THE CAVE GIVES EVIDENCE
For several moments after Pedro had gone out of sight and hearing, the two boys remained crouched behind the box in the subterranean chamber; it had been an alarming experience and they did not recover from it at once and needed time to take a long breath and to get their disturbed senses together. The situation was far more serious for Injun than for Whitey, for there is no doubt that if Pedro had discovered their whereabouts, Injun would have stood a small chance of escaping with his life, unless the boys had taken the initiative and killed or disabled Pedro before he got a chance to wreak his vengeance on the Indian boy.
"Whew!" whispered Whitey. "That was a narrow escape! If he'd seen us, I guess we'd have had to fight!" Injun nodded, but said nothing. He knew full well the danger he had been in.
Pedro would have killed Injun with as little compunction as he would have stepped on a spider, and with far greater satisfaction. It had been largely through Injun's efforts that Pedro had been exposed, and Pedro was not the sort of man that forgot or forgave a debt of this kind. And it is probable that Whitey would have been in a hazardous situation, too.
However, now that this immediate danger was passed, the next thing was to determine what was the best thing to be done. The more Whitey thought it over, the more determined he was to go on with the adventure; he reasoned that if the finding of the burned match had awakened Pedro's suspicions to any great extent, he would have made an immediate search. Whitey knew also that it was getting toward night, and, in all probability, the ranch-hands would be moving about the yard for some time engaged on the evening chores; and that to come from their concealment at this time and attempt to ride away would be more dangerous than to remain until after dark and get away under the cover of the darkness.
"I guess we might as well go ahead and see what there is in here," said Whitey, and Injun offered no objection. "It's more dangerous to go out now than it is to stay," added Whitey.
As long as it was best to stay in the chamber, they might as well explore it and possibly make more definite discoveries.
Accordingly, the boys came cautiously out of their concealment and by the light of an occasional match made their way further into the recesses of the cave under the ranch-house. They found the chamber far more spacious than it had seemed at first, though it varied in width considerably, and there were several angles and turnings.
At one point there was a flight of wooden steps, evidently leading to the ranch-house above, and Whitey knew from his observation of the exterior location, that they must have proceeded under ground for more than a hundred yards. Passing the steps, their noses told them that they were near cattle, and there was also the unmistakable shuffling sound that a number of cattle make when closely confined. Cautiously they felt their way along the wall—the last match had disclosed that they were approaching a turn—and came to a place where the chamber perceptibly broadened again, and by sound and by smell the boys knew that they were close upon the cattle.
It was with a feeling of dismay that Whitey realized that he had but three matches left! And though he had not been wasteful of them, he felt that he had, perhaps, jeopardized their chances of discovery, and even of escape, by a too lavish use of them. It would have been most difficult to make their way back to the entrance. However, it was most necessary to light one here, and Whitey scratched one, taking great care to shield its flame against any draught.