The Ghost of St. Elmo

by L. Parks Sanford

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  UNDERGROUND AND SCARED

  After a huge meal and a good night’s sleep, we were awakened by the sound of a chainsaw running. I walked to the window and saw Charles and Mr. Mac cutting up a huge pine tree that had fallen across the driveway. I was looking at a beautiful, clear, blue sky and the snow covered mountain peaks when I noticed Slim and Jeb standing by the corner of the barn staring directly into my eyes. When they noticed I was aware of their behavior, they quickly averted their attention away from me. I moved quickly back into the room and woke Zack.

  “Come on. Wake up sleepy head,” I yelled, jumping onto Zack’s bed. “Let’s get moving.” We showered and dressed for the new day wondering what adventures lay ahead. As we opened the door to head downstairs, the tempting aroma of sizzling bacon and coffee drifted toward both our nostrils. We raced down the stairs toward the kitchen.

  “Hello, guys,” came a voice. “What’s the hurry?” We looked over our shoulders and saw Charles carrying a cup of coffee.

  “We’re just heading for breakfast,” I answered.

  “Well, have a good day and stay out of trouble,” he said as he went back outside. We made a hasty retreat to the kitchen where we were ushered into breakfast by Katie who arrived at the same time.

  “Good morning, Mother,” Katie said as she walked forward and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek.

  “Good morning, Mrs. McVicar,” Zack and I said, almost in unison.

  “Hello, boys. Did you sleep well?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I answered for the both of us. “Slept like a baby.”

  “Good. We want you both to enjoy yourselves,” she said.

  ”Katie, I’m going into town for groceries. Clean up after you’re done, will you?” she said taking off her apron.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “I’ll see you later, dear. Have fun and be careful.” None of us knew how prophetic her suggestion would be. But, we knew from our past experiences that this day, most likely, would not be boring. We sat eating our breakfasts and discussing the day’s plans when Zack leaned back in his chair and removed something from his pocket.

  “Hey, look at this,” he said unfolding a small slip of paper. “I thought I lost it.”

  “What is it?” Katie asked.

  “It’s the piece of paper I found in the campfire in the cave.”

  “You mean those are the same pants you wore yesterday?” Katie asked, holding her nose. “Oooh! …stinky,” she smiled.

  “After that rain they’re sure clean, and they did dry overnight,” Zack answered back somewhat offended. We all started to laugh. Zack unfolded the paper and laid it on the table. We could see faded printing, but the ink had run and made it almost illegible. Katie grabbed it and studied it carefully.

  “’eral Res,’ ‘eeral Rese.’ What do those letters mean?” she questioned out loud. “’eral Rese,’” she repeated time after time. “I know I’ve seen them before, but where?”

  “I know, Katie!” I popped up as I could feel shivers shoot up and down my spine. “Do you remember in the old shack the paper and ink we discovered? Give me a pencil. Quick!” I took the pencil and filled in the blanks. “Watch this,” I said excitedly. “Fed…eral, Rese…rve, …Federal Reserve.”

  “That’s it!” Katie shouted out loud. “You’re right!” Like a light bulb going on in my head, it suddenly hit me. “Holy cow! They’re making money! They’re counterfeiters.”

  The telephone in the living room rang sharply, and Katie bounded in that direction to answer it. “Hello, McVicars’ residence,” she answered. “Hi, Sheriff Parks. Yes, sir, I sure will; he’s outside. Would you like to speak to him now? Yes, sir, I’ll tell him. Goodbye.” Katie hung up and walked quickly to the door. Opening it, she walked out into a beautiful, clear day. “Daddy, Sheriff Parks just called, and he wanted me to tell you he was on his way up to see you.”

  “Ok, dear. Thanks. We’ll be right here.” Puzzled, Katie turned and walked back inside.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked Katie, as I was concerned about the strange look on her face. Mysterious situations were certainly nothing new to Zack and me; so this was just another day. Zack, winking at me, said,

  “What’s wrong, Katie? Are you going to jail?”

  “No!” the pretty blonde shot back, not amused. “Something’s up.”

  “Why do you say that?” I asked.

  “Sheriff Parks never comes up here if he doesn’t have a reason,” she answered. “Daddy and he haven’t been friends for years. He used to work at the prison down in town when Dad was on the board of directors. Sheriff Parks ran some cattle and supplied beef to the prison for meals. He did it for years and made good money until Daddy had his contract revoked for conflict of interest. He swore he would get even with him, and today they very seldom speak. But, strangest of all is that he’s never been up to the ranch, and now he’s coming. Something’s up,” she concluded. We returned to the kitchen and set to work preparing lunch to take with us for the day. We sat for a few minutes discussing the day’s plans and unanimously arrived at the same conclusion. Today, we would go to the old shack and get to the bottom of the secrets it held.

  Katie, Zack and I saddled our horses and set off down across the valley toward the old, dilapidated shack. We came to a fork on the trail and rode up the left one that rounded the mountain leading high above us. At Katie’s beckoning, we left the trail and eased our horses onto a rocky ledge overgrown with weeds and scrub brush. Katie pulled up and dismounted. “I think we better use the back route to the shack,” Katie said rather uneasily.

  “That’s a good idea,” I agreed as we all secured our horses to trees.

  We headed down a wet but sandy trail toward the back of the shack. The trees above us filtered out most of the morning sun because they were so tightly interlaced, forming a thick natural canopy, even without their summer leaves. We carefully worked our way down the rocky, rutty hillside careful to avoid any loose materials that could force us to lose our footing and fall below. “Only one at a time,” Katie ordered. “The path’s too narrow.”

  “I’ll go first,” I volunteered to Katie and Zack. I carefully began my downward trek toward the shack below. It took only a few minutes to complete my descent, and I turned and yelled for Katie to come next. “Come on, Katie. You’re next.” After a few minutes of futile waiting and calling out to Katie and Zack, I became alarmed; no answer. Perspiration began to trickle down my half frozen face, and a feeling of growing concern began to envelop my body. Where did they go?

  I carefully started to climb to my friends above. I reached the top, stood erect and looked in all directions. There was no one to be seen. I walked slowly, examining the ground below as I did. I could see boot prints and what appeared to be scuff marks leading into a thick pine grove. I pressed on relentlessly, trying to forget about the briars tearing into my skin and trousers. About an hour passed, as I continued combing through the brush. There was nothing to be seen. I searched the pine grove grass until I came upon a small stream. Tired and discouraged I sat down on a large rock in the creek. I knew they had to cross somewhere. I began to zigzag along the bank for any signs. Suddenly, I came upon some broken vegetation. Grasping some broken branches, I followed a path to an incline above me. I moved ahead slowly, examining every piece of broken wood and smashed grass. My heart sank; there in front of me lay a broken pistol grip. My mind began doing strange things as I moved the bone handle around in my hand. I realized immediately where it came from. It was Katie’s. It was the one she had found in the old mine. She was leaving me a trail marker and maybe more. This was Jeb’s. Did he have anything to do with this?

  I doubted it.

  I continued following the path carefully, scanning from side to side searching for any clues in my friends’ disappearance. My heart began to pound wildly because I knew that Zack and Katie were in deep trouble. What could I do? I closed my eyes and thought of Charles. If he were here,
he would know what to do. I was startled by the sound of a horse whinnying and jumped into the bushes next to the rock I was on. Peeking around the side, I saw a bizarre sight. There on a horse straight ahead of me was an Indian on horseback waving at me to follow him. He had yellow moccasins on his feet and long white hair hanging to the middle of his back. The hair on my arms stood straight up, and my legs felt weak…I was scared stiff. What should I do? Run, or take a chance and follow him? If he wanted to harm me, he could have a long time ago, but he didn’t. Besides, he had saved our lives a couple of times already. “What was I talking about?” I asked myself. There’s no such thing as ghosts,…or was there?

  I decided I would take a chance and go with him. He turned his horse and looked back in my direction. Slowly he headed off toward the hillside, making sure that I was always in his sight. I noticed a narrow muddy road that branched off to the right along the creek’s edge. Judging from the undergrowth on and along the old path, it didn’t appear to be used very often. The Indian stopped ahead of me and pointed in a certain direction. It must mean something, I thought, so I proceeded to the spot he was pointing out. My eyes opened wide. In front of me was a small opening to a cave in the side of the hill. I sneaked up to the entrance area and turned to look at the Indian. He was gone! He had just vanished without any noise or sound to be heard.

  “No! No!” a muffled voice cried out from inside. “Don’t come in!” Just at that moment, someone sneaked up behind me and hit me over my head. When I woke up, Slim’s ugly face was peering down at me with a wide smirk from one side of his face to the other.

  “Hey, there, dude boy. What you doin’? Tryin’ to get some sleep? We’ve got you right where we want you, and you won’t be messin’ in our business no more, smart boy.” I slowly opened my eyes and felt the lump on the back of my head. “Ow!” It sure was sore. I leaned back on my elbows and looked around the interior of the cave. There in the corner with tape over their mouths were Katie and Zack, staring wide eyed directly at me. I looked over at the cave entrance and saw that nobody was around.

  “Oh, no, you don’t!” Slim hissed, quickly moving in my direction. “You’re not going anywhere!” Katie and Zack were bound hand and foot and tied tightly to chairs. Grunts came from my two friends, but the gang that had us only laughed and pointed, making fun. My mind whirled with all the unanswered questions I was beginning to have. Who were these guys and what were they going to do to all of us? But, most of all the Indian, who seemed to appear and disappear as he wanted to, was making me question whether or not there really were such things as ghosts. After all, he did get me here, I thought. Now, maybe he’ll get us out. Zack looked directly into my eyes and slowly tilted his head to his right. I realized he was sending me a message to look in that direction. Turning slowly, as if I were trying to stand up, I pretended to fall forward in the direction Zack had directed me and peered into the darkness at the end of the cave. I could barely make out the outline of a figure sitting at a dimly lit table with his back to me. I felt a sharp pain in the small of my back as someone from behind struck me with his boot, making me fall forward onto the ground, once again. Writhing in pain and trying to catch my breath, I rolled over on my back and looked up at Slim’s ugly face. That very next moment, Slim pulled me up, whirled me around and thrust me in the direction of Katie and Zack. I fell forward into the wall of the cave bouncing onto the ground face first.

  “Are you all right, Ian?” came a voice out of the darkness at one end of the cave. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to a guest of Mr. Mac’s.” The voice was very familiar, and the name that went with it became more apparent as the silhouette began to emerge slowly and mysteriously from the cold, darkness in the direction of the table. Jeb!...I couldn’t believe it. There, standing directly in front of me was Mr. Mac’s foreman.

  “I’m sorry about this, Ian, but you kids were just getting a little too nosey for your own good. Now, we don’t have any choice but to get rid of all three of you.” Now, I was certain that the partially burned paper Zack had found, the old broken pistol grip Katie had, the ink and printing paper we had found in the old cabin, were all tied together. Everything began to fit together like pieces of a giant puzzle. These guys were making money, all right. They were all counterfeiters! “ Tie ‘em all up tight and gag them,” Jeb snapped. “Then we’ll leave ‘em here to freeze and starve to death and then drop their bodies in one of those old deep mine shafts up in St. Elmo. Mr. Mac will think that they just had a real bad accident of some kind and were victims of another cold, Colorado winter.”

  “Ha! Ha! Ha!” Laughter echoed throughout the cave as everyone enjoyed our destiny, except us. Slim put tape over my mouth and eyes as well as Katie and Zack’s, then secured our feet and arms to our chairs. “Good luck, kids. OK, everyone, mount up, and we’ll meet tomorrow at the hideout for instructions.” We waited for a few minutes in the cold, damp cave and made no movements at all. By the sound of things, everyone seemed to have cleared out, and it became deafly silent in our cold prison. I could hear the muffled voices of Katie and Zack through their taped mouths. Trying to rock in my chair and tip myself over, I jerked to one side and fell. I began trying to roll, but the frame of the chair made it almost impossible. I scooted slowly, moving inch by inch until I finally could feel another chair up against my shoulder.

  “Is that you, Ian?” came Zack’s voice.

  “Yeah, hold still,” I whispered. “I’ll try and knock your chair over, so get ready.” I maneuvered my fingertips close to the legs of his chair and grasped them as tightly as I could. When I had a good hold on them, I rolled toward him and pushed hard. I strained and thrust with all my weight until he slowly fell over onto his side.

  ”Now what, Mr. Smart guy,” Zack cracked back.

  “Sh!” I whispered to Zack as I stretched my tied hands toward his. “They may be close, and we sure don’t need another visit from them anytime soon.”

  “Hey! How about me?” Katie whispered.

  “Don’t worry, Katie,”I assured her. “We won’t forget you.” I tried to push myself up against Zack and reach my fingers toward the ropes that were tied around his wrists. I told Zack to push against me to give me as much slack in the rope as he could, so that I could try to untie his knots. We both worked, for what seemed like an eternity, and finally the rope on Zack began to loosen. We tore at the ropes frantically, realizing we were so close and that the gang that had captured us could return at anytime. At last the ropes on Zack’s wrists loosened, and he quickly untied them. Before they had barely fallen to the ground, he ripped the remaining tape from his mouth and was feverishly working on the rope around his ankles. He rested on his knees totally exhausted, then moved quickly to me and then to Katie to remove our remaining restraints.

  We all looked at each other, but not a word was spoken. We all knew that we couldn’t take any chances that someone could be outside the cave opening waiting for us. We used our fingers to signal to each other what our next moves would be and then cautiously moved toward the entrance. Several minutes ticked by as we stood quietly, not moving. Then we peered out the opening. I carefully moved the brush aside that was hiding the entrance and looked out, squinting into the brightness of the falling snow. I turned to Zack and told him the coast was clear. We all moved outside and stood tall to stretch and get our bearings.

  “Do you remember anything that they said when you were being held?” I asked them both. “How about any strange voices?”

  “Well, I did hear someone that sounded familiar, but I can’t put a name with the voice,” Katie answered. “I can’t believe Jeb is involved with that gang,” said Katie. “Jeb, of all people. Daddy isn’t going to believe this. What do we do now?” Katie whispered. “We can’t go back to the ranch yet because Jeb thinks we’re tied up in this cave. And if we do, Mom and Dad could be in danger from Jeb and Slim.”

  “They said they were going to meet at the hideout later,” Zack answered. “All we have t
o do now is figure out a plan to capture the entire gang. That shouldn’t be too difficult,” he quipped.

  “Before we can do anything, we better get out of this cold and find some protection, or we won’t have to worry about Jeb or Slim,” I said. ”Let’s head back and see if our horses are still where we left them. Oh, by the way,” I said turning around and staring at Katie and Zack, “Our friend the Indian showed me where you two were being held prisoner.” I turned and slowly walked away. I didn’t take the time to see the expressions on their faces after I hit them with that remark, but I know I had a slight smirk on mine when I said it. After all, I’m sure they thought I was crazy.

  We followed along the creek bed, keeping an eye on their tracks as we went. We knew that was our best bet if we wanted to get back to our horses. We were all glumly silent as we realized that our chances of finding our horses would grow slimmer as the darkness would set in. Zack examined the ground along the creek bed up ahead of us. He was down on all four as we approached. I dropped to my knees right beside him and asked him what was up. ”They split up here”, Zack said. ”Look at these tracks.” He was right. You could plainly see tracks going off in two different directions.

  “Well, which ones do we follow?” Katie asked.

  “We know the sun sets in the west, and I see the sun setting out my window every night over Mt. Columbia, so I assume Columbia is over there,” I said, pointing toward the large mountain behind us. ”So, if we go directly the way we’re going, we should find our horses since they were left on the trail between the ranch and Mt. Columbia.”

  “Now, if that makes any sense at all, I’m your grandmother’s uncle”, Zack shot back.

  “Just believe me and follow my lead,” I told them, only half believing what I had just said myself. I didn’t let either one of them know that I had no idea at all what the plan would be for the three of us in the next hour or so. What would Charles do? He always had an answer for everything. If we returned to the ranch, we would certainly be seen and put the whole family in jeopardy. But, if we stayed out too much longer, everyone in the valley would be up here looking for us. “That’s it!” I turned and screamed to Katie and Zack.

  “What is it?” Katie whispered as she held her finger up to her nose for me to be quiet.

  “If we let them come looking for us, then we’ll have a better chance to get your mom and dad and Charles alone before Jeb and Slim know we’re alive,” I answered.

  “Let’s split up and go in different directions,” Zack suggested. “That way, if any of us is caught, then at least one of the other ones will have a better chance to get help.”

  “But, if one of us gets in trouble, then there will be no one to help him out,” Katie disagreed. “Why don’t we just stick together and try to make it back to the ranch?”

  “That’s crazy, Katie,” Zack answered. “We’ve got to get proof that these guys are making money, or they may get away with everything they’ve done so far. It would be their word against ours. We’ve got to split up and go in different directions. That’s our only chance to get help.”

  I stood there silent in the wind that was beginning to pick up as small flakes of snow began sticking to my already soaked clothes. Where was my Indian friend when I really needed him? I felt responsible for getting us into this mess with all my talk of an Indian in yellow moccasins, and I was about ready to make a decision on what we would do. Whether I was correct or not, I would act as though I was confident in my decision. “We’re going to stick together and make sure these guys are caught and locked up,” I said, as I turned and faced Zack and Katie. “They’ve pushed us around long enough and I’m getting tired of it.” They both looked at me with wide eyes and then stared at each other.

  “Now, that’s the guy that I know,” said Zack. “Let’s get out of here and get help before we freeze to death.” We all turned and headed in the direction that the sun was setting while watching for tracks as we plodded steadily through the falling snow. I could see in Katie’s eyes that she was tired and scared. I didn’t want her to know that I was, also. I stared into the darkening sky and realized that we wouldn’t make it back to the ranch before darkness fell.

  “We better find a place to stay for the night,” I turned and suggested to the other two. “We’ll never make it out of here tonight. Look how dark it’s beginning to get, and the snow’s falling harder.”

  “But, we’ve got to!” Katie urged. “My mom and dad will be worried to death.”

  “Ian’s right, Katie,” Zack agreed. “It will be too dangerous if we get caught in this weather. We could end up being another statistic in a cold Colorado winter. Besides, I’m way too pretty to die this young.” Katie managed a nervous smile and begrudgingly agreed that we were both right. I set out first, leading the way as Katie followed with Zack bringing up the rear. We trudged through the deepening snow and could hear the coyotes in the distance getting ready for their hunting trips, when all of a sudden. “W….hoa!” “Help m……..eeeeeee!” I could feel myself falling through space, and then I hit something hard underneath me. “Ow!” I groaned and rolled over to look above me. I could see a little daylight and two faces staring down into the hole that I was now a prisoner in. I must have fallen at least fifteen feet, and I pulled myself up slowly to see if everything was still intact. Things seemed to work pretty well, and I was satisfied that I was very lucky.

  ”Are you alright, Ian?” Katie shouted from above.

  “I’m OK. I think,” I answered back, not quite sure myself.

  “What’s down there, old buddy,” Zack excitedly yelled.

  “I’m not sure, but it sure is dark” I shot back. “Katie, do you still have those matches?” I hopefully yelled up.

  “Yes, if they’re still dry,” she answered. “I’ll look.” There was a long pause, and then her head appeared at the opening once again. “Here they are,” she shouted down, “and they’re still dry.”

  “Great! Throw them down so I can see what’s down here.” She threw the matches to me, and I lit one to see what was surrounding me. It was a huge cave with a soft dirt floor and a small, narrow path leading out the other end from where I was standing. ”Ouch!”

  “What’s the matter?” Zack shouted down.

  “Oh, nothing, I just burned my finger with the match. That’s all. I’ll see if I can find something to make a torch with.” I wandered around carefully in the darkness of the cave, lit another match and spied some pieces of wood stacked in a corner. I quickly moved in that direction and grabbed a long piece for my torch. I removed my jacket and shirt and took off my tee shirt and then re-dressed quickly. It was cold. I wrapped the tee shirt around the stick and lit it. Success! The torch immediately filled the room with light.

  “What can we do, buddy?” Zack asked from above. “Do you want us to come down, or should we try to get you up?”

  “Try to find an old fallen tree, that’s not too big but long enough to stick into the hole and rest it on the bottom of the cave floor, and then you two can shimmy down it to join me. But first, let me see where this cave goes, so we all don’t get stuck down here.”

  “OK, but don’t take too long. It’s getting cold and dark,” Katie implored.

  ”Don’t worry. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Just stay where you are.” I headed off into the interior of the dark and dank cave with a certain amount of trepidation, but I knew that I had to find us a way out or at least some shelter for the night. I was just hoping that I wasn’t going to run into some sort of ambush ahead. There was nothing but narrow tunnels to crawl through and bare, damp walls totally surrounding me. Although, it was a lot warmer down here than up there, I thought. We would be safe here. Suddenly, the passage I was crawling through opened up into a large, cavernous, stone hall. I held my torch up and probed the musty darkness to see what could possibly be around. I could see what looked like stone icicles hanging from the ceiling and a few outcroppings of rock scattered around, as well. I
pushed my torch ahead of me as I guardedly inched my way forward, but there was nothing that appeared out of the ordinary other than what I assumed would be in an old cave. Again, I came to an area in front of me that was very narrow and only about four feet high. My face and clothes were covered with sticky, uncomfortable cobwebs. I fell to my knees and proceeded to make my way through the narrow tunnel. Suddenly, I stopped in my tracks. I could hear a faint sound ahead of me that sounded like running water. I slowly headed forward into the darkness toward the sound. That’s what it was. Now, getting even closer, I could hear the faint rumbling of running water even more clearly.

  All of a sudden I let out a cry. “Holy Cow!” I couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing. I was at the end of my tunnel, lying on my stomach and looking down on a huge underground lake. On the opposite side of where I was, there was a rumbling waterfall that fell at least fifty feet below into the dark water. I stared up above me, and I could see that my tunnel was midway between the vaulted ceiling of the cave and the water below. I looked in all directions as I scoured the walls that surrounded me. There was a large boulder to my right that hung precariously out over the edge of the sheer wall that dropped straight into the water. It looked as though I could possibly maneuver my way onto the top and maybe get a better idea of what was on the other side. I carefully made my way onto its slippery surface and worked my way to the other side. I reached what I thought was the end of my exploring, when all of a sudden, I couldn’t believe my eyes. This was certainly a day of surprises. I wiped the icy, cold spray from the falls out of my eyes and stared in disbelief.

  There was a long, winding, stone step path carved out of the side of the wall leading to the ground and water below me. Along the steps were old torches set strategically along the way. I took what was left of my torches and tried to light them as I excitedly proceeded downward. But, would they light? Yes! The first torch ignited immediately, and I proceeded to light the rest as I made my way toward the bottom. It was cold, but I was soaked with perspiration from all the excitement. The path turned and twisted its way plunging downward following the steep incline. Finally, I was at the bottom, standing on a solid rock foundation. Now, I could only stare in amazement and wonder at what I had found. There was plenty of room to have shelter and build a fire for all of us. ALL OF US! It suddenly hit me that I had forgotten about Zack and Katie in all my excitement. I had to get to them quickly. They were probably freezing and wondering where I was. I hurriedly, but cautiously, made my way up the stairs and back the same way I had come. It seemed as though it took me a lot less time to return to my friends. I exited the narrow tunnel that I had been exploring and stood erect on the cave floor that I had fallen onto. “Hey, you guys,” I shouted above. “Is there anybody up there?”

  “Whew,” came a sound from above. ”Where’ve you been, Ian?” Katie disgustedly called down as she peered over the edge. “You’ve had us worried to death. What took you so long? We thought that maybe you had been captured, again. Couldn’t you have been a little more considerate? Don’t you think we care about you? I don’t know if I’m ever going to speak to you again.”

  “Katie…Katie, if you’ll just calm down and give me a chance to answer. I’ll explain.”

  “Where have you been, Ian?” Zack’s voice came right after that. “It’s about time you got back. We’re freezing to death up here.”

  “OK, I‘ve got the picture. How about you two just layin off of me. I know you missed me,” I snickered.

  “You’ve got a lot of nerve saying that,” Katie chided in. “What makes you think we care at all?”

  “Well, don’t you?” I smiled and asked. I could see the big smile on Zack’s face. He turned and asked Katie.

  “Well? He asked you a question. Aren’t you going to answer?” Katie just snorted and started walking away. “Come on, Katie,” Zack called. “We were only kidding.” In a minute or two, everything was back to normal.

  “Will you forgive me?” I jokingly pleaded with Katie.

  “Let’s just drop it!” Katie shot back. “I don’t appreciate your humor.” Zack and I both broke out into laughter at the same time, but we had other things on our minds and proceeded to the problem at hand.

  “You’re not going to believe what I found down here. You’re just not going to believe it,” I teased them. “But first we have to get you two down here.”

  “Down there? Are you sure about that?” Zack wondered.

  “Oh! I’m positive,” I quickly answered. “You will be, too,” I somewhat cryptically added. “You will be, too. Did you locate a fallen tree like I asked?”

  “Yeah, we found one. What do you want us to do with it?” Katie asked.

  “Stick it into the hole, and I’ll grab the end to keep it steady while you lean the top against the edge of the hole up there. Then take turns and shimmy down the trunk like you would a pole until you reach the bottom.”

  Zack told Katie to go first, and she grabbed tightly hugging the trunk and slowly worked her way down to my waiting arms. “Well, hello there Katie. How’ve you been?” I asked in an obviously joking manner. She just gave me a half-hearted disgusted look and walked away. I smiled and turned my attention to Zack as he headed down next.

  “It’s good to see you ol’ buddy,” Zack greeted me. “You’ll have to fill me in.”

  “You’re not going to believe what I found down here. It’s like nothing that I’ve ever seen in my life. Come on just follow me,” I urged, full of excitement. “I’ll go first. Katie, you follow behind me, and Zack will take up the rear.”

  “I can’t go into there,” Katie pleaded. “I can’t stand small places. Especially small, tight, dark places,” she added.

  “Don’t worry, Katie,” I assured her. “We’ll take good care of you. There’s nothing to worry about. I promise you that it won’t take us very long to get where I’m taking you, and you won’t be disappointed. That’s for sure.”

  “I’m scared, Ian. It’s dark down here,” she fearfully added.

  “It’ll be all right,” I tried to assure her, once again. “Pretty soon it’ll be all over, and we’ll build a fire and get warm.” Zack was unusually quiet and just listened as I was trying my best to make Katie comfortable with our impending journey through the dark, tight tunnel. As I glanced over in Zack’s direction, he seemed to pick up on the fact that I needed some re-enforcing remarks from him to Katie, as well.

  “Aw, Katie. Everything will be just fine,” Zack promised Katie. “Ian knows what he’s doing. He wouldn’t put you in danger for anything. I know him too well for that.”

  “Well, okay,” Katie said, accepting what Zack was promising her. “But you’re both forgetting that Mom and Daddy will be worried to death when we don’t show up at the ranch. They’ll have the whole valley looking for us.”

  “You know; maybe that’s exactly what we want them to do,” Ian shot back. “That’s it! We want them to look for us. That way Jeb, Slim and their gang won’t have any idea that we’ve escaped, and that’ll give us an opportunity to set a trap for all of them without your family being in danger. If the gang doesn’t think that we’ve contacted your family, or that they know anything of their counterfeiting ring, then they’ll be relaxed and off guard when we set a trap to capture them all.”

  “You know what?” Zack responded. “You’re a pretty smart guy sometimes. But, how exactly do you think we’re going to capture the entire gang by ourselves?” he mockingly asked.

  “That I haven’t quite figured out yet myself,” I answered. “But for now we better get going, or we’re not going to be able to set a trap for anyone.” We all agreed and set out in the order that I had suggested earlier in our conversation. I proceeded to lead the way, bending, crawling and squeezing our way through the narrow, damp passages that I had explored earlier. I could hear Katie breathing heavily as she stayed close behind me. I stopped for a second to make sure that Katie was all right, and after she assured me
she was, we resumed our exploration and journey moving deeper and deeper into the belly of the mountain. Suddenly, I stopped moving ahead and asked if anyone heard anything. There was dead silence as we waited in the darkness. I had extinguished the torch in case we had company in the tunnel by the names of Jeb and Slim. I hoped that wouldn’t come true.The only sound to be heard was Katie’s heavy breathing and a mysterious sound in the distance that seemed to be moving toward us at a fairly rapid rate. I could feel Katie squeeze my shoulder as we sat silently and cautiously in the musty darkness. The fear in all of us all could be easily felt by our total silence. Suddenly there was a massive rush of thundering wings rushing past us and over our heads. We could feel the air movement created, by what we had now figured out were the wings of a massive cloud of bats exiting through our escape route. “Get down on your stomachs and cover your head!” I shouted out. “They’ll be past us in a minute.”

  “Oh, Ian. I’m scared. I’m so scared,” Katie’s quivering voice rang out. “Get me out of here. I want to go home,” she begged. I turned around, moved closer to her and put my arms around her to protect her from the onslaught of the rather scary sounds emitted from the thick cloud of bats flying above us. She buried her head into my chest and squeezed me tightly, not uttering a word. Just as suddenly as it had begun, the deafening roar of the bats disappeared, and then there was total silence. We all sat there, not saying a word. Finally, Zack moved in our direction and asked if everyone was all right. Feeling better now that the bats had gone, Katie pulled herself away from me and regained her composure. “Thank you, Ian,” she offered.

  “For what?” I asked.

  “Just for being you; you’re very special.” I could tell that she was sincere by her tone and that we were maybe becoming closer friends than I had anticipated. I quickly changed the subject, as I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable, not to mention the fact that Zack was obviously aware of what was going on.

  “Let’s get going,” I said as I started our journey once again, after lighting our shrinking torch. I slowly crept forward through the dark tunnel ahead. For some reason it seemed as though it was getting slightly warmer the further we proceeded into the cave. I hadn’t noticed that before, but I just assumed that was because I was already soaked from the falling snow before I had fallen into the hole.

  “Do you smell that”? Zack asked.

  “Smell what? I answered.

  “I smell it, too,” Katie answered. “It stinks. It smells like rotten eggs.” I hadn’t noticed it before in all the excitement, but there was a definite odor in the air, and it seemed to get stronger as we continued. Soon we came to a marker in the tunnel that I had made where there was a second path that went off in another direction.

  “This way,” I pointed, as we continued our trek toward my discovery. “We don’t want to get lost in here or we never will see your parents or daylight again,” I suggested. Accepting what I had said, they followed my lead as I continued to slowly make my way to the underground lake. Within minutes I started to hear the faint sound of the running water that I knew was ahead. Katie and Zack must have realized the same thing.

  “What’s that sound?” Zack asked.

  “Good grief! Not again,” Katie shouted out. “Please, no more bats!”

  “Don’t worry, Katie. This is a good surprise,” I assured her. “Just follow me.” Accepting what I had said, they continued following closely behind me. Soon we were there. As we rounded the final corner in our trek, there was a deafening roar. Zack and Katie quickly made their way next to me. There, down below was my secret. The entire, mammoth cave and lake were lit up by the torches that I had lit, all of which were still burning. The light reflected off the wet, stonewalls and illuminated the entire cavernous area like a huge crystal chandelier. You could see frightening shadows displayed on the water below and the cave walls, as well. Though they appeared as ghostly apparitions, everyone knew that they were created by the flickering lights of the torches hanging along the walls. But with the noise of the falls and the shimmering reflections floating above the surface of the water, it was somewhat alarming to us all. I looked over at Katie and Zack as they stared in disbelief at the sight before them.

  “Oh, my gosh! What in the world is this?” Katie asked, staring in disbelief. Zack just slouched back against the wall and stared, not saying a word. Encouraged by what they both saw in front of them, they urged me to press on and show them what else I had found. Once again, I proceeded to work my way carefully over the slippery, wet surface of the large boulder to my right, urging them to carefully follow. We made our way over the top to where the spiral steps leading downward began. As we wound our way along the narrow steps, the path became not much more than a narrow ledge where some of the rock had been eroded away from the falling water over the years. There was nothing but a sheer drop off at some areas, and we all realized that with a single, careless step, we could plunge to the jagged rocks that spread out below along the shores of the lake. That, we all knew, could be deadly. Soon we were standing at the bottom of the steps, staring up at the point where we had started. It had to be more than 100 feet to that point, and the ceiling of the cave must have risen another 100 feet above that. All of a sudden all the questions began at once.

  “What is this place? Who made the steps? Who lives here?” Katie asked in amazement. “I’ve never heard of anything like this in all my life and I live here,” she continued. Zack had walked over to the edge of the lake and was splashing water onto his face.

  “Wow! This water’s warm, but boy, does it stink,” he said with a disgusted look on his face. “It smells like rotten eggs.”

  “Rotten eggs?” Katie questioned. She walked over to where Zack was bent over and cupped her hands to gather some water. “Whew! This is a sulfur spring that’s fed by that waterfall. That’s weird. I’ve never heard of anything like it around here.”

  “Can we drink it?” Zack and I asked.

  “You can drink it, but you better boil it first to kill any bacteria,” Katie answered.

  “Can we swim in it, too?” Zack and I hopefully questioned.

  “Sure. A lot of people pay a lot of money to soak in the springs down in Nathrop. They travel here from all over the country,” Katie answered.

  “Well, I’ll be. You pay good money to come and take a bath, and you stink more when you’re done than before you started. Only in America,” Zack laughed. “Only in America.” Zack and I looked at each other, rolled our heads backward and laughed hysterically. Katie seemed to find the humor in it, also. We looked over, and she had a broad smile and toothy grin on her pretty face. Finally, we were seeing the Katie that we both had seen before.

  ”What do we do now?” Katie asked.

  “There’s only one thing we can do,” I answered. “We’re here for the night, at least. So we better build a fire to dry off and try to make a place to sleep.”

  “I’ve got some bad news, good buddy,” Zack shot back. “In case you haven’t noticed, we don’t have any food.” I was lost for words. He was right. We had nothing at all to eat.

  “Maybe not,” Katie quickly answered. “I may have an answer for that problem.” Zack and I looked at each other and waited for her suggestion. “You see that waterfall?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” we both answered in unison.

  “Well, I’m guessing that falls has to be fed by water runoff from the mountains, and what swims in water?”

  “Fish!” we both shouted together.

  “Of course! That’s right,” she answered, “to be correct, trout, mountain trout.”

  “All right!” Zack shouted. “Let’s go get them. Wait a minute,” he thought. “How?” I had an idea and told Zack to follow me. I started climbing along the narrow ledge leading up to the top of the falls. The mist was spraying us both as we trekked upward to the roaring water. At one point we were actually under the falls but soon emerged on the other side. We were totally soaked and look
ed like drowned rats. Finally, we arrived at the top. It was nothing but raw power, and we knew that one misstep could drown either one of us if we took that plunge. We reached a flat area on an adjoining rock plateau and stood standing and staring at the fast flowing water.

  “Take your shirt off, Zack and give it to me,” I shouted over the awesome noise of the roaring falls. Without any questions at all, Zack handed me his shirt. I had removed my good shirt and was now bare- chested. I had used my tee shirt for the torch and that turned out to be a good idea. And if this worked out, it would be well worth it, also. I carefully tied the two shirts together, pulling the knot very tightly. “Here. Grab this end and I’ll grab the other.” There was a small, slippery rock about three feet out in the water, and I carefully maneuvered myself onto it. “Put the shirt into the water when I tell you to,” I shouted to Zack. “Hang on tightly, or the water will pull it out of your hands.” Zack nodded in approval. “Now!” I yelled to Zack. “Now!”

  There was nothing in the shirts, and we pulled them out quickly. “That’s all right,” I shouted. “Let’s try again.” We both readied ourselves for the next try. ”Now!” I shouted even louder. “Now!” We swung the shirts into the water and left them there for about one minute. “Pull out!” I shouted to Zack. “Pull out!”

  “Yes! Yes!” came a shout from Zack. “We’ve got one. No! We’ve got two!” I moved as quickly as possible toward Zack and folded the shirts so that the fish were trapped.

  “All right!” I shouted. “That’s a start. Let’s get these down below and make a fire.” We carefully worked our way down the slippery face of the rock to our new home below. Jumping the last three feet onto the ground, we hurried to show Katie our catch. As we rounded the base of the cliff, we were astounded at what we saw. There was Katie, standing by a small fire throwing on small pieces of, what looked like, old driftwood. She looked our way with that big, warm smile proudly showing off her abilities. Now, that was some girl, I thought. But, I guess I already knew that.

  “Great fire!” Zack complimented Katie, as he proudly held up the fish we had caught. Katie turned our way again and saw the fish Zack was holding.

  “Wow! How’d you catch those?” she said excitedly. We explained our rather ingenious fishing method, and she responded in a very favorable way, exclaiming how impressed she was with our abilities. Zack and I took our shirts and laid them over a rock close by the fire so that they would dry out. “Here, give me those fish, and I’ll clean them so we can eat. I’m starved.” Katie suggested. “My dad taught me to clean fish from the time I was 8 years old. He used to say if you can catch them and eat them, then you can learn to clean them, and I did.”

  “OK with us,” Zack answered. “We’ll try to find more wood for the fire while you’re cooking.” Zack and I headed off into the darker part of the cave to see if we could find more fuel for the fire. We scrutinized every square inch of the cave’s floor as we searched for anything that was out of the ordinary. We turned over rocks, looked closely at the cave’s walls, and stared into the small lake out in front of us, but saw nothing unusual. My mind was drumming up all kinds of theories as to what it was that we had found. Was it an old hideout for the Spanish Conquistadors? Was it where outlaws used to hide from the lawmen when they were on the run? Had the Indians in this area used this for shelter from the cold, killing, Colorado winters? My mind was running wild with romantic theories for its use. How old was it? I silently questioned. Then, I was brought back to reality with the voice of Zack calling behind me.

  “Hey, Ian, Hey, good buddy. What you thinking about?”

  “Oh, nothing. I just was wondering what this was used for. Come on. Let’s extinguish the torches above so that we don’t run out of fuel if we need them later.” We started our journey up the stairs to the top, once again. We reached the top, stood and stared at the floor below and could see Katie’s silhouette against the roaring fire as she was busily preparing the fish to cook. Zack and I then sat quietly on a large boulder, not saying a word to each other. Finally, after a few minutes Zack mentioned the orphanage and our friends we had left behind.

  “What do you think Jackie or Willy would think of this?” Zack asked. “Do you think they’d be jealous of our adventure?”

  “Sometimes I think they would,” I smiled. “But right now, I don’t think they would trade places with us. Do you?” We both had a big laugh over that one. “Come on,” I said as I pulled Zack by his arm. “Let’s put out the torches and get back down to Katie.”

  “Hey, guys. Dinner’s ready,” Katie informed us, as we reached the floor of the cave at our camp.

  “Sure does smell good,” Zack exclaimed. “What, no paper plates?” he sarcastically joked.

  “No. Just fish, fish and fish,” she shot immediately back at Zack with a smirk on her face. “Grab a wooden skewer. But, be careful; they’ll be hot!” she warned. I looked at the wooden skewers she had fashioned from smaller branches and silently remarked to myself how ingenious this girl really was. We sat there in total silence pulling small pieces of fish from the bones and savoring every little morsel. It wasn’t a lot, but it sure did taste good.

  “If we could only trap those guys,” Zack suddenly blurted out, somewhat questioningly.

  “Sounds great to me,” I answered with a mouthful of fish, “but for now, let’s just eat and rest. Tomorrow’s another day.” We completed our gourmet fish dinner in not too much time and then leaned back against the rocks that each one of us had chosen.

  “I’ll do the dishes,” Zack said as he stood up and moved toward the fire. He bent over picked up the skewers and tossed them into the middle of the flames. “Now, that’s the kind of dishes I like to do, quick and easy.” We all started laughing in unison, tossing our heads backward and roaring with enthusiasm. After our good belly laugh at Zack’s expense, I walked over to the clothes that were drying and took mine and slid it over my head onto my shoulders. Even with the fire, it was beginning to get cooler and quite damp with the falls and the lake stretching out in front of us.

  “We’ll have to keep the fire going all night,’ I told Zack and Katie. “I’ll take the first shift, and Zack will take the second shift. Katie, you just sleep, and we’ll wake you if there’s a problem.”

  “I can do my share, Ian,” Katie fired back pretty hotly. “Don’t you worry about me.”

  “Whoa, Katie, I didn’t mean to offend you. I just thought that you deserved more rest since we’re depending on you for the good cooking.” She looked at me intently and somewhat suspiciously.

  “I’m sorry, Ian,” she responded. “I guess I’m just a little more tired and worried than I thought.” She slowly moved into the shadows created by the fire and lay down on the soft, dirt floor and closed her eyes. Within a few, short minutes, she was sound asleep as she rested her head on her hands. Zack and I piled more wood close by so that it was easily accessible when we needed to feed the fire, and then he went to find a place to rest, as well.

  “See you soon, ol’ buddy. If anything comes up, wake me.”

  “Don’t worry. Just get some good rest,” I urged.

  I sat there in the silence and stared out through the waning light of the fire as it flickered and cast shadows over the water. The silence was eerie, and the darkness seemed as though it was beginning to creep in closer and closer to me as the night went on. I could feel the cool breeze and mist created by the falls as it plummeted into the lake. I could smell the nasty stink created by the underground spring that filled the air we were breathing and hung heavily over our heads. I leaned back against my rock and found myself mesmerized by the action of the water washing against the shoreline. I could feel my head nodding off now and then, and I fought to keep myself alert and awake. I got up, added wood to the fire and checked in on Katie and Zack. They were both sound asleep, curled up on their sides, not moving. They were great friends, I thought, and if I had to be in this situation with anyone, I would want it to be the
m. I returned to my rock and resumed my waiting and daydreaming. Quite a while went by and then curiously, I thought I saw a strange reflection out of the corner of my eye. I turned abruptly in the direction that it had appeared, but there was nothing. My imagination must be playing tricks on me because I was tired, I thought. I told myself I had to stay alert, and I stared out into the darkness. The next thing I knew, I found myself lying on my side curled up in a little ball.