The Young Trailers: A Story of Early Kentucky

  CHAPTER X

  THE CAVE DUST

  The great supply of salt brought by Ross and his men was welcome toWareville, as the people had begun to suffer for it, but they would haveenough now to last them a full year, and a year was a long time to lookahead. Great satisfaction was expressed on that score, but the news thata Shawnee war party was in Kentucky and had chased them far southwardcaused Mr. Ware and other heads of the village to look very grave and tohold various councils.

  As a result of these talks the palisade was strengthened with anotherrow of strong stakes, and they took careful stock of their supplies ofammunition. Lead they had in plenty, but powder was growing scarce. Afresh supply had been expected with a new band of settlers from Virginiabut the band had failed to come, and the faces of the leaders grew yetgraver, when they looked at the dwindling supply, and wondered how itcould be replenished for the dire need that might arise. It was now thatMr. Pennypacker came forward with a suggestion and he showed how booklearning could be made of great value, even in the wilderness.

  "You will recall," he said to Mr. Ware and Mr. Upton, and other heads ofthe settlement, "that some of our hunters have reported the existence ofgreat caves to the southwestward and that they have brought back fromthem wonderful stalactites and stalagmites and also dust from the cavefloors. I find that this dust is strongly impregnated with niter; fromniter we obtain saltpeter and from saltpeter we make gunpowder. We neednot send to Virginia for our powder, we can make it here in Kentucky forourselves."

  "Do you truly think so, Mr. Pennypacker?" asked Mr. Ware, doubtfully.

  "Think so! I know so," replied the schoolmaster in sanguine tones. "Why,what am I a teacher for if I don't know a little of such things? Andeven if you have doubts, think how well the experiment is worth trying.Situated as we are, in this wild land, powder is the most precious thingon earth to us."

  "That is true! that is true!" said Mr. Ware with hasty emphasis."Without it we shall lie helpless before the Indian attack, should itcome. If, as you say, this cave dust contains the saltpeter, the restwill be easy."

  "It contains saltpeter and the rest _will_ be easy!"

  "Then, you must go for it. Ross and Sol and a strong party must go withyou, because we cannot run the risk of losing any of you through theIndians."

  "I am sure," said Mr. Pennypacker, "that we shall incur no danger fromIndians. The region of the great caves lies farther south than Warevilleand the Southern Indians, who are less bold than the Northern tribes,are not likely to come again into Kentucky. The hunters say that Indianshave not been in that particular region for years."

  "Yes, I think you are right," said Mr. Ware, "but be careful anyhow."

  Henry, when he heard of the new expedition, was wild to go, but hisparents, remembering the great danger of the journey to the salt licks,were reluctant with their permission. Then Ross interceded effectively.

  "The boy is just fitted for this sort of work," he said. "He isn't inlove with farming, he's got other blood in him, but down there he willbe just about the best man that Wareville has to send, an' there won'tbe any Indians."

  There was no reply to such an argument, because in the bordersettlements the round peg must go in the round hole; the conditions ofsurvival demanded no surplusage and no waste.

  When Paul heard that Henry was to go he gave his parents no rest, andwhen Mr. Pennypacker, whose favorite he was, seconded his request, onthe ground that he would need a scholar with him the permission had tobe granted.

  Rejoicing, the two boys set forth with the others, the dangers of theShawnee battle and their terrors already gone from their minds. Theywould meet no Indians this time, and the whole powder-making expeditionwould be just one great picnic. The summer was now at hand, and theforests were an unbroken mass of brilliant green. In the little spacesof earth where the sunlight broke through, wild flowers, red, blue, pinkand purple peeped up and nodded gayly, when the light winds blew. Gameabounded, but they killed only enough for their needs, Ross saying itwas against the will of God to shoot a splendid elk or buffalo and leavehim to rot, merely for the pleasure of the killing.

  After a while they forded a large river, passed out of the forests, andcame into a great open region, to which they gave the name of Barrens,not because it was sterile, but because it was bare of trees. Henry, atfirst, thought it was the land of prairies, but Ross, after examining itminutely, said that if left to nature it would be forested. It was histheory that the Indians in former years had burned off the young treegrowth repeatedly in order to make great grazing grounds for the biggame. Whether his supposition was true or not, and Henry thought itlikely to be true, the Barrens were covered with buffalo, elk and deer.In fact they saw buffalo in comparatively large numbers for the firsttime, and once they looked upon a herd of more than a hundred, grazingin the rich and open meadows. Panthers attracted by the quantity of gameupon which they could prey screamed horribly at night, but the flamingcamp fires of the travelers were sufficient to scare them away.

  All these things, the former salt-makers, and powder-makers that hopedto be, saw only in passing. They knew the value of time and theyhastened on to the region of great caves, guided this time by one oftheir hunters, Jim Hart, although Ross as usual was in supreme command.But Hart had spent some months hunting in the great cave region and hisreport was full of wonders.

  "I think there are caves all over, or rather, under this country thatthe Indians call Kaintuckee," he said, "but down in this part of itthey're the biggest."

  "You are right about Kentucky being a cave region," said theschoolmaster, "I think most of it is underlaid with rock, anywhere fromfive thousand to ten thousand feet thick, and in the course of ages,through geological decay or some kindred cause, it has becomecrisscrossed with holes like a great honeycomb."

  "I'm pretty sure about the caves," said Ross, "but what I want to knowis about this peter dirt."

  "We'll find it and plenty of it," replied the master confidently. "Thatsample was full of niter, and when we leach it in our tubs we shall havethe genuine saltpeter, explosive dust, if you choose to call it, that isthe solution of gunpowder."

  "Which we can't do without," said Henry.

  They passed out of the Barrens, and entered a region of high, roughhills, and narrow little valleys. Hills and valleys alike were denselyclothed with forest.

  Hart pointed to several, large holes in the sides of the hills, alwaysat or near the base and said they were the mouths of caves.

  "But the big one, in which I got the peter dirt is farther on," he said.

  They came to the place he had in mind, just as the twilight was falling,a hole, a full man's height at the bottom of a narrow valley, butleading directly into the side of the circling hill that inclosed thebowl-like depression. Henry and Paul looked curiously at the black mouthand they felt some tremors at the knowledge that they were to go inthere, and to remain inside the earth for a long time, shut from thelight of day. It was the dark and not the fear of anything visible, thatfrightened them.

  But they made no attempt to enter that evening, although night would bethe same as day in the cave. Instead they provided for a camp, as thehorses and a sufficient guard would have to remain outside. The valleyitself was an admirable place, since it contained pasturage for thehorses, while at the far end was a little stream of water, flowing outof the hill and trickling away through a cleft into another and slightlylower valley.

  After tethering the horses, they built a fire near the cave mouth andsat down to cook, eat, rest and talk.

  "Ain't there danger from bad air in there?" asked Ross. "I've heard tellthat sometimes in the ground air will blow all up, when fire is touchedto it, just like a bar'l o' gunpowder."

  "The air felt just as fresh an' nice as daylight when I went in," saidHart, "an' if it comes to that it will be better than it is out herebecause it's allus even an' cool."

  "It is so," said the master meditatively. "All the caves discovered sofar in Kentucky have fresh pure air. I do
not undertake to account forit."

  That night they cut long torches of resinous wood, and early the nextmorning all except two, who were left to guard the horses, entered thecave, led by Hart, who was a fearless man with an inquiring mind.Everyone carried a torch, burning with little smoke, and after they hadpassed the cave mouth, which was slightly damp, they came to a perfectlydry passage, all the time breathing a delightfully cool and fresh air,full of vigor and stimulus.

  Paul and Henry looked back. They had come so far now that the light ofday from the cave mouth could not reach them, and behind them was onlythick impervious blackness. Before them, where the light of the torchesdied was the same black wall, and they themselves were only a littleisland of light. But they could see that the cave ran on before them, asif it were a subterranean, vaulted gallery, hewed out of the stone byhands of many Titans! Henry held up his torch, and from the roof twentyfeet above his head the stone flashed back multicolored and glitteringlights. Paul's eyes followed Henry's and the gleaming roof appealed tohis sensitive mind.

  "Why, it's all a great underground palace!" he exclaimed, "and we arethe princes who are living in it!"

  Hart heard Paul's enthusiastic words and he smiled.

  "Come here, Paul," he said, "I want to show you something."

  Paul came at once and Hart swung the light of his torch into a darkcryptlike opening from the gallery.

  "I see some dim shapes lying on the floor in there, but I can't tellexactly what they are," said Paul.

  "Come into this place itself."

  Paul stepped into the crypt, and Hart with the tip of his moccasined toegently moved one of the recumbent forms. Paul could not repress a littlecry as he jumped back. He was looking at the dark, withered face of anIndian, that seemed to him a thousand years old.

  "An' the others are Indians, too," said Hart. "An' they needn't troubleus. God knows how long they've been a-layin' here where their friendsbrought 'em for burial. See the bows an' arrows beside 'em. They ain'tlike any that the Indians use now."

  "And the dry cave air has preserved them, for maybe two or three hundredyears," said the schoolmaster. "No, their dress and equipment do notlook like those of any Indians whom I have seen."

  "Let's leave them just as they are," said Paul.

  "Of course," said Ross, "it would be bad luck to move 'em."

  They went on farther into the cave, and found that it increased ingrandeur and beauty. The walls glittered with the light of the torches,the ceiling rose higher, and became a great vaulted dome. From the roofhung fantastic stalactites and from the floor stalagmites equallyfantastic shot up to meet them. Slow water fell drop by drop from thepoint of the stalactite upon the point of the stalagmite.

  "That has been going on for ages," said the schoolmaster, "and the samedrop of water that leaves some of its substance to form the stalactite,hanging from the roof, goes to form the stalagmite jutting up from thefloor. Come, Paul, here's a seat for you. You must rest a bit."

  They beheld a rock formation almost like a chair, and, Paul sitting downin it, found it quite comfortable. But they paused only a moment, andthen passed on, devoting their attention now to the cave dust, which wasgrowing thicker under their feet. The master scooped up handfuls of itand regarded it attentively by the close light of his torch.

  "It's the genuine peter dust!" he exclaimed exultantly. "Why, we canmake powder here as long as we care to do so."

  "You are sure of it, master?" asked Ross anxiously.

  "Sure of it!" replied Mr. Pennypacker. "Why, I know it. If we stayedhere long enough we could make a thousand barrels of gunpowder, goodenough to kill any elk or buffalo or Indian that ever lived."

  Ross breathed a deep sigh of relief. He had had his doubts to the last,and none knew better than he how much depended on the correctness of theschoolmaster's assertion.

  "There seems to be acres of the dust about here," said Ross, "an' Iguess we'd better begin the makin' of our powder at once."

  They went no farther for the present, but carried the dust in, sackafter sack, to the mouth of the cave. Then they leached it, pouringwater on it in improvised tubs, and dissolving the niter. This solutionthey boiled down and the residuum was saltpeter or gunpowder, withoutwhich no settlement in Kentucky could exist.

  The little valley now became a scene of great activity. The fires werealways burning and sack after sack of gunpowder was laid safely away ina dry place. Henry and Paul worked hard with the others, but they neverpassed the crypt containing the mummies, without a little shudder. Insome of the intervals of rest they explored portions of the cave,although they were very cautious. It was well that they were so as oneday Henry stopped abruptly with a little gasp of terror. Not five feetbefore him appeared the mouth of a great perpendicular well. It wasperfectly round, about ten feet across, and when Henry and Paul heldtheir torches over the edge, they could see no bottom. Henry shouted,throwing his voice as far forward as possible, but only a dull, distantecho came back.

  "We'll call that the Bottomless Pit," he said.

  "Bottomless or not, it's a good thing to keep out of," said Paul. "Itgives me the shudders, Henry, and I don't think I'll do much moreexploring in this cave."

  In fact, the gunpowder-making did not give them much more chance, andthey were content with what they had already seen. The cave had manywonders, but the sunshine outside was glorious and the vast mass ofgreen forest was very restful to the eye. There was hunting to be done,too, and in this Henry bore a good part, he and Ross supplying the freshmeat for their table.

  A fine river flowed not two miles away and Paul installed himself aschief fisherman, bringing them any number of splendid large fish, verysavory to the taste. Ross and Sol roamed far among the woods, but theyreported absolutely no Indian sign.

  "I don't believe any of the warriors from either north or south havebeen in these parts for years," said Ross.

  "Luckily for us," added Mr. Pennypacker, "I don't want another suchretreat as that we had from the salt springs."

  Ross's words came true. The powder-making was finished in peace, and thejourney home was made under the same conditions. At Wareville there wasa shout of joy and exultation at their arrival. They felt that theycould hold their village now against any attack, and Mr. Pennypacker wasa great man, justly honored among his people. He had shown them how tomake powder, which was almost as necessary to them as the air theybreathed, and moreover they knew where they could always get materialsneeded for making more of it.

  Truly learning was a great thing to have, and they respected it.