Chapter Thirty One.Off Again.A short halt of a day or two only was made by the lake at first, and then an excursion which had been made successfully in search of game having resulted in the discovery of a more suitable spot higher up towards the mountains, a week was spent there in a beautiful little valley, where an abundant stream of crystal purity emptied itself into the wide-spreading lake. Pasturage was there for the horses and mules, and almost without effort food was to be had at the expense of a few cartridges, while very little skill was needed for Griggs and the boys to draw salmon-like and trout-like fish to the banks.In a day or two the perils and sufferings of the journey across the salt plains were forgotten, and careful searching for signs of Indians having proved that they were the sole occupants of the district, the whole party gave themselves up to the pleasures of the peaceful life they were enjoying. But not for long.Griggs had entered into the spirit of the chase, the fishing and the search for vegetable food. He was as eager too when the doctor led excursions into gully and up hill-sides of a part of the world that seemed to the adventurers as if it had never before been trodden by the foot of man, and ready to point out fresh flowers, or indications of metal or other minerals where the cliff was bared or splintered by some fall from above. But over the camp-fire at night, in some rocky nook, or beneath the spreading boughs of a gigantic spruce-fir, a hint or a word or two brought him back to the prime motive of their journey.“I’m ready when you are, gentlemen,” he cried. “I don’t say this isn’t grand, and that we oughtn’t to be as happy as the day is long in a place like this, but we didn’t come out here only to enjoy a hunting-party. There’s that map, you know.”“Yes,” said the doctor gravely, “there’s the map. But you don’t think this is a likely part of the country?”“Not down here, sir; but from where we stood to-day after stalking those birds, I could see the mountains opening out in gulch and rift and hollow, beyond which there was peak and point and pass that looked as much like the sort of country as could be.”“I noted the grand scenery too,” said the doctor.“And I,” added Wilton. “It’s made me long to begin exploring again, for there was no sign of desert that I could see.”“It’s a grand country,” said Bourne, “and the wonder to me is that it has not been settled. Why do you laugh, boy?”“Oh, it was only at something I thought, sir,” said Chris.“What was it?”“That the salt plains were enough to keep anybody from coming as far as this.”“That’s it, my lad,” said Griggs. “Men may have come prospecting in this direction for gold, but I shouldn’t be a bit surprised to find that this is only a patch of good land round and about these mountains, and that if we went far enough in any direction we should come to the salt plains again, shutting it in and keeping people back.”“It is possible,” said the doctor.“It’s more than likely, sir. If it were not so, wouldn’t people have settled here?”“It is very far from civilisation, Griggs,” said Bourne.“Most new places are far from civilisation, sir,” cried Griggs. “But look all round here, sir; if a good strong party of men came here with their wives and children they’d make their own civilisation, for it seems to me that we can find here already pretty well everything a man could want. See what it would be after a few years of farm-stock rearing and gardening.”“Then why not stop and settle here?” said the doctor, smiling.“Because we’ve got gold on the brain, sir,” replied Griggs grimly. “We set ourselves to see if that poor old fellow’s story was a fact, and having started, I say let’s carry out our work. If we don’t find out that his map told the truth, I’m ready to come and open out this bit of country, if you like, for it’s ten times the place that we came from. Even now if you say we’ll go no further, I’ll set to work with you; but because it’s so beautiful ought we to forget how we’re cutting ourselves off from the rest of the world?”“No,” said the doctor emphatically. “I propose we make a fresh start to-morrow farther up into the mountains, and see what there is yonder.”There was a murmur of agreement at this, in which the boys joined.“Yes,” said Chris, as he sauntered away soon after with his eyes roaming in every direction in search of danger or something new. “Griggs is right. It’s as fine as fine here, and I don’t like leaving the fishing; but I am beginning to want a change, aren’t you?”“No going down-hill again to be roasted and choked with thirst.”“Of course not,” said Chris; “we’ve had enough of that. I want to do some of that shooting Griggs was talking about last night.”“What, the goats up in the mountains?”“Yes, and those big horned sheep; but I feel sure he was laughing at us about their jumping about the precipices, and running along ledges full gallop when they’re only a few inches wide.”“Oh, I don’t know; he hadn’t got that queer cock of the eye that he has when he’s spinning a yarn.”“Well, no; but it was a good deal like throwing the hatchet. Didn’t you see how serious your father looked?”“Yes, but not so serious as your father did when Griggs declared that he’d seen flocks of those sheep running away from people stalking them till they got to the edges of the precipices where they could go no farther; and then jump down head first so as to come on the great thick twisted horns which cover their foreheads, and bounce up again, and go on running along a lower part.”“Yes, I saw. Why, a big, heavy sheep if he came down like that would break his horns.”“Break his horns!” cried Ned. “He’d break his neck.”“I should like to shoot one of those fellows,” said Chris.“Or be below when one of them jumped, came down on his head, and broke his neck,” said Ned. “I say, mutton—neck of mutton—leg of mutton! Wouldn’t a good roast joint be a treat?”“Oh, what a fellow you are for thinking about eating!” cried Chris impatiently.“And so are you for drinking,” replied Ned. “You’re always on the lookout for water.”“Well, we must drink a great deal in such a thirsty land.”“Yes, and we must eat a deal to keep up one’s strength,” said Ned. “I can’t help getting hungry when we’re walking about so much. I suppose it’s because I’m growing fast.”“Yea, that’s it,” said Chris, smiling. “I get very hungry too. It’s all right; I won’t laugh at you any more. I say, what lots of those little gophers there are here. Look there; why, there must be about a hundred up on that patch of sandy ground. Watching us to see if we’re coming, and ready to pop into their holes.”“I see them. There’s one of those little round tots of owls sitting there too just outside the burrow. It’s quite comic to see the gophers living so sociably with the little owls.”Chris gave a shout just then, and the colony of little burrowing animals resembling the marmots of the Alps disappeared into their holes with an accompaniment of angry warning whistles, just as a huge eagle came sailing along overhead, swooping so near that a good marksman could easily have brought it down.“Seems a pity to go away from a place where there’s so much to see,” said Chris, after a time. “And what for? To find gold. Well, it’s only yellow metal. We might stay here and find some.”“Or silver,” said Ned.“Yes, or lead, or antimony.”“Or coal,” cried Ned.“Ah, that would be useful for making our cooking fire,” said Chris. “But there’s plenty of wood everywhere, and I won’t complain. I want to go on and see more. Every place we come to seems more wonderful than the last, and there’s no knowing what we may find next.”“We shall see,” said Ned, yawning, for the darkness was sweeping up the sides of the hills, leaving the hollows black, and they had had a long and tiring day. “I suppose we shall start, then, to-morrow.”“For a certainty. I wonder what our next camping-place may be like.”“That ruined city described by the old prospector, perhaps,” said Ned, laughing. “But what are we going to do then—load the mules with gold, and go back again?”“I hope not,” cried Chris. “I don’t want to go back. Why, we haven’t shot a buffalo yet.”“So much the better for the buffalo,” said Ned, yawning again.“I say, don’t do that,” cried Chris querulously.“I wasn’t doing anything.”“Yes, you were; opening your mouth as wide as you could, just like old Skeeter when he’s getting ready to bray.”“Whinny,” said Ned correctively. “He isn’t a donkey.”“I know that. He can’t bray. He whinnies and squeals; but he tries to bray, and opens his mouth just like you do.”“Perhaps so,” said Ned, changing the conversation at once. “I say, doesn’t that peak look beautiful? It’s just as if it is red-hot.”“You’d find it pretty cold if you were up there,” said Chris, giving up making rude allusions to his companion’s yawning.“Yes; that always seems to me so strange,” said Ned.“What does?”“That the nearer you get up to the sun the colder it is. It ought to be hotter.”“Don’t find fault with nature,” said Chris dogmatically. “I wasn’t finding fault. I only say it seems queer. I want to thoroughly understand why it is.”“Ask your father, he knows.”“I did,” said Ned, “and he said it was because the atmosphere was thinner, the higher you get.”“Then the lower you get I suppose the thicker it is,” said Chris thoughtfully, “and that’s why it’s so thick and hot down there on the salt desert. Oh, my word, how it used to scorch! It was just as if the haze was one great burning-glass.”“Oh, I say,” cried Ned dolefully, “I wish you wouldn’t.”“Wouldn’t what?”“Talk about the heat on the salt plains. We’re going to start off afresh to-morrow morning, and I shall begin dreaming about what we went through over yonder.”“Poor old chap!”“Ah, you may laugh, but it’ll all come back like a nightmare, with the burning thirst and giddiness, and the black spots before one’s eyes.”“That’s biliousness,” said Chris, speaking authoritatively, like a doctor’s son.“I don’t care what it is. It’s very horrible,” said Ned, “and if I thought we were going through a time like that again I should want to stop at home.”“Where’s that?” said Chris dryly.“Ah, to be sure,” said Ned, with a sigh. “I forgot where we were. I suppose there’ll be no home again till we’ve found the gold.”“And that won’t be to-night,” said Chris, as a shrill whistle rang out through the clear evening air. “There’s old Griggs calling us just as if we were dogs. I’ve a good mind not to hear.”But Chris answered the whistle all the same, and the boys were soon after joined by the American, who had come to meet them, and his first words were—“Now, boys, bed and a good long sleep. We’re off again at daybreak.”
A short halt of a day or two only was made by the lake at first, and then an excursion which had been made successfully in search of game having resulted in the discovery of a more suitable spot higher up towards the mountains, a week was spent there in a beautiful little valley, where an abundant stream of crystal purity emptied itself into the wide-spreading lake. Pasturage was there for the horses and mules, and almost without effort food was to be had at the expense of a few cartridges, while very little skill was needed for Griggs and the boys to draw salmon-like and trout-like fish to the banks.
In a day or two the perils and sufferings of the journey across the salt plains were forgotten, and careful searching for signs of Indians having proved that they were the sole occupants of the district, the whole party gave themselves up to the pleasures of the peaceful life they were enjoying. But not for long.
Griggs had entered into the spirit of the chase, the fishing and the search for vegetable food. He was as eager too when the doctor led excursions into gully and up hill-sides of a part of the world that seemed to the adventurers as if it had never before been trodden by the foot of man, and ready to point out fresh flowers, or indications of metal or other minerals where the cliff was bared or splintered by some fall from above. But over the camp-fire at night, in some rocky nook, or beneath the spreading boughs of a gigantic spruce-fir, a hint or a word or two brought him back to the prime motive of their journey.
“I’m ready when you are, gentlemen,” he cried. “I don’t say this isn’t grand, and that we oughtn’t to be as happy as the day is long in a place like this, but we didn’t come out here only to enjoy a hunting-party. There’s that map, you know.”
“Yes,” said the doctor gravely, “there’s the map. But you don’t think this is a likely part of the country?”
“Not down here, sir; but from where we stood to-day after stalking those birds, I could see the mountains opening out in gulch and rift and hollow, beyond which there was peak and point and pass that looked as much like the sort of country as could be.”
“I noted the grand scenery too,” said the doctor.
“And I,” added Wilton. “It’s made me long to begin exploring again, for there was no sign of desert that I could see.”
“It’s a grand country,” said Bourne, “and the wonder to me is that it has not been settled. Why do you laugh, boy?”
“Oh, it was only at something I thought, sir,” said Chris.
“What was it?”
“That the salt plains were enough to keep anybody from coming as far as this.”
“That’s it, my lad,” said Griggs. “Men may have come prospecting in this direction for gold, but I shouldn’t be a bit surprised to find that this is only a patch of good land round and about these mountains, and that if we went far enough in any direction we should come to the salt plains again, shutting it in and keeping people back.”
“It is possible,” said the doctor.
“It’s more than likely, sir. If it were not so, wouldn’t people have settled here?”
“It is very far from civilisation, Griggs,” said Bourne.
“Most new places are far from civilisation, sir,” cried Griggs. “But look all round here, sir; if a good strong party of men came here with their wives and children they’d make their own civilisation, for it seems to me that we can find here already pretty well everything a man could want. See what it would be after a few years of farm-stock rearing and gardening.”
“Then why not stop and settle here?” said the doctor, smiling.
“Because we’ve got gold on the brain, sir,” replied Griggs grimly. “We set ourselves to see if that poor old fellow’s story was a fact, and having started, I say let’s carry out our work. If we don’t find out that his map told the truth, I’m ready to come and open out this bit of country, if you like, for it’s ten times the place that we came from. Even now if you say we’ll go no further, I’ll set to work with you; but because it’s so beautiful ought we to forget how we’re cutting ourselves off from the rest of the world?”
“No,” said the doctor emphatically. “I propose we make a fresh start to-morrow farther up into the mountains, and see what there is yonder.”
There was a murmur of agreement at this, in which the boys joined.
“Yes,” said Chris, as he sauntered away soon after with his eyes roaming in every direction in search of danger or something new. “Griggs is right. It’s as fine as fine here, and I don’t like leaving the fishing; but I am beginning to want a change, aren’t you?”
“No going down-hill again to be roasted and choked with thirst.”
“Of course not,” said Chris; “we’ve had enough of that. I want to do some of that shooting Griggs was talking about last night.”
“What, the goats up in the mountains?”
“Yes, and those big horned sheep; but I feel sure he was laughing at us about their jumping about the precipices, and running along ledges full gallop when they’re only a few inches wide.”
“Oh, I don’t know; he hadn’t got that queer cock of the eye that he has when he’s spinning a yarn.”
“Well, no; but it was a good deal like throwing the hatchet. Didn’t you see how serious your father looked?”
“Yes, but not so serious as your father did when Griggs declared that he’d seen flocks of those sheep running away from people stalking them till they got to the edges of the precipices where they could go no farther; and then jump down head first so as to come on the great thick twisted horns which cover their foreheads, and bounce up again, and go on running along a lower part.”
“Yes, I saw. Why, a big, heavy sheep if he came down like that would break his horns.”
“Break his horns!” cried Ned. “He’d break his neck.”
“I should like to shoot one of those fellows,” said Chris.
“Or be below when one of them jumped, came down on his head, and broke his neck,” said Ned. “I say, mutton—neck of mutton—leg of mutton! Wouldn’t a good roast joint be a treat?”
“Oh, what a fellow you are for thinking about eating!” cried Chris impatiently.
“And so are you for drinking,” replied Ned. “You’re always on the lookout for water.”
“Well, we must drink a great deal in such a thirsty land.”
“Yes, and we must eat a deal to keep up one’s strength,” said Ned. “I can’t help getting hungry when we’re walking about so much. I suppose it’s because I’m growing fast.”
“Yea, that’s it,” said Chris, smiling. “I get very hungry too. It’s all right; I won’t laugh at you any more. I say, what lots of those little gophers there are here. Look there; why, there must be about a hundred up on that patch of sandy ground. Watching us to see if we’re coming, and ready to pop into their holes.”
“I see them. There’s one of those little round tots of owls sitting there too just outside the burrow. It’s quite comic to see the gophers living so sociably with the little owls.”
Chris gave a shout just then, and the colony of little burrowing animals resembling the marmots of the Alps disappeared into their holes with an accompaniment of angry warning whistles, just as a huge eagle came sailing along overhead, swooping so near that a good marksman could easily have brought it down.
“Seems a pity to go away from a place where there’s so much to see,” said Chris, after a time. “And what for? To find gold. Well, it’s only yellow metal. We might stay here and find some.”
“Or silver,” said Ned.
“Yes, or lead, or antimony.”
“Or coal,” cried Ned.
“Ah, that would be useful for making our cooking fire,” said Chris. “But there’s plenty of wood everywhere, and I won’t complain. I want to go on and see more. Every place we come to seems more wonderful than the last, and there’s no knowing what we may find next.”
“We shall see,” said Ned, yawning, for the darkness was sweeping up the sides of the hills, leaving the hollows black, and they had had a long and tiring day. “I suppose we shall start, then, to-morrow.”
“For a certainty. I wonder what our next camping-place may be like.”
“That ruined city described by the old prospector, perhaps,” said Ned, laughing. “But what are we going to do then—load the mules with gold, and go back again?”
“I hope not,” cried Chris. “I don’t want to go back. Why, we haven’t shot a buffalo yet.”
“So much the better for the buffalo,” said Ned, yawning again.
“I say, don’t do that,” cried Chris querulously.
“I wasn’t doing anything.”
“Yes, you were; opening your mouth as wide as you could, just like old Skeeter when he’s getting ready to bray.”
“Whinny,” said Ned correctively. “He isn’t a donkey.”
“I know that. He can’t bray. He whinnies and squeals; but he tries to bray, and opens his mouth just like you do.”
“Perhaps so,” said Ned, changing the conversation at once. “I say, doesn’t that peak look beautiful? It’s just as if it is red-hot.”
“You’d find it pretty cold if you were up there,” said Chris, giving up making rude allusions to his companion’s yawning.
“Yes; that always seems to me so strange,” said Ned.
“What does?”
“That the nearer you get up to the sun the colder it is. It ought to be hotter.”
“Don’t find fault with nature,” said Chris dogmatically. “I wasn’t finding fault. I only say it seems queer. I want to thoroughly understand why it is.”
“Ask your father, he knows.”
“I did,” said Ned, “and he said it was because the atmosphere was thinner, the higher you get.”
“Then the lower you get I suppose the thicker it is,” said Chris thoughtfully, “and that’s why it’s so thick and hot down there on the salt desert. Oh, my word, how it used to scorch! It was just as if the haze was one great burning-glass.”
“Oh, I say,” cried Ned dolefully, “I wish you wouldn’t.”
“Wouldn’t what?”
“Talk about the heat on the salt plains. We’re going to start off afresh to-morrow morning, and I shall begin dreaming about what we went through over yonder.”
“Poor old chap!”
“Ah, you may laugh, but it’ll all come back like a nightmare, with the burning thirst and giddiness, and the black spots before one’s eyes.”
“That’s biliousness,” said Chris, speaking authoritatively, like a doctor’s son.
“I don’t care what it is. It’s very horrible,” said Ned, “and if I thought we were going through a time like that again I should want to stop at home.”
“Where’s that?” said Chris dryly.
“Ah, to be sure,” said Ned, with a sigh. “I forgot where we were. I suppose there’ll be no home again till we’ve found the gold.”
“And that won’t be to-night,” said Chris, as a shrill whistle rang out through the clear evening air. “There’s old Griggs calling us just as if we were dogs. I’ve a good mind not to hear.”
But Chris answered the whistle all the same, and the boys were soon after joined by the American, who had come to meet them, and his first words were—
“Now, boys, bed and a good long sleep. We’re off again at daybreak.”
Chapter Thirty Two.Petra the Second.Daybreak came all too soon for Chris, who sprang up rubbing his eyes and yawning, in response to a summons from Griggs, who stood over the boy like a black figure cut out of cardboard showing against a ruddy glow.“Why—oh bother! It can’t be time,” cried the boy.“Yes, it is, and we’re late.”“So we are. You said daylight, and the sun’s rising.”“Is it?” said Griggs. “Then it’s before its time. There, unbutton your eyelids and look again. The sun doesn’t crackle and spit when it gets over the world’s edge.”“Humph!” grunted Chris, as he realised the truth that a roaring fire of pinewood was burning in a sheltered spot. “Have you woke Ned?”“Yes, and he’s growling for his breakfast. Going to have a sluice first? You’ll just have time.”Griggs went back to see after the breakfast, and Chris turned to where Ned had lain down on a fragrant pine-bough couch.“Here, look sharp,” he said. “I suppose we must have a dose of cold water.”Ned grunted and seemed as ill-humoured as his companion at being awakened from sleep, and the pair hurried through the gloom to the side of the gully, where there was a soft, splashing roar caused by water falling like so much foam from a ledge about a hundred feet above their heads into a rock-pool at their feet.The boys’ preparations did not take long, neither did the application of their bath. Chris stepped into the rock-pool, took a couple of paces, and stood right in the middle of the descending broken water, uttered a gasp or two, stepped out, and began to apply a rough home-made towel with tremendous energy.“Is it cold?” said Ned, with a preliminary shiver.“Ugh! Horrid!” was the smothered reply.The words seemed to check Ned, but the shock had to be suffered, and he too stepped into the natural shower-bath, and sprang out again, to follow his companion’s example.“Feel sleepy now?” cried Chris, with a laugh, and in quite a different tone of voice.“Sleepy? Who could?” was the reply, punctuated with gasps. “My! Isn’t it icy this morning!”“Yes. Washed all the snarl out of you, old chap,” cried Chris merrily. “I say, you did sound disagreeable.”“Oh, I like that!” said Ned. “Why, a bear with a sore head was nothing to you.”“Humph!” grunted Chris, feeling too guilty to defend himself. “I say, feel cold now?”“No; burning hot,” was the reply. “I say, what a pity there are not falls like this all over the salt desert.”“There’d be no salt desert if there were,” said Chris, who was now dressing rapidly in the increasing light. “They’d soon wash all the salt away. Look sharp: old Griggs will be shouting directly.”The word “Breakfast!” came almost as he spoke, and as the boys hurried towards the fire, fully alert now and ready for anything, they saw that the mules were all laden but the one which carried the kitchen, as they called it, and this beast was feasting in company with the ponies.“Oh, I say, father, it isn’t fair,” cried Chris, in response to the morning greeting. “You know I like to help load.”“Yes, my boy, but we woke earlier than usual, and I wanted you two to have a good rest, for we shall have a long day.”Ned was making a similar protest to his father, who responded by telling him that he would be tired enough before night.The words proved to be quite true, for they had a long, long journey through rugged valley, up steep mountain side, down precipitous gulch, and across many a roaring torrent, one of which necessitated the use of knotted-together ropes to ensure that the mules with their loads were not swept away.For in spite of the descents they were gradually ascending into a higher mountainous region which grew more and more grand, while, notwithstanding the fierce heat of the sun, fatigue seemed non-existent, as the party drank in the strong, invigorating air.The ideas that had been suggested about this part of the country being island-like, rising out of a vast sea of salt desert, were proved to be correct, for during quite a fortnight’s journeyings here and there they obtained glimpses in the far distance of the glistening plains over which hung the cloud-like haze of heat.But whenever after scaling some height their approach towards the boundaries of the island was revealed, the doctor called a halt, and after a discussion with Griggs they struck off in a fresh direction through what proved to be a perfect wonderland of mountain gorge and forest, the home of wild animals and birds, every valley and plain furnishing supplies, while the want of water was never once felt.“Why, we must have pretty well explored this part of the country,” said Wilton, one evening, as they sat resting and watching the sun-glow dying out amongst the peaks.“A little bit of it, sir,” said Griggs dryly; “just to show us how we might spend a year or two.”“What!” cried Wilton with a mocking laugh. “If we started west to-morrow in a couple of good marches we should be right out on the salt plains again.”“Perhaps so; but this Amurrica’s a bigger place than you think for, sir. We’re going south-west to-morrow, aren’t we, doctor, so as to get a lookout from that double-topped mountain where the tongue of desert came right in?”“Yes; that is what I proposed,” said the doctor. “He is quite right, Wilton. We have seen only a little of one of the grandest parts of the country I have been in.”“Like some of the Rockies, sir,” cried Griggs enthusiastically. “I guess that Mr Wilton will alter his opinion as we go on.”“Perhaps,” said Wilton good-humouredly. “I don’t mind. It is, as you folks say, very grand.”“Grander than you think, sir,” said Griggs. “I went higher than the doctor yesterday, and I think we’re going to have a surprise to-morrow.”The surprise did not come that next day as Griggs had prophesied, but two days later, when after an arduous struggle through a wild ravine, with the perpendicular cliffs rising to such a height on either side that the bottom was in twilight at mid-day, they took advantage of a fall of water to halt and refresh their ponies and mules, letting them drink their fill and then begin cropping the rich grass growing near, while wallets were opened and the tired party lay about partaking with excellent appetite of the provisions they had brought with them.“This is about the wildest place we’ve been in yet, father,” said Chris, as he looked up at the mighty cliffs by which they were enclosed.The doctor nodded, but Wilton, who heard the remark, made reply.“Yes,” he said; “I shouldn’t care about being here in a storm. I should expect to have the rocks loosened by every peal of thunder, and come tumbling down upon our heads.”“A frightful gorge,” said Bourne; “but we seem to have come to the end. It closes in yonder. A regular blind lead.”“Just the sort of place where we ought to search for minerals,” said the doctor.“Why don’t you come and lie down for a rest, Griggs?” cried Ned, for the American, after hurrying through his lunch, had gone forward a hundred yards or so to begin climbing up from ledge to ledge, pausing to look round from time to time.He heard Ned’s question, which came to his ears like a strange whisper, and then again louder as if it was reflected from the rock-face on his left; but he only waved his hand by way of reply and went on climbing higher.“If he were not as active as a goat,” said the doctor, “I should feel nervous and expect to see him fall.”“Yes, it is very risky,” said Bourne thoughtfully, “and, though we have you with us, a broken limb would not add to the comfort of our journey.”“Oh, Griggs won’t fall,” said Chris decisively. “He’s going up there to see where the spring comes from.”“No,” said the doctor. “He is climbing up beside the fall because the water has worn the gully into rough steps and formed a staircase by which we might get out of this gorge and perhaps find ourselves in another perhaps wilder valley. What’s he doing now?”“Chipping at the stones by the water-side to see if there’s any gold,” said Ned, who was watching their companion attentively. “But he hasn’t found any, for he’s going on.”This was the case, and at last they saw him come to a stand as if unwilling, or unable, to go any farther.“Quite a blind lead there,” said the doctor.“You wouldn’t attempt to take the mules up there, would you,” said Wilton, “even if he said it was passable?”“No, it would be folly; too much risk. We’ll go back soon, and try some other way.”“Here he comes back,” said Chris, as he saw the American turn and begin to descend by another way, leaving the rushing torrent above him and following the sharp descent into the bottom of the gorge, along which he made his way till he was level with and joined them.“Find the door locked?” said Wilton, laughing.“No,” was the reply, as the American stretched himself on the grass.“No? You couldn’t have got along that way any further, could you?” said the doctor.“Oh yes; the place seems to come to a blank end from here, but from up yonder you can see that it doubles back round a sharp corner to the left.”“But the mules couldn’t get by?”“Oh yes; it looks narrow, but not so strait as that. We can ride along.”“Indeed?” cried Bourne, while the boys listened eagerly.“I half thought we should have to go back, but it’s all right. This place only zigzags a bit, and we can get through into the next valley when the beasts have had their feed. It’s much better to go forward than journey back.”“Did you find anything when you were chipping up there?” said Ned.“Yes,” replied the American coolly; “there’s gold in the rock up yonder by the water, and I found this in one little hole.”He took a scrap of yellow metal from his pocket, and held it out to the doctor.“A nugget of gold,” said that gentleman, “very much worn by the water.”“And the stones,” said Griggs sharply; “and no wonder, for it was being swept round and round. One minute I could see it, the next it was gone; but it was washed right into my hand at last. I dare say we might wash a good deal here.”“But you do not propose to stop?”“No, sir; I’ve an idea that this is the most likely part we’ve come to yet. Let’s get on. We could come back then if we found nothing better.”Griggs’ remarks roused the interest of all present, and at the end of half-an-hour, spent by the boys in washing the sand in a pool lower down, where they found a few scales of the rich metal, the journey was continued, Griggs leading, to where all further progress seemed impossible, for they were compelled to halt by the apparent closing-in of the gorge, which presented, in fact, an unclimbable precipice. A few steps farther there was a narrow rift extending from their feet to the top of the cliff a couple of thousand feet above their heads, and literally doubling back into this, they threaded their way along a passage not twenty feet in width, which zigzagged here and there for about a quarter of a mile deeper and deeper into the mountains, growing more and more gloomy, and then all at once displaying the bright glow of sunshine right in front, as if it came round an elbow of the way. A few minutes later Griggs led the party into a vast amphitheatre walled in by towering walls that were on the whole perpendicular, but seamed with rifts running up to natural terraces or breaks in the strata of which the vast walls were composed.The change from the gloom of the zigzag ravine along which they had made their way, to the sunlit amphitheatre, was almost painful, and the party stood in a group shading their eyes, gazing about in silence, till Chris suddenly snatched off his hat, waved it in the air, and with a shout startled the mules into the beginning of a stampede.But this was nipped in the bud, and as soon as the animals were calmed down, the boy cried excitedly—“I didn’t mean to do that. But, I say, we’ve found the old city at last.”“Nay,” cried Griggs, shaking his head. “This don’t go on all fours with our map.”“But it’s a city,” cried Ned eagerly. “It’s precious old; but look all along there, and up yonder, and down that bit—everywhere, there are houses with doorways and windows. Why, there’s quite one side of a street along at the back of that shelf.”“Yes, boys; it’s a city, sure enough,” said the doctor almost as excitedly as the lads. “Why, Griggs, this must be one of the old pueblas that the Spaniards talked about.”“Yes, sir, that’s it, sure enough; a city cut out of the rock-faces of this great shut-in place. Why, it must have been a regular stronghold where thousands of people lived, and we’ve hit upon the way in. I shouldn’t wonder if there’s no way out.”“Oh, there may be at the end yonder. How far is it to where that great rock-wall closes in?”“Mile and a quarter, I should say,” replied the American.“Then at the widest part yonder it must be nearly half-a-mile across,” cried Bourne.“Hardly, sir; say quarter, and here and there not half that.”“But the cliffs seem about the same height,” cried Chris, “just as if they had been cut level.”“Nature cut them then,” cried Griggs, laughing. “Seems to me that it’s just one great fault in a bit of tableland.”“But how could it come so regular?” said Wilton thoughtfully.“Who knows, sir? Earthquake perhaps, or shrinking. Anyhow, here it is, regular rock city such as we’ve read about; and the old folks made it by cutting away. Chopped it out of the stone and by filling up and securing the openings.”“But look at the terraces one above the other. They must have built those.”“Nay, squire; those regular lines are just how the rocks form in ledges and cracks. I s’pose, doctor, we shan’t go any further to-day?”
Daybreak came all too soon for Chris, who sprang up rubbing his eyes and yawning, in response to a summons from Griggs, who stood over the boy like a black figure cut out of cardboard showing against a ruddy glow.
“Why—oh bother! It can’t be time,” cried the boy.
“Yes, it is, and we’re late.”
“So we are. You said daylight, and the sun’s rising.”
“Is it?” said Griggs. “Then it’s before its time. There, unbutton your eyelids and look again. The sun doesn’t crackle and spit when it gets over the world’s edge.”
“Humph!” grunted Chris, as he realised the truth that a roaring fire of pinewood was burning in a sheltered spot. “Have you woke Ned?”
“Yes, and he’s growling for his breakfast. Going to have a sluice first? You’ll just have time.”
Griggs went back to see after the breakfast, and Chris turned to where Ned had lain down on a fragrant pine-bough couch.
“Here, look sharp,” he said. “I suppose we must have a dose of cold water.”
Ned grunted and seemed as ill-humoured as his companion at being awakened from sleep, and the pair hurried through the gloom to the side of the gully, where there was a soft, splashing roar caused by water falling like so much foam from a ledge about a hundred feet above their heads into a rock-pool at their feet.
The boys’ preparations did not take long, neither did the application of their bath. Chris stepped into the rock-pool, took a couple of paces, and stood right in the middle of the descending broken water, uttered a gasp or two, stepped out, and began to apply a rough home-made towel with tremendous energy.
“Is it cold?” said Ned, with a preliminary shiver.
“Ugh! Horrid!” was the smothered reply.
The words seemed to check Ned, but the shock had to be suffered, and he too stepped into the natural shower-bath, and sprang out again, to follow his companion’s example.
“Feel sleepy now?” cried Chris, with a laugh, and in quite a different tone of voice.
“Sleepy? Who could?” was the reply, punctuated with gasps. “My! Isn’t it icy this morning!”
“Yes. Washed all the snarl out of you, old chap,” cried Chris merrily. “I say, you did sound disagreeable.”
“Oh, I like that!” said Ned. “Why, a bear with a sore head was nothing to you.”
“Humph!” grunted Chris, feeling too guilty to defend himself. “I say, feel cold now?”
“No; burning hot,” was the reply. “I say, what a pity there are not falls like this all over the salt desert.”
“There’d be no salt desert if there were,” said Chris, who was now dressing rapidly in the increasing light. “They’d soon wash all the salt away. Look sharp: old Griggs will be shouting directly.”
The word “Breakfast!” came almost as he spoke, and as the boys hurried towards the fire, fully alert now and ready for anything, they saw that the mules were all laden but the one which carried the kitchen, as they called it, and this beast was feasting in company with the ponies.
“Oh, I say, father, it isn’t fair,” cried Chris, in response to the morning greeting. “You know I like to help load.”
“Yes, my boy, but we woke earlier than usual, and I wanted you two to have a good rest, for we shall have a long day.”
Ned was making a similar protest to his father, who responded by telling him that he would be tired enough before night.
The words proved to be quite true, for they had a long, long journey through rugged valley, up steep mountain side, down precipitous gulch, and across many a roaring torrent, one of which necessitated the use of knotted-together ropes to ensure that the mules with their loads were not swept away.
For in spite of the descents they were gradually ascending into a higher mountainous region which grew more and more grand, while, notwithstanding the fierce heat of the sun, fatigue seemed non-existent, as the party drank in the strong, invigorating air.
The ideas that had been suggested about this part of the country being island-like, rising out of a vast sea of salt desert, were proved to be correct, for during quite a fortnight’s journeyings here and there they obtained glimpses in the far distance of the glistening plains over which hung the cloud-like haze of heat.
But whenever after scaling some height their approach towards the boundaries of the island was revealed, the doctor called a halt, and after a discussion with Griggs they struck off in a fresh direction through what proved to be a perfect wonderland of mountain gorge and forest, the home of wild animals and birds, every valley and plain furnishing supplies, while the want of water was never once felt.
“Why, we must have pretty well explored this part of the country,” said Wilton, one evening, as they sat resting and watching the sun-glow dying out amongst the peaks.
“A little bit of it, sir,” said Griggs dryly; “just to show us how we might spend a year or two.”
“What!” cried Wilton with a mocking laugh. “If we started west to-morrow in a couple of good marches we should be right out on the salt plains again.”
“Perhaps so; but this Amurrica’s a bigger place than you think for, sir. We’re going south-west to-morrow, aren’t we, doctor, so as to get a lookout from that double-topped mountain where the tongue of desert came right in?”
“Yes; that is what I proposed,” said the doctor. “He is quite right, Wilton. We have seen only a little of one of the grandest parts of the country I have been in.”
“Like some of the Rockies, sir,” cried Griggs enthusiastically. “I guess that Mr Wilton will alter his opinion as we go on.”
“Perhaps,” said Wilton good-humouredly. “I don’t mind. It is, as you folks say, very grand.”
“Grander than you think, sir,” said Griggs. “I went higher than the doctor yesterday, and I think we’re going to have a surprise to-morrow.”
The surprise did not come that next day as Griggs had prophesied, but two days later, when after an arduous struggle through a wild ravine, with the perpendicular cliffs rising to such a height on either side that the bottom was in twilight at mid-day, they took advantage of a fall of water to halt and refresh their ponies and mules, letting them drink their fill and then begin cropping the rich grass growing near, while wallets were opened and the tired party lay about partaking with excellent appetite of the provisions they had brought with them.
“This is about the wildest place we’ve been in yet, father,” said Chris, as he looked up at the mighty cliffs by which they were enclosed.
The doctor nodded, but Wilton, who heard the remark, made reply.
“Yes,” he said; “I shouldn’t care about being here in a storm. I should expect to have the rocks loosened by every peal of thunder, and come tumbling down upon our heads.”
“A frightful gorge,” said Bourne; “but we seem to have come to the end. It closes in yonder. A regular blind lead.”
“Just the sort of place where we ought to search for minerals,” said the doctor.
“Why don’t you come and lie down for a rest, Griggs?” cried Ned, for the American, after hurrying through his lunch, had gone forward a hundred yards or so to begin climbing up from ledge to ledge, pausing to look round from time to time.
He heard Ned’s question, which came to his ears like a strange whisper, and then again louder as if it was reflected from the rock-face on his left; but he only waved his hand by way of reply and went on climbing higher.
“If he were not as active as a goat,” said the doctor, “I should feel nervous and expect to see him fall.”
“Yes, it is very risky,” said Bourne thoughtfully, “and, though we have you with us, a broken limb would not add to the comfort of our journey.”
“Oh, Griggs won’t fall,” said Chris decisively. “He’s going up there to see where the spring comes from.”
“No,” said the doctor. “He is climbing up beside the fall because the water has worn the gully into rough steps and formed a staircase by which we might get out of this gorge and perhaps find ourselves in another perhaps wilder valley. What’s he doing now?”
“Chipping at the stones by the water-side to see if there’s any gold,” said Ned, who was watching their companion attentively. “But he hasn’t found any, for he’s going on.”
This was the case, and at last they saw him come to a stand as if unwilling, or unable, to go any farther.
“Quite a blind lead there,” said the doctor.
“You wouldn’t attempt to take the mules up there, would you,” said Wilton, “even if he said it was passable?”
“No, it would be folly; too much risk. We’ll go back soon, and try some other way.”
“Here he comes back,” said Chris, as he saw the American turn and begin to descend by another way, leaving the rushing torrent above him and following the sharp descent into the bottom of the gorge, along which he made his way till he was level with and joined them.
“Find the door locked?” said Wilton, laughing.
“No,” was the reply, as the American stretched himself on the grass.
“No? You couldn’t have got along that way any further, could you?” said the doctor.
“Oh yes; the place seems to come to a blank end from here, but from up yonder you can see that it doubles back round a sharp corner to the left.”
“But the mules couldn’t get by?”
“Oh yes; it looks narrow, but not so strait as that. We can ride along.”
“Indeed?” cried Bourne, while the boys listened eagerly.
“I half thought we should have to go back, but it’s all right. This place only zigzags a bit, and we can get through into the next valley when the beasts have had their feed. It’s much better to go forward than journey back.”
“Did you find anything when you were chipping up there?” said Ned.
“Yes,” replied the American coolly; “there’s gold in the rock up yonder by the water, and I found this in one little hole.”
He took a scrap of yellow metal from his pocket, and held it out to the doctor.
“A nugget of gold,” said that gentleman, “very much worn by the water.”
“And the stones,” said Griggs sharply; “and no wonder, for it was being swept round and round. One minute I could see it, the next it was gone; but it was washed right into my hand at last. I dare say we might wash a good deal here.”
“But you do not propose to stop?”
“No, sir; I’ve an idea that this is the most likely part we’ve come to yet. Let’s get on. We could come back then if we found nothing better.”
Griggs’ remarks roused the interest of all present, and at the end of half-an-hour, spent by the boys in washing the sand in a pool lower down, where they found a few scales of the rich metal, the journey was continued, Griggs leading, to where all further progress seemed impossible, for they were compelled to halt by the apparent closing-in of the gorge, which presented, in fact, an unclimbable precipice. A few steps farther there was a narrow rift extending from their feet to the top of the cliff a couple of thousand feet above their heads, and literally doubling back into this, they threaded their way along a passage not twenty feet in width, which zigzagged here and there for about a quarter of a mile deeper and deeper into the mountains, growing more and more gloomy, and then all at once displaying the bright glow of sunshine right in front, as if it came round an elbow of the way. A few minutes later Griggs led the party into a vast amphitheatre walled in by towering walls that were on the whole perpendicular, but seamed with rifts running up to natural terraces or breaks in the strata of which the vast walls were composed.
The change from the gloom of the zigzag ravine along which they had made their way, to the sunlit amphitheatre, was almost painful, and the party stood in a group shading their eyes, gazing about in silence, till Chris suddenly snatched off his hat, waved it in the air, and with a shout startled the mules into the beginning of a stampede.
But this was nipped in the bud, and as soon as the animals were calmed down, the boy cried excitedly—
“I didn’t mean to do that. But, I say, we’ve found the old city at last.”
“Nay,” cried Griggs, shaking his head. “This don’t go on all fours with our map.”
“But it’s a city,” cried Ned eagerly. “It’s precious old; but look all along there, and up yonder, and down that bit—everywhere, there are houses with doorways and windows. Why, there’s quite one side of a street along at the back of that shelf.”
“Yes, boys; it’s a city, sure enough,” said the doctor almost as excitedly as the lads. “Why, Griggs, this must be one of the old pueblas that the Spaniards talked about.”
“Yes, sir, that’s it, sure enough; a city cut out of the rock-faces of this great shut-in place. Why, it must have been a regular stronghold where thousands of people lived, and we’ve hit upon the way in. I shouldn’t wonder if there’s no way out.”
“Oh, there may be at the end yonder. How far is it to where that great rock-wall closes in?”
“Mile and a quarter, I should say,” replied the American.
“Then at the widest part yonder it must be nearly half-a-mile across,” cried Bourne.
“Hardly, sir; say quarter, and here and there not half that.”
“But the cliffs seem about the same height,” cried Chris, “just as if they had been cut level.”
“Nature cut them then,” cried Griggs, laughing. “Seems to me that it’s just one great fault in a bit of tableland.”
“But how could it come so regular?” said Wilton thoughtfully.
“Who knows, sir? Earthquake perhaps, or shrinking. Anyhow, here it is, regular rock city such as we’ve read about; and the old folks made it by cutting away. Chopped it out of the stone and by filling up and securing the openings.”
“But look at the terraces one above the other. They must have built those.”
“Nay, squire; those regular lines are just how the rocks form in ledges and cracks. I s’pose, doctor, we shan’t go any further to-day?”
Chapter Thirty Three.The Water Search.“Certainly not,” cried the doctor. “We must explore this place. But it looks so fresh that most likely we shall find a tribe of Indians living here still.”“Nay,” said Griggs, shaking his head as his keen eyes wandered from place to place along the vast opening. “Indians who lived here must have had horses for going about, and there isn’t a sign of one anywhere. Besides, if there had been any Indians we should have had some of them showing. The fighting men might be away, but there’d be their wives and papooses skulking here and there.”“Yes; a city of the dead,” said the doctor, sweeping the sides of the amphitheatre with his glass. “Not a sign of life but some marmot-like animals yonder. And, as far as I know, there are no Indians who build or carve out such houses as these living now, except the puebla Indians. Well, this is a discovery indeed. We are bound to find some interesting relics here if other travellers have not been beforehand with us.”“Then we shall camp here for a day or two, father?” cried Chris eagerly. “Let’s ride on to the end, and see if there’s a way out yonder.”“Yes, it will be as well,” said the doctor, “and at the same time we can select our camp. But the first thing is to find water.”“If there is none we must go back to that torrent where the gold was found.”“And make some excursions here,” said Wilton.“Must be water somewhere here, sir,” said Griggs uneasily. “There must have been a strong tribe living here at some time—hundreds of ’em, perhaps—and they couldn’t live without drinking.”There was a desolate look about the newly-discovered city, but the bottom between the vast walls was every here and there verdant with grass and shrub, while the walls themselves were dotted with the growth of ages. Bushes were everywhere, while in every crack and cleft, trees had taken root, some being of a pendent growth spreading graceful boughs which waved in the soft wind that from time to time swept through the great depression.“Let’s leave the mules to browse here,” said the doctor; “there’s enough of this short bush to keep them together while we ride on and explore, for I think we may make sure that we have the place to ourselves.”“I won’t say yes to that yet, sir,” said Griggs dryly; “not till we’ve had a good look round. And first thing I’ve got to say is, ’Ware snakes.”“What!” cried the boys, in a breath.“’Ware snakes, as aforesaid, neighbours,” repeated the American. “You may depend upon it some of those gentlemen came creeping or tumbling down from the flats above, found the premises convenient, and are living with large families up in some of these houses.”These words had a strange effect upon the listeners. It was as if all the interest in the place had been crashed out; all desire to explore the wonders of this old city of the past had died away on the instant. As for the boys, their adventures in the desert came back, and clearly standing out were the creeping and writhing poisonous reptiles whose stroke meant a horrible death, lurking ready for them wherever they turned: and a shudder ran through them as if they had just been swept by some icy wind.Then the doctor spoke.“That’s a horrible notion of yours, Griggs,” he said; “but, after all, it is only a guess: there may not be a reptile here.”“So much the better for us, sir,” cried the American cheerily; “but all the same I say it once more—’Ware snakes.”“Yes: you all have a shot-cartridge ready?” said the doctor.“Yes,” came back—one word, and everybody unslung his double piece.“The mules,” said the doctor then—“we must not have them bitten.”“They’ll be pretty safe where they are grazing,” said Griggs coolly. “Rattlesnakes don’t care for places like that. It’s in the stony sandy bits where they can get the full heat of the sun that there is most risk.”“Yes,” said the doctor thoughtfully; “perhaps we might leave them as they are.”“And pick our way slowly and carefully, doctor. Shall I go first?”“I don’t like setting you always where there is most danger,” replied the doctor.“None for me here,” replied Griggs. “It’s my poor mustang who has to run the risk; but I’ll try and save him all I can.”“How?”“Well, I’ve a sort of idea that I can manage it this way,” replied the American, re-slinging his rifle and taking out his strong keen-edged hunting-knife, after dismounting and throwing his rein upon the ground over his pony’s head. The sturdy little creature stood gazing at it, as if full of the belief that the rein held it fast to a peg driven firmly into the ground, and never attempting to move, while its master stepped to a clump of young fir-trees, selecting a sapling about a dozen feet high and cutting it off close to the ground.This done, he proceeded quickly to lop off all the horizontal branches close to the stem, clearing them quickly away all but the thick top, where he left a tuft, and on finishing, had provided himself with a rough lance whose green brush-like top furnished him with the weapon of offence and defence with which he intended to protect his pony.“What are you going to do?” asked Chris, who had been watching him intently.“You come next, and see,” was the reply. “Now, gentlemen, I’ll lead; please follow in single file.”Griggs sent his pony forward at a walk towards the far end of the amphitheatre, holding the fir-pole well-balanced and low-down in front, while, rising in his stirrups, he bent forward, lancer-like, keeping his eyes fixed upon the ground before him, over which he guided his mount. In this way he advanced, still keeping at a walk, avoiding every dangerous-looking spot, keeping to the open, and wherever there was the possibility of a lurking enemy being at hand the tuft at the point of the pole was lowered to the ground and used as a beater to drive out any reptile that might be there.At the commencement the mustang seemed disposed to start and shy, but a few soothing words calmed it, and as if divining the object in view, it stepped out finally, only uttering a snort or two when the green head of the spear was rustled about, the snorts sounding as if given to help scare any danger away.“Don’t seem to be any, Griggs,” said Chris.“Not yet, my lad,” was the reply. “You see, I’m picking out the least likely bits; but one never knows.”“There goes one,” shouted Chris the next moment, and he raised his piece to his shoulder.“Don’t fire; he’s got well into cover,” cried Griggs. “It was a snake, but I don’t think it was a rattler, for he didn’t talk with his tail.”“No; I didn’t hear him rattle. Why did you tell me not to fire?”“Because you wouldn’t have hit the brute, only wasted a cartridge.”There had been no check, and they rode slowly on and on till the end of the depression had been reached, Griggs’s plan resulting in starting off altogether five dangerous-looking serpents from the spots where they lay ready to scuttle in amongst the growth at the first movement of the extemporised weapon—the last of the fleeing reptiles proving its dangerous nature as it hurried away by giving off a harsh, dull, rattling sound with its quivering tail.A careful examination was made to the left without effect, and another to the right, but everywhere they were faced by the precipitous wall of cliff, carved-out and terraced, and here and there offering facilities for climbing up more or less high, the stones from above having fallen from the weakening and decay of time till a glacis-like slope had been formed; but after the reptiles that had been started in the less likely places, there was no present temptation for ascending the stony slopes, bathed in the hot sunshine and looking thoroughly suited for the home of the dangerous creatures.This exploration of the lower part of the amphitheatre, ravine, or depression tempted farther search, the party riding on, and after examining cautiously the sides, visiting the upper portion near the zigzag gorge by which they had entered; but only to find that there was no other means of access to the city unless by a descent from the tableland in which the place seemed to be formed.“And snakes seem to be the only inhabitants,” said Chris to his companion. “Why, Griggs, we can’t stop here.”“Not unless we can find water,” said the American.“And not even then,” replied the boy, “with the risk of getting bitten.”“If there are no more than we started we’re not going to give up for that,” said Griggs coolly. “Why, they’re quite scarce.”“But we haven’t been upward on those terraces. They may be swarming there,” cried Chris.“Yes, and there may be none. We don’t want to go up there to-day. What we want is water. Now, where is it?”“Nowhere, seemingly.”“Oh, that notion won’t do,” said the American. “Here, it is plain enough that once upon a time this was a big place with no end of people living in it.”“Yes; so my father thought.”“Very well, then; I dare say it was just such a dry, hot place as it is now, and they must have had water close at hand, or they wouldn’t have settled here.”“They got it out of the gully through which we came.”“No, that won’t do,” cried Griggs. “This was the old people’s stronghold, where they could be safe and set all their enemies at defiance. Everything points to that. Don’t it?”“I think so,” said Chris grudgingly.“Well, then, it isn’t likely that they would depend on a fall of water from which the first enemies who attacked them could cut them off and leave them to die of thirst.”“I never thought of that,” said Chris, as, separated now from the rest, they allowed their ponies to pace slowly on, nibbling off such juicy shoots as came in their way.“It isn’t likely,” said Griggs. “There must be water somewhere—a fine fall that comes down from the plain up above, or they wouldn’t have chosen this spot.”“Perhaps there used to be one, and it has dried-up.”“Nay; the place is too green. Water must come on the high ground somewhere and find its way into this great hollow. Anyhow, it’s out of sight, so it’s underneath somewhere.”“Then we shan’t find it.”“I don’t know about that, my lad,” replied the American, with a little laugh. “There’s other senses besides seeing.”“Yes, smelling,” said Chris, with a smile; “but we can’t find it that way.”“Don’t you be in too great a hurry, my lad. We’re going to have another good hunt round at the bottom of these great cliffs, and if that comes to nothing we might try smelling.”“Ah! Nothing but a dog would be any use there.”“In a hurry again, boy. I’d back something else to find water before a dog.”“A fish on dry land?”“Tchah! No. What was it found the lake for us the other day?”“The mule,” cried Chris.“Got it again,” said Griggs, laughing. “I don’t say he would, but I shouldn’t at all wonder, if we brought old Skeeter round, as like as not he’d smell out the place.”“Buried under some of these great stone slides that have come down?”“To be sure, my lad. Now, that’s a likely place.”Griggs pointed to a huge gap in the cliff away to their right where the carved-out openings running along behind a rough terrace a hundred feet up the vast wall suddenly ceased as if broken off, and commenced again at about the same height on the other side of the gap.“Let’s go and look, then,” said Chris; “but it doesn’t seem very likely, for it’s all one bank of piled-up stones.”“That have run down from up yonder like those avalanches we read about. Mind how you come, for it’s a snaky-looking bit. Go on, old chap; I’ll sweep the way for you with my fir-pole.”Chris felt a creepy sensation at the allusion to snakes, and his eyes looked very wide open as he followed close behind his companion, whose pony picked its steps with the greatest caution, the way growing more and more encumbered with stones as they neared the slope which filled up the gap.“It looks as if there had been an earthquake. What a roar there must have been when these stones came tumbling down!”“More likely that water had been coming down in a regular stream for hundreds and hundreds of years till all the earth and small stones had been washed away and made a great hollow underneath which held up the cliff as long as it could, and then gave way all at once.”“You’re talking as if a torrent ran down from the top of the cliff yonder.”“Jusso,” said Griggs.“Then where did it go to?” said Chris.“That’s what we’ve got to find out. Got a hole of its own underground, perhaps, and dives down, to come up again miles away, perhaps, and—Water it is!”“Where?” cried Chris excitedly, and he threw up his head, his nostrils expanded, and he sniffed loudly.Griggs threw up his head too, but he did not open his nostrils and sniff loudly. He only laughed.“More ways of killing a cat than hanging it,” he cried merrily. “Other ways besides seeing and smelling. Hark!”They had pushed their way in among the outer blocks that had bounded farthest, and their ponies had halted at the bottom of the slope because they could go no farther without attempting to climb.“Hark? What to—what at? I can’t hear anything. Yes, I can,” cried the boy excitedly. “It’s a singing, gurgling noise. Why, Griggs, you’re right. There’s water running down below here.”“Well done, hearing!” cried Griggs. “I’ll be bound to say there’s a big natural tunnel down below here. One minute. Let’s try a bit more to the right.”They dismounted, and Griggs led the way, brushing the rocks about with his pole as he climbed up and up, listening the while, for about sixty or seventy yards, and then he stopped short, picked up a stone about as big as his head, and pitched it away forward.There was silence for a few moments, and then, just as Chris climbed up alongside and found himself on the edge of a deep chasm going down into gloom, he heard a hollow, echoing splash.“Sounds like water,” said Griggs coolly, “and plenty of it.”“Yes,” cried Chris, as he listened. “Why, I heard that dull, rumbling sound before,” he continued, as he bent over, “but it seemed to come from high up in the cliffs, and I thought it was the wind.”“So did I,” said Griggs. “I suppose the sound comes up and strikes against the rock-face, to be reflected off to where we could hear it down below.”“Would it be?”“To be sure, my lad. Sound’s just like light in that. It strikes against anything and goes off, they say, at the same angle, and then perhaps it’s only in one position that you can see it. Same here: there’s one part down below where we can catch this rumbling, hissing echo.”“But you don’t call that finding water? What a horrible place! How are we to get at it?”“Oh, easily enough,” said Griggs coolly. “You’ll have to go down with all the bottles and fill them.”“What! Down there?”“Yes. Shouldn’t you like the job?”“Of course not.”“Well, then, I must,” said Griggs, laughing.“No, that wouldn’t be fair.”“Never mind; we’ll argue that out afterwards,” said Griggs merrily. “Anyhow, we’ve found what we wanted.”Clapping his hands to the sides of his mouth, he shouted “Water!” and the rest of the party began to move towards them, delighted with the news.“Any snakes about?” cried the doctor, as they reached the foot of the slope.“Haven’t seen any up here,” was the reply; and the party climbed up to stand at the edge of the great pit-like place, gazing down and listening to the hollow, echoing roar of what was evidently a large body of water.“Well done!” cried the doctor. “Why, there must be quite a tunnel below here.”“I think not, sir; it’s only a narrow path in the side of the place, partly filled up with the big stones fallen from above; but there’s evidently a great well-like place going right down ever so deep to flow underground.”“But how are we to get at the water now we have found it?” said Wilton. “I for one am not going down there.”“It ought to be some one light and active, not a big, strong man,” said Griggs dryly. “P’r’aps Mr Ned here wouldn’t mind.”Ned’s face underwent such a change, becoming contracted in so absurd a manner, that Chris burst into a roar of laughter and began to stamp about.“Oh yes, it’s very funny,” cried Ned, in an ill-used tone. “Perhaps Chris would like the job.”“Not I,” cried the boy. “Nobody could go down there.”“I’m afraid not,” said the doctor, peering down and listening to the deep, hollow roar. “Then we’ve had all our trouble for nothing.”“Oh no, sir,” said Griggs; “the hole doesn’t go straight down. We’re all thirsty, and it would be a long job to go all the way back to that fall. We’d better give the animals what we have in the tubs, and I’ll go down with one and fill it again.”“No, no; we must go back.”“Before we’ve explored this place, sir? Why, as likely as not we shall find it is another gold city when we come to search. I’ll go down.”“It is too risky, man. Suppose you slipped?”“Ah, that would be awkward; and you’d have to go miles away to look for the hole where I came out,” said Griggs, laughing; “but I’m not going to run any risks of that sort. I’ve too much liking for old Griggs, as young Chris here calls me. Oh, it’s easy enough, sir. I’ll take down one of the barrels with some of the lariats knotted together and one end made fast round my chest. Then if I slip you can haul me up.”“I hardly like letting you go,” said the doctor, speaking dubiously.“It’ll be easy enough,” said the American coolly. “I’ll do it.”They went back to where the mules were grazing, distributed the contents of one barrel amongst them, and then brought the empty vessel up to the edge of the gap, where Griggs set busily to work knotting the hide-ropes they had with them tightly together, after which a bundle of dry pine-boughs was lit, after being bound together with a bit of chain attached to the end of the lariats.The wood was soon blazing brightly, and it was then lowered down, to keep on touching at the side of what proved to be a sharp slope, but only to be shaken clear again and go on lighting up the sloping, cave-like place, till as the watchers peered down they suddenly caught sight of the reflection of the ruddy, smoky light, and upon the blazing faggot descending another few feet after lodging once more, they could see the rushing water tearing along, to pass right beneath where the observers stood.By this time the faggot was burning rapidly away, and fiery brands began to drop, to fall with a hiss into the underground torrent, some to become extinct on the moment, while others glided out of sight on the surface, giving a good idea of the extent of the place.“There,” said Griggs coolly, “it’s all right, you see, sir. We’ll have two ropes, one for the barrels and one for a life-line. I shall take one of the lanthorns down with me. Say, young Chris, I hope we shan’t have made the water taste of burnt wood and turpentine.”“There’s no fear of that,” said the doctor; “all that water will be far away before you reach the surface. Are you making those knots sure?”“You may trust me, sir,” said Griggs, coolly enough. “Why, what a fuss we’re making about going twenty feet down at the end of a rope. I believe I could creep down those stones easy enough without. May as well have a line round me, though, I suppose.”“You’ll not go down without,” said the doctor decisively.The preparations did not take long, “only long enough to make us more thirsty,” Griggs said; and then of the two lines made ready, one was attached to the barrel carefully and well, the other made fast about the American’s chest.“I don’t like for him to go down,” said Chris, aside, to his companion.“I don’t either,” replied Ned.“It seems so unfair when I’m so much lighter,” continued Chris excitedly, “and as if I ought to go.” Then on the impulse of the moment, “Here, father, I’ll go down instead.”“Shame!” cried Griggs merrily. “Do you want to rob a poor fellow of having the first drink? No, thank you; this is my job, and I won’t give it up to any one. Now then, we’re all ready, I think.”“What about the lanthorn?” cried Bourne.“I won’t have it, thank you, sir,” said Griggs. “It’ll only be in the way, and I shan’t want it. Looks dark down there, but it’ll be light enough when I get below for all that I’ve got to do.”“But it looks horribly dark,” whispered Chris, who stood close to Griggs.“Yes, from here, because you are looking into a dark hole. When I am down there I shall be able to look up here at the sunshine.”“Light the lanthorn, boys, and tie it to the end of a couple of the ropes. We have plenty, have we not?”“Oh yes, plenty,” said Wilton, and in a very short time the light was ready in case of an emergency.“Now then,” said Griggs; “I dare say I shall be able to climb up again after I have done, but if I can’t I suppose two will be strong enough to haul me up.”“We can have three if necessary,” said Bourne excitedly, for he looked the most nervous of any one present.“Lower down the barrel, then, my lads. You can do that,” said Griggs. “Just let it touch the water. You’ll know when it does, for there will be a tug to sweep it away; but don’t let it go. Haul it up a few feet then, and be ready to lower it again when I shout.”“Yes,” was the reply, in a husky whisper, and directly after the barrel was following the course previously taken by the burning faggot, but without catching, its shape allowing it to pass down the steep slope, till the expected jerk was given as it kissed the water, when it was snatched back out of the current’s reach.“That’s all right, then,” said Griggs cheerily. “Now, look here, I shall want you to lower it again so that I can press the bung-hole under water. Most likely I shall have to do this with my foot, because my hands will be wanted for holding on. You understand?”“Oh yes, we see,” cried Chris.“Then down I go,” said Griggs.“Stop!” cried the doctor, and his companions drew a deep breath which sounded as if they were greatly relieved.“What’s the matter? Knots loose?”“No, but I don’t see that it is necessary for you to go down. We’ll let the barrel go into the water, and it will fill itself.”“Not it,” said Griggs. “It will only be battered to pieces against the rocks there.”“I don’t know,” said the doctor. “We’ll try. I don’t think we ought to let you go down save as a last resource.”“Very well, then,” cried Griggs. “Suppose you try.”The doctor had already joined the boys at the rope and helped to lower the barrel down to the surface once again, to be, as it were, literally seized by the current; and as those above held on there was a strange, hollow, echoing noise as it was banged from side to side for a minute or two, before Griggs cried—“That’ll do. If there’s much more of that all the hoops will be torn off. Haul up a bit. You see I must go, sir.”The barrel was raised a little once more, and as soon as this was done Griggs turned to Wilton and Bourne, who held the rope fastened about his breast.“Ready?” he said.“Yes,” was the reply.“Keep it just tight enough to feel me, but not enough to hinder me as I get down from stone to stone. I don’t mean to if I can help it, but be prepared for a slip.”The next minute they could see their companion descending from block to block, his form growing fainter each few seconds, during which he made no strain upon the rope, which was steadily drawn through the holders’ hands, the doctor having stepped behind the others to form a third, while Chris and Ned lay down upon their chests so as to watch the brave fellow’s descent.“All easy going,” said Griggs, his voice coming up out of the gloom, and sounding hollow and strange.The rope glided down, and a strange, harsh, rasping sound was made as the adventurer lowered himself from stone to stone till he must have been half-way down, when all at once there was a violent tug at the rope, a crash as of something giving way, and directly after a deep, echoing roar as of a heavy body plunging into deep water far below.
“Certainly not,” cried the doctor. “We must explore this place. But it looks so fresh that most likely we shall find a tribe of Indians living here still.”
“Nay,” said Griggs, shaking his head as his keen eyes wandered from place to place along the vast opening. “Indians who lived here must have had horses for going about, and there isn’t a sign of one anywhere. Besides, if there had been any Indians we should have had some of them showing. The fighting men might be away, but there’d be their wives and papooses skulking here and there.”
“Yes; a city of the dead,” said the doctor, sweeping the sides of the amphitheatre with his glass. “Not a sign of life but some marmot-like animals yonder. And, as far as I know, there are no Indians who build or carve out such houses as these living now, except the puebla Indians. Well, this is a discovery indeed. We are bound to find some interesting relics here if other travellers have not been beforehand with us.”
“Then we shall camp here for a day or two, father?” cried Chris eagerly. “Let’s ride on to the end, and see if there’s a way out yonder.”
“Yes, it will be as well,” said the doctor, “and at the same time we can select our camp. But the first thing is to find water.”
“If there is none we must go back to that torrent where the gold was found.”
“And make some excursions here,” said Wilton.
“Must be water somewhere here, sir,” said Griggs uneasily. “There must have been a strong tribe living here at some time—hundreds of ’em, perhaps—and they couldn’t live without drinking.”
There was a desolate look about the newly-discovered city, but the bottom between the vast walls was every here and there verdant with grass and shrub, while the walls themselves were dotted with the growth of ages. Bushes were everywhere, while in every crack and cleft, trees had taken root, some being of a pendent growth spreading graceful boughs which waved in the soft wind that from time to time swept through the great depression.
“Let’s leave the mules to browse here,” said the doctor; “there’s enough of this short bush to keep them together while we ride on and explore, for I think we may make sure that we have the place to ourselves.”
“I won’t say yes to that yet, sir,” said Griggs dryly; “not till we’ve had a good look round. And first thing I’ve got to say is, ’Ware snakes.”
“What!” cried the boys, in a breath.
“’Ware snakes, as aforesaid, neighbours,” repeated the American. “You may depend upon it some of those gentlemen came creeping or tumbling down from the flats above, found the premises convenient, and are living with large families up in some of these houses.”
These words had a strange effect upon the listeners. It was as if all the interest in the place had been crashed out; all desire to explore the wonders of this old city of the past had died away on the instant. As for the boys, their adventures in the desert came back, and clearly standing out were the creeping and writhing poisonous reptiles whose stroke meant a horrible death, lurking ready for them wherever they turned: and a shudder ran through them as if they had just been swept by some icy wind.
Then the doctor spoke.
“That’s a horrible notion of yours, Griggs,” he said; “but, after all, it is only a guess: there may not be a reptile here.”
“So much the better for us, sir,” cried the American cheerily; “but all the same I say it once more—’Ware snakes.”
“Yes: you all have a shot-cartridge ready?” said the doctor.
“Yes,” came back—one word, and everybody unslung his double piece.
“The mules,” said the doctor then—“we must not have them bitten.”
“They’ll be pretty safe where they are grazing,” said Griggs coolly. “Rattlesnakes don’t care for places like that. It’s in the stony sandy bits where they can get the full heat of the sun that there is most risk.”
“Yes,” said the doctor thoughtfully; “perhaps we might leave them as they are.”
“And pick our way slowly and carefully, doctor. Shall I go first?”
“I don’t like setting you always where there is most danger,” replied the doctor.
“None for me here,” replied Griggs. “It’s my poor mustang who has to run the risk; but I’ll try and save him all I can.”
“How?”
“Well, I’ve a sort of idea that I can manage it this way,” replied the American, re-slinging his rifle and taking out his strong keen-edged hunting-knife, after dismounting and throwing his rein upon the ground over his pony’s head. The sturdy little creature stood gazing at it, as if full of the belief that the rein held it fast to a peg driven firmly into the ground, and never attempting to move, while its master stepped to a clump of young fir-trees, selecting a sapling about a dozen feet high and cutting it off close to the ground.
This done, he proceeded quickly to lop off all the horizontal branches close to the stem, clearing them quickly away all but the thick top, where he left a tuft, and on finishing, had provided himself with a rough lance whose green brush-like top furnished him with the weapon of offence and defence with which he intended to protect his pony.
“What are you going to do?” asked Chris, who had been watching him intently.
“You come next, and see,” was the reply. “Now, gentlemen, I’ll lead; please follow in single file.”
Griggs sent his pony forward at a walk towards the far end of the amphitheatre, holding the fir-pole well-balanced and low-down in front, while, rising in his stirrups, he bent forward, lancer-like, keeping his eyes fixed upon the ground before him, over which he guided his mount. In this way he advanced, still keeping at a walk, avoiding every dangerous-looking spot, keeping to the open, and wherever there was the possibility of a lurking enemy being at hand the tuft at the point of the pole was lowered to the ground and used as a beater to drive out any reptile that might be there.
At the commencement the mustang seemed disposed to start and shy, but a few soothing words calmed it, and as if divining the object in view, it stepped out finally, only uttering a snort or two when the green head of the spear was rustled about, the snorts sounding as if given to help scare any danger away.
“Don’t seem to be any, Griggs,” said Chris.
“Not yet, my lad,” was the reply. “You see, I’m picking out the least likely bits; but one never knows.”
“There goes one,” shouted Chris the next moment, and he raised his piece to his shoulder.
“Don’t fire; he’s got well into cover,” cried Griggs. “It was a snake, but I don’t think it was a rattler, for he didn’t talk with his tail.”
“No; I didn’t hear him rattle. Why did you tell me not to fire?”
“Because you wouldn’t have hit the brute, only wasted a cartridge.”
There had been no check, and they rode slowly on and on till the end of the depression had been reached, Griggs’s plan resulting in starting off altogether five dangerous-looking serpents from the spots where they lay ready to scuttle in amongst the growth at the first movement of the extemporised weapon—the last of the fleeing reptiles proving its dangerous nature as it hurried away by giving off a harsh, dull, rattling sound with its quivering tail.
A careful examination was made to the left without effect, and another to the right, but everywhere they were faced by the precipitous wall of cliff, carved-out and terraced, and here and there offering facilities for climbing up more or less high, the stones from above having fallen from the weakening and decay of time till a glacis-like slope had been formed; but after the reptiles that had been started in the less likely places, there was no present temptation for ascending the stony slopes, bathed in the hot sunshine and looking thoroughly suited for the home of the dangerous creatures.
This exploration of the lower part of the amphitheatre, ravine, or depression tempted farther search, the party riding on, and after examining cautiously the sides, visiting the upper portion near the zigzag gorge by which they had entered; but only to find that there was no other means of access to the city unless by a descent from the tableland in which the place seemed to be formed.
“And snakes seem to be the only inhabitants,” said Chris to his companion. “Why, Griggs, we can’t stop here.”
“Not unless we can find water,” said the American.
“And not even then,” replied the boy, “with the risk of getting bitten.”
“If there are no more than we started we’re not going to give up for that,” said Griggs coolly. “Why, they’re quite scarce.”
“But we haven’t been upward on those terraces. They may be swarming there,” cried Chris.
“Yes, and there may be none. We don’t want to go up there to-day. What we want is water. Now, where is it?”
“Nowhere, seemingly.”
“Oh, that notion won’t do,” said the American. “Here, it is plain enough that once upon a time this was a big place with no end of people living in it.”
“Yes; so my father thought.”
“Very well, then; I dare say it was just such a dry, hot place as it is now, and they must have had water close at hand, or they wouldn’t have settled here.”
“They got it out of the gully through which we came.”
“No, that won’t do,” cried Griggs. “This was the old people’s stronghold, where they could be safe and set all their enemies at defiance. Everything points to that. Don’t it?”
“I think so,” said Chris grudgingly.
“Well, then, it isn’t likely that they would depend on a fall of water from which the first enemies who attacked them could cut them off and leave them to die of thirst.”
“I never thought of that,” said Chris, as, separated now from the rest, they allowed their ponies to pace slowly on, nibbling off such juicy shoots as came in their way.
“It isn’t likely,” said Griggs. “There must be water somewhere—a fine fall that comes down from the plain up above, or they wouldn’t have chosen this spot.”
“Perhaps there used to be one, and it has dried-up.”
“Nay; the place is too green. Water must come on the high ground somewhere and find its way into this great hollow. Anyhow, it’s out of sight, so it’s underneath somewhere.”
“Then we shan’t find it.”
“I don’t know about that, my lad,” replied the American, with a little laugh. “There’s other senses besides seeing.”
“Yes, smelling,” said Chris, with a smile; “but we can’t find it that way.”
“Don’t you be in too great a hurry, my lad. We’re going to have another good hunt round at the bottom of these great cliffs, and if that comes to nothing we might try smelling.”
“Ah! Nothing but a dog would be any use there.”
“In a hurry again, boy. I’d back something else to find water before a dog.”
“A fish on dry land?”
“Tchah! No. What was it found the lake for us the other day?”
“The mule,” cried Chris.
“Got it again,” said Griggs, laughing. “I don’t say he would, but I shouldn’t at all wonder, if we brought old Skeeter round, as like as not he’d smell out the place.”
“Buried under some of these great stone slides that have come down?”
“To be sure, my lad. Now, that’s a likely place.”
Griggs pointed to a huge gap in the cliff away to their right where the carved-out openings running along behind a rough terrace a hundred feet up the vast wall suddenly ceased as if broken off, and commenced again at about the same height on the other side of the gap.
“Let’s go and look, then,” said Chris; “but it doesn’t seem very likely, for it’s all one bank of piled-up stones.”
“That have run down from up yonder like those avalanches we read about. Mind how you come, for it’s a snaky-looking bit. Go on, old chap; I’ll sweep the way for you with my fir-pole.”
Chris felt a creepy sensation at the allusion to snakes, and his eyes looked very wide open as he followed close behind his companion, whose pony picked its steps with the greatest caution, the way growing more and more encumbered with stones as they neared the slope which filled up the gap.
“It looks as if there had been an earthquake. What a roar there must have been when these stones came tumbling down!”
“More likely that water had been coming down in a regular stream for hundreds and hundreds of years till all the earth and small stones had been washed away and made a great hollow underneath which held up the cliff as long as it could, and then gave way all at once.”
“You’re talking as if a torrent ran down from the top of the cliff yonder.”
“Jusso,” said Griggs.
“Then where did it go to?” said Chris.
“That’s what we’ve got to find out. Got a hole of its own underground, perhaps, and dives down, to come up again miles away, perhaps, and—Water it is!”
“Where?” cried Chris excitedly, and he threw up his head, his nostrils expanded, and he sniffed loudly.
Griggs threw up his head too, but he did not open his nostrils and sniff loudly. He only laughed.
“More ways of killing a cat than hanging it,” he cried merrily. “Other ways besides seeing and smelling. Hark!”
They had pushed their way in among the outer blocks that had bounded farthest, and their ponies had halted at the bottom of the slope because they could go no farther without attempting to climb.
“Hark? What to—what at? I can’t hear anything. Yes, I can,” cried the boy excitedly. “It’s a singing, gurgling noise. Why, Griggs, you’re right. There’s water running down below here.”
“Well done, hearing!” cried Griggs. “I’ll be bound to say there’s a big natural tunnel down below here. One minute. Let’s try a bit more to the right.”
They dismounted, and Griggs led the way, brushing the rocks about with his pole as he climbed up and up, listening the while, for about sixty or seventy yards, and then he stopped short, picked up a stone about as big as his head, and pitched it away forward.
There was silence for a few moments, and then, just as Chris climbed up alongside and found himself on the edge of a deep chasm going down into gloom, he heard a hollow, echoing splash.
“Sounds like water,” said Griggs coolly, “and plenty of it.”
“Yes,” cried Chris, as he listened. “Why, I heard that dull, rumbling sound before,” he continued, as he bent over, “but it seemed to come from high up in the cliffs, and I thought it was the wind.”
“So did I,” said Griggs. “I suppose the sound comes up and strikes against the rock-face, to be reflected off to where we could hear it down below.”
“Would it be?”
“To be sure, my lad. Sound’s just like light in that. It strikes against anything and goes off, they say, at the same angle, and then perhaps it’s only in one position that you can see it. Same here: there’s one part down below where we can catch this rumbling, hissing echo.”
“But you don’t call that finding water? What a horrible place! How are we to get at it?”
“Oh, easily enough,” said Griggs coolly. “You’ll have to go down with all the bottles and fill them.”
“What! Down there?”
“Yes. Shouldn’t you like the job?”
“Of course not.”
“Well, then, I must,” said Griggs, laughing.
“No, that wouldn’t be fair.”
“Never mind; we’ll argue that out afterwards,” said Griggs merrily. “Anyhow, we’ve found what we wanted.”
Clapping his hands to the sides of his mouth, he shouted “Water!” and the rest of the party began to move towards them, delighted with the news.
“Any snakes about?” cried the doctor, as they reached the foot of the slope.
“Haven’t seen any up here,” was the reply; and the party climbed up to stand at the edge of the great pit-like place, gazing down and listening to the hollow, echoing roar of what was evidently a large body of water.
“Well done!” cried the doctor. “Why, there must be quite a tunnel below here.”
“I think not, sir; it’s only a narrow path in the side of the place, partly filled up with the big stones fallen from above; but there’s evidently a great well-like place going right down ever so deep to flow underground.”
“But how are we to get at the water now we have found it?” said Wilton. “I for one am not going down there.”
“It ought to be some one light and active, not a big, strong man,” said Griggs dryly. “P’r’aps Mr Ned here wouldn’t mind.”
Ned’s face underwent such a change, becoming contracted in so absurd a manner, that Chris burst into a roar of laughter and began to stamp about.
“Oh yes, it’s very funny,” cried Ned, in an ill-used tone. “Perhaps Chris would like the job.”
“Not I,” cried the boy. “Nobody could go down there.”
“I’m afraid not,” said the doctor, peering down and listening to the deep, hollow roar. “Then we’ve had all our trouble for nothing.”
“Oh no, sir,” said Griggs; “the hole doesn’t go straight down. We’re all thirsty, and it would be a long job to go all the way back to that fall. We’d better give the animals what we have in the tubs, and I’ll go down with one and fill it again.”
“No, no; we must go back.”
“Before we’ve explored this place, sir? Why, as likely as not we shall find it is another gold city when we come to search. I’ll go down.”
“It is too risky, man. Suppose you slipped?”
“Ah, that would be awkward; and you’d have to go miles away to look for the hole where I came out,” said Griggs, laughing; “but I’m not going to run any risks of that sort. I’ve too much liking for old Griggs, as young Chris here calls me. Oh, it’s easy enough, sir. I’ll take down one of the barrels with some of the lariats knotted together and one end made fast round my chest. Then if I slip you can haul me up.”
“I hardly like letting you go,” said the doctor, speaking dubiously.
“It’ll be easy enough,” said the American coolly. “I’ll do it.”
They went back to where the mules were grazing, distributed the contents of one barrel amongst them, and then brought the empty vessel up to the edge of the gap, where Griggs set busily to work knotting the hide-ropes they had with them tightly together, after which a bundle of dry pine-boughs was lit, after being bound together with a bit of chain attached to the end of the lariats.
The wood was soon blazing brightly, and it was then lowered down, to keep on touching at the side of what proved to be a sharp slope, but only to be shaken clear again and go on lighting up the sloping, cave-like place, till as the watchers peered down they suddenly caught sight of the reflection of the ruddy, smoky light, and upon the blazing faggot descending another few feet after lodging once more, they could see the rushing water tearing along, to pass right beneath where the observers stood.
By this time the faggot was burning rapidly away, and fiery brands began to drop, to fall with a hiss into the underground torrent, some to become extinct on the moment, while others glided out of sight on the surface, giving a good idea of the extent of the place.
“There,” said Griggs coolly, “it’s all right, you see, sir. We’ll have two ropes, one for the barrels and one for a life-line. I shall take one of the lanthorns down with me. Say, young Chris, I hope we shan’t have made the water taste of burnt wood and turpentine.”
“There’s no fear of that,” said the doctor; “all that water will be far away before you reach the surface. Are you making those knots sure?”
“You may trust me, sir,” said Griggs, coolly enough. “Why, what a fuss we’re making about going twenty feet down at the end of a rope. I believe I could creep down those stones easy enough without. May as well have a line round me, though, I suppose.”
“You’ll not go down without,” said the doctor decisively.
The preparations did not take long, “only long enough to make us more thirsty,” Griggs said; and then of the two lines made ready, one was attached to the barrel carefully and well, the other made fast about the American’s chest.
“I don’t like for him to go down,” said Chris, aside, to his companion.
“I don’t either,” replied Ned.
“It seems so unfair when I’m so much lighter,” continued Chris excitedly, “and as if I ought to go.” Then on the impulse of the moment, “Here, father, I’ll go down instead.”
“Shame!” cried Griggs merrily. “Do you want to rob a poor fellow of having the first drink? No, thank you; this is my job, and I won’t give it up to any one. Now then, we’re all ready, I think.”
“What about the lanthorn?” cried Bourne.
“I won’t have it, thank you, sir,” said Griggs. “It’ll only be in the way, and I shan’t want it. Looks dark down there, but it’ll be light enough when I get below for all that I’ve got to do.”
“But it looks horribly dark,” whispered Chris, who stood close to Griggs.
“Yes, from here, because you are looking into a dark hole. When I am down there I shall be able to look up here at the sunshine.”
“Light the lanthorn, boys, and tie it to the end of a couple of the ropes. We have plenty, have we not?”
“Oh yes, plenty,” said Wilton, and in a very short time the light was ready in case of an emergency.
“Now then,” said Griggs; “I dare say I shall be able to climb up again after I have done, but if I can’t I suppose two will be strong enough to haul me up.”
“We can have three if necessary,” said Bourne excitedly, for he looked the most nervous of any one present.
“Lower down the barrel, then, my lads. You can do that,” said Griggs. “Just let it touch the water. You’ll know when it does, for there will be a tug to sweep it away; but don’t let it go. Haul it up a few feet then, and be ready to lower it again when I shout.”
“Yes,” was the reply, in a husky whisper, and directly after the barrel was following the course previously taken by the burning faggot, but without catching, its shape allowing it to pass down the steep slope, till the expected jerk was given as it kissed the water, when it was snatched back out of the current’s reach.
“That’s all right, then,” said Griggs cheerily. “Now, look here, I shall want you to lower it again so that I can press the bung-hole under water. Most likely I shall have to do this with my foot, because my hands will be wanted for holding on. You understand?”
“Oh yes, we see,” cried Chris.
“Then down I go,” said Griggs.
“Stop!” cried the doctor, and his companions drew a deep breath which sounded as if they were greatly relieved.
“What’s the matter? Knots loose?”
“No, but I don’t see that it is necessary for you to go down. We’ll let the barrel go into the water, and it will fill itself.”
“Not it,” said Griggs. “It will only be battered to pieces against the rocks there.”
“I don’t know,” said the doctor. “We’ll try. I don’t think we ought to let you go down save as a last resource.”
“Very well, then,” cried Griggs. “Suppose you try.”
The doctor had already joined the boys at the rope and helped to lower the barrel down to the surface once again, to be, as it were, literally seized by the current; and as those above held on there was a strange, hollow, echoing noise as it was banged from side to side for a minute or two, before Griggs cried—
“That’ll do. If there’s much more of that all the hoops will be torn off. Haul up a bit. You see I must go, sir.”
The barrel was raised a little once more, and as soon as this was done Griggs turned to Wilton and Bourne, who held the rope fastened about his breast.
“Ready?” he said.
“Yes,” was the reply.
“Keep it just tight enough to feel me, but not enough to hinder me as I get down from stone to stone. I don’t mean to if I can help it, but be prepared for a slip.”
The next minute they could see their companion descending from block to block, his form growing fainter each few seconds, during which he made no strain upon the rope, which was steadily drawn through the holders’ hands, the doctor having stepped behind the others to form a third, while Chris and Ned lay down upon their chests so as to watch the brave fellow’s descent.
“All easy going,” said Griggs, his voice coming up out of the gloom, and sounding hollow and strange.
The rope glided down, and a strange, harsh, rasping sound was made as the adventurer lowered himself from stone to stone till he must have been half-way down, when all at once there was a violent tug at the rope, a crash as of something giving way, and directly after a deep, echoing roar as of a heavy body plunging into deep water far below.