CHAPTER XXVIII.
Meanwhile, Fred Godfrey was making the most of his opportunities, and the grass did not grow under his feet.
The distance passed over by himself and friends was so slight, that he was back beneath the cavern within a couple of minutes after bidding them such a hasty good-bye.
No one could have been more alive to the situation than he, who halted directly under the place that had sheltered him and his friends for a brief while, and looked and listened.
"Can it be that they really know nothing of our flight?" he asked himself. "It seems impossible that, after following us and guarding the approaches so closely, such can be the truth."
So it appeared, indeed, and Fred was not without a pang of apprehension that Jake Golcher and his Indians were playing a game, in which they were sure to win.
But it was too late to speculate now, and pausing only a moment, he leaped forward, caught the end of the vine and climbed it hand over hand. His activity and strength enabled him to ascend like a sailor, and a moment later he stood within the cavern that he had left but a short time before.
Nothing was to be gained there, and grasping the support he went on upward.
Such a method of ascent is exhausting, and he was tired, when, at last, he stood on the level ground above.
As circumstances forbade the use of the vine by which he had come up, and by which he must descend again, he began hunting as best he could for another, which he speedily found. This was carefully cut and trimmed, and then he dropped it over the ravine, and in the stillness he plainly heard the rustling as it struck the bottom.