"Careful now, everybody!" warned cautious Thad; "there's no hurry about it; and we don'twant to knock him to hard against the face of the wall. Easy, Giraffe, Rome wasn't built in a day; and slow makes sure, sometimes. This is one of them."
While Thad was speaking in this manner, he lay close to the edge of the abyss, so he could guide the rope, and avoid letting it be cut by any sharp stone; and at the same time watch out below.
Foot by foot did the guide, assisted by the two scouts, draw the imperiled one upward. Presently Thad could see him plainly below, swinging a little, turning around also, but always coming closer and closer.
He was reminded somewhat of Smithy's little adventure on the preceding day; only in his case there had been really very little danger, although at the time the poor fellow had not known but that a thousand feet of space lay below him, rather than a beggarly five, as was later on discovered.
Now Thad could stretch out a hand, and touch the other.
"Slower still; he's right here, boys!" he cautioned.
Then he got a grip himself, and held on. Giraffe came to his assistance; while Allan and the guide continued to grip the rope. One supreme effort, in which the one they were saving did his part; and then Aleck Rawson climbed alongside his youngrescuers, panting hard with the exertion he had been through.
Giraffe felt like giving a shout; but somehow he knew Thad would frown on any such demonstration. When scouts were in a region where danger of any kind might be expected to lurk, "discretion must take the part of valor, and noise be utterly prohibited." He could distinctly remember the patrol leader saying just those very words, and not so long ago, either. So the explosive Giraffe had to bottle up his enthusiasm for another occasion, when the cork might safely be removed.
The scouts had already discovered that in one thing they guessed truly; for Aleck Rawson did prove to be a boy, about the size of Thad, and possibly in the neighborhood of sixteen years of age.
He was beginning to get back his breath now, and even moved a little further away from the edge of the precipice, as though it possessed only terrors for him. Nor could Thad blame him in the least; for it must have been frightful torture to be left all alone on a narrow shelf of rock, where he could not have any too good a foothold at the best, and might slip off if, overpowered by exhaustion, he dared allow himself to lose consciousness in sleep.
Presently, when the other had recovered hiswind, he might offer to tell them what it all meant; and just why that vindictive old prospector and miner, Colonel Kracker, had dared place a boy in such a position of peril; forit seemed a monstrous proceeding in the mind of the scoutmaster.
Now the boy was moving. The first thing Thad knew, a hand clutched his in a warm, fierce clasp, and he heard Aleck saying:
"Oh! how can I ever thank you for getting me out of that scrape?"
"I wouldn't try it, then," replied Thad, laughing softly. "Why, we're only too glad to have the chance. It's been an experience to remember, too; the talk with the torches, the climb up the face of the mountain, and then hauling you up safe and sound. We're Boy Scouts, out looking for adventure, and doing a little hunting; and this has all been just great, for us."
"But think what it's been for me?" said the other, with a quiver in his voice, although he tried very hard to disguise it. "My poor mother and little sisters came nearer to losing their man of the house, than I'd like them to know; because, you see, I've just had to try and take my father's place ever since he died."
"Your father, then, was Jerry Rawson, I take it?" said Thad.
"Yes, that was his name," answered the other, who had gone over and shaken hands with theguide, with Giraffe, and finally with Allan, in each instance giving a convulsive squeeze to their hands in a way that told more eloquently than words could have ever done what intense gratitude filled his boyish heart.
"The original discoverer of the wonderful silver mine that has never been located since that time, so long ago?" Thad went on.
"Then youdoknow about that?" Aleck remarked, quickly; "I was wondering, seeing that you must be strangers around these regions, whether you had heard."
"Our guide, Tony Smathers here, told us; he used to know your father; and he said there was a family located somewhere down in Utah," the scoutmaster continued.
"My mother, and three small sisters; the youngest was a baby when he died," Aleck went on to say, as though he realized that explanations from him must now be in order, since these boys had done so much for him; and besides, even though they were next door to strangers to him, some sort of free masonry within seemed to tell Aleck that they were going to prove the best friends he had ever known.
"Do you feel able to walk with us down into the valley to our camp?" Thad asked.
"I should say I did, and be only too glad intothe bargain!" exclaimed the other, his voice filled with delight. "And while we're going I want to tell you just how it came that I was on that horrible little shelf of rock, placed there by Colonel Kracker, who said I would never leave it alive unless I gave up to him the secret of my father's hidden silver mine. And he promised to come up there above me every day, to ask me if I was ready to throw up the sponge. But I'd have died there before I played the coward, and told him what he wanted; for how could I ever look my mother and sisters in the face again, if I saved my useless life by selling out their mine to that cruel and hateful man?"
"Hurrah for you, Aleck!" exclaimed Giraffe, unable to repress his feelings any longer.
Thad himself felt just as full of enthusiasm over the brave manner in which this son of Jerry Rawson had defied the man whose one desire in life now seemed to be the discovery and confiscation of the rich mine that had eluded his eager fingers for so many years; but he knew better how to repress his delight.
They were starting along the top of the precipice now. Toby leading the way, and every now and then turning his head, to warn them of a particularly risky place. Thad had made sure to coil up that precious rope belonging to generous Bumpus, and which had so frequently proven to be worth its weight in gold. Never again would Giraffe laugh at the queer conceit of the fat scout in connection with the carrying of that window-sash cord.
As the going was so difficult, and as a rule they were strung out in single file, Thad thought that it would be just as well to defer all explanations until they had arrived safely in camp. Besides, that course would save Aleck from going over things twice; since those who were not present would naturally be just as anxious to hear the particulars as they were.
So they spent all the time in making sure that they did not lose their footing, and take ugly tumbles; for the way was very steep, and the moonlight, after all, rather treacherous to depend upon wholly.
Thad figured, from the clock in the heavens which he knew how to read so well, (figuring on the position of the moon, and the multitude of stars, from Sirius, and the blazing Belt of Orion, the Hunter, in the northeast; to bright Venus in the west, now just about to vanish behind themountain ridge,) that they had been gone all of two hours, when once more they approached the burning fire.
They could see some of the scouts around the blaze, and as they drew near, the voice of Davy Jones called out sternly:
"Halt! who goes there?"
"Friends!" replied Thad, carrying out the humor of the thing.
"Advance friends, and give the countersign!" the sentry demanded.
"Silver Fox Patrol!" replied the scoutmaster, continuing to stride forward, and closely followed by all the others of the returning party.
"Did you get him, Thad?" asked Davy, instantly allowing his boyish curiosity to over-ride all soldierly qualities.
"That's what we did; and he's here with us, as hungry as they make them," replied the patrol leader.
"Oh! I only hope you kept lots of grub; I'm that hungry I c'n hardly walk," declared Giraffe.
"After snatching all you did too, when you went off?" complained Step Hen.
"But think what we've done since, will you?" argued the tall scout, as he pushed into camp, and hastened to settle down in a good spot, with the air of one who naturally anticipated being waited on by his chums.
"Well, we cooked a lot more," Smithy hastened to remark; "because, you see, we just calculated that you would be fairly ravenous, after your exertions. And so this is Aleck Rawson; delighted to meet you; my name is——"
"Cut that out; we call him plain Smithy!" broke in Step Hen; "and I'm Step Hen Bingham. The fat feller is Bumpus Hawtree; this other is Bob White; while the one who gave you that challenge is Davy Jones. He'll shake hands with you by offering one of his feet, because he's standing on his head about as much as the other way."
And Aleck went around, shaking hands heartily. Plainly they could see that he was more than delighted to meet with such a hearty reception; and just when it seemed as though he needed friends the worst kind.
So the newcomers were quickly waited on, and found that a bountiful supply of supper had indeed been prepared against their coming, and by boys who knew what a mountain appetite meant, too.
By degrees those who had been left in camp were told just how the rescue had been effected; and then Aleck started in to tell something about his experiences.
"I live with my mother and sisters in a town called Logan, down in the northern part of Utah. My father died several years ago, when I was a little shaver. He had just come back home, andtold us he had struck it rich, and we would never want again, when he was taken down with a fever; and after being sick a week, he died. The last thing he did in his delirium was to press a little pocket looking glass, with a cracked front, into my hands, and close my fingers on it, like he wanted me to keep it. And we thought it was just imagination that made him do it, and that perhaps he believed he was giving me all the money he saw in his wild dreams.
"Well, as the years went along, I used often to look at that little mirror, just a couple of inches across, and think of my father. We never could find anything among his traps to tell us where the mine he had discovered was located. More'n a few times this here Colonel Kracker would visit us, and tell my mother what a big thing it would be, if only she could find some little chart or rude map among my father's things, to be sort of a clew to the lost mine; but though she searched, and I looked again and again, we just couldn't.
"And one day, would you believe it, somebody broke into our cottage while we were all out, and stole everything belonging to my father, from his six shooter and gun, to the old tattered knapsack that he used to carry, when he was prospecting for pockets of rich ore, or pay dirt anywhere along the creeks."
"The old snake!" muttered Step Hen; for ofcourse every one of them guessed who must have been responsible for this robbery of the widow's home.
Aleck went on.
"And one day, it was only a month ago, as I was sitting there, fiddling with that same little pocket mirror, the back came loose. I was starting to pinch the metal tight again, when I discovered that there was a piece of paper between the glass and the back!"
"The clue to the lost mine?" gasped Giraffe, nearly falling over into the fire in his extravagant delight.
"Yes, that was what it turned out to be," continued the Rawson boy, actually smiling to see how deep an interest his narrative seemed to have for these splendid new friends fortune had raised up for him so opportunely. "My father must have had a return of reason just before he passed away; and not being able to say a single word, he had pressed the glass into my hands, thinking that would be enough. But somehow it had never occurred to me that he knew what he was doing."
"And that's what brings you up here right now, I reckon; you mean to find that hidden mine, and claim it for your mother, and the girls?" asked Thad.
"That is what I aim to do," replied the other, firmly. "But I think that man must have kept aspy watching our house, after he failed to find anything among the things that were stolen; for I've since had reason to believe that every movement of mine was known to him. And when he learned that I was going to start north he guessed that I had a clue of some sort to the mine."
"And so he captured you, perhaps right here where our camp is now; because Toby told us there were the footprints of a boy along with those of Colonel Kracker, and his two cronies, Waffles and Dickey Bird," Giraffe ventured to say.
"They did drop in on me right here; and taking me sort of by surprise, made me a prisoner easy enough," remarked Aleck, somewhat shame-facedly, as though he considered it far from being to his credit; "but there was something that happened before that ought to have warned me to be on the watch."
"What was it?" asked the impatient Giraffe, as the other paused, while trying to eat and talk at the same time.
"Well, you see, down below here, I thought I ought to employ some sort of guide, because I wasn't altogether accustomed to being all alone in the wilderness; though I've always used a gun, and hunted. And along about that time I ran across a man who seemed to be friendly, and knew the country, he said, like a book. His name was Matt Griggs, he said; and the upshot of it all was heengaged to pilot me around up here as long as I wanted him. You see, my plan was to shake him just when I found my bearings, and felt that I could go on alone; because, of course I didn't want any outsider to be with me when I took possession of my father's mine.
"I was careful never to breathe a word of what I had in mind; just told him I wanted to knock around for a few weeks among the mountains up here. And unless I talked in my sleep, which I never knew myself to do, there wasn't any way Matt Griggs could learn from me the real reason for my wanting to come to this particular section.
"But one night I woke up, and found the guide searching through my knapsack; and then all of a sudden it struck me he was in the pay of that old scoundrel of a Colonel Kracker. He meant to rob me of my secret, and had thrown himself across my path on purpose, just about the time it was supposed I'd be wanting to take on a guide.
"Of course I covered him with my gun, and sent him away without a cartridge in his possession. He was ugly about it, too, and vowed he'd get even with me yet. Well, he did, for my treacherous guide came in with Kracker and a second man; so I reckon he must be one of those you spoke of, perhaps Waffles; for I heard the other called Dickey, once or twice."
"When they took you a prisoner, they searchedyou, of course, hoping to find the valuable paper?" asked Giraffe, who could not wait for the natural unfolding of the plot, but must needs hasten matters by means of pointed questions.
"They raked me over with a fine-tooth comb," replied the other, with a little chuckle, as though proud of what he had done; "but of course I had been too smart to carry that paper where it could be found, and so they had all their trouble for their pains. Then Kracker was as mad as a wet hen. He stormed, and threatened, and tried to fool me with a whole lot of silly promises; but it wasn't any use. I just told him that even if I knew the secret of the hidden mine, I'd die before I gave it up to him, or any one like him."
"Well, you saw what he did, in the end; took me up there, and lowered me to that terrible ledge, saying he was going to leave me there to starve; and that when the buzzards came flocking around me, and I was wild for a bite to eat, perhaps I'd feel a little like telling him what he was bound to know, for he promised to come and ask me every day."
"This was when?" asked Thad.
"I think it must have been about noon when they lowered me at the end of a rope," Aleck went on toexplain. "One of the men knew about that ledge, and the idea seemed to tickle Kracker more than a little. They just shoved me over, and itwas keep a tight hold on that rope for me, or a drop to the cruel rocks away down at the foot of the precipice. Then, late in the afternoon I saw you come into the valley far below. I wanted to shout, at first, but was afraid you were only some of the other hard cases of silver mine hunters like Kracker. But I had found out in the meantime that in crevices of the rock some small trees had once taken root, several of them dying, so that I amused myself in breaking off pieces of wood and starting a little fire deep in a fissure I found, and which they didn't know anything about, I guess.
"Then, to my surprise I saw some one making all sorts of figures in the darkness with what seemed to be a torch. I used to belong to the Boy Scout troop of Logan, you see, and for a little while I even manipulated the telegraph key in the railroad station a few miles out of there, on the Oregon Southern Railroad; so that I soon saw he was practicing the Morse code. And then a wild desire came over me to get in touch with you. What I did, you all know; and I'm the happiest fellow in the whole Rocky Mountains to think that I've found friends up here, friends who say they'll stand back of me, and help me win out in my fight for my father's mine."
There were tears in Aleck Rawson's blue eyes as he said this last, and somehow every one of the scouts was deeply affected. It does not take muchto arouse the boyish spirit of enthusiasm as a rule; and what they had already seen and heard of young Aleck Rawson, made the members of the Silver Fox Patrol ready to enlist heart and soul in his cause.
"There are nine of us here," said Thad, quietly, but with a firmness that thrilled the newcomer in the camp; "it's true that all but one of us are boys; but then we've got guns, and can use them too, if we have to. And let me tell you, Aleck, we're the kind of friends that stick. We've heard a lot about this hidden mine that your father discovered, and believe that it ought to belong to your mother, and no one else. This old rascal of a Kracker is a regular pirate, a land shark that ought to be tied up to a stake, and tarred and feathered, for the way he persecuted you, just because you refused to give away your secret, which means everything to your folks. And Aleck, we're going to stand by you through thick and thin! We've met up with you in about the queerest way ever heard of; and after getting you off that ledge up there, don't think we want to call it quits. You're a scout, a fellow scout in trouble; and we wouldn't deserve the name we bear if we didn't promise to back you up to the limit. How about it, boys?"
"That's the talk!" declared Giraffe, with great vim.
"He can count on us, every time," said Step Hen.
And so it went the entire rounds of the little circle, every boy echoing the sentiments that had made Thad, as the patrol leader, promise the harassed lad all the assistance that lay in their power.
After that the camp quieted down, and the boys went about their ordinary pursuits. Davy was fiddling with his little camera, the fever growing stronger in his veins with each passing day. Indeed, where some of his chums talked of shooting Rocky Mountain sheep, grizzlies, timber wolves, panthers and the like, the Jones boy could be heard expressing his opinion that "shooting" the same in their native haunts with a snapshot camera, was more to his taste.
And there was Step Hen, as usual, loudly bemoaning the loss of something that he just felt sure he had had only five minutes before, but which was now gone as completely as though the earth had opened and swallowed it up.
"'Taint as though it was the first time, either," he was saying, in a grumbling tone, as of one deeply injured, while he eyed his chums suspiciously; "it's alwaysmystuff that's bein' so mysteriously moved about, so that I never know where to put my hand on the same. Now, I reckon more'n a few of you saw my service hat on my head just a little while ago; but tell me where it is now, will you? If oneof you snatched it off in your slick way, and is just hiding the same, let me notify you right now it's a mean joke. Thad, canyoutell me where my hat is?"
Having the question thus put directly at him, the patrol leader felt compelled to make a reply.
"Well, Step Hen," he said, slowly and convincingly, "I can't exactly do that, but I think I might give a pretty good guess, knowing you so well. Just five minutes ago you showed up, after having gone to get a drink at the little stream that runs through here. There's a regular place where we bend down to drink; and I can just see you taking off that campaign hat of yours, laying it nicely on the bank, getting your fill of water; and then deliberately coming back to camp, leaving your hat there; and then you kick up the greatest racket because you suddenly notice it isn't on your head!"
Some of the other boys clapped their hands, while Step Hen looked foolish at the well-merited rebuke.
"Mebbe you're right that time, Thad," he said, meekly, as, turning, he strode from the briskly burning fire, heading toward the good spot alongside the little stream, where they knelt to drink.
It was perhaps half a minute afterwards when he was heard to give a screech that brought everyscout instantly to his feet, jumping for their guns, when they caught the meaning of his words:
"I've got him!" yelled Step Hen, at the top of his voice; "I'm holding him, all right! But come and give me a hand, somebody, or he'll get away! Injuns! Injuns!"
No wonder that excitement filled the camp of the Silver Fox Patrol!
"Wow! it's a regular attack! Keep hold of your guns, boys, and make every bullet count!" whooped the excited Giraffe.
"Don't anybody fire a single shot without orders!" roared Thad, who could never tell what such a fly-up-the-creek as Giraffe was capable of doing, once he got started.
The guide led the way toward the spot where Step Hen still continued to shout and entreat. All of the boys had seen fit to arm themselves. Even Smithy, who had no gun, had seized upon the camp hatchet, and imagined himself looking exceedingly warlike as he trotted along in the wake of his comrades,making violent passes in the air, as though cutting down imaginary enemies by the score.
They thus came upon Step Hen; and sure enough he was clinging to the back of an Indian, both arms being twisted desperately around the latter's dusky neck in a way that threatened to choke the other. Step Hen may never have read about the way the Old Man of the Sea clung to Sinbad the Sailor, using both arms and legs to maintain his hold; but Thad thought, when he had his first glimpse of the picture, that at any rate the scout was a good sticker.
But then the Indian did not seem to be doing anything on his part to ward off the attack; indeed, he was standing there, bearing his burden with that stoical indifference peculiar to his race. There was no smile on his sober face that Thad could see; but he imagined that the Indian must surely appreciate the ridiculous nature of the situation.
"All right, Step Hen," Thad called out, when he could make himself heard above the tremendous racket the other was putting up; "we're here to save you, guns and all. You can let go your grip, Step Hen!"
"But you won't let him get away, will you, Thad?" pleaded the other, earnestly. "He's my Injun, don't you know; I captured him all by myself. I just bet you now he was meanin' to hookmy hat, that's what brought him to the creek; but I jumped on him, and took him by surprise. Surround him, fellers, while I let him loose. My! but he's a tricky one, I tell you; pretended never to fight back a bit; but he was only watching for his chance. He didn't know who had hold of him, and that I was on to his game, all right."
"Stop talking, and let him go; you're half choking him, Step Hen!" ordered the patrol leader.
And knowing that Thad meant business when he used his official tones, Step Hen suddenly released his clutch, and jumped back, just as if he really expected his late captive to whirl and attack him.
But nothing of the kind occurred. In fact, the Indian continued to show the utmost indifference to the fact that a ring of eager faces surrounded him; and that guns of various makes and kinds were thrust out at him, until the circle seemed to fairly bristle with a warlike atmosphere.
Thad saw the Indian raise his right hand, holding the palm toward them, and keeping the thumb flat at the same time.
"That's the peace sign!" muttered Toby Smathers; "he ain't lookin' for trouble, I reckons, boys."
"Huh! he better not," grunted Giraffe, who had been amusing himself meanwhile in raising and lowering the hammer of his heavy rifle, as though he must have something going in order to work offhis nervousness. "Why, we could eat him alive, and then not half try. Ten to one is mighty heavy odds, let me tell you. And no wonder he holds out the white flag. It's easy to surrender when you ain't got a show. But I'd go slow about trusting him, Thad; these here Injuns, I've heard, are a treacherous lot, take 'em as a whole."
"Keep still, Giraffe!" said the scoutmaster, sternly; "let me do the talking," and the tall scout became mute, for the time being at least; though it was hard to keep him any length of time in that condition.
Thad had already made a discovery. The moonlight fell upon the Indian, who now stood there with his arms folded, his whole attitude one of studied indifference; and it struck the patrol leader that there was something very familiar about him.
"Allan, isn't he the young brave we saw hovering around our camp before, and who wouldn't stop to be questioned?" he asked, turning to the Maine boy.
"I was just thinking of that myself when you spoke, Thad," came the ready answer.
"I wonder, now, why he keeps on hanging after us," the scoutmaster remarked. "And I'm going to ask him first of all."
With that he turned to the prisoner, and went on to say:
"Can you understand; do you know what I am saying?"
"Yes, can speak same, all right," came the answer, in pretty fair English.
"Well, we want to know why you are hanging about our camp so much. Once before we saw you, and tried to talk with you, but you moved off. Now, away up here in the mountains you come again, sneaking around, and taking chances of being shot for a prowling wolf. Tell us why you do this? I don't believe you meant to steal anything because you've made no attempt to creep into the camp; but we want to know just why you hang around this way."
"Make come back more two, three times, look at teepee, see fine picture there. Never see like before. Much good! Ugh! P'raps sell same, bimeby, when go back!"
"What under the sun does he mean by that talk, Thad? Sure we ain't in the picture selling business, even if I am taking some dandy snapshots. I wonder, now, has he seen me at work; does he think I'm a traveling photograph man, and wants me to strike him off, in his warpaint and feathers?"
Davy Jones managed to say all of this, but no one was paying much attention to his remarks.
"Tell you what, fellers," broke in the irrepressible Giraffe, just then; "he's taken a shine to our tents, and wants to buy one when we're done with'em. Knows a good thing when he sees it, he does. Just as if we'd let 'em go for a song, when they're cram full of associations for us."
"You're not on to it yet, boys;" remarked Thad, quietly; "it's the head of the fox which we had painted so cleverly on each tent that's caught his eye; and he just can't help hanging around, to keep on gazing at it, for some reason or other."
For the first time they saw a sign of emotion flit across the face of the young Indian brave. He struck himself violently on the chest.
"Me Fox!" he exclaimed, proudly. "Soon me must have teepee for self. See picture fox on same, think can buy. Give much pelt for same. Ugh! what white boy say?"
"Well, just to think of it, here's another Fox, all right?" called out Giraffe. "We're treading on his heels, so to speak, boys, when we take that name for our patrol. Glad to meet up with you; and by the way are you Silver Fox, Red Fox, or Black Fox; though to be sure they all belong to one family?"
"I thought I ought to know him," burst out Aleck Rawson, pushing forward, "and now I'm dead sure of it. Hello! Fox, you sure must remember me, Aleck; and the good times we used to have, when I lived close to the Reservation?"
The young Indian extended his hand without hesitation.
"No forget Aleck, not much. But him not with other white boys down in big timber. Where come by? How do? Much glad see again. My coyote pony, Flicker, yet in the run. Ugh! Shake!"
"He means a pony I gave him when we came away from that place," explained Aleck, turning to Thad after gravely shaking hands with the Indian. "The Fox is a Crow, and one of the smartest boys you ever saw. He can do everything that a grown warrior could; and some day they say he will be a chief in his tribe. We used to have great times racing our ponies, and chasing coyotes over the prairie. And I'm right glad to see him once more; though it puzzles me to know why he is up here, so far away from the homes of his people; and armed, too."
"Well, if he's an old friend of yours, Aleck, and you can vouch for him, why, of course he's going to be welcome at our fire. And it tickles me to think that the bright painting of the fox head on each of our tents was what attracted his eye, so that he justcouldn'tkeep from hanging around at that other time. But surely that didn't draw him away up here; he's got some other business in his head; for he only discovered our camp just now, and was coming in to see us, I reckon, when Step Hen mounted his back, and then called to us to help him."
"Anyway, I had him gripped good and tight, youall saw," grumbled Step Hen. "When these good husky arms of mine get locked around anything, it takes a heap to break me away. If he had been a hostile Injun I'd a hung on like grim death, believe me."
No one ventured to try and take away any of his laurels. He had certainly yelled for help in a way that could not easily be excelled, they all thought.
Thad led the way to the fire, after inviting the Indian to join them. He confessed to having just a little curiosity himself as to what had caused the Fox to desert the teepees of his tribe, and wander so far away from the reservation; but of course Thad knew better than to ask about the personal affairs of the other. If the Fox chose, later on, to take them into his confidence, well and good. He might only stay with them for a night, and then slip away; but since he was Aleck's friend, and seemed to be connected with the great family of Foxes, of which they were a Boy Scout branch, why, he would be welcome.
As the Indian confessed that he had not broken his fast since noon, when he had munched a handful of dried deer meat, known as pemmican, some of the boys took it upon themselves to cook something for him. He appeared to be very grateful, and could be seen to sniff the air eagerly while the coffee was boiling; showing that he appreciated the white man's drink at its true value; for hispeople on the reservation enjoyed many of the comforts of civilization, and some of the luxuries, too, even to pianos that played themselves, and boxes that sang songs, and played the violin, and gave all sorts of orchestral music, so Aleck observed.
And while the boys talked on various subjects, as they sat around, Thad happened to be watching the face of the Fox when one of the scouts casually mentioned the name of Colonel Kracker. He actually saw the dark face grow stern, and that the Indian ground his teeth together, as if in anger.
Seeing which Thad put things together, and came to a conclusion, whether right or wrong, of course he could not yet say.
"He knows Kracker, for he started when Davy mentioned the name," Thad was saying to himself. "And the chances are that the prospector has done something to injure the Fox, or some member of his family. These Indians hate savagely; and perhaps this young fellow, hardly more than a boy, has taken to the warpath, bent on having a settlement with the big bully. Well, it isn't any of our business; but I know I'd hate to have the Fox camping onmytrail, with hatred burning in his heart."
"If we get along in this way," Giraffe was saying, as he sat there watching the young Indian eat what had been set before him; "two at a pop, not that they're just as welcome as the showers in April, though, we'll have to hustle some lively so's to provide grub."
"Keepin' open house, Giraffe!" sang out Davy Jones, looking up from his job of placing another new film in his snapshot camera.
"Well, we've got our sign out to the Foxes; that's right," grinned the other, as he glanced proudly at the head that had been painted in really a clever fashion on the canvas of each tent.
They sat up a whilelonger, and canvassed the situation; but the hour getting late, and several of the boys showing signs of being sleepy, it was finally decided that they had better turn in.
So Bumpus had to pretend to blow "taps," with his fist for a bugle; and as usual he acquitted himself splendidly. The young Indian's eyes sparkled when he heard that imitation of the real thing; and Thad imagined the Fox must at some time orother have rubbed up against the regular cavalry of the United States Army, so that he understood what Bumpus was doing.
Thad and Allan had arranged matters with the guide, so that there would be some one on guard at all hours of the night. With those three men hovering near, there could be no telling what might happen. While they were not outlaws, or anything of that sort; still, after learning how they had treated poor Aleck, just because he very rightly refused to give up the secret of the mine that was his mother's property, and on which Kracker did not have the slightest claim, Thad could give a pretty good guess as to the character of the men.
The guide had told him more than enough to stamp Kracker in his mind as a very unprincipled man. Thad believed the prospector was so determined to discover the hidden silver mine that there was almost nothing he would not attempt in order to carry out his designs. And since their camp now sheltered the boy against whom all his animosity seemed to be aroused, it was at least possible that he might pay them a visit, backed by his followers, men quite as reckless as himself.
So it would seem to be the part of wisdom to keep on the watch for danger. It is the principle of scouts to avoid trouble, rather than seek it; and Thad believed in the old saying that "an ounceof prevention is always better than a pound of cure."
But the night passed, and nothing happened.
None of the others were called upon to take a turn as sentries; indeed more than one of the boys slept like a log all that night, and never dreamed there was any watch being kept. Still, when in the morning they ascertained this fact, they reproached the scoutmaster for not having called upon them to share the vigil; since they always wished to do their share of the work.
Thad knew that the coming of Aleck Rawson was bound to add to the excitement of their stay in the mountains; but he had already taken a great liking for the boy, and admired his sturdy independence, as well as his grim determination to once more locate the long hidden mine for the benefit of his mother and sisters.
Come what might, Thad was not sorry the Silver Foxes had determined, individually and collectively that they would back up Aleck to the limit; and even give over some of the time they had expected to put in hunting, in order to help him take possession of his father's silver lode.
That meant then, sooner or later, a visit from the bully of the mountains, this arrogant Colonel Kracker, whom so many men seemed to fear as a terror; though Thad had already conceived the idea that the other must be a coward at heart. Hefancied that no really brave man would war on a widow like he was doing; and torture a mere boy, in order to force him to betray his mother's secret.
"Let him come, then, if he wants to," Thad had said to Allan, when they discussed the subject for the tenth time, while breakfast was being made ready. "We're able to take care of ourselves, I should think—eight husky fellows, a brave man for a guide, who will stand up for us; then Aleck, and the Fox besides. It would be mighty queer, now, if we couldn't hold our own against three men, no matter if they are tough characters."
"Oh! I guess we've seen just as bad before," replied Allan, with a confident smile. "How about some of those moonshiners down in North Carolina? And tell me about that Charlie Barnes and his crowd, the hobo yeggs we ran across up in Maine. Then, remember Si Kedge and Ed Harkness the game poachers we met later on; and how they were sorry they'd ever bothered with the Silver Foxes? And to wind up the list, Thad, there were Hank Dodge and his French Canadian half breed pard, Pierre Laporte, the hard-shelled timber cruisers, who gave us all that bother when Bumpus lost himself down in the big timber. How's that for a crowd, tell me; and didn't we come out on top every time?"
Thad laughed.
"I see you've got it all down pretty pat, Allan,"he remarked. "And sure enough, just as you say, after getting the better of so many bad men in all our travels, we hadn't ought to feel worried right now because three more bob up, and think to throw a scare into us. On the whole, this Kracker had better keep his hands off, or he'll be sorry."
"But how about our hunting?" Allan went on to say. "Some of the boys are getting anxious to make a try for a big-horn. Why, there's Smithy, a fellow we never expected would ever take the least interest in shooting, because his nature has seemed so mild, and sissy-like—I even heard him declare he wanted to make a try and see what he could do. Owned up that his father used to be a great hunter years ago; but that he guessed he'd inherited his mother's gentle disposition; while his hobble-dehoy sister she wants to play baseball, hockey, tennis, and those kinds of games all the while. And Thad, I think we ought to encourage that idea in Smithy. It may be the making of him, if once he gets waked up."
Thad thought the same way. He knew the boy possessed amiable traits; but he had always been given too much to dress, and the little things of life, at which most fellows look with scorn and contempt. He must have the edges roughened a little, if he was ever going to hold his own when he went to college, or out in the wide world, where "sissy" boys are held up to derision.
"Nothing to hinder our hanging over here a bit, and seeing what the next move of this cannon cracker is going to be," he remarked.
"And the hunting?" asked Allan.
"Why, a party could start out right from camp here, leaving enough behind to defend the place, of course, and keep Kracker from taking Aleck away by sheer force, if he did have the nerve enough to come here," the scoutmaster replied, after thinking over the matter for a brief time.
"Of course we ought to let the guide go along with the boys; for I wouldn't like to trust them alone in the mountains," Allan suggested.
"That's right," added Thad. "Some of them seem to have a weakness for getting into all sorts of trouble from the word go. We can let one party start out, and after they come back, if they've had any luck, and the air's cleared some around here, why, another might take a different direction. You said Step Hen was wild to get a big horn, didn't you, Allan?"
"Never saw him so set on anything; but then that's his way always. When he gets a notion in that brain box of his, you can't knock it out with a sledge hammer. And just now it seems that a real Rocky Mountain sheep with the big horns beats any old grizzly all hollow, with Step Hen."
"All right, we'll have to let him be one of the first party. He did so splendidly when he jumpedon the back of the Fox, and captured him, he thinks, that some reward ought to be coming his way. And there's Smithy, I'll see that he has his chance to try a shot. Giraffe could lend him his gun; or Bob White's would do because it's a much lighter weapon than the other."
"And how about Davy Jones; he says he's just bound to get some pictures of big-horns on their native rocks, or making some of those famous leaps he's heard so much about; can he be one of the bunch, Thad?"
"Yes, but that is the limit. Three frisky scouts will be about all that any one guide can keep tabs on, I rather think," replied the other, smiling as he tried to picture Toby Smathers endeavoring to hold the ambitious photographer, and the pair of would-be big-horn hunters, in check; for he imagined the task might resemble a circus feat of trying to drive half a dozen steeds at the same time.
When the plan of campaign for the day was made known, there was considerable rejoicing, and a little grumbling. Of course the former came from those who had been lucky enough to draw prizes; while the discontent sprang from Giraffe, who had also cherished certain aspirations, looking to a pair of elegant big-horns, to decorate his den at home in Cranford.
But if Giraffe did occasionally show a spirit like this, the best thing about him was the rapidity withwhich he got over the "grumbles," as Step Hen called his little fits of the sulks. In five minutes he had apparently forgotten his disappointment, and was offering to loan Smithy his rifle, even before the scoutmaster had mentioned anything about it.
However, it was judged too heavy for a greenhorn to pack around all day; and in order that Giraffe might not feel offended, Thad smoothed matters down, as usual, by administering a little dose of flattery.
"He's only a new beginner, Giraffe, and not used to toting a gun. Why, his shoulder would be sore from carrying it all day. With an old hand like you, it's a different matter; and I rather think that gun just seems to fit into a notch on your shoulder, like it grew there. Now, Bob's gun is much lighter; and with those mushroom bullets, the small bore doesn't matter a bit. So we'll let him take that. Besides, if anything happened here that spelled trouble, you'd feel pretty sore if you didn't have your faithful old shooting-iron at hand."
"That's so, Thad; reckon you're just about right," said the tall scout, instantly, quite mollified.
"And Bob's gun'll seem more like a playtoy to Smithy, too. I always said mine was a man's gun; and when you pull the trigger there's bound to be something doing."
In this clever way then, did Thad frequently stave off trouble and ill feeling among his followers. Itrequires much tact to successfully manage a pack of boys, representing all manner of dispositions. And the scoutmaster who is the most successful in his line of business, is the one who knows boys best, and has the happy faculty of entering into their ways of looking at things, heart and soul.
During the progress of eating breakfast the talk was of course pretty much all about hunting the big horn. The guide was called upon to narrate all he knew concerning the famous Rocky Mountain sheep, often called goats by the hunters; and which combine many of the traits of the noted chamois of the Alps and the Appenines, with others that are peculiar to themselves.
Any one who has seen them leap boldly from a ledge, and strike upon their great rounded horns far below, is ready to declare that there is not a remarkable spectacle in all the world of wild sport that can equal the sight.
Possibly the Fox knew something concerning these queer mountain sheep; but as Giraffe said aside to Step Hen, "it would needs be a monstrous lemon squeezer that could ever hope to extract any information from an Indian." Aleck, on his part, had often heard stories told about the animals now occupying so prominent a part in the conversation of the scouts; and he did not hesitate to hand over any information he had it in his power to divulge,hoping that it might serve a useful purpose to the intended hunters.
Davy was thrusting several more rolls of films in his haversack.
"No telling what a feller may run up against, once you start out," he remarked.
"The only trouble is, Davy," commented Giraffe, "you can't make a meal off'n the things, if you're hungry, and game shy. I think Step Hen did a wise thing when he stuffed all he could get of eatables in his bag. And Smithy too carries a lot. Oh! you'll do, now. Thad says you'd better wait about half an hour, till the mists clear off'n the mountains. It's real early, anyhow, and the sheep ain't agoin' to run away; don't you worry about that."
There is nothing that bothers a boy more than having to wait, when he's all ready to do something. The minutes seem to drag as though they were leaden weighted. If Davy unfastened that knapsack of his once to examine its contents, and make sure he had neglected nothing, he did it half a dozen times, until Giraffe declared he would certainly wear the straps out if he kept that up.
Those who expected to remain in camp were going about their usual vocations, as for instance the cleaning up of the breakfast tin pans, and cooking utensils. When a company of eleven souls has been having a meal, these amount to considerable;and it took Bob White, Allan and Bumpus some little time to accomplish the task of setting things to rights.
Bumpus had gone to get some more water from the stream, and when he came back he was grinning broadly.
"Why, you see," he explained, "there's an old rattlesnake coiled up over there, and I've been making him as mad as hops, poking at him with a pole. You just ought to come and see him strike, though!"
"I heard him rattle!" declared Thad, "but somehow I just thought it was a locust waking up. Come on, boys, and let's put such a dangerous customer out of the way!"
Of course they all hastened after the scoutmaster and Bumpus; the latter really leading the way, with a consequential way about him, as though he felt that he ought to be looked upon as master of ceremonies, by right of first discovery.
"Here's the pole I had, when I poked him," he remarked, picking it up as he spoke.
"But where's the rattler?" demanded Giraffe,just as swift as that; for he was always as quick as lightning in his ways. "Show the old fraud to us, will you? Must a slipped away while you came to camp with the water."
"Huh!" sneered Step Hen, "I'd rather believe now, Bumpus don't know a rattler when he sees one. P'raps it was only an innocent little garter snake he was pokin', and a locust was singin' in a tree all the while."
Bumpus looked furious. He had lately gained quite an envious reputation for a remarkable knowledge of woodcraft; and he was up in arms at the idea of being thus placed once more in the tenderfoot class.
"Think I don't know a genuine rattlesnake when I see one, do you; well, what d'ye think of a feller that'd jump over a log without even lookin', and when a common garden variety of black snake gave him a jab, he hollered that he was poisoned by a terrible rattler, and could even see his poor leg swellin' up right before his eyes. Me not know one, when I've been in the Zoo reptile house down in New York, and even watched one swallow a rat! Well, I guess you're away off, Step Hen Bingham."
"Yes," put in Thad just then, "and it's too early in the day for a locust to be in the noise business; I ought to have thought of that myself, I own up. Let's look around, boys, and locate the thing; but be mighty careful how you step. I can cure agood many things with the few little remedies I carry; but excuse me from having to tackle a regular dose of rattlesnake poison."
"It is a bad thing, I tells ye, lads," asserted Toby Smathers, who had come along with the rest, even the Indian boy being present. "Many's the time, years ago, I've seen the Injuns getting poison from a rattler, so's to make their war arrows more deadly. An' I tells ye, it war worth watchin'. If so be we kin find this critter, I'll show ye how 'twas done, if Mr. Scout Master sez so."
"First get your rabbit, before you start to cooking him," laughed Thad.
Just then Giraffe let out a whoop.
"Here he is, all coiled up again, and looking wicked, now, I tell you!" he called out; and the others rushed in that quarter.
"Well, he is a sorter big un for the mountains, sure enough," admitted the guide after he had taken a look. "Wait here a bit till I come back with a piece of deer meat, and I'll show ye how 'twas done. Keep him riled-up like, but not strikin' too hard at that pole, or he'll empty his pizen sack on it."
Thad had himself heard more or less about such things; or else read of them in stories of the old-time Indians, the Iroquois, Delawares, Shawanees and other tribes who disputed the way of the early pioneers; and he was just as eager to watch the process as any of the other boys.
The rattlesnake was coiled, just as they always are when danger hovers near; because, when caught at full length, the reptile is next to harmless, since it cannot strike and make use of its only means of defense, its poison fangs.
Thad saw to it that no one approached near enough to be in any danger. Once the pole was extended by Bumpus, just to show his mates how he had been baiting the awful looking thing. Instantly that flat head sprang out toward the object; and as Bumpus adroitly drew it away, remembering the injunction of the guide, the rattlesnake, finding nothing to strike, was thrown half its length out of coil. It was almost laughable to see with what haste it managed to curl up again, and with that rattle buzzing furiously, seemed to defy anything to touch it.
Then Toby Smathers came hurrying up. He was fastening a piece of venison (which had been left over several days, and kept well in the dry mountain air,) to another long pole, which he had secured; not wishing to handle the one that had already been struck numerous times by the fangs of the snake.
"Now you're going to have something worth while to mudge at, old feller!" cried Bumpus, as he threw his pole away, and pushed a little closer in the ring, anxious to see all that went on.
Toby was soon ready. He thrust the pole out,and all of them could hear the sound of the concussion as the reptile struck the piece of meat fastened at the end. It made most of the boys shudder just to contemplate being hit such a venomous blow with all the fury of a maddened reptile.
Again and again did Toby cause the snake to repeat the blow, turning the meat around several ways, so that it might all be impregnated by the virus.
"Now that's about done," he said; "and the quicker ye kill that crazy thing the easier I'll feel. Lost a partner once when on a range tending forests for the Government, and ever since I've got a grudge agin rattlers."
Thereupon Bumpus once more picked up his long pole and aimed a vicious blow at the raised head of the snake. Taking the creature fairly across the neck he sent it spinning away.
"Look out there!" shouted Giraffe, giving a hop, skip and a jump in another direction; "he may be playing possum on us! Keep clear of him, everybody; and you, Bumpus, hit him again as hard as you can. It ain't the easiest thing agoin' to kill a snake, let me tell you."
Accordingly the fat scout raised his pole, and brought it down several times with might and main, on the neck of the fearful looking reptile; until finally Thad declared that it was beyond ever doing any harm again.
"And the rattle belongs to Bumpus, if he cares to claim it," said the scoutmaster. "It isn't a pretty thing, but then every time he looks at it, he'll be apt to remember this occasion, and can picture the camp, the mountains, and all the rest of it."
"Including Mike and Molly, our gentle pack mules," added Giraffe; immediately bending down to assist Bumpus secure his prize.
"Now, you see," said the guide, as he held up the piece of fresh venison so as to show the streaks of green, where the terrible poison had permeated it, "after they done this, the reds used to jest let the meat lie till it was old and soft, and chuck full of pizen. Then all they had to do was to push the point of an arrow into the same, and dry it in the sun. But I'm told they never do such things any more, which I take it is a good job. Thar be some things that seem too tough even for savages to use in war; and pizen is one of 'em, I reckons."
"For goodness sake bury it, Toby!" begged Smithy, turning pale as he contemplated the object the guide was holding up. "And I surely hope we will not have the misfortune to run across any of the same breed while we're stalking those strange big-horn sheep."
"Not much danger, because rattlers they's apt at this time of year to kim down to damp places, when they kin find such," the guide explained; but atThad's request he did put the piece of venison underground.
"If later on some hungry wolf digs it up, why, I'm sorry for that same beast," Giraffe remarked, asthey returned once more to the camp.
"Must be near time for us to skip out," said Step Hen, giving the scoutmaster a look of entreaty, as though imploring Thad to be merciful, and cut their waiting short.
"Five minutes yet before the half hour is gone," declared Allan.
An exclamation from the Indian drew their attention just then. The Fox was pointing, and on following the direction of his extended brown finger the boys saw what had caught his always vigilant eyes.
Away up on the top of the cliff that towered so many hundred feet above its base several figures were moving. They were plainly men, and white men at that. No need for any one to dart into the tent, and get the field glass, in order to know who these parties were, though Thad did secure it, as he wished a closer view.
"It's sure that Krackerjack crowd!" cried Giraffe. "Better get a move on, Aleck, and drop out of sight before they glimpse you."
But the other shook his head.
"It's too late for that now," he declared."Kracker has got a spy glass leveled at this camp right now; and he's sure glimpsed me before this."
And when Thad a minute later looked through the field glasses at the three who were on the cliff he saw that Aleck had spoken truly; for even then the biggest of the trio was watching them through a pair of glasses.
Now and then he would turn, to say something to one of his companions. These fellows, known as Waffles and Dickey Bird respectively, were not in the same class with the giant Kracker, with regard to size; though as to reputation, possibly they were able to run him a close race; since they were all looked upon as a pretty bad lot by the settlers and miners with whom they came in contact.
"Wonder what he thinks?" remarked Davy Jones, who seemed almost tempted to try and use his kodak on the party, only his good sense told him they would look like specks at such a great distance, and there would be no satisfaction in the picture.
"How d'ye expect they ever found that Aleck was no longer on the ledge?" asked Step Hen.
"Perhaps they may have been in camp somewhere, that gave them a view of the ledge, and looking in vain for Aleck, they hurried up to see whether he had fallen, or was climbing up someway or other," Allan suggested.
"And the chances are, they'll want to drop inhere, now that they know he's taken up with us?" said Giraffe.
Step Hen looked anxious.
"Say, Thad, is that agoin' to interfere with our startin' out on our little excursion?" he demanded.
The scoutmaster knew what was in his mind. He smiled as he replied:
"Oh! I don't see why it should, Step Hen. Fact is, the time's up now; and as I've said all I want to about taking care of yourselves, why you might as well make a start. There'll be enough of us left behind to take care of Colonel Kracker and his friends, if so be they do chance to call on us."
"Bring us back some nice juicy mutton, Step Hen!" called Giraffe.
"And Davy, be sure you snap 'em off in the air; we ain't from Missouri, but we like to be shown," added Bumpus.
"I say, Smithy, the country expects every man to do his duty, suh; and if you get your chance, I give you my word, suh, that little gun can be depended on every single time!" shouted the Southerner, Bob White.
And so, followed by the good wishes of their chums, the little party of big-horn hunters started forth, none knowing what strange events might be waiting for them among the wild uplifts of the Rockies.