CHAPTER X
ONE DANGER TO ANOTHER
"How do you know the bears are out there in the cave?" Sandy asked, asTommy drew back into the smaller cavity.
"Just take a peek out, if you don't believe me."
Sandy did take a peek out, and sprang back with a face which looked aswhite as a sheet of paper under the rays of Tommy's electricsearchlight.
"One of 'em took a swipe at me!" he said.
The boys turned their searchlights on the entrance and waited patientlyfor some moments for the bears to present themselves in the illuminatedcircle, but the animals seemed to understand that there was danger underthe light, and remained around the angle of the wall.
"What are you going to do?" asked Tommy, presently.
"Blessed if I know!" answered Sandy.
"We might rush out and fill 'em full of lead," suggested Tommy.
"Not for me!" the other answered. "They'd get in one good crack at usbefore we could pull the trigger, and then it would be 'Good-night!'"
"How long do you think they'll stay here?" asked Tommy.
"The bear has the reputation of being a stayer," replied the other.
"Well, in time," Tommy said, "we'll have to make a break. We've gotabout enough provisions for breakfast, and after that, we'll be on theverge of starvation as long as we remain here. So far as I can see, wemay as well make a break right now."
"I'm game for it," replied Sandy. "We'll dazzle their eyes with oursearchlights, and fire a whole clip of bullets without stopping. Perhapsthat'll bring them down or cause them to run away."
"All right!" Tommy agreed. "We'll round the corner together with oursearchlights held in front and begin shooting."
"And don't make any mistake about shooting straight!" advised Sandy. "Idon't want Will and George to know that we ever got into a mess likethis. You know what they said about our coming away tonight, anyhow!"
"Sure, I know!" admitted Tommy. "And I'd rather have one of the bearsbite off an arm than to have them know we got into a scrape we couldn'tget out of without their help."
"Well, here goes, then!" cried Sandy.
Without waiting for his chum he sprang around the corner or the wall,his electric advanced, his automatic ready for instant use. As he turnedthe corner one foot caught on a loose rock and he half fell to theground. As he did so, Tommy saw a hairy paw shoot out with vicious forceand brush and scrape across the boy's shoulder.
Tommy heard the boy's coat ripping and tearing under the clutch of thegreat claws, and heard his chum utter a piercing scream as the wickedclaws touched the flesh.
It seemed to Tommy that the figure of his chum, now lying prostrate onthe floor of the cavern with the head extending outward, was being drawnaway from him by the claw which still clung to the shoulder.
He raised his automatic to fire and pushed his searchlight forward. Thebear's eyes closed for an instant under the strong finger of light, andthe bullet caught him, exactly in the center of the forehead.
He dropped with a savage growl, scrambled, to his feet again and dashedtoward Tommy, who fired shot after shot at the advancing animal, butapparently without avail. In a moment all three bears, doubtless excitedby the smell of blood, sprang before the entrance to the little cavewhere Tommy stood. For the moment the animals paid no attention toSandy, still, lying prostrate on the floor, blood oozing from thewounded shoulder. Tommy fired shot alter shot as the bears came on.
For the first time in his life Tommy realized that the next moment mightbe his last. He saw Sandy lying bleeding on the floor. He saw threesavage, pain-maddened animals rushing upon him and worked the trigger ofhis automatic until the clip was spent. Then he hurled the uselessweapon at the nearest animal and seizing Sandy by the feet, dragged himfarther into the cavern.
"I guess it's all off now," he mused as the bears stood hesitating andapparently ready for a spring. "I wish we'd left a note for Will."
He heard the clatter of sharp claws on the rocky floor, saw the pig-likeeyes of the animals shining red under the light, heard their spasmodicbreathing, and was about to make a desperate rush forward when the outercavern was flooded with a racing light which grew and grew as Tommylooked. Then he heard the sound of feet.
Next came a volley of shots, followed by the shouts of men and the callof a voice that he knew.
"Tommy!" the voice cried.
The boy did not answer instantly, for his eyes were fixed upon thesquirming figures of the bears. They had fallen under the shots and wereweaving about the floor, snarling and snapping at each other and atthemselves in their blind rage.
Several more shots came, and then the animals lay still.
"Tommy!" came the voice again.
"That's Will!" said Sandy faintly.
"Cripes! Are you alive?" demanded Tommy.
"I wouldn't be talking if I was dead, would I?" asked Sandy, speaking ina very faint tone of voice.
"Sandy!" came the voice again.
"Hello!" called Tommy.
"Come on out!" cried Will.
"We're coming!" Sandy answered.
The next moment the flashlights carried by Will and George swept intothe cavern, revealing the true condition of affairs.
The two boys sprang to Sandy's side and raised him into a sittingposition. Sandy smiled weakly but said nothing.
"Where is he hurt?" asked Will, facing Tommy.
Tommy pointed to the boy's bleeding shoulder.
"One of the bears swatted him," he said.
The cowboys now gathered in front of the little cavern and gazed at thegroup with excited interest.
"What's coming off here?" the sheriff asked.
"This kid's coat's coming off, for one thing," answered Will, with aslight smile as he drew away at one sleeve. "He's been cut by the bear,and we want to see how badly he's wounded."
Seth stepped forward to assist in the removal of the coat, but thesheriff laid a hand on his arm and drew him back.
"If those two boys have guns," he said, "get them away from them!"
"What's that?" demanded Tommy, gazing at the sheriff indignantly.
"You're all under arrest," thundered the officer, "and I demand that yougive up your weapons."
"You'll find my gun out there in the cavern somewhere," Tommy answered."I threw it at the bears after the last bullet had been fired."
Will put his hand into Sandy's pocket as if feeling for a gun but foundnone there. "I dropped it in the cavern," the boy said. "There are nobullets in it, anyway. I shot 'em all at the bear."
Sandy's wound proved to consist only of several scratches in the fleshof the shoulder, but Will explained to the sheriff that it would benecessary to take him out to where water could be obtained in order thatthe injury might be properly dressed.
"Come along, then," the sheriff consented. "We've had enough of thisunderground hole, anyway."
Tommy looked longingly at the three dead bears as he passed out.
"I'm coming back here to get those rugs," he whispered to Will.
"And I'm coming back here and get some bear steak," George contributed.
"What are you boys talking about?" demanded the sheriff.
"Aw, what's eating you?" demanded Tommy, who did not at all understandthe situation. "You want to keep your clam closed."
The sheriff turned back and eyed the boy with anger and amazementdepicted on his rather heavy features.
"You're one of these Boy Scouts, I presume?" he snarled.
"Yes, sir," answered Tommy. "Proud of it!"
"Then perhaps you can tell me where those train robbers are hiding."
"I would if I could!" replied the boy.
"What are you kids out at this time of night for, anyway?" was the nextquestion. "You ought to be in bed."
"We came out to gather a couple of bear rugs for a Boy Scout clubroom inChicago," answered Tommy, with a slight grin in Will's direction.
"And what did those boys come out for?" the sheriff asked, pointing atWill and George
and the boy in whose interest they had left camp.
Tommy had no means of knowing what stories the boys might have toldregarding their presence in the mountains, and so he decided to dodgethe question. This seemed the only safe way.
"Ask them!" he said after a short silence.
By this time the whole party was out in the gulch, standing full in themoonlight. The men conferred together for some moments, and then thesheriff turned to the other members of the party.
"Get your ropes, boys," he said. "We haven't got time to fool with theseboys any longer."
"I protest against this action," shouted Seth. "You, Pete, are sheriffof this county, and it is your duty to enforce the laws. If you permitthis lynching to take place in your presence, you'll be guilty of thecrime of murder, and I warn you that you'll be prosecuted."
Tommy and Sandy looked at their chums questioningly. They did not at allunderstand what was going on. Will and George were binding up the woundwith bandages which they had long carried for use on just such anoccasion as this.
"I think I know my duty," answered the sheriff. "Wyoming officers arebeing made the laughing-stock of the whole world because of thefrequency of these train robberies. In nearly every instance, lately,the outlaws have escaped, principally because of assistance given themby such people as we have here under arrest."
The men removed ropes from under their coat and began to unwind them.Seth drew his revolver and waited.