CHAPTER XIV. A CAVERN OF MYSTERY.

Snorting and plunging, White-eye wheeled and dashed off down the hillside. When they had first re-captured him, the two boys had, for greater ease in leading him, fastened the rope through their belts. They were heartily sorry for this now.

As the pony turned and plunged off, they only managed to keep their feet by an effort, and the next instant they were perforce flying down the steep mountain side attached to the leading rope of the frightened pony.

Fortunately, the going was too rough for White-eye to be able to make his full speed, otherwise they might have been dragged off their feet and seriously injured. As it was, their united weight and the rugged hillside both combined[133] to slacken the pony’s runaway gallop and enabled them to keep upright. But even so, they were hauled through brambles and brush, scratching their hands unmercifully and tearing even the stout fabric of their hunting clothes.

It was an extraordinary situation. First came the terrified pony, making every effort to escape from the bear. Behind him, towed at the end of the rope and helpless to relieve the stress of their predicament, came the two boys. Behind them again lumbered the bear, apparently not in any particular hurry, but still getting over the ground uncomfortably fast for those he was pursuing.

The two boys had no opportunity to exchange words as they were remorselessly hastened along. Hardware made an effort to reach his knife, but he was unable to do so and carry out his intention of cutting the rope. Even if he could have done this, their situation would not have been much improved. There would still have remained the bear to be reckoned with, and both boys were so[134] badly flustered that it is doubtful if they could have used their rifles effectively.

Suddenly Harry Ware, who had cast a glance behind him, gave a yell. “He’s coming faster!”

The bear had quit his leisurely rolling canter and was now advancing at a pace that appeared incredibly swift for so cumbrous and awkward an animal. He looked like a flying ball of fur as his short legs flashed under his heavy body.

It seemed inevitable that the chase was to come to a sudden termination. Every instant the frightened boys expected to feel the creature’s great claws pull them down.

But suddenly, something as startling as it was entirely unexpected occurred.

White-eye vanished from view ahead of them.

One instant they had seen him straining and tugging on the rope by which they were being so unwillingly towed along. The next minute the earth appeared to open and swallow him.

Simultaneously both boys were jerked off their[135] feet by a sharp tug on the rope. They felt themselves being rushed forward over the rough ground and yanked through a clump of scratching “scotch-cap” bushes.

A moment later they both gave a shout of terror as they felt themselves falling into a dark hole. Then came a plunge and a sudden bump as they fetched up their career through space by abruptly alighting on something soft and warm.

For a time, so badly shaken were they by their fall and by terror, that neither spoke. Then Persimmons’ voice came through the darkness.

“Rocketing radishes! are you dead, Hardware?”

“No, are you?” came the answer in a quavering voice.

“Not even scratched. But where under the sun are we?”

“At present we are lying on White-eye’s body. Poor brute, I guess he’s dead.”

“But he saved our lives. If he hadn’t fallen[136] first to the bottom of this hole, or whatever it is, we’d have been killed or had our bones broken, sure.”

“Not much doubt of that. But what are we going to do now?”

“Get out of this place.”

“But how? Can you suggest a way? Look up above.”

Peering over the top of the hole, which was some twenty feet above them, was a shaggy head. As he gazed over into the hole down which his prey had so unexpectedly vanished, the bear gave a growl and shook his great head, while his red jaws slavered and dripped.

“Well, this hole in the ground, or cave, or whatever it is, saved us from that bear at any rate,” declared Persimmons.

“Yes; but it looks as if we had got out of the frying pan into the fire,” retorted his companion disgustedly. “Why didn’t we think to use our rifles? We’re a fine pair of hunters, we are.”

[137]

“We couldn’t have used them, anyhow,” was Persimmons’ response.

“Why not?”

“Because, like Mazeppa, we were hitched to a fiery steed, only we trailed along instead of being on his back. Poor beast, he must have been killed instantly by his tumble.”

“I guess so. His head is doubled under his body. His neck must have been broken.”

“Well, this is a fine end to our horse hunt. I guess we’ll have to wait here till they come along and find us.”

“Looks that way,” was the moody reply. “At any rate I’m going to have a shot at the cause of all our trouble.”

“All right, if you miss, give me a chance at him.”

Harry Ware raised his rifle and fired directly at the bear’s head as the great, shaggy creature peered down into the dark hole. His shot was echoed almost simultaneously by a report from[138] Persimmons’ rifle. There was no need for a third.

The great head sank lifelessly and hung limply over the edge of the hole above them.

“Good work!” cried young Simmons. “Now, if we can only get out of here we can bring back a pelt that will astonish them.”

“True enough; but the problem is how to get out.”

“Let’s light up and see what sort of a place we have got into.”

As he spoke Persimmons struck a match from his pocket case and a yellow glow illumined their surroundings. They had fallen into a sort of rift in the hillside with a narrow opening in it through which poor White-eye had plunged, dragging them with him. But the light of the match, even in the brief period it endured, showed them that it would be impossible to clamber out by the way they had so unceremoniously entered. The hole, or rift, was larger at the[139] bottom than the top, and they would have had to be able to walk upside down, like flies on a sloping ceiling, to regain the mouth of the hole.

It was plain that they must find some other means of egress. But how this was to be accomplished was a puzzling question.