by J. L. Salter
Mitch replied with a grunt and then slithered down the rope. His feet were on the rocks in places, but he used his knees at other spots where the height of the opening was even smaller. On landing, he dropped the rope, then took an involuntary step backwards — basically to settle his balance — smacked his head on the overhang, and cursed.
“Mister Bill said a bad word,” reported Annie immediately.
“Yeah, I know.” Roger patted her shoulder. “He was surprised when he hit his head. But, anyway, you shouldn’t tattle.”
“Okay.” Annie showed little concern over the mild reprimand. She scooted away to pet Buddy, who was lapping the funky, cloudy water which formed a narrow stream in the floor of the cave.
“You okay?” Kelly pointed to Mitch’s head.
“Yeah, but Annie’s lucky I didn’t use some of the other words I know. It really hurt!”
“Well it looks even lower in there.” Kelly aimed the lantern deeper into the black corridor.
Mitch surveyed the low ceiling which began within a few feet of the confined entry area. Buddy was already headed in, Roger followed with one flashlight, and Annie was right behind with the lantern she’d just reclaimed from Kelly. From the pack, Kelly pulled out a smaller light for herself and handed one just like it to Mitch.
Kelly adjusted the straps of her pack and shifted it lower, practically around her waist. Then she leaned forward and took off after the others. The cave was less than four feet high with an irregular ceiling, covered with large moving insects. Mitch bent his trunk fully horizontal to the damp floor. Even in that position, he didn’t completely clear the rough ceiling, so he had to walk with his knees bent.
“What are these giant bugs?” Mitch was already breathing heavily from the exertion of his crab-walk.
From some thirty feet ahead, Roger called back, “Cave crickets.”
“Look like angry grasshoppers on steroids,” Mitch muttered to the dank blackness surrounding him. He realized Kelly was nearly up with the others by then. “How much farther do we walk all stooped over?” Mitch was surprised at how faint his voice sounded, since he’d tried to shout the question, but didn’t have enough wind with his lungs so compressed. Nobody answered.
Mitch could hear chatter from ahead and could see three, sometimes two, streaks from flashlights. By then, he was perhaps eighty feet behind the others. Despite the congregation of enormous cave crickets and the ominous loud plops of water somewhere nearby, he took advantage of a small space which was slightly higher than the part he’d been traversing. He went down to his knees on the slimy cave floor next to the irregular stream, and straightened his torso for a few moments.
He played his light over the dark, damp, rock walls and ceiling, trying to determine where — or if — the ceiling ever got any higher. Mitch couldn’t crab-walk much farther, even with a good hip. Two lights were way in the distance now, maybe 150 feet into the cave, but one beam pointed back toward him and seemed to be moving his direction.
“You okay?” asked Kelly, from a distance.
“Yeah.” Mitch had little breath and even less conviction. “Just had to straighten out my back for a minute.” Then he began coughing. Between coughs, he called out, “You don’t need to come back. I’ll be moving again in a minute.” Mitch hacked some more. “How much farther ‘til the ceiling gets higher?”
“It was higher where I turned around. There’s a good sized room there.”
“How far is it from where I am?” Mitch coughed some more.
“Maybe another hundred feet. I can’t tell exactly where you are, and I don’t remember how much I came back.”
“Stay there. I’m headed your way now.” Mitch got off his knees and folded over again at the waist. Then he resumed his cramped trudge, knees bent, along the slippery bank of the dark stream. After what seemed a long time, a light suddenly switched on and startled him. Kelly, seated on a limestone ledge, was waiting for him in the dark.
She joined him, moving slowly until they finally emerged into the large chamber Kelly had mentioned. Before doing anything else, Mitch straightened up, stretched, and rubbed his neck and back. “Where are the others?”
“Roger said there’s another large room he remembered from the last time he was here. He’ll wait there for us, or me.”
“It’ll be just you, I guess.” Mitch coughed. “I can’t handle the bending over. My thighs are burning like I’ve been running bleachers.”
“Okay, I’m going to head farther inside. You’ll be all right back here?”
“Yeah, if I catch my breath and stop coughing, maybe I’ll join you later. How much farther is the ceiling under four feet again?”
“Hard to say. But I’d guess it’s about as far as the first stretch.”
Mitch shook his head as he coughed. “Then I’m pretty sure I’ll just wait here. I’ve got my water bottle. Is that ledge dry?”
She reached back and felt the damp mud on her own derrière, then laughed and turned so he could see. “Don’t think so. Check this out.”
He played his flashlight on her butt and then forgot all about caving and coughing. Presently something quite different was on his mind.
Evidently sensing Mitch’s distraction, Kelly departed to join the others — off like a seasoned spelunker. Mitch sighed heavily and continued to shine his light on her backside for a few seconds as she scuttled farther into the cool blackness. Finally she called out over her shoulder, “I know what you’re doing. But you’d better not run down those batteries!”
He extinguished his light for a few seconds. With no illumination of his own, and Kelly’s beam already barely visible in the distance, the cave was a desolate place. Just the dark, the chill, the wet, and the smell. Sounds of heavy drips here and there, and Mitch imagined he could hear a thousand cave crickets chattering on the limestone ceiling above him. Better to leave the light on for right now.
Chapter Twenty-One
Kelly caught up with the others in the second large chamber.
Buddy dutifully remained near his master, while Roger shined his light along the recesses in the vaulted ceiling. Annie poked at something in the shallow stream which had wound its way through the length of the cave thus far.
The second ceiling had been even lower than the first very long stretch, so it was better that Mitch had remained back in the first chamber. It was hard enough on Kelly, and she was about eight inches shorter.
Just ahead was something like an anteroom, not really part of the large second chamber with the high ceiling. The rather small area’s height was perhaps seven or eight feet.
“Be real careful walking under these broken layers.” Roger spoke to Annie, but clearly wanted Kelly to hear as well. “You understand what these are?”
Kelly picked it up immediately: the ceiling had collapsed. Three huge slabs on the left side interlaced with four huge slabs on the right, and resembled enormously thick playing cards partly shuffled by an invisible giant.
Annie seemed puzzled, but not alarmed, which was likely what Roger wanted, to be sure she knew to avoid them.
Whispering to Kelly, Roger added context. “Last time I was in here those slabs were a solid part of the ceiling.” Presently those several broken pieces all pointed down about forty-five degrees.
“How long ago?”
“Oh, it’s been a good while. My own kids were with me then. Anyway, there’s been a lot of blasting above here for the new highway and such. You can’t cut a road in this part of Kentucky without dynamite.”
Kelly realized she shivered slightly at this news. Or was it just the chilly subterranean air? “How much farther are you going?”
“There’s a place up ahead where you can go up and over, and down into another small chamber. From there, you can spot a thin waterfall. I don’t know if I can climb it now, but I sure would like to see it again.” Roger paused. “How about you?”
“Belva’s diary entry mentioned the Rebel soldier staying in a cave — whichever ca
ve it was — longer than he’d planned, likely due to the Union forces reentering Pulaski unexpectedly. If he was more or less living here, for possibly a week or so, I figure maybe there’d be some sign of him. Somewhere.”
“Even after all this time?” Roger sounded skeptical. “If you were wounded and hiding from enemy soldiers, how far inside would you come?”
“Far enough so they couldn’t see my cook fire from outside. Far enough that if the family really did use the entry area to store vegetables, nobody would stumble across me.” Kelly paused. “I guess I’d set up camp at least this far inside, maybe a little farther.”
“Sounds about right. Any other details mentioned about his stay in the cave?”
“Just something about bananas, which didn’t make much sense.”
“Well, there is something similar in here, a little farther inside. It’s a stalactite formation some people say resembles a bunch of bananas. You know, like they grow on trees in South America. It’s the only measurable stalactite in this whole cave, as far as anybody’s ever discovered.”
“Can you show me?”
“Annie, do you want to go a bit farther inside? Or would you rather wait here with Buddy?”
“I don’t think Buddy would stay with me, Grandpa. He wants to be right where you are.”
Roger nodded. “Okay, then let’s all go. Remember, nobody touches those busted slabs dangling down. Okay?”
With Buddy near his side in the cold stream, Roger set out. He ducked way down, nearly on his knees, to stay well clear of the displaced ceiling sections. Kelly also ducked farther than she needed to, just to be safe. Even Annie hunkered over, though she might have cleared it while upright anyway. Kelly doused her light since she was close enough to the other two.
After clearing the collapsed portion, they all paused for a break. Kelly found a ledge which appeared reasonably dry — at least as much as limestone could be in a cool, damp cave.
Annie sat beside her. “My great-great-uncle Chet says there’s crayfish living in here that don’t have eyeballs.”
Kelly had heard of deep sea creatures which evolved to be sightless, but the local phenomenon was news to her.
Throughout their short break, Roger scanned the walls with his light. They were at the juncture of what seemed like a fork in the cave. He shook his head. “I must have missed something. I was sure the up and over was off this large chamber somewhere.”
“Are you looking for that?” Annie shined her light on a small opening about twenty-five feet up the cave wall.
“Yeah, I think that’s it! Good job, Annie!” Roger ran his own light over the opening and walked toward the other side of the cave chamber. “Yeah, this is the place.”
“You’re quite a cave explorer, young lady.” Kelly patted Annie’s shoulder.
Putting down his walking stick and shifting the small pack, Roger tried to walk on hands and feet up the side of the cave wall, where a hint of diagonal ledge ascended. It might have been enough of a ridge for a strong teenaged boy, but it was slippery and steep for a man of sixty-plus years. “Lot steeper than I remember.” Buddy whined loudly as his master tried several approaches to the little opening above. “I guess the up-and-over waterfall will have to wait. Maybe I’ll come back with better shoes and leave Buddy at home.”
Watching all the exertion reminded Kelly she was hungry. “How about a cookie now?”
“Oh yeah!” Annie seemed surprised she hadn’t thought of it first. “But I oughta wash my hands first.”
“I’ve got just the thing.” Kelly dug inside her pack and pulled out some moist towelettes. Both rubbed their hands vigorously.
The cookies hit the spot and Kelly also shared her water bottle.
Roger rejoined them and rubbed his slimy hands on his jeans. Annie handed him a cookie, which he held delicately between the tips of his thumb and forefinger. He ate most of it and then gave Buddy the portion touched with dirty digits. The dog gulped it and then slurped some cloudy cave water to wash it down.
“Which way to the bananas?” Kelly took a final swig of water.
Roger pointed his light down the right fork. “There’s a fourth low section, then a small chamber. The banana stalk is up in a corner, if I remember correctly.” He retrieved his stick from Annie. “Okay, let’s forge ahead. Save your batteries if you’re next to somebody with a light.”
Kelly groaned as they entered the fourth long section with a cramped ceiling. It was even lower than the others. Mitch would have to go on all fours if he had come this far. “How long is this stretch? I’m dying here.”
Panting, Roger stopped and hunkered down on his haunches. “Not sure, but I don’t think it’s any more than those others. It’s just we’re a lot tireder after those first three, so the fourth one just seems longer.”
Kelly certainly was exhausted. Despite all her work in the Y’s exercise room, her thighs burned from the uncharacteristic walking posture of legs bent. Plus, having her trunk doubled over made it more difficult to breathe while craning her neck to see ahead.
The beam of Roger’s light seemed to fall off the low ceiling way ahead. “I think the next chamber is about twenty feet ahead.” His breathing was labored. “We can stand up again pretty soon.”
The final portion seemed like a hundred feet to Kelly. Raising her arms high above her head, Kelly straightened and stretched, groaning as she rubbed the kinks out of her neck, lower back, and thighs. “I sure feel it in my legs.”
Annie seemed fine, but she’d had a lot less stooping to do.
“Yeah, this is certainly no cave for grandfathers anymore.” Roger’s light moved up left and then right. Then back and front. “There.” Everyone’s eyes followed his beam.
“Those aren’t bananas.” Annie reported her quick analysis.
“You’re right, Annie.” Roger leaned down toward her. “But everybody used to say they look like a bunch of bananas. They do, kind of, if you study them like you do clouds.”
Annie squinted. “Oh, yeah. The way clouds look like things. Okay.”
Annie was being generous. But Kelly was more concerned with whether she could find any signs of anyone having lived there for a week or more 144 years ago. She played her light all along the walls of the small chamber. “I wouldn’t think the wounded Reb would come in this far, unless he really had to.”
“Maybe he did have to.” Roger worked his light along the places where the walls and floor met — extremely irregular with all the ledges and undercuts, and the erosion of eons. He slapped his thigh, which echoed very slightly, and Buddy zipped over to his side. Mitch leaned down, gazed directly into the dog’s face, and said, “Find.”
Buddy seemed like he was waiting for something else. “He’s puzzled because I didn’t give him a scent to go on,” Roger explained, without breaking his gaze with the dog. “But sometimes we don’t have a specific scent. When he was a lot younger, he would hunt for any unfamiliar scent, and we’d eliminate them one by one.”
Buddy seemed uncertain but he was game to try. He searched the perimeter of the chamber, splashing back and forth through the water a few times. He found a few scents which seemed interesting, but none reflected anything visible to his master.
“There’ve been so many kids in this cave in the past five or six generations, the soldier’s smell would have totally vanished by now. Search dogs smell human skin cells, which degrade steadily after they’re sloughed off.” Roger gave an order to call off Buddy’s quest, and the dog heeled, then relaxed.
“So I guess it’s back to visual human searching.” Kelly pointed with her light. “I’ll start over here beneath the bananas.”
“Annie, would you start checking the wall on the other side of the stream?” Roger pointed. “I’m going to move a bit farther inside the cave.” Buddy followed dutifully as Roger moved one step at a time, scanning both left and right along the lower part of the walls on each side.
Kelly couldn’t reach the bottom tip of the banana stal
k, but she climbed up on a small ledge and examined the back and sides of the space where it hung. Nothing visible up there. She followed her beam directly below the formation from several different angles, thinking maybe a shadow could reveal something.
Evidently finished examining the other side of the passage, Annie splashed back across… apparently enjoying the opportunity to get her feet wet without an adult’s complaints. Then she crouched next to Kelly. “Are you looking for numbers?” Annie asked rather nonchalantly.
“Did you find something?”
Roger stopped in the distance and listened closely.
“Just some numbers.”
Kelly knelt where the girl was pointing. “Let me borrow your light for a second.” Kelly reached back for the lantern without taking her eyes off the spot with three faintly etched numerals. With both lights intersected and her eyes as close as she could focus, she began to sound them out. “Zero, one, six… I think.”
Roger had sloshed back to the chamber and added his light to the mix. “Let me see.” Kelly moved aside, but only slightly, as if not wanting the numbers to evaporate. Roger wedged in between her and Annie, and peered closely. He reached inside his shirt pocket for reading glasses and studied intently. “One six, definitely. But the first digit’s a funny looking zero.”
“So, are numbers what you wanted?”
“Yes, they are. You did great, Annie.” Roger turned to face his granddaughter. “See if you can find anything else.” The girl was decidedly pleased with herself and began searching even more earnestly.
Roger whispered to Kelly, “Were numbers what you expected?”
“I didn’t really expect anything in particular. But if it was left by the wounded soldier, I would’ve guessed a name.”
“Definitely not a name…” He squinted. “Looks funny and it’s spaced oddly. Maybe a date. Could the first thing be a capital O, instead of zero?”
Kelly bent her neck to the side, as if a different slant would help. “Wait, seems like the left side is flat… more like a capital D. Yeah.”
