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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Buffalo Roost, by F. H. Cheley
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Buffalo Roost
+
+Author: F. H. Cheley
+
+Release Date: November 27, 2004  [eBook #14175]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUFFALO ROOST***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Audrey Longhurst, Project Gutenberg Beginners Projects,
+Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+BUFFALO ROOST
+
+A Story of a Young Men's Christian Association Boys' Department
+
+by
+
+F. H. CHELEY
+
+Boys' Work Director, Young Men's Christian Association, South Bend, Ind.
+
+1913
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TO Every Good Fellow WHO CUT A LOG OR TURNED A STONE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION
+OF THE OLD CABIN IN BUFFALO PARK, AND TO
+
+My Father WHO BUILT ITS HEART AND INSPIRATION, THE FIREPLACE, THIS STORY
+IS DEDICATED
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+       I.  WILLIS THORNTON DISPLAYS HIS PLUCK
+      II.  A STORY IS TOLD AND A PROMISE MADE
+     III. IN WHICH WILLIS IS HONORED
+      IV. WILLIS BECOMES INTERESTED IN GOLD MINES
+       V. A PLAN IS EVOLVED
+      VI. A STAGE ROAD JOURNEY
+     VII. A WILDERNESS CAMP
+    VIII. THE SECOND DAY OUT
+      IX. THE THIRD DAY OUT
+       X. A GLIMPSE OF BUFFALO ROOST
+      XI. A STRANGE TURN OF FATE
+     XII. THE DISCOVERY OF THE MINE
+    XIII. SLEEPY SMITH HAS AN EXPERIENCE
+     XIV. THE OPENED DOOR
+      XV. IN WHICH FATE TAKES A HAND
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Willis Thornton Displays His Pluck
+
+
+Train No. 6 on the D. & P.W., two hours late at Limon, was rushing and
+jolting along over its rickety roadbed. The rain fell in torrents, the
+heavy peals of thunder seemed about to tear the car to pieces, the black
+and threatening clouds blotted out the landscape, and the passengers
+could hear nothing but the roar of the thunder and the rattle of the
+train. The brakeman, shaking the water from his hat as he passed through
+the aisle, dropped something about it being a "mighty tough day for
+railroadin'."
+
+Suddenly there was a creaking, a cracking, and then a series of awful
+jolts. Window glass broke and flew in every direction. Like a mighty
+monster that had suddenly been frightened by an unseen foe, the train
+lurched forward, tipped a little, and slowly came to an uncertain stop.
+People were hurled from their seats with a great violence as the
+emergency brake was set. A baby cried out from a seat near the front of
+the car, and a woman screamed as a satchel from the luggage rack above
+her head dropped down upon her. Willis Thornton raised his arms above his
+head just in time to save a heavy leather suitcase from striking his
+mother full in the face. Through the broken windows was heard the shrill
+warning notes of the engine's trouble whistle, but so intense was the
+storm that the sound seemed rather a part of the raging gale. The
+brakeman rushed through the car, and as he passed Willis heard him
+exclaim half-aloud, "The freight!" Then in a loud, shaky voice, not meant
+to betray excitement, he shouted, "All out; train off the track!"
+
+He need not have spoken, however, for the people who had not already
+gotten out were close upon him. First in the rush was the mother of the
+babe that had screamed when the first jolts came. She was wild-eyed and
+hysterical. A piece of flying glass had struck her on the face, and the
+warm, trickling blood had frightened her. She rushed up to the nearest
+man and shouted, "Is my husband safe?" Just then a sickly, dudish little
+man, with a lighted cigar in his mouth, rushed toward her.
+
+"Ba Jove, my dear, you are 'urt," he said as she hurried toward him and
+fainted in his arms.
+
+The word had been passed around that a heavy freight was expected at any
+moment. The passenger whistle blew in long, shrill tones, while the
+brakeman hurried up the hill in the direction of the expected freight to
+give the danger signal. Hardly had he reached the top when there came
+the faint sound of a whistle. He heard the three blasts. The train had
+left Eastonville! Could he save a wreck? Lantern in hand, he hurried down
+the track as fast as he could with the wind and rain beating him back.
+Suddenly a black form loomed up in the mist ahead. Full blast she came,
+the black smoke from her stack running ahead as if to coax her on to
+greater speed. The brakeman waved his red lantern frantically in the air.
+There was a screeching sound of brake-shoes on the wheels, a long, shrill
+whistle, and the train sped past him, a misty dull serpent in the storm.
+He turned and followed as fast as he could.
+
+Women with disheveled hair stood and wrung their hands. Men cursed and
+swore as they ran back and forth about the derailed passenger. The wind
+lulled for a second, and in the momentary silence there came the
+half-smothered cry of a little child from one direction, answered from
+somewhere in the fog by the rushing of wheels and the faint, weird sigh
+of a whistle.
+
+Willis's head went up, his eyes flashed, his muscles tightened; then,
+turning to his mother, he cried, "The baby!" and in an instant was gone.
+It all happened so quickly there was no time for Mrs. Thornton to think.
+She saw Willis hasten away and enter the front door of the car they had
+been occupying; at the same instant she became aware of the approaching
+train. There was a shrill, angry hiss, and the freight swung into the cut
+with a terrible roar, then came a crashing of glass and breaking of
+timbers. The engineer had opened the whistle valve with such a jerk that
+it had stuck fast, and the whistle did its utmost. It was a doleful
+sound, pulsating its strange, sharp cry into the storm.
+
+Mrs. Thornton sank to her knees in an attitude of prayer, her head
+dropped to her breast. The mother that had fainted roused a little and
+called for her child.
+
+The passengers rushed back and forth in a perfect frenzy, shouting, "The
+baby! the baby!" Women cried and begged and implored some one to save it;
+but it was all over before any one could act or before the Englishman
+realized that it was his child that was in danger. The engines had
+telescoped. The freight was derailed and the first three cars completely
+demolished. The crew had all jumped and were uninjured, except the
+fireman, who had a badly-broken leg and some bruises. Two men came around
+the end of the Pullman with a boy supported between them. His head hung
+limp and the blood trickled slowly from nasty cuts on his head and face.
+Following them came the brakeman with a very frightened but unharmed
+baby, wrapped in an overcoat. Every one made a rush for the little group.
+The Englishman was first in line. His eyes opened wide and his cigar fell
+from his lips. "By Jove, Chauncey!" he exclaimed, "they came near getting
+you that time," then began to cry like a child.
+
+The danger was past. There was no one killed, and only a few injured.
+Several people were cut by broken glass and bruised by bumps. The fireman
+of the freight had broken his leg and cut his shoulder badly in his jump.
+Willis had reached the opposite platform, with the baby in his arms, just
+as the trains collided. The jar had thrown him from his feet and broken
+the glass in the door behind him. The jolt threw him, baby and all, out
+against the side of the cut into the wet sand. Outside of the ugly cuts
+and bad bruises he was unharmed, but was the hero of the day.
+
+Mrs. Thornton sat by her boy, tenderly caring for his every need. He had
+swooned at the sight of his own blood and had not yet returned to
+consciousness. In the next seat the injured fireman was propped up on
+pillows, watching the boy.
+
+"There's a piece of real stuff," he said to the engineer as they sat
+talking together. "Looks just like my old pard. It took real pluck to go
+after that baby. If Bill'd a been here he would have gotten enthusiastic
+over that lad."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A Story Is Told and a Promise Made
+
+
+An open fire had always been tremendously fascinating to Willis Thornton,
+and on winter evenings, when his chores were done and supper over, he
+would pile the big fireplace high with maple logs, then sit and dream as
+the flames danced and the fire roared. He was a sturdy lad, healthy,
+cheerful, wholesome, and tonight he was thinking.
+
+The snow-laden wind was sweeping across the "Flat Bush." At every fresh
+gust the fire would crackle and the little blue flames start up along the
+none-too-well seasoned logs. Outside the old farmhouse the great dead
+limb of a monstrous white oak moaned and sighed, while the usual sounds
+from the barnyard were lost in the patter of the icy snowflakes that
+rattled against the window pane. From the open door of the kitchen came
+faint odors of freshly-popped corn and the monotonous hum of the old
+sewing-machine. Willis was hardly aware of any presence in the room save
+his own until a warm hand was laid gently on his and a dish of snowy
+popcorn set in his lap. He had been so engrossed with his own fancies
+that he had not seen his mother enter the firelit room and come toward
+him.
+
+"Well, my boy; what are you dreaming of tonight?" she asked, as she
+seated herself in her accustomed place on the arm of his chair and placed
+her arm gently on his shoulder.
+
+"O, I've just been planning a bit, mother," he said with a smile.
+"Sometimes when I sit here by this old fire I forget myself. I travel to
+the strangest lands and think the strangest thoughts. Still, they all
+seem so very real to me that when I try not to think of them a peculiar
+restlessness comes over me. I can hardly wait for summer and the great
+big out-of-doors. Did you ever think, mother, what life would be if we
+didn't have the birds and the bees and the flowers? Are people in the
+cities happy and contented without them? I've often wondered. I suppose
+some day I'll be going to the city to live, as all the other boys have
+done; but when I think of it it makes me sad. I don't believe I'd ever be
+happy in the city, mother, unless--"
+
+He paused long enough to stir up the fire and put on another log.
+
+"Unless what, Willis?" his mother inquired.
+
+"Unless--" he hesitated as if thinking. "I could go West to where father
+was."
+
+His mother listened as he went on. "The schoolmaster was telling us today
+about the wonderful Rocky Mountains. He was there last summer on his
+vacation, you know. We were studying about Pike's Peak and the Garden of
+the Gods, so he told us all about his trip there. He went from Colorado
+Springs to somewhere away up in the mountains to a great gold camp. He
+told us of the queer little shanties the people live in, and of the great
+piles of waste ore outside of each mine. He went through one mine, the
+Independence, I think he called it, or the Portland--I don't remember
+which now; but he said the machinery used in hoisting the ore was
+wonderful. It all set me to thinking of father--I've been thinking of him
+all day. Mother, it's mighty hard for a fellow like me not to have any
+father, only just a dead one."
+
+He arose a second time to replenish the fire, but remained standing,
+facing his mother. He was too deeply interested in his own thoughts just
+then to notice the tears that were slowly stealing down his mother's
+face, and the light was too dim for him to see her sad, care-worn
+expression. She was not old, but fate had not been kind to her. She was a
+slender little woman, with a heavy mass of what had once been brown hair,
+but it was now streaked with gray. Her eyes were large and brown, and the
+intermingled expression of love and sadness made her face one of tender
+beauty, lighted as it was by the rosy tints from the open fire. As the
+boy talked on in his manly way she suddenly became aware of a change in
+him. She noticed the well-built and symmetrically developed body, the
+broad shoulders, the short, stocky neck, and the head covered with brown
+ringlets. She could not see the face, but she knew only too well of whom
+it reminded her, for of late she had often found herself saying, "Just
+like the father--just like the father."
+
+It was during such winter evenings as this that she had come to know her
+son best, as she sat on the arm of his chair and listened with tactful
+sympathy to his stories of the big black bass that kept house in the pool
+at the end of the lake, or of the downy woodpecker's nest in the old
+hickory, or, perhaps, of the big hoot owl that perched on the granary
+warm nights to watch for mice. It was with a certain feeling of sadness,
+as well as of pride, that she watched him grow older, lose his boyhood
+ways, and become more and more of a man--a man just like his father!
+
+"I get so lonely for some one to teach me things, and go with me into the
+big woods, and help me skin my rats in season," he was saying, "and to
+teach me to use tools and to understand the books and--"
+
+"Yes, my son," she replied. "But haven't you me? Won't I do to read with
+you and help you find new wild flowers and gather strange caterpillars in
+the spring?"
+
+"Yes, mother, of course you will, and you know how I do care for you. I
+couldn't begin to do without you even for a day; but someway you don't
+understand. It's because you are a woman. Sometimes I feel as if I would
+be the happiest boy in the Clear Creek School if I just had a father I
+could look up to and be proud of and--"
+
+"O, but Willis, be careful." Her voice was low and full of feeling. "You
+can do all that, my boy, and more. I know you miss him, but you must not
+forget we had him once, both of us, and that he was the very best father
+in all the world." She stopped, for now the tears were coming fast. "The
+only trouble is that he was taken away before you were lad enough to know
+him and love him as you would if we had him now. But that is all the more
+reason why you should grow into a worthy man, my boy--for his sake and
+mine. He loved you dearly, and I've often thought it was that love and
+ambition for you that made him determine to make money, so that you might
+have the future he planned for you. He left you, my boy, something better
+than money--a heritage of clean, noble blood and character. You aren't
+old enough just yet to know all that that means, but some day you will
+be truly thankful."
+
+"You are right--always right; but you know what I mean, don't you? You
+have never told me all about him, have you, mother? Won't you tell me
+now? I never wanted to know so badly as I do tonight. He seems to come
+near to me sometimes, even if I can't see him, and I want to know more
+about him."
+
+The fire burned low; the storm had increased in its fury; it seemed as if
+each gust would lift the house from its foundations. Still, to these two,
+opening their hearts to each other in the kindly glow of the firelight,
+the storm was forgotten.
+
+After a pause she began softly and very slowly to tell the story.
+
+"Your father was a noble man, Willis, such as I am sure you will be if
+you are spared to live. His boyhood I do not know much about, only that
+it was spent on his father's farm. He went to Kalamazoo for his
+schooling, and it was there that I first met him. He worked hard, saved
+his money, and went to Ann Arbor for his college work. He was ambitious
+to become a great engineer, and was always tinkering at some kind of a
+machine. He used to joke with me about becoming a great inventor, and
+after we were married he did try his hand at a patent coupler and a
+back-firing device for a gas engine. He was just like you, my boy, always
+dreaming and seeing things in the out-of-doors. I can remember the
+delight he found in rising early on summer mornings to search for
+caterpillars, moths, and worms in the nearby woods, and he would put a
+strange bug in every bottle I had in the house.
+
+"After our marriage we moved to Lansing, and he became superintendent in
+an electrical manufacturing company. He had a little shop of his own in
+the basement at home, and during the long winter evenings of the first
+year that we were there he built furniture for our little home. The chair
+we are sitting in, Willis, is one of his first pieces. We were very happy
+together there, and it wasn't long before you came. The summer before you
+were born his company sent him West to install mine machinery. It was
+then that he became interested in the great gold mines of Colorado.
+Everybody seemed to be prospecting and staking gold claims. He thought he
+saw his chance to get rich quickly, so he, too, began prospecting. He
+very soon developed a great love for the mountains, and while you were a
+baby he used to go to Colorado Springs for his vacations. His mind was
+very active, and as he became more closely acquainted with the mines he
+conceived an idea for a machine to roast gold ore by electricity. In the
+winter evenings he would sit sketching its parts and dreaming over his
+plans. Sometimes in his boyish enthusiasm he would assure me that he
+would yet be a rich man."
+
+"And what about his mine, mother; doesn't that come into the story pretty
+soon?" "Yes, yes, but don't hurry me, son. It seems so very strange to be
+sitting here telling you all about him, for it seems to have happened so
+long, long ago.
+
+"On one of his trips west he fell in with an old mountaineer named
+Kieser, Tad Kieser. Tad became interested in his roasting machine, and
+they decided to locate claims together. Tad was to put up the 'grub
+stakes,' as they called it, for your father had no money except his
+salary. All one fall, when he was not installing machinery, they explored
+the mountains south of Colorado Springs, especially along the old Stage
+Road to Cripple Creek, looking for suitable claims. The old Stage Road
+was a steep, rocky mountain road over which they hauled provisions and
+passengers into the Cripple Creek district.
+
+"Several miles from the city there was an old log hostelry--'Wright's
+Road House' they called it. Here lived a strange old man, a mountaineer
+of the oldest type. Daddy Wright, they called him. He and Tad were old
+friends, so your father became very well acquainted with him. The stages
+to and from the gold camp always stopped at Dad's; sometimes for a meal
+and sometimes for all night. It was one of the delights of your father's
+business trips to spend an evening with this old man in his rough
+mountain cabin, sitting before his crude stone fireplace smoking and
+listening to stories of the days of 'forty-nine,' when Dad had hunted for
+gold in the mountains of California. Your father and Tad were both in the
+old road house the night it was burned and barely escaped with their
+lives. He didn't tell me about it until long afterwards.
+
+"Tad and your father finally filed on two claims. One was on Cheyenne
+Mountain, near Dad's claims, and the other was somewhere near a mountain
+called Cookstove. Your father thought that valley was the most beautiful
+spot he had ever seen. He used to write me long letters describing the
+beautiful canyon and the falls, which was just a ribbon of water that
+trickled down the face of a monstrous granite boulder hundreds of feet in
+height. He called it St. Marys Falls. Here, somewhere in a hidden spot of
+this canyon, they found a strange outcropping of black rock which your
+father believed would lead to an extensive gold vein in the interior
+of the mountain. I remember he called the vein an 'iron dyke,' and said
+that a compass revolted when placed on it. His great desire was to mine
+that strata by means of a tunnel, but he had no money, so he and Tad
+decided that they would work during the winter months and save what money
+they could, then both work on the tunnel in warm weather. They chose a
+spot down in the canyon that was high, but still near the stream, and
+there built a log shanty to live in while they worked the claim. He wrote
+me how they cut the great spruce on the side of the mountain far above
+the chosen spot and rolled them in. Dad let them use his team of donkeys
+to pack in the necessary lumber and shingles for the 'shack.' Father came
+home, and Tad, with some hired help, erected the first log cabin in the
+canyon. My, but he was proud of it.
+
+"The next spring saw them at work on the tunnel. I did so hate to let
+father go, for I was afraid some harm would befall him; but he reassured
+me and seemed so positive that all our future hopes lay hidden in that
+hole that I let him go. The first season they went in thirty feet, and
+things looked better every foot. It was very hard for him to close up the
+hole and come home to his winter's work. His company in Lansing had
+inspected the drawings of his proposed machine and had promised him a
+goodly sum for the patent if he proved that it would work. The only
+question was the securing of the proper ore for flux. I remember his
+hopes ran high when one day they came upon a narrow vein of this
+necessary flux stone. He was so sure that they would find more, and the
+gold, too, that he made plans to build a great reducing plant, using the
+falls for motor power. He had it all worked out on paper, even to
+details.
+
+"Meanwhile my sister, your Aunt Lucy, and Uncle Joe went West for her
+health, and settled in Colorado Springs. Uncle Joe became a real estate
+dealer and also interested in mines and mining properties. He was greatly
+interested in the tunnel, and predicted great things for its future.
+About this time all the land around the canyon, both north and south,
+became a part of the Pike's Peak Forest Reserve, so that your father had
+to refile on his claim and prove to the land office that he was working a
+real mineral vein. In refiling, his claim was not big enough to include
+the shanty, but anticipating no trouble on account of it he neglected to
+lease his cabin from the Forest Reserve officials. The news leaked out
+that gold had been discovered in Cookstove Gulch, and in a few days the
+entire stream was staked from one end of the canyon to the other as
+placer claims. Of course the cabin site became the property of another
+man, and with it the cabin, as it could not be moved. The new owner was a
+little, short, pudgy man with an ever-ready eye for business, so father
+and Tad were forced to rent the cabin they had built and paid for. That
+winter was the one your sister Mabel was taken from us, and the last year
+we were all together."
+
+She stopped and gazed into the fire, seemingly forgetting the boy who sat
+by her side. Then she reached forward and placed the last stick on the
+slowly-dying embers. As it caught, and the flames leaped into the chimney
+in response to the wind outside, she continued:
+
+"The next summer was the last. I never knew just how it happened exactly;
+but some way, while making a new side drift in the tunnel, a blast went
+off prematurely, and he was caught in the falling rocks and crushed to
+death. Uncle Joe wrote me the particulars--all that I ever had.
+
+"He was too badly mangled to be recognized, so even before I knew of the
+accident his poor, broken body was laid to rest under the pines in
+Evergreen Cemetery. The tunnel was closed and locked, and your uncle
+packed father's few belongings in the little old trunk I gave you last
+spring for your own and sent it home--all that I ever saw again of your
+father.
+
+"Then followed the terrible fever that nearly took my life. How I prayed,
+my boy, that I might die, so great was my sorrow and utter loneliness;
+but the Great Father saw fit to keep me here, and now I am thankful. He
+needed me to help you become a man. When I was so sick grandfather
+came and brought us home, and here we have been ever since."
+
+"But, mother, have you never wanted to go to Colorado?"
+
+"Yes, son, I've often thought I would be happier there, but father has
+never thought so. I've often promised Aunt Lucy we'd come. I'm afraid she
+won't be long for this world, for she has a very serious tubercular
+trouble. You must never mention it, son, but your grandfather never had
+any use for Uncle Joe, and was very much opposed to Lucy's marrying him,
+so they slipped off and were married secretly. She has never felt like
+coming home since--not even for a visit. Father gets very lonely for her,
+for she was the life of the old home. I would not be surprised, son, if I
+should be called to her bedside any time now, for she is very low."
+
+"Mother, if such a thing should happen, you'd take me with you, wouldn't
+you?" eagerly asked Willis.
+
+"Of course I would, my son."
+
+"And perhaps I could find father's tunnel. Say, mother, did you ever hear
+what became of that Tad Kieser after father's death?" he inquired.
+
+"No, son, I never heard. He wrote me one letter, expressing his sympathy,
+and in that letter I remember he said he had abandoned the tunnel because
+he was convinced that it was not a safe place to work, and probably it
+never would have amounted to anything, anyway."
+
+"Do you suppose he is still prospecting somewhere in the mountains,
+mother?"
+
+"I don't know, Willis. Probably not, for that was ten years ago, you
+know."
+
+The remains of the last log dropped between the andirons and rolled over.
+Mrs. Thornton rose.
+
+"It's time we were in bed, son, long ago." With that she gently bent,
+kissed him on the forehead, and slipped off to her own room, leaving him
+with the dying fire. He sat still a long time, his eyes wide open and his
+fists clenched.
+
+"If I only could," he was saying. "If I only could."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+In Which Willis Is Honored
+
+
+"You're always trying to get in a new fellow, Chuck. We never would have
+a new member if you didn't do your scouting around. You know more about
+the fellows in this town than any half-dozen of the rest of us. How do
+you get next to them?"
+
+These remarks came from Robert Dennis, the splendid captain of the High
+School Basket Ball Team. He had met a few of his companions at the Young
+Men's Christian Association that evening.
+
+The Association was a very handsome, four-story brick that stood some
+distance back from the street. Of all the places in the community for
+young fellows to "hang out" the Association was the most popular. At any
+hour after school, until closing time in the evening, small groups of
+fellows of every age might be found in the various departments, talking
+athletics, planning an all-day hike into the mountains, discussing an
+amateur theatrical, a debating club, a Bible study supper, or some other
+of the many activities carried on by these fellows with the Association
+as a basis of operations and a partner. It appealed to the best fellows
+in the school, and even in the entire community, for it had very early in
+its history made itself known as a clean, broad-minded, sympathetic, and
+constructive agency in the lives of boys and young men. It appealed to
+the fellows because they could have a hand in its operations and a voice
+in its government; because it stood for clean sport, clean bodies, clean
+minds, healthy spirits, and a type of social life that had all the
+appearances of being powerfully masculine, and yet clean and gentlemanly.
+It stood for a three-sided manhood--spirit, mind, and body.
+
+Chuck seated himself. "No, Dennis, not always getting a new member, but
+I'll tell you one thing, I always do have an eye open for a first-class
+fellow for our bunch. You know as well as I do that if we are going to
+keep things right, here in our old Y.M., and give the 'Chief' the help he
+needs, we'll have to keep adding every strong, clean, congenial fellow we
+can lay our hands on. You don't need to worry about our getting too many.
+O.F.F. has been doing stunts for two years now, and in that time we have
+just taken in five new men. We have room for at least three more. I know
+sometimes I make a mistake, but I'll bet my hat on this fellow. He's no
+ordinary kid, I'll tell you that. I saw him in the swimming tank with his
+uncle, Mr. Williams, yesterday, and a cleaner-cut, better-built fellow
+you never saw. Swim like a fish, and dive--why, there's nothing to it. If
+he takes a membership in this Department he'll be in the Leaders' Corps
+in less than a jiffy, and, what's more, he'll be a leader in everything
+else, too, when he gets acquainted."
+
+"Well, I'll tell you," said "Shorty" Wier, who had thus far kept silent,
+"Let's all look him over and get better acquainted with him Wednesday
+night on the hike. The 'Chief' told me he had invited him to go along
+with the bunch."
+
+"What's the bunch going to do on Wednesday night?" inquired "Sleepy"
+Smith, who was always preoccupied when anything of real importance was
+going on.
+
+"Why, you ought to wake up occasionally and you wouldn't be so far behind
+the times," replied Chuck, rather dryly. "The class is going to Sweet
+Potato Gulch for a business meeting and wiener-bake. Be sure to be on
+hand, every man of you."
+
+"O well, I don't like wieners, anyway," replied Smith, and he returned to
+his own thoughts.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Wednesday night was perfect--not a cloud in the sky, and a great
+half-moon to help them find their way. There was a spring breeze in the
+air, the kind that makes a great wood-fire of dry logs and pine needles
+about the most attractive thing on earth to a crowd of young savages. Far
+away to the westward Pike's Peak's hoary head was lifted into the sky,
+dimly lighted by the yellow rays of the moon. There was a faint odor of
+spring in the air, while the little mountain stream had not as yet given
+up its icy prattle. Little patches of snow still dotted the sides of the
+canyon, and here and there a crystal icicle sparkled from the end of a
+pine bough.
+
+It was a night of wonders for Willis. He had never felt the "call of the
+wild" so strongly and irresistibly as on that night. Every mountain crag
+seemed to be calling him, and in his fancy he thought the fir trees
+reached their gently-waving branches, beckoning him to come into the
+darkness and solitude. In spite of himself, his thoughts would wander to
+the Michigan homeland. He wondered if the ice had broken on the lake yet,
+and if the blossoms had begun to come in the old orchard, and if his
+grandmother had filled the incubator. He felt queer with so many
+strangers, yet not at all ill-at-ease, for he had lived a wholesome life
+in the out-of-doors, and the meaning of fear was almost unknown to him.
+As the fire was lighted and the wieners set to bake on the end of long,
+green willow sticks, he began to enter more completely into the merriment
+of the crowd.
+
+It was an exceptional group of older fellows--the clean fun and wholesome
+chat was above the ordinary, yet was spontaneous and real. The "Chief,"
+whose name was Allen, stood at one side of the fire with a note-book in
+his hand, while the fellows were seated upon a dead log that had been
+dragged close to the fire. Allen was a young man of medium height,
+well-built, and clean-cut. His hair was black and his eyes were dark and
+very bright. A merry smile played over his features. Every fellow in the
+group knew that that smile meant "good will toward men." His hiking
+trousers bagged about the tops of his high mountain boots, and his
+sweater bore the marks of many a camping trip. He always wore on such
+occasions as this an old felt hat, which had the initials of many a
+stanch, good, out-of-door companion printed on it. There was the color
+and vigor of health in his face, and his movements were swift and
+powerful. He was a splendid specimen of a clean, unselfish college man
+who loved God, His out-of-doors, and all his fellow-men. There was not a
+man in the community who had such an influence, or for whom the boys felt
+such profound respect, as Allen. He was a "square deal" personified. Many
+were the personal differences of the fellows that were submitted to him
+free-willed for arbitration. His Department was his kingdom, and these
+fellows his stanch and loyal supporters. Where he led they followed,
+always knowing it was for some good purpose. Meanness, like a wolf in the
+night, slunk away when he came upon it. Smut and slander knew they had no
+chance in his presence. To these fellows, and many more who knew him, he
+stood as a confidential friend and counselor, and was as a father to many
+a boy in the time of trouble. Many were the fathers who would have given
+a good deal to have held the place in their sons' estimations that Mr.
+Allen did.
+
+The trip that night did several things for Willis. It told him plainly
+that he was going to be an ardent lover of the mountains and life in
+them, just as he had dreamed and hoped he might.
+
+Several weeks later, when Willis came home one evening, he found his
+mother waiting for him at the door with an envelope in her hand. Willis
+had told his mother all about his trip to the "Gulch," and had confessed
+to her how proud he would be to become a member of "O.F.F." A warm
+friendship had sprung up between Chuck and himself, and he was learning
+to be happy in the companionship of that crowd. He eagerly reached for
+the envelope, and, opening it, read aloud:
+
+"Next Friday evening 'O.F.F.' will hold an outing meeting in Williams
+Canyon. We will first take you through Huccacode Cave, then we will have
+supper on Pinion Crag. We will hold our meeting about the council fire,
+at which time we will be very pleased to extend to you the right hand of
+fellowship, and make you a full-fledged member of 'O.F.F.'
+
+"ROBT. DENNIS,
+President."
+
+"Isn't that great, mother! I'm really to be a member of the very best
+Bible group at the Association. It's a club, too, you know, and holds
+every member to a clean standard of life in work and play. Every Saturday
+night they meet at the Association for supper and a half-hour of Bible
+study. Mr. Allen is teacher, but they all do a lot of talking. O, it's
+great! I'm tickled to death! I want you to know every one of those
+fellows, mother. Sleepy is the poorest man--besides me, of course. I
+can't say I like him so well. He's a little sneaky, I think. Chuck told
+me they took him in because Mr. Allen wanted them to. The 'Chief' says he
+has a pile of good in him, if we can just get it out. He has been awfully
+nice to me, though. He talks camera to me almost every time I see him.
+I showed him the pictures I made last spring of the thrush's nest, and he
+was crazy over them. I'm going to teach him how to photograph flowers and
+birds and nature. I'm glad I can do something that's worth while, or I'd
+feel unhappy in that bunch. Sleepy has a wireless outfit and knows all
+about electricity. Shorty Wier works in the Strang Garage. He is a shark
+in school and a fiend at basket ball. He doesn't say much, but he is a
+dandy. Chuck is interested in debates, and will represent the school in
+the interscholastic contest next fall. He can talk about anything, and
+has 'pep,' I tell you. And Mr. Allen is a nature student. Gee! won't we
+have a circus talking bugs and flowers and birds. Fat draws and does
+lettering. O yes, and Ham--I mustn't leave out Ham--he is the Billikin of
+the crowd. When you feel down in the mouth or blue, just look at Ham and
+it makes you laugh. He likes everybody except the girls, and everybody
+likes him. He knows more funny stories than all the rest put together.
+Ham's the one that always gets the fire ready to light and passes the
+'eats,' he's--"
+
+"Well, son, I think you are fortunate in being able to find such
+companions, and in having such a place as the Association to spend your
+leisure time. I think it is a great thing. I hope you will make the
+most of the opportunity. I have about decided we had better stay here
+through the winter, for I am very sure Aunt Lucy can not last until
+spring. I feel so sorry for Uncle."
+
+      *       *       *       *       *
+
+Friday came at last, and was one of those grand June evenings when
+everything seemed to be bursting with the love of life. The new green
+leaves danced in the breeze, as if saying, "See, I'm back again!" Here
+and there a fragrant fruit tree gave forth its odor from snowy blossoms,
+and innumerable spring insects flocked to the arc lights at the corners.
+
+It was a happy, healthy crowd of boys that boarded the street car for
+Manitou. High-boots, sweaters, slouch hats, cameras, and a plentiful
+supply of good food. From the hip-pockets of the trousers tallow candles
+showed, and one fellow carried a good supply of mason's cord, wound upon
+a paddle. Then there was the coffee-pot, which was really an honorary
+member of the club, and numerous packages done up in paper.
+
+The fellows loved Williams just at twilight, for it was then that the
+fantastic shapes and high pinnacles of white limestone made their best
+impression. The long, irregular shadows that were thrown across the
+canyon by the setting sun, the cool pine-scented breeze that carried
+every sound down the narrow crevice, the echoing of every laugh and
+halloo added much to the enjoyment and comradeship of the little group.
+Who could be unhappy or unfriendly on such a night and in such a place?
+
+The road led on and up, winding back and forth zigzag fashion on the
+south wall, until it reached that wonderful cavern of fairyland, the
+Grand Caverns. Thousands of tourists annually come to see its wonders,
+but to the boys there were other caves more magic in their spell, for
+they had not yet become "civilized," as the fellows said, by being
+lighted with electricity and "engraved" by human hands.
+
+As they passed through the Narrows they began to climb up the east wall,
+at a point where an immense pile of broken stone from the ledges above
+had collected. This is the doorway to Huccacode. The entrance to the cave
+is a mere crack in a mighty white wall that rises a hundred feet.
+
+Bundles and boxes were placed on a convenient ledge, candles lighted, and
+all made ready. The end of the string was fastened to a shoot of
+sagebrush just outside the opening; and the group passed in, Shorty in
+the lead with an electric flashlight, and Phil bringing up the rear,
+trailing the string. Far back in this wonderful cave there is a joining
+of passages, and parties entering without a string have often become
+lost, and have traveled several times around in a great circle before
+finding the lead out.
+
+The cave is a series of chambers connected by what appears to be an
+overlapping of rooms. The voices of the boys sounded hollow and far away,
+while the candles cast long, grotesque shadows on the walls. As the
+column advanced, the leader shouted back now and then to "watch out to
+the left" or "to be careful to the right" or "to mind your footing."
+As the trail led off on the side of the Bottomless Pit they halted, and
+the usual ceremony was gone through. They twisted several newspapers
+together into a torch and, lighting them, dropped them into the pit. They
+watched as the torch went down and down and down, lighting the way for a
+fleeting instant into the very depths of the earth; past ugly, jagged
+rocks, past flat shelves of limestone, past straight, smooth walls of
+rock till, at last, it burned itself out, still going down into the vast,
+mysterious crevice.
+
+"It's a strange sight, to be sure," remarked Mr. Allen. "I have seen it a
+good many times now, and I have no trouble in believing the old Indian
+legend about it."
+
+"I have never heard it," said Willis. "Won't you tell it to us? This
+would be such a good time. Let's put out all the lights except mine; I'll
+stick it here on this projection and we'll sit in the end of this big
+room while you talk."
+
+The crowd suited the action to the word. Mr. Allen pulled his hat far
+down over his eyes, picked up several little white pebbles from the
+ground and put them into his mouth to disguise his voice, then began:
+
+"Eagle-Foot had been for many years the mighty medicine man of the
+great Ute Indians, who were probably the strongest and most warlike of
+all the mountain tribes. Their home was in the Middle Park at the north
+base of Pike's Peak, shut in from the other tribes in a fertile and
+absolutely safe valley, which could be guarded by a few men at a certain
+point. Here in this mountain valley the Utes grew into a strong Indian
+state. During the hunting season large parties of them would ride to the
+plains to hunt buffalo, returning after several weeks with immense
+supplies of jerked meat, which is the choice steaks sun-cured, and with a
+goodly number of buffalo hides. Now, Eagle-Foot was a great doctor. He
+knew all about the mountain herbs and the medicinal properties of certain
+mineral waters as well as of the ancient sweating of disease out of the
+body by mud baths--a method used by the Indians of the South. He was so
+successful that the Indians began to believe him infallible as a doctor
+and medicine man.
+
+"Well, one season, following a great buffalo hunt on the plains, a
+strange itching skin disease broke out among the hunters, causing a great
+number of them to die. Eagle-Foot could not find a satisfactory remedy,
+although he tried many mixtures. At last they held long fasts, and prayed
+the Great Spirit to remove the curse from them. But the next season
+it was worse than ever. The big Chief himself lost his favorite son,
+Megaleep, and Eagle-Foot began to lose his influence among the people.
+
+"Some thought the Great Spirit was punishing them for stealing the
+buffalo from their brothers of the plains; others said that the Evil
+Spirit had come back from the great desert to haunt them with disease and
+famine. Eagle-Foot remained silent and downcast, spending much time alone
+in the mountains fasting. One day as the warriors returned from the
+burying ground they found Eagle-Foot awaiting them at the camp, decked in
+his full regalia, his face painted as if for a great occasion, all his
+feathers hanging from his belt. He told the chief that the Great Spirit
+had at last spoken to him, and that he was going on a long quest into the
+limestone canyons. There the Great Spirit would reveal to him a cure for
+the dread disease. He called for the swiftest runner to go with him.
+Huckween, the Night Voice, volunteered, and so they started, all the
+warriors accompanying them to Sentinel Point, chanting prayers to the
+Great Spirit.
+
+"Several days later Huckween returned to camp, haggard and weak and
+hungry, bearing the medicine wand of Eagle-Foot. He took it straight to
+the Chief, and on bended knee told him the strange tale. How Eagle-Foot
+had left him in the morning at the entrance to a mighty cavern and told
+him to follow in at 'high sun.' This he did, and when he reached this
+spot, the Bottomless Pit, he found Eagle-Foot's sacred medicine wand
+stuck in the mud, his belt of sacred feathers fastened to the end of it,
+dangling down into the mouth of the pit. From the depths he heard strange
+sounds, but Eagle-Foot was gone. As he lay looking into the blackness, he
+seemed to realize suddenly that the wand was the promised cure, and that
+Eagle-Foot had given his own life in the Bottomless Pit that the sacred
+feathers might become a saving potion for his people. It was the old idea
+of a blood sacrifice.
+
+"Every season since that the great medicine man of the Utes came here to
+receive the mystic cure, bringing with him Eagle-Foot's staff and belt.
+Long strips of cedar bark were bound together into a rope. This was
+soaked in deer's grease, one end lighted, and dropped into the Pit, the
+other fastened to the staff, which was stuck into the ground near the
+edge. The spirit of Eagle-Foot thus returned, using the flaming bark rope
+as a ladder, to bless the feathers of his brother, the medicine man of
+the Utes."
+
+"Do you suppose there are really bodies there at the bottom?" asked
+Sleepy, as the candles were relighted and the group passed on into the
+depths of the cave.
+
+"I wouldn't be surprised," replied the Chief.
+
+Finally the first flight of rickety wooden steps was reached, and the
+boys descended, one at a time. Then came the "Fat man's misery," where
+the ceiling of the cave almost met the floor, leaving only a small
+opening. There was much laughing as Fat squeezed his body through. In the
+"Bridal Chamber" every fellow traced his initials on the white stone with
+his smoking candle. Then came the "Auger Hole," which is a round opening,
+not more than twenty inches in diameter and about fifteen feet long,
+through a solid wall of rock. About the middle of the passage there is a
+sharp turn, and the remainder of the passage slopes down into the next
+room. Each one stretched himself out at full length, taking hold of the
+leg of the man in front of him. In this way they worked themselves
+through, like a great serpent.
+
+A very peculiar sensation came to Willis, who was second in the line, as
+he worked himself along the dark passage. "If the roof should cave in
+just a little, what a death!" He was busy with such thoughts when Chuck,
+who was just ahead of him, suddenly backed into him and whispered,
+"Look!" He looked ahead, and there, somewhere in the darkness he saw two
+small, yellow-green lights. Willis clutched Chuck by the arm and
+whispered hoarsely, "It's an animal!" Word was passed from one to the
+other as they emerged from the Auger Hole that there was a wild-cat in
+the Mud Room.
+
+Mr. Allen always carried a gun on these trips, unknown to the fellows. As
+he took in the situation he quietly drew the revolver from his pocket and
+took a few steps forward. He began to think what the possible results of
+shooting might be. He had often heard of mines caving in as the result of
+a loud report, and of the vibrations from shouts closing the entrance to
+caves. It would be unwise to shoot, but perhaps more unwise to go away
+and leave the animal there. Some unarmed party might fall upon it. Many
+things were suggested, many possibilities talked over; but there seemed
+to be some objection to all. The eyes seemed to go out now and then, and
+occasionally there was a sad, low whine that made the cold chills run up
+and down each fellow's back. Sleepy had made sure of his safety by
+returning through the Auger Hole. Mr. Allen made no reply to their many
+inquiries--he seemed to have lost his power of speech. He stood with
+muscles taut and gun ready. He despised indecision, yet--what should he
+do? He thought of the mountain lion that had been killed on the carriage
+road to the Peak the spring before. Could this be its mate? He tried to
+think what the characteristics of a bob-cat were. He wondered if perhaps
+it had already attacked some one; perhaps killed him, and even now was
+guarding the dead body--perhaps not dead yet. His arm twitched nervously.
+He was losing his self-control. There was absolute silence now except for
+the whine of the beast. Did a lion whine? He could not think.
+
+They could not have told how long they stood there silent. Presently
+Shorty Wier pushed himself to the head of the group and, without a
+moment's warning, flashed his electric spotlight and began advancing
+slowly toward the animal. Allen caught him by the sleeve and followed,
+gun in hand. The eyes seemed to dilate, and there was a low growl that
+seemed to be a warning. In an instant it flashed into Allen's mind, "A
+mad dog!" A bobcat could not growl, and a lion did not sound like a dog.
+Shorty turned and looked Allen in the eye, "Don't be a fool. Put up your
+gun and get out your pocket ax," he said in a low, steady voice. Then
+he began talking in a coaxing tone.
+
+"There, dog, there, poor fellow, no one will hurt you, nice pup; what's
+the matter, dog." His light he cast straight at the eyes. "Don't strike
+till I say," he whispered to Mr. Allen.
+
+In a moment they were close enough to see that it was a dog, a Collie
+pup, wild-eyed and half-starved. Shorty stepped nearer and put his hand
+out to pat the dog's head; but the animal only trembled and shrank back,
+then whined a pitiful whine. They could see now that the dog was fast in
+a steel trap, held securely by his hind leg. Shorty reached down and
+released the bruised and swollen leg from the trap, and as the dog felt
+himself free he gave a cry of relief. If ever a dog expressed his
+gratitude in actions it was that pup. When they reached the mouth of
+the cave the dog collar was carefully examined, bringing to light the
+fact that the dog belonged to a Beverly H. Pembroke. Shorty would have
+the reward. Their lunch boxes and coffee-pot were gathered up, and the
+climb to the cliff began. The great moon was just lifting her yellow head
+above a rift of clouds in the eastern sky. Soon the flat top of the crag
+was reached, and in a moment a roaring fire was kindled. They had filled
+the coffee-pot with water before leaving the stream in the canyon, and it
+was now swung on a cross-pole over the fire. Each fellow put his share of
+the steak to fry by fastening it to the forked end of a stick and holding
+it over the coals. The red-cedar sticks made an ideal cooking fire, and
+the odor from the burning wood was enough to make any one hungry. The dog
+lay upon Shorty's sweater, against the side of the cliff, and watched the
+broiling meat with eager eyes. It is hardly necessary to say that he
+received a generous share of the meal.
+
+Mr. Allen stood with his back to the fire, looking off over the tops of
+the mountains and down into the moonlit spots of the canyon below,
+absorbing as much as he could of its beauty and inspiration. Far away to
+the west was the same old peak that he had seen from every conceivable
+angle and he had learned to love so well. It was a scene like this that
+he loved better than anything else in the world, and it was at such times
+that he almost wished that he was one of God's wild things living a
+care-free life, looking to Mother Earth and his own wits to care for all
+his needs.
+
+Willis came around the fire and stood by his side, silently taking in the
+beauties of the picture. Mr. Allen turned, and placing his arm on the
+boy's shoulder, said, "It's great, isn't it, boy? It takes a night like
+this to make a man realize what the psalmist meant when he said, 'I will
+lift up mine eyes unto the hills whence cometh my help.' Do you ever
+think of it when you look at these old mountains?"
+
+After supper was finished the group gathered about the fire, and the
+business meeting, for which the trip had been planned, began. More cedar
+sticks were piled upon the fire, while the fellows settled themselves
+comfortably.
+
+"The meeting will please come to order." Dennis had taken his place at
+the head of the little company. "The secretary will please read the
+minutes of the last meeting." Chuck jumped to his feet and made his
+report.
+
+"Any objections to these minutes? If not, they will stand approved as
+read. Mr. Allen, will you explain to Thornton what 'O.F.F.' means and
+give him the oath of membership?"
+
+Mr. Allen stepped to the side of the fire.
+
+"Fellows, it is with an ever-increasing satisfaction that I meet with
+'O.F.F.,' and I think it would not be out of place to-night to say just
+a few words that have been in my mind these last few days. I am proud to
+be a member of such a club. I am proud to call every fellow gathered here
+my brother. I am proud to have a voice in so clean and democratic a
+government. I am proud to be able to find my social amusement and social
+fellowship in such ways as this club employs--in hiking and tramping in
+the woods and learning Nature's secrets. We will not always be together
+in this most happy and congenial group. Fate will soon separate us. Some
+will grow old; some will die before their time; some will perhaps be rich
+in this world's goods; possibly some will experience poverty's sting. Yet
+none of us, fellows, need ever want for real friendship; and, after all,
+it's that which makes life glad and beautiful for us, or sad and unhappy
+if we do not have it. I have often warned my memory never to lose the
+picture of a single one of these simple meals, about the open fire
+together, so that in days to come I may go back and refresh myself at
+these springs of pure contentment. It's a beautiful thing in a fellow's
+life to just be living for the welfare of others, as we are trying to do.
+I'm wishing one thing to-night for you all, and that is, that there may
+never come a time in your busy lives when you will find it to your liking
+to follow any other standard than the one we have set for ourselves here
+in this little group. I am hoping that we will never find any type of
+social fellowship any more attractive to us than this clean, wholesome,
+out-of-door life that we have learned to love so well. The time will
+come, fellows--did you ever think of it?--the time must come when we will
+not be able to gather at these fires and chat together of our mutual
+interests and common woes. But I hope the time will never come when we
+can forget the good things for which we stand, day by day, in our living.
+
+"Willis, stand up here by the fire. I want to say to you, my boy, that
+we are proud to have you as a brother and that we feel confident that
+you are a real addition to our number. We want you to be a real, live
+member--to enter into the spirit of our organization. Our letters,
+O.F.F., stand for a very simple slogan, one that has meant great things
+in the lives of every one of us fellows, and one that will mean great
+things to you if you take it into your life and let it work. It means
+that from this night on you will be more interested in the welfare of
+others than of yourself. O.F.F.--Other Fellow First. Give me your hand.
+Do you promise that you will live a clean life, physically, mentally, and
+morally? Do you promise that you will forget your own interests in
+helping others, that selfishness will have no place in your life? Do you
+promise that you will not give your support for any reason to anything
+that to your mind is beneath the honor of a gentleman? If so, say, 'I
+do.'"
+
+Willis lifted his eyes to Mr. Allen's, and, with a pressure of his hand,
+he answered in a clear voice, "I do!"
+
+"I take great pleasure," continued Mr. Allen, "in welcoming you as a
+brother."
+
+The other fellows arose, and there was a general handshaking, followed by
+cries of "Speech!" "Speech!"
+
+"All I have to say, fellows, is that I, too, am proud of every one of you
+and of everything for which you stand, and that I'll do my best to be a
+worthy member. Thank you for the honor you have shown me by asking me to
+be one of you."
+
+They sat a long time that evening, talking and exchanging ideas, for
+there was something nearly bewitching in the fire and the view and the
+friendship.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Willis Becomes Interested in Gold Mines
+
+
+The next four weeks passed by very slowly to Willis. Mr. Allen had
+gone to the annual summer camp with a large number of the Association
+boys. It was a State encampment, held in that very odd and interesting
+part of the second range known as Cathedral Park. Willis had been very
+anxious to go, for he knew it would be a very new and profitable
+experience for him. Mr. Allen had asked him to go as a Leader, to have
+charge of one tent of seven boys. He had never been to a camp of any
+kind, to say nothing of a mountain camp, so it was a great disappointment
+to him when his mother had told him that he had better not go this time.
+His aunt had grown worse as the hot weather came on, and his mother
+explained that she could not do without him in case his aunt should pass
+away.
+
+He understood perfectly and knew that his mother's request was
+reasonable, so had contented himself by offering to help out at the
+Association in Mr. Allen's absence. He was anxious to give something
+in return for all Mr. Allen was giving him. Then, too, it gave him an
+opportunity to watch the development of a good many of the cocoons and
+chrysalides that the nature study club had placed in glasses in a window
+of the reading room.
+
+He had been making sketches of the development of several butterflies.
+This kind of work he dearly loved. He would spend hours, sometimes,
+watching a delicate insect emerge from its cocoon and slowly dry its
+dainty, crumpled wings until it was able to fly.
+
+One day he sat sketching an immense Ichneumon fly that had just emerged
+from a Tawny Admiral chrysalis.
+
+"You can't always tell," he was saying to the little group that were
+watching him. "Nature fools you sometimes. Mr. Caterpillar, who built
+that clean, cozy little house, and he was a fine, big, healthy fellow,
+too, expected to be somebody one of these days--a beautiful butterfly
+like the frontispiece of that nature book--but he got into bad company
+and got 'stung.' Now, instead of hatching a butterfly, out comes this
+robber fly, a long, lean, sleek-looking fellow that has been living for
+weeks on the body of that poor caterpillar, and we didn't know it. You
+want to watch out who you run with, fellows, or you're liable to turn out
+'Ichneumon men' instead of gentlemen." He laughed as he returned the
+glass to the shelf and closed his sketch book.
+
+"What in the world!"
+
+"Pots and kettles, frying pans,
+French toast, hot cakes, Chef's the man;
+We'll wash our hair and comb our face,
+Camp Tech--ump--sa, that's the place."
+
+The crowd made a break for the door, and in a moment more they were
+inside, laughing and shouting. Five minutes later they might all have
+been found splashing around in the swimming-pool, making up for the lost
+swims of the past few days, their bodies brown as berries, and as healthy
+as free, camp-life in mountain air could make them. Mr. Allen shook
+Willis by the hand.
+
+"I never had a better time in my life; and such a gang of royal good
+fellows! Willis, old man, I always want to be a boy if age takes such
+real pleasures away from man. I missed you, boy, every day, and needed
+you so often. How's the aunt, and how's the Department? Say, Willis,
+while I take a little swim, will you 'phone to all the Cabinet members
+and tell them it's Bruin Inn for supper on Saturday night?--a very
+important meeting! Meet here at five o'clock. And say, I want you to go
+along with us. I have decided to add an out-of-door committee to the
+Cabinet, and I want you to represent that phase of the work, will you?"
+
+Camp was the favorite topic of conversation on Saturday night as the
+little group of older fellows walked up the canyon road. Mr. Allen was
+telling one group about some of the funny things fond mothers had sent
+to camp with their boys, while just behind another group were listening
+to an exciting tale of how the only night-shirt in camp, together with
+the Leader's razor-strop, were hung on the topmost branch of a great
+spike-topped pine that stood just in the middle of the camp.
+
+So the talk ran on, from one thing to another. The stars twinkled in
+countless numbers above, giving just enough light so that they could
+see the mighty column of granite on either side, and to silhouette the
+gently-murmuring pines against the canyon wall. The air was chill and
+faintly scented by the bursting wild-cherry blossoms that grew in great
+profusion along the stream. Here and there, in a moist crevice, a
+glow-worm shed forth its greenish-yellow glow, to let you know it was
+night time and summer. Far away in the distance Phantom Falls was
+tumbling and splashing over a great pile of drift logs.
+
+As the little company crossed the bridge and rounded a turn in the road,
+a campfire, built in a little sheltered nook back from the road, came
+into view. It cast long beams of light and grotesque shadows in every
+direction, while the odor of cherry blossoms changed to the aroma of good
+coffee.
+
+"I hope Old Ben has as good a pot of coffee on the fire at the Inn," said
+one.
+
+Presently "Old Night Cap" loomed up against the sky.
+
+"This is as far as we could come a year or two ago," said Mr. Allen to
+Willis. "Before the railroad and the inn were built we used to think it
+was a long way even up here to the old mine."
+
+"Did I ever tell you about the old Negro that owned this mine? Well, he
+came herein the early days and found a strange yellow outcropping here.
+He built himself a funny little shanty on the hillside, which he thatched
+with spruce boughs. Here he spent a good many years of his life, digging.
+His tunnel caved in soon after he left it, but he did find a little gold
+for his work. When his provisions gave out, he would take his old mule,
+which was his only companion, tramp into the city, sell his little bag of
+gold dust, and buy bacon, flour, and beans. After a little spree he would
+return to the mine, always sure that he would find the gold in larger
+quantities. Often I've stopped to talk with him as he brought a
+wheelbarrow load of dirt out of the tunnel to the edge of the little old
+dump.
+
+"'Yep, I'se 'bout to fin' heaps an' heaps o' gol',' he'd say as he pulled
+at his stubby gray whiskers. 'Marse Spruce-tree, yondah, he done tole me
+to jes' keep a diggin' an' I'd sho fin' gol'. When I 'se jes' 'bout to
+gib up, an' I does sometimes, yes, sah, I does, ole Marse Spruce-tree he
+jes' stan' up yondah on de hillside an' laff an' say, "Why, Rufus, yuse
+is altogedder wufless." Ole Brer Rabbit, he nod he haid an' 'spress
+heself same way. "Jes keep a diggin', Unc' Rufus," he say, "Jes' keep a
+diggin'." They sho is gol' in this yere ole world if ye jes' keeps a
+diggin'.'
+
+"He'd sing all day as he worked, and never seemed to lose faith; but when
+the canyon road was extended, and the inn built, it took away the quiet
+and solitude from the place. The old man just picked up his belongings
+and went farther back into the mountains--no one knew where; but
+somewhere, I suspect, he is still talking aloud to the trees and making
+friends with the wild things, still giving his life to digging up dreams
+and living for hopes that will never be realized. It's a strange disease,
+this gold fever. I've never had it, but I've heard Old Ben at the Inn
+tell how it's nearly impossible for a man to go back to his work in the
+city after he has once seen the golden glitter and dug the precious
+metal from the earth."
+
+Willis had remained very quiet all through the story. A strange sadness
+seemed to have settled upon his spirit. Several times Mr. Allen addressed
+him, but upon receiving no reply turned and looked closely into the boy's
+face. His head was thrown back, and he seemed to be lost in the beauty of
+the starry night. In a very quiet tone Mr. Allen said, "A penny for your
+thoughts, boy."
+
+Willis laughed a dry little laugh, and, turning to him, replied:
+
+"O, I was just thinking. I hardly know what, exactly. I was thinking of
+how that old darky's tunnel caved in. Do all tunnels cave in? I was
+thinking of my father." He linked his arm through the "Chief's" as they
+walked on up the canyon. "My father was a miner, you know. That's
+how he lost his life." Mr. Allen understood the mood now.
+
+"You must tell me more of him some time, Willis. Was he like you?"
+
+"Not very much, but I'm going to be like him, if I can," replied Willis.
+"Sometimes, since I've been here in Colorado, especially here in the
+mountains, I've fancied that he was near me again, watching and guiding
+and keeping me company. It's hard for a fellow like me not to have a
+father. Mr. Allen, I don't believe the fellows who have them half
+appreciate them, do you?"
+
+A long, loud shout came from ahead, which was answered by a dog's bark.
+
+"O you supper!" shouted Chuck.
+
+"Ben, remember me," cried another.
+
+The inn was a one-story log building, built of rough spruce trees, just
+as they had been cut from the mountain. On the side next to the stream
+was a rustic porch. On the down-canyon end was built an immense old,
+stone fireplace. From the chimney top there was a procession of tiny
+sparks making their way upwards from the roaring wood-fire within. Here
+and there on the wall hung the hides of denizens of the woods. Behind the
+pine door stood an old-fashioned, double-barreled shotgun and a later
+model Winchester rifle. In the opposite corner stood two short-handled
+shovels and a miner's pick, while on the wall just above the fireplace
+hung the head of a great buck that had one time roamed those very hills.
+
+The fireplace, which occupied the center of the east wall, was large
+and very attractive. An old hand-made crane had been built into the
+firebox, and from it hung an old iron pot. The andirons were long, narrow
+slabs of granite, set on edge, upon which were piled logs of pine wood,
+burning merrily--not because it was a cold night, but because of its
+cheerfulness.
+
+The hearth at once became the center of attraction. It was the mysterious
+fairy that bound all hearts together and welded all types of personality
+into a sympathetic friendship that gathered round it. It was the stern
+and fiery monarch, ordering all assembled to be quiet that it might sing
+and moan and whisper the messages that it had gathered from the winter
+storms or from the falling leaves.
+
+At one side of the old fireplace, leaning back in his rickety old
+arm-chair, sat Ben, Old Ben the innkeeper, his long-stemmed cob pipe
+held quietly in one hand, while the other rested on the head of a huge
+Russian hound that lay on the floor in front of the fire. Ben's hair was
+long and gray, and on his nose rested a pair of large, old--fashioned,
+silver--rimmed spectacles. His head was partly bald, and his small, gray
+eyes were set well back under shaggy eyebrows. His face was covered with
+a generous growth of dirty-gray whiskers, stained darkly about the mouth
+from his pipe. He was a typical old mountain prospector who had seen
+better days.
+
+As the boys entered Old Ben rose, stretched his large, gaunt frame, and
+cried, "Howdy, fellers, must o' started day afore yestedy, didn't ye?
+Took ye tarnal long to git here, anyhow. Supper's ben ready these two
+hours. Me'n the critter 'n Tad is most starved a waitin'. Hello, Mr.
+Allen, where'd ye git this lively bunch o' fellers, anyhow? D' they all
+b'long to ye? Come along, Tad, er these dratted youngsters 'll eat all
+yer grub fer ye." This as the fellows seated themselves about the table.
+
+Tad, by the aid of a crutch, hobbled from the lean-to kitchen and
+took his seat at the table nearest the fire. Old Ben served the
+meal--beefsteak, baked potatoes, hot corn muffins, and gravy, apple
+sauce, pickles, and coffee that fairly filled the room with its
+fragrance.
+
+"Drat me for a young squirrel if you fellers ain't the hungriest bunch o'
+yearlin's I ever set eyes on," muttered Ben as he hurried back and forth
+from table to kitchen supplying the urgent demand.
+
+After the last drop of coffee had disappeared, the meeting was called to
+order around the table and the business of the evening was gotten under
+way. Willis, for the first time, found it difficult to pay attention to
+what Allen had to say. He was watching Old Ben and his friend as they sat
+by the fire, chatting and smoking, the very picture of contentment. Now
+and then a little of their conversation would reach him, but he could not
+make head nor tail of it. At the supper table the man with the crutch had
+eyed Willis many times. In his manner there was something that seemed to
+be so very familiar, yet his face, which was covered with a several
+weeks' beard, was strange to Willis.
+
+"I never saw a face so like my old pard's," the stranger was saying to
+Ben. "And you know, Ben, I often wonder if some day I won't hear
+something from Bill's family. There was a wee boy, but what others, if
+any, I don't know. The day of the wreck I saw a lad that did a brave
+deed, and ever since I've been wondering if he might be Bill's boy--he
+looked so like him."
+
+"Tad, what became of that tarnal critter, Williams, that ye told me
+about? The feller that jumped that placer claim up'n the gulch--do you
+ever see him any more?"
+
+"Yes, Ben, he is still in the city. Has a mighty sick wife--tuberculosis,
+they say. He's crookeder than a cork-screw, they tell me; but he'll get
+caught yet, that kind always does. You know his wife is a sister to
+Bill's wife. If it hadn't been for that relationship to Bill, I'd have
+had it out with him long ago. But what's the use, anyway. The mine's no
+good and the ground's no good, and I haven't any money to fight him."
+
+"Yep, but s'posin' the tunnel was good; what then?"
+
+"I don't know, Ben. Old Williams has a good name, generally speaking, in
+the city, and he has money--I couldn't fight him. Dad Wright used to say
+he was a 'snake in the grass,' and Dad doesn't often misjudge a man."
+
+"Who holds the key to that tarnal hole, anyway, Tad?"
+
+"Williams was the last man in the tunnel, Ben, and I suppose he holds the
+keys. I've never been inside since I carried out poor Bill's broken
+body."
+
+"Well, Tad, I was a pesterin' around there not long ago, an' I seed whar
+some tarnal critter hed tried to pry the lock off. You know, Tad, I
+b'lieve they is pay rock in that gulch, if the likes o' you an' me could
+jist light onto it. Ye can pan color anywhere around the shanty, if ye
+know how. I picked up some o' that quartz formation by the dump, an' drat
+it, Tad, it's fine lookin' stuff."
+
+"Yes, Ben, I often think I'll go back and work a little longer on the old
+hole. Bill was certain we had struck it--talked in his fever before he
+died. But I haven't got the nerve.
+
+"Ben, I'm going to tell you something. Just before Bill met his end, he
+had a letter from the firm that he installed machinery for concerning the
+final drawings of an ore-roaster that he had been working on for years. I
+have often wondered if he sent those drawings to the firm before his
+death, or if Williams got them and the letters. I've never seen a roaster
+like his was to be. Some way, I've thought Williams sold those drawings.
+If he did, Ben, I'd kill him, I believe. That's what makes me keep a
+thinking of the boy. Those drawings would have brought enough then to
+have educated him, and perhaps he's poor--poor like you and me, and can't
+go to school, while that rascal, Williams, rides around in an automobile.
+Some way, I feel like I'll find out, and then I'll--"
+
+"Is that a fact! Well, that tarnal critter!" Ben puffed meditatively at
+his pipe and gazed into the fire.
+
+"I have decided to go back, Ben, and work the other claim up in the gulch
+by Dad's. If I could get enough money ahead I'd get a detective and put
+him on the case. I'm kind of a father to that boy, Ben, wherever he is,
+and I ought to be finding him."
+
+The meeting at the table was over, and the fellows crowded around the
+fire before starting home, and, perhaps, to hear one of Ben's stories of
+the early days. The stranger watched Willis closely for some minutes,
+then he called to him.
+
+"Lad, ain't you the boy that was in the wreck of the Rocky Mountain
+Limited, early in the spring? I've been watching you, and you sure remind
+me of him." Willis's face brightened. In a flash he recognized the
+fireman. He advanced with extended hand.
+
+"Why, yes, sir, I am the boy, and you are the fireman. I have been
+looking at you all evening and wondering where I had ever seen you
+before. It's the whiskers that threw me off. How is the broken leg?"
+
+The stranger held the boy's hand in his own and looked into his face.
+
+"We got out lucky, didn't we, lad? Have you ever seen the little
+Englishman since that day? He was a dandy, wasn't he?"
+
+Chuck had been listening to the foregoing conversation.
+
+"What wreck? What Englishman? Who is your friend?" he questioned.
+
+The stranger spoke. "Why, don't you know about the wreck? Has he never
+told any of you?" In answer to a chorus of "No's," the stranger drew his
+chair closer to the fire and began to tell the story.
+
+"So the lad has never told you, eh? He is a splendid fellow, this lad. I
+want to tell you boys there is no yellow in his system. He has cool, true
+nerve, like my old friend, that never thought of himself if there was
+trouble, always of the other folks that might suffer. That's the reason
+he slid off this mortal globe so soon. The lad here came near doing the
+same thing. Then he never told you about it. Well, well."
+
+"I'll see you again," called the stranger as Willis passed out into the
+night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A Plan Is Evolved
+
+
+"Well, by the Great Horn Spoon, you are the laziest bunch of fellows I've
+seen in many a long day. What's all this scheming and planning about
+that's going on here? Are one of you fellows trying to get a Presidential
+nomination?" Ham seated himself on a chair facing the fellows. They were
+lounging on a big window-seat in a corner of the game-room, talking
+earnestly in low tones.
+
+"Come, now, let's hear about it. What's the game? Say, fellows, I just
+heard a rattling good story." "Well, now, Ham, let up on your stories for
+about two shakes and give us your attention. We have an idea, a real,
+first-class scheme, if you please, and we want you to give us your expert
+opinion on it," said Shorty Wier, as he went and closed the door.
+
+"All aboard; let her go! What do you want me to do? When are you going to
+do it? Hurry, I'm getting awfully excited."
+
+"Well," continued Shorty, "Fat originated this idea, or at least he
+suggested it, and we have just been talking it over. How fine it would be
+if we owned a cabin, a good-sized log cabin, big enough to take care of
+at least twenty fellows over night. A place far enough from the city to
+keep it from being continually broken into by rowdies, and still within a
+couple of hours' walking distance from the car-line. With all of this
+great string of mountains and canyons, so well-forested and filled with
+streams, it ought to be an easy matter to find some such a place. Of
+course it would be ideal if we could find a cabin already built; then all
+we would have to do would be to rig it up. But we are game sports, every
+man of us, and if we can't find any such cabin built, let's locate an
+ideal spot and build one. Nothing real fancy or expensive, but just a
+typical mountain house that's weather-tight and warm. Of course we'd want
+a big fireplace like the one at Bruin Inn. It would be a great big job,
+but we could take our time to it. We'd have all winter, and more, if we
+needed it. Now, what we want is your suggestion, understand; we are just
+talking and planning about it yet."
+
+"Gee, it would be an awful pile of work," complained Sleepy Smith, and he
+yawned and stretched himself. "Work! of course it would be work, you dub;
+but what do you ever get in this world that's worth while without real
+work, I'd like to know."
+
+"Work! that's the best part of it; nothing in the world could bind us
+fellows together so tight as to do a big piece of real work together. We
+would show each other what we're made of. I always have wanted to build a
+cabin in the mountains. It would be a great deal better to build one than
+to get an old, tumbled-down shack. Besides, we don't want to work out a
+stunt that's just going to last for a year or two, and then be abandoned.
+We want to build a real, permanent mountain camp. See?" added Chuck.
+
+"What's the matter with the old Y.M. cabin up in Bear Creek, Shorty?"
+
+"O rats, boys, we are not talking about a pill box now. We want a cabin."
+
+"I think it would be a great thing to do, fellows; but we must go awfully
+careful. We'll have to finance the thing some other way than from our own
+pockets, and we don't know yet what Mr. Allen will say about it. He may
+think it's a big mistake and a waste of time and energy. Then, too, where
+would we camp while working on the new cabin?" said Willis. Then he
+slipped off to talk the plan over with Mr. Allen, and in a few moments
+brought the "Chief" back with him. Willis was talking.
+
+"Now we are on the right track for sure, fellows. Mr. Allen has the
+proper suggestions about this matter. No telling what fool stunts we
+fellows would do if we didn't have Mr. Allen to keep our feet on the
+earth."
+
+"Listen, fellows," said Shorty. "We have talked this thing all over from
+A to Z, and we believe Mr. Allen's advice is the thing; only before we
+decide to do anything definite we ought to have Mr. Dean's opinion. He
+has been in the army, you know."
+
+"Mr. Dean, the physical director, been in the army? Why, I didn't know
+that," said Sleepy.
+
+"Yes, and he's a mighty practical fellow. Fat, go out to his office and
+ask him to come in here a few minutes, will you?"
+
+In a moment they came in together, Fat explaining their plans for a
+cabin. When every one was seated, Shorty continued:
+
+"This is a very serious matter, fellows, and we don't want to make a
+mistake by being in too big a hurry. There are a few things that seem
+very clear after talking with Mr. Allen--
+
+"First, we must make our cabin stunt an Association enterprise, so we can
+have their help and backing. Let's make it a high school boys'
+enterprise. Next, we must find an ideal place, where the work will have
+all the natural advantages possible--not too far away, not too close,
+near good water and a good supply of dead wood. It would be best to get
+somewhere on the old Cripple Creek Stage Road. Mr. Allen has suggested
+that we might help finance it in two ways: Organize a cabin company and
+sell stock at so much a share, all stockholders being privileged to use
+the shack, or we might give a circus in the gymnasium and use the money
+thus earned. He thinks the latter the better plan. The greatest trouble
+seems to be to find the ideal place. Mr. Dean, what do you think of the
+whole plan?"
+
+"It's a capital idea, fellows; only it means real business. If you tackle
+a job like that, you want to finish it. I'd sure be in with you on any
+such a deal. Here's a suggestion. Why don't six or seven of you fellows
+take a week just before school opens, pack your grub and blankets, take
+a gun or two and a good camera, and make a trip on foot, looking over the
+possible locations? For instance--start up the old Stage Road, go as far
+as Daddy Wright's, then to the top of Cheyenne Mountain through that
+valley. There is a beautiful park there that might be suitable; then down
+Rock Creek, up around Black Mountain, back around St. Peter's Dome, then
+study the canyons along the railroad. They say there is a good cabin
+somewhere near Daniel's Pass, and several around Fairview. Get into all
+of those canyons that run into North Cheyenne, because that would be the
+handiest location for us to get to. It would be great if we could find an
+old prospector's cabin that we could remodel and add to. You see, we'd
+have a place to camp as we worked that way. Then, too, it would have this
+decided advantage--it would be a staked claim and not the open forest
+reserve. You would have to pay for all lumber you cut on the reserve, but
+on a claim you are entitled to a certain amount for building purposes.
+You see, we could probably show mineral anywhere near a prospector's
+cabin. I am convinced there are many such cabins that would be almost
+ideal, if we could only find them."
+
+"My father built a cabin in these mountains years ago," said Willis. "A
+miner's cabin; but I've never seen it. I don't know where it is, but it's
+near Cookstove Mountain. Some one has jumped the claim, though, now, so
+mother said."
+
+"Wouldn't it be funny, Willis, if we should find that old cabin of your
+father's?" asked Mr. Allen. Ideas came thick and fast. Even "Sleepy"
+Smith woke up to the fact that something unusual was going on, and roused
+himself so as not to miss it. After an hour's planning and discussion
+they decided what to do. A route was to be laid out and an investigation
+trip made under the direction of Mr. Allen. The party was to be limited
+to six fellows: Ham, Phil, Fat, Chuck, and Willis were the ones chosen to
+go. Definite plans were laid out, and the following Tuesday set as the
+day for starting.
+
+As Willis was explaining the plans to his mother the next morning his
+Uncle Joe came into the room. He had seen an article in the morning paper
+to the effect that the Y.M.C.A. boys were to build a cabin, including the
+names and the probable route to be taken by the investigating party.
+
+"What's all this nonsense about a cabin in the mountains, Willis? I saw
+an article in the _Gazette_ this morning concerning it. Now listen to me,
+boy. I don't want any relation of mine getting mixed up in any such a
+crazy, wild-goose chase. Do you hear? About the first thing you kids will
+do is to trespass on some one's mining claims, and then you'll be getting
+yourselves and some of the rest of us into trouble. It's a lot of foolish
+nonsense, such doings, anyway. Isn't home good enough for you?"
+
+"Well, it seems to me you're kind of mad about nothing, Uncle. We're not
+going to carry off any one's gold mines," replied Willis. "Have you a few
+you are afraid we will steal?"
+
+Mr. Williams flew into a fit of anger, saying something about, "If he was
+mine, I'll bet I'd see if he'd insult his superiors in that way. The next
+thing we know you will be off on a mountain picnic on Sunday, bringing
+disgrace on your respectable relatives," snapped Mr. Williams. "There are
+enough enemies now to a man's good name, without adding any more by
+foolish kids like you, with heads full of nonsense."
+
+Mr. Williams stalked angrily out of the room, slamming the door behind
+him.
+
+"Of all the strange men on earth, I think he is the strangest of them
+all," remarked Mrs. Thornton. "Something has upset him, and he has an
+ugly streak to-day. I heard him at the telephone, storming about some old
+prospector that has come back to the city to make life miserable for him.
+He had seen him on the street, talking with a man he said was a
+detective. Lucy told me just the other day that Uncle Joe took awful
+chances on mining stock very often, and that she believed he would sell
+his very soul for a gold mine. It seems so strange--he has been angry at
+me every time I have let you go into the mountains. He works hard, and I
+suppose he thinks you ought to be doing something, too, and if we stay
+here through the winter, my boy, I think it would be well for you to look
+about for something to do after school."
+
+As Willis left the house the next morning and started for the Association
+to complete plans for the trip, he met two men coming in at his front
+gate. They asked for Mr. Williams. Willis directed them, then hurried on,
+rejoicing in his heart that he was to have a real gipsy trip in the
+mountains with his gang.
+
+He spent the day getting his things together for the trip. He was to
+carry a small individual frying pan, a small granite bucket, knife, fork,
+and spoon, eight small cans of condensed milk, a little cloth sack of
+tea, one of sugar, one of oatmeal, and one of rice, two boxes of raisins,
+a loaf of rye bread, and butter packed in a small tin can with a cover.
+He was to wrap these things, and whatever else he wanted to take along,
+including a first-aid packet, in his blanket, army style. His pack must
+not exceed twenty pounds in weight, not counting gun or camera. His
+tincup was to be fastened to his belt, and his safety ax carried in his
+hip-pocket. They would sleep on spruce boughs at night, and each man
+would cook his own meals from his own store. The mountain raspberries
+were just ripe, and there were great quantities of them. They would have
+them with cream, and count on killing a few squirrels now and then, or
+perhaps some turtle doves for a change. Mr. Allen took a trout line
+and a few flies, in case they had a chance to have mountain trout to
+break the monotony of the diet.
+
+By Monday evening all was in readiness for the start. The news of the
+proposed cabin scheme had spread all through the Department, and many
+were the suggestions offered by interested fellows for making the trip an
+entire success in every way.
+
+"Remember, shelter and drainage and wood supply, along with good water
+and big trees, are what you are looking for, boys," was the advice of Mr.
+Dean, as he left them. "I wish I were going along with you. Here's hoping
+you'll find the very best spot, and that soon."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A Stage Road Journey
+
+
+"Well, if you haven't any more brains than to be starting out on a
+mountain trip on a wet, stormy day like this, why I haven't anything more
+to say to you; but remember, I'm not one whit responsible for you," said
+Mr. Williams, as he arose from the breakfast table and passed out into
+the hall.
+
+It had been a stormy night. The rainfall had been heavy and the lightning
+sharp. It had been a typical electric storm of the mountains. Old Sol had
+tried in vain to force his way through the heavy rain-clouds earlier in
+the morning, but by breakfast time he seemed to have given up entirely,
+and to have withdrawn from the contest. At any rate, he was nowhere to
+be seen. Willis was visibly disappointed. He pushed his chair back
+restlessly and went to the window. The heavy, black clouds hung low on
+the ridge, and Pike's Peak was entirely hidden in the mists. Willis was
+thinking of the conversation he had had with his uncle that morning at
+the breakfast table.
+
+"Mother," he turned to Mrs. Thornton, who was still seated at the
+breakfast table, "why is Uncle Joe so positive about it being a mistake
+for me to take this trip? Either he just wants to show his authority or
+he has some special reason. According to his talk, there isn't a more
+dangerous place on this earth of ours than around an old prospector's
+cabin. Rats! I don't believe a word of it. It's all bosh and, as far as
+cabins go, how could disease live in an old, open mountain shanty?
+Anyhow, you might go for weeks in the mountains without even seeing a
+cabin. He thinks I'm a child and haven't any judgment of my own. My! I'm
+glad he isn't my father. He's just a blamed old hypocrite, that's what I
+think about him, anyway."
+
+"Well, you won't be going if it stays so stormy, will you?" asked his
+mother.
+
+"No, but it's going to clear up, mother; this is just a little summer
+shower--we weren't counting on starting until after dinner, though,
+anyway," replied Willis. Toward noon the clouds broke and melted away as
+if by magic. Their lifting was like the raising of some majestic curtain
+on a wonderful stage. The moisture from the recent storm still glistened
+on every twig and leaf, and the fresh-bathed air was as clear as crystal.
+The summit of Pike's Peak was decked in a new covering of snow which
+sparkled like beautiful gems. The robins chirped gayly as they fed on the
+worms that had come to the surface during the night's rain.
+
+Was there ever such a happy crowd of fellows' setting forth on any
+expedition? High boots, slouch hats, soft shirts, a rifle, a shotgun,
+two cameras, and a plenteous supply of food. Each fellow was equipped
+with a haversack, in which were his eating tools and other necessary
+articles, such as bachelor buttons, cartridges, films, and other things.
+They carried their frying-pans, small buckets, and tincups suspended
+from their belts. The handles of their safety axes extended from
+hip-pockets, making their pockets bulge suspiciously.
+
+Mr. Allen took the lead through Stratton Park, and headed for the short
+cut that joined the old Stage Road just as it sneaked around the base of
+Cheyenne Mountain on its way to the top of the Continental Divide; then
+downward through mountain passes and clinging close to canyon walls until
+it reached that most wonderful of all gold camps, the Cripple Creek
+District.
+
+"It's just two o'clock," said Chuck, in answer to an inquiry as to the
+time. "And we will have to do some rapid walking if we are to get on top
+of Cheyenne Mountain to-night. We ought to make three miles an hour from
+here to the old road house. We'll have to rest there a little and have a
+drink from Daddy Wright's spring. That's the best spring in the Rocky
+Mountains, I do believe."
+
+"Hope Dad's home to-day," said Mr. Allen. "I haven't seen him since early
+spring. I certainly do enjoy getting the old gentleman to telling some of
+his stories. You know he is an old, old timer in these parts. He came
+here years before gold was first discovered in Cripple Creek, and he has
+lived up in his little gulch ever since. In the early days, when the only
+outside connection the gold camp had was this old wagon road, there were
+a great many interesting happenings at Dad's little inn. It was really
+the only road house on the Stage Road, and was burned down years ago.
+Haven't you ever heard that story? I'll tell it to you some time. They
+used to say that Dad had any quantity of money--I don't know how true it
+was. At any rate, he hasn't much now. After the old inn burned, he built
+himself a log cabin down by the spring, and there has lived ever since.
+He can tell some great old tales, too. You can't name a single prospector
+of the Rocky Mountain region but what Dad can tell you all about him. He
+lives a lonely life up here all by himself, shut in all winter by heavy
+snows. In the summer he sees a few people passing by, and that helps
+some. He's a very friendly old man, and if you treat him right there
+isn't anything in the world he won't tell you or do for you if he can. He
+loves to talk politics, and can tell you about every Presidential
+election back as far as the war. He was a Confederate soldier in his day,
+and if there is one thing above another that he loves to talk about,
+it's the 'Gov'ment,' as he calls it. 'Uncle Sammy an' me ain't jest
+zackly the best o' pards yit, by crackey,' he says, with a twinkle in his
+eye."
+
+"That certainly is a great view," explained Ham. "I'm going to unload my
+cargo and rest here a bit, for I like this spot. Right up yonder in that
+heavy belt of timber is where we used to come so often to stay all night.
+There is a great granite boulder up there in the 'Graveyard,' as we used
+to call it, that's just as good as a house any day. It leans away out on
+one side, and we built a big bed of balsam boughs under it. Right behind
+the great rock, to the west, we found a tiny spring, hardly big enough to
+be called a spring; but we dug it out and stoned up a small reservoir to
+catch the water. We used to come up in the evening, cook our supper, get
+our beds ready for the night, then climb on the big rock and watch the
+lights of the city come on. When they were all lighted it looked like a
+big, illuminated checker board out there on the plain. We'd get up early
+in the morning, then, and climb to the Devil's Horn to see the sunrise.
+My! but it's a gorgeous sight on a cloudy morning. The last time we were
+there we sure did have a mighty queer experience--"
+
+"Come on, fellows, let's travel along, or we'll not get anywhere
+to-night. Ham, you can tell us your story while we are walking. We've got
+to reach Dad's by four o'clock, or we'll never get to the Park by night,"
+said Phil, as he arose and adjusted his blanket roll preparatory to
+starting.
+
+"Go on, Ham," urged Fat, who was always ready for a story, especially a
+mountain story. "Let's have that tale of yours. I expect we'll need a
+little salt with it won't we?"
+
+"There isn't much to it, after all, when you tell it, for it was the
+night and the surroundings that made it so impressive. We had just
+finished supper and were all sitting up on the big rock looking out
+over the lighted city. As we sat there, every now and then we would hear
+the strangest sound. It came from the timber away up behind the camp. At
+first it sounded like a human voice--a kind of a long, sad sob. The night
+was as dark as pitch, and as we sat listening the cold shivers began to
+run up and down our backs. Sometimes the sound seemed to be answered from
+far out in the dark valley. We speculated a good deal as to what it could
+be, for it was such a sad, wailing call. Then suddenly way down the
+valley a light appeared, not a large one, just a tiny, flickering,
+ever-moving light. It seemed to me to be in the air just over the center
+of the canyon, but the rest declared it was on the road below us. Then
+the sad call came again and again. It seemed to be nearer this time. Then
+came a far-away, dull, muffled sound, such as a horse would make on stony
+road. The light came directly toward us, now, up the canyon. It resembled
+a lantern being swung by some one, as if to give signals. We sat and
+watched it for a long time, everybody talking in low whispers; and many
+were the opinions as to what it really was. No one noticed just when,
+but some time, without a second's notice, the light disappeared. We heard
+the faraway sound of rolling stones, then all was quiet for a long time.
+Two of us sat and listened far into the night. Several times we heard
+that long, sad wail--a sort of hoo-oo-oo. A night breeze had risen, and
+you fellows know how the wind moans in these pines. It was a mighty
+lonesome night--just sitting there with your every nerve alert and as
+wide-awake as you could ever get, just listening and watching. As soon as
+it was light enough to see, we started for the summit of Cheyenne, up
+through that mountain of granite boulders and mighty crags. I think we
+were about half-way up, when some one noticed an immense black bird,
+swinging in great circles, high in the air. Soon we smelled smoke, so
+hurried on. The first long rays of light began to streak the sky, and we
+knew we would have to hustle if we reached the summit by sunrise. The
+crowd was pretty well strung out down the side of the mountain. Keller
+and I were in the lead. The smell of smoke grew stronger and stronger.
+The air was heavy that morning, and so forced the smoke down to us, from
+somewhere on the summit. At last we came to a little plot of ground
+surrounded on three sides with great rocks. From this pit-like nook the
+smoke was slowly rising into the morning air. We climbed one side of the
+great crags, then cautiously peered over. I was pretty excited, for I was
+thinking just then of the awful tragedy that had occurred on Mount Cutler
+the year before. What if we should find a dead man? Well, what do you
+suppose we did find? I was dumbfounded. There below us were the dying
+embers of a log-fire. The flames had long since died, and now it was
+just smoldering and smoking. On either side of the fire lay a man,
+well-wrapped in his blanket. A gun that for some reason looked very
+familiar to me was leaning against the rock near their heads. We could
+not see their faces from where we were, but like a flash I remembered
+the gun by the leather-covered stock. The two men were Old Ben and a
+young fellow who often went with him into the mountains. I never shall
+forget how they looked when we waked them by dropping small pebbles from
+above. As soon as they would stir a little, we would drop back out of
+sight and listen. At last the young fellow muttered something and reached
+for his gun. Then Old Ben awoke, sat up, and asked what was the trouble.
+
+"'I'd bet a dollar that rock just dropped on me from above.' Then he
+turned his head and looked up into the sky. 'Great Scott, man, what a
+place to sleep! A stone might have tumbled on us any minute.' Then he
+scrambled to his feet and cried out, 'Man alive! take a look at that
+eagle; what an immense bird!' We boys had forgotten the eagle on finding
+the men, but we, too, looked upward, and there, not more than a hundred
+feet in the air, directly over us, was the biggest bird I ever hope to
+see. He seemed to be fixed, motionless, in the air, with wings
+outstretched. Just then some of the rest of the boys came shouting up to
+where we were. Ben heard them and shouted back. In a few minutes we were
+all up on the rocks watching the bird. Ben wanted to shoot, but the other
+man wouldn't let him, for he declared he was going to find the nest. It
+must have been the smoke from the fire that first attracted the bird,
+for it seemed to keep circling directly above the column of smoke. To
+this day we never told who dropped the stones--I suppose they think the
+eagle did it.
+
+"Well, as we sat there watching the eagle, the sun came up. There never
+was such a sunrise before, I don't believe. There was a layer of fluffy,
+fuzzy clouds, stretched out over the city as far as we could see. Then
+the sun came slowly up--a great crimson ball of fire, the long, yellow
+rays lighting up that sea of clouds and the pale-blue sky above, until
+the scene looked like a great, boiling pot of gold. Then, far above us,
+that immense black bird, wings still outstretched, just winging itself
+round and round in great, even circles. I've seen many a choice bit of
+mountain scenery, and many a sunrise and sunset, but never one just like
+that. It isn't at all strange to me why the savages were nature
+worshipers. How could they help it?
+
+"As we sat watching the ever-changing panorama of colored clouds, there
+came to our ears, faintly but surely, that same sad call of the night
+before. The great eagle paused a moment in his circling--then my heart
+came into my mouth, for as we watched he folded his great wings, tipped
+his head forward, and began to drop. I held my breath. Down, down he
+came. I thought he must surely be dashed to pieces on the rocks below. He
+was falling directly toward the great dead spruce, and it seemed that
+nothing could save him from being torn to pieces. As suddenly as he had
+begun to drop he spread his mighty black wings and swooped down to the
+very tree we thought must be his death. He perched for a second on a
+dead limb, then flew into a Douglas spruce, emerging in a second with
+something in his talons. As he began to rise again, in long, spiral
+flights, we heard the cry of distress from the unfortunate bird in his
+claws. It was the same cry that we had heard in the night."
+
+"What was the light in the night? Did you ever find out?" ventured Phil.
+
+"O yes, I forgot to tell you. It was Daddy Wright on horseback, swinging
+a lantern. He had been to the city, and was returning home. He passed Ben
+and his friend and nearly frightened them to death. He was singing as he
+came up the road, and was keeping time to his song with the lighted
+lantern."
+
+"Twenty-five minutes to reach Dad's! Come, you fellows--loosen up your
+joints. The climb up the gulch to the Park is a real one, and there isn't
+a place in the canyon to camp," called Mr. Allen, as he started forward
+at a more rapid gait.
+
+When they reached the farthest point of the big Horseshoe Bend, they
+stopped to rest a moment before starting up the last long incline to
+Daddy Wright's.
+
+"Isn't it really wonderful when you think of the obstacles men have
+overcome just to accomplish their desired ends?" asked Mr. Allen as he
+stood gazing out over the mountains. "Men have risked their very lives
+just for the privilege of climbing into these old hills to look for gold.
+Many were the narrow escapes from death by starvation or wild beasts
+that these hills could tell of if they could speak. Did you ever stop to
+think that if it hadn't been for the gold that God hid away here in this
+Continental Divide, that perhaps the men in the old Eastern colonies
+would never have crossed over and taken possession of the wonderful
+Westland. It was the gold that was hidden under the snow and ice of
+Alaska that beckoned men northward. This has always been true. The
+prospectors of the Nation have always been its best explorers--certainly
+they were its real frontiersmen. They led and civilization followed.
+Think of the thousands of people who endured hardships of which we can
+not even imagine just to follow westward that trail, blazed by such
+sturdy old men as Dad Wright and others like him. I've heard Dad tell
+many a time of that caravan of forty-niners, all their earthly
+possessions packed in one of those old prairie schooners, drawn by slow,
+patient oxen. I've heard him tell of the time gold was discovered in
+Cripple Creek. Cripple Creek was just a part of the great wilderness, and
+was only accessible by a series of uncertain trails. Yes, gold is a
+precious metal, to be sure; but it is magical, too, for no sooner is it
+discovered than a wave of industry is created. Upon a bleak and barren
+spot a city is built in a week--a miracle of human energy. The Midland
+Railroad kept great gangs of men working day and night, in order to
+connect that great gold field with the outer world. Before long there was
+a tremendous demand for a common wagon road 'to civilization,' as they
+put it; and this very road that we are walking on came into being--an
+outlet, if you please--for some of that wonderful, teeming, bubbling life
+and industry created by the mere discovery of gold.
+
+"Soon this very road became the most important highway in the State.
+Great wagon loads of food and tools went up, and bags of precious ore
+came back. Stores were opened, schools were built, churches erected,
+and homes founded. Civilization had found another desolate mountain
+wilderness, and with her magic wand added it to her ever-widening
+domain--all because some one had discovered gold.
+
+"Then came the first stage-coach. Daddy has often told me all about it. A
+great, cumbersome affair, rolling and pitching on its leathers as it came
+lunging and bumping along the rough, stony, mountain road. The driver was
+seated high above the dashboard, nearly buried in boxes, bags, and
+bundles, while the baggage till behind resembled a railroad truck piled
+high with every kind and description of trunks. As it came to a sudden
+stop in front of the little postoffice, its great, swinging side-doors
+opened and the passengers scrambled out, each one handing
+the jovial and loquacious driver a five-dollar note.
+
+"Soon it took four stages to satisfy the demand, one going each way night
+and morning. It was at this stage of the game that Daddy built the famous
+Road House. Here the horses were relayed, and here the passengers stepped
+out to stretch their cramped limbs or, perhaps, to drink at Dad's spring.
+Sometimes, on stormy nights, both stages, the one going up and the one
+coming down, would be tied up for the night at Dad's. Then such times as
+there would be in that old log house! Prospectors from every gold camp on
+earth, promoters and mining brokers, surveyors and engineers, old-timers
+and tenderfeet--all brought together by one single impulse--the craze for
+gold.
+
+"Many were the mining claims that passed over the poker table there; many
+were the conspiracies that were talked over and determined upon. Many
+were the stories of the old Sante Fe trail and of the Pony Express, or
+perhaps strange tales of Kit Carson as he roamed the great Westland
+from Texas to Wyoming, trapping for fur and killing every treacherous
+Indian that crossed his trail. You know Old Ben at Bruin Inn was for many
+years a stage driver for Dad on this very road, and he is chuck full of
+stories."
+
+"When are you going to tell us the story of the burning of the Road
+House?" interrupted Ham.
+
+"Well," replied Mr. Allen, "if I don't succeed in getting Dad to tell it
+to you himself, I'll tell it when we stop on top of that hogsback to
+rest," pointing to a great, round hill in the canyon.
+
+"Do you think Dad will really tell us any of his stories?" queried
+Willis. "My father used to know him, and he has stopped at this very
+place. I'm sure he made many trips to Cripple Creek in those old stages."
+Turning to Mr. Allen, he continued, "Wouldn't father think it awfully
+strange if he knew I was tramping over the very road he used to travel so
+often?"
+
+Mr. Allen and Willis dropped to the rear of the line, and Willis went on:
+
+"I've been thinking I'd ask Daddy Wright if he remembered my father, and
+he might know where the mine is; and O, I'd so like to see it. I never
+want to be a miner, but I'd just like to know all about mines, so I could
+understand father better."
+
+"Well, it all depends on how Dad is feeling," returned Mr. Allen. "If he
+is well he will be as glad to see us and as loquacious as a happy child;
+but if not, he will hardly notice us at all. Leave the talking all to me.
+He and I are old friends, and I always have some little treat in my
+pocket for him. He will be looking for it if he is home, but sometimes he
+is up at the mine."
+
+"O, he doesn't work a mine now, does he?" exclaimed Willis.
+
+"No, he doesn't exactly work it, but he owns one up in the gulch here
+behind his cabin, and sometimes there is a man up there at work. I don't
+know who he is."
+
+As they rounded a great boulder that jutted out into the road, the little
+cabin of Daddy Wright came into view. A dog began to bark loudly, and
+somewhere up in the canyon that runs at right angles to the road there
+came the deep, muffled boom of a mine blast.
+
+"Guess they must be working the mine, after all; still, it might be one
+of the others. There are half a dozen in this canyon, all of which have
+been worked more or less. The owners work in the city until they can get
+enough money to buy powder and grub stakes, then they work the mine for a
+season on their earnings," remarked Mr. Allen. He was carefully surveying
+the cabin and hill behind it. The dog had now come out from its shelter
+and stood in the middle of the road, doing his utmost to wake the dead.
+He evidently disliked visitors.
+
+"Dad can't be very far away, for Knepp is always at his heels. He is
+nearly as old a timer as Dad himself, and as harmless. Hold on there, you
+fellows up ahead," called Mr. Allen. "Let me do the introducing of this
+party."
+
+The cabin was a little log affair, well-banked around the base with dirt
+and moss to keep out the cold. To all appearances the only two openings
+in it were the front door and a double window. One of the window panes
+was covered over with the end of an old egg crate, and another, which was
+not so badly shattered, was repaired by a burlap sack, wadded into
+the opening. A big pine stood just outside the door and cast its shade
+over the roofless veranda. At one side of the house stood an ancient,
+moss-covered, hollow pine log, into which a pipe ran from the spring, a
+few paces back in the gulch. This was the old stage watering-trough,
+made by Dad himself when the big cabin was built. Directly up the road a
+hundred paces stood the old stone chimney, a famous landmark of the
+region.
+
+Mr. Allen went to the watering-trough and, filling his cup, called out:
+
+"Here, you fellows, do you want a drink of the greatest ale in the world?
+It's the purest of Mother Nature's brews."
+
+The old pine door squeaked on its rusty hinges as it slowly opened.
+
+"Well, sir, I'll be dummed. Howdy, young 'uns! Whar d' ye hail frum?
+Huntin' bar, er jist a roundin' up a bunch o' jay-birds? Haw, haw, haw!
+Yer 'bout the fightin'est bunch o' young dandies I've seen sence the
+war."
+
+Daddy Wright stood in the doorway, taking in every detail of the group.
+He was a little, shriveled-up man, with small, watery eyes set well back
+under shaggy white eyebrows. His head was protected by a very
+disreputable and time-worn black hat that looked as if it might have been
+in active service for at least a half a century. His clothes were shabby
+and dirty, and his feet were bare. It was one of the peculiarities of the
+old man that he rarely ever wore shoes, except in the coldest of winter;
+then he preferred his old, home-made moccasins. His straggly, gray
+whiskers were badly stained with tobacco from his constant companion--an
+old, corncob pipe. He was short and stout, and had of late years become
+very feeble, being just able to hobble about a little each day with the
+aid of a cane.
+
+"Yew fellers with all yer fixin's remind me a heap o' some o' the gangs
+o' green city fellers I used to see when I was freightin' on the old
+Spanish Trail--all guns an' blankets an' fixin's, but not much real
+explorin' blood in ye. Hain't that 'bout so? Say, Hallen, jist explain to
+me what yer ca'clatin' to do with these yere young roosters. Explorin',
+huh--jist as I thought. Kick me fer a stick o' dynamite if ye hain't the
+beatenest bunch o' explorers I've seed in many a moon. Lookin' fer gold
+mines? Suthin' bigger, I s'pose? I'd give half my grub stakes if Tad
+could see ye. Explorin', eh? Yew remind me o' the time me an' Old Ben
+went explorin' on Beaver Creek. We had 'nough truck 'long t' start a gold
+camp, an' we walked an' explored an' explored. We must o' walked fer well
+nigh onto three weeks, an' all we ever seed in all that time was a
+pole-cat--an' we wished we hadn't o' seed him, fer Ben had t' bury every
+livin' last stitch o' his duds an' walk home in his bare hide. Haw, haw!
+I wisht Tad 'ud come 'long now an' take a squint at yew fellers--he'd
+bust a bein' tickled!"
+
+"Dad, how is your good health these days?" inquired Mr. Allen, as he
+handed the old man a little package he had taken from his haversack. Dad
+took it, smelled it through the paper; then a pleased smile spread over
+his face.
+
+"Smells like grains o' gold, Mr. Hallen. Thank ye. As fer me health,
+never was no better sence I been here. A man can't git sick a livin' out
+in this yere country all his life. I'll be ninety-five now, in jist a
+few weeks, an' I'm as spry now as most any o' yew fellers. I'll live
+longer'n some o' ye yit. Yep, I'm feelin' mighty spry agin sence Tad's
+got back. Kind o' seems like the old days afore the shanty was burned. I
+ca'calate them there devils must o' injoyed that performance."
+
+The fellows all stood at attention. Was the Road House story really
+coming, and from Dad's very own lips?
+
+"It must have been a sad sight, wasn't it, Dad, to see your home
+demolished in that fashion?" quietly suggested Mr. Allen, by way of
+encouragement.
+
+"'T wan't near as sad a sight as some I have seed," replied the old man.
+"'Bout the saddest sight I ever seed was of an old pard o' mine a
+wanderin' over these almighty hills a sorrowin' out his life after he'd
+lost his right down best friend in a mine cave-in. Poor old boy, he took
+it mighty serious. He used to be the happiest prospector I ever swapped
+lies with, till that devilish old tunnel caved in an' crushed the life
+out o' the feller's pardner. He hain't never ben no 'count sence, till
+lately. Now an' then he'd take a long, wanderin' trip back into these
+yere gloomy ol' gulches, an' I've seed them as say they've heerd him away
+off in the hills at night a callin' his pardner's name, an' a sobbin' an'
+a carryin' on. He's a strong man--that's why he gits out into God
+Almighty's hills to open his troubled heart, 'stead o' tellin' his
+lonesomeness to men as would make fun o' him. That's 'bout the sorriest
+sight I ever seed, an' I've seed 'bout my share on 'em--Indian killin's,
+dynamite explosions, an' sech like. 'T ain't many fellers ever has as
+real a friend as that!"
+
+"What finally happened to your friend, Dad--did he get over his sorrow
+after a while?"
+
+"No, no, my boy, he never got over it. He got on top of it. I mind now
+how he was gone a long spell in the timber; no grub, no duffel, no
+nothin'--only his ol' gun. He lived off'n the bounty o' these yere wooded
+hills, an' he let the spell o' God Almighty's woods an' crags an' streams
+heal up his broken heart. Then he came back. I remember one mornin' he
+come to my shanty, and a hungrier, starveder, wild-eyed feller ye never
+seed in yer born days than him; but shoot me fer a pole-cat if he didn't
+come back a smilin'. I was skeered he'd lost his mind. I was a pannin'
+mud in the gulch up back o' the shanty when he come 'long the trail. I
+jist looked, then I knowed what had happened. He had licked that awful
+sorrow. He's ben off down in civilization now fer these ten years, but
+now he's back agin. The silent company is callin' him, he says, an' he
+jist has to have a free breath an' a little more pasture, an' this is the
+only place he can git it."
+
+"He must have had an extraordinary companion, if he had learned to care
+for him in that way," remarked Mr. Allen.
+
+"Extraordinary, yew say," began Dad in a low, measured tone. "Bet the
+last button on your britches, he was that an' more. He was a youngish
+feller, an' quick as scat. Knowed more 'bout machinery 'n all the other
+fellers I ever knowed. Seems to me he growed up in Kankakee, or suthin'
+like that, an' he was a--"
+
+"Where did you say he came from, Mr. Wright?" asked Willis in a voice
+that betrayed his excitement. Willis had been thinking very rapidly as
+Dad told his story. What was there in this strange tale that so
+fascinated him, and made him want to cry aloud? He had never felt so
+strange before.
+
+"Why, I don't 'zackly recollect," replied Dad. "It was Kankakee or
+Kangaroo, er some sech name. Many's the night he's stopped with me in the
+big cabin an' told me about all kinds o' machinery. The night the big
+cabin burned he was here a showin' me a lot o' plans of machinery he had
+got up himself. They were 'bout all he saved out o' the fire, 'cept his
+hide, an' that was some scorched.
+
+"I never seed a man 'at went so plumb dumb crazy over a few gold nuggets
+as him. 'T was here at the old cabin he met his pard, an' they made plans
+fer a great minin' company. Of all the fellers they was settin' up
+machinery in the mines a dozen years ago, this feller was the best o'
+the lot. Why, oncet he rigged up a--"
+
+"O, Mr. Wright, were there lots of different men installing mine
+machinery here in the early days?" inquired Willis. A note of anxiety
+had crept into his voice.
+
+"More'n one, do ye mean, lad? Well, I should snicker. I mind oncet they
+was five o' them at the cabin one night, an' every feller could prove
+that his machinery was the best. Sech a jamborees o' arguatin' I never
+heerd. I had to send 'em all t' their bunks t' keep 'em frum fightin'.
+Laws, yes, plenty o' 'em, boy; but this one feller, I forgit his name,
+now--my pard could say it quicker'n scat--was wuth all the rest o' the
+bunch put together. He was a reg'lar genius with machinery."
+
+Dad had been filling his pipe from the package Mr. Allen had given him.
+He now lighted it and began to smoke. Mr. Allen knew that there would be
+no more stories that day, so, bidding good-bye to the old man, he
+suggested to the boys that they make a start for the Park. After a last
+drink from the cool, bubbling spring, they turned up the gulch, and were
+soon lost from view.
+
+"Well, I hope you'll find explorin' a plenty, young fellers," called Dad.
+"Keep yer eye peeled fer pole-cats. They's powerful friendly to strangers
+in these parts."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A Wilderness Camp
+
+
+As the little party climbed upward on the gulch trail, they were
+discussing Dad and what they knew of his life. Each boy telling little
+stories and incidents that he had heard concerning the old man. Willis
+lagged behind, and did not seem to be particularly interested in the
+conversation.
+
+"Well, old man, what are you so glum about?" inquired Ham. "One would
+think you had been to a funeral instead of chatting with the most
+humorous of old mountaineers. You aren't getting weak in the knees
+already, are you?"
+
+Mr. Allen came to the rescue.
+
+"No, Ham, he's just like me--busy thinking of the really admirable
+qualities of the old man. You would have to hunt a long, long time these
+days before you would find another such old timer as Dad. He has lived a
+rough life all his days. He has been knocked about from pillar to post
+for ninety long years. Just think of the store of experience that is
+gathered into that one life--frontiersman, cattle man, freighter,
+prospector, business man, soldier, and philosopher. Through all his
+disappointments, hardships, and discouragements he has still remained a
+decided optimist, always happy and cheerful, and is a veritable sage when
+it comes to good, common horse-sense. I'd rather take Dad's opinion of a
+man than any one's I know of in this world. It wouldn't be in polished
+English, but it would be shrewd and just."
+
+From up the valley there came several long, heavy thuds. They soon
+reached the point where the valley widened out and the underbrush
+disappeared to give place to a splendid growth of tall, clean Douglas
+spruce. Somewhere back in the timber a woodsman was chopping.
+
+As the trail wound in and out among the great tree trunks, the party soon
+came to a little clearing on which was pitched a small tent. Close beside
+it a little spring trickled out of a fissure in the rocks. At the far
+side of the tent, with his back to the approaching group, worked a man.
+He was engaged in chopping young spruce logs into lengths for mine props.
+Fat called out in his cheeriest voice, "Hello, there; must be going to
+build a cabin!" The man turned and a broad smile crossed his face.
+
+"Yes, an underground one," he said. Then, in a surprised tone, he
+continued, "Well, well, aren't you the fellows I saw over at Ben's place
+the other evening?" Without waiting for a reply, he went on: "Why, yes,
+there is my friend of the wreck! How do you do, lad? It looks like you
+fellows are going to make somewhat of a journey, from the appearance of
+your traps. Where to, may I inquire? Looking for something definite, or
+just out, like myself, to get a little of the wilderness spirit into your
+systems?"
+
+"Well, I hardly expected to see you up here in the mountains," said
+Willis. "It seems we have met a good many times since spring. What are
+you doing up here, anyway?" He turned and surveyed the valley.
+
+"Well, I'll tell you," replied the man, as he leaned on his ax-handle.
+"It's like this. When I was a young man, like yourself, I developed a
+great love for life in the wilderness. My father was a mountain ranchman
+in the Sierra Nevadas, so I had ample opportunity to satisfy my greatest
+desire--to roam the hills and valleys and to learn first-hand the art of
+getting along well in the wilderness by utilizing Nature's storehouse. As
+I have grown older, I have found out that it is the only place where I am
+permanently happy. Years ago my partner and myself located this mine,
+along with some others; but because of lack of capital, this one was
+never developed." He pointed his finger to a pile of loose, freshly-mined
+rock just up the hill from his tent. "I've been railroading for the last
+ten years, but was awfully unlucky; so after the last smash-up I decided
+I would come back and see what this old mine held for me. It's a funny
+thing about mines, boys--you can dig and work, work and dig, and be more
+or less contented as long as you find nothing but prospects. But when you
+dig up a little of the real gold, you get terribly impatient until you
+find it in paying quantities. I've had the gold fever for twenty years."
+
+"Do you think there is anything in any of these mines on Cheyenne
+Mountain?" inquired Willis. "My father owned a mine somewhere on this
+mountain; but I expect that it was a good deal like your mine--never
+developed. I'd love to find it, though, just because it was his. He
+was killed in a mine accident, somewhere in these hills, when I was a
+small boy."
+
+The miner's face went suddenly white. His eyes partially closed and his
+hands shook, as he muttered something about, "Just as I thought," then
+continued, "Well, I--" He changed his mind, and, turning to his woodpile,
+chopped vigorously for some moments. When he spoke again Mr. Allen
+noticed that his voice was husky and that he was scrutinizing Willis with
+special care.
+
+"I can't tell you to whom all these holes belong, but some of them I
+know. That one over there was located by Old Ben at Bruin Inn. That one
+with a dump of black rock," pointing up the opposite side of the canyon,
+"belongs to a real estate firm in Colorado Springs--Williams and
+somebody." He never took his eyes from the boy's face as he spoke.
+
+"Williams, why--why, my Uncle, Williams, is a real estate man, but I
+didn't know that he--"
+
+The miner, still eyeing the boy carefully, interrupted him by adding,
+"And the hole directly to one side, and on the same property, belonged to
+a young engineer, and was located many years ago. The Williams shaft has
+been sunk in the last few years. That hole has the very best prospects of
+being something of any on the mountain. The Williams outfit restaked the
+claim because the assessment work had not been kept up by the original
+owner."
+
+"What was the original owner's name? Do you know? You say he was a young
+engineer?"
+
+"Yes, his name was Thornton." The man dropped his head and worked the
+heel of his boot nervously in the dirt. "I used to know him quite well,
+years ago." Then he added, in a slow, hesitating tone, "I haven't seen
+anything of him for nearly a dozen years."
+
+The corners of Willis's mouth twitched nervously. He tried to speak, but
+couldn't. He came a couple of paces nearer to the miner, stopped, picked
+up a slender twig, and began to whittle it thoughtfully.
+
+"Would you mind telling me all about him--all you know?" asked Willis.
+The miner looked at him curiously a minute, then asked, in a quiet,
+well-controlled voice, "Did you know the man, lad?"
+
+"Not so well as I would like to have known him, sir; but perhaps I may
+get better acquainted with him now. He was my father, but I hardly
+remember him, except for the stories and pictures that mother has told me
+about. I've always wanted to know more about him."
+
+"I can't tell you much, my boy," returned the miner in a kind, friendly
+voice, "only that he was the best man that ever set a hoisting plant in
+this region, and the finest, cleanest young fellow that ever came into
+these hills. Every man was his friend."
+
+"Did you ever know a Mr. Kieser who was a friend of my father's?" asked
+Willis, after a moment's thought.
+
+"Seems like I did," replied the miner, "a great many years ago, but he
+ disappeared from this region long since."
+
+"Did you say the mine which once belonged to my father seemed to be the
+best in the canyon?" broke in Willis.
+
+"Yes, it did, the last I knew of it; but nothing ever came of it, except
+that there have been two men there to-day, preparing to do this season's
+assessment work. You can never tell, you know, about a gold mine, for
+most of them have just been 'holes full of hope,' and the hope usually
+leaked out sooner or later."
+
+Chuck halloed from up the trail to get under way, or they would never
+reach the top by dark.
+
+"Going to camp up in the Park to-night, I presume?" asked the miner.
+
+"Yes, if we can make it," replied Mr. Allen. "Have you been up to the top
+lately?" "Yes, I was up yesterday, and it's a grand sight at this season
+of the year. The Maraposa lilies are blooming in great profusion, and the
+spring is running a fine little stream. I had a very pleasant surprise up
+there, too. Years ago there was a large herd of deer which lived in that
+park, but they were supposedly all killed off. Yesterday, about this
+time, as I sat on a dead log just back from the spring, quietly thinking
+over some of the memories of old times when I had hunted on that very
+ground, I heard the dry twigs snap, and, turning, I saw a doe and two
+tiny, spotted fawns cross the park and enter the timber at the other
+side. If you build a fire to-night you may get a glimpse of them."
+
+"I'm coming to have a long talk with you some of these days," called
+Willis as they started off.
+
+At last the entrance to the Park was reached, and they came upon a
+stretch of level ground. The entire country changed. Instead of the stony
+tallus of the canyon, there was soft, black soil under foot. Instead
+of the great spruces and firs scenting the air, there were only tall,
+stately aspens on every side, their leafy tops lost in the deepening
+shadows. Instead of the ground cedar and berry bushes, wild grass grew in
+rank profusion. The air was tinged with a faint fragrance, and somewhere
+in the distance came the sound of gently-splashing waters, "Like a voice
+half-sobbing and half-laughing under the shadows."
+
+The party halted and turned to the right of the trail, where a great,
+lone pine tree stood on a little rise of ground, directly above the tiny
+spring. This was to be the camping spot for the night. Packs were quickly
+removed and unfolded, dry sticks gathered for the fire, and sweet-scented
+balsam boughs were cut and brought to the tree. One generous bed was
+made, big enough for all, close in front of the camp-fire. Mr. Allen
+cleaned and filled his small acetylene lamp--"In case of need," he said.
+The guns were stacked in a handy place and supper operations gotten under
+way.
+
+"It sure does smell awfully good up here," began Phil. "I wish we had
+gotten here before dark--I'd like to have had a little look around before
+I went to sleep. Who knows but we may be sleeping ten yards from a bear's
+den. We are up in a real wilderness, now!"
+
+"Bears, your grandmother!" snorted Ham, as he deftly opened a can of
+baked beans with his pocket knife. "A lot of great big bare spots is
+about all you could find. Say, Phil, on the dead square, what would you
+do, now, if a black bear would sneak down here to-night and crawl into
+bed with you?" "I'd say, 'Mr. Bear, if you want a real sweet, tender
+morsel that's easily digested, just help yourself to that little imported
+Ham over there.'" A roar of laughter went up from the others.
+
+Chuck was philosophizing about the value of gathering food while it was
+yet day, as he sat stowing away his quart of fresh raspberries.
+
+"You can have all you want of them," retorted Mr. Allen. "I'm seedy
+enough now, without eating those things."
+
+"What's the matter, Willis? Did we walk you too hard?" inquired Fat.
+
+"No, I could walk a hundred miles yet to-night," replied Willis, as he
+sliced up his bacon preparatory to frying it. "But this has been a very
+wonderful day for me. It's all so new, you know, and I'm green, too.
+Besides, it all has a very special significance to me, some way. I love
+it. I like it better than anything in the world. I could live this way
+forever. I'm sure I could write poetry to-night, or paint a great
+picture, or even sing. It's a wonderful feeling. Did you ever feel that
+way? It's the charm of the great out-of-doors."
+
+"I think we had better picket Willis to-night," dryly remarked Ham. "He's
+liable to be floating off in his enthusiasm. But if he happens to be
+fortunate enough to lie on a friendly pine knot all night, he'll feel
+differently in the morning."
+
+So the merry talk went on. After supper bigger logs were laid on the
+fire. A collapsible canvas bucket, filled with drinking water, was hung
+on a low limb of the tree, and the supply of night wood was conveniently
+placed near Mr. Allen's end of the bed.
+
+Then Ham got a long, cotton bag, from which he produced several handfuls
+of pinion nuts. They were always the introduction to the camp-fire
+stories. He seated himself, drew his knees up close to his body, leaned
+back against the great tree trunk, and shouted: "All aboard, let her
+flicker. What's first? Mr. Allen, let's have that promised story you
+didn't get out of Dad. I believe you just side-tracked him on purpose, so
+you could tell it yourself. Come, now, wasn't that it?" He began to
+whistle in a low tone as he waited for the story. Fat stretched himself
+at full length before the fire, his head resting on his blanket roll.
+Phil had backed up on one side of Mr. Allen and Willis on the
+other. Everybody was waiting.
+
+"Well, once upon a time, long, long ago, there lived a little fairy,"
+began Mr. Allen.
+
+"You don't say so," interrupted Ham, as he tossed a stick into the fire
+in a disgusted manner. "Was it fairy long ago? I can recite Mother Goose
+rhymes myself. You'll have to do better than that."
+
+Phil nudged Mr. Allen in the ribs and chuckled to himself.
+
+"Well, then, how's this: Not many years ago, in a wonderful little
+village, there--"
+
+"Was a wooden wedding at which two Poles were married," interrupted Ham,
+with a mischievous grin on his face.
+
+"You're kind of hard to please, Ham," suggested Fat, as he rolled over to
+warm his other side.
+
+"How's this? The night was dark and stormy," started in Mr. Allen. Ham
+settled back contentedly. "That's something like it. 'The night was dark
+and stormy,' and what else?"
+
+"Well, if you must have it. I have heard a good many stories of how the
+Old Road House was burned, but they are all different. Which one shall I
+tell you? I'll tell you the one that Daddy tells himself, because it
+probably comes nearest the truth. As a matter of fact, though, I don't
+believe any one knows just how it burned down.
+
+"You know Dad spent his boyhood on a great southwestern cattle ranch, and
+knew at first hand a great many things about Indians and tramping and
+mining and 'explorin',' as he calls it. Just why he left this ranch life
+he never told me exactly, but I know he had his first case of real gold
+fever in forty-nine, and has never gotten over it. His father was a
+United States marshal, and was instrumental in gathering in a number of
+the most notorious criminals of his day. One of Dad's favorite stories is
+of the capture of a gang of Mississippi River pirates.
+
+"It was Dad's father that finally cleaned out this great nuisance when he
+captured Mason, their leader, through the treachery of his fellows. When
+the final raid was made, Dad, who was then a young man, was one of the
+party. It seems that there was a certain boy in this pirate gang who
+escaped, after having been arrested with the others. Several years later
+Dad had occasion to remember the threats this boy had made to him at the
+time of the raid.
+
+"Dad was out on a trapping trip with a group of professional trappers,
+and, as was the custom, each man had taken with him two good horses, one
+to carry his share of the hides and his food supply, the other to be used
+in case of emergency. They were trapping in the Arkansas valley, and
+after a few weeks out they began to suspect that their camp was being
+watched by a large band of hostile Indians. They understood the situation
+perfectly. The Indians were not following them for murder or for a mere
+fight, but for their horses and furs. They would not attack, however,
+until they were reasonably sure of getting away with the desired booty
+without loss of life to their own party.
+
+"The trappers' hunt had been a very successful one, and a large amount of
+money was already represented in the heavy packs of fur. Each night these
+packs of fur were carefully arranged in a big circle, forming a crude
+rampart for the party. The furs gave the men reasonable safety as they
+slept, for no arrow, however swift, could penetrate a roll of green
+hides. The horses were always securely fastened not far from the camp,
+and guards posted at night.
+
+"Finally the ideal night for attack came. It was dark as pitch, not even
+a star showing in the cloudy sky. As night fell, it was so stormy that
+the usual night guard was not deemed necessary. Instead, every man went
+to sleep. Sometime in the night Dad was suddenly awakened by the pounding
+of many hoofs on the hard gravel of the valley. In less than a second the
+entire camp was awake, and every man gripped his rifle in readiness. No
+one dared to leave the rampart. Safety lay in being all together. The
+pounding of hoofs grew louder and louder, the picketed horses whinnied,
+then there was a wild gallop past the little camp, accompanied by
+fiendish yells. Not a man dared to investigate, for fear of ambush. All
+that they could do was to patiently await the coming of morning.
+
+"With the first rays of light all looked anxiously toward where the
+horses had been picketed so carelessly. They were gone, every one of
+them. A hasty examination told the tale. Under the cover of the intense
+darkness, the hobbles and the picket ropes had been cut at the pins, so
+as not to disturb the horses or waken the sleeping trappers. After the
+ropes were cut, the Indians had ridden pell-mell past the free animals,
+and they, finding their fastenings gone, had joined the stampede. It was
+a clever game, and the trappers had lost. What were they to do--fifteen
+days' journey from any assistance, and not a horse within a hundred
+miles?
+
+"As they climbed a hill on the far side of the river, to take a look at
+the surrounding country, they heard a faint whinny, and there, in the
+bottom of the gulch, lay one of their horses, stretched at full length.
+His feet had become entangled in the long picket rope, and he had fallen
+at the edge of the washout with a badly-broken leg. The party gathered
+about the unfortunate animal, lamenting the fact that he must be shot to
+relieve him of his suffering.
+
+"As they stood talking, Dad noticed a movement in a nearby clump of
+bushes. Was he mistaken? He quietly told his partner what he had seen,
+and, with rifles leveled, the two cautiously approached the spot. There
+was, however, no need of fear, for it turned out to be only a young
+Indian boy, and he badly injured. He had probably been riding the horse
+before its fall. Everybody was for instantly shooting the lad except Dad,
+who protested, explaining that the boy might be able to give them
+valuable information as to the number of Indians in the war party, and
+something of their future plans. This seemed to be reasonably wise, so
+the wounded Indian was taken back to the trappers' camp.
+
+"For many days he kept silence, never once speaking to any one, growing
+weaker and weaker every day from his injuries. Finally he was taken with
+an awful fever, and every man in the party knew that nothing could
+possibly save him. Dad nursed him and cared for him as patiently as if he
+had been one of their own party. When the Indian learned that he was to
+be treated kindly for the present, at least, he called for Dad, making
+feeble signs that he wanted to talk to him secretly. After a long and
+painful effort he made Dad understand who was with the band of Indians,
+and why they had watched the trappers so long and so closely. There was a
+certain pale face with them who was their leader and who had been a 'heap
+big robber' on the big river. He had offered a reward for Dad's life to
+every Indian in the party. He had invented the stampede, and when the men
+were faint with hunger and watching, they would be back to kill them all.
+Dad was to be hung in honor of the occasion, to celebrate the day the
+pirate had made his escape from Dad's father. In a few hours the Indian
+died. Dad kept his secret to himself, although he was greatly disturbed
+over it. He was being hunted--hunted by a savage worse than any red man
+that ever shot a bow or took a scalp. He remembered, now, that many of
+his comrades of that memorable raid had since mysteriously disappeared.
+The truth flashed upon him in an instant. Shorty Thunder, the river
+pirate, was taking his revenge. Slowly but surely he was hounding down
+every man that had sought his life that day.
+
+"In a few days the trapping party was picked up by another hunting party.
+
+"What's the matter, Ham? Are you getting sleepy?" called Mr. Allen as he
+arose to replenish the fire. Ham had sprawled out on the ground and was
+looking off into the dark woods, all alert.
+
+"Sh-h-, you," he whispered as he motioned them not to move. "I saw
+something move out there in those bushes just now; I'll bet my hat on
+it."
+
+"O sugar," said Phil. "Something moved, did it? What do you suppose it
+was, an elephant?"
+
+Just then Fat raised his finger cautiously. "Quiet, there, a second, you
+rubes. Use your eyes more instead of your mouths, and you'll see more.
+Can't you see that light spot right over there?" pointing into the
+darkness with a very crooked stick he had been fooling with. All sat
+quietly listening and watching, but to no avail. They could see nothing.
+
+"Go on with your story, Mr. Allen," urged Ham. "What's river pirates got
+to do with the destruction of the Old Road House, that's what I'd like to
+know." The crowd settled themselves again for the rest of the story.
+
+"Well, it's like this, Ham," continued Mr. Allen. "Every great story has
+a preface, and I've been telling you the preface so far." Ham let out a
+few long, extra well-developed snores. "Say, Fat, wake me when he gets to
+the beginning of the first chapter, will you?"
+
+"Finally Dad came to Colorado--just why, I don't know; but he prospected
+hereabouts a good deal in the early days, and when gold was discovered in
+Cripple Creek he was right on hand. In 1873, I think it was, the county
+built the Cripple Creek Stage Road. Dad was a pretty old man then, but
+not too old to see his opportunity. With a little outside capital, he
+constructed that famous mountain inn, the Road House. In a short time
+after it opened for business it became a very popular place, and was soon
+producing a nice little revenue for Dad.
+
+"The night the house was burned, you remember, I said was dark and
+stormy. It was in the summer, and a typical mountain storm was in full
+blast. The thunder and lightning were terrific. When the down stage
+pulled up at the inn, just before dark, they decided to stay for the
+night, fearing a possible cloudburst. It happened that the stage was full
+of passengers that night. There was a little Irishman who had just
+discovered a fine ledge of onyx out north of Cripple Creek, and a couple
+of engineers who had been surveying for a mine over in Cookstove Gulch.
+Besides these there was a hard-looking old scalawag, who kept his
+business all to himself. As they sat at supper, Dad noticed that the
+old-timer eyed him very closely, yet had nothing to say; and as he looked
+back on that night, long after the fire, he remembered a lot of little
+incidents that gave evidence to his own theory. For instance, several
+times during the evening the old stranger rose from his seat and went out
+into the night. He seemed very nervous about something. He did not mingle
+with the other men, but sat well back in the corner by himself. When it
+became time to go to bed, the old man insisted on sleeping on a couch
+near the fireplace. Old Ben, who was there at the time, said afterward he
+remembered some one moving about the cabin in the night.
+
+"The storm was at its worst. Suddenly out of the raging storm Dad's dog
+let out a long, fierce yelp, followed by several low growls. Dad shouted
+down to him to be quiet, supposing he had smelled a coyote or a pole-cat
+outside. He was quiet for a few moments, then a second time he howled and
+scratched at the door. There was a loud cursing, that was nearly lost in
+a peal of thunder, then the cry of 'Fire!' The smoke of the burning logs
+was already streaming up the open stairway. The outside door opened and
+shut, yet the dog was left inside. Almost before the sleeping guests
+could grab their clothes, the whole house was a sheet of flame. There was
+a wild scramble for the back stairway. Dad hurried down the front way,
+stumbling through the smoke to the door. The dog gave a joyous bark and
+sprang toward him. As he opened the door, he stumbled over a large
+oil-can that always stood just under the stairway. He didn't think of
+it at the time because of his excitement, but later, as he puzzled over
+the real cause of the fire, he remembered with startling distinctness
+his stumbling over the empty oil-can, which he knew had been full the
+day before. As months went by he put this with other little bits of
+information, and he believed he understood, yet he had no proof. The old
+man who had slept downstairs had oiled the entire first floor, then set
+it afire. But why? That was the question.
+
+"He remembered how the old man had insisted that the house had been
+struck by lightning. Dad never saw him again after that night, but a few
+months afterwards he recognized him in a description of one of the
+robbers of a stage coach, held up at Duffield's. Then, like a flash, it
+came to Dad. The old-timer was his enemy of the river pirates, old Shorty
+Thunder. He had accidently stumbled onto Dad here in these mountains, and
+had determined to settle scores once for all. He had meant by setting
+fire to the cabin to burn Dad alive, and if it hadn't been for the dog he
+probably would have succeeded."
+
+"Great old tale," sighed Phil, as he arose and stretched himself.
+
+"Let's turn in," suggested Fat, "for you know we have some walking ahead
+of us to-morrow." "Second the motion," joined in Ham. "Me for a good, big
+drink, though, to wash that fairy tale down. How about it?"
+
+The little party gathered close about the fire after all final
+arrangements had been made for the night. Boots were pulled off and set
+away from the fire. Watches were wound and trousers unbuckled. They had
+all instinctively looked toward the "Chief." He had drawn close to the
+fire, and was turning over the leaves of a pocket Testament.
+
+"What will you have to-night, fellows, from the Great Spirit's Message
+before we sleep?"
+
+"The one about the lilies," said Ham thoughtfully. "There are several big
+ones in bloom just at the head of my bed." The "Chief" began to read in
+low, reverent tones.
+
+"And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field,
+how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto
+you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of
+these." So he went on reading till he came to the end of the chapter,
+after which there was a short, reverent prayer, and they were ready for
+bed.
+
+"They talk about cold, clammy churches being the House of God," snorted
+Ham, as he snuggled down into his blanket, "but they aren't in it with a
+night like this spent in the open in such a country."
+
+"There's a good deal of the primitive man in you yet, Ham," said Mr.
+Allen, as he spread out his blanket before the fire.
+
+"How do you make that out?" asked Ham.
+
+"Well, you're just like all the primitive people of long ago. You love
+nature and the out-of-doors. All these things appeal to you tremendously;
+but you love them more than the Great Power of which they are just an
+expression. The only difference between our religion and that of the
+Nature worshipers is that they worship the manifestations of Nature, but
+we go beyond that and worship the Great Spirit that is able to create
+such a Nature." "Too deep for me, too deep for me; I'm no philosopher,"
+grunted Ham, as he rolled over and settled himself for a good night's
+sleep.
+
+Tad Kieser stood watching the little group as they climbed up the winding
+trail, then he slowly returned to his chopping.
+
+"Shoot me for a pole-cat, as Dad would say," he remarked half-aloud, as
+he spat on his hands and raised the heavy ax over his head. "He's the
+very spit'n image of Bill, now that's dead sure, and there's one thing
+more that's certain." He was interrupted in his thoughts by the loud
+report of a gun somewhere up on the mountain side. Turning his head
+toward the Williams claim, he saw the two men who had gone up the trail
+to the mine late that morning shooting at a great hawk that was circling
+in the sky far above them.
+
+"That mine belongs to the boy, but how's he going to get it?"
+
+He busied himself about his camp the rest of the afternoon, then in the
+early evening he strolled down the trail to chat with Dad a little before
+bed-time. Many an evening he had spent with Dad, sitting with him in
+front of his cabin, talking over old times and bygone years. As Tad came
+down the trail, the smell of Dad's simple supper came floating up to him.
+He had forgotten to eat, but perhaps Dad would share his meal with him.
+He pulled open the old pine door and entered. Dad sat at his little table
+eating, his faithful dog at his feet, patiently waiting for his share of
+the meal, for he had learned from years of experience that it would be
+something.
+
+"Howdy, Tad, strike it rich to-day? S'pose ye jist been a shovelin' out
+nuggets all day long, till yer tired o' seein' 'em, hain't ye? Tad, I
+seed the beatenest bunch o' young'uns to-day ye ever seed in yer life,
+all on a explorin' trip o' some kind."
+
+"That so?" replied Tad, "must have been the same party I saw. Did you see
+that tall, slender lad with the brown eyes and dark hair?"
+
+"Yep, b'lieve I did, come t' think on it, only I didn't pay much
+pertic'lar 'tention to none of 'em."
+
+Tad helped himself to an old chair, and, leaning back against the wall,
+lighted his pipe. He was quiet for a long time, then he spoke in a slow,
+thoughtful manner, his pipe held firmly between his teeth, his eyes
+fixed on a spot far away down the mountain.
+
+"Dad, the boy has come. He's come to me, and he's just like his
+father--tall and straight and clean-cut. Dad, he needs a father, and
+perhaps I'll have to act in that capacity yet, who knows, for that
+uncle of his is a rascal and will bear a good deal of watching."
+
+"What? Ye don't mean the young feller ye was a tellin' me about the other
+evenin'? Bill's boy really come to the mountains?" asked Dad, becoming
+interested at once.
+
+"Yes, he's here, Dad, as sure as I'm a living man. He went up this trail
+this afternoon, and I talked with him. He asked about his father the
+first thing; said his father owned a mine up here somewhere, and asked me
+if I knew Tad Kieser."
+
+"Shoot me fer a pole-cat. Well, I'll be dum-swizzled, course ye told him
+Yep, ye knowed him a little, didn't ye?"
+
+"No, Dad, I didn't, and that's just what I've come down to talk to you
+about this evening. You see, it's like this: If I had told him who I was,
+that would have been the end of it, but if he doesn't really find out who
+I am for a while yet, perhaps I can locate a paying gold mine for him.
+I always have felt that I owed him at least that much."
+
+"So ye didn't tell him?" pondered Dad. "Well, Tad, yer head is a sight
+longer'n mine is, an' I s'pose ye know what's best; but, my boy, let me
+give ye a little advice: If ye wait till ye find a real gold mine in
+these here parts, the boy's likely as not to die o' old age 'fore ye find
+it."
+
+"Perhaps so, Dad. Perhaps you're right; but then, if I don't ever find
+it, I won't tell him who I am, because he'd be disappointed. He thinks
+his father owned a real mine in these mountains somewhere, and he's
+looking for it. Do you know, I've been wondering--no, it can't be,
+though; I suppose I'm foolish, but someway, I've always felt that I ought
+to have been man enough to have worked the old tunnel just a little
+farther. Bill was so certain that things looked better, and--"
+
+"Tad, hain't ye ever been in the old hole sence that day, honest Injun? I
+used t' think that's where ye went when ye'd go off fer a week er ten
+days in the hills all by yerself."
+
+"No, Dad, I give you my word, I've never been in that hole since the day
+I carried poor Bill's broken body out. I've never been near since I put
+that great, heavy lock on the door, and then I dropped the only key into
+the old shaft. I thought that perhaps some time the temptation to go back
+in might be too strong, and I'd do it."
+
+Both smoked silently for a long time, then Dad spoke:
+
+"S'posin' somebody would jump ye over yonder, Tad. What's to hinder 'em
+a breakin' in an' startin' operations? I've heerd tell that old Williams
+claimed that property, but course it's a dern lie--"
+
+"He couldn't jump it, Dad, because I hold the deed to it. We proved up on
+that, you know, the summer before; but I believe Williams does hold a
+placer claim on the property. You know placers can run into regular lode
+claims. He could claim the tunnel, all right, too, I suppose, if the
+owner couldn't be found. Especially since he seems to be the only
+relative Bill had, except his wife."
+
+"What do ye s'pose ever possessed that old pole-cat to stake a placer
+claim jest there, 'stead o' somewhere else? The dirt won't pan color,
+will it?" asked Dad. "That's just what has bothered me, Dad. The only way
+that I can figure it out is that Williams got some inkling of the
+prospects of the tunnel from some of Bill's papers or letters. It wasn't
+two weeks after Bill died till that old skinflint went tramping up there
+and staked that placer claim. He's worked assessments on it every year
+since. One year he repaired the cabin, and one year he built a dam; at
+other times he built a bridge and a trail, and dug an assessment hole or
+two--most anything to get in the required hundred dollars' worth of
+working. It's that, more than anything else, that has set me to wondering
+just what was in the old hole, after all, that made him so interested.
+Bill was conscious long enough to talk a little before he died, and I
+never believed that Williams told me the truth about what he said. It's
+taken me a long time to think it all out, but I believe there is
+something I don't know about the deal."
+
+"Well, who knows, Tad, who knows; maybe we're a sittin' on a pile o' gold
+nuggets this minute; but we'll never see 'em; mark my words, boy, we'll
+never see 'em. God Almighty's a savin' 'em fer somethin', if there is
+any, an' if we ain't to have 'em, we'll never git 'em, that's sure."
+After a few vigorous puffs, Dad lapsed into a long silence, and soon Tad
+arose to go.
+
+"Good-night, Dad, good-night," he said in an absent-minded way, as he
+started through the old door and up the trail.
+
+Some time in the night the clouds broke and the stars came out clear and
+shining. A warm current of air came gently up from the valley, softly
+shaking the ever-responsive leaves of the stately aspens. The night was
+absolutely still, and the fire had burned down till all that remained of
+it was a rounded heap of brightly-glowing embers. Far, far away a turtle
+dove was calling--calling so softly that it almost seemed to be
+imagination. Now and then a katydid would lift its tiny voice for a few
+seconds.
+
+Willis rose cautiously on one shoulder, and looked about him. He placed
+his hand to his ear and gazed intently out into the darkness. What was
+that? He shut his eyes that he might hear the better. He could not be
+mistaken, he had heard a dry twig snap--one, two, three little dry,
+rasping sounds. Perhaps it was just a rabbit or a squirrel. Again he
+raised himself cautiously on his shoulder and peered out into the
+shadows. There! another snap, this time nearer and more distinct. The
+night breeze gently fanned the dying embers. Suddenly there was a series
+of gentle little patters on the dead leaves just outside the circle of
+light. Would he awaken Mr. Allen, or would he watch by himself. Hardly
+had the thought entered his head when, without a sound, and without being
+conscious that another was watching, Mr. Allen slowly arose to a sitting
+posture and stared out into the forest in the same direction.
+
+"What is it, Mr. Allen?" softly whispered Willis. Mr. Allen jumped a
+trifle. "O, I don't know; I heard it a couple of hours ago. I'd like to
+see a wild animal, wouldn't you? I think it must be the fire that
+attracts it. I'd like to light my dark lantern, but I hate to strike a
+match." He leaned over to the fire, picked up a dry pine needle, and
+lighted it in the fire, applying the tiny flame to his opened lantern.
+Quietly Mr. Allen opened the shield, and a long, bright gleam swept
+noiselessly out into the darkness, revealing with almost painful
+distinctness the outlines of every stem of grass and flower. Then, far at
+the end of the path of light, something moved. There were two small,
+luminous spots, then in an instant two more, a little larger. Slowly the
+shifting lights and shadows took shape, and there, before them, stood two
+deer--a doe and a tiny fawn.
+
+"O, aren't they beautiful?" whispered Willis. Just then the fawn left its
+mother's side and came fearlessly down the path of light--one, two, six
+steps--staring into the wonderful, dazzling beam. There was a gentle call
+from the mother, and in an instant they had disappeared into the shadows
+from whence they had come. There was a bound, a broken twig, a rustle
+of dead leaves, and all was quiet again.
+
+For a long time Willis and Mr. Allen waited, watching for them to return;
+but they did not come. The fire slowly died out and turned into a pile of
+ghostly ashes, while the party slept on until morning.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+The Second Day Out
+
+
+Ham was the first to awaken in the morning. A pair of saucy jays had
+been gossiping about the little party for nearly an hour. At first they
+just exchanged ideas, making their observations from a reasonable
+distance. One perched on the topmost limb of a dead pine, the other
+bobbing up and down on the slender twigs of a neighboring aspen.
+
+"Those crazy jabberers would dispute the identity of their own mates,"
+exclaimed Ham, as he pulled on his trousers and got into his high boots.
+"They talk about some folks always having too much to say, but--O, shut
+up, you noisy robbers!" He reached for a heavy stick, and sent it
+flying into the air toward the aspen. There was a flapping of wings, a
+harsh, scolding threat, and the jays retreated to talk it over.
+
+Very soon the camp was all astir, and there was a general call for a
+fire.
+
+"You don't want to forget that we have the most important ceremony of
+this entire trip to go through with here yet this morning before any of
+us can eat breakfast. What's your hurry, anyway? Get busy here, Fat, and
+get another armful of wood like this that I have. In about three shakes
+we'll have an altar built and we'll have our oracle fire burning in less
+than a jiffy. Be quick, now, but don't disturb the Spirit," cried Ham.
+
+"Oracle fire, your grandmother," interrupted Phil. "I'm as hungry as a
+pet lion, and it's breakfast for me, and that right soon; oatmeal, a
+boiled egg, and some rye bread sounds about right!"
+
+"Me, too," chimed in Fat, reaching for his haversack. "Hungry's no name,
+and I don't believe I brought enough grub, either."
+
+"Stop!" shouted Ham. "Now, Mr. Philip Dennis, Jr., hear your humble
+servant, the Spook Doctor, for just about a second. Long, long ago, even
+before our friend, Zebulon Pike, took his first peek at Pike's Peak,
+there was a custom common to all the Indian tribes about us," making a
+gesture to include all the surrounding country, "and it was believed
+absolutely necessary to the happiness and well-being of their mighty
+warriors to indulge in this orgy at stated seasons." Ham was making
+wild gestures as he went on with his mock oratory. "Never was a hunt
+started, never was a journey undertaken, never a distant quest sought
+after, until the tribe had first slept, then gathered around the mystic
+altar of the Spook Doctor."
+
+"Ham, you're a regular heathen," called Mr. Allen from his blanket. "What
+has the altar got to do with it, anyway?"
+
+"Well, it's just like this," continued Ham. "After the first night's
+slumbers we build an Indian signal fire just like this, then in bare feet
+and empty stomachs we dance around the fire and implore the Mighty Night
+Wind to interpret the dreams we have had during our first night out.
+They never fail to disclose the outcome of the journey, whether it will
+be a success or a failure." As he bent over and lighted the fire, he
+said, "You may be seated."
+
+The childishness of it all appealed to every one of them, and they did as
+they were commanded. Then Ham solemnly and weirdly called, "Fat, you're
+first. Hurry, while the smoke is curling, curling upward."
+
+Fat arose and made mock obeisance to the fire.
+
+"My dream was a very queer one, but most too short to have a real
+meaning. I dreamed I was in a big barnyard and all I could see was
+pigs--little pigs, big pigs, and all kinds of pigs--and they were all
+standing around an empty trough. Now, Mr. Wise Man, tell me what that has
+to do with a quest for a cabin site, will you?"
+
+Phil rolled over and chuckled to himself. "Oho, Fat, you will eat bacon
+for supper, will you? while your poor fellow-travelers sup on a rare and
+expensive can of beans. Ha-ha-ha! Eat pork and you dream of pigs."
+
+Ham looked long into the fire, then, turning, cried out:
+
+"I have it, I have it, the Spirit speaks. Fat, you will run out of
+provisions long before this journey is over. You will eat all you have by
+to-morrow, and never think of the days to follow. Beware, for so the
+Spirit tells me."
+
+A roar of laughter went up from the others.
+
+"Mr. Allen, your dream next," called Ham, mystically.
+
+"Well, I dreamed of beautiful autumn days, spent in a splendid grove of
+trees, cutting choice timbers for a cabin; and then I dreamed of a crowd
+of old men, sitting before an open fire-place, telling about how they had
+built a cabin long years before, when they were boys."
+
+"That needs no interpreter. Phil, your dream is now demanded. Tell it
+truly, lie and you will live to suffer. Careful, now, and do not hurry."
+
+"Well, I dreamed a dandy," cried Phil. "I saw a crazy loon standing in
+front of a fire, gazing into fiery embers, and--" There was a crackling
+in the fire, a shower of sparks went up, and one of the altar stones
+turned over.
+
+"O, how sad," groaned Ham, "that such a man should lie so to the great
+Spook Doctor. In wrath he tears down the altar--hisses forth his
+disapproval in clouds of tiny spark-thoughts. Willis, you are next. Now,
+do not rile the mighty Master." "Well," said Willis, "my dream was not so
+strange. I just dreamed over and over the thoughts I took to bed with me.
+I saw cabins and mines and tunnels and miners of all descriptions, only
+that there was one that looked very familiar, and it was a very hard one
+to find and get to." Ham had failed to replenish the fire, and it had
+burned to a tiny, smoldering heap of ashes.
+
+"I can not answer that one," said Ham, "for the Great Spirit has now left
+me. Let's eat our breakfast, and I hope it will be more substantial than
+these dreams."
+
+Soon breakfast was under way. It was a simple meal and soon over with.
+Cooking utensils were washed and packs rolled, ready for the day's
+journey.
+
+"What time of day?" asked Chuck.
+
+"Seven-ten," promptly replied Willis, "and just the time to be starting
+through the Park, if we want to see it before the dew is gone." At the
+spring they stopped to drink and to examine the deer tracks in the soft,
+black muck. From there the trail led off, zigzaging down the gentle
+slope. On either side of the path the wild grasses and ferns grew in rank
+profusion, while scattered here and there on the soft, green carpet were
+great numbers of dainty Maraposa lilies. Now and then a tall, green
+stalk of the columbine could be seen, and occasionally a wooly circle of
+bracts on the stem of a late anemone. At intervals tall ferns bent over
+the woodland pathway, as if to hide and protect it for the private use
+of the many tiny wild feet that scampered over it daily.
+
+"Isn't this great," cried Ham. "Just take a peek at that grove of trees.
+I'll bet that grass is full of snakes and rabbits. I'd like to take a
+shot at a big 'jack' this morning."
+
+"It's an old swamp," replied Willis. "Perhaps there was once a little
+lake here. Wouldn't it be a swell place for a shanty? I'll bet it's full
+of grouse."
+
+"I suppose it was once an Indian camping ground," suggested Mr. Allen.
+"Just a little flat oasis on the summit of a granite mountain. Remember
+where we came up last night? Now, look away off there," pointing his
+finger. "We are ten thousand feet above the sea up here; up where we
+can see how the world is made, and how beautiful it is."
+
+Soon the little park came to an abrupt end, and great boulders began to
+loom up on every side. They came to the edge of the cliff, and could look
+far down into the valley below. Away to the west stood Black Mountain, a
+rounded bluff, so densely covered with young timber that it seemed at a
+distance to be a mountain of black dirt. Far below them could be seen the
+silver thread of a tiny stream as it followed the canyon toward the sandy
+plains. They had climbed out onto a great boulder, now, that overlooked
+the canyon far below on one side and the level plains on the other. Here
+they sat down to rest and talk.
+
+"Do you see that hollow spot in the plain there, just at the foot of the
+mountain?" Mr. Allen was saying. "It is what has been known for many
+years as the Big Hollow Ranch. It was homesteaded in the early days,
+before the war, by our friend, Daddy Wright. There is a story that tells
+of how, in those days, the Indians would lie in wait and steal cattle
+from the great Texas roundups as they passed, enroute to Kansas City, and
+would drive large numbers of the cattle into that great hollow. After the
+cattle were driven inside, a few men could guard the opening while the
+other Indians drove the cattle off into lonely ravines."
+
+"My! what a fire there must have been here sometime," exclaimed Willis,
+noting the dead trees. "I have always wanted to see a forest fire; it
+must be a grand sight."
+
+"Yes, if you're far enough away to be safe," joined in Chuck. "I saw one
+once, but it was several miles away. It looked fine from there. It was
+the year we camped at the old hatcheries up in the Middle Park. Mount
+Deception was very much like Black Mountain, then--very heavily timbered
+with fine, large trees. As the years went by a very large slab pile began
+to accumulate back of the mill. Some way, no one ever knew just how,
+those slab piles got afire. It was on a very windy summer night, when
+everything was as dry as chips and the hills were covered with heaps of
+dry toppings and pine slash. Well, the fire got into a few piles of
+toppings, and before the men at the mill realized that there was a fire,
+it was running over the hills like a wild thing. The dry pine needles are
+just like turpentine to burn, so in less than two hours there were
+several square miles of timber land afire. The mill and hundreds of
+thousands of feet of sawed lumber were burned, and an area of many square
+miles stripped of every stick of wood, so far as value was concerned."
+
+"Did you see them fight it?" asked Phil.
+
+"No, I didn't see them, but I've heard them tell how they did it."
+
+"I was in a forest fire once," said Mr. Allen. "It wasn't such an awfully
+big one, but there was plenty of excitement while it did last, I tell you
+that."
+
+"Tell us about it," came in a chorus.
+
+"It's pretty hard to describe a forest fire, but it was a very exciting
+experience. It was up not many miles from Mount Deception, while I was
+stopping with a friend at Manitou Park. We were eating our Sunday dinner,
+when suddenly the door opened and in rushed the man from the adjoining
+farm.
+
+"'Fire, boys,' he called. 'I'm sorry to disturb you, but we need you, and
+you know the law. I'll have the buggy ready in a shake, and you be
+ready.' As he left, my friend cried, 'Come quick, Allen, into your old
+clothes.' 'Why,' I said, 'we don't have to fight the forest fire, do we?'
+He laughed aloud. 'Well, you just bet we do!' he cried. 'The law says
+that every able-bodied man in reach of a forest fire must give his
+services. If a fire starts on Government land and burns onto private
+land, Uncle Sam has to pay for all the private loss. But if it starts on
+private land and burns onto Government land, the land owner is
+responsible.'
+
+"I jumped into some old clothes, and was ready just as the buggy drove up
+to the door. The man handed me a big brown jug and told me to fill it
+with drinking water. Off to the north we saw a great cloud of gray smoke
+rising from the forest, but no flame. The farmer handed my friend the
+lines, told us to take the shortest route, and not to stop for anything,
+that he would follow on horseback in a few moments. I never shall forget
+how the little mare did go that day. We drove north on a county road
+until we got even with the smoke, then we turned in directly toward it
+through a very large potato field. After an hour's hard driving, we came
+to the entrance of a narrow canyon. We tied the horse, and, with as many
+shovels as I could carry on my shoulder, and with the jug, I followed my
+friend, who had taken a couple of shovels and two heavy axes. It was a
+sultry midsummer day, and how I did sweat!
+
+"We hurried on, the smoke getting thicker and thicker, and still we could
+see no flames. We went up a long, narrow canyon in which there was a tiny
+stream, and about every hundred yards we stopped to drink. By and by we
+came to the top of a low ridge, and the farmer met us.
+
+"'Hurry, fellows, hurry!' he shouted. 'Give me a couple of those axes.
+Report to the first man you meet, and come home in the buggy when you
+can.' He swung his horse round, and in a moment was gone. I was tired out
+already, and the jug of water was very heavy to carry by so small a
+handle. As we got near the top of the ridge, we came to an old prospect
+hole. An idea struck me. I would leave the jug there by the hole, and it
+would be easy to find when I wanted it, and I would hurry on with the
+shovels. As we reached the top of the ridge, the fire came into full
+view. My, what a sight! A great sea of burning, crackling trees below,
+and above an ocean of heavy smoke, floating upward in great billows. Far
+away, at least it seemed so to me, I heard chopping, chopping. I don't
+know how long I stood there wondering at the sight, but presently an old
+man--he looked to me like a wild man, came toward me, eyeing me with a
+scornful look.
+
+"'Well, ye goin' to stand there all day with them implements, son?' He
+mopped away the great beads of perspiration from his forehead with a big
+blue bandanna handkerchief. A large Russian hound stood, panting, by his
+side. Nearly a year afterwards I learned that the old man was no other
+than Old Ben himself.
+
+"'Where's that jug of water that Jim said ye was a bringin',' he howled
+as he snatched the best shovel from my hands. I don't know what I said,
+but I know that he cursed me roundly and I started for the prospect hole
+to get the jug. I was excited to the limit. I came to the prospect hole,
+and the jug was gone. I was starting back when I came to another hole,
+then a third, then a fourth. I raised my eyes and surveyed the hillside.
+There were at least a hundred prospect holes. Which one did I leave the
+jug by? Was it lost, that precious jug of water? Would I ever find it?
+The great clouds of smoke drifted past me and darkened the landscape;
+then I began to hunt for the jug, one hole at a time. But I could find no
+jug. While I was searching all over the hill, up rode the farmer. He
+called for me to follow him. I tried to explain to him that I was looking
+for the water, but I couldn't make him understand. When we got back to
+the east of the fire, he handed me an ax and showed me what to do. They
+were cutting an aisle down the south ridge. There were great trees
+cracking and crashing to the ground all along the line and all around me.
+I could not see more than a hundred feet ahead, but I worked like a Turk.
+O, but I thought my ax was dull and the tree hard! It seemed that I could
+never cut it through. I struck a heavy blow; there was a singing noise in
+the air, and the head of my ax went flying somewhere into the brush. I
+heard the farmer, chopping near me, yell something about a fool and a
+greenhorn.
+
+"'Go, bring the water,' he yelled. I asked what water, and he yelled
+back, 'The jug, the brown jug.'
+
+"I started again to find it. I don't know how long I looked, but by
+accident I stumbled onto it. I raised it to my lips to drink, but the
+water was warm and insipid. It made me feel faint. My head began to get
+dizzy and everything looked burned. I straightened up and went back
+toward the fire. When I reached the farmer, he gave me his ax and started
+off with the jug. I chose my tree, and began to work. I had cut but one,
+and was started on another, when a dozen rugged, sweating men passed me
+on the run and shouted, 'Look out for the blast!' I dropped my ax and
+followed them. The earth shook under my feet, as one after the other I
+saw mighty pine trees rise into the air a few feet, then crash headlong
+down the mountain into the flames. The fire was coming nearer. O, such a
+sight! The heat was intense, but the coloring was beautiful. I followed
+the men, but one man tripped and fell; the others hurriedly picked him
+up, and we went onto a safe place. Then a hurried conference was held,
+and orders given to cut the underbrush in a great circle around the
+fire. By and by the wind changed, and soon the smoke cleared away from
+where we were working. To my surprise, there were at least fifty sturdy
+men--mountain ranchmen, most of them--cutting the underbrush ahead of me,
+and just next to me worked Ben.
+
+"We worked on until dark. My friend found me, and we started for the
+buggy. We got home some way--he drove. I was exhausted. That was my only
+forest fire experience, but I don't care for another. I was stiff and
+sore for a week."
+
+The little party worked its way into the gulch, and then proceeded up the
+canyon on an old cattle trail in the second range. Every now and then
+they would pass a prospect hole, which showed that they were not, by any
+means, the first to tramp up the gulches and drink at the crystal
+streams. On a great, flat stone, close by a tiny spring, they stopped to
+eat their dinner and rest.
+
+"Let's get as far as we can by night," suggested Phil, "for we'll never
+find a cabin site here in this canyon. It's too far away. We'll have to
+get in closer, near St. Peter's Dome."
+
+"Let's make the Little Fountain by night. It must cross this canyon, and
+perhaps it will yield us a trout for breakfast. What do you say?"
+inquired Mr. Allen.
+
+"Little Fountain, or bust," called Ham. "I'm in for it. Say, we ought to
+find a few squirrels this afternoon up in this lonesome canyon. A
+squirrel would taste pretty fine, stewed in a little rice, for supper.
+I'll bet I get the first one."
+
+"Got some salt in your pocket?" asked Willis.
+
+"Salt, what do I want with salt? Just keep your eye on me. I'm
+dead-shot at squirrels."
+
+"Hello, here, what's this?" called out Mr. Allen about the middle of the
+afternoon. "This looks interesting to me. See here, I've found a few
+small pieces of aspen that have been cut by beaver." He held them up for
+inspection. Sure enough, on the ends were the marks of the tiny chisel
+teeth of the little water workmen. "I'd certainly like to see a real
+beaver dam. I've seen pieces of dams and old, wrecked dams, but never a
+real good one. Keep your eyes open for more sticks like this, and for
+stumps along the stream. This ought to be good beaver country, because
+it's wild and quiet."
+
+"What do you suppose killed all those fine big trees in that valley?"
+asked Willis.
+
+They turned aside to examine the great dead trees.
+
+"Hold on, there," said Ham in a whisper, as he held up his finger.
+"There's my stew for to-night. Great Caesar's ghost! I'll bet these dead
+trees are full of squirrels. Still, now, a moment."
+
+The squirrel sat for an instant in plain view on a dead limb of a spruce;
+then he barked and scampered around in great excitement, his tail bobbing
+up and down in time to his movements. He would run, hide behind the great
+tree trunk, then out again to jeer and scold and jerk his tail. As they
+came nearer, a second one, perhaps his mate, joined him on the limb and
+seconded everything he had to say. The barrel of Ham's gun was making
+strange movements in the air. "Hey, there, sit still, you jumping jack,"
+called Ham. The squirrels sat up and listened to his voice in such a way
+that it appeared they perfectly understood the order to sit still. Fat
+laughed a hearty laugh; the squirrels took it as a danger signal and were
+gone. Ham lowered his gun.
+
+"Fat, you stole my supper right out of my mouth," said Ham, gloomily.
+
+"Oho," said Willis. "How do you suppose this happened? All of these big
+trees are girdled. See, the bark has been cut clear around the trunk with
+an ax, so as to cut off the supply of sap. Mr. Allen, what is your
+explanation?"
+
+"Well, I'm not just sure about it, Willis. Some one may have killed them
+for timber or some one may have girdled them so as to be able to start a
+big fire. It might have been the work of timber pirates. A man would get
+a mighty severe punishment for that, if he were caught."
+
+A little farther up the canyon they found traces of an old placer sluice,
+and what remained of some of the old, homemade cradles for panning out
+the gold.
+
+"Gold, gold, gold; you find traces of it everywhere, and traces of the
+men who sought it. A sight like that always makes me sorry for some old,
+forlorn, disappointed miner," said Mr. Allen. "Of all the dilapidated,
+blue-producing sights that I have ever seen, it's one of these old,
+deserted mining camps, for they come as near representing a forlorn hope
+as anything you can find.
+
+"One time I was with a crowd of boys, and we made a detour to look over a
+deserted mining camp. They called it Old North Cripple Creek. Years
+before, shrewd individuals had salted prospect holes at that point, then
+discovered their own gold. Of course there was a grand rush, and a boom
+town resulted. Crude houses were built, stores and saloons erected, and
+mining operations begun. A real, substantial log hotel was erected, and
+I've heard that their charge was upwards of ten dollars a night, payable
+in advance.
+
+"But the camp died as quickly as it had been born, and the people, mostly
+men, pushed on to other fields.
+
+"It was a good many years after the place was deserted that I was there,
+but it made a tremendous impression upon me. I had the blues for days
+afterward. Old, tumbled-down houses, the windows knocked out and the
+doors hanging on leather hinges. I remember one building that had been a
+saloon. The great mirrors back of the bar had never been removed, and the
+rains of many seasons had peeled the mercury from the plate glass and the
+gilt frames were faded. We entered the old hotel, and were surprised to
+find some of the fittings still there. In the attic we found an old chest
+of letters--and, speaking of strange coincidences, a large number of
+those letters were written and signed by Daddy Wright. Away up in the
+back corner of the attic sat an old owl. He looked down on us from his
+perch in a reproving manner, to think we would disturb the haunts of the
+past in that crude way. He was a weird looking old fellow as he sat
+there, blinking his big yellow eyes, and I couldn't help thinking that
+the owl of wisdom perhaps a good many times might be found perched in the
+dark attics of the past, instead of spending his time in the sunlight of
+the great and active present."
+
+The afternoon passed, and soon the sun began to settle behind the western
+peaks. It was just six o'clock when the party came to the Little Fountain
+and chose their camping spot on a little green knoll of high ground,
+right by the water's edge. Some one suggested a dip, and so, in the quiet
+coolness of a perfect summer twilight, with a cheerful fire burning on
+the bank, clothes were stripped and a bath taken. Then came the evening
+meal, the usual round of stories, the message from the letter of the
+Great Spirit, then to sleep.
+
+As Willis and Mr. Allen lay watching the firelight and listening to the
+thousand sounds of the night, the night breeze began to rise and to sing
+to them through the balsam boughs overhead.
+
+"Do you know what I think of when I lie out in the woods on such a night
+and listen to the gentle sighing of the night wind?" asked Mr. Allen.
+
+"No," replied Willis. "What do you think of?"
+
+"It is kind of fanciful, I suppose, but I like to believe that it is God
+blowing His breath down on us just to let us know that He is very near
+and cares for us." Willis did not answer; he was thinking.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The Third Day Out
+
+
+The first gray streaks of dawn were just creeping over the ridge of old
+Cheyenne as Mr. Allen awoke. Up through the green leaves the bluest of
+blue skies showed in tiny spots. It was an autumn morning, for a light
+frost had settled during the night, and here and there lay the ghost of
+an aspen leaf that had flitted down. Everywhere the birds were chirping
+and hustling about their morning duties. Here and there industrious
+spiders were at work removing the drops of silver dew from their shining
+cables of silk, and the bees were already gathering the last of the
+summer's sweets. The squirrels scolded and chattered to each other from
+the big trees. All the wild life of the woodland seemed at high tide. The
+butterflies were already at play in the cool, dewy nooks, and all nature
+was rosy in the freshness of a new day.
+
+Mr. Allen dressed quietly but quickly, unbuckled his fishing rod from his
+pack, glanced through his fly book, selected one here and there, then
+prepared to slip out of camp without waking any one. The little stream
+had been whispering strange tales of big fish to him all the night, and
+it was trout for breakfast that he was after. A saucy squirrel, observing
+him from a limb overhead, asked many foolish questions. Mr. Allen sat on
+an old moss-covered stump joining his rod and arranging his long, white
+leader, to which he had attached a royal coachman and a gray hackle. He
+paused to listen, for it seemed to him that every wild thing in that
+vast, rocky gorge had suddenly raised its voice to welcome the coming
+day.
+
+Willis awoke and saw Mr. Allen as he sat there in the sunlight. In a soft
+undertone he called, "I'm going, too, just to watch. May I?" Mr. Allen
+nodded, and in a few moments the two were quietly sneaking off through
+the bushes, headed up stream.
+
+"My, O my! isn't this a perfectly gorgeous morning. Just look off there
+toward Mount Rosa and Baldy. It's a perfect splendor of clouds and mist
+and sun; then look behind you, there, down through the big trees. It's
+just the morning to catch a fine big trout."
+
+"I never caught a trout in all my life," softly called Willis, as he
+trailed along behind. "I don't believe I've ever even seen one."
+
+"Many and many are the days I've fished in these old hills for a dozen;
+but a prouder fisherman never cast a fly than myself, when I could come
+home to camp, spread out my little catch of speckled beauties on the
+grass, and tell just how I caught each one."
+
+"Is it more fun than casting for big black bass on a clear, warm, summer
+night? Lots of times I've seen the big fellows leap out of the water,
+then in again with a splash, making big rings of ripples on the smooth
+water. O, it's great! Can your trout fishing beat that?"
+
+"Every man after his own heart," replied the "Chief," "but for me, give
+me the trout. You rise early on such a morning as this and slip off into
+the canyon. Far away on all sides rise the mountain peaks, their snow
+caps jauntily adjusted and their cloaks of ice drawn close about their
+shoulders. Then the balsam-scented air, and the dew-laden bushes along
+the chattering little stream as it flows over a chaos of broken granite
+or works itself into a boiling froth, only to jump headlong into a quiet
+green pool. Can you beat it?"
+
+"Isn't that a good pool just ahead of us?" questioned Willis.
+
+"I'm going to try it," replied Mr. Allen. "Now, be sure to keep that big
+boulder just ahead between you and the water, for if they see us first
+there's no use wasting our time here, we'll never get a strike to-day."
+
+Slowly they crept to the great, bare rock. Here the line and flies were
+adjusted, and the fishing began. Willis watched every motion as for a
+brief second the fly was allowed to drift down the stream, "to be floated
+here and there by idle little eddies, to be sucked down, then suddenly
+spat out by tiny suction holes;" then it fell quietly into the current
+and floated out to the end of the line, bringing up sharply just at the
+edge of a bleak old granite boulder in midstream. Again the flies were
+cast, and again; then--both hearts stood still; there was a splash, a
+little line of bubbles, a tail, a silver streak tinged with red and
+black, then ripples, and nothing more.
+
+"He's there, anyway," softly whispered Willis in great excitement.
+
+The line was drawn in and inspected; the hackle was removed from the
+leader, and again the coachman spatted the water just above where the
+trout had disappeared. It floated down and down until it touched the
+swirl at the edge of the jagged rock. There was a short, sharp tug; the
+fly disappeared into the water; a plunge, a dash of spray, then
+everything kept time to the singing of the reel. Both jumped to their
+feet just in time to see the big trout clear the water, shake his head
+vigorously, then dive into the deep pool. It was to be a fight to the
+finish, and the trout had settled to the cool bottom to lay out his
+campaign.
+
+After ten minutes of maneuvering in the water, up and down, out to the
+bank, then in again, knee deep, waist deep, the line slacked a little,
+then a little more. Then there was a series of quick jerks and a long
+singing of the reel as it unwound, only to slacken again, and this time
+for good. There was a silvery streak in the water, then a dark, moving
+shadow, a gentle pull of the winding line, and the trout slipped out of
+the water onto the bank, exhausted.
+
+There was an exclamation of joy and wonder from Willis as the fish was
+carefully unhooked and placed in the cotton bag, brought for the purpose.
+
+"Just eighteen inches, and a beauty," cried Mr. Allen. "You'll never get
+me away from this stream this morning if there are more fish like this to
+be had. We have just time to catch another like him, then we can all have
+a taste for breakfast. What will those fellows think when they wake up
+and find us gone?"
+
+They clambered over a rough crag and down to a second green pool. It was
+not a big fish this time, but several small ones in quick succession,
+till there was a taste for all in camp.
+
+"I hope the fellows will have a fire going, so we won't have to wait so
+long for a bed of coals, don't you?" asked Willis. "I can taste them
+already. Is the meat pink or white?"
+
+"O, surely Ham will have a fire; he's enough of a camper for that, and
+they are expecting us to bring fish. I'll tell you, let's leave the bag
+in the bushes and tell them a sad tale of woe. I'm still wet, and we'll
+let on a big one pulled me in and I lost all the others. What do you
+say?"
+
+"That's a go. You get up the story and I'll swear to it. Make it a big
+one."
+
+Soon the smell of smoke came drifting through the bushes, and they knew
+that their return was being patiently awaited. Fat spied them coming
+first.
+
+"Well, old sea-dogs, where's your catch?" he shouted.
+
+"Hard luck," started in Mr. Allen. "Just plain hard luck; caught a few
+minnows, but slow as far as real fishing goes. There's nothing in it
+here. Where's Ham?"
+
+"O Ham!" snorted Phil from his place by the fire. "Crazy, lunatic Ham.
+I'd like to see you get him into any kind of a fix he couldn't get out
+of. When we woke up and found you gone, Ham declared you'd played a trick
+on him, and he's gone off to get even."
+
+"How do you mean, get even?"
+
+"He wanted to go with you this morning, so he went out and found your
+track going up stream. He came back to camp, got your fly book, cut him a
+willow pole, and started off down stream to beat you fishing. He's been
+gone most an hour and a half now."
+
+"Well, he won't have to fish much to beat me, that's sure; but he ought
+to be getting back soon, so we can get started."
+
+"Fishie, fishie, in the brook,
+Hammie caught him with a hook,"
+
+came drifting into camp from somewhere on the trail. Soon Ham came into
+view, a cotton flour sack thrown over his shoulder and a broad grin on
+his face. He had left his pole in the thicket.
+
+"Fish, fish, fish--little, big, and in between," he cried as he waved the
+bag in front of him. "I've never had such fishing."
+
+"Hurrah for the fisherman," called Chuck, as he came through the trees
+with a half-dozen small pails in his hands. "Ham gets the fish, I get the
+berries, and we all get the stomach-ache, see?"
+
+"Let's look at the fish" shouted every one.
+
+"Bet they are only minnies," cried Phil.
+
+"Minnies, your grandmother," scornfully replied Ham. "I have one there
+that's a foot and a half long if it's an inch. The others aren't so big."
+He emptied the contents of the bag on the ground and stood proudly over
+them, a merry twinkle in his eye.
+
+Willis nudged Mr. Allen. "He's found our bag of fish, but don't tell."
+Mr. Allen arose, and, holding up the big fish by the tail, said, "Ham,
+you're the only original fisherman. That's the very fellow that pulled me
+in and came near drowning me." Ham hurried off to the stream to clean the
+catch and to laugh over his cleverness. Breakfast was a thoroughly
+enjoyed meal that morning, for, besides the fish and the sweet wild
+berries, there were just enough fish stories told to give the real thing
+the proper seasoning.
+
+"I'd rather sit on those big boulders along Goose Creek, just where it
+empties into the backwaters of Cheeseman Dam, and catch a few big fellows
+like that one than to take an extended trip to Europe," solemnly declared
+Ham.
+
+"I'd rather fish in the Narrows of Platte Canyon and pull out a fine big
+rainbow every now and then than ride in a New York subway," added Chuck.
+
+"And I'd rather see Mr. Allen catch _another_ big trout like that one
+you're eating," remarked Willis, with a wink at Mr. Allen, "than to catch
+all the bass in the State of Michigan."
+
+By nine o'clock the party was again on the trail, traveling northwest
+around the base of Black Mountain.
+
+"It's going to be a scorcher," exclaimed Fat. "I'm about melted already.
+I hope they haven't shipped that bear away from Cather Springs yet. I'd
+like to see it. They caught it in a bear trap last week. There is hardly
+a season goes by, any more, but what they get some kind of wild game.
+Last year it was a big mountain lion, the year before it was a
+badly-wounded mountain sheep, this year it was a bear and two cubs."
+
+"That lion must have been the one that followed Ham up Pike's Peak. How
+about it, Ham?" said Mr. Allen teasingly. Ham did not reply. The smile
+disappeared from his face, and he dropped to the back of the line. "Ham,
+won't you tell us that story some time?" urged Mr. Allen. "I've never
+heard the real story, and I'd like to know about it."
+
+"I've forgotten every detail, Mr. Allen," said Ham, "and I've forgotten
+them for good. It wasn't nearly as big a joke as every one supposed,
+though, I'll tell you that. I'll never come any nearer to handing in my
+heavenly passport and not do it than I did that time. Let's forget it. It
+brings back unpleasant thoughts."
+
+At noon they camped in the shadow of a great overhanging rock and rested.
+Fat found, upon opening his pack, that he had left what remained of his
+loaf of bread at the last camping place, along with two cans of milk and
+a box of raisins.
+
+"The oracle is coming true," dryly remarked Ham. "It always does, if it's
+interpreted properly. Fat, the swine of carelessness have consumed your
+living."
+
+By three o'clock the party reached Cather Springs, which was nothing but
+the home of an old mountaineer--a quaint little log cabin, a barn, and a
+corral, in which stood two very patient, tired-looking donkeys and a
+large, raw-boned mountain horse. A little to one side of the cabin stood
+the spring house--a low, rustic affair, built of young trees. A slab-door
+stood slightly ajar, and through the opening there came the voice of a
+woman, softly singing to herself. A thin column of gray smoke was curling
+gently from the rough stone chimney. At one side of the house, in the
+shade of a great pine tree, was nestled a little flower garden that gave
+every sign of having had careful attention each day. On the back stoop
+was stretched out, at full length, a husky Collie dog. He was evidently
+asleep, for he did not stir as the boys came down the trail toward the
+picturesque little cabin.
+
+"Great Caesar's ghost!" exclaimed Ham. "Take a peep at a few of those
+jay-birds. I never saw so many in my life. I'll bet the lady feeds them.
+Watch me knock that saucy fellow off that dead limb."
+
+He raised his gun and shot. There was an awful scolding, jabbering, and
+flapping of wings, but no deaths--fortunately for Ham. The dog came to
+life in less than a second, and expressed himself freely on the
+imprudence of such an interruption to his mid-day nap. Likewise, the
+spring-house door suddenly opened and out popped a funny, little old
+lady.
+
+"Boys, boys!" she called in a high, quavering voice, "don't shoot the
+blue jays. It does beat all how right-down destructive all boys are,
+anyway--shooting poor, harmless little birds for sport." The jays, on
+hearing the familiar voice of their benefactress, began to alight in twos
+and threes close by, and approved her every word with as much vigor as
+their tiny throats could command. The little old lady came straight
+toward Ham.
+
+"Young man," she cried, as she shook her long, bony finger in his face,
+"young man, who ever gave you the right to come into this beautiful
+wilderness to maraud and murder and kill such beauties as them jays that
+God has put in these woods to be companions and friends to us lonely
+mountain folks? Who do you s'pose built this here canyon and that green
+meadow and this little spring and these hills, and all the little wild
+folks as lives in 'em? I should think you would hang your head and look
+like a whipped puppy if ye're little enough to shoot jay-birds, just to
+see the blue feathers a flutterin' in the air. 'Pon my soul, you hunters
+is beyon' my understandin'. S'pose that bird you shot has a nest, which,
+like as not, she has, an' it's full o' little fuzzy balls o' bird flesh
+this minute, all mouths an' stomachs, a waitin' for their mother to bring
+supper, an' they just keep a waitin' an' a waitin' till they starve,
+cause you was mean enough to kill the mother bird just for fun." Ham's
+hat had long since come off, and he stood with downcast eyes, not knowing
+what to say. The old lady looked him up and down with a look of abject
+pity and scorn as she went on:
+
+"Didn't you ever stop to consider how many things the Almighty has put
+into these hills to love, young man, if you ain't too selfish an' proud
+an' mean to see 'em? I wonder what He thinks of a boy like you, anyway?
+You're like a demon sneakin' through a wonderful picture gallery a
+cuttin' holes in the pictures just for fun. I know every jay in this
+valley, young man, every single one--and they know me. When food gets
+scarce, an' cold nights come, an' snow begins to fall, I feed 'em.
+They understand all I say to 'em, an' they bring their young ones for me
+to see as quick as they're big enough. They tell me when it's goin' to
+storm, an' when a hawk is flyin' over my chicken pen, an' when berries is
+ripe, an' when strangers is comin'. They're my little family; I care for
+'em every day an'--" The flood gates were opened. The little old lady
+cried as if her heart would break, while the jays gossiped and chattered
+at the unusual uproar.
+
+Suddenly she turned and went into the house, and the boys, without a
+word, quietly passed up the trail and into the flat, green meadow ahead.
+Ham whistled softly to himself as he strode along.
+
+"Beats the Dutch," he said to Mr. Allen, as the two dropped back
+together, "how a fellow will forget himself now and then. I'd have done
+just what she did, only I would have gotten mad instead of just feeling
+bad. I'm mighty thankful I didn't kill that bird."
+
+"What a great joy these simple out-of-doors people get out of nature,"
+replied Mr. Allen. "I'd give half my college education to be able to
+see and hear and understand the things that little old lady does in these
+old hills. Every time a bird chirps or a squirrel barks she knows what
+it says. I think the Master must have been thinking of some such a
+pure-hearted body as she when He told the people that the poor in spirit
+would inherit the earth. She doesn't go out in society much, nor she
+hasn't any party dresses, nor probably never saw a grand opera in her
+life; but see what she has that most people never get."
+
+In a few moments more they had crossed the little meadow, climbed up
+through a zigzag trail through the trees, and came out onto the railroad
+track, just where it crossed the stage road. Directly in front of them
+rose the crag-tipped cap of St. Peter's Dome. On one hand was the old
+wagon road, that first pathway of mountain civilization, winding down the
+canyon in long, graceful curves until it was lost in the distant haze,
+while on the other hand ran the steel rails of more modern civilization.
+
+As they stood resting for a few moments they heard the rumble of heavy
+wheels, a wheezing and puffing, a shrill whistle, a cloud of black smoke,
+a shower of cinders, and the evening express passed upward into the cool,
+dark shadows, carrying its load of human necessities into the heart of
+the Rockies.
+
+It was six o'clock when the last one in the party reached the rickety
+wooden stairs that made the last ascent of a hundred feet to the Dome
+possible. Ham and Willis had been on top for some minutes, and were
+sitting on a huge boulder just at the foot of a lodge-pole that had been
+erected on the very summit for a flagstaff. Certainly it was a sight to
+be remembered for many a day--a marvelous wonderland, stretching out in
+every direction. The detail of plants, trees, and winding trails was
+swallowed up, and only the vastness of the valleys and canyons could be
+seen, with here and there a silver ribbon of a stream. Far up in the blue
+vault two great eagles soared and circled. Here and there the last golden
+rays of sunlight fell on the distant ridges and lighted up the tree tops
+with a beautiful iridescence.
+
+"What a sight!" exclaimed Willis. "Now, where is Cookstove Mountain, for
+I am especially interested in it. O yes, I see it. It's that great
+granite cliff that is so flat on the top. Wouldn't it be grand if we
+could build a cabin near St. Peter's Dome, so sometimes in the evening we
+could climb up here to sit and watch the stars come out? I want to be in
+the mountains and camp in them and hike in them. I am beginning to
+understand their charm more and more. I know now what it is that Old Ben
+has, and Daddy Wright, and the little old lady we saw this afternoon,
+that I have not. It is a big optimism, a love for everything that lives
+and is a part of the Great Creation."
+
+"I don't know of anything that will take the selfishness and conceit out
+of a fellow like a few hours spent on a mountain top," said Mr. Allen.
+
+"It makes a fellow right down glad he's alive," remarked Ham. "I always
+get more out of a view like this than I do out of the best sermon I ever
+heard."
+
+"I wish we could camp right here," exclaimed Chuck; "but we can't, and we
+had better be getting down before dark."
+
+Just at the base of the Dome a little stream trickled over the rocks and
+down into the canyon. They followed it back from the railroad and soon
+had a cheery fire burning and a comfortable camp made for the night. It
+was in a little meadow just at the edge of a grove of small aspens, and
+at one side of the tiny stream lay a great round boulder that had
+evidently rolled down from the summit of the Dome at some previous date.
+Beds were arranged in a row along the side of it, and a pile of dead
+sticks placed in a convenient position for the night's fire. The evening
+breezes were already beginning to play hide-and-seek in the valley, and
+the leaves on the trees were clapping their innumerable hands in applause
+at the brightly-burning fire. The sparks flew upward and the shadows
+danced in and out of the illuminated circle like so many happy fairies.
+
+"Do you hear it, fellows? There, now, listen! Don't you hear it?" Ham was
+saying as he sat back from the fire. "There it is, calling, calling!"
+
+"What is calling?" asked Willis, straining his ear to catch the sound.
+
+"Mother Nature," answered Ham, dryly. "Mother Nature's call--the call
+of the wild. See, even the leaves are beckoning us back farther into the
+deep, quiet wilderness. Some day I will part with my earthly possessions
+and answer that call, for, do you know, I believe that the Indian did
+come the nearest to living an ideal life of any of us!"
+
+Every one knew that Ham was in for a long, private soliloquy, and so
+began supper operations, for, although they had all heard the call of
+Mother Nature, as Ham put it, to some of them at least it was only an
+empty stomach calling to be fed.
+
+Mr. Allen and Willis were the last ones to take to their blankets, for
+they had many things to talk over between themselves.
+
+What can draw out the innermost thoughts of a fellow's heart more quickly
+than a chat with a sympathetic friend when both are seated before a fire
+in such a place and on such a night? If you really wish to know a fellow
+in a few days' time, you need to camp with him, to eat with him, and to
+sit with him before an open fire in the wilderness under a canopy of
+stars with the music of Nature about you. Then man speaks with man, and
+all the conventionalities of life are forgotten.
+
+"Yes, I have often wondered if I will ever find my father's partner,"
+Willis was saying. "I would rather see him than any man on earth,
+sometimes."
+
+"Wouldn't you be happier if you didn't ever find him, though?" questioned
+Mr. Allen.
+
+"No, I wouldn't, Mr. Allen, because he could explain so many things to me
+that I have wondered about. I don't know that I ever told you, but it has
+always seemed so strange to me that my uncle, Mr. Williams, has never
+once mentioned my father's name to me. He was the last man that saw him
+alive, yet he has never spoken of him. I have been going to talk with
+him several times, but he is so gruff and absorbed I can't get up my
+nerve. There is one thing that has bothered me a lot lately, though, and
+I've never told you of it, but I'm going to now. I probably never would
+have thought much about it if it hadn't been for what the old prospector
+told me the other day over on Cheyenne. I've been wondering if there
+possibly could be any connection between his not wanting me to come on
+this trip and the fact that he was just then sending men to do his
+assessment work on the claim that once belonged to my father.
+
+"There is another thing, too, Mr. Allen. I feel ashamed of even thinking
+of such things, yet the night we had our meeting at Bruin Inn I heard
+that same prospector discussing a Mr. Williams with Old Ben. I heard him
+say that Williams was a thief and a sanctimonious old hypocrite. The
+thing that bothers me is, how much does Williams know of my father's
+affairs that he has not told my mother. Surely he would not dare to be
+crooked in such a thing as that."
+
+"If you could locate Mr. Kieser, he probably could tell you some things,"
+slowly added Mr. Allen. "Well, there is one thing sure: 'Murder will
+out,' and with the suspicion I now have, I'll keep quiet, keep my eyes
+open, and see what I can learn. That Cheyenne claim must be worth
+holding, or he wouldn't send men away up there to do that work. That
+costs money!"
+
+"Don't worry about it, anyway, boy. I wouldn't be building any air
+castles concerning that gold mine. It was, no doubt, just like thousands
+of others here in these mountains--"
+
+"I know that, but I want to see the mine that my father dug. Do you
+suppose I ever will?"
+
+"Who can tell but that you have already seen it on this trip? I don't
+know, but let's go to bed. To-morrow we must find that cabin site, or go
+home empty-handed. I think we'll get over into these little canyons on
+the north and work over to the railroad. If we don't find a place there,
+somewhere, then I'm afraid there is none. Most all of this land is Forest
+Reserve, and we'll have to get a ninety-nine years' lease if we locate on
+Government land; but you know, I've been thinking we could build a dandy
+cabin of these large quaking-aspens, if we could find a place in a good
+grove. Build a frame, then fit them in, standing them on end, and line
+with building paper, and perhaps boards. These aspens cut very easily in
+the winter when they are cold. What would you think of that idea?"
+
+Willis was already nodding by the fire, and did not answer.
+
+"Good-night," said Mr. Allen, as he pulled his blanket up about him.
+"Sleep tight, and no dreams, mind you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+A Glimpse of Buffalo Roost
+
+
+The little party gathered about the fire the next morning, cooking the
+last breakfast of the trip. To-morrow they would be home again. Would
+they take back a glowing description of a cabin site, situated in some
+cool forest nook, in the shadow of some mighty crag, or would they be
+forced to disappoint the anxious crowd of fellows who would be waiting
+for their return?
+
+By seven o'clock they were jogging down the railroad at a lively gait,
+keeping their eyes open for a canyon that would lead in back of Cookstove
+Mountain. They had come down the track at least two miles without finding
+any encouraging signs when they came upon a trail that seemed to lead
+from the railroad into an unknown canyon. Perhaps it was one of the many
+trails from the railroad back to the remains of some of the old
+construction camps. Perhaps it was a cowpath that led into a fertile
+meadow where cattle loved to rest by cool springs. Might it not have been
+the connecting link between some old prospector's diggings and his point
+of supplies? Possibly it had been worn by the ever-watchful forest ranger
+as he rode over the reserve, watching for the fires of careless campers,
+the trespass of cattle, or, perhaps, to make a timber sale to some
+mountain ranchman. Perhaps it was one of these, but more likely it was a
+combination of them all. What strange stories it could tell if it could
+but speak! Had it been on the southern slope it might have been lost in
+the cool shadows of the forest, or have disappeared in the leafy molds
+and decaying twigs of many autumns. But it was on the north slope, from
+which the hungry flames of a giant forest fire had snatched every tree
+and bush, leaving only the barren hillside.
+
+It was a very alluring trail, for it led to no one knew just where. Just
+at the point where it slipped over the rocky ridge and dropped down out
+of sight into the canyon beyond there rose a group of great, tall pines,
+which seemed to be guarding the pathway. Just ahead stood Cookstove, its
+rocky crest bathed in the morning light, while far away to the north the
+sharper outlines were lost in a great army of evergreens, which seemed to
+be trooping restlessly up the hill and descending again into the great
+unknown of the valley. It led straight away down a gently-curving aisle
+of beautiful large trees that had already begun to carpet the floor with
+dull pine needles, picked from their shaggy heads by the mischievous
+dryads of the valley. Away up on the shoulder of Cookstove could be seen
+a long silver ribbon of water, the lower end of which was lost in the
+treetops of the canyon. From somewhere down below the trail there came
+the gentle murmur of jubilant little dashes of mountain spray as they
+frolicked and chased each other in the happy play of a mountain stream.
+On the inside of the trail the trees dropped away rapidly until you could
+look into their topmost branches without raising your eyes, while on the
+other side they trooped noiselessly upward, like some great, silent army,
+showing only their weather-beaten bodies.
+
+As the boys hastened down this trail, deeper into the land of
+enchantment, their enthusiasm knew no bounds.
+
+"I've about changed my mind about the location of the Garden of Eden,"
+Ham sung out.
+
+"That's the twentieth time," announced Chuck.
+
+"We're just on the edge of it yet," shouted Mr. Allen. "Let's hurry and
+get into it."
+
+The trail began immediately to descend, and before they knew it the party
+found themselves beside a crystal stream that seemed to be lost in a
+narrow park of great trees and mighty boulders. The trail crossed the
+stream by an ancient corduroy bridge, then off it ran again up the
+opposite side of the canyon, penetrating deeper into the quiet forest.
+
+"This is the forest primeval,
+The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,"
+
+quoted Ham. There was a perfume of the forest dampness in the air. Every
+tree seemed to shelter a bird family or a host of squirrels, to say
+nothing of the tiny creatures that made chorus together from their hiding
+places. Softly filtering through the trees came the constant melody of a
+waterfall, now far away, now just ahead, crying, laughing, sobbing, in a
+strange intermingling of feeling.
+
+The trail made a sharp turn to the left, the trees suddenly came to an
+end, and in their place were large piles of mossy, ragged boulders. The
+canyon ended in a perpendicular, moss-covered wall, hundreds of feet
+high, and from the top of this wrinkled old cliff leaped the stream into
+the canyon below. On an old tin sign, fastened to the stump of an immense
+tree, were the words, "St. Marys." Directly at the base of the falls, and
+at their extreme edge, stood a grand old spruce tree, straight and clean
+as an arrow, its slender top reaching nearly to the top of the falls.
+They seemed to be happy comrades, for the tree was gently vibrating with
+the soft, half-wild music of the crystal stream.
+
+After every nook and cranny had been explored, the group began to retrace
+their steps down the canyon.
+
+"Isn't it a wonderful little spot?" asked Phil, as they sat down by the
+bridge to rest. "Who do you suppose ever built this trail away up here?
+See, it has been dug from the very mountain-side in many places, and this
+bridge wasn't built as a mere footbridge--it was built to support heavy
+loads of something."
+
+"Perhaps somewhere way up in those trees there is an old mine," suggested
+Fat.
+
+"I've been wondering if there was," slowly questioned Willis. "I'd like
+to go and look, for I'm not a bit tired." His eyes were big with the
+wonder of the place.
+
+"It surely is a treat to him, isn't it?" asked Mr. Allen.
+
+"Yes, and to us all," replied Ham. "I just wonder what some city people
+would think of it. When I get old, fellows, I'm going to find me some
+such a little canyon as this and live out my life in it. I don't believe
+a fellow could ever think a mean thought out here, could he? He'd be
+almost afraid to."
+
+"It's an ideal place, all right," returned Mr. Allen.
+
+"Why, I believe I'd be an orator if I just had this valley for a class,"
+went on Ham.
+
+"It's a good thing such places can't be moved," suggested Phil, "or some
+of these wealthy fellows would be buying them all up and putting them in
+their art galleries. This view would create quite a sensation in New York
+City, don't you think? Fifty thousand dollars is not much for a few feet
+of masterpiece, but this can be had for a few dollars an acre. Strange,
+isn't it?"
+
+"A man paints a little picture on a canvas and worries over it until his
+hair gets long and his face sad. He is then a genius. People go wild over
+a man that can copy a little scene. Yet those same people declare there
+is no Creator. Account for a valley like this without Him, can you?"
+declared Fat.
+
+"The man that can deny Him, standing here in this little bit of His
+handiwork," solemnly declared Ham, "is blind, deaf, and dumb, besides
+having marked tendencies toward insanity."
+
+"Halloo," came in a clear shout from up on the hillside.
+
+"By gracious, he's found a mine!" cried Ham, jumping up.
+
+"Halloo," he shouted back. "What did you find?"
+
+"Two more trails," came the answer. "Come up and look. One goes down the
+canyon on this side." A wild scramble up through the trees followed. Soon
+they were all traveling down one of the newly-discovered trails. The
+other one began at an old log cabin, and ran zigzag up the mountain till
+it was lost in the gravel slopes.
+
+"I've been trying to make up my mind where this canyon leads to," said
+Mr. Allen. "I'm wondering if it can be Buffalo Park."
+
+A bridge was visible down the stream, and there was the sound of water
+splashing. An immense boulder that had rolled from the cliff above
+obstructed any further view. Ham and Willis were in the lead, the rest
+following as rapidly as possible. The two ahead disappeared, then came
+into view beyond the big boulder.
+
+"A house!"
+
+"A cabin!" Every one broke into a run. Just above the bridge a crude dam
+of logs had been built to back up a supply of water, and it was running
+over from the little pond behind in a happy, babbling waterfall. Then it
+turned to the south around the base of a patch of high ground. On this
+bit of high country, overlooking the stream on one side and the upper
+canyon on the other, stood the loudly-announced cabin.
+
+It was a typical mountain log-house, except for its roof, which was
+covered with cedar shingles instead of the customary split poles,
+thatched over with marsh hay. Its every line suggested age. In some
+places the mud chinking had dried and dropped out, yet, strange to say,
+the windows were all there, and even the door, which was of city
+manufacture, was not past repair. One corner of the roof had been
+slightly damaged by the falling of a monstrous pine log that was still
+lying where it had fallen several years before.
+
+The cabin had evidently been used as a summer home only, for there was no
+fireplace or a chimney of any kind, except a dilapidated old length of
+stovepipe that stuck through the gable at one end. It was this feature
+that made it look so completely forlorn and abandoned. Besides the door
+and two windows that opened on the trail side, there was a window on
+the up end and a door on the stream side which led out onto a crude back
+porch, built entirely of aspen poles. The floor was of pine boards, and
+had once been a marvel of beauty and convenience for a mountain cabin;
+but time had played strange pranks with it, till now it was uneven and
+sloped off in a jerky fashion toward the back door. On one wall was
+fastened a rude set of shelves, on which was perched a motley collection
+of pickle bottles and tin cans. Stretched along one wall stood a crude,
+home-made table, and in one corner stood the remains of a little,
+old-fashioned stove. A wooden chest stood under the shelves, and had
+probably been used for a grub box. It still contained a few pounds of
+yellow cornmeal, half a can of baking powder, a badly molded loaf of rye
+bread, and a surprisingly sturdy sample of butter. Hung on a nail in the
+corner above the chest was a once-stylish skillet and the battered lower
+part of a double boiler. A rusty tincup lay on the floor beside a powder
+can that had been used for a bucket, while just inside the south door
+stood a comical homemade shakedown. The frame was built of straight young
+aspen poles, while the springs were just a carefully woven layer of
+balsam boughs spread over a bottom of limber young saplings. It had once
+been a wonder of comfort and ease, but its value had passed with the
+departure of its builder.
+
+The trail ran close in front of the door and then climbed over the sandy
+base of a great crag, and disappeared over the hill. Just as it left the
+level of the house and started upward, there stood an immense Douglas
+spruce like some faithful guard, his proud green helmet stretched up into
+the sky so that he might be the more able to see any approaching danger.
+A great smoke-stained rock lay just at the end of the house, before which
+was built a primitive fireplace. An assortment of tin cans, lying in the
+little ravine, told the simple tale of bygone campfire suppers and of
+hunters and explorers and miners.
+
+"Well, this is what I call luck--pure, unadulterated luck, with sugar on
+it," drawled Ham as he surveyed the house.
+
+"Luck, your grandmother," said Phil. "Do you call something that you have
+been searching for for four long days luck?"
+
+"Excuse me," answered Ham, in mock courtesy. "I forgot when I made that
+statement that there is no such thing as luck. It was my old friend,
+'William Shakespeare,' that wrote that famous line about luck, 'Luck is
+pluck in action,' or something like that, wasn't it? That's what it was
+here, anyway."
+
+"Well, at any rate," said Mr. Allen, as he joined the group after his
+round of inspection, "the old shanty is chucked full of possibilities."
+
+"I'm glad something is full," interrupted Fat. "We certainly aren't in
+the same class, that cabin and I. It's been so long since I've fed that
+my floating ribs have run ashore. The worst of it is that all I have left
+is a can of condensed milk, about a teaspoon of sugar, and a little
+butter that's a second cousin to what's in that grub box yonder. I'm
+going to borrow a few possibilities from the cabin and beg for food.
+Let's have dinner."
+
+"Right here by this old rock," called Willis. "Perhaps we can roast a
+little information out of these rocks."
+
+Chuck had gone down stream into a grove of large aspens, and at this
+moment came panting up the trail.
+
+"Bees--peach of a tree--honey galore--millions of them!" he panted.
+
+"That sounds like something to eat," cried Fat. "Come along, Chuck, I'm
+with you. Do you know how to make that 'milk and honey' that the Good
+Book speaks about? I've got the milk, let's get the honey." Ham, Chuck,
+and Fat started for the bee tree, Ham singing his favorite, "A Preacher
+went a Huntin'."
+
+"Better let up, Ham," shouted Phil. "The bees will be after the sweetness
+in that melody of yours."
+
+Phil stretched out at full length in the sun while Mr. Allen busily
+made figures and sketches in his note book. Willis rose and started
+down the trail toward the bee tree. At the edge of the timber he stopped,
+and a curious smile spread over his face. Then suddenly, as the real
+significance of what he saw dawned upon him, he doubled up with a howl
+and laughed till his sides hurt.
+
+The fellows were unable to roll over the great dead tree, so had decided
+to "smudge the brutes out," as Ham said. Accordingly, they built a fire
+at the side where the bees had been seen to enter the tree. Chuck had
+carried water from the stream in his hat to make the fire smoke, and, as
+they watched the hole, the bees came swarming out at the end of the log
+behind them, "with spears sharpened and ready for action," as Ham
+afterward said. Such lively gymnastics and hurried departures Willis had
+never before witnessed. Fat completely forgot that he was hungry, and Ham
+took occasion to severely chastise himself, using his old felt hat for a
+paddle, while Chuck went ploughing through the underbrush like a young
+bull-moose, murmuring strange, inarticulate sentences. Fortunately for
+them all, the bee tree was nothing but a nest of marsh-wasps, and there
+were nowhere near as many as Chuck declared there were. The damage was
+slight to all except Fat, and he had enough signs of battle to warrant a
+leather medal for bravery. The saddest thing was that the hoped-for "milk
+and honey" did not materialize.
+
+As the party sat together eating the last of their rations, Ham fell into
+one of his philosophical moods.
+
+"I like this kind of life," he began. "Out here you let go your hold on
+man-made things and shift for yourself." He looked cautiously over at
+Fat, who was trying to scratch a particularly itchy sting just out of
+reach in the middle of his back. "I like the unchanging condition of
+nature," he continued. "The wilderness is all yours, and you may take
+from it all the essentials of primitive living--shelter, warmth, and
+food."
+
+"Ham, you're an unmitigated prevaricator," cried Fat as he scratched and
+made faces. Ham paid no attention to him. "Here in the open country you
+can get mighty close to the great wilderness with its myriads of busy
+lives, and--" Fat picked up a pine cone and threw it, but Ham disappeared
+around the end of the big rock.
+
+"Ham, you're just like the loons we have on the Michigan lakes," taunted
+Willis. "You can do and say more crazy things than all the rest of us
+ducks put together; but when any one takes a shot at you, you're out of
+sight."
+
+By this time Fat had managed to make two holes in his can of milk and was
+drinking the contents. Mr. Allen had returned to his sketching, and
+Willis had gone over to the little dam to get a drink. Suddenly there was
+the snort of a horse and the rapid tramping of hoofs. A dog gave two
+or three barks, then horse, rider, and dog appeared on the trail. In a
+second another rider, with a pick and shovel thrown over his shoulder,
+came over the ridge. The first pulled in his horse and, turning in his
+saddle, looked to see if his companion was coming. Being confident that
+he was not far behind, he again urged his horse forward, apparently not
+noticing the group by the big boulder. Ham got to his feet and spoke to
+the dog. The horseman gave a quick exclamation of surprise, then called
+out, "Howdy!" Mr. Allen rose.
+
+"Well, well!" called the man. "Seems to me yew fellers are travelin'
+some, ain't ye?"
+
+"O, a little," returned Mr. Allen.
+
+"You don't happen to know, do you, whether there are two cabins above
+here, do you? We was directed to the middle cabin."
+
+"No, only a very badly decayed one--just a pile of tumbled-down logs,"
+replied Mr. Allen. The second rider had come up and dismounted, and
+together they studied a sketch which he had taken from his pocket.
+
+"This must be the one, that's all," he drawled, as he spat out a great
+quid of tobacco, "'cause he said it was by the bridge. We must o' missed
+the other cabin in the trees somewhere below here."
+
+Willis was eyeing the newcomers closely. A stern, hard look crossed his
+face as he quickened his pace. He reached Mr. Allen's side, and the first
+rider nodded to him. He drew nearer and observed the sketch very closely,
+listening intently to all the strangers had to say. His heart was beating
+fast, but just why he could not have told.
+
+"Well, Jim, I guess we'd better unsaddle an' give the nags a drink an' a
+rest," said the stranger as he carefully folded up the sketch and put it
+in his pocket. "Seems strange as how we'd meet twice in these mountains
+in nearly as many days, don't it?" remarked the man, as he began to
+loosen the saddle girths and to untie the sacks of grub that were
+fastened on behind.
+
+"How is that?" queried Mr. Allen.
+
+"Why, wasn't it you that went up the trail to the top of Cheyenne the
+other day?" questioned the man. Then, without waiting for a reply, he
+went on: "We was doin' an assessment up there that day an' seed you as
+you stood talkin' to that crusty old prospector that works that tunnel."
+
+"O yes," said Mr. Allen, "so you are the men that were up there by that
+black dump?"
+
+"Yep, we're the fellers, Jim an' me."
+
+"Are you going to do more assessment work here in this canyon?"
+questioned Ham.
+
+"Yep, we've got two assessments to do here somewhere," returned the
+stranger. "This canyon, or at least part of it, belongs to a real estate
+company in Colorado Springs. I don't believe there is any gold here, but
+they are holdin' the property as an investment. Seems like they expect
+sometime to open this canyon to tourist trade to see some swell falls
+that's up in it somewheres."
+
+"O, is that so?" returned Mr. Allen. "Then you don't think there is any
+gold here at all?"
+
+"Nope, I don't, an' I'll tell ye why. Gold, as it's found in these parts,
+runs in a strata of quartz. Now, there ain't no quartz in this range,
+except on Cheyenne. The old-timer down at the inn says that there's gold
+up here, an' he knows where it is, but you can't take no stock in these
+old fellers. They're daft on the gold question."
+
+Mr. Allen looked at his watch, then, turning to the fellows, he suggested
+that they had better start for home. After a little more conversation the
+two parties separated, one to camp for the night in the cabin, the other
+to return to the city.
+
+Willis motioned Mr. Allen to the back of the line as they worked their
+way down the trail and into the park.
+
+"The plot thickens," began Willis, with a queer little smile on his face.
+Then with a slight chuckle he added: "To be more accurate, I suppose I
+should say 'The plot thins.' Those are the two men that were at my
+uncle's house the morning we started on this trip, and my uncle drew that
+sketch--I'm sure of it. The heading was torn from the paper, but I feel
+it in my bones that he was the artist. Those are the men that were doing
+the assessment on my father's old claim on Cheyenne for my uncle. He
+never dreamed of my seeing them here and knowing they were in his employ.
+I understand now why he didn't want me to come on this trip. A coward is
+always suspicious. I never would have put the two together in the wide
+world if he hadn't made such a fuss about my coming. One thing is
+absolutely certain--my Uncle Williams is crooked, and that isn't all,
+either. My Uncle Williams owns that cabin, and we'll never get it for our
+use in this wide world. What will the fellows say when they know it
+belongs to my uncle and we can't get it? The cabin is ideal, and it could
+be repaired with very little cost. It is isolated and in a beautiful
+spot, and is the only thing we have found. Don't tell the fellows about
+it, please, until I see what I can do. I'll do my very best."
+
+"Now, look here, my boy; don't let that bother you," replied Mr. Allen.
+"Wait. Don't trouble trouble till trouble troubles you. He hasn't
+troubled you yet, he's just getting ready to. Let's beat him at his own
+game. There are more ways than one to skin a cat."
+
+"But how?" inquired Willis.
+
+"Well, the first thing to do is to get the exact location of the cabin,
+then go to the county recorder's office and see to whom the property
+belongs. If it ever belonged to your father, as you are now disposed to
+believe--"
+
+"Yes, I'd bet my hat, Mr. Allen, that this is the very cabin that my
+father and Tad Kieser built. O, how I 'd like to have it all for my very
+own!" Mr. Allen interrupted him. "As I was saying, the records will show
+very plainly if it was ever transferred or if it was anything but a lode
+claim. If your father owned it, that settles it. Williams has nothing to
+say about it. Placer claims can't be taken on deeded property. However,
+let's not worry about it, but let's count it ours and work toward that
+end."
+
+"O my, if Tad were only here, we'd soon know a thing or two!" exclaimed
+Willis.
+
+"Now, boy, listen! Don't go home and spoil all this business. Keep still
+about it until to-morrow, when we can get at the records and find out for
+certain just what is what. Will you do that?" questioned Mr. Allen.
+
+"I'll tell my mother," replied Willis, "and to-morrow I'll go with you."
+
+The trail was winding back and forth through a great park of aspens. On
+every side were prospect holes, remains of old cabins, and places where
+the wilderness was again reclaiming her own after men had spent their
+time, money, and energy attempting to force her to give up her gold.
+
+At the top of the hogsback that over-looked Bruin Inn the fellows sat
+down to rest. They were back in familiar territory, now, and the cabin
+quest was nearly over.
+
+"Of course, the very first thing to do," Ham was saying, "is to get in
+stone and get our fireplace built before the frost comes. It will be a
+simple matter--just throw down stones from the mountain; they are flat
+slabs and will lay up very easily. We'll use that big, flat stone at
+the end as a foundation, and run the chimney up outside the house--a real
+big, life-sized one, too. And we want a grand old-fashioned crane in the
+grate, and andirons of stone, and a big cement hearth."
+
+"Going to do all your cooking in the fireplace?" asked Chuck.
+
+"Not on your life," put in Fat. "We'll bring up our old camp stove, the
+one we had on the trip last summer--it's a dandy."
+
+"I've got the only stunt, though," said Ham. "Let's build a great big bed
+on the rafters that run from wall to wall. We'll just cut a lot of
+saplings and lay them in close and support the bed from the roof. After
+it has about two feet of balsam boughs on it, it will be a choice roost,
+I tell you that. I'm going to be architect and boss carpenter of that
+job."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Allen gravely, "but it's not a fireplace, an aerial bunk,
+or a place to eat that I'm thinking of. There is no use putting our time,
+effort, and money into this place unless we can take care of at least
+twenty fellows at a time, and how can we do it?"
+
+"The eating won't be any trouble," advised Fat. "They will get enough to
+eat some way--I always do." "We'll build an addition," suggested Phil, "a
+bunk house addition. That will be easy; we can build it out where that
+old back porch is, can't we? And say, talk about great logs, what's the
+matter with those aspens right there ready for us?"
+
+"We could buy tin dishes, but where is the money coming from? That is the
+main question," said Mr. Allen. "Money," snorted Ham, "that will come if
+we're in earnest, dead earnest. How about that circus? How much money do
+we need, anyway?"
+
+Mr. Allen drew out his note-book, and made some rapid calculations.
+"Well, the very least that you can do with, fellows, is two hundred and
+fifty dollars."
+
+"Good-bye, fond dreams!" cried Fat tragically.
+
+"Two hundred and fifty dollars!" exclaimed Phil and Ham together. "How
+do you get that?"
+
+"Well, cement and lime for the fireplace, freight to Fairview on boards,
+shingles, furnishings, and so on; rent on donkeys to do the packing,
+dishes, and pantry boxes, for everything will have to be kept in tin
+boxes. Then you'll have to hire a mason to put in the fireplace. You'll
+need axes, saws, and tools. I'll wager it won't cost a cent less than two
+hundred dollars, and great loads of hard work."
+
+"Hard fun, you mean," interrupted Phil.
+
+As the evening shadows began to lengthen and the cool breeze to rise from
+the snow-clad peaks of the Middle Range, the little group of explorers
+dropped into the canyon and hurried home. All were very full of ideas and
+suggestions except Willis. He had listened to their talk, but was saying
+over and over to himself, "If it doesn't come true, it's my fault, or my
+uncle's, and that's the same thing."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A Strange Turn of Fate
+
+
+"Let's take Mr. Dean to the courthouse with us, Willis," said Mr. Allen.
+"He is very shrewd, and we can depend on his judgment in such matters as
+we have before us to-day." Willis found Mr. Dean, and in a short time
+they were on their way, Mr. Allen explaining to Mr. Dean the possible
+difficulty that had arisen in regard to the ownership of the cabin.
+
+Upon their arrival at the courthouse, the first thing was to study a
+United States geological map to find the township, section lines,
+railroads, and streams. Then began the search through old, yellow volumes
+of records, one after another, each one bringing them nearer to the
+desired information.
+
+"Section five, west of range sixty-seven," read Mr. Dean. "That's the
+place, boys; now we must locate an exact point in that section. You say
+the cabin is located on a stream and a trail. The falls are marked here;"
+he pointed with his pencil. "Now downstream a little; here we are, three
+trails marked instead of one. You came over from the railroad, didn't
+you?"
+
+"Yes, right here," said Willis, pointing. "The cabin is where these two
+trails cross each other."
+
+In the center of the next volume, for there had been many claims located
+and recorded on the little stream, they found the record of a property
+belonging to Willis's father and a Mr. Kieser. The record showed the date
+of its refiling, after the country had become a part of the Pike's Peak
+Forest Reserve. The survey lines were given, but of course they could not
+be located on the map. Was the cabin on the property there recorded or
+not? Willis remembered that his mother had said not, so they pushed
+further into the books and came to the description of a lode claim, the
+corner of which, according to the record, was at the intersection of
+the two trails, just where the stream swings south. It was originally
+staked and recorded by a man named Briney as a placer claim. Six
+consecutive assessments were recorded, then two years later the claim was
+relocated by a Joseph H. Williams. Willis frowned as he made notes and
+took down the dates of the assessments.
+
+"There you are," he said despondently; "just as I thought yesterday--Mr.
+Joseph H. Williams, my uncle, owner. Great chance of getting that cabin,
+isn't there?"
+
+"Now, hold your horses," interrupted Mr. Dean. "Let's finish the rest of
+this record. Well, that's the strangest thing I ever heard of. His last
+assessment is dated last summer, August 3, 19--. This year's work hasn't
+been done yet. Why--well, anyway, there must be something worth while
+around that cabin. 'Claim jumped and re-recorded as a lode claim August
+22, 19--.' Why, that's the day you started on the trip to look for a
+cabin!"
+
+"You are right," exclaimed Mr. Allen. "Let's look at the list of records
+filed on August 22d last." The clerk showed them the page. It read as
+follows:
+
+"Assessment on Joseph H. Williams lode claim, Cheyenne Mountain." Then
+followed the description. Directly under it was the following:
+
+"Lode claim, Buffalo Park, located by Beverly H. Pembroke, as described
+on page 1162."
+
+"The cabin then belongs, by right of relocation, to Beverly H. Pembroke,"
+remarked Mr. Allen, "and we are just exactly four days late. Too bad we
+didn't start at this end of the trip."
+
+"Who is Beverly H. Pembroke?" asked Mr. Dean. No one could tell. "Well,
+this much is clear," he went on: "there was some very good reason for the
+relocation of that claim, and it couldn't have been for that old cabin.
+Men don't locate claims to get possession of old, tumbled-down log cabins
+nowadays."
+
+"Well, there's this much that isn't clear," returned Willis: "why that
+change was made the day we started over this route, and furthermore, how
+does it come that the same men worked the assessment on the two claims if
+they belong to different parties? No, sir, men, listen: my Uncle didn't
+want that cabin in his possession at this time for some reason, so he
+transferred the claim to this man, Pembroke. Anyway, I'm glad it doesn't
+belong to my uncle now, whether we get it for our purpose or not."
+
+"Now, you listen," said Mr. Dean: "let's go and see Mr. Pembroke at once
+and inquire about it. He can't do more than throw us out, and it might be
+he'd be tickled to let us have the cabin. Every hundred dollars' worth of
+work done on that property, whether it's mine, trail, dam, or housework,
+is equal to an assessment. If we remodel the house and use it, he can
+buy the property or, as they say, 'prove up' on it. What do you say? I
+believe we can make a bargain."
+
+"It's a go!" cried Mr. Allen. "I was sure we would need your brains for
+this job, Mr. Dean. Let's go right now." They looked up the desired
+gentleman in the directory, then started for his office.
+
+"Cheer up, old boy," cried Mr. Allen as he slapped Willis on the back.
+"Here's where we win, uncle or no uncle. Isn't that right, Mr. Dean?"
+
+"You feel too confident," returned Willis. "I see the game. You don't.
+Mr. Beverly H. Pembroke will politely refuse any offer. My uncle has
+coached him on what to say to any inquiries. See if I'm not right!"
+
+"You haven't a very good opinion of that uncle of yours, have you?" said
+Mr. Dean. "I don't see why he should be so vitally interested in keeping
+you away from an old cabin. I think you imagine things, boy."
+
+"You know some things are true that you can't see," tersely replied
+Willis. "You can't see a pain in your stomach, but you can feel it and it
+tells you something is wrong. It's just the same in this case. I can't
+see it, but I know something is wrong, and the next thing for us to do is
+to get our heads together and find out the causes. We're interested in
+the causes."
+
+Mr. Beverly H. Pembroke sat idly in his office. His feet were hoisted up
+on the window sill, his straw hat tipped far back on his head, while a
+long, slender cigar was held between his teeth. He was decidedly an
+Englishman, and a very nervous, fidgety one at that. As the three entered
+he got to his feet and inquired concerning their wants.
+
+"Log cabin--Buffalo Park--Lode claim located August 22d." He puffed
+meditatively at his cigar, endeavoring to focus his thoughts on the
+matter before him. A frown clouded his face, then suddenly disappeared.
+
+"Why-a, yes, ba Jove, this 'ot weather 'as nearly set me crazy. My brains
+'ave been bemuddled all day, don't you know. Ba Jove, I most forgot that
+new claim. Yes, yes, and you want 'ow many shares?"
+
+Mr. Allen looked at Mr. Dean and smiled. "You do the talking," he said.
+
+"Well, it's like this," said Mr. Dean. Then he laid his proposition
+before the Englishman, who puffed away on his cigar and listened in
+silence. "Sorry, very sorry, gentlemen," he began, "but I 'ave just
+arranged with a party to 'old that site for a summer 'otel or a fruit
+farm, or some such a thing, don't you know. Sorry, beastly sorry, though,
+because I 'ave to refuse you."
+
+Mr. Allen looked at Mr. Dean, a great disappointment showing on his face.
+He turned to Willis, who was standing in the background. The boy was
+squinting out between half-closed eyelids and his fists were clenched
+hard at his sides. He was gazing steadfastly at the floor. Suddenly he
+looked up at Mr. Allen, then shoved himself behind the railing that
+separated them from the Englishman and spoke in clearcut tones.
+
+"Mr. Pembroke--" The little Englishman batted his eyes nervously and
+straightened noticeably. He was all attention in a second. Willis looked
+him straight in the eye and continued: "I don't suppose you know who I
+am, at least you don't appear to. I hate to ask favors of any man, or
+take undue advantage of any one, but in this instance I feel that I have
+just a little claim upon your attention and your consideration." Mr.
+Allen looked at Mr. Dean in utter astonishment.
+
+"Very early this spring you and I were fellow passengers on a D. & P.W.
+train coming to Colorado Springs. Do you remember? That train was wrecked
+on a stormy afternoon by the splintering of the rails, which caused a
+collision with a heavy freight. It was my pleasure at that time to save
+the life of your little son."
+
+"Ba Jove," murmured the Englishman, as he shifted his weight from one leg
+to the other. "It was a deucedly nasty business. I'm very pleased to meet
+you again, Mr.--a--a--"
+
+"Thornton," said Mr. Allen.
+
+"Mr. Thornton, and--"
+
+"Never mind that," continued Willis. "All I have to say is that I would
+count it a very great favor, personally, if you could see your way clear
+to let us have the use of that cabin for an Association camp, until such
+time as you are ready to build or make other improvements there."
+
+"Why--a--yes, I'll be pleased to do that," returned Mr. Pembroke
+confusedly. "Deucedly glad to 'ave a chance to serve you, don't you know.
+Now, just what is your plan again, gentlemen?"
+
+The plan was carefully gone over, this time with Willis as spokesman. Mr.
+Pembroke listened carefully till he had finished, then he replied, "Ba
+Jove, I like the idea, it 'as points to it. I'd like to furnish the
+necessary lumber for the desired addition myself. It will be a deucedly
+comfortable 'ome for the boys. You know it was the Association boys that
+returned my dog to me."
+
+Before leaving his office, a three years' lease was arranged for and
+everything looked lovely. What was more, the addition could be started at
+once.
+
+"Well, by the Great Horn Spoon!" ejaculated Mr. Dean when they were well
+outside. "You are a wonder! That is what I call nerve. Now tell me all
+about it."
+
+"Bah!" replied Willis, "I hated to do it, but I had to. I was going to
+ask the old boy what Mr. Williams would say to him, but I thought better
+of it. To-night is when I have my fun. I'll tell my uncle about our deal
+and watch him squirm. I wonder if he'll get mad. I can tell by the way he
+acts if this recording business was a put-up job. There still remains
+_the_ question, though--why does he want to keep me away from that cabin?
+It has something to do with my father's old mine, I'm sure of that much;
+and I'll find out, you see if I don't."
+
+The evening papers gave a glowing account of the interest of Mr. Beverly
+H. Pembroke in the new Y.M.C.A. cabin project, and gave the plan of work.
+A circus was already being planned to raise funds for the building, and a
+stock company had been organized among the boys of the Boys' Department
+to furnish funds with which to begin work at once. Work would be started
+the next Saturday. The stockholders and some others would go to the cabin
+on Friday evening, camp around a fire all night, and be ready to begin
+work in the morning. After supper that evening Willis had a long chat
+with his mother, and talked over with her all the things that had been
+disturbing him in regard to his uncle's recent actions.
+
+"I think you must surely be mistaken," she said. "What object could he
+have in doing such things. You must remember that you have a very vivid
+imagination, and you must watch it."
+
+"No, mother, it is not imagination, for this is how I know this time:
+Didn't you see how red and nervous he got when I told him what Mr.
+Pembroke had agreed to do. Right after supper he left for down town
+without a word. I don't know what it is, but there is some fact relative
+to father's death that he has never told us. If we could only find Tad,
+I'm sure he could help us out. I'm going to find father's mine, though,
+and it's not so very far from that cabin, either. Mother, isn't it
+wonderful that we are going to have the very old house that father built
+so long ago? After I find the mine, I'll find out about its worth; but it
+can't be worth so very much or Tad would never have left it. If the
+tunnel is still locked up like you said Tad wrote it was, why, we can't
+get into it. It belongs to Tad. Perhaps it will never be opened. Mother,
+some day when you have a chance, talk with Uncle Joe and see what you can
+find out. Father might have left keys and information concerning the mine
+with him."
+
+"No, son, he wouldn't have keys, because it was Tad that locked up the
+tunnel. It is Tad that has the keys. But listen, don't worry over it a
+bit or build any false hopes on it. School will open in a week, and I
+want you to take advantage of all it can give you. We'll be here until
+Christmas, anyway, I think, unless Aunt Lucy should slip away before that
+time."
+
+"I wonder what uncle would say to me if I asked him about Tad when he
+comes home tonight. I think that's what I'll do."
+
+About nine o'clock he heard the heavy footsteps of his uncle on the
+veranda, and in another moment heard him in the hall. After hanging up
+his hat and coat, he came into the library, picked up the _Evening
+Telegraph,_ and began to read, entirely ignoring Willis. After they had
+sat thus silently for some minutes, Willis spoke:
+
+"Uncle, did you ever know a man named Tad Kieser, who was a great friend
+of my father's?" The man moved uneasily in his chair, but, without
+looking up from his paper, he inquired of the boy what he knew of Tad
+Kieser.
+
+"Not much, to be sure," returned the boy, half sadly, "only what mother
+has told me about him; but I'd like to know more. I think he must have
+been a very interesting old character, wasn't he?"
+
+"An old devil and a cut-throat," retorted Mr. Williams. "You couldn't
+count on him to be square even to his own mother. A sly old fox always on
+the hunt."
+
+"That's very strange," replied Willis. "He surely was not that sort of a
+man or my father never would have chosen him for a partner. You surely
+must be mistaken." "Your father didn't have enough dealings with him to
+find him out; that was all. I know him."
+
+"Tell me about some of the awful deeds he has committed if he is such a
+fox," questioned Willis. "I've always thought him absolutely square. I've
+heard he was the finest man in these mountains, years ago."
+
+"Who told you any such rot? I have enough circumstantial evidence against
+him to put him behind the bars right now," growled the uncle.
+
+"Evidence along what lines, Uncle?" persisted Willis.
+
+"Blackmail!" snorted Williams. "What difference does it make to you,
+anyway? He would be a capital fellow to join in on such an absurdly
+foolish scheme as you are just about to pull off at the Y.M.C.A. now.
+Going into somebody else's property and absorbing its benefits to
+yourselves. That's his scheme exactly. He watches my mining claims like a
+hawk, and if my assessments should be a day late he'd jump my claims. He
+hates me."
+
+"What did you ever do to make him hate you?" innocently inquired Willis.
+
+Again Mr. Williams ignored the question and went on: "He'd just love to
+work on that old cabin again."
+
+"I should think that cabin _would_ interest him," calmly replied Willis.
+"I only wish he was here to join us, for I'd rather know him than any man
+I can think of just now. A man who builds a house ought to know how best
+to build onto it, hadn't he? Personally, I think he must have been a very
+clever old miner and as true as steel."
+
+"Yes, true to his own interests."
+
+"It takes two to make a fight, though, doesn't it? By the way, Uncle, why
+did you let that sapheaded Englishman jump your claim last week? I
+should think you'd hate him for such tricks as you do Tad?" Willis eyed
+his uncle closely, then in a half undertone he casually remarked,
+"Anyway, I think a whole lot of this mining business is mighty crooked
+business." Then again to his uncle, "Is Tad still around in the mountains
+somewhere, Uncle?"
+
+Mr. Williams smiled in a preoccupied way and said, "Yes and no."
+
+"I don't understand?" questioned Willis.
+
+There was no reply. Soon the man laid down his paper and left the room.
+
+"Well, I'll be jiggered," said Willis half-aloud. "What can he have
+against the man who was my father's partner? I don't know, but I'll find
+out." He closed his book with a slam and went off to bed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The last Friday night of the summer vacation saw a large group of husky
+high school boys board the car en route to the cabin. All were equipped
+with blanket rolls, and several carried picks, shovels, and other tools,
+for "to-morrow" real work on the cabin was to begin. It seemed that the
+coloring of the leaves had given everything their delicate tint. The
+squirrels were already gathering stray acorns that Mother Nature had
+dropped for them. The little canyon lay in perfect quiet, except for the
+chattering of the line of boys stretched out along its leafy woodland
+trail. The whole physical body seemed to respond in a mysterious way to
+its every call, for "In the city we live, but in the mountains we live
+more abundantly."
+
+By eleven o'clock the party sat around a half-dozen blazing campfires,
+munching at a midnight lunch and speculating on various phases of
+the work. Ham was keeping the fellows around one fire laughing over
+his remarks; Fat was giving expression to his views on camp grub and
+food in general. Mr. Dean entertained another group by his stories of
+army life, while Mr. Allen and a number of the boys' Cabinet were laying
+out a plan of work for the morrow. Shorty Wier advised work on the
+fireplace first, because, as he pointed out, "the fireplace would be
+the cabin's heart." It might have fine decorations and new rooms, a
+well-stocked pantry and new furniture, yet what would all these be to a
+dead thing? The fireplace would be the spot around which all the cabin
+life would congregate--around which every strange experience would be put
+into words. "Yes, I'll help cut the logs and pack in the lumber and build
+the furniture, but first of all let me see the rugged stone chimney with
+a fire quietly burning on a great, wide, friendly hearth to cheer me as I
+work."
+
+"You are right, Shorty," cried Willis. "I'm with you, for when the old
+fireplace is built, and the wind is whistling down the canyon, bringing
+messages of snow, we'll forget everything outside and just be happy
+toasting before a great log fire."
+
+And so the night slipped along. After a while they began to drowse, until
+one by one the little groups became quiet and fell asleep. Only the
+glowing, flickering pine knots stayed awake to watch the tired sleepers.
+
+The first streak of dawn found the fellows up and eager for work;
+besides, there was so much to see and learn before the day's work was
+begun. The remains of the midnight lunches were drawn out of their hiding
+places and eagerly devoured. The fragrant smell of broiling bacon and the
+delicious aroma of campfire coffee filled the air. The pine-scented smoke
+from the campfire hung low in the valley, and every sound carried plainly
+in the morning air. The squirrels were out in great numbers and at their
+morning play, while every now and then the harsh, rasping cry of a
+bewildered bluejay would float up the canyon.
+
+The stone crew were strung out in skirmish order across the front of the
+high ridge and were rolling down every loose stone. Some came with a
+merry hop, skip, and jump; others with a shower of gravel and a crash as
+they struck the bottom. One great stone leaped into the top of a spruce
+tree and stuck fast. Another jumped over the great boulder at the base of
+the hill and rattled into the open door of the cabin. Still another
+dashed in mad frenzy down the slope, through the alders and into the
+stream, throwing spray in every direction. So the pile steadily grew.
+
+In the afternoon the cabin was cleaned out and a part of the back
+porch demolished, ready for the new addition. It had been decided to
+build a room eight by twenty-eight feet, and in it lay one great
+balsam-bough mattress. Under Ham's direction the aerial bunk was begun,
+and it very soon showed signs of being built by a master builder. It was
+what might be termed "rustic," as Ham said. Logs from the woodpile were
+substituted for the rotting ones in the floor of the bridge. A great pile
+of brush, twigs, and trash were set afire and destroyed. So the day
+slipped away--all too quickly. Four o'clock found a group of royal good
+fellows again on the trail--that trail that was soon to become so dear to
+every one of them. Their muscles were tired with unselfish work, and
+their minds and hearts were full of the joy of living. There was already
+something of the great social bond that was later to tie their lives
+together for all time with a cord of pleasant memories.
+
+Ham had fastened his blanket to a nail away up in the topmost rafter of
+the cabin, and here he left it for another time.
+
+"Where your blanket is, there will your heart be also, sometimes," he
+quoted as they took the trail that led down out of the wilderness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+The Discovery of the Mine
+
+
+Two weeks later another crowd was organized to do a day's work on the
+cabin, and it seemed every boy in the Department wanted to go. "Unless
+you feel as husky as a steam elevator, you better stay home," was Ham's
+advice to one small boy, for Ham had been chairman of the committee that
+had been so busy since the last trip, purchasing all manner of supplies,
+equipment, and building material for the cabin, all of which would have
+to be packed over from Fairview on donkeys, and there was nearly a
+carload of it. Ham was under the impression that the donkeys would fall
+dead when they saw the "pile of junk," and that every single fellow in
+the crowd would have to "wiggle his ears, bray once or twice, and get
+busy," if the cabin ever became the possessor of the new equipment.
+
+Twenty fellows besides the "Chief" and Mr. Dean were on hand at the
+appointed time. At the mouth of the canyon two very faithful old donkeys,
+that had years before belonged to a prospector, were rented for the trip.
+Under their former master they had been trained to carry heavy loads of
+ore from the little mine far back in the mountains out to the city, and
+to return again heavily laden with the provisions for another winter in
+camp. They had learned their lessons well, so were perfectly trustworthy.
+
+Peanuts was the oldest, and therefore came in for the most consideration
+and the lightest load. As he raised his tired, patient old head, his long
+gray ears pointed forward at the sight of the pack saddles. One glance
+and he was satisfied. He perfectly understood what was coming, and
+visions of the long, zigzag paths through shaded valleys all fresh from
+the summer showers flashed through his brain. Peanuts loved the trail,
+the deep, long, grassy trail, that crept along close to the little
+stream, then up and up into the great Silent Places. Tradition told that
+Peanuts had been the first donkey to carry a pack up Pike's Peak, as well
+as the first to bring real "high grade" out of the Cripple Creek; but of
+course tradition might have been mistaken. At any rate, Peanuts was a
+gentle, slow, patient toiler of the trail, and it was largely due to his
+good judgment that the cabin was ever equipped.
+
+Many were the trips he made after that first journey. There were
+summer trips in the hot sun of July days; autumn trips in the cool,
+sweet-scented evenings when the mountain twilight lingers on the treetops
+and the rocky crests. There were trips in the winter when the trail was
+hidden underneath heavy blankets of snow or lost in the deep white
+drifts. Once he had gone in beyond his depth and had settled down and
+down into the fluffy snow until just his head and big ears were visible
+above the snowbank.
+
+His companion, Tuberculosis, was a little different type of beast. His
+legs were long and his spirits high. He was in the prime of life and was
+not as trustworthy as his partner. Certainly Tuberculosis had his
+idiosyncrasies, and that fact often spelled trouble for both himself
+and his masters. Now, Peanuts had learned that his driver was always
+boss, and acted accordingly; but not so with Tuberculosis. He believed
+that his own judgment in certain matters of conduct was best. For
+instance, it was absolutely against his principles to ever cross a
+stream, no matter how well it was bridged or how insignificant its size.
+Yet, after many experiences, seasoned with a little strenuous persuasion
+from the end of an alder limb, he began slowly to change his views.
+However, he positively had no use for burned stumps, and when it came to
+passing a campfire, Tuberculosis absolutely declined. There was just one
+thing that both donkeys very firmly believed, and that was that each
+was to lead and the other follow when on the trail. This was the only
+point upon which they really ever quarreled, and most every time Peanuts,
+because of his mature judgment and statesmanship, won out.
+
+When the pack saddles were on, and the pack bags of food adjusted on
+either side, the blanket rolls piled high on top, they were ready to
+begin the journey, "Donkeys are a good deal like some men," observed Ham
+as the little column came to the base of the hogsback, "they always
+have to travel by freight."
+
+"How is that?" questioned Willis, who had appointed himself guardian to
+Peanuts and was just ahead of Ham.
+
+"Why, because they can't express themselves," was the reply.
+
+"Not verbally, perhaps," suggested Fat, "but they do have a signal code,
+of which their hind legs are the main features. I've had them signal at
+me more than once."
+
+"And if you ever receive the completed message," added Ham, "it usually
+says, 'Six weeks in the hospital.'"
+
+At the top of the hogsback the party separated into two groups. The one
+under Mr. Allen continued on up the trail with the two donkeys, while the
+other, under Mr. Dean, took the railroad, walking around by Fairview, to
+see if their equipment had arrived.
+
+It was decided the boys would sleep around a rousing fire rather than on
+the cold floor of the cabin. The shakedown was too dry to be comfortable,
+and Ham's aerial bunk had not yet been completed. They therefore chose a
+spot for the night's camp across the stream from the cabin on a piece of
+high level ground covered with a thick brown carpet of pine needles. Very
+soon a bright fire was burning and the night's wood gathered. From the
+bulging packsacks a real camp supper was gotten under way. Every fellow
+cooked his own piece of meat and baked his potato in the coals, while Mr.
+Allen made the coffee and opened the cans of beans. Each fellow fashioned
+himself a spoon from a dry stick, and the new cabin tincups were
+initiated into service. Ham, who had had some previous experience with
+donkeys, warned everybody to be sure to save all the scraps, for beans,
+rye bread, or beefsteak were all dainties to the faithful animals.
+
+One of the fellows had brought his mouth-organ, and under his leadership
+they sang every song from "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" to "Nearer, My
+God, to Thee." When the fire had had time to work its wonders on the
+hearts and spirits of the campers, Mr. Allen suggested a few stories. Of
+course, he just voiced what was in the minds of many others, for who ever
+heard of a campfire, a grand night, a happy crowd, and no stories? Such a
+situation was inconceivable. Every fellow looked forward to the campfire
+because of the stories, and remembered the stories because of the
+campfire. They were inseparable. Mr. Dean opened the program. One story
+suggested another, and that one another, until nearly every one in the
+circle had told a story except Ham. Willis told Indian legends of the
+great Kankakee Swamp and of the disappearance of the Pottawattomie
+Indians. Another told of a wonderful trip through Yellowstone Park;
+another of a deer hunt in Routt County; and still another of a mountain
+goat expedition in the Canadian Rockies. All the while Ham lay flat on
+his back, shading his face from the fire with his hands, and looking up
+at the stars. He was reveling in the spirit of the fire and of the night.
+
+"What are you dreaming about, Ham?" called Willis from the other side of
+the fire, to which Ham made no reply.
+
+"What's on your mind?" asked Fat, as he rolled over, facing Ham, and
+punched him in the ribs.
+
+"Nothing special," drawled Ham as he rose to a sitting position and drew
+his legs up under him. "I've just been listening. Your stories have been
+the words to the music that is in the air to-night. I love to lie still
+before a fire and listen to its music. I never realized before how many
+out-of-door noises are liberated when a pile of dry sticks are burned.
+That old fire has just been singing all the imprisoned songs of the
+forest wild to-night, and giving out again in its little flames a hundred
+thousand tons of absorbed sunshine."
+
+"Ham, let's have the Pike's Peak story," urged Mr. Dean; but Ham only
+laughed.
+
+"Yes, let's do," begged Willis.
+
+"What's the Pike's Peak story?" inquired Sleepy from his place against an
+old stump.
+
+"Well, if every one of you fellows will promise to never mention it again
+to me," said Ham hesitatingly; "but I'm not going to tell you all the
+details--just the plot--remember that!" He settled himself comfortably
+and began:
+
+"The three of us had been in the habit of taking long Sunday afternoon
+tramps in the mountains, but because of the cold weather we had been
+pretty well shut in all winter. The snowfall for the season had been
+heavy and the cold, especially in the mountains, had been intense. It
+was the eighth of March, I think, and the very first signs of spring
+had just put in their appearance. We decided that we would walk to the
+Half-Way House on the Cog Road, or at least as far as we could. We
+didn't know how much snow there was, or where it began, but we were all
+feeling good and anxious for another real hike. We were all three dressed
+in our Sunday clothes, and I was the proud possessor of a new spring suit
+and a pair of low shoes. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon when
+we started up the track from Manitou; by five o'clock we reached the
+Half-Way House, and much to our surprise found the keeper there. We had
+encountered very little or no snow that far on the track, and, as the
+days were getting longer, we knew we had two good hours yet before dark.
+We inquired of the inn keeper how far the track was open, and he informed
+us that it was clear as far as Windy Point, that there the great ice
+sheets began. There is always more snow on the great south shoulder of
+the Peak than anywhere else. You remember Son-of-a-Gun Hill? Well, we
+decided that we would push on to the top of Son-of-a-Gun, then come back.
+We left the Half-Way House and started up the track. The walking was fine
+on that flat stretch just after you leave the inn, and we covered space
+very rapidly. At the bottom of the great hill, in a grove of young
+aspens, we stopped and cut us some walking sticks.
+
+"If it had been summer, and the snow and ice gone, we would probably have
+noticed that there was a terrible storm gathering in the valley back of
+Cameron's Cone; but with the range all white and dreary we did not notice
+it. You fellows who have lived here near the mountain know that a storm
+often rises up there as if by magic. They come so quickly you often
+wonder where they came from. Of course, being directly in the shadow of
+Pike's Peak, the sun went down very early, and our twilight was not as
+long as we anticipated. I was the first to notice the cold breeze that
+had sprung up, and I remarked about it; but we were walking fast and were
+really too much interested in reaching the edge of the snow to pay much
+attention to anything. Suddenly it grew dark and the wind increased. In
+less than ten minutes we were in the midst of a howling mountain blizzard
+and the snow was being driven before the wind at a terrific speed. John
+suggested turning back, but Al and I were for pushing on, thinking it was
+just a squall, and, as it seemed to be headed straight down the canyon,
+we thought we would soon get above it. John insisted that we were crazy,
+but we made all manner of fun of him, so on we went.
+
+"'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread,' sometimes. That is just what
+we did. We walked on in silence as fast as we could for half an hour.
+Then we stopped and held a parley. We suddenly awoke from our little
+dream of foolishness and began to realize that instead of getting out of
+that storm, we had gotten into it. Up there on that great mountain side
+we could not see ten feet in any direction. Above us and around us was a
+raging sea of frozen pellets. The snow was drifting along the track, and
+in some places it was already completely hidden. Night was coming, and
+there was no shelter from the swirling winds. In number of miles we were
+a good deal nearer the summit of the Peak than we were home, and
+somewhere ahead of us was the old printing station. We would make for it
+and its shelter--it would be foolish to expose ourselves to the storm by
+returning in the open valley. Then, too, we might lose our way and slip
+into the canyon below. We fought on bravely in the dark until finally the
+wind went down a little and the snow grew soft and wet. Our shoes were
+wet through and our bodies completely chilled, yet we could not find the
+printing station. Had we passed it, or was it still ahead. We differed in
+our opinions.
+
+"Finally the snow ceased, and we could see about us a little by the
+reflected light. We spied a few straggly trees and made for them, for we
+were just at timber line. We found a great tree that had blown over,
+and, breaking limbs from its prostrate trunk, we built a large fire and
+sat on the log to dry our feet. We were now very keenly alive to our
+situation, and knew it was becoming serious. We suddenly realized that
+our only safety depended on the locating of that old printing station.
+Our shoes were so wet and our feet so cold that the leather burned before
+we knew it; but, as a real matter of fact, we didn't realize how badly
+they were burned until an hour later, when the shoes began to crack away
+in bits and the uppers to rip open along the seams.
+
+"We reached the great snowbanks. The track and roadbed was buried deep.
+The last straggling trees were far behind. We stood on a great white
+waste of snow, thirty feet in depth, not a landmark to be seen. If the
+station was ahead, it was buried; if it was behind, we had missed it.
+With that realization our spirits fell, for to turn back now meant
+certain death. Then, to add to our danger, it had begun to turn fearfully
+cold--that kind of a clear, steady cold that comes only in the mountains,
+when the thermometer drops twenty-five degrees below zero and the air
+cuts like a knife, while your nostrils freeze together when you breathe.
+At the fire we had tied handkerchiefs over our ears and tied strings
+around our trouser legs to keep the wind and snow out.
+
+"Every little while we sat down and pounded our feet with our walking
+sticks to keep up the circulation. At last we came to about two feet of a
+telephone pole sticking up through the snowbank. We knew then that we
+were off the road and were high up on the mountain. Luckily for us, the
+snowbanks were so heavily crusted that they held us up without breaking
+through. John suggested a plan: We would follow the post ends to the
+Summit House; in that way we could not get lost. Two of us would stop at
+the tip of one post, while the other, usually John, would push on to find
+the next one. When it was located he would call and we would go to
+him. Just how long we traveled in that manner I do not know. It seemed
+days, but, of course, it was only a brief time. Often I was positive that
+the posts were at least a half a mile apart. My shoes were so badly
+cracked at the seams that my feet grew very numb with the cold, and
+before long I knew I was freezing.
+
+"Time and again we thought we heard something coming over the snow behind
+us. The air was clear as a bell, and, as we pushed on, this sound
+frightened us more and more. Our imaginations began to play strange
+pranks. I remember that I was too frightened to even move, so sometimes
+I would just stand shivering and listening. We hardly spoke a word. By
+and by the time came when I was too cold to leave my post for the next
+one. I just put my arms about it and begged the fellows not to wait for
+me, but to go on and save themselves; to dig a hole in the snow and leave
+me in it. But John, dear old John, refused and, putting his arm about me,
+he dragged me on and on. He tried to make me angry by striking me, and
+warned me not to go to sleep or I would freeze. But I told him I must
+sleep, for my feet and legs were numb and my arms and shoulders ached
+with sharp pains; then I cried like a baby. Soon Al began to play out
+also, and John plead with him not to give up. Al took me by one arm and
+John the other, and together they fairly dragged me over the snow.
+
+"When we least expected it, we stumbled over the steps that led to
+the Summit House. In a few moments we were at the door, but I was
+helpless. The summit was completely buried, except at one end, where the
+wind had kept it clear. John hastily examined the windows, only to find
+that every opening was securely covered with an iron shutter. We were
+lost! I heard John muttering to himself; then he slipped his fingers
+under the bottom of the shutter, braced his feet, and pulled with a
+superhuman strength--the strength of a last hope. With a creak the
+shutter gave at its fastenings, then bent in the middle, and slipped out.
+He then knocked out the double window with his elbow and soon had me
+inside.
+
+"We found candles in a jar, and there was a great wood stove in the room,
+but no fuel. He didn't hesitate, but went to the counter, removed the
+shelves from it, and, with a meat cleaver which lay on the table, he cut
+the shelves, and we soon had a fire. We heard sounds outside, and
+realized that the something we had heard behind us on the snow was at the
+window. We were conscious of a presence without being able to see it.
+John went to the broken window and looked out, but he could see nothing.
+Soon we heard stealthy steps back and forth on the flat roof above. He
+barricaded the window, brought snow on the end of a board, and rubbed my
+face, feet, and legs with it, then wrapped me in tablecloths which he
+found in the cupboard. Several times he brought a great armful of shelves
+from the storeroom and cut them up for the stove.
+
+"As soon as the fire was started, Al lay down on the floor and fell into
+a heavy sleep. We could not waken him, and it frightened us badly. John
+began to cry, and I think if it had not been for the constant pacing back
+and forth of the strange animal on the roof we would all have given up.
+Soon the first streaks of dawn began to show themselves, and with the
+light the pacing on the roof stopped. John climbed up the tower steps and
+peered out just in time to see the animal jump from the roof and
+disappear.
+
+"The house was fairly overrun with rats that scampered in every
+direction. I thought I had seen rats, mountain rats, but I had never seen
+any like those. They were so bold we were afraid to sleep, for they were
+large enough to be dangerous.
+
+"When Al awoke he was very sick and weak. John found a big tin box in the
+kitchen, and in it were coffee, grapenuts, and the remains of a ham. He
+melted snow for water, and got us a little breakfast. We were three
+pretty serious fellows, for we knew only too well how the folks at home
+would be worrying about us and how near we had come to freezing to death
+on that great mountain of snow and ice.
+
+"After we had had breakfast, we made us crude snowshoes from the ends of
+grocery boxes, which we fastened to our feet with strings. Our shoes
+became hard when they dried, and it was only after painful effort that we
+got them on at all. We took the piece of ham, cooked the grease from it,
+and with this oiled our shoes as best we could. Traveling was very slow,
+for we were weak and sick, so it was nearly evening before we reached
+Manitou. There we met several rescue parties just starting to find us. I
+can shut my eyes and see them now. Some carried blankets and some food.
+Mr. Allen had a big red sweater on his arm and a coil of heavy rope hung
+from his shoulder. Old Ben was there, too, for they had sent word to him
+at Bruin Inn, inquiring if we were there, and when he found out we were
+lost he insisted on joining the rescue party. In fact, it was he that
+suggested that we had probably gone up Pike's Peak. Ben and I have always
+been great friends ever since.
+
+"We held out some way till we reached home, then we all three gave up. O,
+the awful sickness that followed and the pain of frozen feet! I was in
+bed nearly a month, and every time I slept I dreamed of that awful night.
+I came very near slipping off this earth then. Of course the newspapers
+made fools of us and all the fellows teased us nearly beyond endurance.
+It was only a few weeks later that an immense mountain lion was shot near
+the cabin on the carriage road. There you are, you have my story, now
+let's forget it."
+
+Not a fellow moved. They all sat looking intently into the dying fire.
+After a few minutes Mr. Allen suggested a sleep, and before long the camp
+was quiet, each camper wrapped in his blanket and stretched full length
+on the ground.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Very early the next morning the transportation of equipment was
+begun. The entire party went over to Fairview to bring the first load
+of tin dishes, plates, cups, knives, forks and spoons, kettles, pots,
+frying-pans, sugar cans--and so the list went on. The old shelves were
+removed from the blind end of the cabin and placed near the window in the
+other end. These were to serve as pantry shelves in the kitchen corner.
+
+After breakfast was over one group returned to the car for another load,
+while Ham, with a helper, pushed forward the construction of the aerial
+bunk. The queer old shakedown was torn to pieces and the poles used for
+Ham's bed, the rest of it was shoved out of the back door and set afire.
+On this load the stove came, two fellows supporting it on the pack-saddle
+of old Peanuts. It was set up near the window and a work table built at
+the end of it. Another set of shelves was made for the pantry, and soon
+all was in readiness at that end of the house. The old grub box was
+converted into a bread box, and the little old stove was set back in an
+out-of-the-way corner. It was, indeed, the passing of the old to give
+place to the new.
+
+Tuberculosis seemed to enter completely into the spirit of the new, for
+he had walked calmly back and forth over the shaky old bridge which
+crossed the stream with load after load of shingles and sacks of cement
+and a thousand other things that were to have a place in the cabin. There
+were windows and a heavy pine door for the new room. There were axes
+and saws and hammers. There were buckets and lanterns and iron bars to
+put over the windows, and stove-pipe for the kitchen stove. Then, too,
+there was a grand old crane for the fireplace and the frame for a wire
+screen to keep the flying brands on the hearth. Not a thing that would be
+needed had been forgotten. It was a weary crowd of fellows that came
+slowly along the trail at noon with the last load of boards, hung on the
+sides of Peanuts' saddle, the nails and hardware, packed in heavy canvas
+bags, loaded on Tuberculosis.
+
+The aerial bunk was all completed before dinner time, except thatching it
+with balsam boughs, and all hands would help at that after the noon meal.
+Mr. Allen prepared the meal, and it was a real camp dinner. Could fellows
+ever have been so hungry before?
+
+In the afternoon the rest of the old back veranda was demolished and
+cleared away. A large number of great, tall aspens, the choice of the
+grove, were cut, trimmed, and dragged in, in readiness for the new
+structure. It seemed that all the jays for miles around and all the
+squirrels in the valley came to investigate when they heard the crashing
+of the big trees and the merry sound of the axes. Great piles of balsam
+boughs were dragged down from the mountain side opposite the cabin. These
+were carefully trimmed before they were handed up to Ham, who was in the
+bunk doing the thatching. The early afternoon saw the completion of the
+fine, big bed--big enough for five people; and as the fellows became too
+tired to work, the bunk became more and more popular. Every one was
+anxious to try it.
+
+A heavy hasp was spiked to its place, and the cabin was put under lock
+and key for the first time. They had really taken possession of it--it
+was theirs.
+
+"It beats the Dutch how much that yard of stovepipe sticking out there
+adds to her looks," observed Mr. Dean when the stove had been set up.
+
+"It isn't the stovepipe so much," replied Chuck, "as it is the smoke
+coming out of it."
+
+"What pipe are you talking about?" inquired Sleepy as he dropped down out
+of the new bunk to inspect the work the others had been doing since noon.
+"Who's smoking a pipe?" he persisted, not understanding the conversation.
+
+"The cabin," tersely remarked Chuck. "But it has to get warm before it
+can smoke, and it has to work before it can get warm. The cabin might
+teach you a lesson."
+
+Later in the afternoon there was a great commotion a little distance up
+the trail, and Mr. Allen hastened to investigate the shouting and sounds
+of chopping. To his great disgust he found Sleepy dealing heavy blows to
+an old pine tree with an ax while the perspiration was running down his
+face. He was prancing about in great excitement.
+
+"What on earth?" questioned Mr. Allen.
+
+"I'm trying to get a squirrel. I saw him up in this tree just a moment
+ago," cried Sleepy.
+
+"Is that all you can find to do to use up your energy?" asked Mr. Allen
+dryly. Sleepy looked at him sheepishly, then hung his head and slowly
+returned to the cabin, brought a pail of water from the stream, then
+crawled up into the bunk, out of sight.
+
+By the time things were straightened around in the cabin so that the
+mason could build the fireplace it was time to be starting home, but
+every one was too tired from the day's work. They decided they would rest
+in the cool shade for an hour before beginning the tramp down. It would
+then be twilight.
+
+Willis took this occasion to do a little exploring on his own account. He
+had worked faithfully all day and was very tired, but he did so want to
+find his father's mine before he went home this time. He slipped away
+unobserved and took the lower trail, which followed up to the remains of
+the second bridge, then climbed to the tumbled-down cabin they had found
+the first day. Here he took the trail that led far up into the timber.
+Finally he saw far up above him what appeared to be an old mine dump.
+Quickly he clambered up over rocks and rotting logs toward it, and
+in a few moments he stood on the dump itself, which was of hard black
+stone, with the exception of just a little quartz. He was sure it was the
+same kind of stone he had seen on the old mantle at his grandfather's.
+The quartz was apparently the last stone dumped.
+
+At one side stood an old mine shaft, perhaps fifty feet deep, with an
+ancient hand-made windlass still at the top. Then just to one side and
+entering the mountain was a great log door, put together with bolts. The
+lock was a strong powder-house lock, made of heavy brass. The place gave
+no appearance of having seen a man in many years. The hinges and hasp
+on the great door were heavily corroded, and an old metal wheelbarrow lay
+on the dump, rusted red. A tin sign fastened to a tree at the side of the
+tunnel had become a target for expert gunners. Willis tried the door, but
+could not force it a particle. Turning, he stood looking off into the
+canyon toward Cheyenne. "So this is the spot," he mused; "and it has
+never been touched in these ten years. Poor old daddy, poor old daddy!"
+He leaned heavily against the log door, and his thoughts came thick and
+fast, only to conclude, as they always did, with, "Where is Tad Kieser
+and why does my uncle try to keep me away from this spot?"
+
+He was standing where his father had stood many times, and the boy seemed
+to be very conscious of his presence just then. He wondered if, perhaps,
+there had not been something of just love for the place itself, as well
+as for the gold, which had drawn his father there so irresistibly. Such a
+spot for a long, quiet visit with one's self! Below him the stream and
+the little cabin; to one side, and a little farther up, the beautiful
+falls, with Cookstove in the background; to the other side the park, all
+resplendent in yellow leaves, with here and there a tall pine standing
+like a green island in a sea of gently-moving gold. Far away over the
+ridge was the blue outline of Cheyenne with its stage road creeping round
+the base. He sat down to rest and to think. He was suddenly awakened from
+his dream by seeing Mr. Allen closing and locking the cabin door below
+him. He rose and hastened down the trail. In a few moments he had joined
+the party, but he kept silent about where he had been and what he had
+seen.
+
+"You'll have to let me in the cabin a moment, Mr. Allen," he called; "I
+left my coat up in the bunk--I forgot it." The door was unlocked and
+Willis entered, hastily climbing the little ladder up the side of the
+wall to the bunk. It was dark in the cabin, for the sun had set. As he
+stepped into the bunk he touched something, then jumped back with an
+exclamation. Sleepy raised up on his elbow and looked about him. In a
+terror-stricken voice he called out, "Who are you?" Willis laughed so
+heartily that the fellows came hurrying into the cabin to see what
+occasioned it. Then followed a great deal of fun at Sleepy's expense.
+Sleepy only hung his head and tried to act as if his feelings had been
+badly hurt.
+
+"Dirty trick, after a fellow's worked hard all day, to go and lock him in
+and start for home without him. I'd have starved in there, I suppose," he
+said gloomily, "and no one would have cared."
+
+"I suppose you would," laughed Ham, "for you would be too lazy to cook
+you a meal after you found the food. We'll have to keep guard all the way
+home on Sleepy, fellows, or he'll fall into some ravine and go to sleep.
+He worked so hard to-day, poor boy. I never did believe in this child
+labor business, anyway."
+
+The fellows took turn about riding the donkeys home, and a unique
+experience it was, for pack saddles are not the most comfortable seats in
+the world, especially for a tired boy. Ham gave practical demonstration
+until the others caught on, then he walked. They were all too tired
+to chat much, so just jogged along homeward, happy that another day's
+work was done on the cabin.
+
+"A few more like this trip and we will be ready to entertain," called Mr.
+Dean.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Sleepy Smith has an Experience
+
+
+Two weeks later another trip was made to the now-beloved cabin, but the
+party was small and, because of the lack of leadership, the amount of
+constructive work done was not great. Enough logs were cut and dragged in
+to complete the addition, a new layer of fragrant boughs added to the
+aerial bunk, and the dam improved and strengthened. The rest of the day
+was spent in hunting squirrels and chipmunks and in investigating the
+immense valley above St. Mary's Falls. School was keeping the fellows
+very busy, and because the fall social life had begun the young men found
+spare time very scarce. The autumn activities in the Boys' Department
+were also in full swing, demanding their share of time and attention. The
+standing committee for the coming circus were already appointed, and
+were scratching their heads for new and novel stunts.
+
+The O.F.F. were to present the afterconcert, and Fat was busy on the
+program. The fall gymnasium was being entered into with great zest, and
+already there had been a call for basket ball. The Bible study groups
+were getting together for the winter, the new Cabinet had been elected,
+so that, someway, there was not a great deal of time left for the cabin.
+
+Mr. Allen and a few picked fellows had made a trip the week before,
+primarily to take up a supply of food for the mason and his helper, and
+had gotten the entire frame of the addition up, ready to roof and
+shingle.
+
+The next week another small group went up to roof the addition and close
+it in so as to keep out the snow, if, perchance, it might come before
+they were able to finish the improvements. They found the fireplace
+completed, crude but artistic, of jagged boulders with an immense cement
+hearth. The iron crane had been built in, and now hung lazily in the big
+fire-box.
+
+Next came the cutting of the aspen poles for the floor of the addition.
+They had hoped to get at least one layer of boughs on the great bed so
+that the next time a larger crowd could be accommodated, but the long
+autumn shadows warned them that twilight was approaching long before they
+started it, so consequently they had to go back without seeing that task
+accomplished. The curtains had been put on the windows, white oilcloth
+had been tacked on the board tables, and a mirror, if you please, was
+hung over the tin wash basin just inside the door. Hooks made of crooked
+branches were fastened upon the logs on which to hang coats and
+haversacks. The place had really undergone a genuine transformation.
+
+"Well," said Ham, as he took a long drink from the bucket of fresh water
+that stood on the kitchen table, "that's the best water that ever flowed
+down a mountain side. There's life and health in every shining drop of
+it. To tell you the real truth, fellows, I'm beginning to feel mightily
+at home here in this little shack. Shack! that doesn't sound right,
+though, does it? What are we going to call this place, anyway, Mr. Allen?
+Y.M.C.A. Cabin is no good. It sounds too civilized. Now, does that old
+fireplace look civilized? And that iron crane, and those twisted rustic
+seats in the corner, and that bed out there big enough to accommodate
+twenty fellows? It reminds me of a home the old Vikings must have had
+long ago, way up in the great pine woods of Northern Europe. Someway, it
+has a look of health and strength about it that I like. Don't you see the
+smile on that old fire-box? Can't you hear the happy peasant children
+gathered there on that hearth singing their woodland songs and drinking
+their mugs of warm soup? Then, over yonder, all stretched out, his head
+to the fire, lies a great, gaunt dog, tired from the chase. Then the tap,
+tap on the wooden floor of the old woman's cane as she hobbles about
+the cabin. Can't you smell the bear haunch that's roasting there on that
+long spit before the fire? Don't you hear the merry music of the ax, just
+outside the door, as brawny arms swing it, cutting the great backlog for
+the long night? Civilized? Yes, in a way, but not in our way, is it? But
+what are we going to call this cabin?"
+
+Willis had slipped out a few minutes before and had wandered up the
+canyon to the last point from which the cabin could be seen. There he
+stopped and turned to survey the valley. The air was clear and cool and
+was completely filled with the fragrant murmuring of the pines. Far down
+in a vista of shifting lights and shadows stood the cabin.
+
+The next week brought the first signs of the approaching winter. The
+warm fall rains gave way to cold showers. The leaves fell in countless
+millions, and the voices of the feathered folk seemed to have blown away
+with the autumn leaves. Heavy white mists hung over the mountains,
+lifting occasionally to show curious eyes that the lofty summits were
+already being painted white. The grass lost its fresh, green color, and
+the wild purple asters dropped their lovely heads and slept. The first
+real snow came in the night.
+
+The desire to go to the cabin on the part of a large number of healthy,
+stalwart boys was matched against a foot of fluffy snow. The fact that
+they had not seen the new, completed bunk-house, nor the fireplace, added
+greatly to their intense desire to go. Added to this was the natural
+boyish love for possible adventure, so, of course, it was decided to go,
+snow or no snow.
+
+Twenty strong, they were on hand at the appointed hour. Soft shirts had
+given way to sweaters, outing shoes to high boots or leggings. Still the
+boys were just the same--happy, healthy, and free, ready for anything the
+trip might bring. Old Peanuts raised sad eyes as he was led forth and
+saddled. To think that such as he should tramp through all that snow
+on such a night. Tuberculosis was disgusted beyond all measure. It was
+only by much bribing from his bag of precious pinion nuts that Sleepy was
+able to get him to even move. The snow was dry and fluffy, so walking was
+not really disagreeable, but necessarily very slow. Somehow Peanuts
+seemed to have grown old with the season, and many times Ham almost gave
+up in desperation, declaring they would not reach the cabin by morning.
+Darkness settled very early that night, and with it came the clear, cold
+breeze from the snowy peaks beyond. How white everything looked, and how
+quiet! Even the stream seemed to have been buried under a white blanket.
+On the hogsback the snow had drifted badly, completely obliterating the
+trail. It seemed like it took hours to climb that rugged hill. Twice
+the donkeys slipped from the trail, floundered in the fluffy drifts,
+and then lay down. Twice they both refused to go another step; then
+darkness--the black darkness of a stormy winter night, settled about them
+just as they entered the Park. Who knew the trail--that narrow pathway
+that led between trees, around buried stumps, across shallow fords, and
+back again? Who could now general this little disheartened army and lead
+it on to warmth and shelter? Sleepy complained bitterly because the trail
+was long, and many times threatened to go back when he was taunted with
+"Baby!" First it was a false step, then a splash into the cold stream;
+next it was a false lead into the heart of an aspen thicket, only to
+return and try again. Ham broke the trail until he was too tired to go
+another step, while Mr. Allen brought up the discouraged rear.
+
+It was a gloomy line that worked its way up the snow-filled canyon
+that night. Minutes seemed like hours, and already the cold winds were
+making every fellow weak and hungry. Ham was the life of the party, and
+kept the fellows hopeful at his end of the line, even when he was so
+tired from breaking trail that it seemed that he could not go another
+pace. Willis was behind him, ready to lend a hand whenever he tripped on
+treacherously-covered poles or slipped from the trail into the icy
+stream. At last the little belt of thick timber was reached, and Ham's
+heart rejoiced, for he knew the cabin was on the other side of it. Before
+long they stood on the high trail and looked down into the valley where
+stood the cabin, gloomy and gray, the light from the snow caught and
+faintly reflected by the windows. Ham gave a loud shout that cheered and
+strengthened every heart, and in another moment he was unlocking the
+door.
+
+Ham's little pocket ax sang out in the winter night, and soon his efforts
+were rewarded by a tiny blaze on the hearth. He ordered his forces like a
+veteran, and they obeyed him without question--all save Sleepy, who chose
+a comfortable spot in the corner and sat down, refusing to move. Very
+soon the kitchen stove began to heat its end of the house, and the big
+tin teakettle sang and sighed over the flames. Mr. Allen was busy with
+supper and Fat was clearing a space before the open fire so they could
+all sit down together. Some brought in the wood and piled it high in one
+corner, while others scraped the snow away from the lea of a big boulder,
+thus making a shelter for the donkeys. Ham smuggled a half a dozen frozen
+potatoes for them and a half loaf of rye bread.
+
+A column of merry sparks rose from the chimney, while the candles threw
+weird, funny little shadows out on the snow through the barred windows.
+Ham and Willis were watering the donkeys and discussing their trip up,
+when Ham, without any apparent reason, burst into a merry laugh.
+
+"I have an idea, Willis, and it's a capital one, too. Will you help me
+carry it out?" and he laughed again.
+
+"Well, that depends," returned Willis.
+
+Ham put his hand to his ear and listened, then turned and looked eagerly
+toward the cabin. When he was satisfied they were alone he continued:
+"When I first came out here to feed the mules I heard an owl hooting up
+in that big tree. My, but it startled me at first, until I had time to
+think what it was. You know they shot a young mountain lion over on
+Black Mountain day before yesterday. Now, we aren't so far from Black
+Mountain, and if we are ever going to make a real, worth-while member for
+O.F.F. out of Sleepy Smith, we have got to begin soon, and, besides, I'm
+satisfied we will have to use a few extraordinary tactics. We have nursed
+him long enough; besides, his spirit is rotten. He has been sitting
+in there by that fire all evening and hasn't turned his hand to do a
+thing. He will probably want some one to put him to bed, yet, to-night.
+All the way up the trail he whined and acted like a baby. You remember
+the tricks he pulled off the day we moved the stuff over from Fairview
+on the donkeys--sneaked up in the bunk after dinner and went to sleep.
+You know how we nearly locked him in. He's hurting our crowd.
+
+"We took him in, you know, because Mr. Allen thought there was so much in
+him worth saving. Someway, it hasn't come out yet, and we've got to
+operate, do you understand? We've got to scare Sleepy Smith out of his
+boots once or twice to see what's in him. Let's do it to-night. If we
+don't, next time we bring a crowd up here on a night like this there will
+be three or four sitting around the fire doing nothing, and the next time
+six or seven, until at last a few of us will be waiting on the whole
+bunch, do you see?"
+
+"Yes, I see," replied Willis between chattering teeth; "but how on earth
+are you going to do it a night like this, with all this crowd?"
+
+"Now, I'll tell you just what I want you to do. I'll pull off the game
+and you be my accomplice. We'll take Sleepy out for a snow-bird hunt. I
+never heard of one myself, but I'll fix that all right. We'll scare the
+life out of that boy this night or bust. All you have to do--there comes
+some one."
+
+"Ham, Ham!" called Fat from the cabin; "come on to supper while it's
+hot." Then the door closed again. The two started toward the cabin,
+leaving old Peanuts braying hoarsely in the night.
+
+"All you have to do," continued Ham, "is to just swear to all I say.
+You'll catch on after I get started. Be sure to watch for the chance.
+I'll tell Fat the scheme, and if I can get Sleepy out of the house for a
+minute, I'll fix it up with the crowd." They were just about to enter
+the cabin when somewhere in the night came the weird hoot of an owl, and
+a pale, sickly moon peeped between the clouds.
+
+"Well, fellows, how do you like that old stone fire-box, anyhow?" Ham
+questioned. "I haven't heard a fellow say a word about it yet. That big
+black pot hanging on that crane makes me happy all over. Why, we have
+Robinson Crusoe and that last polar expedition beaten a city block. I
+never do see a pot hanging over the fire like that but I think of some
+of the delicious stews that Jim Parker made for us the Christmas vacation
+we spent with him out on his ranch in Middle Park. Snowbird stew good? O
+my! It has turkey beaten a thousand directions."
+
+"Snowbird stew?" questioned Chuck. "What in the world is it, Ham? Bacon
+creamed, or some such stuff?"
+
+"Bacon creamed, nothing," replied Ham disgustedly. "Snowbirds, just plain
+snowbirds. When I was out feeding the mules just now, I heard a whole
+flock of snowbirds fly down the canyon. That's what made me think of the
+stew, I suppose."
+
+"Well, if they're no bigger than the snowbirds I've seen," remarked one
+boy, "you'd have to have a bushel of them for a meal."
+
+"Do you mean those saucy little fellows with the white breasts that come
+with the first snows?"
+
+"Those are the fellows," replied Ham, "and of course you need a lot of
+them. But, then, they are so easy to catch if you just get into a flock
+of them."
+
+"How do you get them?" inquired Fat, who was always interested in
+anything new, so long as it had possibilities of something to eat in it.
+
+"Well, it's a good deal of hard work and some inconvenience until you get
+started. But, O my! the eats the next day! Little fat fellows all stewed
+down until they're tender."
+
+"Let's get a bunch," suggested Willis weakly, watching Ham for a cue.
+
+"There isn't a gun in the crowd," laughed one.
+
+"You could use clubs, couldn't you?" asked another.
+
+"Well, it's just like this," continued Ham: "you pick out a couple of
+fellows for the trappers who are strong and husky, and who aren't afraid
+to do their share of the work." Ham smiled at Willis. "Then you place
+them one at each side of the canyon. You take a shovel, dig a deep hole
+in the snow for the trapper to stand in so he can work easily without
+stooping over. Of course, each trapper has a bag, a gunny-sack, or a
+common flour sack will do, and a lantern. You can use a candle all right,
+if you have no lantern. I've seen very successful hunts conducted by
+using candles. The trapper stands with his bag held open between his
+legs. It's a good scheme to tie the bag, a side to each knee, so you can
+keep the mouth open without using your hands. You'll need them for
+numerous other things, probably. The rest of the hunters divide into two
+parties, and each party climbs the opposite ridge of the gulch, working
+up the canyon without really going through it. In that way the birds are
+not disturbed. Then, at a given signal, both parties descend into the
+canyon and the hunt begins. Every man must be absolutely silent, for I've
+seen one mouthy fellow spoil a whole evening's fun. Now, if any of you
+fellows are sure you can't keep still for a little, even in a good deal
+of excitement, you better stay here. If we fail, it will be some one's
+fault." Ham noticed the sly glances that were going back and forth
+between Mr. Allen and Mr. Dean, but he was sure he could count on both of
+them, for they liked real fun as well as any of the boys.
+
+"The hunters then move down the canyon in a skirmish line, thrashing the
+bushes with their pine boughs. As they advance the birds will awaken with
+a shrill little peep and scuttle off through the bushes down the canyon
+and directly toward the trappers. The birds take just little flights at a
+time, so you must keep them moving or they will swarm and fly away in a
+panic. If a flock panic on you, you might as well quit, for every bird in
+the canyon will follow. You see this is the game: snowbirds live on
+little bugs that are found in great numbers around the great Northern
+Lights. When they see those candles flickering there in the great white
+quiet, the snow reflecting the long rays out between the dark tree
+trunks, they think it's the northern lights, and fly straight toward the
+candle. All the trapper has to do, then, is to take them in his hand and
+bag them. Sometimes they come in such great numbers that they fairly
+swarm into the bag. When each trapper has enough, he puts his mouth close
+to the snow and halloos to the drivers. At the signal they stop hunting
+and come into camp. Fun, why it's the most fun I ever had in my life! The
+foolish little birds are so easily caught. You see, instead of getting
+out and hustling for their food, they think it will all be provided for
+them by kind Providence or others," and Ham smiled.
+
+"Did you ever eat quail on toast in some of these stylish restaurants?"
+queried Fat, who had caught onto the game. "Well, all in the world they
+are is snowbirds. I suppose there are any number of fellows who make a
+living by just that trick."
+
+A general discussion followed. Every one was ready and anxious for the
+hunt to commence. Candles were gotten ready and a shovel found. Ham took
+Phil, Fat, and Mr. Dean to help him find some sacks that were supposedly
+down in the gulch, but in reality to explain to them just what he wanted
+them to do. My, what a laugh they did have when they reached the open.
+Fat was instructed to offer his services as the holder of one bag and to
+suggest that Sleepy hold the other. They would plant Sleepy first, then
+Fat would go on with the bunch. Mr. Dean and Ham would hide themselves in
+the brush on either side of Sleepy. Fat would instruct his crowd what was
+to be done, and Phil would take charge of the other group. They would go
+down the canyon, over the ridge, then swing round and come back high on
+the hill, so as to completely lose Sleepy, who would be placed where
+both parties could see him by his light, but, of course, he could not see
+any of them out in the shadows and the night.
+
+"If any fellow makes a stir," continued Ham, "the game is up. Remember,
+Phil, you are boss of that crowd."
+
+A difference of opinion had broken out among the rest while Ham and the
+others were getting the sacks, for Willis, in a sly way, had suggested
+that the game was a fake, but Sleepy scoffed at the idea.
+
+"You do just as Ham says, and you'll see it's all true," cried Sleepy
+hotly. "He knows more about camping than all the rest of us put together.
+If you don't want to go, stay here. I'll hold a sack myself, and if I
+don't get it full of birds before I come home I'll treat every one of
+you." Fat entered just in time to hear the foregoing conversation.
+
+"I'm with you, Sleepy," he cried. "We'll have snowbirds for breakfast in
+the morning."
+
+"O shucks," scoffed some one, "there aren't enough snowbirds in Colorado
+to fill a sack like that!"
+
+"Well, of all the quitters," snorted Sleepy. "Just because you haven't
+seen the birds is no sign they aren't there. If you don't see and hear a
+lot of things to-night that you never saw before, I'm badly mistaken. All
+that's the matter with you fellows is you're afraid of a little work."
+Ham sneezed several times in quick succession, and Fat suddenly hurried
+out, slamming the door behind him. Mr. Dean turned his face from the
+crowd and energetically poked the fire. From the smiles, it was evident
+that some had caught on and wanted to go along to see the fun, while
+others declared it was a trick, and wouldn't move a step.
+
+"Too bad we haven't a dozen bags so we could give them all a chance,"
+laughed Ham, as he and Fat entered the cabin.
+
+Four remained, the rest trailed off to a little grove of young firs and
+cut themselves branches to drive snowbirds with. Then up the slope they
+went, winding in and out among the tall, silent trees, over snowy logs
+and around great, jutting boulders, until the top was reached. Then
+they hurried along the narrow ridge until it ended in a stone cliff. Here
+they descended again through the trees until the trail on the south side
+was reached. Ham picked out an open place entirely surrounded with a
+heavy growth of young firs. Just at the edge of the little opening, its
+bulk back in the trees, stood a great stone, twelve or fifteen feet in
+height. Here Ham began to dig the pit for Sleepy's feet, explaining, as
+he worked, that the rock would reflect the light and keep the wind from
+blowing it out. Every hunter spoke in subdued whispers. When the hole was
+finished, Sleepy stepped into it, and Ham shoveled in the dirt and snow
+and tramped it tight about him in order to make room for the bag. It was
+fastened to each leg by a stout cord. Ham gave the parting instructions.
+
+"Light your candle when we get out of hearing, then move it gently back
+and forth in front of your bag. The first few birds that come will
+probably scare you, but remember they are only snowbirds and harmless."
+
+The party then separated, filing off in either direction, and were soon
+swallowed up in the long black shadows. All that Sleepy could hear was
+the crunching of feet on the partly-crusted snow. He waited nearly
+breathlessly for all sound to cease, and when the last faint echo had
+died away it was a very shaky hand that lighted the first match. Of
+course Sleepy was not frightened--he was only cold! The greasy tip of the
+new candle sputtered and flared a moment, then went out. He tried again,
+but this time the match broke off. He felt himself getting excited. He
+had just two matches left. He must be extremely careful. He struck the
+third match on the stone behind him and shaded the candle tip with his
+hand; but his whole body was so nervous and his hands shook so that he
+could hardly hold candle and match together long enough to get the light.
+At last he succeeded. He stuck the end of the candle in the snow in front
+of him while he turned up his collar and pulled his cap down tighter.
+What was that? His body became rigid, his head went up, his eyes flashed.
+Was it the snowbirds? He listened intently for an instant, then he
+quietly relaxed. "Just the kids whacking the brush, I guess," he said,
+half-aloud. Then he leaned his back against his rock and waited. Every
+few moments he would gaze cautiously about him, then listen. Here and
+there back in the shadows he could see a huddled group of pale, straight
+forms. He knew they were only aspen trees, still he kept a watchful eye
+on them. The night was absolutely quiet and dark except for long,
+dimly-lighted alleys between the trees, where the candle rays were
+frolicking. Here and there he could see the dim outline of a black stump,
+its little snowcap perched upon its rim. He lifted the candle from its
+place in the snow and waved it gently before the bag, then he paused
+cautiously. His imagination had rallied from the cold and was now his
+closest companion. He saw strange shapes flitting here and there among
+the shadows. He heard every now and then a new, strange voice of the
+woods. The trees, it seemed to him, were murmuring their disapproval
+of such things as snowbird hunts. A myriad of unseen folk were peeping at
+him from limb and stump and shadow. He knew they were there, even if he
+couldn't see them, yet a strong feeling of loneliness crept over him. It
+seemed ages since the boys had left him there, still it had been only a
+few moments.
+
+His spirit was gradually becoming restless, and he began to wonder if
+there really were any such things as snowbirds, after all. He wished he
+was back again in the cabin by the fire. If he thought they were playing
+a joke on him, he would slip back to the cabin and fool them. He had
+half a notion to do it anyway. What was the use of his standing there?
+Which way was the cabin? He sighed and wiped the perspiration from his
+forehead. It was just over there, wasn't it? No, that couldn't be. It
+must be over yonder. The trail ran through the grove to his right. That
+couldn't be, the stream was over there, for he heard it every now and
+then. He began talking half-aloud.
+
+"If the stream is over there, the cabin is over here." He paused and drew
+his hand across his eyes. "No, no, if that were true, the stream would
+flow uphill, and, of course, it doesn't."
+
+Far away he heard a series of little chirps, faint but unmistakable. He
+was alert in an instant. Yes, that was the snowbirds, and they were
+coming. He wondered if Fat heard them and was ready. Where was Fat,
+anyway? How strange he felt, now he was almost afraid, for he was sure
+something was watching him. He shaded his eyes and peered into the
+gloom, but could see nothing. Far away in the timber it seemed to him
+he heard brush snapping--still he knew there was nothing bigger than a
+skunk or a rabbit in the whole valley. Still--and his breath came
+shorter; had not a mountain lion been killed on Black Mountain just
+day before yesterday? His imagination suggested hungry kittens searching
+for a lost mother, and a tremor ran over his body, making his muscles
+quiver. Was that a snarl? A whine far off, yet near to him? The candle
+slipped from his shaking fingers and fell in the snow beside him. He made
+a grab for it, and caught it just before it went out. The sound was now
+clearer. Was that the crunch of feet upon the snow? Yes, he heard it
+plainly. A twig snapped somewhere back of the big rock, then another,
+then another. There was an answering of the whine. He felt for his
+pocket ax; but, alas! it was at the cabin--he had no weapon, not even a
+jack knife. Why had Ham taken the shovel with him? Pshaw! was it really
+a sound at all, or was he still in his baby days? No, he was no baby,
+but--there it was, a low growl, coming nearer and nearer. It flashed upon
+him in a second--the hunters had scared up the animal, and it was coming
+toward him--toward the light! He felt faint, then sick; but it was no
+time to be sick! He swallowed at the big lump in his throat and wondered
+if the animal really would attack him. He could plainly hear the
+crunching in the snow now, and he fancied he saw two green eyes staring
+at him from the shadows. Yes, and there were voices! He could hear them
+laughing. Suddenly a twig near him broke, and another and another. He
+cried out in terror, shrill agonized, cries for help. He dropped the
+candle in the snow. Just how he got out of the hole where his feet were
+buried he could not tell. He started to run, but his legs were still
+tied to the bag, and at the first step he fell headlong. He was crying
+now--great sobs shook his frame. He tore the bag free with a jerk and
+started off as fast as the soft snow would let him, shouting "Help!" at
+the top of his voice. He stumbled on through the snow, following the line
+of least resistance. Finally he emerged from a dark thicket just in time
+to see three men and a great dog come out of an opposite thicket. They
+laughed heartily as they turned upward on the trail. The dog's eyes were
+gleaming green in the half-light, and the one man carried a heavy rifle
+on his shoulder. The dog turned, sniffed, then whined, but made no
+attempt to leave his masters.
+
+The men had evidently not seen him. He stood for a second irresolute, his
+teeth chattering, his heart pounding, then, turning, he saw the sparks
+from the cabin chimney and in another moment he was safe inside.
+
+Back in the woods where Sleepy had been planted the rest of the fellows
+were shouting and laughing.
+
+"Yes, I'll take it back," cried Ham. "Sleepy can go when he gets started,
+but O my! what a lot it takes to start him! I don't believe he ever
+moved so fast before, do you? Mr. Dean, you're a wonder on the growling
+stunt--I felt kind of queer myself once or twice." Fat was too far gone
+to express himself, but stood leaning against the rock, half-choked with
+laughter. He had been behind the rock all the time, and had heard all
+that Sleepy said.
+
+"I was dead sure I heard him laughing," said Phil, "and I thought he had
+caught on to the game." "So did I," said Mr. Dean. "I certainly did hear
+some one laugh."
+
+"It must have been Fat trying to choke down his amusement," dryly added
+Chuck. "He couldn't keep from laughing at a funny thing on a bet."
+
+"I am sure of one thing," said Mr. Allen, "and that is that hereafter
+Sleepy will do his part. I believe he has learned a lesson. You will have
+a hard time, though, to ever persuade him that he didn't see an animal."
+
+"Just let him think he did see it," suggested Phil, "and we'll tell him
+it serves him right. If he hadn't been so dead anxious to get the easy
+job, like he is with everything, he would never have gotten into the mess
+to-night."
+
+"Yes, that's it," added Ham; "we must be as solemn as we can and say to
+him that we didn't see or hear a bear, lion, or any other animal; then
+add, that if he had just been with us on the job, climbing up canyons,
+hunting birds, and doing his share, instead of just loafing, he wouldn't
+have gotten scared. But, rats! he must know that we have played a joke on
+him."
+
+They finally agreed on a plan, then started back to camp. Ham was to do
+the talking. As they entered the cabin they found Sleepy sitting on a
+block of wood, looking meditatively into the fire.
+
+"Well, you're a dandy," commenced Ham. "We heard you hollering 'Help'
+and 'Murder.' We came tearing through the trees to where we left you, and
+you were gone. Please explain. Who did you think was going to catch those
+birds? You got tired working so hard, I suppose? Come, now, was there too
+much real work in it?"
+
+Then Fat began in his most disgusted tone: "You might make sure if there
+was any real work to be done, Sleepy would get out of it someway. He
+always does. Work isn't in his vocabulary."
+
+"Go easy," said Mr. Allen in a quiet tone. "Sleepy has made lots of
+mistakes, and he hasn't begun to do his share of the work here yet, but
+he's going to do different from now on, I'm sure. Why did you leave your
+post, Sleepy?" He came forward and laid his hand on Sleepy's shoulder.
+Sleepy shaded his face with his hand, for the tears were trickling down
+his cheeks, and he spoke with real effort.
+
+"They frightened me terribly," he said. "I'm sorry." Then he rose from
+his seat, took his cap from the table, and went into the night. The
+fellows crowded up to the fire to warm their cold feet and talk it over.
+Mr. Allen was firm in his belief that Sleepy had good stuff in him, and
+he believed they were going to get it out at last.
+
+"He knows he hasn't played fair, fellows, and he's out there now,
+squaring up with himself. To-night our friend, Sleepy, wins or loses a
+great fight in his life. If he loses, let's not be too hard on him. If he
+wins, let's help him. Remember, it's the 'Other Fellow First' in this
+bunch." They sat quietly looking into the fire for some minutes, then Ham
+broke the silence.
+
+"Fellows, I believe I understand for the first time in my life an
+expression that always used to bother me. When my father invited me into
+the woodshed when I was a kid, he always prefaced each performance
+with this remark, 'Son, it hurts me a great deal more than it's going to
+hurt you.' After the performance I used to ponder that statement over and
+over and wonder how it could possibly be true. In fact, I didn't believe
+it then, but now I do. Sleepy needed a good punishment; but, O my, I feel
+mean, now that it's over!"
+
+"We are often called on to do unpleasant things for the welfare of
+others," remarked Mr. Dean; "but if Sleepy finds himself to-night, and I
+believe he will, we will all be glad we did it, himself included." After
+a little time Sleepy came in. His step was steady and his manner easy.
+Ham shot a curious glance at him from the corner of his eye. He saw that
+Sleepy was smiling, and he felt a strange thrill, for he knew Sleepy had
+won. Sleepy came to the fire, and in a clear voice addressed the crowd:
+
+"Fellows, I have something I would like to say before we go to bed." It
+was very difficult for him to go on. "I am ashamed of myself to-night. I
+know I have never played fair with you fellows here, for I'm lazy--I
+always have been. You know I am the only child, and I have been spoiled,
+for I've been taught to always let some one else do the work. I'm
+sorry." He stopped, and in the pause he became confused.
+
+"But--but--I'm going to do better, if you'll give me another chance. I've
+just had a little argument with Sleepy Smith outside, and I whipped him
+in a fair fight. There is no more Sleepy; after this it's George Smith,
+if you please. Sleepy and this crowd have had a falling out. Will you
+give me another chance?" he asked anxiously.
+
+Ham was the first to cry out:
+
+"Bet your life we will, old boy, put it there!" He rose and they shook
+hands.
+
+"Sure thing!" cried Fat.
+
+"Of course we will!" echoed Phil.
+
+"Three cheers for Smith!" came from the others.
+
+"Thanks," was all Smith said, then he sat down and Mr. Allen took the
+floor. He had caught his cue from what Smith had said:
+
+"Fellows, I think we, too, have made a mistake, and as long as Smith has
+been man enough to square himself with us, let us be men enough to square
+ourselves with him. We have always called him Sleepy, and he has been
+true to the name; but I never knew a boy yet who didn't live up to what
+his best friends expected of him. Smith always knew we didn't expect
+much, didn't you, boy? Now, let's expect more, and we'll get more. Smith,
+we, too, are sorry. Let's expect the best from every fellow and every
+fellow will give his best, although it will take real manhood to do it
+sometimes."
+
+Ham and Willis went out to take a last look at the donkeys before going
+to bed. As they stood on the step, talking things over, they were
+startled to hear, somewhere in the night air, the long-drawn bark of a
+dog. It came again and again. "Over in the next canyon," was Ham's
+remark. "Up by the old mine," was Willis's thought, as he turned and went
+into the cabin.
+
+After breakfast Willis took the trail that led to his father's mine. He
+went alone, for he had told no one of its discovery, not even Ham. He was
+not at all surprised to find the footprints of three men and a dog on the
+upper trail, and found no difficulty in following them to the mine. Once
+there, the first thing that attracted his attention was a new sign,
+nailed up in the place of the old tin one; on it, in bold, black letters,
+was written, "Private property, keep off!" The snow had been shoveled
+from one end of the dump, and it looked very much as if some of the rocks
+had been carried away. Willis wondered, but his reflections gave him no
+light. He noticed, however, that the tracks did not return down the
+trail, but ran off over the hill and into the next canyon. He made some
+careful observations, then returned to the cabin.
+
+Upon Mr. Dean's suggestion, the morning was spent in tobogganing in wood
+while the snow was good. It was great fun to see the great logs slide
+down with a long swish and pile up in front of the cabin. The fellows
+worked with a will, and by noon a large supply had been pulled in. The
+next thing was to cut it and pile it away in the house. Smith undertook
+to build a sawbuck, and, with Mr. Allen's help, the job was soon
+accomplished. Every fellow then took his turn sawing off blocks until
+dinner time.
+
+As they sat around the table enjoying a camp meal of fried ham, boiled
+rice, potatoes, rye bread, and coffee, a general discussion arose as to
+what the cabin should be named. They hoped to get the big bed filled with
+balsam boughs that afternoon before they started home, then the place
+would be ready for real use on a big scale; and, of course, it must have
+a name.
+
+"Let's call it Snowbird Retreat," suggested Fat naively.
+
+"Not on your life!" called Smith good-naturedly. "No snowbirds about this
+house; you want a good, warm, comfortable name. I'd freeze to death, or
+maybe get scared, if you called it that."
+
+"St. Mary's Inn," suggested Ham.
+
+"O fiddle, sounds like an old Spanish mission," objected another.
+
+"The House that Ham Built," suggested Mr. Dean.
+
+"Buffalo Roost," suggested Willis. "We certainly do love to roost around
+in here, and it's in Buffalo Canyon." After a very heated discussion,
+Buffalo Roost was chosen for the name, and Willis set about gathering
+twigs to make a rustic sign for over the door.
+
+The wood all in, the dinner dishes washed, and the cabin put in order,
+the next thing to do was to thatch the big bed. O, what mountains of
+sweet-scented green boughs it took! One party, under Mr. Dean, pulled
+in pile after pile of boughs from up on the snow-covered hillside, while
+the other party cut and trimmed and laid them in. Choice large fans were
+laid in the bottom, the butts toward the foot, the bow of the branch
+uppermost. Then a thick layer of fine sprigs to fill in every hollow.
+Smith worked with a will, and enjoyed the day like he had no other since
+the work on the cabin had begun.
+
+Never before had they so hated to leave the Roost, for every fellow was
+coming to love it and its companionship. It gave plenty of healthful
+action, good things to think about, and warm friends. It was building
+character and they did not know it. It was fitting a choice group of
+older fellows to work together in the community life about them, working
+for the welfare and comfort of others, forgetting themselves in their
+unselfish service.
+
+In the late afternoon it began to snow again, and by the time they were
+well on their way home it was falling fast.
+
+"Getting in that wood was a wise stunt," observed Smith, "for the next
+time we see the old Roost it will probably be snowbound."
+
+Old Ben had been watching for their return most of the afternoon. As they
+came across the stream and up to the road below the inn, he called Mr.
+Allen to the door.
+
+"I jist want t' ask ye if that tarnal varmit, Williams, has been
+botherin' yew fellers any sence he started work on that new claim o'
+hisn. If they ever was a sneakin' whelp, he's it. He couldn't get
+possession o' Tad's tunnel; he darsent touch it, so he's gone an' started
+a tunnel on the other side o' that dyke. He's been workin' it, now, off
+an' on all this fall, but I didn't know it till they brought a wounded
+man from there yesterday. Seem a stone mashed his foot bad. They stopped
+here to rest a bit, an' I seed the feller. I've knowed him these ten
+years, an' he's a devil. Does dirty work fer any tarnal critter at'll pay
+him well fer it. Served him right. I s'pose you saw something of them
+last night, as they went back up to the mine. There was three of 'em and
+a mean lookin' dog." Mr. Allen listened in silence. He was wondering just
+what Old Ben knew of this Williams, and why he should be so interested in
+the boys at the cabin.
+
+"Ben," he said, and he looked the old man straight in the eye, "do you
+know a man named Tad Kieser?" Ben dropped his eyes and shuffled his foot
+aimlessly on the floor.
+
+"Yep, I know him, boy, an' a finer man never walked these here hills. Too
+fine a man to get along with varmits!"
+
+"Is he still living, Ben?"
+
+"Yep, still livin'. He'll be a poppin' up in these parts one o' these
+days, an' then you'll see who's boss at that tunnel up yonder. I've
+always said they was gold there, but Tad never would go into the mine
+again after the accident. That varmit, Williams, believes same as I do,
+or he wouldn't be a diggin' that hole on t' other side o' the dyke. If he
+er any o' the rest o' them fellers bothers ye any at the cabin, jist let
+me know; I'll take ker o' them fer ye. Good-night." He went inside and
+closed the door. Mr. Allen hurried along, and, catching up with the
+crowd, he called Willis aside to tell him what Ben had said--all except
+that Tad was living and Ben knew where he was. That much he kept secret.
+Willis listened intently, then he told of how he heard the dog bark in
+the night.
+
+When Willis reached the Association that evening he was handed a
+telephone call. He noted that it was the home number, and he realized in
+an instant what had happened. His aunt had grown very much worse Friday
+night, and had died early Saturday morning. He hastened home to do what
+he could and to comfort his mother.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+The Opened Door
+
+
+It was nearly Thanksgiving time, and it seemed months to Willis since he
+had been to Buffalo Roost. Mrs. Thornton had almost decided to return to
+her father's since the death of her sister, but Willis had objected
+seriously. He was determined to unravel the mine mystery before they
+left. They were still living at the Williams's home, but they saw very
+little of the uncle. The death of his wife had been a severe blow to him,
+and he had been spending long periods of time in the mountains--no one
+seemed to know just where.
+
+During Thanksgiving vacation Mr. Allen was going to have a three days'
+camp at the Roost, so Ham and Willis were planning on making a
+preliminary trip, to find out how deep the snow was and just what
+condition the canyon was in.
+
+The circus was over, and had been a big success; enough money had been
+raised to pay all the debts and leave a nice amount for future
+improvements. Meanwhile Ham and Willis had become inseparable companions,
+so much so, that Willis had taken him into the mystery of his father's
+mine. Very often they had talked it over together, but neither had yet
+arrived at any satisfactory conclusions. The day chosen for their trip
+turned out to be bitter cold; but the other fellows were depending on
+them, and they must not fail. They found it very difficult to climb
+the hogsback because of the snow, so when they reached the railroad they
+decided to follow it to Fairview rather than attempt the canyon trail. As
+they plodded on they grew very cold.
+
+"There is a dandy little pile of pitch-pine shavings on the hearth," said
+Ham; "it won't take long to get a fire. We'll play a joke on this cold
+snap yet, when we get inside the cabin." The walking was not bad until
+they reached the crest, but here the trail lay on the south side and
+was completely filled with snow. Many of the drifts were shoulder-deep,
+so it took them nearly an hour to force their way from the ridge to the
+cabin. Ham, to his surprise, had great difficulty in opening the lock; it
+was evident that it had been tampered with. As they entered, he noticed
+that his little pile of shavings were gone from the hearth. Some one had
+been inside!
+
+How much heat it seemed to take that night to warm that frigid air! They
+piled in the great logs until the fireplace was full, and still they had
+to sit close to keep warm. Slowly the cold was driven out, and the cabin
+became more comfortable. Willis took the water bucket and an ax and went
+out to the stream for water, but the ice was a foot thick and the water
+so cold that it froze in the bucket before he got it back to the cabin.
+As he set the bucket on the shelf, he noticed that the mirror which hung
+above the bucket was broken into a thousand pieces. No doubt a bullet had
+come in through the chinking. Was this a declaration of war? Or had
+some rowdy just been showing off? They examined things carefully, but
+found nothing missing but the chips, not even food. Ham could not imagine
+why the kindling had been removed from the hearth, for he was positive
+that no fire had been built in either the stove or the fireplace since
+they had last been there.
+
+After they had warmed sufficiently, they began to think of supper. Ham
+selected a can of clam soup from the shelf and opened it, but it was
+frozen solid. He set it by the fire to thaw out and made a second
+selection. This time he chose a can of beans, but found them in the same
+condition. He looked in the bread box--the rye-bread was as hard as a
+bullet. They pulled the table close up before the fire and made out a
+supper, the best thing on the menu being a pot of boiling-hot tea.
+
+After supper they pulled down the blankets and carefully warmed them
+before the fire. Then the two boys sat and planned concerning the coming
+camp until they grew sleepy. After a great pine knot had been placed for
+the night log, the boys slipped into bed between at least a dozen
+blankets.
+
+Just before going to bed, Willis prepared a few choice slivers so that a
+fire could be quickly started in the morning, and he left them in a
+little pile on the hearth. In the night he heard strange noises down on
+the floor, but, because it was so cold, he did not venture out to
+investigate, and in the morning every chip was gone. The mystery of the
+chips grew deeper.
+
+They lay in bed late next morning, for the cabin was cold and dark and
+they were so comfortable. Time was nothing to them that day. As they lay,
+chatting, Ham suddenly squeezed Willis's arm, then raised on his elbow to
+listen. He heard voices, and they were coming up the canyon. He crawled
+to where he could peep out of the window, but all he could see were the
+feet of two men and a dog. The cabin was very cold, so he slipped back
+between the blankets to warm and talk it over with Willis. About nine
+o'clock they got up, still wondering what could have brought men into
+that canyon on such a morning.
+
+Surely there was no hunting, and why should men from the claim in the
+other gulch be coming up through Buffalo Park? The boys were bothered.
+They were just sitting down to a breakfast of steaming-hot cakes when
+from somewhere up in the timber came the clear sound of some one
+hammering on metal, heavy blow after blow. Ham paused, listened
+attentively, a forkful of hot cake raised half-way to his mouth. The
+sound came very clearly and at regular intervals.
+
+"Sounds like some one pounding a stone drill; perhaps they are going to
+do some blasting!"
+
+Willis rose from his seat, threw open the door, and looked up the snowy
+hillside. He was right--the sound came from the direction of his father's
+mine.
+
+"What on earth would any one be blasting up there for?" he said, half to
+himself. He was thinking of what Ben had told him the last time he was at
+the Roost. Ham had also risen from the table and stood looking out over
+Willis's shoulder. The bark of a dog came floating down the canyon.
+
+Suddenly there was a sharp rattle in the corner of the cabin, followed by
+a heavy thud. Ham turned quickly, just in time to see the ax fall to the
+floor from its place in the corner. Willis felt a long, cold shiver creep
+up his back. The ax had been laid on top of the little stove in the
+corner, and something had caused it to fall.
+
+"Spooks," laughed Ham dryly.
+
+"What made that ax fall?" questioned Willis in a voice which betrayed his
+feeling. They advanced cautiously toward the corner. There was a scamper
+of tiny feet, and a large gray rat bounded across the floor and dropped
+out of sight through a long opening between the floor and the wall. In a
+moment Willis was down on his hands and knees, investigating.
+
+"Well, of all things," he said, as he looked up laughingly at Ham; "we
+have located our mysterious robber. Here are all of our precious fire
+starters." Ham stooped to see for himself, and there, under the stove in
+the corner, was a neat little pile of pine slivers.
+
+"If that rat lived in the city," observed Ham, "he'd be a shoplifter,
+sure. It's strange he hasn't stolen our food?"
+
+"Ham, I'm going to the mine. Do you want to stay here or go along?" Ham
+thought a moment, then began to pull on his coat. As he passed the
+fireplace, he threw on another log, then the two boys stepped out into
+the morning air. Ham carefully locked the door behind them--he always
+took that precaution.
+
+"I'd like to know who tried to get into this house, Willis?" he said as
+they struck the trail following the footprints of the earlier party up
+the canyon. The sound of hammering still came occasionally from the hill.
+
+"Perhaps it was the same men that passed this morning," replied Willis.
+"I wonder why they didn't stop and try the door; they must have seen that
+it was unlocked."
+
+"Perhaps they wanted to pass unnoticed."
+
+"No, that couldn't be, for they were talking loudly as they passed."
+
+"Perhaps they didn't notice the cabin door at all."
+
+"Perhaps not, but they must have noticed our trail over the bridge and
+your footprints to the stream."
+
+"O, I don't know; it snowed in the night, and besides, you see they were
+on the upper trail. They evidently came for some special purpose, and
+were anxious to get at it. You know, I've been thinking they must have
+come from Bruin Inn this morning, because they couldn't have gotten here
+so early if they had come all the way from the city."
+
+"By Jove, boy! I hadn't thought of that, but since you speak of it, there
+certainly was something familiar in one of those voices, and that laugh!
+Why, of course, it was Old Ben, his dog, and some stranger."
+
+Progress was slow, for the snow was deep in places. At the old
+tumbled-down cabin the trail turned and ran up the mountain side.
+Willis felt a strange pounding at his heart. The noise on the mountain
+had stopped, but every now and then he heard the sound of voices from
+somewhere up in the timber. As they reached the last turn in the
+trail, the two figures came into view. Ham had been correct in his
+supposition--one of the men was Old Ben, but the other was a stranger.
+Ben had, no doubt, seen the boys coming, for he stood looking down the
+trail toward them. When they were a little nearer he saluted them:
+"Howdy, young'uns. This is a tarnal cold morning for a pair o' city
+fellers, ain't it?"
+
+"Not on your life," cheerily answered Ham; "there's nothing citified
+about us. Any one who could sleep in these hills a night like last night
+and not freeze is no tenderfoot. What brings you up here so early this
+morning?"
+
+"Early, boys? You're so tarnal lazy, you think dinner time is early. See
+anything o' my dog round the cabin?"
+
+"No, we haven't seen him, except when you went by a while ago."
+
+Willis was interested in what the stranger was doing. He was bent over a
+big rock, filing a metal instrument. His back was turned. Willis was
+looking about to see what they could have been hammering, but could see
+no sign of their work.
+
+"Prospecting a little?" queried Ham, as he picked up the light sledge
+that lay on the snow.
+
+"Well, not jist exactly," drawled Old Ben; "it's too tarnal cold to do
+much prospectin'. We're jist on an observin' trip this time."
+
+"Observing the scenery, or what?" persisted Ham. "We heard you doing some
+mighty loud observing up here a few minutes ago. Come, now, no secrets.
+What are you up to? Do you know you are trespassing this very moment?"
+
+"Trespassin', eh? Well, I expect Old Ben knows when he's trespassin' an'
+when he ain't. This time he ain't." He turned to the stranger and
+continued: "I jist come along to give my friend here a little moral
+support. He's so tarnal foolish about this old hole."
+
+"Not foolish, Ben," answered the stranger, as he turned from his work,
+"not foolish, but--why, good morning, lad!" He advanced with extended
+hand toward Willis.
+
+Willis could hardly believe his own eyes. What was this man doing here?
+
+"It seems like our paths cross often, doesn't it?"
+
+"Why, I--" exclaimed Willis.
+
+"I know you are surprised," continued the stranger, "but no more so than
+I, for I didn't expect to find you here on such a morning as this."
+
+"But what are you doing here?" stammered Willis. "What is there about
+this mine that is of interest to you? This mine is my father's property,
+and it's locked--the tunnel, I mean--"
+
+"Yes, I know, lad," he interrupted. "I know it does seem strange, but it
+isn't half as strange to you as it is to me, and besides--"
+
+"But, sir, how dare you tamper with locked property?"
+
+"Lad," and the stranger spoke in that same quiet, kindly voice that had
+attracted Willis the first time he had seen him, "do you remember that
+fall day when we last talked together? Up back of Daddy Wright's on the
+Cheyenne trail?"
+
+"Yes, sir, I do," replied Willis, "and I remember every word you said,
+but--"
+
+The stranger lifted his hand for silence, and then continued: "And do you
+remember you asked me if I had ever known a young engineer that used to
+be in these parts, and I said, 'Yes;' then you asked me if I knew a Tad
+Kieser that used to be a partner of his, and I told you I did?"
+
+"Yes, yes, I remember all that," interrupted Willis; "but what has that
+to do with this mine?"
+
+"A very great deal, my boy. Listen! I know Tad Kieser better than any man
+alive, and of all the men I ever knew, Tad is the strangest. I believe he
+owns a half interest in this property, does he not? But he hasn't been
+near it for half a dozen years, and to my knowledge he has never been
+inside of it since the day of the accident. What's more, my boy, there's
+just one thing in all the world that could ever induce him to enter it
+again--"
+
+"What is the one thing?" questioned Ham.
+
+"If it wasn't for the advice of old Ben here, I would not be here to-day,
+either; but Ben and I have been friends these twenty years, and in that
+time I have learned to know that Ben's opinions are expressed only after
+a very careful consideration of all the facts. I'm here because Old Ben
+insisted that I come."
+
+Willis turned and looked at Ben. He stood by, smiling and puffing away at
+his pipe. "But what has all that to do with Tad Kieser?" questioned
+Willis a little disappointedly. "Of all the men in the world I would like
+most to see, it's Tad. Tell me where he is, if you know."
+
+"But why do you want to see him so badly, may I ask?" questioned the
+stranger.
+
+"Because he is the only man in the world that can straighten out a tangle
+of things that I don't understand. And I'm sure that if he knew I was
+here, he'd come to help me."
+
+Old Ben came to the rescue.
+
+"Boy, Tad would do anything in the great, wide world fer ye. He's talked
+about ye every tarnal day since he first seen ye, an' they ain't been
+nothin' in his mind since, except yer welfare. Ye are a tarnal lucky
+feller to have such a friend."
+
+"Saw me?" questioned Willis. "Tad Kieser saw me?"
+
+"Yes, boy, an' is a lookin' at ye now, an' is out in this cold here fer
+ye this mornin', a breakin' of vows he made long ago. Tad, tell the boy
+all about it. This young feller an' me is goin' to look up that tarnal
+dog." He took Ham by the arm and drew him away down the trail out of
+hearing. Tad and Willis were busy at the lock of the old tunnel. Old Ben
+explained the situation to Ham as they leisurely hunted the dog. At last
+Ham understood, and was happy for Willis.
+
+"My, but you look pert, Tad. I ain't seed ye look so pert in ten year.
+What's up? Come, tell a feller. Has that young'un been stuffin' ye while
+we was gone?" and Ben laughed a merry laugh.
+
+"Why didn't you tell me you were Tad the first day?" questioned Willis,
+his eyes shining with pleasure.
+
+"I'll tell you why some time," replied the old miner, "but not now. I
+would never have consented to come up here this morning with Ben if I had
+not suspected that Mr. Williams intended to enter this tunnel very soon.
+Perhaps you know how he hates me. I caught him in a mighty crooked deal
+here once, and scared him badly. He and I have fought each other ever
+since the death of your father. He holds the keys to this lock, that's
+why I'm cutting it off. We're going to replace it with another. When your
+uncle comes he will find I have been ahead of him."
+
+"And you aren't going into the tunnel?" questioned Willis in
+astonishment.
+
+"No, lad, not to-day. I don't know as I ever will."
+
+"Tell me all about the trouble between you and my uncle. How does it
+happen that he holds the key to this lock instead of you? Mother told me
+you had the key?" questioned Willis.
+
+"I did once, but when I refused to let him enter, he came with a hacksaw
+and removed the lock, placing this great brass one in its stead. Your
+uncle was the only person with your father when he died, except the
+nurse, and he has always claimed that Bill turned all his mining property
+over to him. He offered to buy me out, but I refused to sell.
+
+"Nearly a year after your father's death, I learned from a nurse in the
+hospital that in his last moments your father called for me, but Williams
+told him that I was badly hurt. He told your uncle that the real gold
+vein had been uncovered by the fatal blast, and that I was to be sure to
+work it for your sake and your mother's. Williams promised to tell me.
+I tried to get the nurse to go into court and swear to her statement, but
+she refused, and I found out afterward that Williams had bought her off.
+I went and looked at the tunnel; then he broke in, took samples, and, I
+believe, found them good. He locked the door with this lock, and since
+the day of the accident I have never seen inside. I have never wanted to.
+I don't know, but I have always been determined that he should not
+plunder your father's possessions. At the time of the accident he came
+into possession of all your father's papers. He let the assessments run
+out on the Cheyenne claim, and then jumped it for his own. Only last
+month he sold that claim to Beverly H. Pembroke for a consideration of
+eight thousand dollars.
+
+"He hates me, because he knows that one more move on his part and I'll
+place the matter in the hands of the law. I believe that he once hired an
+outlaw to kill me, but was unsuccessful. I can't prove it, but the facts
+look so. I have been afraid ever since I knew you were here that your
+mother, as the rightful heir to the property, would play into his hands.
+I feared he would offer to sell her share of this mine for her and, in
+reality, buy it himself. He could then, according to law, force me to
+sell my share or to buy his. If I refused to sell, he would ask a very
+large sum for his, and in that way force me to his bargain. His working
+the tunnel on the other side of the dyke this fall and winter is more to
+scare me into believing he will get the gold anyway, and that I may as
+well sell, than anything else. I have learned that they are having
+a great deal of trouble in their tunnel. It's very shaly and keeps caving
+from above. If he spent as much time and money caring for his sick wife
+as he has on this mine, she might have gotten well."
+
+Willis had been listening with breathless interest.
+
+"Go on," he begged. "Tell me all about everything, from the very
+beginning."
+
+"Lad, it's a long, long story. I'll do that later. Let's not talk any
+more about it now."
+
+"O, I must know about it. Don't stop. Tad, you can't possibly know what
+all this means to me." Tad rose and snapped the new lock in place on the
+door, while Old Ben cursed under his breath.
+
+"Of all the tarnal idiots," he was saying; "I never seed a man so sot in
+his ways. Tad, ain't ye even goin' to peek inside?"
+
+"No, Ben, not to-day. Perhaps some day," returned the old prospector,
+"and perhaps never."
+
+Willis jumped to his feet. "Not to-day, Tad? Not to-day? Do you mean you
+aren't going into the mine. Well, I am, even if you aren't. I don't leave
+this spot until I see the inside for myself. Give me the key. Ham and I
+will go in alone."
+
+"O, I wish you wouldn't. It's dangerous, and I am sure the story of the
+gold is only a notion. Your father was out of his mind when he died, and
+the gold he told about was just one of his dreams. I worked with him that
+day, and I saw no special signs of gold."
+
+"Yes, but that varmit, Williams, has seed signs," muttered Ben. "He went
+in an' brought out samples; he knows, an' you only think you do."
+
+Willis held out his hand for the key, and Ben urged him on. Tad looked
+far away over the snowy hills, then up the quiet valley, so peaceful in
+its white robes, and at last down to the little cabin below. There his
+gaze rested.
+
+"My, but it hardly seems fourteen years since I built that shanty," he
+said. "How happy I was then! Fourteen years brings strange things into a
+man's life. My boy, I hope you will never get the gold fever. Steer clear
+of it."
+
+"But Tad, I have it already," replied Willis, "and I am following where
+it leads me."
+
+Tad looked at him, and a strange, sad expression came to his face.
+
+"How much you talk like your father, and you're so like him, too! I'm
+sorry."
+
+He reached deep into his trousers' pocket, pulled out the key, then got
+slowly to his feet. Twice he changed his mind; but Willis persisted, and
+at last he yielded. The new lock opened easily, but not so the great log
+door. Its hinges were rusted from the storms of many seasons. As Willis
+pulled hard, the old hinges groaned, as if regretting that they were to
+be disturbed after so long a rest. As the door swung back, and the mouth
+of the tunnel was disclosed, Tad caught Willis by the arm and held him.
+"Wait, my boy," he said, "you must let the old place air out. Remember,
+it has been bottled up a long time. I'll wager a light won't even burn
+in there just now."
+
+"Have you a candle?" asked Willis, his tone betraying his excitement.
+
+"I'll get some," volunteered Ham, and off he started down the trail for
+the cabin.
+
+The tunnel was a round, irregular hole a little higher than a man's head,
+and in width it varied with the width of the dyke. The floor had been
+covered with rough-hewn planks to make the pushing of the loaded
+wheelbarrows easier. These old planks were black and wet, but still quite
+sound. As they stood, waiting for Ham to return, Tad told Willis
+something more of the early history of the mine:
+
+"You see, the dyke seems to follow an ancient crevice in the granite,
+which runs straight in for a hundred and fifty feet, then turns abruptly
+to the west. Here it widens out, and just at that point the strata shifts
+and is folded. We found a small quantity of quartz just there. The day of
+the accident I was replacing some of the floor planks near the entrance
+and your father was preparing to make a series of blasts on the new
+strata. I was to help him shoot them when he was ready. He was very
+pleased at the new outcropping of quartz, and was very anxious to open
+up the vein before we quit work for the day. The farther in you go, the
+more shaly the black rock seems to get, and in some places we were forced
+to roof the drift with mine props in order to keep the ceiling up. I was
+bending over, chopping the end of a plank, when I was violently knocked
+down. In falling I struck my head against the rough wall, cutting myself
+badly over the left eye. I struggled to my feet dazedly, the blood
+streaming down over my face. I had mined long enough to know just what
+had happened. In some way your father had prematurely set off his blast.
+I started toward him, but the heavy powder smoke drove me back. I dropped
+to my knees to get the air--it's always best near the floor--and in
+a moment a second explosion came. I snatched the jug of water and began
+crawling toward Bill on all fours. I called again and again, but no
+answer came. When I finally reached him I felt faint and sick. I found
+him nearly completely buried in a heap of stone. He was unconscious,
+and never spoke to me again. After two hours of tremendous effort, I was
+able to lift his poor, broken body in my arms and carry it out. I was
+thankful then that he was unconscious and could not feel the pain. By
+night I got him to the cabin, and at once set off for Ben's. We came
+back by lantern light that night, and led the old horse. We spent the
+rest of the night building a crude litter of poles and blankets, and as
+soon as it was light we fastened one end of the stretcher to the horse, a
+pole on either side of him, and each one of us carried a pole at the
+other end. It took an hour for us to get down to the canyon road. In
+twelve hours your father died. He regained consciousness just long enough
+to talk with Williams briefly. What he said at that time I have never
+been able to find out.
+
+"Then followed the awful years of lonesomeness for me, made worse by the
+always-present knowledge that I should have been the one to shoot those
+blasts and not your father. I wrote your mother fully concerning the
+accident, but never received a reply, so have had no word of you since
+that time. I've told you how your uncle tried to get possession of the
+mine. When I would not sell, he hounded my every step until at last I
+left the city and went to work for the D. & P.W. as fireman. I went
+through the city often, but very rarely stopped off. But it seems I came
+just often enough to keep your uncle too frightened to carry out his plan
+concerning the tunnel."
+
+Ham was returning up the trail now, and soon the candles were lighted.
+Tad took the lead, followed by Willis, Ham and Old Ben bringing up the
+rear. A little inside the entrance, and to one side, a small room had
+been cut in the solid granite for a store-room. Here were the tools of
+the mine--two wheelbarrows, several shovels and picks, a large lantern,
+and several boxes of powder. What had once been a heavy coil of hemp rope
+was now a very comfortable rat's nest. Several old stone drills had been
+driven into the crevices for hooks, and on them hung old burlap sacks, a
+coil of heavy wire, two old slouch hats, and a man's coat.
+
+Tad had bared his head as he entered. He slowly led the way down the
+narrow lane without a word. A little farther in they came to a very rusty
+ax, leaning against the wall, and Willis guessed that it had never been
+moved from where Tad had last used it. The large, blackened chips were
+scattered over the floor, and the great plank lay where he had last
+worked on it. Tad was very cautious now, trying the props overhead every
+few feet, to see if they were safe. Willis was walking as if in a dream;
+he was stepping very softly and his head was bowed. This was the very
+path his father had trod. He fancied he heard his cheery voice now, as he
+came and went with load after load of rock. He fancied how he must have
+felt as he worked day by day, ever surer of the fortune that was to be
+his. He found himself wondering how his life's course might have been
+changed if that golden dream had come true. The tunnel turned abruptly to
+the west, and Tad moved more cautiously still. Presently Tad halted and
+pointed to a heap of rock on the floor, "It was there, lad," he said very
+quietly, and that was all. Willis stooped and placed his hand on the
+place for a second. Tad noticed that his face was white and drawn and his
+eyes were very big. He let him stay for an instant, then took him gently
+by the arm and led him out.
+
+Old Ben made a hasty examination of the rocks on the floor, then of the
+exposed vein. He handed the candle to Ham, and, drawing from his pocket a
+heavy cold chisel, he carefully knocked off some choice pieces of the ore
+and placed them in his pocket, muttering to himself all the while. When
+he had satisfied himself, he turned, took the candle, and started out,
+motioning Ham to precede him.
+
+"Best gold quartz I've seed in many a year," he said softly, "only Tad
+will never believe it." Ham understood. Ahead of them, down the narrow
+black passage, they saw Tad's light disappear.
+
+"They have stepped into the tool-room, boy," said Ben, "an' every tarnal
+one o' them implements is nearly sacred to Tad. Let's not disturb 'em."
+He blew out his light and leaned against the wall of the tunnel, pulling
+Ham back with him.
+
+In a few minutes they were surprised to hear loud exclamations and the
+moving of the old iron wheelbarrows. Ahead they could see the light of
+the opening, so Old Ben started again toward the entrance.
+
+"Guess that memorial service must be all over, from the racket they're
+makin' with them tarnal carts," he said.
+
+When they reached Willis, they found him carefully going through the
+pockets of the musty old coat hanging upon the wall. The cloth had fairly
+rotted in the moisture. Tad was holding the treasures as Willis removed
+them from the pockets. To Tad's surprise, there was inside the coat an
+old vest. They were no doubt the clothes Mr. Thornton had worn the day
+of the accident. In one vest pocket was Bill's gold watch, in another a
+musty pocketbook and a badly worn note-book that had mildewed in the
+moisture. There were three letters in the outside coat pocket. Willis
+took one, moist and rotten as it was, from the envelope and noticed they
+were from his mother, and were probably the last ones she had written.
+Willis's hand shook violently and two great tears glistened in his eyes.
+In the other outside pocket was a strange tin tube, perhaps a foot in
+length, with a removable lid at either end. The tube was rusted red and
+the ends sealed tight with rust. Willis handed the tube to Tad, a
+question on his lips.
+
+"Thank God," Tad was saying to himself, "thank God, he didn't do it.
+I've often thought I'd kill him if he had."
+
+"If who had what?" questioned Willis.
+
+"Don't ask me, lad, not now--I'll tell you some time, perhaps. Come,
+let's go. This air is very bad, and I'm just a little sick." He linked
+his arm through Willis's, and together they walked out into the cold
+morning air. Ben and Ham followed. When they were outside, Tad swung the
+door shut and locked it. Then, with a note of triumph in his voice, he
+said:
+
+"There, Williams can have the place for all I care," and he held the
+queer tin tube in his hand before them.
+
+"Open it," urged Willis. Tad turned to him.
+
+"My boy, there has never been a day in the past half-dozen years that I
+have not wondered what became of that tin tube. Many times, after hours
+of reasoning, I have decided that your uncle stole that tube from your
+father's belongings. I have done the man an injustice. From my firm
+belief that he had taken the tube came my great dislike for him. You have
+never seen the contents of that can, lad, but your mother has. At one
+time they were very valuable, and I have no doubt that even now that can
+contains a small fortune for you--"
+
+"But--" interrupted Willis. Tad paid no attention to him, and went on:
+
+"The contents of that tube will place your father among the greatest of
+mining engineers and give his name the honor it has always been entitled
+to--"
+
+"But Tad--"
+
+"When your father conceived that idea it was impractical. He was too far
+ahead of the times. But to-day, lad, it means that every mine dump in the
+Cripple Creek region will be worked over again and the gold removed at a
+trifling expense, for in that tube are the blueprints of the greatest
+electrical ore-roasting machine in the world." He took his knife from his
+pocket and slowly and carefully pried off the rusty lid. The blue roll
+slid out into his hand. The moisture had not penetrated the can, and the
+sketches were as good as the day they were made. Willis took them in his
+hand and proudly turned them over and over, then he placed them again in
+the can with the remark, "Tad, these things all belong to mother. I
+wonder what she'll say?"
+
+Tad broke into a pleased little laugh, and the old smile that had made
+him so many friends in the years gone by came back to his grizzled face.
+
+"Lad, you're rich to-day, and I am better satisfied. Those plans will
+bring you and your mother a goodly sum. It lifts a great burden from a
+poor, worthless prospector's mind." Willis did not know the true meaning
+of the words, but Old Ben did, and it was now his turn to talk.
+
+"Tad, I've knowed ye for a tarnal lot o' years, hain't I? An', Tad, they
+ain't a soul on earth as would do fer ye as me. I've lived a life myself,
+Tad, an' I ain't so big a fool as ye are about some things." Ben pulled a
+piece of the ore from his pocket and held it up for inspection. "Tad,
+there's a twenty-inch vein of that rock in yonder, an' finer gold quartz
+ye never seed in all yer days." He turned to Willis: "Boy, ye'r tarnal
+lucky. Them plans may be valuable, but I have my doubts about it; but
+it's certain that that mine is valuable. Jist how much gold they is
+there, I don't know, but they is lots of it. Two or three more weeks an'
+Williams would have struck it from the other side. Now listen, lad: sell
+out, do you hear me, sell out. It'll bring a handsome price on assay; but
+sell now, or Williams--" and his voice dropped to a mysterious whisper
+and he looked suspiciously about him, "or Williams will get the best of
+ye yet."
+
+After more talk and discussion, the whole party went down to the cabin,
+and Ham prepared a special supper. After the meal was over, all sat and
+talked before the fireplace, and the entire story was gone over again in
+detail. Towards late afternoon they began the down trip through the
+canyon.
+
+At the inn Tad promised to come the next day to the city to meet Mrs.
+Thornton. Together they would confer about the newly-discovered facts.
+
+"Don't wait too tarnal long to sell, boy, or something will happen. Tad's
+unlucky. Sell if ye can, an' I'd make that tarnal critter, Williams, buy
+the whole business, if I was you."
+
+Tad and Willis stood some time talking, Willis then took the plans and
+the other things that had been in his father's coat, and started home.
+They walked in silence for some time, then Willis spoke:
+
+"O, Ham, I'm so happy to-day, and still--" He paused and the smile faded
+from his face. "Still, why should I be happy? Do these plans and that
+gold mine up there give me back my dear old dad?"
+
+"Not really," replied Ham, "but perhaps those things he left you will
+make it possible for you to accomplish in this world the things he had
+hoped to do, and perhaps better things." The little smile came back again
+to Willis's face.
+
+"Ham, you're really a philosopher. I'll do my very best, I'll tell you
+that. Now, let's hurry."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+In Which Fate Takes a Hand
+
+
+Four days later Tad and Ben sat before the log-fire at the inn talking
+over plans for the future development of the mine in Buffalo Park. Tad
+was telling Ben of his visit with Mrs. Thornton and what her wishes were
+in regard to the matter. It seemed that Mr. Williams was out of the city
+and had been gone for several days. Just where he was no one seemed to
+know, but as he had taken several such trips since the death of his wife,
+Mrs. Thornton did not think much of it. It had been decided that they
+would wait until Mr. Williams returned, at which time he would be given
+the opportunity to buy the entire mine at a fair price. But if he did not
+care to buy, the property was to be turned over to Tad for disposal or
+development, as he saw fit.
+
+The cold weather had continued, and there had been no visitors at the inn
+for nearly a week. Tad and Ben were making some crude tests before the
+fire with the pieces of gold quartz Ben had brought from the tunnel. They
+were just in the middle of their crude assay when suddenly there was a
+loud knock on the outside door, accompanied by a series of low growls
+from Ben's dog. The door was unceremoniously thrown open and a very much
+excited man stepped in. He made no apologies, but went directly to the
+point. He spoke between great breaths, and had evidently come from some
+distance at a good speed. He was completely exhausted, and as he spoke
+his eyes wandered aimlessly about the room.
+
+"We've a devil of a mess," he panted. "I don't know how many hurt, but
+some of 'em are broken all to pieces. Come right away and bring what
+bandages you have. O, it's a devil of a mess."
+
+Old Ben looked at the stranger bewilderedly. Tad jumped to his feet,
+alert in a second. "Devil of a mess where, man? What's wrong? Who's
+hurt?" The stranger's voice failed him, and all he could do was to point
+his finger in the direction of the canyon and make signs for them to
+hurry. Ben pushed him into a chair by the fire, and in a little while
+they had his story:
+
+The new tunnel on the old Iron Dyke had caved in without a moment's
+notice. There were seven men locked in by a wall of fallen rock. Whether
+they had been crushed or not was hard to tell. The stranger had not been
+in the tunnel at the time of the accident, but had gone to the stream for
+water. Upon returning, he discovered the cave-in. He had come at once
+for help, realizing that a single man would be useless at the mine.
+
+In a short time the three had the old horse packed and were on the trail.
+The snow was deep and progress slow. As they walked up the trail the
+stranger described the appearance of the fallen rock as best he could. He
+told them that they had been working the tunnel as fast as possible and
+that they had not been as careful as they should have been about propping
+the ceiling. He said they had struck considerable water, and that the
+black rock seemed to have been previously loosened by some great force,
+for it was cracked in every direction. They had been spending the day
+putting in temporary props, and the boss had been there superintending
+the job. He had been urging the men on harder every day, as he seemed so
+anxious to get the tunnel in to a certain point with the least possible
+delay. The boss had in mind something very definite, however, for he
+often referred to a certain sketch which he always carried in his pocket
+book. The miner declared he had seen the boss make calculations many
+times, after he had measured the depth of the tunnel.
+
+"Yes, the boss was in the mine, too--had been there all day. It might be
+that he is dead this moment, for all I know," said the stranger. From his
+description of the boss, Tad guessed that it was no other than Mr.
+Williams himself.
+
+When the mine was reached, operations were at once commenced to remove
+the fallen stones. Tad took command, and several times he thought he
+heard the sound of hammering from the other side--but, perhaps, after all
+it was only an echo. After a careful examination, it was decided that all
+the loose rock had fallen, and that to remove it was not dangerous. They
+began work at the top in order to make a hole big enough to reach the
+men. They had not worked long when they heard sounds from the other side.
+They were not all dead at least, and if they could but get to them before
+they suffocated all would be well. The imprisoned miners evidently
+understood the plan of action, for the sounds from the other side
+indicated that they, too, were working at the top of the wall. By night a
+small opening was made and messages exchanged. There were seven men
+inside--one dead, two very badly hurt, and the others bruised and cut,
+but able to help themselves. Water and hot food were passed to them,
+then the work of rescue was taken up in earnest. Mr. Williams had a
+fractured leg and was unconscious, but was still living. Instead of
+rushing to the solid wall end of the tunnel, where he would have been
+comparatively safe, at the first sign of danger he had rushed toward the
+entrance with one other man, and had been struck down by the falling
+stone. If he had started out thirty seconds sooner, he would have been
+crushed to death, as his companion was.
+
+Late that night a large enough hole had been made to move the wounded men
+out. Tad was the first to enter, and the first man to be brought out was
+Williams. Tad picked him up in his great strong arms and tenderly carried
+him to the cabin. By midnight the broken leg was dressed and the cuts and
+bruises bandaged. Tad proved as good a nurse as he was a miner. As he
+worked over Williams a great pity filled his heart, for Tad knew only too
+well that he had been anything but a happy man.
+
+The tunnel had been driven very rapidly without proper trussing, and it
+seemed to Tad that the entire dyke must have been shaken by the blasts
+that had caused Mr. Thornton's death years before. Without a second's
+notice the shaly rock had given a little, then caved in. It seemed a
+strange turn of fate to Tad that the same blast that had taken away his
+partner many years ago had now probably taken away his only enemy. With
+these thoughts came an intense hatred for the mine and a tender pity for
+the man that had so wronged him. Tad had put his body to a tremendous
+test, and every nerve and every muscle was fairly tingling, so he drew up
+a chair to the bedside and rested. In a little while Mr. Williams became
+conscious, but on recognizing Tad at his bedside he slipped back again
+into unconsciousness, muttering strange, broken apologies and begging for
+mercy. Tad thanked God as he sat there that night that he had never
+harmed a brother man willfully and that his life had always been, at
+least to the best of his ability, on the square.
+
+Then he began to think rapidly. Perhaps Williams was near the end. He
+feared the bad cut on his head might prove fatal. What if he should die
+and have no chance to talk, no chance to square himself with those that
+he had wronged? Accordingly he made him as comfortable as he could, and
+after telling Ben his plan, he hurriedly ate a little food, went out
+into the night and down the trail.
+
+Willis was awakened early in the morning by a furious pounding on the
+door. He rose and hurried down. Tad fairly tumbled into the room. He
+informed Willis just what had happened, and told him to get ready to go
+with him at once. A doctor was called, a cab ordered, and in a little
+while the three were hastening back toward Bruin Inn. With all their
+speed, however, the morning was well-spent before they reached the little
+shanty again. The doctor made a careful examination and declared Williams
+in a very critical condition. The broken leg was reset, the cuts dressed
+and sewed up. Then began the preparations to remove him out of the
+mountains to a hospital. It seemed very strange to Tad to be again
+building a crude stretcher from aspen poles and blankets, but by night
+they had placed him in the hospital and he was sleeping.
+
+It was a long night of strange thoughts and fancies for Willis as he sat
+by his uncle's bedside. He was too bewildered by all the strange events
+of the last fortnight to be able to think logically. His admiration for
+Tad had grown until it knew no bounds, and his pity for his uncle had
+increased until all the hardness had disappeared from his heart and he
+was sorry for him. He hoped with all his might that he would yet live.
+
+In the early morning Willis was awakened by his uncle's hand being placed
+on his. The injured man was looking up into his face. He closed his eyes
+again and was silent a long while. When he opened them again he spoke
+falteringly:
+
+"I'm very sorry, son," he began. "I've been wrong, so wrong all along the
+way. I've never been square. I have fought the Fates every day of my
+life, and now I'm whipped." He smiled a little, weak smile. "What a fool
+a man is," he continued. "Willis, I'm going to slip off very soon, now,
+and I have so much I want to say to you." He half arose. "Are we alone?"
+Willis told him that they were, but urged him not to talk. He was
+determined.
+
+"I have played a desperate game, and I have lost. I'm sorry for my
+mistakes. I have wronged Tad and you the most, for I have wanted your
+father's mine. I was jealous of your father's favor. Now I know I did not
+deserve it. I got your mother's reply to Tad's letter long ago. It was
+sent in my care, and I read it. It decided me, for it all looked so easy.
+There's money in the mine, son, and Tad is here somewhere. He will tell
+you all. Tell him for me that I am sorry." He closed his eyes, and in a
+moment was gone.
+
+Willis hurried home to his mother, and together they held a long
+conference, and many things were accounted for.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was at the little cabin that Willis found his greatest pleasure, and
+already Ham and himself were planning a new and more pretentious Lodge to
+take the place of Buffalo Roost, for the next Buffalo Roost was to be a
+memorial camp built in honor of Tad Kieser, gentleman, and Mr. William
+Thornton.
+
+Willis had found the cabin, and the cabin with its stanch, good
+friendships, the healthful work together, and the unselfish leadership of
+the right sort of men, had helped him find his best self in thoughtful
+service for others. Surely no better thing ever comes to the life of a
+boy.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUFFALO ROOST***
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