The legends about caves in the Black Mountains are as much a part of the surrounding peoples’ culture as works of Old World literature, the heroics of ancestors, and lessons taught in religious traditions. The inhabitants of the caves are thought to be at times indigenous peoples, or visitors from other worlds, or a lost superior race. The writings and art on cave walls is history of past ages, or are they prophecies for times to come. Adventurous folks in the area think that at some time they are going to get up there in the mountains and find one of those caves.    

***

Sam and I get a message from Sheriff. No. We do not have to come back down to headquarters this time. Sheriff remembers Dance Master and Werds from the case up in the mountains where they rescued the Investigative Reporter Mollie and helped find the two victims of the hovercraft crash. He sends the message to alert us that the two were going up into the mountains again to look for a supposed cave. Oh yes, the caves again. And to watch for them and, since they are anything but experienced mountain men, to stand by in case they do not come back down as scheduled.

Sheriff understands from Lonestar that Dance Master and Werds will be way up in the National area looking around the old Mountain Rangers’ campground. Rangers only parole there now for seasonal events. Sheriff said not to go up to watch the two, leave them to have their fun time, but to stay close enough in case anything goes bad. Dance Master said they were only going to be there two full days. Looking after ‘adventurers’ up here in the mountains is a routine request for us and the Rangers, but this time turned out to be not routine for Dance Master and Werds, nor for Sam and me.

***

Our story begins the evening Willson made a rare visit to Rusti’s while in town to visit Uncle. Willson and Pal want to say hello to old friends. Uncle had told Willson about the adventure Dance Master and Werds had up in the Black Mountains. Willson liked the controversy it all caused about dead people holding national office. Willson has the Professor’s Notebook with him. Since Dance Master and Werds like to explore the Black Mountains, Willson has a story he wants to tell them.

Willson and Pal go over to a booth along the back wall. Uncle goes to the bar and asks Werds and Dance Master to come meet Willson, who invites them to sit down and join them. Pal and Rusti, and Uncle, ask Lonestar to join them so all move over near the stage at the center of the booths. Willson knows Dance Master slightly because he once told him the story of, while kids, Pal and he performing, uninvited, before the Legislature in Bear years ago. And how they made their escape just ahead of the Capitol Police. Dance Master had heard that story when he first started working with the Legislature.  

After drinks or coffee are ordered Willson tells them about the Notebook. He found a section that describes a cave in the Black Mountains. The cave is long and deep with a high ceiling. The wall in back is flat and smooth. It had been chiseled and hand polished. The cave is as wide as a large room in a typical dwelling. The floor is flat. The side walls are pretty much straight up and down and the ceiling is slightly curved. It is very probable, really necessary, that all the cave’s interior was not original. Some early peoples had with great difficulty modified a naturally occurring cave to be a human habitat.

Werds says he has heard of caves in the mountains that have ancient artifacts and inscriptions on the walls. He knew about one that Professor described, says he remembers reading about the cave that had the inscriptions about the time of the rains. That cave has not been found. We only have the Professor’s description but always thought them a local legend, a myth. Dance Master added that he had never met anyone who had actually seen one. Willson says yes, good point, but no, this apparently is a completely different cave. So there are two caves with wall writings Professor claims to have found.

The entrance to this cave is not obvious to the passersby. The Notebook describes a large enough entrance, hooded by an outcropping of granite, that is easily seen to anyone standing just in front of the opening. But the opening is slightly downhill from a wide pathway and so is shielded by sight by the outcropping. But just by a small part of the outcropping, more from the shadow of the outcropping. So generations of hikers along the path never see the opening to the cave. And so is the greater part of mankind who look down at their feet and keep walking ahead.

The path was more like a narrow dirt road used by hikers, bicyclists, and horsemen. Though the road has little maintenance any longer the path is still wide enough for the vehicles used by the Mountain Rangers. Next to the path just opposite the cave is a wide cleared space that has a large rock fireplace and some space for camping. It was not meant to be a camp for the public as there are much larger camping grounds in other parts of the Black Mountains. It is instead an overnight camp for the Mountain Rangers back in the days before they had motorized vehicles.

Dance Master and Werds exchange looks.

***

They start off several hours before first light. Before they leave they tell Lonestar of their plans. He advised them, if they were going to clean out a cave, that they are going to need more supplies than they can carry up in backpacks. He said take his supply trailer the mule usually pulls. Just load what you need, don’t fill it all the way up and you can pull it yourselves. Campgrounds usually have a trash pit on the back edge. Take head scarves to wrap around their faces to filter out dust. And extra hats and clothes. And eye goggles. The camps in those mountains have streams close by.

They bring small brooms, brushes, and a foldable shovel. A few cutting tools for brush, and their hunting knives. Of course several days supplies of food, and extra canteens for water. They intend to clean and light up the cave enough to photograph any writings they find there. They bring lights and lanterns that also give off heat. And the camera and lenses. They are able to take Werd’s truck up in that part of the mountains to the limit that civilian vehicles are allowed, saving hours of hiking time. They unload and start, taking turns wearing the harness that pulls the trailer.

After they leave the truck in three hours they see the old campground off to the left side of the trail. There is the ruin of the large fireplace with a large floor of rocks and cement in front of it. They passed several larger, better maintained campgrounds, with good fireplaces. But these were either on the other side of the trail or the hills opposite went straight up with no possibility of any cave. The campground they settled on as being likely the one has a gully on the opposite side of the trail with large, some house-sized, boulders in the side of the hills. There is large brush in the gully and up on the hill between the boulders.

 Looking at these hills, and the gully, gives little reason for the typical hiker to want to explore there. The campground area, surrounded by dense forest that includes a stream flowing cold fresh water is much more inviting.

***

Dance Master and Werds find the entrance to the cave. It is not directly at the front. It is on the left side, as seen from the road. Not a front entrance like the Professor described, more on the corner. It could not be seen from the road, or from being in the gully either. It was behind a large piece of stone and an even larger piece behind covered by large brush. It could only be found by going right up to it and forcing the brush aside, no small task. There are similar growths of brush between large pieces of rock close by. Dance Master tried several before he finds the right one.

After moving the brush aside there was room for Dance Master to slide through sideways holding a light to the front and without backpack. Werds handed the backpacks through the opening and then, not without difficulty, follows Dance Master into the cave. The trailer would not fit through the entrance so they came back out and unloaded some cleaning supplies into the cave. Werds wheels the trailer with the rest of the supplies down the gully where it easily slides behind and beneath large dense brush well out of sight. Then they put on goggles and hats and face scarves and light up their lanterns inside the cave.

***

Their plan was to clean the cave the first day. Then wash off in the stream the other side of the campground. Sleep the first night on the campground. Then spend the next day finishing cleaning up the cave, brushing off the walls to find any writings or art. They will photograph anything interesting, and hopefully spend the second night in the cave. They thought they would not get as dirty as the first day and would wait until the next morning before they leave to wash off again in the stream and change into their ‘clean’ clothes that had been drying on the branches.

Then back home the next morning with the news and photos and to get a good, bath, real clean clothing, real food, and an evening at Rusti’s telling their story.

Well that plan worked but way easier to plan than to work. If Professor had been in the cave he would have had to clean it out. Still it was hard to describe. When they turned on the lanterns the light did not penetrate much more than several feet. There were cobwebs and dust. So far. They took a quick look at each other and began sweeping their brooms back and forth. Then forming the cobwebs into large balls and placing them into bags. They moved towards the back and the lanterns showed more of the interior. They stepped on rocks and the remains of small animals.  

It took several hours to get the cobwebs cleared and packed. Then they could see more of the debris. They force the full bags out the entrance and into the gully. Then they start on the debris, sweeping or shoveling it into piles. They look turns holding the bags while the other shoveled. They take out the bags as they filled. After several more hours there was nothing left in the cave but dust. That will wait until tomorrow. They went outside into the late afternoon light and see each other as unrecognizable, covered with cobwebs and dust. Then the many trips with the full bags across the campground to the trash pit.    

On across to the water. Modesty is not an option here. They are way too dirty to touch their next change of clothes.

They find a place uphill a bit where the water cascades in small waterfalls enough to put their heads and upper bodies under. The waters falls into a wide enough pools to take a sort of a very cold bath. After the amount of dirt they took on in the first pass at cleaning the cave mountain cold water is quite inviting. They also rinse their clothes until the colors come back, the stream taking all the dirt on down and away. They lay the clothes across branches out at the far edge of the growth around the stream to dry out in the next day’s sun.

Then they run laughing back across the campground to their towels, clean clothes, dinner rations, and sleeping bags.

Just at this time. Hovercraft, road vehicles. Loading with anger, guns, torches. They will leave the next day. All to meet up at the old Ranger’s campground.

END of Part I