Strange Creatures of Dr. Korbo (6 page)

“But where is the cave, Miss Viona?” Dave asked.

“It is behind the waterfall.”

“How can that be?”

“There is a natural cavern. Not many people know of it,” she said.

“How do you get past the water?”

“There is a narrow ledge behind the waterfall. I will have to walk. There would not be room for a stretcher. Here, help me up.”

Sarah helped the old woman to her feet. “Put your arm around my shoulder,” she said. “Are you sure you can walk?”

“Yes.” Viona's face was pale, and her hand went to her chest in a way that told Sarah pain was there.

“We'll take it slow and easy,” Sarah said.

Sarah and Viona went first, moving very slowly. She soon found that the ledge was barely wide enough for two people. But they edged past until they were behind the roaring waterfall, which thundered in her ears.

As she helped the old lady, the other Sleepers came behind, single file.

“Here is our hiding place,” Viona whispered.

A large cavern had apparently been eaten out of the cliff side by water action and wind. It was probably twelve feet high and at least that wide. Inside stood a girl wearing a pale gray dress. She stared at them, eyes big.

“It's all right, Meta,” Viona said, and the girl's face relaxed. “These are our friends.”

“She needs to lie down,” Sarah said. “My name is Sarah.”

Meta came forward. She was a small young woman with black hair and liquid brown eyes. “Who are these people, Grandmother?”

“Let me lie down, child.”

Sarah and the elderly woman followed Meta to the side of the cavern.

The girl said, “Here, this is her bed.” She helped Sarah put her grandmother down on a bed made of leaves with an animal hide stretched over them.

“We found her fallen on the trail,” Dave explained.

“She's not in good health?”

“No. She is very sick.”

At that moment a shrill wail jarred all the Sleepers.

“What's that?” Reb started. “I hope it's not a bat.”

Sarah gave him an indignant look. “Bat, indeed! Don't you know a baby crying when you hear one?”

“Oh!” Reb said, looking rather foolish. “I forgot about that.”

“Could we see the babies, Meta?” Sarah asked.

A look of hopelessness came over the girl's face. “Yes. But they are all hungry again.”

“The milk . . . I couldn't get it . . .” Viona murmured.

The girl led them around a slight bend into a separate area. In the dimness, Sarah saw on the floor eight pallets with a baby on each. Meta picked up one wailing infant, but another began crying, and then all of them picked up in a chorus.

“Well, I've been to two state rodeos, a national fair, and three snake stompin's,” Reb murmured, “but I ain't never seen nothing like this.”

Sarah's heart went out to the babies, so small and helpless. She gathered up one. The child had its fist clenched and its eyes shut tight and was crying lustily. “There, baby,” she said, “don't cry. He does sound hungry.”

“Yes. They're all hungry. I must go now and get them some milk.”

Gus had been standing to one side. Now he walked up to the babies and looked down. “Well, now. This is a fine thing,” he said, rubbing his long skinny fingers together. “All we've got to do is to take care of eight helpless babies, a sick woman, and a girl, and keep from getting eaten alive by giant squirrels or monster bats.” He grunted as if satisfied. “That ought to give a fellow character.” He turned to the young woman and smiled at her. “Where do you get the milk, Miss Meta?”

“There is a herd of goats about a mile from here. We take containers and milk them. They don't seem to be wild goats, but we've never seen the owners to get their permission. And sooner or later, Dr. Korbo's men will catch us. We've been terrified of that.”

Gus leaned his long self toward her, nodding. “Well, now, Miss Meta, first of all, I don't want you to get your hopes up. I know when young ladies see a handsome chap like me, they do that. So I warn you that I'm much sought after. But I want to help.”

Meta gave him an unbelieving look. But then she smiled. “I will try to control myself,” she said. “If you want to help us, can you milk a goat?”

“Certainly I can milk a goat. Give me the containers and tell me where to find them.”

“Mostly we only have small containers,” Meta said. “And not many of those . . .”

“We always carry canteens and some pans with us,” Sarah told her. She looked around at the others. “Can any of the rest of you milk?”

“I can,” Reb said. “We kept goats on our farm out in Texas. There's nothing to it.” Reb, however, was the only Sleeper who had had any goatmilking experience. He said, “Dave, you and Jake come along
with Gus and me. You can hold the goats' heads while we do the milking.”

It was clear that Dave did not like being ordered around. He said, “No. I'd better stay here and make sure everything's all right. Take Jake and Wash with you. They can help carry the milk back.”

Reb stared hard at him and muttered something about being king of the hill, but it was under his breath.

The boys and Gus left, and Sarah and Abbey looked to the girl for directions. “What can we do until they get back with the milk, Meta?”

“They need to be changed, and the diapers need to be washed, but I'm so tired . . .”

“You go sit with your grandmother.” Sarah smiled brightly. “Abbey and I will take care of this, won't we, Abbey?”

The next hour was rather trying. Abbey had never changed a diaper in her life. It was not her best experience.

Sarah, on the other hand, had baby cousins, so she'd had plenty of experience washing babies and changing them. She talked to the fussy infants and laughed and tried with little success to make them gurgle at her and forget their hunger. She said, “I love babies.”

“Well, that's good,” Abbey said, “because I'm certainly no good with them.”

The girls rinsed the diapers in the waterfall and spread them on the rocks to dry. By that time the boys and Gus were returning with their containers of goat's milk.

Gus said, “The good news is we didn't get eaten by squirrels or attacked by bats.”

“What's the bad news, Gus?”

“The bad news is that sooner or later we're going to get caught going after milk. I don't know what the penalty is for hiding babies in this country—but with a magician like Dr. Korbo around, I would expect the least they'll do to us is cut our hands off.”

“Oh, don't be so gloomy, Gus. Come and see the babies, and you can all help feed them.”

 

 

S
arah hid a smile behind her hand. She hadn't seen such a funny sight in a long time. It was feeding time in the section reserved for the babies. The Sleepers were all gathered to help, and Sarah suppressed a giggle as she looked at the four boys attempting to carry out their duties.

Reb Jackson, perhaps, was the most comical. Reb could ride the wildest horse that ever galloped; he was an expert with a sword; he could follow a trail—indeed there seemed little this boy could not do. However, he appeared to be having difficulty feeding a baby. His face was screwed up into a scowl, and he was holding the infant as if it were a bundle of dynamite.

“So help me, I never thought it would come to this,” he muttered. “I never set myself out to be a nursemaid.”

Wash, sitting beside Reb, was having somewhat the same difficulty. He could not figure out how to hold the baby and feed her at the same time. Every time he took the bottle away to change positions, a piercing scream would ring out.

“I think this one's going to be some kind of an opera singer,” he said. “Listen to that voice.”

Dave and Josh, seated together, were trying their best. Dave had protested that he simply could not do it, but Sarah had thrust a baby into his arms and said, “Yes, you can, Dave. You're the oldest and the biggest. Now, set a good example.”

Dave Cooper looked as awkward as a boy could
look. He balanced the baby on his knees, concentrated on the bottle, and seemed unable to think of a single thing to say.

Josh, on the other hand, was doing very well, she saw. He held “his” baby, a little girl, in the crook of his arm and looked fairly comfortable. His eyes met Sarah's, and she smiled. “You've done that before, Josh.”

“Yep. I had a nephew. I used to take care of him when my aunt and uncle left him at our house. Like riding a bicycle, I guess. You never forget how.”

As the feeding went on, Gus came in and stood grinning at the scene. “Well, you fellows have found your calling,” he teased. “You can always get a job feeding babies in a nursery.”

Dave scowled. “I don't need any of your smart talk, Gus. Here, take this baby.”

“Nope. I've got other things to do.” He walked to where Meta sat and plopped himself down beside her. “Here,” he said. “Give me that baby.”

Meta stared at him.

“You go see to your grandmother. I'll take care of this one.”

“Why, thank you. That's very nice of you, Gus.” Meta handed him the baby, got up, and left at once.

Looking after her with a rather sad expression, Gus sighed and said, “It's too bad about Meta.”

“Too bad about her?” Sarah looked at him, puzzled. “She's not sick, is she?”

“Why, she's lovesick.”

Sarah had to turn her head to avoid letting him see her grin. Then she straightened her face and said, “You think she's fallen for you?”

“Oh, yes. Bound to happen. Always does.”

“Well, that's the way it is with you handsome
people.” Sarah grinned at him. “You always leave a trail of broken hearts.”

Gus nodded soberly and continued feeding the baby. “Yep, I wish there was something I could do about it. Maybe I can uglify myself. I don't know how I'd go about that, though.”

Sarah was always amused at Gus. He frequently complained that he was sick, but actually he was as healthy as a horse. He was suffering under the delusion that he was a very handsome man. He also was continually bringing up that young ladies followed him around in droves. She suspected that most of this was due to his vivid imagination. But as she sat watching him feed the baby, Sarah decided that Gus was a very nice fellow indeed.

When the feeding was over, they put the babies on their pallets, and all of the little ones seemed to go to sleep at once. Then they tiptoed out.

Sarah went over to see how Viona was doing. She found Meta sitting beside her, trying to get her to eat.

“How are you, Miss Viona?”

“Not too well today.”

“You'll be all right, Grandmother,” Meta said nervously. “Can you eat any more?”

“No. No more.”

She lay down and seemed to drop off to sleep right away.

“I'm worried, Sarah. She's so weak,” Meta said.

Sarah put her arm around the girl. “Yes, she is.” She could think of no comfort to give. It was obvious that her grandmother was growing weaker almost by the hour.

 

Josh was restless. He said, “I'm going to get some more goat milk. Anybody want to go along just to get out of here?”

“I'll go,” Reb said.

“Come on, Wash. Let's go with them,” Jake said.

The four boys carrying their milk vessels set out through the thick woods. When they arrived at the open field, they looked around carefully before moving out of the trees.

“See anybody, Josh?” Wash asked.

“Not a soul. Sometimes I think these
must
be wild goats—except that they have bells on. I don't understand it. Well, come on.”

“It's getting late. I don't want to get caught out here.”

The boys quickly crossed the field, and the goats did not seem alarmed at their approach. Josh and Jake and Wash held the heads of the animals while Reb did the milking. They quickly filled the containers, and Josh rose and patted the nanny goat. “Thanks, girl. Sure appreciate this.”

While on the way back, Reb said, “I still can't figure out why nobody comes to check on those goats. Somebody will sooner or later. And then we'll be in a jam.”

Josh thought the same thing, but he said, “I don't know what else we can do. The babies have to have milk.”

Jake said, “Maybe we can capture a wild goat and keep it in the cave.”

“Jake, you're always full of schemes,” Reb said. “Who wants to live with a goat?”

The two argued until they got back to the waterfall. They followed the narrow ledge, then stepped inside the cave.

Sarah and Meta came to meet them. “We'll take the milk,” Sarah said. “And thanks. By the way, we're having rabbit for supper.”

“Again!” Wash moaned. “I think I can feel my ears growing. I'm going to turn into a rabbit.”