=== apom_ch2_pt7 ===

Naked and unarmed as I was, I had no desire to face the unseen thing which menaced me. =

My revolvers were strapped to my lifeless body which, for some unfathomable reason, I could not bring myself to touch.  My carbine was in its boot, strapped to my saddle, and as my horse had wandered off I was left without means of defense.  My only alternative seemed to lie in flight and my decision was crystallized by a recurrence of the rustling sound from the thing which now seemed, in the darkness of the cave and to my distorted imagination, to be creeping stealthily upon me. =

Unable longer to resist the temptation to escape this horrible place I leaped quickly through the opening into the starlight of a clear Arizona night.  The crisp, fresh mountain air outside the cave acted as an immediate tonic and I felt new life and new courage coursing through me.  Pausing upon the brink of the ledge I upbraided myself for what now seemed to me wholly unwarranted apprehension. = 

=== end of pt7 ===