CHAPTER XVII
Through a Pair of Dark Glasses
Somewhere, perhaps, beyond the Lake of Darkness, was Long Shadow.
Rick felt certain of it. The Tibetan who lay unconscious at his feet hadbeen going somewhere. He had walked steadily and purposefully, with somedefinite destination in mind. What was more logical than to assume thatthe Tibetan had been heading for the hidden plant where heavy water wasbeing produced?
Once the plant was found, Long Shadow would be found there, also. Evenif he were not there at the moment, he would come. And when he did, Rickintended to do something about it. He had no definite plans. He onlyknew that somehow he would force Long Shadow to unlock the gate to theouter world.
His oars dipped rhythmically as he pulled out into the lake. Theinfrared light was directed toward a jutting edge of limestone on theshore he had just left. He was using the rock formation as a marker sohe could steer a straight course.
He wondered about his friends. Were they lost, too? Or had they managedto keep to the right trail by following the tiny drops of candle wax?The odd tin candleholder explained why there wasn't more wax to follow.The holder caught most, but not all of the drippings.
The rocky shore of the underground lake receded rapidly. Rick stoppedrowing and turned, switching the infrared light toward the direction inwhich he was heading. He could see the opposite shore now, but dimly.Knowing that the infrared light was effective at eight hundred yards, heestimated the lake to be about twelve hundred yards wide. That was overthree-fifths of a mile.
When he shot the light up and down the lake, he saw nothing but theblack water. That meant the lake was more than sixteen hundred yardslong. He turned the light upward and surveyed the ceiling. It wasirregular, varying in height from a dozen feet to over two hundred. Inone place, the ceiling came down to within a few feet of the blackwater.
It was an eerie place. Rick's quick imagination turned him into themythical Charon, who ferried the dead across the River Styx into Hades.He grinned mirthlessly. The limp figure of the Tibetan gave substance tothe picture.
He bent over the man, reaching for his wrist. The pulse was weak butsteady. He had given the Tibetan a healthy belt. There was no sign ofreturning consciousness. But Rick wasn't worried. If he had hurt the manbadly, the pulse would have been thready and unsteady. He would wake uppresently, and his head would feel like a pillow stuffed with rocks, butotherwise he would be all right. Rick knew. He had been knocked outhimself a couple of times.
He resumed rowing, and his steady strokes brought him closer to theopposite shore. He turned to examine it and saw that a rocky ledge rosegradually out of the water. In a short time he felt the boat grindagainst the limestone.
He got out and pulled the craft up on the shore, which was worn smoothby the water. The ledge varied from ten to fifty feet in width. Beyondit, the roof of the cavern came down sharply to form a curving wallbroken in countless places. He could see into the broken places nearesthim. They were the beginnings of more cave labyrinths.
Now that he had reached the opposite shore, what was he to do? Again heleaned over the Tibetan. The man showed no signs of returningconsciousness.
Rick cast his invisible light up and down the shore. Nothing indicatedthat humans ever had been there before him. He realized that the wisestthing would be to wait until his guide returned to consciousness andthen force him to lead the way once more. But he was impatient.Somewhere along the shore there must be signs he could follow.
He pulled the boat up as high as he could, then used strips torn fromthe Tibetan's own clothes to bind and gag him. That done, he picked upthe infrared camera and his rifle and stood a moment in indecision.Which way?
It was a tossup. Finally he decided to keep going in the generaldirection the Tibetan had led him. He paused long enough to inspect hisrifle. After firing, he had failed to lever another cartridge into thechamber. He did so now, then put the hammer on half cock so it couldn'tfire accidentally, and started off.
It was easy going in most places. But now and then he came to a pointwhere the shore ledge narrowed and he had to crawl. Once he skirted anoutcropping by walking in the water, feeling his way carefully so hewouldn't step off a ledge into the depths.
After a while he began to think he hadn't been very smart. He wasgetting exactly nowhere. As far ahead as the infrared beam couldpenetrate, there was nothing but the curving shore. In some places thelake narrowed to a channel less than a hundred feet wide, then itbroadened again until he could no longer see the opposite shore. Hecouldn't guess how far he had walked from the boat. He thought it mustbe at least a quarter mile.
Presently he found a place where a limestone pillar made a comfortableback rest and sat down. He switched off the infrared light, andinstantly all light was blotted out. It was startling, even more so thanwhen he had switched off the flashlight, because the infrared beam gavethe illusion of a sort of gray daylight.
He sat quietly, waiting for some of the weariness to leave his legs, hiseyes closed. After a while he opened them again, more from habit thanwith the intention of seeing anything. He couldn't see even the tip ofhis nose it was so dark. Then suddenly he realized it wasn't as dark ashe had expected!
There was a faint luminous quality that outlined the shore of the lake.He studied the line of demarkation, then guessed that the faintluminosity must come from microscopic plant or animal life that clung tothe rock underwater. Sea water had a phosphorescence sometimes for thesame reason.
His eyes followed the faint line up the shore in the direction he hadbeen traveling. The silver phosphorescence turned a faint yellow. Almostout of the range of his vision the yellow was picked up by the water,like the dimmest moonlight.
He studied it for long minutes, trying to figure out the reason for thephenomenon, then he almost leaped out of his skin. The water wasreflecting the yellow light! It didn't come from the water the way theluminous silver did!
He got to his feet. Reflection meant man-made light!
It was hard to follow the faint yellow light. When he switched on theinfrared, the light vanished completely. When the infrared was off, hecouldn't find his way.
He compromised, going a hundred feet or so with the infrared on, thenturning it off and sitting quietly until his eyes adjusted themselvesand he could see the yellow glow once more. After he did this a fewtimes he could see that the light was growing slightly stronger.
Then, as he progressed, he realized why he couldn't see the source ofthe light. It was around a corner of the rock wall.
After several minutes of alternate walking and waiting he reached thecorner. It dropped sharply into the water, and when he flashed theinfrared down, he saw that the water was black. No shelf here to walkon. He debated for a moment. He could swim around, or he could try tofind another way. There were plenty of cave openings. One of them mightgo through.
He had been lost once, and he didn't intend to let that happen again. Hetore open the packet of emergency rations he had brought, searching forsomething with which to lay a trail.
Inside the waxed container were little cans of food and a packet of hardcrackers. The crackers would do.
But looking at the food reminded him that he hadn't eaten in a longtime. He didn't know if it was hours, or days. He had lost all track oftime. He took the can key and unwound the narrow sealing strip on acontainer of cheese. It tasted wonderful. He devoured every bit of it,including the crumbs left in the can. Then he opened a can of meat andate that, too. He had been sipping at his canteen at various times, butit was still more than half full. He detached the canteen cup and filledit from the lake, tasting it cautiously. The water had a flat taste,like boiled water, but it was all right. He drank deeply, then filledthe canteen.
His hunger and thirst satisfied, he surveyed the various openings aroundhim, then chose the one nearest the corner he wished to get around. Atthe very entrance, he placed the empty cheese tin. Inside the cave, heturned to be sure it was clearly visible, then walked across
to anopening that seemed likely to lead him in the right direction. He placedthe second can at that opening and went into the passage formed by aseries of stalagmite columns. It was a dead end. He returned to the cavewhere he had left the cans, picked up the empty meat can, and triedanother entry.
He was completely calm now. He knew that humans, even though enemies,were not far away. And he was quite sure that his friends were allright. They would take steps to leave a trail so they would not get lostas he had done.
The second passage was better. He wound in and out through the limestoneformations, leaving a trail of broken cracker crumbs. Every now and thenhe turned to see that the trail was plain. He grinned. Hadn't he read astory when he was a kid about some children who had left a trail ofcrumbs only to have the birds eat them?
No danger of that here. No self-respecting bird would get near theplace.
It wasn't long before he ran out of crumbs. Then he tore hishandkerchief into tiny bits and used that. When he reached the end ofthe cloth scraps, he sat down to rest, turning off the infrared lightwhile he carefully shredded a big piece of his shirttail.
As his eyes adjusted themselves to the darkness, he saw the yellow lightagain, only stronger this time! Carefully, his heart beating excitedly,he turned the infrared light in the direction of the yellow glow andswitched it on. Before him was a big opening in the limestone. Hesurveyed the floor carefully and saw that there was nothing over whichto trip. He turned off the infrared light, and, leaving a trail of torncloth behind him, he crawled toward the source of the light.
He came out on the shore of the lake once more. Before him stretched theblack water, the yellow light dancing across its surface. And the sourceof the light was not from candles, but from torches!
Across the water, perhaps a hundred yards away, a half dozen torchesburned, their light lost in the emptiness of the great lake cave. Nearthe torches he could see figures moving and knew with sudden relief thathe had found the enemy camp.
He turned on the infrared light, aiming it at the torches, and throughhis special glasses he saw the scene light up.
Where the torches blazed was a great shelf of rock, stretching backseveral hundred feet to where the rock wall began once more. On theshelf were a dozen men, sitting around a tiny cooking fire much palerthan the torches themselves. They were Tibetans, like the one he hadcaptured.
He saw an odd structure at the water line and after a little studyrealized that it was a barge of some kind, perhaps a floating pier. Ithad odd derricklike wooden ladders on it. There were four of them,perhaps three feet high. Beyond the barge he made out at least twoflat-bottomed boats.
Further back, against the limestone wall, he could see tents or lean-tosmade of some kind of cloth. He couldn't see clearly, but thought thecloth might be felt. This, then, was a permanent camp! The tents must bethere to offer some protection against the cold and dampness.
He inspected the men again. They were all short. None of them could beLong Shadow.
"Now what?" Rick asked himself.
It was certain that Long Shadow would come to the camp sooner or later.It was almost as certain that Scotty, Zircon, and Chahda, if theyfollowed the trail of the wax candles carefully, would arrive sooner orlater at the boat landing to which the Tibetan had led him. Alwaysprovided they hadn't been ambushed. He shivered at the thought. The caveformations would make it easy for the enemy to lie in wait. Then, evenwith their old-fashioned muskets and lack of shooting ability, theycould pick off the little party.
But they wouldn't do it without cost! Scotty was deadly with a rifle.Zircon was a better than average shot.
Rick debated. It was no good to make his presence known. Far better tolie in wait until Long Shadow came. Then, if he could take the camp bysurprise, his rifle would do the rest for him.
But how to take it by surprise?
He scanned the shore around the camp. In several places between him andthe camp shelf, the rock wall came right down to the lake's edge. Unlesshe wanted to search for a way through the caves, he would have to swim.Or use a boat.
Beyond the last sheer place, the camp shelf started. Its edge curved andtwisted for a little distance. If he could get to the starting point, hecould keep undercover easily enough. Then, making his way along thewall, he could probably escape being seen until he was almost at thetents. With luck, a sudden dash would bring him right to the enemywithout being seen first.
That was how he would do it. He would go back and get the boat, then liein wait in this very place until the time came. He withdrew from theentrance, then paused suddenly. The men around the fire were getting totheir feet and walking toward the water. He watched as they peered intothe darkness in the direction he thought of as "down lake." One of themran to a torch, pulled it out of its holder, ran back to the water'sedge, and waved it.
A signal! To whom?
Two of the men were kneeling just beyond the barge, and a moment laterthey proceeded to get into the two flat-bottomed boats he had seen. Whatthey had been doing was untying the boats. He watched as they rowed outonto the black lake.
They must be going after someone!
Rick hurried back the way he had come, following the path of torn cloth,then the broken cracker crumbs. He would have to hurry. The Tibetansmight have gone after Long Shadow!
He retraced his steps at a pace that was half-walking, half-running. Thetrail he had left showed clearly in the infrared light. In a few momentshe came out of the caves onto the lake shore once more, and he saw thesignal that had summoned the boats. A red light was now clearly visible.He thought it was right at the point from which he had pushed off in theTibetan's boat.
A sudden thought struck him. Wouldn't they miss the Tibetan and theboat? He hurried faster. Now and then he stopped to listen, and he couldhear the sound of oars in the water.
It didn't take long to reach his boat. When he leaned over the Tibetan,frightened black eyes peered up at him. He tested the man's bonds. Theywere tight enough to be effective, but not so tight they cut off hiscirculation. He knew the gag was uncomfortable, but he didn't dareremove it. As assurance that he meant no harm, he patted the man on theshoulder. Some of the wild fright went out of the beady eyes.
Working quietly, Rick pushed the boat out into the water. He wasn'tafraid of being seen. Candles or torches didn't cast enough light topenetrate the blackness as the infrared beam did. But he might be heard.He had to be as quiet as possible.
He used only one oar, kneeling in the stern and paddling theflat-bottomed craft like a canoe. The infrared camera, placed on theseat with the beam directed ahead of him, gave him plenty of light tosee. Once in a while he turned the beam around. The two boats weremaking good progress toward the red signal. The beam of the infraredcamera didn't penetrate far enough for him to see what or who was underthe red light.
He rounded the corner that had blocked his way and paddled silentlyalong the rocky wall. The two boats were out of sight now.
Rounding the corner gave him a clear view of the torches, but he knewthe men around them couldn't see him.
The way was longer than he had thought. He paddled in and out of coves,past grottoes in the rocky wall. Then, at last, he saw the little pileof torn cloth he had left on the shore at the end of his cave trail. Hehad put all the cloth not needed for marking trail in one place, notbecause he had been foresighted, but because he hadn't needed it anymore. He was glad now of the accident that marked the right place,otherwise he couldn't have identified it from the rest of the openingsin the wall.
He pulled the boat up to it and anchored it by the rope to a convenientstalagmite. Then he half-lifted, half-dragged the trussed Tibetan intothe cave and out of sight of the lake.
Rick searched the water for some sign of the boats, and thought he heardthem coming. He went back to the Tibetan, took his canteen, unscrewedthe top, and placed it on the rock. Then, kneeling over his captive, hetook the man's throat in one hand. With the other he undid the rag thatheld the gag in place. Pressure of
his fingers warned the Tibetan hewould be strangled if he so much as squeaked. Then Rick pulled the tornrags he had used as a gag from the man's mouth, lifted him to a sittingposition, and held the canteen to his lips with his free hand.
The Tibetan drank greedily. Rick let him rest for a moment, then heldthe canteen again. The man drank his fill, then nodded his thanks. Rickquickly replaced the gag and bound it in place, then used another pieceof cloth torn from the man's clothing to lash one leg to a stalagmite.He didn't want to risk having the man wriggle to the entrance at thewrong time, and sound an alarm.
Rick was exultant. High excitement was rising in him, because he thoughtit was only a matter of time now before Long Shadow would come, even ifhis enemy was not already in one of the boats that were making their wayback to the camp.
He switched out the infrared light, placing the camera on the ground,pointing toward the boat landing. Then he lay down on his stomach, riflethrust out in front of him and handy to his hand. He could wait. Hecould wait days, if necessary. Because once Long Shadow came, he wouldforce him to show the way to the outside, and he would force him tolocate the others.
If Long Shadow refused to co-operate ... Rick's lips tightened. Then atleast he wouldn't be lonesome in the Caves of Fear. His enemy would behis company until the end.