CHAPTER II.
CAVES IN THE MOUNTAIN.
The two boys had expected to find the large cave damp and unwholesome,and they were surprised when they learned how dry the flooring and thesides were, and how pure the air was. There was no breeze in the place,but a gentle draught kept the air stirring. Of course the atmosphere wasmuch cooler than it had been outside.
Hardly had the travelers gained the center of the first chamber of thecave, when the storm outside burst in all its fury. The lightning andthunder were almost incessant, and the rain came down in broad sheetswhich completely obliterated the landscape.
"It's little short of a flood," said Darry, after having gone to themouth of the cave to investigate. "The water is already two or threeinches deep on the trail."
"Well, such a downpour can't last long," returned Joe. "It's only ashower, or a cloud-burst."
"No, it's a regular rain, and it's good for all night," answered the oldscout.
"All night!"
"Yes, lad, and we'll be lucky if it don't last through the morning, too.It don't rain very often out here, you see, but when it does it tries tomake up for lost time."
"Then we'll have to camp right here, won't we?"
"To be sure. Even if it did let up, you wouldn't want to camp in the wettimber."
"Then we might as well start up a fire," came from Darry, in somethingof a disappointed tone. "I was hoping we'd be able to camp under thestars just once before we got to the fort."
"Perhaps you'll get a chance to go out after you're at the fort," saidthe old scout, by way of comfort. "Yes, we'll start a fire, if we canfind any dry wood."
The horses were tied up between some rocks, and then the three searchedaround. At the entrance to the cave was a mass of brush and tree limbswhich previous storms had sent in that direction, and from this theygathered enough for a good-sized fire. It did not take long for thebrush to blaze up, sending the sparks to the roof of the cave andthrowing fantastic shadows all about them.
"I declare, the fire makes the cave look quite home-like!" was Joe'scomment, as he threw himself down on a flat rock with his blanket underhim. "Staying here won't be so humdrum as I anticipated."
"I'm going to explore the cave, now I am here," returned Darry. "Whoknows but what I might locate a gold mine!"
"You be careful of where you go," cautioned old Benson. "These caves arefull of pitfalls, and now you two boys are with me I don't want anythingto happen to you. If something did happen, neither Captain Moore norColonel Fairfield would forgive me."
"To be sure we'll be careful, Benson," answered Darry. "There'd be nofun in getting hurt--even if we did locate a gold mine."
"You won't find any gold mine here. This ground was prospected yearsago--before even the fort was located. I came out here once myself, witha miner named Hooker Brown. Hooker was dead certain there was gold here,but although we stayed here about two weeks nosing around we never goteven a smell of the yellow metal."
"Well, we'll have a look around, anyway," said Joe. "But we must getgood torches first."
Pine knots were procured and lit; and, with another caution from thescout to be careful, they set off, leaving Benson to care for the horsesand prepare such an evening meal as their stores afforded. Luckily thescout had brought down half a dozen good-sized birds, and these he nowprepared to broil in true hunter style.
The front chamber of the cave was somewhat semi-circular, and behindthis were several other irregular apartments, running down to apassageway which wound in and out between jagged rocks almost impossibleto climb or explore in any manner. At a distance could be heard thetrickling of water, but where this came from, or where it went to,nobody in the cave could imagine.
The boys advanced from one opening to another with care, one with historch held high, that they might see ahead, and the other with the lightclose to the ground, to warn them of a possible pitfall.
"A regiment of soldiers could quarter in here," observed Darry, as theypushed on. "What a defense it would make!"
"An enemy could fire right into the entrance. And, besides, supposingthe enemy started to smoke you out? I can smell the smoke from thecamp-fire away back here."
At last the two boys reached the passageway back of the rear chamber,and here came to a halt. The dropping water could be plainly heard, andJoe flashed his torch in several directions in the hope of catchingsight of the stream.
"I'm going to climb the rocks," he said, after a pause. "Perhaps thereis another opening behind them."
"Remember what Benson said, and be careful," cautioned his cousin."There is no use in taking a risk for nothing."
"Yes, I'll be careful," answered Joe, and crawled forward with care.Darry held his torch as high up as possible, to light the way.
The youth had advanced a distance of fifty feet when he came to a turnin the passageway. Here the side walls were not over two yards apart,while the roof could be touched with ease.
Thinking the walking better at this point, Joe struck out once more. Theflare from his torch showed him something of a chamber ahead, and thewater sounded closer than ever.
But hardly had the lad taken a dozen steps when the smooth rock uponwhich he was advancing tilted up, sending him headlong. As he went downthe torch was knocked from his hand. Then he slid forward into thedarkness.
"Help!" he managed to cry. "Help!"
"What's up?" came from Darry, but the words were drowned out in thecrashing of one stone against another. In the meantime Joe had fallen,he knew not whither. He landed on some soft ground, turned over and slidalong, and then took a second drop. A stone fell beside him and pinnedhis jacket to the ground.
For the moment the lad was too dazed and bewildered to do anything buttry to get back his breath. Then, as it gradually dawned upon him thathe was not hurt in the least, he endeavored to arise.
"Fast!" he muttered, and tore his jacket away from under the rock. Thenhe turned about, trying to locate his torch. But that was missing, andall was dark around him.
"I'm in a pickle now," he thought. "I wish I had taken old Benson'sadvice and remained around the camp-fire. But who would have imaginedthat big rock would play a fellow such a trick? How in the world am I toget back again?"
From a great distance he could hear Darry shouting to him. He tried toanswer his cousin, but whether or not his voice was heard he could nottell.
With his hands before him, he moved around, and scarcely had he taken adozen steps when he slid down a rocky incline. Here there was water; andhe shivered, thinking he might be dropping into an underground streamfrom which there would be no escape. But when a pool was gained itproved to be but several inches deep.
As Joe stood in the pool there came a sudden rumble of thunder to hisears. He listened, and by the sounds became convinced that an openinginto the outer air could not be a great way off. Then came an unexpectedflash of reflected light on the rocks by his side.
"Hurrah, that light came from outside!" he cried. "I'm not buried alive,after all. But I may be a good way from daylight yet."
He had some matches in his box, and lighting one of these he discovereda passageway below him, running off to his left. Further on he picked upa bit of dry wood and lit this. It made rather a poor torch, but provedbetter than nothing.
"Now to get out, and then to find my way back to where I left oldBenson," was his mental resolve.
With extreme caution he stole forward to where the lightning revealed adistant opening. He did not leave one foothold until he was sure of thenext, for he had no desire to experiment with another moving rock.
The thunder now reached his ears plainly, and the lightning at timesmade the front of the cave as bright as day.
"It's quite another place," was his thought. "That dangerous passageconnects the two."
Suddenly, as Joe was advancing, he heard a clatter of horses' hoofs, andinto the cave ahead rode three rough-looking men, all armed with riflesand pistols and each carrying small saddle-bags across his steed.
At first Joe thought to call out to the newcomers, but he checkedhimself, for their appearance was decidedly against them.
"I'll try to find out something about them first," he muttered. "Perhapsthey belong to that gang of bad men Benson was telling us aboutyesterday." And then, as the three came to a halt in the center of theouter cave and dismounted, he crept closer, in the shadow of some sharprocks, to overhear what they might have to say.
Boys of The Fort; Or, A Young Captain's Pluck Page 3