"What makes yer talk that a-way?" asked Bear-Paw.
"I don't know, indeed, but somehow I feel as if there was going to be some fighting around here, before this time to-morrow; and I have a kind of foreordination that you and I will be mixed up in it."
"An' so hev I," replied the old trapper. "An' more nor that, I've er big notion that I'll git killed, and yer won't! But it's time enuf to think on that bime-by. Only ef I should happen ter go under, an' yer don't, I want ye ter promise me yer will take the nigger gal with yer, an' take good care uv her es long she lives. She's ther only friend I hev on airth, an' I'll leave enuf fur ter pervide fur her es long es she lives. What do yer say?"
"That I will accept the trust, and guard her life as I would my own!" replied the scout.
"I knew yer would, and now let's go down."
He fastened one end of the rope round a projecting rock, and let the other fall into the darkness below.
"Does that rope reach to the bottom of the chasm?" asked Kelly.
"No," replied the old trapper, "not more nor half-way. But I've got er pair uv stairs thar what goes ter ther bottom. I'll go first, with the light, then yer kin foller. Yer see ther rope is knotted, so that yer won't hev much trouble in hangin' on—an' boy, jest stick some torch-wood in yer belt, fur it's orful dark down thar."
The old trapper descended the rope with an agility surprising in one so old, and gave the signal for the scout to follow.
He soon found himself standing upon a ledge of rock, about six feet square, from which he could see steps leading down into the darkness below, evidently cut in the soft limestone rock.