The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-05-31
CHAPTER XVII.
How = Kings Trooper Became q was-
trel.

How . Kings Trooper Became q Was-
trel.
Dick pressed closer to me. and I could feel
him drinking In deep drafts Of the grateful
outer air.
what new wonder is thisT' he would
ask. with something akin to awe In his
voice; but we must needs erope this way
and that to feel out the answer with our
finger tips.
When the answer was found. the mys-
terry Of the lost trail was solved most SIM
ply. As we made out, We were in q deep
crevice cut crosswise by the stream. which.
issuing from a yawning cavern in the far
Their wall. was quickly engulfed again by
that lower archway we had Just traversed.
In some upheaval OF the earthquake age q
huge slice Of the mountains face had split
off and settled away from the parent cliff
end Of this crevice chasm-that toward the
upland valley-was choked and filled by the
debris of later landslides; but the lower end
was open.
Through this lower md. as we made no
doubt. the powder train had come. turning
from the Indian path in the gorge up the
BED or the barrier stream, turning again
at the outer cavern mouth to squeeze in
single file between the thickly matted under
growth and the cliffs face. and 80 to pass
around the split-on mass and como INTO
the crevice rift
" tuc badIp eyes Oh Ile OH UuuIef, anu
those OF the Catawba as well, had missed
the finding Of this squeezing place where
the cavalcade had left the stream bed we
could never guess; but on the chance that
We might yet need to know all the crooks
and turnings Of this outlet. we felt our way
quite around the masking cliff and down to
the streams edge In the gorge.
That done. We were ready for q farther
advance, and. clambering back into tho
crevice. We once more took the stream for
our guide and were presently deep in the
natural tunnel piercing the mountain prop-
er. This extension Of the su~bterranean wa
terway proved to be q noble cavern. wide
and high enough to pass q loaded vain, az
We determined by tossing pebbles against
the arching roof. None the less, was full
OF crooks and windings; and in the sharp
est elbow OF them all. where We were IKE
to lose our way by laundering into one Of
the many branching ode passages. Richard
stopped me with q hand thrust back.
"Softly!'' he cautioned: "here are their
vsdettesr"
Just beyond the crooking elbow the dull
red glow from a tiny fire gone to Goals
the pass Dick drew his claymore, but he was
chilling again, and the hand that gasped
the great blade was shaking a. with q
palsy. Yet he would mutter, a the teeth
chattering suffered him:
What say you, Jaokf Shah ~ rush
tnemf Inere's taught else for It And
then. with gritting oath: ''oh. damn his
cursed chillingr'
I whispered back that We would wait TIL
no was better ut He vas loath to admit
the necessity, but. a. It CHANGED, the me-
mentay delay saved our lives In that strait.
While We paused, h6gg1ng the shadowp In
the crooking elbow. tho glssmy depths ~
yond the sentries wers suddenly starred
with nartng hambeaux lighting the way for
2 hasdng rabble Of savages; and had We
beer ~entangled in the struggle With the two
handed
As 1t was. we had to make the quickest |
play to save ourselves. In tho same breath
We both remembered the narrow side pas |
sage just behind in which we were nigh to g
losing our way, and into this we plunged, /
Of possible pitfalls. We vyers no
more than safely out of the main corridor |
when the runners. some score Of them, n !
guessed. trooped past our covert IN fun