CHAPTER XV
SPANISH JOE DROPS A CLUE
"Where can he be, Frank?" cried Bob, after they had been climbing forseveral minutes up the side of the rough mountain, almost groping theirway, such was the darkness around them.
"Listen!"
"Help! Nick, this way, quick, or I'll go under!" came a shrill shout,only a little way above them.
They started for the spot; but before they had taken half a dozen stepsonce more the thunderous sound was heard; and under them the mountainquivered. As the boys were not more than human, it was only naturalthat they should halt until the convulsion had passed. Bob could nothelp clutching a spur of rock as though he feared that somethingdreadful was about to happen.
As the roaring noise began to die out the boys caught the cries ofSpanish Joe once again. He seemed to be nearly frantic with fear, andwas calling upon his cowboy crony not to forsake him in his extremity.
"It's going to tumble on me the next shake! Hurry, Nick, or I'm agoner!" they heard him pleading.
"Whatever can have happened to him?" asked Bob, awed by the excitingincidents by which they seemed to be surrounded.
"I reckon he's caught in some sort of trap, judging from his talk,"Frank sent back over his shoulder; for both of them were climbingupward as rapidly as the conditions allowed.
It was no wonderful feat for Frank to make straight for the spot wherethe loud voice came from. He had located it; and even when Joe ceasedcalling for a minute or two, Frank was able to continue right on.
Apparently the cowman had heard some sound that told him of theircoming. That accounted for his silence, since he was listeningeagerly. And of course he fully expected that it must be Nick Jenningshastening to his assistance, perhaps with Peg at his heels. At leasthis words would indicate as much, when he cried again.
"Hurry, boys! There ain't any too much time. This way, right straightahead! Oh! I'm in a hole, I tell ye. Ye ain't stopping, are ye?Come on! come on!"
They were now close to where the speaker must be located. Frank wasalready straining his eyes to make out his figure, so as to get someidea as to the nature of the new task that confronted them.
He presently could make out some object that squirmed and tuggedbetween groans.
Then he knew that his first guess was probably correct. Spanish Joe,in making his way along over the rocks, had in some way managed tocatch his foot in a crack, and was unable to get it out again. Perhapsthe more he struggled the firmer it became fastened. And, consideringthe surroundings, his fright could hardly be wondered at.
So Frank crept up alongside the prisoner of the rock.
"It's my leg, Nick," cried the man, eagerly. "I can't get it loose andI've twisted and pulled till it's near jerked out of the socket. Seeif ye can't do somethin'. Every time she shakes, that rock up therejust starts to drop down on me! If it comes I'll be smashed."
Frank knew Spanish Joe. The man from across the Rio Grande had workedon the Circle Ranch for many months, until he was discharged afterbeing caught in the suspicious business of conveying information to thecattle rustlers.
"Wait 'till I strike a match, so I can see what things look like,"Frank said.
And as the match suddenly flared up the dark-faced Spanish-Americanstared with astonishment into the countenance of the one who had comein answer to his frantic calls for assistance.
"You, Senor Frank?" he exclaimed.
"Sure," replied the rancher's son, as he bent over to examine the wayin which the prisoner's foot had become caught.
Although the match only shone for a few seconds, Frank's quick eyes hadsized up the situation.
"How is it, Senor Frank; can you get me out, _camerado_?" asked Joe,with a quiver in his voice.
Something of a desperado the man might be under ordinary conditions;but just then, when facing death, he proved very tame indeed.
"I reckon I can, Joe, if that tottering rock up there only holds offlong enough. Let's hope it will. Now, do just what I tell you; andwhen I say pull, again, get busy for all you're worth!"
While Frank was talking he had been manipulating the foot of theMexican, who had worked so long on American ranches that he had lostmuch of his national ways, though retaining a few of thecharacteristics of dress that always distinguish his kind.
Frank himself was not wasting time. He did not like the looks of thatover-hanging rock any too well. It seemed to be about ready to crashdown, and when it did come the result would be disastrous to anythinghuman caught underneath; for it surely weighed many tons.
"Now, draw easily at first, and then increase gradually," Frank said."I'll hold onto the foot, and keep it in this position. I think that'sthe way it first slipped into the crack!"
Spanish Joe eagerly obeyed. He groaned several times as he felt hisleg hurt, but desperation lent him new determination; for if thisattempt failed, as others had done, he believed that he was doomed.
Suddenly the foot came free. Joe fell over on the ground, but his lastgroan turned into a cry of delight. It was almost comical to see howquickly he rolled over several times, so as to get away from the dangerzone.
Frank, turning, clutched his companion, and also drew him back. It wasnone too soon, it seemed. As if the release of Spanish Joe might havebeen the signal for the groaning mountain to once again take up itsstrange action, they felt the quiver with which all the performances.seemed to begin. Then the grumble commenced, rapidly advancing into afearful stage, until Bob could feel himself trembling violently becausethe rocks under him were moving.
"There she comes!" cried Frank.
His words were drowned in a deafening crash close by. Had Peg Grantbeen there he must have believed that the top of the mountain had blownoff, and that fire and boiling lava would immediately begin to pourdown the sides. But Bob had not forgotten about that swaying rock.And he understood that it had fallen with a crash just at the spotwhere the three of them stood a minute before.
"What a narrow escape!" exclaimed Frank, after the clamor had in somemeasure died away again.
"Oh! I should say it was," echoed Bob, feeling quite weak as herealized what must have happened to them had they not gotten away intime.
"How about your leg, Joe; can you walk?" asked Frank, turning to thecowman, who was scrambling to his feet close by.
"Seems like I can, Senor Frank. But it was a close call for SpanishJoe. Only for you coming, where would I be right now? Let us get awayfrom here!" exclaimed the man, limping around as he tried his crippledlimb.
"You are free to go, if you want, Joe," remarked Frank; "but Bob andmyself mean to stick it out. We came here to learn the cause of allthis racket, and we'll do it, or know the reason why."
"Excuse me, _companero_, I know when I have had enough. This mountainis surely bewitched. There must be an evil spirit living inside. Do Inot know it? And even the door is guarded by demons that spring at aman and tear him. My clothes, once so handsome, Senors, are torn intotatters, just because Joe, he was fool enough to step into that blackopening above!"
Frank started as he heard the Mexican say this. It seemed to him thatpossibly here was a clue worth following up.
"Tell us what you mean, Joe," he asked, quickly. "What black openingdid you try to enter; and what happened to you, _amigo_? We have doneyou a service, saved your life, perhaps. In return, tell us this."
"It is little enough, Senor Frank. Up above, not more than seventyfeet from here, lies a hole in the ground. I was looking for shelterfrom the storm, because Senor Peg wished it. I entered. Hardly had Itaken ten steps than something flew at me. I think it was a demon, forit had sharp claws, and I thought I could smell brimstone and sulphur.Just then the mountain yawned, and what with the terrible noise, andhaving to fight off that unseen enemy, I climbed out of there fast, butwith all my fine clothes ruined. That was why I came down the side ofthe mountain in such haste that I caught my foot. I thought that furywas chasing me. Nothing in this wide world cou
ld tempt Spanish Joe togo back there. The storm, it is a joke besides that terror of thedarkness!"
If he expected to alarm Frank, the Mexican cowman mistook the characterof the boy. Frank believed that the fellow's fears had made himimagine more than half of what he declared had happened to him.
"Well, we leave you here, then, Joe," the boy remarked, sturdily;"because we're going to find that cave, and see what lies inside it.If you want to come along, all right; if not _adios_!"
He turned and started to climb, Bob tagging at his heels. But SpanishJoe could not bring himself to accept the invitation. He looked afterthe disappearing figures of the two saddle boys, and shook his head.
"No, not for Joe," he muttered. "He knows when he has had enough.Money could not drive him to enter there again, and meet that unseenthing. Out here the danger can be understood, but Joe he takes off hishat to the young Senors; for grit they surely possess. _Adios_, SenorFrank; but I doubt much whether we ever meet again."
But staunch of heart, Frank was leading the way upward, determined toaccept of the challenge which the cowboy's due seemed to throw at hisfeet.