“What sort of a place is it, and how many ways are there to reach it or to escape from it?”
“It is the most curious place in all these parts, and there is but one way, I ever could find, to get to it; and that is, by climbing up the ledgy shelf of the face of the hill, through a sort of ravine that opens from it down to the lake, where there is scarce room enough, on either side, to pass along the shore between the perpendicular cliffs and the water. It is an old bear’s den, in fact, passing horizontally into the rocks twelve or fifteen feet, of varying breadth, and, after you get in, from three to six feet in height. I have taken at least a half-dozen fine bears from it, in my day, and supposed I was the only one knowing of it; but Gaut must have discovered it before this; for I at once found by his trail that he steered directly for the spot, on leaving the Magalloway.”
“He did?” interposed the trapper; “he find it, when he has been here in the settlement less than a year, and knows little about the woods; and I, who have been here a dozen years, knew nothing about it? He never found it without help, and that, too, from the same character that let him know we were coming to his house, to-day. I tell you, the Old Boy is in that man!”
“Then we will hang him and the Old Boy with one rope,” resumed the hunter, “for we are now sure of him.”
“I hope so,” said the sheriff; “but can he be taken to-night?”
“He might, possibly, if we were willing to run risks enough,” replied the hunter, doubtfully. “But I should hardly think it advisable to make the attempt. He could not be drawn from the cave, if we made the onset; while, if we entered it, he could easily kill several of us before he could be secured.”
“What shall be done, then?”
“I have been studying on that, and the best thing I can think of, is, to post men enough to guard him securely through the night; and then have on force enough in the morning to unburrow him, by some means or other, which we will contrive when the time comes.”
“But will he not come down, to escape in his boat, to-night?”
“I rather expect not. After hearing the noise I made, and, then coupling it with my signal, which he will then be suspicious of, as well as of the sounds that most likely have reached or will reach his ears from some of our boats; after all this, he will, probably, be afraid of falling into a trap, and would prefer taking his chances of escape by daylight. But, if he should come down, I will arrange things so that we will have him, to a dead certainty.”