The Legend of Red Horse Cavern

by Gary Paulsen

  Will yelled, “Why don’t you pick on somebody your own size, you stupid ape?”

  Scarface stumbled into the room. Will reached in his pocket and grabbed a handful of pebbles. He threw them at the sound of the footsteps.

  “You think a bunch of little rocks are going to hurt me, boy?” The man snorted a tight laugh. “You’re in over your head this time, kid.”

  Keep coming, Will thought. Don’t stop now.

  Scarface hesitated. “Where are you, boy? It’s no good hiding. I’ll find you sooner or later.”

  Will reached for the last of his pebbles. He threw them at the other side of the pit.

  “Ah, over there …” Scarface took another step. Will jerked hard on the rope.

  Scarface tripped and fell into the bottomless pit.

  Will let go of the rope. He sat down to rest near the edge of the hole and wiped the perspiration off his forehead. He should feel bad. He had just killed a man. But he didn’t feel anything. Just tired. And now he had to—

  Out of nowhere a hand grabbed his shoe. A scream started in Will’s throat.

  “Help me, boy. If you don’t, I’ll take you down with me.”

  Will could feel himself slipping. Wildly he grabbed for the rope. His hand caught the very end of it.

  The man had a good hold on his foot now. Will kicked violently. His body was sliding across the glassy floor toward the hole.

  Suddenly his foot slipped out of his shoe. There was an agonizing yell that seemed to last forever.

  Then silence.

  Will grabbed the rope and worked his way up away from the hole.

  CHAPTER 10

  “He should have been back by now.” Shorty limped to the opening and pointed his light down the passageway.

  Sarah edged toward the back of the room.

  “No you don’t. Not this time.” Shorty pointed the gun at her and motioned for her to come closer. He grabbed her arm and squeezed. “From now on you stay right beside me. Understand?”

  Sarah nodded.

  Shorty pushed his hat back. “He must have run into trouble.” He looked down at her. “That boyfriend of yours is pretty sharp. You don’t suppose he got the best of my partner, do you?”

  Sarah forced a smile. “Actually he’s kind of a genius. And he’s been trained in guerrilla warfare by the old ones.”

  “Indians?”

  She nodded again. “He’s half Apache.”

  “If that’s the case, maybe you and I better go have a look. You stay right in front of me, and don’t try anything unless you want a bullet in your back.”

  Shorty shoved Sarah out in front of him and flashed the light up and down, searching each hollow and every possible hiding place. He called for his partner, but there was no answer.

  He shone his light carefully around the walls of each passage they came to. Every few steps he stopped and listened.

  “Something’s wrong or he would have answered me by now. I’m not hanging around here anymore. This place is starting to give me the creeps.”

  He pushed Sarah back the way they had come. “We’ll take as much of the cash as we can carry, steal a car, and go south.”

  When they reached the chamber where the money was stashed, he shoved one of the sacks at her. “Here. You’re a big girl; you should be able to carry this.”

  Shorty grabbed a sack for himself and headed for the opening. “Come on, sister. Mexico is waiting.”

  A ghostly noise floated through the air. Sarah jumped. Had Red Horse finally come to rescue her?

  The low whisper groaned again. As Shorty looked away from her, Sarah spun around and knocked the gun out of his hand with the money sack. Then she kicked him as hard as she could on his burned leg.

  “Over here!” Will yelled.

  She raced to the sound of his voice. He grabbed her hand and started running. “I know the way out. It’s not far.”

  Sarah didn’t talk. She just ran. Will led her to the room where the ropes were hanging from the ceiling. He hauled himself up and then reached down to help her. “Hurry, Sarah. Climb.”

  Will pushed open the wooden door. Sunlight flooded in. He scrambled out and pulled Sarah up.

  They could hear angry yelling behind them. Will shut the door and looked around for something to put on it. The best they could do was a nearby hollow log. It wasn’t very heavy but it might hold the door shut for a while.

  “I thought you were Red Horse,” Sarah heaved.

  “I thought you were dead,” Will said.

  They flew down the mountain toward home. Sarah was in the lead. She looked back to see if they were being followed.

  Then she turned and ran smack into the chest of a deputy.

  CHAPTER 11

  Grandfather was hanging on every word. “Then what happened?”

  Will continued, “The sheriff had seen the flares and already had his men scouting the area. We showed the deputies the entrance to the cave. They almost had Shorty right there, but he slid down the rope and got away. They caught him trying to escape with the money on the other end.”

  “I’m so proud of you two.”

  “I just wish I could have brought the statue back for you to see,” Sarah said.

  Grandfather shook his head in amazement. “I can’t believe you actually had your hands on the statue.”

  “I really did.” Sarah looked at the floor. “Too bad I dropped it.”

  “No. It’s better that you left it in the cavern. That’s where it belongs.”

  There was a knock on the front door. Will jumped up to answer it. He came back in the living room with a tall man in a black suit.

  The man stood in the doorway. “As I told this young man, I’m looking for William Tucker and Sarah Thompson.”

  “That’s us.” Will pointed at himself and Sarah.

  “I’m from the Dupont Armored Truck Company. The sheriff told me how to find you. My company has offered a reward for the return of our money and the capture of the criminals.”

  He went on, “I have the check with me. It’s made out to both of you for the sum of one thousand dollars. All I need are your signatures.” He flipped open his briefcase and handed them some papers.

  Will and Sarah stared at each other. They quickly signed the documents, and the man handed them an envelope.

  He stood up to go. “By the way, do either of you know where I can find the gentleman who helped the deputies in the cave?”

  “What man?” Will asked.

  The agent raised one eyebrow. “I thought you knew. Apparently there was someone dressed in an ancient Indian costume blocking the criminal’s escape from the main entrance of the cave. The sheriff tried to get an accurate description from the robber, but he refuses to talk about it. Oh, well.” The agent snapped his briefcase shut. “Since you don’t know him, I’ll ask around town.”

  The kids watched him leave with their mouths hanging open. Could the agent have been talking about Red Horse?

  Will was the first to come to his senses. “It’s impossible. Isn’t it, Grandfather?”

  A mysterious look came over the elderly man’s face. “Our people say that when you look at things with the eye, it might be impossible. But when you look with the heart, all things are possible.”

  SPELUNKING

  The adventure of exploring caves is called spelunking. Experienced spelunkers never enter a cave alone. A party of three is the minimum, and they always leave word as to where they’re going.

  From the moment you enter a cave make mental notes of landmarks. Whenever you turn off from the passage you are following, be sure to make some kind of arrow mark back to the exit that will not permanently deface the cave.

  If you find yourself lost, sit down and keep calm. Reconstruct the route in your mind. See if you can locate your own tracks. Be systematic; explore one opening at a time.

  If a passage doesn’t seem familiar, mark it so that you won’t try it again, and move on to the next one.

  Should th
ese clues fail, do not panic. Stay where you are, avoid wearing yourself out, and wait for the search party.

  IMPORTANT EQUIPMENT

  When spelunking, always bring

  the following with you:

  Flashlight or Lantern

  Rope

  Matches

  Candles

  Drinking water

  Light food

  Don’t miss the exciting action coming soon!

  Rodomonte’s Revenge

  Friends Brett Wilder and Tom Houston are video game whizzes. So when a new virtual reality arcade called Rodomonte’s Revenge opens near their home, they make sure that they are its first customers. The game is awesome. There are flaming fire rivers to jump, beastly buzz-bugs to fight, and ugly tunnel spiders to escape. If they’re good enough they’ll face Rodomonte, an evil giant waiting to do battle within his hidden castle.

  But soon after they play the game, strange things start happening to Brett and Tom. The computer is taking over their minds. Now everything that happens in the game is happening in real life. A buzz-bug could gnaw off their ear. Rodomonte could smash them to bits. Brett and Tom have no choice but to play Rodomonte’s Revenge again. This time they’ll be playing for their lives.

  Escape from Fire Mountain

  “… please anybody … fire … need help.”

  That’s the urgent cry thirteen-year-old Nikki Roberts hears over the CB radio the weekend she’s left alone in her family’s hunting lodge. The message also says that the sender is trapped near a bend in the river. Nikki knows it’s dangerous, but she has to try to help. She paddles her canoe downriver, coming closer to the thick black smoke of the forest fire with each stroke. When she reaches the bend, Nikki climbs on shore. There, covered with soot and huddled on a rock ledge, sit two small children.

  Nikki struggles to get the children to safety. Flames roar around them. Trees splinter to the ground. But as Nikki tries to escape the fire, she doesn’t know that two poachers are also hot on her trail. They fear that she and the children have seen too much of their illegal operation—and they’ll do anything to keep the kids from making it back to the lodge alive.

  The Rock Jockeys

  Devil’s Wall.

  Rick Williams and his friends J.D. and Spud—the Rock Jockeys—are attempting to become the first and youngest climbers to ascend the north face of their area’s most treacherous mountain. They’re also out to discover if a B-17 bomber rumored to have crashed into the mountain years ago is really there.

  As the Rock Jockeys explore Devil’s Wall, they stumble upon the plane’s battered shell. Inside, they find items that seem to have belonged to the crew, including a diary written by the pilot. Spud later falls into a deep hole and finds something even more frightening: a human skull and bones. To find out where they might have come from, the boys read the pilot’s story in the diary. Could he have eaten a crewmate to survive? And if Devil’s Wall could force a trained pilot to do that, what dangers might the mountain hold for the Rock Jockeys?

  Hook ’em, Snotty

  Bobbie Walker loves working on her grandfather’s ranch. She hates the fact that her cousin Alex is coming up from Los Angeles to visit and will probably ruin her summer. Alex can barely ride a horse and doesn’t know the first thing about roping. There is no way Alex can survive a ride into the flats to round up wild cattle. But Bobbie is going to have to let her tag along anyway.

  Out in the flats the weather turns bad. Even worse, Bobbie knows that she’ll have to watch out for the Bledsoe boys, two mischievous brothers who are usually up to no good. When the boys rustle the girls’ cattle, Bobbie and Alex team up to teach the Bledsoes a lesson. But with the wild bull Diablo on the loose, the fun and games may soon turn deadly serious.

  Danger on Midnight River

  Daniel Martin doesn’t want to go to Camp Eagle Nest. He wants to spend the summer as he always does: with his Uncle Smitty in the Rocky Mountains. Daniel is a slow learner, but most other kids call him retarded. Daniel knows that at camp, things are only going to get worse. His nightmare comes true when he and three bullies must ride the camp van together.

  On the trip to camp Daniel is the butt of the bullies’ jokes. He ignores them and concentrates on the roads outside. He thinks they may be lost. As the van crosses a wooden bridge, the planks suddenly give way. The van plunges into the raging river below. Daniel struggles to shore, but the driver and the other boys are nowhere to be found. It’s freezing, and night is setting in. Daniel faces a difficult decision. He could save himself … or risk everything to try to rescue the others, too.

  The Gorgon Slayer

  Eleven-year-old Warren Trumbull has a strange job. He works for Prince Charming’s Damsel in Distress Rescue Agency, saving people from hideous monsters, evil warlocks, and wicked witches. Then one day Warren gets the most dangerous assignment of all: He must exterminate a Gorgon.

  Gorgons are horrible creatures. They have green scales, clawed fingers, and snakes for hair. They also have the power to turn people to stone. Warren doesn’t want to be a stone statue for the rest of his life. He’ll need all his courage and skill—and his secret plan—to become a true Gorgon slayer.

  The Gorgon howls as Warren enters the dark basement to do battle. Warren lowers his eyes, raises his sword and shield, and leaps into action. But will his plan work?