Books: Polly of Pebbly Pit
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Lillian Elizabeth Roy >> Polly of Pebbly Pit
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After creeping along for some distance without finding an outlet,
Eleanor pulled on Polly's foot to attract her attention.
"Let's go back, Poll. No use hunting down in the bowels of Grizzly
Slide."
"Nolla, the smoke of the torch blows harder than at first, and there is
enough air to waft it backwards, so there will be an opening at the
end, I am sure. That is what I must know for certain."
"All right, lead on! I'll be with you at the death!"
Polly chuckled at Eleanor's loyalty and crept on.
Finally Eleanor rugged again at her feet and shouted: "Hey, Polly!
Aren't we most through to China? Let me know the moment you get the
first peep at a pig-tail, as I have to brush the cobwebs from my
Chinese!"
Polly laughed at the girl who made merry of a journey that would have
staggered an older person. Finally, however, the tunnel widened so that
both girls could advance comfortably and then, suddenly, the flame of
the torch and the smoke ceased to blow into their faces, for they had
come out into an open space.
"We're here!" laughed Polly, trying to stand up and giving her head a
smart rap against the overhanging rock.
"'We're here!' For goodness' sake, tell me where?" cried Eleanor,
thrusting her torch ahead so that it was almost snuffed out against
Polly's shoes.
"Gracious me, Nolla! Don't burn my soles!" cried Polly, managing to
stand upright and hold aloft her torch.
"Ha, that's good! Don't burn your soul!" teased Eleanor.
But the moment the girls saw where they were, not another word was
uttered, for they found themselves in a vault-like cave somewhat
smaller than the entrance cave, but having no "fingers" or outside
opening. The dome and sides were rocky, but everywhere, embedded in the
rock, myriad points of light reflected as the flare of the torch lit up
the place uncertainly.
Eleanor thrust up her torch also, and both girls pivoted around,
forgetting about wild beasts and the errand they came upon. After
blinking at the bright yellow gleams for a time, Polly turned and
stared at Eleanor.
"What is it?"
"I'm sure I don't know, Nolla. It looks like copper."
"Polly! If it's copper, then we're rich!"
Both girls rushed over to examine the metallic gleams at close range,
and Polly frowned as a thought entered her mind. Eleanor turned and
looked about to be sure no one could hear, and then whispered:
"Polly, it looks like gold! Can it be real GOLD!"
The girls stared at each other and then burst out into a simultaneous
laugh. But it was excitement, not mirth, that occasioned it. Before the
wild echoes had rung through the vault, the hysterical girls were
tearing at the hard walls, trying in vain to dislodge a nugget.
"Oh, why did I leave that ax in the pannier!" wailed Polly.
"Isn't it always that way--when you need a thing!" exclaimed Eleanor.
In her haste to reach a fragment that looked easy to break off, Polly
dropped the torch. She stooped to pick it up again and saw a nugget of
the ore on the ground, half-covered with dirt.
"I've got a piece! Oh, Nolla, look! LOOK!" shouted Polly, holding aloft
her treasure.
Eleanor ran over and both girls examined the chunk of yellow streaked
and studded rock.
"Polly, it really looks like gold," ventured Eleanor, awed.
"And it's red-gold, too, like Old Man Montresor's nuggets," added
Polly.
At the mention of the gold-seeker, both girls looked at each other and
the same thought flashed to both of them at once.
"Maybe it is!" breathed Polly.
"Oh, Poll, hold the torch down near the ground so I can find a chunk,
won't you?" beseeched Eleanor, now anxious to find a nugget for
herself.
"There, Nolla--see over by the hole! A little piece for you."
Eleanor ran over and found it to be smaller than the one Polly found,
but there was more metal in the nugget. They examined it closely and
decided that the shining metal must be gold.
"I'm so excited that I feel as if wheels were turning all inside of
me--do you?" laughed Eleanor, hugging her nugget to her heart.
"It's sort of a dizzy and squeamish feeling, isn't it?" explained
Polly, looking at her companion. Then for the first time since they
emerged from the tunnel, she noticed the face.
"Oh, Nolla! If you could but see yourself! Just like a negro, but
streaky where you smudged the torch smoke from your eyes."
"You're no 'bleached blonde' either, Poll!" laughed Eleanor, rubbing
her sleeve across her face and looking at the soot in amusement.
"But mine can't be as black as yours, 'cause you got all the smoke from
both torches."
"Never mind now; if this is gold we can afford to have the tunnel and
cave wired with electricity at once," laughed the excited girl.
"Well, let's finish our hunt in the tunnel and then find some more
nuggets for Anne and Barbara. They'll want a share, you know,"
suggested Polly.
"Good gracious, Poll! You're not going on _now_, are you?"
"Of course! The gold won't melt away, but we've got to close up any
opening into outdoors, you know."
"Let's go back and tell the girls and then finish the tunnel work,"
pleaded Eleanor.
"How silly to worm a way back for the sake of showing off the ore. No,
let's do this thing up and then go back to stay for the night. If we
don't close up any aperture, a wild beast may crawl through, then what
good will the gold do us if we are dead?"
"Sensible as ever! Even gold can't turn your head!" said Eleanor,
starting for the narrow place opposite the tunnel they came from.
"Funny, isn't it, that this cave should be here just as if it was an
inflated bubble in a glass-blower's tube?" said Polly.
"I'll reserve my opinion till I see the end of the tube!" said Eleanor,
waiting for Polly to creep into the opening.
After considerable twisting and crawling, Polly first, with her torch,
and Eleanor second, they suddenly felt a current of fresh air.
"Oh! Oh, thank goodness!" gasped Polly. "I shoved the torch ahead! I'd
have fallen headlong into this abyss."
"What is it, Poll?"
"A pit ever so wide, and I can't see how deep it goes down. It's right
in the tunnel ground, cutting off all further investigations."
"It'll cut off investigations of a wild beast, too, won't it?" asked
Eleanor with relief in her tones.
"Of course--there isn't a chance of anything coming in this way. I can
hear water rushing, too, way down at the bottom, and the wind blows up
from this pit, so there must be an opening down there where the
subterranean river rushes out."
"Maybe this tunnel was a river, once, and emptied down into that pit,"
ventured Eleanor.
"I don't care if it was! I'm anxious to go back and eat, now that we
know the worst," replied Polly.
"We won't need both torches now, Poll, so drop yours in the pit and see
how deep it may be," suggested Eleanor.
"All right, but for pity's sake don't let yours go out!"
Polly waited to steady the flame and then dropped the torch. It fell
straight down and flared up showing the rocky sides of the pit, then
suddenly it "sh-isshed" in water and all was dark once more.
The girls then wormed their way back to the gold cave (as they termed
it) and sought for nuggets in the dust and dirt of ages that covered
the rocky floor. Eleanor found a few pieces the size of walnuts and
Polly secured a handful of small bits.
"How can we tie them up if we have to crawl back?" asked Eleanor.
"Got a handkerchief?"
"No, I gave it to Bob out of meanness," laughed Eleanor.
"Hum! Well, we might put them in our middy blouses, only we take a
chance of losing them in squirming back through that tunnel," remarked
Polly.
"I've heard of folks smuggling things in their shoes."
"I have it! Take off our shoes and put the nuggets in, then tie the
shoe-strings tightly about the top and fasten them about our necks!"
exclaimed Polly.
This being a good plan, both girls soon had their precious ore well-
tied in their mountain boots, and were ready to proceed. As the two
discoverers neared the cave where the others were, Polly shouted
excitedly, and Eleanor joined in the clamor.
Anne and Barbara had become so frightened at the prolonged absence of
the two girls that Anne was about to crawl in to find them, while
Barbara realized how much she really loved her younger sister. The
moment they heard the awful sounds issuing from the tunnel, however,
they were certain a wild beast had attacked them and the victims were
fighting a way out.
Anne grabbed the ax and held it aloft ready to strike, while Barbara
stood wringing her hands in despair. By this time Polly stuck her head
out of the opening, but neither Barbara nor Anne recognized the black
face--her voice alone told them it was Polly.
"Oh, my dear child! Are you badly hurt?" screamed Anne, dropping the ax
and pulling Polly forth, Eleanor crawling directly after her.
"Gold! Gold! GOLD! See--lots of it! Mountains of it!" yelled Eleanor,
trying to drag her nuggets from the boot without untying the strings.
"Oh, Anne, we found a gold mine! A great big cave full of gold!" cried
Polly, managing to untie the strings.
"Poor children! Are you daffy?" exclaimed Anne, not sure whether to cry
or laugh.
"You'll go daffy when, you see that cave--all shining gold!" laughed
Eleanor, handing her nugget to the curious sister.
"See here, Anne, isn't this gold?" asked Polly, working the large chunk
of ore from her shoe.
"It looks like it, Polly, but I'm no judge."
"Oh, let's crawl in and see the cave!" now begged Barbara eagerly.
"You know you'd get stuck in that narrow tunnel, Bob! Besides, I'm
starved," said Eleanor.
"Moreover, you wouldn't go when there seemed to be danger for the
girls, and I'm sure I'm not going to try it now!" added Anne.
"Dear me, won't any one go with me?" complained Barbara, who stooped to
gaze in at the tunnel, and seemed too fascinated to leave the spot.
"Bob, the gold has been there for centuries and it isn't likely to melt
away while we eat supper!" declared practical Eleanor, following Anne
to the opening of the cave.
As they went to the place where Anne had spread the supper, Polly told
them of the magnificent sight when they crept out of the dark hole and
saw the glimmering of the gold. Over and over, the two girls had to
tell minutest details of the cavern, Barbara sighing, frequently, to
think she was not small enough to crawl in and see for herself.
While the two adventurers washed their faces and hands with melted
snow, Anne fried the fish over some red-hot embers scraped out of the
fire. This done, they sat down to eat.
As they ate, they talked continually of their mine not so far from the
festive board.
"Well, Polly, you surely were born with a silver spoon in your mouth!"
sighed Anne, smilingly.
"What makes you say that?"
"You can see for yourself, can't you? First you fall into a family that
owns no end of wealth in jeweled cliffs, and now you fall into a gold
mine," replied Anne.
"But Nolla owns half of this mine, and I'm not so sure but you and Bob
come in for your share!"
The other girls stared at Polly's generosity, as they had never thought
of holding any interest in the mine.
"Anyway, nobody owns it yet! It legally belongs to the first one who
files a claim, so what we must do is to hurry back to Oak Creek and
register the mine," said Barbara, businesslike.
"My! Gold has brought Bob's brains uppermost!" teased Eleanor.
"Who knows but this claim has been staked years ago!" said Anne,
meaningly.
Polly and Eleanor exchanged glances. But Barbara wondered.
"What do you mean?" asked she.
"Well, look out in front: there's a ledge cleft in the side of the
mountain wall. Between it and the other lower ledge is a canyon that
might be the one Montresor found on his up-climb. Yonder the slope
meets the chasm and above is the steep sides leading to Top Notch
Trail. Could not the land-slide have buried this wall and then a great
wash-out have cleared it again? If we only had a gushing mountain
stream pouring from the cliff-side the setting would be complete!"
Barbara gasped, but Polly clapped her hands. "Nolla, that's it! The
subterranean stream we found in there. Some big upheaval changed its
outlet, or maybe this gold vein runs clean through and Montresor's
claim is staked opposite this side--just where the river pours out. We
must look over that side to-morrow."
The two younger girls then told of the pit and the river and all agreed
that it might be the stream found by the prospector before the
landslide covered his claim.
CHAPTER XV
MONTRESOR'S CLAIM is JUSTIFIED
Polly turned to place the nuggets in the pannier and almost collided
with Noddy.
"Hello, darling! What do you want--eh?" said she, patting the burro's
head.
Noddy continued to gaze wistfully at her mistress and Polly said:
"Anne, did you feed the burros and horses?"
"Yes, just as you told me to."
"And make the beds?"
"Yes, everything."
Then Noddy ambled over to a pan of dirty snow water, in which the
explorers had washed their blackened faces. She would have to drink it,
if her mistress couldn't understand what she needed!
"Oh, you Noddy! Is _that_ what you want?" laughed Polly, taking the
pan and running out to the ledge to fill it with clean snow. This she
brought back and melted to provide drink for the burro.
"Did your thoughtless foster-mother forget a drink for her little
Noddy!" crooned Polly, placing the pan for the thirsty burro. "After
all that hard climbing and 'first-aid,' too!"
The other girls laughed at the wise little burro and her doting
mistress, but Polly turned and said: "It's lucky Noddy reminded me! We
must water the horses well to-night if we want them in good shape for
to-morrow."
So Eleanor and Polly gave drink to the thirsty animals while Anne took
what was supposed to be a chocolate cake from the bottom of the
pannier. It had been so shaken up during transit that the paper felt
sticky.
While they all watched her open the bundle, Noddy went back to her
finger-stall to sleep. Several wrappings of paper were unwound and
finally Anne took forth the surprise Sary had mentioned in the morning.
"Why! It's a lemon custard pie! Of all things!" cried Barbara.
"In the tin dish just as it came from the oven!" added Eleanor,
laughing.
"Not quite like it was when it came from the oven, for such a shaken up
mess of meringue and custard we never had at _our_ table!" laughed
Polly, seeing the condition of the pie from the shaking and falling it
had had when Choko went over the cliff.
"Any one want a slab?" asked Anne, laughing also.
"No, thanks! Maybe, if I was famished, I'd eat the crust, but it
doesn't appeal to me now!" said Polly.
"Well, I say, keep it until to-morrow! We may be glad to eat it in the
morning if we are very hungry! It won't hurt to save it, anyway!" said
sensible Eleanor.
So Anne sat the pie-plate down where she was, intending to put it on
the ledge when she got up from supper.
"Reckon I'll put some more pine on the fires!" said Polly, seeing the
flames were dying down.
She had raked up and replenished one fire, and was attending to the
other when a blood-curdling cry came from the edge of the cliff,
causing Polly to jump back and clutch at Anne's arm.
"Mercy! How that frightened me!" said Polly, trying to laugh her fears
away.
The other girls were trembling too, and Anne said, "It was a wolf,
wasn't it?"
"No, it was the cry of a panther! They wait and wait in quiet for a
long time to get a chance at their prey, then if something interferes,
they make that awful cry!"
"Oh, Polly! Can he get in, do you think?" wailed Barbara.
"I reckon not! But weren't we lucky to have all that pine for the
fires! It's the best thing to keep him away!" said Polly, creeping out
again to see if both fires were doing their duty.
Another howl reached the girls, and Eleanor said in a shaky voice, "He
won't jump over the fires, will he, Polly?"
"No, smoke and sparks frighten wild beasts from the vicinity. They know
from instinct that forest fires kill and they are wary of them. But
they haven't the sense to know that a man-made fire is built on purpose
to keep them away!"
"It must be awful late, Polly! If you think everything is safe, suppose
we go to bed," Anne suggested after a long interval unbroken by any
howls.
"All right! Let Bob and Nolla take the last two beds, while you and I
take these in front. I'll use this one where I can watch the ledge
going up to the slope. If I see anything suspicious, I'll shoot!" said
Polly, examining the rifle and standing it by the side of the green-
bough bed.
"For comfort's sake, girls, unbutton your clothes and remove your
shoes. They can be dried by the fires to-night so they will feel better
in the morning," advised Anne.
The pine fires were burning beautifully, and Anne, completely tired
out, was soon asleep. Barbara and Eleanor had succumbed to weariness
the moment they rolled over on the beds. But Polly, tired and fatigued,
too, knew that some one must keep the fires going all night, so she
merely reclined on the pine-bough bed and started up at every sound or
crackle of the fires. She piled pine upon them all night through until
the first faint gleams of dawn, and then there was no more wood on hand
to use.
She worried over the fact that the pine had given out and just as she
turned from the fires, having deposited the last small kindlings she
had found lying about, she heard the yelping of the mountain-lion and
the deep growl of a grizzly bear.
She ran and caught up the rifle, planning to shoot up at the cliff in a
venture to frighten them away. She aimed, pulled the trigger, and the
rifle-shot rang out making the echoes roar and roll through the chasm
as if an army was shooting.
The three girls who had been sleeping, jumped out of the spruce beds
and screamed with fright. Barbara ran madly over the ground, back and
forth, not certain where to hide. Eleanor stood shivering and Anne
rushed over to ask Polly what had happened. Polly explained in a
whisper, and Eleanor, as in a trance, watched her sister running about
with something that seemed to cleave to her foot closer than a porous-
plaster. Finally, Eleanor came to her senses and ran over to keep
Barbara from rolling under the burros for hiding.
"For the love of Mike! What's all over your foot?" cried Eleanor,
dragging Barbara out from the "finger-stall" to exhibit her foot to the
other girls.
At sound of the unexpected shot, Barbara had jumped up frantically and
darted hither and thither, taking little heed of where she ran. Now, as
her companions gazed at that foot exposed by Eleanor, they all laughed
hysterically while Anne shouted:
"Oh, our _custard pie!"_
And sure enough. Lemon meringue clung tenaciously to as much of a
nicely-formed foot and lower limb as it possibly could. In spite of the
fears over wild animals, the adventurers had to laugh at the sight.
"_How_ will I ever get it off?" wailed Barbara, when she realized how
sticky the custard was.
"Rather ask: 'How shall we dispense with our breakfast?'" retorted
Anne.
But another mad howl from without now made the horses cry and quiver
with dread, while the girls blanched in fear. Polly had not told them
that the wood was used up, and now Anne ran to carry an extra armful of
pine to replenish the fires. When she discovered the truth of the
situation, she slowly turned and exchanged a meaning look with Polly.
But Polly now bent suddenly forward and intently eyed something she saw
on the verge of the ledge above. She kept her eyes focused there, and
carefully felt for and caught up her rifle. She silently lifted it,
took aim, and fired!
A gleam of red and a spurt of blue came from the mouth of the gun even
as the sharp report cracked the echoes in the gully. Instantly
following the shot, a wild howling as of fifty beasts fighting, made
Polly shoot again. Snarls and yelps followed, until Polly heard the
clamor grow fainter until all was quiet once more.
"Well, girls! As long as we are fully awake, suppose we forage for
breakfast and make an early start!" said Anne.
"Can we get away, do you think, Polly?" asked Eleanor.
"Yes, it's a clear morning and it doesn't take long for the snow to
melt, once it gets started!" replied Polly.
"Have you enough ammunition to load again in case of need?" questioned
Anne.
"Yes, I always look after that! But I was wondering what we can have
for breakfast?"
"Ha! Leave that to the cook!" laughed Anne, going to the ledge and
reaching up behind a crevice in the rocky wall. She brought forth one
of the small fish spared from the night before.
"Good for you, Anne! If you could only dig up some sandwiches as
readily!" laughed Polly.
"Maybe I can do that too, if you will look after the horses and
burros!" said Anne, taking a small newspaper bundle from behind her
spruce bed.
When opened, it showed that Anne had stolen some of the oats from the
feed. This she rolled between two stones until it was crushed. Then she
told Eleanor to pick out as many of the husks as possible.
"She's going to give us Rolled Oats, as I live!" laughed Eleanor.
Polly smiled for she was surprised to find Anne could prepare a feast
in the wilderness; and soon the oatmeal was cooking beside the fish-
pan.
"How can you girls enjoy that awful stuff without sugar or cream?"
asked Barbara, plaintively.
"We're eating ours without a grumble, but I notice, you are also eating
yours and doing all the complaining!" retorted Eleanor.
"I have to eat it to keep from starving, still I can't enjoy it as you
seem to, Nolla. I declare, you seem to be getting awfully common in
your tastes."
"Huh! Show me a selection of food for breakfast!" laughed Eleanor,
smacking her lips over the last spoonful of oats.
"What shall we do about feeding the animals?" asked Eleanor, as they
got up from the ground to pack up the pans and other stuff waiting to
be taken back home.
"We'll stop at the first good Park and let them graze for an hour or
two. Then a good drink from a stream will fix them all right!" said
Polly, glancing at Noddy, who had come from her stall and stood looking
sleepily at the girls.
"Doesn't Noddy look for all the world like a sleepy child who has to
get up for school, but who hates to be disturbed!" laughed Anne, as
Noddy's tousled head bobbed up and down while she sniffed the air
redolent with oatmeal.
Satisfied that something was cooking for her breakfast, Noddy ran over
and nozzled at the girls, who laughed and tried to push her cold nose
away.
The other burros and horses came out then, and Polly said, "It makes me
feel selfish to eat their oats but then they can eat grass in the park
and we can't!"
"Girls! Aren't you going to have another look at the gold-mine before
you leave here?" asked Barbara.
"What for? It won't do us any good and only waste time," replied Polly.
"Maybe you can find some more nuggets to carry back!" ventured Barbara.
"We have all we need to claim the rights of the mine, so why lug any
more than we need?" returned Polly.
"Come on, Poll! Let's pack up and be going!" said Eleanor, decisively.
So, with the animals saddled and the panniers packed, the cave-dwellers
started carefully along the ledge towards the slope.
It was an invigorating morning, and the sun with its rays was just
topping the tips of the pines, when the girls rode forth to climb the
slope.
"Not a sign of that awful storm!" said Anne, amazed.
"Only in the glades and ravines, where the snow has drifted into heaps!
Even that will melt rapidly, as the warmth of the day is felt," said
Polly, looking eagerly about as she rode.
"Polly, what do you suppose became of those wild animals?" asked
Eleanor, riding directly behind Polly.
"That is just what I am looking for. I thought maybe I could see some
tracks, for I was sure I got that panther when I took aim and shot!"
"Well, I'm going over near that edge of the cliff and see if there is
any sign of blood or tracks!" declared Eleanor.
"No, no! You stop right here with us, Nolla!" cried Barbara, anxiously.
"I'm going over myself, Bob, because I am curious to see why both of
them should slink away so quickly. A mountain-lion seldom leaves a
possible victim until he has been gorged, and it was strange that he
should go without having tried to get at us!" said Polly.
"Oh, Polly! _Please_ don't talk of such gruesome things! I am so glad
we will soon be back in civilization!" said Barbara.
The horses reached the top of the slope and Polly guided Noddy across
the rough place to the cliff, where the fight had taken place.
Here she sought for some track or sign of the fight, but saw only a few
small spots of red in the white snow.
Eleanor tried to make her burro follow after Noddy, but he was
fractious and would not go near the cliff. He made a detour, however,
about a small group of trees and just as he came opposite them,
something upon the snow-drift at the base of the largest tree, caused
him to shy violently.
"Oh, girls! Run! Come here and see what's here," cried Eleanor,
excitedly, jumping from her burro but remembering to hold the bridle.
The burro backed and refused to go nearer the thing, but Polly rode
Noddy over and saw that Eleanor had discovered one of the victims of
the fight.
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