"Get up Kid," Hannibal Heyes said nudging his partner, who was curled up in his bedroll. "We gotta get going."
"Hmm, what for?" Curry slurred sleepily.
"We need to get to Porterville."
"And why do we have to go right this minute?"
"Because I just came back from the telegraph office in town. Remember yesterday, I telegraphed Lom, asking if he had heard anything from the governor?"
"Yeah. Let me guess...he still hasn't decided."
"Well...YES. Lom said he had given him an answer!"
At this statement, Kid sat up quickly. "AND...c'mon Heyes, don't keep me waiting! What'd he say!"
"Lom didn't exactly say what the answer was."
"Wonderful," Kid said sarcastically. "Its probably 'no' and Lom wants us to come up there so he can arrest us."
"No, Lom said it wasn't bad news."
"But he didn't say it was good news either did he?"
"Well...no. BUT, its not bad, so it has to be good, right?"
"Heyes, you're starting to confuse me."
"Let's go Kid."
They arrived in Porterville around noon the next day and rushed into Lom's office. Lom nearly jumped out of his skin as the door flew open. "What's wrong with you two! Somebody after you?"
"Hello to you too Lom," Heyes said. "What did the governor say?"
"Whoa boys, slow down there."
"C'mon Lom, tell us," Kid said impatiently.
"Well, I telegraphed Governor Hale's office the other day."
"Yeah...AND..."
"He sent one back saying he would grant you the amnesty."
"We got it? WE GOT IT!" Both Heyes and Kid started celebrating, giving each other slaps on the back, and even a hug.
"BUT...," Lom had to yell over the private party going on in the middle of his office. This caused both ex-outlaws to look at him.
"But!" they said in unison.
"There's always a but," Kid exhaled miserably.
Lom ignored his comment. "BUT, the governor wants you to come to his office. He said there's one more test you have to pass."
"One more test!" Heyes yelled. "We've practically been living like saints the last three years. What more does he want...blood!"
"Now Heyes, you're overreacting."
"Overreacting! How the..."
"Heyes! Its gonna be fine. I'm sure after all you and the Kid have been through, you'll be able to pass this too."
"Lom, its not..."
"Now you two go settle yourselves in my house. Tomorrow, we take a train to Cheyenne."
After much coaxing, Heyes and Kid left Lom's office. Kid could be heard mumbling something on his way out. "Test! I'd like to give HIM a test..."
"Morgan, come in here."
"Yessir?"
"Did you get that telegraph sent?" Governor Hale of the Territory of Wyoming asked.
"Yessir, and Trevors answered back and said he and those outlaws were on their way."
"Good, good."
"Sir, are you really going to give those two amnesty?"
"Well Morgan, its like this. The last governor of this territory didn't do anything about them other than promise them a pardon. Lom Trevors has sent me a telegraph asking about that amnesty every month since I got into office and I'm tired of it. I'm not going to endanger my political career by giving freedom to two no-good thieves. Now, I'm going to take care of it."
"You mean the test you talked about in the telegraph?"
"Yes, the test. We'll sign some papers, make it all legal so Trevors and those outlaws will be satisfied, then we'll start the test. And the beauty part is, it's a test that they CAN'T POSSIBLY pass! Plus, they'll never be heard from again! So I save my career, get Trevors off my back, AND rid society of two heathens."
"Governor, that's the best idea I've ever heard!" Morgan said, laughing with Governor Hale.
Even though they were closer to getting the amnesty than they ever had been, Kid and Heyes were both surly the next day on the train.
"Will you two cheer up? You're about to get what you've been working for for so long!"
"We know Lom. But it just seems like its always, 'do one more thing and you'll get it'. That gets a little aggravating after a while," Kid said looking out the window.
"Well, look at it this way. You're on your way to Cheyenne. How big a test can it be? You'll both be fine."
"Well, I hope it ain't a math test," Kid said sarcastically.
"I'm glad you can be so positive Lom," Heyes replied cynically. "As for me, I'll believe it when we've got the pardon and leave there free men."
"Read your book Heyes." Lom gave up trying to cheer the two up and went back to reading his newspaper.
Early the next morning, Lom, Heyes, and the Kid found themselves waiting in the Governor's outer office. Heyes was doing his 'nervous' version of pacing.
"Heyes, sit down! You're driving me nuts!"
"Sorry Kid, can't help it. I'm just waiting for something to go wrong, like a bunch of lawmen coming out of that room to arrest us."
Before either Kid or Lom could reply, Morgan came out and showed them in.
"Well well. Hello Sheriff Trevors. And you must be Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry. I've waited a long time to meet you two," Governor Hale said smirking.
"Hello Governor," all three said at different intervals.
"We've been waiting a long time for this," Heyes smiled, offering his hand in greeting.
Governor Hale ignored it and stood up. "Please, sit down."
Heyes withdrew his hand and gave a nervous glance at Kid.
The Governor continued, as he looked out his window. "I guess you know why you're here today, so let's just get down to business." He turned back to face the three. "I have here in front of me amnesty papers for you Mr. Heyes and Mr. Curry. We shall all put our signatures on them here in a minute. But there is one stipulation. I take it Sheriff Trevors informed you there would be one more test for you to pass to make it official."
"Yessir, he told us about that," Kid answered with just a touch of aggravation to his voice. Heyes nudged him gently.
Governor Hale went on. "You see, I want you two to have to earn your freedom, and not just by living straight for a said amount of time. So, this test is just that. It's a form of 'earning' freedom."
"I don't like where this is going," Heyes whispered to Lom. Lom just slightly shook his head no.
"I figured if you pass this one last test, well then, it must be meant for you to be free men."
"Exactly what is the test sir?" Heyes finally asked, tired of the charade.
"Well, its like this. My men are going to drop you off at a location. If you can find your way back to civilization, you've got the amnesty."
"And where might this location be?" Kid asked.
"Now, I can't tell you that. I can't have you studying up on how to get out of the place. All I can tell you is, its in Kentucky."
"Kentucky!" all three said at once.
"That's right gentlemen. As soon as this meeting is over, my men will be taking you to the location in Kentucky. You MUST do this in order to be pardoned."
"Whatever you say Governor," Heyes said through gritted teeth, but keeping his poker face.
"Now, we'll all sign these papers saying as soon as you get back, the amnesty is yours. You can read over them if you like."
Heyes reached forward to get the papers. After a few minutes, he glanced once more at Kid, they had a silent conversation, and he put the papers back on the desk.
"Alright Governor. You have a deal."
"Good, good! Now, you will sign here Sheriff Trevors, as a witness. And you Mr. Heyes, sign here, and Mr. Curry here." They all signed in their respective places. "And now I sign here, and its all done!"
Heyes and Kid looked at each other and let out the breath they'd both been holding.
"Alright gentlemen, if you'll follow me, we'll get you on your way. Sheriff Trevors, Morgan will show you out."
"Good luck fellas," Lom said on his way out the door.
"Thanks Lom," they both replied. Following the Governor, they went into another room where three men were waiting.
"Gentlemen, let me introduce Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry." The men all nodded in acknowledgement. "Your train will be leaving within the hour. And, as Sheriff Trevors said, good luck!" The men led Heyes and Curry out into the morning sun. "You're going to need it!" the Governor laughed after they had departed.
Two days later, the group had reached Louisville, Kentucky. They arrived in the evening. The setting sun over the Ohio river cast an eerie red glow on the travelers as they reached their hotel.
"Alright you two. Get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow we board a stagecoach for the final leg of the trip," Walters, the man in charge said with a smile that made Heyes and Curry uneasy. He left the two in the lobby to go to his room.
The two looked at each other. "Wanna go get a drink?" Kid finally asked.
"Yeah, I think I do," Heyes said already headed for the door.
The next morning, they all boarded the coach. "Can't you even give us a hint as to where we're going?" Heyes prodded for any information he could get.
"Sorry, the governor swore us to secrecy," Walters smiled slyly.
They rode about two hours. Right before they reached Cave City, Walters looked at his other two men and nodded. Both men, simultaneously, turned away from Heyes and Kid's line of sight, took a small bottle out of their pockets and poured some of the contents on a handkerchief. They then turned and, before the two ex-outlaws could protest, covered their faces with the cloths. In a few fighting seconds, Heyes and Kid were both out cold.
"Good work gentlemen," Walters said pleased. "Now, let's get these two to a place where even Hannibal Heyes can't escape from!"
It was dark. Extremely dark. Kid moaned as the ether finally wore off. He was sure he had opened his eyes, but he couldn't see anything, not even the outline of his hand. "Heyes!" he called out. "Heyes, I don't know what they did, but I can't see!" Kid felt around the ground he was now sitting on. It was cold and sandy. Why was it cold? It had been hot outside. And wasn't it daylight when they were on the stagecoach? How long had they been out? "Heyes! Where are you?" He kept feeling around and finally to his left, felt a body. He started shaking it. "Heyes?"
Finally coming to, Heyes groggily answered, "Yeah Kid?" Heyes opened his eyes. He too, saw only infinite blackness. "Kid, I don't want to alarm you, but I can't see!"
"I can't either Heyes! What did they do to us?"
"I don't know. Where are we?"
"I have no idea. I remember being on the stage, then waking up here."
Heyes sat up and felt around the ground the same as Kid had done. "Its cold here. We're inside something. Our voices are echoing." Heyes' hand suddenly hit something by his left leg. Feeling it, he figured out it was a box of matches. He kept feeling around and finally found some cane reed torches someone had left near them. "I found something Kid."
"What is it?"
To answer Kid, Heyes lit the torch, lighting up the natural tomb they were in. "Oh my…Kid, we ain't blind. We're in a cave. A BIG cave."
"I can see that…now." Kid said laying back. "He can't be serious. The governor wants us to find our way out of a CAVE! Has he went crazy?"
"No Kid. I think he just wants rid of us. He put us in a situation he was sure we'd never find our way out of. And if we're in Kentucky, then…" Heyes trailed off, deep in thought.
"What Heyes?"
"Kid, I think we're in the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky."
"The Mammoth Cave? Never heard of it."
"I remember reading about it in some old newspapers I found once in some hotel. Its supposed to be extremely huge and miles long. There was a slave before the Civil War, what was his name…Bishop I believe it was. Steven Bishop. He spent I don't know how many hours in the Mammoth Cave finding all kinds of passages, said it was like a big maze."
"Wonderful," Kid said dejectedly. "Maybe the governor was right. Maybe this is one time we won't escape."
"At least its not prison," Heyes offered, trying to sound optimistic. But Kid could hear through the false bravado. Heyes was worried. "And they left us some torches, jerky, and a canteen. Guess they had to give us a sporting chance."
"Yeah, I guess so. Well, what are we gonna do?"
"We're gonna find our way outta here, that's what."
"Do you really think we have a chance Heyes?"
Heyes looked away at the question. Finally, he looked back. "There's always a chance. We hafta try."
Heyes stood up and took in their surroundings. They were in a big room, that had three passages leading off from it. Two led up and one descended. There was a lot of moisture in the air. Water dripped from the limestone ceiling in the passage leading down to a lower level.
"Well, which way should we go?" Kid asked standing.
"Hmm…let me think." Heyes got up and started pacing. "If I remember right, I read that that slave guide said that the passages on the entrance level were dry. Water forms caves, so it would be at the lowest level. So, I think the best course of action would be to follow the passages that go up." That said, Heyes slapped Kid on the shoulder. "Well, let's get going. Grab those extra torches."
They decided to take the passage on the left leading up to another level. After they left the room, the passage turned to be about ten feet wide and about twenty feet high. Five minutes passed and they found themselves in another room looking up into a dome over ninety feet high. A small waterfall fell from the void above next to one of the walls.
"Will you look at that Kid," Heyes said in awe.
"Are we gonna try to climb that?" Kid asked doubtful. But Heyes didn't hear him. He was too busy walking around the circumference of the huge dome.
"Isn't this amazing Kid! Who knew something this beautiful would be underground?"
"Heyes…"
"And look up there. That part looks like somebody built columns, but its just the rock!"
"Heyes, you're enjoying yourself too much. Do I have to remind you we are LOST in this giant cave?"
"That doesn't mean we can't enjoy the scenery. We may never see something like this again."
"We may never see ANYTHING again if we don't find a way out of here! Now, you're not thinking about trying to climb that are you?"
"I don't think we can climb it Kid. That has to be what, eighty, a hundred feet high? Even if we wanted to try it, we couldn't hold the torches while we did. I say we go back the way we came and try that other passage leading up."
"Alright then, let's go. We're wasting torch-light."
They backtracked into the room they had previously been in and took the other ascending passage. This passage led to a very wide, tubular shaped passage with a sandy floor. A breeze blew through the cave, ruffling their hair under their hats.
"I bet this passage floods when the river is up," Heyes said looking at the floor.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, look at the ground. Its covered in sand. That other passage wasn't."
They followed the tube and eventually came to a smaller passage leading off to the left.
"I guess we go this way." Heyes turned left. The passage was smaller than the one they had just traversed. It continued to get smaller until the two had to turn sideways and duck to get through the narrow crevice. It couldn't have been no more than two feet wide and the gray ceiling was only five feet overhead.
"If this don't get bigger soon, I'm turning back," Kid said as he hit his head on the ceiling. "OW!"
"Careful Kid. Low ceiling. You know, this passage would be misery to a fat man." Heyes secretly smiled. Kid ignored his sarcasm.
Much to Kid's delight, the passage did indeed get bigger to where they could once again stand up. Heyes kept walking as he turned his head and talked. "We can't give up. Even if the passages are small. We may even have to end up crawling through some."
"HEYES!" Kid yelled as he ran forward and grabbed him, pulling him back.
"WHAT! I'm right here!"
"Yeah, and look where you almost ended up." Kid pointed to what was just inches from the toe of Heyes' boot, a yawning chasm over one hundred feet deep. Heyes felt a shudder go through his body. He bent down, picked up a rock, and dropped it in the pit. Ten seconds later, it hit bottom.
"Thanks Kid. I owe you one."
"You owe me many. Now, how do we cross this?"
"Well, let's see." Heyes held the torch out in front of him. "How about using that?" He pointed to where an old oak ladder was laid across the pit.
"Think it'll hold us? Who knows how long that's been there."
"We'll go across one at a time, just in case. Here, hold the torch." Heyes handed their light source over and got down on his hands and knees. He reached out onto the makeshift ladder and put a little pressure on it. It didn't move, so he put a little more pressure on it. Still no movement. Slowly and carefully, Heyes put one knee on the ladder and put almost all his weight on it. It held. One last knee, and he was completely out over the pit. He crawled extremely slowly across the ladder. Sweat beaded on his forehead. Halfway across, he felt the ladder give just slightly. Heyes stopped, hoping the ends would catch a good hold again. After what seemed an eternity, the ladder quit its up and down movement. Heyes resumed his crawl across the rickety bridge. Finally, he reached the other side and collapsed in a nervous heap. When he had composed himself, he sat up. "Alright Kid, toss the torches across and come on. Just go SLOW."
"That's easy for you to say now. You're already across." Kid tossed Heyes the torches and got down to business. He mimicked Heyes' movements on the ladder exactly. After an excrutiating minute, he too was safely across the deep pit. "Whew. I hope we don't have to do that again." But, to their dismay, as soon as they turned around, they saw yet another pit. This one wasn't as deep, but it was still a long way down. Fortunately, there was a narrow path around this chasm.
With the pits behind them, they walked the small passage. They came to where the passage turned abruptly up and got tiny. After surveying it for a moment, Heyes started to climb up the incline. In just a few feet, it opened up into a small room. Kid followed and found Heyes sitting on the ground, a wooden bowl in his hands.
"Look at this Kid. Looks like something an Indian would make." He turned the bowl over in his hands and felt the smoothness of it. "Just look at this craftsmanship. Its smooth as frozen molasses." Kid took it to examine and then carefully set it back where Heyes had found it.
The way out of the room was yet another tiny climb. Gravels fell as they went up. At the top of this one, they got a surprise. The cave opened up into an enormous passage going off to the right and left. It was at least sixty feet high and thirty feet wide. Small holes pockmarked the walls here and there. There were also some old signatures on the wall. "Look there!" Heyes said pointing. There's that slave's signature I was telling you about, Steven Bishop! Looks like it was written with smoke." Heyes admired the signature along with the passage. It put Heyes in mind of the Utah canyonlands, except it was underground.
"Would you look at that," Kid said emerging from the climb. "I always thought of caves as being small. You could build a town in here."
To their left, a huge rock sat on one side of the passage. "Look at that Kid. Looks like a giant coffin."
"Yeah, and look at the ceiling. Kinda looks like clouds in the night sky."
The passage was beautiful, as underground trails go. It was indeed like a huge, underground canyon. The ceiling was gunmetal gray with splotches of black and lighter grays, which made it look like clouds. In one place, the white gypsum was shining like specks through the black on the ceiling. The way they glowed in the torchlight made it look like they were outside under a night sky, looking up at the stars. They turned to their right and set out, deeper into the cave.
The passage wound right and left like a mountain trail. They had been in the cave approximately three hours and their first torch had come to its end. "Hand me another one Kid. This one's about to burn out. How many does that leave us?"
"Uh…four."
Just a few moments later, Kid's eyes caught a glimpse of something in the infinite darkness. "What is THAT?"
"Looks like a building. But it can't be, not in a cave. Can it?"
"Don't know. Them Indians left bowls down here, maybe they built themselves a winter home."
"That's not funny Kid." Heyes walked closer and examined the old stone structure. There was another one right beside it. Both buildings were made of large, gray stones from the cave that had been shaped to fit together like bricks Inside the huts were an old table and a bench. The walls behind them were colored solid black by soot from what must have been many fires. Both huts looked as if they had been abandoned quite a while. Heyes took a closer look. "Wait a minute. I know what these are."
"You do!"
"Yeah, I read about it in an old medical paper somewhere."
"Where on earth did you get a medical paper?"
"I don't rightly remember. May have been at a train station or somewhere. Anyway, I read about some guy earlier this century that thought cave air would be good for tuberculosis patients so he built them a place to stay down in the Mammoth Cave."
"Did it work?"
"No, I believe they all died."
"Well, I ain't touching those buildings. They may be infected."
"Kid, that was so long ago, I'd say the germs are long dead. BUT, we must be near the entrance! That doctor wouldn't build these too far back in a cave would he?"
They continued their trek past the huts. Thirty minutes later, they came to an ENORMOUS room, so big their light wouldn't reach all the way across it.
"Whoa," Heyes said looking around. "You could probably fit all of Denver in here." They walked across some breakdown in the middle of the room. Kid stumbled a few times on the loose rocks. "Careful."
"Yeah."
When they finally reached the other end of the giant room, the passage split.
"Well, which way Heyes?"
"I don't know. Let's flip a coin."
"You're going to leave our fate to a toss of a coin!"
"Well which way you want to go?"
"Let's keep going right. That way if we have to turn around for any reason, we'll know which way we came."
"That makes sense. Let's go."
They continued to the right. The passage stayed large and canyonlike. Twenty minutes later, they came to another pit. Heyes was admiring the small waterfall coming through the ceiling and disappearing to depths unknown, when the rock he was standing on gave way and he slid down the side of the pit.
"HEYES!" Kid yelled as he leapt forward to catch him. But he was a second to late. Kid was afraid to look over the edge. He kept waiting to hear a 'thud' when Heyes hit bottom. But he didn't hear a thud, he heard Heyes' voice.
"KID!"
"HEYES!"
"KID!" Heyes had caught hold of a protruding rock halfway down the seventy degree angled slide. He had dropped the torch and was hanging in blackness. Not knowing if he was about to fall and how far was leaving him on the verge of panic. "KID, HELP!"
"HOLD ON HEYES." Kid lit another torch and desperately looked around for something, anything for Heyes to grab hold of. Nothing came to mind. Finally, he noticed the torch. All of the torches were made up of four or five cane reeds from the riverbank, held together with a length of leather twine wrapped up and down. He quickly set to work untying his other torches and, tying all the ends together, took off his belt. He tied the other end of the now leather twine rope to his belt buckle. "ALRIGHT HEYES. I'M GOING TO TOSS DOWN A ROPE."
"WHERE'D YOU GET A ROPE?"
"NEVER MIND THAT NOW. JUST GRAB IT WHEN I THROW IT."
Kid wrapped the loose end of the twine rope around his wrist, propped himself up against a rock sticking up out of the floor, and threw his belt down to Heyes. "YOU SEE IT?"
"YEAH. I GOT IT."
Kid felt Heyes weight on his rope invention. It tightened around his wrist, cutting off the circulation. He painstakingly started pulling on the rope, praying it would hold, as Heyes did his best to help by trying to climb. Five minutes later, Heyes made it to the lip of the pit and Kid hauled him the rest of the way up. They both lay on their backs, breathing hard. "Thanks Kid," Heyes said trying to catch his breath. "I owe you another one."
"This cave is trying its best to kill one of us."
They lay there another few minutes. Heyes eventually got up and looked around. The excitement over his 'almost demise', had gotten the two turned around. "Kid, do you remember which way we came it?"
"No, don't you?'
"Not really." He studied the area, locating three possible directions. One was across the wide pit, so that way was out of the question. Heyes had seen enough of that particular chasm. One of the other two ways were the way they came. Heyes came to a decision. "Well, we had been making only right turns, so, I fell off there and the way we came was right behind us. So, we should take that passage." Kid agreed with Heyes' reasoning and got up to follow him.
They walked the passage for another thirty minutes and it didn't look like it was coming to an end any time soon. The passage started an uphill climb. When they reached the peak of the small underground mountain, they looked down and saw the beginning of a room that dwarfed the enormous one they had been in earlier. They walked down the hill and surveyed their surroundings. The room was over three hundred feet long and almost as wide. It was one of the only things that had ever left Heyes speechless. He looked on in amazement at the behemoth room. Finally, he found his voice. "No wonder they call this the Mammoth Cave. Half the state could fit in here."
They walked halfway across the room. The ground was littered in breakdown which made the walk treacherous. "Heyes," Kid said after a few minutes. "This passage has been going on forever and we still ain't even glimpsed the end of it. What do you think of going back and trying the other direction that we didn't go down?"
"Well, I agree it don't look likes its going to end any time soon. We can try that other direction and see where it goes and always come back this way if we need to. We got what, two torches left."
"Yeah. We burnt one up, we lost one, and this one's burning now so that leaves two."
"The other way may be the right way anyway. The breeze is coming from that direction. Maybe its coming from an entrance."
They turned and went back the way they came, across the hill, past the pit that tried to kill Heyes, and into the first big room with three exits they had discovered. And it was in that room that Heyes did finally get turned around. His mind was still in 'let's just make right turns' mode. So they went into the right passage instead of the left one they had come down. They ended up in a good sized, circular room and started their way around it. But there was only one way in and that was the way they had come. And that exit was hidden behind a column of rock which in torch light, made it look like a solid wall.
"Wait a minute Kid. We've passed this point before," Heyes said as they started their second lap.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, because I almost hit my head on that rock sticking out there. Where did that passage we came in by go?"
"You lost the passage! How could you lose a whole passage! It didn't just up and move!"
"I KNOW Kid! Don't get proddy."
"Don't get proddy! We got two torches and a half left and we're walking laps around one spot! Did a rock fall or something when we came in?"
"No. But we did have to walk around a rock column when we came in here, but where is it? All these walls look solid." Heyes stood and thought for a minute. "I got an idea. You stay here."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to walk around this place again and slide my hand on the wall. That way, I should feel when I come to the entrance hole." Heyes started another lap, dragging his hand on the wall. He had almost got back to Kid when he found it. "Its over here!"
Kid walked back to where Heyes stood and they exited the circular room back into the huge rotunda they had previously been in.
"Alright. I'm straightened out now. We go that way," Heyes said setting off across the breakdown to the passage across the way.
After a while, they made it back to the tuberculosis huts and the way they had entered the passage. Walking past it, they continued on the canyon passage, passing a few other smaller side passages. "I'm not climbing or crawling on anything else unless we have to," Kid said, lighting their next to last torch.
The passage just kept getting wider and taller. Numerous big rocks covered the floor in places. Carefully, they traversed them all without incident. They started up another small hill and down the other side, they started seeing long hollowed out logs that had been tapered at one end to fit together.
"What do you think these are for?"
"I have no idea," Heyes said examining one. "They're hollow in the middle."
They walked on, seeing more and more of the logs. Then, on the left side of the passage, were square basins set up like someone had been mining. Heyes stopped and looked at them. "Wonder what they were mining in here? Never heard of gold in this part of the country."
They walked past and the passage started to widen into yet another large, round room with two passages leading off. In the center of the room, were more of the mining vats and logs they had passed not ten minutes ago.
"Well, which way Heyes? I'm getting real tired real quick of this gloomy place."
"Let's see…" Heyes started pacing. Kid sat down against the wall. "Well, there's an awful strong breeze coming through this right-hand passage. Let's check there first."
Kid stood up, stretched his back, and jogged to catch up with Heyes. The passage they were now trekking through was only about seven feet high. The logs ran parallel to the walls. In about five minutes, Heyes stopped. "You see that?"
"Yeah. Don't think our eyes are playing tricks on us do you?"
"Only one way to find out."
They walked just a little faster and within a minute found what they had been looking for. The huge entrance loomed in front of them, a strong breeze almost blowing their hats off. A trickle of water fell from the lip of the entrance, then disappeared beneath their feet, continuing its journey to an underground river. The two ex-outlaws were overjoyed, hugging each other and yelling about making it out.
"WE MADE IT HEYES!"
"YEAH I KNOW. AND WE GOT THE AMNESTY! HA HA! TAKE THAT GOVERNOR HALE!"
They walked out the entrance to what could have easily been their grave, thanking God for small miracles. They walked up a wooded hillside to a building on the right ridge. It was a hotel, the Mammoth Cave Hotel. They took a room with a bath and just relaxed the rest of the night and half the next day. The next evening, they boarded the stage headed for Louisville and their train back to Wyoming.
"Well Morgan. By this time, those two should be out of light and water. I think we've finally heard the last of Heyes and Curry!" Governor Hale leaned back in his desk chair, cockiness oozing off him. At that moment, there was a knock at the door to his office, startling both he and Morgan. "Well Morgan, go see who it is!"
Morgan went to the door and when he opened it, he could do nothing but gasp. Hale had looked down by that time, back to some paperwork on his desk. "Guh, guh, Governor Hale. I think you'll want to see these people."
At that, Hale looked up and paled at the sight of Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry strolling casually into his office.
Heyes took the privilage of sitting himself down. "Howdy Governor. As you can see, we passed your little 'test'."
"How, HOW did you get out of that cave!"
"Well, to be truthful it wasn't easy. And there were a few times we thought we both might not make it. But lucky for you, we did! Now, you can make good on your promise. And don't try to back out because we ALL signed that particular piece of paper making it legal. And you know that would hold up in any court. Plus, our good friend Sheriff Trevors should be arriving soon and, if I'm not mistaken, he was a witness to those signings," Heyes leaned back, pleased with himself and Kid for outsmarting the politician.
Governor Hale glared at them both. "You know this will hinder my career."
"Well, you can always change careers. Maybe you'd like to be a cave explorer."
The Governor continued to stare at them both, but finally conceded. "Alright. We did make it all legal. Just know I'm not happy about it!" Hale dug in his desk drawer and retrieved the pieces of paper the two ex-outlaws had been dreaming about for three years. They gingerly took them from the disgruntled politician.
"Thank you Governor. It wasn't a pleasure doing business with you, but I'm glad we did!" Heyes got up and they both walked out of the Governor's office free men, leaving Hale holding his head in his hands.
The next few days were a blur to the two. There was the official announcement, pictures taken, interviews given, much celebrating, hand-shaking, hugs, much more celebrating, and visits from close friends. By the time they got back to Lom's house, they were both wore out.
"Well boys. What are you gonna do now that you're not wanted anymore?" Lom asked pouring them some coffee.
"Don't know just yet Lom," Heyes said sipping his drink.
"We'll figure it out eventually," Kid added.
"Maybe we'll go into banking," Heyes grinned.
That evening, they spent some leisurely time in the saloon where someone treated them to some drinks and poker. After Heyes had won a few dollars, they retired to Lom's front porch and some rocking chairs, where they both rocked on into the sunset.
A/N - Steven Bishop was indeed a slave before the Civil War. His owner allowed him many an hour down in Mammoth Cave exploring to see how big the cave was and taking visitors on tours. He was the first to cross Bottomless Pit using a homemade ladder.
The places talked about in the cave here are actual places modern day tours visit.
The hollowed out logs and vats were used to mine salt petre for the War of 1812. The Tuberculosis Huts were used in the early 19th century as an experiment. All are still displayed in the cave.