One by one we followed Lewis through the cave opening, crawling through a low passageway that led us gradually downhill. After about 15 feet I butted up against Lewis, who had stopped, causing those behind me ran smack into my backside. John proceeded to let out a couple of first-class cuss words, and Soon Hing muttered something in Chinese that probably wasn’t a compliment either.

“Quiet,” Lewis said, “and someone grab hold of my feet. I think we may be coming to a drop-off.”

I held fast as he moved ahead. He lay prone on the damp cave floor, holding his candle in front of him. There was some room over his head now that he’d laid down, and from behind I could see there was some sort of drop all right. I couldn’t tell how deep it was, but on the other side, it looked like the passage continued at least a short ways.

“Someone find me a rock to drop,” Lewis said. John passed one over to me, and I handed it to Lewis. He held it over the edge and let it fall. It wasn’t but a few seconds later that we heard it crash below.

“Fifty feet,” Soon said almost immediately.

“How’s that?” Lewis asked.

“Hole 50 feet deep,” Soon repeated.

“Now how in the blazes do you know that?” John asked.

“Trust Soon Hing,” Soon said. “He know how long rock takes drop. Fifty feet – no more, no less.”

“If that’s the case, then we’ve got enough rope,” Lewis said.

“ ’Nuff to hang ourselves, if you ask me,” mumbled John.

“What about the passage on the other side?” I asked.

“Probably a dead-end,” Lewis said. “With what little light this candle gives out, it doesn’t look to go on too far. The streambed’s down below us, so that’s where any major passageways will be.”

“Soon Hing tie cord to wall,” Soon said.

He quickly tied a complicate looking knot that connected the long silk rope to a rocky outcropping. Then he pulled it tightly.

“I could’ve done that,” grumbled John.

“What if we need more rope later on?” I asked Lewis.

“We’ll leave it in place and hike along some ways first,” he answered. “Then, if we hit another drop-off, we’ll just have to make a decision at that point. For now, I’d feel safer with our escape route guaranteed.”

With that, Lewis blew out his candle. He slowly lowered himself down the rope, twining his legs around the bottom as he inched his way down one hand over the other. When he had reached bottom, he called for me to follow. I lay on my belly as he had, and peered down into the dark hole below. Beneath me all was silence and darkness until I heard a scraping sound and then saw the glow of Lewis’ candle as he relit it.

“It’s not all that bad down here,” he called up in a harsh whisper. “Fairly level and dry. The stream’s off to my left somewhere.”

One by one, we climbed down. Soon we all stood at the bottom, surrounded by the glow of our candles and waiting for Lewis to decide our next move.

“It seems to be a fairly large chamber,” he said, “and I don’t see any other openings from above. We’d probably be best to track along the stream and see if it leads out of here through a tunnel.”

The stream was easy to find, and we tracked alongside it until it disappeared through a small opening in the wall scarcely two feet high. Lewis bent down and peered into the opening.

“Not a whole lot of room in there,” he said. “It looks like we’ll have to slosh right on through the middle of the stream.”

“Well,” said John, “it ain’t like we haven’t done it before.”

“It won’t be easy to keep these candles lit,” I said.

“We’ll have to lope along using one hand to crawl and the other to hold the candles up,” Lewis said. “I don’t want to chance getting these wicks all wet.”

And so we crawled on into the hole, marking the entrance with the red berry paint that Soon’s men had made up for us. The stream ran on for about 30 feet or so through this tight little passageway, and at one point the ceiling dipped to only about a foot high, making us think at first that we’d finally come to the end of the road. Then the roof expanded gradually until, suddenly, it opened into a room bigger than the first. It didn’t take too long for us to see that the stream flowed into a big pool that occupied one end of this chamber. On the other side there were two small openings, and across from the pool, another black hole in the wall seemed to indicate a third tunnel entrance.

“Now, we’ve got our work cut out for us,” Lewis said. “We don’t know which passage he took, or even if any of them go anywhere.”

“Why don’t we split up and each take one for awhile, then come back and tell the others where it goes,” suggested John.

“No, we need to stick together,” Lewis said. “It might be slower that way, but we can’t afford to lose anybody down here. We’ll just have to start with one hole, come back out if it dead-ends, and try another.”

“Soon Hing agree, and we mark each tunnel as we enter so we no lose ourselves."

“Which one first?” I asked.

“Well, we could start from left to right,” Lewis said. “Or maybe it would make more sense to look for signs of someone passing through one of them.”

A loud cackle of laughter suddenly filled the chamber and echoed around us for a good 10 seconds.

“Do you really think I’m stupid enough to mark the way through this cave?” came a voice from somewhere above us.

“Skeeter Daniels!” Lewis called.

“In the flesh,” the voice called back. “Who wants to know?”

“You can’t get out, Daniels,” I yelled. “The entrance is blocked and we aim to bring you out of here alive.”

“Well, that won’t hardly be possible if you’re dead yourselves, now will it?"

“We ain’t dead yet,” John said, looking around to find the source of the voice.

“No?” Skeeter replied. “Well, you’d be surprised how fast accidents can happen down. The floor can drop out from under you, the passage you’re crawlin’ through can fill with water and rocks can fall on you when you least expect it.”

He had no sooner finished saying these words that we heard a crumbling kind of sound and a waterfall of small boulders cascaded down, narrowly missing Soon. The Chinaman quickly dodged the rocks and debris as they fell, then whispered, "He up there somewhere above and to right of us. Soon see something move up there.”

“How the heck can you see anything?” John whispered. “It’s pitch black up there.”

“This is so,” Soon replied, “but there are different shades of dark, same as shades of light. Soon Hing know difference between dark air and dark rock.”

I didn’t get what he was driving at, but I figured if Soon thought he saw something up there, he probably did.

“Even so,” Lewis whispered, “it doesn’t do much good to know where he is if we don’t know which passage he used to get up there.”

“Whispering, are we?” Skeeter said with a laugh. “Planning perhaps? Scheming against me? Trying to figure where I am and how to climb on up here? Well, you’ll never find the right passage, leastwise not before I’m long gone. What’s more, you ain’t the only idiots who can’t catch up to me. I got a whole damn posse running in circles like a pack of fools, looking for me everywhere ’cept where I am. Now what makes you think you can catch me when they can’t?”

“Because we’re driven by something more than mere retribution for a bank robbery,” Lewis said. “A young girl’s life hangs in the balance, and your miserable hide is the one thing we need to free her.”

“You’re not talkin’ ’bout that little Baldwin gal, now are you?” said Daniels. “Well don’t that just beat all? I can’t hardly believe you’ve followed me all the way across the whole damn country just on account of her.”

“And why’s that so hard to believe?” I asked him angrily.

“Well, I’ll be the first to admit she’s a pretty one, a real charmer in fact,” called Skeeter from his hiding place. “But that little vixen sure as hell ain’t worth traipsin’ all over the country for.”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve,” I said. “Now, why don’t you come on down here and say it to me again – face to face this time.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” said Daniels, “I do believe you’re smitten with the gal, am I right?” His laughter echoed across the emptiness of the cavern’s chamber. “Well, boy, it sure as hell ain’t worth my time to come down and fight with you over that little tart. Oh, sure, she’s got a perky little pair of teats that’s mighty firm and pretty for such a young thing. And the rest of her sizes up pretty nice too. But she’s cold as a block of ice when it comes to rollin’ in the hay. Hell, I couldn’t hardly get nowhere with her without holdin’ her down and smackin’ her ’round a little. Fact is, I decided she was such a nasty little bitch that she might end up hurtin’ someone, so I found her a nice safe place to stay, a place where she couldn’t kick or scratch or bite nobody else. I figure I performed a public service, you might say.”

By now, I was ready to kill and started looking for a way to climb to the ledge up above, somewhere up there in the dark where he was hiding.

“Come on down here where I can see you, you bastard!” I screamed. “I swear I'll kill you!”

“Oh, I don’t think I’ll be coming down any time soon,” said Daniels. “I like it up here just fine. Anyway, it’s gonna be time for me to mosey on out of this little cave any minute now. The rest of you can slither out on your bellies the same way you came in – if you make it that far alive, that is.”

With that, another avalanche of boulders and dirt came crashing down from above, again causing us to jump back out of the way.

“Ain’t there nothin’ we can do?” John asked in a low voice.

“It seems pretty clear he’s got another way out,” Lewis said, his voice equally low. “He wouldn’t be so damned cocky if he didn’t. I’m afraid our only choice is to head back the way we came just as quick as we can and hope we can catch up to him on the outside.”

“Soon Hing’s men can find other entrance snap-snap quick,” Soon whispered. “Then we look for tracks and follow ... catch bad man somewhere in woods.”

“I wish I could be so optimistic,” Lewis said, “but our chances of grabbing him are getting slimmer by the minute. Remember, the sun has set and it’s dark outside by now. We won’t have an easy time of it following any tracks out there. Still, we’ll have to do what we can to stay with him.”

“Tell me one thing,” Lewis called out. assuming you’re still up there, that is.”

“I’m here all right,” Skeeter said. “But not for long.”

“Tell me how you found out about Judge Baldwin in the first place? That he was part of the wagon train, I mean?”

“It ain’t none of your business,” Skeeter said, “but I don’t mind braggin’ on a friend. And it was a true blue friend who let me in on Baldwin’s bein’ with that company. A friend who knew I was after revenge for the way that high-falutin’ judge sent my brother away for 20 years. That ain’t the kind of thing you can forgive someone for.”

“Who was this friend?” I asked. “Was it Henry Wade?”

“Wade?” laughed Skeeter. “Hell, no. That man don’t have enough backbone to go against no judge. Anyway, I only met him a month or so ago. He helped me haul in some horseflesh just once, south of Oakdale. All he wanted was some whiskey money, and after that one job I didn’t see no more of him. No, the fellow I'm talkin’ ’bout was a friend of mine from clear back in Illinois in the ’30s. Reb Stuart’s his name, if you want to know.”

I wasn’t the only one to let out a gasp at that one.

“I ran into him in Wyoming territory,” continued Daniels, “north of Fort Laramie and darn near a year ago, I guess. Seems he wasn’t too keen on the judge himself and he was nice enough to tell me the name of the company he was with.”

“So Reb Stuart got his revenge on the judge the same as Skeeter,” Lewis said in a quiet voice. “That meeting with Daniels must have happened a few days after he and the other Jayhawkers left the Barker Company east of Laramie. After hearing what you told me about your search party for that dead man during your last days along the Platte, my guess is Stuart blamed the judge for all the Jayhawkers being forced to leave the company. It’s also likely he realized that murder charges might have been leveled on him at the fort.”

“So Reb Stuart ran into Daniels somewhere in Wyoming and told him about the judge,” I said. “I should have guessed that a Jayhawker would be involved in this whole thing.”

“And I’ll bet this Daniels shadowed the Hunt Company all the way until the split in trails,” Lewis added, “when we went west and the judge went south. Then Skeeter made tracks for the Apache village where he’d been trading guns, and he started spinning those yarns about Baldwin.”

“Well, I’d love to keep chattin’ with you men," Daniels said, “but it sounds like you’d rather just keep whisperin’ ’mongst yourselves. Anyway, I got me some important appointments and should be headin’ out.”

“Rest assured, Mr. Daniels,” Lewis called, “that we won’t stop looking for you, no matter how long it takes.”

“Then, you’ll die an old man chasin’ shadows,” said Skeeter. “If that’s the way you wanna spend your time, that’s your problem. As for me, I aim to spend my money and enjoy the good life. And nobody’s stoppin’ me from doin’ that ’cause nobody’s takin’ me alive.”

With that, we heard a scrabble of feet over rock. And then it was silent.

“Let’s go,” Lewis said. “We got to get out of here just as fast as we can.”

We backtracked quickly to that first big chamber. There we found the rope still hanging where we’d left it. It had taken us nearly half an hour to get back, and we figured that Daniels probably had a good lead. Soon called up loudly in Chinese to the men above and received a quick response.

“I tell them what happen,” Soon said. “They leave entrance and begin look for Daniels. We climb now, join them looking.”

One by one, we climbed, grabbing the steep walls with our feet or hands whenever possible. It was a slow process, though, and it took several long minutes for all of us to make it up.

“Now,” Lewis said when we’d all made it to the top, “I suggest we split up and ...”

A gunshot rang out somewhere above and to the right of us. Then a second and a third. We threw ourselves into the bramble bushes and scrubby undergrowth lining the little hollow then climbed to the top of the little waterfall. In the dim light of a quarter moon, we followed a trail north and soon began to hear the sound of men and horses. Then we saw the glow of torchlight and, rounding a turn, we came upon a sight I’ll never forget. A crowd of men and horses filled a clearing and had gathered around someone or something we couldn’t make out. Pushing our way through the noisy group of men, we broke through and saw Skeeter Daniels on the ground, lying there with three gunshot wounds to the chest.

The sheriff of Sonora was kneeling over him, rummaging through the dying man’s pockets.

“You better have that goddamned money on you after all this, or I'll shoot you again myself,” the sheriff said.

At last, he pulled a leather packet out of Daniels’ coat pocket and inside was a wad of bills.

“Well, it ain’t all here, not by a long shot,” the sheriff said, rising to his feet. “But it’s a start.”

“Sheriff,” Lewis said, stepping forward, “my friends and I have been chasing this fellow just about as long as you all have, though for a different reason. If I can get him to confess the crime we’re pursuing him for, would you be willing to relate that confession to the sheriff up in Nevada City? It would be more official coming from you.”

The sheriff spit out a wad of tobacco and looked first at Lewis, then over at me, John and little Soon Hing, trying to figure out just who in hell we all were. Then he shrugged his shoulders.

“Hell, I got what I want out of the weasel,” he said. “If you think you can squeeze something else out of him before he kicks the bucket, go ahead and try. I’ll give a listen, but remember Nevada City is Nate Green’s town. If he wants my ’pinion, that’s fine. But if he don’t, then it don’t matter if this here feller up and confesses to shootin’ and eatin’ the whole damn Donner party. Sheriff Green’s purty stubborn.”

“We’ll just have to take that chance,” said Lewis as he kneeled down over the limp form of Skeeter Daniels.

In the flickering light of nearly a dozen torches, we could see that he was bleeding pretty heavy from his wounds. Skeeter’s mouth was dripping some blood too, and his pale green eyes just sort of stared up at the night sky.

“You sure he’s still alive?” John asked.

“Skeeter,” Lewis said, "Skeeter, we need you to tell the sheriff about Becky Baldwin. About how you kidnapped her and took her to Nevada City.”

Daniels rolled his eyes slowly over to Lewis, and seemed to be trying to focus on his face.

“B-Becky?” he said slowly. “Becky ... Baldwin?”

“Yes,” Lewis said, “that’s right. If you’ve never done anything else worthwhile in your life, here’s your chance to say what you know about this girl ... your chance to save her from a life in a place worse than jail, worse than hell.”

Lewis motioned toward the sheriff. “Tell the sheriff,” he said gently, “tell him what you know about Becky.”

Daniels looked over to the Sheriff, then back to Lewis.

A glint of recollection seemed to form in Skeeter’s eyes, and he looked back over to the sheriff, slowly moving his lips as if he was having trouble forming the words. Then, smiling as he spoke, he uttered what would be his dying statement.

“N-never heard of her,” Skeeter Daniels said. “Ain’t never heard of no Becky Baldwin.”

Are you going to finish this in 2009?
You sure left us hanging today!

Just 3 or 4 more chapters to go, Jan! The time just flew over the past year, didn't it! Now I can concentrate on promoting my latest book, "Bretz's Flood" which - by the way - will be available in limited numbers at PNW Costco stores beginning in a week or two! Again, I thank all readers who stuck with this online experiment throughout the past year! Thanks as well to the Spokesman for giving the idea a shot. Hope you all enjoyed it.

Reading Bretz's Flood (xmas gift because I am working on a pilot/demo project in Google Earth for the local chapter of Ice Age Flood Institute) - Good read so far. - saw your profile in back. I live on opposite side of Cheney (place called the "Funny Farm", in valley south of Marshall). Background info at URL above. Am good with many Google products (including Google Earth and SketchUp). Wonder if you would be interested in doing a piece of content on "Bretz's Flood" - that could be viewed in Google Earth?