Through his perfect knowledge of the country, Ebony Jim with his party succeeded in making about twenty miles the first day. They then encamped on the edge of a small glade, on three sides of which arose the dark woods, while on the fourth side a tall, jutting rock, some fifty feet high, frowned down on the little glade. At the base of this rock our friends selected their camp, which would not only afford a shelter from the heavy, chilly dew, but a protection from an Indian attack in the rear.
Something like an hour had passed, during which time Willis and Ralph had expressed a wish for a little excitementto keep them awake. In the mean time the practiced eyes of Ebony had espied several dark forms moving to and fro along the edge of the timber, but within its shadow.
That they meant harm the negro knew well enough, and he resolved at once to make them “show their hand.” Saying nothing, he crept out of the camp, and securing good cover awaited the red-skins’ approach. Not long did he wait, however, for soon the head and breast of a red-painted warrior appeared, scanning the glade camp with basilisk eyes. Ebony was on the alert with a novel weapon—a round stone of the size of a hen’s egg. Without noise he threw the stone with wonderful power and precision, striking the savage square in the forehead, and without a groan the Cheyenne fell forward upon his face—a dead man.
“Hi-hi!” the negro chuckled; “guess dat imp’s squaw’ll be waitin’ a good while for her next beatin’.”
Not another savage appeared; and Ebony returned to camp to watch and wait.
Two or three hours passed without any demonstration on the part of the savages, and the watchful whites began to congratulate themselves on their enemies’ having withdrawn, when, suddenly, the whole heavens over them became lit up with the glare of the mid-day sun, and the next moment a great ball of dry, matted pine brush came rolling over the edge of the cliff, wrapped in a sheet of red, hissing flame. It fell at the feet of our friends, lighting up their hiding-place with a blinding glare, and exposing them to the savages’ aim, while to them all was inky gloom beyond the radius of light made by the burning brush.
There was no alternative but to take to the woods.
“Foller dis nigga, boys!” exclaimed Ebony, springing from under the rock and rushing across the opening.
Willis and Ralph did as commanded, and they all would have succeeded in reaching the shelter of the wood safely, but, unfortunately, Ralph stumbled, and before he could gain his feet he was seized by a number of savages that lay in ambush near, and made prisoner.
Ebony and Willis saw their companion captured, but, as they could render no assistance against such fearful odds, they dashed on and made good their escape into the woods.
They could hear the yell of the Indians back at the cliff, and to ascertain what was going on they crept back to a point of observation. They saw the red-skins, a score in number, grouped around the captive under the edge of the cliff, but of course they could not tell what disposition they were going to make of him.
For some time the negro sat in a deep study. Presently he started up with what he considered a “bright idea,” and which he at once communicated to Willis.
Ten minutes later, had the savages under the cliff glanced across the opening, they would have seen the body of their comrade, that was slain by the negro, dragged from the edge of the glade by some invisible power, into the clump of shrubbery some ten feet away. This was done by Ebony fixing the screw of his ramrod in a long pole which he slid along upon the ground until it came in contact with the savage’s body; he then twisted the screw into the dead fellow’s garments and dragged him into the brush—for what purpose will soon be shown.
The savages did not notice the disappearance of their comrade’s body, so intent were they in the council that was being held to determine the fate of their captive. Some were in favor of tomahawking him on the spot, some of burning him, and some one thing and some another. Finally, it was settled that the captive select his own choice of death, from burning, the tomahawk, and jumping from the cliff overhead.
The choice was rather a difficult one. Death by the tomahawk and jumping from the cliff would be instantaneous, while by burning, his chances of being rescued by Ebony and Willis would be prolonged as well as his suffering. And so he took his choice of death by burning at the stake.
The captive’s hands were free, but his legs were bound so tightly that the bonds cut the flesh, and in this manner he was compelled to stand perfectly motionless.
In a moment all hands were busied in erecting a stake in the center of the glade, gathering fuel and making other preparations for the grand torture; and while thus engaged, a voice suddenly rung out on the night air, clear and distinct:
“Seize the rope, Rodman; seize the rope!”
All eyes were involuntarily drawn toward the woods acrossthe moonlit opening, whence the voice had emanated, and at that instant Ralph Rodman, the doomed captive,arose from the ground, floated upward, upward, upward through the air—up along the face of the cliff; and when the savages again turned, they found he had vanished from their midst like mist before the morning sun—gone they knew not where; but, suddenly, a great black object leaped from the edge of the cliff overhead, and falling in their midst crushed half their number to atoms. It was a huge stone, rolled over the cliff by Ebony Jim, who had also saved Ralph by drawing him up with a rope made of the dead Indian’s buck-skin garments, and lowered at the moment that the savages’ attention was drawn toward the woods.
Thus Ebony’s “bright idea” had proved a success. While Willis remained in the woods to draw the attention of the savages, at the same time warn Ralph of their presence, the negro had crept around to the top of the cliff, and at the instant Willis called out he dropped one end of the rope, and as it fell plump on Ralph’s head, he had his friend’s command forcibly and instantly impressed upon his mind, and seizing hold of the rope he was drawn up to the top of the cliff—saved.
Without loss of time they hurried from the place, and two hours’ travel brought them to the mouth of a large cave, where they at once concluded to spend the night.
They ventured to strike a fire now, for they were wet and chilly with the heavy dew. They were just within the mouth of the cavern, and as the fire lighted up the surrounding gloom it revealed the dark opening back into the hill.
Ralph and Willis at once determined to explore the cavern. Ebony remonstrated, but as he could give no reason for his objections, the young adventurers procured a torch and set out, leaving the negro to stand guard at the entrance.
Led on by the increasing wonders and magnificence of the place, they threaded the winding passage for several hundred feet, when they emerged into a wide, capacious chamber.
Here they halted and held the torch above their heads.
“Hist! didn’t you hear footsteps?” exclaimed Willis, suddenly.
“Fudge! no; you’re getting nervous,” returned Ralph, “andimagine you hear the footsteps of ghosts. Come, let us look further, old boy. No superstition—Heavens!”
The last exclamation was caused by a sound in the narrow passage resembling the rolling of a heavy body on trucks. It came from the passage behind them, and filled with no little fear and curiosity, they turned and began to retrace their footsteps.
They had gone but a few steps when they heard the hollow, rumbling noise again, and what was their surprise and horror to see an immense rock slide out from the great wall and completely block their passage.
Ralph raised the torch above his head and turned to Willis, speechless with terror.
At that instant a wild, demoniac laugh of triumph, that seemed to issue from the lips of a legion of fiends, greeted the young men’s ears as it echoed through the hollow chambers of the cavern.
They were entrapped in the den of mountain robbers!
In the meanwhile Ebony Jim, hearing the yells of laughter proceeding from the interior, quickly divined the cause, and knowing that he could be of no assistance to the young men, dashed off at a great speed into the forest.
For several hours he pursued his way, his intention being to hunt up Flick O’Flynn, and daylight found him many miles from the robber’s cave.
He had begun to feel satisfied that he had escaped his white enemies when, as he was passing through a narrow defile, his ear caught the sound of footsteps, and the next instant he saw three dark figures coming directly toward him.
Quick as thought he swung himself upward into the branches of a thick tree, and lying at length upon a large limb, he anxiously awaited the approach of the party.