CHAPTER XIV
A CALL FOR HELP
"Oh! what shall we do, Nick?" cried Peg.
His voice was now quivering with fear. Evidently whatever littlecourage the fellow possessed, or the grit which had caused him to startupon this mission of attempting to discover the cause of the mysteryconnected with Thunder Mountain, had suddenly disappeared.
"Nawthin' 'cept stick it out, I reckons," replied Nick Jennings.
The superstitious cowboy was more or less anxious, himself. Frank,eagerly listening, could tell this from the way in which the fellowspoke. But Nick did not mean to fall into a panic. To try and rushdown the precipitous side of that mountain in the dark would bemadness. And with all his faults Nick was at least smart enough tounderstand what it meant by "jumping from the frying pan into the fire."
Another roar, louder than any that had yet broken forth, interruptedthe excited conversation between the son of the mining millionaire andhis guide. The whole mountain quivered. Bob himself was muchimpressed, and began to wonder more than ever what it could mean.
The noise died away, just as thunder generally does, growing fainter,until silence once more brooded over that wonderful mountain. Thenagain the two crouching lads caught the complaining voice of Peg.Bully that he was under ordinary conditions, he now showed his truecolors. That awful sound, coming from the heart of the rocky mountain,as it seemed, had terrified Peg.
But Frank was not surprised, for he had all along believed that afellow who could lift his hand to strike a small girl must be a cowardat heart, no matter how much he might bluster and brag.
"This is terrible, Nick!" exclaimed Peg. "Can't you think of some waywe might get out of this? Oh! I'd give a thousand dollars right nowif only I was safe down on the plains again! What a fool I was to comehere!"
"Well," drawled Nick, possibly with a touch of real envy in his voice,"I'd like right smart to 'arn that thousand, sure I would, Peg. Buthang me if I kin see how it's agoin' to be done. We can't slide down;walkin's a risky business, and likely to take hours; an' right now Idon't feel any wings asproutin' out of my shoulders, even if you do."
"Oh stop joking, Nick, and talk sense," complained Peg. "We've justgot to do something. Why, the old mountain might take a notion toslide, and carry us along with it."
"I sure hopes not, at least right now," replied Nick, uneasily. "But Ido reckons as how we're agoin' to git that storm afore mornin'."
"But see here, Nick," Peg went on, anxiously; "didn't you noticeanything when you were leading me up here like a lamb to the slaughter?I mean, you ought to have seen whether this side of the old mountainwas more likely to drop off than any other."
"Ye never kin tell nawthin' about such things," returned the cowboy."Reckons all we kin do is to root around, an' see if we might find somesorter cave, where we'd be safe from the rain, if so be she comes artera while."
"A cave!" echoed the other, as though startled. "What under the sun dowe want to get inside the mountain for? Don't you understand that allthat noise is coming _out_ of this old thing? I tell you, I believe itis a volcano, just as they told me, and perhaps she's going to breakloose this very night!"
"Hey! what ye a sayin' that for?" demanded Nick. "Supposin' she iswhat ye tell, that ain't any reason the explosion's got to come thisparticular night, is it? She's kept on a growling for a hundred yearnow, an' nawthin's happened. Reckons it ain't agoin' to come off jestacause we pilgrims happens to be up here."
"But you said we ought to find a cave, and go in, Nick," continued theyouth. "Suppose we do, and the sulphur fumes suffocate us? They mustbe just awful inside the mountain. This is a nice pickle for me to getinto! If I stay out here I'm in danger of being drowned, or swept awayby a landslide; if I go inside there's all the chance in the world thatI'll be soaking in poisonous sulphur gas till I keel over. I'm upagainst it good and hard."
"We're all in the same boat, remember, Peg," declared the cowboy.
"But you knew more about this thing than I did, Nick. Why'd you let mecome? It was all a fool business, and you're most to blame," protestedPeg.
"Aw! let up on that kind of talk, will ye?" growled the cowboy, who washimself losing his respect for his employer, owing to the presence ofthose things which he did not understand, and the nearness of whicharoused his own fears.
"I will, Nick; only get me out of this hole safe and sound, and I giveyou my word I'll pay you that thousand dollars. But where do yousuppose Joe can be all this time? Has he run away, or dropped overinto one of those pits we saw on the way up here? I wish he'd show up.Three would be better than two; and perhaps Joe might have a plan forus to get out of this."
Again did the low grumbling sound begin again, and silenced theconversation between Peg Grant and his cowboy guide, every word ofwhich had come distinctly to the ears of the crouching saddle boys nearby.
The rumble grew rapidly in volume, until once more the whole greatmountain seemed to tremble. Bob was shivering partly from theexcitement, and because he felt a touch of alarm.
But he could not help noticing the actions of his chum. When thethunderous roar was about at its height Frank had thrown himself flaton the ground. Bob could not see what he was doing, but his gropinghand came in contact with the head of his comrade; and he discoveredthat it rested on the ground, with one ear pressed to the rock.
Frank was listening!
He knew how the ground carried sounds more distinctly than the air, andevidently he hoped to discover something concerning the thunder by thismethod of wireless telegraphy.
Then, as the volume of sound gradually decreased, just as a lion's roardies away, Bob discovered that Peg and Nick were undoubtedly movingoff. He supposed that Nick had made up his mind to hunt for anoutcropping ledge, or some friendly opening, where he could besheltered from the storm; and as Peg dared not stay alone, he wascompelled to accompany his guide. The complaining voice of the richman's son could be heard for a minute or so. Then even that ceased.
"They're gone, Frank!" exclaimed Bob.
"Yes, I know it," replied the other, as he arose from his position flaton the rocks. "And Peg is badly rattled, too. Say, I always told youhe lacked real grit, and this proves it. He's scared at that noise.Think of him wanting to fly down to the plain! I reckon he's had aboutall of the exploring he wants. It's 'take me back to my daddy!' nowwith Peg."
"Well," remarked Bob, with a sigh, "I don't blame him so very much,Frank. I tell you what, that noise is enough to give anybody fits.I'm all of a tremble myself, and I'm honest enough to admit it."
"That's all right, Bob," replied his chum, quickly; "but are you readyto give the game up here and now?"
"Who, me?" answered the Kentucky boy, instantly; "well, I should saynot--not by a long sight! No matter what comes, I'm ready to stick itout on this line if it takes all summer!"
"Just what I thought," chuckled Frank. "That's what makes all thedifference between a brave fellow and a coward. Why, to tell you thetruth, Bob, I'm shaking all over right now myself; but it isn't withfear. I'm excited, curious, and worked up; so are you. When you sayyou don't want to back out it tells the story that you're not afraid."
"But it wouldn't make any difference, Frank, seeing that we couldn'tget away from here, even if we wanted to just now," remarked Bob.
"That's so," returned his chum; "just as Nick said; we're here, andwe've just got to stick it out, no matter what comes."
"But do you take any stock in what Peg said about an avalanche?" askedBob.
"Mighty little," Frank replied. "This mountain is made up mostly ofsolid rock. That's what makes lots of people believe in the volcanoidea. A slide would be hard to start here, and it just couldn't carrymuch along with It. Where mountains have sides made up of earth andloose rocks, that happens sometimes."
"I'm glad to hear that," remarked the other. "But there comes anothershake. Whew! feel how she trembles, Frank! Whatever sort of power canit be that makes this noise and
shivering sensation?"
Frank waited until the convulsion had passed before replying.
"I've got a strong suspicion, Bob," He said, finally; "and it'ssomething that came into my mind since _feeling_ the sound, for that'sthe only way I can express it. Now, what does it make you think of,most of all?"
"I did think it was thunder," declared Bob; "but now it seems to me theonly thing I can compare it to is the beating of the terrible billowsagainst the coast away up in Maine, when a fierce northeast storm isblowing. They seemed to make the rocks quiver just as this does now."
If Frank had intended to reply to this remark he was prevented bysomething unexpected that happened just then. This time it was not thefurious roar of the unknown force within the mountain that disturbedhim; but a cry that rang out shrilly.
"Help! Help!"
Bob clutched his companion's arm.
"Something has happened to Peg!" he exclaimed. "Perhaps the guide hasthrown him over, and he's lost, and scared nearly to death!"
But Frank was more accustomed to reading voices in the open than washis chum.
"No, you're wrong there!" he cried, "that's Spanish Joe yelping; and hemust be in a bad hole to call for his companions. Come on, Bob, we'vejust got to see what we can do to help him. Rascal that he is, he'shuman. Follow me!"