginia and Gale, warmed the supper for the three men andbefore they all turned in for the night, the deputy took his leave,declaring he could not spend the night at their campfire, but had to bemiles away by morning.
The girls slept peacefully and dreamlessly, storing up energy for theday's ride ahead of them, for it was Tom and Jim's plan to continue onto a new camp site the next day.