Part 3 (2/2)

”Checked!” he muttered, and his face fell It looked as if he would have to go back the way he had coazed about hiht his attention, and, setting down the lantern, he began to pull away first at one and then another

The last turned back, he saw another opening, evidently leading upward

”Thisof stone caught his ears In a twinkle a veritable shower of rocks came down around his head He was knocked flat and al for breath The blood was flowing from a wound on his cheek, and it was a wonder that he had not been killed

”In the future I'll havefirst one stone and then another aside, he sat up The falling of the stones had been followed by so hile hich issued from his lips He was not seriously hurt, and was half inclined to laugh at his predicahihtly about his legs, and not wishi+ng to run the risk of a broken or twisted ankle, the scout worked with care, all the ti if dick Arbuckle was back, and never once drea The rain was soaking through the ceiling of the cavern, and the situation was far froain, and striking a match, he hunted up the lantern and lit it once h to pass through with ease, andhis eyes eagerly for soress to the outer world

Presently he saw a nu doard from the rocks and soil overhead

They were the botto fifteen or twenty feet above

”Not far froht, with considerable satisfaction ”And yet, hangof any sort yet”

On and on he went, until nearly a hundred feet more had been passed

The cave had widened out, but now it narrowed once again to less than a dozen feet The roof, too, sloped doard until it occasionally scraped the crown of his soan to splutter and flare up, showing that the oil in the cup was running low

”If only the thing lasts until I find the door to this confounded prison,” he thought

Suddenly a peculiar hiss sounded out upon the darkness

pawnee Brown knew that hiss only too well, and leaping back he snatched a pistol from his belt

The hiss was followed by a rattle, and now, flashi+ng the light around, the scout saw upon a flat rock the curled-up fore rattlesnake

The eyes of the reptile shone like twin stars, and when pawnee Brown discovered hi ready to strike

The rattler was less than six feet away, and the scout knew that he could cover that space with ease Therefore, whatever was to be done must be done quickly

Like a flash the pistol ca happened

A large drop of water, splashi+ng down froo out

The scout was in the dark with his enemy

More than this, he was boxed up in a narrow place, fro as best he could under the circumstances, he fired