CHAPTER XXVIII
TRYING TO ESCAPE
In a whisper so that the two men outside of the cave might not hear him, Jack outlined his plan for escape.
“The bushes on the left of the entrance are very thick and extend outside for ten or fifteen feet. There are also several bushes just in front of the entrance that are a foot or more high. If we can crawl out in snake fashion maybe we can get into those bushes and work our way along until we reach some spot where we shall be out of line of their vision. Then, as soon as we get that far, we can leg it for all we are worth.”
“Gosh, Jack, I hope we can do it!” returned Randy. “Come on, let’s try at once. Those fellows may take it into their heads to come into the cave any time.”
All were more than willing to make the attempt to escape, even though they realized that the men watching them were desperate characters and would not hesitate to use their firearms if they thought it necessary.
The four boys approached the entrance of the cave with caution, dropping flat on their stomachs as they did so. Then, led by Jack, one after another wormed his way along until the bushes screening the opening were reached.
“Now be careful,” warned Jack. “Don’t shake the bushes too much or those men will get suspicious. It may pay to go slow. And don’t make any noise.”
As silently as Indians on a hunt the four boys began to worm their way through the bushes at the side of the cave opening. This was no easy task, for there was always danger of cracking some dry twig or of shaking the tops of the bushes unduly. They could hear the men talking earnestly and even heard Jackson knock out his pipe against a tree.
“As soon as I get my hands on the dough I’m going to light out for Mexico,” they heard Jackson tell Tate. “That’s the safest place to hide.”
“Maybe it is,” they heard Tate answer. “But I don’t like to live among those Greasers. I’ll try my luck up in the Northwest. I don’t think anybody will try to follow me to where I’m going.”
“Do you think the Rovers will come across, Tate?”
“Sure, they will! They’ll pay up to the last dollar! Davenport will make ’em do it!”
“But suppose they balk?”
“Then Davenport will send ’em a finger or an ear. That will surely bring ’em to terms mighty quick.”
“Would he go as far as that?”
“Davenport? You don’t know the man! He’d go a great deal further if he thought it would bring him in any money. That fellow is about as cold-blooded as they make ’em.”
Every one of the boys heard this talk, and it made them feel anything but comfortable. Evidently the scoundrels who had made them captives would stop at nothing to accomplish their ends.
Presently Jack found himself confronted by a big rock that stuck up almost to the top of the bushes. As silently as a cat after a bird, he crawled over this rock, and one after another the others followed. Then came a series of rocks and more brushwood, and at last the four lads found themselves out of sight of Tate and Jackson.
“Which way are you going to head?” questioned Randy when he thought it was safe to speak.
“I don’t know,” was the whispered reply. “The main thing is to get out of reach of those fellows. Come on—don’t lose any time. If they discover our escape they’ll do their best to round us up again.”
Without knowing where they were going, the four boys plunged on through the bushes and over the rough rocks until they came to a narrow trail running along the mountainside.
“I think we’re heading for Sunset Trail,” announced Fred. “And if we are, so much the better.”
“If we see or hear anybody coming jump behind the trees or bushes,” ordered Jack. “We might run into Davenport. They said he had gone off on some sort of an errand.”
The boys pushed on for several hundred feet, and there found that the trail came to an end at a spring of water which gushed forth from between several rocks. Beyond this point was a heavy mass of practically impenetrable forest.
“Doesn’t look as if we could go any farther in this direction,” remarked Andy, his face falling as he gazed around.
“No. I guess we’ve got to go back,” answered the young major.
“Wait a second. I’m going to have a drink,” cried Fred, and bent down to partake of the clear, cool water of the spring.
All were thirsty, and they spent a full minute in refreshing themselves. They were just turning away from the spring when they heard a shout followed presently by three gunshots in rapid succession.
“They’ve discovered our escape and that’s a signal to warn the others!” ejaculated Jack. “Now we’ve got to be careful or they’ll catch us sure.”
How to turn the boys did not know. They could not go ahead, and they did not want to backtrack on the trail for fear of running into some of their enemies. To climb the mountainside was practically impossible, and it looked almost as dangerous to attempt to descend between the uncertain rocks and dense brushwood.
“Well, it’s suicide to stay where we are,” was the way Andy expressed himself.
“Can’t do it,” added his twin.
“Unless I’m mistaken, I can see some sort of a trail below us,” announced Jack. “Look there and tell me if I am right.”
All gazed in the direction indicated and came to the conclusion that there was another and better trail about a hundred yards below them. Then one after another they began the perilous descent between the rocks and bushes.
All went well for a distance of sixty yards. Then Randy slipped and his twin almost immediately followed. Jack was ahead of them, and in a twinkling they took the young major off his feet. Fred made a wild clutch to stop Andy, and as a consequence he, too, began to slide. All of the boys went down with a rush, carrying several small bushes with them. They slid over the rocks and a number of loose stones, and finally brought up in a hollow, some small stones rattling all around them as they did so.
“Wow! Talk about your toboggans!” gasped Randy, when he could speak. “I guess I came down at the rate of half a mile a minute.”
“Anybody hurt?” sang out Jack. He himself had scratched his elbow, his ear and one of his knees.
All of them were scratched and bumped, but not seriously, and they stood up quickly, brushing themselves off and gazing around to find out where they had landed.
“Look!” cried Jack, pointing. “If that isn’t Sunset Trail over there then I miss my guess! What do you say?”
“It sure is! And yonder is Longnose’s cabin,” answered Fred.
“Out of sight! All of you!” came quickly from Randy. “There is Davenport and a couple of others with him!”
One after another the Rover boys tried to hide behind such rocks and bushes as were available. But their movements came to little. They were discovered by one of the men with Davenport, and that individual immediately set up a cry of alarm. Then the men, led by Davenport, came riding toward the spot as rapidly as the condition of the trail permitted.
“Stop where you are!” yelled the man from the oil fields. “Hands up and stop, or it will be the worse for you!”
The boys heard the rascal but paid no attention to his threat. They did their best to lose themselves in some bushes below the spot where they had landed. But the way was rough and uncertain and one after another they took another tumble, to find themselves at last hopelessly tangled up in a mass of brushwood.
“You can’t get away from us, so you might as well give up,” yelled Davenport as he rode as close as the brushwood and rocks would permit. “Come out of there one by one. If you don’t, we’ll use our guns.”
Seeing that all of the men were armed, the boys knew it would be useless to attempt to go farther, and so one by one they came out of the tangle of rocks and brushwood, their clothing torn and their hands bleeding from their rough experience. Fred was the first to emerge, and, telling his companions to “keep all of the rats covered,” Davenport dismounted and caught the youngest Rover by the arm.
“Thought you’d get away, eh?” snorted the oil man, an ugly look crossing his face. “I reckon we let you have too much liberty. After this I’ll see to it that you won’t get a yard from where we place you.”
All of the boys did their best to argue with Davenport, but the oil man would not listen to them, and in the end they were compelled to march along the trail as it wound in and out along the mountainside, at last reaching a camp close to where the cave in which they had been prisoners was located. At the camp they fell in with Tate and Jackson, who had been looking everywhere for the lads.
“How did they get away?” stormed Davenport.
“Don’t know,” answered Tate. “We haven’t made an inspection of the cave yet. They must have crawled through some kind of a hole.”
The cave was entered, and soon the rascals discovered how two of the logs had been pried apart at the top.
“After this we’ll have to guard ’em! That’s all there is to it!” declared Davenport. “Why, if we hadn’t been lucky enough to spot ’em, they’d have gotten away sure.”
“See here, Davenport! what’s the meaning of this, anyway?” questioned Jack, putting on as bold a front as he could.
“Hasn’t your father already told you what I intend to do?” demanded the oil man.
“He told me you demanded a lot of money of him.”
“So I did, Jack Rover. And I intend to get it—a whole lot of money.”
“And I suppose you want some money out of my father too,” put in Fred.
“That’s right!” answered Tate. “If you want to know some of the particulars I’ll tell you. We’re asking fifty thousand dollars for the release of Jack Rover, fifty thousand dollars for the release of Fred Rover and fifty thousand dollars for the release of Andy Rover and Randy Rover. That’s a hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the bunch.”
“Huh! Then you think my two cousins are worth twice as much as my brother and I, eh?” asked the irrepressible Andy, with a faint grin.
“Pah, Andy Rover! Don’t make fun of it!” snarled Davenport. “It’s nothing to laugh at. If you don’t like the price we’ve put on you and your brother we can easily raise it to fifty thousand apiece.”
“That’s the talk!” cried Tate. “Then we’d have fifty thousand dollars more to divide between us,” and he smiled wickedly.
“This high-handed proceeding may get you in hot water, Davenport,” said Jack.
“I’m willing to take the risk. Now that we’ve got you again I’ll see to it personally that you’ll never get back to your folks again until that money is paid.”
“Suppose our folks can’t raise the money?” questioned Fred.
“I happen to know that they can raise it,” answered the oil man. “Your folks are rich. They have made barrels of money out of their transactions in Wall Street and in the West and down in the oil fields. They can pay that hundred and fifty thousand dollars easily enough, and they are going to do it.”
“Have you already made a demand for the money?” asked Randy.
“We have.”
“Well, if they won’t pay it, what then?” questioned Andy.
“Then we’ll put the screws on you boys until you send word to your folks that they’ve got to pay.”
“And if we won’t send word, what then?”
“Oh, you’ll send word all right enough before we get through with you,” replied Davenport suggestively.
Then the boys were hustled back into their prison and additional chains were placed upon the logs. After that a regular guard was stationed at the entrance to the cave, so that another escape would be impossible.