The Golden Canyon
by
G. A. Henty
Part 1 out of 3
Produced by Ted Garvin, Andre Lapierre and PG Distributed Proofreaders
The Golden Canyon
by
G.A. Henty
New York
Hurst & Company Publishers.
1899
Contents
The Golden Canyon.
Chapter
I. A Run Ashore
II. Dick's Escape
III. The Gold-Seekers
IV. More Plans
V. The Search For The Canyon
VI. The Map Again
VII. The Scarcity Of Water
VIII. The Golden Valley
IX. The Tree On The Peak
X. Watched
XI. Hard At Work
XII. Retreat
XIII. The Redskin
XIV. In The Ravine
XV. Rifle-Shots
XVI. On The Return
XVII. Conclusion
Contents
The Stone Chest.
Chapter
I. A Mystery Of The Storm
II. Off For Zaruth
III. Among The Icebergs
IV. The Escape From The Icebergs
V. The Arctic Island
VI. The Madman
VII. A Fearful Fall
VIII. A Remarkable Story
IX. The Volcano Of Ice
X. The Escape Of The "Dart"
XI. Among A Strange Foe
XII. Bob's Discovery
XIII. The Big Polar Bear
XIV. The Finding Of The Stone Chest
XV. Bob Rescues His Father--Conclusion
Publishers' Introduction
George Alfred Henty has been called "The Prince of Story-Tellers." To
call him "The Boy's Own Historian" would perhaps be a more appropriate
title, for time has proved that he is more than a story-teller; he is a
preserver and propagator of history amongst boys.
How Mr. Henty has risen to be worthy of these enviable titles is a story
which will doubtless possess some amount of interest for all his
readers.
Henty may be said to have begun his preliminary training for his
life-work when a boy attending school at Westminster. Even then the germ
of his story-telling propensity seems to have evinced itself, for he was
always awarded the highest marks in English composition.
From Westminster he went to Cambridge, where he was enrolled as a
student at Caius College. It is a decided change of scenery and
circumstances from Cambridge to the Crimea, but such was the change
which took place in Mr. Henty's career at the age of twenty-one.
An appointment in connection with the commissariat department of the
British army, took him from the scenes of student life into the
excitement of the Muscovite war.
Previous to this, however, he had written his first novel, which he has
characterized as "Very bad, no doubt, and was, of course, never
published, but the plot was certainly a good one."
Whilst engaged with his duties at the Crimea he sent home several
descriptive letters of the places, people, and circumstances passing
under his notice. His father, thinking some of those letters were of
more than private interest, took a selection of them to the editor of
the _Morning Advertiser_, who, after perusal of them, was so well
pleased with their contents that he at once appointed young Henty as war
correspondent to the paper in the Crimea.
The ability with which he discharged his duties in the commissariat
department at that time soon found for him another sphere of similar
work in connection with the hospital of the Italian forces. After a
short time this was relinquished for engagement in mining work, which he
first entered into at Wales, and then in Italy.
Ten years after his Crimean correspondence to the _Morning Advertiser_
he again took to writing, and at this time obtained the position of
special correspondent to the _Standard_. While holding this post, he
contributed letters and articles on the wars in Italy and Abyssinia, and
on the expedition to Khiva. Two novels came from his pen during this
time, but his attention was mostly devoted to miscellaneous letters and
articles.
It is a specially interesting incident in the career of Mr. Henty how he
came to turn his attention to writing for boys. When at home, after
dinner, it was his habit to spend an hour or so with his children in
telling them stories, and generally amusing them. A story begun one day
would be so framed as "to be continued in the next," and so the same
story would run on for a few days, each day's portion forming a sort of
chapter, until the whole was completed. Some of the stories continued
for weeks. Mr. Henty, seeing the fascination and interest which these
stories had for his own children, bethought himself that others might
receive from them the same delight and interest if they were put into
book form. He at once acted upon the suggestion and wrote out a chapter
of his story for each day, and instead of telling it to his children in
an extempore fashion, read what he had written. When the story was
completed, the various chapters were placed together and dispatched to a
publisher, who at once accepted and published it. It was in this way the
long series of historical stories which has come from his powerful pen
was inaugurated, and G.A. Henty was awarded the title of "The Prince of
Story-Tellers."
There is in this incident a glimpse of the character of our author which
endears him to us all. The story of his kindly interest in his own
children surely creates a liking for him in the hearts of the children
of others. The man who can spend an hour in telling stories to his
little ones, and retain their attention and interest, has an evident
sympathy with, and power over, the youthful nature. Time has proved such
is the case with G.A. Henty, for up to the present he has written close
on fifty stories for boys, which have been received with unbounded joy
and satisfaction by all.
As an indication of the reception which his books have met with, the
following may be quoted from an English paper:
"G.A. Henty, the English writer of juveniles, is the most popular writer
in England to-day in point of sales. Over 150,000 copies of his books
are sold in a year, and in America he sells from 25,000 to 50,000 during
a year."
"All the world" is the sphere from which Mr. Henty draws his pictures
and characters for the pleasure of the young. Almost every country in
the world has been studied to do service in this way, with the result
that within the series of books which Mr. Henty has produced for the
young we find such places dealt with as Carthage, Egypt, Jerusalem,
Scotland, Spain, England, Afghanistan, Ashanti, Ireland, France, India,
Gibraltar, Waterloo, Alexandria, Venice, Mexico, Canada, Virginia, and
California. Doubtless what other countries remain untouched as yet are
but so many fields to be attacked, and which every lad hopes to see
conquered in the same masterly way in which the previous ones have been
handled.
As a rule much of what boys learn at school is left behind them when
classes are given up for the sterner work of the world. Unless there is
a special demand for a certain subject, that subject is apt to become a
thing of the past, both in theory and practice. This, however, is not
likely to be the case with history, so long as G.A. Henty writes books
for boys, and boys read them. History is his especial forte, and that he
is able to invest the dry facts of history with life, and make them
attractive to the modern schoolboy, says not a little for his power as a
story-teller for boys. It is questionable if history has any better
means of fixing itself in the minds of youthful readers than as it is
read in the pages of G.A. Henty's works. There is about it an attraction
which cannot be resisted; a most unusual circumstance in connection with
such a subject. All this of course means for Mr. Henty a vast amount of
research and study to substantiate his facts and make his situations,
characters, places, and points of time authentic. To the reader it means
a benefit which is incalculable, not only as a means of passing a
pleasant hour, but in reviving or imparting a general knowledge of the
history and geography, the manners and customs of our own and other
lands.
There is a noticeable element of "Freedom" which runs through Mr.
Henty's books, and in this may be said to lie their influence. From them
lads get an elevating sense of independence, and a stimulus to patriotic
and manly endeavor. His pages provide the purest form of intellectual
excitement which it is possible to put into the hands of lads. They are
always vigorous and healthy, and a power for the strengthening of the
moral as well as the intellectual life.
In the present work, "The Golden Canyon," a tale of the gold mines, Mr.
Henty has fully sustained his reputation, and we feel certain all boys
will read the book with keen interest.
The Golden Canyon
Chapter I.--A Run Ashore.
In the month of August, 1856, the bark _Northampton_ was lying in the
harbor of San Diego. In spite of the awning spread over her deck the
heat was almost unbearable. Not a breath of wind was stirring in the
land-locked harbor, and the bare and arid country round the town
afforded no relief to the eye. The town itself looked mean and
poverty-stricken, for it was of comparatively modern growth, and
contained but a few buildings of importance. Long low warehouses fringed
the shore, for here came for shipping vast quantities of hides; as San
Diego, which is situated within a few miles of the frontier between the
United States and Mexico, is the sole sheltered port available for
shipping between San Francisco and the mouth of the Gulf of California.
Two or three other ships which were, like the _Northampton_, engaged in
shipping hides, lay near her. A sickening odor rose from the half-cured
skins as they were swung up from boats alongside and lowered into the
hold, and in spite of the sharp orders of the mates, the crew worked
slowly and listlessly.
"This is awful, Tom," a lad of about sixteen, in the uniform of a
midshipman, said to another of about the same age as, after the last
boat had left the ship's sides, they leaned against the bulwarks; "what
with the heat, and what with the stench, and what with the captain and
the first mate, life is not worth living. However, only another two or
three days and we shall be full up, and once off we shall get rid of a
good deal of the heat and most of the smell."
"Yes, we shall be better off in those respects, Dick, but unfortunately
we shan't leave the captain and mate behind."
"No, I don't know which I like worst of them. It is a contrast to our
last sip, Tom. What a good time we had of it on board the _Zebra_! The
captain was a brick, and the mates were all good fellows. In fact, we
have always been fortunate since the day we first came on board together
up to now. I can't think how the owners ever appointed Collet to the
command; he is not one of their own officers. But when Halford was taken
suddenly ill I suppose they had no others at home to put in his place,
so had to go outside. My father said that Mr. Thompson had told him that
they heard that he was a capital sailor, and I have no doubt he is. He
certainly handled her splendidly in that big storm we had rounding the
Cape. I suppose they did not inquire much farther, as we took no
passengers out to San Francisco, and were coming out to pick up a cargo
of hides here for the return journey; but he is a tyrant on board, and
when I get back I will tell my father, and he will let Thompson know the
sort of fellow Collet is. It doesn't do one any good making complaints
of a captain, but my father is such friends with Thompson that I know he
will tell the other partners that he hears that Collet isn't the sort of
man they care about having commanding their ships, without my name
coming into it. If he does I can't help it. I know Thompson will see
that I don't sail with Collet again, anyhow, and will get you with me,
as he has often met you at my father's, and knows what chums we are.
Collet brought Williams with him, and they were a nice pair. I believe
the second and third are just as disgusted as we are, and as Allen is a
nephew of one of the partners he will put a spoke in their wheel too,
when he comes back."
"Well, we might be worse off in some respects, Dick. We have two good
officers out of the four, and we have a very fair crew, and we have good
grub; and the company always victual their ships well, and don't put the
officers' messing into the hands of the captain, as they do in some
ships."
Presently Mr. Allen, the second officer, came up with the two lads.
"I am going ashore in an hour, Preston," he said to Dick; "if you like,
you can come with me."
"Thank you, sir; I should like it very much."
"I wish you were coming too, Tom," he went on when the officer moved
away. "That is one of the nuisances, Collet never letting us go ashore
together."
"It is a nuisance," the other said, heartily. "Of course, Allen is a
very good fellow, but one can't have any larks as one could have if we
were together."
"Well, there are not many larks to be had here, at any rate, Tom. It is
about the dullest place I ever landed at. It is a regular Mexican town,
and except that they do have, I suppose, sometimes, dances and that sort
of thing, there is really nothing to be done when one does go ashore,
and the whole place stinks of hides. Even if one could get away for a
day there is no temptation to ride about that desert-looking country,
with the sun burning down on one; no one but a salamander could stand
it. They are about the roughest-looking lot I ever saw in the town.
Everyone has got something to do with hides one way or the other. They
have either come in with them from the country, or they pack them in the
warehouses, or they ship them. That and mining seem the only two things
going on, and the miners, with their red shirts and pistols and knives,
look even a rougher lot than the others. I took my pistol when last I
went ashore; I will lend it you this evening."
"Oh, I don't want a pistol, Tom; there is no chance of my getting into a
row."
"Oh, it is just as well to carry one, Dick, when you know that everyone
else has got one about him somewhere, and a considerable number of them
are drunk; it is just as well to take one. You know, it is small, and
goes in my breast pocket."
"I will take my stick, the one I bought at San Francisco; it has got an
ounce of lead in the knob. I would rather have that than a pistol any
day."
However, as Dick was standing with the second officer at the top of the
gangway, Tom Haldane, as he passed by, slipped the pistol into his hand
and then walked on. Dick thrust it into his pocket, and then descended
the ladder. It was almost dark now.
"I have two or three places to go to, Preston, and do not know how long
I shall be detained. It is just nine o'clock now. Suppose you meet me
here at the boat at half-past ten. It will be pleasanter for you to
stroll about by yourself than to be waiting about outside houses for
me."
"Very well, sir. I don't think there is much to see in the town, but I
will take a bit of a stroll outside. It is cool and pleasant after the
heat of the day."
They walked together to the first house that Mr. Allen had to visit;
then Dick strolled on by himself. The place abounded with wine-shops.
Through the open doors the sound of the strumming of mandolins, snatches
of Spanish song, and occasionally voices raised in dispute or anger,
came out. Dick felt no inclination to enter any of them. Had his chum
been with him he might have looked in for a few minutes for the fun of
the thing, but alone he would be the object of remark, and might perhaps
get involved in a quarrel. Besides the freshness of the air was so
pleasant that he felt disposed for a walk, for the moon was shining
brightly, the stars seemed to hang from the skies, and after having been
pent up in the ship for the last four days it was pleasant to stretch
the limbs in a brisk walk. In ten minutes he was outside the town, and
followed the road for half an hour.
"It is a comfort," he said to himself, "to have got rid of the smell of
hides. If ever cholera comes this way I should think it would make a
clean sweep of San Diego."
Turning, he walked leisurely back; he entered the town, and had gone but
a hundred yards or two when he heard a shout, followed by a pistol shot,
and then, in English, a cry for help.
He dashed down the street toward a group of people who, he could see in
the moonlight, were engaged in a sharp struggle. One man was defending
himself against four, and the oaths and exclamations of these showed
that they were Mexicans. Just as he reached them the man they were
attacking was struck down, and two of his assailants threw themselves
upon him.
Dick rushed upon the men, and felled one with a sweeping blow of his
stick. The other man who was standing up sprang at him, knife in hand,
with a savage oath.
So quick was the action that he was upon Dick before he had time to
strike a blow with his stick. He threw up his left arm to guard his
head, but received a severe gash on the shoulders. At the same moment he
struck out with his right, full into the face of the Mexican, who, as he
staggered back, fell across the three men on the ground. Dick seized the
opportunity to draw his pistol, dropping his stick as he did so, as his
left arm was disabled. It was a double-barreled pistol and as the three
natives rose and rushed at him, he shot the first. The other two sprang
at him and he received a blow that almost paralyzed him. He staggered
against the wall, but had strength to raise his arm and fire again, just
as the man was about to repeat his blow; he fell forward on his face,
and his other assailant took to his heels. A moment later Dick himself
sank to the ground.
Chapter II.--Dick's Escape.
When Dick opened his eyes it was broad daylight. He was lying in a
barely furnished room. A surgeon was leaning over him bandaging his
wounds, while on the other side of the bed stood three red-shirted men,
whose rough beards and belts with bowie knives and pistols showed them
to be miners. One of them had his face strapped up and his arm in a
sling. An exclamation of satisfaction burst from him as Dick's eyes
opened.
"That is right, lad. You will do now. It has been touch and go with you
all night. My life aint no pertik'lar value to nobody, but such as it is
you have saved it. But I won't talk of that now. Which ship do you
belong to? We will let them know at once."
"The _Northampton_," Dick said in a whisper.
"All right; don't you talk any more. We will get your friends here in no
time."
But when Mr. Allen came ashore Dick was again unconscious. The mate
fetched two more surgeons, who, after conferring with the first, were
all of opinion that although he might possibly recover from his wounds,
weeks would elapse before he would be convalescent. Before night fever
had set in, and it was a fortnight before he was again conscious of what
was passing round him. He looked feebly round the room. One of the
red-shirted men was attending to a pot over a charcoal fire. Turning his
head he saw, standing looking out of the window, his friend Tom Haldane.
"Halloa, Tom," he said, in a whisper, which, however, reached the
midshipman's ears. He turned sharply round, and hurried to the bedside.
"Thank God, Dick, you are conscious again. Don't try to talk, old
fellow; drink this lemonade, and then shut your eyes again."
Dick tried to raise his hand to take the glass, but, to his surprise,
found he was unable to do so. Tom, however, put it to his lips and
poured it down his throat. It was cool and pleasant, and with a sigh of
relief he again closed his eyes, and went off into a quiet sleep.
When he awoke it was evening; the window was open, and the fresh air
came in, making the lamp on the table flicker.
"How do you feel now, old man?" Tom asked.
"I feel all right," he said, "but I am wonderfully weak. I suppose I
must have lost a lot of blood. Has the skipper given you leave to stop
with me for the night?"
Tom nodded. "I will tell you all about it in the morning, Dick. There is
some chicken broth Dave has been cooking for you. You must try and drink
a bowl of it, and then by to-morrow morning you will be feeling like a
giant."
Dick laughed feebly. "It will be some time before there is much of a
giant about me. Tom; but I feel as if I could drink some broth."
The next morning Dick woke feeling decidedly stronger. "Raise me up and
put some pillows behind me, Tom. It is horrid being fed from a spoon,
lying on one's back."
The man called Dave, and Tom, lifted him up as he wished, and then the
latter fed him with the broth, in which some bread had been crumbled.
"Now, then," Dick said, when he had finished; "let us hear what the old
man said. I suppose he was in a tremendous rage?"
"That he was! a brute!"
"Why, there is my chest. What has he sent that ashore for? I should
think I could be taken on board again to-day."
"You won't be taken on board the _Northampton,_" Tom said, "for by this
time she is down somewhere near Cape Horn."
"Eh!" Dick exclaimed in astonishment. "Why, how long have I been here?"
"A fortnight to-day, Dick."
Dick was too surprised to make any remark for some time.
"But if the _Northampton_ has gone, how is it that you are here, Tom?"
"Simply because she has gone without me, Dick. The old man was in a
furious rage when he heard in the morning what had happened to you. Of
course, we were in a great stew--I mean the third mate and myself--when
Allen came off at twelve o'clock without you, after waiting an hour and
a half at the wharf for you to turn up. We all felt sure that something
must have happened, or you would never have been all that time late.
There was a row between Allen and the skipper the first thing in the
morning. Allen wanted to go ashore to make inquiries about you, and the
old man would not let him, and said that no doubt you had deserted, but
that if you came on board again he would have you put in irons.
"Well, there was a regular row going on when a boat came off with a man
in a red shirt, who I know now is one of Dave's partners, and said that
you were desperately wounded, and that the Spanish doctor they had
called in thought that you would die. So then the old man couldn't help
Allen's going ashore. Of course, he could do nothing, as you were
insensible, but he got two other surgeons. Their opinion was that you
would not get over it, but that if you did it would be a long time
first. When Allen got back there was another row. He wanted to have you
brought on board. The captain said that as you had chosen to mix
yourself up in a row on shore, you might die on shore for anything he
cared. Then I asked for leave to stay with you when the vessel sailed,
and got sworn at for my pains. In the afternoon I filled up your chest
chockfull with as many of my things as I could get into it, and sent it
ashore. By the next night we had got all the cargo on board, and were to
sail by the next morning, and I lowered myself down and swam ashore.
"Allen had told me exactly where you were lying, so I came here at once
and told Dave who I was, and why I had come ashore, and as soon as it
was light he took me round to the room the other two had. The captain
came ashore in the morning and stormed and raved at the Consul's, but he
had better have kept on board. I told our friends here all about it, and
as he went back to the boat again one of them pitched into him, and gave
him such a tremendous licking that I hear he had to be carried on board.
As soon as he got on board the _Northampton_ sailed, so you see here we
both are. I have written off to your father and mine, giving them a full
account of the whole affair, and saying what a brute Collet had been on
the whole voyage. They will be sure to lay the letters before the firm,
and as Allen and Smith will, when they are questioned, speak out pretty
straight, you may be sure the old man and his friend, the first mate,
will have to look for a berth somewhere else."
"It is awfully good of you to have come ashore to nurse me, Tom."
"Bosh! Why, I have got away from the _Northampton_. I found, too, that
as far as nursing was concerned I might as well have stayed on board,
for Dave here and his two mates have, one or other of them, been with
you night and day, and they could not have taken more care of you if
they had been women. Still I have been very glad to be here, though till
three days ago there seemed very little hope of your pulling through it.
Now you have talked enough, or rather, I have talked enough, Dick; and
you had better turn over and get another sleep."
Chapter III.--The Gold-Seekers.
Two days later the lad was able to sit up in bed and to enter upon a
discussion as to the future with Tom and the miner. It was begun by the
latter.
"I suppose you will be taking the first ship back as soon as you are
strong enough?" he said.
"I don't know, Dave; now I am here I should certainly like a run ashore
for a few weeks and to see something of the country. We have got twenty
pounds between us; that will last for some time. I should think we could
get a passage back without having to pay on this side for it, and if
there was any difficulty about it, we could work our way back; but Tom
agrees with me, we should like to see something of the country first.
"I suppose in another fortnight I shall be all right again; but there is
the doctor to pay. I don't know what their charges are here, but I
expect his bill will be a pretty long one. You had better tell him
to-day that we have not got a great deal of cash between us, and that as
I only want building up now, he need not come again."
"Don't you trouble yourself about that," Dave growled. "You don't
suppose that when you have got yourself cut and sliced about in helping
me you are going to have any trouble about doctors? We have got a tidy
lot at present amongst us, and what is ours is yourn. We were going
to set off among the hills a day or two after the time we had
that trouble; only, of course, that stopped it all."
"Please don't stop on my account," Dick said. "I shall get on very well
now, and I was saying to Tom, as soon as I can get about we will go off
somewhere among the hills; for one might just as well be lying in an
oven as here. If you will tell us where you and your mates are working,
we might find our way there, and get a job. We are both pretty strong,
you know--that is to say, when we are well--and we have often said that
we should like to try our luck gold-mining."
"We aint agoing till you are strong enough to get about," Dave said; "so
it is no use saying any more about that. Then, if you want to do some
mining, we will put you in the way of it; but we are going on a long
expedition, which may last months, and from which, as like as not, we
shall never come back again. However, we can easy enough take you with
us for a bit and drop you at one of the mining camps, and stop there
with you till you get accustomed to it, or work for a few months with
you if you like. Time is not of much consequence to us."
"That is awfully good of you, Dave," Tom said, "but as you have lost
more than a fortnight at present, and I suppose it will be another
fortnight before Dick is strong enough to travel, it isn't fair on you;
and perhaps you might be able to introduce us to some men going up to
the hills--that is, if you think that we could not go with you on this
expedition you talk of."
"That won't be a job for young hands," Dave said. "It will be a mighty
long journey over a terrible rough country, where one's life will be
always in one's hands, where one's eyes will always be on the lookout
for an enemy, and one will know that any moment, night or day, one may
hear the war yell of the Indians. We are going into the heart of
Arizona, to places where not half-a-dozen white men, even counting
Mexicans as white men, have ever set foot; at least, where not
half-a-dozen have ever come back alive from, though maybe there are
hundreds who have tried."
"Then I suppose you are going to look for some very rich mine, Dave?"
"That is so; I will tell you how it came about, and queerly enough, it
wur pretty well the same way as your friend and me came together. My
mates and me were coming down from the hills when we heard a shot fired
in a wood ahead of us. It wasn't none of our business, but we went on at
a trot, thinking as how some white men had been attacked by greasers."
"What are greasers?" Tom asked.
Dave laughed.
"A greaser is just a Mexican. Why they call them so I don't know; but
that has been their name always as long as I came in the country. Well,
we ran down and came sudden upon two greasers who were kneeling by a man
lying in the road, and seemed to be searching his pockets. We let fly
with our Colts; one of them was knocked over, and the other bolted. Then
we went to look at the man in the road; he wur a greaser too. He had
been shot dead. 'I wonder what they shot him for?' says I. 'Maybe it is
a private quarrel; maybe he had struck it rich, and has got a lot of
gold in his belt. We may as well look; it is no use leaving it for that
skunk that bolted to come back for.' He had got about twenty ounces in
his belt, and we shifted it into our bag, and were just going on when
'Zekel--that is one of my mates--said, 'I know this cuss, Dave; it's the
chap that lived in that village close to where we were working six
months ago; they said he had been fossicking all over Arizona, and that
he was the only one who ever came back out of a party who went to locate
a wonderful rich spot it was said he knew of.
"'He tried over and over again to get up another party, but no one would
try after that first failure. We may just as well search him all over;
it may be he has got a plan of the place somewhere about him, and it is
like enough those fellows have killed him on the chance of finding it.'
"So we searched him pretty thorough, and at last we found a paper sewn
up in the collar of his jacket. Sure enough it was a plan. We did not
examine it then, for someone might have come along, and we might have
been accused of the chap's murder; so I shoved it into the inside pocket
of my shirt, and we went on. We looked at it that night; there was
several marks on it and names, one of which we had heard of, though we
had never been so far in the Indian country. Well, as you may guess, we
had some big talks over it, and at last we reckoned we would have a try
to find it.
"We had been lucky, and had struck it rich at the last place we had been
at, and we agreed, instead of spending our money in a spree or at the
monte tables, we would fit out an expedition and try it. Now I believe
that attack was made on me to try and get that piece of paper. The chap
who bolted may like enough have hid himself and watched us, and may have
seen us find it and me take charge of it. We thought more than once
since we came down here that we were being dogged by a greaser, but we
never thought about the paper. That evening I had been out by myself,
which I did not often do, for we in general went about together, and was
going back along that street, and was pretty nigh home, when someone
said in Spanish, 'That is the fellow,' and then five men jumped out with
knives in their hands. I had just time to whip out my six-shooter and
fire once. One fellow went down, but at the same moment I got a clip
across my wrist with a knife, and down went the pistol. Then I got a
slice across the head, and another on the shoulder, and down I went. Two
of them threw themselves on me, and I shammed dead, knowing that if I
moved it was all over with me. One of them shoved his hand in my
trousers pockets, and the other tore my shirt open. I heard a sudden
row, a blow, and the fall of a body; then one of them came tumbling down
on the top of us and knocked the two fellows over, then they jumped up,
and I heard your pistol crack twice and two falls, and as I got up on to
my feet to lend a hand I saw one of the fellows bolting down the street,
running off in another direction. That was the one, I think, that came
down on the top of us.
"I have been wondering since then how it was that that fellow fell, for
you did not fire till they jumped up."
Dick explained that he had felled one with a blow from the stick, and
not having time to strike with it again, had sent the second staggering
over the group with a blow of his fist; "those are the two that got
away, I expect," he said.
"I expect so; there were four bodies on the ground--yours, the two
fellows you shot, and the one I wiped out to begin with."
"Has there been any row about it?" Dick asked.
"No; they take these things quietly. If it had been one of my mates and
me who had killed three Mexicans, our story that we had been attacked
might not have been believed, but as it was certain a young ship's
officer would not have joined me in falling foul of three natives, they
just took and buried them, and there was an end of it."
Chapter IV.--More Plans.
"I suppose this is Dave's room?" Dick Said when he and his friend were
alone.
"Yes, from what he said they lodged here together, but the other two
went somewhere else the day after you were brought in, so that the place
should be quiet, but they come in by turns to sit up with you at night.
I wish they would take us with them on this expedition, Dick."
"I wish they would; it would be a splendid adventure, and we might come
back with no end of gold. At any rate, after being four months under
Collet, I think we have a right to a holiday. I expect they will let us
go with them if you make a strong point of it, Dick."
"It shan't be for want of trying, Tom, anyhow."
The lads had their way. As soon as the three men saw that they
were really bent upon accompanying them, they raised no further
objections.
"We shall be glad enough to have you with us," Dave said, "and though
the work will be toilsome and hard, there is nothing in it that two
active young chaps like you need be afraid of. It is just the
Injuns--they are the worst kind, and have always set themselves against
gold-seekers. That is natural enough, for they know that if gold mines
were once opened in their country, the whites would pour in, and they
would soon be wiped out. Anyhow, everyone who goes prospecting in that
part of Arizona knows well enough that he takes his life in his hands.
"All along the country by the Gila River is the stronghold of the
Apaches, the terror of Northern Mexico. Many parties of miners have set
out, but very few have ever come back again; but those that have tell of
gold richer by a hundred times than ever was seen in California, and
have brought with them sacks of nuggets to prove it. These are men who
have had the luck to get in and out without ever having been seen by the
Injuns; the large parties have never succeeded. So you see, young
fellows, the odds are strongly agin you. Still, if you like to go with
us, you are welcome; but if the time comes when the redskins have got us
shut up in some place we can never get out of alive, remember that you
are there on your own choice, and that we had no hand in getting you
into the scrape."
"We will never blame you, whatever comes of it, Dave. If the risk is not
too great for you and your comrades, it is not too great for us. There
is nothing in the world we should like so much as such an adventure."
"Well, that is settled then, and no more words about it. We shall be
glad to have two more with us, and we intended to go alone only because
it is not everyone that can be trusted."
"What do we take with us?"
"We shall each take a horse, and a Mexican pony to carry our food and
traps. If everything goes right and we find a bonanza, we can load them
up on the way back. Twenty dollars will buy a pony here. Then you will
want a critter each to ride. We are not going to get first-rate ones,
for if the Indians come on us it is fighting that we shall have to do,
not riding. Among those mountains no shod horse of the plains has a
chance with those Indian ponies, which can climb like goats and go at a
gallop along places where a horse from the plains wouldn't dare move.
Then you will want rifles and six-shooters. That is about all; I am
afraid our stock of money will hardly run to it, and I think we had
better work for a while in one of the diggings to make up what we shall
want."
"We have twenty pounds between us," Dick said, "and we can draw on our
fathers for twenty-five pounds each. The Consul here has, of course,
heard of my being wounded and left behind, and I expect he won't mind
cashing our draft."
"There will be more than we want," the miner said. "Still, it is as well
to be on the right side. If we don't find any gold up there, we shall
want a little when we get back to keep us going until something turns
up."
Three days later Dick was strong enough to go with his friend to the
Consul's; they found that Mr. Allen had spoken about Dick, and told him
that should he recover from his wounds, he could cash a draft for him
without any fear. Therefore in half an hour the lads returned to their
lodgings with three hundred and fifty dollars, having changed their
English gold into the currency of the country.
"You have not got your horses yet, I suppose, Dave?"
"No, we shall go up the river about a hundred and twenty miles. There we
shall buy horses cheaper than we can get them here. We have got rifles
and colts; they are things one can't very well do without in knocking
about among the hills. I will go round the town, and I have no doubt I
shall be able to pick you up what you want cheap. There are so many men
get rubbed out one way or the other that such things are pretty often
for sale."
The other two miners, who during Dick's illness had nothing to do but to
stroll about the town, both knew of men who had rifles or revolvers to
dispose of, and in a couple of hours the purchases were completed and a
considerable stock of ammunition was also bought.
"I should recommend yer," the miner called 'Zekel said, as the party
were talking matters over that evening, "to rig yourselves out miner
fashion. Them uniforms looks very nice on board ship, but they aint much
good for knocking about in the mountains; and yer can leave them here,
and take to them again when yer gets back."
The lads thought the advice was good, and next day rigged themselves out
in red shirts and high boots, in which were tucked the bottom of the
thick moleskin trousers. They also bought jackets of the same material
as the troupers.
"You will be glad of them at night," Dave said; "it gets pretty cold up
in the mountains when the sun is down, and we shan't be lighting any
fires, you bet."
They also bought a couple of rough blankets each, a spare shirt, and two
or three pairs of stockings, a couple of long bowie knives, and two
broad-brimmed felt hats.
Chapter V.--The Search For The Canyon.
Ten days later the party took passage in a large boat going up the river
to Santa Fe. It had come down freighted with hides, and the odor still
hung about it. However, by this time they had become accustomed to the
smell, and scarcely noticed it. The boat was manned by six Mexicans, who
sometimes poled it along, sometimes, when the stream was rapid, got
ashore and towed from the bank.
It took them six days to arrive at Santa Fe. Although just inside the
United States frontier, the population was almost entirely Mexican.
There were, however, a few American stores, containing European goods of
all kinds, for the use of the natives, and such articles as miners or
prospectors going up among the hills would require. Here they had no
difficulty in purchasing horses. Five rough, serviceable ponies for the
carriage of the baggage were picked up at twenty dollars a piece, and
five well-made and wiry horses for their own riding. Mexican saddles,
with very high pommels and cantles, heavy and cumbersome to look at, but
very comfortable for long distances, were also obtained without
difficulty. At the stores were bought two sacks of flour and two sides
of bacon, a frying pan, saucepan, baking pot, and a good supply of tea
and sugar; four large water-skins, five small ones, completed their
purchases, with the exception of shovels, picks, and pails for washing
the gravel.
"Going up among the hills again, Dave?" remarked the store-keeper, with
whom the miners had often dealt before.
"Yes, we are going to try a new direction this time, and don't want to
have to come back directly we have struck anything. We have got enough
grub here for three or four months, reckoning as we shall occasionally
get hold of bear or deer meat."
"Well, you had better keep clear of the Indian country, Dave. They made
a raid down South, I hear, last month, and burnt half a dozen Mexican
villages, and they would make short work with you if they came across
you anywhere near their country. However, I suppose you aint going to be
fool enough to go that way, especially as I see you have got two green
hands with you."
"They are old enough to be useful," Dave said. "We can put them to cook
and look after the horses, if they can't do anything else. They are
Britishers, and one of them stood by me pluckily in a mess I got into in
San Diego; so as they had left their ship and were out of a berth, I
thought I would bring them with me, as they had a fancy for seeing a
little of mining life, before they shipped back again."
Two days after their arrival at Santa Fe they started.
"We will strike due south as if intending to enter Mexico; one never
knows who is watching one," Dave said the evening before. "There are
always some pretty hard men about these border towns--miners who are
down on their luck; men who have had to run from the northern diggings,
and such like. We may say what we like, but they will make a guess that
we have located something rich, and are going back to work it quietly
and keep it to ourselves, and like enough some of them will take it in
their heads to follow us. Anyhow, we will travel south for a day or two,
and then turn off sharp to the west. It aint as I should grudge anyone
else a share in the mine, but the more there are the more chance of the
Injuns finding us. Besides, some of these chaps are so reckless that
like as not they would light a big fire if they wanted to cook a loaf of
bread. We three have been up that way before, although not so far as we
are going now, and we know what we have got to expect, and that, if we
are going to bring our scalps out again, we have got to sleep with our
eyes open."
Another fortnight's traveling and they had passed the last settlements,
had left Fort Mason behind them, and had entered the country that the
Apaches and kindred tribes claimed as their own.
The two lads had enjoyed the journey immensely. They had traveled about
fifteen miles a day, their pace being regulated by that of the pack
animals. During the heat of the day they had all halted in the shade of
some clump of tree or bush. Here the horses had picked up their
sustenance, grass and leaves, while the men slept. At night they had
camped, when they could find such a spot, on the banks of a stream. Then
a big fire would be lighted, a dough of flour, water, and soda would be
mixed, and placed in the baking pot. This was put among the red embers,
which were drawn over the lid so as to bake it from above as well as
below. Then, if they had no other meat, rashers of bacon would be
grilled over the fire, and eaten with the hot bread. Generally, however,
they had been able to purchase a kid or some fowls at one or other of
the little villages through which they passed.
They always carried with them two of the large skins filled with water,
in case none should be met with at their halting places; this sufficed
for tea and for a good drink at night, and before starting in the
morning for the horses. The villages, however, had become fewer and
fewer, and at the last through which they had passed they had bought one
of the little bullocks of the country, cut the flesh into strips, and
hung it in the sun to dry, halting three days for the purpose.
Chapter VI.--The Map Again.
"Now," Dave said, as they finished their meal on the evening after
leaving Fort Mason, "we have got to consider which course we had better
take. First we will have another look at the map."
This was taken out from a wash-leather case, in which it had been sewn,
Dave carrying it under his shirt by a string that went round his neck.
It was the first time that the boys had seen it. As Dave opened it they
examined it with much curiosity. It was divided in two; the upper one
appeared to be a general map of the country, the lower one a plan of the
immediate locality of the spot.
"It looks very confusing," Dick said, as he examined it.
"You see the chap as made it did not do it for other people, but so that
he could find his way back by it. This line that runs along the bottom
of the other map I take to be the Gila, which is a big river which runs
right through the Indian country, and falls into the Rio Grande. I have
gone up it from that side two or three hundred miles. We were a strong
party, but we had to fight our way back again, and lost pretty near half
our number. You see by the map it lies on the north side of the Gila.
But as the Gila is eight or nine hundred miles long, that don't help us
a great deal, and the map wouldn't be any good to us if it was not for
this mark here up near the top. You see all these things are meant for
mountains, but as one mountain on a map is just like another, we should
be downright done if it was not for this mark. Do you see there are
three little jags here close together? Now I take it those three jags
are meant for a mountain the Indians call the Three Sisters, which is a
mountain with three peaks close together. I never saw it myself, but I
have spoken with miners who have seen it from the north. Now, here you
see, to the south of the Three Sisters, is a cross, and I take it that's
the mine. You see there is a black line waving about among the mountains
that stops at that point. I guess that is the line they traveled by."
"But there is nothing to tell us what scale the map is on, Dave," Tom
said; "it may mean five hundred miles from end to end, it may mean
fifty. If it is five hundred it must be seventy or eighty miles from
those peaks to the cross, if it is fifty it is only seven or eight."
"That is so," Dave agreed.
"Have you any idea how far it is from the three peaks to the river?"
"Yes, I have heard it is about fifty miles north of the Gila."
"Well, that would make this spot marked from fifteen to twenty miles
from them. The length of the map would be about two hundred miles, and
as the peaks are about a quarter of the distance from the right-hand
side, this map begins about a hundred and fifty miles to the west of the
peaks. I should think it would be at some well-known place that the
maker of this map began; some place that he knew he could find again
without difficulty."
"That is so; you will see the line begins at a stream running north and
south. There is a mark here each side of the path-line. Of course they
might mean anything; they might mean trees or rocks. Then look here;
there are two more dots out here, and if you were to draw a line
straight through them, it would come to the other dots. One must be
three or four miles off, and the other twelve or fifteen. The farthest
one may be a peak, and the one nearer some conspicuous tree or rock in a
line with it."
"Yes, that is what we make it out to be," Boston Joe said. "We have the
choice of either going up the Gila valley and mounting this side stream
till we come upon something that agrees with these four marks, or of
keeping along from the west by a valley about the right distance from
the Gila."
"I should not think we can trust much to distances," Dick said; "this
man was merely sketching out a plan to help him on his way up again,
should he ever make up a party to return to the mine, and, though
probably these bendings and turnings of the road are to be depended
upon, the map itself cannot be done to any scale. Here the peaks are
made twice as far from the left side as they are from the river, but
they may be really four times as far, or they may be only the same
distance; there is no saying at all; as he has drawn it, the point where
the road begins is a good deal more to the south than the peaks are. If
the scale is correct, it is not more than thirty miles at most north of
the Gila that the path begins. You see about halfway between this point
and the river are five or six little marks like a V upside down. I see
there are other marks like these at different places on the map. I
should say they were meant for Indian villages."
"That is so, no doubt," Dave agreed. "Here is another thing beside them;
what do you make that out to be, Dick?"
"It looks to me like a tiny bird; it is very small and very badly done,
but I am pretty sure that that is what is meant. What in the world can
he have put a bird there for? Let us look at the other villages." He
examined them carefully. "Two of them have got figures. This one looks
like a cat, and this is a snake--at least, I should think so."
"I have got it," Dave exclaimed. "Those are the names of the chiefs. I
know the names of a good many of their chiefs, and there's Rattlesnake
and the Mountain Lion among them."
"And there is the Crow, too, Dave," Boston Joe put in.
"So there is; I know he is the chief of the tribes whose country lies
this side of the Arizona. No doubt that is his village. Now we have it.
I know pretty well where his place is, for I have been further among the
hills than that. I can find my way there easy enough. When we get to the
stream his village is built on we have got to hunt along it till we find
these marks, and then follow on the line he took. The Crow's village is
about thirty miles north of the Gila. That will put these stops sixty
miles from the river. Yes, this straightens out the distances pretty
considerable, for I should say that from them to the three peaks it must
be nigh three hundred miles. I don't think it is more than a hundred
from here to the Crow's village. It should be an easy thing following
that marked line, but it won't matter if we miss it. Our course will be
pretty nigh due east, not, as he makes it, north, for we know the
Sisters are not more than eighty miles from the Gila. When we get near
them we can't help seeing them. Then we have only got to follow the
direction of this map below. There are the peaks. Well, right in front
of them is a lower hill with a tree on its top, and that tree exactly in
line with the middle peak gives us the line, and as the tree just
touches the bottom of the peak, it will give us the distance to within
half a mile. Here are two lines, one on each side of the line from the
peak through the trees. I don't know what they mean, but I guess they
mark a canyon, and when we go up that we can hardly help striking the
mine, wherever it is. I think we have got the thing pretty well down to
a point, and if we go wrong it is our own fault."
"Shall we have to come back this way?" Dick asked.
"That must depend upon circumstances," Dave replied. "We might make
straight north and come down on a pass that crosses the mountains about
a hundred and fifty miles north of the Sisters, but I reckon it would be
a terrible journey to undertake with loaded mules. Then again we might
strike east, and make either for Albuquerque or Socorro. Like enough we
may find that our best way."
Chapter VII.--The Scarcity Of Water.
Five days later they reached the stream. The miners had all recognized
points that they had passed on their former journey, and all agreed that
it was lower down on this stream that the Crow's village was situated.
For the moment this was a matter of inferior importance to them. It was
enough that they had reached water, for they had for the last four days
been traversing an arid waste of broken country, without as much as a
tree under which they could lie during the day. They had filled up all
their water skins before entering on this region, and these had sufficed
for them and their animals, but for the last two days they had been
obliged to husband it. What remained tasted so strongly of the skins
that at any other time the boys could not have drank it, but men and
horses were both filled with delight at the sight of the bright clear
water. The baggage and saddles were removed, and the animals were
allowed to drink their fill, and then to lie down in the stream while
their riders enjoyed the luxury of a bath.
They had done no cooking for the last four days, as no fuel of any sort
was to be obtained, and they lived upon the dried meat and a drink of
flour and water. The banks of the stream were well wooded, and the
animals, as soon as their thirst was quenched, fell to work upon the
grass that grew knee-deep near its banks.
"We must do some cooking to-day," Dave said, "and a good batch of it;
there is no saying when it will be safe to cook again. We must wait till
night, and then light the fire in the thickest part of these trees, and
fasten our blankets up round it to prevent its light being seen. We can
collect the firewood in readiness before it gets dark."
The spot was carefully chosen, the horseropes were fastened from tree to
tree around it, and all the blankets hung on them.
"We must take it by turns," Dave said, "to keep the fire up, and go on
baking. We will make a dozen loaves if we can."
As they sat round the fire later on they discussed their next move, and
agreed that as the river was shallow they would cross it at once, and
then follow it up stream. Should they find no landmarks answering to
those on the map, they would then return and go down the stream.
Next morning they started again, with fifteen loaves done up in a
blanket on one of the ponies. The journey was toilsome, for the river
ran in places through gorges where the rocks rose sheer from its edge,
and they were forced to make considerable detours, and to come down upon
it again. They had traveled, they calculated, but eight miles up the
stream, when they came upon a valley running east. A small stream ran
down it, and fell into the river they were following.
"This looks a likely sort of place," Dave said; "it is the sort of
valley a party exploring would be likely to follow. There is wood,
water, and grass. Now for the landmarks."
They went on until they reached the spot where the stream fell into the
river.
"We can't do better than camp here, Dave," 'Zekel said; "it has been a
rough journey for the ponies, and they will be all the better for
another good feed."
"All right," Dave agreed, "I don't see any signs of the landmarks, but
they may be somewhere about. We will unsaddle the ponies. Boys, you may
as well walk up the stream a bit. Keep your eyes open, but don't go very
far away. Keep your rifles ready for use; there is no saying but what
some prowling Indian may not have caught sight of us as we came along."
The boys unslung their rifles, which were strapped tightly to their
backs--they were already loaded--and started up the valley. In a quarter
of a mile they passed through the low wood which filled the bottom of
the valley. In front of them was an open space, bright with long grass
and flowers. In the center of this stood two large trees, one on either
side of the stream. They hurried on, and when they reached the trees
saw, to the northwest, two peaks, one nearer and lower than the other,
in an exact line. As the direction was exactly that of the two dots on
the map, they had no doubt whatever that they had hit the right spot.
They returned at once with the news to the men. Dave had already lighted
a fire, for in this sheltered valley there was little fear of the slight
smoke it made being seen, broken up as it was in its passage through the
leaves overhead.
"We have found the marks," Dick said, as they arrived. "We don't think
there can be any mistakes about them."
"Have you? That is good," and the three men at once went on to the two
trees.
"There is no doubt that is what was meant," Boston Joe said. "Wall, I am
glad to see them--it shows, anyhow, that we are right in our guess-work
as to the map, which we never felt quite sure of before, seeing them
three peaks war the only thing we had to go on, and the marks might not
have been meant for them arter all. Now the matter air clear and fixed,
and we have only got to go ahead."
"Yes, we will stick to the line they have traveled as shown in the map,
but if we miss it, it is no great odds; we know where we have got to go
to, and we can find our way there, I guess, anyhow. Still, their line
may be the best. They may have had some redskin as their guide, who knew
the country, and took them the best way. Anyhow, we can't do better than
try and follow it."
Chapter VIII.--The Golden Valley.
It was nearly a month later that the gold-seekers arrived at a point due
south of the three peaks. The journey had been a toilsome one. At times
they made their way through deep gorges. At others they had to climb
rocky hills, where the horses could scarce obtain a foothold. One of
their pack ponies had been lost, having slipped and fallen over a
precipice many hundreds of feet deep, and they had lost a day making a
long detour to reach the spot where he fell, in order to recover the
articles he had carried. For the first half of the distance they had,
they believed, followed the track marked on the map, but they then found
themselves at the head of a deep valley from which they could discover
no egress, and it was therefore clear that they must have misunderstood
the marks and have taken a wrong turning somewhere.
From this time they had put aside the map, and made their way as nearly
east as the inequalities of the ground permitted. They had no
difficulties as to forage for their horses. In many of the valleys there
was an abundance of coarse grass, and among the rocks the aloe and
cactus grew thickly, and when, as was sometimes the case, no water was
to be found, they peeled the thorny skin from the thick juicy leaves and
gave the pulp to the animals.
For themselves they shot three bears and several small mountain deer.
There was little fear of the sound of their rifles being heard in these
mountain gorges, and should the report have reached the ear of an Indian
he would have supposed that it was the gun of some red hunters. There
were indeed only two villages marked on the map anywhere near the line
they were following, as the great bulk of the Indians lived on the
slopes of the hills on either side of the Gila, whence they could make
their raids into Mexico to the south or to New Mexico to the east.
Here among the mountains they could subsist on the proceeds of the chase
and the little plantations tended by the women, but this offered small
attractions to the restless and warlike Indians, who preferred depending
upon the plunder that they could always gather by a raid upon the
defenseless Mexican villages. Thus during the whole journey they had not
once caught sight of an Indian, though they had two or three times made
out, with the aid of a telescope Tom had brought with him, little
clusters of wigwams far away among the hills.
"There will be more danger when we get near the place," 'Zekel said one
evening when they were talking it over. "The redskins know well enough
that it is gold the whites who come into their mountains are in search
of, and I guess they know every place where it is to be found. A redskin
always has his eyes open. A broken branch, a stone newly rolled down on
a path, the ashes of a fire, the slightest thing that is new, he is sure
to notice, and the glitter of gold, whether in a stream or in a vein,
would be certain to catch his eye, and if this place is specially rich
they are safe to know of it, and would keep some sort of watch to see
that it is not found out by the whites."
"That is so," Dave agreed; "of course we don't know how the party that
Mexican got the map from got wiped out. It may have been on their way
back, but it is more likely it was at the mine itself, and we may find
signs of them when we get there. I hope they had been at work some time
before they were attacked; if so we may like enough find a store of gold
without the trouble of working for it. It is no use to the redskins.
They don't do any trade with the whites, and they don't wear gold
ornaments. They are wise enough to know that if they were to show much
gold about them it would make the whites more eager than ever to come in
among their mountains in search of it, so if the Mexican party gathered
some up afore they went under, like enough we shall find it."
It was with deep satisfaction that they at last caught sight of the
mountain with three sharp peaks, but it was four days after they first
saw it that they reached a point due south of it. They were now in a
wide valley running east and west; to the south a wall of rock rose in a
seemingly unbroken line. On the northern side of the valley the hills
sloped away, rising one above another, with the peaks of the Sisters
visible above them all.
They had left their animals in charge of Boston Joe, in a clump of trees
four miles back, as the miners were of opinion that some Indian village
might lie somewhere in the neighborhood, and that it would be safer to
make their way on foot. One of the many branches of the Gila ran along
the center of the valley, but except in deep pools it was now dry.
"Now we must keep a sharp lookout for marks on the hills," Dave said;
"we know we are about right as to the line, but we may have to go two or
three miles north or as much south before we get a mark just bearing on
that middle peak. Stop," he broke off suddenly; "look up there just
beyond the shoulder of that hill; there are some wigwams, sure enough."
Tom brought his telescope to bear.
"Yes, there are about twenty of them, but they never can see us at this
distance."
"Don't you make any mistake, young fellow; there aint no saying what an
Indian can see and what he can't see. I reckon their eyes is as good as
that glass of yours, and I would not guarantee they could not see a
rabbit run at this distance. There, get among those rocks at the foot of
the cliff; we will make our way along them, hiding as much as we can. I
suppose those are horses away there on the hillside to the right of the
village; they can't be nothing else."
"Yes, they are horses, Dave."
For another half hour they made their way among the rocks, and then Dick
exclaimed suddenly:
"Look, Dave, there is a tree standing by itself at the top of that hill.
I believe in another fifty yards it will just be on the line of the
peaks."
"I think you are right, Dick, and we have hit the very point at the
first try; if it is right, there must be a break in this wall above us."
Chapter IX.--The Tree On The Peak.
They hastened on now with their eyes fixed on the tree. A minute later
an exclamation broke from Dave, who was ahead, and the others on joining
him saw that the great wall of rock had been split as if by an
earthquake. The opening was not more than ten yards wide, and on looking
up a narrow line of sky appeared between the walls of rock. Looking the
other way, they saw that the tree on the hill bore exactly on the middle
peak, the Indian village lying just in the same line halfway up the
hill.
"Here is the place, sure enough," Dave said; "there can't be no mistake
about it; it is just as the map made it, the tree on the middle peak and
the line from them going right into this Canyon. Look, boys, there is a
stream comes down here in the wet season, and runs into the one in the
middle of the valley. See, I can make out gold sparkling in the sand;
that is how it was the place was found; they were prospecting along the
valley, and they came upon gold, and traced it up to the mouth of this
Canyon."
"Shall we go in now, Dave?" Dick asked excitedly, for they were still
standing among the rocks, which broke off abruptly opposite the mouth of
the Canyon, those in front of it evidently having been swept away by the
torrents flowing down it.
"No, don't go a step forward, Dick. Don't let us risk nothing by showing
ourselves now. We will make our way back as we came to Boston, and bring
up the horses after dark. We have not got a chance to throw away, I can
tell you."
At night they returned with the horses; two blankets had been cut up,
and the feet of the animals muffled.
"If one of them redskins was to come upon our track and saw the print of
a horseshoe, it would be all up with us," Zeke said; "we had best do the
same ourselves; the heel of boot would be as ugly a mark as a horseshoe.
We must keep well along at the edge of these fallen rocks. Like enough
they come down here to fetch water up to their village, and the further
we keep away from the stream the better."
The moon was half full, which was fortunate, as they would otherwise
have had great difficulty in finding the narrow gap in the cliff. Its
light, too, enabled them to avoid rocks that had rolled out farther than
the rest; once inside the gorge it was pitch-dark, and they had to feel
their way along.
In about a hundred yards it began to widen, and they soon found
themselves in a narrow valley with perpendicular sides, which seemed to
widen farther up. The horses, were at once unloaded.
"Now do you lie down," Dave said. "I will keep watch at the mouth. I
don't think there is any danger; still, we may as well begin as we shall
have to go on."
"Well, call me up in a couple of hours, then," Zeke said; "it will begin
to get light in about four, and as soon as it does we will cover up the
tracks."
With the first dawn of light the three miners, taking their blankets,
went down to the mouth of the Canyon. The boys accompanied them to watch
their operations. It was only in the sand and gravel swept down by the
floods from the gorge that any footmarks could be seen; these were first
leveled, and then with the blankets the surface of the sand was
carefully swept so as to erase all signs of disturbance. Before the sun
was up the operation was completed, twenty or thirty yards up the Canyon.
"That is enough for the present," Dave said; "we are safe from anyone
passing. Now, let us have a look round up above."
"They must have been awful careless if they were surprised in here,"
Zeke said; "half a dozen men ought to hold this place against a hull
tribe of redskins."
"That is so," Boston Joe agreed, "but the greasers are mighty bad
watchmen, and no doubt they thought they were safe in here. That Indian
village could not have been over on the hill opposite then, or it would
have been put down on the map."
"Like enough they had been followed," Dave said. "If a redskin had
caught sight of them, he might have followed on their trail for weeks,
till he found where they were going, and then made off to bring his
tribe down on them. It may be that one has been hanging behind us just
in the same way."
"It is a very unpleasant idea," Tom said.
"The redskins' ways aint pleasant," Dave said. "Well, let us be moving
up. The first thing we have got to look for aint gold. There is no doubt
about that being here somewhere. What we have got to look for is if
there is any way out of this hole, because it is a regular trap, and if
we were caught here we might hold the gorge for a long time, but they
would have us at last certain; besides, they could shoot us down from
the top."
They proceeded a few hundred yards up the valley, and then stopped
suddenly on a cleared space of ground. In the center lay a score of
skeletons, some separately, some in groups of twos and threes. The
remnants of the rags that still hung on them showed that they had been
Mexicans. The two lads felt a thrill of horror at this proof of the fate
that had befallen their predecessors.
"Wall," Zeke exclaimed, "that was something like a surprise; there aint
no sign they made a fight of it; they were just caught in their sleep,
and never even gathered, for resistance. Well, well, what fools men are
to be sure. I shouldn't have believed as even Mexicans would have been
such fools as to sleep here without putting a guard at the entrance. I
reckon the redskins must have come down from above somewhere, and so
caught them unawares. Well, let us be moving on."
Chapter X.--Watched.
A little higher up the valley narrowed again, the sides came closer and
closer, until they closed in abruptly in a rounded precipice, down which
in the wet season it was evident that a waterfall leaped from a height
above.
"They didn't come down here," Dave said. "If it were anywhere it was
near where the attack was made; the sides slope away a bit there. Now
keep your eyes skinned, and see if you can make out any place where a
man might climb up or down. Our lives may depend on it."
Just as they reached the old encampment Dick said, "Look, Dave, there is
a ledge running up behind that bush; it seems to me that it joins
another ledge halfway up. Tom and I are accustomed to climbing; we will
go up a bit and see if it goes anywhere."
The two lads stopped as they got behind the bush.
"It looks like a path here, Dave; it has certainly been trodden."
The miners came to the spot.
"You are right," Dave said; "it is a path, sure enough. Animals of some
sort come up and down--bears, I should say; maybe goats, and lots of
them, like enough; it is the only way they can get down from the top
into the valley, and they come down to drink."
The ridge was wider than it looked, being, where it started, fully two
feet across. The boys at once set off up it; as Dick had supposed, it
met another ledge running along halfway up the face of the hill. From
below this ledge seemed a mere line, but it was really two feet wide in
most places, and even at the narrowest was not less than a foot. Two
hundred yards along, another ascent was met with, and after half an
hour's climbing they found themselves on a level plateau, from which
they could see across to the three peaks. The path was everywhere worn
smooth, showing that it had been used for ages by animals of some kind.
"One would almost think it had been cut by hand," Dick said; "who would
have thought from below that there was such a way as this out of the
valley? The best of it is, that it is good enough for the horses to get
up as well as us. Well, thank goodness, we have found a back door to
that place. It was not a pleasant idea that we might be shut up there
with the option of being either shot or starved."
"They would take some time to starve us, Dick; nine horses would last us
for a long time."
"Yes, but it would come sooner or later, Tom. Anyhow, I shall feel a
great deal more comfortable now I know that there is a way out."
"But the Indians know of it too, Dick, if, as Dave thinks, they came
down this way to attack the Mexicans."
"Yes, that is not such a comfortable idea."
"Well, lads, what do you make of it?" Dave shouted to them as they
approached the bottom.
"We have been right up to the top; the ponies could go anywhere. It is
narrow in places, but we have passed many worse on the way; the cliffs
never close up, so even at the worst places there is room for them to
get along with their loads."
"What is it like at the top?"
"Level ground along to the drop of the cliffs, hills behind it to the
south."
"Well, it is a comfort there is a way down into the valley. Anyhow,
since you have been gone, we have been fossicking about, and there is no
doubt about the gold; it is the richest place any of us have ever seed."
"Have you found water, Dave?"
"No, that is the one thing bad, we shall have to go out to fetch water,
but maybe if we dig in the center of the channel we shall find it. The
best place to try will be at the end, right under where the waterfall
comes down in winter. There is most always a deep hole in the rock
there, where the water and stones and so on have come down and pounded
away the bed rock. We found where the gold comes from too. There is a
big quartz vein running right up the face of the cliff there; it is just
full of gold. You can see it sparkle everywhere. Some day, when the
Indians is all wiped out, fellows will bring machinery and powder, and
will have one of the richest mines in the world. However, that don't
concern us. I reckon there is enough in this gravel under our feet to
make a hundred men rich. Now, Boston, what do you think is the best
thing to do first?"
"See if we can get water, Dave. If we were shut up here without water
they would have us in twelve hours, so we have got to get enough for
ourselves and the horses to drink if we can, even if we have to fetch up
what we want for the gravel. When we have got water, the next job will
be to make a cradle; there are plenty of trees here, and we have got our
hatchets, and we have brought the zinc screens, so we have got
everything we want. I don't say we mightn't pick up a lot in nuggets.
Still, I have got a dozen already, making, I should say, over an ounce
between them. Still, the others is the real thing to depend on."
"And there is another thing, Dave," Zeke put in; "we must have a watch.
We had intended that, but we thought we should have only one place to
watch; now we have found this track up the hill we have two."
"That is so, Dave, though it is pretty hard on us having two out of five
idle. Still, we have got a lesson there," Boston said, pointing to the
spot where they had found the skeletons.
"Aye, aye, it has got to be done," Dave said. "Well, lads, will you take
the watch to-day, one above and one at the mouth, and we will set to
work at the water hole?"
"We will toss up which goes up the hill again, Dick. You spin. Heads;
tails it is."
"Then I will choose the mouth here. You go up to the mouth's head."
"Don't you be walking about when you get to the top," Dave said. "Find
some place where you can get a clear view all round, and then lie down.
Choose a bit of shade, if you can find it. When we knock off work and
have had a bit of grub, I will come up and take your place."
It was just getting dusk when Dave came up and relieved Dick.
"Are you going to stay here all night, Dick?"
"Yes, we have agreed I shall keep watch here to-night, Boston to-morrow
night, and then I go on again. Zeke will take the watch below regular;
he sleeps like a dog, and the least noise in the world will wake him, so
he will do very well. Can you make out the Indian village across there
from here?"
"Yes, quite plainly."
"You have not been using your glass, I hope," Dave said in alarm.
"No, I forgot to bring it up with me. But why shouldn't I?"
"Because if the sun were to flash on the glass or brasswork, it would be
sartin to catch the eye of someone in the village, and if it did you may
be sure they would send up to see what it was. Still, if you can make
out the village, it will save us the need for keeping watch in the
daytime down below. It is from there we have got to expect an attack the
most, and if you saw them moving out strong, you could shout down to us
and we should be ready for them. At night, in course, we must watch both
places, for there may be, for anything we know, a big village half a
mile from here, and the attack might come from one way or the other. I
expect you would rather work than watch, Dick; so you had better arrange
to change places with Tom in the middle of the day, then you can each
work half a day. You will find that plenty, I warrant."
"Did you find water, Dave?"
"Yes, plenty of it, enough for the horses and the washing too."
Chapter XI.--Hard At Work.
Tom took the first watch in the morning. Dick rendered all the
assistance he could to the men, who cut down a couple of the trees that
stood in the gorge, chopped them into eight-feet lengths, and then with
wedges split them into boards, which they smoothed up with an adze. All
were accustomed to the work, and by nightfall a deep trough was
constructed, resting upon rockers like a cradle.
Next morning the work began; two men threw the gravel and sand into the
cradle, the third kept it in motion, while whichever of the boys was off
watch brought water in two of the pails from the hole.
The horses were no trouble, finding plenty of coarse grass among the
rocks, and only requiring watering night and morning. Thrice a day the
contents of the cradle were cleared entirely out, and the gold that had
sunk to the bottom collected. Much, of it was in fine dust, but there
was also a large number of nuggets, varying in size from a pea to a
marble. Each clear-up they obtained on an average eight or nine pounds
of gold.
The fourth day Tom had come down from above at twelve o'clock, and found
that the men had only just finished the clear-up, and had sat down to
have some food.
Having nothing to do, he strolled away to the spot where the Mexicans
had been massacred, a short distance away, on some ground at the side of
the valley. Some three or four feet above the ground level of the bottom
he saw a charred stump of a pole sticking up; he went across to it.
"I suppose this is where the leader of the party had a tent or rough
hut," he said.
He was confirmed in the belief by a number of bits of charred wood lying
round the pole.
"It was sort of arbor, I suppose," he said to himself.
There were several relics lying about: two boots shriveled by fire, a
tin cup flattened by some weight that had fallen on it, a pistol with
its stock blackened by fire. He called the men to the spot.
"Yes, like enough it is as you say, Dick, but it is scarcely worth
getting up to look at."
"No, there is not much to look at, Dave, but you have been wondering
ever since you came that you had not come upon any of the gold they must
have gathered, and you said you didn't believe the Indians had taken it
away. Now if this was the hut of the leader of the party, it struck me
that it would most likely be kept here, and that it may be buried
somewhere under this circle of ashes."
"Tom is right, mates," Dave said, "that is just where the gold would be
kept, and there aint much doubt that they would bury it as they got it,
so as to prevent anyone from taking any of it till it was divided up.
Let us fetch our picks, Boston, and we will soon see if it is here. Let
us try round the post first," he went on, when the three men fetched
their picks; "it will be either close to the middle of the hut, or else
on one side under where he made his bed."
The ground was sand, which had been washed up by an, eddy in one of the
floods, and they had struck but three or four blows with the pick, when
Dave exclaimed:
"Here is something, boys!"
They had brought a shovel with them, and throwing aside the sand, they
saw a piece of leather.
"It is a bag," Joe said; "this is their hoard, sure enough."
Going down on their hands and knees, they pulled up bag after bag, each
about fifty pounds in weight, until they had a pile on the surface of
eight bags.
"Eureka!" Dave exclaimed, as he lifted the last bag out of the hole.
"They had made something like a pile; no doubt they were a strong party,
but even with that they must have been here a couple of months to have
got this lot together. Well, Boston," and he held out his hand, "we can
go east again; we have struck it rich at last."
"You bet," Joe said briefly.
"How much is it?" Dick asked.
"Each of them bags weighs about fifty pounds, Dick."
Dick looked incredulous, and stooped to pick up one of the bags, and was
astonished at its weight.
"Fifty pounds if it weighs an ounce, and there are eight of them--four
hundred pounds of gold; think of that, lad; that is pretty nigh eighty
pounds apiece. I aint good at reckoning, but put it rough at two hundred
and fifty dollars a pound, that is somewhere like two hundred thousand
dollars each."
"Forty thousand pounds!" Dick exclaimed; "it does not seem possible."
"We aint got it to the settlements yet," Zeke said quietly; "them chaps
had it, and they lost it. Don't let us figure it up much till we get
beyond the sound of the Apache war-whoop."
"Well, I will go on watch at the mouth," Dick said, "and then you can
talk things over together."
"Do, Dick; there is a lot more to look after than there was before, and
it makes one feel one can't be too careful. Anyhow we won't stay a day
longer in this place. We will be off to-night."
Dick went nearly down to the mouth of the narrow gorge. He had expected
they would find a treasure, and although this far exceeded his
anticipations, he did not feel the excitement the men had shown at the
discovery of the treasure. He sat down on a rock, and amused himself
with the thought of the wonder there would be at home. Suddenly he heard
the sound of a horse's hoof, and grasping his rifle, stooped down behind
a fallen rock. A moment later a mounted Indian dashed past the mouth of
the rift. He was scarce twenty yards away, but Dick noticed the eagle
feathers of his head-dress, the rifle slung across his shoulder, and the
leggings decorated with tufts of hair. It was but a moment, and then he
was gone. Dick waited a minute or two, and then ran in to tell the
miners. They uttered an exclamation of alarm.
"He went right on," Dick said. "He didn't check the speed of his horse
or glance my way."
"That is no sign," Zeke said. "The chances are that fellow has happened
on our trail maybe a mile, maybe fifty, back and he has just been
following it. Why should he be riding so close to the cliffs if he was
not tracking us?"
"But he didn't look in," Dick persisted.
"He warn't such a fool, lad. He knew well enough that if he glanced
round, and there was anyone on watch there, he would have a bullet
through him sartin."
"What shall we do? Shall we saddle up at once, Dave?" Boston Joe asked.
"We may as well pack the horses anyhow, Boston, but we can't go till it
is dark. If a party like ours were to show up there, they would see us
from the village sure. Do you run up, Dick, and keep a lookout with Tom
at the village. You can crawl along, if you like, nearer to the edge,
and make out if that fellow is riding there. If you see him go there
come down with the news, and tell Tom to hurry down as quick as he can
if he sees a party setting out. We will have the horses saddled up by
the time you are down again."
Chapter XII.--Retreat.
Dick sprang up the hill, and, as soon as he joined Tom, astonished him
with the account of the discovery of the treasure collected by the other
party, and also by the news that it was probable that the Indians would
be speedily upon them. All this he told him as he was crawling forward
towards the edge of the cliff.
"There he goes!" he exclaimed, when they neared it. "Do you see him
going up the slope toward the village? How clear the air is. Dave says
it is six miles there if it is a foot; it does not look more than one.
"Well, I must go and tell them below. Mind, Tom, the moment you see a
party issue out from there you crawl back to the path, and then hurry
down as quick as you can, but mind you don't tumble in your haste."
"That settles it," Dave said, when he heard the news. "If he had been
going to that village he would have made for it straight, and not come
along under the cliffs until he was opposite to it. No; we have got to
fight, that's sartin."
"If we were to mount that path at once, Dave, we could keep them from
climbing up if there were hundreds of them."
"That is so, lad, but we could not stay there forever, and might be took
in the rear by another party. Besides, as soon as they find out that we
have left--they will do that pretty soon--they will be straight after
us. No, we have been talking it over while you have been away, and we
have agreed that we must hold the Canyon until it gets dark, and then
make off. No doubt they know of this path, but they won't think as we
have found it out, and they will fancy that they have got us sure. Like
enough, as soon as they find we are ready for them here, they will send
a messenger off to some village up behind us. There is one thing, he
will have a good way to go for we have seen no break in the cliffs for
the last twenty miles, and maybe they go much farther; anyhow, we have
got to risk it."
"I should think," Dick said, "that anyhow we might as well get the
horses up to the top of the path, ready to push on as soon as it gets
dark. They can do it easily enough in daylight, but it would be a very
awkward job at night."
"Right you are, lad, that is a capital plan. We will do it at once. We
have got everything wrapped up ready. One of us will stay up there with
Tom so as to guard the top of the path, in case any of the redskins
should come down before we are ready to go forward. Three will be enough
to hold the Canyon."
"I will undertake the horse job," Boston Joe said. "As you say, three is
enough here. They will think they are going to take us by surprise, and
as soon as they find we are ready for them they will draw off fast
enough. I reckon that fellow has counted our numbers, and no redskin
will try to force that pass with five Western rifles facing him."
Just as Joe began to mount the path, leading his horse, with the others
tied head to tail in a long line behind it, Tom appeared on the path
high up and shouted:
"Thirty or forty horsemen have just left the village, and are coming
this way."
"All right, Tom," Dick shouted back. "You are not to come down. Joe is
coming up with the horses."
"We have got plenty of time yet," Dave said, as soon as the string of
horses had started on their way up; "it aint much past two o'clock yet,
and it will be pretty nigh six hours afore we can make a start. There is
a good fire, and we have kept down thirty pounds of flour; we shall have
time to bake that into bread before we start. We shan't have much time
for baking when we are once off, you can bet your boots."
Dick looked on with some wonder at the quiet and deliberate manner in
which Dave mixed his dough.
"By the way, Dick," the latter said, looking up, "we have divided that
lot of gold we got here ourselves into five lots, and put one lot into
the blankets on each of our riding horses; it is like enough that if we
carry our own scalps back to the Settlements we shan't get any of the
four baggage ponies there with us. There is about twelve pound of gold
in each blanket, so suppose we have to let the other ponies go, we
shan't have made a bad job out of our journey after all."
"Have you filled the water-skins, Dave?"
"We filled the five small skins we carry ourselves, and one of the
others we daren't carry. Each of the horses has got two sacks of gold,
one of them has got the water-skin, two others have got twenty pounds of
flour each, which will be enough to last us with the loaf we are baking
here till we get out of the Indian country; the others have got the tea
and sugar. The one with the skin will be the heaviest load at first; but
the water will soon go, so that makes it even. Everything else we have
got to leave behind, except a kettle and this baking pan. We will take
them up as we go. Now that the loaf is fairly under way, we will get
ready for the redskins."
Chapter XIII.--The Redskin.
They took their post behind some rocks in front of them. The bottom was
composed of sand and gravel, the only rock being that behind which Dick
had crouched, close to the entrance.
"Mind, we mustn't all fire at once," Dave said; "one must always be
loading, and we will take it in turns to fire. Of course, if they make a
rush we must take to our six-shooters; but they aint likely to do that.
I will fire first, Zeke, you follow me; I reckon they aint likely to
miss either of us."
Another quarter of an hour passed, and then suddenly a mounted Indian
appeared at the mouth of the Canyon. He checked his horse and sat gazing
up it. Dave's rifle cracked, and the Indian fell backward from his
saddle; and a sudden yell of anger and surprise rose outside. Another
moment and a dozen figures appeared at the entrance. Zeke fired.
"Now, Dick!" Dave said a moment later, and the lad, whose rifle was
resting on the rock in front of him, pulled his trigger, and almost
immediately Dave fired again. Another moment and the mouth of the Canyon
was clear. Another Indian lay by the side of the first who had fallen.
"I reckon all the shots told," Dave said; "we could hardly miss that
clump. Now I don't think you will see any more of them; they know we are
here and they know we are ready for them, and it aint in Indian nature
to throw away their lives charging up a place like this. They had
reckoned the five first would go down anyhow. Then they will guess that
we have got pistols, and the redskins hate six-shooters like poison."
The time passed slowly, but the quiet in the Canyon remained undisturbed.
"I expect it is as I said, Zeke; they won't attack again by daylight,
though I don't say as they won't try and crawl up when it gets dark, but
I don't think as they will. If there is a village up in the hill behind
us they will send round to it, and wait here till they hear a fight
begin inside. If there aint no village, half of them will ride round to
come down on us. However, they won't set about that at once. Injuns are
never in a hurry, and they think that they have got us safe in here and
can take things easy. If it is a long way round and they aint quite sure
of the path, like enough they won't start until they calculate they will
get there at daybreak, when they will guess that we shall be all pretty
well worn out with keeping watch here."
"I guess that is about it, Dave. Anyhow, we can push out as soon as it
begins to get too dark for them to see us from the village across
there--that is, as soon as the sun has gone down behind the hills to the
south."
Dave had from time to time left his post and gone to keep up the fire
and to put a fresh batch of dough in the pan, and as soon as a shadow
fell across the valley he said, "Now we will be off. I reckon there is
no fear of the redskins getting round for a time; but I tell you that
gold makes one mighty fidgety."
Six loaves had been baked, and each taking two, while Dave, in addition,
took the pan and kettle, they mounted the path. When they reached the
tail of the string of horses Dave hailed Boston Joe, and a moment later
the miner's head appeared on the edge of the cliff above them.
"Is it all clear?"
"Aye. I have seen nothing of them--ne'er a thing moving."
"Well, we will go at once, Joe. Even a redskin's eyes could not make us
out from that village now."
The horses were at once set in motion. As soon as they had left the path
the cords were unfastened, and the five mounted.
"Which way, Dave?" Boston Joe asked.
"We had better make west. It is lucky we shall have the moon, for there
is no traveling over the hills in the dark if you don't know the way.
Anyhow, we will make straight back at present, or we may come upon those
fellows riding round. We will go in Indian file. I will go first, with a
pony tied to mine. The two lads will follow, then either you, Zeke, or
Joe, can take the last pony, and the other one ride in the rear, so that
you can keep us well in sight, and yet be far enough off to use your
ears."
For an hour they continued their course south, the ground rising as they
went. Then they reached a dip running west.
"We will follow this," Dave said; "it is the right direction anyhow, and
it is as likely to take us down into the valleys again in time."
As they proceeded, the dip became more decided, and after two hours'
riding the sides narrowed in.
"We shall strike a water-course soon," Dave said, turning round to speak
to Tom, who was riding next to him. "The water that falls here has got
to make its way out somewhere, and this is the only way as it can go.
Not that there is much water, for it is often months without rain."
Presently they found that the ground was covered with pebbles.
"There is the water-course, you see," Dave said.
The fall became steeper and steeper, and the ground more stony; low
trees and bushes rose on the slopes on either side.
"We had best dismount here," Dave said; "it is growing mighty steep, and
we may come upon a sudden fall anywhere, and it is mighty difficult to
judge about depth in the moonlight."
The lads were heartily glad at the order, for they had for some time
been momentarily expecting that their horses would come down over the
bowlders.
"I will go twenty yards ahead," Dave said. "You had better loose the
baggage-ponies and let them pick their own way. Throw your bridles on
your horses' necks: they will go a deal safer so than if you were
leading them; the critters can pick their way anywhere if they have got
time and can look about."
Luckily the moon was still high and shot full down upon the path they
were traveling. Even on foot the lads found it difficult to make their
way down. Sometimes they had to climb over heaps of bowlders, sometimes
to slide down smooth faces of rock so steep that they could not keep
their feet upon them, and often it seemed so perilous that they would
have hesitated to attempt it had they not seen that Dave with his two
horses kept steadily on below them.
Chapter XIV.--In The Ravine.
The lads were surprised at the way their own horses followed, sliding on
their haunches down the steepest places and picking their way among
rocks and bowlders. Six hours after starting they found themselves in a
deep ravine, whose sides were covered with trees. They had now lost the
moon, and it was far too dark for them to progress further.
"We will give them four hours' rest," Dave said; "that long halt on the
path was worse than traveling. We shall go three times as fast when we
get light to help us as in the dark; besides, we have got to look for
some place where we can double on them. We shan't find that till we are
out of this valley. We shall have to be pretty spry if we are going to
get away from them; they will come along fast when they once take up the
trail. It has taken us six hours to get down here; it won't take them
three. Well, I hope we shall get on the move an hour or two before they
do. If they wait until daylight before advancing there will be a lot of
hubbub and talk before they really make up their minds that we have
really slipped through their fingers, and arrange for a start. Still, by
midday we shall be having them behind us if we can't find the way to
throw them off."
"I'd willingly take twenty ounces for my share of that gold, to be paid
to me at Santa Fe," Boston Joe said.
"So would I, Joe; there ain't no denying it, we are in a tight place,
and unless we find some way out of it in the morning, my own opinion is
that we have only got one chance, and that is to leave all the horses
behind us and to take our rifles and a loaf of bread each, and to start
back on foot."
"I should not wonder if we came to that," Zeke said; "but we will hold
on for a few hours, and, anyhow, before we leave them we will hide them
bags. Possibly we might come back some day; anyhow, we could each tote
along what we have got in our blankets; it aint as if we were going to
run all the way from here to the settlements. Twelve pound weight aint
nothing one way or the other."
"No, nor twenty," Boston agreed. "I vote if we do have to leave the
horses we slip open one of the bags and take another eight pounds or so
each. Twenty pounds aint much for a man to carry besides his gun and
ammunition and a chunk of bread. Well, let the rest of you lie down and
get a couple of hours' sleep. I was off once last night."
"All right; wake us directly you see a change in the sky. We should give
the horses a chunk of bread and a drink each before we start."
It seemed to the lads that they had been asleep for five minutes only
when they were roused. It was but the work of a few minutes to adjust
the loads again and to give the horses the bread and water. It was still
hardly light in the ravine when they were ready to start, but all were
too anxious to get on to delay a moment. As soon as the day had
broadened a little they were able to pick their way along on the
comparatively level ground beyond the edge of the water-course, and the
horses were put into a trot.
"If we can keep on like this," Joe said, "the Apaches won't be up to us
before night. They will know that we have got nigh twelve hours' start
of them, and though they may start off fast at first, they will soon
settle down into a pace that they can keep up all day."
After journeying for three hours they came upon the spot where two other
ravines fell into that along which they were journeying.
"Let us hold a council," Dave said. "Now, what do you think had best be
done--push straight forward or take one of these other gulches?"
"They seem to run back almost the same line as that ye have been
following," Dick said.
"All the better, lad. They will be less inclined to think that we have
taken it. What do you say, Zeke?"
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