The Campaign of the Jungle Part 26

"What is it?" asked Larry, eagerly.

"Put the torch behind ye, lad, an' look ahead. Perhaps my eyes deceive me," answered the old sailor.

Larry did as requested, and gave a searching look up the pa.s.sageway.

No, there was no mistaking it--there was a faint glimmer of light coming from what appeared to be a bend. He, too, gave a shout, and both set off on a run.

As they sped onward the light became brighter and brighter, until the torch was hardly needed. They were running side by side, each trying to gain the outer air first.

"Look out!" suddenly yelled Leroy, and caught Larry by the arm. The old sailor could hardly stop, and had to throw himself flat, dragging the boy down on top of him.

A few feet beyond was an opening twelve to fifteen feet wide, running from side to side of the pa.s.sageway. The walls of the opening were perpendicular, and the hole was so deep that when a stone was dropped into it they could scarcely hear the thing strike bottom.

"Here's a how-d'ye-do!" cried Leroy, gazing into the pit. "We can't jump across that, nohow!"

"A real good jumper might," answered Larry. "But I shouldn't want to try it. The other side seems to slope down toward the hole. What's to be done?"

Ah, that was the question. It looked as if their advance in that direction was cut off completely.

CHAPTER XXVI

BOXER THE SCOUT

Much chagrined, man and boy stood on the brink of the chasm before them and gazed at the other side. It was sloping, as Larry had said, and wet, which was worse. A jump, even for a trained athlete, would have been perilous in the extreme.

"Looks like we were stumped," remarked Leroy, laconically.

"And just as we were so near to yonder opening!" cried Larry, vexed beyond endurance. "If we only had a plank, or something."

He looked around, but nothing was at hand but the bare stone walls, with here and there a patch of dirt and a loose stone. He walked to one end of the hole.

"A fellow might climb along yonder shelf if he were a cat," he said dismally. "But I don't believe a human being could do it."

"No, and don't you go for to try it," put in the old sailor. "If you do, you'll break your neck, sure as guns is guns."

"Well, we've got to do something, Leroy."

"So we have; an' I move we sit down an' eat a bite o' the stew. Maybe eatin' will put some new ideas into our heads."

"I'd rather wait until we gain the open air."

"But we can't make it--yet--so be content, lad. It's something to know thet the blue sky is beyond."

They sat down, and soon finished one-half of what remained of the mess in the kettle. Never had anything tasted sweeter, and it was only by the exercise of the greatest self-control that they kept back a portion of the food.

"Perhaps we'll have to go back, remember that," said Leroy, as he put the cover on the kettle once more.

"Go back? No, no, Leroy! I'll try jumping over first."

"I don't think I shall. Thet hole-- What's that?"

A sound had reached the old sailor's ears, coming from some distance ahead. It was the sound of footsteps approaching.

"Somebody is coming!" whispered Larry, and crouched down. Then a man put in an appearance, coming from the opposite end of the pa.s.sageway.

He was an American soldier, hatless and almost in tatters.

"Hullo there!" cried Larry, leaping up. "Oh, but I'm glad you came!"

At the cry the soldier stopped short in amazement. Larry's words echoed and reechoed throughout the pa.s.sage. He looked toward the pair at the chasm, but could make out little saving the torch which Leroy was holding.

"Who calls?" he asked at last.

"I called," answered the boy. "Can't you see us? We are two lost sailors, and we can't get over this beastly hole. Come this way, but be careful of where you step."

"You must be Americans by your voices. Am I right?"

"Yes; and you are an American, too," said Larry, as the soldier came closer. Soon he stood facing them, with a look of wonder on his bronzed features.

"How did you get here?" he demanded.

"It's a long story," answered Leroy. "We escaped from some rebels at the other end of this cave, and we've been wandering around since last night. Are you alone, or are our forces outside of this hole?"

"General Lawton's troops are a good many miles from here," answered the soldier. "I am one of his scouts, and I became separated from our command and got up here to escape being hunted down by the crowd of Filipinos that was after me. They are in the woods just outside of this hole."

"Then you are all alone?" said Larry, his face falling a little.

"Yes, although I think a couple of our men must be in this vicinity.

We are pressing the rebels pretty hard, you know."

The scout's name was George Boxer, and he was one of the best marksmen in Chief Young's command. He listened to their story with interest, and at once agreed to do what he could for them. They noted with satisfaction that he was provided with both a rifle and a pistol, and also a belt well filled with ammunition.

It was an easy matter for Boxer to make his way into the open air and find a fallen tree limb of sufficient thickness to throw over the chasm as a make-s.h.i.+ft bridge. As soon as the limb was secure, Larry and Leroy came over, and then the party of three made their way to the mouth of the cave.

It was a welcome sight to see the sky again and the suns.h.i.+ne, and Larry's eyes sparkled as he gazed down the mountain-side and at the vast panorama spread out before him. At their feet was a heavy jungle, and beyond a plain and a small hill, where a large body of insurgents were encamping.

"It's good to be in the fresh air again, eh, lad?" observed Leroy.

"But I'm afraid we'll have a good bit o' trouble gettin' past them rebels," he added to George Boxer.

"We can't get past them in the daytime," answered the scout; "but I think we can make it after the sun goes down. And it will take us till sundown to get to the bottom of this mountain, if I am not mistaken."

Now they were in the open, it was decided to discard the kettle; and the three ate up what remained of the stew, along with the single ration which Boxer carried. Then they began the descent of the mountain-side, slipping over rocks and dirt as best they could, and finding their way around many an ugly pitfall.

"I suppose you think it's queer I came up so far," said Boxer, as they hurried downward. "The truth is I was so closely pursued I didn't realize how far I was going. Those rebels can climb the mountains like so many wildcats. I'm afraid we'll never clean them out if they take a stand up here."

It was hot, and now Leroy gazed from time to time at the sky. "A storm or something is coming," he said.