He glided noiselessly down the slope, moving cautiously but quickly, until he came to the back of the cabin. It was not difficult for him to hear through the unstopped logs. Jim watched narrowly for the first move of discovery on the part of the outlaws. He could hear the rather high-pitched voice of Gus Gols occasionally, and the heavier one of Eph, but it was impossible for Jim to make out what was being said.
He could tell it was something very interesting by the way Juarez was listening. Then Jim’s heart stood still when he saw Juarez rise suddenly to his feet from his listening posture, for he knew by his action that he was in danger of discovery. As in truth he was, as you will see.
The pow-wow had been going on for a few minutes when Juarez heard Gus Gols say:
“You Eph, take a scout around the corral, and see if you kin discover any interested spectators hanging around. This is an important business,fellow cits and Greasers, so we will have to be keerful.”
So Eph started for the door on his tour of inspection, which he did not take very seriously, for he knew that there was no government official within a hundred miles. As for the tenderfeet in the valley, he never gave them a thought; they were probably staying close to camp, afraid that the bears would get them. As soon as Gus Gols spoke Juarez realized that he had no time to spare.
If he retreated up the slope, he was almost certain to be seen, and that meant a running fight against the gang of ten men, with a very dubious prospect ahead. He must act quickly; there was no place near the cabin where he could hide. Already Eph had stepped outside the door. Now the roof of the cabin sloped to the back with overhanging boards. Juarez saw his chance; he grabbed one of the boards and lifted himself lightly up, and lay down flat just as Eph came around the corner of the cabin.
Jim was quivering with the excitement of the situation. Eph took one careless look around, shook his head with the muttered comment that “The boss must be losing his nerve,” and went in to report that all was quiet along the Potomac.
Juarez did not get down from the roof of the cabin, but merely moved a little to where there was a convenient knothole, through which he could hear everything that was going on in the cabin.
He stayed where he was for about ten minutes, lying as quiet as a lizard on a sun-warmed log, and this is no idle comparison, for the sun did shine down with lots of force; then he slowly and very carefully moved backwards, and let himself gingerly down to the ground, while Jim watched him intently, sure that he had found out something of importance.
Not a word did Juarez say, but motioned Jim to follow him. When they had made their escape from the pocket, then Juarez spoke up.
“That was a close call that time, Jim,” he said.
“You had me scared for a minute, Juarez,” admitted Jim. “What’s the news? Those fellows were planning some devilment.”
“They were,” said Juarez. “They are going to attack our camp to-night, when we are asleep. Kill us and take our horses and supplies.”
“Oh! ho! Is that the ticket!” cried Jim. “I thought that rangy Maverick with the stick-up hair was a bad actor. Forewarned is forearmed. We will give that bunch a surprise party, but we willhave to hustle, for it’s a long ways to our horses yet.”
“I reckon we will have a couple of hours’ leeway,” said Juarez, “to get things in some sort of shape.”
“There will be plenty to do,” said Jim briefly.
As they swung along down the mountain side, Jim’s mind was busy with plans of attack and defense. The two boys traveled like Indians with a swinging, easy stride that covered a lot of ground. How they did revel in the muscular exertion in that bracing air! It was fine to feel themselves equal to their task. Around and before them the scene was constantly changing.
Now they were going through the pine forests, then into a canyon’s depths with great walls that seemed to bear the blue skies above; next along a narrow trail, with flowering bushes hiding a little creek babbling a few feet below. Then, covered with dust, hands and faces baked brown with it, they came to the grove where they had left their horses tied.
“It seems kind of good,” said Juarez, “to have a horse to carry you.”
“I’m just tired enough to enjoy the change,” said Jim.
“It won’t take us long to reach camp now,” remarked Juarez.
“Cut ’em loose!” yelled Jim, and with a raucous Indian warwhoop, they let their willing horses go. I tell you that was a wild ride for speed. Caliente thundered with great leaps over the level plain, and not far behind scampered Juarez’s roan. The boys at the camp on the hill, hearing the clatter of horses’ feet, knew that someone was approaching, and looked out.
“Here they come like wild Indians!” exclaimed Tom.
“Somebody chasing them?” inquired Jeems anxiously.
“The same crowd that tied you, I reckon,” said Tom, and, for some reason unknown to Jeems, they went into fits of laughter. In a short time Jim and Juarez were in their midst. They did not waste any time in greetings and idle chaff. They made clear to the rest of the boys in conclave assembled, that the time for action had arrived. Jeems heaved a sigh of regret. There seemed no chance for quiet and meditation. The other boys were calm, but serious.
“Let the horses graze a while,” said Jim. “We have got a couple of hours’ leeway. Now we havegot to build a stockade to protect our horses and ourselves.”
Five husky fellows can do a great deal in two hours and a half of daylight. Jim had thought out his plan and talked it over with Juarez, so there was no time lost in useless palaver. He had chosen a small open space where the horses had been tethered the night before as the place for the fort.
Jim and Juarez, aided by Jo, went to work cutting down trees. They were old hands at this business, and it was a caution the way the trees crashed and fell. Tom and Jeems were kept busy dragging fallen logs from the slopes of the hill, and turning them up. In two hours’ time the square, rude fort was well under way.
Tom and Juarez were then sent to take the horses to the stream to water them, and after that, to fill up every available pot, pan and dish with water in case they should be besieged for any length of time. This being done all hands turned in again to work on the fort, until it grew too dark to see. Then a fire was built near the center of the hill, and by the glare of its light they were able to continue their work.
Jim sent Juarez, now that the enemy might come at any time, to keep a lookout for them. He wasthe best of the boys for that work, being a natural scout, and of unusually keen vision, especially at night. There was a deep gully running from the foot of the hill to the slope of the mountain, and Juarez followed along that toward the mountain slope. Every once in a while he would climb up and look to see if there was any sign of the approaching gang.
Juarez was confident that there would be no direct attack even under cover of the darkness of the night. For that was not the method of Gus Gols and his gang of outlaws. They would take the most secret way of approach. In fact, Juarez was positive that they would come by this same gully that he was in. Gus Gols had spoken of the gully in his pow-wow with his clan, but he had said nothing about his plan of attack. He kept all such things to himself. Juarez could hear clearly the sound of axes as the boys worked upon their fort on the hill.
The sound of the work on the hill carried far through the clear, quiet air, so that the outlaws, if they were anywhere near, would have had warning that preparations were being made to receive them. At last Juarez’s vigilance was rewarded. He crouched, looking over the edge of the gully in the direction of the mountain with its heavily-wooded slope.
He was positive that he saw a line of horsemen moving along the edge of the trees. Then he heard a horse’s shoe strike a stone, and the low voices of men. A thrill went through him at the nearness of the encounter. Lucky that he and Jim had been on hand to hear the plans laid at the pow-wow, for they would in all probability have been captured or killed, since the outlaws could have rushed the camp easily. With only one of the boys on guard, there would have been no chance against the ten of them.
“What are those tenderfeet a-doin’ this time ofnight?” growled Gus Gols, bringing his column to a halt. “They seem to be mighty busy about something.”
“Maybe they have got wind of our doin’s,” said Eph. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they weren’t such tenderfeet after all.”
“I’m goin’ to do a little lookin’ ahead,” remarked Gus. “We’ll hitch our cayuses in the woods, and you boys stay with ’em.”
Then the leader of the gang left them and made his way to the edge of the pines. He stood looking at the hill with the light of the campfire shining on it like a big red star, and the sound of the axes came faint and clear to him. “They sure are getting ready for somebody,” growled the giant, “and I reckon it’s us, but I’m going to find out for sartain. Where’s that gully?” He stalked along until he found it, and then disappeared as though the earth had swallowed him.
Now Juarez had been debating whether to go back and warn the boys that the enemy was approaching, or to find out more of what Gus Gols was going to do before reporting to Jim, the commander of the faithful. After a moment’s hesitation, he decided to go ahead a ways further. At the time he made this decision Gus Gols had justentered the deep gully, and a head-on collision seemed imminent. It was a dangerous situation for Juarez.
However, one thing was in his favor, he was on the alert, and the giant, who was coming down the gully, did not expect to find any of the boys abroad, supposing that they would stay close to camp and not venture forth in the darkness. He was soon to learn that these same boys were not to be trifled with. Juarez was going along quickly, but very carefully, when he suddenly stopped and listened.
He could hear distinctly someone coming down the ravine. Just a few steps ahead of him was a shelf below the edge of the bank. Juarez made a spring and climbed up to the shelf in a jiffy, but he loosened a little dirt that slid down to the bottom of the gully. It made only a little noise, but enough to reach the ears of Gus Gols.
He stopped as though petrified, glaring ahead through the darkness. For five minutes he stood thus with every sense ferociously alert. Then he went forward, but with extreme caution. Every few feet he examined the floor of the gully for the signs of some footprint. Juarez waited like a graven image, hoping that the man, whoever it might be, would continue up the gully; then hewould follow and trap him when he reached the hill.
Juarez could not be sure that there was only one. He could hear nothing, but he was certain that the man was very near. Some instinct told him that. Then beneath his eyes a long, bent, stealthy figure crept into view. Gols felt the footprints in the sand of the gully, then he glared up. He saw the stooping figure of Juarez and jumped instantly back around the curve of the bank.
The game was up. Juarez leaped out on the level and made a dash for a boulder a short distance away. Just as he reached its shelter Gols fired, and the bullet zinged from the side of the rock off into the darkness. Then Gols got a surprise, for Juarez fired at a dark bunch looking over the edge of the gully. The bullet breezed his cheek and Gols ducked.
The sound of the shots aroused both sides, and the battle was on. Juarez now backed cautiously down into a depression and ran with all his might to give the news to Jim. He got to the hill just in time to warn Jim and Jo not to go up the gully.
“This is the way they will make their attack,” said Juarez. “We can station ourselves behindthese trees, and, when they come out of the gully, we will let ’em have it.”
“That’s the scheme,” agreed Jim. “Which one did you have the duel with, Juarez?”
“The blond beauty himself,” replied Juarez. “He didn’t miss me far either, but I made him take to cover pretty quick.”
“They will be here in about fifteen minutes,” said Jim. “We might as well get to our places.”
Tom was left in the stockade, and Jim and the other three boys took their stations behind convenient trees upon the slope of the hill commanding the entrance into the gully. Jim and Juarez were nearest to the foot of the hill, backed by Jo and Jeems. They did not have long to wait, though the twenty minutes seemed like several hours to Jo and Jeems, before there were signs of the approach of Gus Gols and his gang.
Very carefully they came up the gully, with the tall giant in the lead and Eph close at his heels; behind them came three of the Mexicans, but where was Edgar, and the other four? Perhaps the boss was afraid lest the flashing diamond that Ed always wore in his shirt bosom might give their presence away. But without joking, it was strange that these five were not with the main party. It was hardly likely that Big Gus would leave thatnumber with the horses. Where were they? We shall find out in a few minutes.
“Don’t you reckon those fellows have had time to make their move?” whispered Gus to his henchman Eph. They had halted in the darkness of the gully, about two hundred and fifty yards from the foot of the hill.
“Ed’s pretty quick,” replied Eph. “He said that he wouldn’t take more than a quarter of an hour.”
“I’ll give him five minutes’ leeway,” said Gus. “Then we will jump these fellows.” In a short time he looked at his watch by the quick flare of a match that showed his red, evil face with the squinting blue eyes.
“All ready now, boys,” he said in a low significant tone. “Give ’em the lead, but don’t shoot the horses.”
As ill luck would have it, Jeems Howell, who was highest up on the hill, caught the first glimpse of the outlaws as they advanced up the gully. How it occurred he never could explain, but his rifle went off before he could aim. Instantly the gang dropped behind the bank and opened fire upon the hill.
One volley had crashed out from Jim, Juarez and Jo, when Tom’s agonized voice rang out:
“Quick, boys, they are coming up the other side!”
The Frontier Boys had been outgeneraled. There was no question about that, and they were in deadly peril. There was nothing for them to do but to retreat to the stockade before it was too late.
“Come, boys!” cried Jim, and away they dashed up the side of the hill with Gus Gols and his crew in close pursuit. The bullets swept with deadly zing near them as they ran. As they neared the stockade Ed and his men came into view from the opposite side of the hill. Jim and Juarez dropped behind a rock and fired at the foremost of the crowd and they took to cover. Then they two got into the fort and were safe for the present.
The first thing Juarez did was to climb into the branches of a big pine that had been left in the stockade. From this point of vantage he could see in which direction the enemy were. He did not have to wait long before he saw one of the crowd move cautiously from behind a tree and rush for a rock nearer the fort, but Juarez was ready for him, and fired. The man fell, and, then recovering his feet, rushed down the hill.
This was the luckiest shot of the fight, for it was no other than Gus Gols himself whom Juarez had struck. There was a lull now, and the boys had time to breathe.
“Jo, you get up into that tree and keep watch,” said Jim, “while the rest of us take account of stock.”
“I guess those fellows have had enough to keep them quiet for a while,” said Juarez. “It looked to me as though I had got their big chief with that shot.”
“It’s half the battle if you have done that,” said Jim. “Wait till daylight comes and we will make them skedaddle.”
“It’s remarkable how quiet the horses took all this,” said Tom.
“Oh, they have been under fire before,” said Jim. “You can trust ’em not to act up at a time like this.”
This was certainly true, though they were packed together close at the end of the corral-stockade.They made no disturbance and seemed to realize that their safety was being looked after by their old comrades, the Frontier Boys.
“I’m kind of hungry,” said Jim. “Let’s have something to eat.”
“It’s kind of late for supper,” said Jeems, “but it’s never too late to eat.”
So the boys made as good a meal in the darkness as they could, and felt better for it. They also drank sparingly of the water, for they did not know how long the siege would last. It was now about half-past one, and the boys were very anxious for the morning to break.
About three o’clock there came a furious firing from behind a hastily constructed entrenchment at the end of the hill opposite where the boys had built their stockade.
Most of the bullets buried themselves harmlessly in the soft wood of the pine logs that made the walls of the stockade. The boys replied with accuracy, but they were careful not to waste their ammunition. At last the dawn broke clear, and with the first gleam of light the boys looked eagerly out to see if the enemy still held the hill.
“They have vamoosed,” said Juarez after making a careful reconnoissance. This was true, butthe boys found that the fight was not yet entirely over, for when they appeared in full view on the hill there came a volley from the bank of the creek half a mile distant, which was the nearest shelter that could be obtained on that side.
The height of the hill made the first flight of bullets fall somewhat short, and, before the crowd could fire again, the boys had got out of danger and returned the fire with interest. They had the advantage, too, in firing down instead of up, and they kept the enemy close to cover.
About the middle of the morning there was a furious fusillade from both sides, the creek bank and the gully, against the stockade, which was beginning to show quite a scarred appearance. The boys replied with vigor; then suddenly the firing slackened and then ceased altogether.
“I believe they have quit,” declared Jo.
“I wouldn’t be too sure,” warned Jim.
“There they go up through those willows, near the creek,” said Juarez.
“That’s where I caught the trout,” said Jo. He evidently considered it a more historic spot than where the fort stood, being a true fisherman.
“I really believe they are quitting,” announced Tom.
“It’s possible their ammunition has run low,” suggested Jim.
“Another thing,” put in Jo, “if big Gus is badly hurt, the rest of that gang won’t hold together.”
“That’s so,” agreed Juarez. “Those Greasers are never to be trusted.”
“He has bullied ’em too,” said Jim, “and they would naturally turn on him. But if you treat the Mexicans fair and square, you would find that they weren’t such a bad lot after all.”
“Just as soon try to tame hyenas,” said Tom.
“You are prejudiced, Thomas,” reasoned Jeems. “That comes from being an Anglo-Saxon.”
“He’s anangler-Saxon, you mean,” said Jo. They all laughed at this.
“That’s pretty good for you,” said Jim. “Keep on you will be a wit.”
“I am already,” replied Jo modestly.
It seemed kind of natural to hear the boys joking so light-heartedly, and like old times. The battle was over without any dramatic crisis. Things do happen that way sometimes, and the boys were perfectly satisfied to have it end without any grand blow out or blow up. They soon found out that the enemy had indeed retreated, forthey went up the gully, that is, Jim and Juarez did, with due caution, and found that Gus Gols and his gang had gone. They discovered the place where their horses had been hitched.
“Good riddance to bad rubbish,” said Jim enthusiastically.
“I wonder if they will attack us again to-night?” questioned Juarez.
“We will be ready for them if they do,” remarked Jim.
“I suppose we will start to-morrow,” said Juarez, as the two walked back across the level meadow towards the hill.
“Yes, if the coast is clear,” remarked Jim. “We can’t afford to lose any more time.”
“They are almost sure to lay for us in the canyon,” remarked Juarez. “We will have to find some other way.”
“One of us will go this afternoon,” said Jim, “and see if we can’t strike a new trail.”
It was now noon and the boys sat down to a quiet meal, with trout as the main dish, and how they did enjoy it!
“Gosh, boys,” exclaimed Jo, “but it does seem nice to sit down to a meal without the bullets buzzing around.”
“We will get so that we won’t mind bullets any more than mosquitoes,” said Tom.
“Listen to him!” grinned Jim. “Won’t he surprise the natives when we get back to Homeville with his stories of flying bullets, war, and border ruffians.”
“Why not?” retorted Tom sullenly. “What’s the use of going through all this business if you can’t tell about it?”
“Sure thing,” said Jim.
“When are we going home?” asked Jo fervently.
Jim hesitated a minute, and then he brought his clenched fist down on his knee.
“We will go home, boys,” he declared, “before we start on our trip around the world.”
“I begin to feel homesick already,” declared Jo.
“We will stop in Kansas,” said Juarez, his face brightening, “and see my folks.”
“Certainly we will,” agreed Jim.
“I bet Juanita has grown into a young lady,” remarked Juarez.
“Your father and mother will be plumb glad to see you,” said Jo.
“You fellows, too; they think just as much of you as they do of me. And they ought to, seeinghow you and Captain Graves rescued Juanita from the Indians in Colorado.”
“Will we stop and see the captain in his cabin on the Plateau?” asked Tom eagerly.
“Sure,” declared Jim. “We will spend a few days with him. He is too old a friend to pass by.”
“Won’t it be great!” exclaimed Jo. “What will the folks and all the fellars think when they see us coming on our chargers down the main street of Maysville?”
“I reckon about everybody will take to the woods. Think it is band of wild Indians coming down on them.”
“We will have to hurry and find that mine,” said Tom, “before we can strike the back trail for home.”
“I have a kind of feeling in my bones,” said Jim, “that we are going to find that mine pretty soon now.”
“We ain’t more than one day’s ride from the section where it is,” said Jeems.
“I’m going to look for a new trail this afternoon,” said Jim. “You boys can work around home.”
“It’s about time those mules and horses had some water,” remarked Juarez.
“Think it’s safe?” inquired Jo.
“To make sure, I’ll take a gallop up the valley a ways,” said Jim, “to see if they have cleared out.”
“That’s the idea,” agreed Juarez. “I’ll take the creek side on my roan.”
In five minutes they were mounted and galloped off, Jim scouting along the mountain slope and Juarez taking the other side. They met at the end of the valley where the trail started up the big canyon. Here they dismounted and examined the ground carefully.
“They have vamoosed all right,” announced Juarez after examining the trail.
“The whole pack of ’em, too,” affirmed Jim.
“Perhaps we can get a view of them,” added Juarez.
“We will hitch our horses here,” remarked Jim, “and try a squint up the trail from that grove yonder.”
This they did, and from their point of vantage they were able to see a part of the trail, two miles distant, where it curved around a shoulder of the mountain.
“Maybe they have got beyond that point,” suggested Jim.
“Hardly,” replied Juarez. “That’s a long steep climb up there. They will have to go slow if any of ’em are hurt.”
The boys waited a few minutes with eyes intent upon the trail. Then they saw a man on horseback ride into view, then another and another, untilseven had gone round the shoulder of the mountain.
“That isn’t all,” said Jim, “there’s three missing.”
“Maybe that Gus Gols is knocked out,” said Juarez.
“It begins to look like it,” said Jim.
“There they come,” cried Juarez. “He is hurt some, for it takes two of his men to hold him on his horse.”
“They are not likely to bother us now then,” said Jim, “but all the same I am going to see if we cannot find a safe way around.”
“All right, Jim,” agreed Juarez. “I will go back to camp and look after things.”
So they separated. Towards evening Jim came riding into camp, with Caliente showing the effects of a hard climb. Jim dismounted rather wearily.
“Well, what luck?” inquired the boys.
“There is a way around,” he said. “It’s tough in places, but we can make it all right.”
“We ought to get an early start,” said Juarez.
“You are right there,” agreed Jim. “We will turn in early this evening.”
So they did, and by half-past two Jim sounded the early rising alarm. The boys all got up withalacrity, except Tom, who did considerable growling, as was his custom, but if Tom wanted sympathy he would have to find it in the dictionary, as the fellow said.
The boys lighted a fire within the stockade to get their breakfast by, but it was hidden so that no hint of their plans would be given to a watchful enemy. The boys felt jovial when they got fairly waked up. The air was cold and bracing, and they all felt that the end of their long journey was drawing near.
By four o’clock everything was ready for the start. The mules were packed, and the boys rode out in silence through the starry darkness across the level floor of the valley. Jim was in the lead, and the rest followed in order. Instead of going up the main trail through the big canyon, Jim bore to the right, making straight through the park where the men had killed the deer.
It was well for the Frontier Boys that they took this way, for Eph, Ed and a number of Mexicans were lying in ambush at a narrow and hidden part of the trail, and, with one concerted rush, were ready to send the boys down five hundred feet. Whether the Frontier Boys would have been so rash as to have walked blindfolded into this trapis doubtful. Nevertheless, when they took the other way they escaped a very serious danger.
When the first steel shining rays of dawn struck the slope of the mountain above them the boys had climbed up several thousand feet and could see the valley below and the distant snow-clad peaks to the south, rosy with the first touch of morning. It was a beautiful sight, and the boys turned sideways in their saddles, taking it all in when their horses stopped to breathe.
“Going to take us above timber-line, Jim?” inquired Juarez.
“He’s going to lose us,” complained Tom.
“Then there would be a lost kid to go with the Lost Mine,” declared Jim humorously. “Yes, boys, I’m going to take you above timber-line.”
“Well,” said Jeems philosophically, “it is a whole lot better than going over the range altogether, as might have been the case if we had taken the trail through the big canyon over yonder.”
“Say, Jeems!” exclaimed Jo, with a catch in his voice, “you never told Jim and Juarez about the time you was sitting with your back to a tree and they slipped up and tied you, and if we hadn’t comealong there was no telling what might have happened to you.”
“That was a close call,” said Jeems. “It was when you, Jim and Juarez were off hunting, and the boys had gone fishing. They got back just in the nick of time.” Then he went solemnly to work to tell of the thrilling escape he had had. At the climax of his narrative, Tom and Jo burst into roars of laughter.
“What’s the matter with you two guys?” inquired Jim. “I bet my hat that you were at the bottom of this rascality.”
The two admitted their guilt, and, after his surprise was over, Jeems took it good-naturedly, while even Jim had to laugh, for it was certainly a successful practical joke.
“Sometime,” said Jim prophetically, “you two kittens will get caught up with.”
The boys had now ridden above the stunted trees that marked the limits of timber line, but they did not cross over the barren, rocky summit that rose above them for two thousand feet, covered with a broad mantle of snow, but instead bore south through a deep gorge, that threatened to close its rocky jaws upon them at every turn. But Jim wastoo good a scout to lead them where they would be trapped.
Before noon they had made their way out of the gorge and were upon the northwestern slope of the great mountain. Looking off, while they gave their horses time to breathe, they saw a somewhat different looking section of the range than that which they had been traveling through the past day. From the height where they now stood the vast region beneath them was made up of low mountains, extending onward like recurring billows of the sea, hemmed in by peaks and higher mountains.
“Down there somewhere is the Lost Mine,” said Jim, with a sweep of his hand.
“Talk about a needle in a haystack,” growled Tom, “this beats it.”
“You talk as if you were sitting on the needle,” declared Jim. “Try to talk cheerful even if you do feel bad.”
“It isn’t quite as bad as it looks, Tom,” said Jeems encouragingly. “You see that mountain with the rocky hump on it. That mine, according to my calculations from the chart we have, ought to be there or within two miles of it.”
“We will dig over every inch of that mountain,”declared Tom, his eyes shining with enthusiasm, for he dearly loved money.
“We don’t want you to become a miser, Tom,” said Jim judiciously, “so I will appoint a committee to take care of your share.”
“Eh?” cried Tom, his jaw dropping, then recovering, he yelled, “No you won’t, James Darlington, I’ll go to law. You can’t cheat me of my rights.” Tom was pale with anger and Jim was disgusted.
“Ah, go on with you,” he said, “you are nothing but an Eastern money shark, anyway.”
The mountain of the Lost Mine, as it may be called for the purposes of identification, did not seem more than half a day’s journey from the divide where the boys first saw it, but it took them two days of hard marching before they reached its vicinity, so deceitful are the distances in the high altitudes.
Now, behold them, camped in a shallow little valley, between two spurs of the Lost Mine mountain, their tent pitched on a small shelf back from a little stream that went singing along to a larger one, between its willow bushes, and over glistening boulders of polished granite. There was a growth of grass on either side of the creek, where the horses could graze. Altogether it was a restful place to camp in, after the grandeur of the great mountains that had surrounded them, and the savage gorges they had ridden through. There was a sense of rest and satisfaction that the Frontier Boys felt in having arrived at the goal of their longjourney by land and sea. True, they did not know exactly the position of the Lost Mine, but they hoped to find it with the help of the diagram which they were fortunate enough to possess.
“Let’s have a look at that faded heirloom of yours,” said Jim to Jeems, as they sat on some rocks around the campfire, on the evening of their arrival.
“All right, Skipper,” said Jeems cheerfully. Then he took his faded coat and carefully unpinned the inside pocket, and put in his hand and pulled out nothing.
“It’s gone,” he exclaimed, his face paling. “I’ve been robbed.”
“I bet it was those Greasers,” declared Jo, hastily, but with conviction. Jim looked at brothers Jo and Tom narrowly, then he put a heavy and accusing hand on their joint shoulders, or their shoulder joints, if you prefer it that way.
“You are the Greasers,” he said severely. “Now cough up.” Jo reached down guiltily into his pistol pocket and fished up the required document.
“I don’t know exactly what to do with these fellows,” said Jim magisterially, giving them each a shake under his big clutch.
“Leave us alone! That’s what you can do,”said Tom grumpily, but Jim went on without noticing Tom’s remark.
“This is their third offense, and I reckon we will have to hang ’em this time if we can find a tree strong enough to stand the strain of two such rascals at once.”
“I tell you a better scheme,” said Jeems Howell with a twinkle in his eye. “Get a twig of the tree and touch ’em up with that.”
“That’s the idea,” agreed Jim. “Bring me the switches, Juarez.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” said Juarez cheerfully, and he started on his commission. The implied indignity of a switching was too much for the two youths. They would have much preferred to be hanged, so they prepared to leave home immediately and without due notice. Father Jim’s grasp relaxed for a moment, and, with a wrench, both boys tore themselves loose and sped away in the darkness, and from this outer darkness they hurled remarks and pieces of dirt and small stones at the three about the campfire, just as other small bad boys would do; but the grown-ups paid no attention to the culprits, merely pulled their sombreros down around their ears and began a diligent study of the diagram of the Lost Mine. So absorbed werethey after a while that they forgot the outlanders, when they crept into camp.
“Let’s see,” said Juarez. “Where are we on this diagram?”
“We passed by the pine tree with the cross cut on one side,” said Jeems, “the other day.”
“That crooked line below there is the trail in this valley,” said Jo, who was too interested to keep at a safe distance.
“If it is anything crooked, you and Tom ought to be experts,” said Jim, looking keenly at the two ex-fugitives. They said nothing by way of retort, considering that silence was the better part of wit on this particular occasion.
“If that line is a path,” said Juarez, “those drawings on either side represent buildings of some sort.”
“But how about the figures at the bottom of the diagram?” inquired Jeems. “I can’t make them out.”
“Four hundred+1500-30,” read Jim. “I can add it up if that will do any good.”
“The best thing we can do,” said Jeems, the philosopher, “is to go to bed and tackle this proposition in the morning.”
This the boys did, but it was a hard thing forthem to get to sleep, so busy were their brains, and they all dreamed diagram, mysterious combinations of figures and lines. When they awoke the next morning, it was with the same happy sense of anticipation that the small boy wakes up on the morning of the glorious Fourth.
As soon as it was light enough to see, the Frontier Boys started out to solve the location of the Lost Mine. Each one had a copy of the diagram with him, also a pick or a shovel, and powder for blasting. Jim and Juarez worked together, Tom and Jo also, while Jeems Howell was a lone prospector, and it seemed indeed like old times to him.
For a short ways they went all together up the shallow valley; then, after going a half mile, they took separate courses, Jim and Juarez following the line of the overgrown trail up the valley, and Jeems striking straight up the slope of the mountain. Tom and Jo wandered around eagerly and inconsequentially, expecting to see the opening to the Lost Mine at any moment.
Jeems was the first to make a discovery of importance, but bearing only indirectly on the location of the mine. After climbing up about five hundred feet he saw that there had been a tremendouslandslide down the southern slope of the mountain.
“Some earthquake did that,” he said, “and not very recently either. I bet that the lost mine is under the slide.” Just then he heard Jim’s voice in a faint halloo below him. He felt sure that they had made a discovery likewise. He strode eagerly down the slope to tell Jim and Juarez what he had found out, and to see about their discovery.
“We have found part of the cabin that’s in the diagram,” cried Juarez as soon as Jeems hove in sight.
“It was the landslide did that,” declared Jeems, and he told them of his discovery. The boys were jubilant, and rightly so, for at last they had struck the trail.
The point of departure had been found, for a heavy storm had uncovered one end of a demolished cabin, over which a part of the landslide had swept.
“This is the further one,” said Jim.
“Yes, the other one is on the upper side of the old trail and is covered deep,” said Juarez.
“Now let’s take those figures in feet first,” said Jim.
“I’ll pace in yards,” said Jeems, “we may savetime that way,” and he started off from the side of the discovered cabin, while Jim and Juarez measured the distance in feet, 400 straight up the valley, then 1500 at right angles, and this brought them to a point well up on the side of the mountain.
“Thirty feet straight down and we will know our fate,” said Jim.
They practically had all day before them and they set busily to work with pick and shovel, beginning at a point below where they had set the mark.
Fortunately it was not heavy going, as the dirt and gravel was comparatively loose, and in the morning of the next day about ten o’clock, they came to a nest of rocks which barred their way. By hard efforts and by loosening a large stone there was a narrow rift made, through which they crawled, with Juarez in the lead.
“Here’s the entrance,” he cried, his voice sounding hollow from the interior.
“The Lost Mine!” yelled Tom, and in a second they were all together in the entrance, and with a rousing cheer at what promised to be the successful end of all their trials and dangers, then home again, and after that their journey on theSea Eagleinto foreign countries and searching strange corners of the earth.
“Light up, boys,” said Jim. “We will soon see what we have ahead of us.”
“We will have to be careful,” warned Juarez, “there is no telling what we will meet, we are always running into excitement of some sort.”
“I guess not,” replied Jeems, “we have had enough to last us for a lifetime. Let’s wind this business up quietly.”
“Agreed,” said Jim. “We will make up for it later. Forward, march!”
With pine torches they went forward through the gloom, the light showing that the entrance to the mine had been buttressed with pine timber, but this extended only a few feet, and then they came to a narrow rift between dripping rocks.
“Low bridge, Jeems,” cried Jo.
“This looks to me to be a cave,” said Jim.
“It don’t keep it from being a pocket mine, even if it is a cave,” said Jeems wisely.
“You ought to know, Jeems,” said Juarez, “as you were a prospector before we were born.”
“Oh, I’m not that old,” protested Jeems. “Here we are getting to the workings now.”
“Sure enough,” cried Jim, a thrill of interest in his voice.
“Here is where they have picked out some nuggets,” said Jo.
“It won’t be far to the find now,” said Tom, shaking with excitement.
Jeems was looking closely with his trained eyes along the walls and into every crevice and uponthe shelves of stone, for the sides of the cave-mine were not smooth, but singularly rugged.
“Struck it rich, boys!” Jeems cried suddenly, as he held the flame of his torch near the wall. “Give me the pick, take the lamp, Tom.” It was the ultimate moment of triumph for the Frontier Boys. Carefully, but with skillful precision, Jeems brought the pick down upon the surface of the wall where it was roughened into little mounds.
“That don’t look like gold,” said Tom. “It’s nothing but dingy rock.” Jeems only smiled at Tom’s comment, as he swung his pick in the light of the flaming torches.
“That’s stone-stain, Tom,” he said, then a loosened nugget fell to the floor of the cave. Jo picked it up and there was the yellow gleam of gold under the wavering light of the torches.
“There’s a whole nest of them,” cried Tom.
“I wonder where the goose is that laid them?” questioned Jo.
“I’m going to find a nest for myself,” said Juarez.
It was a most interesting search, and each of the boys made finds of their own. Jim discovered a square yard of nuggets, not close set, of course, but there must have been twenty of varying sizes,and Juarez made the biggest individual find of a nugget that was five inches tall and three thick. Every second the other boys expected to make a discovery that would discount Juarez.
After the first excitement was over, they settled down to systematic work. It was necessary to send someone back for the lanterns so that they could have steady light to work by; but who should go? That was the painful question. The work was so interesting that they all naturally wanted to stay on the job.
“Let Jeems go,” said the generous Tom. “It’s an old story to him anyway.” The good-natured Jeems would probably have allowed himself to be imposed upon, but Jim put his foot down upon Tom’s proposition.
“No you don’t,” he said. “We will draw lots to decide.” As luck or fate would have it, Tom got the shortest straw, or, rather, sliver of pine, and had to go after the lanterns. Tom was a picture of the heart bowed down when the decision went against him, and the boys laughed at his woe-begone face.
“Maybe you will be able to find an honest man with your lantern, Tom,” said Jim consolingly.
“I wouldn’t come to this gang,” he retorted bitterly,and to prove the sincerity of his belief, he took his little pile of nuggets to Jeems.
“Take care of these till I get back,” he said. Then his two brothers went into convulsions of merriment at this token of Tom’s regard.
“If you didn’t steal them you would be sure to hide ’em,” he said, and there was considerable truth in his last observation.
“If you are going to make a bank out of Jeems, you will have to pay him interest,” remarked Jo derisively. Tom regarded Jeems doubtfully and then, reassured by his belief in the latter’s generosity, he made off on his errand.
“There is one good thing about Tom’s going,” said Juarez, “he will hustle more than any of us.”
“No doubt about that,” laughed Jim. “He will scorch a trail down the mountain all right.”
It was true that Tom made extraordinary time, for he was desperately afraid lest his comrades-in-arms would get all the nuggets, but he need not have been so worried, for the boys worked busily night and day for the greater part of a week before Jim gave the orders to break camp. There was bitter rebellion on the part of Tom, and he was backed by Jo.
“You can stay,” Jim said finally. “We haveenough, and more than enough. If we don’t pull up stakes now, we will be snowed under. A storm will strike us at this altitude any time at this season. We did not come here to spend the winter and we are not prepared for it. What’s the use of the gold? It won’t buy us anything if we are nothing but beautiful frozen corpses.”
“You hit the nail on the head that time, Skipper,” said Jeems Howell, the philosopher. “Gold is no good if you are dead. Men kill their souls getting it, too, pretty often in this world.” Tom had to give in, but he kept growling under his breath, and Jim turned on him fiercely.
“Another growl out of you, Tom Darlington, and I’ll give you a sound thrashing. I’m using my best judgment and I am not going to be pestered from here to the coast with your growling sulks. That’s straight. You cheer up.” Tom cheered.
They got an early start one morning and turned their horses’ heads southward. The gold was evenly divided, and the burden imposed equally upon the three mules. The triumphant procession started, with Jim mounted jauntily on his white charger, Caliente, followed by Juarez and the rest in order.
It was certainly a happy crowd when they hadfinally started on their return trip to the coast. The talk was all of their plans for the future, about their home-going, all of which is related in the “Frontier Boys in the Saddle,” for it was a longish journey and a thrilling one, and then home. Juarez did not say much, but it was evident that his mind was busy thinking of his people on the Kansas farm outside of River Bend.
“It will be too late in the season when we get to your place, Juarez, for a game of baseball,” remarked Jo.
“It’s too bad,” replied Juarez. “It would be fine sport to beat those Hughsonville fellows again.”
“I’m not so sure that I could pitch a baseball now,” said Jo. “It’s a long time since I have had one in my hand.”
“That would be all right,” said Jim easily. “We would have Jeems for umpire, and he would help us out.”
“Now, boys, don’t you go to planning trouble for me,” expostulated Jeems. “I don’t mind dodging sharks and being tied up by fierce outlaws, like Jo and Tom, but I won’t be an umpire.”
“That’s settled,” laughed Jo. “Anyway, if we can’t indulge in baseball, we will have a game ofhorseshoes, behind the blacksmith’s shop at River Bend.
“I wonder how theSea Eagleand the old Captain are getting along?” said Jeems.
“We will see in about ten days,” replied Jim. “But I’m not worrying with the old man and the engineer aboard. We will stop long enough to say howdy to ’em, leave our gold or most of it aboard ship and then hike for home.”
“Do you think it will be safe on the ship, Jim?” inquired Jo anxiously.
“As safe as anywhere,” said Jim nonchalantly.
The Frontier Boys rode steadily southward, taking a more direct way and an easier one than that by which they had come. They took no chance of running into Gus Gols or his gang of cutthroats. They were fortunate in not being molested or way-laid, and for the first five days the weather was fine, but the morning of the sixth day it began to snow just as they rode out of camp. The boys did not worry, however, as they were through the worst of the mountain trip. Indeed, they rather enjoyed the soft and silent fall of the snow; it was a change.
“Boys, this is Christmas weather!” cried Jeems.
“We will spend our Christmas at home thisyear, boys!” said Jim, turning in the saddle and looking down the line, each one riding jauntily and easily through the rapidly falling snow that softly flaked their weather-hued faces and starred the coats of their horses. “All in favor of this proposition say aye!” continued Jim.
“Aye!” roared the boys in chorus.
“You, too, Jeems,” urged Jim, “won’t leave you out. Make it unanimous this time!”
And they did. As for the reader, he must not be left out in the cold and the snow, and he, too, is invited to be present at the boys’ Christmas at home, for it is bound to be a jolly affair, and the Frontier Boys are nothing if not hospitable. The record of their trip overland eastward and of their home-coming is bound to be full of interest and incident; for the boys, besides being hospitable, are also very enterprising and venturesome.
Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters’ errors; otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the author’s words and intent.