Friar Tuck Part 50

When I came down the stairs, The felt able again; so we started to prospect. We agreed that strikin' our teeth together would be our signal, and then we made our examination. The right side o' the tunnel was smooth, the way Nature works, the left side was rough, and indicated man's doin's. Aside from us two, the only other one in the tunnel was the boy with the broken neck; but the tunnel opened into a big cave, and we didn't know what to do about it.

Finally we started around the right hand wall, me crawlin' first, and The's fingers touchin' my boot at every move. After goin' some distance, a great, straggly gray form rose up from the floor o' the cave, and gave me a shock which stopped my entire works. I kept my presence o' mind all right; but I'd 'a' been mighty glad to swap it off for absence of body. This was a most ghastly lookin' form, and I nestled up again' the side o' the wall, and felt my hand back for The.

He crawled up alongside o' me, and when he spied it, he gave a start which made his teeth click. "What's that?" he whispered.

It's funny how the mind works. This form didn't resemble anything earthly; so I hadn't really tried to figure on it much; but when The threw his question at me, I looked at the shape more careful, and grew ashamed o' myself. Here was I, a feller who had spent consid'able time around mines, and yet had got all balled up over seein' things underground.

"That's your old friend, daylight, comin' down through a hole, The," I whispered so prompt that I doubt if he noticed any gap.

He gave a sniff through his nose, and then we crept on to where this light was comin' in through the opposite tunnel. It was mighty weak and sickly lookin' light, but the outline o' the tunnel mouth soon got perfectly plain to us. Every few inches we stopped to listen; but we got clear to the mouth without hearin' anything. Then we paused. Just at that time, I'd have given right smart to have had my eyes fastened on like those of a lobster I once saw in a window down at Frisco. This insect had his eyes fixed to the ends o' fingers which he could stretch out in any direction.

To be honest, I felt some reluctant to push my face around that corner; but when I did there wasn't a thing in sight. The tunnel stretched ahead of us for what seemed miles, but we couldn't see the outer openin', although the light was strong enough to recognize each other by. The was a sight, for the b.u.mp on his head had leaked continuous; but it hadn't disabled him none, so we drew back to consult a little.

If we had known whether they were ahead or behind us, it would have been easy to decide; but under the circ.u.mstances, we hardly knew what to do. Bein' in the dark was one thing; but bein' out where we could be seen was still another; so we thought full and deep.

After a few minutes I told The a little story about a feller I helped to pick up after he had jumped from a thirty-foot ledge onto a pile o'

stone. "Why did you do it?" sez I. He blinked his eyes at me a time 'r two, hove a long sigh, an' said: "The' was a purple dragon in front o'

me, a lot o' long-legged yaller snakes back o' me, and the peskiest pink jack-rabbit you ever saw kept swoopin' into my face an' peckin'

at my eyes. If I ever drink another drop, I hope it'll drown me."

The considered this story careful, an' then we crawled out into the tunnel, rose to our feet, an' ran along crouchin'. The tunnel ran upward at a sharp incline, which was why the light came down it so far. We kept to the right wall, and after goin' some distance, we came across a small cave. In this we found another dead Cross-brander; but we weren't enough interested in him to risk strikin' a light; so we sat down a moment to rest and listen.

Presently we noticed some curious noises, but for some minutes we couldn't decide on what they were. Suddenly The grabbed my wrist an'

said: "That's shootin'; that's what that is!"

It was as plain as home-cookin' the minute he pointed it out; so we rose to our feet and made a rush for the mouth o' the cave. We came out about half way up the face o' the cliff; and for a moment we paused to admire Ty Jones's foxiness. This openin' couldn't be seen from below, nor noticed from above, and for the most part the whole tunnel was natural, only havin' been hand-widened in three or four places.

The fightin' was goin' on near the face o' the cliff between us an'

the mouth of the ravine; so we circled around until we caught sight of 'em. The first feller we made out was Mexican Slim; so we knew our boys hadn't been ambushed up above, and this raised our spirits like a balloon. We crept up until we could get good angle-shots, hid ourselves, gave the old Diamond Dot yell, and began to shoot. Ty's men had been losin' their bullet-appet.i.te for some time, and they took us to be genuwine reinforcements. They were well planted where they were, but they started to retreat, and we crowded 'em close.

Then it was that Ty made Olaf's word good: he exposed himself to shots, he rallied his men, and that wolf-grin never left his face; but still the tide had changed, and he had to go back with the rest. The woman, with her hands tied behind her, was in charge o' the c.h.i.n.k, who was tall and heavy-set with a dark, evil, leathery face. He kept a grin on his face, too, which reminded me most of a rattlesnake at sheddin' time. He used the woman as a shield, an' this checked our fire an' kept us dodgin' for new positions. Still, all in all, this part o' the fight was about as satisfactory as any I ever took part in.

Finally they retreated to the dip where the tunnel came out, and we had to skirmish up the rocks to keep our vantage. Soon we discovered that Ty had lost control of his men. He, Pepper Kendal, and two others stood in the mouth o' the tunnel, and took a few shots at us before disappearin'; but six of his men ran straight across the dip, and down the other side toward the crick. Tillte Dutch was standin' close to me, and I asked him where the hosses were. He said they were tied across the crick just above the upper ford; so I sent him for 'em full speed.

Horace and Tank stayed to watch the mouth o' the openin', while the rest of us wrangled the six Cross-branders through the cottonwoods.

They had a good start, and so had time to cut the wire and cross the crick toward some broken land on the left. By this time Tillte had tied the reins and thrown 'em over the horns o' the saddles so as to lead a string, and he came lopin' into view.

Slim, two o' the Simpson boys, Olaf, and myself mounted and cut off the six Cross-branders, who were too weary to even scatter. They had had enough and surrendered. We tied their hands, and herded 'em back to the old shack, where Oscar, Spider, and three disabled Cross-branders were runnin' a little private hospital. We fixed up wounds as well as we could, sat the last six on a bench along the wall, and left d.i.c.k Simpson to guard 'em. Spider had been shot and cut consid'able; but he was able to stagger around some, while Oscar had been punctured below the ribs, and things looked bad for him. Olaf had been shot in the head, all right, just as The and I dove down the stairway the night before, but his skull was bullet-proof, so nothin'

came of it.

The Friar had been ransackin' the locality, and had found one o' the Simpson boys dead, and one badly hurt. Badly crippled, as we were, we didn't see any way to get at Ty except to starve him out. First off, we made some coffee, and those who weren't hurt dangerous were given some side-meat and corn bread; for, truth to tell, we were about once through. We spent the afternoon under a tree half way between the mouth o' the tunnel, and the old cabin, so as to be handy in case we were needed. After talkin' it all over, we couldn't quite see why they had split up, some of 'em tryin' to escape, and some stayin' with Ty.

Finally I went to the cabin, durin' a time the Friar was on watch at the cave mouth, and picked out the weakest lookin' of the prisoners. I brought him down, and we tortured him with questions until he got fuddled and told us that the two who had stuck to Ty had been so bad hurt, they couldn't go any farther; but that neither Ty nor Pepper were hurt to speak of.

The fact is, that in a general fight a feller loses his aim complete.

We had all aimed at Ty and Pepper the most, and here they were the two not hurt at all. As darkness fell, the Friar couldn't hold himself in.

All afternoon he had done what he could for the wounded; but at thought of the woman spendin' another night in the cave with those men, he became as wild-eyed as a bronc at his first brandin'. Durin'

the afternoon, Tank had stiffened until he couldn't do much travelin'; but I saw the Friar had his mind made up to take a plunge, so I tried to fix things to prevent it.

Olaf, two o' the Simpson boys, Promotheus, Tillte, Slim, Horace, and myself lined up as bein' still in workin' order; but while he was in the act of claimin' to be all right, Slim doubled up in a faint, and we found he had been bad hurt without even himself knowin' of it; so countin' Horace who had two black eyes and a shot through the fore-arm, the' was seven of us able to get about purty nimble. Hid away in the cave, somewhere, were Ty Jones, Pepper Kendal, and the c.h.i.n.k, unhurt so far as we knew, and two others, still probably able to help a little.

We placed a couple o' logs again' the fake drawers in the library, and left Tank to take charge of the prisoners and the cabin. Then we rustled up some tarps from the bunk-shack, and prepared to camp near the openin' with a man allus on guard, to prevent them from comin'

out-and the Friar from goin' in. We kept a lantern lit under shelter of a rock, and made ready to rest up a bit.

I had told all the fellers to watch the Friar close, for he just simply couldn't get the upper hand of himself. He tried his best to simmer down and go to sleep, but every few minutes he'd boil over again. I lay awake in my tarp watchin' him for some time; but I was so sore and weary myself I could scarcely recall what business I was on, and first I knew I had drifted off-and been shook awake again.

Promotheus was bendin' over me with the news 'at the Friar had decided to go into the tunnel, and they couldn't hold him back. I sprang up and started for the opening with the rest following me. Dan Simpson had relieved The on watch and when he found what was in the Friar's mind, he had crept down and told The, who had awakened the rest of us.

We reached the Friar, just as he was goin' into the openin'. I called to him in a low tone; but he only shook his head. It was eleven o'clock, and the shadow from the moon had already crept out from the base o' the cliff almost to the openin'. I saw that the Friar had took the bit; so I whispered to the others: "I am goin' in there with him; but more 'n this would be bad. We'd be in each other's way. Listen and watch, but do not follow us in."

"I know the way as well as you, and we could keep side by side," sez Promotheus; but I shook my head.

He came over to the openin' and said in a low tone: "I haven't time to make you understand; but-but I just have to go in with you."

"If you come, the rest'll come too," sez I, exasperated.

"You fellers stay here," sez he to them in a pleadin' tone; "but I have reasons. I just have to go in."

So we shed our boots and started down the incline after the Friar, Promotheus touchin' my feet with his fingers at every step I crawled.

I didn't want to be there, I couldn't see how we could do any good; but the Friar had made my world for me, such as it was, and I understood better 'n the rest what was gnawin' at his heart; so I hadn't any choice. I had to go in, and somethin' inside Promotheus drove him in also. The only crumb o' comfort I could find, lay in the fact that Horace had been winged, and so couldn't foller us, whether he wanted to or not.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

HAND TO HAND

At first it was black as pitch; but I crawled as fast as I could in the hope of catchin' up with the Friar. It is instinct with most men to follow the right wall when goin' through a strange place in the dark, though I never could see why. A man carries his weapon in the right hand and naturally ought to be as free with it as possible.

Still, most men do it, so I follered the right wall, hopin' each time I put out my hand it would touch the Friar.

After a time, I saw a faint glimmer o' light to the left, and I stopped and pointed it out to The. We came to the conclusion that they had a candle lighted in the offset where we had come upon the body, and we discussed whether they were likely to be in there, or had gone on farther back and left the light to see any one who tried to crawl after 'em. I held out 'at they wouldn't expect any one to crawl after 'em; but The said 'at Ty would be likely to go into just such a place himself, and so would expect others to do the same. Ty certainly had the way of impressin' his own men.

When we got a little closer, I lay flat and scanned along the floor, tryin' to make out the Friar between me and the light; but I couldn't see him, and we went on again. I hope I may never have to do any more such work as this. Creepin' along in the dark eats up a feller's nerve like a forest fire.

When we got so close 'at I could see my hands by the light, I sent The across to the other side, remindin' him to knock his teeth should he chance upon the Friar, or in case we come together again, ourselves.

Then I lay flat with my hat down low, and nudged myself along with my elbows and toes. I couldn't even make out The across the tunnel, which was only about twelve feet wide, and just for the fraction of a second it came across me that he had formerly been a Cross-brander, himself; but this thought didn't live long enough to draw its second breath.

Finally I reached the spot where the light threw a splash on the walls and floor, and I made my gun ready and stuck out my neck in what was the most breathless silence I ever tried to listen to. Across the splash o' light in front of me, all was a solid wall o' darkness; and I'd have paid over quite a sum to know what eyes were lookin' out of it.

Farther and farther I pushed myself into the light without seein' a thing; until finally I saw the candle, itself, and beside it-the Friar.

I wriggled across the tunnel just as The crept into the room from his side, and we felt a little better to be in the light, together again.

The body still lay again' the wall, and The looked at the face; but he didn't know it. The Friar hadn't seen or heard anything, either; and we were up a tree to the top branches. We talked it all over, tryin'

to imagine what we would do under the same circ.u.mstances, and finally decided they had gone on down the tunnel, leavin' a man on guard just below the light, and that the man had gone to sleep.

"Well," sez I after we had discussed things around in a circle for a while, "here we are holed up again, as cozy as a cavey o' rats with traps set at all the openin's and en-thusiastic terrier dogs diggin'