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The preliminary actions of the guide were similar to that of the warrior. The bridle rein dropped from his hand, and, slightly stooping, he let his Winchester fall to the ground beside him. Then his knife flashed out and he was ready.
Since only the mule was between Captain Dawson and the combatants, he observed all this and interpreted its meaning.
“Vose, what do you mean to do?” he sharply asked.
“Have a little dispute with the fellow,” replied Adams, without removing his gaze from the face of the savage.
“You mustn’t do it.”
“It sorter looks as if it can’t be helped, captain.”
“I shall prevent it.”
“How?”
“Thus!”
The captain had laid down his rifle and drawn his revolver, in the use of which he was an expert. While thus engaged, he stooped down, so that the interposing body of the mule, prevented the Indian from observing what he was doing. When his weapon was ready and just as he uttered his last word, he straightened up like a flash. Adams being of short stature and in a stooping posture, gave him just the chance he needed. His single arm was extended with the quickness of lightning and he fired. The bullet bored its way through the208bronzed skull of the Indian, who, with an ear-splitting screech, flung his arms aloft, leaped several feet from the ground, toppled sideways over the edge of the trail and went tumbling, rolling and doubling down the precipice far beyond sight, into the almost fathomless abyss below.
“That’s what I call a low down trick!” was the disgusted exclamation of Adams, looking round with a reproachful expression.
“Do you refer to the Indian?” asked the captain.
“No; to you; I had just got ready for him and had everything fixed when you interfered.”
“Vose, you are a fool,” was the comment of his friend.
“And why?”
“That fellow was twice as big as you and you hadn’t an earthly chance in a fight with him.”
“Do you ’spose that is the first time I ever met a mountain Injin?”
“You never fought one of that size in this spot.”
“What difference does the spot make?”
“I want you to understand,” said the captain with assumed gravity, “that I didn’t interfere out of any regard for you.”
“What the mischief are you driving at?” demanded the puzzled guide.
“Under ordinary circumstances, I would have stood209by and watched the flurry, only wishing that the best man might win. That means, of course, that you would have been the loser. But we need some one to guide us through the mountains; you haven’t done it yet; when your work is over you may go and live on wild Indians for all I care.”
Vose quickly regained his good nature. He returned his knife to its resting place, picked up his rifle, grasped the bridle rein and gently pulled.
“Come, Hercules; I don’t know whether they appreciate us or not; steady now!”
“What are you going to do with that horse in front of you?” asked the captain.
“Hang it! if I didn’t forget about him; back with you!” he commanded with a gesture, moving toward the animal, who showed the intelligence of his kind, by retrograding carefully until he reached the broad safe place so anxiously sought by the others. There he wheeled and trotted off, speedily disappearing from sight.
“Vose, you might have traded Hercules for him.”
“Not much! I wouldn’t give that mule for a drove of horses that have belonged to these mountain Injins.”
“What’s the matter with them? Aren’t they as good as ours?”
“They’re too good; you can’t tell what trick they’ll sarve you; I was once riding through these very mountains,210on the back of a horse that I picked up––it isn’t necessary to say how––when his owner gave a signal and the critter was off like a thunderbolt. If I hadn’t slipped from his back at the risk of breaking my neck, he would have carried me right into a camp of hostiles and you would have been without your invaluable guide on this trip.”
“That is important information––if true––helloa! it is growing light off there in the east!”
“Yes,––day is breaking,” added Vose.
The captain looked at his watch and found the time considerably past five o’clock. They had been longer on the road than any one supposed, and the coming of morning was a vast relief to all.
The party were now grouped together, for the trail was broad and safe. Parson Brush asked, as he pointed almost directly ahead:
“Isn’t that a light off yonder?”
The guide gazed in that direction and replied:
“Yes, but it comes from a camp fire, which isn’t more than a half mile away.”
The men looked in one another’s faces and the captain asked in a guarded voice, as if afraid of being overheard:
“Whose fire is it?”
“There’s no saying with any sartinty, till we get211closer, but I shouldn’t be ’sprised if it belong to the folks you’re looking for.”
The same thought had come to each. There was a compression of lips, a flashing of eyes and an expression of resolution that boded ill for him who was the cause of it all.
In the early morning at this elevation, the air was raw and chilling. The wind which blew fitfully brought an icy touch from the peaks of the snow-clad Sierras. The party had ridden nearly all night, with only comparatively slight pauses, so that the men would have welcomed a good long rest but for the startling discovery just made.
Over the eastern cliffs the sky was rapidly assuming a rosy tinge. Day was breaking and soon the wild region would be flooded with sunshine. Already the gigantic masses of stone and rock were assuming grotesque form in the receding gloom. The dismal night was at an end.
The twinkling light which had caught the eye of Felix Brush appeared to be directly ahead and near the trail which they were traveling. This fact strengthened the belief that the fire had been kindled by the fugitives. The illumination paled as the sun climbed the sky, until it was absorbed by the overwhelming radiance that was everywhere.
The pursuers felt well rewarded for the energy they212had displayed in the face of discouragement and danger. Valuable ground had been gained, and even now when they had supposed they were fully a dozen miles behind the fugitives, it looked as if they had really caught up to them, or at least were within hailing distance.
Every eye was fixed on the point which held so intense an interest for them. As the day grew, a thin, wavy column of smoke was observed ascending from the camp fire, which was partly hidden among a growth of scrub cedars, some distance to the right of the trail, whither it must have been difficult for the couple to force their horses.
“That leftenant ought to have knowed better than to do that,” remarked Vose Adams, “his fire can be seen a long way off.”
“What else could they do?” asked the captain.
“The rocks give all the cover he needs.”
“But they could have no idea that we were so near,” suggested the parson.
“It isn’t that, but the leftenant had ’nough ’sperience with Injins on his way through here before to know he’s liable to run agin them at any time. I never dared to do a thing like that on my trips.”
“Let’s push on,” said the captain, who saw no reason for tarrying now that they had located the game.
The ground was so much more favorable that the213animals were forced to a canter, though all were in need of rest. Little was said, and Captain Dawson spurred forward beside Adams, who as usual was leading.
Wade Ruggles and Parson Brush also rode abreast. They were far enough to the rear to exchange a few words without being overheard.
“From the way things look,” said Brush; “we shall have to leave everything with the captain and he isn’t likely to give us anything to do.”
“He’s mad clean through; I don’t b’leve he’ll wait to say a word, but the minute he can draw bead on the leftenant, he’ll let fly.”
“He is a fine marksman, but he may be in such a hurry that he’ll miss.”
“No fear of that; I wonder,” added Ruggles, startled by a new thought, “whether Vose has any idee of stickin’ in his oar.”
“Likely enough.”
“I must git a chance to warn him that we won’t stand any nonsense like that! The best that we’ll do is to promise him a chance for a crack after you and me miss.”
“That won’t be any chance at all,” grimly remarked the parson.
“Wal, it’s all he’ll have and he mustn’t forgit it.214There’s some things I won’t stand and that’s one of ’em.”
“We can’t do anything now, but we may have a chance to notify him. If the opportunity comes to me, he shall not remain ignorant.”
They were now nearly opposite the camp and the two noticed with surprise that Adams and the captain were riding past it.
“What’s that fur?” asked the puzzled Ruggles.
“That’s to prevent them from fleeing toward Sacramento. When they find we are on the other side, they will have to turn back.”
This was apparently the purpose of the men in advance, for they did not draw rein until a hundred yards beyond the camp. Suddenly the two halted, and half-facing around, waited until Brush and Ruggles joined them. The explanation of the guide showed that his plan had been rightly interpreted by Parson Brush.
215CHAPTER XXTHE CAMP FIRE
The trail, as has been stated, was broad and comparatively level. The slope of the mountain to the right was so moderate that it could be climbed by a horse almost as readily as by a man. Its face was covered with a growth of cedars, continuing half way to the summit, when it terminated, only bleak masses of rock, sprinkled with snow, whose volume increased with the elevation, being visible above and beyond.
When the four pursuers came together, their faces showed that they comprehended the serious business before them. It was seen that Captain Dawson was slightly pale, but those who had been with him in battle had observed the same peculiarity. Accompanied, as it was in this instance, by a peculiar steely glitter of his eyes, it meant that he was in a dangerous mood and the man who crossed his path did so at his peril.
It was evident that he and Vose Adams had reached an understanding during the few minutes that they were riding in advance. The words of Vose Adams were spoken for the benefit of Ruggles and the parson.
“You’ll wait here till I take a look at things.”
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“What do you mean to do?” asked Brush.
“I’m going up the slope on foot to find out how the land lays.”
“And when you find that out, what next?”
“He is to come back and report to me,” interposed the captain.
There was a world of meaning in these words. It showed that the captain allowed Adams to lead only when acting as a guide. In all other matters, the retired officer assumed control. The opportunity of Vose to pick off the offending lieutenant promised to be better than that of any one else, since he would first see him, but he had been given to understand that he must immediately return and let the captain know the situation. Adams had promised this and he knew Dawson too well to dare to thwart him.
Brush and Ruggles could make no objection, keen though their disappointment was. They watched Adams, as he slipped off his mule, not deeming it worth while to utter the warning both had had in mind. It was the parson who said:
“I suppose we have nothing to do except to wait here till you come back?”
“It looks that way, but you must ask the captain.”
“You won’t be gone long?”
“I don’t think so.”
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“Be careful, but there’s no need of waiting,” said the captain.
The three watched the guide until he disappeared from sight among the cedars, when the captain added:
“Vose told me that it was possible that camp fire had been started by Indians, but it seems to me there is little likelihood of that.”
“Why?”
“Those people are so skilled in woodcraft that they would have been on the alert against our approach, for a brief survey of the trail for the last half hour would have revealed us to them.”
“It may be,” suggested the parson, “that with every reason to believe there is no danger of anything of the kind, for it must be rare that a white man passes along this trail, they did not keep a lookout.”
The captain shook his head.
“From what I know of the American race, it is unlike them.”
“What knowledge have we that they have not maintained such a lookout and discovered us as soon as we noticed the camp fire itself? They may have formed an ambuscade at some point further along the trail.”
“It is a disturbing possibility and I would be alarmed, but for my confidence in Vose. He has been through this region so often and knows these wild people so thoroughly that he could not commit a blunder218like that. It seems to me,” added the captain a few minutes, later, “that he is absent a long time.”
“It’s tough,” remarked Ruggles, “that things are fixed so we won’t have a chance to take any hand in this bus’ness.”
The captain looked inquiringly at him and he explained:
“You and Vose have set it up atween you.”
“I have told you that if your help is needed, it will be welcome; I can add nothing to that.”
“The captain is right,” interposed the parson, “but at the same time, he can see what a disappointment it is for us.”
“I admit that, but we are not out of the woods yet.”
Before he could make clear the meaning of this remark, Vose Adams emerged from the cedars, and the three breathlessly awaited his coming. He broke into a trot and quickly descended the slope to where they stood. The expression of his face showed before he spoke that he brought unwelcome news.
“Confound it!” he exclaimed with a shake of his head, “they’re not there!”
“Then they have gone on up the trail,” said the captain inquiringly.
“No; they haven’t been there; it isn’t their camp.”
“Whose is it?”
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“Injins; there are five of ’em; they’ve just had their breakfast and are gettin’ ready to make a start.”
“Didn’t they see you?”
“That isn’t the way I do bus’ness,” replied Vose rather loftily; “it’s more’n likely, howsumever, they seen us all awhile ago when we was further down the trail. They’re traveling eastward.”
“How can you know that?” asked the parson.
“The Injin that took his dive off the trail ’bout the time the captain fired off his revolver, was going that way. He b’longed to the party and was sorter leading ’em; he was a chief or something of the kind.”
“Where are their ponies?”
“They haven’t any,––leastways he was the only one that had, which is why I said he was some kind of a chief. We shall hear from ’em agin.”
“Why?”
“I mean after they find out about that little row.”
“Why need they find out about it?”
“They can’t help it; they’ll miss their chief; they’ll run across that horse of his and that’ll give ’em the clue.”
This unexpected discovery put a new face on matters. Five mountain Indians, the bravest and most implacable of their race, were almost within stone’s throw of the party. But for the occurrence of a brief while before, they probably would have permitted the white220men to continue their journey unmolested, since the strength of the two bands, all things considered, was about equal, but when the hostiles learned of the death of their leader, they would bend every effort toward securing revenge. They would dog the miners, watchful, alert and tireless in their attempts to cut them off from the possibility of ever repeating the deed.
“But that chief, as you seem to think he was,” said Captain Dawson, “is gone as utterly as if the ground had opened and swallowed him. They will never have the chance to officiate at his funeral, so how are they to learn of the manner of his taking off?”
“It won’t take ’em long,” replied Adams; “his pony will hunt them out, now that he is left to himself; that’ll tell ’em that something is up and they’ll start an investigatin’ committee. The footprints of our horses, the marks on the rocks, which you and me wouldn’t notice, the fact that we met the chief on that narrer ledge and that he’s turned up missing will soon lay bare the whole story, and as I remarked aforesaid, we shall hear from ’em agin.”
“It looks like a case of the hunter hunting the tiger,” said the parson, “and then awaking to the fact that the tiger is engaged in hunting him; it is plain to see that there’s going to be a complication of matters, but I don’t feel that it need make any difference to us.”
“It won’t!” replied the captain decisively; “we221haven’t put our hands to the plough with any intention of looking back. What’s the next thing to do, Vose?”
“We’ve got to look after our animals.”
“But there’s no grass here for them.”
“A little further and we’ll strike a stream of water where we’ll find some grass, though not much, but it’s better than nothing.”
Vaulting into the saddle, the guide after some pounding of his heels against the iron ribs of Hercules, forced him into a gallop, which the others imitated. The trail continued comparatively smooth, and, being slightly descending, the animals were not crowded as hard as it would seem. A mile of this brought them to the water, where they were turned loose. The stream gushed from the mountain side, and, flowing across the trail, was lost among the rocks to the left. The moisture thus diffused produced a moderate growth of tough, coarse grass, which the animals began plucking as soon as the bits were removed from their mouths. They secured little nutriment, but as the guide remarked, it was an improvement upon nothing. The men bathed their faces in the cold, clear water, took a refreshing draught, and then ate the lunch provided for them by the thoughtful Adams. Though they ate heartily, sufficient was kept to answer for another meal or two, if it should be thought wise to put themselves on an allowance.
222
They had just lighted their pipes, when Wade Ruggles uttered an exclamation. Without explaining the cause, he bounded to his feet and ran several rods to the westward, where he was seen to stoop and pick something from the ground. He examined it closely and then, as he turned about and came back more slowly it was perceived that he held a white handkerchief in his hand. His action caused the others to rise to his feet.
“What have you there?” asked Captain Dawson, suspecting its identity.
“I guess you have seen it before,” replied Wade, handing the piece of fine, bordered linen to him. He turned it over with strange emotions, for he was quick to recognize it.
“Yes,” he said, compressing his lips; “it is hers; she dropped it there––how long ago, Vose?”
The latter examined the handkerchief, as if looking for the answer to the question in its folds, but shook his head.
“Even a mountain Injin could not tell that.”
The parson asked the privilege of examining the article. His heart was beating fast, though no one else was aware of it, for it was a present which he had made to Nellie Dawson on the preceding Christmas, having been brought by Vose Adams, with other articles, on his trip made several months before the presentation.223There was the girl’s name, written by himself in indelible ink, and in his neat, round hand. It was a bitter reflection that it had been in her possession, when she was in the company of the one whom she esteemed above all others.
“It may have been,” reflected the parson, carefully keeping his thoughts to himself, “that, when she remembered from whom it came, she flung it aside to please him. Captain,” he added, “since this was once mine, I presume you have no objection to my keeping it.”
“You are welcome to it; I don’t care for it,” replied the parent.
“Thank you,” and the parson carefully put it away to keep company with the letter of Nellie Dawson which broke her father’s heart; “I observe that it is quite dry, which makes me believe it has not been exposed to the dew, and therefore could not have lain long on the ground.”
“You can’t tell anything by that,” commented Vose; “the air is so dry up here, even with the snow and water around us, that there’s no dew to amount to anything.”
All seemed to prefer not to discuss the little incident that had produced so sombre an effect upon the party. Wade Ruggles was disposed to claim the handkerchief, inasmuch as it was he who found it, but he respected the feelings of the parson too much to make any protest.
224
The occurrence was of no special interest to the guide. He had said they were in danger from the Indians and he gave his thoughts to them. While the others kept their seats on the ground, he stood erect, and, shading his eyes with one hand, peered long and attentively over the trail behind them. The clump of cedars from amid which the thin column of vapor was slowly climbing into the sky and the narrow ledge which had been the scene of their stirring adventure were in view, though its winding course shut a portion from sight.
“I expected it!” suddenly exclaimed Vose.
The others followed the direction of his gaze and saw what had caused his words. The five Indians, whom Vose had discovered in camp, were picking their way along the ledge, with their faces turned from the white men, who were watching them. Despite the chilly air, caused by the elevation, not one of the warriors wore a blanket. Two had bows and arrows, three rifles, carried in a trailing fashion, and all were lithe, sinewy fellows, able to give a good account of themselves in any sort of fight.
A curious fact noted by all of our friends was that while these warriors were thus moving away, not one of them looked behind him. Their long black hair hung loosely about their shoulders, and in the clear air it was observable that three wore stained feathers in the luxuriant growth on their crowns.
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“Is it possible that they have no suspicion of us?” asked the parson; “their action in not looking around would imply that.”
“Don’t fool yourself,” was the reply of Adams; “they knowed of us afore we knowed anything of them.”
“Why did they allow us to pass their camp undisturbed?”
“Things weren’t in the right shape for ’em. There are only three guns among ’em, though them kind of Injins are as good with the bow as the rifle, and they made up their minds that if we let them alone, they wouldn’t bother us.”
“You said awhile ago that we should have trouble from them.”
“And so we shall; when they reasoned like I was sayin’, they didn’t know anything about the little accident that happened to their chief; it’s that which will make things lively.”
“We can’t see the point where that accident took place,” said Captain Dawson.
“No; the trail curves too much, but we can foller it most of the way; they’re likely to go right on without ’specting anything, but when they find the horse, it’ll set ’em to looking round. After that, the band will begin to play.”
While the party were watching the five Indians, the226leader was seen to pass from view around the curve in the trail, followed by the next, until finally the fifth disappeared. All this time, not one of the warriors looked behind him. It was a singular line of action, and because of its singularity roused the suspicion of the spectators.
While three of the miners resumed their seats on the boulders and ground, Vose Adams kept his feet. Doubling each palm, so as to make a funnel of it, he held one to either eye and continued scrutinizing the point where he had last seen the hostiles. He suspected it was not the last of them. Instead of imitating him, his friends studied his wrinkled countenance.
The air in that elevated region was wonderfully clear, but it is hardly possible to believe the declaration which the guide made some minutes later. He insisted that, despite the great distance, one of the Indians, after passing from view, returned over his own trail and peeped around the bend in the rocks, and that the guide saw his black hair and gleaming snake-like eyes. The fact that Vose waited until the savage had withdrawn from sight, before making the astonishing declaration, threw some discredit on it, for it would have required a good telescope to do what he claimed to have done with the unassisted eye alone.
“You see I was looking for something of the kind,”227he explained, “or mebbe I wouldn’t have obsarved him.”
“Could you tell the color of his eyes?” asked the doubting Ruggles.
“They were as black as coal.”
“It is safe to say that,” remarked the parson, “inasmuch as I never met an Indian who had eyes of any other color.”
“There are such,” said Vose, “and I’ve seen ’em, though I’ll own they’re mighty scarce and I never knowed of any in this part of the world. Howsumever, I won’t purtend that I could see the color of a man’s eyes that fur, but I did see his hair, forehead and a part of his ugly face. He knowed we was behind him all the time, and this one wanted to find out what we was doing. When he larned that, they kept on along the ledge, but there’s no saying how fur they’ll go afore they find something’s gone wrong.”
Captain Dawson showed less interest in this by-play than the others. He was not concerned with what was behind them, so much as with what was in front. The belief was so strong with him that their persistent travel through the night had brought them close to the fugitives that he begrudged the time necessary for the animals to rest and eat.
Parson Brush felt that Adams was acting wisely in giving attention to the rear. It would be the height of228folly to disregard these formidable warriors when they meant trouble. Brush rose to his feet and using his palms as did the guide, scanned the country behind them.
He saw nothing of any warrior peering around the rocks, but he did see something, which escaped even the keen vision of Vose Adams himself. Beyond the ledge and a little to the left, he observed a riderless horse, with head high in air, and gazing at something which the two white men could not see. The parson directed the attention of Vose to the animal.
“By gracious! it’s the chief’s horse,” he exclaimed; “do you see that?”
The other two were now looking and all plainly saw a warrior advance into view, approaching the animal, which, instead of being frightened, seemed to recognize his friends, and remained motionless until the Indian came up and grasped the thong about his neck. Then the two passed from sight.
The identical thing prophesied by Vose Adams had occurred under the eyes of the four pursuers. The steed of the dead chieftain had been recovered, and it would not take the hostiles long to penetrate the mystery of the matter. Vose was wise in taking the course he did, and his companions were now inclined to believe his astonishing assertion that he saw one of the229number when he peeped around the curving ledge and watched their actions.
However, it would have been absurd to wait where they were in order to learn every move of their enemies, for that would have been a voluntary abandonment of the advantage secured at the cost of so much labor and danger. Captain Dawson insisted that the pursuit should be pressed without any thought of the red men, and Vose consented.
“But there’s one thing we mustn’t forget, captain,” he said, “and that is that it is daytime and not night.”
“I do not catch your meaning,” replied the captain, pausing on the point of moving off to secure his horse.
“It is this: them people in front will keep as sharp an eye to the rear as to the front; more’n likely it will be sharper, and it will be a bad thing if they discover us when we’re two or three miles off.”
“How shall we prevent it?”
“We can do it, if we’re careful. You’ll remember that when you went over this route last, you come upon places where you could see for a mile or more, ’cause the trail was straight and broad, while there are others where you can’t see more’n a hundred yards. Them that I’ve named last is where we must overhaul ’em.”
“That sounds well, Vose,” said the captain, “but I am unable to see how you are going to manage so as to bring that about.”
230
“While you’re getting the animals ready, I’ll take a look ahead.”
This was not in the nature of an explanation, but the three willingly did their part. Vose disappeared almost instantly, and, though they took but a few minutes to prepare their animals for the resumption of travel, he was back among them, the expression of his face showing that he brought news of importance.
“They ain’t fur off,” he said.
“How far?” asked the captain.
“I can’t say anything more than that we’re purty close to ’em. Let’s push on!”
231CHAPTER XXISTRANGERS
The signs of an approaching storm that had been noted with some apprehension the night before, passed away. The sky revealed hardly a cloud rift, and, when the sun had climbed the mountain crests, the scene was grand beyond description. But for the grim errand of the four men, holding relentlessly to the pursuit, they must have yielded to its impressive influence.
The trail remained so favorable for a couple of miles further, that it was passed at the same easy, swinging gallop. Vose Adams retained his place a few paces in advance of the others, who saw him glance sharply to the right and left, often to the ground and occasionally to the rear, as if to assure himself that none of his friends was going astray.
The moderate but continuous descent of the path took them so far downward that the change of temperature again became noticeable. The ground was rough and uneven and the animals dropped to a walk. Sometimes the course led around boulders, through sparse growths of cedar, beside brawling torrents, two of232which they were compelled to ford, where it was hard for their animals to keep their feet.
“Last fall,” remarked the guide, at the most difficult of these passages, “I had to wait two days before I dared try to cross with Hercules and one of the other mules.”
His companions nodded their heads but made no other answer. They were not in the mood for talking.
They were now making their way through a cañon similar to Dead Man’s Gulch, with rents and yawning ravines opening on the right and left, before which the party might have halted in perplexity, had it been in the night time. But the path showed plainly and the familiarity of the guide prevented any mistake on his part.
Adams had intimated that by a certain line of procedure the watchful fugitives could be prevented from discovering the approach of the pursuers until too late to escape them. In counting upon his ability to do this, he overestimated his skill, for the task was clearly impossible, and it was because of his efforts in that direction that he made a serious blunder. He had crossed for the third time a stream which was shallow, and, upon reaching the opposite bank, where the ground was moist and soft, he reined up with an exclamation of impatience.
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“What’s the matter?” asked Captain Dawson, in the same mood.
“We’ve passed ’em,” was the reply; “they’re somewhere behind us.”
“How far?”
“That remains to be found out, but I don’t think it’s a great distance.”
The captain angrily wheeled his horse and re-entered the stream.
“If they don’t get away, it won’t be our fault,” was his ungracious comment; “we have done little else than throw away our chances from the first.”
The guide made no response, and the next minute the four were retracing their course, their animals at a walk, and all scanning the rocks on either hand as they passed them.
It was clear by this time that the fugitives held one important advantage over their pursuers. The route that they were following was so devious and so varied in its nature, that only at rare intervals could it be traced with the eye for a quarter or half a mile. Certain of pursuit, Lieutenant Russell and his companion would be constantly on the lookout for it. They were more likely, therefore, to discover the horsemen than the latter were to observe them. Even if their flight was interrupted, there were innumerable places in this immense solitude where they could conceal themselves for an indefinite period.
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The question the pursuers asked themselves was whether the others had strayed unwittingly from the trail, or whether they had turned off to elude their pursuers, whose desperate mood they could not but know. The latter supposition seemed the more likely, since the path was marked so plainly that it could be lost only by unaccountable carelessness.
At the first break in the side of the vast mountain walls Vose Adams again slipped from his mule and spent several minutes in studying the ground.
“They haven’t gone in here,” was his comment, as he remounted.
“Make certain that we are not too far back,” said the captain.
“I have made no mistake,” was the curt reply of the guide. The party had gone less than twenty rods further, when another rent opened on the other side of the cañon, which was about an eighth of a mile wide. It would not do now to slight anything, and Adams headed his mule diagonally across the gorge, the animal walking slowly, while the rider leaned over with his eyes on the ground. Suddenly he exclaimed:
“We’ve hit it this time! Here’s where they went in!”
All four leaped from the back of their animals. Adams pointed out the faint indentations made by the hoofs of two horses. Less accustomed than he to study235such evidence, they failed to note that which was plain to him; the hoof prints of one of the animals were smaller than those of the other, since they were made by Cap, the pony belonging to Nellie Dawson. There could no longer be any doubt that the pursuers were warm on the trail of the fugitives.
Such being the fact, the interest of the men naturally centered on the avenue through which the others had made their way.
It was one of those fissures, sometimes seen among enormous piles of rock, that suggest that some terrific convulsion of nature, ages before, has split the mountain in twain from top to bottom. The latter was on a level with the main cañon itself, the chasm at the beginning being ten or twelve yards in width, but, occurring in a depression of the mountain spur, its height was no more than five or six hundred feet, whereas in other localities it would have been nearly ten times as great. The base was strewn with fragments of sandstone, some of the pieces as large as boulders, which had probably been brought down by the torrents that swept through the ravine in spring or when a cloudburst descended upon the upper portion.
Standing at the entrance, it was observed that the gorge trended sharply to the left, so that the view was shut off at a distance of fifty yards. It was noticeable,236too, that the path taken by the fugitives sloped upward at so abrupt an angle that it must have sorely tried the horses.
“I thought so,” was the comment of Vose Adams, when he returned from a brief exploration of the ravine; “they got off and led their animals.”
“Have you any idea of the distance they went?” asked Captain Dawson, who was in a more gracious mood, now that he appreciated the value of the services of their guide.
“No; I’ve rid in front of that opening a good many times, but this is the first time I ever went into it.”
“Well, what is to be done?” asked Parson Brush.
“Why, foller ’em of course,” Wade Ruggles took upon himself to reply.
“That won’t do,” replied Adams, “for it is likely to upset everything; I’ll leave Hercules with you and sneak up the gorge far enough to find how the land lays. I’ll come back as soon as I can, but don’t get impatient if I’m gone several hours.”
Brush and Ruggles showed their displeasure, for, while admitting the skill of the guide, they could not see adequate cause for the impending delay. They had made so many slips that it seemed like inviting another. It was clear that they were close upon the fugitives, and the two believed the true policy was to press the pursuit without relaxing their vigor. But Captain Dawson,237the one who naturally would have been dissatisfied, was silent, thereby making it apparent that Adams was carrying out a plan previously agreed upon by the two.
Vose paid no heed to Ruggles and the parson, but started up the ravine, quickly disappearing from view. Believing a long wait inevitable, the three prepared to pass the dismal interval as best they could. Here and there scant patches of grass showed in the cañon, and the animals were allowed to crop what they could of the natural food. The men lounged upon the boulders at hand, smoked their pipes and occasionally exchanged a few words, but none was in the mood for talking and they formed a grim, stolid group.
Hardly ten minutes had passed, when Ruggles, with some evidence of excitement, exclaimed in a guarded undertone:
“Helloa! Something’s up!”
He referred to the horses, who are often the most reliable sentinels in the presence of insidious danger. Two of them had stopped plucking the grass, and, with their ears pricked, were staring up the cañon at some object that had attracted their attention and that was invisible to their owners in their present situation.
Convinced that something unusual had taken place, Ruggles walked out into the cañon where he could gain a more extended view. One sweeping glance was enough, when he hurried back to his companions.
238
“Thunderation! all Sacramento’s broke loose and is coming this way!”
The three passed out from the side of the gorge to where they had a view of the strange procession. There seemed to be about a dozen men, mounted on mules, with as many more pack animals, coming from the west in a straggling procession, talking loudly and apparently in exuberant spirits.
“I don’t like their looks,” said Brush; “it is best to get our property out of their way.”
The counsel was good and was followed without a minute’s delay. The four animals were rounded up and turned into the ravine, up which Vose Adams had disappeared. They gave no trouble, but, probably because of the steepness of the slope, none of the four went beyond sight. Had the three men been given warning, they would have placed them out of reach, for none knew better than they how attractive horses are to men beyond the power of the law. But it was too late now, and the little party put on a bold front.
As the strangers drew near, they were seen to be nine in number and they formed a motley company. Their pack mules were so cumbrously loaded as to suggest country wagons piled with hay. The wonder was how the tough little animals could carry such enormous burdens, consisting of blankets, picks, shovels, guns, cooking utensils, including even some articles of furniture.