“Maybe we can get out after dark,” hopefully.
“Mebbe. Lotta mebbes about this deal. We don’t dare go back. Them fellers has got their seats for the big show right now, and we’d shore get punctured quick if we went back to the main fissure. It’s a case of⸺”
Cultus’s eyes had been exploring the fissure above them, and now he craned his neck for a better view. He squinted up that narrow fissure, looking up at the tiny streak of blue sky above them.
“Jane Kelton,” he said seriously, “there’s a way out of here, if you’ve got the nerve to tackle it. See them old niches in the wall? They’re on both sides. This fissure was the old cave dweller’s getaway. Are yuh game to go up the old timer’s stairway?”
Jane studied the precarious ladder, where a misstep would be certain death. High above was the jagged streak of blue, which marked the exit. It seemed a mile away, and the fissure no wider than her hand.
“It’s a chance,” he told her.
She was trembling a little, and her face was white.
“I—I don’t believe I could make it,” she faltered.
“I’d be right under yuh,” he said. “Yuh can lean forward against the end of the fissure. We can take off our boots, and it’s just a case of takin’ it easy and bracin’ against the walls. Them niches ain’t far apart. It’s our best bet, and I’d rather chance it than bullets. If you say so, we’ll stick right here and fight it out; but I’d shore like to have a chance to help Blaze Nolan.”
That settled it. Jane leaned against the wall and began taking off her boots, while Cultus whistled unmusically between his teeth and rolled a cigarette.