In the Pecos Country Part 23

"Ain't you going to fire?" asked the lad, who could not understand the delay.

"Whisht, now! would ye have me slay me best friend?"

"I don't understand you, Mickey."

"S'pose I'd shot the baste, whatever he is, that would be the end of him; but lave him alone, and he'll show us the way out."

"How can he do that?"

"Don't you obsarve," said the man, who haf got the theory all perfectly arranged in his mind, "that that creature couldn't get into this cave without coming in some way?"

There was no gainsaying such logic as that, but Fred knew that his friend meant more than he said.

"Of course he couldn't get in here without having some way of doing it.

But suppose he took the same means as we did? How is that going to help us?"

But the Irishman was certain that such could not be the case.

"There ain't any wild beasts as big fools as we was. Ye couldn't git 'em to walk into such a hole, any more than ye could git an Irisman to gaze calmly upon a head without hitting it. Ye can make up your mind that there's some way leading into this cavern, which n.o.body knows anything about, excepting this wild creature, and, if we let him alone, he'll go out again, showing us the path."

"I should think if he knew the route some of the Indians would learn it."

"So anybody would think; but the crayther has not given 'em the chance--so how can they larn it? If we play our cards right, me laddy, we're sure to win."

"What kind of an animal is it?"

They were all the time gazing at the point where the eyes were last seen, but the beast was continually s.h.i.+fting its position, so that the orbs were no longer visible. The faint tipping of his feet upon the gravely earth was heard, and now and then the transient flash of his eyes, as he whisked back and forth, was caught, but all vanished again almost as soon as seen. All that could be learned was, that whatever the species of the animal, he owned large eyes, and they were placed close together. Neither of the two were sufficiently acquainted with the peculiarities of the different animals of the West to identify them by any slight peculiarities.

"I don't think he can be an ilephant or a rhinoceros," said Mickey, reflectively, "because such crathurs don't grow in these parts. What about his being a grizzly bear?"

"He can't be that," said Fred, who had been given time to note the special character of the footsteps before he awoke his companion. "He walks too lightly."

"What do you conclude him to be?"

"If there were such things as wild dogs, I would be sure he was one."

"Then I have it; he must be a wolf."

"I guess you're right. He acts just like one--trotting here and there, while his eyes s.h.i.+ne like we used to see them when we were camped on the prairie, and they used to hang round the camp waiting for a chance to get something to eat."

"It's aisy to double him up," said Mickey,who just then caught a glimpse of the eyes again; "but if he'll show the way out of here, I'll make a vow never to shoot another wolf, even if he tries to chaw me head off."

"How are we going to discover the place?"

"Just foller him. He'll hang round a while, very likely all night, and when he finds out there's nothing to make here, he'll trot off agin. All we've got to do is to do the same, and he'll show the way out."

"It don't look so easy to me," said Fred, a few minutes later, while he had been busily turning the scheme over in his mind. "If we only had the daylight to see him, it wouldn't be so hard, but here he is right close to us, and it is only now and then that we can tell where he is."

"Yees are right, for it is n't likely that we can walk right straight out by the way that he does; but we can larn from his movements pretty nearly where the place is, and then we can take a torch and hunt for a day or two, and I don't see how we can miss it."

There seemed to be reason in this, although the lad could not feel as sanguine as did his companion. The wolf, as he believed it to be, was doubtless familiar with every turn of the cave, and, when he was ready to go, was likely to vanish in a twinkling--skurrying away with a speed that would defy pursuit. However, there was a promise, or a possibility, at least, of success, and that certainly was something to be cheerful over, even though the prospect was not brilliant, and Fred was resolved that failure should not come through remissness of his.

The continuation of this absorbing story is ent.i.tled "The Cave in the Mountain."