"We're still goin' uphill now, Miss Kitty. That's a good thin', ain't it?" Festus turned to look at the young woman following him, his torch flickering a little as he worriedly saw that she had stopped a few feet back and was leaning against a damp, slick wall. "You awright, Miss Kitty?" he asked as he hurriedly picked his way back to her, noticing how she was shivering and had her eyes closed.
Her large, long-lashed eyes fluttered open as she straightened up and gave him a crooked smile. "Oh! Sorry, Festus. I…I just suddenly needed a short rest. I'm fine now! We'd better push on. It must be getting late and Sam will be so worried, not knowing where I am, and needing my help with the after lunch crowds." She gasped a little and started to sway.
"Now, hold on thar!" The lean man quickly grabbed her arm with a strong hand and guided her to a sitting position on a nearby boulder. "I knows yer head still hurts, and the air in this place is agetting' mighty skimpy and cold." Leaning his flickering torch against another set of boulders, he turned his back on Kitty and took off his vest, glanced back at her, and unbuttoned his faded blue shirt. Feeling indecent in his long john shirt, he sighed and turned back around. "Scuse me, Miss Kitty, but let me help ya put these on." He bent over and held the shirt as she slipped her arms into the sleeves, and then helped her with the shabby vest. As an afterthought, he slipped his oversized neckerchief over his head, and untied the knot. Then he gently wrapped it around her slender neck and carefully re-knotted it. "There now. That'll keep ya warmer!"
"Thank you, Festus," she said, her teeth slightly chattering. "Can you help me with these buttons? My fingers are shaking too much." She smiled to herself at how dear this rough man was and how "thoughty" he could be as his big fingers nervously fumbled with the buttons. He pulled the material as far forward and away from her body as possible, and kept his eyes fixed on each button. She knew his face reddened in the dim light when she put her right palm against his whiskery left cheek for a moment and whispered "Thank you."
Festus coughed and cleared his throat as he stood up. "Miss Kitty, you jest set right thar whiles I scouts ahead a mite. Be back directly." She had her arms tightly wrapped around herself and nodded at him with a trusting smile. "We durn sure gotta git outta here right soon!" he thought, feeling the lack of fresh air himself. After about five minutes or so of carefully picking his way between rocks, he was relieved when he heard running water. Pushing apart a pile of rocks, he discovered a large, high-ceilinged chamber with a steady stream of water rushing from the uphill side down into the circular depression of the floor. "We got fresh water now, and that water got in here from the outsides, I reckon." He slowly swung his torch around as he gauged the size and height of the cavern (wider than two good-sized barns, and taller than two, also), and the source of the flow of water (a disappointingly small hole in the opposite wall). "We come ta a dead end, I reckon," he thought, then winced at the phrasing, and resolved to find another way out after bringing Kitty over for some water. Swinging the torch around again, he shook his head and started back to where he had left his friend sitting on the boulder.
"Festus! I'm so glad to see you! Caves are not my favorite places!" Kitty exclaimed as she stood up and hurried towards him. "Did you find a way out?" she asked with a hopefulness she didn't really feel.
"Not yet, Miss Kitty, but we'll git outta here, I promise ya that! Come on and let's git ya a drink first. Thar's a nice, freshwater stream thataway." He took her left arm as she held her torch in the right, and led her into the cavern. He then held both torches as the thirsty woman knelt down and gratefully scooped water into her parched mouth. She stood and took her turn with the torches as Festus drank. Wiping his mouth with the back of a hand, he gazed admiringly at the red-haired woman who still looked lovely even wearing his baggy shirt and vest over her thin blouse. "There ain't no other way outta this cavern, but we'll go back and find another path to the surface." The air was somewhat better in the large cavern, but he knew that wouldn't last.
Kitty was about to answer when a sudden rumbling was heard, the sound growing louder and louder until it filled the large space with a terrifying crash of noise. Festus jumped up and once more pulled her down and covered her with his body. Almost as quickly as it had begun, the noise stopped, and the cavern was filled with thick dust and an increasingly loud whoosh of incoming water. The two sat up coughing, and dazedly looked around at the now blocked-off opening into the cavern, and the way the frigid water was pouring in from the far wall, quickly filling the concave bowl of the floor. Their eyes met in the hazy light, and each saw the worry in the other's.
"Festus?!" was all Kitty said as she glanced first at the blocked entrance and then at the advancing water.
"It'll be awright, Miss Kitty! I done got ya inta this and I'm gonna git ya out!" The hill man squinted as he carefully scanned the perimeter of the cavern, looking for any sign of a possible way out. His determination never wavered, despite the sorrowful guilt he felt at bringing this special woman into this cave. "Matthew is gonna be faunchin' and a-bellering soon enuff once Sam lets him know Miss Kitty is missin'!" he thought as he examined every inch of the surrounding walls. He tried not to notice how rapidly the cold, dark water was rising as he splashed around the inside walls. He was only about a third of the way of his careful search when he gasped from the sudden shock of the icy water reaching the tops of his high boots and flowing inside.
"MISS KITTY! Stay thar! I'm acomin'!" Wading over to where she stood, uselessly holding up her sodden skirt with one hand and clinging to the torch with the other, he took her torch and jammed the end into a cleft of a nearby rock. "Let's git ya up onta these rocks," he said, lifting her by the waist until she could safely scramble up onto the tallest stack of boulders on the rock-strewn floor. In those few moments, the water had reached Festus' waist, right after he had handed his gun belt up to Kitty. "I'll be back directly!" he shouted above the noise of the increasingly rapid flow of frigid water. He pushed himself through the now chest-deep water towards where he had left off searching for a way out, but halfway there was suddenly swept off his feet and submerged. Fighting his way to the surface, he coughed and spat, desperate to see if Kitty was safe. "MISS KITTY! Don't ya move a particle! I'm comin'!"
"FESTUS!" Kitty screamed, lying flat atop the highest boulder, and swinging the gun belt out as far as she could towards the struggling man. With her other hand, she dug her fingers into the cracked surface and spread her legs for extra stability.
The determined man wind-milled his way across the flow of the water, reached the end of the gun belt, and grabbed on with his left hand, using his right hand to paddle closer until he could find a deep fissure in the rock to hold on to. Worried about pulling the slender woman down into the increasingly turbulent water, Festus put most of his weight onto the aching fingers of his right hand, but could feel them slipping. "Miss Kitty! Think ya kin hold that belt with both yer hands fer a moment and take my weight?"
Kitty nodded her head, too strained to speak, and dug her toes in as she let go of the crevasse along the top of the rock and gripped the belt he clung to as tightly as she could. Festus bent and raised his right knee, stretched down with his right hand, unbuckled the spur from his boot, held it firmly and jammed the points of the large wheel into the crack where his fingers had been. It only took a few moments, but he knew Kitty was slipping off the boulder, and he let go of the gun belt as soon as the spur was jammed into the rock. "Hang ON, Miss Kitty!" he yelled, and was relieved to see her grip the crevasse again. As he struggled to pull himself up, she let go of the belt, which was instantly swept away, and grabbed his left wrist, guiding it towards a deep crack. After a seemingly eternity of struggle, prayer, and teamwork, both finally lay exhausted atop the boulders, clinging to each other.
"Thank…thank ya, Miss Kitty," Festus gasped, turning his head to grin at her pale face, inches away. "Soons I catch my breath, I'll puzzle out how to git us outta here!"
Closing her eyes, the spent woman just nodded her head, trying not to sink into the awful resignation of the impossibility of escape from this dark, watery tomb. Already, the cold, clear water was lapping at her sides.