CHAPTER XV
SHELTER FROM THE BITING NORTH WIND
"I AM glad to hear you say that, Dick; you always have some good newswhen it gets bleak and black. And from the way I'm shivering I thinkthe sooner we make a move the better."
Mayhew had also heard the proposal with interest. Unfruitful though hisown search had proved, the news that one of the boys had made some sortof discovery likely to benefit them sounded good to him.
"Where are going, Dick?" asked Roger, after they had started. "UnlessI'm mistaken we seem to be on the back trail."
"Where else could I take you, except to some place I had seen before?"demanded the new guide. "But I know you must want to hear about it,so listen. As we came along I happened to notice what looked like themouth of a cave. If it should turn out that way we can find shelterwithin. It might even be possible for us to light a fire there."
"Caves are all right on a bad night, too," assented Roger. "We know,for haven't we made use of one when overtaken by a storm? I only hopeit turns out to be something besides a little hole in the side of thehill."
"I have hopes that it will prove to be much better than that."
"Is it far away?" continued the other, a little uneasily, for aftertheir late bitter experience, when the earth slide robbed them of theirpacks, Roger had come to eye their surroundings with considerablesuspicion, and did not much fancy prowling around there in the darkness.
"Only a few minutes' walk," Dick assured him. "I want to make sure thatwe do not pass it by, that is all."
He devoted himself to the task of keeping track of the trail as theymade their way along. Even Roger used his eyes the best he knew how,hoping that he might be of some assistance.
"Here it is!" he was glad to hear Dick say, presently.
Both the others surveyed the spot with considerable interest. The rockformation was peculiar in many ways. It looked as though at some remoteperiod, when the continent was in process of formation, upheavalshad forced numerous minor ridges of stone to assume the shape of"hogbacks," as Mayhew called them.
It was toward one of these that Dick now pointed. Looking closely,Roger fancied he could just detect what looked like a dark spot nearits base. He knew then that Dick must have noted some other land-markin order to find the place. No doubt the habit of observation which theyoung pioneer cultivated, much as modern Boy Scouts are taught to do inthese days, had come in handy again, as he had often known it to do inthe past.
They pushed closer. There was an opening without any doubt. Just whatit led to, of course none of them could more than guess; but they hadhopes.
"One thing let us notice," ventured Roger. "Here is a dead tree, and ifwe find it possible to build a fire inside we know where to come forfuel."
"Good for you, Roger," the other lad hastened to say. "And now to tryand find out what awaits us here."
Dick insisted on being the leader. The discovery had been all his, andit was therefore up to him to be the guide.
On hands and knees Dick crept carefully into the hole. He held his gunin such a way that if it became necessary he could make quick use ofit. So far as he knew there was no peril hanging over their heads; butit always pays to be ready.
Their progress was very slow, because they had to grope their wayalong. Dick put out a hand and felt of the rock before trusting himselfto advance. He had no desire to find himself whirling through space,after the manner of their lost packs, in case an unseen abyss yawned infront of him.
This went on for several minutes. They had pushed some little distanceinto the gaping aperture, and so far as could be ascertained there wasas yet no limit to the cave.
Dick arrived at the conclusion that they had gone far enough to admitof a change in their method of procedure.
"I am going to strike a light, so keep still, please, both of you," heannounced.
Dick was always prepared for anything like this. His tinder, flint andsteel were handy, and he even had a small piece of tallow dip thathardly deserved the name of candle, but which had a wick, and wouldgive out a faint glow if ignited.
To the boy of to-day this awkward means of producing a light would havepresented almost insurmountable difficulties, and ultimate successmight well be hailed as a wonderful feat. To the pioneer lads it was ofsuch daily occurrence that they thought nothing of accomplishing it.
In a very brief period of time Dick had clipped his flint and steeltogether so as to send a shower of sparks into the tiny bit ofinflammable tinder, which began to smolder. This was blown until itflamed up, when the wick of his tallow candle-end was thrust into theblaze.
Looking around after they had obtained this sorry means ofillumination, the intruders could see that they were in a good-sizedcave. Ahead of them lay more dense gloom, which would seem to indicatethat the aperture amidst the rocks extended for an unknown distancebeyond.
"Well, this is a pretty good place to put in the night, when it'sgetting cold enough out there to freeze your toes," said Roger.
"It's really comfortable in here," agreed Mayhew.
"That's because the rock is warm, if you have thought to notice it,"Dick explained.
"Now that you mention it," remarked Roger, as he again dropped on allfours to find out for himself, "I see it is a fact. Queer that I didn'tseem to notice it before. We really need no fire here, except that thisdarkness could almost be cut with a knife."
"No danger, that I can see, of the light being observed out there,"Mayhew told them, thus proving that he, too, was much in favor ofadding to their comfort, if it was to be accomplished at such atrifling expenditure of time and labor.
"Shall I crawl out and fetch in some of that wood, Dick?" asked Roger,and there was such pleading in his voice and manner that Dick could nothave refused him, even had he wanted to.
Accordingly Roger crawled away. Since there was a dim light in the cavehe did not find it so difficult to make his way toward the exit. Lateron he came back, with his arms full of fuel.
"You get the fire started where you think best, Dick, while I makeanother trip for a second lot. We could keep ten fires supplied, andnot use half the supply outside."
"Could you see our light out there?" asked Dick.
"Not a thing," replied Roger. "The fact is, I had to do half of mycrawling in the dark, and only got the first glimpse of the light afterI was pretty well inside."
That took away the last doubt Dick may have been entertaining withregard to the wisdom of having a fire.
"It will be easier for you the next time, if I get things going," hetold the fuel gatherer.
Mayhew, as though feeling that he ought to have a share in the labor,this time followed the boy out of the cave, and also picked up a loadof the scattered wood. The tree must have been struck by lightning atsome time in the past, since the branches covered so much ground.
Dick had the fire well started by the time the others returned. Theycould see the light plainly after passing the mouth of the cave,although there seemed so little chance of it betraying their presencethat it was hardly worth considering.
How different things looked, with that cheery blaze going! The gloomseemed much further removed than before. And, like the careful boy thathe was, Dick had extinguished his precious candle-end as soon as itsfaint light was no longer needed. Time might yet make that worth itsweight in gold to him, since its like could only be obtained in somesettlement.
An hour later Dick, wishing to find out how the wind-storm might beprogressing, made his way to the opening and passed out. When hereturned he reported that the stars were still shining, and it wasgetting very cold; as for the wind, it continued to roar across theopen country furiously, now coming out of the north.
"And let me tell you," he wound up by saying, "I builded better thanI knew at the time I happened to notice this cave mouth. In here itis so comfortable one finds it hard to believe the cold is so intenseoutside."
"For folks who have no blankets a cave is a very fine thing, I mustsay," was Roger's comment.
Of course, almost all of their conversation was connected with theimmediate past, and the hope they entertained concerning a successfultermination of their hunt for Jasper Williams.
"You did not see anything to tell you the Indians might be camped nearhere, I suppose, Dick?" Roger asked, as the other took his place oncemore near the fire.
"No, although I looked in every direction," was the reply. "There is astrange light over toward the west. You can see it in the sky. I do notknow how to describe it, except that once, when the forest was afiredown on the Missouri, we saw the same reflection. It may be there is aprairie burning somewhere down that way. It would be a fearful sight, Ishould think."
"And picture the buffalo, and the deer, and everything that runs,fleeing from the flames!" added Roger, who possessed a livelyimagination. "I heard one of our men by the name of Fields tell aboutthe time he was caught in such a fire when far out on the open prairie,hunting buffalo, and what a narrow escape he had."
"Yes, I remember what a strange thing he did to escape being burnedto death," Mayhew continued. "It seems that, as running was out ofthe question, and the wall of fire was rushing toward him, Fieldsdiscovered a little hollow in the surface of the prairie. Into that hecrawled, first dragging the buffalo he had just slain so that it wouldcover his body, and serve as a shield against the passing fire."
"And did he escape without being badly burned?" asked Dick, deeplyinterested, since it happened that he had never heard this storybefore.
"Nothing worth mentioning, he told me," the guide continued. "Few menwould have been so wise as to think of such a thing; but then Fields isas bright as a button. They say you can never catch a weasel asleep,and I expect that would apply to him just as well."
This man, whom they were talking about, was one of those whose nameshave been inscribed in history on the roll of fame, along with thoseof Lewis and Clark, for he accompanied them on their wonderfuljourney through thousands of miles of utterly unknown country, to thefar-distant Pacific, and return.
"How can we find a soft place to lie down on, please tell me, Dick?"Roger asked, a little while later, as he ran his hand over the hardrock, and shook his head as though the prospect were not very alluring.
Perhaps Dick meant to reply, even though he could hardly have suggestedany amelioration of the conditions; but, he was not given the chanceto open his mouth, as it happened, for just then an angry roarsounded close at hand that made Roger suspect one of those terriblewater-spouts must be about to overwhelm them. He saw a bulky objectcome sweeping toward them from the unexplored interior of the cave, andthen scatter the burning brands as it plowed through the little fire.
The Pioneer Boys of the Yellowstone; or, Lost in the Land of Wonders Page 18
