“How do you know it’s six hundred feet?”
“The book — Tombstone Days...”
Helen Walker nodded. “That’s right. But isn’t it possible that part of the shaft caved in and that we didn’t come down all the way?”
“Take a look up,” Johnny suggested. “That opening is six feet square... it looks like a pin point. All right, say it’s the five hundred foot level.”
“That doesn’t make it any easier,” said Helen. “What do you... suppose has happened up above?” Johnny shrugged expressively. “Your guess is as good as mine...”
“That damned Indian!” Sam swore suddenly. “He’s as bad as Cotter. Chewing that rattlesnake this morning should’ve warned me...”
Helen Walker gave Sam Cragg an odd look and took a step closer to Johnny. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Johnny couldn’t help chuckling.
“He hasn’t blown his top,” he assured Helen. “We were... uh... taking a short-cut across the desert this morning and came across an Indian village. They were having a snake dance — and Danny Sage was one of the dancers. He had a rattlesnake in his mouth.”
Helen shuddered.
“He was only trying to get some pictures for Life or Look,” Johnny said.
“That’s what he said,” Sam growled. “I been thinking. That was pretty neat the way he got us away from Old Bill Sage... and why’d he bring us all the way out here?”
“That’s an interesting question, Sam.” Johnny rubbed his chin with the back of his free hand. “Danny’s grandfather knew your great-uncle, Helen. And Old Bill Sage.”
“Rooster Bill!” exclaimed Helen. “I’ve heard Uncle Jim talk about him.”
“Rooster Bill?”
“Because he was always crowing.”
“He’s still crowing,” laughed Johnny. “According to him, Wyatt Earp, Curly Bill and Jim Fargo were a bunch of punks. He used to slap them around something...”
He broke off and suddenly sprang forward. But he was too late. The elevator platform, which had suddenly creaked, sprang up into the shaft. Johnny’s clutching fingers barely scraped the edge of it.
“He’s pulled it up!”
“Who?” cried Helen.
“We’ll know in a few minutes,” said Johnny.
“How?” asked Sam. “If he comes down he can’t operate the thing, can he?”
“No,” frowned Johnny. “The starter’s up above.” He muttered under his breath. “We should have stayed on the platform. Well — maybe not. Joe Cotter may have won upstairs. That wouldn’t be good for us.”
“If Danny won he’ll send the elevator down again for us, won’t he?” Helen’s voice was pregnant with hope.
“Oh, sure,” Johnny said, although he was not nearly as hopeful as was Helen. He turned and looked gloomily down the tunnel leading away from the elevator shaft. The light from the three carbide lamps showed glistening walls, but did not penetrate the tunnel for more than a few feet.
“Call me if the elevator starts down,” Johnny said.
Sam exclaimed, “Where are you going, Johnny?”
“I want to see what’s down here. I won’t go far...”
“I’ll go with you,” Helen volunteered.
“Better wait here.”
“No, I’d rather go with you.”
“I don’t like this place any more than anyone else,” growled Sam Cragg.
“All right,” said Johnny, “we’ll all go exploring. And if the elevator comes down...”
“It’ll wait for us,” said Helen.
“We hope.”
Chapter Sixteen
With the others following, Johnny struck out down the tunnel. It was straight and level for about fifty feet, then made a sharp right turn and dropped at least twenty feet during the next thirty yards. Then it made another turn.
There were tunnels running off at angles every few yards from the main one, but they were smaller and so obviously lesser ones that Johnny had no difficulty in deciding which was the main one and he kept to it.
But after traveling about five minutes they came to a cave-in which blocked the main tunnel. They turned back then to the first side tunnel and saw that it had been used more or less recently.
Johnny stopped. “Maybe we’d better get back to the elevator,” he suggested.
“I been thinkin’ that ever since we started.” Sam agreed, quickly.
Helen Walker shook her head. “Let’s see where this one leads too.”
Johnny hesitated a moment, then turned into the secondary tunnel. It was a winding one and not too well shored up, for every few yards there were heaps of dirt and shale, which had caved in from the ceiling or walls. But they continued on.
Behind Johnny, Sam Cragg suddenly cried out in alarm. Johnny whirled. “Cut it out, Sam!” he exclaimed testily.
“My lamp,” Sam retorted, holding it out toward Johnny. “It’s gone out.”
Johnny winced. He hadn’t noticed that at first. But now he took Sam’s lamp and shook it. There was only a tiny rattle inside. Quickly he opened the lamp and shook a small lump of carbide into his palm.
Helen Walker inhaled softly. Her own lamp was sputtering and the flame was becoming smaller. Johnny leaned over quickly and blew it out.
“I think we better start back,” he announced grimly.
“Yes,” said Helen, quietly. “I don’t think it would be fun wandering around here in the dark.”
Darkness came sooner than Johnny thought, for they had gone less than fifty feet in a backward direction when his own lamp became feeble. He blew it out and in darkness took the small lump of carbide from Sam’s lamp, added to it what remained in Helen’s and put it all in his own lamp. Then he relit the thing. The flame burned brighter. For about two minutes. Then it went out — completely.
“This is it,” Johnny said.
“We ought to be within a few yards of the main tunnel,” Helen said, in the darkness. “Once we hit that we shouldn’t have any trouble.”
“If we hit it,” said Johnny. “There are about a million small tunnels here. We’ll have to stop at every cross-tunnel and feel if it’s the right size... And I guess we’d better keep close together.”
For reply Helen groped for Johnny and found his hand. Then she reached with her other hand for Sam Cragg. Hand in hand, they started again, Helen in the center and Johnny and Sam on each side, and with their free hands groping for the walls. After a moment or two Sam announced a tunnel and they paused to size it up, by feel. The decision as to whether it was a small tunnel or the larger main one, was surprisingly difficult to make, for in the dark size was hard to determine.
But they finally agreed that it was a smaller tunnel and continued on. The next tunnel was a long time in coming. It seemed larger than the previous one and they turned into it. Then came an even larger tunnel — or so it seemed.
Johnny gritted his teeth. “This isn’t right,” he said. “The first tunnel was the one we should have turned into.”
“But it was smaller than this one,” Helen protested.
“Was it? Or did it just seem so? I think we traveled too far before we turned into the last one. If we make one more mistake we’re done for. I think the best thing is to turn back now, while we can still hope to find the last tunnel.”
“But are you sure you can?”
Johnny hesitated. “No,” he said, finally. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re lost now.”
Helen pulled her hand from Johnny’s grip. “Why I ever threw in with you, I don’t know.”
“I was wondering about that myself.”
“Hey!” cried Sam. “Let’s not start fighting now.”
“I’m not fighting,” Helen retorted.