“who saw shadow last? does anybody know?” questioned dave, as the whole crowd looked at each other in perplexity.
“he was close to me when we started the race,” answered phil. “but i soon got ahead of him and turned to one side of some big rocks while he went to the other side.”
“and didn’t you see him after that?”
“no. but i heard him call to some of the others.”
“i think he was close behind me during the first half of the race,” broke in roger. “but after that i drew away from him.”
“we’ll go back to where we started from and keep calling his name,” said our hero. “he’ll be bound to hear us if he is anywhere around.”
“perhaps he went down into one of those openings between some of the rocks and was knocked unconscious,” suggested ben. “such a thing could easily happen.”
“oh, i hope he isn’t seriously hurt!” cried the senator’s son.
131very soberly the four youths climbed back to the summit of the mountain, and then began to retrace their steps toward the other side. they kept calling shadow’s name continually, but no answer came back.
“over yonder is the worst opening i had to jump over,” remarked roger, when they were near the center of the summit.
“let us look at it, right away,” returned our hero quickly.
all hurried to the place roger had mentioned. it was an opening between some rough rocks, and was all of a hundred feet long and two to eight feet in width. how deep it was they could not surmise, for the walls curved from one side to the other, so that the bottom of the opening was out of sight.
“looks to me as if it might be the entrance to some cave,” announced ben, as all came to a halt on the brink of the opening. “listen!”
the crowd did so, and at the bottom of the opening they heard a faint splashing of water as it poured over the rocks.
“must be an underground stream down there,” remarked phil.
“perhaps it’s the same stream that furnishes water to the spring at our camp,” suggested dave. he sent up a shout. “hello, shadow! are you down there?”
132“help! help!” came in a low voice from below.
“he’s down there, as sure as fate!” exclaimed roger.
“are you hurt?” shouted phil.
“i’m pretty well scraped up, that’s all. but the rocks down here are all smooth and wet, and i can’t climb up—try my best.”
“you are in no danger just at present, are you?” questioned dave quickly.
“i don’t think so—unless you fellows roll down some stones on me.”
“we’ll be careful about that,” answered ben; and lost no time in pushing back a number of stones which lay close to the brink of the opening.
“we’ll have to get a rope or something with which to haul him up,” said phil. “dave, did we bring anything of that sort along?”
“yes, i’ve got a good strong lariat tied to my saddle,” answered our hero. “frank andrews advised taking it along; for when you are traveling among the mountains you can never tell when you’ll need such a rope. i’ll go back and get it.”
“maybe you’d better bring a few straps along, too, dave,” put in roger. “then, if shadow can’t haul himself up, he can tie himself fast and we can pull him up.”
“good idea, roger. i’ll do it.”
133dave was soon on his way, and in less than twenty minutes he was back to the spot, carrying the lariat he had mentioned and also a number of straps taken from the outfit. the lariat was of rawhide, and more than once had been tested by the civil engineers for its strength. it had been purchased by andrews from a cowboy in texas, after the latter had given a very fine exhibition of lassoing steers with it.
“we’re sending down the end of a lariat with some straps,” called down dave. “let us know as soon as it is low enough.”
“all right,” answered shadow, but somewhat feebly, for the tumble had evidently knocked the breath out of him.
tying the loose straps to the end of the rope, and weighting the whole down with a stone, dave lowered the lariat carefully over the edge of the opening. it slipped through his hands readily, and soon the end disappeared from sight over a bulge of the wall below. all of the others watched the rope as it disappeared into the opening. they waited for some cry from shadow, stating that he had hold of the other end, but none came.
“maybe it caught somewhere on the way down,” suggested ben.
“well, here’s the end of it anyway,” announced dave. “and the other end must be free 134for i can still feel the weight of the straps and the stone.”
“hello, down there!” shouted roger. “can you see the rope?”
“yes,” answered shadow. “please let it down about two feet farther.”
“i can’t do that just now. i’m at the end of the rope,” answered dave. “just wait a few minutes, and we’ll fix you up.”
“we’ll have to tie something to it,” said roger. “too bad we didn’t keep one or two of those straps up here.”
“let’s get a stout sapling and tie that to the lariat,” said phil. “that will be even stronger than the straps.”
on the edge of the summit they had noticed a number of saplings growing, and in a few minutes they had one of these uprooted. it was ten or twelve feet in height, and plenty strong enough for the purpose intended. it was tied fast by the roots, and then they lowered it into the opening, all taking hold of the other end, so that it might not slip from them.
“all right, i’ve got the rope now,” announced shadow, a few seconds later. “just hold it as it is.”
“do you think you can haul yourself up, shadow?” asked dave. “or do you want us to do the hauling?”
135“i guess you had better do it if you can,” answered the youth below. “that tumble made me kind of weak and shaky.”
“then strap yourself good and tight,” answered roger. “see to it that the lariat won’t slip from the straps, either.”
it was almost dark at the bottom of the hollow into which shadow had tumbled. he was in water up to his ankles. but this the unfortunate youth did not mind, for the stream had enabled him to bathe his hurts and obtain a refreshing drink. now he lost no time in fastening one of the large straps around his waist, and to this he attached the lariat by a firm knot. then, to make assurance doubly sure, he tied another of the straps to the rope and around his left wrist.
“now i’m ready!” he shouted to those above. “but do be careful and don’t send any rocks or dirt down on my head!” his hat had fallen off and into the stream, but he had recovered it, and was now using it as a protection for his head.
“we’ll be as careful as we can,” announced dave. “if anything goes wrong, shout out at once.”
it had been decided that dave and roger should haul up on the sapling and the lariat; and while they were doing this, ben and phil were to hold fast to them in order to prevent any of the party from going over the brink.
136soon the sapling came out of the opening, and then the lariat came up inch by inch.
“are you all right, shadow?” demanded our hero, when about half of the rope had been pulled up.
“all right, so far,” was the gasped-out answer. “for gracious’ sake, don’t let me drop!”
“don’t worry,” answered roger. and then he added to ben: “just carry the sapling back and stick it between those rocks, then we’ll be sure that the rope can’t slip.”
as shadow even though thin, was tall and weighed all of one hundred and thirty pounds, it was no easy matter to haul him up out of the opening, especially as the lariat had to slip over several bends of the rocks. once there came a hitch, and it looked as if the lariat with its burden would come no farther. but shadow managed to brace himself and climb up a few feet and loosen the rope, and then the remainder of the haul was easy. soon he came into sight, and in a few seconds more those above helped him over the brink of the opening and to a place of safety.
“thank heaven, i’m out of that!” he panted, as he sat down on a nearby rock to rest. “i owe you fellows a good deal for hauling me out of that hole.”
“don’t mention it, shadow,” answered dave readily.
137“we’d do a good deal more for you than that,” added roger.
“indeed we would!” came simultaneously from the others.
“after this i’m going to be careful of how i run and jump,” answered shadow.
“how did you come to go down?” questioned phil.
“that was the funniest thing you ever heard about,” was the quick reply. “just as i came into sight of this opening, i felt one of my shoes getting loose. i bent down to feel of it, and the next instant i stumbled over something and rolled right down into the hole. of course, i tried to save myself, but it was of no use, and down i went quicker than you can think. i struck the rocks on one side of the opening, and then on the other side, and hit some bushes and dirt. then, the next thing i knew, i went ker-splash! into a big pool of water.”
“and that pool of water saved you from breaking your neck,” broke in ben.
“more than likely. i got up out of the pool in a hurry, and then i walked several yards to where the stream of water wasn’t nearly so deep. then i set up a yell, and kept at it for nearly a quarter of an hour. i had just about given up thinking you would ever find me, when i heard you yelling.”
138“as soon as you’ve rested, we’ll help you back to our camping place,” announced dave. “then we can start up the fire again and you can dry yourself;” for he saw that shadow was soaking wet from his back down.
“i’m thankful this adventure has ended so well,” was phil’s comment. “what would we have done if anything had happened to you?”
“as it was, enough did happen,” answered shadow ruefully. then, of a sudden, his face broke into a smile. “say, when i was down there i thought of a dandy story! one day two men went to clean a well——”
this was as far as the former story-teller of oak hall got with his narrative. the others gazed at him for a moment in wonder, and then all broke out into a uproarious fit of laughter.
“can you beat it!” gasped phil.
“i guess shadow would tell stories if he was going to his own funeral!” came from roger.
“you’ve certainly got your nerve with you, shadow,” announced dave.
“i suppose you thought of the story while you were tumbling down into the opening,” suggested ben.
“no, i didn’t think of it just then,” answered the story-teller innocently. “it came to me while i was waiting for you fellows to get the rope.”
“never mind the story now,” said dave. “if 139you are rested, let us get back to the camp and start up that fire. we don’t want you to catch cold.” for on the summit of the mountain there was a keen, cool breeze.
they were soon on the way, dave on one side of shadow to support him and roger on the other. phil and ben ran ahead, and by the time the youth who had taken the tumble arrived, more wood had been placed on the campfire, and it was blazing up merrily, sending out considerable warmth.
“that’s an adventure we didn’t count on,” remarked phil, while shadow was drying out his clothing in front of the blaze.
“well, something is bound to happen when we get together,” answered roger. “it always does.”
“after this we had better keep our eyes peeled for all sorts of danger,” said dave. “we don’t want anything bad to happen to our visitors during their stay.”
half an hour was spent in the camp, and by that time shadow’s wet clothing had dried out sufficiently to be worn again. the former story-teller of oak hall had been allowed to tell several of his best yarns, and now seemed to be in as good a humor as ever. his hands and his shins had been scraped by his fall, but to these little hurts he gave scant attention.
“i came out on this trip with phil just to see 140what rough life was like,” he announced. “if something hadn’t happened to me i surely would have been disappointed.”
“you’ll see enough of rough life before you get home again, shadow,” said phil. “just you wait till you get to star ranch. i’ll have some of the cowboys there put you through a regular course of sprouts.”
just before the party got ready to break camp, ben wandered off to get several more pictures. he went farther than he had originally intended, the various scenes before his eyes proving decidedly fascinating. he took a view of some rocks, and then gazed for a long time across to a hill some distance away. then he returned quickly to where he had left the others.
“say, fellows, i’ve discovered some game!” he cried.
“game?” queried dave. “what kind?”
“i don’t know exactly what they were,” answered the youth from crumville. “they looked though to be a good deal like a couple of bears. they are off in that direction,” and he pointed with his hand.
“say, let’s go after them, no matter what they are!” exclaimed phil. “i’d like to get a shot at something before we return to the construction camp.”
“i’m willing,” announced dave.
141“shall we go on horseback or on foot?” questioned shadow. “for myself, i’d rather ride than walk.”
“oh, we’ll go on horseback,” answered roger. “there is no use of our coming back to this place. come on—let us get after that game right now! ben, you show the way.”
