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diff --git a/43989-0.txt b/43989-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..853f938 --- /dev/null +++ b/43989-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7753 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43989 *** + +THE TRAIL OF THE BADGER + +[Illustration: "DICK PUSHED HIS RIFLE-BARREL THROUGH A CREVICE IN THE +ROCKS."] + + + + +The Trail of The Badger + +_A STORY OF THE COLORADO BORDER THIRTY YEARS AGO_ + +BY +SIDFORD F. HAMP + +_Author of "Dale and Fraser, Sheepmen," +"The Boys of Crawford's Basin," etc._ + + +ILLUSTRATED BY +CHASE EMERSON + +[Illustration: logo] + +W. A. WILDE COMPANY +BOSTON CHICAGO + + +_Copyrighted, 1908_ BY W. A. WILDE COMPANY _All rights reserved_ + + + + +THE TRAIL OF THE BADGER + + + + +PREFACE + + +In writing the adventures of the boys who followed "The Trail of the +Badger" down into that part of Colorado where the fringes of two +discordant civilizations overlapped each other--the strenuous +Anglo-Saxon and the easygoing Mexican--the author has endeavored to show +how two healthy, enterprising young fellows were able to do their little +part in that great work of Desert Reclamation whose importance is now as +well understood by the general public as it always has been by those +whose lot has been cast to the west of meridian one hundred and five. + +To some it may appear that the boys are ahead of their time, but to the +author, whose introduction to "the arid region" dates back thirty years +and more, remembering the conditions then prevailing, it seems no more +than natural that they should recognize the unusual opportunity +presented to them of making a career for themselves, and even that they +should be dimly conscious of the fact that if they "could make two ears +of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where +only one grew before" they would be deserving well of the infant +community of which they formed a part. + +That in making this attempt they would meet with adventures--in fact, +that they could hardly avoid them--the author, recalling his own +experiences in that country at that time, feels well assured. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. DICK STANLEY 11 + + II. SHEEP AND CINNAMON 32 + + III. THE MESCALERO VALLEY 51 + + IV. RACING THE STORM 68 + + V. HOW DICK BROUGHT THE NEWS 87 + + VI. THE PROFESSOR'S STORY 102 + + VII. DICK'S DIPLOMACY 116 + + VIII. THE START 129 + + IX. ANTONIO MARTINEZ 147 + + X. THE PADRON 165 + + XI. THE SPANISH TRAIL 179 + + XII. THE BADGER 191 + + XIII. THE KING PHILIP MINE 203 + + XIV. A CHANGE OF PLAN 221 + + XV. DICK'S SNAP SHOT 241 + + XVI. THE OLD PUEBLO HEAD-GATE 259 + + XVII. THE BRIDGE 276 + +XVIII. THE BIG FLUME 294 + + XIX. PEDRO'S BOLD STROKE 313 + + XX. THE MEMORABLE TWENTY-NINTH 333 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"Dick pushed his rifle-barrel through a crevice in +the rocks" (_Frontispiece_) 42 + +"It was a splendid chance; nobody could ask for a +better target" 57 + +"Passing on our way through the town of Mosby" 137 + +"Behind him, stood the squat figure of Pedro Sanchez" 213 + +"I could not think what he was doing it for" 286 + + + + +The Trail of the Badger + + + + +CHAPTER I + +DICK STANLEY + + +"Look out! Look out! Behind you, man! Behind you! Jump quick, or he'll +get you!" + +It was a boy, a tall, spare, wiry young fellow of sixteen, who shouted +this warning, his voice, in its frantic urgency, rising almost to a +shriek at the end; and it was another boy, also tall, spare and wiry, to +whom the warning was shouted. The latter turned to look behind him, and +for one brief instant his whole body stiffened with fear--his very hair +stood on end. Nor is this a mere figure of speech: the boy's hair did +actually stand on end: he could feel it "creep" against the crown of his +hat. _I know_--for I was the boy! + +That I had good reason to be "scared stiff" I think any other boy will +admit, for, not thirty feet below me, coming quickly and silently up +the rocks, his little gleaming eyes fixed intently upon me, was a grim +old cinnamon bear, an animal which, though less dangerous than his big +cousin, the grizzly, is quite dangerous enough when he is thoroughly in +earnest. + +But for my companion's warning shout the bear would surely have caught +me, and my story would have come to an end at the very beginning of the +first chapter. + +It was certainly an awkward situation, about as awkward, I should think, +as any boy ever got himself into; and how I, Frank Preston, lately a +schoolboy in St. Louis, happened to find myself on a spur of Mescalero +Mountain, in Colorado, with a cinnamon bear charging up the rocks within +a few feet of me, needs a word of explanation. + +I will therefore go back a few steps in order to give myself space for a +preliminary run before jumping head-first into my story, and will tell +not only how I came to be there, but will relate also the curious +incident which first brought me into contact with my future friend, Dick +Stanley; an incident which, while it served as an introduction, at the +same time gave me some idea of the resourcefulness and promptness of +action with which his very peculiar training had endowed him. + +It was in the last week of October, 1877, that I was seated one evening +in my room in St. Louis, very busy preparing my studies for next day, +when the door opened suddenly and in walked my Uncle Tom. + +When, at the age of seven, I had been left an orphan, Uncle Tom, my +mother's brother, though himself a bachelor, had taken charge of me, and +with him I had lived ever since. He and I, I am glad to say, were the +best of friends--regular chums--for, though twenty years my senior, he +seemed in some respects to be as young as myself, and our relations were +more like those of elder and younger brother than of uncle and nephew. + +Uncle Tom was rather short and rather fat, and he was moreover one of +the jolliest of men, being blessed with a disposition which prompted him +always to see the bright side of things, no matter how dark and +threatening they might look. Having at a very early age been pitched out +into the world to "fend for himself," and having by square dealing and +hard work done remarkably well, he had imbibed the idea that +book-learning as a means of getting on in the world was somewhat +overrated; an idea which, right or wrong--and I think myself that Uncle +Tom carried it rather too far--was to have a decided effect in shaping +my own career. + +As it was against the rule, laid down by Uncle Tom himself, for any one +to disturb me at my studies, I naturally looked up from my books to +ascertain the cause of the intrusion, when, with a cigar in his mouth +and his hands in his pockets, he came bulging in, half filling the +little room. + +That there was something unusual in the wind I felt sure, and my +guardian's first act went far to confirm my suspicion, for, removing one +hand from his pocket, he quietly reached forward and with his finger +tilted my book shut. + +"Put 'em away," said he. "You won't need them for a month or more." + +As the fall term of school was then in full swing, this declaration was +a good deal of a surprise to me, as any one will suppose, and doubtless +I showed as much in my face. + +"I have a scheme in my head, Frank," said he, with a knowing wag of that +member, in reply to my look of inquiry. + +"I know _that_," I replied, laughing; for there never was a moment when +Uncle Tom had not a scheme in his head of one sort or another. + +"You spider-legged young reptile!" cried he, with perfect good humor, +but at the same time shaking a threatening finger at me. "Don't you dare +to laugh at my schemes; especially this one. For this is a brand-new +idea, and a very important one--to you. I'm leaving to-morrow night for +Colorado." + +"Are you?" I cried, a good deal surprised by this sudden announcement. +"When did you decide upon that?" + +"To-day. I got a letter this afternoon from my friend, Sam Warren, the +assayer, written from Mosby--if you know where that is." + +I shook my head. + +"I didn't suppose you did," remarked Uncle Tom. "It is a new mining camp +on one of the spurs of Mescalero Mountain in Colorado, and in the +opinion of Sam Warren--my old schoolmate, you know--it has a great +future before it. So he has written me that if I have the time to spare +I had better come out and take a look at it." + +Uncle Tom's business was that of a mining promoter, the middle man +between the prospector and the capitalist, a business in which his +ability and his honorable methods had gained for him an enviable +reputation. + +"So you have decided to go out, have you?" said I. + +"Yes," he replied. "I leave to-morrow evening--and you are coming with +me." + +As may be imagined, I opened my eyes pretty widely at this unfolding of +the "brand-new idea." + +"What do you mean?" I asked. + +"Look here, Frank, old chap," said he, seating himself on the edge of +the table and becoming confidential. "You've stuck to your books very +well--if anything, too well. Now, I've had my eye on you ever since the +hot weather last summer, and it strikes me you need a change--you are +too pale and altogether too thin." + +Being fat and "comfortable" himself, Uncle Tom was disposed to regard +with pity any one, like myself, whose framework showed through its +covering. + +"But----" I began; when Uncle Tom headed me off. + +"Now you be quiet," said he, "and let me finish. I've had some such idea +brewing in my head for some time; it isn't a sudden freak, as you +imagine. I've considered the matter carefully, and I've come to the +conclusion that you'll lose nothing by the move. In fact, what you will +lose by missing a month or so of schooling will be more than made up to +you by the eye-opener you will get in making this expedition." + +"How so?" I asked. + +"You will make the acquaintance of a young State just learning to walk +alone--for, as you know, it was only last year that Colorado came into +the Union; you will see a new mining camp, and rub up against the men, +good, bad and indifferent, who go to make up the community of a frontier +town; and more than that, you will get at first hand, what you never +could get by sitting here and reading about it, a correct idea of the +country traversed by the explorers--Pike, Frémont and the rest of them. + +"I am honestly of opinion, Frank," he went on, seriously, "that this is +an opportunity not to be neglected. At the same time, old fellow, as it +is your education and not mine that is under discussion, I consider that +you have a right to a voice in the matter; so I'll leave you to think it +over, and to-morrow at breakfast you can tell me whether you are coming +or not." + +With that, Uncle Tom slipped down from the table, walked out and shut +the door behind him. That was his way: he was always as sudden as a clap +of thunder. + +Anybody will guess that my books did not receive much more attention +that evening. For an hour I paced up and down the room, considering +Uncle Tom's proposition. It was true that I did feel pulled down by the +effects of the hot weather, combined with a pretty close application to +my books, and I had no doubt that the expedition proposed would do me a +world of good; though whether my education would be benefited in like +manner I was not so sure as Uncle Tom seemed to be. + +But though I did my best honestly to consider the question in all its +aspects, there can be little doubt that my inclinations--whether I was +aware of it or not--colored my judgment, so that my final decision was +just what might have been expected in any active boy of sixteen. As the +clock struck ten I ran down-stairs and informed Uncle Tom that I was +going with him. + +It is not necessary to go into all the details of our journey, though to +me, who had never before been a hundred miles from home, everything was +new and everything was interesting. It is enough to say that, leaving +the train at the foot of the mountains--for the railroad then went no +further--we engaged places in the mail-carrier's open buckboard, and +after a very rough and very tiring drive of a day and a half we at last +reached our destination and were set down at the door of a house outside +which hung a "shingle" bearing the legend, "Samuel Warren, Assayer and +U. S. Dep. Min. Surveyor." + +It will be remembered that one of Uncle Tom's reasons for breaking into +my school term was that I should rub up against the citizens comprising +a frontier settlement. He could hardly have contemplated, however, that +I should come in contact with quite so many of them quite so early in +the day as I did. + +We had hardly sat down to the refreshments spread before us by our +host--a big, bearded man, clad in a suit of brown canvas--when we, in +common with the rest of the community, were startled by the sudden +shriek of a woman in distress. To rush to the door was the work of a +moment, when, the first thing we caught sight of was a man, clad only in +his nightshirt, running like a madman up the street, while far behind +him, and losing ground at every step, ran a woman, calling out with all +the breath she had to spare--which was not much--"Stop him! Stop him!" + +"It's Tim Donovan!" shouted the assayer. "He's sick with the +mountain-fever! He's crazy! Head him off! Head him off! The poor chap +will die of exposure!" + +Warren's house was near the upper end of the street, and just as we +three jumped down the porch steps, the demented fugitive passed the +door, going like the wind. At once we set off in pursuit, while behind +us came all the rest of the population and most of the dogs, by this +time roused to action by the cries of the sick man's wife. + +Nobody knows until he has tried it how hard it is to run up-hill at an +elevation of nine thousand feet, especially to one unaccustomed to such +altitudes. Uncle Tom, who was not built for such exercise, fell out in +the first fifty yards, while, of the others, the short-winded barroom +loafers--of whom, as is always the case in a new camp, there were more +than enough--gave out even more quickly, their habits of life being a +fatal handicap in a foot-race. One by one, nearly all the rest came down +to a walk, until presently the only ones left with any run in them were +Jake Peters and Oscar Swansen, both timber-cutters from the hills, +Aleck Smith, a wiry little teamster, and myself. + +As for me, having the advantage of a good start over everybody else, +being only sixteen years old, and having a reputation at school as a +long-distance runner, it seemed as though I ought to be able to catch +the unfortunate fugitive, who, having run a quarter of a mile already, +should by this time be out of breath. + +Indeed, I believe I should have caught him at the first dash had he not +resorted to tactics which made me chary of coming near him. Not more +than thirty yards separated us and I was gaining steadily, when he, +barefooted himself and making no noise, hearing the clatter of my shoes +behind him, suddenly stopped, picked up a stone and hurled it at me. It +would have taken me square in the chest had I not jumped aside; when, +finding that the man was really dangerous, and knowing very well that I +should have no chance whatever in a personal struggle with him--for he +was a stout young Irish miner with a fore-arm like a leg of mutton--I +contented myself with trotting behind and keeping him in sight; trusting +to the able-bodied men following me to do the tackling when the +opportunity should arise. + +The town of Mosby consisted of one steep street about half a mile long +and two houses thick; for it was situated in a valley, or, rather, in a +gorge, so narrow that there was no room for it to spread except at the +two ends. In truth, there was no room for it to grow except southward, +for at the upper, or northern, end the mountains came together, forming +an inaccessible cañon through which rushed the little stream of ice-cold +water coming down from Mescalero. + +From the lower end of this cañon the stream fell perpendicularly into a +great hole in the rocks--a sort of natural chimney, or well, about sixty +feet deep. The down-stream side of this "chimney" was split from top to +bottom, and through the narrow crack, only four or five feet wide, the +water leaped foaming down in a series of miniature cascades. The only +way of getting into this deep pit was by taking to the water, scrambling +up the steep, step-like bed of the stream and passing through the crack, +when, once inside, a man might defy the world to come and get him out. + +This was exactly what Tim Donovan did. Seeing that he could follow the +stream no further, I was wondering whether he would take to the +mountain on the right or the one on the left, when he suddenly jumped +into the water, ran up the smooth, wet "steps," and disappeared from +sight through the crevice. In ten seconds, however, he showed himself +again. He had found in the driftwood a ragged branch of a pine tree +about three feet long, and with this in one hand and a ten-pound stone +in the other he stood at bay, regardless of the icy water which poured +over his feet, or of the spray from the fall behind him, which in half a +minute had wet his thin single garment through and through. + +It was an impregnable stronghold. No one could get in from the rear, and +the place could not be rushed from the front--the ascent was too steep +and slippery and the entrance too narrow. If Tim were determined to stay +there and perish with cold, it appeared to me that nobody could do +anything to prevent him. + +One by one the pursuers joined me before the entrance, when Mrs. +Donovan, who was among the last to arrive, advanced as near as she could +without getting into the water, and besought her errant husband to come +down. + +But Tim was deaf to entreaty; all the blandishments of his anxious wife +were without effect, and if she could not get him to come down it +appeared as though nobody could. + +Tim, though, was a popular young fellow, and it was not in the nature of +a Colorado miner, or of an Irishman either--for they hold together like +burrs in a horse's tail--to desert a comrade in distress. So, Mrs. +Donovan having failed, there stepped to the front a short, thick-set, +red-haired man, Mike O'Brien by name, Tim's partner and particular +crony, who, talking pleasantly and naturally to him, as though his +friend were quite sane and rational, stepped into the water and waded +carefully up the steep slope. + +"How are ye, Tim, me boy?" said he, with off-hand cordiality. "It's glad +I am to see ye out again. It's me birthday to-day, Tim; I'm having a bit +of a supper at home an' I come up to ask ye----" + +Whack! came the stone from Tim's hand, breaking to pieces against the +rocky wall within an inch of Mike's head. The invitation was declined. + +Mike himself, in his effort to dodge the missile, missed his footing, +fell on his back, and in a series of dislocating bumps was swept down +the "steps" to the starting place, wet, as he declared, right through to +his bones. + +Up to this time the demented man had kept silence, but on seeing Mike +go tumbling down-stream, he shook his fist after him and cried out: + +"Come back and try again, ye devouring baste! Come on, the whole pack of +yez! Don't stand there howling, ye cowardly curs; come up and get me +out--if ye dare!" + +"I believe he thinks we are a pack of wolves," said Mr. Warren. + +"That's it, Mr. Warren, sir," exclaimed Mrs. Donovan, turning to the +assayer. "That's it, entirely. He heard a wolf howl last night, and it +was hard wor-rk I had to kape him from jumping out of his bed and +running off right thin. He thinks it's a pack of them that's hunting +him." + +"Poor fellow! No wonder he refuses to come down. What are we going to +do? We _must_ get him out." + +Then ensued an eager debate, in which everybody took a share except +Uncle Tom and myself, who, standing a little apart from the rest on the +sloping bank of the stream, were listening and looking on, when some one +touched me on my arm, and a boyish voice said: + +"What's the matter? What's it all about?" + +Turning round, I saw before me a tall young fellow about my own age, +with reddish hair, very keen gray eyes and a much-freckled face, +carrying in one hand an old-fashioned, muzzle-loading rifle, nearly as +long as himself, and in the other three grouse which he appeared to have +shot. + +Wondering who the boy might be, I explained the situation, when he +cried: + +"What! Tim Donovan! Why he'll die if he's left in there. Poor chap! We +must get him out." + +"Yes," said Uncle Tom. "That's just it. But how? The man won't be +persuaded to come out, and no one can get in to drag him out--so what's +to be done?" + +The young fellow stood for a minute thinking, and then, suddenly lifting +his head, he exclaimed, with a half laugh: + +"I know! I know what we can do! He can't be persuaded out or dragged +out, but he can be driven out." + +"How?" asked Uncle Tom. + +"If you'll come with me," replied the boy, "I'll show you in two +minutes." + +So saying, he jumped across the creek and set off straight up the almost +perpendicular side of the mountain, we two following. Uncle Tom, +however, finding the climb too steep for him, very soon turned back +again, so we two boys went on alone. + +About three hundred feet up my companion stopped, and it was well for me +he did, for I could hardly have gone another step, so desperately out of +breath was I. + +"Not used to it, are you?" said the boy, who himself seemed to be quite +unaffected. "Well, we don't have to go any higher, fortunately. Look +over there. Do you see that stubby pine tree growing out of the rocks +and overhanging the waterfall?" + +"Yes, I see it," I replied. "And what's that big round thing hanging to +it?" + +"A wasps' nest." + +"A wasps' nest?" + +"A wasps' nest," repeated my new acquaintance with peculiar emphasis and +with a twinkle in his eye. + +"Ah!" I exclaimed, suddenly enlightened. "I see your little game. Good! +You propose to knock down the wasps' nest into the 'well,' and then poor +Tim will just have to vacate." + +"That's my idea." + +"Great idea, too. But, look here! Are the wasps alive at this time of +year?" + +"They are this year. We've had such a wonderfully warm season that they +are just as brisk as ever." + +"Well, but there's another thing: how are you going to do it? You can't +get at it: the rocks are too straight-up-and-down; and you can't come +near enough to knock it off with a stone. How are you going to do it?" + +The young fellow smiled and patted the stock of his gun. + +"Shoot it down!" I exclaimed. "Do you think you can? It won't be any use +plugging it full of holes, you know; you'll have to nip off the little +twig it hangs on. Can you do that?" + +"I think I can." + +"All right, then, fire away and let's see." + +I must confess I felt doubtful. The boy did not look nor talk like a +braggart, but nevertheless, to cut with a bullet the slim little branch, +no bigger than a lead-pencil, upon which the nest hung suspended looked +to me like a pretty ticklish shot. + +My companion, however, seemed confident. Cocking his gun, he kneeled +down, and using a big rock as a rest he took careful aim and fired. + +It was a perfect shot. The big ball of gray "paper" dropped like a +plumb, struck the rim of the "well," burst open, and emptied upon the +head of the unfortunate Tim about a bucketful of venomous little +yellow-jackets, each and every one of them quivering with rage, and each +and every one bent on taking vengeance on somebody. + +The people below were still debating how to get the sick man out of his +fortress, when the sound of the rifle-shot caused them all to look up; +but only for an instant, for the echoes had not yet died away, when, +with a startling yell, out came Tim, frantically waving his club above +his head, seemingly more crazy than ever. Supposing that he was making a +dash for liberty, half a dozen of his particular friends flung +themselves upon him, and down they all went in a heap together. + +But this arrangement was of the briefest. In another moment, with +shrieks and yells and whirling arms, the whole population went charging +down the street, Uncle Tom in the lead, running--breath or no breath--as +he had never run before. + +Never was there a more complete victory: besiegers and besieged flying +in one general rout before the assaults of the new enemy. And never did +I laugh so extravagantly as I did then, to see the enraged +yellow-jackets "take it out" on an unoffending community, while the real +culprits were all the time sitting safely perched on the mountainside +looking down on the rumpus. + +"Well, we got him out all right," remarked my companion, as he calmly +reloaded his rifle. "I thought we could. You're a newcomer, aren't you? +My name's Dick Stanley; I live up-stream, just at the head of the cañon. +Are you expecting to make a long stay?" + +"Two or three weeks, I think," I replied. "My uncle, Mr. Tom Allen, is +here to inspect the mines, and he brought me with him. We come from St. +Louis. My name's Frank Preston. We're staying at Mr. Warren's house." + +"Well, come up to our house some day. It is in a little clearing just at +the head of the cañon--you can't miss it--and we'll go off for a day's +grouse-shooting up into the mountains if you like." + +"All right, I will. That would just suit me. To-morrow?" + +"Yes, come up to-morrow, if you like. I'll be on the lookout for you. I +suppose you are going home now," he continued, as we rose to our feet. +"If I were you, I'd keep up here on the side of the mountain--the street +will be full of yellow-jackets--and then, when you come opposite the +assayer's house, make a bolt for his back door, or some of them may get +you yet." + +"That's a good idea. I'll do it. Well, good-bye. I'll come up to-morrow +then, if I can." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SHEEP AND CINNAMON + + +"That was the funniest thing I ever saw," exclaimed Uncle Tom, laughing +in spite of himself, while at the same time, with a comically rueful +twist of his countenance, he rubbed the back of his neck where one of +the wasps had "got" him. "The way poor Tim bolted out of his stronghold +after defying the whole population to come and get him out, was the very +funniest thing I ever did see. That was a smart trick of that young +rascal; though I wish he had given me notice beforehand of what he +intended to do. I'd have started to run a good five minutes earlier if +I'd known what was coming. Who is the boy, Warren?" + +"Well, that is not easy to say," replied our host, "for, as a matter of +fact, he does not know himself. His history, what there is of it, is a +peculiar one. He lives up here at the head of the cañon with an old +German named Bergen--commonly known as the Professor--and his Mexican +servant, a man of forty whom the professor brought up with him from +Albuquerque, I believe. If Frank's object in coming here was to rub up +against all sorts and conditions of men, he could hardly have chosen a +better place. Certainly he cannot expect to find a more remarkable +character than the professor. + +"The old fellow is regarded by the people here as a harmless +lunatic--which, in a community like this, where muscle is at a premium +and scientific attainments at a discount, is not to be wondered at--for +it is incomprehensible to them that any man in his right mind should +spend his life as the professor spends his. + +"The old gentleman is an enthusiastic naturalist. He is making a +collection of the butterflies, beetles and such things, of the Rocky +Mountain region, and with true German thoroughness he has spent years in +the pursuit. Choosing some promising spot, he builds a log cabin, and +there he stays one year--or two if necessary--until that district is +'fished out,' as you may say, when he packs up and moves somewhere else, +to do the same thing over again." + +"Well, that is certainly a queer character to come across," was Uncle +Tom's comment. "But how about the boy, Sam? How does he happen to be in +such company?" + +"Why, about twelve or thirteen years ago, old Bergen was 'doing' the +country somewhere northwest of Santa Fé, when he made a very strange +discovery. It was a bad piece of country for snowslides, which were +frequent and dangerous in the spring, and one day, being anxious to get +to a particular point quickly, the professor was crossing the tail of a +new slide--a risky thing to do--as being the shortest cut, when his +attention was attracted by some strange object lodged half way up the +great bank of snow. Climbing up to it, he found to his astonishment that +the strange object was a wagon-bed, while, to his infinitely greater +astonishment, inside it on a mattress, fast asleep, was a three-year-old +boy--young Dick!" + +"That was an astonisher, sure enough!" exclaimed I, who had been an +eager listener. "And was that all the professor found?" + +"That was all. The running-gear of the wagon had vanished; the horses +had vanished; and the boy's parents or guardians had vanished--all +buried, undoubtedly, under the snow." + +"And what did the professor do?" + +"The only thing he could do: took the boy with him--and a fortunate +thing it was for young Dick that the old gentleman happened to find +him. But though he inquired of everybody he came across--they were not +many, for white folks were scarce in those parts then--the professor +could learn nothing of the party; so, not knowing what else to do, he +just carried off the youngster with him, and with him Dick has been ever +since." + +"That's a queer history, sure enough," remarked Uncle Tom. "And was +there nothing at all by which to identify the boy?" + +"Just one thing. I forgot to say that in the wagon-bed was a single +volume of Shakespeare--one of a set: volume two--on the fly-leaf of +which was written the name, 'Richard Livingstone Stanley, from Anna,' +and as the boy was old enough to tell his own name--Dick Stanley--the +professor concluded that the owner of the book was his father. Moreover, +as the boy made no mention of his mother, though he now and then spoke +of his 'Daddy' and his 'Uncle David,' the old gentleman formed the +theory that the mother was dead and that the father and uncle, bringing +the boy with them, had come west to seek their fortunes, and being very +likely tenderfeet, unacquainted with the dangerous nature of those great +snow-masses in spring time, they had been caught in a slide and +killed." + +"Poor little chap," said Uncle Tom. "And he has been wandering about +with the old gentleman ever since, has he? He must be a sort of Wild Man +of the West in miniature." + +"Not a bit of it. The professor is a man of learning, and he has not +neglected his duty. Dick has a highly respectable education, including +some items rather out of the common for a boy: he speaks German and +Spanish; he has a pretty intimate knowledge of the wild animals of the +Rocky Mountains; and he is one of the best woodsmen and quite the best +shot of anybody in these immediate parts." + +"Well, they are an odd pair, certainly. I should like to go up and see +the professor--that is, if he ever receives visitors." + +"Oh, yes. He's a sociable old fellow. He and I are very good friends. +I'll take you up there and introduce you some day. He is well worth +knowing. If there is any information you desire concerning the Rocky +Mountain country from here southward to the border, Herr Bergen can give +it you. You are to be congratulated, Frank, on making Dick's +acquaintance so early: he will be a fine companion for you while you +stay here. You propose to go grouse-shooting to-morrow, do you? Well, +you can take my shotgun--it hangs up there on the wall--and make a day +of it; for your uncle and I are proposing to ride up to inspect a mine +on Cape Horn, which will take us pretty well all afternoon." + +I thanked our host for his offer, and next morning, gun in hand, I set +off immediately after breakfast for Dick's dwelling. + +Passing the "well" where Tim Donovan had taken refuge the day before, I +ascended by a clearly-marked trail to the edge of the cañon, and +following along it through the woods for about a mile, I presently came +in sight of a little clearing, in which stood a neat log cabin of two or +three rooms. Outside was a Mexican, chopping wood, while in the doorway +stood Dick, evidently looking out for me, for, the moment I appeared, he +ran forward to meet me. + +"How are you?" he cried. "Glad you came early: I have a new plan for the +day, if it suits you. I've been spying around with a field-glass and +I've just seen a band of sheep up on that big middle spur of Mescalero; +they are working their way up from their feeding-ground, and I propose +that we go after them instead of hunting grouse. What do you say?" + +"All right; that will suit me." + +"Come on, then. Just come into the house for a minute first and see the +professor, and then we'll dig out at once." + +From the fact that Mr. Warren had so frequently spoken of the professor +as "the old gentleman," I was prepared to see a bent old man, with a +white beard and big round spectacles--the typical "German professor," of +my imagination. I was a good deal surprised, then, to find a small, +active man of sixty, perhaps, a little gray, certainly, but with a clear +blue eye and a wide-awake manner I was far from anticipating. He was in +the inner room when I entered--evidently the sanctum where he prepared +and stored his specimens--but the moment he heard our steps he came +briskly out, and, on Dick's introducing me, shook hands with me very +heartily. + +"And how's poor Tim this morning?" he asked, as soon as the formalities, +if they can be called so, were over. + +"He is all right, sir," I replied. "I went down there before breakfast +this morning at Mr. Warren's request to inquire. In fact, Tim was so +much better apparently that Mrs. Donovan declares that if he ever gets +the fever again she intends to apply iced water to his feet and +wasp-stings to the rest of his anatomy, as being a sure cure. She is +immensely grateful to Dick for having discovered and applied a remedy +that has worked so well." + +"Then if Tim is wise," remarked the professor, laughing, "he won't get +the fever again, for I should think the cure would be worse than the +disease. But you want to be off, don't you? Do you understand the +working of a Winchester repeater? Well," as I shook my head, "then you +had better take the Sharp's and Dick the Winchester. And, Dick, you'd +better have an eye on the weather. Romero says there is a change coming, +and he is generally pretty reliable. So, now, off you go; and good luck +to you." + +Leaving the cabin, we went straight on up the narrow valley for about +three miles--the pine-clad mountains rising half a mile high on either +side of us--going as quickly as we could, or, to be more exact, going as +quickly as I could. For the elevation, beginning at nine thousand feet, +increased, of course, at every step, and I, being unused to such +altitudes, found myself much distressed for breath--a fact which was +rather a surprise to me, considering that in our track-meets at school +the mile run was my strong point. I did not understand then that to get +enough oxygen out of that thin mountain air it was necessary to take two +breaths where one would suffice at sea-level. + +We had ascended about a thousand feet, I think, when, at the base of the +bare ridge for which we had been making, we slackened our pace, and my +companion, who knew the country, taking the lead, we went scrambling up +over the rocks and snow for an hour or more. + +The quantity of snow we found up there was a surprise to me, for, from +below the amount seemed trifling. There had been a heavy fall up in the +range a month before, and this snow, drifting into the gullies, had +settled into compact masses, the surface of which, on this, the southern +face of the mountain, being every day slightly softened by the heat of +the sun, and every night frozen solid again, made the footing +exceedingly treacherous. Whenever, therefore, we found it necessary to +cross one of these steep-tilted snow-beds we did so with the greatest +caution. + +We had been climbing, as I have said, for more than an hour, and were +nearing the top of the ridge, when Dick stopped and silently beckoned to +me to come up to where he lay, crouching under shelter of a little +ledge. + +"Smell anything?" he whispered. + +I gave a sniff and raised my eyebrows inquiringly. + +"Sheep?" said I, softly. + +My companion nodded. + +"They must be somewhere close by," said he, in a voice hardly audible. +"Go very carefully and keep your eyes wide open. If you see anything, +stop instantly." + +We were lying side by side upon the rocks, Dick considerately waiting a +moment while I got my breath again, and were just about to crawl +forward, when there came the sound of a sudden rush of hoofs and a +clatter of stones from some invisible point ahead of us, and then dead +silence again. + +"They've winded us and gone off," whispered Dick. But the next moment he +added eagerly, "There they are! Look! There they are! Up there! See? My! +What a chance!" + +Immediately on our left was a deep gorge, so narrow and precipitous that +we could not see the bottom of it from where we lay. The sheep, having +seemingly got wind of us, with that agility which is always so +astonishing in such heavy animals, had rushed down one side of the +precipitous gorge and up the other, and now, there they were, all +standing in a row--eleven of them--on the opposite summit, looking down, +not at us, but at something immediately below them. + +"What do you suppose it is, Dick?" I whispered. + +"Don't know," my companion replied. "Mountain-lion, perhaps: they are +very partial to mutton. Anyhow," he continued, "if we want to get a shot +we must shoot from here: we can't move without the sheep seeing us, and +they'd be off like a flash if they did. You take a shot, Frank. Take the +nearest one. Sight for two hundred yards." + +"No," I replied. "You shoot. I shall miss: I'm too unsteady for want of +breath." + +"All right." + +Raising himself a fraction of an inch at a time until he had come to a +kneeling position, Dick pushed his rifle-barrel through a crevice in the +rocks, took aim and fired. The nearest sheep, a fine fellow with a +handsome pair of horns, pitched forward, fell headlong from the ledge +upon which he had been standing and vanished from our sight among the +broken rocks below; while the others turned tail and fled up the +mountain, disappearing also in a minute or less. + +"Come on!" cried Dick, springing to his feet. "Let's go across and get +him. Round this way. Don't trust to that slope of ice: you may slip and +break your neck." + +"But the mountain-lion, Dick," I protested. "Suppose there's a +mountain-lion down there." + +"Oh, never mind him!" Dick exclaimed. "If there was one, he's gone by +this time. And even if he should be there yet, he'd skip the moment he +saw us. We needn't mind him. Come on!" + +Away we went, therefore, Dick in the lead, and scrambling quickly though +carefully down the rocky wall, we made our way up the bed of the ravine +until we found ourselves opposite the ledge upon which the sheep had +been standing. Here we discovered that the wall of the gorge was split +from top to bottom by a narrow cleft--previously invisible to us--filled +with hard snow, and whether the sheep had been standing on the right +side or the left of this crevice, and therefore on which side the big +ram had fallen, we could not tell; for the wall of the gorge, besides +being exceedingly rough, was littered with great masses of rock against +any of which the body of the sheep might have lodged. + +"I'll tell you what, Frank," said my companion. "It might take us an +hour or two to search all the cracks and crannies here. The best plan +will be to climb straight up to the ledge where the sheep stood and look +down. Then, if he is lodged against the upper side of any of these +rocks, we shall be able to see him. But as we can't tell whether he was +standing on the right or the left of this crevice, suppose you climb up +one side while I go up the other." + +"All right," said I. "You take the one on the left and I'll go up on +this side." + +It was a laborious climb for both of us--and how those sheep got up +there so quickly is a wonder to me still--but as my side of the crevice +happened to be easier of ascent than Dick's I got so far ahead of him +that I presently found myself about fifty yards in the lead. + +At this point, however, I met with an obstruction which at first seemed +likely to stop me altogether. The fallen rocks were so big, and piled so +high, that I could not get over them, and for a moment I thought I +should be forced to go back and try another passage. Before resorting +to this measure, though, I thought I would attempt to get round the +barrier by taking to the snow-bank, supporting myself by holding on to +the rocks. To do this I should need the use of both my hands, so, as my +rifle had no strap by which to hang it over my shoulder, I took out my +handkerchief, tied one end to the trigger-guard, took the other end in +my teeth, and slinging the weapon behind me, I seized the rock with both +hands and set one foot on the snow. + +It was at this moment that Dick, down below me on the other side of the +crevice, while in the act of crawling up over a big rock, caught a +glimpse of something moving over on my side, and the next instant, out +from between two great fragments of granite rushed a cinnamon bear and +went charging up the slope after me. + +The bear--as we discovered afterward--had found our sheep, and was +agreeably engaged in tearing it to pieces, when he caught a whiff of me. +He was an old bear, and had very likely been chased and shot at more +than once in the past few years--since the white men had begun to invade +his domain--and having conceived a strong antipathy for those +interfering bipeds which walked on their hind legs and carried +"thunder-sticks" in their fore paws, he decided instantly that, before +finishing his dinner, he would just dash out and finish me. + +And very near he came to doing it. It was only Dick's quick sight and +his equally quick shout that saved me. + +My companion's warning cry to jump could have but one meaning: there was +nowhere to jump except out upon the snow-bank; and recovering from my +first momentary panic, I let go my rifle and sprang out from the rocks. + +My hope was that I should be able to keep my footing long enough to +scramble across to the rocks on the other side; but in this I was +disappointed. The snow-bed lay at an angle as steep as a church roof, +and while its surface was slightly softened by the sun, just beneath it +was as hard and as slippery as glass. Consequently, the moment my feet +struck it they slipped from under me, down I went on my face, and in +spite of all my frantic clawing and scratching I began to slide briskly +and steadily down-hill. + +The bear--most fortunately for me--seemed to be less cunning than most +of his fellows. Had he paused for a moment to reason it out, he would +have seen that by waiting five seconds he might leap upon my back as I +went by. Luckily, however, he did not reason it out, but the instant he +saw me jump he jumped too, and he, too, began sliding down the icy slope +ahead of me; for being, as I said, an old bear, his blunted claws could +get no hold. + +It was an odd situation, and "to a man up a tree," as the saying is, it +might have been entertaining. Here was the pursuer retreating backward +from the pursued, while the pursued, albeit with extreme reluctance, was +pursuing the pursuer--also backward. + +It was like a nightmare--and a real, live, untamed broncho of a +nightmare at that--but luckily it did not last long. Finding that no +efforts of mine would arrest my downward progress, and knowing that the +bear, reaching the bottom first, need only stand there with his mouth +wide open and wait for me to fall into it, I whirled myself over and +over sideways, until presently my hand struck the rocks, my finger-tips +caught upon a little projection, and there I hung on for dear life, not +daring to move a muscle for fear my hold should slip. + +But from this uncomfortable predicament I was promptly relieved. I had +not hung there five seconds ere the sharp report of a rifle rang out, +and then another, and next came Dick's voice hailing me: + +"All right, Frank! I've got him! Hold on: I'm coming up!" + +Half a minute later, as I lay there face downward on the ice, I heard +footsteps just above me, a firm hand grasped my wrist, and a cheerful +voice said: + +"Come on up, old chap. I can steady you." + +"But the bear, Dick! The bear!" I cried, as I rose to my knees. + +"Dead as a door-nail," he replied, calmly. "Look." + +I glanced over my shoulder down the slope. There, on his back among the +rocks, lay the cinnamon, his great arms spread out and his head hanging +over, motionless. As the snarling beast had slid past him, not ten feet +away, Dick, with his Winchester repeater, had shot him once through the +heart and once in the base of the skull, so that the bear was stone dead +ere he fell from the little two-foot ice-cliff at the bottom of the +slope. + +As for myself, I had had such a scare and was so completely exhausted by +my vehement struggles during the past couple of minutes, that for a +quarter of an hour I lay on the rocks panting and gasping ere I could +get my lungs and my muscles back into working order again. + +As soon as I could do so, however, I sat up, and holding out my hand to +my companion, I said: + +"Thanks, old chap. I'm mighty glad you were on hand, or, I'm afraid, it +would have been all up with me." + +"It was a pretty close shave," replied Dick; "rather too close for +comfort. He meant mischief, sure enough. Well, he's out of mischief now, +all right. Let's go down and look at him." + +"I suppose," said I, "it was the bear that the sheep were looking down +at when they stood up there on the ledge all in a row." + +"Yes, that was it. If I'd known it was a bear they were staring at I'd +have left them alone. A mountain-lion I'm not afraid of: he'll run +ninety-nine times out of a hundred. But a cinnamon bear is quite another +thing: the less you have to do with them, the better." + +"Well, as far as I'm concerned," said I, "the less I have to do with +them, the better it will suit me. If this fellow is a sample of his +tribe I'm very willing to forego their further acquaintance: my first +interview came too unpleasantly near to being my last. Come on; let's go +down." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE MESCALERO VALLEY + + +It had been our intention to take off the bear's hide and carry it home +with us, but we found that he was such a shabby old specimen that the +skin was not worth the carriage, so, after cutting out his claws as +trophies, we went on to inspect our sheep. Here again we found that "the +game was not worth the candle," as the saying is, for the bear had torn +the carcass so badly as to render it useless, while the horns, which at +a distance and seen against the sky-line, had looked so imposing, proved +to be too much chipped and broken to be any good. + +My rifle we found lying beside the bear, it also having slid down the +ice-slope when I dropped it. + +"Well, Frank," remarked my companion, "our hunt so far doesn't seem to +have had much result--unless you count the experience as something." + +"Which I most decidedly do," I interjected. + +"You are right enough there," replied Dick; "there's no gainsaying that. +Well, what I was going to say was that the day is early yet, and if you +like there is still time for us to go off and have a try for a deer. I +should like to take home something to show for our day's work." + +"Very well," said I. "Which way should we take? There are no deer up +here among the rocks, I suppose." + +"Why, I propose that we go up over this ridge here and try the country +to the southwest. I've never been down there myself, having always up to +the present hunted to the north and east of camp; but I've often thought +of trying it: it is a likely-looking country, quite different from that +on the Mosby side of the divide: high mesa land cut up by deep cañons. +What do you say?" + +"Anything you like," I answered. "It is all new to me, and one direction +is as good as another." + +"Very well, then, let us get up over the ridge at once and make a +start." + +Having discovered a place easier of ascent than those by which we had +first tried to climb up, we soon found ourselves on top of the ridge, +whence we could look out over the country we were intending to explore. + +It was plain at a glance that the two sides of the divide were very +different. Behind us, to the north, rose Mescalero Mountain, bare, +rugged and seamed with strips of snow. From this mountain, as from a +center, there radiated in all directions great spurs, like fingers +spread out, on one of which we were then standing. Looking southward, we +could see that our spur continued for many miles in the form of a chain +of round-topped mountains, well covered with timber, the elevation of +which diminished pretty regularly the further they receded from the +parent stem. On the left hand side of this chain--the eastern, or Mosby +side--the country was very rough and broken: from where we stood we +could see nothing but the tops of mountains, some sharp and rugged, some +round and tree-covered, seemingly massed together without order or +regularity. But to the south and southwest it was very different. Here +the land lying embraced between two of the spurs was spread out like a +great fan-shaped park, which, though it sloped away pretty sharply, was +fairly smooth, except where several dark lines indicated the presence of +cañons of unknown depth. The whole stretch, as far as we could +distinguish, was pretty well covered with timber, though occasional open +spaces showed here and there, some of two or three acres and some of +two or three square miles in extent. + +"Just the country for black-tail," said Dick, "especially at this time +of year--the beginning of winter. For, you see, it lies very much lower +on the average than the Mosby side, and the snow consequently will not +come so early nor stay so late. It ought to be a great hunting-ground." + +"It is a curious thing to find an open stretch like that in the midst of +the mountains," said I. "What is it called?" + +"The Mescalero valley. The professor says it was once an arm of the +sea--and it looks like it, doesn't it? Over on the Mosby side the rocks +are all granite and porphyry, tilted up at all sorts of angles; but down +there it is sandstone and limestone, lying flat--a sure sign that it was +once the bottom of a sea." + +"Is the valley inhabited?" I asked. + +"Down at the southern end, about fifty miles away, there is a Mexican +settlement, at the foot of those twin peaks you see down there standing +all alone in the midst of the valley--the Dos Hermanos: Two Brothers, +they are called--but up at this end there are no inhabitants, I +believe." + +"Well, there will be some day, I expect," said I. "It ought to be a +fine situation for a saw-mill, for instance." + +"I don't know about that. There would be no way of getting your product +to market. Old Jeff Andrews, the founder of Mosby, told me about it +once--he's been across it two or three times--and he says that the +country is so slashed with cañons that a wheeled vehicle couldn't travel +across it, and consequently the expense of road-making would amount to +about as much as the value of the timber." + +"I see. And, of course, the streams are much too shallow to float out +the logs. Well, let us get along down." + +"All right. By the way, before we start, there was one thing I wanted to +say:--If we should happen to get separated, all you have to do is to +turn your face eastward, climb up over the Mosby Ridge, and you'll find +yourself on our own creek, either above or below the town. It's very +plain; you can hardly lose yourself--by daylight at any rate. So, now, +let's be off." + +The climb down on this side we found to be very much steeper than the +climb up on the other had been. We dropped, by Dick's guess, about +three thousand feet in the three miles we traversed ere we found +ourselves in the midst of the thick timber, walking on comparatively +level ground. Keeping along the eastern side of the valley, in the +neighborhood of the Mosby Ridge, we made our way forward, steering by +the sun--for the trees were so thick we could see but a short distance +ahead--when we came upon one of the little open spaces I have mentioned. +We were just about to walk out from among the trees, when my companion, +with a sudden, "Pst!" stepped behind a tree-trunk and went down on one +knee. Without knowing the reason for this move, I did the same, and on +my making a motion with my eyebrows, as much as to say, "What's up?" +Dick whispered: + +"Do you see that white patch on the other side of the clearing? An +antelope with its back to us. I'll try to draw him over here, so that +you may get a shot." + +So saying, Dick took out a red cotton handkerchief, poked the corner of +it into the muzzle of his rifle, and standing erect behind his tree, +held out his flag at right angles. + +At first the antelope took no notice, but presently, catching a glimpse +of the strange object out of the corner of his eye, he whirled round +and stood for a moment facing us with his head held high. A slight puff +of wind fluttered the handkerchief; the antelope started as though to +run; but finding himself unhurt, his curiosity got the better of his +fears, and he came trotting straight across the clearing in order to get +a closer view. At about a hundred yards distance he stopped, his body +turned broadside to us, all ready to bolt at the shortest notice, when +Dick whispered to me to shoot. + +[Illustration: "IT WAS A SPLENDID CHANCE; NOBODY COULD ASK FOR A BETTER +TARGET."] + +It was a splendid chance; nobody could ask for a better target; but do +you think I could hold that rifle steady? Not a bit of it! Instead of +one sight, I could see half a dozen; and finding that the longer I aimed +the more I trembled, I at length pulled the trigger and chanced it. +Where the bullet went I know not: somewhere southward; and so did the +antelope, and at much the same pace, if I am any judge of speed. + +"Never mind, old chap," said Dick, laughing. "That is liable to happen +to anybody. Most people get a touch of the buck-fever the first time +they try to shoot a wild animal. You'll probably find yourself all right +the next chance you get." + +"I'm afraid there's not likely to be a 'next chance,' is there?" I +asked. "Won't that shot scare all the deer out of the country?" + +"I hardly think so: the deer are almost never disturbed down here; it +isn't like the Mosby side, where the prospectors are tramping over the +hills all the time." + +"Don't they ever come down here, then?" + +"No, never. There is a common saying, as you know, perhaps, that 'gold +is where you find it'; meaning that it may be anywhere--one place is as +likely as another. But, all the same, the prospectors seem to think the +chances are better among the granite and porphyry rocks on the other +side, where the formation has been cracked and broken and heaved up on +end by volcanic force. They never trouble to come down here, where any +one can see at a glance that the deposits have never been disturbed +since they were first laid down at the bottom of a great inlet of the +ocean." + +"I see what you mean: and as nobody ever comes down here the deer are +not fidgety and suspicious as they would be if they were always being +disturbed." + +"That's it, exactly. They are so unused to the presence of human beings +that I doubt if they would take any notice of your shot except to cock +their ears and sniff at the breeze for a minute or two. Anyhow, we'll go +ahead and find out. Let us go across this clearing and see if there +isn't a spring on the other side. That antelope was drinking when we +first saw him, if I'm not mistaken." + +Sure enough, just before we entered the trees again, we came upon a pool +of water around the softened rim of which were many tracks of animals. + +"Hallo!" cried Dick. "Just look here! See the wolf tracks--any number of +them. It must be a great wolf country as well as a great deer +country--in fact, because it is a great deer country. I shouldn't like +to be caught here in the winter with so many wolves about; they are +unpleasant neighbors when food is scarce." + +"Are they dangerous to a man with a gun?" I asked. + +"Yes, they are. One wolf--or even two--doesn't matter much to a man with +a breach-loading rifle; but when a dozen or twenty get after you, you'll +do well to go up a tree and stay there. A pack of hungry wolves is no +trifle, I can tell you." + +"Have you ever had any experience with them yourself?" + +"I did once, and a mighty distressing one it was, though it didn't hurt +me, personally. I was out hunting with my dog, Blucher, a little +short-legged, long-bodied fellow of no particular breed, and was up +among the tall timber east of the house, going along suspecting nothing, +when Blucher, all of a sudden, began to whine and crowd against my legs. +I looked back, and there I saw six big timber-wolves slipping down a +hill about a quarter of a mile behind me. They stopped when I stopped, +but as soon as I moved, on they came again--it was very uncomfortable, +especially when two of them vanished among the trees, and I couldn't +tell whether they might not be running to get round the other side of +me. I went on up the next rise, the wolves keeping about the same +distance behind me, and as soon as we were out of their sight, Blucher +and I ran for it. But it was no use: the wolves had taken the same +opportunity, and when I looked back again, there they were, all six of +them, not a hundred yards behind this time. + +"It began to look serious; for though it was possible that they were +after Blucher, and not after me at all, I couldn't be sure of that. So, +first picking out a tree to go up in case of necessity, I knelt down +and fired into the bunch, getting one. I had hoped that the others would +turn and run, but the shot seemed to have a directly opposite effect: +the remaining five wolves came charging straight at me. + +"I gave the dog one kick and yelled at him to 'Go home!'--it was all I +could do--dropped my rifle, jumped for a branch, and was out of reach +when the wolves rushed past in pursuit of Blucher. + +"Poor little beast! Though he was a mongrel with no pretence at a +pedigree, he was a good hunting dog and a faithful friend. But what +chance had he in a race with five long-legged, half-starved +timber-wolves? It happened out of my sight, I am glad to say; all I +heard was one yelp, followed by an angry snarling, and then all was +silent again." + +Dick paused for a moment, his face looking very grim for a boy, and then +continued: "I've hated the sight and the sound of wolves ever since. Of +course, I know they were only following their nature, but--I can't help +it--I hate a wolf, and that's all there is to it." + +"I don't wonder," said I. "Any one----" + +"Hark!" cried Dick, clapping his hand on my arm. "Did you hear that? +Listen!" + +We stood silent for a moment, and then, far off in the direction from +which we had come, I heard a curious whimpering sound, the nature of +which I could not understand. + +"What is it?" I whispered, involuntarily sinking my voice. + +"Wolves--hunting." + +"Hunting what?" + +"I don't know; but we'll move away from here, anyhow. Come on." + +Dick's manner, more than his words, made me feel a little uneasy and I +followed him very willingly as he set off at a smart walk through the +timber. + +"You don't suppose they are hunting us, Dick, do you?" I asked, as we +strode along side by side. + +"I can't tell yet. It seems hardly likely--in daylight, and at this time +of year. I could understand it if it were winter. If they are hunting +us, it is probably because they, like the deer, are unacquainted with +men, and never having been shot at, they don't know what danger they are +running into. Still, I feel a little suspicious that it is our trail +they are following. They are coming down right on the line we took, at +any rate. We shall be able to decide, though, in a minute or two. Look +ahead. Do you see how the trees are thinning out? We are coming to +another open space, a big one, I think; I noticed it when we were up on +the ridge just now." + +"What good will that do us?" I asked. + +"We shall be able to get a sight of them. Come on. I'll show you." + +True enough, we presently stepped out from among the trees again and +found ourselves on the edge of another open, grassy space, very much +larger than the last one. It was about three hundred yards across to the +other side, and a mile in length from east to west. We had struck it +about midway of its east-and-west length. Out into the open Dick walked +some twenty yards, and there stopped once more to listen. + +We had not long to wait. The eager whimper came again, much nearer, and +now and then a quavering howl. I did not like the sound at all. I looked +at Dick, who was standing "facing the music" and frowning thoughtfully. + +"Well, Dick!" I exclaimed, getting impatient. + +"I think they are after us," said he. + +"And what do you mean to do? Not stay out here in the open, I suppose." + +"Not we; at least, not for more than five minutes. Look here, Frank," +he went on, speaking quickly. "I'll tell you what I propose to do. We'll +keep out here in the open, about this distance from the trees, and make +straight eastward for the Mosby Ridge; it is only half a mile or so to +the woods at that end of the clearing and we can make it in five +minutes. Then, if the wolves are truly hunting us, they will follow our +trail out into the open, when we shall get a sight of them and be able +to count them. If they are only three or four we can handle them all +right, but if there is a big pack of them we shall have to take to a +tree. Give me your rifle to carry--my breathing machinery is better used +to it than yours--and we'll make a run for it." + +It was only a short half-mile we had to run--quite enough for me, +though--and under the first tree we came to, Dick stopped. + +"This will do," said he, handing back my rifle. "We'll wait here now and +watch. Hark! They're getting pretty close. Hallo! Hallo! Why, look +there, Frank!" + +That Dick should thus exclaim was not to be wondered at, for out from +the trees, scarce a hundred paces from us, there came, not the wolves, +but a man! And such an odd-looking man, riding on such an odd-looking +steed! + +"What is he riding on, Dick?" I asked. "A mule?" + +"No; a burro--a jack--a donkey; a big one, too; and it need be, for he +is a tremendous fellow. Did you ever see such a chest?" + +"Is he an Indian?" + +"No; a Mexican. An Indian wouldn't deign to ride a burro. I understand +it all now. The wolves are not hunting us at all: they are after the +donkey. And the man is aware of it, too: see how he keeps looking +behind. What is that thing he is carrying in his left hand? A bow?" + +"Yes; a bow. And a quiver of arrows over his shoulder." + +"So he has! He doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry, does he? Evidently +he is not much afraid of the wolves. Why, he's stopping to wait for +them! He's a plucky fellow. Why, Frank, just look! Did you ever see such +a queer-looking specimen?" + +This exclamation was drawn from my companion involuntarily when the +Mexican, checking his donkey, sprang to the ground. He certainly was a +queer-looking specimen. If he had looked like a giant on donkey-back, he +looked like a dwarf on foot; for, though his head was big and his body +huge, his legs were so short that he appeared to be scarce five feet +high; while his muscular arms were of such length that he could touch +his knees without stooping. + +To add to his strange appearance, the man was clad in a long, sleeveless +coat made of deer-skin, with the hairy side out. + +We had hardly had time to take in all these peculiarities when Dick once +more exclaimed: + +"Ah! Here they come! One, two, three--only five of them after all." + +As he spoke, the wolves came loping out from among the trees; but the +moment they struck our cross-trail the suspicious, wary creatures all +stopped with one accord, puzzled by coming upon a scent they had not +expected. + +This was the Mexican's opportunity. Raising his long left arm, he drew +an arrow to its head and let fly. + +I thought he had missed, for I saw the arrow strike the ground and knock +up a little puff of dust. But I was mistaken. One of the wolves gave a +yelp, ran back a few steps, fell down, got up again and ran another few +steps, fell again, and this time lay motionless. The arrow had gone +right through him! + +Almost at the same instant Dick raised his rifle and fired. The shot +was electrical. One of the wolves fell, when the remaining three +instantly turned tail and ran. + +But not only did the wolves run: the Mexican, casting one glance in our +direction, sprang upon his donkey and away he went, at a pace that was +surprising considering the respective sizes of man and beast. + +It was in vain that Dick ran out from under our tree and shouted after +him something in Spanish. I could distinguish the word, _amigos_, two or +three times repeated, but the man took no notice. Perhaps he did not +believe in friendships so suddenly declared. At any rate, he neither +looked back nor slackened his pace, and in a minute or less he and his +faithful steed vanished into the timber on the south side of the +clearing. + +The whole incident had not occupied five minutes; but for the presence +of the two dead wolves one would have been tempted to believe it had +never happened at all--solitude and silence reigned once more. + +"Well, wasn't that a queer thing!" cried Dick. + +"It certainly was," I replied. "I wonder who the man is. Anyhow, he's +not coming back, so let's go and pick up his arrow." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +RACING THE STORM + + +Walking over to where the two wolves lay, we soon found the arrow, its +head buried out of sight in the hard ground, showing with what force it +had come from the bow. It was carefully made of a bit of some hard wood, +scraped down to the proper diameter, and fitted with three +feathers--eagle feathers, Dick said--one-third as long as the shaft, +very neatly bound on with some kind of fine sinew. + +"Looks like a Ute arrow," remarked my companion, as he stooped to pick +it up; "yet the man was a Mexican, I am sure. I suppose he must have got +it from the Indians." + +"Do the Utes use copper arrow-heads?" I asked. + +"No, they don't. They use iron or steel nowadays. Why do you ask?" + +"Because this arrow-head is copper," I replied. + +"Why, so it is!" cried Dick, rubbing the soil from the point on his +trouser-leg. "That's very odd. I never saw one before. I feel pretty +sure the Indians never use copper: it is too soft. This bit seems to +take an edge pretty well, though. See, the point doesn't seem to have +been damaged by sticking into the ground; and it has been filed pretty +sharp, too; or, what is more likely, rubbed sharp on a stone. It has +evidently been made by hand from a piece of native copper." + +"I wonder why the man should choose to use copper," said I. "Though when +you come to think of it, Dick," I added, "I don't see why it shouldn't +make a pretty good arrow-head. It is soft metal, of course, but it is +only soft by comparison with other metals. This wedge of copper weighs +two or three ounces, and it is quite hard enough to go through the hide +of an animal at twenty or thirty yards' distance when 'fired' with the +force that this one was." + +"That's true. And I expect the explanation is simple enough why the man +uses copper. It is probably from necessity and not from choice. Like +nearly all Mexicans of the peon class, he probably never has a cent of +money in his possession. Consequently, as he can't buy a gun, he uses a +bow; and for the same reason, being unable to procure iron for +arrow-heads, he uses copper. I expect he comes from the settlement at +the foot of the valley, for copper is a very common metal down there." + +"Why should it be more common there than elsewhere?" I asked. + +"Well, that's the question--and a very interesting question, too. The +professor and I were down in that neighborhood about a year ago, and on +going into the village we were a good deal surprised to find that every +household seemed to possess a bowl or a pot or a cup or a dipper or all +four, perhaps, hammered out of native copper--all of them having the +appearance of great age. There were dozens of them altogether." + +"How do they get them?" I asked. + +"That's the question again--and the Mexicans themselves don't seem to +know. They say, if you ask them, that they've always had them. And the +professor did ask them. He went into one house after another and +questioned the people, especially the old people, as to where the copper +came from; but none of them could give him any information. I wondered +why he should be so persevering in the matter--though when there is +anything he desires to learn, no trouble is too much for him--but after +we had left the place he explained it all to me, and then I ceased to +wonder." + +"What was his explanation, then?" + +"He told me that when he was in Santa Fé about fifteen years before, he +made the acquaintance of a Spanish gentleman of the remarkable name of +Blake----" + +"Blake!" I interrupted. "That's a queer name for a Spaniard." + +"Yes," replied Dick. "The professor says he was a descendant of one of +those Irishmen who fled to the continent in the time of William III, of +England, most of them going into the service of the king of France and +others to other countries--Austria and Spain in particular." + +"Well, go ahead. Excuse me for interrupting." + +"Well, this gentleman was engaged in hunting through the old Spanish +records kept there in Santa Fé, looking up something about the title to +a land-grant, I believe, and he told the professor that in the course of +his search he had frequently come across copies of reports to the +Spanish government of shipments of copper from a mine called the King +Philip mine. That it was a mine of importance was evident from the +frequency and regularity of the 'returns,' which were kept up for a +number of years, until somewhere about the year 1720, if I remember +rightly, they began to become irregular and then suddenly ceased +altogether." + +"Why?" + +"There was no definite statement as to why; but from the reports it +appeared that the miners were much harried by the Indians, sometimes the +Navajos and sometimes the Utes, while the loss, partial or total, of two +or three trains with their escorts, seemed to bring matters to a climax. +Shipments ceased and the mine was abandoned." + +"That's interesting," said I. "And where was this King Philip mine?" + +"The gentleman could not say. There seemed to be no map or description +of any kind among the records; but from casual statements, such as notes +of the trains being delayed by floods in this or that creek, or by snow +blockades on certain passes, he concluded that the mine was somewhere up +in this direction." + +"Well, that is certainly very interesting. And the professor, I suppose, +concludes that the Mexicans down there at---- What's the name of the +place?" + +"Hermanos--called so after the two peaks, at the foot of which it +stands." + +"The professor concludes, I suppose, that the Mexicans' unusual supply +of copper pots and pans came originally from the King Philip mine." + +"Yes; and I've no doubt they did; though the Mexicans themselves had +never heard of such a mine. Yet--and it shows how names will stick long +after people have forgotten their origin--yet, just outside the village +there stands a big, square adobe building, showing four blank walls to +the outside, with a single gateway cut through one of them, flat-roofed +and battlemented--a regular fortress--and it is called to this day the +_Casa del Rey_:--the King's House. Now, why should it be called the +King's House? The Mexicans have no idea; but to me it seems plain +enough. The King Philip mine was probably a royal mine, and the +residence of the king's representative, the storage-place for the +product of the mine, the headquarters of the soldier escort, would +naturally be called the King's House." + +"It seems likely, doesn't it? Is that the professor's opinion?" + +"Yes. He feels sure that the King Philip mine is not far from the +village; possibly--in fact, probably--in the Dos Hermanos mountains." + +"And did he ever make any attempt to find it?" + +"Not he. Prospecting is altogether out of his line. It was only the +historical side of the matter that interested him. All he did was to +write to the Señor Blake at Cadiz, in Spain, telling him about it; +though whether the letter ever reached its destination he has never +heard." + +"And who lives in the King's House now?" I asked. "Anybody?" + +"Yes. It is occupied by a man named Galvez, the 'padron' of the village, +who owns, or claims, all the country down there for five miles +square--the Hermanos Grant. We did not see him when we were there, but +from what we heard of him, he seems to regard himself as lord of +creation in those parts, owning not only the land, but the village and +the villagers, too." + +"How so? How can he own the villagers?" + +"Why, it is not an uncommon state of affairs in these remote Mexican +settlements. The padron provides the people with the clothes or the +tools or the seed they require on credit, taking security on next year's +crop, and so manages matters as to get them into debt and keep them +there; for they are an improvident lot. In this way they fall into a +state of chronic indebtedness, working their land practically for the +benefit of the padron and becoming in effect little better than slaves." + +"I see. A pretty miserable condition for the poor people, isn't it? And +doesn't this man, Galvez, with his superior +intelligence--presumably--know anything of the King Philip mine?" + +"Apparently not." + +"My word, Dick!" I exclaimed. "What fun it would be to go and hunt for +it ourselves, wouldn't it?" + +"Wouldn't it! I've often thought of it before, but I know the professor +would never consent. He would consider it a waste of time. It's an idea +worth keeping in mind, though, at any rate. There's never any telling +what may turn up. We might get the chance somehow; though I confess I +don't see how. But we must be moving, Frank," said he, suddenly changing +the subject. "It's getting latish. Hallo!" + +"What's the matter?" I asked, looking wonderingly at my companion, who, +with his hand held up to protect his eyes from the glare, was standing, +staring at the sun. + +"Why, the matter is, Frank, that the professor will say that I've +neglected my duty, I'm afraid. You remember he told me to look out for a +change of weather? I'd forgotten all about it." + +"Well," said I, "I don't see that that matters. There's no sign of a +change, is there?" + +"Yes, there is. Look up there. Do you see a number of tiny specks all +hurrying across the face of the sun from north to south?" + +"Yes. What is it?" + +"Snow." + +"Snow!" I cried, incredulously. "How can it be snow, when there isn't a +scrap of cloud visible anywhere?" + +"It is snow, all the same," said Dick; "old snow blown from the other +side of Mescalero." + +"But how can that be, Dick? All the snow we found up there was packed +like ice." + +"Ah, but we were on the south side. On the north side, where the sun has +no effect, it is still as loose and as powdery as it was when it fell." + +"Of course. I hadn't thought of that. There must be a pretty stiff +breeze blowing overhead to keep it hung up in the sky like that and not +allow a speck of it to fall down here." + +"Yes, it's blowing great guns up there, all right, and I am afraid we +shall be getting it ourselves before long. We must dig out of here hot +foot, Frank. I hope we haven't stayed too long as it is." + +It was hard to believe that there was anything to fear from the weather, +with the unclouded sun shining down upon us with such power as to be +almost uncomfortably hot; but Dick, I could see, felt uneasy, and as I +could not presume to set up my judgment against his larger experience, I +did not wait to ask any more questions, but set off side by side with +him when he started eastward at a pace which required the saving of all +my breath to keep up with him. + +We had been walking through the woods for about half an hour and were +expecting to begin the ascent of the Mosby Ridge in a few minutes, when +we were brought to a standstill by coming suddenly upon the edge of a +deep cleft in the earth, cutting across our course at right angles. It +was one of the many cañons for which the Mescalero valley was notorious. + +Looking across the cañon, we could see that the opposite wall was +composed of a thick bed of limestone overlying another of sandstone, the +latter, being the softer, so scooped out that the limestone cap +projected several feet beyond it. It appeared to be quite unscalable, +and on our side it was doubtless the same, for, on cautiously +approaching the edge as near as we dared, we could see that the cliff +fell sheer for three hundred feet or more. + +"No getting down here!" cried Dick. "Up stream, Frank! The cañon will +shallow in that direction." + +Away we went again along the edge of the gorge, and presently were +rejoiced to find a place where the cliff had broken away, enabling us, +with care, to climb down to the bottom. The other side, however, +presented no possible chance of getting out, so on we went, following up +the dry bed of the arroyo, looking out sharply for some break by which +we might climb up, when, on rounding a slight bend, Dick stopped so +suddenly that I, who was close on his heels, bumped up against him. + +"What's the matter, Dick?" I asked. "What are you stopping for?" + +"Look up there at Mescalero," said he. + +It was the first glimpse of the mountain we had had since entering the +woods at the head of the valley, and the change in its appearance was +alarming. The only part of it we could see was the summit, standing out +clear and sharp against the sky; all the rest of it, and of the whole +range as well, was shrouded by a heavy gray cloud, which, creeping round +either side of the peak, was rolling down our side of the range, slowly +and steadily filling up and blotting out each gully and ravine as it +came to it. There was a stealthy, vindictive look about it I did not at +all like. + +"Snow, Dick?" I asked. + +"Yes, and lots of it, I'm afraid. See how the cloud comes creeping +down--like cold molasses. I expect it is so heavy with snow that it +can't float in the thin air up there, and the north wind is just +shouldering it up over the range from behind. We've got to get out of +here, Frank, as fast as we can and make the top of the Mosby Ridge, if +possible, before that cloud catches us. Once on the other side, we're +pretty safe: I know the country; but on this side I don't. So, let us +waste no more time--we have none to waste, I can tell you." + +Nor did we waste any, for neither of us had any inclination to linger, +but pushing forward once more along the bottom of the cañon, we +presently espied a place where we thought we might climb out. Scrambling +up the steep slope of shaly detritus, we had come almost to the top, +when to our disappointment we found our further progress barred by a +little cliff, not more than eight feet high, but slightly overhanging, +and so smooth that there was no hold for either feet or fingers. + +"Up on my shoulders, Frank!" cried my companion, laying down his rifle +and leaning his arms against the rock and his head against his arms. + +In two seconds I was standing on his shoulders, but even then I could +not get any hold for my hands on the smooth, curved, shaly bank which +capped the limestone. Only a foot out of my reach, however, there grew a +little pine tree, about three inches thick, and whipping off my belt I +lashed at the tree trunk with it. The end of the belt flew round; I +caught it; and having now both ends in my hands I quickly relieved my +companion of his burden and crawled up out of the ravine. + +Then, buckling the belt to the tree, I took the loose end in one hand, +and lying down flat I received and laid aside the two rifles which Dick +handed up to me, one at a time. Dick himself, though, was out of reach, +perceiving which, I pulled off my coat, firmly grasped the collar and +let down the other end to him, lying, myself, face downward upon the +stones, with the end of the belt held tight in the other hand. + +"All set?" cried Dick; and, "All set!" I shouted in reply. There was a +violent jerk upon the coat, and the next thing, there was Dick himself +kneeling beside me. + +"Well done, old chap!" cried he. "That was a great idea. Now, then, +let's be off. I'll carry the two rifles. It's plain sailing now. +Straight up the Ridge for those two great rocks that stand up there like +a gateway to the pass. I know the place. Only a couple of thousand feet +to climb and then we begin to go down-hill. We shall make it now. Come +on!" + +The trees were thin just here, and as we started to ascend the pass we +obtained one more glimpse of Mescalero--the last one we were to get that +day. The bank of cloud had advanced about half a mile since we first +caught sight of it, while it had become so much thicker as the wind +rolled it up from the other side of the range, that now only the very +tip of the mountain showed above it. Even as we watched it, a great fold +of the cloud passed over the summit, hiding it altogether. + +"See that, Dick?" said I. + +"Yes," he replied. "A very big snow, I expect. Hark! Do you hear that +faint humming? The wind in the pines. We shall be getting it soon. Come +on, now; stick close to my heels; if I go too fast, call out." + +Away we went up the pass, pressing forward at the utmost speed I could +stand, desperately anxious to get as far ahead as possible before the +storm should overtake us. The ascent, though very steep on this side, +presented no other special difficulty, and at the end of an hour we had +come close to the two great rocks for which we had been making. + +All this time the sun continued to shine down upon us, though with +diminishing power as the hurrying snowflakes passing above our heads +became thicker and thicker; while, as to the storm-cloud itself, we +could not see how near it had come, for the pine-clad mountain, rising +high on our left hand, obstructed our view in that direction. That it +was not far off, though, we were pretty sure, for the humming of the +wind in the woods--the only thing by which we could judge--though faint +at first, had by this time increased to a roar. + +The storm was, in fact, much nearer than we imagined, and just as we +passed between the "gateway" rocks it burst upon us with a fury and a +suddenness that, to me at least, were appalling. + +Almost as though a door had been slammed in our faces, the light of the +sun was cut off, leaving us in twilight gloom, and with a roar like a +stampede of cattle across a wooden bridge, a swirling, blinding smother +of snow, driven by a furious wind, rushed through the "gateway," taking +us full in the face, with such violence that Dick was thrown back +against me, nearly knocking us both from our feet. Instinctively, we +crouched for shelter behind the rock, and there we waited a minute or +two to recover breath and collect our senses. + +"Pretty bad," said Dick. "But it might have been worse: it isn't very +cold--not yet; we have only about two miles to go, and I know the lay of +the land. We'll start again as soon as you are ready. I'll go first and +you follow close behind. Whatever you do, don't lose sight of me for an +instant: it won't do to get lost. Hark! Did you hear that?" + +There was a rending crash, as some big tree gave way before the storm. +It was a new danger, one I had not thought of before. I looked +apprehensively at my companion. + +"Suppose one of them should fall on us, Dick," said I. + +"Suppose it shouldn't," replied Dick. "That is just as easy to suppose, +and a good deal healthier." + +I confess I had been feeling somewhat scared. The sudden gloom, the +astonishing fury of the wind, the confusing whirl and rush of the snow, +and then from some point unknown the sharp breaking of a tree, sounding +in the midst of the universal roar like the crack of a whip--all this, +coming all together and so suddenly, was quite enough, I think, to +"rattle" a town-bred boy. + +But if panic is catching, so is courage. Dick's prompt and sensible +remark acted like a tonic. Springing to my feet, I cried: + +"You are right, old chap! Come on. Let's step right out at once. I'm +ready." + +It was most fortunate that Dick knew where he was, for the light was so +dim and the snow so thick that we could see but a few paces ahead; while +the wind, though beating in general against our left cheeks, was itself +useless as a guide, for, being deflected by the ridges and ravines of +the mountain, it would every now and then strike us square in the face, +stopping us dead, and the next moment leap upon us from behind, sending +me stumbling forward against my leader. + +In spite of its vindictive and ceaseless assaults, though, Dick kept +straight on, his head bent and his cap pulled down over his ears; while +I, following three feet behind, kept him steadily in view. Presently he +stopped with a joyful shout. + +"Hurrah, Frank!" he cried. "Look here! Now we are all right. Here's a +thread to hold on by: as good as a rope to a drowning man." + +The "thread" was a little stream of water, appearing suddenly from I +know not where, and running off in the direction we were going. + +"This will take us home, Frank!" my companion shouted in my ear. "It +runs down and joins our own creek about a quarter of a mile above the +house. With this for a guide we are all safe; we mustn't lose it, that's +all. And we won't do that: we'll get into it and walk in the water if we +have to. Best foot foremost, now! All down-hill! Hurrah, for us!" + +Dick's cheerful view of the situation was very encouraging, though, as a +matter of fact, it was a pretty desperate struggle we had to get down +the mountain, with the darkness increasing and the snow becoming deeper +every minute. Indeed it was becoming a serious question with me whether +I could keep going much longer, when at the end of the most perilous +hour I ever went through, we at last came down to the junction of the +creeks, and turning to our right presently caught sight of a lighted +window. + +Five minutes later we were safe inside the professor's house--and high +time too, for I could not have stood much more of it: I had just about +reached the end of my tether. But the warmth and rest and above all the +assurance of safety quickly had their effect, and very soon I found +myself seated before the fire consuming with infinite gusto a great bowl +of strong, hot soup which Romero had made all ready for us; thus +comfortably winding up the most eventful day of my existence--up to that +moment. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +HOW DICK BROUGHT THE NEWS + + +"You ran it rather too close, Dick," said the professor, with a shake of +his head, when we had told him the story of our race with the storm. "I +was beginning to be afraid; not so much for you as for your companion: +it was too big an undertaking for him, considering that it was his first +day in the mountains; even leaving out the risk of the snow-storm." + +"I'm afraid I was thoughtless," replied Dick, penitently; "especially in +not looking out for a change of weather. It did run us too close, as you +say--a great deal too close. But there is one thing I can do, anyhow, to +repair that error to some extent, and I'll be off at once and do it." + +So saying, Dick, who by this time had finished his supper, jumped out of +his chair and began putting on his overcoat. + +"Where are you off to, Dick?" I exclaimed. "Not going out again +to-night?" + +"Only a little way," replied Dick. "Down to the town to let your uncle +know that you are all safe. He'll be pretty anxious, I expect." + +I had thought of that, but I could see no way of getting over it. I +could not go myself, for even if I had dared to venture I had not the +strength for it, and of course I could not expect any one else to do it +for me. My first thought, therefore, when Dick announced that he was +going, was one of satisfaction; though my next thought, following very +quickly upon the first one, was to protest against his doing any such +thing. + +"No, no, Dick," I cried, "it's too risky--you mustn't! Uncle Tom will be +worried, I know, but he will conclude that I am staying the night with +you. And though I should be glad to have his mind relieved, I don't +consider--and he would say the same, I'm pretty sure--that that is a +good enough reason for you to take such a risk." + +"Thanks, old chap," replied Dick; "but it isn't so much of a risk as you +think. Going down wind to the town is a very different matter from +coming down that rough mountain with the storm beating on us from every +side. I've been over the trail a thousand times, and I believe I could +follow it with my eyes shut; and, anyhow, to lose your way is pretty +near impossible, you know, with the cañon on your right hand and the +mountain on your left. So, don't you worry yourself, Frank: I'll be +under cover again in an hour or less." + +Seeing that the professor nodded approval, I protested no more, though I +still had my doubts about letting him go. + +"Well, Dick," said I, "it's mighty good of you. I wish I could go, too, +but that is out of the question, I'm afraid: I should only hamper you if +I tried. I can tell you one thing, anyhow: Uncle Tom will appreciate +it--you may be sure of that." + +In this I was right, though I little suspected at the moment in what +form his appreciation was to show itself. As a matter of fact, Dick's +action in braving the storm a second time that evening was to be a +turning-point in his fortune and mine. + +"Good-night, Frank," said he. "I'll be back again in the morning, I +expect. Hope you'll sleep as well in my bed as I intend to do in yours. +Good-night." + +So saying, Dick, this time overcoated, gloved and ear-capped, opened the +door and stepped out. Watching him from the window, I saw him striding +off down wind, to be lost to sight in ten seconds in the maze of driving +snow. + +"Are you sure it's all right, Professor?" said I, anxiously. "There's +time yet to call him back." + +"It is all right," replied my host, reassuringly. "You need not fear. +Dick has been out in many a storm before, and he knows very well how to +take care of himself. You may be sure I would not let him go if I +thought it were not all right. And now, I think, it would be well if you +took possession of Dick's bed. You have had a very hard day and need a +good long rest." + +To this I made no objection, and early though it was, I was asleep in +five minutes, too tired to be disturbed even by the insistent banging +and howling of the storm outside. + +Meanwhile, Uncle Tom, down in the town, was, as I had suspected, +fretting and fuming and worrying himself in his uncertainty as to +whether I was safe under cover or not. + +The storm had taken the town by surprise, for the morning had opened +gloriously, clear and sharp and still, as it had done every day for a +month past, and most people naturally supposed there was to be another +day as fine as those which had gone before; little suspecting that the +north wind, up there among the icebound peaks and gorges of the mother +range, was at that moment marshaling its forces for a mad rush down into +the valley. + +And how should they suspect? Of the three hundred people comprising the +population, not one, not even old Jeff Andrews himself, the patriarch of +the district, had spent more than two winters in the camp. In the year +of its founding there were about a dozen men and no women who had braved +the hardships of the first winter, but as the fame of the new camp +extended to the outer world, other people began to come in, slowly at +first and then in larger numbers, so that by this time the population +numbered, as I said, about three hundred souls, including twenty-one +women and two babies; while at a rough guess I should say there was +about two-thirds of a dog to each citizen, counting in the twelve +children of school age and the two babies as well. + +These dogs, by the way, were the chief source of entertainment in the +town, for during the hours of daylight there was always a fight going on +somewhere, while at night most of them, especially the younger ones, +used to sit out in the middle of the street barking defiance at the +coyotes, which, from the hills all round, howled back at them in +unceasing chorus. This part of the programme was changed, however, later +in the winter, for one half-cloudy night the blacksmith's long-legged +shepherd pup, seated in front of the forge door, was barking himself +hoarse at the moon when a big timber-wolf came slipping down out of the +woods and finished the puppy's song and his existence with one snap. +After this the other dogs were more careful about the hours they kept. + +But to return to the human part of the population. Considering how few +of them had spent a winter in this high valley; remembering that every +one of the grown-up citizens had been born in some other State, and that +the very great majority were newcomers in Colorado, it is not to be +wondered at that the storm should have caught them unawares. For, in +Colorado, if there is one thing almost impossible to forecast it is the +weather, especially in the mountains where it is made, where the +snow-storms and the thunder-storms, brewing in secret behind the peaks, +bounce out on you before you know it. + +So, on this sunshiny morning, most people went about their usual +occupations unsuspicious of evil; it was only the few old-timers who +divined what was coming, and their little precautions, such as shutting +their doors and windows before leaving the house, merely excited a smile +or a word of chaff from the "plum-sure" newcomers. For it is always the +new arrival who thinks he can predict the weather; the old-stager, +having had experience enough to be aware that he knows nothing about it +for certain, can seldom be persuaded to venture a decided opinion. + +Tied to a hitching-post outside the assayer's door that afternoon were +two ponies, and about two o'clock Mr. Warren, himself, and Uncle Tom, +issued from the house, prepared for their ride up on Cape Horn--a big, +bare mountain lying southeast of town. As they stepped down from the +porch, however, Warren happened to notice old Jeff Andrews walking up +the street, carrying over his shoulder a great buffalo-skin overcoat, +which, considering the warmth of the day, seemed rather out of place. + +"Hallo, Jeff!" the assayer called out. "What are you carrying that thing +for? Are we going to have a change?" + +Jeff, a gray-bearded, round-shouldered man of sixty, with a face burnt +all of one color by years of life in the open, paused for a moment +before replying, and then, knowing that the assayer was not one of those +"guying tenderfeet," for whom, as he expressed it, "he had no manner of +use," he answered genially: + +"Well, gents, I ain't no weather prophet--I'll leave that business to +the latest arrival--but I have my suspicions. Just look up overhead." + +The old man had detected the hurrying snowflakes passing across the face +of the sun, and though to Uncle Tom there was nothing unusual to be +seen, the assayer understood the signs. + +"Wind, Jeff?" said he. + +"And snow," replied the old prospector. "Was you going to ride up on +Cape Horn this evening, Mr. Warren? Well, if I was you, I wouldn't. Cape +Horn lies south o' here, and if a storm from the north catches you up +there on that bare mountain you may not be able to work your way back +again. If I was you, I'd put the ponies back in the stable and lay low +for a spell." + +"Thank you, Jeff," responded the assayer. "I believe that's a good idea. +I think we shall do well, Tom, to postpone our trip. No use running the +risk of being caught out in a blizzard: it's a bit too dangerous to suit +me." + +The ponies, therefore, were taken back to the stable and the two men, +returning to the house, sat down on the sunny porch to await +developments. + +The snow-cloud was already half way down the range and it was not long +ere the murmur of the wind among the distant trees began to make itself +heard, giving warning of what was coming to a few of the more observant +people. + +"It looks pretty threatening, Sam," said Uncle Tom. "I don't like the +way that cloud comes creeping down. I hope those boys will notice it in +time." + +"I don't think you need worry about them," replied the assayer. "Young +Dick is well able to take care of himself. He knows the signs as well as +anybody." + +"Well, I hope he'll notice them in time. Going indoors, are you?" + +"Yes; if you don't mind, I'll leave you for the present. I have some +work I want to finish up. Let me know when it comes pretty close so that +I may get my windows shut. It will come with a 'whoop' when it does +come." + +As the assayer rose to his feet, he observed across the street the +proprietor of the corner grocery standing in his doorway with his hands +in his pockets. + +"Hallo, Jackson!" he called out. "You'd better take in those loose boxes +from the sidewalk if you want to save them: there's a big blow coming +pretty soon." + +"Oh, I guess not," replied the grocer, a fat-faced, self-satisfied man, +one of those "dead-sure weather prophets" for whom old Jeff felt such +supreme contempt. "I reckon I'll chance it." + +He cast a glance skyward, and deceived by the sparkling brilliancy of +the sun, he added under his breath, "Big blow! As if any one couldn't +see with half an eye that there isn't a sign of wind in the sky." + +"All right, Jackson, suit yourself," replied Warren; adding on his part, +as an aside to Uncle Tom, "He'll change his mind in about half an hour, +if I'm not mistaken." + +For about that length of time Uncle Tom continued to sit on the porch +watching the approaching cloud and listening to the increasing murmur of +the wind, when, on the crown of a high ridge about a mile above town he +saw all the pine trees with one accord suddenly bend their heads toward +him, as though making him a stately obeisance. + +Springing out of his chair, Uncle Tom bolted into the house, slamming +the door behind him and calling out: "Here it comes, Sam! Here it +comes!" + +It did. The roar of its approach was now plainly audible; there was a +hurrying and scurrying of men and women, a banging of doors and a +slamming down of windows; even the incredulous grocer, convinced at +last, made a dive for his loose boxes--but just too late. + +With a shriek, as of triumph at catching them all unprepared, the wind +came raging down the street, making a clean sweep of everything. A young +mining camp is not as a rule over-particular about the amount of rubbish +that encumbers its streets, and Mosby was no exception to the rule, but +in five minutes it was swept as clean as though the twenty-one +housewives had been at work on it for a week with broom and +scrubbing-brush. + +Heralded by a cloud of mingled dust and snow, a whole covey of paper +scraps, loose straw and a few hats, went whirling down the street, +followed by a dozen or two of empty tin cans, while behind them, with +infinite clatter, came three lengths of stove-pipe from the bakery +chimney, closely pursued by an immense barrel which had once contained +crockery. + +As though enjoying the fun, this barrel came bounding down the roadway, +making astonishing leaps, until, at the grocery corner, it encountered +the only one of the empty boxes which had not already gone south, and +glancing off at an angle, went bang through the show window! + +It was as though My Lord, the North Wind, aware of Mr. Jackson's +incredulity, had sent an emissary to convince him that he _did_ intend +to blow that day. + +From that moment the wind and the snow had it all their own way; not a +citizen dared to show his nose outside. + +It was an uneasy day for Uncle Tom. Knowing full well the extreme danger +of being caught on the mountain in such a storm, he could not help +feeling anxious for our safety, and though his host tried to reassure +him by repeating his confidence in Dick Stanley's good sense and +experience, he grew more and more fidgety as the day wore on and +darkness began to settle down upon the town. + +In fact, by sunset, Uncle Tom had worked himself up to a high state of +nervousness. He kept pacing up and down the room like a caged beast, +unconsciously puffing at a cigar which had gone out half an hour before; +then striding to the window to look out--a disheartening prospect, for +not even the corner grocery was visible now. Then back he would come, +plump himself into his chair before the fire, only to jump up again in +fifteen seconds to go through the same performance once more. + +At length he flung his cigar-stump into the fire, and turning to his +friend, exclaimed: + +"Sam, I can't stand this uncertainty any longer. I'm going out to see if +I can't find somebody who will undertake to go up to the professor's +house and back for twenty dollars, just to make sure those boys have got +safe home. I'd go myself, only I know I should never get there." + +The assayer shook his head. + +"No use, Tom," said he. "You couldn't get one to go; at least, not for +money. If it were to dig a friend out of the snow you could raise a +hundred men in a minute; but for money--no. I don't believe you could +get any of them to face this storm for twenty dollars--or fifty, either. +They would say, 'What's the use? If the boys are in, they're in; if +they're not----'" + +"Well, if they're not---- What? I know what you mean. You chill me all +through, Sam, with your 'ifs.' Look here, old man, isn't there _anybody_ +who would go? Think, man, think!" + +"We might try little Aleck Smith, the teamster," said the assayer, +thoughtfully. "He's as tough as a bit of bailing-wire and plum full of +grit. We'll try him anyhow. Come on. I'll go with you. It's only six +houses down. Jump into your overcoat, old man!" + +The two men turned to get their coats, when, at that moment, there came +a thump upon the porch outside, as though somebody had jumped up the two +steps at a bound, the door burst open and in the midst of a whirl of +snow there was blown into the room the muffled, snow-coated figure of a +boy, who, slamming the door behind him, leaned back against it, gasping +for breath. + +The men stared in astonishment, until the boy, pulling off his cap, +revealed the face, scarlet from exposure, of Dick Stanley. + +"Why, Dick!" cried the assayer. "What's the matter? Where's young +Frank?" + +"All safe, sir! Safe in our house, and in bed and asleep by this time." + +"And did you come down through this howling storm to tell me?" cried +Uncle Tom. + +"Yes, sir. But that wasn't anything so very much, you know: it was +down-hill and downwind, too." + +"Well, you may think what you like about it--but so may I, too; and my +opinion is that there isn't another boy in the country would have done +it. I shan't forget your service, Dick. You may count on that. I shan't +forget it!" + +Nor did he--as you will see. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE PROFESSOR'S STORY + + +What a change had come over the landscape when, at sunrise next morning, +I jumped out of bed and went to the door to look out. Though the sky was +as clear and as blue as ever, though Mescalero, swept bare by the wind, +looked much as usual, all the lower parts of the range, except the +crowns of the ridges, were buried under the snow. The woods were full of +it; every hollow was leveled off so that one could hardly tell where it +used to be; while the narrow valley itself was ridged and furrowed by +great drifts piled up by freaks of the wind. It was cold, too, for with +the falling of the wind and the clearing of the sky the temperature had +dropped to zero. As so often happens in these parts, winter had arrived +with a bang. + +Closing the door, I hopped back to the jolly, roaring fire of logs which +Romero had started an hour before, and there finished my dressing. While +I was thus engaged, the professor came out of the back room, where it +was his custom to sleep--a queer choice--with a couple of thousand dead +insects for company. + +"Well, Frank," said he, cheerily. "Here's King Winter in all his glory. +Rather a rough-and-tumble monarch, isn't he? When his majesty makes his +royal progress, we, his humble subjects, do well to get out of his way +and leave the course clear for him." + +"That's true, sir," said I, laughing; and falling into the professor's +humor, I added: "I never met a king before, and if King Winter is an +example of the race I think we Americans were wise to get rid of them +when we did." + +"Oh," replied the professor, "you must not judge a whole order by one +specimen: there are kings and kings, and some of them are very fine +fellows. King Winter, though, is rather too boisterous and +inconsiderate; and to tell you the truth, Frank, you had rather a narrow +escape from him yesterday. I did not like to make too much of it before +Dick; I did not want him to think I blamed him for what was, after all, +merely an oversight; but as a matter of fact you ran a pretty big risk, +as you may easily understand when you see the amount of snow that fell +in about twelve hours; for the storm ceased and the sky cleared again +about three o'clock this morning." + +"It was nip and tuck for us, sure enough," said I; "but if our getting +caught in the storm was any fault of Dick's, there is one thing certain, +sir: he got us out of it in great style. I wouldn't ask for a better +guide. I was pretty badly scared myself, I don't mind owning"--the +professor nodded, as much as to say, "I don't wonder,"--"but Dick," I +continued, "did not seem to be flustered for a moment; he knew just what +to do and pitched right in and did it. It seems to me, sir--though of +course I don't set up to be a judge--that the most experienced +mountaineer couldn't have done any better." + +"Dick is a good boy," said the professor, evidently pleased at my +standing up for his young friend; "and he seems to have a faculty for +keeping his wits about him in an emergency. It has always been so, ever +since he was a little boy. I suppose he has never told you, has he, how +he once saved his donkey from a mountain-lion?" + +"No, sir," I replied. "How was it?" + +"He was about nine years old at the time, and as his little legs were +too short to enable him to keep up with me, I had given him a young +burro to ride. We were camped one night on the Trinchera, not far from +Fort Garland, when we were awakened by a great squealing on the part of +the donkey, which was tethered a few feet away, and sitting up in our +beds, which were on the ground under the open sky, we were just in time +to see some big, cat-like animal spring upon the poor little beast and +knock it over. Instead of crying and crawling under the blankets, as he +might well have been excused for doing, little Dick sprang out of his +bed--as did I also. But the youngster was twice as quick as I was, and +without an instant's hesitation he seized a burning stick from the fire, +ran right up to the mountain-lion--for that was what it was--and as the +snarling creature raised its head, the plucky little chap thrust the hot +end of his stick into its mouth, when, with a yell of pain and +astonishment, the beast let go its hold and fled like a yellow streak +into the woods again." + +"Bully for Dick!" I cried. "That was pretty good, wasn't it? And was the +donkey killed?" + +"No; rather badly scratched; but Dick's promptness and courage saved it +from anything more serious." + +"Well, that was certainly pretty good for such a youngster," said I. +"By the way, sir," I continued, "there is one thing I should like to ask +you, if you don't mind, about your life in the mountains, especially +back in the 'sixties' and earlier, and that is, how you managed to +escape being killed and scalped by the Indians." + +My host laughed, and I could see by his face that he was thinking +backward, as he slowly stirred his coffee round and round; for we were +seated at our breakfast, Romero serving us. + +"That _was_ a serious question at first," he replied presently, "but I +solved it very early in my wanderings; and now I--and Dick, too--may go +among any of the tribes with impunity." + +"Will you tell me about it, sir?" I asked, full of curiosity to know how +he had worked such a seeming miracle. + +The professor leaned back in his chair, stretched out his feet and +folded his hands on the edge of the table. + +"I will, with pleasure," he replied; "for it is rather a curious +incident, I have always thought. + +"Before I took up the profession of 'bug-hunting,' as the pursuit of +entomology is irreverently termed by the people here, I had graduated as +a physician--very fortunately for me, as it turned out, for my +knowledge of medicine was the basis of my reputation among the Indians. +I was down in Arizona at one time, when, on coming to a little Mexican +village, I found the poor people suffering from an epidemic of smallpox. +Several had died, and the survivors, scared out of their wits, had given +themselves up for lost. After my arrival, however, there were no more +deaths, I am glad to say, and by the end of about a month I had +succeeded in putting all my patients on the highroad to recovery. + +"There was a little adobe ranch-house about a quarter of a mile +up-stream from the village, the owner of which had died before my +arrival, and this building I had utilized as a pest-house. I was on my +way out to it one morning, with my little case of medicines in my hand, +when I heard behind me a great crying out among the villagers, and +looking back I saw them all scuttling for shelter, at the same time +shouting and screaming, according to their age and sex, 'Apache! +Apache!' + +"The next moment, right through the middle of the village, riding like a +whirlwind, came ten horsemen, who, paying no attention to the frightened +Mexicans, made straight for me. Doubtless they had been hiding in the +creek-bed among the willows since daylight, awaiting their opportunity +to dash out and capture me--for, as I found later, it was I whom they +were after. + +"To run was useless, to fight impossible, as I was unarmed, so, there +being nothing else to do, I just stood still and waited for them. In a +moment I was surrounded, when one of the Indians sprang from his horse +and advanced upon me. He had, as I very well remember, his nose painted +a bright green--a fearsome object. This apparition came striding toward +me, and I supposed I was to be killed and scalped forthwith; but +instead, my friend of the green nose, in halting Spanish, and with a +deference which was as welcome as it was unexpected, explained to me +that the fame of the great white medicine-man had extended far and wide; +that the smallpox was ravaging their village; and that they had come to +beg me to return with them and drive out the enemy. + +"Greatly relieved to find that their mission was peaceful, I replied at +once that I would come with pleasure, provided I were treated with the +respect due to my quality, but that I must first visit the pest-house +and leave directions for the care of my two remaining patients. To +this--rather to my surprise--they readily consented, relying implicitly +upon my promise to accompany them; an instance of trustfulness from +which I could only infer, I regret to say, that they had had but little +intercourse with white men. + +"The Indians had brought a horse for me, and after a long two-days' ride +into the mountains, we reached the camp, consisting of about twenty +lodges, where I found matters in pretty bad condition. I went to work +vigorously, however, and again had the good fortune to rout the enemy +without the loss of a patient; thereby, as you may suppose, gaining the +lasting good will of every member of the tribe--with one exception. + +"This exception--rather an important one--was the local medicine-man, +who, having vainly endeavored to drive out the plague by the application +of bad smells and worse noises, was not unnaturally consumed with +jealousy of my superior success, and with the desire to discover what +charms and spells I used to that end. + +"On our way up from the Mexican settlement I had several times stopped +to note the direction with a little pocket-compass I always carried +about with me, on each of which occasions I had observed that the +medicine-man, who was one of the party, had eyed the little instrument +with a sort of fearful curiosity. Later, when my patients were all +getting well, I had several times gone out to a distance from the camp +and with the compass taken the bearings of the many mountain peaks +visible in all directions, making a little map of the country. Every +time I did this, the medicine-man was sure to come stalking by, watching +my motions out of the corner of his eye. On one such occasion I called +him to me, anxious to be on friendly terms, and showing him the +instrument, tried to explain its use. But the Indian, seeing through the +glass the unaccountable motion of the needle, was afraid to touch it, +and my explanation, I fear, had rather the effect of misleading him, for +his knowledge of Spanish was very small, while my knowledge of Apache +was smaller, and eventually he went off with the idea that the compass, +which I had tried to make him understand was my 'guide,' 'director' and +so forth, was in fact nothing more nor less than the familiar spirit +through whose aid I had ousted the evil spirit of the smallpox. + +"With this conviction in his mind, and supposing that the possession of +the compass would confer upon him similar powers, he screwed up his +courage to steal it--and a very courageous act it was, too, I consider, +remembering how greatly he stood in fear of it. + +"It was on the eve of my departure that I discovered my loss, and going +straight to my friend with the green nose I informed him of the fact, at +the same time stating my conviction that the medicine-man was the thief. +He was very wroth that his guest should have been so treated after +having rendered such good service to the community, but feeling some +diffidence about seizing and searching his medicine-man, of whom he was +rather afraid, he suggested that I concoct a spell which should induce +the thief to disgorge his plunder of his own accord; a course which +would doubtless be a simple matter to a high-class magician like myself. + +"This was rather embarrassing. I did not at all like to trust to the +tricks of the charlatan, but being unable to devise any other plan by +which to recover my compass, an instrument indispensable to me, and +impossible to replace, in that wild country, I determined to employ a +device I had once read of as having been adopted by an officer in the +East India Company's service to detect a thieving Sepoy soldier. Even +then I should not have resorted to such a measure had I not felt +convinced that the medicine-man was the thief, and that his +superstitious dread of my powers would cause him to fall into my trap. + +"I therefore desired Green Nose to summon all the men of the village, +which being done, I addressed them through him as interpreter. I told +them that one of their number was a thief, and that I was about to find +out which one it was--a statement which I could see had an impressive +effect. + +"Taking two straws of wild rye, I cut them to exactly equal lengths, and +then, holding them up so that all might see, I announced that the men +were to come forward, one at a time, take one of the straws, step inside +my lodge for a few seconds, and then bring back the straw to me. To +those who were innocent nothing would happen, 'but,' said I, with +menacing fore-finger, 'when the _thief_ brings back the straw it will be +found to have _grown one inch_!' + +"I waited a minute to allow this announcement to have its full effect, +and then requested that, in deference to his exalted position, my +honored brother, the medicine-man, should be the first to test the +potency of my magic. + +"I could see that he was very reluctant to do any such thing, but to +decline would be to draw suspicion on himself, so, stepping from the +line, he received the straw and retired with it to my lodge. + +"There was a minute of breathless suspense, when back he came and handed +over his straw to me. My own straw, together with the hand which held +it, I had covered with a large, spotted silk handkerchief, in such a +manner that it was concealed from view, and slipping the medicine-man's +straw into the same hand, I perceived at once that the thief had +betrayed himself, just as I had hoped and expected he would. + +"Casting a glance along the line of silent Indians, and noting that they +were all attention, I withdrew the handkerchief and held up the two +straws. One of them was an inch longer than the other! + +"In spite of their habitual stoicism, there was a murmur and a stir +along the line; but the greatest effect was naturally upon the poor +medicine-man. Thrusting his hand into his bosom, he drew out the compass +from under his shirt, handed it to me, and then, pulling his blanket +over his head, he crept away without a word and shut himself up in his +lodge." + +"But how did you do it?" I interrupted. "How did his straw come out +longer than the other? Did you break off a piece from your own?" + +"No," replied the professor, smiling; "it was the medicine-man who broke +off a piece from his. Knowing himself to be the thief, and fully +believing that the straw would grow in his hand, he no sooner got into +the shelter of my lodge than he bit off an inch from his straw, thus +making sure, as he supposed, that its supernatural growth would bring it +back to its original length. It was just what I had expected him to do. +Nobody but myself, of course, could tell which straw was which, and when +I held them up to view, one longer than the other, the whole assembly +never doubted for an instant that the shorter one was mine and that it +was the thief's straw that had grown--least of all the medicine-man, +himself. + +"He, poor fellow, conscious of guilt, and being himself a dealer in +charms and incantations, was more than anybody in a proper frame of mind +to put faith in my magic, and when he saw, as he supposed, that his +straw, in spite of his precautions, had grown the promised inch, he +collapsed at once; and thinking, very likely, that it was the compass +itself that had betrayed him, he handed it back to me very willingly, +glad to be rid of so pernicious a little imp." + +"And was that the end of the matter?" I asked. + +"Yes, that was the end of it. Being all ready to go, I went, leaving +behind me a reputation which was to be of great service to me on many a +subsequent occasion; a reputation due, I am sorry to say, very much more +to the clap-trap trick played upon the poor medicine-man than upon my +really meritorious service in dealing with the smallpox epidemic. My +fame gradually extended among all the mountain tribes, and since then I +have been free to go anywhere with the assurance not only of safety but +of welcome from any of the Indians, Apache, Ute or Navajo--a condition +of affairs which, as you will readily understand has been of infinite +service to me during my twenty years of wandering. + +"Ah!" casting a glance out of the window as he rose from the table. +"Here comes Dick, and somebody with him; a stranger to me--your uncle, I +presume." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +DICK'S DIPLOMACY + + +Running to the door, I saw Dick striding down toward the cabin, while +behind him on a stout pony rode Uncle Tom. Just as I stepped out, the +pair approached one of the drifts of snow which ridged the valley, and +into this Dick plunged at once. Though it was up to his waist, he pretty +soon forced his way through, when it was Uncle Tom's turn. + +Evidently it was not the first time the pony had tackled a snow-drift, +for he showed no disposition to shirk the task, but wading in up to his +knees, he did the rest of the passage in a series of short leaps, very +like buck-jumping; a mode of progression extremely discomforting to his +plump, short-legged rider. + +"Oh! Ah!" gasped Uncle Tom at each jump. "Heavens! What a country! Dick, +you imp of darkness, I thought you said it was an easy trail." + +At this I could not help laughing, when Uncle Tom, who had not +perceived me before, transferred his attention to me. + +"You young scamp, Frank!" cried he, shaking his fist at me as I ran +forward to meet him. "This is a nice way to treat your respected +uncle--first scare him half to death and then laugh at him. Lucky for me +there's only one of you: if you had been born twins I should have been +worn to a rag long ago. How are you, old fellow?" he went on, reaching +down to shake hands with me. "Any the worse for your adventure?" + +"Not a bit," I replied. "Sound as a bell, thank you." + +"Thank Dick, you mean. I'll tell you what, Frank," he continued, leaning +down and whispering; Dick having walked on toward the house: "that's an +uncommonly fine young fellow, in my opinion. His coming down in the +storm last night to tell me that you were all safe was a thing that few +boys of his age would have done and fewer still would have thought of +doing. Ah! This is the professor, I suppose. Why, I've seen him before!" + +So saying, Uncle Tom jumped to the ground, and hastening forward, held +out his hand, exclaiming: + +"How are you, Herr Bergen? I'm glad to meet you again. We are old +acquaintances, though I had forgotten your name, if I ever heard it." + +"I believe you are right, Mr. Allen," responded the professor. "Your +face seems familiar, though I am ashamed to say I cannot recall when or +where we met." + +"I can remind you," said Uncle Tom. "It was at Fort Garland, six or +seven years ago. I was on my way to investigate an alleged gold +discovery in the Taos mountains, when you rode into the fort to ask the +cavalry vet to give you something to dress the wounds of a burro which +had been clawed by a mountain-lion. I got into conversation with you, +and learning that you also wanted some cartridges for a little Ballard +rifle, I gave you a box of fifty. Do you remember?" + +"I remember very well," replied the professor. "The cartridges were for +Dick: he learned to shoot with a Ballard. Well, this is a great pleasure +to meet an old acquaintance like this. Come in out of the cold. Romero +will take your pony." + +Soon we were all seated before the fire, Uncle Tom puffing away his +aches and pains with the smoke of the inevitable cigar, when the +professor, turning to him, asked: + +"And how long do you intend to stay in camp, Mr. Allen? Will this snow +drive you out?" + +"Not at all," replied Uncle Tom. "I expect to be here a couple of weeks, +in spite of the snow. The drifts will settle in a day or two, and the +miners will break trails to their claims, and then I shall be able to +get about--there won't be any difficulty. Though if it were going to be +as hard work as it was coming up here this morning I might as well go +home again at once--it took us an hour to make the one mile from town." + +"You came to inspect the mines, I understand. Do you confine yourself to +silver mines, or do you deal in mines of all sorts?" + +"Silver and gold," replied Uncle Tom. "Though, as it happens, I am on +the lookout this time for a copper mine as well. Before I left St. Louis +I notified a Boston firm, with whom I have frequent dealings, of my +intention to come here, and received from them in reply a telegram, +saying, 'Find us a good copper mine. Price no object.' There was no +explanation, and I am rather puzzled to understand why they should +suddenly branch out into 'coppers' in this way." + +"I expect the explanation is simple enough," remarked the professor. + +"What is it, then?" asked Uncle Tom. + +"To any one watching the progress of science," replied the professor, +puffing away at his big porcelain pipe, "even to me, here on the ragged +edge of civilization, it is obvious that a new era is close at hand; a +new force rapidly coming to the front." + +"Electricity?" asked Uncle Tom. + +"Yes, electricity. The science is still in the egg, as you may say, but +to those who have ears to hear, the shell is beginning to crack. I am +convinced that before long we shall be lighting our streets with +electricity and using it in a thousand ways as a mechanical power. The +consequence will be an immense increase in the demand for copper; and +that, I have no doubt, is why you have been asked to look out for a +copper mine: they want to be ready when the time comes. What is this, +Dick?" + +At the first mention of the words, "copper mine," the thoughts of Dick +and myself had, of course, instantly reverted to the King Philip mine, +and I was on the point of introducing the subject, when Dick, catching +my eye, signed to me to keep quiet. Rising from his chair, he stepped +softly to the rack where the rifles hung and took down the Mexican's +arrow, which he had put there the evening before. It happened that we +had not mentioned the episode of the wolves and the Mexican when +describing to the professor our struggle homeward through the +snow-storm, and consequently, when my companion laid the arrow on the +table close to his elbow, it was only natural that the old gentleman +should exclaim, "What is this, Dick?" + +Very briefly, Dick related how he had come by it, merely stating that we +had seen a Mexican shoot a wolf; that the Mexican had run away when we +hailed him; and that we had gone and picked up his arrow. I wondered +rather why he did not call attention to the copper arrow-head; but Dick +knew what he was about, as I very soon saw: he intended to let the +professor discover it for himself, which a man of his habits of close +observation was certain to do. In fact, the old gentleman had no sooner +taken the arrow into his hands than he exclaimed: + +"Why, this arrow-head is made of copper! A Mexican, you say? Then he +probably came from Hermanos. You remember, Dick, how all the people +down there---- Why, Mr. Allen, here's the very thing! You want a copper +mine? Well, here is a copper mine all ready to your hand! All you have +to do is----" + +"To find it," interjected Dick, laughing. + +"That is true," the professor assented, laughing himself. "I had +forgotten that little particular for the moment, Dick. I'm afraid it is +not quite so ready to your hand as I was leading you to suppose, Mr. +Allen; but that it is there, somewhere in the Dos Hermanos mountains, I +feel sure." + +Thereupon the professor proceeded to tell the story that Dick had +already told me, giving some further details of the information he had +derived from the Spanish gentleman, Don Blake. + +"It appears to have been a mine of some consequence," said the +professor. "The records covered a period of fifteen years, and during +the last five years of the time the shipments were constant and large. +It is fairly sure, I think, that the product was native copper----" + +"Sure to be," interrupted Uncle Tom. "It would never have paid to ship +any waste product so far. In fact, I am surprised that they should ship +even native copper such a long distance." + +"Yes; but as they did so, I think the inference is that the metal was +plentiful and easy to mine." + +"That is a reasonable assumption," said Uncle Tom, thoughtfully nodding +his head. "What beats me, though," he went on, "is that the memory of +the spot should have been so totally lost. Considering that the mine was +producing for fifteen years, there must be many traces of the work done, +such as the waste dump, the old road or trail, and so forth: you can't +run a mine for that length of time and leave no marks. It is a wonder to +me that the place has never been rediscovered." + +"I don't think there is anything surprising in that," replied the +professor. "The villagers of Hermanos, agricultural people, seldom go +five miles from home; it is only old Galvez' _vaqueros_, his cow-men, +who would be likely to come across the traces of mining, and if they +did, those peons are such incurious, unenterprising people they would +pay no attention. Besides which, I gathered that even the cow-men never +went up into the Dos Hermanos mountains: it is not a good cattle +country--rough granite and limestone, little water and scant pasturage. +Consequently, the cattle range southward toward the Santa Claras, +instead of westward to the Dos Hermanos, and the Twin Peaks, therefore, +remain in their solitary glory, untouched by the foot of man; and +probably they have so remained ever since the King Philip mine was +abandoned, a hundred and fifty years ago." + +For a full minute Uncle Tom remained silent, thoughtfully blowing out +long spirals of cigar smoke, but presently he roused up again and said: + +"There is one thing more I should like to ask you, Professor, and that +is, why you conclude that the King Philip mine is in the Dos Hermanos +mountains?" + +"For this reason," replied our friend: "In the first place, many of the +reports were dated from the _Casa del Rey_. Of course, it is likely +enough that there are other _Casas del Rey_ in other parts of the +country, but besides the frequent mention of the King's House, there was +also mention of Indian fights at different places: 'at the crossing of +the Perdita,' for instance, and 'near the spring by Picture Buttes'; +then there was the record of a snow-blockade on the Mosca Pass, in the +Santa Claras; another of a terrible dust-storm on the Little Cactus +Desert, 'with the loss of one man and three mules'; and so forth. Now, a +line running through these and other places mentioned would bring you +into the Mescalero valley at its southern end, and there is no doubt in +my mind that the _Casa del Rey_ named in the reports is the King's House +down there at Hermanos." + +"It does seem so, doesn't it?" responded Uncle Tom. "Look here, +professor," he went on, suddenly jumping out of his chair and casting +his cigar stump into the fire, "I must make an attempt to find that +copper mine. It does, as you say, seem all ready to my hand. But how to +do it, is the question. I can't go myself--can't spare the time--so the +only way, I suppose, is to hire some prospector, if I can." + +"I don't think you can get one," said the professor, shaking his head; +"at least, not here in Mosby. They are all too intent on hunting for +silver, and I doubt if you could persuade one of them to waste a season +in searching for a metal so commonplace as copper, the value of which is +rather prospective than immediate. I doubt very much if you could get +one to go." + +"I suppose not," replied Uncle Tom. "And you can hardly blame them, +either, when you consider that by the expenditure of the same amount of +labor a man may come across a rich vein of silver, every ounce of which +he knows to be worth a dollar and twenty cents." + +"Just so," the professor assented. + +"What am I to do, then?" asked Uncle Tom. "Give it up? Seems a pity, +doesn't it, when, more than likely, the old workings are lying there +plain to view, only waiting for some one with his eyes open to pass that +way. Still, if I can't get a man----" + +"Take a boy," suggested Dick, cutting in unexpectedly. + +Uncle Tom whirled round on his heels and stared at him; the professor +removed his long pipe from his mouth and stared at him too; while Dick +himself sat bolt upright in his chair, a broad and genial grin +overspreading his countenance. + +For some seconds they all maintained these attitudes in silence, when +Uncle Tom suddenly broke into a hearty laugh. + +"You young scamp!" cried he, shaking his forefinger at Dick. "I believe +that's what you've been aiming at all the time." + +"That's just what we have, Mr. Allen," replied my companion. "Frank and +I were talking about it yesterday, saying what fun it would be to go and +hunt for the old mine; though we never expected to get the chance. But +when you began to talk about copper mines, we cocked our ears, of +course, thinking that here, perhaps, _was_ a chance after all--and--and +if you _can't_ get a man, Mr. Allen, why not send a boy? Would you let +me go, Professor?" + +Our two elders looked at each other, and very anxiously we looked at our +two elders. Not a word did either of them say, until the professor, +rising from his chair and knocking out the ashes of his pipe upon the +hearthstone, remarked quietly: + +"Go out and chop some wood, boys. I want to talk to Mr. Allen." + +Regarding this order as a hopeful sign, out we went, and for a long +half-hour we feverishly hacked at the heap of poles outside, making a +rather indifferent job of it, I suspect, until a tapping at the window +attracted our attention and we saw Uncle Tom beckoning us to come in. + +How anxiously we scanned their countenances this time, any one will +guess. Both men were standing with their backs to the fire, Uncle Tom +smoking a fresh cigar and the professor puffing away again at his pipe, +both of them looking so solemn that I thought to myself, "It's no go," +and my spirits fell accordingly; but looking again at Uncle Tom I +detected a twitching at the corner of his mouth which sent them up again +with a bound. + +"Well, Uncle Tom!" I cried. "What's it to be?" + +"It is a serious matter," replied my guardian, with all the solemnity of +a judge passing sentence. "The professor and I have discussed it very +earnestly, and we have decided--that you shall go!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE START + + +The delight with which this announcement was received by us two boys may +be imagined, for though we had hoped for such a decision we had not +dared to expect it. I, for my part, had feared that the matter of my +interrupted education alone would form an insurmountable barrier; and +indeed it was that subject which had proved the chief obstacle, as Uncle +Tom presently informed me. All the other objections were minor ones and +we discreetly refrained from asking for their recapitulation lest, in +going over them again, something not thought of before should crop up to +interfere. We were quite content to accept the decision without knowing +how it had been arrived at. + +As to my interrupted schooling, though, that was a serious matter, as +Uncle Tom, in spite of his original ideas about education, clearly +understood. + +"The main question with me, you see, Frank," said he, "was whether you +would benefit or otherwise by missing so much schooling, and though I +believe pretty strongly in the value of learning by practice and +experience, I should have felt obliged to decide against this expedition +if the professor had not come to the rescue. It is to him you owe our +decision to let you boys go." + +I looked gratefully at Herr Bergen, who serenely waved the stem of his +pipe in our direction, though whether to intimate that the obligation +was nothing to speak of, or as a sign to Uncle Tom to go on, I could not +decide. + +"I find," continued the latter, "that the winter is Dick's school-time; +and the professor has offered to take you in, Frank, and let you share +in Dick's work, undertaking to bring you on in your mathematics in +particular--which is your weak spot, you know. In the spring, when the +snow clears off, you are to start for the Dos Hermanos and make a +thorough search for this old copper mine; and as you will be doing it on +my account, I shall bear all expenses. There, that is all, except--well, +it is not necessary to mention that--but I was going to say that I rely +on you, old fellow, to make the most of your opportunity and in your own +person to prove the correctness of my theory that a boy may sometimes +learn more out of school than in it." + +"I believe you may count on me, Uncle Tom," said I. "I'll do my level +best. And I'm tremendously obliged to you, Herr Bergen----" + +"Not at all," interrupted the professor, "not at all. The fact is, I am +very glad to have a companion for Dick; and as to the schooling, the +obligation is not all on one side by any means, for to me it is one of +the greatest pleasures possible to teach a boy who really desires to +learn. I anticipate a most pleasant winter." + +Thus was this odd arrangement made by which I, who by right should have +been attending a public school in St. Louis, became the private pupil of +an eminent German professor, pursuing my studies in a little log cabin +tucked away in a snow-encumbered valley of the Rocky Mountains--about as +queer a piece of topsyturviness, to my notion, as ever happened to a +boy, and one very unlikely to happen to any other boy, unless he chanced +to be endowed with an Uncle Tom cut out on the same pattern as mine. + +"There's one thing, Frank," said my guardian, as we made our way down to +camp later in the day, "there's one thing I didn't mention in Dick's +presence, and that is that the professor laid great stress on the +pleasure and advantage it would be to Dick to have a companion of his +own age for once, and it was that which turned the balance with +me--after the educational question had been got out of the way. For I +owe Dick a good turn if I can do him one without hurting anybody else; I +told him I wouldn't forget his service in coming down through the storm +yesterday, and I haven't forgotten. I'm uncommonly glad to think that in +consenting to your taking part in this expedition--which I believe will +be a great thing for you, mentally as well as bodily--we shall be doing +a service to Dick and to the old professor at the same time." + +"Well, Uncle Tom," said I, "you may be sure I am glad enough to stay, +and I hope it will not only prove a good thing for Dick and me, but for +you as well." + +"I hope so, too. And it will, if you can locate that old copper mine, +and if it should prove to be anywhere near as good as it sounds." + +As things turned out, I was destined to begin my winter's schooling +somewhat earlier than we had expected, for, five days after the storm, +Uncle Tom received from his Boston employers a telegram, forwarded by +mail from the end of the line, saying, "Come here at once. Important," +when, without demur, he forthwith packed up his things and away he went; +while I, taking leave of our kind host, the assayer, moved up to Herr +Bergen's house. + +I need not go into the details of our daily life on Mosby Creek; it is +enough to say that the winter was one of the pleasantest I had ever +spent. Time flew by, as was only natural, for there was not an idle +moment for either of us. Herr Bergen proved to be a most able +instructor, not only in the matter of scholarship but in general +training as well. He had served in the German army in his younger days, +and the habits of orderliness, precision and promptness remained with +him. We boys were made to toe the mark, and no mistake; there was a time +for work and a time for play, and whether for duty or pleasure, we had +to be on hand to the minute. + +I do not wish to imply that the professor was harsh, or anything of the +sort; very far from it: he was most considerate of our shortcomings, +which were doubtless plentiful enough, and with infinite patience would +go over the ground again and again whenever Dick or I got ourselves +tangled up; a condition of things which happened on the average about +once a day to each of us. Then, every marked advance we made in any of +our studies was so obviously gratifying to the kindly old gentleman that +that fact alone was enough to spur a fellow on to doing his extra-best. +As a consequence, I, for my part, made very notable progress, and it was +with great pleasure, as you may suppose, that I was able later on to +write to Uncle Tom my conviction that I had gained rather than lost by +my winter's work. + +One thing, at least, which I should not have acquired in school, I +gained by my association with the professor's household: I learned to +speak Spanish. Herr Bergen made a great point of it that I should do so, +as it would be pretty sure to come in useful during the ensuing summer. +He and Dick--and Romero, of course--all spoke it very well, so that my +opportunity for picking it up was excellent, and I made rapid progress; +my knowledge of Latin, which, though very far from profound, was up to +the average of a schoolboy of my age, being an immense help. + +All this time we did not lack exercise--the professor was just as +particular about that as he was about our work--and Dick and I had many +a jolly outing on our snow-shoes, the management of which was another +thing I learned. I should not omit to mention also that I spent a good +deal of time and a liberal number of cartridges practising with a rifle, +thereby becoming a very fair shot; though, of course, I could not +compete with Dick, who, having learned as a mere child, seemed, almost, +to shoot straight by nature. + +The weather on the average was splendid that winter, and there were but +few days when we could not get out. Four or five times, perhaps, during +the months I spent in the valley a snow-storm came raging down on us, +shutting us up for a day or two, after which the jovial sun would turn +up smiling again just as though nothing had happened. + +It was toward the end of April that Dick and I began to get ready to +leave. The increasing power of the sun had cleared off all the snow +below eleven thousand feet, the green grass was beginning to show in +many places, and it was fair to suppose that by the time we reached the +Dos Hermanos we should find pasturage enough for our animals--two ponies +and a mule. + +Dick already had his own pony, while the mule, a tough little beast by +name Uncle Fritz, was provided by the professor, both animals having +passed the winter on a ranch about a couple of thousand feet lower down. +Before he left, Uncle Tom had suggested hiring them for the season, but +the professor would not consent to his paying anything, saying that the +animals might just as well be put to some use as to waste their time +doing nothing all summer. Consequently, about the only expense to which +my guardian was put, besides furnishing provisions and tools for the +expedition, was the purchase of a pony and a rifle for me. This was a +very moderate outlay, and I was glad to think that Uncle Tom would get +off so cheaply, if our search should turn out a failure; and no one was +more ready to recognize that possibility--probability, I should rather +say, perhaps--than Uncle Tom himself, to whom the many stories in +general circulation of lost Spanish mines of fabulous richness were +familiar, and who knew very well how little foundation there was for +most of them. The present case, though, was different from the +generality, in that there existed documentary evidence that there had +been such a mine; a fact which altered the conditions entirely. For it +is safe to say that without such documentary evidence Uncle Tom would +never have consented to our undertaking such an enterprise, and Dick and +I, in consequence, would never have run into the series of adventures +which were destined to befall us before we were many weeks older. + +It was on the first day of May that we at last took leave of our good +friend, Herr Bergen, and rode off down the valley, passing on our way +through the town of Mosby, where our appearance on horseback, driving +our pack-mule before us, excited among the citizens much speculation as +to our destination; a matter concerning which we had said not a word to +anybody. That it was a prospecting expedition any one could see, for the +pick and shovel could not very well be concealed, but where we were +bound for nobody knew, Uncle Tom having cautioned us that if we let a +word escape about an old Spanish mine we should have a hundred men at +our heels in no time; the very idea of such a thing having an +irresistible fascination for some people, especially for the +inexperienced newcomer. + +[Illustration: "PASSING ON OUR WAY THROUGH THE TOWN OF MOSBY."] + +Our reason for taking our way through town rather than crossing the +Mosby Ridge, back of the professor's house, and going down the +Mescalero valley, was that the latter course, cut up by many deep +cañons, would be much the more difficult of the two; for by following +down the eastern side of the ridge, as we proposed to do, we should +presently come to a point where that barrier, which up near Mescalero +began as a mountain range, became first a line of round-topped hills, +and then, about forty miles below town, came to an end altogether in a +little conical eminence known as The Foolscap. We could therefore pass +round its southern end without difficulty, when we should find ourselves +in the Mescalero valley at its wide part, and by heading southwestward +should arrive in about another twenty miles in the neighborhood of the +village of Hermanos--a route somewhat longer, but very much easier for +the animals, than the other one. + +About five miles below town we abandoned the road, which there turned +off to the left to join the main stage-road, and continuing our +southward course up and down hill over the spurs of the Mosby Ridge we +made camp early in the afternoon; for our animals being as yet in rather +poor condition, we thought it advisable to give them an easy day for the +first one. + +Selecting a sheltered nook among the pine trees, we unpacked the mule +and unsaddled the ponies, and then, while Dick cooked our supper, I +busied myself cutting pine boughs for our beds and chopping fire-wood. +Soon after sunset we rolled ourselves in our blankets, and in spite of +the novelty of the situation--for I had never before gone to bed with no +roof overhead nearer than the sky--I slept soundly until Dick's voice +aroused me, crying, "Roll out, old chap! Roll out! The sun will catch +you in bed in a minute," when I sprang up, fresh as a daisy and hungry +as a shark, as one always seems to do after sleeping out under the stars +in the keen, pine-scented air of the mountains. + +Continuing our journey, we presently rounded the end of the Mosby Ridge, +and turning to the right saw before us the twin peaks of the Dos +Hermanos, standing there, as it seemed to me, like two faithful +sentinels guarding the secret of the King Philip mine. + +"Now, Frank," said my companion, as we sat at supper on the little hill +with which the Ridge terminated, "we have a tough day of it before us +to-morrow. The valley down at this end, you see, is just a sage-brush +plain; there are no cañons down here like there are at the upper end; +and there is no water either, unfortunately--this side of the +mountains, I mean. The streams which come down from Mescalero and the +Ridge take a westerly turn and go off through a deep gorge to the north +of the peaks--you can see the black shadow of it from here." + +"What do the people at Hermanos do for water, then?" I asked. + +"There is a little stream which comes down from the saddle between the +Dos Hermanos peaks and runs eastward through the village. But it sinks +into the soil soon afterward, for the country down that way becomes very +sandy; it is the beginning of the Little Cactus Desert, across which the +pack-trains and the soldier escort used to travel, you remember, headed +for the Mosca Pass--that low place in the Santa Claras that you see down +there, due south from here." + +"I see. So the nearest water is the stream running through the village. +Do you propose, then, to make for Hermanos?" + +"No, I don't," replied Dick. "We want to avoid the village, if possible: +it is no use exciting the curiosity of old Galvez, if he happens to be +there. What I propose is that we make straight from here to the north +side of the peaks, leaving the village three or four miles on our left; +find a good camping-place, and make it a base for our preliminary +operations." + +"That's all right," I assented. "But how much of a day's ride will it be +to the north side of the peaks? Further than to Hermanos, I suppose, and +that is over twenty miles." + +"Yes," replied Dick, "twenty-five miles certainly and perhaps thirty--a +long stretch without water. But we can do it all right. I propose that +we get off by four in the morning, which ought to bring us to the +foothills of the Dos Hermanos by two or three o'clock in the afternoon." + +"That's a good idea," I responded. "And if, by bad luck, we should find +that we can't make it, we can always turn off and head for the village +if we have to." + +"Yes. So let us get to bed early. It will be a hard day at best, and we +may as well get all the sleep we can." + +As my companion had predicted, the morrow did turn out to be a tough +day, and it began early, too. It was about half-past three in the +morning that I was awakened by the crackling of the fire, and sitting up +in my blankets, I saw Dick squatted on his heels, frying bacon over some +of the hot embers. + +"Time to turn out, Frank," said he. "Breakfast will be ready in two +minutes; feeling pretty hungry this morning?" + +By way of reply, I opened my mouth with a yawn so prodigious that Dick +laughingly continued: + +"Hungry as all that, eh? Well, old man, if the size of your mouth is an +indication of the size of your appetite, I'll slice up another +half-pound of bacon!" + +At this I laughed too, and jumping up, I ran to the creek, where I +soused my head and face in the cold water, which wakened me up +effectually. + +By four o'clock we were under way, steering by compass; for, though the +stars were shining and the waning moon, then near its setting, furnished +some light, there was not enough to enable us to distinguish objects at +any distance. Our progress at first was pretty slow, for horses and +mules do not like traveling by night, but presently there came a change, +the sky behind us took on a rosy hue, and pretty soon there appeared on +the western horizon two glowing points, like a pair of triangular red +lamps hung up in the sky for our guidance--the summits of the Dos +Hermanos caught by the rising sun. + +It was an inspiring sight! The very animals, seeming to feel its +influence, brisked up at once and stepped out gaily, while Dick and I, +who had been "mouching" along in silence, straightened up in our saddles +and fell to talking. + +"I've been thinking, Dick," said I, "about what our first move should be +after we have found a good camping-place. My idea is that we should ride +down to the neighborhood of Hermanos and see if there is any sign of an +old trail leading from the village to the mountains." + +"That's a good idea," Dick responded. "It is pretty certain that the +copper was brought down from the mine on the backs of burros, and the +supplies carried up in the same way, and if that was kept up for several +years there must have been a well-defined trail worn in this soft soil, +which may be visible yet." + +"On the other hand," was my comment, "as the travel ceased so long ago, +isn't it probable that the trail will have been blown full of sand and +covered up?" + +"That is likely enough--in many places, at least," replied my companion, +"though it is very possible, I think, that there may be some traces +left, for it is surprising how long such marks on the ground continue to +show. At any rate, we'll try it. Here's the sun; it's going to be +pretty hot, I expect." + +Slowly we plodded along, hour after hour, until presently we had come +opposite the village, the mud-colored buildings of which, though not +more than three miles away, were barely distinguishable against the +gray-tinted plain upon which they stood. The green fields and gardens +surrounding the houses we could not see, they being below the general +level, but that they were there, and that the Mexicans were at that +moment engaged in irrigating them, we felt very sure. A light wind was +blowing from the south, and Dick declared that he could "smell the wet"; +but though I sniffed and sniffed, I could not conscientiously say that I +could detect it myself. + +Our animals, however, very evidently smelt it, for they evinced a +decided inclination to bear to the left, and we had a good deal of +difficulty in keeping their heads straight--the slightest inattention on +our part, and they were off the line in a moment. As is so often the +case, they had not cared to drink in the cool of the morning before we +started, and consequently, what with the heat of the sun and the alkali +dust they kicked up, they had become eager for water and would have +made a straight shoot for Hermanos if we had let them. + +But we were nearing the mountains, an hour or two more and we should +reach water, probably, so, though it was painful to deny the poor +beasts, we kept right on, until about four in the afternoon--for it had +taken us longer than we had anticipated--when all three of them suddenly +lifted their heads, pricked their ears and wanted to run forward. They +smelt water ahead of them. + +Pressing on at an increased pace, we were presently brought to a halt by +coming upon the brink of a cliff, at the base of which was a large pool +of clear water. The pool lay in a little grass-covered valley about half +a mile long, encompassed on all sides by the precipitous wall of rock. +We could not see that there was any way of getting down. + +In order to get a better view, Dick and I dismounted and walked to the +edge, when the first thing we saw was a little bunch of half-a-dozen +scrawny Mexican cattle down near the pool. + +"Then there is a way down," cried Dick. "Whoop!" he yelled, clapping his +mouth with his hand. + +The cattle looked up, and seeing two horseless human beings on the +sky-line above them, away they went up the valley, vanished for an +instant among the fallen rocks at the foot of the cliff, and in another +moment appeared again on our level, going off southward with their tails +in the air, wild as deer. + +"Come on!" cried Dick, jumping upon his horse. "Where they came up we +can get down." + +Riding forward, we presently found the cow-trail, when, dismounting once +more, for it was too steep to ride without risk of breaking one's neck, +we led our horses down. Within another half-hour Dick and I, comfortably +seated in the shade of the rock, were enjoying a much-needed dinner, +while the three animals, their waist-lines enormously distended with the +gallons of water they had swallowed, were eagerly snapping up the young +green grass with which the valley was covered--all the troubles of the +day completely forgotten. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +ANTONIO MARTINEZ + + +As we wished to give the animals a good rest, we decided to stay where +we were for the remainder of that day and on the morrow move to the foot +of the mountain and look out for a good camping-place from which to make +our preliminary explorations. + +The spot where we were then encamped would not serve, for we were yet at +least three miles from the lowest spurs of the twin mountains. The +stream beside which we were seated issued from the northernmost of the +two peaks, and after running out into the plain for some distance made a +great bend and went back almost to the point of departure, when, turning +to the northward, it poured its waters into the deep cañon cut by the +streams which came down from Mescalero and the Ridge. It was just at the +bend that we had struck it. + +"What we want, Frank," said my companion, "is a good place in the +foothills, and when we have found one, I propose that we take our +ponies, skirt along the base of the mountains from north to south, and +see if we can't cut across that old trail we were talking about this +morning. It is extremely important that we should do so; it might save +us weeks of useless searching." + +"Yes," I assented, "it would be a great help, of course; though all we +can hope to find is some mark in the soil which will point us generally +in one direction or another." + +"Yes; and that's just it. If we can find any indication of the direction +the trains used to take when they started from the King's House, it will +lighten our task tremendously. Look here," taking a pointed stick and +drawing a rough plat of the country in the sand. "Here are the two +peaks, lying north and south of each other; here, between them, the +creek comes down which runs two or three miles out on to the plain to +the village here. Now, when the trains used to start out from the _Casa +del Rey_ they took to the right of that stream or they took to the left +of it, one or the other, and if we can do no more than find out which it +was it will be a great help." + +"Of course," I responded. "I see that. It would show us whether it was +the north mountain or the south mountain that we had to explore." + +"That's it, exactly. And if you stop for a moment to consider, you will +see that that would be a pretty big item all by itself. The two +mountains cover a space about fifteen miles long by, perhaps, ten miles +wide--a hundred and fifty square miles--a pretty big piece of country, +old man, for you and me to scramble over; but if we can find a trail +which will show us which of the two mountains is the right one, that +hundred and fifty miles will be chopped in half at one blow--and if that +isn't a pretty big item all by itself, I should like to know what is." + +With that, Dick, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, stuck his +stick point downward into the middle of his map, planted his hands on +either knee, and with a defiant jerk of his head, challenged me to deny +his conclusion. + +I could not help laughing at his emphatic manner, but I could not help, +either, admitting that his point was a good one. + +"It certainly would make an immense difference," said I, "and it will +pay us to find that old trail if it takes us a week to do it. So, let us +dig out first thing to-morrow, Dick, and find a good camping-place as a +base." + +Accordingly we broke camp again early next morning, and following along +the rim of the cañon we presently drew near the foothills. As we +approached the mountain we were able to distinguish with more clearness +the details of its form, and the more clearly we could distinguish them +the more were we impressed with the difficulty and the magnitude of the +task we had undertaken. It was not going to be the simple, +straightforward matter I had at first imagined. + +Seen from a distance the north peak looked smooth and symmetrical, but +when you came close to it you found that it was broken up into cliffs +and cañons, some of them of great height and depth. On its northern +face, a thousand feet or so below the summit, our attention was drawn to +a great semicircular precipice which looked very like the upper half of +an old volcanic crater, the lower half, presumably, having broken away +and fallen down the mountain. + +"A pretty tough piece of country, Frank," said my companion, "and a +pretty large stretch of it, too, for us to tramp over; for, by the look +of it from here, our horses won't be much use to us--at least, when we +get up above the lower spurs. Let us try this gully to the left: +there's probably water up there; I see the tops of two or three +cottonwoods." + +Turning in that direction, therefore, we presently came upon a +diminutive stream which ran down and fell into the cañon, and passing +between two high rocks, which looked as though they had been split apart +with a wedge to let the water out, we found ourselves in a little +park-like valley, flanked on either side by high ridges. + +"This ought to do, Dick," said I, "at any rate for the present; plenty +of grass, plenty of wood and plenty of water. Just the place." + +"Yes, this is all right; couldn't be better. Let's unsaddle at once, +make our camp, and after dinner we'll ride down in the direction of +Hermanos and do a little prospecting." + +Having chosen a good spot, we arranged a comfortable camp, and after a +hasty dinner we started out; first picketing Uncle Fritz to keep him +from coming trailing after us. + +Immediately to the south of our camping-place, forming one of the +boundaries of the little ravine, in fact, there stretched down from the +mountain a great, bare rib of granite, almost devoid of vegetation, +which projected a long way out into the valley, and as it lay square +across our course we decided, instead of going round the end of it, to +ride up to the top in order to get a good lookout over the country we +proposed to examine. From the summit of this ridge, at a point about +four hundred feet above the plain, we were able to get a very good view +of all the wide stretch of comparatively level ground below us, +including the village of Hermanos and the green irrigated fields around +it, which from this elevation were distinctly visible. Except for this +tiny oasis, the whole plain, bounded on the east by the Mosby Ridge, and +on the south by the Santa Clara mountains, appeared to be one uniform, +level stretch of sage-brush desert--dull, gray and uninviting. + +"What a pity," remarked Dick, "that there is no water here. If only one +could get water upon it, this sage-brush plain could be turned into a +wheat-field big enough to supply the whole State with bread, besides +furnishing labor and subsistence for a good-sized population of +farmers." + +"It would be fine, wouldn't it?" I assented. "And I don't see why it has +never been done: there must be many streams coming down from these +mountains." + +"Yes, no doubt; but the difficulty is that all the streams of any +consequence have cut cañons for themselves and are too far below the +general level to be of any use. To get water out upon the surface of +this valley one would have to go high up on the mountain, find some +good-sized stream, head it off--building a dam for the purpose, +perhaps--and then conduct the water down here by a ditch several miles +long possibly. Far too big an undertaking, you see, for these penniless, +unenterprising Mexicans." + +"I see. It would take a great deal of work and a great deal of money, +probably, but it would be a fine thing to do, all the same." + +"Yes, it would; and some day it will be done. It won't be so very many +years before all the 'easy water' in the State will have been +appropriated, and then people will begin to look out for a supply in the +more out-of-the-way places, building reservoirs to catch the rainfall +which now runs to waste after every thunder-storm, and carrying the +water long distances to sell it to the ranchman. The professor says that +some day the business of catching and distributing irrigation water will +be the most important industry in the State, and that a good +ever-flowing stream will be more valuable than any silver mine." + +"I can understand that," I replied. "The best mine will some day come +to an end, for when the silver is once dug out it is gone--you can't +plant more; whereas, a good stream of water applied on the soil will go +on producing forever and ever." + +"That's it, exactly. And some day that is what will happen here. This +fine stretch of level land, which now grows only grass enough to support +about three cows and a burro, won't always lie idle. Some enterprising +fellow will come along, climb up into this mountain, catch one of those +streams which now go running off through the cañons, turn it down here, +and a couple of years later this worthless desert will be converted into +farms and orchards." + +"A fine undertaking, too!" I exclaimed. "I should like to have a try at +it myself." + +"So should I. But our object in life just now is 'copper,' so come on, +old chap, and let us ride down to the point of this ridge. What is that +black speck down there toward the village? Man on horseback? Ah! He has +disappeared again. Well, come on now, Frank. Let's get started." + +Getting down upon the plain again, we turned southward, skirting the +base of the mountain, winding our way through the sage-brush, which was +large and very thick, when, after riding barely a quarter of a mile in +that direction, Dick suddenly pulled up. + +"Frank!" he exclaimed. "Look here! Doesn't it seem to you that there is +a depression in the soil going off to the right and the left? Look away +a hundred yards and you will see what I mean. It seems to lead straight +up into the mountain one way, and straight out upon the plain the other +way." + +At first I could not detect anything of the sort, but on Dick's pointing +it out more particularly it did appear to me that there was a depression +going off in both directions. + +"Let us turn to the left, Dick," said I, "and follow it--if we can--out +into the valley and see what becomes of it." + +"All right," responded my companion. "Let's do so." + +The mark on the ground was by no means easy to follow, it was so +overgrown with sage-brush, and in many places altogether obliterated by +drifting sand, but, though we frequently lost it, by looking far ahead +we always caught the line again. Presently we found that it went +curving off to the right in the direction of Hermanos, and our hopes +rose. + +"Dick!" I cried. "This is no accidental mark in the soil! It is a trail, +as sure as you live!" + +"It does begin to look like it," replied my more cautious friend. "I +believe it---- Hallo! Who's this coming?" + +As he spoke, I saw about half a mile away a horseman coming toward us at +an easy lope from the direction of the village. He was riding a handsome +gray horse, very superior to the little bronchos we ourselves bestrode. + +"He rides well," said I. "I wonder how he got so close to us on this +flat country without our seeing him." + +"The country is probably not quite so flat as it looks," replied my +companion. "I expect the man has been keeping in the hollows so that he +might slip up on us unobserved. It is probably old Galvez coming to find +out what we are doing prowling around his domain. He must be the +horseman I saw just now, and I've no doubt he saw us, too, cocked up on +that bare ridge--for all these Mexicans have eyes like hawks." + +Meanwhile the rider continued to approach, and as he came nearer we +observed, rather to our relief, that it could not be the padron, for the +stranger was a well-dressed young Mexican, only three or four years +older than ourselves, a handsome, intelligent-looking young fellow, too, +with a trim little black moustache and bright black eyes--evidently one +of a class superior to the ordinary cow-man or farm-hand. + +Watching him closely as he came up, wondering what sort of a reception +we should get from him, it appeared to me that he, too, looked both +surprised and relieved when he perceived that instead of the two rough +and sturdy prospectors he had probably expected to meet, it was only a +couple of boys, younger than himself, with whom he had to deal. + +And it is likely that he did feel relieved, for at that time the white +men--or, at least, very many of them--dwelling on what was then the +outer edge of civilization, were apt to look down upon all Mexicans as +people of an inferior race, frequently treating them in consequence in a +rough, overbearing manner by no means calculated to promote friendly +feeling. + +The young Mexican doubtless "sized us up" favorably; at any rate, no +sooner had he come near enough to see what we were like than he rode +straight up to us, and addressing us politely in Spanish, said: + +"Good-day, sirs. Are you going down to Hermanos? I shall be glad to ride +with you if you are." + +It happened that I was the one to whom he addressed this salutation, +Dick being a little further back. Now, though I had acquired enough of +the language to understand and speak it fairly well, the Spanish I had +learned was good Castilian, whereas the young Mexican spoke a kind of +_patois_, such as is commonly used among all the natives of these +outlying settlements. The unexpected difference of pronunciation, though +slight, caused me to hesitate an instant in making reply--I have no +doubt, too, my face looked rather blank--whereupon the young fellow +instantly jumped to the conclusion that we did not speak Spanish at all, +and he therefore repeated his remark in English. + +It was without any thought of misleading him that I replied, very +naturally, in the tongue which came easiest to me, and as the stranger +spoke English quite as well as I did, it was very natural again that the +conversation should be continued in that tongue. Thus it happened that +we accidentally deceived him--or, rather, he deceived himself--into the +belief that we did not understand any language but our own, and as no +opportunity cropped up during our talk for setting him right, he +continued in this mistaken idea; a fact which, a little later, caused us +considerable satisfaction--not on our own account, but on his. + +Replying to his question therefore in English, I said: + +"No, we were not bound for Hermanos in particular. We have come down +here to do a little prospecting, and were just riding around a bit to +take a look at the country. Do you live here?" + +"No," he replied, "I live in Santa Fé. My name is Antonio Martinez. I am +on a visit here to my uncle, Señor Galvez, the padron of Hermanos. He is +my mother's brother, and as she had not seen him for many years, and as +he has always declined to come to us, she sent me here to make his +acquaintance. For myself, I had never even seen him until I arrived here +two weeks ago, and----" + +He checked himself suddenly, looking a little confused; I had an idea +that what he was going to say was that he did not much care if he never +saw him again. + +"And are you expecting to stay here?" asked Dick. + +"No, I go back in a day or two. Where do you, yourselves hail from, if I +may ask? From Mosby?" + +"Yes, from Mosby," replied Dick. "We came down, as my friend said, to do +some prospecting up in one or other of these two peaks--we don't know +which one yet. How is the country up there? Pretty accessible? You've +been up, I suppose." + +"No, I haven't," replied the young Mexican. "You think that rather +strange, don't you? And naturally enough. Here have I been for two weeks +hanging around this village with absolutely nothing to do; I should have +been glad enough to make an expedition up into the mountains--in fact, I +had a very particular reason for wishing to do so--but when I suggested +the idea to the padron, explaining to him why I was so anxious to go, he +not only refused emphatically for himself, but declined to let me go +either." + +"Why, that seems queer!" cried Dick. + +"It does, doesn't it? And his reason for refusing will appear to you +queerer still--he's afraid!" + +"Afraid!" we both exclaimed. "Afraid of what?" + +"Afraid of The Badger," replied the young fellow, breaking into a laugh +as he noted the mystified look which came over both our faces. + +"What do you mean?" I asked. "Why should he--or anybody--be afraid of a +badger?" + +"I said _The_ Badger," replied our friend. "You have never heard of him, +evidently--El Tejon, The Badger." + +We both shook our heads. + +"What is he?" I asked. "A man?" + +"Yes--or a wild beast. It is hard to say which. He is a Mexican who once +lived in the village here, I believe. For some reason which I cannot +understand--for my uncle won't talk about it, though I have asked him +several times--for some reason The Badger conceived a violent hatred for +the padron; whether he went crazy or not, I don't know, but anyhow he +committed a murderous assault upon him, hurting him badly--knocked out +all his front teeth with a stone, for one thing--and then escaped into +the mountains. That was twelve years ago, and as far as any one knows he +is there yet, if he is still alive." + +"And wasn't any attempt ever made to capture him?" asked Dick. + +"Once," replied Antonio. "According to the padron's story, he went out +with six of his cow-men to try to run The Badger to earth; but the +attempt was a failure, as was only to be expected, for the cow-men were +very unwilling to go. They trembled at the very name of El Tejon, who +was a man of immense strength and a great hunter, and they feared that +instead of catching him, he would catch one of them. And the event +showed that they had reason. They had been out several days, had ridden +all over the lower part of the north mountain without seeing a sign of +their man, and were coming back, single file, down a narrow gully, when +the padron's horse suddenly, and seemingly without cause, fell down, +stone dead. The rider, of course, fell too, and striking his head +against a stone he lay for a moment stunned. No one could think what had +happened to the horse, until presently one of the men noticed blood upon +the rocks, and turning the animal over they were all scared out of their +wits by seeing the head of an arrow sticking out between his ribs." + +"An arrow!" we both cried. + +"Yes, an arrow," continued the narrator, not noticing the glance Dick +and I exchanged. "They knew well enough where it came from, for The +Badger had always hunted with a bow and arrow, with which he was +extraordinarily expert. The instant the cow-men saw what had happened +they stuck spurs into their horses and away they all went, +helter-skelter, leaving their leader lying on the ground." + +"That was a pretty shabby desertion," said I. "How did the padron +escape?" + +"That is one of the things I can't understand," replied Antonio. "Why +the man, having him so entirely in his power, didn't kill him at once is +a puzzle to me. As it was, when the padron recovered his senses, he +found El Tejon calmly seated on the carcase of the horse, waiting for +him to wake up. He quite expected, he says, to be murdered forthwith, +but instead, the man merely held up the arrow, which he had drawn out of +the horse's body, and said: 'For you--next time'; and with that he arose +and walked off. The padron is no coward, but he knows when to let well +enough alone: he has never been up on the mountain since." + +"That's a curious story," said Dick. "What sort of a looking man is this +El Tejon?" + +"I've never seen him myself, of course," replied our friend, "but the +padron describes him as a very remarkable man to look at: less than five +feet high, with an immense body, very short legs and very long arms." + +Dick and I exchanged glances again. + +"Whether the man is yet alive," continued the young fellow, "nobody +knows. It is nearly twelve years ago that this happened, and since then +he has never been seen nor heard of. The chances are, I expect, that he +has been long dead." + +"On that point," remarked Dick, "we can give _you_ a little information. +He is not dead--at least he wasn't last fall." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE PADRON + + +"What do you mean?" cried Antonio. "How do you know? I thought you said +you had never heard of him." + +"We hadn't," replied Dick, "until you mentioned his name, but from your +description we have no doubt we saw him some months ago up here at the +head of the valley." + +With this by way of preface, my companion related to our new +acquaintance the particulars of our "interview" with the "little giant," +as he called him. + +"It must be the same man," said Antonio. "I wonder what he was doing so +far away from his own mountain. You say he shot the wolf with a +copper-headed arrow? That's something I should like to investigate, if +only the padron were not so dead set against my going up into the +mountain. Where does he get his copper? In fact----" He paused to +consider, and then went on: "Yes; I don't see why I shouldn't tell +you--my uncle won't go himself, and he won't let me go, so I may as +well tell _you_. The truth is that the reason why I was so anxious to +make an excursion up there was just that--to find out where El Tejon +gets his copper. And not only he, but the villagers down here. Every +house in Hermanos has its copper bowl and dipper. They are hammered out +of lumps of native copper; some of them must weigh five or six pounds. +Where did they come from? Lumps of copper of that size were not washed +down the streams--they were dug up. But by whom, and where?" + +I felt a great inclination to tell him. He had been so friendly and +communicative that I began to feel rather uncomfortable at the thought +that we were drawing all this information from him under what might be +regarded as false pretences. + +I was pretty sure that Dick would be feeling much the same--for among +boys, as I have many a time noticed, there is nothing more catching than +open-heartedness--and I was right; for, glancing at him to see what he +thought, I caught his eye, when he immediately raised his eyebrows a +trifle, as much as to say, "Shall I tell him?" + +"Yes," said I, aloud. "I think so. Though we must remember, Dick, that +it isn't altogether our secret." + +Dick nodded, and turning to the young Mexican, who was gazing at us +open-eyed, wondering what we were talking about, he said: + +"Senor Antonio, my friend and I agree that it isn't quite fair to you to +let you go on telling us these things without our telling you something +in return. As Frank says, it is not altogether our own secret, but at +the same time we don't think it is quite a square deal to get all these +particulars from you and to keep you in the dark about ourselves. I can +tell you this much, anyhow: that our object in coming down here was to +find out where those same lumps of copper did come from." + +"Why, how did _you_ know anything about them?" cried Antonio, opening +his eyes wider still. + +"I passed through Hermanos about eighteen months ago," replied Dick, "in +company with a German naturalist, Herr Bergen, when we noticed the great +number of copper bowls and things, and the sight of them reminded the +professor of a story he had heard of an old copper mine, abandoned more +than a hundred years ago, supposed to be somewhere down in this +country. The story the professor told us is the story which we think we +have no business to repeat, but I can tell you this much, at least, that +it seemed to indicate the Dos Hermanos as the site of the old mine; and +so we got leave to come down here to see if we couldn't trail it up." + +"Is that so? What fun you will have. I wish I could go with you. But +that, I know, is out of the question: the padron would not consent, and +I could not go against his will. But if I can help you I shall be very +glad. Does the story you refer to indicate which of the two peaks is the +right one?" + +"No, it doesn't," replied Dick. "We suppose that the copper used to be +brought down to the _Casa_ on pack-burros, and we thought there might be +the remains of a trail down here in the valley. That is what we were +doing when you rode up:--looking for the trail; and we thought perhaps +we had found it when we discovered this indentation in the soil that we +have been following." + +"And I believe you have!" cried Antonio. "That's just what you have! It +goes on straight southward from here, very plain, to within half a mile +of the _Casa_ and then seems to die out for some reason. But, that it is +the old trail I feel certain. Your copper mine is up there on the north +peak as sure as----" + +He stopped short, his enthusiasm suddenly died out, and pulling a long +face, he gazed at us rather blankly. + +"Well?" asked Dick. + +"I was forgetting. There's something else up there on the north peak." + +"What's that?" + +"The Badger!" + +"That's so!" cried Dick. "I'd forgotten him, too. Do you suppose he +would interfere with us?" + +"That's more than I can say. From what the padron has told me, I imagine +it is only to him that El Tejon objects, and perhaps also to me as one +of the family; but I'm not sure about that. Look here! I'll tell you +what I'll do. I'll just ride home and ask him what he thinks. You stay +here. I'll be back in half an hour." + +"You are very kind," said my partner. "But why should we trouble you to +come back here? We'll ride down with you." + +To our surprise the young fellow flushed and looked embarrassed, but +recovering in a moment, he said: + +"Come on, then. But before we go, let me tell you something. The reason +I hesitated was that I feared you might not receive a very hearty +welcome from the padron. The truth of the matter is--to put it plainly, +once for all--he hates strangers, and above all he hates the Americans. +I am sorry it should be so, but so it is. The feeling is not uncommon +among the older Mexicans: those who went through the war of '46; and if +you stop to think of it, it isn't altogether unreasonable. According to +the padron's view of the matter, his native country was invaded without +cause or justice; he, himself, fought against the invader; his own +brother and many of his friends were killed; and finally, he saw the +land where he was born torn away from its old moorings and attached to +the country of the enemy." + +This defence of his fellow-countryman, which the young Mexican delivered +with much earnestness and feeling, was a revelation to me. Hitherto I +had only considered the war with Mexico from our side, glorying in our +success and admiring--very rightly--the bravery of our soldiers. That +the Mexicans, themselves, might have a point of view of their own had +never occurred to me, until this young fellow thus held up their side of +the picture for me to see. + +"That's a matter I never thought of before," said I; "but when you do +stop to think of it, it is _not_ surprising that the older generation of +Mexicans should have no liking for us." + +"No," Dick chimed in; "and I don't think you can blame them, either." + +"I'm glad you see it that way," said Antonio. "It makes things all +comfortable for me. So, now, let us get along. And if the padron doesn't +seem best pleased to see you, you will know why." + +Following along the line of the supposed trail, which continued in +general to be pretty plain, we presently passed alongside of a high bank +of earth to which our guide called our attention. + +"Just ride up here a minute," said he. "Now, do you see how this +earth-bank forms a perfect square, measuring about two hundred yards +each way? What do you make of that?" + +"It was evidently built up," said I; "it can't be a natural formation. +But what the earth was piled up for, I can't see." + +"I think I can," remarked Dick. "If I'm not mistaken, this is the site +of an old pueblo." + +"Just what I think," responded Antonio. "An old pueblo which probably +stood here before ever the Spaniards came to the country, and has been +melted down to this shapeless bank by the rains of centuries. This +valley must have supported a good-sized population once--very much +larger than at present." + +"It looks like it," Dick assented. "I wonder where they got their water +from--for I suppose they lived mostly by agriculture, as the Pueblos do +still. Hasn't the padron ever tried to find the old source of supply?" + +The young Mexican shook his head. "No," said he. "The source of supply, +wherever it was, was up in the mountains somewhere, and in spite of the +fact that if he could find it, it would increase the value of the grant +a thousand times, he daren't go to look for it." + +"My! What a chance there is here"--Dick began, when he suddenly checked +himself. "Here's some one coming," said he. "Is this the padron?" + +"Yes; he must be coming to see who you are. I hope he won't make himself +unpleasant." + +As Antonio spoke, there came riding toward us a square-set, gray-haired +Mexican, at whom, as he approached, we gazed with much interest. He was +a man of fifty, or thereabouts, harsh-featured and forbidding, who +scowled at us in a manner which made me, at least, rather wish I had not +come. To put it shortly and plainly, the Señor Galvez had, in fact, the +most truculent countenance I had ever seen; and his first remark to his +nephew, as the latter advanced to meet him, was on a par with his +appearance. + +"What are you bringing these American pigs here for, Antonio?" he +growled, in Spanish. "You know I will have nothing to do with them." + +Poor Antonio flushed painfully under his brown skin. He half raised his +hand with a deprecatory gesture, as though to beg the speaker to be more +moderate, while he glanced uneasily at us out of the corner of his eye +to see if we had understood. + +It was then that Dick and I congratulated ourselves on having +accidentally deceived our friend into the belief that we did not speak +Spanish. Suppressing our natural desire to bandy a few compliments with +the churlish padron, we put on an expression of countenance as stolid +and vacant as if we had been indeed the American pigs +aforesaid--immensely to the comfort of the younger man, as it was easy +to see. + +"Do not be harsh, señor," said he. "They are only boys, and they are +doing no harm here. Moreover," he went on, "they have brought you a +piece of information which you will be glad to have:--El Tejon is still +alive." + +The elder man started; his weather-beaten face paled a little. + +"How do they know that?" he asked, suspiciously. + +Antonio briefly told him our story. + +"Hm!" grunted the padron, glowering at us from under his bushy eyebrows. +"But what are these boys skulking around here for? They don't pretend, I +suppose, that they have come all the way down from Mosby just to tell me +they have seen El Tejon." + +"Not at all," replied Antonio, with considerable spirit. "They are +gentlemen, and they don't pretend anything. That bigger one of the two, +the freckled one with the hook-nose and red hair"--it was Dick he meant, +and intense was my desire to wink at him and laugh--"that one passed +through here before; he noticed how every house contained its copper +bowl and dipper--just as I did--and he has come down here with his +friend--just as I wanted to do--to try to find out where the copper +came from. We have had a long talk about it, and we have concluded that +it probably came from somewhere up on the north peak. What I brought +them down here for was to ask you whether you thought The Badger would +let them alone if they went up there--that's all." + +"That's all, is it? Well, perhaps it is. But I'm suspicious of +strangers, Antonio, especially since----" + +He paused, seemingly considering whether he should or should not mention +the subject he had in mind, but at length--evidently supposing that we +could not understand what he was saying--he went on: + +"I had not intended to say anything to you about it, but three days +ago--the day you rode over to Zapatero to spend the night--something +occurred here which makes me rather uneasy. I had been away all day +myself that day and on my return I found a young man in the village who +had come, he said, from Santa Fé. For a young man to come to this +out-of-the-way place, all alone, from Santa Fé, or from anywhere else, +for that matter, was a strange thing: it made me suspicious that he was +after no good. And I became more than suspicious when I found that he +had spent the day going from one house to another inquiring after El +Tejon!" + +"Inquiring after El Tejon!" repeated Antonio. "That was strange; +especially considering that El Tejon has been practically dead for a +dozen years. Did he offer any explanation?" + +"No. To tell the truth, I did not give him the opportunity. When I found +out what he was doing, how he had slipped into the village during my +absence and had gone prying about among these ignorant peons, asking +questions concerning my enemy, I was so enraged that I threatened to +shoot him if he did not depart at once. I made a mistake there, I admit; +if I had curbed my anger, I might have found out what his object was. +But I did not, so there is no more to be said." + +"That was unfortunate," said Antonio; "but, as you say, it can't be +helped now. So the stranger went off, did he? Did he return to----" + +"No, he didn't," Galvez interrupted, "or, at any rate, not immediately. +I'll tell you how I know. I was so distrustful of him that I followed +his trail next morning--it was dark when he left, and I couldn't do it +then. It was an easy trail to follow, for his horse was shod, and ours, +of course, are not. It led eastward for a mile and then turned back, +circled round the village and went up into the north mountain. I have +not seen him, nor a trace of him since." + +"It is a strange thing," said Antonio, thoughtfully. "What was the young +man like? How old? Was he a Mexican or an American?" + +"I don't know. He looked like an American, though he spoke Spanish +perfectly. He might be twenty years old. It is an odd thing, +Antonio--and it is that, perhaps, which made me speak so sharply when I +first saw these new friends of yours--but the young man was something +like the bigger one of these two boys: the same hook-nose and light-gray +eyes, though his hair was black instead of red." + +"A strange thing altogether," said Antonio, reflectively. "I don't +wonder you feel a little uneasy." + +"As to these boys here," the padron went on, jerking his head in our +direction, "you may tell them that they need not fear The Badger. It is +only I who have cause to fear him, and perhaps you, as my nephew. These +boys may go where they like without danger. The chances are they won't +see El Tejon--they certainly won't if he doesn't want to be seen. And, +Antonio, just thank them for bringing me their information, and then +send them off." + +So saying, old Galvez turned his unmannerly back on us and rode away. + +The interview, if it can be called such--for the padron had not +addressed a single word to us--being plainly at an end, we shook hands +with our friend, Antonio, and having thanked him very heartily for his +service, we set off for camp, riding fast, in our hurry to get back +before darkness should overtake us. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE SPANISH TRAIL + + +"Dick," said I, as we sat together that evening beside our camp-fire, +"what do you make of it? That was a queer thing, that young fellow +coming inquiring for El Tejon. I confess, for my part, I can't make head +or tail of it." + +"I can't either," replied Dick; "at least, as far as this stranger is +concerned. I'm quite in the dark on that point. As to the padron and The +Badger, though, that seems to me simple enough. It is some old feud +between the two which concerns nobody but themselves." + +"That is how it strikes me. You don't think, then, that there is any +danger to us?" + +"No, I don't. In fact, I feel sure of it. It is just a personal quarrel +of long standing between those two--that's all. I have no more fear of +El Tejon than I have of any other Mexican. All the same, old chap, if +you have any doubt about it, I'm ready to quit and go home again." + +"No," I replied, emphatically. "I vote we go on. And I'll tell you why, +Dick. For one thing, I always did hate to give up." + +My partner nodded appreciation. + +"For another thing, I have gathered the notion that this Badger is not a +bad fellow; not at all the kind that would murder a man in his sleep or +shoot him from behind a rock. The fact that he let old Galvez go that +time when he had him helpless, seems to me pretty good evidence that he +is a man of some generosity and above-boardness." + +"That's a fact," Dick assented; "it was rather a fine action, as it +seems to me. And unless I'm vastly mistaken, Frank," he went on, "if the +cases had been reversed, and the padron had caught The Badger as The +Badger caught the padron, it would have been all up with El Tejon. I +never saw a harder-looking specimen in my life than old Galvez. I know, +if he were my enemy, I should be mighty sorry to fall into his hands." + +"So should I; and the less we have to do with him the better, to my +notion. I think we shall do well to steer clear of him." + +"Yes; and there won't be any temptation to go near him, anyhow, +especially as Antonio won't be there to act as a buffer. So, we decide +to go on, do we?" Dick concluded, as he arose to put two big logs on the +fire for the night. "All right. Then we'll get out to-morrow morning. +We'll take the line of the old trail and follow it up into the mountain +as far as it goes--or as far as we can, perhaps I should say." + +"Very well," I agreed. "And we may as well abandon this camp, take old +Fritz and all our belongings with us, and find another place more +suitable higher up the mountain." + +"Yes; so now to bed." + +We were up betimes next morning, and having packed our traps away we +went, Dick in the lead, Fritz following, and I bringing up the rear. +Climbing over the big ridge from whose crest we had surveyed the valley +the day before, we rode down its other side to the line of the old +trail, and there, turning to the right, we followed it as it gradually +ascended, until presently at the head of the ravine the trail, greatly +to our perplexity, came to an end altogether. + +The ravine itself had become so narrow and its sides so precipitous that +there appeared to be no way of climbing out of it, and we began to have +our doubts as to whether it could really be an old trail that we had +been following after all, when Dick, spying about, discovered a +much-washed-out crevice on the right-hand side, so grown up with trees +and brush as to be hardly distinguishable. + +"Frank," said he, "they must have come down here--there's no other way +that I can see. Wait a moment till I get up there and see if the trail +isn't visible again up on top." + +It was a pretty stiff scramble to get up, but as soon as he had reached +the top my partner shouted down to me to come up--he had found the trail +once more. + +If it had been a stiff climb for Dick's horse, it was stiffer still for +old Fritz with his bulky pack. But Fritz was a first-rate animal for +mountain work, having had lots of practice, and being allowed to choose +his own course and take his own time he made the ascent without damaging +himself or his burden. + +As soon as I had rejoined him, Dick pointed out to me the line of the +trail, which, bearing away northward now, was much more distinct than it +had been down below. For one thing, the ground here was a great deal +harder; and for another, being well sheltered by the pine woods, the +trail had not drifted full of sand as it had out on the unprotected +valley. There were, it is true, frequent places where the rains of many +years had washed the soil down the hillsides and covered it up, but in +general it was easily distinguishable as it went winding along the base +of the mountain proper, at the point where the steeper slopes merged +into the great spurs which projected out into the valley. + +The distinctness of the old trail was, indeed, a surprise to me, its +line was so much easier to follow than I had expected. If it continued +to be as plain as this, we should have no trouble in keeping it; and so +I remarked to my companion. + +"That's true," Dick assented, adding: "I'll tell you what, Frank: this +must surely have been a government enterprise. Just see how much work +has been expended on this trail--and needlessly, I should say--no +private individual or corporation would have taken the trouble to make a +carefully graded road like this--for that is what it really was +apparently. It must have been some manager handling government funds and +not worrying himself much about the amount he spent." + +"I shouldn't wonder," said I. + +"Just notice," Dick continued, pointing out the places with his finger. +"See what useless expenditure they made. Whenever they came to a dip, +big or little, instead of going down one side and up the other, as any +ordinary human being would do, they carried their road round the end of +the gully--just as though a loaded burro would object to coming up a +little hill like this one, for instance, here in front of us." + +"It does seem rather ridiculous," I assented. "And they must have laid +out their line with care, too, for, if you notice, Dick, it goes on +climbing up the mountain with a grade which seems to be perfectly +uniform as far as we can see it. It is more like a railroad grade than a +trail. It isn't possible, is it, Dick," I asked, as the thought suddenly +occurred to me, "it isn't possible that they can have used wheeled +vehicles?" + +"Hm!" replied my companion, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "No, I think +not. It would be extremely improbable, to say the least. No, I think it +is more likely to be as I said: some lordly government official, +spending government funds, and not troubling himself whether the income +would warrant the expenditure or not." + +"I suppose that was probably it," said I. "There's one thing sure, +Dick," I added: "if the income did warrant the expenditure, that old +copper mine must have been a staver and no mistake." + +"That's a fact. Well, come on; let us go ahead and see where the trail +takes us." + +This following of the trail was a perfectly simple matter; the animals +themselves, in fact, took to it and kept to it as naturally as though +even they recognized it as a road. So, on we went, climbing gradually +higher at every step, when, on rounding the shoulder of a big spur, we +were brought to a sudden and most unexpected halt by coming plump upon +the edge of a deep and very narrow cañon. Right up to the very brink of +this great chasm the trail led us, and there, of necessity, it abruptly +ended. + +This gorge, which was perhaps a thousand feet deep, and, as I have said, +extremely narrow--not more than thirty feet wide at the point where we +had struck it--came down from the north face of the mountain, and, as we +could see from where we stood, ran out eastward into the plain. It was +undoubtedly the stream upon which we had camped when we had come across +the valley two days before. + +Looking the other way--to the left, that is: up stream--our view was +limited, but from what we could see of it, the country in that +direction bade fair to be inaccessible, for horses, at least; while as +to the cañon itself, it curved first to the left and then to the right +in such a manner that we could not see to the bottom. Moreover a large +rock, rising from the edge of the gorge, and in fact overhanging it a +little, cut off our view up stream. + +On the opposite side of the chasm the ground rose high and rocky, an +exceedingly rough piece of country; for though it was in general well +clothed with trees, we could see in a score of places great bare-topped +ridges and pinnacles of rock projecting high above the somber woods. + +"Dick," said I, "this looks rather like the end of things. What are we +to do now?" + +"The end of things!" cried Dick. "Not a bit of it! Don't you see, on the +other side of the cañon, exactly opposite, that little ravine which goes +winding up the mountain until it loses itself among the trees? Well, +that is the continuation of the trail. Come down here to the edge and +I'll show you." + +Dismounting from our horses, we advanced as near the rim of the chasm as +we dared, when Dick, pointing across to the other side, said: + +"Look there, Frank, about a foot below the top. Do you see those two +square niches cut in the face of the rock? This place was spanned by a +bridge once, and those two niches are where the ends of the big +stringers rested." + +"It does look like it!" I exclaimed. "If there are other similar niches +on this side, that would settle it. Take hold of my feet, will you, +while I stick my head over the edge and see?" + +With Dick firmly clasping my ankle by way of precaution, I crept to the +rim and craned my neck out over the precipice as far as I dared venture. +As we had expected, there were the two corresponding niches, while about +ten feet below them were two others, the existence of which puzzled me. +Squirming carefully back again, I rose to my feet and told Dick what I +had seen. + +"Two others, eh?" said he. "That's easily explained. Look across again +and you will see that there are two in the face of the opposite cliff to +match them. Those people not only laid two big stringers across the +cañon, but they supported them from below with four stays set in those +lower holes." + +"That must be it!" I exclaimed. "They did things well, didn't they--it +is on a par with the work they expended on the trail. The trail itself, +of course, went on up that little ravine and has since been washed out +by the rains." + +"Yes; and the bridge has rotted and fallen into the stream; unless they +destroyed it purposely when they abandoned the mine." + +"Well, Dick," said I. "It seems fairly sure that the mine was over +there, somewhere in the rough country on the other side of the cañon. +The question is, how are _we_ to get over there?" + +"Yes, that's the question all right. We can't get down here. That is +plain enough. We shall have to find some other way. And that there is +another way is pretty certain. See here! This cañon comes down from the +north side of the mountain, runs out into the valley to the point where +we struck it day before yesterday, doubles back, and joins the streams +coming down from Mescalero, as well as those others which flow down from +the north side of the peak." + +"Well?" + +"Well, this piece of country before us is therefore a sort of island, +surrounded, or nearly surrounded, by cañons." + +I nodded. "Yes," said I. "Or more like a fortress with a thousand-foot +moat all round it." + +"Well," continued my partner, "the original discoverers of the mine, +whether Indians or Spaniards, did not cross here by a bridge, of course; +they climbed up from the bottom of one of these cañons somewhere, and at +first, probably, brought out the copper the same way, until, finding how +much easier it would be to come across here, they built a bridge and +made this road for the purpose." + +"That sounds reasonable," I assented. "So if we want to find the place +where they used to get up, we must climb down into the bottom of the +cañon ourselves and hunt for it." + +"Yes," replied Dick. "And from the look of it, I shouldn't wonder if we +don't have to go all the way back to our old camping-place in order to +get down!" + +"Hm!" said I, puckering up my lips and rubbing my chin. "I hope we don't +have to go that far; but if we must, we must. Anyhow, Dick, before we go +all the way down to the bottom of the mountain again, let us climb up +above this big rock here and take a look up stream. It is just possible +there may be a way down in that direction." + +"Very well," replied my partner. "I don't suppose there is, but we'll +try it anyhow." + +Leaving our horses standing, we went back a little way along the trail, +and climbing upward, presently reached a point level with the top of the +big rock which rose above the edge of the gorge. There we found several +little gullies leading down to the ravine, and Dick taking one of them +and I another, we thus became separated for a few minutes. Only for a +few minutes, however, for very soon I heard my partner hailing me to +come back. From the tone of his voice I felt sure he had discovered +something. + +"What is it, Dick?" I asked. "Found a way down?" + +"That's what I have, Frank, I'm pretty sure. Come here and look!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE BADGER + + +A short distance down Dick's gully was a great slab of stone standing on +edge, which, leaning over until its upper end touched the opposite wall, +formed a natural arch about as high as a church door. Through this +vaulted passage Dick led the way. In about twenty steps we came out +again upon the brink of the chasm, and then it was that my partner, with +some natural exultation, pointed out to me the remarkable discovery he +had made. + +In the face of the cliff was a sort of ledge, varying in width from ten +feet to about double as much, which, with a pretty steep, though pretty +regular pitch, continued downward until it disappeared around the bend +in the gorge. Unless the ledge should narrow very considerably we should +have no trouble in getting down, for there was room in plenty not only +for ourselves but for our animals also--even for old Fritz, pack and +all. + +"Why, Dick!" I cried. "We can easily get down here! I wonder if this +wasn't the original road taken by the pack-trains." + +"It was," replied Dick; "at least, I feel pretty sure it was--and it was +used for a long time, too." + +"Why do you think so?" I asked. "You speak as though you felt pretty +certain, Dick, but for my part I don't see why." + +"Don't you? Why, it's very plain. Look here! Do you see, close to the +outer edge of the shelf, a sort of trough worn in the rock? Do you know +what that is? If I'm not very much mistaken, it is the trail of the +pack-burros. There must have been a good many of them, and they must +have gone up and down for a good many years to wear such a trail; +though, of course, it has been enlarged since by the rain-water running +down it." + +"Well, Dick," said I, "I still don't see why you should conclude that +this is the trail of a pack-train. It seems to me much more likely to be +due to water only. In the first place, though there is room enough and +to spare on the ledge, your supposed trail is on the very outer edge, +where a false step would send the burro head-first into the cañon; and +in the next place, it keeps to the very edge, no matter whether the +ledge is wide or narrow." + +"That's exactly the point," explained Dick. "It is just that very thing +which makes me feel so sure that this is the trail of a pack-train. +You've never seen pack-burros at work in the mountains, have you? Well, +I have lots of times: they are frequently used to carry ore down from +the mines. If you had seen them, you could not have helped noticing the +habit they have of walking on the outside of a ledge like this, where +there is a precipice on one side and a cliff on the other. A burro may +be a 'donkey,' but he understands his own business. He knows that if he +touches his pack against the rock he will be knocked over the precipice, +and he has learned his lesson so well that it makes no difference how +wide the ledge may be--he will keep as far away from the rock as he can. +As to a false step, that doesn't enter into his calculations: a burro +doesn't make a false step--there is no surer-footed beast in existence, +I should think, excepting, possibly, the mountain-sheep." + +"I never thought of all that," said I. "Then I expect you are right, +Dick, and this is an old trail after all. What is your idea? To follow +it down, I suppose." + +"Yes, certainly. Our animals won't make any bones about going down a +wide path like this. They are all used to the mountains. So let us get +them at once and start down." + +Dick was right. Our horses, each led by the bridle, followed us without +hesitation, while old Fritz, half a burro himself, took at once to the +trail which one of his ancestors, perhaps, had helped to make. + +Without trouble or mishap, we descended the steeply-pitching ledge down +to the margin of the creek, crossed over to the other side, and +continued on our way up stream over the slope of decomposed rock fallen +from the towering cliff which rose at least a thousand feet above +us--the cliff being now on our right hand and the stream on our left. + +This sloping bank was scantily covered with trees, and among them we +threaded our way, still following the trail, which, however, down here +had lost any resemblance to a made road, and had become a mere thread, +more like a disused cow-path than anything else. + +Presently, we found that the cañon began to widen, and soon afterward +the cliff along whose base we had been skirting, suddenly fell away to +the right in a great sweeping curve, forming an immense natural +amphitheatre, enclosing a good-sized stretch of grass-land, with +willows and cottonwoods fringing the nearer bank of the stream. + +As we sat on our horses surveying the scene, we found ourselves +confronting at last the imposing north face of the mountain. Up toward +its summit we could see the great semi-circular cliff which we supposed +to be the upper half of an old crater, while the country below it, bare, +rocky and much broken up, was exceedingly rough and precipitous. + +Starting, apparently, from the neighborhood of this crater, there came +down the mountain a second very narrow and very deep gorge, whose +waters, when there were any, emptied into the stream we had been +following; the two cañons being separated by a high, narrow rib of +rock--a mere wedge. Curiously enough, however, this second cañon did not +carry a stream, though we could see the shimmer of two or three pools as +they caught the reflection of the sky down there in the bottom of its +gloomy depths. + +"Well, Dick," said I, "I don't see any sign yet of a pathway up to the +top of this 'island' of yours. This basin is merely an enlargement of +the cañon; the walls are just as high and just as straight-up-and-down +as ever." + +"Yes, I see that plainly enough," replied Dick. "Yet there must be a +way up somewhere. Those pack-trains didn't come down here for nothing. +We shall find a break in the wall presently--up in that gorge, there, it +must be, too. So let us go on. Hark! What's that?" + +We sat still and listened. The whole atmosphere seemed to vibrate with a +low hum, the cause of which we could not understand. It kept on for five +minutes, perhaps, and then died out again. + +"What was it, Dick?" said I. "Wind?" + +"I suppose it must have been," replied my companion; "though there isn't +a breath stirring down here. If the sky had not been so perfectly clear +all morning I should have said it was a flood coming. It must have been +wind, though, I suppose." + +Satisfied that this was the cause, we thought no more of it, but, taking +up the trail once more, we followed it down to the mouth of the second +cañon, and there at the edge of the watercourse all trace of it ceased. + +"That seems to settle it," remarked Dick. "You see, Frank, the walls of +this cañon are so steep and its bed is so filled with great boulders +that even a burro could get no further. The copper must have been +carried down to this point on men's backs, and if so, it was not carried +any great distance probably. The mine must be somewhere pretty near now; +we shan't have to search much further, I think, for a way up this +right-hand cliff. Let us unsaddle here, where the horses can get plenty +of grass, and go on up on foot." + +The ascent of the chasm was no easy task, we found, but, weaving our way +between the boulders which strewed its bed, up we went, until presently +we came to a place where some time or another a great slice of the wall, +about an eighth of a mile in length, falling down, had blocked it +completely, forming an immense dam nearly a hundred feet high. It must +have been many years since it fell, for its surface was well grown up +with trees, though none of them were of any great size. It seemed +probable, too, that the base of the dam must be composed of large +fragments of rock, for, though there was no stream in the bed of the +gorge, it was very plain that water did sometimes run down it. If so, +however, it was equally plain that it must squeeze its way through the +crevices between the foundation rocks, for there was no sign at all that +it had ever run over the top. + +Scrambling up this mass of earth and rocks, we went on, keeping a sharp +lookout for some sign of a pathway up the cliff on our right, but still +seeing nothing of the sort, when presently we reached the upper face of +the dam, and there for a moment we stopped. + +Beneath us lay a stretch of the ravine, forming a basin about two +hundred yards long, in the bottom of which were three or four pools of +clear water. At the upper end of this basin was a perpendicular cliff, +barring all further advance in that direction, over which, in some +seasons of the year, the water evidently poured--sometimes in +considerable volume apparently, judging from the manner in which the +sides of the basin had been undermined. The sides themselves continued +to be just as unscalable as ever; in spite of Dick's assurance that we +should find a way up, it was apparent at a glance that there was neither +crack nor crevice by which one could ascend. + +"Well!" cried my partner, in a tone of desperation. "This does beat me! +I felt certain that the trail would lead us to some pathway up the +cliff; but, as it does not, what does it come down here for at all?" + +"There is only one reason that I can think of," I replied, "and that is +that they must have come down here for water--there is probably none to +be found up on top of the 'island.'" + +"That must be it, Frank. Yes, I expect you've struck it. And in that +case the pathway we have been hunting for must be down stream from the +site of the old bridge after all." + +"Yes. So we may as well go back to-morrow morning, I suppose, and start +downward. It is rather late to go back now--and besides, there is no +water up there: we had better camp here for to-night, at any rate." + +"That's true. Well, as we have some hours of daylight yet--if you can +call this daylight down here in this narrow crack--let us climb down the +face of the dam and examine the basin before we give up and go back, so +as to make quite sure that there is no way up the side." + +Accordingly, having clambered down, we walked up the middle of the +basin, our eyes carefully scanning the wall on our right, when, having +traversed about three-quarters of its length, we suddenly heard again +that humming noise which we had taken for a wind-storm among the pines. +With one accord we both stopped dead and listened. The noise was +decidedly louder than it had been before, and moreover it appeared to +be increasing in volume every second. + +"Frank!" exclaimed my companion. "I don't like the sound of it! It seems +to me suspiciously like water! Let us get out of here! This is no place +to be caught by a flood!" + +We turned to run, but before we had gone five steps we heard a roar +behind us, and casting a glance backward, we saw to our horror an +immense wall of water, ten feet high, leap from the ledge at the end of +the basin and fall to the bottom with a prodigious splash. + +In one second the whole floor of the basin was awash. In another second +our feet were knocked from under us, when, without the power of helping +ourselves, we were tumbled about and swept hither and thither at the +caprice of the rapidly deepening flood. + +Happily for myself, for I was no swimmer, I was carried right down to +the dam, where, by desperate exertions, I was able to scramble up out of +reach of the water. Dick, however, less fortunate than I, was carried +off to one side, and when I caught sight of him again he was being swept +rapidly along under the right-hand wall--looking up stream--in whose +smooth surface there was no chance of finding a hold. As I watched him, +my heart in my mouth, he was carried back close to the fall, where the +violence of the water, now several feet deep, tossed him about like a +straw. + +Half paralyzed with fear lest my companion should be drowned before my +eyes, I stood there on the rocks, powerless to go to his aid, hoping +only that he might be swept down near enough to enable me to catch hold +of him, when, of a sudden, there occurred an event so astounding that +for a moment I could hardly tell whether I ought to believe my own eyes +or not. + +Out from the wall on the left, up near the fall, there shot a great dark +body, which, with a noiseless splash, disappeared under the water. The +next moment a man's head bobbed up, a big, shaggy, bearded head, the +owner of which with vigorous strokes swam toward Dick and seized him by +the collar. Then, swimming with the power of a steam-tug, he bore down +upon the dam, clutched a projecting rock, drew himself up, and with a +strength I had never before seen in a human being, he lifted Dick out of +the water with one hand--his left--and set him up on the bank. + +Running to the spot, I seized hold of my partner, who, almost played +out, staggered and swayed about, and helped him further up out of reach +of the water. Then, turning round, I was advancing to thank his rescuer, +when, for the first time, I saw that the man was almost a dwarf--in +height, at least--though his astonishing strength was indicated in his +magnificent chest and arms. + +"The Badger!" I cried, involuntarily. + +At the sound of that name the man turned short round, and without a word +leaped into the water again. Sweeping back under the right-hand wall, he +presently turned across the pool and struck out for the opposite side. +Ten seconds later he had disappeared, having seemingly swum through the +very face of the cliff itself! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE KING PHILIP MINE + + +I think it is safe to say that Dick and I were at that moment the two +most astonished boys in the State of Colorado. + +Where had the man sprung from? And how had he disappeared again? There +must be, of course, some opening in the rock which we had failed to +notice; a circumstance easily explained by the fact that we had not gone +far enough up the basin, and by the added fact that our attention had +been fixed upon the opposite wall. + +Then, again, though the identity of the man could hardly be doubted, why +should he take offence, as he seemed to do, at being addressed as "The +Badger"? + +This was a question to which we could not find an answer; and, indeed, +for the moment we postponed any attempt to do so, for our attention was +too much taken up by the action of the water, which, continuing to rise +with great rapidity, forced us to retreat higher and higher up the dam. + +For about half an hour it thus continued to rise, until there must have +been at least fifteen feet of it in the basin, by the end of which time +we noticed a sudden diminution in the amount coming over the fall. A few +minutes later the flow had ceased altogether, when the water in the pool +at once began to subside again, though far less rapidly than it had +risen. + +Our first impulse after our narrow escape from drowning had been to run +to the other end of the dam and get back forthwith to our horses, but +this we had found to be rather too risky an undertaking to attempt, for +the water, coming out from under the dam, was rushing down the bed of +the cañon, seething and foaming between the obstructing boulders in such +a fashion that we decided that discretion would be a good deal the +better part of valor--that it would be an act of wisdom to wait a bit. + +Moreover, when the flood, leaping from the cliff, had bowled us over in +such unceremonious style, we had had our rifles in our hands, and as +those indispensable weapons were at that moment lying under fifteen feet +of water, there was nothing for it but to wait till the pool drained off +if we wished to recover them. + +As there was no telling how long we might have to wait, and as we were +both wet through and very cold--Dick being besides still shaky from his +recent buffeting--I collected a lot of dead wood and started a roaring +fire, before whose cheerful blaze our clothes soon dried out and our +spirits rose again to their normal level. + +It was then that I first fully appreciated the value of my partner's +habit of carrying matches in a water-tight box--a habit I strongly +recommend to anybody camping out in these mountains. + +For three hours we waited, by which time as we guessed there remained +not more than a foot of water in the pool. I had gone down to measure it +with a stick, and was leaning with my hand against the smooth, wet wall +on my right, when I heard sounds as of a human voice speaking very +faintly and indistinctly. The sounds seemed to come from the rock where +my hand rested, and putting my ear against it, I plainly heard a strange +voice say, "Hallo, boys!" + +"Hallo!" I called out, at the top of my voice, startled into an +explosive shout. "Who are you? Where are you?" + +"Who's that you're talking to?" cried Dick, springing to his feet and +looking all about. + +"I don't know," I replied. "Come here and put your ear to the rock." + +Dick instantly joined me, when we both very clearly heard the voice say: + +"You needn't shout. I can hear you. Do you hear me?" + +"Yes," said I; and repeating my question, I asked: "Who are you, and +where are you?" + +"Before I tell you that," replied the voice, "I want to ask _you_ a +question, if you please. Are you Americans?" + +"Yes," I replied. "Two American boys." + +"Thank you. One more question, please: Did old Galvez send you up here?" + +"No!" I replied, with considerable emphasis. "We never saw old Galvez +till yesterday." + +"Good! Then I'll come down if you'll wait a minute." + +It was less than a minute that we had to wait, when from behind a slight +bulge in the left-hand wall, up near the head of the basin, there +appeared the figure of a young fellow, seemingly about twenty years old, +who, with his trousers tucked up, carrying a rifle in one hand and his +boots in the other, came wading down to us. + +With what interest we watched his approach will be imagined. Neither of +us doubted that it was the young fellow whom Galvez had mentioned as +having visited Hermanos during his absence, and as soon as he had come +near enough for us to distinguish his features, I, for one, was sure of +it, for, with his hook nose and his gray eyes, he did indeed bear a +curious resemblance to my partner. + +Standing on the bank at the edge of the water, we waited for him to come +near, when, having advanced to within six feet of us he stopped and eyed +us critically. He was a good-looking young fellow, not very big, but +with a bright, intelligent face which at once took our fancy. Apparently +his judgment of our looks was also favorable, for, smiling pleasantly, +he said: + +"Good-evening, boys. Which of you is Dick?" + +"I am," replied the owner of that name. + +"I just wanted to congratulate you, that's all, on your escape just now. +It might have gone hard with you if it hadn't been for my good friend, +Sanchez." + +"Sanchez?" I repeated, inquiringly. "Is that The Badger's proper name?" + +"Yes," replied the stranger. "Pedro Sanchez. The name of El Tejon was +bestowed upon him by old Galvez, and consequently he objects to it. +Your use of that name just now made him suspicious that you might be +emissaries of the padron, and it was that which caused him to jump back +into the water so suddenly." + +"I see. I'll take care in future. Here! Give me your hand"--seeing that +he was about to come up the bank. + +"Thank you," replied the stranger, reaching out his hand to me and +giving mine a shake before he let go--a greeting he repeated with Dick. +"I'm very glad to find you are a couple of American boys and not a pair +of Mexican cut-throats, as we rather suspected you might be. Let us go +up to your fire there and sit down. The water will take another +half-hour yet to drain off completely." + +Accordingly, we walked up to the fire, where the stranger dried his feet +and pulled on his boots again. + +"Why did you suspect us of being Mexican cut-throats?" asked Dick. "Did +you think that old Galvez had sent us up here on a hunt for you or for +El--for Sanchez, I mean?" + +"Yes, that was it. We've been watching you for two days past. We saw you +go down to Hermanos yesterday and start up the trail this morning. From +the fact of your having gone down to the village, Pedro was inclined to +believe you were hunting him or me; but, for my part, I rather inferred +from your actions that you were hunting the old copper mine." + +"The old copper mine!" we both cried. + +"Yes. Did I make a mistake? Weren't you?" + +"No, you didn't make any mistake," replied Dick. "What surprised us was +that you should know anything about it." + +The young fellow laughed. "Do you suppose, then," said he, "that you are +the only ones to notice the pots and pans down there at Hermanos?" + +"No, of course not," replied Dick. "The professor was right, you see, +Frank," he continued, turning to me, "when he said that the first white +man who came along would notice those copper utensils and go hunting for +the mine." + +"Yes," said I; and addressing the stranger again, I added: "So it was +the copper mine you were seeking after all, was it? Old Galvez thought +you came up here looking for Sanchez." + +Thereupon I related to him what the padron had said on the subject, when +the young fellow, smiling rather grimly, remarked, with a touch of +sarcasm in his voice: + +"Nice old gentleman, the Señor Galvez. So he professed not to know my +name, did he? He's a bad lot, if ever there was one. He was right, +though, in supposing that I came up here to look for Pedro. That was my +main object, though I intended at the same time to keep an eye open for +the old mine." + +"And have you seen any indication of it?--if we may ask." + +"Oh, yes," he replied, with unaccountable indifference. "There was no +trouble about that. Pedro discovered it years ago and he took me +straight to it." + +At this unlooked-for blow to all our hopes and plans, Dick and I gazed +at each other aghast. At one stroke apparently, our expedition was +deprived of its object. We might just as well turn round and go home +again, as far as the King Philip mine was concerned. Our hopes had been +so high; and here they were all toppled over in an instant. Intense was +our disappointment. + +For half a minute we sat there speechless, when our new acquaintance, +observing our crestfallen looks, remarked: + +"I'm afraid that is a good deal of a disappointment to you, isn't it? +But, perhaps you will be less disappointed when I tell you that the old +mine is valueless to me or you or anybody else." + +"How's that?" exclaimed Dick. + +"Why, it's---- But come and see for yourselves," he cried, springing to +his feet. "That's the best way. You'll understand the why and the +wherefore in five minutes." + +"What! Is it near here, then?" asked my partner. + +"Yes, close by. Behind the bulge in the wall on the left here." + +"On _that_ side!" cried Dick. "Not on the right, then, after all? Well, +that is a puzzler!" + +"Why is it a puzzler?" asked the stranger. "I don't understand you." + +"Why, if the mine is on the _left_ of the creek, what was that bridge +for up above here, crossing over to the _right_?" + +"Bridge! What bridge? What do you mean?" + +Upon this we told him of the niches in the rock up above, which we +supposed to have been receptacles for bridge-stringers. + +"That's queer," remarked our friend. "I had not heard of those before. +I wonder if Pedro knows anything about it. It is a puzzler, as you say." + +"Yes, I can't make it out," continued Dick; and after standing for a +minute thinking, he repeated, with a shake of his head: "No, I can't +make it out. I can't see what that bridge was for. Well, never mind that +for the present; let's go and see the old mine." + +"Come on, then. But before we go, I'll just speak to Pedro, or he may be +going off and hiding himself somewhere up in the old workings. Do you +notice," he asked, "how smoothly the swirl of the water has scoured out +a sort of half-arch at the base of the cañon-wall all the way from the +end of the dam here, under the waterfall, round to the bulge on the +other side? It forms a perfect 'whispering gallery.' Hallo, Pedro!" he +called out, putting his face close to the rock. "It is all right. We are +coming up now." + +Descending to the bed of the pool, whence all the water except three or +four permanent puddles had now drained away, we first searched for our +rifles, and having recovered them, followed our guide around the bulge +in the wall, and there found ourselves confronting the old +mine-entrance. + +About ten feet above the floor of the pool was a big hole in the rock, +evidently made by hand--for it was square--leading up to which were +several roughly-hewn steps, more or less rounded off and worn away by +the water. On top of the steps, framed in the blackness of the opening +behind him, stood the squat figure of Pedro Sanchez--in his rough shirt +of deer-skin representing very well, I thought, the badger in the mouth +of his hole. + +[Illustration: "BEHIND HIM, STOOD THE SQUAT FIGURE OF PEDRO SANCHEZ."] + +"Pedro," said our new friend, "these gentlemen were seeking the old +mine, as I thought. You have nothing to fear from them." + +"On the contrary," cried Dick, bounding up the steps and holding out his +hand, "we have to thank you for your good service just now!" + +Stretching out his long arm, the little giant smiled genially, showing a +row of big white teeth. + +"It is nothing," said he; adding, with a twinkle in his eye: "The +señores will remember that I owed to them some return for their +assistance against the wolves." + +"That's a fact!" cried Dick. "I'd forgotten that. So you remember us, do +you? I wonder at that--you didn't stay long to look at us." + +"No, señor," replied Pedro, laughing. "I was out of my own country and +was distrustful of strangers." + +Turning to our new friend, who was wondering what all this was about, +Dick explained the circumstances of our former meeting with Pedro, +adding: + +"So, you see, we are old acquaintances after all. In fact, if we had not +met Pedro before we should not be here now, for it was his copper-headed +arrow which brought us down, oddly enough." + +"That was odd, certainly. Well, Pedro, get the torch and show your old +friends over the mine. We must be quick, or it will be getting dark +before we can get back to our camp." + +Pedro disappeared into the darkness somewhere, while we ourselves +climbed up into the mouth of the tunnel. It was very wet in there: we +could hear the _drip_, _drip_ of water in all directions. + +"Were you in here when the flood came down?" asked Dick. "How is it you +weren't drowned--for I see the water stood five feet deep in the +tunnel?" + +"Oh," replied the other, "there was no fear of drowning. There are +plenty of places in here out of reach of the water. Wait a moment and +you'll see." + +True enough, we soon heard the striking of a match, and next we saw the +Mexican standing with a torch in his hand in a recess about ten feet +above us. + +"That is where we took refuge," said our friend. "Far out of reach of +the water, you see. Come on, now, and I'll show you how this old mine +was worked, and why it was abandoned." + +Leading the way, torch in hand, he presently stopped, and said: + +"The place where we came in was the mouth of the main working-tunnel. It +follows the vein into the rock for about a thousand feet, which would +bring it, as I calculate, pretty near to the other cañon--for the rock +between the two cañons is nothing more than a spit, as you will +remember. Above the tunnel they have followed the vein upward, gouging +out all the native copper and wastefully throwing away all the less +valuable ore, until there was none left. If you look, you can see the +empty crevice extending upward out of sight." + +"I see," said Dick, shading his eyes from the glare of the torch. "It +seems to have been pretty primitive mining." + +"It was--that part of it, at least. But having exhausted all the copper +above, they next began the more difficult process of mining downward. +Come along this way and I'll show you." + +Walking along the tunnel some distance, our guide pointed out to us a +square pool in the floor, measuring about eight feet each way. + +"This," said he, "was a shaft. There is another further along. How deep +they are, I don't know." + +"But, look here!" cried Dick. "How could they venture to sink shafts, +when at any moment a flood might rush in and drown them all?" + +"Ah! That's just the point," said our friend. "Come outside again and +you'll understand." + +Returning once more to the bed of the pool, we faced the hole in the +wall, when our guide continued: + +"Now, you see, the floor of the tunnel is about ten feet above the +creek-bed, and before the cliff fell down, forming the dam, the water +ran freely past its mouth. But some time after the miners had got out +all the copper overhead and had begun sinking shafts, this cliff came +down, blocked the channel, and caused the water to back up into the +workings. As you remarked just now, it filled the tunnel five feet deep, +and, as a matter of course, filled the shafts up to the top." + +"I see," said Dick. "You think, then, that the cliff fell in +comparatively recent times. I believe you are right, too. That would +account for there being no trees of any great size upon the dam." + +"Yes. And as a consequence the mine was abandoned; for it would have +taken years to dig away this dam, and as long as it existed it would be +impossible to go on with the work with the water coming down and filling +up the tunnel once every three days, or thereabouts." + +"Every three days!" we both exclaimed. "Is this a regular thing, then, +this flood?" + +"Why, yes. I'd forgotten you didn't know that. Yes, it's a pretty +regular thing, and a very curious one, too. Pedro says that up in that +old crater near the top of the mountain there is a great intermittent +spring which every now and then rises up and spills out a great mass of +water. The water comes racing down this gorge, and half an hour later +leaps over the fall here, fills up the pool and the mine, and gradually +drains off again under the dam." + +"That certainly is a curious thing," Dick responded. "And it also +furnishes a reason good enough to satisfy anybody for abandoning the +mine. Well, Frank," he went on, "this looks like the end of our +expedition. We've done what we set out to do:--found the King Philip +mine; and now, I suppose, there's nothing left but to turn round and go +home again." + +"I suppose so," I assented, regretfully. "I hate to go back; but I'm +afraid we have no excuse for remaining." + +"You think you must go back, do you?" asked our friend. "I'm sorry you +should have to do so, but if you must, why shouldn't we travel the first +stage together? I start back to Santa Fé to-morrow, and from there home +to Washington." + +"You live in Washington, do you?" said Dick. "Then, why do you go round +by way of Santa Fé? It would be much shorter to go to Mosby--and then we +could ride all the way together." + +"I wish I could, but I have to go the other way. I left my baggage +there, for one thing; and besides that I have some inquiries to make +there which my mother asked me to undertake." + +Dick nodded. "And then you go straight back to Washington?" he asked. + +"Yes. Then I must get straight back home as fast as I can and report to +my father. I had two commissions to perform for him:--one was to look +into the matter of this old mine; the other concerned the present +condition of the Hermanos Grant. The first one I consider settled, but +the other, I find, is a matter for the lawyers: it is too complicated a +subject for me, a stranger in the land and a foreigner." + +"A foreigner!" I cried. "Why, we supposed you were an American." + +"No," said he. "I am a Spaniard." + +"A Spaniard!" we both exclaimed this time. + +"Yes," laughing at our astonishment. "A Scotch-Irish-Spaniard--which +seems a queer mixture, doesn't it? Though I was born in Spain, my +forefathers were Irish, my mother is Scotch, and I have lived for +several years first in Edinburgh and then in London; and now my father, +who is in the Spanish diplomatic service, is stationed in Washington." + +"And what----?" I began, and then stopped, with some embarrassment, as +it occurred to me that it was not exactly my business. + +"And what am I doing out here? you were going to say. I'll tell you. My +father was out in this part of the world a good many years ago, having +business in Santa Fé, where he got track of this old copper mine; but +his idea of its whereabouts was very vague until, about a year ago, a +gentleman whom he had met when he was out here wrote him a letter +telling him of the number of copper utensils to be found down there at +Hermanos---- What's the matter?" + +That he should thus exclaim was not to be wondered at if the look of +surprise on my face was anything like the look on Dick's. + +"Well, of all the queer things!" exclaimed the latter; and then, +advancing a step and addressing our friend, he said, smiling: "I think +we can guess your name." + +"You do!" cried the young fellow. "That seems hardly likely. What is +it?" + +"Blake!" replied Dick. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A CHANGE OF PLAN + + +If the young Spaniard had provided us with two or three surprises during +the day, I think we got even with him in that line when Dick thus +disclosed to him the fact that we knew his name. For a moment he stood +gazing blankly at us, and then exclaimed: + +"How in the world did you guess that?" + +"I don't wonder you are puzzled," replied Dick, "but the explanation is +very simple. The Professor Bergen who wrote to your father--that's the +right name, isn't it?" + +Young Blake nodded. "That was the name signed to the letter," said he. +"'Otto Bergen.'" + +"Well, this Professor Bergen is my best and oldest friend; I have lived +with him for thirteen or fourteen years. We left his house to come down +here less than a week ago. It was he who told us of his meeting with a +Spaniard of the remarkable name of Blake, who, while hunting through the +records in Santa Fé, had come across mention of this old mine. And when +he and I passed through Hermanos last year and saw all those old copper +vessels there, the professor wrote at once to your father to tell him +about them. I mailed the letter myself." + +"Well, this is certainly a most remarkable meeting!" cried our new +acquaintance. "Why, I feel as if I had fallen in with two old friends!" + +"Well, you have, if you like!" cried Dick, laughing; whereupon we shook +hands all over again with the greatest heartiness. + +"My first name," said young Blake, "is Arturo--Arthur in this +country--the name of the original Irish ancestor who fled to Spain in +the year 1691, and after whom each of the eldest sons of our family has +been named ever since. But not being gifted with your genius for +guessing names," he continued, with a smile, "I haven't yet found out +what yours are." + +"That's a fact!" cried Dick. "What thoughtless chaps we are! My friend +here, is Frank Preston of St. Louis; my own name is----" + +"Señores," said Pedro, cutting in at this moment, "with your pardon, we +must be getting out of this cañon: it will be black night down here in +another ten minutes." + +"That's true!" our friend assented. "So come along. We camp together, +of course. How are you off for provisions? We have the hind-quarter of a +deer which Pedro shot three days ago; pretty lean and stringy, but if +you are as hungry as I am we can make it do." + +"Hungry!" cried Dick. "I'm ravenous. We've had nothing to eat since six +o'clock this morning. How is it with you, Frank?" + +"I'll show you," I replied, snapping my teeth together, "as soon as I +get the chance." + +With a laugh, we set off over the dam, and half an hour later were all +busy round the fire toasting strips of deer-meat on sticks and eating +them as fast as they were cooked, with an appetite which illustrated--if +it needed illustration--the truth of the old saying, that the best of +all sauces is hunger. + +Our supper finished, we made ourselves comfortable round the fire, and +far into the night--long after Pedro had rolled himself in his blanket +and had gone to sleep--we sat there talking. + +The reasons for our own presence in these parts were briefly and easily +explained, when our new friend, Arthur--with whom, by the way, we very +soon felt ourselves sufficiently familiar to address by his first +name--Arthur related to us the motives which had brought him so far +from home. + +"It was not only to hunt up this old mine," said he; "in fact, that was +quite a secondary object. My chief reason for coming out was to look +into the condition of the Hermanos Grant, and to find out why it was we +had been unable for the past twelve years to get any reports from +there." + +"Why _you_ hadn't been able to get reports!" exclaimed Dick. "What have +_you_ got to do with the Hermanos Grant, then?" + +"It belongs to my father," replied Arthur, smiling. + +We stared at him with raised eyebrows. + +"But what about old Galvez, then?" asked my partner. "We supposed it +belonged to him. In fact, his nephew told us as much, and he evidently +spoke in good faith, too." + +"I dare say he did," replied Arthur. "All the same, the grant belongs, +and for about a century and a half has belonged, to our family. It was +my ancestor, Arthur the First, who 'bossed' the King Philip mine and who +built the _Casa del Rey_. Old Galvez is just a usurper. I did not even +know of his existence till I reached the village three days ago. It is a +long and rather complicated story, but if you are not too sleepy I'll +try to explain it before we go to bed." + +It was a long story; and as our frequent questions and interruptions +made it a good deal longer, I think it will be wise to relate it, or +some of it, at least, in my own words, to save time. + +The original Arthur Blake having rendered notable service in the great +battle of Almanza, the king of Spain rewarded the gallant Irishman by +making him "Governor" of the King Philip mine, at the same time, in true +kingly fashion, bestowing upon him a large tract of land, comprising the +village of Hermanos with the inhabitants thereof, as well as the desert +surrounding it for five miles each way. + +The mine having ceased to be workable, for the reason we had seen, +Arthur the First was preparing to return to his adopted country, when he +died out there, alone, in that far-off land of exile. In course of time +the existence of the King Philip mine passed entirely out of everybody's +recollection, as would probably have been the case with the Hermanos +Grant itself, had not the agent or factor, or, as he was locally called, +the _mayordomo_, placed in charge by the old Irishman, continued from +year to year to send over to the representative of the family in Spain +certain small sums of money collected in the way of rents. + +They were an honest family, these factors, the son succeeding the father +from generation to generation, and faithfully they continued to send +over the trifling annual remittances, until the year 1865, when the +payments suddenly and unaccountably ceased. + +It was two or three years before this that Señor Blake, having the +opportunity to do so, had come out to Southern Colorado to take a look +at the old grant, which, since the discovery of gold in the territory, +might have some value after all. + +As a part of this trip he visited Santa Fé, with the object of searching +through the records for some copy of the original royal patent; for what +had become of that document nobody knew. It was possible that it had +been destroyed when the French burnt the family mansion during the +Peninsular war; again it was possible that old Arthur the First had +brought it with him to America for the purpose of submitting it to the +inspection of the Mexican authorities--for that part of Colorado was in +those days under the rule of the viceroy of Mexico. + +In the limited time at his disposal, however, Señor Blake had found no +trace of it; a circumstance he much regretted, for though hitherto there +had never been any question as to the title, should the tract some day +prove of value, such question might very well arise, when the Blake +family might have difficulty in proving ownership. + +For about three years after his visit things continued to jog along in +the old way, until, as I said, in the year 1865 the annual remittances +suddenly ceased and all communication with Hermanos appeared to be cut +off--for reasons unknown and undiscoverable. + +Such was the state of affairs when the elder Blake took up his residence +in Washington, when Arthur, having solicited permission from his father, +came west to find out if possible what was the matter. + +"When I got to Hermanos," said Arthur, continuing his story, "I found +the people in such a down-trodden, spiritless condition that I had great +difficulty in getting any information out of them--they were afraid to +say anything lest evil should befall. By degrees, however, I gained +their confidence, when I found that the Sanchez family, by whom, for +generations past, the office of _mayordomo_ had been held, was extinct, +except for a certain Pedro, a member of a distant branch, and that the +present owner of the grant was one, Galvez, who, seemingly, had come +into possession about twelve years ago. + +"As I could not understand how this could be, and as nobody seemed able +to enlighten me, I decided, of course, to wait till Galvez came home in +order to question him. + +"Meanwhile, I inquired about this man, Pedro Sanchez, who, I was told, +was the only one likely to be able to explain, meeting with no +difficulty in ascertaining where he was to be found; for, though Galvez +himself did not know whether Pedro was alive or dead, every other +inhabitant of the village knew perfectly well, and always had known, not +only that he was alive but where to find him. + +"Presently, about dusk, Galvez came riding in, when I at once made +myself known to him. At the mention of my name he appeared for a moment +to be rendered speechless, either with fear or surprise, and then, to my +great astonishment, with a burst of execration, he snatched a revolver +out of its holster. Luckily for me, he did it in such haste that the +weapon, striking the pommel of the saddle, flew out of his hand and fell +upon the ground; whereupon I ran for it, jumped upon my horse and rode +away. + +"After riding a short distance, I bethought me of Pedro, so, circling +round the village, I came up here, and following the directions of the +peons, I easily found him next morning. Through Pedro, as soon as I had +succeeded in convincing him of my identity, I quickly got at the rights +of the case." + +"Wait a minute," said Dick, who, together with myself, had been an +attentive listener. "Let me put some more logs on the fire. There!" as +he seated himself once more. "That will last for some time. Now, go +ahead." + +Leaning back against a tree-trunk and stretching out his feet to the +fire, Arthur began again: + +"Did you ever hear of the Espinosas?" he asked. + +"No!" I exclaimed, surprised by the apparently unconnected question; but +Dick replied, "Yes, I have. Mexican bandits, or something of the sort, +weren't they?" + +"Yes," said our friend. "They were a pair of Mexicans who, in the year +'65, terrorized certain parts of Colorado by committing many murders of +white people. This man, Galvez, who then lived in Taos, hated the +Americans with a very thorough and absorbing hatred, and the exploits of +the Espinosas being just suited to his taste, he decided to join them. +But he was a little too late; the two brigands were killed, and he +himself, with a bullet through his shoulder, would assuredly have been +captured had he not had the good fortune to fall in with Pedro Sanchez. + +"Pedro had been a soldier, too, and coming thus upon a comrade in +distress he packed him on his burro, and by trails known only to himself +brought him down to Hermanos, entering the village secretly by night. + +"The occupant of the _Casa_ at that time was another Pedro Sanchez, a +forty-second cousin or thereabouts of our Pedro. He was a very old man, +the last of his immediate family, a good, honest, simple-minded old +fellow, who for thirty years or more had been factor for us. With him +Pedro sought asylum for his comrade--a favor the old man readily granted +to his namesake and relative. + +"It was pretty sure that there would be a hue and cry after Galvez, so, +to avoid suspicion as much as possible, they arranged to give out that +it was Pedro who lay sick at the _Casa_, while Pedro himself went off +again that same night up into the mountain to hide till Galvez thought +it safe to move. He had done everything he could think of for his +friend, and how do you suppose his friend requited him? It will show you +the sort of man this Galvez is. + +"For six weeks the latter lay hidden, when in some roundabout way he got +word that his description was placarded on the walls of Taos and a +reward offered for his capture. This cut him off from returning home and +he was in a quandary what to do, when one day his host, who, as I said, +was a very old man, had a fall from his horse and two days later died. + +"Then did Galvez resolve upon a bold stroke. He came out of his +hiding-place, and without offering reasons or explanations calmly +announced that he had become proprietor of the Hermanos Grant, and that +in future the villagers were to look to him for orders! The very +impudence of the move carried the day. The ignorant peons, accustomed +for generations to obey, accepted the situation without question; and +thus did Galvez install himself as padron of Hermanos, and padron he +has remained for twelve years, there being nobody within five thousand +miles to enter protest or dispute his title." + +"Well!" exclaimed Dick. "That was about the most bare-faced piece of +rascality I ever did hear of. And your father, of course, over there in +Cadiz or London or wherever you were then, was helpless to find out what +was going on in this remote corner." + +"That's it exactly; and at that time, too, this corner was far more +remote even than it is now--there were no railroads anywhere near then, +you see." + +"That's true. Well, go on. What about his treatment of Pedro?" + +"Why, Galvez, as padron of Hermanos--a place almost completely cut off +from the rest of the world--felt pretty sure that he would never be +identified as Galvez of Taos, the man wanted for brigandage; for the +villagers had no suspicion of the fact. The only danger lay in Pedro." + +"I see. Pedro being the one person who did know the facts." + +"Exactly. Well, Galvez was not one to stick at trifles, and +understanding that the simplest way to secure his own safety would be +to get rid of this witness, he came riding up into the mountain one day, +found Pedro, and while talking with him in friendly fashion, pulled out +a big flint-lock horse-pistol, jammed it against his benefactor's chest +and pulled the trigger. Luckily the weapon missed fire; Pedro jumped +away, picked up a big stone and hurled it at his faithless friend, +taking him in the mouth and knocking out all his front teeth. Then he, +himself, fled up into his mountain; and that was their last meeting, +except on the occasion when Galvez came up to hunt for him and Pedro +shot his horse with the copper-headed arrow. + +"There!" Arthur concluded. "Now you have it all. That's the whole +story!" + +"And a mighty curious and interesting story it is, too!" exclaimed Dick; +adding, after a thoughtful pause: "That man, Galvez, is certainly a +remarkable specimen; and a dangerous one. He is not an ordinary, +every-day, primitive ruffian. That move of his in declaring himself +padron of Hermanos was a stroke of genius in its way. It won't be a +simple matter to get him out of there, if that is what you are after." + +"That is what I am after," replied Arthur. "But, as I said, the +question of how to do it is too complicated for me. I know nothing of +American law, but it strikes me that, in spite of the fact that he +plainly has no right there, we may have considerable difficulty in +getting him out, for, as we can show neither the original patent nor a +copy of it, we have only our word for it that such a thing ever +existed." + +"That's true," said I. "And Galvez being in possession, it may be that +he would not have to prove _his_ rights: it would rest with you to prove +_yours._" + +"I should think that was very likely," remarked Dick. "It is a +complicated matter, as you say. What do you suppose your father will do? +Have you any idea?" + +"Yes, I have," replied Arthur, very emphatically. "I know exactly what +he will do. When I tell him how the grant has been 'annexed' by this +man--and such a man, too--he will never rest until he has got him out. +It may be that the old brigandage business may serve as a lever--that, I +don't know--but whatever is necessary to be done he will do, however +long it may take and however much it may cost." + +"As to the cost," said I, "that is likely, I should think, to be pretty +big. Is the grant worth it? Suppose, on investigation, your father +should find that the expense of getting Galvez out would be greater than +the value of the property--what then?" + +Arthur laughed. "You don't know my father," said he. "The value of the +grant--which, in truth, is nothing, or nearly nothing--makes no +difference whatever. It's the principle of the thing. To permit a robber +like Galvez to remain quietly in possession would be impossible to my +father. He will regard it as his duty to society to right the wrong, and +he will do it, if it takes ten years, without considering for a moment +whether the grant is worth it or not." + +"Good for him!" cried Dick, thumping his knee with his fist. "The law in +this new West is weak--naturally--and here in this out-of-the-way corner +there is none at all, but a few such men as your father would soon +stiffen its backbone. I hope he'll succeed; the only thing I'm sorry for +is that the grant has so little value." + +"That is unfortunate," replied Arthur; "though, as it happens, that +particular concerns my father less than it does me." + +"Is that so? How is that?" + +"It is an old custom in the family to bestow the Hermanos Grant on the +eldest son on his coming of age. I am the eldest son, and I come of age +next August, when, according to the custom, I shall become the owner of +this valueless patch of desert--if Galvez will be graciously pleased to +allow me." + +"What are the limits of the grant?" asked Dick. + +"North, south and east," replied Arthur, "it extends five miles from +Hermanos, but on the west it stops at the foot of the mountains." + +"So the only part of it which produces anything is that little patch of +cultivated ground surrounding the village." + +"Yes; and as the water-supply is very limited the place can never grow +any larger. In fact, it produces little more than enough to feed the +villagers; and even as it is, the boys as they grow up have to go off +and get work elsewhere as sheep-herders and cowmen, there being no room +for them at home. It is the padron's custom, I was told, to hire them +out, their wages being paid to him, in which case you may be sure it is +precious little of their earnings they ever get themselves." + +"He's a bad one, sure enough," remarked Dick. "But to go back to that +water-supply. Isn't there any way of increasing it?" + +"I'm afraid not," replied Arthur. "I wish there were: a plentiful supply +of water would make the place really valuable. There is land enough, and +excellent land, too; all that is needed is water. But that, I'm afraid, +is not to be had. I've talked to Pedro about it; he knows every stream +on these two mountains, but he says that they all run in cañons from +five hundred to two thousand feet deep, and there is no possible way of +getting any of them out upon the surface of the valley. What are you +thinking about, Dick?" + +My partner, who had been sitting with his elbows on his knees and his +chin in his hands, frowning severely at the fire, started from his +revery, and turning toward his questioner, he replied, speaking slowly +and thoughtfully: + +"If any one ought to know, it's Pedro; but, all the same, I believe +Pedro is wrong. I believe there _is_ a way of turning one of these +streams somewhere and bringing it down to Hermanos--if only one could +find the right stream." + +"Why do you think so?" asked Arthur. + +"I know it looks ridiculous for me to be setting up my opinion against +Pedro's," replied my partner, "but I can't help thinking that there is +such a stream. Look here!" he cried, jumping up, walking to and fro +between us and the fire once or twice, and then stopping and shaking his +finger at us as though he were delivering a lecture to two inattentive +pupils. "Where did those old Pueblos get their water from, I should like +to know? Up in these mountains somewhere, didn't they? Of course they +did: there's no other place. There was a big irrigation system down +there once, enough to support a population of three or four thousand +people probably. Well! What has become of that supply? That's what I +want to know. They had it once--where is it now?" + +For some seconds Dick stood in front of Arthur, pointing his finger +straight at him, while Arthur sat there in silence gazing steadfastly at +Dick. Suddenly, the young Spaniard jumped up, stepped forward, and +slapping my partner on his chest with the back of his hand, exclaimed: + +"Look here, old man! I believe you are right. I believe there is a +stream somewhere which those old Pueblos used for irrigating their +farms. It has somehow been switched off and lost. It ought to be found +and brought back. Now, look here! I can't stay here to hunt for it +myself: I _must_ get home right away. But I'll make a bargain with +you:--You find that stream and provide a way of getting the water back +to Hermanos, and I'll give you a half-interest in the grant--when I get +it. There, now! There's a chance for you!" + +"Do you mean that?" cried my partner. + +"I certainly do," replied Arthur. "The grant is without value as it +stands: if you can get water on to it and give it a value, it would be +only just that you should have a share in the profits. Yes, I mean what +I say, all right. If you'll supply the water, I'll supply the land. +There! What do you say? Is it a bargain?" + +For a moment Dick stood staring thoughtfully at our friend, and then, +turning to me, he exclaimed sharply: + +"Frank! Let's do it! Here we are, out for the summer. It's true we came +out to hunt for a copper mine, but that scheme being 'busted' at the +very start, let us turn to and hunt for water instead. What do you +think?" + +"I'm agreed!" I cried. + +"Good! Then we'll do it! And the very first move----" + +"The very first move," interrupted Arthur, laughing, "the very first +move is--to bed! It's after eleven!" + +"Phew!" Dick whistled. "I'd no idea it was so late. To bed, then; and +to-morrow we'll work out a plan of action. This has been a pretty long +day, and a pretty eventful one, too. So let's get to bed at once, and +to-morrow we'll start fair." + +In spite of the long day and the lateness of the hour, however, I could +not get to sleep at once. Dick, too, seemed to be wakeful. I heard him +stir, and opening my eyes, I saw him sitting up in bed with his arms +clasped around his blanketed knees, gazing at the fire. Suddenly, he +gave his leg a mighty slap with his open hand, and I heard him chuckle +to himself. + +"What's the matter, Dick?" I whispered. "Got a flea?" + +"No," he replied, laughing softly. "I've got an idea. Go to sleep, old +chap. I'll tell you in the morning." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +DICK'S SNAP SHOT + + +The sun rose late down in that deep crevice, and for that reason, added +to the lateness of the hour at which we had gone to bed, we did not wake +up next morning till after six o'clock. We found, however, that Pedro +had been up a couple of hours at least, for he had a good fire going, +had made everything ready to start breakfast, and moreover he had been +up on the mountain and had brought down Arthur's horse and his own burro +from the little valley where they had been left at pasture. + +When I, myself, awoke, I found that Dick was ahead of me. He was +standing by the fire, warming himself--for the mornings were still +cold--and talking to Pedro, who, I guessed, was explaining something, +for he was waving his long arms energetically, first in one direction +and then in another. + +"Well, Dick," said I, as we sat cross-legged on the ground, eating our +breakfast, "what is this idea of yours? Does it still look as favorable +as it seemed to do last night?" + +"Better," replied Dick, with his mouth full of bacon. "A great deal +better. I felt pretty confident last night that I was on the way to earn +that half-interest in the Hermanos Grant, and this morning, since +talking with Pedro, I feel more confident still." + +"Is that so?" cried Arthur. "I hope you're right. What is it you think +you have discovered?" + +"In the first place," replied Dick, "I have discovered that we are a lot +of wiseacres: we have been going around with our eyes shut." + +"How?" we both asked. + +"If we hadn't had our heads so full of the old copper mine, and if we +hadn't been so bent on finding the trail to it, we should never have +made the mistake we did." + +"What mistake?" I asked. "Hurry up, Dick! Don't take so long about it. +What are you driving at?" + +"Why, this!" replied my partner, suddenly sitting up straight and +wagging his finger at us. "This trail we have been following, all the +way from Hermanos up to the edge of the cañon, was not a trail at +all--it was a ditch!" + +"A ditch!" we both exclaimed. + +"Yes, a ditch. A ditch dug by those old Pueblo Indians to carry water +down to that wide, level stretch of ground at the back of the _Casa_. +I'm sure of it. If you give up the idea of a trail and consider it as a +ditch, all its peculiarities will be explained at once. It will account +for its uniform grade, for its unexpected distinctness, and more than +everything else, it will account for the fact that the 'trail' never +once dipped down a hill or climbed one either, but +always--invariably--went round the head of every gully, deep or shallow, +that came in its way." + +"Upon my word, Dick!" cried Arthur. "I believe you _have_ made a +discovery! I believe that it is the line of an old ditch, after all; +though the pack-trains doubtless used it as a convenient road as far as +the top of the cañon and then switched off down here by that shelf in +the wall." + +"That's my idea," said Dick, nodding his head. + +"But, look here, Dick," Arthur went on, after a moment's thoughtful +pause. "Suppose it is an old ditch--where did the water come from? +That's the question. A ditch without water isn't much use." + +Dick laughed. "No," said he. "I understand that well enough. The water +came from this 'island,' up here above our heads, and was carried across +the cañon in a flume!" + +"Ah!" I cried. "I see! What we at first supposed to have been a bridge +up there, built for the accommodation of the pack-trains, was in reality +a flume for carrying water." + +"That's what I believe," replied Dick. + +"Well, but see here, Dick," remarked Arthur again. "Suppose that there +was a flume there for carrying water--where's the water now? That's the +point. That's what I want to know." + +"Ah!" replied my partner. "And that was what I wanted to know, too. That +was the very question that bothered me until I talked to Pedro about it +just now. I asked him if he had ever seen or heard of a stream of water +coming down from the top of this high land, and I can tell you he eased +my mind of a load when he told me he had. He says there is a good big +waterfall which jumps off the cliff on the north side of the 'island' +and falls into this stream we are camped upon now, but about twelve or +thirteen miles below this point, following the bends of the creek." + +"Is that so? Then the chances are that that is the stream from which +the Pueblos used to get their water. Did you ask Pedro if he knew of any +way of getting up there?" + +"Yes, I did, and I'm sorry to say he doesn't know of any. He says that +this 'island' is really an island, being compassed about on all sides by +cañons of varying depths; that it includes a large tract of country, +part mountain and part plain; and that to the best of his knowledge, no +man has ever set foot on it. In that, though, I'm pretty sure he's +mistaken. In fact, it is as certain as anything can be that there is a +way up somewhere, or else, how did the Pueblos get over there in the +first place? They didn't fly across this gorge; and yet they must have +worked from both sides at once when they built their flume." + +"That's true. Well, Dick, it does look as though you had made a genuine +discovery, and one likely to be of great value. What's your idea, then? +You and Frank will stay here and hunt for the old Pueblo ditch-head, I +suppose, while I dig out for home by myself. I wish I could stay and +hunt with you, but there's no knowing how long it may take, and +meanwhile my father and mother will be worrying themselves to know what +has become of me. I've been here now a good bit longer than I intended. +I must get back at once and----" + +"Look here, Arthur," Dick interrupted. "Excuse me for cutting in, but +I'd like to make a suggestion. There is just a possibility--I don't +expect it, I own, but there is a possibility--that if Galvez were +informed that you know how he came to be padron of Hermanos, and also of +his connection with the Espinosas, he might get scared and skip out of +his own accord--which would simplify matters for you very much. Now, +here's what I propose--if you really are bound to leave at once." + +"Yes," Arthur interjected. "I mustn't stay a minute longer than I can +help." + +"Well, then, I propose that before you go--it will only make a +difference of a couple of hours--before you go, Frank and I will ride +down to Hermanos, see old Galvez, tell him what you have told us, and +recommend him to take his departure. Perhaps he'll be scared and skip +out; but if he won't, why, then you'll know where you stand. How does +that strike you?" + +"Hm!" muttered Arthur, doubtfully. "I don't much like the idea of +running you into danger. Galvez is such a treacherous fellow, there's no +knowing what he might do to you." + +"That's true enough," said Dick; "though I don't think he would attempt +anything on two of us at once, and in broad daylight, too. It might be +to his advantage to get rid of you or Pedro or both, but he would surely +have sense enough to see that he wouldn't gain anything by hurting +either of us." + +"That's a fact. Well, suppose you go, then. But be careful." + +"We'll be careful," replied my partner. "You needn't worry yourself on +that account." + +By this time we were ready to start, and accordingly we all rode +together up the ledge until we came out again at the point where the old +flume used to be--where we pointed out to Arthur the sockets in the +rock--and thence, continuing to the foot of the mountain, Dick and I, +leaving the others to wait for us, galloped off toward Hermanos. + +By good fortune, as we approached the village, we saw Galvez himself +down near the creek, where he was directing three of his _vaqueros_ who +were engaged in cutting out cows from a bunch of wild Mexican cattle. + +Further down stream, only a short distance from the houses, we noticed +half-a-dozen Mexican children, very busy making mud pies, quite +unconcerned, apparently, at the proximity of the herd of cattle. It +happened, however, that just as we came riding up to where Galvez sat on +his horse, shouting orders to his men, a gaunt, wild-eyed, long-horned +steer broke out of the bunch on the down-stream side. One of the cowmen +dashed forward to turn it, when, to his astonishment, the steer, instead +of running back into the bunch or attempting to dodge him, charged the +rider and knocked him and his little broncho over and over. Then, wildly +tossing its head, the beast made straight for the group of unsuspecting +and defenceless children. + +"Loco! Loco!" shouted Galvez. "Rope him, one of you!" + +The two other men galloped forward, swinging their lariats, but the +locoed steer, going like a scared antelope, had such a start that it +looked as though it would surely reach the children before the men could +catch it. Seeing this, Galvez pulled out his revolver and fired six +shots at it in quick succession. Whether he hit the steer or not, I +cannot say, but even if he did the range was too great for a revolver to +be effective--unless by a lucky chance. + +The children, hearing the shots, looked up, saw the steer coming, and +scattered like a flock of sparrows--all but one of them, that is to say. +He, a brown-bodied little three-year-old, without a scrap of clothing +upon him except a piece of string tied round his middle, stood stock +still, with his little hands full of mud, seemingly too frightened to +move, and straight down upon this little bronze statue the crazy beast +went charging. + +It looked as though a tragedy were imminent! + +It was at this moment that my partner and I came riding up behind +Galvez, who, sitting on his horse with his back to us, his body +interposed between us and the steer, had not seen us yet. It was no time +for ceremony. Without wasting words in greetings or explanations, Dick +jammed his heels into his pony's ribs; the pony sprang forward; Dick +pulled him up short, leaped to the ground, threw up his rifle and fired +a snap shot. Down went the steer, heels over head, gave one kick and lay +dead--shot through the heart! + +It was a grand shot! The three _vaqueros_, two on their horses and one +on foot, carried away by their enthusiasm, forgot for once their +habitual dread of the padron, and waving their hats above their heads +joined me in a shout of applause; while as for Galvez, himself, he sat +on his horse with his empty revolver in his hand, gazing open-mouthed +first at Dick and then at the dead steer, seemingly rendered speechless +for the moment. + +At length he turned to me, who had come up close beside him, and said: + +"Can he always do that?" + +"Just about," I replied, with a nod. "He is one of the best shots in the +State." + +"Hm!" remarked the padron, sticking out his lower lip and thoughtfully +scratching his chin with his thumb-nail; and though that was all he did +say, the muttered exclamation conveyed to me as much meaning as if he +had talked for five minutes. + +That Dick's remarkable shot had made a great impression on him I felt +certain, and it was a matter of much satisfaction to me to think that it +had; for if at any time he should entertain the idea of resorting to +violence against any of us, the recollection of how that steer had +pitched heels over head would probably cause him to think again. + +The whole episode had not occupied more than two minutes, at the end of +which time Galvez, recovering himself, turned to us and said, in his +usual gracious manner: + +"Well, you two, what have you come back here for?" + +"We have come down to speak to you," replied Dick, as he slipped another +cartridge into his Sharp's rifle. "We have just parted with Señor Blake +and El Tejon." + +The padron scowled at the mention of the two names. + +"Oh, you have, eh? Well, what then?" he asked. + +"Señor Blake," my partner continued, "wished us to say that he has +learned how you came to be padron of Hermanos. Pedro has told him the +whole story--everything--the Espinosa business and all." + +"Oh! And is that all?" + +"That's all," said Dick. + +The padron, I have no doubt, had been expecting some such communication +and had made up his mind beforehand what to say, for, after sitting for +a few seconds looking at Dick without a word, he smiled an unpleasant, +toothless smile, and said: + +"That's all, is it? Well, you go back to your Señor Blake and tell him +that here I am and here I stay, and if he thinks that three beardless +boys and a shiftless, half-crazy peon can make me move, why, he's +welcome to try. There! That's all on my side." He started to ride off, +but after a few steps stopped again to add: "Except this:--I recommend +you two boys to get along back home as fast as you can and leave this +young Blake--if that is really his name--to manage his own affairs. You +may find it dangerous to be mixed up with them." + +He said this in an aggressive, menacing tone; but I noticed, all the +same, that his eye wandered involuntarily toward the dead steer, and I +congratulated myself again on the lucky chance that had given Dick the +opportunity to show his skill with a rifle. Galvez, I was convinced, +would be exceedingly careful how he provoked a quarrel with any one who +could shoot like that. + +"Very well, señor," said Dick. "We will deliver your message. That is +all we came for." And with that we turned round and rode away again. + +In the course of an hour we were back at the foot of the mountain, where +we found Arthur sitting on the ground waiting for us. + +"Well, what luck?" he cried. "What did Galvez have to say?" + +We told him all about our interview with the padron, not forgetting the +episode of the wild steer, at hearing which Arthur expressed much +gratification. + +"That was a very fortunate chance," said he. "Galvez may profess to +despise three beardless boys, but after seeing one of them shoot a +running steer at three hundred yards, I expect he will think twice +before he stirs up a fuss with them. It is just the sort of thing--and +the only sort of thing, too--to make an impression on a man like that. +What is your idea, Dick? Do you think he intends to stick it out, or was +he only 'bluffing'?" + +"I don't know," replied my partner. "I'm afraid he means to hold on. But +though at present he puts on 'a brag countenance,' as the saying is, +when he has had time to reconsider he might change his mind and skip. My +impression is, though, that he means to hold on." + +"I think so, too," said I. "What is Pedro's opinion?" + +"Ah! Yes. Let us ask Pedro." + +"Señores," said the Mexican, when Arthur had explained the whole matter +to him in Spanish, "the padron is a pig, a mule. He will not move." + +"Then that settles it!" cried Arthur, jumping up, walking away a few +paces and coming back again. "I never really expected that Galvez would +move, though it was worth trying. So now I'll be off at once. As for +that old ditch-head, though I should have liked very much to stay and +help hunt for it, you three can, as a matter of fact, make the search +just as well without me. And whether you find it or whether you don't, +makes no difference in one way--the business of getting Galvez out of +Hermanos will have to proceed regardless of that or any other +consideration. We have two things to do, you see:--To turn out Galvez +and to find that ditch-head. The first is my business; the second is +yours; and the sooner I get about mine the better, if I am to give you a +clear title to your half-interest when you are ready to claim it." + +"As to that," remarked Dick, "I don't think we ought to hold you to that +bargain. It was made more or less in joke, anyhow." + +"No, no, it wasn't!" cried Arthur, emphatically. "Not a bit of it! I +meant it then and I mean it still. I'm quite content. You provide the +water and I'll provide the land, as I said. It's a fair bargain. I don't +want to be let off. But before I can perform my part of it I must prove +my own title, and as I can't do it at this end of the line I'll waste no +more time here, but get right back home as fast as I can and report the +conditions to my father." + +"Well," said Dick, after a moment's thoughtful silence, "I believe you +are right. I believe that is the best way after all, unless----" + +"Unless what?" + +"Unless we abandon the whole thing." + +"Abandon----!" cried Arthur; but he got no further, for Dick, holding up +his hand, said, laughingly: + +"All right, old man! All right! You needn't say any more. I only +suggested it just to see what you would say. So you are determined to go +through with this thing, are you? Very well, then, you may count on us +to do our part if it's doable. Eh, Frank?" + +I nodded. "We'll find that ditch-head," said I, "if we have to stay here +till snow flies." + +"Good!" cried Arthur. "Then that does settle it. I'll be off this +minute. Bring my horse, Pedro: I'm going to start at once." + +"Look here, Arthur," remarked Dick. "I think it would be a good plan if +Frank and I were to escort you to the other side of Hermanos. Galvez, I +expect, guessed what you were after when you first told him your name, +and now he'll be sure of it, and it might be pretty dangerous for you if +you should meet him alone; so we'll just ride part way with you and see +you safely started." + +"Thanks," replied Arthur. "I shall be glad of your company. Well, let us +get off, then. Good-bye, Pedro. I expect you'll see me back here before +very long. _Adios!_" + +Thus taking leave of the burly Mexican, Arthur started off, Dick and I +riding on either side of him. + +Keeping about a mile to the north of Hermanos, we circled round that +village, and were making our way southeastward toward the Cactus Desert, +when we saw off to our right a great cloud of dust, and in the midst of +it a bunch of cattle accompanied by three men. + +At first we were suspicious that Galvez might be one of them, but pretty +soon we discovered that they were the three _vaqueros_ we had seen that +morning. They, on their part, quickly detected us, when one of them +immediately turned his horse and came riding toward us. + +As soon as he had come pretty close I saw that it was the one whose +horse had been knocked over by the locoed steer. This man, advancing to +Dick, pulled off his hat, and speaking with considerable feeling, said: + +"I wish to thank the señor who shoots so straight. It was my little boy +who was in danger." + +"Was it?" cried Dick. "I'm very glad, then, that I happened to make such +a good shot. The steer was locoed, of course." + +"_Si, señor_," replied the man. "It happens sometimes. This one was very +bad. It should have been killed long ago, but the padron would not. I am +grateful to the señor, and if I can serve him at any time I shall be +glad." + +"Thank you," said Dick. "What is your name?" + +"José Santanna," replied the man. + +"Well, José," continued Dick, "I'm much obliged to you for your offer, +and if I need your help at any time I'll come and ask you." + +"_Gracias, señor_," replied the man; and with that he turned and +galloped after his companions. + +"That's a good thing for us," remarked Arthur. "We may find it very +handy to have an ally in the enemy's camp. And now, you fellows," he +continued, "you may as well turn back. I'm safe enough now, and there is +no need for you to come any further. I hope it won't be long before you +see me back again. Meanwhile you'll search for that ditch-head, and if +there is anything you can do toward getting the water down, you'll go +ahead and do it. That's the plan, eh?" + +"That's the plan," repeated my partner. + +"Very well. Then, good-bye, and good luck to you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE OLD PUEBLO HEAD-GATE + + +It was about two in the afternoon that we parted with our friend, and +wishing him the best of success, we watched him ride away until the +shimmering haze drawn by the heat of the sun from the surface of the +valley, finally obscured him from our view altogether. Then, turning our +ponies, we rode back up the mountain and once more descended to our +camp, where we found Pedro waiting for us. + +As it was then too late to begin any fresh enterprise, especially one so +difficult as the attempt to climb the cañon-wall was likely to be, we +determined to postpone the expedition until next morning. In order, too, +that we might be in good fettle for the adventure, we went to bed that +night as soon as it got dark; no more late hours for us; late hours at +night not being conducive to clear heads in the morning--and it was more +than likely that clear heads might be very essential to the success of +the task in hand. + +About an hour after sunrise we set off on foot down the left bank of +the stream, making our way along the steep slope of stone scraps, big +and little, which bordered its edge, and after a pretty rough scramble +we reached a spot about a mile below camp where Pedro had told us he +thought there was a possible way up--a narrow cleft in the rocky wall, +none too wide to admit the passage of the Mexican's big body--and +following the sturdy hunter, who acted as guide, we began the ascent. + +There was no great difficulty about it at first, for the crevice, though +still very narrow, was not particularly steep. After climbing up about +three hundred feet, however, the ascent became much more abrupt, and +presently we came to a place where the bed of the dry watercourse was +blocked entirely by a smooth, water-worn mass of rock, twenty feet high, +filling the whole width of the crevice, and overhanging in such a manner +that even a lizard would have had difficulty in climbing up it. + +We were looking about for some means of surmounting this obstacle, when +Pedro, who had stepped back a little to survey it, called our attention +to what appeared to be a number of steps, or, rather, foot-holes in the +rock about ten feet up, just above the bulge. + +"Hallo!" cried Dick. "This looks promising. Those holes were made with +a purpose. I believe we've struck the original Pueblo highway after +all." + +"It does look like it," I agreed. "But how are we going to get up +there?" + +"Señor," said Pedro to Dick, "if you will stand on my shoulders, I think +you can reach those holes." + +"All right," replied Dick. "Let's try." + +It was simple enough. Dick easily reached the lower steps, which, it was +hardly to be doubted, had been cut for the purpose, and scrambled up to +the top. Then, letting down the rope we had brought for such an +emergency, he called to me to come up. With a boost from Pedro, and with +the rope to hold on by, I was quickly standing beside my partner, when +up came Pedro himself, hand over hand. + +If this was really the road by which the Pueblos originally came up--and +from those nicks in the rock we felt pretty sure it was--it was the +roughest and by long odds the most upended road we had ever traveled +over. It was, in fact, a climb rather than a walk: we had to use our +hands nearly all the time. + +We had come within a hundred feet of the top, when, looking upward, I +was startled to see on an overhanging ledge a large, tawny, cat-like +animal calmly sitting there looking down at us. + +"Look there, Dick!" I cried. "What's that?" + +"A mountain-lion!" exclaimed my partner. "My! What a shot!" + +It happened, however, that we were at a point where it was necessary to +hold on with our hands to prevent ourselves from slipping back; it was +impossible to shoot. The "lion" therefore continued to stare at us and +we at him, until Dick shouted at him, when the beast leisurely walked +off and disappeared round a corner. + +"Well!" remarked my companion. "I never saw a mountain-lion so calm and +unconcerned before. As a rule they are the shyest of animals." + +"All the animals up here are like that," remarked Pedro. "Many times +since I have lived on the mountain I have seen them come down to the +edge of the cañon to look at me--deer and even mountain-sheep and +wolves; yes, many times wolves. They have no fear of man." + +"That's queer," said I. "I wonder why not." + +"Señor," replied Pedro, looking rather surprised at my lack of +intelligence, "it is simple: since the days of the Pueblos there has +been no man up here." + +"Why, I suppose there hasn't!" cried Dick. "That didn't occur to me +before, either. It will be interesting to see how the wild animals +behave, Frank. It will be like Robinson Crusoe on his island." + +He spoke in Spanish, as we always did when Pedro was in company, not +wishing him to feel that he was left out. It was Pedro who replied. + +"I know not," said he, "the honorable gentleman, Señor Don Crusoe, of +whom you speak, but for ourselves we must have care." + +"Why, Pedro. What do you mean?" + +"The wolves up here are many, and they will surely smell us out." + +"Well, suppose they do, Pedro. What then?" asked Dick, jokingly. "You +are not afraid of wolves, are you?" + +This seemed a reasonable question, remembering how boldly he had faced +them that time at the head of the Mescalero valley. + +"Most times I have no fear," replied Pedro, simply, "but up here it is +different. These wolves know not what a man is; they will smell us out, +and they will think only, 'Here is something to eat;' they do not know +enough to be afraid." + +"I suppose that is likely," Dick assented. "You are quite right, Pedro: +we must take care. I don't suppose there will be anything to fear from +them during daylight, but we'll keep a sharp lookout, all the same. Come +on, let us get forward." + +In another ten minutes we had reached the top, when, turning up-stream, +we presently came to the dry gully which led down to where the old flume +once stood. Thence, turning "inland," as one might say, we followed up +the bed of this gully, finding that it had its head in a little grassy +basin which looked as though it had once been a small lake. In crossing +this basin we stirred up from among the bushes a band of blacktail deer, +which ran off about fifty yards and then stood still to look at us; +these usually shy animals being evidently consumed with curiosity at the +sight of three strange beasts walking on their hind legs. Undoubtedly, +we were the first human beings they had ever encountered. + +We did not molest them, but pursuing our course across the little +basin, we were about to proceed up a narrow, stony draw at its further +end, when a sudden scurry of feet behind us caused us to look back. The +band of deer had vanished, and in their stead were four wolves, which, +when we turned round, drew up in line and stood staring at us! + +As Dick had said, the wild animals up here were making themselves +decidedly "interesting." + +Pedro had an arrow fitted to his bow in an instant, while Dick and I +simultaneously cocked our rifles and stood ready. The wolves, however, +remained stationary; it was evidently curiosity and not hunger that +inspired them. Seeing this, I picked up a pebble and threw it at them, +just to see what they would think of it. The stone struck the ground +close under their noses, making them all start, passed between two of +them and went hopping along the ground, when, to our great amusement, +the whole row of them turned, ran after the stone, sniffed at it, one +after the other, and then came back to the old position. It looked so +comical that Dick and I burst out laughing; whereupon the wolves, who +had doubtless never heard such a sound before, retreated a few paces, +where they once more turned round to stare at us. + +"Well, Pedro!" cried Dick. "They don't seem to be very dangerous. If all +the wolves up here are like that we needn't be afraid of them." + +"They are not hungry just now," replied Pedro, so significantly that our +merriment was checked; "and you see for yourselves," he added, "that a +man is a new animal to them. They know not what to make of us. It is +that which makes me uneasy. A big pack of hungry wolves would be very +dangerous, for the reason that they have never learned that we are +dangerous, too. For me, I am afraid of them." + +Such an admission, coming from such a man, one who, we knew, was not +lacking in courage, was impressive; so, in order that he should not +regard us as merely a pair of careless, light-headed boys, Dick assured +him in all earnestness that we had no intention of treating the matter +lightly; that we fully understood and agreed with his view of the +matter. + +"You are quite right, Pedro," said he. "We can't afford to be careless. +A pack of wolves is dangerous enough when you know what to expect of +them, but when you don't----! It will pay us to be careful, all right; +there's no doubt about that. Come on, now. Let us get ahead. Those +beasts back there have gone off--to tell the others, perhaps." + +Proceeding up the stony draw for about half a mile, we presently came +upon a most unexpected sight:--a little lake, covering perhaps a space +of twenty acres, its surface, smooth as a mirror, reflecting the trees +and rocks surrounding it, and dotted all over with hundreds of wild +ducks and geese. + +"Here's the head of the ditch!" cried Dick, exultingly. "Here's where +the Pueblos got their water! They drew from this lake down the gully we +have just come up. The mouth of the draw has been blocked by the caving +of the sides, you see, but it will be an easy job to dig a narrow trench +through the dam, and then the pitch is so great that the water will soon +scour a channel for itself. Don't you think so, Pedro? The water must +have run down here, filled the grassy basin where the deer were, flowed +out at its lower end down the gully to the flume, and then by the ditch +over the foothills to the valley. Wasn't that the way of it, Pedro?" + +It was natural that Dick should address his question to the Mexican +rather than to me, for Pedro, one of a race that had followed +irrigation for centuries, knew far more of its practical possibilities +than I did, and his opinion was infinitely more valuable than mine was +likely to be. In reply, he nodded his big head and said, gravely: + +"That is it. It is not possible to doubt. The Pueblos drew their water +from the lake at this point. That is very sure. But----" + +"But what?" asked Dick. + +"This lake is small, and I see nowhere any stream coming into it," +replied Pedro. + +"That's a fact," Dick assented. "Perhaps it is fed by underground +springs. Let us walk round the lake and see where the water runs out and +how much of a stream there is. That is what concerns us. Where it comes +from doesn't matter particularly--it's how much of it there is." + +Our walk round the little lake, however, resulted in a disappointment +which staggered us for the moment. There was no outlet. The lake was +land-locked; the one insignificant rivulet we found running into it +being evidently no more than enough to counterbalance the daily +evaporation. + +"Well," remarked Dick, after a long pause, "there is one thing sure: +the Pueblos never built a flume and dug that big, long ditch to carry +this trifling amount of water. This lake, after all, was not the source +of supply, as we were supposing. It was a reservoir, perhaps, but +nothing more. The real source was somewhere higher up." + +If Dick was right--and there could be hardly a doubt that he was--the +most promising direction in which to continue our search would be on the +west side of the lake, whence the little rivulet came down. An +examination of the ravine in which the stream ran showed evidence that +it had at one time carried much more water than at present, so, with +hopes renewed, we set off at once along its steep, stony bed. + +The country on that side was very rough and precipitous, and the ravine +itself, reasonably wide at first, became narrower and narrower, and its +sides more and more lofty, until presently it became so contracted that +we might have imagined ourselves to be walking up a very narrow lane +with rows of ten-story houses on either side. The sky above us was a +mere ribbon of blue. + +After climbing upward for about half a mile, we began to catch +occasional glimpses ahead of us of a frowning cliff which bade fair to +bar our further progress altogether, and we were beginning to wonder +whether we had not chosen the wrong ravine after all, when suddenly, +with one accord, we all stopped short and cocked our ears. There was a +sound of running water somewhere close by! + +There was a bend in the gorge just here, and we could not see ahead, but +the instant we detected the sound of water, Dick, with a shout, sprang +forward, and with me close on his heels and the short-legged Pedro some +distance in the rear, dashed up the bed of the ravine and round the +corner. + +What a wonderful sight met our gaze! Out of the great cliff I mentioned +just now there came roaring down a magnificent stream, which, falling +into a deep pool it had worn for itself in the rocks, went boiling and +foaming off through a second ravine to the right--a fine thing to see! + +But what was finer, and infinitely more interesting, was the original +Pueblo head-gate, so set in the narrow gorge in which we stood that the +water, which, if left to itself, would have flowed down our ravine, was +forced to run off through the other channel. + +It was a remarkable piece of work for such a primitive people to have +performed, considering especially the very inferior tools they had to do +it with. The walls of the gorge came together at this point in such a +manner that they were not more than five feet apart and were so +straight-up-and-down that they looked as though they had been trimmed by +hand--as possibly they had been to some extent. Taking advantage of this +narrow gap, the Pueblos had cut a deep groove in the rocks on either +side of the ravine, and in these grooves they had set up on end a great +flat stone about five feet high and three inches thick--it must have +weighed a thousand pounds or more. + +Against this stone head-gate, on its inner side, the water stood four +feet deep, and it was obvious that when the gate was raised the flood +would go raging down the gorge we had just ascended into the little lake +below, leaving the bed in which it now ran high and dry. + +Undoubtedly, it was this stone door with which the Pueblos used to +regulate their water-supply, prying it up and holding it in position, +perhaps, with blocks of wood, which, after the Indians deserted the +valley, had in time rotted away, allowing the gate to fall, thus +shutting off the water entirely. + +However that may have been, one thing at any rate was +certain:--Whenever our flume and our ditch were ready, here was water +enough for thousands of acres only waiting to be let loose. + +For a long time Dick and I stood with our hands resting on the top of +the head-gate and our chins resting on our hands, watching the water as +it went foaming and splashing down the other ravine, and as we stood +there, there came over us by degrees a sense of the real importance to +us of this discovery. We were only boys, after all, and we had gone into +this enterprise more or less in the spirit of adventure, but now it +gradually dawned upon us that we had in reality arrived at a point where +the roads forked:--Here, ready to our hands, was work for a lifetime, +and we had to decide whether we were going into it heart and soul or +whether we were not. Every boy arrives at this fork in the roads sooner +or later, and when he does, he is apt to feel pretty serious. I know we +did. + +With us, however, the question seemed to settle itself, for Dick, +presently straightening up and turning to me, said: + +"Frank! What will your Uncle Tom say? Will he be willing that you should +stay out in this country and take to wheat-raising and ditch-building +and so forth?" + +"If I know Uncle Tom," I replied, "he'll be not only willing but +delighted. If we make a success of this thing--as we will if hard work +will do it--just imagine how proudly he will point to us as proofs of +his theory that a fellow may sometimes learn more out of school than in +it. In fact, if I'm not much mistaken, he will be eager to help; and if +we need money for the work, as we certainly shall, I shan't hesitate to +ask him for it. I shall inherit a little when I come of age, and I'm +pretty sure Uncle Tom will advance me some if I need it. But how about +the professor, Dick? How will he fancy the idea of your settling down in +this valley? For if we _do_ go into this thing in earnest, that is what +it means." + +"I know it does," replied my companion, seriously. "And I'm glad of it. +I'll let you into a little secret, Frank. For some time past the +professor has been worrying himself as to what was to become of me: what +business or occupation I was fit for with my peculiar bringing-up--for +there is no getting over the fact that it has been peculiar--and the +professor, considering himself responsible for it, has been pretty +anxious about the result. Now, here is an occupation all laid out for +me, and nobody will be so pleased to hear of it as the professor. It +will take a burden off his mind; and I'm mighty glad to think it will." + +"I see," said I. "I should think you would be: such a fine old fellow as +he is. So, then, Dick, it is settled, is it, that we go ahead? What's +the first move, then?" + +"Why, the first move of all, I think, is to get back to the lake and eat +our lunch, and while we are doing so we can consult as to what work to +start upon and how to set about it. What time is it, Pedro?" + +"Midday and ten minutes," promptly replied the Mexican, casting an eye +at the sun; while I, pulling out my watch, saw that he had hit it +exactly, as he always did, I found later. + +"Then let us get back to the lake," said Dick. "Hark! What was that? The +water makes so much noise that I can't be sure, but it sounded to me +like wolves howling." + +Pedro nodded his big head. "It will be well to go down to where there +are some trees," said he. "This arroyo, with its high walls, is not a +good place." + +As we walked down the ravine and got further away from the water, we +could hear more distinctly the cry of the wolves. Pedro stopped short +and listened intently. + +"There is a good many of them," said he. "I think they come hunting us. +Let us get up on this rock here and wait a little." + +In the middle of the ravine lay a great flat-topped stone, about six +feet high, and to the top of this we soon scrambled--there was plenty of +room--and there for a minute or two we waited. The cry of the hunting +wolves grew louder and louder, and presently, around a bend a short +distance below, loping along with their noses to the ground, there came +a band of sixteen of them. At sight of us they stopped short, and +then--showing plainly that they knew of no danger to themselves--with a +yell of delight at having run down their prey, as they supposed, they +came charging up the ravine! + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE BRIDGE + + +As the pack came racing up the gulch, we waited an instant until a +narrow place crowded them into a bunch, when Dick called out, "Now!" and +we all fired together into the midst of them. Three of the wolves fell, +two dead--I could see the feather of Pedro's arrow sticking out of the +ribs of one of them--and one with its back broken. + +I had hoped that the strange thunder of the rifles would send them +flying--but no. They all stopped again for a moment, and then, maddened +seemingly at the sight of the broken-backed wolf dragging itself about +and screeching with pain--poor beast--they all fell upon the unfortunate +creature and worried it to death. Then, with yells of rage, on they came +again. + +The pause had given us time to re-load. Dick and Pedro, quicker than I, +fired a second shot, and once more two wolves fell writhing among the +stones. The next moment we were surrounded, and for a minute or two +after that I was too much engaged myself to note what the others were +doing. + +A gaunt, long-legged wolf sprang up on the rock within three feet of me. +I fired my rifle into his chest. Another, close beside him, was within +an ace of scrambling up when I hit him across the side of his head a +fearful crack with the empty rifle-barrel and knocked him off again. +Then, seeing a third with his feet on top of the rock, his head thrown +back in his straining efforts to get up, I sprang to that side, kicked +the beast under his chin and knocked him down. + +Meanwhile my companions had been similarly engaged and similarly +successful. Pedro in particular, having dropped his bow and taken in one +hand the short-handled ax he always carried with him, while in the other +he held his big sheath-knife, had laid about him to such effect that he +had put four of the enemy out of the fight--two of them permanently. + +Dick was the only one who had received any damage, and that was to his +clothes and not to himself. His rifle being empty, he had used it to +push back the wolves as they jumped up. In doing so he had stepped too +near the edge of the rock, and one of the watchful beasts, springing up +at that moment, had caught the leg of his trousers with its teeth, +tearing it from end to end and coming dangerously near to pulling my +partner down. Pedro, however, quick as a flash, had delivered a +back-handed "swipe" with his ax at the wolf's neck, nearly cutting off +its head, and Dick was saved. It was an unpleasantly close thing, +though. + +It was a short, sharp tussle, and at the end of it nine of the sixteen +wolves lay scattered about the bed of the ravine, dead or helpless. This +seemed to take the fight out of the remaining seven--as well it +might--who retreated down the arroyo, turning at the corner and looking +back at us with their lips drawn up and their teeth showing, seeming to +convey a threat, as though they would say, "Your turn this time--but +just you wait a bit." + +Such unexpected fierceness and such determination on the part of the +wolves--by daylight, too--scared me rather; Dick also, I noted, looked +pretty sober, as, turning to the Mexican, he said: + +"You were right, Pedro: these wolves _are_ dangerous--a good deal more +so than I had supposed. Our chances would have been pretty slim if we +hadn't had this rock so handy. If this sort of thing is going to happen +at any time, day or night, it will add very much to the difficulty of +the work up here. We shall have to be continuously on the lookout; it +won't do to separate; and wherever we are at work, we shall have to +prepare a place of refuge near at hand. I don't like it. I've seen +wolves by the hundred, but I never saw any before so savage and so +persistent as these. I tell you, I don't half like it." + +"And I don't either," said I, glad to find that I was not the only one +to feel uneasy. "Did you notice, Dick, how thin they all were? I've +often heard the expression, 'gaunt as a wolf,' and now I know what it +means. They seemed half-starved." + +"That is it, senor," remarked Pedro. "The wolves up here are very +many--too many for the space they have. Here they are, the cañons all +round them, they cannot get away. All the time they are half-starved, +all the time they hunt for food, all the time they are dangerous. Often +in winter they eat each other. It is well if we move away from here. +Pretty soon there will come another pack to eat up these dead ones." + +"Let us get out, then!" I cried. "I've had enough of them for one day!" + +The others were quite ready to move, so, jumping down from our fortress +we started along the ravine again, this time keeping our ears wide open +for suspicious sounds, and feeling a good deal relieved when, on the +edge of the lake, we sat down to our lunch with an old low-branching +pine tree close by, up which we could go in a jiffy if need be. + +But though the presence of so many wolves on the "island" was something +we had not anticipated, something, moreover, which was likely to add +very much to the difficulty of our undertaking, we did not for a moment +contemplate its abandonment. It meant the use of great caution in going +about the work, but as to backing out, I do not think the idea so much +as occurred to either of us. + +As soon as we had sat down to our lunch, therefore, we began the +discussion of the best method of procedure. + +"It is a big undertaking, Dick," said I, "a very big undertaking; but it +looks like a straightforward piece of work; and it seems to me that what +has been done once can certainly be done again, especially as we have +our line already laid out for us. Don't you think so?" + +"Yes, I certainly think so," replied my partner. "What those Pueblos +accomplished with their poor implements, we can surely do again with +our superior tools. And some of it, at least, we can do ourselves, I +believe--with our own hands, I mean. When it comes to digging out the +ditch on the other side of the cañon, it will pay us to hire Mexicans; +but the preliminary work of bringing the water down to the cañon, and, +perhaps, the building of the flume, I believe we can do ourselves." + +"The building of the flume," said I, "is likely to be a pretty big job +by itself. We can undoubtedly get the water down that far--that is +simple--but the building of the flume is quite another thing. A small +flume won't do; it has to be a big, strong, solid structure, and it +strikes me that the very first thing to be done--the laying of the two +big stringers across the cañon--is going to take us all we know, and a +trifle over. In fact, I don't see myself how we are to do it." + +"I think I do," rejoined my partner; "but we shall need tools for the +purpose. We can't build a big, solid flume with one pick, one shovel and +two axes." + +"No, we certainly can't," I replied. + +"We shall need, too, a large amount of lumber," continued Dick, "heavy +pieces, besides boards for floor and sides--two inch planks, at +least--three inch would be better. We shall need several thousand feet +altogether." + +"Well?" + +"Well, there is no lumber to be had nearer than Mosby, and to bring it +from Mosby is out of the question. In the first place it would cost too +much; and in the second place it is too far to pack it on mule-back." + +I nodded. "You mean we shall have to cut it out ourselves, here on the +spot." + +"Yes; and to do that we shall need a long, two-handled rip-saw, and a +saw-pit to work in. Besides this, the other tools we shall require, as +far as I can think of them on the spur of the moment, are two or three +pulley-blocks for placing the big timbers, hammers, nails, cross-cut +saws and a big auger; for I propose that we pin the heavy parts together +with wooden pins: it will save the carriage on spikes, and be just as +good, if not better. Don't you think so, Pedro?" + +Pedro approved of the idea, and we were about to continue the +discussion, when there broke out a great yelling and snarling of wolves +up the arroyo. Dick and I sprang to our feet, and instinctively cast an +eye up into the adjacent tree in search of a convenient limb; but +Pedro, unconcernedly continuing his meal, remarked: + +"It is only that they eat the dead ones." + +"Well, they're a deal too close to be pleasant," said Dick. "I vote we +move on down to the cañon and get a little further away from them." + +As I was heartily of the same opinion, we moved down accordingly, and +there on the brink of the gorge surveyed the scene of our future labors. + +"Look here," said Dick. "Here's where we shall have to cut our +timbers--on this side. See what a splendid supply there is right at +hand." + +He pointed to a scar on the mountain close by where a landslide had +brought down scores of trees of all sizes. + +"When did that come down, Pedro?" he asked. + +"Only last spring, señor," replied the Mexican. "And the trees are sound +and good." + +"Mighty lucky for us," continued my partner; "for, you see, on the other +side trees are scarce and they average rather small. But on this side, +there are not only seasoned trees of all sizes in abundance, but it will +be a down-hill pull to get them into place--a big item by itself. +Besides that, just back here on this little level spot we can dig our +saw-pit very conveniently. The only question to my mind is, whether we +should not move our camp over to this side. If it were not for the +wolves I should certainly say, 'Yes'; but as it is, I feel rather +doubtful. The nearest water is up there at the lake, and if we did move +over to this side that is where we should have to make our camp." + +"It's a long way up to the lake, Dick," said I, "and it might be +dangerous going to and from our work--especially going back in the +evening. In fact, it might easily happen that we couldn't get back at +all." + +"That's what I was thinking of," replied my partner. + +"On the other hand," I continued, "if we keep our present camp, it will +be very inconvenient, and will waste a great deal of time, to come to +our work every day by way of those stone steps we climbed this morning." + +"Yes, that's it. But there's yet another way which, I think, would get +us over both difficulties; one which would combine all the advantages +and at the same time do away with the danger--or, to say the least, the +inconvenience--of being harried by the wolves, and that is to build a +bridge here. Then, if we move our camp to that little 'park' just below +here, where we found that spring yesterday, it would only take us five +minutes in the morning to come up here, cross the bridge and go to work. +How does that strike you? What do you think, Pedro?" + +"It is good," replied Pedro. "First thing of everything a bridge; and +that is easy. We make it to-day before the sun set." + +"We do, do we?" cried Dick, laughing. "That will be pretty expeditious; +but if you think you know how, Pedro, go ahead and we'll follow." + +Pedro's eye twinkled. "The señor means it?" he asked. + +"Certainly," replied Dick. + +"_Bueno_," said Pedro, briefly. + +There was a little pine tree growing just on the brink of the chasm, and +without another word the Mexican drew his ax from his belt, stepped up +to the tree and cut it off about four feet from the ground, allowing the +top to fall from the precipice into the stream below. + +"What's that for, Pedro?" I asked, in surprise. + +Pedro grinned. "I show you pretty quick," said he. "Come, now. We go +back to the other side." + +Though we could not fathom his plan, having voluntarily made him captain +for the time being we could not do less than obey orders; so away we +went at a brisk walk back to the crack in the wall, down the steps in +the rock, along the bank of the creek to camp--where we picked up our +own ax--then up the ledge to the point opposite the one we had just +left--a two-mile walk to accomplish thirty feet. + +Here, the first thing Pedro did was to take his lariat, a +beautifully-made rawhide rope strong enough to hold a thousand-pound +steer, tie a stone to one end and throw the stone across the cañon. I +could not think what he was doing it for, until I saw that he was +measuring the width. We made it about twenty-seven feet, its remarkable +narrowness being accounted for by the great overhang of the cliff on our +side. + +[Illustration: "I COULD NOT THINK WHAT HE WAS DOING IT FOR."] + +"Now," said Pedro, "we go up the mountain here a little way and cut some +poles. It is just close by up here." + +We soon found the place, and there we cut off three poles about thirty +feet long and eight inches thick at the small end. These we trimmed +down to about the same thickness at the butt, and having roughly squared +them, we dragged them down to the edge of the gorge. + +So far it had been a simple proceeding, but what puzzled me was how +Pedro proposed to lay these sticks across the cañon. This, too, as it +turned out, proved to be a simple matter, but its first step was one to +make your hair stand on end to look at, nevertheless. + +It was now we found out why Pedro had cut off the little tree on the +other side. Taking his lariat, he swung the loop above his head a time +or two and cast it across the gorge. The loop settled over the +tree-stump, when the Mexican pulled it tight and then proceeded with +great care to tie the other end of the rope to a tree which stood very +convenient on our side. + +What was he up to? + +Dick and I stood watching him in silence, when he stepped to the edge of +the cliff, took hold of the rope with both hands, and swung himself off +into space! + +My! It gave me cold shivers all down my back to see him hanging there +with nothing but that thread of a rope to prevent his falling on the +rocks a thousand feet below! + +Motionless and breathless, Dick and I watched him as he went swinging +across, hand over hand--the rope sagging in the middle in an alarming +manner--and profound was our relief when he drew himself up and stepped +safely upon the opposite wall. + +But though this tight-rope performance had given us palpitation of the +heart, Pedro himself appeared to be absolutely unaffected. With perfect +calmness and unconcern, he turned round and said in the most +matter-of-fact tone: + +"Now undo the rope and tie it to the end of one of those poles." + +As Pedro evidently regarded his feat of gymnastics as nothing out of the +common, we affected to look upon it in the same light, so, following his +directions, we tied the rope to one of the poles, when the Mexican began +pulling it toward him, we pushing at the other end. Presently the pole +was so far over the edge that it began to teeter, when Pedro called to +us to go slowly. Then, while we pried it forward inch by inch, Pedro +retreated backward up the gully until the end of the pole bumped against +the wall on his side, when he came forward, keeping the rope taut all +the time, lifted the pole and set its end on the rocks. The first beam +of our bridge was laid. + +The other two poles we sent across by the same process, and then, +scraping a bed for them in the sand and gravel, we laid them side by +side, two with their butt-ends on our side, the other--the middle +one--reversed. + +Pedro then took from his pocket a long strip of deer-hide with which he +bound the three poles together, when we, at his request, having once +more tied the rope to the tree, he laid his hand upon it, using it as a +hand-rail, and walked across to our side, where with a second buckskin +thong he bound the poles together at that end. + +Next he walked back to the middle of the bridge, and holding the rope +with both hands, jumped up and down upon the poles, to make sure of +their solidity, and finding them all right, he went to the far end, +loosened the loop from the tree-stump, threw it across to us, and then, +without any hand-rail this time, walked back across the flimsy-looking +bridge to our side! + +What a head the man must have had! The bridge at its widest did not +measure thirty inches, and yet the Mexican--barefooted, to be +sure--walked erect across that fearful chasm without a thought of +turning dizzy. I suppose he was born without nerves, and had never +cultivated any, as we more civilized people do by our habits of life. +For years he had lived out-of-doors, always at exercise, used to +climbing in all sorts of dangerous places, and what perhaps may have +counted for as much as anything else, he was one of the few Mexicans I +have known who abjured that habit so common among his people--the habit +of smoking cigarettes. + +I know very well that I, though I did not smoke cigarettes either, and +though I thought myself pretty clear-headed, would never have dared such +a thing, unless under pressure of great and imminent danger. + +"What did you untie the rope for, Pedro?" I asked. "Why not leave it for +a hand-rail?" + +"Because the wolves will eat it," replied Pedro. "We will bring one of +your hempen ropes and tie there: the wolves will not trouble that." + +"By the way, Pedro!" cried Dick. "How about those wolves? Won't they +come across the bridge?" + +"I think not," the Mexican answered. "They are wary and suspicious--it +is the nature of a wolf--and I think they will fear to venture." + +At that moment the sun set behind the peak, and as though its setting +had been a signal, there arose in three or four different directions the +howls of wolves. They were coming out for their nightly hunt. + +"Señores," said Pedro, "we will see very soon if the wolves will cross +the bridge. It will not be long before they find our trail and then they +will come down here. Let us hide us and watch. Up here, behind these +rocks, is a good place." + +A little way up the bank, only a few steps back from the edge of the +gorge, we lay down and waited. Presently, from the direction of the +lake, there suddenly arose a joyous chorus of yelps, which proclaimed +that our trail had been discovered. And not to us only was the "find" +proclaimed. A second pack, hearing the call, hastened to join the hunt, +hoping for a share in the spoil; we caught a glimpse of them as they +came racing down one of the slopes which bordered the gully. The +swelling clamor drew nearer and nearer, and pretty soon, with a rush of +pattering feet, the wolves appeared; there must have been thirty of +them. + +Down to the edge of the cañon they came, and there they drew up. One of +them, a big, gray old fellow, the leader of one of the packs, probably, +advanced to the end of the bridge, sniffed at it and drew hastily back. +One after another, other wolves came forward, sniffed and withdrew. It +was evident that Pedro had guessed right: they dared not cross. + +At this balking of their hopes they set up a howl of disappointment. +Poor things! I felt quite sorry for them. They were _so_ hungry; and yet +they dared not cross. Nevertheless, though I might feel sorry for them, +I was more than glad that they feared to venture, for against such a +pack as that our chances would have been small indeed. + +"Señores," whispered Pedro, "I try them yet a little more. It is quite +safe. Stay you here and watch." + +With that, taking his ax in his hand, he rose up in full view of the +pack and walked down to the end of the bridge. + +Such an uproar as broke forth I never heard. Many of the wolves ran up +the banks on either side of the gully in order to get a sight of Pedro, +and every one of them, those in front, those behind and those on the +sides, lifted their heads and yelled at the man calmly standing there, +scarce ten steps away. + +But they dared not cross. + +One of them, indeed, crowded forward against his will by those behind, +was pushed out on to the bridge a little way, when, striving to get +back, his hind feet slipped off. I thought he was gone, but by desperate +scratching he succeeded in saving himself, when, rendered crazy by +fright and rage he attacked the nearest wolves, fought his way through +to the rear and fled straight away up the gully. + +This seemed to settle the matter. The whole pack, as though struck with +panic, turned and pursued him. In ten seconds not one of them was to be +seen. + +As Dick and I rose up from our hiding-place, Pedro came back to us. + +"You see," said he, "we are quite safe." + +"Yes," replied Dick. "It is evident we have nothing to fear from them on +this side--and I'm mighty glad of it. Well, let us get down to camp. I +think we've done a pretty good day's work, taking it all round, and I +shall be glad of a good supper and a good rest." + +"So shall I," was my response. "And as to our day's work, Dick, I'm much +mistaken if it isn't by long odds the most important one to us that +either you or I ever put in." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE BIG FLUME + + +As the first step in restoring the old Pueblo irrigation system, we +moved camp next morning as arranged. Packing our scanty belongings upon +old Fritz, we rode up the ledge, past the site of the proposed flume, +and down the mountain a short distance to a point between two of the big +claw-like spurs, where, two days before, in riding down to speak to +Galvez, we had come across a little spring which would furnish water +enough for ourselves and our animals. + +Thence, walking back to the bridge, taking with us, besides our rifles, +the two axes and one of our long picket-ropes, Pedro first tied the +latter to the tree on our side, and then, taking the other end in his +hand, he walked across and fastened it to the stump on the far side. + +It was now our turn to cross, and very little did either of us relish +the idea. Dick, who had volunteered to go first, took hold of the rope, +set one foot on the bridge, and then--he could not resist it--did just +what he ought not to have done:--looked down. The inevitable consequence +was that he took his foot off again and retreated a few steps. + +"My word, Frank!" said he. "You may laugh if you like, but I'll be shot +if I'm going to walk across that place. Crawling's good enough for me." + +So saying, he again approached the bridge, and going down on his hands +and knees, crawled carefully over. + +For myself, I found it equally impossible to screw up my courage far +enough to attempt the passage on foot. In fact, even crawling seemed too +risky, so I just sat myself astride of the three poles and "humped" +myself along with my hands to the other side, where the grinning Pedro +gave me a hand to help me to my feet again. + +It was ignominious, perhaps, to be thus outdone by an ignorant, +semi-savage Mexican; but, as Dick said, "You may laugh if you like": I +was not going to break my neck just to prove that I was not afraid--when +I was. + +At that hour in the morning the wolves, I suppose, were all asleep. At +any rate we heard nothing of them. But knowing very well that they +might turn up again at any moment, we wasted no time in starting our +first piece of work, namely, preparing a place of refuge against them. + +Choosing a spot on the level near the point where we expected to dig our +saw-pit, we cut a number of good, heavy logs, with which, after +carefully notching and fitting them, we erected a pen, seven feet high +and about ten feet square inside. It was the plainest kind of a +structure: merely four walls, without even a doorway; but as it was not +chinked it would be a simple matter for us to clamber up and get inside; +whereas, for a wolf to do the same--with safety--would be far from +simple with us waiting in there to crack him on the head with an ax as +soon as he showed it above the top log. + +It may be that we were unnecessarily cautious in providing this refuge. +If the wolves should molest us--a contingency pretty sure to occur some +time or other--it was probable that we should hear them coming in time +to retreat by the bridge, which was not more than a hundred yards +distant. But on the other hand, if they should not give us timely notice +of their approach, it might be very awkward, not to say dangerous--for +Dick and me, at least. + +"For Pedro it might be all right," was my partner's comment, "but for +us--no, thank you. I have no desire to be hustled across that bridge in +a hurry. Just imagine how it would paralyze you to try to crawl across +those poles, knowing that there was a wolf standing at the far end +trying to make up his mind to follow you. No, thank you; not for me. +We'll have a refuge here on 'dry land.'" + +It was a long day's work, the building of this pen, for we were careful +to make it strong and solid; indeed, we had not yet quite finished it, +when, about four in the afternoon, we heard the first faint whimperings +of the wolves, a long way off somewhere. So, fearing they might come +down upon us before we were quite ready for them, we postponed the +completion of the job until the morrow, and re-crossing the bridge in +the same order and the same manner as before, we went back to camp, +where we spent the remaining hours of daylight in making things +comfortable for a lengthened stay. + +To this end we built a little three-sided shelter of logs about four +feet high, the side to the east, facing down the mountain, being left +open. This we roofed with a wagon-sheet we had brought with us in place +of a tent, dug a trench all round it to drain off the rain-water, +covered the floor with a thick mat of pine-boughs, and there we were, +prepared for a residence of six months or more, if necessary. + +"Now, Frank," said my partner, as we sat by the fire that evening, "we +have about got to a point where we have to have tools. One of us has got +to go to Mosby to get them, while the other stays here with Pedro. The +question is, which shall go. Take your choice. I'll stay or go, just as +you like." + +"Then I think you had better go, Dick," I replied. "You know better than +I do what tools we shall need; you are far more handy at packing a mule +than I am; and besides all that, it will give you an opportunity to see +the professor." + +"Thanks, old chap," said Dick, heartily. "That is a consideration. Yes, +I shall be glad to go, if you don't mind staying here with Pedro." + +"Not a bit," I replied. "He's an interesting companion; and if one +needed a protector it would be hard to find a better one. No; I'll stay. +I don't at all mind it." + +"Very well," said Dick. "Then I think I'll dig out the first thing in +the morning. It will take me, I expect, about six days: two days each +way and perhaps two days in Mosby. It depends on whether I can get the +tools there that I want." + +"I should think you could," said I, "unless it is the big rip-saw." + +"I don't think there'll be any trouble about that," replied my partner. +"Before the saw-mill came in, two or three of the mines used to cut +their own big timbers by hand, and I've no doubt the old saws are lying +around somewhere still. If they are, I'm pretty sure I can get one for +next-to-nothing, for, of course, they are never used now." + +"There's one thing, Dick," said I, after a thoughtful pause, "which +makes me feel a little doubtful about your going alone, and that is lest +Galvez should interfere with you. If he caught sight of you, either +going or returning, he might make trouble." + +"He might," replied Dick. "Though I don't much think he is likely to +trouble you or me. Anyhow, when I leave to-morrow, you can take the +glass and just keep watch on the village for an hour or so to see that +he doesn't make any attempt to cut me off. If he should, you can raise a +big smoke here to warn me and ride down to help." + +"All right. I will. But how about when you come back?" + +"Why, I'll arrange to leave The Foolscap, as we did before, at four +o'clock in the morning, which would bring me about half way across the +valley by sunrise. On the sixth morning, and every morning after till I +turn up, you can take the field-glass and look out for me. From this +elevation you would be able to see me long before Galvez could, and then +you might ride down to meet me." + +"That's a good idea. Yes; I'll do that." + +Our camp was so placed that we could not only see the whole stretch of +the valley between us and The Foolscap, but also the village and the +country beyond it for many miles, and for about two hours after Dick's +departure I sat there with the glass in my hand watching his retreating +figure, and more especially watching the village. For, though in reality +I had little fear that Galvez would attempt to play any tricks on him, +particularly after Dick's exhibition of rifle-shooting, I was not going +to take any avoidable chances. + +At the end of that time, however, I rose up, put away the glass, and in +company with Pedro went over to the other side of the cañon, where we +first finished up the building of the pen, and then, picking out a big, +straight tree suitable for a stringer, I went to work upon it, trimming +off the branches, while Pedro with the shovel began the task of digging +out the saw-pit. + +That evening, and each succeeding evening, just before the sun set, we +stopped work and retreated across the bridge in order to avoid any +trouble with the wolves, which, as a rule, did not come out in force +until about that hour. Once only during the time that Pedro and I were +at work there by ourselves did any of them venture on an attack. It was +a pack of about a dozen which came down on us one evening just before +quitting-time, but as we heard them coming, we retired into the pen, +whence I shot one of them before they had found out where we were; +whereupon the rest bolted. + +I think the survivors of the fight in Wolf Arroyo--as we had named the +ravine where we had had our battle--must have imparted to all the others +the intelligence that we were dangerous creatures to deal with, for the +wolves in general were certainly much less venturesome than they had +been that first day. At night, though, they came out in droves, and +continuous were the howlings, especially when the wind was south and +they could smell us and our animals only a hundred yards away on the +other side of the cañon. + +At sunrise on the sixth day, and again on the seventh, I searched the +valley with the glass to see if Dick was within sight, but it was not +until the morning of the eighth day that I saw him and old Fritz coming +along, not more than five miles away. He must have made a very early +start. + +Jumping on my pony, I rode to meet him, while Pedro remained behind to +watch the village. + +I was very glad to see my partner safely back again, and especially +pleased to hear the news he brought. + +The professor, he told me, was delighted with the turn of events which +bade fair to provide Dick with a settled occupation, and one so well +suited to his tastes and training; while as to Uncle Tom, Dick had +written to him an account of the present condition of the King Philip +mine, and had given him a full description of the undertaking upon which +we proposed to enter. In reply, my genial guardian had sent to me a +characteristic telegram, delivered the very morning Dick left Mosby. It +read thus: + +"Go ahead. Money when wanted. How about book-learning now?" + +"How's that, Dick?" said I, handing it over to my companion to read. + +Dick laughed. "You made a pretty good guess, didn't you?" he replied. + +It was a matter of intense satisfaction to both of us to find our +guardians so heartily in favor of the prosecution of our design, and it +was with high spirits and a firm determination to "do or die" that we +carried over the bridge the assortment of tools with which old Fritz was +laden, and that very afternoon went systematically to work. + +It was not until we really went about it in earnest that we fully +realized the magnitude of the task we had set ourselves when we +undertook to build that flume. We were determined that if we did it at +all we would do it thoroughly well, and in consequence the timbers we +selected for the stringers were of such size and weight that we should +have been beaten at the word "go" if we had not had for an assistant a +man like Pedro, who combined in his own person the strength of five +ordinary men. It was a pleasure to see him when he put forth all his +powers. Give him a lever, and let him take his own time, and the most +obstinate log was made to travel sulkily down hill when Pedro took it in +hand. + +After measuring with particular accuracy the space between the sockets +on either side of the gorge, we sawed off one big timber to the right +length, and getting it into position over the saw-pit we squared its two +ends and then sawed it flat on one side, leaving the other sides +untouched. + +I had always understood that working in a saw-pit was a disagreeable +job, but not till I had practical experience of it did I discover how +correct my understanding had been. I discovered also why the expression, +"top sawyer," was meant to indicate an enviable position. + +It fell to Pedro to be top sawyer, for the harder part of the work is +the continuous lifting of the saw; but for all that, the man below has +the worst of it, for if he looks up he gets a stream of sawdust into his +eyes, and if he looks down he gets it in the back of his neck. There is +no escape, as Dick and I found--for we took it in turns to go below and +pull at the saw-handle. + +However, we were not going to shirk the task just because it happened to +be unpleasant, and being fairly in for it, we made the best of it. + +Our first big timber being at length prepared, we got it down to the +edge of the cañon, and then were ready for the next move--the most +important move of all--getting it across the gorge. This could not be +done by main strength, as had been the case with our bridge-timbers, for +this stick, twenty-nine feet long and sixteen inches square, though +pretty well seasoned, was an immense weight. + +But what could not be done by force might be accomplished by +contrivance. The most bulky part of old Fritz's load had been composed +of ropes and pulley-blocks, and it was with these that we intended to +coax our big stick across the gap. + +Going over to the other side, we set up a framework of stout poles--a +derrick, we called it--to the top of which we attached a big pulley. +Threading a strong rope through this pulley, we carried it back and +fastened it to a windlass which Dick built; he having seen dozens of +them at work among the mines, having observed, fortunately, how they +were made, and being himself a very handy fellow with tools. The +windlass was securely anchored to two trees, when, the other end of the +rope having been carried over and tied to our big log, we were ready to +try the experiment of placing it athwart the chasm. + +With this object, Dick and Pedro turned the windlass, while I, crossing +the bridge once more, pried the log forward from behind. It was a slow +and laborious operation, but inch by inch the great log went grating and +grinding forward, until at length its end overlapped the further edge of +the gorge. Soon, with a sullen thump, my end fell into its socket, when +Dick lowered his end into the socket opposite, and our first big +stringer was successfully laid. + +It was a good start and greatly heartened us up to tackle the rest of +the work. + +Our second big stringer we prepared and laid in the same manner--flat +side up--and then came the most ticklish job of all--the placing of the +two supports beneath each stringer. Without Pedro, with his steady +nerves and his cat-like agility, we could not have done it. + +Tying a rope to the stringer, Pedro descended the face of the cliff and +set the butt-end of the supporting beam in its socket--the other end +being temporarily tied in place--repeating the same process on the other +side. These beams we had measured and prepared with great care, so that +when their bases were set, the beveled smaller ends, by persistent +pounding, could be tightly jammed into the notch previously cut for +their reception in the under side of the big stringer. It was a good +piece of work, and very thankful I was when it was safely accomplished; +for though to one with a clear head it might not be very dangerous, it +looked so, and I was, as I say, greatly relieved when it was done. + +It might seem that we made these stringers unnecessarily strong, and +perhaps we did. But we intended to be on the safe side if we could. Our +flume was designed to be eight feet wide and five feet deep, and though +the pitch was considerable and the water in consequence would run fast, +if it should by chance ever fill to the top there would be by our +calculation thirty-three or thirty-four tons of water in it. + +Having now our foundation laid, the rest of the work was plain, +straightforward building, in which there was no special mechanical +difficulty. One part of our task, however--the sawing of the lumber--we +soon found to be so slow that we decided, if we could get them, to +procure the assistance of two or three Mexicans from Hermanos, and with +that object in view we sought an interview with our friend, José +Santanna. + +To do this we supposed we should have to go down to Hermanos, but on +consulting Pedro, we found that there was another and a much easier +way. + +I had often wondered if Pedro, during all the years he had lived on the +mountain, had subsisted exclusively on meat, or whether he had some +means of obtaining other supplies, and now I found out. I found that he +had a regular system of exchange with the villagers, by which he traded +deer-meat and bear-meat for other provisions, and that by an arranged +code of signals, familiar to everybody in the village, with the single +exception of Galvez himself, he was accustomed to let it be known when +he desired to communicate with the inhabitants. + +Accordingly, Pedro that day at noon went down to a certain spot on one +of the spurs, and there built a fire, and piling on it a number of green +boughs he soon had a column of smoke rising skyward. This was the +signal, and that same evening he and we two boys, going down to the same +spot, sat down there and waited, until about an hour after dark, we +heard the sound of a horse's hoofs, and presently a man rode into sight. +It proved to be Santanna himself, much to our satisfaction. + +He, as soon as he learned what we wanted, engaged to send us up three +stout young Mexicans, an engagement he duly fulfilled--to the rage and +bewilderment of Galvez, as we afterward heard, who could not for the +life of him make out what had become of them. + +With this accession of strength we needed a second saw, and Dick went +off to Mosby to get one. In a few days he returned with two saws instead +of one, and with a load of dried apples, sugar and coffee with which to +feed our hungry Mexicans. Flour--of a kind--we could get from the +village, and deer-meat, though poor and tough at that season of the +year, we could always procure. + +Dick also brought back with him that commodity so necessary in all +business undertakings--some money. The professor had insisted on +advancing him some, while Uncle Tom had enclosed fifty dollars in a +registered letter to me. + +Thus armed, we procured two more Mexicans, and setting Pedro and his +five compatriots to work with the three saws, while Dick and I did the +carpenter work, we very soon began to make a showing. + +As it was obviously too dangerous to attempt to work on the bare +stringers, we first laid a solid temporary floor of three-inch planks, +and having then a good platform we could proceed in safety to set our +big cross-pieces--upon which the permanent floor was afterward laid--and +to go ahead with the rest of the building. + +There being no stint of timber, we could afford to make our flume +immensely strong--and we did. The framework was composed mostly of +ten-by-ten pieces, while the planks for the floor and sides were three +inches thick. The wings at each end of the flume were extended up stream +and down stream eight feet in either direction; and to prevent the water +from getting around these ends we built rough stone walls on the edge of +the gorge and filled in the spaces with well-tamped clay, of which we +were fortunate enough to find a great supply close at hand. + +I do not intend to go into all the many details of the work, or to +relate our mistakes or the accidents--all of them slight, +fortunately--which now and then befell us. There was one little item of +construction, however, which seemed to me so ingenious and withal so +simple and so effective that I think it is worth special mention. + +When we came to lay our floor and build the sides, the question of +leakage cropped up, when Dick suggested a plan which he said he had +heard of as being adopted by sheepmen on the plains in building +dipping-troughs. + +Each three-inch plank, before being spiked in place, was set up on edge, +and along the middle of its whole length we hammered a dent about half +an inch wide and half an inch deep. Then, taking the jack-plane, we +planed off the projecting edges to the same level. The consequence was +that when the plank became water-soaked, this dented line swelled up and +completely closed any crack between itself and the plank above or beside +it. It was an ingenious trick, and proved so successful that it was well +worth the time and trouble it took. + +In fact, by the expenditure of time and trouble, in addition to a very +modest sum of money, we did at length put together a flume which, I +think I may say, was a very creditable piece of work. It was strenuous +and unceasing labor, and at first it was pretty hard on me, but as my +muscles became used to the strain I enjoyed it more and more, especially +as every evening showed a forward step--a small one, perhaps, but still +a forward step--toward the accomplishment of our object. + +Week after week we kept at it, steadily and perseveringly pegging away, +and at last, one day near the end of July, summoning our six Mexicans to +witness the ceremony, Dick and I, in alternate "licks" drove the last +spike, and the flume was finished! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +PEDRO'S BOLD STROKE + + +All this time the wolves had let us alone. Frequently, toward evening, +we would detect them standing on the hillsides watching us, but they +were afraid to come near: the hammering and sawing, the stir and bustle +checked them and they kept aloof--by daylight. + +Every night, though, they came down to the edge of the cañon to howl at +us, and as the flume neared completion there was danger that they might +summon courage to cross by it--the old bridge we had long ago tumbled +into the stream. To prevent this, we at first set up every night a +temporary gate across it, but later, we adopted a safer and better plan. +We set two doors in our flume, one in the down-stream end, the other in +the side, about the middle, so that by closing the former and opening +the latter, all the water could be made to fall into the stream below. +Our supply could thus be regulated at the flume instead of going all +the way up to the old head-gate for the purpose. + +These gates being set, Pedro and another Mexican went up and opened +connection between the lake and the low place where we had stirred up +the deer the first day we were up there, and very soon there was a +second little lake formed. Then, the flume being ready, we two and Pedro +went up and raised the stone head-gate three inches. The rush with which +the water came out was astonishing, and before the day was over it had +come on down to the flume and was pouring through the side gate into the +gorge--making a perfect defence against the wolves. + +During the two months, or thereabouts, that we had been engaged in this +work, Dick had made altogether three trips to Mosby, on which occasions +he had written to Arthur, detailing our progress. Arthur, on his part, +had written to us--or, rather, somewhat to our surprise, he had written +to the professor instead of directly to Dick--once from Santa Fé and +once from the City of Mexico, whither he had been sent to institute a +search of the records there. His last letter stated that up to that time +no trace of the old patent had been found, but that, in spite of that +drawback, his father was vigorously stirring things up at his end of the +line, and that we might expect to see "something doing" in the enemy's +camp at any time. He stated also that he had hopes of rejoining us some +time early in July. + +In consequence, we had been constantly on the watch for him for nearly a +month, but here was the end of July approaching and no Arthur had +appeared. + +As we were very anxious to know when to expect him, and as we were also +in need of new supplies, the moment the flume was finished Dick set off +once more for Mosby, while Pedro and I, transferring all our tools from +the far side of the gorge, picked out a new working-ground on our side. + +There was nothing further to be done on the "island," but though the +flume was finished and ready for use, we still had need of a large +amount of lumber in the construction of our ditch, for at the head of +every draw it would be necessary to build a short flume, or, in some +places, a culvert, to allow a passage for the rain-water which otherwise +during the summer thunder-storm season would wash our ditch full of +earth and rubbish. + +As it would be too inconvenient, unfortunately, to cut lumber in the +old place and carry it across the flume, we moved all the tools, as I +said, over to our side, and following along the line of the ditch for +about half a mile, we selected a spot above it on the mountain and there +set our Mexicans to work felling trees and digging new saw-pits. + +From the place selected we could see out over the plain in all +directions; a fact which had been one of our reasons for choosing that +particular spot. + +Indeed it had become a matter of great importance that we should be able +to keep a watch on the valley, for we believed we had more than ever +reason to fear some act of hostility on the part of the padron. Dick had +no more than gone that day, when we were surprised by receiving a +daylight visit from our friend, José Santanna, who informed us that +Galvez of late had been showing unwonted signs of unrest; that he was +growing more and more suspicious, irritable and evil-tempered. That the +evening before a man had ridden into the village and had handed Galvez a +paper--some legal notice, I guessed--upon receipt of which the padron +had at first broken into a towering rage; had then gone about for half +a day in a mood so morose and snappish that no one dared go near him; +and that finally he had ordered his horse and ridden away, saying that +he was going to Taos. + +"To Taos!" I exclaimed. "What has he gone to Taos for?" + +José shrugged his shoulders and spread out his hands, palms upward, as +much as to say, "Who knows?" + +"Have we scared him out after all, I wonder," said I. "Did he say +anything about coming back, José?" + +"He said he would return in four days," replied the Mexican. + +"And is that all you know about it?" + +"_Si, señor_, that is all. I know no more." + +From this conversation it was plain to me that the law was beginning to +work, and that Galvez was becoming uneasy. Knowing his character, I, +too, became uneasy, for, should he be rendered desperate, there was no +telling what tactics he might resort to. It was this consideration that +made me so anxious for the safe return of my two partners. + +From my vantage-point on the mountain I kept up a pretty constant watch +for the next few days; no one could come across the valley from any +direction without my seeing them--during daylight, that is--and unless +Galvez had slipped into Hermanos after dark I was sure he had not +returned, when, about three o'clock on the afternoon of the fourth day I +espied Dick, a long way off, coming back from Mosby. It was twelve hours +earlier than I had expected him, and wondering if he had any special +reason for making such a quick trip, I got my pony and hurried off to +meet him. + +I had a feeling that Dick was bringing news of some sort, and his first +words after shaking hands proved the correctness of my impression. + +"Well, old chap!" he exclaimed. "I've got news for you this time that +will make you 'sit up and take notice':--Arthur may be here any day; and +he has at last got track of that patent." + +"Got a letter from him, then, did you?" I asked. + +"Yes; written from Cadiz, in Spain, more than three weeks ago." + +"From Cadiz!" I cried. "What's he doing there?" + +"His father sent him over to go through a chest of old papers they have +in their house there. Arthur says--I'll give you his letter to read as +soon as we get to camp--he says that he spent a fortnight reading all +sorts of musty documents, without success, when at last he came upon an +old note-book with the name of Arthur the First on its fly-leaf, and in +that he found a single line referring to the patent--the only mention +that has turned up anywhere." + +"And what does that say?" + +"It says---- Here, wait a minute; hold my rifle. I'll show you what it +says." + +So saying, Dick took the letter out of his pocket, and finding the right +place, handed it to me. The passage read: "It was an old memorandum-book +in which my very great-grandfather used to note down all the particulars +of the copper shipments and other matters dealing with the K. P. mine; +but on the last fly-leaf was this entry, written in English: 'Mem. In +case of accident to myself: The King's patent and the King's commission +are in a hole in the wall above the door of the strong-room.' Where the +strong-room may have been," Arthur went on, "I don't know, unless it is +in the _Casa_. Ask Pedro." + +"What do you think of that?" asked Dick. + +"I think---- Well, I think we'll do as Arthur says: ask Pedro." + +In the course of an hour we had reached camp, when Dick, as soon as he +had greeted the faithful Mexican, at once propounded the important +question. + +"Pedro," said he, without any preface, "did you ever hear of the +'strong-room'?" + +"Surely," replied Pedro, with an air of surprise at being asked such a +question. "Everybody knows the strong-room. It is a little room on the +east side of the _Casa_; it has a door and no window; it is where one +time the copper was stored, waiting for the pack-trains to come and take +it away." + +"It is, is it!" cried Dick. "Then, Frank, I shouldn't be a bit surprised +if those deeds were in there now. How are we to find out?" + +"Go and look!" I exclaimed, springing to my feet. "Now's our chance! +Galvez is away--gone to Taos. Let us make a try for it at once. He's due +to be back to-day, and then it will be too late. Come on! Let's get out! +We haven't a minute to lose! Will you come with us, Pedro?" + +To my surprise, and, I must confess, to my disappointment also, Pedro +shook his head. I supposed he was afraid to leave his mountain, and for +a moment my opinion of his courage suffered a relapse. But I was doing +him an injustice, as I heartily owned to myself, when, pointing out over +the valley, he said, quietly: + +"It is too late already, señor. Look there!" + +Half a mile the other side of Hermanos, riding toward the village, were +three horsemen, one of whom we recognized as Galvez. Who the others +might be, and why the padron should be bringing them to Hermanos, we +could not guess. We were destined, however, to learn all about them +later in the day. + +As a matter of course, the sole subject of our thoughts and our +conversation was the King's patent, and whether or not it was still in +its hiding-place above the door of the strong-room. The only way to find +out was to get in there and search for it, but how to do that was the +question. Many plans did we discuss and discard, and we were still +discussing as we sat round the fire that night--our Mexican workmen +being encamped some distance away--when Pedro suddenly jumped up, and +signaling to us to keep quiet, stood for a moment with his head bent +forward, listening intently. His sharp ears had detected some sound +inaudible to our less practised hearing. + +Making a quick backward motion with his hand, he whispered sharply: +"Get away! Get away back from the light of the fire while I go see!" + +We speedily retreated up the hill a little way and hid ourselves among +the trees, while Pedro, with the stealth of a wild animal, slipped +silently off into the darkness. So quick and so noiseless were the +movements of the clumsy-looking Mexican that I thought to myself I had +rather be hunted by wolves than by that skilful woodsman, with his keen +senses, his giant strength and his deadly, silent bow and arrow. I did +not wonder any more that Galvez kept himself aloof. + +For two or three minutes silence prevailed, when we saw Pedro step back +into the circle of light, and with him another man. It was our friend, +José Santanna, again. + +"Well, José!" cried Dick. "What can we do for you?" + +"Señor," replied the Mexican, "I came up to tell you something--to warn +you. The padron is come back. He has been to Taos and he has brought +back with him two men. They are bad--like himself. I go up to the _Casa_ +this evening while they are at supper and I hear them talking and +laughing together through the door which is open. They say they like +now to see three boys and a stupid peon"--he nodded toward Pedro--"get +them out. They say if they catch Pedro they hang him, and if they catch +'that young Blake' they shoot him. They are dangerous, señor." + +"We shall have to keep our eyes wide open," said Dick. "Do you think +they'll venture up here, José?" + +"I think not," replied the Mexican. "One of the men say, 'Let us go up +on the mountain and catch them,' but the padron, he say very quick, 'No, +no. I do not go up on the mountain. While they are there they do no +harm, but if they come down here, then----!'" + +"I see," said Dick. "They mean to hold the fort against all comers. It +is pretty evident, I think, that Galvez has been back to his old haunts, +hunted out a couple of his old-time cronies, and brought them back to +garrison the _Casa_, meaning to defy the law to get him out." + +"That's it, I expect," said I. "And our chances of getting into the +strong-room are a good deal slimmer than ever." + +It certainly did look so; yet, as it happened, I never made a greater +mistake. + +Who would have guessed how soon we were to get that chance? And who +would have guessed that the man who was to provide the opportunity--and +that by a plan so bold that I am astonished at it yet--was the man whom +I had that day mentally accused of cowardice? How I did apologize to him +in my thoughts! + +"José," said Pedro, "does the padron still go to bed every night at ten +o'clock, as he used to do?" + +"_Si_," replied the cowman. + +"Does he always come out to the well to get a drink of cold water just +before he goes to bed, as he used to do?" + +"_Si_," replied the cowman once more. + +"Those two men, are they to sleep in that room next the padron's?" + +"_Si_," replied the cowman for the third time. + +"Good!" exclaimed Pedro. "What time is it, señor?" turning suddenly to +Dick. + +"Half past eight," replied my partner, looking at his watch. + +"Good!" exclaimed Pedro once more. + +For a minute he sat silent, his lower lip stuck out, frowning at the +fire, while we sat watching him, wondering what he was thinking about, +when, with an angry grunt he muttered to himself, "Stupid peon, eh! +Humph! We'll see!" Then, jumping up, he said briskly: "Señores, get +your horses. We will search the strong-room to-night." + +Still wondering what scheme he had in his head, we saddled up and +followed him as he rode down the mountain and out upon the plain, too +much engaged for the moment in picking our way to find an opportunity to +ask questions. + +It seemed to me that our guide must have something of the wild animal in +him, for, though it was very dark, he never hesitated for a moment, but +went jogging along, threading his way through the sage-brush without a +pause or a stumble. Either he or his burro must have had the cat-like +gift of being able to see in the dark. + +In about an hour we saw dimly the walls of the _Casa_ looming up near +us, and passing by it, we went on down to the creek where we dismounted +and tied up our horses to the trees. Then, following down the creek for +a short distance, we presently came opposite the front gate of the +_Casa_, about a hundred yards distant. The village on the other side of +the stream was dark and silent, but in one of the rooms in the _Casa_, +facing the gateway, we could see a light burning. + +"That is the padron's room," whispered José. "He has not gone to bed +yet." + +Against the light of the open door we could see between us and the house +the long, black arm of the well-sweep, and advancing toward it, we had +come within about thirty steps of it when Pedro requested us to stop +there and lie down, while he himself went on and crouched behind the +curbing of the well. We could not see him; in fact we could see nothing +but the lights in the window and doorway, the well-sweep, and, very +dimly, the outline of the building. + +There we lay in dead silence for a quarter of an hour, wondering what +Pedro expected to do, when we heard voices, and the next moment the +figures of two men showed themselves in the lighted doorway. One of them +carried a candle, and the pair of them went into the next room--all the +rooms opened into the courtyard--and shut the door. For five minutes the +light showed through the little window and then went out. The padron's +friends had gone to bed. + +For another five minutes we waited, and then the padron himself +appeared. We could hear the jingle of his spurs as he came leisurely +down to the well to get his nightly drink of cold water. We lay still, +hardly daring to breathe. + +Presently, we heard the squeak of the well-sweep and saw it come round, +dip down and rise again. Then we heard the clink of a cup: Galvez was +taking his drink. He never finished it! + +At that moment Pedro's burly form rose up from behind the curbing; he +took two steps forward, and with his great right hand he seized Galvez +by the neck from behind, giving it such a squeeze that the unfortunate +man could not utter a sound. We heard the cup fall to the ground with a +clatter. + +Then, grasping the helpless padron by the back of his trousers, the +little giant swung him off his feet and hoisting him high above his +head, stepped to the rim of the curbing. The next moment there was a +muffled splash--Galvez had been dropped into the well! + +He had been dropped in feet foremost, however, and as the well was only +twelve feet deep with four feet of water in it, his life was not +endangered. + +At this point we all jumped up and ran forward, reaching the well just +as Galvez recovered his feet, as we could tell by the coughing and +spluttering noises which came up from below. As we approached, Pedro +leaned over the coping and said in a low voice: + +"Good-evening, Padron. This is Pedro Sanchez. If you make any noise I +drop the bucket of water on your head." + +This gentle hint was not lost upon Galvez, who contented himself with +muttered growlings of an uncomplimentary nature, when Pedro, turning to +Dick, whispered sharply: + +"Run quick now to the strong-room. I stay here to guard the padron." + +In company with the barefooted José, we ran into the courtyard, where +the Mexican pointed out to us the door of the strong-room, the first on +the right, and while Dick and I pulled it open, taking great care to +make no noise, José himself ran on to the padron's room, whence he +quickly returned with a candle in his hand. + +While Dick stood guard outside, in case the padron's two friends should +come out, I slipped into the little room, where, finding an empty +barrel, I placed it in front of the doorway, jumped upon it, and taking +my sheath-knife, I stabbed at the adobe wall just above the lintel of +the door. The second or third stroke produced a hollow sound and +brought down a shower of dried mud, when, vigorously attacking the spot, +I soon uncovered a little board which had been let into the wall and +plastered over with adobe. + +In a few seconds I had pried this out, when I found that the space +behind it was hollow, and thrusting in my hand I brought out a brass box +shaped like a magnified cigar-case. + +"Dick!" I whispered, eagerly. "I've found something! Come in here!" + +My partner quickly joined me, when we pried open the box, finding that +it contained a parcel wrapped up in a piece of cloth. Imagine our +excitement when on tearing off the wrapping we found that the contents +of the package consisted of two parchment documents, written in Spanish! +We had no time to examine them thoroughly, but a hasty glance convincing +us that we had indeed found what we sought, and there being nothing else +in the hole, I crammed the parchments back into the box, shoved the box +into my pocket, buttoned my coat, and away we went back to the well. + +"Find it?" whispered Pedro. + +I replied by patting my pocket. + +Pedro nodded; and then, having first lowered the bucket into the well +again, he leaned over the coping and said softly: + +"Padron, you may come out now as soon as you like." + +With that, leaving Galvez to climb out if he could, or to remain where +he was if he couldn't, we all turned and ran for it. + +Having recovered our horses, José bolted for home, while we went off as +fast as we dared in the darkness for camp. + +There, by the light of the fire, we examined our capture. One of the +parchments was the commission of old Arthur the First to the +"Governorship" of the King Philip mine; the other was the original +"Grant" of the Hermanos tract from Philip V, King of Spain, the Indies +and a dozen other countries, to his trusty and well-beloved subject, +Arturo Blake. + +"This _is_ great!" cried Dick. "This will settle the title without any +chance of dispute. Galvez may as well pack up and go now. I wonder what +he'll do?" + +"I don't know what Galvez will do," said I; "but I can tell you what +_we_ must do, Dick. We must cut and run. This patent must be put away in +a safe place--and it isn't safe here by any means. Galvez will be about +crazy with rage at having been dropped into the well; and for another +thing, he'll see that hole above the door, and he'll know that whatever +it was we took out of the hole, it must be something of importance to +have induced us to come raiding his premises like that." + +"That's true," said Dick, nodding his head. + +"And I shouldn't be a bit surprised," I continued, "now that he has two +other unscrupulous rascals to back him, if he were to come raiding us in +return. What do you think, Pedro?" + +"I think it is likely," replied the Mexican. "I think it is well that +you go, and stop the Señor Blake from coming here. Those men are +dangerous. For me, I have no fear: I can take care of myself." + +"Then we'll skip," said Dick. "It's safest; and it's only for a time, +anyhow, for, of course, Galvez's legal ejection is certain, sooner or +later, now that we have the patent in our hands. So we'll get out, +Frank, the very first thing to-morrow." + +It was the night of July 28th that we came to this resolution; though, +as a matter of fact, we were not aware of it at the time, for we had +lost track of the days of the month. It was the astounding event of the +day following that impressed the date so indelibly on our memories. + +Men plot and plan and calculate and contrive, thinking themselves very +clever; but how feeble they are when Dame Nature steps in and takes a +hand, and how easily she can upset all their calculations, we were to +learn, once for all, that coming day. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE MEMORABLE TWENTY-NINTH + + +Though we had intended to get off about sunrise we failed to do so, for +we found that Galvez was on the lookout for us. No sooner had we started +than we saw the three men ride out from the _Casa_ with the evident +intention of cutting us off, so, not wishing to get into a fight if it +could be avoided, we turned back again. + +Thereupon, the enemy also turned back; but, watching their movements, we +saw that soon after they had entered the house, the figure of one of +them appeared again on the roof, and there remained--a sentinel. +Plainly, they were not going to let us get away if they could help it. + +At midday, however, we saw the sentinel go down, presumably to get his +dinner, when we thought we would try again. Pedro therefore went off to +get our horses for us, but he had hardly been gone a minute when we were +startled to see him coming back with them, running as fast as his short +legs would permit. + +"What's the matter, Pedro?" cried Dick. "What's wrong?" + +"I see the Señor Arturo coming!" shouted the Mexican. + +"What!" cried Dick, and, "Where?" cried I, both turning to look out over +the plain. + +That man, Pedro, must have had eyes like telescopes to pretend to +distinguish any one at such a distance, but on examining the little +black speck through the glass I made out that it was a horseman, and +after watching him for a few seconds I concluded that it was indeed our +friend, Arthur, returning. + +"Frank!" cried my partner. "We must ride out to meet him at once! Pedro, +you stay here and watch the _Casa_. If those three men come out, make a +big smoke here so that we may know whether we have to hurry or not." + +"It is good," replied the Mexican; and seeing that he might be relied +upon to give us timely warning--for he at once began to collect +materials for his fire--away we went. + +Riding briskly, though without haste, we had left the mountain and were +crossing a wide depression in the plain, when, on its further edge, +there suddenly appeared the solitary horseman, riding toward us at a +hard gallop. Dick turned in his saddle and cast a glance behind him. + +"The smoke!" he cried; and without another word we clapped our heels +into our ponies' ribs and dashed forward. + +As Arthur approached--for we could now clearly see that it was he--we +observed that he kept looking back over his left shoulder, and just as +we arrived within hailing distance three other horsemen came in sight +over the southern rim of the depression, riding at a furious pace, their +bodies bent forward over their horses' necks. Each of the three carried +a rifle, we noticed, and one of the three was Galvez. + +At sight of us, the pursuers, seemingly taken aback at finding +themselves confronted by three of us, when they had expected to find +only one, abruptly pulled up. This brief pause gave time to Arthur to +join us, when Dick, slipping down from his horse, advanced a few steps +toward the enemy, kneeled down, and ostentatiously cocked his rifle. + +Whether the padron's quick ears caught the sound of the cocking of the +rifle--which seemed hardly likely, though in that clear, still +atmosphere the sharp _click-click_ would carry a surprisingly long +distance--I do not know; but whatever the cause, the result was as +unexpected as it was satisfactory. Galvez uttered a sharp exclamation, +whirled his horse round, and away they all went again as fast as they +had come. + +"See that!" cried Arthur. "What did I tell you, Dick? We have to thank +that locoed steer for that." + +"I expect we have," replied Dick. + +"Not a doubt of it," said I. "I was sure that Galvez was much impressed +by the way that steer went over, and now I'm surer. Lucky he was, too, +for those three fellows meant mischief, if I'm not mistaken." + +"That's pretty certain, I think," responded Arthur. "And it was another +piece of good fortune that you turned up just when you did. How did it +happen?" + +We explained the circumstances, but we had no more than done so, when +Arthur exclaimed: + +"Why, here comes old Pedro now! At a gallop, too! Everybody seems to be +riding at a gallop this morning." + +Looking toward the mountain, we saw the Mexican on his burro coming down +at a great pace, but we had hardly caught sight of him when he suddenly +stopped. He was on a little elevation, from which, evidently, he could +see Galvez and his friends careering homeward, and observing that the +affair was over and that his assistance was not needed, he forthwith +halted, and, with a mercifulness not too common among Mexicans, jumped +to the ground in order to ease his steed of his weight. + +There he stood, nearly two miles away, with his hand on the burro's +shoulders, watching the retreating enemy, while we three rode toward him +at a leisurely pace. + +As will be readily imagined, there was great rejoicing among us over the +safe return of our friend and partner, and a great shaking of hands all +round, when, hardly giving him time to get his breath again, Dick and I +plunged head-first into the relation of all we had done since we saw him +last: the finding of the head-gate and the building of the flume; +triumphantly concluding our story with the recovery of the patent the +night before. + +"Well, that was a great stroke, sure enough!" exclaimed Arthur. "That +will settle the business. The 'stupid peon' got ahead of the padron that +time, all right. But before we talk about anything else, Dick," he went +on, "I have something I want to tell you about, something in my +opinion--and the professor thinks so too--even more important--to +you--than the title to the Hermanos Grant." + +"What's that?" cried my partner, alarmed by his serious manner. "Nothing +wrong, is there?" + +"No, there's nothing wrong, I'm glad to say. Quite the contrary, in +fact. I'm half afraid to mention it, old man, for fear I should be +mistaken after all, and should stir you up all for nothing, but--why +didn't you tell me, Dick, that your name was Stanley?" + +"Why, I did!" cried Dick. + +"No, you didn't, old fellow. If you remember, you were going to do so +that first day we met, down there in the cañon by the opening of the +King Philip mine, when Pedro interrupted you by remarking that the +darkness would catch us if we stayed there any longer." + +"I remember. Yes, that's so. Ah! I see. That was why you addressed your +letters to the professor instead of to me." + +"Yes, that was the reason. It didn't occur to me till I came to write to +you that I didn't know your name." + +"That was rather funny, wasn't it?" said Dick, laughing. "But I don't +see that it made much difference in the end: I got your letters all +right." + +My partner spoke rather lightly, but Arthur on the other hand looked so +serious, not to say solemn, that Dick's levity died out. + +"What is it, old man?" he asked. "What difference does it make whether +my name is Stanley or anything else?" + +"It makes a great difference, Dick," replied Arthur. "I believe"--he +paused, hesitating, and then went on, "I'm half afraid to tell you, for +fear there might be some mistake after all, but--well--I believe, Dick, +that I've found out who you are and where you came from!" + +It was Dick's turn to look serious. His face turned a little pale under +its sunburn. + +"Go on," said he, briefly. + +"You remember, perhaps," Arthur continued, "how I told you that one +reason why I had to go back by way of Santa Fé was because I had some +inquiries to make on behalf of my mother. Well, as it turned out, Santa +Fé was the wrong place. The place for me to go to was Mosby, and the man +for me to ask was--the professor! + +"When I reached Mosby yesterday," he continued, "I rode straight on up +to his house, when the kindly old gentleman, as soon as I had explained +who I was, made me more than welcome. We were sitting last evening +talking, when I happened to cast my eye on the professor's book shelf, +and there I saw something which brought me out of my chair like a shot. +It was a volume of Shakespeare, one of a set, volume two--that book +which the professor found in the wagon-bed when he found you. I knew the +book in a moment--for we have the rest of the set at home, Dick!" + +Dick stopped his horse and sat silent for a moment, staring at Arthur. +Then, "Go on," said he once more. + +"I pulled the book down from the shelf," Arthur went on, "and looked at +the fly-leaf. There was an inscription there--I knew there would +be--'Richard Livingstone Stanley, from Anna.'" + +"Well," said Dick. His voice was husky and his face was pale enough now. + +"Dick," replied Arthur, reaching out and grasping my partner's arm, "my +mother's name was Anna Stanley, and she gave that set of Shakespeare to +her brother, Richard, on his twenty-first birthday!" + +For a time Dick sat there without a word, not at first comprehending, +apparently, the significance of these facts--that he and Arthur must be +first cousins--while the latter quickly related to us the rest of the +story. + +Dick's mother having died, his father determined to leave Scotland and +seek his fortune in the new territory of Colorado, whose fame was then +making some stir in the world. In company, then, with a friend, David +Scott--the "Uncle" David whom Dick faintly remembered--he set out, +taking the boy with him. + +From the little town of Pueblo, on the Arkansas, Richard Stanley had +written that he intended going down to Santa Fé, and that was the last +ever heard of him. At that time--the year '64--everything westward from +the foot of the mountains was practically wilderness. Into this +wilderness Richard Stanley had plunged, and there, it was supposed, he +and his son and his friend had perished. + +As for Dick, he seemed to be dazed--and no wonder. For a boy who had +never had any relatives that he knew of to be told suddenly that the +young fellow sitting there with his hand on his arm was his own cousin, +was naturally a good deal of a shock. + +If it needed a counter-shock to jolt his faculties back into place, he +had it, and it was I who provided it. + +In order to give the pair an opportunity to get used to their new +relationship, I was about to ride forward to join Pedro, when I saw the +Mexican suddenly commence cutting up all sorts of queer antics, jumping +about and waving his arms in a frantic manner. + +"What's the matter with Pedro?" I called out. "Look there, you fellows! +What's the matter with Pedro?" + +"Something wrong!" cried Dick. "Get up!" + +Away we went at a gallop, keeping a sharp lookout in all directions lest +those three men should bob up again from somewhere, while the Mexican +himself, jumping upon his burro, rode down to meet us. + +"What's up, Pedro?" Dick shouted, as soon as we had come within hearing. +"Anything the matter?" + +"Señores," cried Pedro, speaking with eager rapidity, "those men come +hunting us. I watch them ride back almost to the _Casa_, and then of a +sudden they change their minds and turn up into the mountain. They think +to catch us, but"--he stretched out his great hand and shut it tight, +his black eyes gleaming with excitement--"if the señores will give me +leave, we will catch them!" + +If his surmise was right, if those men were indeed coming after us as he +believed, there was no question that if any of us could beat them at +that game, Pedro was the one. Dick was a fine woodsman, but Pedro was a +finer--my partner himself would have been the first to acknowledge +it--and it was Dick in fact who promptly replied: + +"Go ahead, Pedro! You're captain to-day! Take the lead; we'll follow!" + +"_'Sta bueno!_" cried the Mexican, greatly pleased. "Come, then!" + +Turning his burro, he rode quickly back to camp, and there, at his +direction, having unsaddled and turned loose our horses, we followed him +to the flume, taking with us nothing but our rifles. + +There had been a little thunder-storm the day before, and the soil near +the flume was muddy. Through this mud, by Pedro's direction, we tramped; +crossed the flume on the gangway we had laid for the purpose, leaving +muddy tracks as we went; jumped down at the other end and set off +hot-foot up the gully to the little new-made lake and thence on up to +the old lake; in several soft places purposely leaving footmarks which +could not escape notice. + +"What's all this for, Pedro?" asked Dick. "What's your scheme?" + +"The padron will see our tracks crossing the flume," replied Pedro. "He +will think you take Señor Arturo up to show him all the work you have +done, and he will follow. If he does so, we have him! When he is safe +across, we slip back, and then I hide me among the rocks on the other +side and guard the flume. Without my leave they cannot cross back again. +Thus I hold them on the wrong side, while you ride away at your ease to +Mosby. Now, come quick with me!" + +So saying, Pedro turned at right angles to the line of the ditch, +climbed a short distance up the hillside, and then, under cover of the +trees, started back at a run, until presently he brought us to a point +whence we could look down upon the flume, its approaches at both ends, +and the line of the ditch up to the head of the little lake. + +Hitherto it had been all bustle and activity, but now we were called +upon to exercise a new virtue, one always difficult to fellows of our +age--patience. + +It must have been nearly an hour that we had lain there, sometimes +talking together in whispers, but more often keeping silence, when Dick, +pulling out his watch, said in a low voice: + +"If those fellows are coming, I wish they'd come. It's twenty minutes +past two; and we're in for a thunder-storm, I'm afraid. Do you notice +how dark it's getting?" + +"Yes," whispered Arthur. "And such a queer darkness. I'm afraid it's a +forest fire and not a thunder-storm that is making it." + +"I believe you're right," replied Dick. "It _is_ a queer-colored light, +isn't it?" + +We could not see the sun on account of a high cliff at the foot of which +we were lying, and if we had had any thought of getting up to look at +it, we were stopped by Pedro, who at this moment whispered sharply to us +to keep quiet. His quick eyes had detected a movement on the far side of +the cañon. + +Intently we watched, and presently the figure of a man stepped out from +among the trees. Advancing cautiously to the end of the flume, he +examined the tracks in the mud, climbed up to the gang-plank, inspected +the tracks again, and turning, made a sign with his hand; whereupon two +other men stepped out from among the trees. The three then crossed the +flume, jumped down, and set off up the gully. + +We watched them as they followed the ditch up to the new lake, and +thence to the draw which led up to the old lake. At the mouth of the +draw they paused for some time, hesitating, doubtless, whether they +should trust themselves in that deep, narrow crevice--a veritable trap, +for all they knew. + +Presumably, however, they made up their minds to risk it, for on they +went, and a few minutes later were lost to sight. + +By this time the darkness had so increased that the men were hardly +distinguishable, though they, themselves, seemed to take no notice of +it. The sun was behind them, and so intent were they in following our +tracks and keeping watch ahead, that they never thought to cast a glance +upward to see what was coming. + +"Pedro," whispered Dick, as soon as the men had vanished, "let us get +out of here. Either the woods are on fire or there'll be a tremendous +storm down on us directly." + +Pedro, however, requested us to wait another five minutes, when, jumping +to his feet, he cried: + +"Come, then! Let us get back! We have them safe now!" + +Down we ran, but no sooner had we got clear of the trees than Pedro +stopped short. In a frightened voice--the first and only time I ever +knew him to show fear--he ejaculated: + +"Look there! Look there!" + +Following his pointing finger, we looked up. The uncanny darkness was +accounted for:--a great semi-circular piece seemed to have been bitten +out of the sun! + +"The eclipse!" cried Arthur. "I'd forgotten all about it. This is the +twenty-ninth of July. The newspapers were full of it, but I'd forgotten +all about it!" + +"A total eclipse, isn't it?" asked Dick, quickly. + +"Yes, total." + +"Then it will be a great deal darker presently. We'd better get out of +this, and cross the flume while we can see." + +In fact, it was already so dark that the small birds, thinking it was +night, were busily going to bed; the night-hawks had come out, the +curious whir of their wings sounding above our heads; and then--a sound +which made us all start--there came the long-drawn howl of a wolf! + +"Run!" shouted Dick. "They'll be after us directly!" + +Undoubtedly, the wolves, too, were deceived into the belief that night +was approaching, for even as Dick spoke we heard in three or four +different directions the hunting-cry of the packs. Wasting no time, as +will be imagined, away we went, scrambled up on the gang-plank of the +flume, and there stopped to listen. + +"I hope those men"--Dick began; when, from the direction of the draw +above there arose a fearful clamor of howling. There was a shot! Another +and another, in quick succession! And then, piercing through and rising +above all other sounds, there went up a cry so dreadful that it turned +us sick to hear it. What had happened? + +The hour that followed was the worst I ever endured, as we crouched +there in the darkness and the silence, not knowing what had occurred up +above. + +At length the shadow moved across the face of the sun, it was brilliant +day once more, when, the moment we thought it safe to venture, down we +jumped and set off up the line of the ditch. We had not gone a +quarter-mile when we saw two men coming down, running frantically. In a +few seconds they had reached the spot where we stood waiting for them, +not knowing exactly what we were to expect of them. + +Never have I seen such panic terror as these men exhibited; they were +white and trembling and speechless. For two or three minutes we could +get nothing out of them, but at length one of them recovered himself +enough to tell us what had happened. + +The wolves had caught them in that narrow, precipitous arroyo, coming +from both ends at once. The two men, themselves, had succeeded in +scrambling up to a safe place, but Galvez, attempting to do the same, +had lost his hold and fallen back. Before he could recover his feet the +wolves were upon him, and then----! + +Well--no wonder those men were sick and pale and trembling! + +That the padron's designs against us had been evil there could be no +doubt--in fact, his shivering henchmen admitted as much--but, quite +unsuspicious of the coming of the midday darkness, and knowing nothing +of the fierce nature of these "island" wolves, he had run himself into +that fatal trap. It was truly a dreadful ending. + +Does any one wonder now that the date of the eclipse of '78 should be so +indelibly stamped on our memories? + + +There being now nothing to interfere with us, we went down to Hermanos +and took possession of the _Casa_, and from that time forward the work +on our irrigation system moved along without let or hindrance from +anything but the seasons. + +But though it was now plain sailing, and though we eventually got +together a force of twenty Mexicans to do the digging, the amount of +work was so great that we had not nearly finished that part of the ditch +which wound over the foothills when frost came and stopped us. We at +once moved everything down to the village and began again at that end, +keeping hard at it until frost stopped us once more, and finally for +that year. + +In fact, it was not until the spring of '80 that we at last turned in +the water--a moderate amount at first--but since then the quantity has +been increased year by year, until now we are supplying at an easy +rental a great number of small farms, many of them cultivated by +Mexicans, but the majority by Americans. + +The largest of the farms is that run by the two cousins and myself, and +its management, together with the supervision and maintenance of the +water-supply keeps us all three on the jump. + +As for old Pedro, he stuck to his mountain until just lately, when we +persuaded him to come down and take up his residence on the ranch; +though even now, every fall he goes off for a three-months' hunt and we +see nothing of him till the first snow sends him down again. + +He is a privileged character, allowed to go and come as he pleases; for +we do not forget his great services in turning this worthless desert +into a flourishing community of busy wheat-farmers and fruit-growers; +nor do we forget that it was really he who started the whole business. + +As to that, though, we are not likely to forget it, for we have on hand +a constant reminder. + +Above the fireplace in our house there hangs, plain to be seen, a relic +with which we would not part at any price--the "indicator" which pointed +the way for us when we first set out on this enterprise--the original +copper-headed arrow! + + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Trail of The Badger, by Sidford F. Hamp + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43989 *** |