Chapter Eighteen.

Chapter Eighteen.Two Horrors.Morning at last, and from their hiding-place the fugitives could see that the Indians were in great numbers, and whilst some were with their horses, others were gathered together in a crowd about the post-like tree-trunk half-way between the gate of the mountains, as Bart called it, and the camp.The greatest caution was needed to keep themselves from the keen sight of the Indians, who had apparently seen nothing of the horses’ trail; and as far as Bart could tell, Joses was so far safe. Still it was like this:— If the Indians should begin to examine the face of the rock, they must find both entries, and then it was a question of brave defence, though it seemed impossible but that numbers must gain the mastery in the end.“Poor Joses!” thought Bart, and the tears rose to his eyes. “I’d give anything to be by his side, to fight with him and defend the horses.”Then he began to wonder how many charges of powder he would have, and how long he could hold out.“A good many will fall before they do master him,” thought Bart, “if he’s not captured already. I wonder whether they have hurt Juan and Sam.”Just then the crowd about the post fell back, and the Doctor put his glass to his eye, and then uttered a cry of horror.He glanced round directly to see if Maude had heard him, but she, poor girl, had fallen fast asleep in the niche where they had placed her, to be out of reach of bullets should firing begin.“What is it, sir?” cried Bart. “Ah, I see. How horrible! The wretches! May I begin to shoot?”“You could do no good, and so would only bring the foe down upon my child,” said the Doctor sternly.“But it is Juan, is it not?” cried Bart, excitedly.“Yes,” said the Doctor, using the glass, “and Sam. They have stripped the poor fellows almost entirely, and painted Death’s heads and cross-bones upon their hearts.”“Oh yes,” cried Bart, in agony, “I can see;” and he looked with horror upon the scene, for there, evidently already half dead, their breasts scored with knives, and their ankles bound, Juan and Sam were suspended by means of a lariat, bound tightly to their wrists, and securely twisted round the upper part of the old blasted tree. The poor fellows’ hats and a portion of their clothes lay close by them, and as they hung there, inert and helpless, Bart, and his companion saw the cruel, vindictive Indians draw off to a short distance, and joining up into a close body, they began to fire at their prisoners, treating them as marks on which to try their skill with the rifle.The sensation of horror this scene caused was indescribable, and Bart turned to the Doctor with a look of agony in his eyes.“Quick!” he said; “let us run out and save them. Oh, what monsters! They cannot be men.”The Indian who acted as interpreter spoke rapidly to the chief, who replied, and then the Indian turned to the Doctor and Bart.“The Beaver-with-Sharp-Teeth says if we want to go out to fight, they are so many we should all be killed. We must not go.”“He is right, Bart,” said the Doctor, hoarsely. “I am willing enough to fight, but the presence of Maude seems to unman me. I dare not attempt anything that would risk her life.”“But it is so horrible,” cried Bart, peering out of his hiding-place excitedly, but only to feel the Beaver’s hand upon his shoulder, forcing him down into his old niche.“Indian dog see,” whispered the Beaver, who was rapidly picking up English words and joining them together.The sharp report of rifle after rifle was heard now, and after every shot there was a guttural yell of satisfaction.“They will kill them, sir,” panted Bart, who seemed as if he could hardly bear to listen to what was going on.“They must have been dead, poor fellows, when they were hung up there, Bart. I would that we dared attack the monsters.”“Can you see any sign of Joses, sir?” asked Bart.“No, my boy; no sign of him, poor fellow! Heaven grant that he be not seen.”All this time the Indians were rapidly loading and firing at the two unfortunate men, and, to Bart’s horror, he could hear bullet after bullet strike them, the others hitting the rocky face of the mountain with a sharp pat, and in the interval of silence that followed those in hiding could hear some of the bullets afterwards fall.Every time the savages thought they had hit their white prisoners they uttered a yell of triumph, and Dr Lascelles knew that this terrible scene was only the prologue to one of a far more hideous nature, when, with a fiendish cruelty peculiar to their nature, they would fall upon their victims with their knives, to flay off their scalps and beards, leaving the terribly mutilated bodies to the birds and beasts of the plains.“I could hit several of them, I’m sure,” panted Bart, eagerly. “Pray, sir, let’s fire upon them, and kill some of the wretches. I never felt like this before, but now it seems as if I must do something to punish those horrible fiends.”“We could all fire and bring down some of them, Bart,” whispered the Doctor; “but there are fully a hundred there, my boy, and we must be the losers in the end. They would never leave till they had killed us every one.”Bart hung his head, and stood there resting upon his rifle, wishing that his ears could be deaf to the hideous yelling and firing that kept going on, as the Indians went on with their puerile sport of wreaking their empty vengeance upon the bodies of the two men whom they had slain.Twenty times over the Doctor raised his rifle, and as often let it fall, as he knew what the consequences of his firing would be, while, when encouraged by this act on the part of his elder, Bart did likewise, it was for the Beaver to press the barrel down with his brown hand, shaking his head and smiling gravely the while.“The Beaver-with-Sharp-Teeth,” said the interpreter, “says that the young chief must wait till the Indian dogs are not so many; then he shall kill all he will, and take all their scalps.”“Ugh!” shuddered Bart, “as if I wanted to take scalps! I could feel pleased though if they killed and took the scalps of all these wretches. No, I don’t want that,” he muttered, “but it is very horrible, and it nearly drives me mad to see the cruel monsters shooting at our two poor men. How they can—”“Good heavens!” ejaculated the Doctor; “what’s that?”They were all gazing intently at the great post where the firing was going on, and beyond it at the group of Indians calmly loading and firing, with a soft film of smoke floating away above their heads, when all at once, just in their midst, there was a vivid flash of light, and the air seemed to be full of blocks of stone, which were driven up with a dense cloud of smoke. Then there was a deafening report, which echoed back from the side of the mountain; a trembling of the ground, as if there had been an earthquake; the great pieces of stone fell here and there; and then, as the smoke spread, a few Indians could be seen rushing hard towards where their companions were gathered with their horses, while about the spot where the earth had seemed to vomit forth flame, rocks and stones were piled-up in hideous confusion, mingled with quite a score of the bodies of Indians.There was no hesitation on the part of the survivors. The Great Spirit had spoken to them in his displeasure, and those who had not been smitten seized their horses, those which had no riders now kept with them, and the whole band went off over the plain at full speed; while no sooner were they well away upon the plain, than the Beaver and his party laid their rifles aside, and dashed out, knife and hatchet in hand, killing two or three injured men before the Doctor could interfere, as he and Bart ran out, followed by Harry.It was a hideous sight, and perhaps it was a merciful act the killing of the wretches by the Beaver and his men, for they were horribly injured by the explosion, while others had arms and legs blown off. Some were crushed by the falling stones, others had been killed outright at first; and as soon as he had seen but a portion of the horrors, the Doctor sent Bart back to bid Maude be in no wise alarmed, for the enemy were gone, but she must not leave the place where she was hiding for a while.Bart found her looking white and trembling with dread, but a few words satisfied her, and the lad ran back, to pass the horrible mass of piled-up stones and human beings with a shudder, as he ran on and joined the Doctor and Joses, who was standing outside his hiding-place, perfectly unharmed, and leaning upon his rifle.Bart was about to burst forth into a long string of congratulations, but somehow they all failed upon his lips. He tried to speak, but he choked and found it impossible. All he could do for a few moments was to catch the great rough hands of Joses in his, and stand shaking them with all his might.Joses did not reply; he only looked a little less grim than usual as he returned Bart’s grip with interest.“Why, you thought the Injun had got me, did you, Master Bart? You thought the Injun had got me. Well, they hadn’t this time, you see, but I ’spected they’d find me out every moment. I meant to fight it out though till all my powder was gone, and then I meant to back the horses at the Injun, and make them kick as long as I could, for of course you wouldn’t have been able to come.”“I am glad you are safe, Joses,” cried Bart, at last. “It is almost like a miracle that they didn’t find you, and that the explosion took place. It must have been our keg of powder, Joses, that you hid under the stones.”“Think so, Master Bart?” said Joses, as if deeply astonished.“Yes,” cried Bart, “it must have been that.”“Yes,” said the Doctor. “The wretches must have dropped a burning wad, or something of that kind.”“But it was very horrible,” cried Bart.“Yes, horrible,” assented the Doctor.“But it saved all us as was left, Master,” said Joses, gruffly. “They’d have found us out else, and served us the same as they did poor old Sam and old Juan. What beasts Injun is.”“Yes, it saved our lives, Joses, and it was as it were a miracle. But there, don’t let’s talk about it. We must take steps to bury those poor creatures, and that before my child comes out. Do you think the enemy will come back?” he continued, turning to the interpreter.“The Beaver-with-Sharp-Teeth says no: not for days,” was the reply; and, willingly enough, the Indians helped their white friends to enlarge the hole ploughed out by the explosion of the powder keg, which was easily done by picking out a few pieces of rock, when there was ample room for the dead, who, after some hour or two’s toil, were buried beneath the stones.The remains of the two poor fellows, Juan and Sam, were buried more carefully, with a few simple rites, and then, saddened and weary, the Doctor turned to seek Maude.Bart was about to follow him, when Joses took him by the sleeve.“I wouldn’t say anything to the master, but I must tell you.”“Tell me what?”“About the explosion, Master Bart.”“Well, I saw it,” said Bart.“Yes, but you didn’t see how it happened.”“I thought we had decided that.”“Well, you thought so, but you wasn’t right, and I didn’t care to brag about it; but I did it, Master Bart.”“You fired that powder, and blew all those poor wretches to eternity!” cried Bart, in horror.“Now don’t you get a looking like that, Master Bart. Why, of course I did it. Where’s the harm? They killed my two poor fellows, and they’d have killed all of us, and set us up to shoot at if they’d had the chance.”“Well, Joses, I suppose you are right,” said Bart, “but it seems very horrible.”“Deal more horrible if they’d killed Miss Maude.”“Oh, hush! Joses,” cried Bart excitedly, “Tell me, though, how did you manage it.”“Well, you see, Master Bart, it was like this. I stood looking on at their devilry till I felt as if I couldn’t bear it no longer, and then all at once I recollected the powder, and I thought that if I could put a bullet through the keg it would blow it up, and them too.”“And did you, Joses?”“Well, I did, Master Bart, but it took me a long while for it. I knew exactly where it was, but I couldn’t see it for the crowd of fellows round, and I daren’t shoot unless I was sure, or else I should have brought them on to me like a shot.”“Of course, of course, Joses,” cried Bart, who was deeply interested.“Well, Master Bart, I had to wait till I thought I should never get a chance, and then they opened right out, and I could see the exact spot where to send my bullet, when I trembled so that I daren’t pull trigger, and when I could they all crowded up again.”“But they gave you another chance, Joses?” cried Bart excitedly.“To be sure they did, my lad, at last, and that time it was only after a deal of dodging about that there was any chance, and, laying my rifle on the rock, I drew trigger, saw the stones, flash as the bullet struck, just, too, when they were all cheering, the beasts, at what they’d done to those two poor fellows.”“And then there was the awful flash and roar, Joses?”“Yes, Master Bart, and the Injuns never knew what was the matter, and that’s all.”“All, Joses?”“Yes, Master Bart, and wasn’t it enough? But you’d better not tell the master; he might say he didn’t object to an Injun or two killed in self-defence, but that this was wholesale.”Bart promised to keep the matter a secret, and he went about for the rest of the day pondering upon the skill of Joses with the rifle, and what confidence he must have had in his power to hit the keg hidden under the stones to run such a risk, for, as he said, a miss would have brought down the Indians upon him, and so Bart said once more.“Yes, Master Bart; but then, you see, I didn’t miss, and we’ve got rid of some of the enemy and scared the rest away.”

Morning at last, and from their hiding-place the fugitives could see that the Indians were in great numbers, and whilst some were with their horses, others were gathered together in a crowd about the post-like tree-trunk half-way between the gate of the mountains, as Bart called it, and the camp.

The greatest caution was needed to keep themselves from the keen sight of the Indians, who had apparently seen nothing of the horses’ trail; and as far as Bart could tell, Joses was so far safe. Still it was like this:— If the Indians should begin to examine the face of the rock, they must find both entries, and then it was a question of brave defence, though it seemed impossible but that numbers must gain the mastery in the end.

“Poor Joses!” thought Bart, and the tears rose to his eyes. “I’d give anything to be by his side, to fight with him and defend the horses.”

Then he began to wonder how many charges of powder he would have, and how long he could hold out.

“A good many will fall before they do master him,” thought Bart, “if he’s not captured already. I wonder whether they have hurt Juan and Sam.”

Just then the crowd about the post fell back, and the Doctor put his glass to his eye, and then uttered a cry of horror.

He glanced round directly to see if Maude had heard him, but she, poor girl, had fallen fast asleep in the niche where they had placed her, to be out of reach of bullets should firing begin.

“What is it, sir?” cried Bart. “Ah, I see. How horrible! The wretches! May I begin to shoot?”

“You could do no good, and so would only bring the foe down upon my child,” said the Doctor sternly.

“But it is Juan, is it not?” cried Bart, excitedly.

“Yes,” said the Doctor, using the glass, “and Sam. They have stripped the poor fellows almost entirely, and painted Death’s heads and cross-bones upon their hearts.”

“Oh yes,” cried Bart, in agony, “I can see;” and he looked with horror upon the scene, for there, evidently already half dead, their breasts scored with knives, and their ankles bound, Juan and Sam were suspended by means of a lariat, bound tightly to their wrists, and securely twisted round the upper part of the old blasted tree. The poor fellows’ hats and a portion of their clothes lay close by them, and as they hung there, inert and helpless, Bart, and his companion saw the cruel, vindictive Indians draw off to a short distance, and joining up into a close body, they began to fire at their prisoners, treating them as marks on which to try their skill with the rifle.

The sensation of horror this scene caused was indescribable, and Bart turned to the Doctor with a look of agony in his eyes.

“Quick!” he said; “let us run out and save them. Oh, what monsters! They cannot be men.”

The Indian who acted as interpreter spoke rapidly to the chief, who replied, and then the Indian turned to the Doctor and Bart.

“The Beaver-with-Sharp-Teeth says if we want to go out to fight, they are so many we should all be killed. We must not go.”

“He is right, Bart,” said the Doctor, hoarsely. “I am willing enough to fight, but the presence of Maude seems to unman me. I dare not attempt anything that would risk her life.”

“But it is so horrible,” cried Bart, peering out of his hiding-place excitedly, but only to feel the Beaver’s hand upon his shoulder, forcing him down into his old niche.

“Indian dog see,” whispered the Beaver, who was rapidly picking up English words and joining them together.

The sharp report of rifle after rifle was heard now, and after every shot there was a guttural yell of satisfaction.

“They will kill them, sir,” panted Bart, who seemed as if he could hardly bear to listen to what was going on.

“They must have been dead, poor fellows, when they were hung up there, Bart. I would that we dared attack the monsters.”

“Can you see any sign of Joses, sir?” asked Bart.

“No, my boy; no sign of him, poor fellow! Heaven grant that he be not seen.”

All this time the Indians were rapidly loading and firing at the two unfortunate men, and, to Bart’s horror, he could hear bullet after bullet strike them, the others hitting the rocky face of the mountain with a sharp pat, and in the interval of silence that followed those in hiding could hear some of the bullets afterwards fall.

Every time the savages thought they had hit their white prisoners they uttered a yell of triumph, and Dr Lascelles knew that this terrible scene was only the prologue to one of a far more hideous nature, when, with a fiendish cruelty peculiar to their nature, they would fall upon their victims with their knives, to flay off their scalps and beards, leaving the terribly mutilated bodies to the birds and beasts of the plains.

“I could hit several of them, I’m sure,” panted Bart, eagerly. “Pray, sir, let’s fire upon them, and kill some of the wretches. I never felt like this before, but now it seems as if I must do something to punish those horrible fiends.”

“We could all fire and bring down some of them, Bart,” whispered the Doctor; “but there are fully a hundred there, my boy, and we must be the losers in the end. They would never leave till they had killed us every one.”

Bart hung his head, and stood there resting upon his rifle, wishing that his ears could be deaf to the hideous yelling and firing that kept going on, as the Indians went on with their puerile sport of wreaking their empty vengeance upon the bodies of the two men whom they had slain.

Twenty times over the Doctor raised his rifle, and as often let it fall, as he knew what the consequences of his firing would be, while, when encouraged by this act on the part of his elder, Bart did likewise, it was for the Beaver to press the barrel down with his brown hand, shaking his head and smiling gravely the while.

“The Beaver-with-Sharp-Teeth,” said the interpreter, “says that the young chief must wait till the Indian dogs are not so many; then he shall kill all he will, and take all their scalps.”

“Ugh!” shuddered Bart, “as if I wanted to take scalps! I could feel pleased though if they killed and took the scalps of all these wretches. No, I don’t want that,” he muttered, “but it is very horrible, and it nearly drives me mad to see the cruel monsters shooting at our two poor men. How they can—”

“Good heavens!” ejaculated the Doctor; “what’s that?”

They were all gazing intently at the great post where the firing was going on, and beyond it at the group of Indians calmly loading and firing, with a soft film of smoke floating away above their heads, when all at once, just in their midst, there was a vivid flash of light, and the air seemed to be full of blocks of stone, which were driven up with a dense cloud of smoke. Then there was a deafening report, which echoed back from the side of the mountain; a trembling of the ground, as if there had been an earthquake; the great pieces of stone fell here and there; and then, as the smoke spread, a few Indians could be seen rushing hard towards where their companions were gathered with their horses, while about the spot where the earth had seemed to vomit forth flame, rocks and stones were piled-up in hideous confusion, mingled with quite a score of the bodies of Indians.

There was no hesitation on the part of the survivors. The Great Spirit had spoken to them in his displeasure, and those who had not been smitten seized their horses, those which had no riders now kept with them, and the whole band went off over the plain at full speed; while no sooner were they well away upon the plain, than the Beaver and his party laid their rifles aside, and dashed out, knife and hatchet in hand, killing two or three injured men before the Doctor could interfere, as he and Bart ran out, followed by Harry.

It was a hideous sight, and perhaps it was a merciful act the killing of the wretches by the Beaver and his men, for they were horribly injured by the explosion, while others had arms and legs blown off. Some were crushed by the falling stones, others had been killed outright at first; and as soon as he had seen but a portion of the horrors, the Doctor sent Bart back to bid Maude be in no wise alarmed, for the enemy were gone, but she must not leave the place where she was hiding for a while.

Bart found her looking white and trembling with dread, but a few words satisfied her, and the lad ran back, to pass the horrible mass of piled-up stones and human beings with a shudder, as he ran on and joined the Doctor and Joses, who was standing outside his hiding-place, perfectly unharmed, and leaning upon his rifle.

Bart was about to burst forth into a long string of congratulations, but somehow they all failed upon his lips. He tried to speak, but he choked and found it impossible. All he could do for a few moments was to catch the great rough hands of Joses in his, and stand shaking them with all his might.

Joses did not reply; he only looked a little less grim than usual as he returned Bart’s grip with interest.

“Why, you thought the Injun had got me, did you, Master Bart? You thought the Injun had got me. Well, they hadn’t this time, you see, but I ’spected they’d find me out every moment. I meant to fight it out though till all my powder was gone, and then I meant to back the horses at the Injun, and make them kick as long as I could, for of course you wouldn’t have been able to come.”

“I am glad you are safe, Joses,” cried Bart, at last. “It is almost like a miracle that they didn’t find you, and that the explosion took place. It must have been our keg of powder, Joses, that you hid under the stones.”

“Think so, Master Bart?” said Joses, as if deeply astonished.

“Yes,” cried Bart, “it must have been that.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor. “The wretches must have dropped a burning wad, or something of that kind.”

“But it was very horrible,” cried Bart.

“Yes, horrible,” assented the Doctor.

“But it saved all us as was left, Master,” said Joses, gruffly. “They’d have found us out else, and served us the same as they did poor old Sam and old Juan. What beasts Injun is.”

“Yes, it saved our lives, Joses, and it was as it were a miracle. But there, don’t let’s talk about it. We must take steps to bury those poor creatures, and that before my child comes out. Do you think the enemy will come back?” he continued, turning to the interpreter.

“The Beaver-with-Sharp-Teeth says no: not for days,” was the reply; and, willingly enough, the Indians helped their white friends to enlarge the hole ploughed out by the explosion of the powder keg, which was easily done by picking out a few pieces of rock, when there was ample room for the dead, who, after some hour or two’s toil, were buried beneath the stones.

The remains of the two poor fellows, Juan and Sam, were buried more carefully, with a few simple rites, and then, saddened and weary, the Doctor turned to seek Maude.

Bart was about to follow him, when Joses took him by the sleeve.

“I wouldn’t say anything to the master, but I must tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

“About the explosion, Master Bart.”

“Well, I saw it,” said Bart.

“Yes, but you didn’t see how it happened.”

“I thought we had decided that.”

“Well, you thought so, but you wasn’t right, and I didn’t care to brag about it; but I did it, Master Bart.”

“You fired that powder, and blew all those poor wretches to eternity!” cried Bart, in horror.

“Now don’t you get a looking like that, Master Bart. Why, of course I did it. Where’s the harm? They killed my two poor fellows, and they’d have killed all of us, and set us up to shoot at if they’d had the chance.”

“Well, Joses, I suppose you are right,” said Bart, “but it seems very horrible.”

“Deal more horrible if they’d killed Miss Maude.”

“Oh, hush! Joses,” cried Bart excitedly, “Tell me, though, how did you manage it.”

“Well, you see, Master Bart, it was like this. I stood looking on at their devilry till I felt as if I couldn’t bear it no longer, and then all at once I recollected the powder, and I thought that if I could put a bullet through the keg it would blow it up, and them too.”

“And did you, Joses?”

“Well, I did, Master Bart, but it took me a long while for it. I knew exactly where it was, but I couldn’t see it for the crowd of fellows round, and I daren’t shoot unless I was sure, or else I should have brought them on to me like a shot.”

“Of course, of course, Joses,” cried Bart, who was deeply interested.

“Well, Master Bart, I had to wait till I thought I should never get a chance, and then they opened right out, and I could see the exact spot where to send my bullet, when I trembled so that I daren’t pull trigger, and when I could they all crowded up again.”

“But they gave you another chance, Joses?” cried Bart excitedly.

“To be sure they did, my lad, at last, and that time it was only after a deal of dodging about that there was any chance, and, laying my rifle on the rock, I drew trigger, saw the stones, flash as the bullet struck, just, too, when they were all cheering, the beasts, at what they’d done to those two poor fellows.”

“And then there was the awful flash and roar, Joses?”

“Yes, Master Bart, and the Injuns never knew what was the matter, and that’s all.”

“All, Joses?”

“Yes, Master Bart, and wasn’t it enough? But you’d better not tell the master; he might say he didn’t object to an Injun or two killed in self-defence, but that this was wholesale.”

Bart promised to keep the matter a secret, and he went about for the rest of the day pondering upon the skill of Joses with the rifle, and what confidence he must have had in his power to hit the keg hidden under the stones to run such a risk, for, as he said, a miss would have brought down the Indians upon him, and so Bart said once more.

“Yes, Master Bart; but then, you see, I didn’t miss, and we’ve got rid of some of the enemy and scared the rest away.”

Chapter Nineteen.Beating up for Recruits.The cause of the explosion remained a secret between Bart and Joses, and in the busy times that followed there was but little opportunity for dwelling upon the trouble. The Doctor was full of the discovery and the necessity for taking steps to utilise its value, for now they were almost helpless—the greater part of their ammunition was gone; their force was weakened by the loss of two men; and, worst of all, it was terribly insecure, for at any moment the Indians might get over their fright, and come back to bury their dead. If this were so, they would find that the task had already been done, and then they would search for and find the occupants of the camp.This being so, the Doctor suddenly grew calm.“I’ve made my plans,” he said, quietly.“Yes?” exclaimed Maude and Bart, in a breath.“We must go straight back to our starting-place, and then on to Lerisco, and there I must get the proper authorisations from the government, and afterwards organise a large expedition of people, and bring them here at once.”He had hardly made this announcement when the Beaver came slowly up to stand with his follower the interpreter behind, and looking as if he wished to say something in particular.The Doctor rose, and pointed to a place where his visitor could sit down, but the chief declined.“Enemy,” he said sharply. “Indian dogs.”Then he turned round quickly to the interpreter.“The Beaver-with-Sharp-Teeth says the Apachés will be back to-night to see why the earth opened and killed their friends.”“Indeed! So soon?” said the Doctor.“The chief says we must go from here till the Indian dogs have been. Then we can come back.”“That settles it, Bart,” exclaimed the Doctor. “We’ll start at once.”The preparations needed were few, and an hour later they were retreating quickly across the plain, the coming darkness being close at hand to veil their movements, so that when they halted to rest in the morning they were a long distance on their way, and sheltered by a patch of forest trees that looked like the remains of some tract of woodland that had once spread over the plain.It was deemed wise to wait till evening, and taking it in turns, they watched and slept till nearly sundown.The Beaver had had the last watch, and he announced that he had seen a large body of Apachés going in the direction of the canyon, but at so great a distance off across the plain that there was no need for alarm.They started soon afterwards, and after a very uneventful but tedious journey, they reached the spot where they had first encountered the Beaver and his followers. Here the Indians came to a halt: they did not care to go farther towards the home of the white man, but readily entered into a compact to keep watch near the Silver Canyon, and return two moons hence to meet the Doctor and his expeditionary party, when they were once more on their way across the plains.The journey seemed strange without the company of the chief and his men, and during many of their halts but little rest was had on account of the necessity for watchfulness. The rest of the distance was, however, got over in safety, and they rode at last into the town of Lerisco, where their expedition having got wind soon after they had started, their return was looked upon as of people from the dead.For here the Doctor encountered several old friends and neighbours from their ranches, fifteen or even twenty miles from the town, and they were all ready with stories of their misfortunes, the raids they had had to endure from the unfriendly Indians; and the Doctor returned to his temporary lodgings that night satisfied that he had only to name his discovery to gain a following of as many enterprising spirits as he wished to command.There was a good deal to do, for the Doctor felt that it would not be very satisfactory to get his discovery in full working order, and then have it claimed by the United States Government, or that of the Republic then in power in those parts.He soon satisfied himself, however, of the right course to pursue, had two or three interviews with the governor, obtained a concession of the right to work the mine in consideration of a certain percentage of silver being paid to the government; and this being all duly signed and sealed, he came away light-hearted and eager to begin.His first care was to make arrangements for the staying of Maude in some place of safety, and he smiled to himself as he realised how easy this would be now that he was the owner of a great silver mine. It was simplicity itself.No sooner did Don Ramon the governor comprehend what was required than an invitation came from his lady, a pleasant-looking Spanish-Mexican dame, who took at once to the motherless girl, and thus the difficulty was got over, both the governor and his wife declaring that Maude should make that her home.Then the Doctor rode out to three or four ranches in the neighbourhood, and laid his plan before their owners, offering them such terms of participation that they jumped at the proposals; and the result was that in a very short time no less than six ranches had been closed, the female occupants settled in the town, and their owners, with their waggons, cattle, mules, horses, and an ample supply of stores, were preparing for their journey across the forest to the Silver Canyon.There was a wonderfully attractive sound in that title—The Silver Canyon, and it acted like magic on the men of English blood, who, though they had taken to the dress, and were burned by the sun almost to the complexion of the Spanish-Americans amongst whom they dwelt, had still all the enterprise and love of adventure of their people, and were ready enough to go.Not so the Mexicans. There was a rich silver mine out in the plains? Well, let it be there; they could enjoy life without it, and they were not going to rob themselves of the comfort of basking in the sun and idling and sauntering in the evenings. Besides, there were the Indians, and they might have to fight, a duty they left to the little army kept up by the republic. The lancers had been raised on purpose to combat with the Indians. Let them do it. They, the Mexican gentlemen, preferred theircigáritos, and to see a bolero danced to a couple of twanging guitars.The Englishmen laughed at the want of enterprise by the “greasers,” as they contemptuously called the people, and hugged themselves as they thought of what wealth there was in store for them.One evening, however, Bart, who was rather depressed at the idea of going without his old companion Maude, although at the same time he could not help feeling pleased at the prospect of her remaining in safety, was returning to his lodgings, which he shared with Joses, when he overtook a couple of the English cattle-breeders, old neighbours of the Doctor, who were loudly talking about the venture.“I shouldn’t be a bit surprised,” said one, “if this all turns out to be a fraud.”“Oh no, I think it’s all right.”“But there have been so many cheats of this kind.”“True, so there have,” said the other.“And if the Doctor has got us together to take us right out there for the sake of his own ends?”“Well, I shouldn’t care to be him,” said the other, “if it proves to be like that.”They turned down a side lane, and Bart heard no more, but this was enough to prove to him that the Doctor’s would be no bed of roses if everything did not turn out to be as good as was expected.He reported this to the Doctor, who only smiled, and hurried on his preparations.Money was easily forthcoming as soon as it was known that the government favoured the undertaking; and at last, with plenty of rough mining implements, blasting powder, and stores of all kinds, the Doctor’s expedition started at daybreak one morning, in ample time to keep the appointment with the Beaver.“I say, Master Bart,” said Joses, as he sat upon his strong horse side by side with Bart, watching their train go slowly by, “I think we can laugh at the Apachés now, my lad; while, when the Sharp-Toothed Beaver joins us with his dark-skinned fighting men, we can give the rascals such a hunting as shall send ’em north amongst the Yankees with fleas in their ears.”“It’s grand!” cried Bart, rousing himself up, for he had been feeling rather low-spirited at parting from Maude, and it had made him worse to see the poor girl’s misery when she had clung to her father and said the last good-byes. Still there was the fact that the governor and his lady were excellent people, and the poor girl would soon brighten up.And there sat Bart, on his eager little horse, Black Boy, which kept on champing its bit and snorting and pawing the ground, shaking its head, and longing, after weeks of abstinence, to be once more off and away on a long-stretching gallop across the plains.There were men mounted on horses, men on mules, greasers driving cattle or the baggage mules, some in charge of the waggons, and all well-armed, eager and excited, as they filed by, a crowd of swarthy, poncho-wearing idlers watching them with an aspect of good-humoured contempt and pity on their faces, as if saying to themselves, “Poor fools! what a lot of labour and trouble they are going through to get silver and become rich, while we can be so much more happy and comfortable in our idleness and dirt and rags!”A couple of miles outside the town the mob of idlers to the last man had dropped off, and, bright and excited, the Doctor rode up in the cheery morning sunshine.“I’m going to ride forward, Bart,” he cried, “so as to lead the van and show the line of march. You keep about the middle, and mind there’s no straggling off to right or left. You, Joses, take the rear, and stand no tricks from stragglers. Every man is to keep to his place and do his duty. Strict discipline is to be the order of the day, and unless we keep up our rigid training we shall be in no condition to encounter the Indians when they come.”“What are these coming after us?” cried Bart, looking back at a cloud of dust.“Lancers,” said Joses.“Surely there is no trouble with the governor now,” exclaimed the Doctor, excitedly, as a squadron of admirably mounted cavalry, with black-yellow pennons to their lances, came up at a canter, their leader riding straight up to the Doctor.“Don Ramon sends me to see you well on the road, Don Lascelles,” he cried. “We are to set you well upon your journey.”As he spoke, he turned and raised his hand, with the result that the next in command rode forward with a troop of the body of cavalry, to take the lead till they had reached the first halting-place, where the lancers said farewell, and parted from the adventurers, both parties cheering loudly when the soldiery rode slowly back towards Lerisco, while the waggon-train continued its long, slow journey towards the mountains.

The cause of the explosion remained a secret between Bart and Joses, and in the busy times that followed there was but little opportunity for dwelling upon the trouble. The Doctor was full of the discovery and the necessity for taking steps to utilise its value, for now they were almost helpless—the greater part of their ammunition was gone; their force was weakened by the loss of two men; and, worst of all, it was terribly insecure, for at any moment the Indians might get over their fright, and come back to bury their dead. If this were so, they would find that the task had already been done, and then they would search for and find the occupants of the camp.

This being so, the Doctor suddenly grew calm.

“I’ve made my plans,” he said, quietly.

“Yes?” exclaimed Maude and Bart, in a breath.

“We must go straight back to our starting-place, and then on to Lerisco, and there I must get the proper authorisations from the government, and afterwards organise a large expedition of people, and bring them here at once.”

He had hardly made this announcement when the Beaver came slowly up to stand with his follower the interpreter behind, and looking as if he wished to say something in particular.

The Doctor rose, and pointed to a place where his visitor could sit down, but the chief declined.

“Enemy,” he said sharply. “Indian dogs.”

Then he turned round quickly to the interpreter.

“The Beaver-with-Sharp-Teeth says the Apachés will be back to-night to see why the earth opened and killed their friends.”

“Indeed! So soon?” said the Doctor.

“The chief says we must go from here till the Indian dogs have been. Then we can come back.”

“That settles it, Bart,” exclaimed the Doctor. “We’ll start at once.”

The preparations needed were few, and an hour later they were retreating quickly across the plain, the coming darkness being close at hand to veil their movements, so that when they halted to rest in the morning they were a long distance on their way, and sheltered by a patch of forest trees that looked like the remains of some tract of woodland that had once spread over the plain.

It was deemed wise to wait till evening, and taking it in turns, they watched and slept till nearly sundown.

The Beaver had had the last watch, and he announced that he had seen a large body of Apachés going in the direction of the canyon, but at so great a distance off across the plain that there was no need for alarm.

They started soon afterwards, and after a very uneventful but tedious journey, they reached the spot where they had first encountered the Beaver and his followers. Here the Indians came to a halt: they did not care to go farther towards the home of the white man, but readily entered into a compact to keep watch near the Silver Canyon, and return two moons hence to meet the Doctor and his expeditionary party, when they were once more on their way across the plains.

The journey seemed strange without the company of the chief and his men, and during many of their halts but little rest was had on account of the necessity for watchfulness. The rest of the distance was, however, got over in safety, and they rode at last into the town of Lerisco, where their expedition having got wind soon after they had started, their return was looked upon as of people from the dead.

For here the Doctor encountered several old friends and neighbours from their ranches, fifteen or even twenty miles from the town, and they were all ready with stories of their misfortunes, the raids they had had to endure from the unfriendly Indians; and the Doctor returned to his temporary lodgings that night satisfied that he had only to name his discovery to gain a following of as many enterprising spirits as he wished to command.

There was a good deal to do, for the Doctor felt that it would not be very satisfactory to get his discovery in full working order, and then have it claimed by the United States Government, or that of the Republic then in power in those parts.

He soon satisfied himself, however, of the right course to pursue, had two or three interviews with the governor, obtained a concession of the right to work the mine in consideration of a certain percentage of silver being paid to the government; and this being all duly signed and sealed, he came away light-hearted and eager to begin.

His first care was to make arrangements for the staying of Maude in some place of safety, and he smiled to himself as he realised how easy this would be now that he was the owner of a great silver mine. It was simplicity itself.

No sooner did Don Ramon the governor comprehend what was required than an invitation came from his lady, a pleasant-looking Spanish-Mexican dame, who took at once to the motherless girl, and thus the difficulty was got over, both the governor and his wife declaring that Maude should make that her home.

Then the Doctor rode out to three or four ranches in the neighbourhood, and laid his plan before their owners, offering them such terms of participation that they jumped at the proposals; and the result was that in a very short time no less than six ranches had been closed, the female occupants settled in the town, and their owners, with their waggons, cattle, mules, horses, and an ample supply of stores, were preparing for their journey across the forest to the Silver Canyon.

There was a wonderfully attractive sound in that title—The Silver Canyon, and it acted like magic on the men of English blood, who, though they had taken to the dress, and were burned by the sun almost to the complexion of the Spanish-Americans amongst whom they dwelt, had still all the enterprise and love of adventure of their people, and were ready enough to go.

Not so the Mexicans. There was a rich silver mine out in the plains? Well, let it be there; they could enjoy life without it, and they were not going to rob themselves of the comfort of basking in the sun and idling and sauntering in the evenings. Besides, there were the Indians, and they might have to fight, a duty they left to the little army kept up by the republic. The lancers had been raised on purpose to combat with the Indians. Let them do it. They, the Mexican gentlemen, preferred theircigáritos, and to see a bolero danced to a couple of twanging guitars.

The Englishmen laughed at the want of enterprise by the “greasers,” as they contemptuously called the people, and hugged themselves as they thought of what wealth there was in store for them.

One evening, however, Bart, who was rather depressed at the idea of going without his old companion Maude, although at the same time he could not help feeling pleased at the prospect of her remaining in safety, was returning to his lodgings, which he shared with Joses, when he overtook a couple of the English cattle-breeders, old neighbours of the Doctor, who were loudly talking about the venture.

“I shouldn’t be a bit surprised,” said one, “if this all turns out to be a fraud.”

“Oh no, I think it’s all right.”

“But there have been so many cheats of this kind.”

“True, so there have,” said the other.

“And if the Doctor has got us together to take us right out there for the sake of his own ends?”

“Well, I shouldn’t care to be him,” said the other, “if it proves to be like that.”

They turned down a side lane, and Bart heard no more, but this was enough to prove to him that the Doctor’s would be no bed of roses if everything did not turn out to be as good as was expected.

He reported this to the Doctor, who only smiled, and hurried on his preparations.

Money was easily forthcoming as soon as it was known that the government favoured the undertaking; and at last, with plenty of rough mining implements, blasting powder, and stores of all kinds, the Doctor’s expedition started at daybreak one morning, in ample time to keep the appointment with the Beaver.

“I say, Master Bart,” said Joses, as he sat upon his strong horse side by side with Bart, watching their train go slowly by, “I think we can laugh at the Apachés now, my lad; while, when the Sharp-Toothed Beaver joins us with his dark-skinned fighting men, we can give the rascals such a hunting as shall send ’em north amongst the Yankees with fleas in their ears.”

“It’s grand!” cried Bart, rousing himself up, for he had been feeling rather low-spirited at parting from Maude, and it had made him worse to see the poor girl’s misery when she had clung to her father and said the last good-byes. Still there was the fact that the governor and his lady were excellent people, and the poor girl would soon brighten up.

And there sat Bart, on his eager little horse, Black Boy, which kept on champing its bit and snorting and pawing the ground, shaking its head, and longing, after weeks of abstinence, to be once more off and away on a long-stretching gallop across the plains.

There were men mounted on horses, men on mules, greasers driving cattle or the baggage mules, some in charge of the waggons, and all well-armed, eager and excited, as they filed by, a crowd of swarthy, poncho-wearing idlers watching them with an aspect of good-humoured contempt and pity on their faces, as if saying to themselves, “Poor fools! what a lot of labour and trouble they are going through to get silver and become rich, while we can be so much more happy and comfortable in our idleness and dirt and rags!”

A couple of miles outside the town the mob of idlers to the last man had dropped off, and, bright and excited, the Doctor rode up in the cheery morning sunshine.

“I’m going to ride forward, Bart,” he cried, “so as to lead the van and show the line of march. You keep about the middle, and mind there’s no straggling off to right or left. You, Joses, take the rear, and stand no tricks from stragglers. Every man is to keep to his place and do his duty. Strict discipline is to be the order of the day, and unless we keep up our rigid training we shall be in no condition to encounter the Indians when they come.”

“What are these coming after us?” cried Bart, looking back at a cloud of dust.

“Lancers,” said Joses.

“Surely there is no trouble with the governor now,” exclaimed the Doctor, excitedly, as a squadron of admirably mounted cavalry, with black-yellow pennons to their lances, came up at a canter, their leader riding straight up to the Doctor.

“Don Ramon sends me to see you well on the road, Don Lascelles,” he cried. “We are to set you well upon your journey.”

As he spoke, he turned and raised his hand, with the result that the next in command rode forward with a troop of the body of cavalry, to take the lead till they had reached the first halting-place, where the lancers said farewell, and parted from the adventurers, both parties cheering loudly when the soldiery rode slowly back towards Lerisco, while the waggon-train continued its long, slow journey towards the mountains.

Chapter Twenty.The Thirsty Desert.The journey was without adventure. Signs of Indians were seen, and this made those of the train more watchful, but there was no encounter with the red men of the desert, till an alarm was spread one morning of a party of about twenty well-mounted Indians being seen approaching the camp, just as it was being broken up for a farther advance towards the mountains.The alarm spread; men seized their rifles, and they were preparing to fire upon the swiftly approaching troop, when Bart and Joses set spur to their horses, and went off at full gallop, apparently to encounter the enemy.But they had not been deceived. Even at a distance Bart knew his friend the Beaver at a glance, and the would-be defenders of the camp saw the meeting, and the hearty handshaking that took place.This was a relief, and the men of the expedition gazed curiously at the bronzed, well-armed horsemen of the plains, who sat their wiry, swift little steeds as if they were part and parcel of themselves, when they rode up to exchange greetings with the Doctor.From that hour the Beaver’s followers took the place of the lancers, leading the van and closing up the rear, as well as constantly hovering along the sides of the long waggon-train, which they guarded watchfully as if it were their own particular charge.The Doctor placed implicit reliance in the chief, who guided them by a longer route, but which proved to be one which took them round the base of the two mountainous ridges they had to pass, and thus saved the adventurers a long and arduous amount of toil with the waggons in the rugged ground.At last, when they were well in sight of the flat-topped mountain, and the Doctor was constantly reining in his horse to sweep the horizon with his glass in search of the Apachés, the chief rode up to say that he and his men were about to advance on a scouting expedition to sweep the country between them and the canyon, while the train was to press on, always keeping a watchful look-out until their Indian escort returned.The Beaver and his men scoured off like the wind, and were soon lost to view, while that night and the next day the long train moved slowly over the plain to avoid the dense clumps of prickly cactus and agaves, suffering terribly from thirst, for what had been verdant when Bart was there last was now one vast expanse of dust, which rose thickly in clouds at the tramp of horse or mule.The want of water was beginning to be severely felt; and as they went sluggishly on, towards the second evening horses and mules with drooping heads, and the cattle lowing piteously, Bart, as he kept cantering from place to place to say a few encouraging words, knew that he could hold out no hope of water being reached till well on in the next day, and he would have urged a halt for rest, only that the Doctor was eager for them to get as well on their way as possible.Night at last, a wretched, weary night of intense heat, and man and beast suffering horribly from thirst. The clouds had gathered during the night, and the thunder rolled in the distance, while vivid flashes of lightning illumined the plains,but no rain fell, and when morning broke, after the most painful time Bart had ever passed, he found the Doctor looking ghastly, his eyes bloodshot, his lips cracked, and that even hardy Joses was suffering to as great an extent.The people were almost in a state of mutiny, and ready to ask the Doctor if he had dragged them to this terrible blinding waste to perish from thirst; while it was evident that if water was not soon reached half the beasts must fall down by the way.As it was, numbers of the poor animals were bleeding from the mouth and nostrils from the pricks received as they eagerly champed the various plants of the cactus family.“Let us push on,” said the Doctor; “everything depends upon our getting on to that shallow lake, for there is no water in the way;” but with every desire to push on, the task became more laborious every hour,—the cattle were constantly striving to stray off to right or left in search of something to quench their maddening thirst, while, go where he would, the Doctor was met by fierce, angry looks and muttered threats.It would have been easy enough for the men to ride on to find water, but there was always the fear that if they did, the Indians would select just that moment for marching down and driving off their cattle and plundering the waggons. Such an attack would have been ruin, perhaps death to all, so there was nothing for it but to ride sullenly on in company with the now plodding cattle, hour after hour.“Why don’t the Beaver come back, Joses?” cried Bart, pettishly. “If he were here, his men could take care of the cattle and waggons, while we went on for water. The lake can’t be many miles ahead.”“A good ways yet,” said Joses. “That mountain looks close when it’s miles away. Beaver’s watching the Injuns somewheres, or he’d have been back before now. Say, Master Bart, I’m glad we haven’t got much farther to go. If we had, we shouldn’t do it.”“I’m afraid not,” replied Bart, and then they both had to join in the task of driving back the suffering cattle into the main body, for they would keep straying away.And so the journey went on all that day through the blinding, choking dust and scorching heat, which seemed to blister and sting till it was almost unbearable.“Keep it up, my lads,” Bart kept on saying. “There’s water ahead. Not much farther now.”“That mountain gets farther away,” said one of the newcomers. “I don’t believe we shall ever get there.”This was a specimen of the incessant complaining of the people, whom the heat and thirst seemed to rob of every scrap of patience and endurance that they might have originally possessed.But somehow, in spite of all their troubles, the day wore on, and Bart kept hopefully looking out for a glimpse of the water ahead.They ought to have reached it long before, but the pace of the weary oxen had been most painfully slow. Then the wind, what little there was, had been behind them, seeming as out of the mouth of some furnace, and bringing back upon them the finely pulverised dust that the cattle raised.At last, towards evening, the sky began again to cloud over, and the mountain that had appeared distant seemed, by the change in the atmosphere, to be brought nearer to them. Almost by magic, too, the wind fell. There was a perfect calm, and then it began to blow from the opposite quarter, at first in soft puffs, then as a steady, refreshing breeze, and instantly there was a commotion in the camp,—the cattle set off at a lumbering gallop; the mules, heedless of their burdens, followed suit; the horses snorted and strained at their bridles, and Joses galloped about, shouting to the teamsters in charge of the waggons, who were striving with all their might to restrain their horses.“Let them go, my lads; unhitch and let them go, or they’ll have the waggons over.”“Stampede! stampede!” some of the men kept shouting, and all at once it seemed that the whole of the quadrupeds were in motion; for, acting upon Joses’ orders, the teams were unhitched, and away the whole body swept in a thundering gallop onward towards the mountain, leaving the waggons solitary in the dusty plain.Every now and then a mule freed itself of its pack, and began kicking and squealing in delight at its freedom, while the cattle tossed their horns and went on in headlong gallop.For once the wind had turned, the poor suffering beasts had sniffed the soft moist air that had passed over the shallow lake, and their unerring instinct set them off in search of relief.There was no pause, and all the mounted men could do was to let their horses keep pace with the mules and cattle, only guiding them clear of the thickest part of the drove. And so they thundered on till the dusty plain was left behind, and green rank herbage and thickly growing water-plants reached, through which the cattle rushed to the shallow water at the edge of the lake.But still they did not stop to drink, but rushed on and on, plashing as they went, till they were in right up to their flanks. Then, and then only, did they begin to drink, snorting and breathing hard, and drawing in the pure fresh water.Some bellowed with pleasure as they seemed to satisfy their raging thirst; others began to swim or waded out till their nostrils only were above the surface; while the mules, as soon as they had drunk their fill, started to squeal and kick andsplash to the endangerment of their loads. The horses behaved the most soberly, contenting themselves with wading in to a respectable distance, and then drinking when the water was undisturbed and pure, as did their masters; the Doctor, Joses, and Bart bending down and filling the little metal cups they carried again and again.It was growing dark as they turned from the shallow water of the lake, the mules following the horses placidly enough, and the lumbering cattle contentedly obeying the call of their masters, and settling themselves down directly to crop the rich rank grasses upon the marshy shores.A short consultation was held now, and the question arose whether they had been observed by Indians, who might come down and try to stampede the cattle.The matter was settled by one-half the men staying to guard them, while the other half went back to fetch up the waggons, the mule-drivers having plenty to do in collecting the burdens that had been kicked off, but which the mules submitted patiently enough to have replaced.Still it was long on towards midnight before the waggons had all been drawn up to the shores of the lake, whose soft moist grasses seemed like paradise to the weary travellers over the desolate, dusty plains; and no sooner had Bart tethered Black Boy, and seen him contentedly cropping the grass, than, forgetful of Indians, hunger, everything but the fact that he was wearied out, he threw himself down, and in less than a minute he was fast asleep.

The journey was without adventure. Signs of Indians were seen, and this made those of the train more watchful, but there was no encounter with the red men of the desert, till an alarm was spread one morning of a party of about twenty well-mounted Indians being seen approaching the camp, just as it was being broken up for a farther advance towards the mountains.

The alarm spread; men seized their rifles, and they were preparing to fire upon the swiftly approaching troop, when Bart and Joses set spur to their horses, and went off at full gallop, apparently to encounter the enemy.

But they had not been deceived. Even at a distance Bart knew his friend the Beaver at a glance, and the would-be defenders of the camp saw the meeting, and the hearty handshaking that took place.

This was a relief, and the men of the expedition gazed curiously at the bronzed, well-armed horsemen of the plains, who sat their wiry, swift little steeds as if they were part and parcel of themselves, when they rode up to exchange greetings with the Doctor.

From that hour the Beaver’s followers took the place of the lancers, leading the van and closing up the rear, as well as constantly hovering along the sides of the long waggon-train, which they guarded watchfully as if it were their own particular charge.

The Doctor placed implicit reliance in the chief, who guided them by a longer route, but which proved to be one which took them round the base of the two mountainous ridges they had to pass, and thus saved the adventurers a long and arduous amount of toil with the waggons in the rugged ground.

At last, when they were well in sight of the flat-topped mountain, and the Doctor was constantly reining in his horse to sweep the horizon with his glass in search of the Apachés, the chief rode up to say that he and his men were about to advance on a scouting expedition to sweep the country between them and the canyon, while the train was to press on, always keeping a watchful look-out until their Indian escort returned.

The Beaver and his men scoured off like the wind, and were soon lost to view, while that night and the next day the long train moved slowly over the plain to avoid the dense clumps of prickly cactus and agaves, suffering terribly from thirst, for what had been verdant when Bart was there last was now one vast expanse of dust, which rose thickly in clouds at the tramp of horse or mule.

The want of water was beginning to be severely felt; and as they went sluggishly on, towards the second evening horses and mules with drooping heads, and the cattle lowing piteously, Bart, as he kept cantering from place to place to say a few encouraging words, knew that he could hold out no hope of water being reached till well on in the next day, and he would have urged a halt for rest, only that the Doctor was eager for them to get as well on their way as possible.

Night at last, a wretched, weary night of intense heat, and man and beast suffering horribly from thirst. The clouds had gathered during the night, and the thunder rolled in the distance, while vivid flashes of lightning illumined the plains,but no rain fell, and when morning broke, after the most painful time Bart had ever passed, he found the Doctor looking ghastly, his eyes bloodshot, his lips cracked, and that even hardy Joses was suffering to as great an extent.

The people were almost in a state of mutiny, and ready to ask the Doctor if he had dragged them to this terrible blinding waste to perish from thirst; while it was evident that if water was not soon reached half the beasts must fall down by the way.

As it was, numbers of the poor animals were bleeding from the mouth and nostrils from the pricks received as they eagerly champed the various plants of the cactus family.

“Let us push on,” said the Doctor; “everything depends upon our getting on to that shallow lake, for there is no water in the way;” but with every desire to push on, the task became more laborious every hour,—the cattle were constantly striving to stray off to right or left in search of something to quench their maddening thirst, while, go where he would, the Doctor was met by fierce, angry looks and muttered threats.

It would have been easy enough for the men to ride on to find water, but there was always the fear that if they did, the Indians would select just that moment for marching down and driving off their cattle and plundering the waggons. Such an attack would have been ruin, perhaps death to all, so there was nothing for it but to ride sullenly on in company with the now plodding cattle, hour after hour.

“Why don’t the Beaver come back, Joses?” cried Bart, pettishly. “If he were here, his men could take care of the cattle and waggons, while we went on for water. The lake can’t be many miles ahead.”

“A good ways yet,” said Joses. “That mountain looks close when it’s miles away. Beaver’s watching the Injuns somewheres, or he’d have been back before now. Say, Master Bart, I’m glad we haven’t got much farther to go. If we had, we shouldn’t do it.”

“I’m afraid not,” replied Bart, and then they both had to join in the task of driving back the suffering cattle into the main body, for they would keep straying away.

And so the journey went on all that day through the blinding, choking dust and scorching heat, which seemed to blister and sting till it was almost unbearable.

“Keep it up, my lads,” Bart kept on saying. “There’s water ahead. Not much farther now.”

“That mountain gets farther away,” said one of the newcomers. “I don’t believe we shall ever get there.”

This was a specimen of the incessant complaining of the people, whom the heat and thirst seemed to rob of every scrap of patience and endurance that they might have originally possessed.

But somehow, in spite of all their troubles, the day wore on, and Bart kept hopefully looking out for a glimpse of the water ahead.

They ought to have reached it long before, but the pace of the weary oxen had been most painfully slow. Then the wind, what little there was, had been behind them, seeming as out of the mouth of some furnace, and bringing back upon them the finely pulverised dust that the cattle raised.

At last, towards evening, the sky began again to cloud over, and the mountain that had appeared distant seemed, by the change in the atmosphere, to be brought nearer to them. Almost by magic, too, the wind fell. There was a perfect calm, and then it began to blow from the opposite quarter, at first in soft puffs, then as a steady, refreshing breeze, and instantly there was a commotion in the camp,—the cattle set off at a lumbering gallop; the mules, heedless of their burdens, followed suit; the horses snorted and strained at their bridles, and Joses galloped about, shouting to the teamsters in charge of the waggons, who were striving with all their might to restrain their horses.

“Let them go, my lads; unhitch and let them go, or they’ll have the waggons over.”

“Stampede! stampede!” some of the men kept shouting, and all at once it seemed that the whole of the quadrupeds were in motion; for, acting upon Joses’ orders, the teams were unhitched, and away the whole body swept in a thundering gallop onward towards the mountain, leaving the waggons solitary in the dusty plain.

Every now and then a mule freed itself of its pack, and began kicking and squealing in delight at its freedom, while the cattle tossed their horns and went on in headlong gallop.

For once the wind had turned, the poor suffering beasts had sniffed the soft moist air that had passed over the shallow lake, and their unerring instinct set them off in search of relief.

There was no pause, and all the mounted men could do was to let their horses keep pace with the mules and cattle, only guiding them clear of the thickest part of the drove. And so they thundered on till the dusty plain was left behind, and green rank herbage and thickly growing water-plants reached, through which the cattle rushed to the shallow water at the edge of the lake.

But still they did not stop to drink, but rushed on and on, plashing as they went, till they were in right up to their flanks. Then, and then only, did they begin to drink, snorting and breathing hard, and drawing in the pure fresh water.

Some bellowed with pleasure as they seemed to satisfy their raging thirst; others began to swim or waded out till their nostrils only were above the surface; while the mules, as soon as they had drunk their fill, started to squeal and kick andsplash to the endangerment of their loads. The horses behaved the most soberly, contenting themselves with wading in to a respectable distance, and then drinking when the water was undisturbed and pure, as did their masters; the Doctor, Joses, and Bart bending down and filling the little metal cups they carried again and again.

It was growing dark as they turned from the shallow water of the lake, the mules following the horses placidly enough, and the lumbering cattle contentedly obeying the call of their masters, and settling themselves down directly to crop the rich rank grasses upon the marshy shores.

A short consultation was held now, and the question arose whether they had been observed by Indians, who might come down and try to stampede the cattle.

The matter was settled by one-half the men staying to guard them, while the other half went back to fetch up the waggons, the mule-drivers having plenty to do in collecting the burdens that had been kicked off, but which the mules submitted patiently enough to have replaced.

Still it was long on towards midnight before the waggons had all been drawn up to the shores of the lake, whose soft moist grasses seemed like paradise to the weary travellers over the desolate, dusty plains; and no sooner had Bart tethered Black Boy, and seen him contentedly cropping the grass, than, forgetful of Indians, hunger, everything but the fact that he was wearied out, he threw himself down, and in less than a minute he was fast asleep.

Chapter Twenty One.Taking full Possession.Waking with the bright sun shining over the waters of the lake, the cattle quietly browsing, and the well-watered horses enjoying a thoroughly good feed, the troubles of the journey over the dreary plain were pretty well forgotten, and as fires were lit and meals prepared, there were bright faces around ready to give the Doctor a genial “good morning.”Soon after those on the look-out, while the rest made a hearty meal to prepare them for the toil of the day, announced Indians, and arms were seized, while men stood ready to run to their horses and to protect their cattle.But there was no need for alarm, the new-comers being the Beaver and his followers, who stated that they had come upon signs of Indians, and found that they had been by the mountain within the past day or two. But they had followed the trail, and found that their enemies had gone due north, following the course of the Great Canyon, and it was probable that they had finished their raid into these southern parts, and would not return.“If they do,” said the Beaver, with contemptuous indifference, “our young men shall kill them all. Their horses will be useful. They are no good to live, for they are thieves and murderers without mercy.”The rest of the journey was soon achieved, and the waggons drawn up in regular order close beside the mountain, while, after due inspection of the cavernous place where Joses had remained concealed with the horses, it was decided as a first step to construct with rocks a semi-circular wall, whose two ends should rest against the perpendicular mountain-side, and this would serve as a corral for the cattle, and also act as a place of retreat for a certain number to protect them, the horses being kept in Joses’ Hole, as Bart christened the place.There was plenty of willing labour now that the goal had been reached, and a few of the principals had been with the Doctor to inspect the vein of silver, from which they came back enthusiastic to a degree.Leaving the greater part busy over the task of forming the cattle corral or enclosure, the Doctor called upon Bart and Joses, with three or four of his leading followers, to make the ascent of the mountain, and to this end a mysterious-looking pole was brought from the Doctor’s waggon, and given to one of the men to carry. A pick and some ropes and pegs were handed to Joses, Bart received a bag, and thus accoutred they started.“Where are we going?” said one of the party, as he saw that they were walking straight for the perpendicular wall.“Up to the top of the mountain,” replied the Doctor.“Have you ever been up?” the man asked, staring at him wonderingly.“No; but I believe the ascent will be pretty easy, and I have a reason for going.”“Is he mad?” whispered the man to Bart. “Why, nothing but a fly could climb up there.”“Mad? No,” replied Bart, smiling. “Wait a bit, and you’ll see.”“Well, I wouldn’t have believed there was a way through here!” said the man, slapping his leg, and laughing heartily, as they reached the narrow slit, crept through, and then stood with the long slope above them ready for the ascent. “It seems as if nature had done it all in the most cunning way, so as to make a hiding-place.”“And a stronghold and fort for us,” said Bart. “I think when once we get this place in order, we may set at defiance all the Indians of the plains.”“If they don’t starve us out, or stop our supply of water,” said Joses, gruffly. “Man must eat and drink.”By this time the Doctor was leading the way up the long rugged slope, that seemed as if it had been carved by water constantly rushing down, though now it was perfectly dry. It was not above ten feet wide, and the walls were in places almost perpendicular.It was a toilsome ascent, for at varying intervals great blocks of stone barred the path, with here and there corresponding rifts; but a little labour enabled the party to surmount these, and they climbed on till all at once the path took a new direction, going back as it were upon itself, but always upward at a sufficiently stiff angle, so as to form a zigzag right up the face of the mountain.“It is one of the wonders of the world,” exclaimed the Doctor, enthusiastically.“It’s a precious steep one, then,” grumbled Joses.“I can hardly understand it yet,” continued the Doctor, “unless there has been a tremendous spring of water up on high here. It seems almost impossible for this path to be natural.”“Do you think it was made by men, sir?” said Bart.“It may have been, but it seems hardly possible. Some great nation may have lived here once upon a time, but even then this does not look like the work of man. But let us go on.”It was quite a long journey to where the path turned again, and then they rested, and sat down to enjoy the sweet pure breeze, and gaze right out over the vast plain, which presented a wondrous panorama even from where they were, though a far grander view awaited them from the top, which they at last set off to reach.There were the same difficulties in the way; huge blocks of stone, over which they had to climb; rifts that they had to leap, and various natural ruggednesses of this kind, to seem in opposition to the theory that the zigzag way was the work of hands, while at every halting-place the same thought was exchanged by Bart and the Doctor— “What a fortress! We might defend it against all attacks!”But the Doctor had one other thought, and that was, how high did the silver lode come up into the mountain, and would they be able to commence the mining up there?“At all events, Bart,” he said, “up here will be our stores and treasure-houses. Nothing can be more safe than this.”At last, after a breathless ascent, Bart, who was in advance, sprang upon the top, and uttered a loud cheer, but only to stop short as he gazed round in wonder at the comparatively level surface of the mountain, and the marvellous extent of the view around. Whether there was silver, or whether there was none, did not seem to occur to him: all he wanted was to explore the many wide acres of surface, to creep down into the rifts, to cautiously walk along at the very edge of this tremendous precipice, which went sharply down without protection of any natural parapet of rock. Above all, he wanted to get over to the farther side, and, going to the edge, gaze right into the glorious canyon with the rugged sides, and try from this enormous height to trace its course to right and left as it meandered through the plain.“What a place to live in!” thought Bart, for there were grass, flowers, bushes, stunted trees, and cactuses, similar to those below them on the plain. In fact, it seemed to Bart as if this was a piece—almost roughly rounded—of the plain that had been left when the rest sank down several hundred feet, or else that this portion had been thrust right up to stand there, bold and bluff, ready to defy the fury of any storms that might blow.The Doctor led the way half round, till he found what he considered a suitable spot near the edge on the northern side of the mountain; and there being no need to fear the Indians any longer, he set Joses to work with the pick to clear out a narrow rift, into which the pole they had brought was lowered, and wedged up perpendicularly with fragments of rock, one of which Bart saw was almost a mass of pure silver; then staves were set against the bottom, and bound there for strength; then guy ropes added, and secured to well-driven-down pegs; and lastly, as a defiance to the Indians, and a declaration of the place being owned by the government, under whose consent they had formed the expedition, the national flag was run up, amidst hearty cheers, and its folds blew out strongly in the breeze.“Now,” said the Doctor, “we are under the protection of the flag, and can do as we please.”“Don’t see as the flag will be much protection,” growled Joses; “but it’ll bring the Injun down on us before long.”The Doctor did not hear these words, for he was beginning to explore the top of the mountain, and making plans for converting the place into a stronghold. Bart heard them, however, and turned to the grumbler.“Do you think the Indians will notice the flag, Joses?” he said.“Do I think the Injuns will notice it, Master Bart? Why, they can’t help noticing it. Isn’t it flap, flap, flapping there, andasking them to come as hard as it can. Why, they’ll see that bit o’ rag miles and miles away, and be swooping down almost before we know where we are. Mark my words if they’ll not. We shall have to sleep with one eye open and the other not shut, Master Bart, that’s what we shall have to do.”“Well, we shall be strong enough now to meet any number,” said Bart.“Yes, if they don’t catch us just as we are least expecting it. Dessay the Doctor knows best, but we shall never get much of that silver home on account of the Apachés.”“Oh yes, we shall, Joses,” said Bart, merrily. “Wait a bit, and you will see that the Indians can be beaten off as easily as possible, and they’ll soon be afraid to attack us when they find how strong we are. Perhaps they’ll be glad to make friends. Now, come and have a look round.”Joses obeyed his young leader, shouldering his rifle, and following him in a surly, ill-used sort of way, resenting everything that was introduced to his notice as being poor and unsatisfactory.“Glad to see trees up here, Master Bart,” he said, as the lad made a remark, by a patch whose verdure was a pleasant relief to the eye after the glare from the bare rock. “I don’t call them scrubs of things trees. Why, a good puff of wind would blow them off here and down into the plain.”“Then why hasn’t a good puff of wind blown them off and down into the plain?” said Bart.“Why haven’t they been blown off—why haven’t they been blown off, Master Bart? Well, I suppose because the wind hasn’t blowed hard enough.”Bart laughed, and they went on along the edge of the tremendous cliff till they came above the canyon, down into which Bart, never seemed weary of gazing. For the place had quite a fascination for him, with its swift, sparkling river, beautiful wooded islands, and green and varied shores. The sides of the place, too, were so wondrously picturesque; here were weather-stained rocks of fifty different tints; there covered with lovely creepers, hanging in festoons or clinging close to the stony crevices that veined the rocky face in every direction. The shelves and ledges and mossy nooks were innumerable, and every one, even at that great height, wore a tempting look that drew the lad towards it, and made him itch to begin the exploration.“What a lovely river, Joses!” he cried.“Lovely? Why, it’s one o’ those sand rivers. Don’t you ever go into it if we get down there; you’d be sucked into the quicksands before you knew where you were. I don’t think much of this place, Master Bart.”“I do,” cried the lad, stooping to pick up a rough fragment of stone, and then, as it was long and thin, breaking it against the edge of a piece of rock, when the newly-fractured end shone brightly in the sun with a metallic sheen.“Why, there is plenty of silver up here, Joses,” he said, examining the stone intently. “This is silver, is it not?”Joses took the piece of stone in an ill-used way, examined it carefully, and with a sour expression of countenance, as if he were grieved to own the truth, and finally jerked it away from him so that it might fall into the canyon.“Yes,” he growled; “that’s silver ore, but it’s very poor.”“Poor, Joses?”“Yes; horrid poor. There wasn’t above half of that silver; all the rest was stone. I like to see it in great solid lumps that don’t want any melting. That’s what I call silver. Don’t think much of this.”“Well, it’s a grand view, at all events, Joses,” said Bart.“It’s a big view, and you can see far enough for anything,” he growled. “You can see so far that you can’t see any farther; but I don’t see no good in that. What’s the good of a view that goes so far you can’t see it? Just as well have no view at all.”“Why, you are never satisfied, Joses,” laughed Bart.“Never satisfied! Well, I don’t see nothing in this to satisfy a man. You can’t eat and drink a view, and it won’t keep Injun off from you. Pshaw! views are about no good at all.”“Bart!”It was the Doctor calling, and on the lad running to him it was to find that he was standing by a great chasm running down far into the body of the mountain, with rough shelving slopes by which it was possible to descend, though the task looked risky except to any one of the firmest nerve.“Look down there, Bart,” said the Doctor, rather excitedly; “what do you make of it?”Bart took a step nearer so as to get a clearer view of the rent, rugged pit, at one side of which was a narrow, jagged slit where the sunshine came through, illumining what would otherwise have been gloomy in the extreme.How far the chasm descended it was impossible to see from its irregularity, the sides projecting in great buttresses here and there, all of grey rock, while what had seemed to be the softer portions had probably crumbled away. Here and there, though, glimpses could be obtained of what looked like profound depths where all was black and still.“What should you think this place must have been?” said the Doctor, as if eager to hear the lad’s opinion.“Wait a minute, sir,” replied Bart, loosening a great fragment of rock, which with some difficulty he pushed to the edge, and then, placing his foot to it, thrust it over, and then bent forward to hear it fall.The distance before it struck was not great, for there was a huge mass of rock projecting some fifty feet below upon which the stone fell, glanced off, and struck against the opposite side, with the effect that it was again thrown back far down out of sight; but the noise it made was loud enough, and as Bart listened he heard it strike heavily six times, then there was a dead silence for quite a minute, and it seemed that the last stroke was when it reached the bottom.Bart was just about turning to speak to the Doctor when there came hissing up a horrible echoing, weird sound, like a magnified splash, and they knew that far down at an immense depth the great stone had fallen into water.“Ugh!” ejaculated Bart, involuntarily imitating the Indians. “What a hole! Why, it must be ten times as deep as this place is high. I shouldn’t care about going down.”“Horrible indeed, Bart; but what should you think? Is this place natural or dug out?”“Natural, I should say, sir,” replied Bart. “Nobody could dig down to such a depth as that.”“Yes, natural,” said the Doctor, carefully scanning the sides of the place with a small glass. “Originally natural, but this place has been worked.”“Worked? What, dug out?” said Bart. “Why, what for—to get water?”“No,” said the Doctor, quietly; “to get silver. This has been a great mine.”“But who would have dug it?” said Bart, eagerly. “The Indians would not.”“The people who roughly made the zigzag way up to the top here, my boy.”“But what people would they be, sir? The Spaniards?”“No, Bart. I should say this was dug by people who lived long before the Spaniards, perhaps thousands of years. It might have been done by the ancient peoples of Mexico or those who built the great temples of Central America and Yucatan—those places so old that there is no tradition of the time when they were made. One thing is evident, that we have come upon a silver region that was known to the ancients.”“Well, I am disappointed,” cried Bart. “I thought, sir, that we had made quite a new find.”“So did I at first, Bart,” replied the Doctor; “but at any rate, save to obtain a few scraps, the place has not been touched, I should say, for centuries; and even if this mine has been pretty nearly exhausted, there is ample down below there in the canyon, while this mount must be our fortress and our place for furnaces and stores.”They descended cautiously for about a couple of hundred feet, sufficiently far for the Doctor to chip a little at the walls, and find in one or two places veins that ran right into the solid mountain, and quite sufficient to give ample employment to all the men without touching the great lode in the crack of the canyon side; and this being so, they climbed back to meet Joses, who had been just about to descend after them.“You’ll both be killing of yourselves before you’re done, master,” he said, roughly. “No man ought to go down a place like that without a rope round his waist well held at the end.”“Well, it would have been safer,” said the Doctor, smiling.“Safer? Yes,” growled Joses; “send down a greaser next time. There’s plenty of them, and they aren’t much consequence. We could spare a few.”The Doctor smiled, and after continuing their journey round the edge of the old mine, they made their way to the zigzag descent, whose great regularity of contrivance plainly enough indicated that human hands had had something to do with it; while probably, when it was in use in the ancient ages, when some powerful nation had rule in the land, it might have been made easy of access by means of logs and balks of wood laid over the rifts from side to side.

Waking with the bright sun shining over the waters of the lake, the cattle quietly browsing, and the well-watered horses enjoying a thoroughly good feed, the troubles of the journey over the dreary plain were pretty well forgotten, and as fires were lit and meals prepared, there were bright faces around ready to give the Doctor a genial “good morning.”

Soon after those on the look-out, while the rest made a hearty meal to prepare them for the toil of the day, announced Indians, and arms were seized, while men stood ready to run to their horses and to protect their cattle.

But there was no need for alarm, the new-comers being the Beaver and his followers, who stated that they had come upon signs of Indians, and found that they had been by the mountain within the past day or two. But they had followed the trail, and found that their enemies had gone due north, following the course of the Great Canyon, and it was probable that they had finished their raid into these southern parts, and would not return.

“If they do,” said the Beaver, with contemptuous indifference, “our young men shall kill them all. Their horses will be useful. They are no good to live, for they are thieves and murderers without mercy.”

The rest of the journey was soon achieved, and the waggons drawn up in regular order close beside the mountain, while, after due inspection of the cavernous place where Joses had remained concealed with the horses, it was decided as a first step to construct with rocks a semi-circular wall, whose two ends should rest against the perpendicular mountain-side, and this would serve as a corral for the cattle, and also act as a place of retreat for a certain number to protect them, the horses being kept in Joses’ Hole, as Bart christened the place.

There was plenty of willing labour now that the goal had been reached, and a few of the principals had been with the Doctor to inspect the vein of silver, from which they came back enthusiastic to a degree.

Leaving the greater part busy over the task of forming the cattle corral or enclosure, the Doctor called upon Bart and Joses, with three or four of his leading followers, to make the ascent of the mountain, and to this end a mysterious-looking pole was brought from the Doctor’s waggon, and given to one of the men to carry. A pick and some ropes and pegs were handed to Joses, Bart received a bag, and thus accoutred they started.

“Where are we going?” said one of the party, as he saw that they were walking straight for the perpendicular wall.

“Up to the top of the mountain,” replied the Doctor.

“Have you ever been up?” the man asked, staring at him wonderingly.

“No; but I believe the ascent will be pretty easy, and I have a reason for going.”

“Is he mad?” whispered the man to Bart. “Why, nothing but a fly could climb up there.”

“Mad? No,” replied Bart, smiling. “Wait a bit, and you’ll see.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have believed there was a way through here!” said the man, slapping his leg, and laughing heartily, as they reached the narrow slit, crept through, and then stood with the long slope above them ready for the ascent. “It seems as if nature had done it all in the most cunning way, so as to make a hiding-place.”

“And a stronghold and fort for us,” said Bart. “I think when once we get this place in order, we may set at defiance all the Indians of the plains.”

“If they don’t starve us out, or stop our supply of water,” said Joses, gruffly. “Man must eat and drink.”

By this time the Doctor was leading the way up the long rugged slope, that seemed as if it had been carved by water constantly rushing down, though now it was perfectly dry. It was not above ten feet wide, and the walls were in places almost perpendicular.

It was a toilsome ascent, for at varying intervals great blocks of stone barred the path, with here and there corresponding rifts; but a little labour enabled the party to surmount these, and they climbed on till all at once the path took a new direction, going back as it were upon itself, but always upward at a sufficiently stiff angle, so as to form a zigzag right up the face of the mountain.

“It is one of the wonders of the world,” exclaimed the Doctor, enthusiastically.

“It’s a precious steep one, then,” grumbled Joses.

“I can hardly understand it yet,” continued the Doctor, “unless there has been a tremendous spring of water up on high here. It seems almost impossible for this path to be natural.”

“Do you think it was made by men, sir?” said Bart.

“It may have been, but it seems hardly possible. Some great nation may have lived here once upon a time, but even then this does not look like the work of man. But let us go on.”

It was quite a long journey to where the path turned again, and then they rested, and sat down to enjoy the sweet pure breeze, and gaze right out over the vast plain, which presented a wondrous panorama even from where they were, though a far grander view awaited them from the top, which they at last set off to reach.

There were the same difficulties in the way; huge blocks of stone, over which they had to climb; rifts that they had to leap, and various natural ruggednesses of this kind, to seem in opposition to the theory that the zigzag way was the work of hands, while at every halting-place the same thought was exchanged by Bart and the Doctor— “What a fortress! We might defend it against all attacks!”

But the Doctor had one other thought, and that was, how high did the silver lode come up into the mountain, and would they be able to commence the mining up there?

“At all events, Bart,” he said, “up here will be our stores and treasure-houses. Nothing can be more safe than this.”

At last, after a breathless ascent, Bart, who was in advance, sprang upon the top, and uttered a loud cheer, but only to stop short as he gazed round in wonder at the comparatively level surface of the mountain, and the marvellous extent of the view around. Whether there was silver, or whether there was none, did not seem to occur to him: all he wanted was to explore the many wide acres of surface, to creep down into the rifts, to cautiously walk along at the very edge of this tremendous precipice, which went sharply down without protection of any natural parapet of rock. Above all, he wanted to get over to the farther side, and, going to the edge, gaze right into the glorious canyon with the rugged sides, and try from this enormous height to trace its course to right and left as it meandered through the plain.

“What a place to live in!” thought Bart, for there were grass, flowers, bushes, stunted trees, and cactuses, similar to those below them on the plain. In fact, it seemed to Bart as if this was a piece—almost roughly rounded—of the plain that had been left when the rest sank down several hundred feet, or else that this portion had been thrust right up to stand there, bold and bluff, ready to defy the fury of any storms that might blow.

The Doctor led the way half round, till he found what he considered a suitable spot near the edge on the northern side of the mountain; and there being no need to fear the Indians any longer, he set Joses to work with the pick to clear out a narrow rift, into which the pole they had brought was lowered, and wedged up perpendicularly with fragments of rock, one of which Bart saw was almost a mass of pure silver; then staves were set against the bottom, and bound there for strength; then guy ropes added, and secured to well-driven-down pegs; and lastly, as a defiance to the Indians, and a declaration of the place being owned by the government, under whose consent they had formed the expedition, the national flag was run up, amidst hearty cheers, and its folds blew out strongly in the breeze.

“Now,” said the Doctor, “we are under the protection of the flag, and can do as we please.”

“Don’t see as the flag will be much protection,” growled Joses; “but it’ll bring the Injun down on us before long.”

The Doctor did not hear these words, for he was beginning to explore the top of the mountain, and making plans for converting the place into a stronghold. Bart heard them, however, and turned to the grumbler.

“Do you think the Indians will notice the flag, Joses?” he said.

“Do I think the Injuns will notice it, Master Bart? Why, they can’t help noticing it. Isn’t it flap, flap, flapping there, andasking them to come as hard as it can. Why, they’ll see that bit o’ rag miles and miles away, and be swooping down almost before we know where we are. Mark my words if they’ll not. We shall have to sleep with one eye open and the other not shut, Master Bart, that’s what we shall have to do.”

“Well, we shall be strong enough now to meet any number,” said Bart.

“Yes, if they don’t catch us just as we are least expecting it. Dessay the Doctor knows best, but we shall never get much of that silver home on account of the Apachés.”

“Oh yes, we shall, Joses,” said Bart, merrily. “Wait a bit, and you will see that the Indians can be beaten off as easily as possible, and they’ll soon be afraid to attack us when they find how strong we are. Perhaps they’ll be glad to make friends. Now, come and have a look round.”

Joses obeyed his young leader, shouldering his rifle, and following him in a surly, ill-used sort of way, resenting everything that was introduced to his notice as being poor and unsatisfactory.

“Glad to see trees up here, Master Bart,” he said, as the lad made a remark, by a patch whose verdure was a pleasant relief to the eye after the glare from the bare rock. “I don’t call them scrubs of things trees. Why, a good puff of wind would blow them off here and down into the plain.”

“Then why hasn’t a good puff of wind blown them off and down into the plain?” said Bart.

“Why haven’t they been blown off—why haven’t they been blown off, Master Bart? Well, I suppose because the wind hasn’t blowed hard enough.”

Bart laughed, and they went on along the edge of the tremendous cliff till they came above the canyon, down into which Bart, never seemed weary of gazing. For the place had quite a fascination for him, with its swift, sparkling river, beautiful wooded islands, and green and varied shores. The sides of the place, too, were so wondrously picturesque; here were weather-stained rocks of fifty different tints; there covered with lovely creepers, hanging in festoons or clinging close to the stony crevices that veined the rocky face in every direction. The shelves and ledges and mossy nooks were innumerable, and every one, even at that great height, wore a tempting look that drew the lad towards it, and made him itch to begin the exploration.

“What a lovely river, Joses!” he cried.

“Lovely? Why, it’s one o’ those sand rivers. Don’t you ever go into it if we get down there; you’d be sucked into the quicksands before you knew where you were. I don’t think much of this place, Master Bart.”

“I do,” cried the lad, stooping to pick up a rough fragment of stone, and then, as it was long and thin, breaking it against the edge of a piece of rock, when the newly-fractured end shone brightly in the sun with a metallic sheen.

“Why, there is plenty of silver up here, Joses,” he said, examining the stone intently. “This is silver, is it not?”

Joses took the piece of stone in an ill-used way, examined it carefully, and with a sour expression of countenance, as if he were grieved to own the truth, and finally jerked it away from him so that it might fall into the canyon.

“Yes,” he growled; “that’s silver ore, but it’s very poor.”

“Poor, Joses?”

“Yes; horrid poor. There wasn’t above half of that silver; all the rest was stone. I like to see it in great solid lumps that don’t want any melting. That’s what I call silver. Don’t think much of this.”

“Well, it’s a grand view, at all events, Joses,” said Bart.

“It’s a big view, and you can see far enough for anything,” he growled. “You can see so far that you can’t see any farther; but I don’t see no good in that. What’s the good of a view that goes so far you can’t see it? Just as well have no view at all.”

“Why, you are never satisfied, Joses,” laughed Bart.

“Never satisfied! Well, I don’t see nothing in this to satisfy a man. You can’t eat and drink a view, and it won’t keep Injun off from you. Pshaw! views are about no good at all.”

“Bart!”

It was the Doctor calling, and on the lad running to him it was to find that he was standing by a great chasm running down far into the body of the mountain, with rough shelving slopes by which it was possible to descend, though the task looked risky except to any one of the firmest nerve.

“Look down there, Bart,” said the Doctor, rather excitedly; “what do you make of it?”

Bart took a step nearer so as to get a clearer view of the rent, rugged pit, at one side of which was a narrow, jagged slit where the sunshine came through, illumining what would otherwise have been gloomy in the extreme.

How far the chasm descended it was impossible to see from its irregularity, the sides projecting in great buttresses here and there, all of grey rock, while what had seemed to be the softer portions had probably crumbled away. Here and there, though, glimpses could be obtained of what looked like profound depths where all was black and still.

“What should you think this place must have been?” said the Doctor, as if eager to hear the lad’s opinion.

“Wait a minute, sir,” replied Bart, loosening a great fragment of rock, which with some difficulty he pushed to the edge, and then, placing his foot to it, thrust it over, and then bent forward to hear it fall.

The distance before it struck was not great, for there was a huge mass of rock projecting some fifty feet below upon which the stone fell, glanced off, and struck against the opposite side, with the effect that it was again thrown back far down out of sight; but the noise it made was loud enough, and as Bart listened he heard it strike heavily six times, then there was a dead silence for quite a minute, and it seemed that the last stroke was when it reached the bottom.

Bart was just about turning to speak to the Doctor when there came hissing up a horrible echoing, weird sound, like a magnified splash, and they knew that far down at an immense depth the great stone had fallen into water.

“Ugh!” ejaculated Bart, involuntarily imitating the Indians. “What a hole! Why, it must be ten times as deep as this place is high. I shouldn’t care about going down.”

“Horrible indeed, Bart; but what should you think? Is this place natural or dug out?”

“Natural, I should say, sir,” replied Bart. “Nobody could dig down to such a depth as that.”

“Yes, natural,” said the Doctor, carefully scanning the sides of the place with a small glass. “Originally natural, but this place has been worked.”

“Worked? What, dug out?” said Bart. “Why, what for—to get water?”

“No,” said the Doctor, quietly; “to get silver. This has been a great mine.”

“But who would have dug it?” said Bart, eagerly. “The Indians would not.”

“The people who roughly made the zigzag way up to the top here, my boy.”

“But what people would they be, sir? The Spaniards?”

“No, Bart. I should say this was dug by people who lived long before the Spaniards, perhaps thousands of years. It might have been done by the ancient peoples of Mexico or those who built the great temples of Central America and Yucatan—those places so old that there is no tradition of the time when they were made. One thing is evident, that we have come upon a silver region that was known to the ancients.”

“Well, I am disappointed,” cried Bart. “I thought, sir, that we had made quite a new find.”

“So did I at first, Bart,” replied the Doctor; “but at any rate, save to obtain a few scraps, the place has not been touched, I should say, for centuries; and even if this mine has been pretty nearly exhausted, there is ample down below there in the canyon, while this mount must be our fortress and our place for furnaces and stores.”

They descended cautiously for about a couple of hundred feet, sufficiently far for the Doctor to chip a little at the walls, and find in one or two places veins that ran right into the solid mountain, and quite sufficient to give ample employment to all the men without touching the great lode in the crack of the canyon side; and this being so, they climbed back to meet Joses, who had been just about to descend after them.

“You’ll both be killing of yourselves before you’re done, master,” he said, roughly. “No man ought to go down a place like that without a rope round his waist well held at the end.”

“Well, it would have been safer,” said the Doctor, smiling.

“Safer? Yes,” growled Joses; “send down a greaser next time. There’s plenty of them, and they aren’t much consequence. We could spare a few.”

The Doctor smiled, and after continuing their journey round the edge of the old mine, they made their way to the zigzag descent, whose great regularity of contrivance plainly enough indicated that human hands had had something to do with it; while probably, when it was in use in the ancient ages, when some powerful nation had rule in the land, it might have been made easy of access by means of logs and balks of wood laid over the rifts from side to side.

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