CHAPTER XXV
SQUATTERS' RIGHTS
"Yeou doan't reckon as haow anybody kin see a fire, if so be I started alittle blaze back in here, do yeou, partner?" queried Perk.
Jack knew how the other was fairly itching just to feel the warmth of agenuine campfire, under such extraordinary conditions, and hence shookhis head.
"Not a Chinaman's chance, buddy--too many crooks in the passage we tookgetting here. The wood I fetched in lies just back of you; and besides,a fire will save my battery, which means a heap. Go to it then, and getbusy."
Accordingly Perk lost no time in carrying out his cherished plan, for hehad always vowed himself to be a "reg'lar cat o' a fire-worshipper;" so,the match having been applied they were treated to a generous glow thatrevealed much more plainly the character of the wonderful cavern.
Later on the investigating Perk discovered that another fissure, shapedsomewhat like a regular tunnel, led away from the central cavern, andsloped downward.
His mind seemed to still follow up that Mark Twain idea, for he had nosooner taken a good survey at the passage entrance than he gave Jack ashrewd look, and followed this up by saying ingenuously:
"Huh! if I didn't know we was a heap o' miles away from the oleMississip I'd be 'clined to swear this must be the gen-u-ine cave Tomand Huck knocked 'raound in the time they found all that lost treasure.But I wonder--"
"What do you wonder, Perk?"
"Struck me that mebbe aour ole friend, that silvertip bear, might havehis den somewhere 'bout in the rocks; an' where'd he run 'cross a betterplace to hole up fur the winter than right here! Say, mebbe I wouldn'thate to run smack on the ugly critter while we was a explorin' some o'the tunnels an' passages that lead outen this here central chamber? Theykinder give these here grizzlies a reputation fur havin' long memories,jest like elephants do; an' I bet yeou a cookey he aint never agoin' tofurget little Gabe Perkiser, what throwed a match into his hair, an' sethim afire."
But Jack did not appear to have such a lively imagination as hiscomrade, for he shook his head in the negative, and tried to soothe theanxious Perk.
"I hardly think there's any chance for such a nasty happening, buddy,"he assured the other; "though I do reckon the old chap'd never forgetyou, after receiving such scurvy treatment at your hands. Some timelater we'll take a look in at that same passage--these caves in themountains often turn out to run for a mile or more, twisting andturning, to come out it may be close to the starting point, even in theshape of another fissure."
"Say, I'd like that same trick, I'm atellin' yeou, Jack, boy. 'Sides,bein' partial to caves o' all kinds an' species I'm also given toexplorin' queer places--got me into heaps o' trouble in my kid days,which same makes me laugh to remember. But tell me some more things yeouthunk up, or seen, while I was aout wrastlin' fur grub."
Jack looked at him in a peculiar way that caused Perk to wonder what hewas about to spring upon him.
"Remember my telling you about that cook chap they've got, waiting onthem, and all that, Perk?"
"Sure do, him with the s'posed to be white _chef's_ cap--was he anydifferent from the general run--cook, crook, seems to me they sorterhitch like they might be first cousins."
"There was something that seemed familiar about him, but it was onlylater in the day I managed to glimpse a better look at the fellow, whenthe sun shone full on his moniker; then it flashed on me who he was."
"Hold on there, partner, I jest hopes yeou ain't agoin' to inform mehe's yet another galoot I useter know--seems like that Nat Tucker, addedto aour ole friend, Slippery Slim, might be enough former 'quaintancesto meet up with in sech a nest o' flim-flam artists an' crooks."
"Well, I think you told me once you'd never known this party; but I had,and only a short time back I told you more or less about him. It was inWashington I used to run along with him in my work."
"Wait up, partner--go slow 'til I ketches my breath. Yeou ain't agoin'to stagger me by sayin' that this here cook might be _him_?"
"Just what I mean, Perk."
"Simeon--Simeon Balderson?"
"No other, brother, undoubtedly a prisoner, and being made to serve thatmiserable gang of hoodlums in a menial capacity, partly to humble him,and give them plenty of chances to throw mean jibes at him as therepresentative of the Service they hate so much. It's the irony of Fate,if ever such a thing could be."
"Dead certain be yeou, Jack?"
The other nodded in the affirmative, adding:
"He must have been badly injured in the scrap before he and hiscompanion were knocked out, for he certainly never limped like that whenI knew him, only a year or so back. Possibly the second man may havebeen wiped out in the gun battle; though why they should spare Simeon'slife is a puzzle to me; but some day we'll understand, since I wouldn'tthink of going away from here and leaving him in the hands of thosehuman tigers."
"Shake on that same, ole hoss; I'm with yeou every time, 'cause it meanswe're agoin' to have some mighty stiff work on aour hands 'fore we kinsend a ball daown in each alley, an' make a clean sweep o' theduck-pins; an' that's the dizzy game I sure likes most."
There was really nothing like brag about what Perk said, as his comradeknew full well; in the past he had seen Perk put up a grand fight, andnever could forget how he slashed, and cut, and struck home with any oldweapon he chanced to have in his hands, until a clean swathe had beencut through the ranks of their foes. He always appeared to be a littleashamed of having lost his head, and striking blind, excusing himselfunder the plea that he must have been in a bit of a "tailspin."
"Here we can stay, Perk, without running much risk of being discovered;for I hardly imagine any of those chaps would bother exercisingthemselves to try and find out what the country around their HappyValley looks like."
"Huh! I kinder guess not any," remarked the skeptical Perk, with a lookakin to disgust on his face; "they're a heap too lazy to move, 'cept tocome to their three meals a day when off duty, and kept in camp. Samemen when on a raid robbin' some border bank; holdin' up a train; or nicehealthy jobs like that, kin act like a pack o' half starved locoedwolves."
"I was just thinking," continued Jack, who seemed never to lose a pointworth considering, "that perhaps we'd better make sure our eats are keptsecure. Such places as this cavern would be attractive dens for foxes,and such predatory varmints, who'd like nothing better than to stealevery scrap of food we've got; which would be a serious thing, I'dallow."
"Wall, I kinder guess it sure _would_, by hokey!" exclaimed Perk,quickly aroused, as the danger loomed along the line of possiblestarvation, "an' it ain't agoin' to happen either, if I have to stick'raound all night long. Grub an' me air the best o' friends; an' I'd goa long way to defend sech a good pal."
"Hardly be so serious as that, buddy," advised Jack, seeing how hissuggestion had awakened lively fears in his companion's breast. "Plentyof loose stuff lying around in here, so we'll just _cache_ our foodsupplies, by covering the pile with a heavy weight no beast couldbudge."
"Yeou said it, partner, an' I'll take a look 'raound till I kin pickaout the best place to build aour fort. Watch my smoke, Jack, boy."
It did not take him long to find what he sought, after which theyspeedily arranged things to suit their idea of security.
"There she be," Perk remarked, in a satisfied tone, as the job wasfinished. "If any red fox or kiote kin scratch his way under that stacko' dornicks I'll eat my hat--an' ole dungarees in th' bargain. I ain't aluggin' good eats all the way from San Diego, an' payin' aout lots o'coin fur the same, jest to make a holiday fur four-footed thieves."
"Both of us are dead for sleep, I reckon," ventured Jack, as they lay onthe rocky floor, Perk indulging in the luxury of a pipe of his favoriteTurkish mixture for solace; "and perhaps we'd be wise to snatch a fewhours while we may--we're up against a pretty hard proposition, andthere's no telling just what lies ahead of us. How about it, Perk?"
"Shucks! I'm willin' enu
ff to lay off; an' mebbe naow I ain't glad Idone fetched them two woolen blankets along as we had on aour cotsaboard the ship. They sure helped to make up a fine load; but right naowthey'll be wuth all they cost me on the hike."
"And I'll bless your long-sightedness in thinking of our comfort," Jackhastened to assure him. "Bare rocks like these are hardly in the sameclass with a good spring bed, and plenty of covers. We'll skip some sorebones because of having these to tuck under us, Perk."
"I hate to let the bully fire die down," Perk presently observed, for henever was so happy as when sitting alongside a cheery blaze, puffing athis briarwood pipe, and watching the rings of smoke sail upward.
"Oh! it wouldn't do to try and keep it going all night," Jack told him."Too little stuff for burning, and hard to tote in here. I'll keep myelectric hand-torch close beside me, and if there's any occasion forlighting up the cavern I can do it in a jiffy."
That seemed to ease Perk's mind somewhat, for Jack could plainly see theother was somewhat concerned regarding the possibility of their havingan unwelcome visitor during the time they were resting from the fatiguesof the past day.
He watched Perk making his preparations for retiring, and just as heanticipated the other was exceedingly careful to pick out a campingplace as far removed from that mysterious passage leading out of thecentral cavern as he possibly could.
Of course the reason for his so doing was plainly manifest to Jack--hecould spell it in four letters--B-E-A-R--Perk could not wholly dissuadehimself that Fate meant to play him a nasty trick, and bring him intoclose quarters with that ferocious monster, the silvertip, or as he wasknown along the mountains of the Coast, "Old Eph." The distinct smell ofburning hair still seemed to linger within reach of his olfactories, andgive him a reproachful sensation, as though he felt he had taken a meanadvantage of the beast.
No such thought worried Jack; but then the shadow of guilt did not hangover his head as was the case with Perk.
"Don't forget to wind up your wrist-watch, buddy," warned Jack, shortlyafterwards; as Perk still sat there on his blanket, keeping up hismeditative puffing, as though he meant to see the fire to its lastflickering extinction. "They're our only reliable guide to tell us whenmorning comes around. In this black cave we might lie dozing until themiddle of the day, without knowing how we were sleeping at the switch,and wasting precious time."
"Hot-diggetty-dig! partner, haow yeou do jest think o' ever'thing. On'yfur yeou I'd be like a lost lamb awanderin' 'raound the countryside,bleatin', an' shiverin' fur fear the pesky wolves'd get me."
"That'll do for you, buddy," Jack sternly told him. "We've both got ourseveral good and bad points; but we're essential to each other to makeup a working team, six of one, and half a dozen of the other--now, don'tlet me hear you getting off any of that boloney stuff again, mind."
"Huh! yeou lets me daown too easy, partner; guess I know my shortcomingsbetter'n anybody else; an' thinkin' ain't much o' a long suite withGabe, not at no time in hist'ry."
"Well, have it any way you like, Perk; but I'm meaning to settle downfor a nice nap. Just call out if you want a light any old time, and I'llaccommodate you before you can say Jack Robinson. So-long, and here'shoping we'll be able to get a move on before another night sets in."
"I sure echoes that wish, boy," muttered Perk, seriously; for herealized that they had undertaken one of the most troublesome tasks thatcould be placed to their credit; and would have need of all the goodluck and breaks possible in order to come through.
Perk having set himself to what he considered a duty, would never letany trivial things deter him; and so he must have sat up with thatdeclining fire until the very last feeble flicker expired; then rollinghimself up in his blanket he sought relief in slumber.
Time went on, the night passed away, and there was not a solitary alarmto give Perk a thrill. Both of them were very tired, and must have sleptsoundly, for the first thing Perk knew Jack turned the dazzling light ofhis little torch full on his face, arousing him, and then remarkedquietly:
"Time we were stirring, partner--I figure the dawn has got around, whenwe can start doing things."