Books: In the Pecos Country
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Lieutenant R.H. Jayne >> In the Pecos Country
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He flung a stone, and, as it went spinning downward, it seemed to him
that many seconds elapsed before it struck the bottom with a dull
thud.
But the tree seemed strong enough to answer every purpose, and capable
of bearing a weight much greater than his.
The trunk at the largest part was fully a foot in diameter, and the
top extended far enough over the opposite edge to prevent any weakness
from the thinning out of the branches.
But what astonished Fred more than anything else, was the discovery
that the tree had been felled not, by nature, but by man. The trunk
had been cut through, clearly and evenly, by some sharp instrument,
and beyond question had been used as a bridge before.
"Somebody has been here ahead of me," reflected the lad, as he
examined this interesting evidence, "and I don't believe it was an
Indian, either. I don't know what could bring a party into this part
of the world, but they have been here surely, and if the bridge was
good enough for them, it will do for me."
He was quite certain that he could walk over, after the fashion of
Blondin, but it would have been foolhardy in the highest degree, and
he adopted the wiser course of putting himself astride of the trunk,
and hitching along a few inches at a time. His rifle interfered
somewhat, but he kept up his progress, pausing a few seconds at the
centre of the chasm to look down at the bottom far below him.
"Suppose the tree should break," he exclaimed, in a frightened
whisper, "it would be the last of a fellow! No one could drop down
there, and save his neck without a parachute. I guess the best thing
I can do is to get over as soon as I know how--"
At this juncture, as he was on the point of resuming his onward
progress, he noticed a peculiar jar of the log, accompanied by a
scratching. Mis first impression was that it came from behind, but,
upon turning his head, could see nothing. When, however, he looked
forward, the terrible explanation at once appeared.
The head or top of the tree was unusually bushy and luxuriant, and,
although a considerable time had elapsed since it had been felled, yet
there were a great many leaves clinging to the branches--not enough to
afford concealment to any animal fleeing from a hunter. Then Fred
first looked in that direction, he failed to see that one of the most
dangerous animals of the Southwest was crouching there.
As he looked inquiringly ahead now, he observed a huge American
cougar, larger than that of the night before, issuing from among the
branches. With his phosphorescent eyes fixed upon the terrified lad,
he was stealing slowly along the log, giving utterance to a deep
guttural growl, separating his lips as he did so, so as to show his
long, white, needle-like teeth, intended for the rending of flesh.
For a moment Fred was transfixed at the sight.
The cougar clearly meant fight, and assumed the offensive without a
second's hesitancy. He seemed to have been crouching in the bushes,
and calmly awaited the time when the boy should advance too far to
retreat.
"I guess I'd better go back!" exclaimed the latter, recovering
himself, and beginning his retrograde movement; but a few hitches
showed that he could not escape the cougar in this fashion, if he
really meant business, and it looked very much as if he did.
The beast had already left the other side, and, like his intended
victim, was supported over the chasm by the tree. He had advanced
beyond the fork made by the junction of the lowermost branches with
the main stem, and was stealing along with an appearance of excessive
caution, but really with the certainty of a brute who feels that there
is no escape for his prey. He moved slowly, burying his long, sharp
claws so deeply in the bark at each step, that his feet seemed to
stick as he lifted them again. All the time his large, round eyes,
which had a greenish glare like those of a cat, were never removed
from the face of the lad, and the guttural growl that came from the
lowermost depths of his chest was like the muttering of distant
thunder.
It was not until about a dozen feet separated the two that Fred
recalled that his case was not so desperate as he had imagined. He
held a loaded rifle at his command, and the distance was too short for
any mistake to be made in the aim.
"I guess I'll stop _your_ fun!" was the exultant exclamation of the
lad, as he brought his rifle to his shoulder. "I don't like to throw
away a shot on you, but I don't see how it can be helped."
He sighted directly between the eyes. His hand shook a little, and
the weapon was heavy, but it was impossible that he should miss.
The cougar continued his slow, cautious advance, apparently unaware or
uncaring for the deadly weapon aimed at him.
The distance was very slight between the two when the trigger was
pulled, and the heavy bullet, tearing its way through bone and muscle,
buried itself in the brain, extinguishing life with the suddenness
almost of the lightning stroke. The guttural growl wound up with
something like a hoarse yelp, and the cougar made what might be termed
his death-leap.
The bound was a tremendous one, carrying him clear up over the head of
the lad, who crouched down in affright, expecting him to drop upon his
shoulders; but he passed far beyond, dropping upon the trunk of the
tree, which he clutched and clawed in his blind, frantic way, without
saving himself in the least, and down he went.
Fred was held with a sort of fascination, and had turned his head
sufficiently to watch every movement of his victim. Then he started
downward, his whitish belly was turned upward, while he continued to
beat and claw the air in his death struggles.
As is the tendency of falling bodies, the carcass of the cougar showed
an inclination to revolve. It began slowly turning over as it
descended, and it must have completed several revolutions when it
struck the rocky ground below like a limp bundle of rags, and lay
motionless.
The boy, from his lofty perch, watched the form below him for several
minutes, but could detect no sign of life, and rightly concluded there
was none.
"I wonder whether there are any more there," he exclaimed, hesitating
to go backward, while he scrutinized the branches with the keenest
kind of anxiety. "I do n't see any chance where one could hide, and
yet I did n't see that other fellow."
It was hardly possible that he should find a companion to the one he
had just slain, and he resumed his hitching forward, making it as
deliberate and careful as he could. Clutching the branches, he
hurried forward and was soon upon the other side of the chasm which
had come so nigh witnessing his death. Without pausing longer he
hastened on and was not long in placing himself upon the top of the
elevation from which he was so confident of gaining his view of the
promised land, as the pass had become to him, now that it seemed so
difficult to find, and was so necessary to anything like progress.
But another disappointment awaited him. The most careful scrutiny
failed to reveal anything like the ravine, and poor Fred was forced to
the conclusion that he was hopelessly lost, and nothing but Providence
could bring him through the labyrinth of peril in which he was
entangled.
CHAPTER XXIV
A TERRIBLE BED
It was nearly noon, and, having failed so completely in his efforts to
regain the pass, Fred determined to devote a little time to procuring
food. He was certain that he would soon require it and might postpone
his hunt too long. Although now and then he suffered somewhat from
want of water, yet it was not for any length of time. There was an
abundance of streams and rivulets, and he frequently stumbled upon
them, when he had no expectation of doing so. Quaffing his fill from
one of these, he rested a few minutes, for he had been laboring
unceasingly for hours.
"What a pity a fellow, when he got caught in such a fix as this,
wasn't like a camel, so that he might store away enough water to last
him a week, and then if he could do the same with what he ate, he
needn't feel scared when he got lost like me."
His gun, of course, was as useless to him as a stick, and although in
his long tramping it became onerous and oppressive, he had no thought
of abandoning it.
"I don't see as there is any chance of killing any animals to eat,
and, if I did, I haven't got any matches to start a fire to cook them,
so I must get what I want some other way."
He had noticed in his wanderings here and there a species of scarlet
berry, about the size of the common cherry, but he refrained from
eating any, fearing that they were poisonous. He now ventured to
taste two or three, and found them by no means unpleasant to the
palate; but, fearful of the consequence, he swallowed but a little,
waiting to see the result before going into the eating line any more
extensively.
A half hour having passed without any internal disturbance, he fell to
and ate fully a pint. There was not much nourishment in them, but
they seemed to serve his purpose very well, and when he resumed his
wandering, he felt somewhat like a giant refreshed with new wine.
As it seemed useless to lay out any definite line to follow, Fred made
no attempt to do so, believing he was as likely to reach the ravine by
aimless traveling as by acting upon any theory of his own as to the
location of the place he desired to reach. This he continued to do
until the afternoon was about half spent. He was still plodding
along, with some hope of success, when he became aware of a sickness
stealing over him. The thought of the berries, and the fear that he
had been poisoned, gave him such a shock that the slight nausea was
greatly intensified, and he reclined upon the ground in the hope that
it would soon pass over.
Instead of doing so, he grew worse, and he stretched out upon the
ground, firmly persuaded that his last hour had came. He was deathly
pale, and had he espied a cougar peering over the corner of the rock,
he would n't have paid him the least attention--no, not if there had
been a dozen of them!
What alarmed Fred as much as anything was some of the accompaniments
of his trouble. As he laid his head upon the ground, it seemed to him
that he could catch the faint sound of falling water, just as if there
was a little cascade a mile away, and the gentle wind brought him the
soft, musical cadence. Then, too, when he flung himself upon the
ground, it gave forth a hollow sound, such as he had never heard
before. Several times he banged his heel against the earth, and the
same peculiarity was noticed.
All this the poor fellow took as one of the accompaniments of the
poisoning, and as additional proof that he was beyond hope. He rolled
upon the ground in misery, and wondered whether he would have his mind
about him when the last dreadful moment should come; but after a half
hour or more had passed, and he was still himself, he began to feel a
renewal of hope.
"It may be that I ate too many of them," he reflected, as he found
himself able to sit up, "and there's nothing poisonous about them,
after all. If that's so, I've got a good meal, anyway, and know where
to get another."
It was nearly dark, and, as he was still weak, he concluded to spend
the night where he was.
A rod or so away was a dense clump of bushes, which seemed to offer an
inviting shelter, and he gained his feet with the intention of walking
to them. He had taken no more than a couple of steps, however, when
such a dizziness overcame him that he sank at once to the ground, and
stretched out for relief. It was a case of poisoning beyond question,
but not of a dangerous nature; and Fred had about time to lie flat
when he experienced a grateful relief.
"I guess I'll stay here a while," he muttered, recalling his
experience. "I can crawl in among the bushes in the night, if I find
it getting cold, or any rain falls."
Darkness had scarcely descended, when the lad sank into a quiet,
dreamless slumber. His rest of the night previous had not been of a
refreshing character, and his traveling during the day had been very
exhaustive, so that his wearied system was greatly in need of rest.
Fred was really in the most delightful climate in the world. New
Mexico is so far south that the heat in many portions, at certain
seasons of the year, assumes a tropical fervor. On some of the arid
plains the sun's rays have an intensity like that of the Sahara; but
numerous ranges of mountains traverse the territory north and south,
with spurs in all directions, and the elevation of many of these give
a temperature as cool and pleasant as can be desired.
As the lad stretched out upon the ground, he was without a blanket, or
any covering except his ordinary clothes; and he needed nothing more.
The surrounding rocks shut out all wind, and the air was not warm
enough to cause perspiration. The fact was, he had struck that golden
mean which leaves nothing to be desired as regards the atmosphere.
The sky remained clear, and, as the moon climbed higher and higher in
the sky, it was only at intervals that a fleecy cloud floated before
it, causing fantastic shadows to glide over the ground, and making
strange phantom-like formations among the mountain peaks and along the
chasms, gorges, ravines, and precipices. Had the sleeping lad awoke
and risen to his feet, he would have seen nothing of wolf, catamount,
or Indian, nor would the straining vision have caught the glimmer of
any solitary camp-fire. He was alone in the great solitude, with no
eye but the all-seeing One to watch over him.
It was a curious fact connected with the boy's wanderings that more
than once he was within a stone's throw of the pass for which he was
so anxiously searching; and yet he never suspected it, owing to his
unfamiliarity with the territory. As is nearly always the case with
an inexperienced hunter, he showed a continual tendency to travel in a
circle, the nature of the ground only preventing him from doing so.
Fred slept, without disturbance, until after midnight. An hour or so
previous to his waking, when the moon was in the best position to
lighten up the earth below, the figure of a man appeared upon an
eminence, a hundred yards or more away, and stood motionless for
several minutes, as though he were engaged in reverie.
Could one have looked more closely, he would have seen that the
stranger's action and manner showed that he was hunting for something.
He turned slowly around several times, scanning the ravines, gorges,
peaks, and declivities as best he could; but he did not expect to gain
much, without the daylight to assist him, and the result of the
attempt was anything but satisfactory.
Muttering some impatient exclamation, he turned about and walked
slowly away, taking a direction almost the opposite of that which led
toward the sleeping boy. He moved with caution, like one accustomed
to the wilderness, and was soon lost to view in the gloom.
Then Fred Munson awoke, it was with the impression upon him that he
was near some waterfall. He raised his head, but could detect
nothing; but when he placed his ear to the ground, he caught it once
again.
"I have it!" he said to himself; "there is a waterfall somewhere about
here under the ground. That's what makes it sound so hollow when I
stamp on it."
He was greatly relieved to find that no results of his afternoon's
nausea remained by him. He had recovered entirely, and when he rather
doubtingly assumed the sitting position and felt that his head and
stomach remained clear he was considerably elated in spirits.
"That shows that I can get a meal at any time, if I want it bad enough
to take a few hours' sickness in pay. Maybe I can find something else
to eat which won't be so hard on me. It must be very near morning,
for I have slept a great while."
The hour, however, was earlier then he supposed, and he found, after
sitting awhile, that his old drowsiness was returning.
Before giving way to it, he recalled the clump of bushes, which was so
near that it was easily seen from where he sat.
"I forgot that I meant to make my bed there."
With which he rose and moved toward it, not feeling altogether certain
of the wisdom of what he was doing.
"That looks very much like the place where the cougar was waiting for
me, but I didn't think there were enough in this country to furnish
one for every bush."
He reconnoitered it for several minutes, but finally ventured upon a
closer acquaintance. There certainly was no wild animal there, and he
stooped down and began crawling toward the centre.
He was near the middle when he was alarmed at finding the ground
giving way beneath him. It was sinking rapidly downward, and he
clutched desperately at the bushes to save himself, but those that he
grasped yielded and went, too.
In his terror and despair he cried out, and fought like a madman to
save himself; but there was nothing firm or substantial upon which he
could lay hold, and he was helpless to check his descent.
Down, down, down he went in the pulseless darkness, lower and lower,
until he found himself going through the dizzying air--to where?
CHAPTER XXV
WITHIN THE EARTH
It was like a terrible dream, and, for an instant or more, during
which Fred Munson was descending through the gloom and darkness, he
believed it was such indeed; but he was quickly recalled from his
error by his arrival at the end of his journey. The truth was that
the boy, in crawling beneath the clump of bushes for shelter, would
have crawled head first into the mouth of the cave, but for the fact
that the ground immediately surrounding the opening gave way beneath
his weight before he reached it.
His fall was not very far, and when he struck the ground, it was so
soft and yielding that he was scarcely conscious of a jar; but the
nervous shock was so great that, for a few minutes, he believed that
he was fatally injured.
When he was able to recall his scattered senses, he looked around him
in the hope of gaining some idea of where he was; but he quickly saw
that he was in a place where his eyes were of no service. The
darkness was as impenetrable as that which plagued Pharoah and his
Egyptians. Only when he looked upward was the blackness of darkness
relieved. Enough straggling rays worked their way through the bushes
to give the opening a dim, misty appearance, such as is sometimes
observed when that orb is rising in a cloud of fog and vapor; but in
every other direction he might as well have been blind, for all the
good his eyes did him.
One of the first things that struck the lad was the sound of the
waterfall which he had heard so distinctly when stretched upon the
earth. It was somewhere near him--so close, even, that he fancied he
could feel the dampness from it, but the soft, rippling character
showed that it did not amount to much. It was a mere cascade, the
water of which entered and passed out the cavern by some means which
the boy could only surmise.
How extensive was this cave?
Had it any outlet other than that by which Fred had entered? Was the
flow even or irregular? Were there pitfalls and abysses about him,
making it too perilous to attempt to grope about in the gloom?
Having entered, how was he to make his way out again?
Such questions as these presented themselves to the boy, as he stood
alone in a world of night, and endeavored to consider the situation
calmly. Stooping down, he felt of the soil. It was of a cold, sandy
nature, and so yielding that, when he struck it, he went below his
ankles.
He stood for some time, debating whether he should remain where he was
until the coming of day, in the hope of gaining additional light, or
whether he should venture upon a little cautious exploration. He
finally decided upon the latter.
"When the elephant goes on a bridge, he feels of it with his trunk to
see whether it is strong enough to bear him, and I'll use my gun to do
the same thing."
This was no more than a simple precaution, and doubtless saved his
life. Grasping the stock firmly, he reached the muzzle forward, and
"punched" the ground pretty thoroughly before venturing upon it,
making sure that it was capable of bearing him safely forward into the
darkness beyond.
Generally speaking, the ground of the cavern was tolerably even.
There were little irregularities here and there, but none of them were
of a nature to interfere with walking, provided one could have enough
light to see where he was going.
"If I only had a lantern, I could get round this neighborhood a good
deal faster than this," he said. "It wouldn't be anything more than
fun to explore this cave, which may be as big as the mammoth one of
Kentucky."
Up to this time Fred had been moving almost directly away from the
cascade which he had noticed. The misty light over his head served
somewhat as a guide, and he determined not to wander away from that,
which would prevent his getting lost in the bowels of the earth. The
boy was quite confident that there was some easy way of getting out of
the cave; for if there was none, except by the opening above, then he
was in a Bastile, most surely.
It was undoubtedly the cascade which added to this conviction, for it
seemed to him more than likely that if the water entered and left the
cave, the volume which did so must be of a varying quantity, so that
at certain seasons it was capable of carrying a boy with it. This, of
course, was extremely problematical, but it was hopeful enough to
prevent anything like despair taking possession of the lad as he felt
his way around the cavern.
"Every stream finds its way to the daylight after a time, and so must
this, and why can't it take a fellow along with it? That's what I
should like to know---"
He paused, with a gasp of amazement, for at that moment the gun went
out of his hand as suddenly as if some one in waiting had grasped the
muzzle and jerked it away.
But there was no human agency in the matter. While punching the
surface, he had approached a vast abyss, and the thrust over the edge
was so unexpected that the impulse carried it out of his hand.
As the boy stood amazed and frightened, he heard the weapon going
downward, Heaven could only tell where. First it struck one side, and
then another, the sound growing fainter and fainter, until at last the
strained and listening ear failed to hear it at all. The depth of the
opening was therefore enormous, and Fred shuddered to think how nearly
he had approached, and by what a hair's breadth he had escaped a
terrible death.
At this juncture, the boy suddenly recalled that he had some friction
matches in his possession. He was not in the habit of carrying them,
but several days before he had carefully wrapped up a half-dozen, with
the intention of kindling a fire in the wood near New Boston. From
that time until the present he had failed to remember the
circumstance, although he had so frequently felt the need of a light.
He found a half-dozen securely wrapped about with a piece of
newspaper, and he carefully struck one.
The moment the point flickered into a flame he held it forward and
looked downward.
There was the chasm, which came so nigh swallowing him, in the shape
of a seam or rent some three or four feet in width. It had the
appearance of having been caused by some convulsion of nature, and it
extended at right angles to the course he was pursuing, beyond the
limit of his vision. If necessary, it could be leaped over, but the
explorer deemed it unwise to do so just then.
Now that he had the means at command, Fred decided to look after the
cascade, the sound of which was a guide. His gun was irrevocably
gone, and his progress, therefore, became the more tedious. Disliking
to creep, he adopted the plan of advancing one step, and then groping
around awhile with the other foot, before trusting his weight upon it.
This consumed considerable time, but it was the only safe course,
after what had taken place, and he kept it up until the musical murmur
of the waterfall showed that he had approached about as close as
possible.
He then struck another match and held it over his head. It told the
whole story.
A stream, not more than three or four feet in width, issued from the
darkness, and, flowing some distance, went over a ledge of rock.
After falling three or four yards, upon some black and jagged rocks,
it gathered itself together and resumed its journey into and through
the gloom. The tiny flame was unequal to the task of showing where
the water entered and left the cave, and, as the boy was straining his
eyesight in the hope of discovering something more, the blaze scorched
his fingers, he snapped it out.
"That leaves only four," he mused, as he felt of the lucifers, "and I
haven't got enough to spare. I can't gain much by using them that
way, and so I guess I'll hold on to these, and see whether the
daylight is going to help me."
He picked his way carefully along until he was nearly beneath the
opening which had admitted him, where he sat down upon the dry, sandy
ground to await the light of the sun.
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