"Hold on! That's enough. You nearly brought the whole ceiling down on me. You're right above me, that's sure enough."

"How can I get you out?"

"You'll have to dig a hole--sink a shaft, I suppose, so you can lower a rope through. But be careful how you do it. You'd better wait until morning."

"And leave you there all night--buried in a cave!"

Back came the faint answer:

"I don't mind. This is a big place, and there's plenty of fresh air.

Stand by until morning, and then see what you can do."

This seemed the only advice possible under the circ.u.mstances. The light of the fire was too uncertain to permit of the rescue work going on. It was a dreary night. Occasionally Will called to Jed, who answered, and the younger lad sat by the campfire, which he kept up, anxiously waiting for the dawn. He dozed off toward morning, and awoke with a start to see a streak of light in the east. Then, calling to his imprisoned brother that he was going to begin soon, he brought up his pick and shovel from the packs.

"Stand back as far as you can toward the sides of the cave," advised Will. "I may shake down a lot of dirt. But first, are you sure there's no other way out?"

"I can't see any," was the faint reply, and with that Will set to work.

He located the place where he could hear Jed's voice the plainest, rightly judging that to be the thinnest part of the top of the cave--the earth-crust that held his brother a prisoner. Cautiously he began to dig, using the pick lightly, and slowly shoveling out the dirt he loosened.

As he got down with his shaft he found that the soil was a sort of clay, which was firmer than the loose earth on top, and not so likely to break through with a rush when he had nearly finished his work.

"How are you now, Jed?" he asked when he was down about three feet.

"Pretty fair," was the reply, and the answer was plainly heard, showing that there was not much more earth to be taken out.

"Better go slow now," advised Jed, who could distinguish his brother's tones more audibly now. "Don't you come tumbling down here, or neither of us'll get up. Better get out of the hole now, and punch the rest of the dirt with a long tree branch."

Will concluded that this was good advice, and got out to cut a sort of crowbar, which he fashioned from a sapling, the end of which he chopped quite sharp with a small hatchet. Then, standing on the edge of the hole, he began to jab the pole into the bottom.

"Hold on! You're through!" yelled Jed suddenly. "I can see the end of the pole now."

Will thereupon began to punch it through more cautiously. In a little while he had an opening over a foot in diameter, and he could hear Jed almost as plainly as if he stood beside him.

"Now for your ropes, Will!" cried Jed. "I'm all ready to climb out.

Better fasten one end to a tree, and I'll come up hand-over-hand."

Will did as directed, and soon saw the rope beginning to become taut as Jed put a strain on it.

"Is it going to hold?" asked Jed.

"Yes. Come on."

A little later Jed was out of the cave. Will clasped him in his arms.

"Poor old Jed!" he exclaimed. "You did have a time of it!"

Jed plainly showed the effects of his terrible night. He was pale, and his clothes were covered with dirt. There was also a long cut on his forehead, where a rock had grazed him, and his arms and legs were bruised.

"Come on, I'll get you something to eat, and you can tell me about it after that," said Will, and soon he was handing Jed a cup of hot coffee.

"That cave extended back quite a way under the earth, from the face of rock where we were going to camp. I fell into it, and must have rested on a sort of shelf, until the second landslide came. Then I was rolled right back into the main part of the cavern, and the outlet was closed up. I tell you I was scared there, one spell."

"I should think you would be," commented Will. "But I'm glad it was no worse. Can you travel?"

"I'm afraid not. I think we'll have to rest a bit to-day. I may be able to start late in the afternoon. I'd like to get some sleep. I didn't have any down in that hole."

They spent the best part of the day, after Jed had slept some, in talking over what had happened, and wondering what had become of their pursuers.

"Oh, they'll keep after us," said Jed. "We can't shake 'em off so easily. I think we'd better move our camp away. I don't like this place.

Let's move on a few miles and spend the night there. I think it will be safer."

"Do you think you can travel?"

"Sure. I'm much better now. Let's pack up, get some supper and move our camp."

They did not waste much time over "grub," merely making coffee and eating some bread and cold meat. They were just strapping the packs together again preparatory to fastening them on the backs of the animals, when, from down below them, sounded the footfalls of several horses.

"Some one's coming!" exclaimed Will.

"Maybe it's Gabe," spoke Jed hopefully. "Shall I give a yell?"

"Wait a minute. Perhaps it isn't him. If it is, he has some one with him."

"Probably he's brought some of his friends to help look for us. I suppose we are to blame for all this. Never mind, when he hears what we have to tell him, he'll not scold us. I guess we'd better----"

But the sentence was never finished. At that moment there appeared, coming around the trail, three hors.e.m.e.n. And it needed but a glance to show that they were the same bad men who, early the day before, had retreated after Jed had given his warning whistle.

"Here they are!" cried Con Morton. "We've got 'em now!"

"Not yet!" cried Jed. "Come on, Will! Jump on your horse! The animals are rested and can carry us and the packs!"

With a quick motion he was in the saddle. Will followed his brother's example.

"Now, Pete!" cried Jed to the horse. "Let's see what sort of stuff you're made of!"

"Hold on there!" cried Con Morton, as he saw the two lads were about to escape him.

"Haven't time!" shouted back Jed.

"I want to speak to you!" went on the gambler.

"No, you don't!" said Will to himself. "I know what that means!"

He kicked his heels on his horse's sides, and the good old plow horse increased its pace. Owing to the fact that the steeds of the boys were fresh, and to the circ.u.mstance that the animals of the gamblers had quite a slope to climb, the boys secured a good lead. They did not ride back up the valley, but down it, though they turned into another trail, as it divided just where they had halted for their meal. To get on this trail Morton and his cronies would have to breast a slope, and then swing over to the left. The boys lost sight of them for a moment.

"I wonder why he came back after us?" asked Will.

"Probably they were hanging around. They saw that no one came to join us, and they imagined it was safe to tackle us. But I'm not going to give up."