hands. "I know just
how it is. We'll find him for you!"

CHAPTER XVI

TRAPPED

When Wade first opened his eyes, after he had been stricken senseless,
he was first conscious of his throbbing head, and on seeking the reason
of the pain, was amazed to find his fingers stained with the blood which
matted his hair. With an exclamation he struggled to his feet, still too
dazed to think clearly, but sufficiently aroused to be startled by the
predicament in which he found himself.

He was at the bottom of a rock-walled fissure, about six feet wide by
twenty feet in length. There was no way to climb out of this natural
prison, for its granite sides, fifteen feet in height, were without
crack, projection, or other foothold; indeed, in the light of the
afternoon sun, one _facade_ shone smooth as glass. If he should be left
there without sustenance, he told himself, he might as well be entombed;
then, to his delight, he caught the sound of splashing water. At least,
he would not perish of thirst, for at one end of the rocky chamber a
tiny stream fell down the face of the cliff, to disappear afterward
through a narrow cleft. A draught of the cool water refreshed him
somewhat, and when he had bathed his head as well as he could, he sat
down on the warm sand to think over the situation.

Now that his brain was clearing he felt sure that his capture was the
work of Moran, doubtless planned as a revenge for the events of their
last meeting, although what shape this revenge was to take the cattleman
could not guess. He feared that he would either be shot or left to
starve in this _cul-de-sac_ in the hills. The thought of all that he and
his friends had suffered through Moran lashed the ranchman temporarily
to fury; but that he soon controlled as well as he could, for he found
its only result was to increase the pain in his head, without aiding to
solve the problem of escape. The prospect of getting out of his prison
seemed remote, for one glance at its precipitate walls had shown him
that not even a mountain goat could scale them. Help, if it came at all,
must come through Santry, who could be counted on to arouse the
countryside. The thought of the state the old man must be in worried
Wade; and he was too familiar with the vast number of small canyons and
hidden pockets in the mountains to believe that his friends would soon
find him. Before help could reach him, undoubtedly Moran would show his
hand, in which for the pre