The tunnel took a slight bend and then it was almost completely dark. His eyes had adjusted and he could just make out the shape of the cougar ambling down the passage ahead of him. The cougar stopped and began to growl. In the enclosed space the sound was magnified. Coming alongside Cherokee, Calhoun could see that there was a kind of alcove built into the rock.
‘In here?’ Calhoun said.
He struck a match. In the brief illumination he could see a dim shape slumped against the far wall. Quickly he strode over, lit another match and bent down.
‘Norah!’ he said.
She was lying on her side and her hands and feet were tied. For a moment he thought she was dead. Just then, however, she startled him by turning her head and looking at him. Her hair was matted with blood and a line of congealed blood ran down from her brow almost to her chin.
‘Calhoun!’ she said. ‘You took your time gettin’ here.’ The cougar had advanced to her side and began to lick her with a rasping tongue. ‘Good girl, Cherokee,’ she said. ‘I knew I could count on you.’ She turned to Calhoun. ‘Is she OK?’
Calhoun had scarcely gathered his scattered wits.
‘Cherokee?’ he replied. ‘Sure. But what happened? Are you badly hurt?’
‘There’s a candle somewhere,’ she said inconsequentially.
Calhoun looked around. The candle was lying almost beneath her. He picked it up and lighted it.
‘Bin comin’ in these mines for I don’t know how long an’ never had no trouble,’ Norah began. ‘I can’t remember. Somebody musta slugged me. Tied me up but I managed to shuffle this far. Anyway, what’re you waitin’ for? Get me out of these bindin’s.’
Calhoun pulled a knife from his jacket and quickly cut her loose. She sat up and began to rub her arms and legs. Calhoun glanced around. What he had thought was an alcove was in fact a side shaft which stretched a considerable distance before turning a corner and being swallowed in darkness.
‘What were you doin’ in here?’ Calhoun said.
‘I know most o’ these old workin’s. Knowed the men who dug ’em. They don’t hold no fears for me. Never had nothin’ like this happen to me before though.’
‘Let me look at your head’ Calhoun said.
Taking care to be gentle, he examined the wound to the back of her skull. There was a big swelling and a nasty gash.
‘Does it hurt?’ he asked.
‘Got me quite a headache but it’ll be OK. How’s my noggin?’
Calhoun smiled. ‘I guess you got a thick skull,’ he said. ‘Come on, let me help you up. I got water in my saddle-bags.’
Norah looked at him. ‘Best be careful,’ she said. ‘I can’t say for sure just how long I bin lyin’ there but whoever did this could still be around.’
‘I don’t think so,’ Calhoun said, remembering the traces he had found outside the tunnel.
When she got to her feet Norah winced with pain and staggered when she put a foot forward. Calhoun swung the rifle across his back.
‘Here,’ he said, ‘put your hands around my neck.’ When she had done so he lifted her in his arms.
‘Lordy,’ she said, ‘I do declare I’m beginnin’ to blush.’
Calhoun laughed.
‘Excuse the liberties,’ Calhoun said. ‘Come on, Cherokee. Lead the way.’
It didn’t take them long to reach the entrance to the mine and make their way to where Calhoun had left the palomino. After sitting her on a rock he got the water and the bandages and began to clean up Norah’s wound. When he had finished and her head was bound with a strip of cloth the sun was well down in the sky. He brought his flask of whiskey from his saddlebags and offered it to Norah. She tipped it back and took a long pull.
‘Don’t normally drink a lot of liquor,’ she said, ‘but that sure does hit the spot.’
‘Any idea who might have done this?’ Calhoun said.
Norah shrugged. ‘Nope, but things just ain’t been healthy round here for some time.’
‘Must be quite a change for you.’ Calhoun grinned. ‘All this time you had the place to yourself and suddenly it’s become a holiday resort.’ Calhoun helped her up on to the horse’s back and they set off for Elk Creek.
As they rode Calhoun was thinking hard. Norah Carney was a tough lady and made light of what had happened to her, but he wasn’t fooled. Whoever had attacked her had left her tied up in the deserted mine without food or water. She would have died had it not been for the cougar and her own resourcefulness. What Calhoun wondered was whether her attacker intended coming back for her, and the more he thought about it the more likely it seemed. What reason could he have for slugging her? It didn’t make sense.
And then another thought occurred to him. How had he managed to avoid the cougar? The two thoughts merged to provide an explanation. The attacker had slugged her because of the cougar. Whatever he wanted from her, it could wait. He hadn’t wanted to face the beast, even with a gun in his hand. Suddenly Calhoun recalled Norah asking him if the cougar was OK. It hadn’t registered at the time. Now he asked her what she had meant.
‘I can’t think,’ she said. ‘My head feels all dizzy.’
‘Try to remember.’
Her face puckered up with concentration. ‘I think there might have been a shot,’ she said.
Calhoun drew to a halt and jumped from the saddle. He called the cougar to him and examined her more closely. Sure enough there was a burn along her side which had singed some of the fur. She had been grazed by a bullet. After stroking her and whispering some soothing words, he climbed back behind Norah. He had a pretty clear idea of what must have happened, but the question of the attacker’s identity remained. There was one way to find out. Go back to the mine and wait to see if anyone showed up.
Night had fallen by the time they were settled in back at Elk Creek. Calhoun had decided to visit the mine early the next morning as there seemed little chance that Norah’s attacker, whoever he was, would return before then. Norah still felt a little groggy and her head ached.
Calhoun had questions he would have liked to ask but in view of her condition he let it pass. Whoever had attacked her must have had a reason for doing so. What did he think she might know?
Calhoun built a fire and prepared something to eat. Afterwards he explained his plans to Norah. At first she was keen to go with him but in the end she was persuaded to stay. Calhoun was counting on the element of surprise. The presence of the cougar might be likely to give the game away and it would be better if he left Cherokee behind.
‘You be careful,’ Norah said. ‘There’s a maze of tunnels. A body could easily get lost.’
Calhoun nodded, running his hand over the recumbent cougar’s fur. It was a puzzling situation but maybe he would know a lot more before the morrow was over.
Chapter Seven
Only a faint lightening of the cloud-filled skies indicated that dawn was at hand when Calhoun walked out next morning. He had decided to leave his horse behind at the ruined livery stable. It was no great distance to the mines and he wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible.
It was chilly and a few isolated snowflakes fluttered down on the bare land as he came past the heavy wheel of the rock-crusher. Up ahead the walls of the mountain loomed threateningly. He half-wished he had brought Norah along with him. He knew the entrance to the tunnel but she might have been useful to have along with her knowledge of the diggings. Then he thought better of it.
He certainly missed the cougar. She had been a good companion on many a solitary trail. He was feeling more than a little dispirited. He wasn’t looking forward to re-entering the mine and he realized that he might be on a wild goose chase. There was no guarantee that whoever had attacked Norah would return to the scene. He could be in for a long, lonely vigil.
As he walked he kept a sharp lookout for sign but there was nothing. The faint traces of the tracks he had seen previously were gone. He had brought candles with him but he was not keen to light them until it was necess
ary. Besides, if there was anyone in the tunnel he didn’t want to give himself away. With a final glance about him he entered the tunnel.
Going slowly and careful not to make any noise, he made his way down the passage to the intersection where he had found Norah. She said she had crawled some distance from where she had been felled and Calhoun started to make his way down the second tunnel.
Although it was dark, the blackness was not profound. He wondered whether light might be getting through from outside somehow and then, turning another corner, he had his answer. The tunnel widened out into a small cave. Its walls were sheer and high above him he could see a pinpoint of light probably from some kind of exit on the mountainside.
He saw all this in an instant, but it wasn’t till his eyes had accustomed themselves to the dimness that he saw the real feature of the cave. There was someone seated with his back propped against the far wall! Calhoun had taken care over his approach and whoever it was seemed not to have noticed his arrival.
Calhoun drew his gun and edged nearer, keeping close to the wall and scarcely breathing. Whoever it was did not stir. Maybe he was unconscious. Calhoun decided the time had come to act.
‘OK!’ he said. ‘Don’t move. I got you covered.’
There was no response.
‘Don’t try to be cute!’ Calhoun rapped. ‘Just stand up away from that wall and do it real slow.’
His words rang oddly in the empty chamber. He waited but there was still no response. He stepped forward again, his gun at the ready. As he got closer the man’s face seemed to glow a strange white as the thin illumination caught it from overhead. Calhoun’s nerves began to jangle and then he drew up with a flinch. It was not the eyes of a living person which stared back at him but the empty sockets of a grinning skull.
He drew back, then, gathering himself, paused to take a closer look. The skeleton was seated with its bony hands interlocked. It was dressed in the tattered remnants of a red shirt and threadbare trousers and it wore a broad hat on its head. Someone must have placed it there. By its side lay a rusted pick.
Calhoun’s instinct was to flee the place but he forced himself to step forward and look at the remains more closely. Who was he and how had he died?
Calhoun suddenly felt a powerful wave of repugnance for the ghost town, for the mine workings and for everything connected with this haunted mountain top. He longed to be back at Coyote Falls, to be back with normal people, with the friends he had made, with the marshal and Bingley and most of all with Mary Grayson. All he wanted was to escape, to get back down the mountain, but first he had to return to that accursed ghost town and collect the cougar and his horse.
He turned away but even as he did so he thought he heard something moving in the tunnels beyond. His nerves were raw and he suddenly realized that his hand was shaking. He was almost inclined to think it might be the ghost of the dead man come to seek what was left of his mortal existence, but then the sound of a footstep snapped him back to his senses. Whoever was out there, it wasn’t a ghost or an apparition but a man.
He drew his gun and slunked back into the recesses of the cave. There was a scraping sound; something was being dragged along the stone floor of the tunnel. His attention was focused now. After all, wasn’t this why he had come out to the mine? As long as he stayed calm, the mystery of who had attacked Norah Carney would soon be solved.
He expected the man to come right into the chamber but the footsteps had halted in the corridor beyond. For a time there was very little movement and then the scraping was resumed. Suddenly there came a loud hammering which made him start. The hammering soon ceased and the footsteps receded, but he could still hear occasional furtive movements which diminished until there was silence once again.
Calhoun waited, crouched down behind some rocks at the back of the cave. The minutes ticked silently by. He was undecided about what to do. What was going on out there? Still he waited, listening intently for any further sounds which might give him a clue as to what was happening.
At last, convinced that it was no use waiting any longer, he rose cautiously to his feet. In the same instant there came a huge crashing roar of sound and a shock wave that drove him back against the rock wall. A vivid flash of light illumined the darkness and then he remembered no more.
When he came round his ears were ringing and there was blood coming from his nostrils. He felt dazed and confused and there was a pain across his chest. He was lying on his back and where his head lay a trickle of blood oozed out on to the rocky floor. For a few moments he did not move, then very gingerly, fearful of what he might find, he began to raise himself up. The pain in his chest subsided and putting a hand to the back of his head he felt a swelling and a cut which accounted for the loss of blood.
Slowly he stood up and examined himself. As far as he could tell there was no serious damage. He could move all his limbs and the constriction in his chest was gone. He was breathing naturally and except for the pain in his head and the ringing in his ears he was OK. He remembered the flash of light and the thunderous noise but he still felt confused and didn’t understand what had happened.
As his head cleared and his eyes adjusted to the gloom he picked his way forward. There was dust in the air and the smell of explosives. Suddenly fear began to gnaw at his vitals like a hungry rat.
Staggering through the cave he arrived at the tunnel and began to move along it. Smoke hung in the air and he knew what had happened. The man he had heard had dynamited the outer tunnel. He knew what he would find when he reached it. On arriving at the intersection he turned towards the mine entrance, hoping against hope that he might be mistaken. But it was no good. Just a little way along the path was blocked by a huge mound of rock and rubble. Calhoun stopped and stared.
It was hard to make anything out because the passage had become so dark. He rushed forward and began to claw at the mountain of rock which now lay between him and the outside world. He looked up. The roof had collapsed and what had been the tunnel was now completely choked with debris. Trying to remain calm, he began to try and pull out individual rocks, but he soon realized it was useless. There was no way past the blockage. He was trapped in the mine.
He sat down on the floor, desperately trying to remain calm. If he panicked he knew he was lost, but he found himself reliving that episode in the war when the bomb exploded and left him badly injured.
He was back in the orchard, looking up at the sky while the tears ran down his cheeks. It was all vivid again; he was back there lying on the earth like a crippled animal while the searing pain scorched through him. Then he was crawling once more inch by inch to the burnt-out farm building. But more than anything else there was that empty blue sky. It was the memory of that sky which brought him back to a consciousness of his present situation. How beautiful it had seemed.
Would he ever see such a sky again? What must he do to find it once more? Breathing deeply to control his nerves, he forced himself to consider the options.
Norah had told him that the tunnels and shafts ran for long distances. He had candles and matches to see by. If he followed the tunnel it might lead to another exit. On the other hand it was more likely that he would get lost in the depths of the mountainside. If he waited, sooner or later Norah would realize something was wrong and come to investigate. But what could she do? There was no way through from the other side of the obstruction.
He had brought some pemmican with him and a flask of water. There was no immediate problem in that regard, but his supplies would not last for long. He sat and turned things over in his mind till at length he came to a conclusion. The only possibility of escape lay in climbing up the walls of the cave and reaching that ray of light entering from the outside world at the summit of the funnel. But it was a forlorn hope. He had been struck with the steepness of the walls. They had looked sheer. But he had only gained a general impression. He had not looked at them in detail. Maybe there would be some way up. He pulled a candle from his jacket pocket and
lit it. The flame burned up and its flickering aureole of light only served to emphasize the emptiness and darkness of his surroundings. Holding it up, he made his way back down the inner tunnel to the cavern where the skeleton had lain. The shock of the blast had blown it away and what was left of it lay in separate bits, partly covered by the dust and debris of the explosion. The ray of light seemed a long way off and the cavern walls looked almost perpendicular in places. Calhoun’s heart sank. It seemed impossible even to attempt the climb.
Circling the cavern, he started to examine the walls more closely. The candle shed only a limited light but it was enough for him to see that in places they were not as sheer as he had at first thought. There were sections that offered the possibility of being able to get at least part of the way up. It was impossible to see higher. He would just have to take his chances when he reached that stage.
After circling the cavern he chose a spot which seemed to offer the best possibility. The rock wall was sheer but a little way up there was a narrow chimney. Finding a small fissure he squeezed his fingers into it and hauled himself upwards. Raising his right knee he wedged his foot against the rock while his other foot found a tiny foothold. He looked up to find another fissure and repeated the process, approaching the chimney at a slight angle. If he could wedge himself into it he might be able to work his way up.
He reached up and swung his leg outwards, searching for a hold. There was a ledge barely wide enough to put his toes on but he had to chance it. At this point there wasn’t far to fall. Securing his foot as best he could, he moved further up till he was right next to the chimney. It was narrower than he had thought when looking up at it from the floor of the cavern but he was just able to squeeze into it, his feet jammed against the wall on either side. He was half turned and needed to get his back against the rock wall. It was a difficult move but he accomplished it.
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