Part 30 (1/2)
”Certainly--but--but--it's mighty risky, cap'n--so many rebs lurking about.”
”Never mind--I must find Larry, alive or dead. Take me to him, and I'll pay you well for your services.”
”I ain't asking a cent, cap'n--that ain't my style.”
”Then you will take me?”
”I will,” said Boxer, promptly. ”Only I'll have to report first and get official permission.”
”Major Morris will arrange that for you, I feel certain,” answered Ben, turning to the major, who sat near, drinking in the conversation.
”Yes, I'll arrange that,” said the major. ”But I don't see how I am going to do without you, captain.”
”Would you keep me from looking for my brother?”
”No, no, go ahead, and Gilmore can take the company.”
So it was arranged; and inside of quarter of an hour Ben and Boxer were ready to depart.
”Captain, can't I go with ye?” It was Luke Striker who asked the question. The anxious look on his face spoke more eloquently than words, and Ben consented without argument.
And so the three set off on the search for Larry, little dreaming of the strange happenings in store for them.
CHAPTER XXIX
LARRY IS SENTENCED TO BE SHOT
To go back to Larry, at the time mentioned by Dan Leroy, when the boy had been following the old sailor and the scout along the cliff overlooking the valley in which both the Filipino and the American troops were encamped.
The adventures in the swamp had been exceedingly tiring, and the youth could scarcely drag one foot after the other, as the party of three hurried along over rocks and through thickets which at certain points seemed almost impa.s.sible.
”O dear! I'll be glad when this day's tramp comes to an end,” he thought. ”I wonder how far the American camp is from here?”
He tried to look across the valley, but there was a bluish vapor hanging over trees and brush which shut off a larger portion of the view. The party had been walking over a trail which now brought them directly to the edge of the cliff. Here the footpath was scarcely two feet wide, and was backed up by high rocks and thorn bushes, around which it was difficult to climb without injury.
The men were as tired as the boy, and it must be confessed that for a half hour or more they paid little attention to Larry. Gradually the youth lagged behind, until those ahead were lost to view around a sharp turn of the cliff.
And it was then that an accident happened which put Larry in great peril all in an instant. In trying to make the turn, the boy got hold of a slender tree by which to support himself. Leroy and Boxer had grasped the same tree, and their swinging around had loosened its frail hold on the rocks, and as Larry grasped it, down went the sapling over the edge of the cliff, carrying the youth with it.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Down went the sapling over the edge of the cliff.--_Page 281._]
The boy had no time to cry out, and he clung fast, not knowing what else to do, until the tree landed with a mighty crash on the top of another tree at the foot of the cliff. The sudden stoppage caused Larry to loose his hold, and he b.u.mped from limb to limb in the tree below until he struck the ground with a dull thud; and then for the time being he knew no more.
When the boy came to his senses, he found it was night and pitch dark under the thick tree, through the branches of which he had fallen. He rested on a bed of soft moss, and this cus.h.i.+onlike substance had most likely saved him from fatal injury.
His first feeling was one of bewilderment, his next that his left foot felt as if it was on fire, with a shooting pain that ran well up to his knee. Catching hold of the foot, he felt that the ankle was much swollen, and that his shoe-top was ready to burst with the pressure.
Scarcely realizing what he was doing, he loosened the shoe, at which part of the pain left him.
”I suppose I ought to be thankful that I wasn't killed,” he thought, rather dismally. ”I wonder where Leroy and that scout are? I don't suppose it will do any good to call for them. The top of that cliff must be a hundred feet from here.”