The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest
Outlaws
By: Sapphire
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Chapter Two: Buffalo Cave
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Getting everyone back to the main cavern took considerably less time than getting them out into the passages. The four explorers scrambled out of their gear the moment they surfaced, and everything was packed up, the site cleaned up, in no time. A 'Do Not Enter' sign was posted on the pulley at the cave's entrance before they piled into the vehicles and headed back to the farm. A hot supper was ready and waiting for them when they arrived. The group crowded around the large dining table and dug in hungrily.
"Are you kids excited for the Jesse James Days festivities?" Mary asked. "I expect my brother told your uncle about it. The festival kicks off tomorrow."
"Yeah, my dad mentioned it," Jonny said. "I hope we can fit some of that in between treasure hunting."
"You'll have to," Anne said. "Everyone goes all out during Jesse James Days. Horse races, picnics, a dance, and the train robbery, of course. The whole town turns out for that. We hire actors from the college over in Aimsville for the enactment. The whole festival is like being back in 1874."
"Local politicians make old fashioned soap box speeches. The ladies auxiliary puts on a craft sale. My favorite, though, is the old time root beer and home made ice cream," Dr. Malloy put in.
"I'm racing tomorrow in the horse races," Anne said, excitement dancing in her eyes. "Will you all come and watch?"
"Of course we will," Dr. Quest agreed. "It should be fun."
"I bet if Jonny entered, he wouldn't know how to make a horse go," Jessie teased. "They don't come with engines, ignitions, and keys."
"Is that a challenge?" Jonny demanded.
"Cut it out, you two," Race interrupted the argument before it had the chance to really get going.
"Registration was closed this afternoon," Anne said sympathetically. "You won't be able to race. You could ride one of our horses into town, though, if Mom says it's okay." Mary nodded.
"You're welcome to it. Those lazy bones need exercise. Mr. Crossley, our trainer, doesn't have time to do it all himself, and we don't have the funds to hire an assistant yet."
After supper was finished, Maggie and Jessie volunteered to help Mary and Anne with the clean-up detail.
"You are going to have so much fun," Anne said to Maggie and Jessie as they washed, dried, and put the dishes away. "Mom made me a new costume this year. I can't wait to show it to you."
"You're going in costume?" Jessie asked.
"Everyone does," Anne shrugged. Then she looked at both girls seriously. "Don't you have costumes to wear?" Maggie and Jessie shook their heads.
"We didn't know we had to. But it isn't a big deal, is it?" Jessie asked. "Of course the actors would dress up, but I can't imagine everyone dressing vintage for the festival."
"But everyone does," Anne replied. "I suppose Uncle Rueben forgot to say so to Dr. Quest."
"Typical," Mary snorted in disgust. "That brother of mine never could remember where the end of his nose was."
"Do we have to have costumes?" Jessie asked.
"No, but if you aren't in costume you feel kind of left out and out of place," Anne answered. "You'll see what I mean tomorrow."
"I don't suppose you have extra costumes?" Jessie asked. Mary burst out laughing.
"Didn't Rueben tell you? He and I have ten other siblings. We have boxes of costumes- in all sizes. You're welcome to ransack the attic and use what you like." Maggie, Jessie, and Anne looked to each other excitedly. "Go on, I'll finish here. You girls go have a good rummage."
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"Where's the fire?" Jonny joked as the three girls came running up the wooden stairs to the attic.
"We're on a mission," Maggie replied as Anne slid open a panel in the wall. On the other side was the storage space of the attic. She, Maggie, and Jessie filed in. Maggie turned to peer out the doorway to her cousins. "You might want to join us."
"Coming Hadj?" Jonny called as he jumped up from his bed and followed the girls. Hadji shrugged and followed after him. Anne found the old pull string for the light and turned it on. A dim glow bathed the attic. The space was filled with odd pieces of furniture, knickknacks, trunks, and boxes off all shapes and sizes. Anne walked over to the nearest trunk, unlatched the closure, and lifted the lid.
"This one's full of boy's clothes," Anne said. She looked up at Jonny and Hadji. "Uncle Rueben forgot to tell Dr. Quest about the costumes. You don't have to, but you'll feel more comfortable if you look like you lived here 120 years ago, just like the rest of us."
"No one told me I'd have to play dress up," Jonny said waving a finger at Anne and the open trunk.
"We're not playing dress up," Jessie scoffed, "This is a tradition. Besides, it's no different than wearing a costume for Halloween."
"It's June, not October," Jonny argued.
"Suit yourself, Hotshot," Jessie scoffed. "Just don't be surprised when they laugh at you tomorrow." Anne opened a second trunk.
"Here we go," she said. "Have at it." Maggie and Jessie started to go through all the costumes in the old trunk, and then started in on a second trunk Anne had located. Jonny and Hadji watched the girls for a while as they sorted and sifted. "Try a hat, at least," Anne said, tossing Hadji a black cowboy hat. Hadji caught it and put it on. Anne smiled appreciatively. "You look good in that," she said. Jessie threw a pair of big red clown shoes at Jonny.
"I think that would look good on you," she said.
"I don't think so, Ace," Jonny shot back. "You won't make a clown out of me."
"I don't have to. You already are, Hotshot," Jessie quipped. She tossed a cowboy hat at him this time. "Quit being a spoil-sport and have some fun." Jonny knew the olive branch of peace when it was extended. He wasn't going to reject it. With a sigh, he went to the chest filled with men's attire and started digging through it with Hadji's help.
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Maggie sat with a laptop propped on her knees in bed. Jessie was asleep in the bed opposite hers. Lines of text scrolled on screen as she chatted with her brother through a satellite link connecting with Iris and the Questworld Mainframe. Suddenly a third user popped up.
Iris: Flyboy has entered the chat.
Flyboy: Hey, I caught someone!
MattPeru: You're up early.
Flyboy: You're up late.
MagNolie: Either way, none of us should be up.
MattPeru: Good point.
Flyboy: How goes it at home?
MagNolie: I'm in Kansas.
MattPeru: They're looking for Jesse James' gold.
Flyboy: Treasure hunting…sounds fun.
MattPeru: More fun than I'm having. It is HOT here…and humid.
MagNolie: You're in a rainforest. What did you expect?
MattPeru: I'm gonna ignore that…
MattPeru: How's life at Spagdahlem?
Flyboy: It's okay. I had leave last weekend.
MagNolie: What did you do?
Flyboy: I met up with Claudia.
MattPeru: Is she the German girl you were telling us about?
MagNolie: She works near base, doesn't she?
Flyboy: Right, and right.
MagNolie: Say hi to her for me or something. I'm going to bed.
Flyboy: But I just logged on.
MagNolie: Talk to Matt. I have to be in a cave early in the morning.
Flyboy: Cave?
MagNolie: Local legend says that's where the loot was hidden.
MattPeru: If you see Jesse James, say hi for me.
MagNolie: Yeah, I'll do that.
And if I'm nice enough, maybe he'll point me to the gold.
Flyboy: Goodnight, Maggie.
MagNolie: Night.
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The house was awake before the sun. Breakfast was on the table as the first rays broke over the horizon. The meal was a quiet affair, everyone being not quite awake. Dr. Malloy sat reading a newspaper out of Kansas City, oblivious to everything around him.
"Hey," he said suddenly, "There was an armored truck robbery two nights ago in Kansas City. The thieves got away with something more than a hundred grand. Police have no leads. Looks like they got clean away."
"What's so unique about that?" Anne asked with a yawn.
"It's a modern stagecoach robbery. Seems it was a gang that did it, too. It's right up my alley," Dr. Malloy explained.
"Don't tell me you think the Jameses and Youngers have come back to life," Anne moaned.
"Of course not," Dr. Malloy assured, "but the similarities are fascinating." The rest of breakfast was spent in silence.
The van and pick-up were all ready to go out to the site. All they had to do was climb in and go. Dr. Malloy was glad to see everything was as they had left it the evening before. He was tired of local busy-bodies poking around the site when he had an expedition in progress. He didn't have the funding to set up trivial things like barriers and security perimeters.
"So, who's going where?" Jonny asked as they finished setting up and testing their operations base.
"Hadji, you play lifeline," Race said. "I think we should let Maggie and Jessie handle the crawlspace. They're smallest, and they'll fit through the opening." Hadji stepped over to the van and started pulling out the headsets while Jessie and Maggie gave each other a high-five. "Jonny, you come with me again. We're going to cross that bottomless pit."
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Race slipped, losing his footing on the damp stone of the sloping surface, but caught himself before he slid into the gaping abyss only two feet from him. He and Jonny exchanged an anxious glance before Race righted himself and continued around the hole. With Race safely on the other side they both sighed with relief.
"Okay," Race said looking over at Jonny. "You ready to cross?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," Jonny replied.
"Watch yourself," Race cautioned. Jonny checked his safety line, then started the tedious process of skirting the gaping hole along it's sloping edges. It was nerve wracking to dangle above a black hole with depths unknown.
"What do you think made the hole?" Jonny asked, trying not to think of how high he might be.
"Water," Race replied.
"Yeah, well, I figured that," Jonny returned. "I meant, what do you think made it so wide, and so smooth on the sides."
"My guess is the water that dissolved the rock that forms these caves made that hole at the same time. As for the smooth sides…calcite deposits from running water."
"Dr. Malloy was telling Hadji there hasn't been water in this cave for centuries. I don't believe it. Footing is slick, like the rock is wet."
"Watch it," Race said as Jonny's foot slipped. Jonny caught himself without losing his center of balance. "Dr. Malloy also said this chamber hasn't been mapped, or explored," Race reminded. "Besides, it's damp down here. It could be wet just from condensation." Jonny reached the far side without further mishap.
"Hey, Hadj," he said, tapping the call button on his headset.
"Yes, my friend?" Hadji answered.
"We're on the far side of the hole," Jonny told him. "We're going into the room through the opening here."
"I will inform Dr. Malloy. He will be mapping your movements as you explore the cavern beyond," Hadji said.
"Copy," Race said. "We'll let you know if we find anything."
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The girls crawled out of the long, low tunnel short of breath. They stood up in the cavern at the end. Jessie stretched after being cramped in the tiny passage, and Maggie massaged her knees.
"Hadji made it through that?" Maggie asked in disbelief. "I can't believe it. That was pretty tight."
"I know," Jessie agreed with a nod. "How's your knee?" Jessie was referring to the injury Maggie sustained in a snowmobile accident that past winter.
"It's good," Maggie replied, "A little stiff, but it'll loosen up with use."
"Good. Just don't push it." Jessie readjusted her headlamp and headset, then called in to Hadji. "We're through the tunnel," she reported. "Maggie and I are going to pick up where you and I left off yesterday."
"Copy," Hadji acknowledged. "Out."
"Lead the way," Maggie said, then stepped back to allow Jessie to go first. Jessie ducked through an opening to another room. Round reflectors glinted in their lamplight at approximately ten foot intervals, marking where Jessie and Hadji had already been. They found an opening that hadn't yet been explored on this expedition. Jessie crouched low and ducked through the low opening and Maggie did the same a moment later. They stood in the small room beyond and made a careful survey of the area. Jessie made circles around the room, while Maggie poked around in the deep recesses near the entrance. Jessie was careful to study the entire room circling one way, and then the other. On her third circuit, her attention was drawn to something.
Jessie had nearly missed seeing it. It wasn't flashy, and it didn't stick out. A shadow made by her head lamp struck her as odd. It appeared as a perfect corner, a 90 degree angle, which rarely occurred in nature. She leaned in closer. Illuminated in the bright light of her headlamp was an old, musty book.
"Hey Maggie, look at this!" she exclaimed. Maggie turned and looked.
"Hadji, Jess found something," Maggie said into her comm link as she clambered over some rocks to get to Jessie. "What is it?"
"It's a book!" Jessie exclaimed.
"Hadji, are you getting this?" Maggie asked.
"I read you loudly and clearly," Hadji said. "What kind of book is it?"
"I can't tell. The cover is half rotted," Jessie answered. Jessie carefully lifted the cover, trying to separate it from it's pages.
"Careful, Jess," Maggie cautioned.
"Do not try and force it, Jessie," Hadji's voice came over the headset.
"I won't," Jessie replied. "This is no use. It's too damp. The pages are sticking together."
"Dr. Malloy suggests you return with it to the surface," Hadji said. "It can dry out overnight. For now, continue searching."
"Copy," Jessie said.
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"I think we're on the wrong track," Race said. Everyone was topside, gathered around the folding table covered in maps. "I'm havin' a hard time believing the James Younger gang would have gone so far into the cave. They wouldn't drag a heavy strongbox for hours over rough terrain."
"I will have to agree," Hadji put in. "The outlaws would only have had candles to light their path, or perhaps a lantern. Whichever they used, it would only be able to burn for a short length of time. They would have become lost in the dark had their light source gone out."
"I see your point," Dr. Malloy noted. "Being on the run, they wouldn't have spared too much time to hide their loot." He started to skim the maps, calculating distances and timeframes within the cave system. "How far do you figure they'd have gone in?" Dr. Malloy asked. "A mile? A half mile?"
"I don't think distance is so much a factor," Dr. Quest said, his mind processing everything that had been said. "Time seems to be the issue, not distance. The question is, how much time would they have spent looking for a suitable hiding place?"
"I'd say less than an hour," Jonny volunteered. "Their horses would have been standing out here in the open. They wouldn't want to be seen after robbing a train, so they wouldn't have been down in the cave very long."
"Good thinking, Jonny," Race said, then turned to Dr. Malloy. "Jonny and I were able to get to this point in well under an hour." Race indicated a large cavern on the map. "When we took this route," he traced the path with a finger, "we managed to get about this far before an hour was up." Dr. Malloy took a compass and used it to draw an arc that stretched from the north to the west on the main map.
"The James Younger Gang's loot should be located somewhere within this arc." Dr. Malloy said. "Provided our logic is correct."
"We couldn't possibly get that far in an hour," Jessie said, carefully examining the west branch. "It takes a half hour to squeeze through the tunnel alone." Dr. Malloy took his compass once again and marked off a better estimation of an hour's travel through the west branch.
"This is the cavern with that pit," Race said, looking at the map and pointing to a place well within the arc. "I doubt they would have tried to cross it with a strong-box."
"True," Dr. Malloy said. He thought a moment. "There is a blocked tunnel here," he said indicating a second spot on the map. "Perhaps we should think about clearing that. It caved in about fifty years ago, and it's possible the loot is hidden behind it." Race nodded.
"That gives us a good, reasonable area to search," Race agreed.
"Okay, let's pack up and head to the farm," Dr. Quest said. "The race starts in two hours. We'll have to hurry to have lunch, get ready, and get to town." The maps were quickly gathered from the folding table. The sign was placed at the cave entrance. Equipment was gathered up, and everything was loaded into the pickup and into the van. When everything was taken care of, they drove off toward the farm.
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Maggie quickly finished lacing Jessie into a corset. She was already laced into another. Anne stood ready with a petticoat for each of them, and she had their chosen dresses lying out on one of the beds.
"Can you breathe okay?" Maggie asked.
"It's not that bad," Jessie replied. She stood in front of the gilt mirror and tugged at the old-fashioned garment until it fit more comfortably. "That'll do." Anne handed her the white muslin petticoat.
"I'll have to change sometime between the race and the dance," Anne said. "You'll help me, won't you?"
"Of course," Maggie said from inside the skirt of her white and blue gingham dress. "We'll be glad to. Now if I could just get some help with these buttons…" She'd managed to get her head and arms through the right openings. Anne laughed and started with the tiny buttons on the back of the dress.
"I can't believe people are this authentic," Jessie said, buttoning the side button of the petticoat. "Maggie, that dress is perfect on you. And your hair! How did you get those ringlet curls?" Maggie laughed.
"Creative tricks," Maggie said. "I'll do the same for you, if you want."
"Go for it," Jessie said as she started pulling on her own green gingham dress.
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"Let's go!" Race called up the stairs. Jonny dropped down on the edge of the bed and started pulling on the shiny black boots he'd gotten from the attic storage space.
"Would you like assistance, my friend?" Hadji asked as he slipped his black cowboy hat into place.
"Nah," Jonny said, tucking his pant leg into the boot. "Just grab my hat and my vest on your way out." He grabbed for his other boot. "I can finish my costume on the way." Hadji laughed. They headed down the stairs from the attic together. When the reached the hall, the girls were coming out of Jessie and Maggie's room. Jonny gave a long, low whistle. "Will you look at that, Hadj?" he said. "They clean up pretty good." Maggie laughed, tugging on a pristine white glove.
"I'd say you look handsome, but it looks like you need a little help," she told him. Jonny shrugged as he started down the stairs to the main level of the farmhouse. They followed after him and trooped out the front door.
"Let me see all of you," Mary asked as they came down the steps of the veranda. The girls turned a circle for their audience, and Hadji gave a short bow. "Very nice," Mary said. "Anne, sweetie, you look like a winner in that riding skirt." Anne blushed as she straightened her brown skirt and smoothed out her black suede vest. She was careful not to get her shiny black boots dusty as she walked over to the old farm wagon hitched to two horses. She swung an old satchel into the box, then stepped around the back and took the reins of her chestnut mare from one of the farm hands.
Jonny pulled a black vest over his bright blue shirt, then proceeded to trip down the veranda's steps while trying to button it. Hadji laughed as he followed after his blonde brother. Dr. Quest, dressed in a suit with an old fashioned string tie, escorted Mary to the wagon, then helped her up to the bench seat as she tried to manage the full skirts of her pink ensemble. Race, sporting a red shirt under a buckskin jacket, stepped up to his daughter and held out an arm.
"Ponchita," he said with a smile. Jessie took his arm, and let her father escort her to the wagon and lift her up into the back.
"Shall we go to town?" Mary asked as her brother helped Maggie up into the wagon, then climbed up to sit next to her on the board stretched across the wagon box. Jonny and Hadji sat on the open gate, hanging their feet over the edge. Dr. Quest climbed up to sit beside Mary, and Race found a space on the board bench next to Jessie. "Git up." With a lurch, the wagon started forward, Anne and a string of three horses followed behind.
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To be continued…
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