mainwaring glanced back when he heard these sounds, and he saw the last man of the party, who
rode just to the rear of where the leader sat in his saddle, reel and fall from his horse.
at the same moment he saw bill harkness, the bandit chief, spur on into the narrow pass, bringing
up the rear. as he did so he managed, by some contrivance which mainwaring did not understand, to
detach a huge mass of rock. this completely blocked up the road, so that pursuit was made
impossible until it was cleared out of the way.
not being able to stop even had he desired to do so, mainwaring had to keep on with the others a
little farther, and then he found himself in the place he had already heard so much about—the
far-famed “nick’s cavern,” the principal stronghold of the death riders, or of what now
remained of that villainous band.
it was an immense cleft, or yawning mouth, beneath the mountainside, which seemed to have been
hollowed out by a river of fire, so lavalike were its curious and fantastic walls.
the main cave was large enough for a regiment to have maneuvered in handsomely, while away off
into the mountain ran dark halls and avenues. how far these went only a few of the outlaws, who
had explored their secret recesses, knew.
mainwaring had no time to see more than that there was quite a large party of men there already,
and that fires were burning, which not only served to partially light up the vast place, but gave
several men and a few women the opportunity to do some cooking.
a cheer greeted the arrival of the leader of the band, who seemed to be popular with most of his
men. they greeted him as “gallant bill harkness,” “brave bill,” and by other complimentary
terms.
the only answer which he made was a shrill whistle call, which brought all the men from the
interior of the cavern to the spot where he had seated himself when he dismounted from his horse.
as soon as they were all gathered around him he raised his hand to command silence and said:
“men! we have been followed closely by scouts, some indians—pawnees, i think—and a troop of
cavalrymen from the fort. i’ve dropped the cliff rock in their path, but if they’re as spunky
and clever as i think they are they’ll try to get us out of here.
“i’ve left a dozen men at the pass. the next thing to do is to fill the range above with our
best shots and try to clean them out.
“so get up there—about thirty of you—and take care of things there so that you’ll make our
visitors feel too sick to stay. as soon as i and my crowd have had a bite to eat i’ll go up
there and look after things myself.”
the only reply to this speech was a general cheer, and mainwaring saw the men—all armed—
scattering away to obey orders.
“who have you got there, bill?” asked one man, who seemed as rough as harkness himself,
approaching the spot where mainwaring, the two girls, and norfolk ben were standing.
“prisoners—to be well treated for the present, unless they try to get away. then the men are to
be shot and—well, we’ll make the girls stay somehow!”
“yes,” said the man, with a sardonic laugh. “they’re too pretty to be let go easily.”
mainwaring could have choked the leering wretch with a good will, but, unarmed as he was, and at
the mercy of armed ruffians, what could he do?
he made up his mind, however, to remain near the girls all the time, and if an unkind hand was
laid upon them, or any open violence offered, he would die in their defense.
with every new glance that he directed at may he felt his love for her grow stronger, until it
filled his whole heart and mind, to the utter exclusion of all thoughts of his own safety.
he had now a chance to say a few words of comfort to her and to her sister. the ruffian harkness,
however, did not seem to like this. he looked at them suspiciously, and then calling a stout,
red-faced woman to him he said:
“here, lize! you take them two girls to your corner of the cave over there, and keep them under
your own eye. feed ’em well and treat ’em well, but don’t let any man talk to ’em or bother
’em. mind, now, and do as i say! hold on! that black man there has been their servant and cook.
he can wait on them and help you.”
“thank you, marse white man. de ole lady’ll jest find me handy.”
“who do you call old, you black idjit?” cried lize angrily.
norfolk ben quailed before the fury of the termagant.
“beg pardon, missis! i hadn’t looked at you afore. i ’clar’ to goodness, you is younger an’
han’somer dan any lady i done see eber since i left ole virginny!”
“that’ll do!” said lize, completely mollified.[188] “there’s dishes to wash. you ’tend to
that, an’ then get something to eat for the young ladies.”
ben, only too glad to be near may and gertrude, went right to work, while bill harkness beckoned
mainwaring over to him.
“stranger,” said he, “make yourself comfortable here nigh by this fire. after i’ve attended
to them cusses that have followed us i’ll see to that ransom business.
“it’ll take some time, i suppose, for some one of us will have to go for the money; but we’ll
make you comfortable as long as you keep quiet and take things easy. we’ll have something to eat
and drink soon, an’ then i’ll have to be going.
“if those friends of yours push on for a fight they’ll get it—an’ a great deal more than they
’re looking for, too!”
“they’re fighting now, aren’t they?” asked mainwaring. “i hear guns firing.”
“maybe they’re wasting some powder. they couldn’t do anything with us here, not if they tried
for six months. we’re walled in from the east, for i had it all fixed to tumble forty tons of
rock down right on the trail. i meant to wait a little longer, so that the rock would fall on
some of them, but the trap worked too easy.
“west from here there’s no opening that isn’t guarded, and only an eagle could get up the
cliffs on that side. so you can make your mind easy about those friends of yours. you needn’t
worry yourself with any hopes that they are going to save you.”
but mainwaring could not make his mind easy. he loved buffalo bill as well as a brother, and he
had been a good comrade with the rest of the border king’s party. and he feared now, seeing how
strong the place[189] was, that the knight of the plains and his fellow scouts would lose their
lives in trying to rescue him.
supper was now set out on a rough slab of stone for mainwaring and harkness, and a very good meal
it was, too, considering the situation.
mainwaring saw that there was a great deal of dried meat and some fresh game hanging up in the
place, and he also noticed that there was forage for the horses stacked in the upper end of the
cave, where they were tied, to the number of about two hundred.
there was no lack of water. it dripped in springs on every side, finding its way off in little
trickling streams as bright as silver.
the bandit chief noticed how observantly mainwaring took in the general features of the place,
and he said sarcastically:
“study things out as much as you like, stranger. you’ll never have a chance to tell outsiders
how we look or live.”
“what do you mean?” said mainwaring, in surprise. “you are going to release me if the ransom
is paid, aren’t you? that was our bargain.”
“yes—but we shan’t let you go till the money is paid over. and even then, before we let you
leave, you’ll have to swear by an oath that you dare not break never to expose what you have
seen here. we’ve got snug quarters here, and we intend to keep them.”
“if i gave you my promise to keep anything secret it would be as good as any oath,” replied
mainwaring, looking the chief straight in the eye.
“yes, you look honest,” muttered harkness. “too honest for this crowd, i reckon. but for all
that you’ll have to take the oath. i would be willing to let you go without it, but the men
wouldn’t. they wouldn’t trust you or anybody on his bare word.”
mainwaring had now finished eating, and he asked if there was any objection to his smoking.
“none at all. eat, drink, and smoke when you feel like it. if you are sleepy, there are blankets
for you. but mark me—you must not do any cruising about! if you go over where the horses are,
you’ll get a dose of lead through your carcass!
“you can go one hundred yards up this avenue here, but no farther than that. if you go to where
a light burns beyond that point you’ll be dropped dead in your tracks. we’ve got rules for our
prisoners, and they have to be obeyed.”
“i shall not break them,” said mainwaring. “it would be foolish. i’m not going to throw away
my life while i feel responsible for looking after those girls. you need not be afraid.”
“i’m not, stranger.”
“it seems to me they’re firing pretty often outside,” remarked the young man.
“yes. i must go and see. your friends are only wasting powder.”
as bill harkness left the place mainwaring saw a man brought into the cave, evidently badly
wounded.
“that doesn’t look like wasting powder,” he muttered to himself, taking care not to be
overheard.
