LITTLE SNAP, THE POSTBOY

"Looking up with dread expectations of what he was
to witness, the Post Boy reeled back in his saddle."

LITTLE SNAP
THE POSTBOY
OR
Working for Uncle Sam

BY

VICTOR ST. CLAIR

AUTHOR OF

"Cast Away in the Jungle," "From Switch to Lever,"

"For Home and Honor," "Zip, The Acrobat," etc.

PHILADELPHIA

DAVID McKAY, PUBLISHER

610 South Washington Square

Copyright, 1903

By STREET & SMITH

Little Snap, The Postboy

CONTENTS

LITTLE SNAP, THE POSTBOY.

CHAPTER I.
A POSTBOY'S COURAGE.

"Has my letter come to-day?"

The dark bay horse—as fine a specimen of equine beauty and worth as ever came from the famed Blue Grass regions—ridden by the Postboy of the Kanawha, came to a standstill simultaneously with the utterance of the earnest, pleading tone, knowing in its almost human intelligence that its rider would be challenged at this particular spot and the question repeated which had been asked daily without variation for six months.

Little Snap had expected it, and on the watch, had discovered, a quarter of a mile back, a tall, gaunt figure clothed in skins and leaning heavily on a gnarled staff, standing by the wayside, under the shadows of a huge live oak.

An additional wildness was lent to the strange man's figure by the presence of a gray squirrel on either shoulder, while others gamboled at his feet, or ran up and down his lank form.

"Not to-day," replied the postboy, with an unusual softness in his voice; "not to-day, Uncle Solitaire."

"Please excuse me for troubling you, but I felt sure she would send me that letter to-day. I have waited so long. But take this to her, and I am certain that to-morrow I shall get my letter."

Then, as he had done so many times before, he handed the postboy a carefully folded piece of coarse paper, thanked him in a tremulous voice as he took it, to vanish the next moment into the heart of the wilderness hemming in the wild landscape.

"I wonder who he can be," said Little Snap, speaking his thoughts aloud, moved as he always was by the pathos of the meetings in this lonely place. "I would give my quarter's salary to know his life secret; but that is something no one I have ever met knows. It is singular that he should be able to bury himself in these woods so completely as to defy all attempts to find his stopping place. I suppose this paper is as blank as all the others have been."

Though he could not have told the reason for it, he had always unfolded these scraps of paper before throwing them away. He always felt, too, a sort of awed feeling as he gazed on the spotless pages, innocent of conveying any message, unless outside of the power of pen or pencil.

His surprise may be imagined on this occasion, therefore, when he unfolded the sheet to find a few lines of closely written manuscript.

His astonishment increasing, he read:

"Keep your eyes open; step lightly on Eagle's Tracks; fly through the Devil's Wash Bowl!"

The paper contained no signature, and puzzled over its meaning, Little Snap read it several times before he crumpled it in the hollow of his hand.

"Some foolish whim of his," he said to himself. "Come, Jack, we must move faster than we have, or we shan't get to Six Roads until midnight."

As young as he was, Little Snap, whose name, by the way, was Dix Lewis, though he was seldom addressed thus, had been carrying the mail between Upper Loop on the Kanawha and Union Six Roads, at the very base of the backbone of the Alleghany Mountains, for about two years.

The distance between the two isolated towns was nearer forty than thirty miles, but he had never lost a trip yet, and he had never felt in better spirits than on this particular afternoon.

The valley of the Great Kanawha, as the lower section of this "River of the Woods" is called, is one of the most fertile regions to be found in West Virginia; but beginning near the Greenbrier Uplands, the stream finds its course often through rocky gateways. Particularly is this the case where a narrow gorge in the Great Flat Top Mountains allow the water to escape from the rock-bound basin lying between that rugged ridge of earth and Greenbrier Mountain.

The gnarled live oak, with its blasted top, where Little Snap had met Old Solitaire so many times, stood on the west side of the ascent leading to the Narrows, where the road wound over a spur of the mountain, to descend into one of the wildest valleys even the hackneyed landscape of the Old Dominion can show.

For nearly a mile, a natural shelf of rock formed the roadbed, which actually hung out over the chasm of the Kanawha, that found its way along the rocky bottom a hundred feet below.

Just beyond the Narrows in the first stage of the descent was a place called "Eagle's Tracks," where a bolt of lightning or some other work of nature had torn the rocks asunder so as to make the passage more difficult than at any other spot.

As he reached this locality the postboy instinctively looked about him, as if expecting some unseen foe would spring upon him from behind the bowlders piled one on the other.

Almost at his feet lay the rock-rimmed valley known by the grewsome name of "Devil's Wash Bowl."

The ascent on the opposite side was less abrupt, while in the far distance, rising high above all the lesser ranges, loomed the Alleghany Mountains, looking like a mighty wave on the sea of space.

But Little Snap had passed through this rugged scenery too often for his gaze to rest upon it now.

"Pah!" he exclaimed, "I am foolish. Of course, they were but idle words, though it does——"

"Hold up, younker!" suddenly broke in a harsh voice, giving an abrupt ending to his low speech. "We have a word to say to ye."

Simultaneous with the command, two burly figures sprang from behind a big bowlder by the wayside, and while he who spoke leveled a short-barreled shotgun at his head, the second seized hold of Jack's bit.

"What do you mean by? stopping me?" demanded the surprised postboy. "Let go there, Hawk Burrnock, so I can pass on."

"In a minnit, Dix Lewis; don't git onpatient, fer ye hev got time 'nough to git to Six Roads on tick. Ye hev a letter we want."

"Then come along with me and you can get it at the post office."

"We want it here—now!" and the firearm in the man's hand shook ominously.

"But I have no right to open the mail pouch on the road like this. If I am not mistaken, your mail comes to the Hollow Tree. Mr. Shag will let you have it there."

"He won't, younker, 'cos ye air goin' to let us hev it here!"

Little Snap knew the man by sight, but better by reputation as one of the most dangerous men living, and belonging to a gang called "bushbinders."

"I tell you I am not allowed to open the mail anywhere. Come along——"

"Mebbe ye air 'fraid we'll rob it; but to show ye thet we air on th' square, we'll stand back ten feet, while ye git out th' document. It's sent to dad, Bird Burrnock. Kem, don't keep us waitin' till dark. I sw'ar no Dan Shag shall open a letter b'longin' to our family."

"Yas; hurry up," added the other, who was a brother of the first speaker.

Little Snap knew that his situation was a desperate one, and that there was small chance of his getting off without yielding to the ruffians. Still he quickly decided to baffle them if it lay in his power.

How to do that was a difficult question.

"Air ye goin' to do it?" demanded Burrnock, "or shall we hev to take it from ye? 'Pears to me ye oughter thank us fer bein' perlite 'nough to let ye handle the ol' sack."

"I repeat that I cannot do it, as much as I would like to oblige you. It would be against——"

"Bah! ye could do yit ef ye felt like yit. Uncle Sam need never know ye hev tampered with yit, 'less ye air fool 'nough to tell. Kem, once more, an' fer the las' time, I ax ye to hand over dad's letter. Why, it's his'n, an' ye hev no bizness to keep yit."

Little Snap had already formed a plan of action, which, if desperate, was only in keeping with his situation.

He said:

"You say you will stand back ten feet, and will not touch me while I am finding the letter?"

"Ye hev coined my idee, only there's to be no foolin'. Shoot ye, true ez preachin', ef ye show the fust sign o' treachery. D'ye cave?"

"I'll do all I agree, if you will keep your word. As I dismount, you must step back, and upon your knees you must promise you will never tell a living soul I opened that mail pouch."

As Little Snap spoke he slipped from the saddle into the middle of the road, the outlaws at the same time falling back a few feet.

"Rip th' ol' sack open lively, 'cos we an't got enny time to fool 'way," growled Buzzard Burrnock, as he loosened his hold on the bridle.

"You promise never to betray me?" questioned the postboy, putting his hand up to the mail pouch, though not to remove it from its position on faithful Jack's back, but to be sure that it was securely in place.

"We promise," declared the outlawed brothers in the same breath.

"Away, Jack, old boy!" cried Little Snap, sharply, dealing his trained horse a smart blow with the flat of his hand. "On to Greenbrier!"

Then, before the surprised twain could recover enough to prevent him, the gallant Jack leaped forward at the top of his speed, his body swaying to and fro, striking Buzzard Burrnock in such a way as to send him headlong down the abyss yawning on the right side of the road.

Hawk Burrnock uttered a yell of dismay as he witnessed his brother's fate, and saw the horse dash onward down the descending way.

"The fiends take——"

He was raising his gun to fire at Little Snap as he spoke; but, in the midst of his speech and action, the intrepid postboy snatched his revolver from under his jacket, and, springing forward, dealt the outlaw a blow with its butt over the head that caused him to sink to the ground with a groan.

"I didn't like to do it," said Little Snap, as he stood over the prostrate figure, "but he drove me to it. I do not think he is killed. He will soon come around all right. Wonder how Buzz Burrnock has fared," stepping at the same time to the edge of the bluff to look into the depths.

A dark object caught in a thicket of bushes clinging to the side of the chasm twenty or thirty feet below soon resolved itself into the figure of a man.

"He isn't as bad off as he might be," mused Little Snap. "Well, I will leave the precious pair to look after themselves."

The clatter of a horse's hoofs in the Devil's Wash Bowl at that moment told that Jack had reached the foot of the descent and was beginning to climb the opposite heights.

The postboy quickly placed his hand to his lips in such a way as to emit a short, sharp whistle, which rang up and down the valley with a peculiar clearness.

CHAPTER II.
THE MISSING MAIL.

No sooner had Little Snap's shrill note rang on the air than the sound of the hoof strokes suddenly ceased, and a glad whinny answered him.

"Noble Jack!" exclaimed the postboy; "I wouldn't give you for all the horses I ever knew, and I love them all. You are the best friend I have."

"Quickening his pace, he descended into the huge basin denominated the Wash Bowl, meeting Jack, who was retracing his course at the bottom.

"Good Jack!" said the young master, gently, while he patted the head of the faithful steed affectionately. "But we must tarry here no longer. On, my boy, to Greenbrier."

Then Little Snap bounded lightly into the saddle, and, with a hasty glance backward, urged Jack away from the lonely place, half expecting to be attacked by some foe springing from behind the frowning rocks at every moment.

But, to his relief, the ascent was made without molestation, and from the summit he looked down upon the little town of Greenbrier in the valley of the river of that name with a feeling of comparative safety.

The post office at this lively hamlet was managed by a woman by the odd name of Budd Grass, who had received her appointment about the time Little Snap had begun to carry the mail.

The postboy dashed along the crooked street, lined with its rude habitations, until he came in sight of the post office, where he saw the postmistress standing in the doorway, an anxious look upon her handsome features.

She was a woman of about thirty, and had won Little Snap's friendship at the first.

"You are late," she said, by way of greeting. "I began to get anxious about you, for I have heard reports of trouble among the bushbinders, and I was fearful they might molest you. You have had trouble of some kind."

Two or three loafers were in the office, and just outside of the door Little Snap saw a younger brother of the twain he had met so unceremoniously on Eagle's Tracks, so he did not say what he wished.

Instead he said:

"Did you ever know me to run into any trouble I could not get out of, Budd?"

"Not a bit, Dix Lewis," replied the postmistress, taking the pouch and retiring to the little room dignified by the name of "private office."

While she was sorting the mail, Little Snap returned to the side of Jack, and caressing the animal's arched neck, began to talk to it in a way he often did.

In the midst of his affectionate treatment of his loved horse, the postboy felt a hand laid on his shoulder, and, turning, he saw Pewee Burrnock standing by his side.

"Meet Hawk and Buzz up yonder?" asked the bushbinder, tersely, jerking his thumb over his shoulder as he spoke, in the direction of the mountain crossing.

At first thought the postboy was at a loss how to reply, but he quickly decided that it was best to tell the truth if he said anything, so he replied:

"Yes."

"Any trouble?"

"None but what we could settle among ourselves."

"Good. An' here I want to tell yer it'll be best fer ye to be on the square with th' boys. Understand!"

"I think I do. At any rate, I shall try and do my duty, Mr. Burrnock."

A puzzled look came over the swarthy countenance of the bushbinder, as he was not fully satisfied with the postboy's reply, but before he could speak again, Budd Grass appeared upon the scene with the mail bag. As she handed it to Little Snap, she whispered:

"Look sharp! you are threatened with trouble."

Dix Lewis would fain have asked her what she meant, but he could not do so without arousing the attention of Pewee Burrnock, which he did not think advisable to do.

Accordingly, he bade her "good-day," and rode away from the office at a smart canter.

Before leaving Greenbrier, however, he called upon one of the leading citizens, whom he believed he could trust, to give him an account of the attack of the Burrnock brothers, the other listening to his story with amazement.

"By Jones, Dix! I don't like the looks of that. But I don't want to scare you off the route. You may not hear anything more from them. I will see that Rimmon goes up that way to find out if they have taken care of themselves. If there is any further trouble of this kind, let me know."

"Jack leaped forward, his body striking Buzzard Burrnock and
sending him headlong down the side of the abyss."

Thanking Mr. Drayton for his kind words, Little Snap resumed his journey, meeting with no adventure until he reached the next office on his route.

This was no doubt one of the most singular post offices in the country. It was called the Hollow Tree, and there was not a house within sight of the lonely spot.

As Little Snap reined up at the place, a man with a slouching figure, and a sort of hangdog look upon his sunburned features, stepped from a hollow pine to reach for the pouch.

He was Dan Shag, a notorious character in that vicinity, of whom nothing very bad was known, though he was a person of few friends.

This office afforded the mail facility for the inhabitants of "Blazed Acre," an isolated settlement of lawless people, among whom dwelt the bushbinders. The place was three miles and a half back from the post road, and reached only by a bridle path.

"It's purty light to-day," said the postmaster, as he took the mail pouch from the postboy and carried it into the Hollow Tree, that had been fitted up in a rude sort of way with recesses for the few letters and papers making up the intercourse the people of the Blazed Acre had with the outside world.

While Dix waited for Dan Shag to sort the mail, a quartet of ill-looking men, whom he recognized as representatives of the isolated settlement, emerged from the growth surrounding the Hollow Tree and shambled up to the spot.

"Meet th' boys up yonder?" asked the foremost of the newcomers, jerking his thumb over his shoulder after the manner of Pewee Burrnock.

He was Robin, another of the brothers of that name, more repulsive-looking than any of the others, if that were possible.

Little Snap nodded.

"Any trouble?"

Before the postboy could reply, Dan Shag reappeared upon the scene with a startled look upon his face.

"What does this mean, boy?" he demanded, fiercely.

"I don't understand you," replied Little Snap, in surprise.

"Where's the package for Hollow Tree? The letters and things, I mean," he added, seeing Little Snap's look of amazement.

"In the bag with the rest," said the postboy.

"There ain't a dratted thing, an' there's alwus a big bundle o' Wednesdays."

"You must have overlooked it, Dan. I heard Belmont, at the Salt Works, say there was a larger package than common. It must be there."

CHAPTER III.
"I WILL BE BACK."

By this time the loafers about Hollow Tree were thoroughly alive to the situation, and Little Snap imagined that Robin Burrnock was looking on with great satisfaction.

"Of course there was!" exclaimed the excited Shag. "What hev ye done with it, you young scamp?"

"What do you think I have done with it, Mr. Shag?" demanded Little Snap, fearlessly. "If it is not there now, I know no more where it is than you do."

"Say I have taken it, do yer?" cried Shag, fiercely. "Ye shall eat 'em words, boy."

"That's it, Dan!" broke in one of the spectators, a big, red-whiskered bushbinder. "If ye want enny help, call on me.

"Reckon I can handle sich a leetle ginger bub es he," replied the postmaster. "Here's the sack; see if the Hollow Tree package is there fer yerself."

Little Snap was standing by the side of Jack, and about six feet from the entrance to the Hollow Tree. Bidding the horse to remain quiet, he entered the opening, upon the bottom of which lay the mail pouch.

Giving this a kick toward him, Shag returned to his retreat behind a barrier of poles with which the inclosure had been partitioned off.

"It is not here," said Little Snap, when he had hastily examined the small amount of mail matter left in the pouch.

"Then where is it?"

"I do not know."

"I should like to know if it isn't your bizness to know? I shall take the trouble to report yer at headquarters. It isn't th' fust time I have missed letters, though I hev waited to git dead evidence agin' yer afore I blowed.

"Boys, I call on yer to prove thet he 'lows th' Hollow Tree mail ain't here."

"P'raps he's got yit 'bout his duds," ventured Robin Burrnock.

"S'arch him," exclaimed one of the speaker's companions.

The four started forward as if they would carry out the intention.

Little Snap had picked up the sack, and, with it lying across his left arm, stood in the opening answering for a doorway to the "office."

The quartet stopped suddenly in their advance, either lacking the courage to attack the determined boy, or waiting for an order from the postmaster to do so.

"It's no use for us to git mixed up in th' muss," said the latter, directly. "He's under Uncle Sam; but ye can count on me to report him in short meter."

Without replying, Little Snap threw the pouch over Jack's back and fastened it to a ring in the pommel of the saddle. Then, while the five looked on in silence, he sprang into his seat.

"This is only th' beginnin' o' th' end," said Dan Shag, shaking his fist after the departing postboy.

The country, after leaving the Hollow Tree, was less broken, the post road winding through a desolate region, thinly populated, and often lonely in the extreme.

While trying in his mind to solve the mystery of the disappearance of the Hollow Tree mail, Little Snap allowed Jack to take his own gait, until the Greenbrier River had been reached and he had passed over the pole bridge.

"It is hardly possible that Budd Grass dropped it when she sorted the mail at her office, though it is not very likely," he thought. "I will speak to her about it to-morrow. But if she did do that, she has found it before this and sent it on to Hollow Tree. Of course it will come out all right, for I can't see as I am to blame. At any rate, I expect more trouble from those Burrnocks than from the loss of that mail. What can be on foot among the bushbinders? I have it! Perhaps some of them stole the missing mail! But, how?"

Jack quickened his pace, and, naturally light-hearted, his rider was putting the thoughts of his late adventures from his mind, when a sharp voice called upon him to stop, while a wild, elfish-looking figure sprang suddenly into the middle of the road at the imminent risk of being trampled under the feet of the post horse.

"Hello!" exclaimed Little Snap, reining in Jack, with an abruptness which threw the creature back upon its haunches. "What is the trouble? and how is it you throw yourself under my horse's very feet?"

"Oh, mister! father is lost! Jim is gone, too! An' we can't find Fenn. So come with me—quick!"

The speaker was a girl of thirteen or fourteen, who would not have been bad looking had it not been for the coatings of tan and dirt masking her pinched face. She was quite tall for her age, with a slender figure clothed in a gingham gown several sizes too large for her. Her head and feet were bare, except for the thick covering of dirt on the latter and the heavy mat of brown hair on the former.

She was fearfully excited over something, and while she spoke she sawed the air with her long arms in a frantic manner.

"What has happened?" asked the postboy, in genuine alarm.

"Oh, dad and the boys are gone!"

"Gone where? Calm yourself, and then tell me what you want."

"I can't stop. Mebbe they are killing now! They crawled into that dark place, and they ain't never come out. Ye must go with me!" and she caught hold of Little Snap's arms, nearly pulling him from his seat.

I don't understand you. Stop right where you are until you can begin at the beginning and tell me what has happened. Who are you?"

I'm Tag Raggles, and me and my folks have jess come from Little Forks, and was going to the Blazed Acres. We stopped jess ayont here, when, seeing a big, black hole in the ground, dad 'lowed it mought lead somewhere. So he crawled inter it; but he ain't come back! Jim went arter him, and he ain't got back. Fenn, he went arter 'em, and he ain't come back. Marm got scared well nigh to death, and she sent me down here to hail the fust person to go past. You'll come with me, mister?"

"I can't stop. Don't be alarmed about them; they will come back all right in a short time. No doubt they have come before this."

"No, no! Marm and me hollered and hollered, but it weren't any good. I 'lowed I weren't afraid to go in there, but marm, she wouldn't let me. She's erbout crazy. You must go with me. It's only a little way, and you can ride up there on your hoss if you want ter."

As much as he disliked to lose the time, Little Snap felt that it was his duty to go to the assistance of the bereaved family. There could be no deception in the girl's action. She was too much in earnest for that.

"You will go?"

"Yes; lead the way."

Her face brightened, as with a low exclamation of delight, she bounded away from the road along a faintly defined path leading into the depths of the wilderness.

At intervals Little Snap saw the marks of wheel tracks in the sparsely grown sward, and the footprints of oxen's feet occasionally were to be seen.

Presently, when he had begun to think he had gone far enough, they entered a clearing in the growth near to the banks of a small stream, which flowed on toward the Greenbrier.

On the farther side of this valley the postboy discovered a white-topped wagon drawn up in the shadows of the forest, while a short distance away a pair of cattle lazily clipped the long grass.

But he quickly turned from these, as a tall, slatternly-dressed woman of uncertain age advanced swiftly from the base of bluff overlooking the northern side of the opening, saying, in an excited tone:

"Yer found one, Tag. I'm so glad yer hev come, sir. It's a desprit fix we air all in."

Though her explanation was hardly more easily understood than the girl's had been, Little Snap learned that soon after her family had stopped in the valley for a rest in their journey, her husband had discovered the entrance to a cavern, and curious to know where it led, he had crawled into the opening, but did not return.

Growing anxious over his long absence, her oldest boy, man grown, had followed his father, without giving any sign of his fate. In great excitement by this time, the second son had gone after his father and brother, and, like the others, nothing more had been seen or heard of him.

"It is terrible!" moaned the woman, wringing her hands. "They must be dead, and I am left here alone in this wilderness with these three little girls. Isn't there anything you can do?"

Little Snap had begun to examine the mouth of the cave, but as far as he could look in he could only see the rugged walls of the narrow passage leading gradually downward into the earth until lost in the darkness of the underground retreat.

The opening was about two by three feet, and had been concealed by overhanging bushes.

"I thought a bad smell kem from th' place," said the woman. "Perhaps they were stifled by gas. I have heard of sich things."

"Or been eat up by snakes," said Tag Raggles.

Thrusting his head and shoulders into the gloomy recess, Little Snap shouted at the top of his voice to the missing men, but only the hollow echoes of his cries, which seemed to reverberate from a long distance away, answered him.

"Thet ain't enny use, fer I hev hollered till I'm hoarse," declared Mrs. Raggles, the tears coursing down her thin cheeks, while she wrung her hands in the abandon of her grief. "Durst ye go in there, mister?"

"Yes; I am going," replied the postboy, preparing to enter the mysterious place.

"Do be careful," implored Mrs. Raggles. "You won't be gone long, will you?"

"I will be back in a few minutes—if I come at all. I shall——"

Little Snap's speech ended with a startling exclamation.

CHAPTER IV.
WHAT LITTLE SNAP SAW.

Before entering the unknown dangers of the mysterious cave, Little Snap had seen that Jack was standing a short distance away, as complacently as might be.

"If I do not come back, Jack, go on to Daring's Diamond with the mail," he said, speaking as if to a human being.

The intelligent animal pricked up his ears, and answered with a low whinny.

The postboy's body was inside the mouth of the cavern when he had begun the speech to Mrs. Raggles.

It was too dark for him to see more than that the underground pathway descended at an angle of about forty-five degrees. But the moment his feet touched upon this portion of the rock he suddenly found himself slipping down the decline at a rapid rate.

In vain he threw out his hands to stop himself. The surface was like glass, over which he shot with the rapidity of lightning.

He may have uttered a cry at the outset, but the shock was so sudden and thrilling that he was unconscious of it if he did so. His whole attention was centered upon trying to check his fearful momentum.

He was carried onward near to the right wall, and he succeeded in catching upon the rough surface twice during his wild passage.

The first time his hands slipped upon the wet, slimy rock, the mishap seemed to give greater impetus to his descent. Profiting by this failure, he seized upon another projection with a firmer hold, but the rocky knob broke away beneath his weight, and the piece went flying from his bleeding fingers ahead of him on the downward course.

Its collision with the glassy floor caused a dull reverberation to go through the subterranean recesses, quickly followed by a sharp splash of water!

This last sound came from below him, and Little Snap had barely time to understand that an abyss of great depth yawned at his feet before he was upon its very brink.

The warning from the stone came barely in season for him to renew his efforts to catch on the rugged wall, which he did with more vigor than before.

Again he found his hold broken, by the fearful momentum with which he was carried on, but the shock was such that he was lifted up clear from the rock and carried completely over the chasm.

Striking on the very rim of the farther side, he managed to keep from falling backward into the pit by a herculean effort.

The next moment, quite overcome by the ordeal, he sank upon the rock in a sort of stupor. He soon rallied, however, when he tried to penetrate the gloom around him sufficiently to note his surroundings.

Though his eyes grew more accustomed to the blinding gloom in a few minutes, and it was less painful to his gaze, he was unable to see the nearest object with any certainty. Singularly enough, a dull, gray ring lay at his feet.

This he knew marked the abyss which he had so narrowly escaped. The spot was oblong in shape, and about six feet in width by ten or twelve in length.

Not a sound broke the oppressive stillness of the cavern, save a faint murmur borne up from the depths like the gentle plashing of slowly moving water.

By this time Little Snap had come to the conclusion that the unfortunate Raggles, father and sons, had come to an untimely fate by falling into the abyss, having been killed outright by the fall.

With no way to estimate the distance to the bottom of the place, all that seemed possible for him to do was to return to the outside world.

But was this possible for him to do?

He had crossed over the abyss, but how was he to get back? Little Snap, as fertile as he was in resources, for once was baffled.

Finding that there was no chance for him to pass over by clinging to the wall on either side, he concluded to explore the passage beyond, with the hope that he might find some other way of exit.

Slowly and carefully he groped his way along for several yards, finding that the passageway followed a zig-zag course as it penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of the earth.

Its course, however, was no longer downward, but on a comparatively level plane. This gave him additional courage to press on.

The walls had been high enough for him to stand upright soon after passing the entrance.

With but a faint idea of how far he was going from the mouth of the cavern, he pursued the winding passage for what seemed a long time to him, when, suddenly, after turning an abrupt angle, a light flashed in the space ahead.

This caused him to stop with surprise, and he was about to shout for joy, feeling that he had at last found his way to daylight, when his outburst was checked by the sound of a human voice!

Naturally of a cautious disposition, he carefully suppressed all sound, until he should know whom he was to meet in that most unlikely place.

He soon realized that it was not daylight which had sent such a ray of hope to his heart, but the flickering glare of a torch stuck in one of the crevices of the cavern's rocky walls.

The first voice was quickly followed by another, and unable to see the speakers, he crept forward as silently as possible on his hands and knees, until he found himself at the end of the passage, and where it opened out into a large underground room—larger than he could see by the feeble light of the resinous pine knot.

Near the flickering torch, sitting squat upon the rocky floor, he was amazed to behold four men, evidently holding an earnest conversation.

Ordinarily, the postboy would have made his presence known at once, but the words already being spoken by one of the quartet were of such a nature that he checked the salutation upon his lips and listened, with bated breath, to the following dialogue:

"The first person to get out of the way is that postboy."

The speaker was a man above medium height, judging as he sat upon the bottom of the cavern, and he spoke in a deep, guttural tone.

He had small, snakish eyes, and the most prominent feature of his round face was a heavy, reddish mustache. He had the appearance of being a military person.

All of the four were strangers to Little Snap, who was listening intently for the next utterance.

The following speaker was a short, thickset man, with a closely-trimmed gray beard, who said:

"That won't be a big job."

"I ain't so sure o' it," remarked a third, younger than the others, and smaller of stature. "Shag says——"

A warning gesture from the first spokesman caused him to stop with his sentence unfinished.

"No names are allowed to be spoken here," growled he who was evidently leader of the party. "Don't fergit yourself again, man."

"I reckon we air safe 'nough here," retorted the other. "I'll warrant there ain't a soul nearer'n Hollow Tree."

"Never can be too careful; rocks have ears sometimes. I could have sworn I heard a man's voice not ten minutes ago. But it's you we came here to hear talk," nodding his head toward the last person of the quartet, who had remained quiet so far. "What have you learned?"

"Much that is mighty pleasing," replied the last, in a tone which caused the concealed postboy to start with surprise.

"Hark! I thought I heard some move!" exclaimed the chief, half starting to his feet.

"'Pears to me ye air mighty skeery to-day," growled he who had accidentally spoken the name of the postmaster at Hollow Tree.

Little Snap crouched closer to the rock in breathless silence, fearful he had betrayed himself.

When he had become reassured that such was not the case, he scrutinized the fourth speaker more closely, but without discovering a familiar feature. In the midst of his speculative study the man said:

"Yes; everything is working in our favor. I have seen him at Six Roads, and he tells me he will back us in all we undertake. He will look after that end of the route. We have already got at least three of the offices under our thumb. He says he can cook the goose of that upstart who thinks he can run the Kanawha any way he chooses. The governor says for us to keep still until he can carry out a little plan of his, and then——"

"Men get rusty lying around in the damp," said the chief.

"Better get a little rusty than to take too much risk. It's my opinion we can do no better than to wait his move."

"What will the Acreites do while we loll around?"

"Let 'em do what they please; we ain't going to leave a grease spot of them before we get through. I tell you it is the biggest scheme ever afoot since the days of old Burr, and when we have carried out our plans we can snap our fingers at even Uncle Sam."

"That all sounds well, but I ain't so much confidence in that old duffer at Six——Hello! what's up?"

The abrupt appearance of a newcomer upon the fitful scene caused every man of the four to spring to his feet, and instinctively each sought the firearm he carried at his side.

"It is only our guard," said the chief, as he recognized the intruder. "What is up, Blake? Anything wrong?"

"There are strangers in the valley!" replied the newcomer.

CHAPTER V.
CLOSE QUARTERS.

"Have we been found?" asked the four in the same breath.

"Not that I know of. The party that I meant seem to be a family stopped here for a rest, though I could not see anything of the men folks. They may be off gunning."

"If there is no danger, what did you alarm us for?" demanded the chief.

"I ain't through yet," replied the other, doggedly. "There is some one else in the valley besides them. Perhaps he came with them."

"Who is this other? Why don't you pack your ideas up together?"

"I ain't seen the chap himself," continued the man, in his deliberate way, "but the postboy of the Kanawha is somewhere around about these diggings."

Had a thunderbolt fallen among them the men could not have shown greater surprise.

"Where is he?" the four asked, again using the same words.

"I tell you I don't know. His horse is on the other side of the bluff, feeding as quietly as you please. The mail sack in on his back. Perhaps he has throwed his rider."

"Dix Lewis in this region!" exclaimed the chief, ignoring the last statement of the messenger. "There is work for us to do, boys! Come——"

At this juncture, the torch, which, unnoticed by all, had been dying out, flared up for an instant and then went out, leaving the little group enveloped in darkness.

"The furies!" cried one of the men. "Who's got anything to make a light?"

"Follow me!" commanded the chief, "and let the light alone. We must find that boy without any loss of time. His presence here at this——"

Little Snap failed to catch the rest, but he had heard enough to know that he must be active, too. From the sounds, he knew the party were leaving their underground rendezvous.

Aware that it would not do for these men to capture his horse with the mail, his mind was filled with conflicting plans of action. His first impulse was to return the way he had come, but he realized that it would be impossible for him to cross the chasm, even could he scale the slippery ascent beyond. Possibly, if he were coming the opposite way, he might leap the abyss, though that would be extremely doubtful.

Only one avenue of escape seemed open to him, and that was to follow upon the heels of his enemies!

He had not a moment to lose if he did this, and, without further consideration, he glided across the cavern room in the direction taken by the five men.

Guided by the sounds of their advance, while moving as noiselessly as possible himself, Little Snap threaded the circuitous passage, keeping but a few yards behind them.

After a short distance, the way began to ascend by irregular stone steps, to climb which Little Snap had to exercise great caution not to betray his presence. Once, as the party suddenly paused, he found himself within a few feet of the group, but owing to the darkness he was not discovered.

"Hang it!" exclaimed the chief, after a moment's stop, "I have dropped that letter somewhere. I think it must be where we were sitting. Blake, go back and find it; and then keep a watch over the entrance to the cave until we return."

Little Snap held his breath at the sound of this order, and when he heard the man turning back, he felt that he was lost.

Without losing his presence of mind, he shrank back as close to the nearest wall as he could, and silently awaited the approach of the other.

He hadn't long to wait, for the next moment Blake's heavy step told that he was near at hand. Then the postboy felt his bulky form brush against him!

"I shall be glad when we get out of this place!" muttered the man, as he stumbled on past the crouching figure of our hero.

During this time the others were leaving the cavern, and as soon as he dared, Little Snap started forward, feeling now that every moment was of infinite value to him.

A little farther on a streak of daylight struggling into the dismal pathway told that they were approaching the end of the passage.

In fact, the men were already crawling out of the small aperture that afforded an exit from the cave.

As closely as he dared, Little Snap followed after them, and when he could no longer hear their movements he ventured to peer out. As at the other place of entrance, the mouth of the cavern was overgrown with stunted bushes, so as to be well concealed from sight. He found, too, that the spot was nearly twenty-five feet from the ground, it being midway up the side of the bluff.

A small stone rattling down the side of the declivity, passing within a few inches of his head, warned him of the close proximity of his enemies.

It also told him that they had ascended to the top of the cliff. In fact, that seemed the only way of escape from the place, as the rock descended smooth and perpendicular to the bottom.

With greater caution than ever, he noiselessly scaled the ascent in the footsteps of the four men, who were hastening to find him.

As his head came on a level with the top of the rocky heights, he discovered them approaching the opposite side, creeping cautiously toward the edge overlooking the clearing where the Raggles family had camped, and where he had left Jack.

A movement below him at that moment warned him of the return of Blake from his search for the missing letter. Glancing downward, he saw the head of the other appearing in the mouth of the cave!

Little Snap began to realize that he was in close quarters.

To retreat would be to throw himself into the arms of the enemy behind, while it would be even greater madness to ascend to the summit.

No sooner had Little Snap taken a hasty survey of his situation than he decided that by following along the side of the bluff he might reach a place where he could descend in safety to the valley.

With an agility belonging to one of his years, he advanced on the side of the cliff, finding a foothold in some crevice of the ledge or on a bush, and clinging with a tenacious hold to its precarious support.

But he had not gone half a dozen yards before a sharp cry from Blake told that he had been discovered.

"Here he goes!" shouted the excited man, regardless of all caution now.

The cries were answered by a great commotion among those on the summit, and he heard the chief call out some question he did not understand.

"He's climbin' along th' rock!" cried Blake. "Head him off, an' ye hev got him!"

The next instant four heads were thrust over the brink within a rod of where Little Snap was suspended in midair!

"Hold up where you are!" commanded the chief, whose sharp eyes had discovered the fugitive.

Without stopping to reply, the postboy dropped from the bush supporting him in a diagonal direction to another several feet below.

"Don't let him get away!" cried the chief.

"Hold up there, boy, where you are, and we won't hurt you! Stop, or we will end your career at once. We hold your life in our hands."

Little Snap knew enough of the natures of the men menacing his life to feel that he was running no greater risk in trying to get away from them than he would in allowing himself to fall into their power.