When I came down the stairs, The felt able again; so we started to prospect. We agreed that strikin’ our teeth together would be our signal, and then we made our examination. The right side o’ the tunnel was smooth, the way Nature works, the left side was rough, and indicated man’s doin’s. Aside from us two, the only other one in the tunnel was the boy with the broken neck; but the tunnel opened into a big cave, and we didn’t know what to do about it.
Finally we started around the right hand wall, me crawlin’ first, and The’s fingers touchin’ my boot at every move. After goin’ some distance, a great, straggly gray form rose up from the floor o’ the cave, and gave me a shock which stopped my entire works. I kept my presence o’ mind all right; but I’d ’a’ been mighty glad to swap it off for absence of body. This was a most ghastly lookin’ form, and I nestled up again’ the side o’ the wall, and felt my hand back for The. He crawled up alongside o’ me, and when he spied it, he gave a start which made his teeth click. “What’s that?” he whispered.
It’s funny how the mind works. This form didn’t resemble anything earthly; so I hadn’t really tried to figure on it much; but when The threw his question at me, I looked at the shape more careful, and grew ashamed o’ myself. Here was I, a feller who had spent consid’able time around mines, and yet had got all balled up over seein’ things underground.
“That’s your old friend, daylight, comin’ down through a hole, The,” I whispered so prompt that I doubt if he noticed any gap.
He gave a sniff through his nose, and then we crept on to where this light was comin’ in through the opposite tunnel. It was mighty weak and sickly lookin’ light, but the outline o’ the tunnel mouth soon got perfectly plain to us. Every few inches we stopped to listen; but we got clear to the mouth without hearin’ anything. Then we paused. Just at that time, I’d have given right smart to have had my eyes fastened on like those of a lobster I once saw in a window down at Frisco. This insect had his eyes fixed to the ends o’ fingers which he could stretch out in any direction.
To be honest, I felt some reluctant to push my face around that corner; but when I did there wasn’t a thing in sight. The tunnel stretched ahead of us for what seemed miles, but we couldn’t see the outer openin’, although the light was strong enough to recognize each other by. The was a sight, for the bump on his head had leaked continuous; but it hadn’t disabled him none, so we drew back to consult a little.
If we had known whether they were ahead or behind us, it would have been easy to decide; but under the circumstances, we hardly knew what to do. Bein’ in the dark was one thing; but bein’ out where we could be seen was still another; so we thought full and deep.
After a few minutes I told The a little story about a feller I helped to pick up after he had jumped from a thirty-foot ledge onto a pile o’ stone. “Why did you do it?” sez I. He blinked his eyes at me a time ’r two, hove a long sigh, an’ said: “The’ was a purple dragon in front o’ me, a lot o’ long-legged yaller snakes back o’ me, and the peskiest pink jack-rabbit you ever saw kept swoopin’ into my face an’ peckin’ at my eyes. If I ever drink another drop, I hope it’ll drown me.”
The considered this story careful, an’ then we crawled out into the tunnel, rose to our feet, an’ ran along crouchin’. The tunnel ran upward at a sharp incline, which was why the light came down it so far. We kept to the right wall, and after goin’ some distance, we came across a small cave. In this we found another dead Cross-brander; but we weren’t enough interested in him to risk strikin’ a light; so we sat down a moment to rest and listen.
Presently we noticed some curious noises, but for some minutes we couldn’t decide on what they were. Suddenly The grabbed my wrist an’ said: “That’s shootin’; that’s what that is!”