“Things happened early in the afternoon, yesterday,” Lenning proceeded. “Those scoundrels left me bound and helpless, and I remained right on the spot where they had dropped me for the rest of that afternoon and all night.”
Lenning shivered, and a light of horror rose in his shifty eyes.
“I’m a coward,” he whispered. “No one can know what I suffered, all through those black hours of the night, lying helpless on the slope of the gulch wall. I yelled and shouted for help, but of course there was no one within miles of me. I was afraid some prowling mountain lion would spring upon me, or a wild cat or—or—I can’t begin to tell you of all the things I was afraid of. And yet I had to lie there all through the night, every minute an hour and every hour an eternity. When dawn came, I began to have a little nerve, and when the sun rose I began to think about trying harder to free myself. It was astonishingly easy, when I once got around to it.”
“How did you do it?” queried Blunt.
“Well, I twisted and rolled up the slope until I reached some of the rocks that had been thrown out by the blast. They had jagged corners, sharp as a knife. I turned on my back and scraped the ropes that bound my hands against the ledge of one of the broken fragments. Pretty soon I had freed my hands. It did not take me long after that to get the ropes off my feet. Then I started for Dolliver’s. I had it in mind to telephone from there to Mr. Bradlaugh, so that he would know why I had been delayed. You see,” and a bitter smile played about Lenning’s lips, “I had a notion Burke might think I had stolen his horse and run away. I didn’t know anything about the stage robbery, although I felt positive Shoup and Geohegan were up to something unlawful, and were going to try and make it appear as though I had a hand in it. The sun was high, the forenoon was more than half gone, and I was in a hurry to reach Dolliver’s and telephone to Mr. Bradlaugh.
“But I was weak as a cat, Merriwell. I had brought a lunch with me from the mine and had eaten it at noon. Of course I had had no supper or breakfast, and the horrors of the night were pretty well calculated to wear me out. It took me some time to get down the cañon, and I was less than halfway to Dolliver’s when I heard a sound of galloping. I thought at once that Shoup and Geohegan were coming back to look after me, and crawled out of sight among the rocks. Then,” and Lenning laughed huskily, “luck began to turn my way.”
“What happened?” asked Frank, absorbed in Lenning’s recital.
“About the strangest thing you could imagine, Chip,” replied Lenning; “something that’s stranger even than what I’ve already told you. Shoup and Geohegan were really coming up the cañon, and each had a bag in front of his horse. They stopped within a stone’s throw of where I was hiding, hid the two bags among the bowlders, and then mounted and rode on as fast as they could. I thought they were going to see what had become of me, but possibly I was mistaken. If they had only gone to the gulch, they would have been back long before this. People say I’m a good schemer. Well, I did some scheming then. First I changed the two bags from where Shoup and Geohegan had left them, then I went on to Dolliver’s and told him what I wanted him to do. He gave me something to eat, and I rushed back here. And here I’ve been ever since, waiting for you to come—and for Shoup and Geohegan to show up.”
“What if Shoup and Geohegan do show up?” asked Blunt.
“We’ll capture them,” answered Lenning fiercely. “The three of us could turn the trick.”