CHAPTER XIV.
When Captain Flint made his escape from prison, it naturally enoughoccurred to him, that the safest place for him for awhile, would bethe cave.
In it he thought he could remain in perfect safety, until he shouldfind an opportunity for leaving the country.
The cave, or at least the secret chamber, was unknown to any excepthis crew, and those who were confined in it.
On leaving the cave, the last time, with a heartlessness worthy ademon, he had barred the entrance to the cavern on the outside, so asto render it impossible for those confined there to escape in thatdirection.
In fact, he had, be supposed, buried them alive--left them to die ofhunger.
Captain Flint reached the entrance of the cave in safety, and foundeverything as he had left it.
On reaching the inner chamber where he had left the two women and thenegro boy, he was startled to find the place apparently deserted,while all was in total darkness, except where a few rays found theirway through the crevices of the rocks.
He called the names first of one, and then another, but the onlyanswer he received was the echo of his own voice.
How was this? could they be all sleeping or dead?
They certainly could not have made their escape, for the fasteningswere all as he had left them.
The means of striking fire were at hand, and a lamp was soon lighted.
He searched the cave, but could discover no trace of the missing ones.
A strange horror came over him, such as he had never felt before.
The stillness oppressed him; no living enemy could have inspired himwith the fear he now felt from being alone in this gloomy cavern.
"I must leave this place," he said, "I would rather be in prison thanhere."
Again he took up the lamp, and went round the cave, but more this timein hopes of finding some weapon to defend himself with, in case heshould be attacked, than with the hope of discovering the manner inwhich those he had left there had contrived to make their escape.
It had been his custom, lately, on leaving the cavern, to take hisweapons with him, not knowing what use might be made of them by thewomen under the provocation, to which they were sometimes subjected.
The only weapon he could find was a large dagger. This he secured, andwas preparing to leave the cavern, when he thought he saw somethingmoving in one corner.
In order to make sure that he had not been mistaken, he approached theplace.
It was a corner where a quantity of skins had been thrown, and whichit had not been convenient for him to remove, when he left the cavern.
Thinking that one of these skins might be of service to him in thelife he would be obliged to live for some time, he commenced sortingthem over, for the purpose of finding one that would answer hispurpose, when a figure suddenly sprang up from the pile.
It would be hard to tell which of the two was the more frightened.
"Dat you, massa," at length exclaimed the familiar voice of BlackBill. "I tought it was de debil come back agin to carry me off."
"What, is that you, Bill?" said Flint, greatly relieved, and glad tofind some one who could explain the strange disappearance of Hellenaand Lightfoot.
"Where are the rest, Bill?" he asked; "where's the white girl and theIndian woman?"
"Debble carry dim off," said Bill.
"What do you mean, you black fool?" said his master; "if you don'ttell me where they've gone, I'll break your black skull for you."
"Don't know where dar gone," said Bill, tremblingly, "Only know dat dedebble take dem away."
Flint finding that he was not likely to get anything out of the boy byfrightening him, now changed his manner, saying;
"Never mind, Bill, let's hear all about it."
The boy reassured, now told his master that the night before while hewas lying awake near the pile of skins and the women were asleep, hesaw the walls of the cavern divide and a figure holding a blazingtorch such as he had never seen before, enter the room.
"I tought," said Bill, "dat it was de debble comin' arter you agin,massa, and I was 'fraid he would take me along, so I crawled under deskins, but I made a hole so dat I could watch what he was doin'."
"He looked all round a spell for you, massa, an' when he couldn't findyou, den he went were de women was sleepin' an woke dem up and madedem follow him.
"Den da called me and looked all ober for me an' couldn't find me, an'de debble said he couldn't wait no longer, an' dat he would come forme annudder time, An den de walls opened agin, an' da all went truetogedder. When I heard you in de cave, massa, I tought it was dedebble come agin to fetch me, an' so I crawled under de skins agin."
From this statement of the boy, Flint come to the conclusion that Billmust have been too much frightened at the time to know what wasactually taking place.
One thing was certain, and that was the prisoners had escaped, and hadbeen aided in their escape by some persons, to him unknown, in a moststrange and mysterious manner.
Over and over again he questioned Black Bill, but every time with thesame result.
The boy persisted in the statement, that he saw the whole party passout through an opening in the walls of the cavern.
That they had not passed out through the usual entrance was evident,for he found everything as he had left it.
Again he examined the walls of the cavern, only to be again baffledand disappointed.
He began to think that may be after all, the cavern was under a spellof enchantment, and that the women had actually been carried off inthe manner described by the negro.
The boy was evidently honest in his statement, believing that he wastelling nothing that was not true.
But be all this as it might, the mere presence of a human being, eventhough a poor negro boy, was sufficient to enable him to shake off thefeeling of loneliness and fear, with which he was oppressed uponentering the cavern.
He now determined to remain in the cavern for a short time.
Long enough at least to make a thorough examination of the place,before taking his departure.
This determination of Captain Flint's was by no means agreeable to thenegro boy.
Bill was anxious to leave the cave, and by that means escape theclutches of the devil, who was in the habit of frequenting it.
He endeavored to induce Flint to change his resolution by assuring himthat he had heard the devil say that he was coming after him. But thecaptain only laughed at the boy, and he was compelled to remain.