Young Wild West at Forbidden Pass | Page 9

Snivel nodded his head and exclaimed:
"I reckon everything's all right, boys. Come ahead!"
Then he turned and rode sharply to the left, to what seemed to be a
solid wall of rock.
Reaching out his hand, he grasped a rope that was hidden beneath some
hanging vines.
A sharp pull on this and up rolled a curtain, leaving an opening that
was large enough for a horse and rider to pass through.
The curtain was made of some flexible material and was painted to
imitate the rock that was on either side and above it.
Snivel rode in the opening and his companions followed him.
Once inside they all dismounted, and then Snivel walked over to the
edge of the entrance and lifted a log that was lying there to an almost
upright position, leaning it against a rock.
As he did this the curtain rolled down.
It was a rather simple affair, since the rope that was attached to the top

of the curtain was tied to the log, and when the log was made to drop
the curtain went up.
It would drop just as quickly when released, as there was a weight at
the bottom.
The part of the cave the three men were now in was hardly any wider
than the entrance itself, but it extended back a short distance and then
took a sharp turn to the left.
As they led their horses to this point they came upon a natural
underground apartment that was fully fifty feet long and thirty in width.
Though irregular in shape, it was surely an ideal place for a band of
robbers to hold forth.
The natural ceiling was high, and through the face of the cliff light was
admitted through several zig-zag cracks.
Fully a dozen men were sitting in the cave on boxes and stools or lying
in bunks that were built along two sides of it, and none of them
appeared to be much disturbed by the entrance of the trio.
"Where's Cap?" asked Chuck Snivel, when he had led his horse to a
dark part of the cave and tied it to the long strip of wood that was there
for the purpose.
"He's over to ther store, I reckon," answered one of them. "How did yer
make out in Big Bonanza, Chuck?"
"Putty good, I reckon," was the retort. "Everything would have been all
right if we hadn't met Young Wild West an' his pards there."
"Young Wild West an' his pards!" exclaimed one of the robbers,
jumping to his feet, excitedly.
"Yes, that's what I said. Why, do you know anything about them
galoots, Bob?"

"Do I? Well, I reckon I do! I had ther chance ter see 'em a couple of
times down in Prescott, Arizona. I belonged ter a gang near there,
which got cleaned out by them same three galoots yer jest spoke of. I
got away jest by ther skin of my teeth, an' I was mighty thankful fur it,
yer kin bet! Young Wild West ain't nothin' but a boy, an' neither is one
of his pards. But ther three of 'em makes ther toughest proposition I
ever seen. So they're here, are they? Well, I wish they wasn't, fur it
means bad fur us. I'll bet they'll be lookin' fur us afore many hours!"
"Oh, yes. There ain't no mistake about that part of it. They'll be lookin'
fur us. What do yer s'pose Young Wild West told me as we left Big
Bonanza?"
"I don't know. What was it?"
"He said if we seen any outlaws in Furbidden Pass ter tell 'em that he
was lookin' fur 'em."
Bob shook his head and showed that he felt very uneasy.
"I know how it'll be," he said, half to himself, "We're in fur it now. That
boy has got more lives than a cat, an' when he shoots he kills every
time. He's ther luckiest galoot what ever tried ter do a thing, an' if he
has made up his mind ter clean us out yer kin bet he'll do it!"
"Pshaw!" spoke up one of the others. "That's all foolishness. Jest
because these galoots you're talkin' about happened ter clean out ther
gang you belonged to in Arizony, don't say that they're goin' ter do
anything like that with us. What did I hear yer say--that Young Wild
West is only a boy?"
"That's all he is," Bob answered. "But he kin do more than any man I
ever seen."
"An' there's only three of 'em?"
"Yes."

"An' there's another boy?"
"That's right."
"Well, what is ther third galoot?"
"He's a man--a big, powerful one, with no mercy when he gits after a
crook."
"Oh, he's man, eh?' I thought maybe he might be a woman," and the