Free The Legend of Red Horse Cavern by Gary Paulsen Page B

and explore some more tomorrow.”
    Sarah put her backpack on one shoulder. She took the light. “I’ll lead the way back to the entrance. If I go too fast for you, holler.”
    Sarah made one last sweep of the room with the light. “It looks like a palace.” She held the light on a big rock. “There’s the throne.”
    Will hobbled over to it and sat down. “How do I look? Would I make a good king?”
    “I don’t know. I was thinking it looked more like a throne for a queen.”
    Will picked up a handful of gravel and tossed it at her. “That’ll be the day.”
    Sarah moved into the small passage where they’d started. “I can see daylight.”
    A deep voice boomed at her. “But not for long, sister.”
    Will swung around. Two burly men were holding guns on them.

C HAPTER 3
    The shorter man had a mustache and wore a brown felt cowboy hat. The bigger one had a wide scar running from his cheek to his neck.
    The short man spoke first. “Take them in the back to one of those bottomless holes we found. Push them over the edge. No one will be the wiser. Don’t fire your gun unless you have to.”
    Will was stunned. These men were serious. They actually intended to kill them.
    “You heard him.” The man with the scarpushed Will and motioned with his gun for them to go ahead of him.
    Sarah bent over. “I just need to tie my shoe.” She came up with two handfuls of thick black dirt and threw it in Scarface’s eyes.
    “Run, Will!”
    Will didn’t hesitate. His leg burned like fire from his wound, but he ran for all he was worth. When he reached the entrance he didn’t slow down. He ran into the forest until he was sure no one was following him.
    The short man grabbed Sarah by her braid. “That was stupid.” He slapped her hard across the face and knocked her to the ground.
    Shorty yelled at Scarface. “Go after him, you idiot. Let him know that if he goes for the cops, we’ll kill the girl.”
    Scarface glared at Sarah. “I owe you one, girlie. I’ll be back.”
    Shorty growled after him, “Don’t come back without that kid.”
    The big man stumbled down the passageand out the cave’s entrance. The bright sunlight blinded him. He searched the ground for Will’s footprints and started tracking him.
    “Come here, sonny. Let’s talk. Listen, I wasn’t really going to hurt you. Shorty just said that to scare you.”
    The big man still had his gun out. He followed Will to a cluster of pine trees and then lost his trail in the pine needles. He wiped his brow with a dirty handkerchief.
    “Come on out, boy. I’m through playing games. We have your girlfriend. She’s not going to look so pretty after a while. If you come out, I’ll let you both go.”
    A rabbit jumped out from behind some brush. The startled man raised his gun and fired. The rabbit fell to the ground.
    Will looked through a crack in the brush. He was crouched down—waiting, hoping. He saw the rabbit fall. The big man walked within two feet of him. Will held his breath.
    “All right, boy. Have it your way. But if you go for the cops, I’ll kill her personally.”
    The man turned and walked away.
    Will didn’t dare come out for fear Scarface might hear something and come back.
    He waited there, hardly breathing for what seemed an eternity. His mind was blank except for one thought …
    Sarah.

C HAPTER 4
    The first edges of darkness came. Will had moved to the shelter of the trees. He sat clutching his knees, thinking.
    Sarah’s mother and his grandfather would be worried by now. They had probably already called the sheriff. The only problem was, no one would know where to look for them.
    What was the smart thing to do? Maybe he should go for help while he had the chance. After all, the police were trained to deal with this sort of thing.
    No. That goon said if he did, they wouldkill Sarah. Where did that leave him? Alone, that’s where. He had to try to save her by himself. But how? It was one thing to pretend he was an Apache