Coming to a much larger extension than any of the others had been,Polly called out: "This must be the thumb of the hand!"
"Sure it isn't the arm!" laughed Eleanor.
"Ah, I thought so—now I have it!" murmured Polly, finding a nest of leaves and soft feathers packed down with bits of fur and dry grass.
"What have you found?" eagerly asked three voices.
"The lair of a grizzly. I've got him!" cried Polly, triumphantly.
Instantly, three girls screamed and turned to run, and Polly laughed.
"I've got him on theoutside,girls! He can't get in with that fire smoking his front doorway, you see." "Oh, hurry back and pile more wood on the fire!" cried Eleanor, quaking with fear.
"Yes, yes, Polly! Come away and let's build more fires!" added Barbara, not knowing which one of the girls to hide behind, and looking at the horses as if pondering a refuge with them.
"What! And use all of our 'safety first' before dawn! If you waste the wood now, what will you do when old grizzly comes prowling home and finds your fires dying down?" said Polly.
"Well, do have one of us go and tend the fire carefully so it can't possibly die down and let him in!" added Anne.
"We are almost through exploring, so we may as well finish! Then we will all go and have supper and feed the animals."
The remainder of the cave proved to be a rocky wall gradually sloping down until it reached the entrance again. But, just at one side of the "thumb" was an aperture from which the wind blew in, as could be seen when Polly held her torch down to the opening.
"That leads out somewhere, and that opening is big enough to let a panther creep through, or a wild-cat! I'd like to crawl through there and make sure where it comes out and if it is quite safe on the other side," suggested Polly, looking at the girls.
"Oh, Polly dear! Don't do it! Suppose something should happen to you!" cried Anne.
"Why, I wouldn't let it, Anne! If I creep through that tunnel, I'd shove the torch in first and keep it moving ahead of me all the way, so that nothing could grab me, you see!" said Polly, half laughingly.
"I say, Polly, let well enough alone. Let's go back and get supper and rest for to-morrow!" advised Barbara.
"But just s'posing a rattle-snake was coiled up inside that tunnel! A burro wouldn't smell it, and it could crawl out during the night and take a good straight bite!" teased Eleanor.
Polly laughed, but Barbara thought Eleanor meant it, so she replied: "Then Polly had better go in and see if everything is safe for the night."
Anne had been so rudely shocked that day at the selfishness apparent in Barbara's character, that she did not try to hide her opinion. The wonder was, that she ever could have been so completely taken in during the months in Denver, as to declare Barbara to be a splendid girl when one knew her. She now decided that it took ranch life and mountain exploits to show up genuine characteristics and thoughts.
"Polly, I'll go in first!" offered Eleanor, dropping to her knees to crawl in at the opening.
"Eleanor Maynard! Come back here!" cried Barbara, taking hold of her sister's feet.
"Nolla, you shan't take the glory from me!" laughed Polly.
Meantime Eleanor was pulled back and rolled over, laughing as heartily as if she were at a farce-comedy.
"Now listen to me!" advised Polly, shaking a finger at the three girls. "First of all, Anne and Bob must go and watch the fires, then unpack the panniers, and next make beds of the tips—you know how, Anne?"
"I've watched the school children at Bear Forks weave it, so I'm sure I can make them, too," replied Anne.
"Good! You stick the little stem-ends under the soft fuzz of the others just laid. The principal thing is not to have hard prods hurting the body, and the tips will take care of the springs and softness, all right," said Polly.
"While Anne is making the beds, Bob can fix up odds and ends of spruce and leaves in the 'fingers' for the horses' beds—a bed in each finger, Bob. If the animals are comfortably bedded down they will be fresh in the morning. And if we hide them in those fingers the scent will not be so apt to reach a grizzly or lion should any prowl about to-night."
"Where shall I place the spruce beds for us?" asked Anne.
"Fix up two on each side of the cave as near the entrance as possible,Anne. We need air and the warmth from the fires. Then, too, we can hearany wild beast that may prowl around to-night," advised Polly. "IfNolla wants to go with me she takessecondplace, see!"
Eleanor laughed and said, "Anywhere as long as we start!"
"Polly, first I want you to promise me not to be reckless in going through that tunnel. If you meet with the slightest danger or hazard, promise to back right out again," begged Anne.
"All right, Anne, I promise, but my shoes will mar my follower's beauty if I back down on her face."
Thus joking to make little of the danger, Polly started in through the hole. Eleanor followed and the two older girls stood watching until not a sound, or ray of the torch, could be seen. Then they went to the front of the cave to replenish the fires and prepare supper.
"I'm afraid to fix the beds in those finger caves, Anne," whimpered Barbara, coming over to where the young woman was weaving the beds of spruce.
"What is there to be afraid of? The burros and horses won't hurt you, and they are too weary with this day's troubles to bother about kicking or trampling you. However, you can do this, if you like, and I will make up the beds for the beasts."
The spruce beds were being made—Anne showing Barbara how to lay the tips in rows as wide as the bed was to be, then folding under the sticks of the second row to run under the tips of the first row, and so on, until the length of the bed was made.
This work finished, and the bedding for the horses arranged in the "fingers" as Polly had directed, the two girls stood near the entrance of the cave, wondering what possibly could have happened to keep Polly and Eleanor so long.
"I just felt in my bones that it was an awful risk to go into the black hole of the unknown!" cried Barbara.
"It isn't that that bothers me at all, Bob. But Polly has no sense of fear, and I think they may have found an exit at the other end, so Polly is coming around that way. It is a hazardous thing to do, in this storm!" said Anne.
"Anne, can't you try to squeeze in there and see what has happened?" asked Barbara.
Anne looked at her without saying a word, so Barbara thought she hesitated on account of leaving her alone in the cave.
"I won't mind staying alone for a little time. I'll watch the fires and see that the horses do not get away!" said Barbara.
"Really!" was all Anne said, as she turned to place another pine knot on the fire.
But the tone silenced Barbara, who had food for thought thereafter.
Meanwhile Polly and Eleanor had crawled into the aperture, and by dint of squirming and twisting through the passage, found that only the section nearest the cave was of soft debris. It gradually widened as they advanced and Polly distinctly felt a current of cold air blowing in her face.
After creeping along for some distance without finding an outlet,Eleanor pulled on Polly's foot to attract her attention.
"Let's go back, Poll. No use hunting down in the bowels of GrizzlySlide."
"Nolla, the smoke of the torch blows harder than at first, and there is enough air to waft it backwards, so there will be an opening at the end, I am sure. That is what I must know for certain."
"All right, lead on! I'll be with you at the death!"
Polly chuckled at Eleanor's loyalty and crept on.
Finally Eleanor rugged again at her feet and shouted: "Hey, Polly!Aren't we most through to China? Let me know the moment you get thefirst peep at a pig-tail, as I have to brush the cobwebs from myChinese!"
Polly laughed at the girl who made merry of a journey that would have staggered an older person. Finally, however, the tunnel widened so that both girls could advance comfortably and then, suddenly, the flame of the torch and the smoke ceased to blow into their faces, for they had come out into an open space.
"We're here!" laughed Polly, trying to stand up and giving her head a smart rap against the overhanging rock.
"'We're here!' For goodness' sake, tell me where?" cried Eleanor, thrusting her torch ahead so that it was almost snuffed out against Polly's shoes.
"Gracious me, Nolla! Don't burn my soles!" cried Polly, managing to stand upright and hold aloft her torch.
"Ha, that's good! Don't burn your soul!" teased Eleanor.
But the moment the girls saw where they were, not another word was uttered, for they found themselves in a vault-like cave somewhat smaller than the entrance cave, but having no "fingers" or outside opening. The dome and sides were rocky, but everywhere, embedded in the rock, myriad points of light reflected as the flare of the torch lit up the place uncertainly.
Eleanor thrust up her torch also, and both girls pivoted around, forgetting about wild beasts and the errand they came upon. After blinking at the bright yellow gleams for a time, Polly turned and stared at Eleanor.
"What is it?"
"I'm sure I don't know, Nolla. It looks like copper."
"Polly! If it's copper, then we're rich!"
Both girls rushed over to examine the metallic gleams at close range, and Polly frowned as a thought entered her mind. Eleanor turned and looked about to be sure no one could hear, and then whispered:
"Polly, it looks like gold! Can it be real GOLD!"
The girls stared at each other and then burst out into a simultaneous laugh. But it was excitement, not mirth, that occasioned it. Before the wild echoes had rung through the vault, the hysterical girls were tearing at the hard walls, trying in vain to dislodge a nugget.
"Oh, why did I leave that ax in the pannier!" wailed Polly.
"Isn't it always that way—when you need a thing!" exclaimed Eleanor.
In her haste to reach a fragment that looked easy to break off, Polly dropped the torch. She stooped to pick it up again and saw a nugget of the ore on the ground, half-covered with dirt.
"I've got a piece! Oh, Nolla, look! LOOK!" shouted Polly, holding aloft her treasure.
Eleanor ran over and both girls examined the chunk of yellow streaked and studded rock.
"Polly, it really looks like gold," ventured Eleanor, awed.
"And it's red-gold, too, like Old Man Montresor's nuggets," added Polly.
At the mention of the gold-seeker, both girls looked at each other and the same thought flashed to both of them at once.
"Maybe it is!" breathed Polly.
"Oh, Poll, hold the torch down near the ground so I can find a chunk, won't you?" beseeched Eleanor, now anxious to find a nugget for herself.
"There, Nolla—see over by the hole! A little piece for you."
Eleanor ran over and found it to be smaller than the one Polly found, but there was more metal in the nugget. They examined it closely and decided that the shining metal must be gold.
"I'm so excited that I feel as if wheels were turning all inside of me—do you?" laughed Eleanor, hugging her nugget to her heart.
"It's sort of a dizzy and squeamish feeling, isn't it?" explained Polly, looking at her companion. Then for the first time since they emerged from the tunnel, she noticed the face.
"Oh, Nolla! If you could but see yourself! Just like a negro, but streaky where you smudged the torch smoke from your eyes."
"You're no 'bleached blonde' either, Poll!" laughed Eleanor, rubbing her sleeve across her face and looking at the soot in amusement.
"But mine can't be as black as yours, 'cause you got all the smoke from both torches."
"Never mind now; if this is gold we can afford to have the tunnel and cave wired with electricity at once," laughed the excited girl.
"Well, let's finish our hunt in the tunnel and then find some more nuggets for Anne and Barbara. They'll want a share, you know," suggested Polly.
"Good gracious, Poll! You're not going onnow, are you?"
"Of course! The gold won't melt away, but we've got to close up any opening into outdoors, you know."
"Let's go back and tell the girls and then finish the tunnel work," pleaded Eleanor.
"How silly to worm a way back for the sake of showing off the ore. No, let's do this thing up and then go back to stay for the night. If we don't close up any aperture, a wild beast may crawl through, then what good will the gold do us if we are dead?"
"Sensible as ever! Even gold can't turn your head!" said Eleanor, starting for the narrow place opposite the tunnel they came from. "Funny, isn't it, that this cave should be here just as if it was an inflated bubble in a glass-blower's tube?" said Polly.
"I'll reserve my opinion till I see the end of the tube!" said Eleanor, waiting for Polly to creep into the opening.
After considerable twisting and crawling, Polly first, with her torch, and Eleanor second, they suddenly felt a current of fresh air.
"Oh! Oh, thank goodness!" gasped Polly. "I shoved the torch ahead! I'd have fallen headlong into this abyss."
"What is it, Poll?"
"A pit ever so wide, and I can't see how deep it goes down. It's right in the tunnel ground, cutting off all further investigations."
"It'll cut off investigations of a wild beast, too, won't it?" askedEleanor with relief in her tones.
"Of course—there isn't a chance of anything coming in this way. I can hear water rushing, too, way down at the bottom, and the wind blows up from this pit, so there must be an opening down there where the subterranean river rushes out."
"Maybe this tunnel was a river, once, and emptied down into that pit," ventured Eleanor.
"I don't care if it was! I'm anxious to go back and eat, now that we know the worst," replied Polly.
"We won't need both torches now, Poll, so drop yours in the pit and see how deep it may be," suggested Eleanor.
"All right, but for pity's sake don't let yours go out!"
Polly waited to steady the flame and then dropped the torch. It fell straight down and flared up showing the rocky sides of the pit, then suddenly it "sh-isshed" in water and all was dark once more.
The girls then wormed their way back to the gold cave (as they termed it) and sought for nuggets in the dust and dirt of ages that covered the rocky floor. Eleanor found a few pieces the size of walnuts and Polly secured a handful of small bits.
"How can we tie them up if we have to crawl back?" asked Eleanor.
"Got a handkerchief?"
"No, I gave it to Bob out of meanness," laughed Eleanor.
"Hum! Well, we might put them in our middy blouses, only we take a chance of losing them in squirming back through that tunnel," remarked Polly.
"I've heard of folks smuggling things in their shoes."
"I have it! Take off our shoes and put the nuggets in, then tie the shoe-strings tightly about the top and fasten them about our necks!" exclaimed Polly.
This being a good plan, both girls soon had their precious ore well-tied in their mountain boots, and were ready to proceed. As the two discoverers neared the cave where the others were, Polly shouted excitedly, and Eleanor joined in the clamor.
Anne and Barbara had become so frightened at the prolonged absence of the two girls that Anne was about to crawl in to find them, while Barbara realized how much she really loved her younger sister. The moment they heard the awful sounds issuing from the tunnel, however, they were certain a wild beast had attacked them and the victims were fighting a way out.
Anne grabbed the ax and held it aloft ready to strike, while Barbara stood wringing her hands in despair. By this time Polly stuck her head out of the opening, but neither Barbara nor Anne recognized the black face—her voice alone told them it was Polly.
"Oh, my dear child! Are you badly hurt?" screamed Anne, dropping the ax and pulling Polly forth, Eleanor crawling directly after her.
"Gold! Gold! GOLD! See—lots of it! Mountains of it!" yelled Eleanor, trying to drag her nuggets from the boot without untying the strings.
"Oh, Anne, we found a gold mine! A great big cave full of gold!" criedPolly, managing to untie the strings.
"Poor children! Are you daffy?" exclaimed Anne, not sure whether to cry or laugh.
"You'll go daffy when, you see that cave—all shining gold!" laughedEleanor, handing her nugget to the curious sister.
"See here, Anne, isn't this gold?" asked Polly, working the large chunk of ore from her shoe.
"It looks like it, Polly, but I'm no judge."
"Oh, let's crawl in and see the cave!" now begged Barbara eagerly.
"You know you'd get stuck in that narrow tunnel, Bob! Besides, I'm starved," said Eleanor.
"Moreover, you wouldn't go when there seemed to be danger for the girls, and I'm sure I'm not going to try it now!" added Anne.
"Dear me, won't any one go with me?" complained Barbara, who stooped to gaze in at the tunnel, and seemed too fascinated to leave the spot.
"Bob, the gold has been there for centuries and it isn't likely to melt away while we eat supper!" declared practical Eleanor, following Anne to the opening of the cave.
As they went to the place where Anne had spread the supper, Polly told them of the magnificent sight when they crept out of the dark hole and saw the glimmering of the gold. Over and over, the two girls had to tell minutest details of the cavern, Barbara sighing, frequently, to think she was not small enough to crawl in and see for herself.
While the two adventurers washed their faces and hands with melted snow, Anne fried the fish over some red-hot embers scraped out of the fire. This done, they sat down to eat.
As they ate, they talked continually of their mine not so far from the festive board.
"Well, Polly, you surely were born with a silver spoon in your mouth!" sighed Anne, smilingly.
"What makes you say that?"
"You can see for yourself, can't you? First you fall into a family that owns no end of wealth in jeweled cliffs, and now you fall into a gold mine," replied Anne.
"But Nolla owns half of this mine, and I'm not so sure but you and Bob come in for your share!"
The other girls stared at Polly's generosity, as they had never thought of holding any interest in the mine.
"Anyway, nobody owns it yet! It legally belongs to the first one who files a claim, so what we must do is to hurry back to Oak Creek and register the mine," said Barbara, businesslike.
"My! Gold has brought Bob's brains uppermost!" teased Eleanor.
"Who knows but this claim has been staked years ago!" said Anne, meaningly.
Polly and Eleanor exchanged glances. But Barbara wondered.
"What do you mean?" asked she.
"Well, look out in front: there's a ledge cleft in the side of the mountain wall. Between it and the other lower ledge is a canyon that might be the one Montresor found on his up-climb. Yonder the slope meets the chasm and above is the steep sides leading to Top Notch Trail. Could not the land-slide have buried this wall and then a great wash-out have cleared it again? If we only had a gushing mountain stream pouring from the cliff-side the setting would be complete!"
Barbara gasped, but Polly clapped her hands. "Nolla, that's it! The subterranean stream we found in there. Some big upheaval changed its outlet, or maybe this gold vein runs clean through and Montresor's claim is staked opposite this side—just where the river pours out. We must look over that side to-morrow."
The two younger girls then told of the pit and the river and all agreed that it might be the stream found by the prospector before the landslide covered his claim.
MONTRESOR'S CLAIM is JUSTIFIED
Polly turned to place the nuggets in the pannier and almost collided with Noddy.
"Hello, darling! What do you want—eh?" said she, patting the burro's head.
Noddy continued to gaze wistfully at her mistress and Polly said:"Anne, did you feed the burros and horses?"
"Yes, just as you told me to."
"And make the beds?"
"Yes, everything."
Then Noddy ambled over to a pan of dirty snow water, in which the explorers had washed their blackened faces. She would have to drink it, if her mistress couldn't understand what she needed!
"Oh, you Noddy! Isthatwhat you want?" laughed Polly, taking the pan and running out to the ledge to fill it with clean snow. This she brought back and melted to provide drink for the burro.
"Did your thoughtless foster-mother forget a drink for her little Noddy!" crooned Polly, placing the pan for the thirsty burro. "After all that hard climbing and 'first-aid,' too!"
The other girls laughed at the wise little burro and her doting mistress, but Polly turned and said: "It's lucky Noddy reminded me! We must water the horses well to-night if we want them in good shape for to-morrow."
So Eleanor and Polly gave drink to the thirsty animals while Anne took what was supposed to be a chocolate cake from the bottom of the pannier. It had been so shaken up during transit that the paper felt sticky.
While they all watched her open the bundle, Noddy went back to her finger-stall to sleep. Several wrappings of paper were unwound and finally Anne took forth the surprise Sary had mentioned in the morning.
"Why! It's a lemon custard pie! Of all things!" cried Barbara.
"In the tin dish just as it came from the oven!" added Eleanor, laughing.
"Not quite like it was when it came from the oven, for such a shaken up mess of meringue and custard we never had atourtable!" laughed Polly, seeing the condition of the pie from the shaking and falling it had had when Choko went over the cliff.
"Any one want a slab?" asked Anne, laughing also.
"No, thanks! Maybe, if I was famished, I'd eat the crust, but it doesn't appeal to me now!" said Polly.
"Well, I say, keep it until to-morrow! We may be glad to eat it in the morning if we are very hungry! It won't hurt to save it, anyway!" said sensible Eleanor.
So Anne sat the pie-plate down where she was, intending to put it on the ledge when she got up from supper.
"Reckon I'll put some more pine on the fires!" said Polly, seeing the flames were dying down.
She had raked up and replenished one fire, and was attending to the other when a blood-curdling cry came from the edge of the cliff, causing Polly to jump back and clutch at Anne's arm.
"Mercy! How that frightened me!" said Polly, trying to laugh her fears away.
The other girls were trembling too, and Anne said, "It was a wolf, wasn't it?"
"No, it was the cry of a panther! They wait and wait in quiet for a long time to get a chance at their prey, then if something interferes, they make that awful cry!"
"Oh, Polly! Can he get in, do you think?" wailed Barbara.
"I reckon not! But weren't we lucky to have all that pine for the fires! It's the best thing to keep him away!" said Polly, creeping out again to see if both fires were doing their duty.
Another howl reached the girls, and Eleanor said in a shaky voice, "He won't jump over the fires, will he, Polly?"
"No, smoke and sparks frighten wild beasts from the vicinity. They know from instinct that forest fires kill and they are wary of them. But they haven't the sense to know that a man-made fire is built on purpose to keep them away!"
"It must be awful late, Polly! If you think everything is safe, suppose we go to bed," Anne suggested after a long interval unbroken by any howls.
"All right! Let Bob and Nolla take the last two beds, while you and I take these in front. I'll use this one where I can watch the ledge going up to the slope. If I see anything suspicious, I'll shoot!" said Polly, examining the rifle and standing it by the side of the green-bough bed.
"For comfort's sake, girls, unbutton your clothes and remove your shoes. They can be dried by the fires to-night so they will feel better in the morning," advised Anne.
The pine fires were burning beautifully, and Anne, completely tired out, was soon asleep. Barbara and Eleanor had succumbed to weariness the moment they rolled over on the beds. But Polly, tired and fatigued, too, knew that some one must keep the fires going all night, so she merely reclined on the pine-bough bed and started up at every sound or crackle of the fires. She piled pine upon them all night through until the first faint gleams of dawn, and then there was no more wood on hand to use.
She worried over the fact that the pine had given out and just as she turned from the fires, having deposited the last small kindlings she had found lying about, she heard the yelping of the mountain-lion and the deep growl of a grizzly bear.
She ran and caught up the rifle, planning to shoot up at the cliff in a venture to frighten them away. She aimed, pulled the trigger, and the rifle-shot rang out making the echoes roar and roll through the chasm as if an army was shooting.
The three girls who had been sleeping, jumped out of the spruce beds and screamed with fright. Barbara ran madly over the ground, back and forth, not certain where to hide. Eleanor stood shivering and Anne rushed over to ask Polly what had happened. Polly explained in a whisper, and Eleanor, as in a trance, watched her sister running about with something that seemed to cleave to her foot closer than a porous-plaster. Finally, Eleanor came to her senses and ran over to keep Barbara from rolling under the burros for hiding.
"For the love of Mike! What's all over your foot?" cried Eleanor, dragging Barbara out from the "finger-stall" to exhibit her foot to the other girls.
At sound of the unexpected shot, Barbara had jumped up frantically and darted hither and thither, taking little heed of where she ran. Now, as her companions gazed at that foot exposed by Eleanor, they all laughed hysterically while Anne shouted:
"Oh, ourcustard pie!"
And sure enough. Lemon meringue clung tenaciously to as much of a nicely-formed foot and lower limb as it possibly could. In spite of the fears over wild animals, the adventurers had to laugh at the sight.
"Howwill I ever get it off?" wailed Barbara, when she realized how sticky the custard was.
"Rather ask: 'How shall we dispense with our breakfast?'" retorted Anne.
But another mad howl from without now made the horses cry and quiver with dread, while the girls blanched in fear. Polly had not told them that the wood was used up, and now Anne ran to carry an extra armful of pine to replenish the fires. When she discovered the truth of the situation, she slowly turned and exchanged a meaning look with Polly.
But Polly now bent suddenly forward and intently eyed something she saw on the verge of the ledge above. She kept her eyes focused there, and carefully felt for and caught up her rifle. She silently lifted it, took aim, and fired!
A gleam of red and a spurt of blue came from the mouth of the gun even as the sharp report cracked the echoes in the gully. Instantly following the shot, a wild howling as of fifty beasts fighting, made Polly shoot again. Snarls and yelps followed, until Polly heard the clamor grow fainter until all was quiet once more.
"Well, girls! As long as we are fully awake, suppose we forage for breakfast and make an early start!" said Anne.
"Can we get away, do you think, Polly?" asked Eleanor.
"Yes, it's a clear morning and it doesn't take long for the snow to melt, once it gets started!" replied Polly.
"Have you enough ammunition to load again in case of need?" questionedAnne.
"Yes, I always look after that! But I was wondering what we can have for breakfast?"
"Ha! Leave that to the cook!" laughed Anne, going to the ledge and reaching up behind a crevice in the rocky wall. She brought forth one of the small fish spared from the night before.
"Good for you, Anne! If you could only dig up some sandwiches as readily!" laughed Polly.
"Maybe I can do that too, if you will look after the horses and burros!" said Anne, taking a small newspaper bundle from behind her spruce bed.
When opened, it showed that Anne had stolen some of the oats from the feed. This she rolled between two stones until it was crushed. Then she told Eleanor to pick out as many of the husks as possible.
"She's going to give us Rolled Oats, as I live!" laughed Eleanor.
Polly smiled for she was surprised to find Anne could prepare a feast in the wilderness; and soon the oatmeal was cooking beside the fish-pan.
"How can you girls enjoy that awful stuff without sugar or cream?" asked Barbara, plaintively.
"We're eating ours without a grumble, but I notice, you are also eating yours and doing all the complaining!" retorted Eleanor.
"I have to eat it to keep from starving, still I can't enjoy it as you seem to, Nolla. I declare, you seem to be getting awfully common in your tastes."
"Huh! Show me a selection of food for breakfast!" laughed Eleanor, smacking her lips over the last spoonful of oats.
"What shall we do about feeding the animals?" asked Eleanor, as they got up from the ground to pack up the pans and other stuff waiting to be taken back home.
"We'll stop at the first good Park and let them graze for an hour or two. Then a good drink from a stream will fix them all right!" said Polly, glancing at Noddy, who had come from her stall and stood looking sleepily at the girls.
"Doesn't Noddy look for all the world like a sleepy child who has to get up for school, but who hates to be disturbed!" laughed Anne, as Noddy's tousled head bobbed up and down while she sniffed the air redolent with oatmeal.
Satisfied that something was cooking for her breakfast, Noddy ran over and nozzled at the girls, who laughed and tried to push her cold nose away.
The other burros and horses came out then, and Polly said, "It makes me feel selfish to eat their oats but then they can eat grass in the park and we can't!"
"Girls! Aren't you going to have another look at the gold-mine before you leave here?" asked Barbara.
"What for? It won't do us any good and only waste time," replied Polly.
"Maybe you can find some more nuggets to carry back!" ventured Barbara.
"We have all we need to claim the rights of the mine, so why lug any more than we need?" returned Polly.
"Come on, Poll! Let's pack up and be going!" said Eleanor, decisively.
So, with the animals saddled and the panniers packed, the cave-dwellers started carefully along the ledge towards the slope.
It was an invigorating morning, and the sun with its rays was just topping the tips of the pines, when the girls rode forth to climb the slope.
"Not a sign of that awful storm!" said Anne, amazed.
"Only in the glades and ravines, where the snow has drifted into heaps!Even that will melt rapidly, as the warmth of the day is felt," saidPolly, looking eagerly about as she rode.
"Polly, what do you suppose became of those wild animals?" askedEleanor, riding directly behind Polly.
"That is just what I am looking for. I thought maybe I could see some tracks, for I was sure I got that panther when I took aim and shot!"
"Well, I'm going over near that edge of the cliff and see if there is any sign of blood or tracks!" declared Eleanor.
"No, no! You stop right here with us, Nolla!" cried Barbara, anxiously.
"I'm going over myself, Bob, because I am curious to see why both of them should slink away so quickly. A mountain-lion seldom leaves a possible victim until he has been gorged, and it was strange that he should go without having tried to get at us!" said Polly.
"Oh, Polly!Pleasedon't talk of such gruesome things! I am so glad we will soon be back in civilization!" said Barbara.
The horses reached the top of the slope and Polly guided Noddy across the rough place to the cliff, where the fight had taken place.
Here she sought for some track or sign of the fight, but saw only a few small spots of red in the white snow.
Eleanor tried to make her burro follow after Noddy, but he was fractious and would not go near the cliff. He made a detour, however, about a small group of trees and just as he came opposite them, something upon the snow-drift at the base of the largest tree, caused him to shy violently.
"Oh, girls! Run! Come here and see what's here," cried Eleanor, excitedly, jumping from her burro but remembering to hold the bridle.
The burro backed and refused to go nearer the thing, but Polly rode Noddy over and saw that Eleanor had discovered one of the victims of the fight.
"Ha! I thought so!" said Polly, with satisfaction.
Noddy was left to watch from a comfortable vantage point, while her mistress ran up to the large panther which was stretched out at the foot of the tree. He had tried to climb it in order to escape the grizzly's claws.
"Isn't he a massive beast!" cried Anne, watching from her horse some distance away.
"You girls come back! He may not be dead!" shrieked Barbara, the moment she saw the animal.
"Say, Bob, if he wasn't dead, he'd have had me down long before you came along to warn us!" laughed Eleanor.
"Polly, he's a beauty, even if he is such a terror, isn't he?" said Eleanor, admiring the satiny coat and beautiful form of the large mountain-lion, so majestic in death.
"I never saw a larger one! He must be at least nine feet long from nose to tip of tail!" said Polly, lifting the tail with her foot, then letting it drop again.
She stooped over looking closely at the wounds made by the grizzly, then she suddenly cried out, "Oh! I thought that shot hit him! It must have been that first shot from the rifle that sent him back from the cliff. Then, the bear tracked him and had the fight back here in the forest. That is when we heard the sounds diminishing.
"Well, old fellow, I'm sorry it had to be so! But you decreed it! It was you or one of us, and I preferred to have had it you! Old Grizzly wouldn't be so cattish about sneaking up and laying low for us until the fire died down, or till one of us happened to step out of the circle of light! He would have made a big noise from the beginning and pounced down upon us willy-nilly. And now he has given you yours!"
As Polly spoke, she stood looking regretfully at the creature, as if she wished the world was ordered otherwise than all the killing and taking, one from another, in the vain belief of living!
"Polly, how much do you think he weighs?" asked Eleanor eagerly.
"Too much to drag home—if that is why you asked!" laughed Polly, looking up at Eleanor, with a wise shake of the head.
"To tell the truth, that is exactly what I planned to do until I saw how big he was!" laughed Eleanor.
"He must weigh at least two hundred pounds, Nolla," said Anne, who had come nearer during the examination.
"Yes, nearer two hundred and fifty pounds, I reckon," said Polly.
"I wanted to ship him to Chicago and show all of my society friends whatwekilled during my mountain visit!" explained Eleanor.
"Your motive killed the project before you saw him," said Anne, wagging her head at Eleanor as a rebuke.
Eleanor laughed merrily. "Well, I intend having a regular exhibit when I get back! All kinds of wild things will be shown my friends. I propose having Polly and Noddy sitting upon a pedestal in the drawing-room as a sample of the wildest things on the Rockies!" laughed Eleanor, giving Polly an affectionate glance.
"Oh, Nolla, don't talk so foolishly! As if Polly would come to Chicago!What would she do with herself while we had to entertain?" saidBarbara, pettishly, but no one hearkened.
"Maybe we can blaze a trail from here to the nearest ranch on our way home, and send some one from there to come and cart the brute home for us. I'd pay him well!" said Eleanor, not willing to forego the pleasure of showing the lion at home.
"Oh, but then, you will make these ranchers curious. Once this far, they will look about the place where we spent the night, and that will lead them to discover the mine!" said Polly.
"I forgot that! Of course it would be foolish to give any one the slightest clew to our ever being here, and of what we did while here! I see I shall have to say good-by to the lion I hoped to be lionized for!" said Eleanor, laughingly.
"With a gold mine as rich as yours, you'll be lionized without the lion!" laughed Anne.
"By the way, did you bring your nugget, Polly?" asked Eleanor.
"Reckon I did!"
"Then before we leave, don't you think we ought to make some sort of a plan, or mark the spot so we can find it again? We don't want to make the same mistake old Montresor did, you know!" said Eleanor, anxiously.
"I have a plan all made. I did it while sitting by the fire this morning, before you girls were awake," said Polly, taking off her hat and removing a folded paper.
The girls were surprised at the accuracy of the sketch, and Anne said,"Any one can find it from these directions!"
"Thank you, but you see, it would be hazardous to risk any one else coming here. The importance of keeping the whole adventure a profound secret until we have duly filed papers and can claim right of ownership to the claim, can be seen now. I hardly think it wise to speak of the crevice or danger of a land-slide until after we get some inside information about taking hold of the mine," said Polly, seriously.
An hour more was used by Polly in staking a legal claim and marking the corners with heaps of stone. She also left a very deep blaze in each of the four trees that cornered the large square area she thought would cover the cavern.
Noddy soon found the Top Notch Trail when they were again on the way homeward. By riding steadily all morning, they reached the spot where the rattle-snake was waiting for transportation. Anne and the others had experienced so many greater shocks since the killing of the reptile that they felt no qualms about carrying the snake now.
When the four riders finally turned in on the Pebbly Pit Trail, it was past four o'clock. They had been going steadily since morning, without food or rest, excepting the hour they had to stop at the falls to give the animals grass and water, and the girls were the sorriest-looking lot as they dragged up the road to the house and stopped at the porch.
"Glory be! You-all war givin' Mis' Brewster fits wid no sign of hide nor hair sence yistermorn!" cried Sary, rushing out of the kitchen door, the moment she heard the horses' hoof-beats.
Mrs. Brewster heard Sary and also ran out, crying, "Oh, my dear children! We've had such a day! Sam just went to the barn to hook up and start the ranchers on a hunt! A trapper rode in this morning and spoke of the awful blizzard that hit Top Notch Trail. Of course, we knew you couldn't findthator we'd have been still more worried!"
The girls looked at each other and laughed aloud. Mrs. Brewster shrewdly guessed the truth.
"Didyou find it? And where under the sun did you hide during that awful storm?" cried she, anxiously.
Sary paid no attention to a recital of trails and storms, however, for it was half past four and Jeb would have to take care of the five mounts before he could hope to come in for supper, and spend a quiet evening with her. So, to prevent any delay, she turned to Polly.
"You-all 'pear to be tuckered out! Jest flop inter the cheers an' rest whiles Ah carry the hosses to th' barn. Ah'll tell Mr. Brewster like-ez-how you-all come home, an' spared him a trip!"
Mrs. Brewster objected to the offer for she wanted Sary to finish the preparations for supper and give her time to talk with the girls. Sary, however, paid no attention to her mistress's objections but gathered all the reins together and led the animals to the barn.
Shortly after the girls had gone indoors to drink some hot milk—for Mrs. Brewster said hot milk would take most of the fatigue out of their bodies—Sam Brewster ran down the path from the barn, and burst into the living-room.
"Well, say! Ah shore am glad to see you-all back home! Ah just was preparing to wire some detectives to be on the lookout in the Zoo for any lions or bears lately come in who looked unusually well-fed!"
Every one was so delighted at the reunion that Mr. Brewster's foolishness made them laugh merrily. He hugged Polly until she cried for breath, then he shook hands over and over again with Anne and the girls, Mrs. Brewster, remonstrating meantime, that she wanted to hear of their adventures!
The girls were so eager to tell about the cavern of gold that they refused to wash and dress, or remove any stains of the climb, until after the whole story was told.
Mr. and Mrs. Brewster thought it was the tale of the trip and the trials throughout the blizzard, and they cared little for what had passed as long as all were safe and happy again. But Polly blurted out the truth to make them listen.
"I found Montresor's gold mine, Paw!"
It hit the mark! In the shock the news made upon the Brewsters, no one noticed Polly's slip on the old pet title. After a long tense period of silence, however, Sam Brewster said: "Daughter, it can't be true!"
"'Tis, though, Mr. Brewster! Polly and I crawled through the tunnel until we came out into that marvelous cavern of gold," and Eleanor sighed audibly as she thought of that sight.
"What cavern! You-all must be clean locoed with the blizzard and the long ride!" cried Mr. Brewster, testily.
The girls laughed appreciatively, for they understood just how those who remained at home would feel at such news!
So Polly sat upon her father's knee and told him the story of the mine, from the time Choko fell over the cliff until they left the panther at the foot of the tree.
"And here's the plan and claim, and there's the gold!"
Polly drew the nuggets from her dress and took the papers from her sombrero, and placed them in her father's hands.
Mrs. Brewster dropped upon her knees to the floor to look at the map and the ore, while her husband was examining the large nugget. The four girls had no idea how anxious they were about this ore until they saw Mr. Brewster carefully looking it over with the eye of an expert miner.
His first words were a decided shock.
"Ah wouldn't set much store about this mine, girls! You-all don't see what Ah see in this discovery. It's gold—yes, it looks to me like red-gold of good quality, and if it is as you say—a cavern exposed so any one can value it off-hand, so much the better! But, the end of Top Notch Trail, where you doubtless spent the night, is a far haul from Oak Creek, and the chasm in front, and the mountain on top, are drawbacks to mining. However, we will ride into Oak Creek in the morning and file this claim of yours and see if it comes anywhere near to being the one old Montresor left, Polly. It would give me the keenest joy to be able to say something to a few of the mean old rascals about Oak Creek, who called me a fool for paying the funeral costs and filing the claim of that kind old man, Montresor!"
"But, Dad—father! If this mine happens to cross the claim staked byMr. Montresor, will it interfere with our filing a new claim?" askedPolly, anxiously.
"It depends on how much ground you covered with your corners!" replied her father.
"You can depend upon it, I covered all I could think might come within a mile of gold!" laughed Polly.
"Well, girls, listen to some good advice on this! Not a word to be said about this cave—not even among yourselves until the claim is filed and investigated! You see, the walls have ears when any one speaks of gold! Then, having attended to the legal aspects of the mine, we will all ride over to remain a few days, as visitors to Old Mr. Grizzly! When we get back we ought to have some information worth while!"
"And what about sending for John's friend to come and go with us? If he knew enough to tell you about the lava, he will surely be able to judge about the gold!" ventured Polly, eagerly.
"I think that is a splendid idea, Sam! When we go in to Oak Creek to-morrow, let us send John a day-letter explaining about this cavern," added Mrs. Brewster.
"Hain't you-all comin' to supper? Har hev Ah ben and wukked all day hopin' fer a night off to-night!" said Sary, suddenly appearing at the doorway between the living-room and the kitchen.
Every one started for she had not made a sound before speaking, so no one knew how much she had over-heard. Mrs. Brewster quickly replied, however.
"Why, Sary! I didn't know you wished to go out! I could have attended to supper myself, had you asked me!"
"Ah hain't planned to go out—Ah said a 'night off,' Mis' Brewster," said Sary, hardly deigning to wait for an answer, but looking at the girls with an impatient frown.
"Mother, we really must wash before supper!" said Polly.
Sary tossed her head. Mrs. Brewster knew what that meant, so she urged the girls to forego any lengthy toilets and merely wash away the worst signs of travel.
Sary was pacified when Eleanor came out of the room and handed her a large paper bundle.
"Sary, I have a little present for you because we made so much trouble to-night."
"Oh, Miss Nolla, Ah'm much obleeged t' you-all. Ah don' mind trouble, onny yoh see Ah expec' comp'ny to-night."
It took Sary but an instant to open the package and when she beheld a ruffled organdy dress discarded by Barbara the previous season and accidentally packed in the trunk with other clothes, she rolled her eyes heavenward.
"Miss Nolla! Is this fine gown'd fer me?"
Eleanor stifled a laugh but Sary made as if she would clasp the girl in her powerful arms, so discretion was needed. Eleanor backed behind the kitchen chair.
"Miss Nolla, Ah wonder ef a widder of seven months' standin' mought wear little yaller rose-buds on a dress, like-ez-how this is?"
"Certainly, Sary," came from Mrs. Brewster, who now joined the two. "It's not the color or quantity of clothes as much as the sincerity of one's mourning."
Quite unintentionally, Mrs. Brewster touched upon a tender spot. In fact, so tender was it, that Sary blamed Bill for having died so recently instead of two years back. She might have now been ending her second year of mourning!
Eleanor being trained to the wiles of polite society, saw and understood Sary's flash of resentment, so she turned to Mrs. Brewster with the remark:
"I've heard said, that the highest regard a widow can pay her departed, is, to take a second husband. It speaks well for her happiness with the first one, you see."
Mrs. Brewster stared at Eleanor but Sary smirked and quickly replied:
"You-all is right, Miss Nolla! A widder what hez bensohappy that she gits lonesome whiles thinkin' of her departed, hez a right t' find a second husban'."
Mrs. Brewster choked a laugh as she saw the sublime look in the help's eyes, and hurried out. Eleanor then suggested:
"Now you run away and beautify yourself, Sary, and I will wash the dishes to-night."
Sary needed no second invitation and in another moment she had disappeared to her "boudoir" back of the buttery.
Eleanor was as good as her word, for she was soon busy with dish-water and mop, rattling the china, and banging pans about as if noise and bustle were sure signs of hard work and energy. Polly laughed as she cleared away the remains of the meal and then caught up a towel to dry the dishes. As they worked the two girls talked.
"Poll, now that you have this gold mine, what will you do with all the wealth that is yours?" asked Eleanor.
Polly held a decorated plate in front of her face to hide her smile, and pretended to be looking for grease on its surface. When she had straightened her face again, she said: "Oh, I'm going away to school, first of all. I'm not so sure that I want to stay in Denver, now that you have told me all about Chicago. I'll write for catalogues of schools there; and then I can see John quite often during the school year."
"Just what I would have suggested, Poll! Then you can live at home with me. Dad and you and I will have the best times!"
To accentuate her approval of Polly's premature plans, Eleanor swished the dish-mop wildly up and down in the soapy water, but the suds flew up lightly, as soapsuds will, and a bubble burst in Polly's eye.
"Oo-h! Stop throwing dish water in my face, Nolla!" cried Polly, with eyes screwed shut and one free hand trying to rub the smarting lye from her eye.
"I never did, Polly! It must have splashed accidentally when I was washing the pan."
"You have done nothing since you began the dishes, but rattle and swash that mop about in the pan as if you were mining the ore from the cave," complained Polly, as she managed to open her eyes again.
"I suppose it is because we are so excited over the find, and all it means for you, Polly," explained Eleanor, contritely.
"It doesn't mean much more, now, than before. The thing I am most happy over, is that Old Man Montresor will be vindicated, and people will stop jeering at me, and at what they called his locoed ideas."
The conversation was interrupted at this moment by the appearance of Sary. She first poked her head from the partly opened door of her room and then said: "Is any one about to see me?"
Polly turned to make sure that they were alone in the kitchen, andEleanor replied: "No, what is it, Sary?"
Then the maid stepped forth and such a vision! She had curled her red hair on a pair of old-fashioned tongs. The curling irons were but a quarter of an inch in diameter and they were heated by thrusting them into the living embers of the kitchen fire. When Sary drew the comb through her scanty tresses they took on the appearance of carrot-colored cotton threads which had just been ripped out of an old garment—so crinkly and frizzed were the strands of hair. The flowered organdy dress that Eleanor had given Sary to wear for the great occasion of receiving a caller, was much too small for the buxom widow, and she was in great distress about it. This brought her out to ask advice of the girls.
"Why bother to wear the dress, Sary, until you have had time to alter it for yourself?" asked Polly.
"Why, Polly! Ah has to keep up my looks now that comp'ny is lookin' my way again. Ef you-all hadn't such fine city gals at home, what wears th' latest fashions so that Jeb can't help but see what's what, Ah woulden' have to worry so much about looks. But a woman has to keep up when other women set the pace, 'specially ef she is a widow, like-as-how Ah am now."
Eleanor laughed appreciatively and said: "Sary is just like Bob, when it comes to that! It is the eternal feminine, Poll, that drives both Bob and Sary to the verge of tears, because they cannot catch their beaux with their good looks."
Sary smirked self-consciously at Eleanor's words, for she thought she was being coupled with Barbara and her attractions. Sary felt quite sure that she was good-looking and winsome, but she had to hear Eleanor's words to make her believe she was fascinating.
"If I was Sary, I'd wear a nice clean blouse and a linen skirt. It would be far more comfortable than that awfully tight gown," remarked Polly.
But the help scorned such simplicity and turned to Eleanor for further advice about her appearance. The latter, wise in her years, turned her head on one side and appeared to be debating.
"Seems to me, Sary, that putting on that organdy just as it is, without fixing it over a bit, may make Jeb suspicious of its not being made for you. He may even go so far as to wonder if Bob handed it down to you. Now you do not want him to dream that you did not have it made to order for yourself, so why not take it off until you can remodel it to fit yourself, like new?"
Sary pondered this suggestion for a few moments, and then said: "Ah ain't got no fancy dress to wear, onny this, Miss Nolla. Ef Ah puts on my black alpaky, he'll remember 'bout Bill, and sech memories allus dampen a man's plans to pop th' question."
Both girls had to laugh outright at the unexpected confession; but Sary was in a serious frame of mind and paid no attention to their merriment. She resumed her interrupted explanation.
"It's jest this way, in Oak Crick country, you-all see! Single men ain't growin' on every bush, and a widder has a hard time of it, anyway, when most ranchers' dawters are waitin' to snap up a likely catch. Jeb's a catch, Ah says. He ain't a gallavantin' dude, ner he ain't spendin' all his wages on gamblin' at Red Mike's saloon. Ah've learned like-as-how being right on th' spot when a man's willin' to be cotched, is more'n half the fight to hook him. Ah kin afford to snap mah fingers at all them ranch gals about Oak Crick, tryin' their bestes to make Jeb wink his eye at 'em, jus' because Ahamwhar Ah am keepin' tabs on him, all his time."
When the laughter caused by these words had subsided, somewhat, the two girls replied: Polly to advise and Eleanor to make a giggling explanation.
Eleanor said: "You make a wonderfully accurate time-clock on Jeb's comings and goings, Sary."
And Polly advised: "You run back to your room, Sary, and put on a sensible dress to keep Jeb from wondering how much of his earnings it would take to dress you in fine clothes like that organdy gown cost."
"Thar's somethin' in that, too, Polly! Ah reckon you're right, so Ah'll throw on that striped shirt-waist your Maw gave me, and the duck skirt with the tucks in it."
Sary vanished as quickly as she had appeared, and the two girls stood laughing as they saw the bed-room door close. Then they dried the dish-pan, hung up the towels and mop, and turned to go back to the living-room where Sam Brewster and his wife were planning for the ride to Oak Creek on the next day, and the trip up to the cave, on the day following that.
But the girls had not reached the living-room door before a "hist" halted them. They turned in the direction of the sound and saw Jeb's small head at the kitchen door. When he saw that he had gained their attention, he beckoned furtively with a horny index finger.
Both girls tip-toed over to hear what news he had to impart, for his behavior denoted some dread secret.
"Is Sary Dodd hangin' 'round?" he whispered, anxiously.
"She's in her room getting ready for company," was Eleanor's amused reply.
"Wall, you-all kin do me a big favor ef you-all explain like-as-how Ah was too sick to come in, to-night. She tol' me Ah jus' had to call on her, to-night, but Ah ain't got courage. Ah kin see jus' whar all this callin' and sittin' alone of evenin's, is goin' to land me. Sary Dodd's got a powerful way for a woman, and Ah ain't no marryin' man—am Ah, Polly?"
Jeb's plaintive tone and his beseeching eyes convulsed Eleanor with the desire to laugh, but Polly saw how serious he was, in his fear of being caught by a woman's wiles, and she replied:
"No, Jeb; you are not a marrying man, I can say that much. And Sary ought to know better than to lure you on with all her past experiences of mankind."
Polly's earnest explanation made Eleanor lose control of herself and she sat down in a kitchen chair and laughed so heartily that Sary hurried forth. Jeb instantly ducked and tried to lose himself in the dense darkness of the out-of-doors, but Sary was too quick for him.
She darted to the door, called him with an imperative voice, and brought the recreant back to his duty of calling. Then she turned to the two girls, and said calmly, but with meaning:
"Ah'se much obliged fer th' dish-washin'. Ah'll see that the kitchen is set to rights fer the evenin'."
With this dismissal, Polly and Eleanor had to go, and laughing still, they went through the living-room door to join the others who sat about the round table figuring and planning.
Sary very quietly closed the door between the two rooms, and Eleanor whispered to Polly: "Poor Jeb! We had to leave him to his fate, after all."
By six o'clock the next morning, the riders were on the way to OakCreek. Polly and Eleanor rode side by side and discussed a good namefor the claim. After suggesting and rejecting many fine sounding names,Polly finally chuckled gleefully.
"You've thought of one!" declared Eleanor.
"Yes, just the thing! Won't 'Choko's Find' suit it?"
"Great! And it was little Choko that found it, too. If he hadn't fallen over the cliff we never would have discovered the cave and the rest of it."
"We'll call it that—'Choko's Find!' Say, everybody! Listen to this:The mine is going to be called 'Choko's Find'—do you like it?" calledPolly to the other riders.
"Very appropriate," was the answer, so "Choko's Find" was its name.
Reaching Oak Creek, the party rode to Mr. Simm's office and Mr. Brewster told the story in detail. The attorney was completely silenced at the strangeness of the adventure but demanded proof in seeing the ore before he would credit the tale.
"Well, Ah declare! If this isn't the derndest thing Ah ever heard of in my life!" exclaimed Mr. Simms as he examined the nuggets.
"Simms, do you remember Montresor's nuggets and legacy?" asked Mr.Brewster.
The lawyer looked quickly up at his questioner and a look of understanding crept into his eyes. "Sam, Ah reckon it is the same!"
"The ledge, the canyon, the trailsandthe river!" added Mr.Brewster, convincingly.
"You-all just wait here till Ah get my papers from the Bank vault!" excitedly cried the lawyer, snatching his cap and running out of the office.
"Simms keeps his valuable papers in the masoned safe at the bank, you know. If the town burns down during a miners' celebration some night, his papers will be safe, anyway," explained Mr. Brewster.
The lawyer soon returned with a package held closely under his arm. He sat down and opened the papers before his visitors.
"Here's th' rough plan of the claim and here's Montresor's letter that was found after he was buried—you know, Sam."
"What letter is that, Father?" wondered Polly.
"We never told you about it, as it wouldn't have helped any one then, but now you shall read it."
"Where was it found?"
"In the pocket of an old hunting coat when we tried to find some clew to his family and home address. But the top of the letter had been torn away so we never knew for whom it was meant."
Polly took the closely written sheet and read the letter penned by her old friend on the mountains.
"At last I can say to you all, that my education was not wasted as you claimed. I have made good! I am a rich, rich man, as I write these words. I have discovered a gold mine that will prove to be worth millions. I refrained from writing as you had requested, until I hadgoodnews. Now I can write.
"In the years I have spent on these mountains, I felt sure I would strike gold, as every sign in rock and sand formation, of the sides of the peaks, are favorable to gold deposits. To-day I proved my mining education to be of some worth, for it helped to guide me to a ledge, where the red-gold is so rich that it seems to run deep into the rocks, yet quite easy to mine.
"I had great difficulty in reaching the place and, afterwards, when darkness fell over the place, I had to trust to the horse to find a spot to camp. I left my claims staked out and marked as we used to do in the Klondike, and to-morrow morning I shall ride directly to Oak Creek to file the papers and have an assay on the ore. I am now writing by the light of the camp-fire with grizzlies prowling about and panthers howling to get at me and the horse. But my ring of fire is security for us.
"I haven't the slightest idea of where this camp is but I will scout around in the morning and then write you again after I return from my trip to Oak Creek.
"You must understand how happy I am, to be able to pay off my obligations and take my rightful place in the world with my family. God grant that this blessing of wealth bestowed upon me after all these years of separation and disgrace, charged against me, who am innocent, will be the last of my sufferings. I have never heard from the traitorous friend who caused me this ruin, and now it matters little!"
Polly looked up at this point and said:
"He must have finished this after the land-slide, Daddy."