IN LOT'S CANYON
The next morning, just as they were about to start on their way Mr. Conroyal called the little company together.
"You all know what happened last night, and what it means," he said. "In spite of all our efforts to throw them off, that Ugger gang apparently are still on our trail. Now, Dickson says that we can make Lot's Canyon this afternoon; but, if we do, them skunks will be sure to follow us and to find it, too. Under such circumstances what shall we do? Shall we try again to fool them, by not going straight to the canyon to-day and see if we can't slip into it to-night without being seen? Or, shall we defy them, and march straight for the canyon, without any effort to hide our trail?"
"That last plan hits my bull's-eye," declared Ham emphatically. "If they want tew foller, let 'em foller. If they want tew fight, we'll give 'em all th' fight they want," and Ham's lips closed grimly. "I'm tired of tryin' tew dodge th' dirty sneakin' murderin' pack of cowards any longer. I gives my vote for marchin' as straight tew Lot's Canyon as th' good Lord an' Dickson can take us."
"Bully for Ham!" shouted Bud enthusiastically. "I vote with Ham," and he sprang to Ham's side.
"So do I," and Thure followed him.
"Me, too," and, with a laugh, Mrs. Dickson took her stand by the side of the boys.
And, with a cheer, all the others joined her.
"Reckon that means, straight for Lot's Canyon. Lead on," and Mr. Conroyal turned to Dickson.
Until about noon the trail wound around great hills of rocks, and in and out of deep gulches and rocky defiles, and over high ridges of rock; and then, just as the sun was nearing the meridian, it entered a broad mountain-enclosed valley, some six or seven miles long by about two miles wide. Near the upper end of the valley a tall pinnacle of rocks shot up into the sky, like a church steeple, at the head of what looked like an almost precipitous mass of rocks that rose many hundreds of feet above the level of the valley.
"See that rock?" and Dickson pointed triumphantly to the steeple-like rock at the head of the valley.
"Shore, not bein' blind," Ham answered. "What might it be doin' thar?" and he grinned.
"That rock," and Dickson paused to glance around the circle of faces that now surrounded him, "stands within half a mile of the Devil's Slide, which is the only way down into Lot's Canyon. Boys, we should be in Lot's Canyon in two hours!"
"Hurrah!" yelled Thure.
"Hurrah!" echoed Bud.
"Come on," cried Mr. Conroyal. "The sooner we get there the better. Pedro, see if you can't liven up them pack-horses a little."
"Si, si, señor," and Pedro began hurling volleys of Mexican oaths at the pack-horses and running from one to another of them, striking with his whip and urging with his voice, until the patient animals were moving as fast as the safety of their packs would permit.
Pedro appeared to be in unusually good spirits that day. All the gloom of the day before had vanished with the dawning of the morning of the night of the hooting owl.
In an hour and a half, so eagerly did they press forward, our little company had passed the steeple-like pinnacle of rocks; and in another fifteen minutes they had climbed to the top of a ridge of rocks, and were looking down a steep, narrow declivity, cut by the wonderous hand of nature, in a precipitous wall of solid rock that rose from the bottom of a canyon five hundred feet below them. The smooth floor of the declivity was not over a dozen feet wide and shot downward at an angle of about forty-five degrees.
"Gosh! I don't wonder Stackpole called that Th' Devil's Slide," and Ham's eyes stared down the steep slope of the declivity. "Ain't thar no other way of gettin' down thar intew that thar canyon?" and he turned to Dickson.
"Not that I know of," Dickson answered. "That was the way Stackpole and I went. It is not as difficult as it looks. The rock is not slippery, and, by being careful, a man can get down all right. But the horses! I don't know about them," and he glanced a little dubiously toward the six horses.
"We'll have to use ropes on them," declared Mr. Conroyal. "Two men to a horse. Get out the ropes."
In a few minutes five strong ropes had been secured from the packs, and preparations were immediately begun for helping the horses down the slide.
There were ten men in the company, including Pedro, and this enabled them to start all the pack-horses at the same time down the declivity. The method of procedure was simple. The middle of a strong rope some thirty feet long was placed under the neck of a horse and across the breast and fastened there, so that it could not slip down. Then two men took hold of the rope, one at each end, and, by walking a little behind and on opposite sides of the horse, they were in position to hold back the animal, should he start to slide or get to going too fast. In this way and with very little trouble, for the footing down the declivity was much better than they expected it would be, they soon had the six horses safely down the Devil's Slide.
All now stood at the bottom of a deep canyon, with walls of nearly perpendicular rock rising on both sides from five hundred to a thousand feet above their heads. The bottom was strewn with rocks of all shapes and sizes, and little clumps of trees and bushes grew here and there.
"This," and Dickson glanced a bit dramatically around him, "is Lot's Canyon. The white pillar of rock, called Lot's Wife on the map, is about a couple of miles farther up the canyon, and near it stands the Big Tree, and close by that tree, according to the map, should be the hidden entrance to Crooked Arm Gulch. And it must be well-hidden too; for, when I was with Stackpole, we couldn't find a sign of a gulch near the Big Tree, although I remember we looked especially sharp for it right there, because the Indian had told Stackpole that it was near a big tree and that was the biggest tree we could find in the canyon. I hope we have better luck."
"Let us hurry and get to the Big Tree," cried Thure impatiently. "I am sure that, if there is any entrance to any gulch there, some of us can find it. Come on," and the excited boy, with Bud by his side, started up the canyon.
Rex and Dill and Mr. Dickson at once joined the two boys, and the five hurried eagerly forward, leaving the others to come on more slowly with Pedro and the horses.
The canyon was from one hundred to two hundred feet wide at the bottom, and twisted and wound along between its gigantic walls of rock, like a huge serpent. Doubtless in some far distant age it had been the course of a mighty river; but now not a drop of water flowed along its rocky bottom and evidently had not for hundreds of years.
"Looks like a mighty good place for grizzlies," commented Rex, as they hurried along over the rough rocks of the bottom.
"And there has been one here not many minutes ago," supplemented Dill, pointing to the bark of a tree that had been freshly torn by the sharp claws of some powerful animal.
"And there he is!" cried Thure, as they made a sudden turn around a huge point of rocks, projecting a few feet out into the canyon, and came face to face with a huge male grizzly not a hundred feet away.
The grizzly appeared to be very greatly astonished at this sudden invasion of man into his hitherto undisputed realm of rocks, and a little offended. With a deep bass-drum-like "huff, huff," he reared his huge body up on his hind legs, and, turning his wicked little eyes on them, uttered a deep warning growl, as much as to say: "Now, if you men will turn right around and go back, I will not harm you."
"Shall we shoot?" asked Thure, cocking his rifle.
"No, not if the brute will get out of our way," answered Rex. "We have no time to fool with grizzlies," and, cocking his own rifle, he started straight toward the grizzly.
The growl of the bear deepened, and he made no sign of giving way to the intruders.
"All right, old man," and Rex stopped and threw his rifle to his shoulder. "Stand ready to fire, if my bullet fails to bring him down," he warned, as his eye glanced swiftly along the rifle barrel.
But Rex Holt was one of the best rifle shots in California, and knew exactly where to send his bullet in order to make it instantly fatal; and there was no need of a second shot, for almost at the instant of the crack of his rifle, the huge beast, with a deep startled, "huff," and a staggering leap toward them, tumbled sprawlingly to the ground, as if all his tough muscles had been suddenly turned to hot tallow, and with a few quiverings, the great frame lay still.
"No time to bother with him now. Let him lay there for the present. Come on," and Rex, pausing by the side of the grizzly only long enough to assure himself that the monster was dead, hurried on up the canyon.
For half an hour longer they struggled on over the broken rocks that covered the bottom of the canyon; and then they came to where the canyon made an abrupt turn, and, widening out a little, ran straight ahead for half a mile or more.
The moment they made this turn and looked up the clear stretch of canyon, all uttered a shout of triumph. Some two hundred yards from them and near the east wall of the canyon grew a huge oak tree; and, perhaps a hundred yards farther up the canyon, stood a tall pillar of white rock.
"The Big Tree!" yelled Thure exultingly, starting on the run for the tree.
"Lot's Wife!" shouted Bud, racing along after Thure.
Rex and Dill and Dickson hastened after the excited boys; and, in a few minutes, all stood beneath the giant branches of the great oak.
The tree was some seventy-five feet high and nearly as broad as it was high; and its huge trunk grew so close to the wall of the canyon that the ends of its great limbs on that side had been pressed tight up against the rocks.
"Well, we are here at last!" Thure's face was flushed and his eyes were sparkling with excitement. "Now, for the hidden entrance to Crooked Arm Gulch!" and his eyes turned eagerly to the walls of the canyon.
The wall of the canyon near the tree, so far as their eyes could judge, was a solid mass of cracked and seamed rocks, that sprang from the bottom of the canyon almost straight upward for five hundred or more feet. There did not appear to be break or opening of any kind, nor did it look as if there ever had been such an opening.
For half an hour the two boys and Rex and Dill and Mr. Dickson searched excitedly up and down the wall of the canyon near the tree, without one of them finding the first sign of an entrance to the hidden gulch.
"Great Moses, but this is exasperating!" complained Thure, staring indignantly at the blank walls of rock. "To be held up like this, when almost at the entrance to the Cave of Gold! But we have got to find it," and the heat of his excitement having cooled down a little, he began a more careful and systematic search of the face of the wall of rock.
"Found it?" yelled Ham, who at this moment came round the turn in the canyon at the head of the remainder of the company.
"No," Dickson called back. "Not a sign of an opening anywhere in sight."
"I reckon this is where our trouble begins," Ham declared a few minutes later, when he stood near the Big Tree and searched the precipitous side of the wall of rock vainly with his keen eyes. "It shore don't look as if there ever had ben any gulch entrance thar."
"Let us have another look at the map," suggested Mr. Conroyal, after all had searched the face of the wall of rock in vain for some time. "Possibly we have overlooked some little point of guidance on it."
Thure at once procured the map and handed it to his father; and all crowded anxiously around him, as he seated himself on a rock and spread the map out on his knees.
"This sure must be the right place," he declared, as he glanced down at the map and then up and down the canyon; "for here is the Big Tree and there," and he pointed to the white pillar, "is Lot's Wife, and that slide down there must surely have been the Devil's Slide; and, if this is the right place, then the entrance to Crooked Arm Gulch must be right there, according to this map," and he pointed to the wall of rock against which the great limbs of the tree were pressing.
"Wai, it ain't thar," and Ham turned away disgustedly from the map. "Any fool with eyes in his head can see that it ain't thar. I reckon we've come on a wild-goose chase. Let's go intew camp an' git some grub down us. I'm allfired hungry, an' it's tew late tew look any more tew-day," and he glanced toward the west wall of the canyon, up the side of which the shadows of night were already beginning to creep. "Possibly we can dew better in th' mornin', though it's more'n I can see how, seem' that thar's nuthin' but th' face of a solid wall of rock tew search; an' we've searched 'bout every inch of that that we can a'ready," and he threw his big frame down on the ground and stared at the wall of rock wrathfully.
And much of the same disappointment and disgust that troubled Ham was troubling the hearts of all; for it did not seem possible that there could be any entrance to any gulch anywhere near the Big Tree. The wall of rock was too steep to climb, but the eye could search its entire face, except where the limbs of the giant oak hid a few square yards of the surface, and nowhere was there a break in the wall nor the least sign of an opening of any sort, let alone the entrance to a gulch. This was so plainly evident, so easily and so quickly to be seen, for the smooth face of the wall of a canyon offers few opportunities of concealment, that the gloom of bitter disappointment deadened the spirits of all; and, consequently, it was a very downhearted and discouraged company of men that now started to make ready for the night under the overhanging branches of the Big Tree.
All the next day the search was continued, but without any results.
"Durn th' old map! Let's throw it intew th' fire an' git back tew th' diggin's," Ham declared wrathfully, as they gathered for the night under the Big Tree. "Stackpole shore must have been loony when he made that map."
"Reckon you are right," agreed Mr. Conroyal. "Well, we'll have another look at the map; and, if we can't get any new ideas from it, we will do as you say and start back for the diggings in the morning."
"No; no! Just one more day! Let us look one more day!" pleaded Thure. "I can't believe that Stackpole did not find that Cave of Gold. He was so sure of it, so earnest about it—and there is the nugget and the gold he had with him when murdered! Let us look just one more day!"
"Well, son, I am sure that we all are just as anxious to find that Cave of Gold as you can possibly be; but, where can we look that we have not already looked? What is the use of going over exactly the same ground that we have already been over many times? It isn't a question of sticking. I'd say stick as long as there was any hope. But, as Ham says, any fool with eyes in his head can see that there is no gulch opening here. Either Stackpole was crazy, or we've struck the wrong canyon; and, in either case, we might just as well give up the search and get back where we know there is gold. However, I will put the matter to a vote; and we will do as the majority wishes. Shall we start back for the diggings in the morning? All in favor of starting back in the morning stand up," and Mr. Conroyal's eyes glanced over the little company seated around him.
All arose slowly to their feet, except Thure and Bud, who looked almost ready to cry at this untimely ending of all their romantic dreams.
"I know it is hard, hard on us all, and especially hard on you two boys," Mr. Conroyal said, turning sympathetically to the lads. "But it would be foolish to waste any more time here. Now, let us have a last look at that map, before we fling the cussed thing into the fire," and he motioned Thure to hand him the skin map. "We don't want it to fool anybody else."
Thure slowly took the map from its place of concealment in his shirt bosom and reluctantly handed it to his father. Then all bent their heads over it; but there was little interest in their faces. They had examined the map too often and too closely to hope to find anything new in it now.
Suddenly Mrs. Dickson uttered a little exclamation and pointed with her finger to the roughly drawn tree in the left hand corner of the map.
"I wonder if that tree, with the arrow pointing downward toward the east point of the cross, does not mean something," she said.
"Moses!" yelled Thure, jumping to his feet excitedly. "It does! It's the key to the whole secret! I remember now! The miner said the gulch was blocked by great rocks, that we must climb the Big Tree to the third limb. You remember, don't you, Bud?" and he turned excitedly to Bud.
"Yes," answered Bud, now as greatly excited as was Thure himself. "He said, 'Climb to the third limb. Remember, climb to the third limb—third—third—' and then he choked all up. Come! It is yet light enough to see!" and both boys made a jump for the huge trunk of the great oak tree and began climbing up it almost with the agility of two squirrels.
"Gosh! Thar might be somethin' in that!" and Ham, and all the others, jumped to their feet and followed the movements of the two boys with deeply interested eyes.
The third limb was about twenty feet from the ground, of huge size and thrust itself straight out to the rocky wall of the canyon, against which its end appeared to be tightly pressed.
Along this limb Thure and Bud now scrambled, as swiftly as hands and feet and body could propel them, Thure in the lead. The limb was sufficiently large and strong to make this neither difficult nor dangerous. In a few minutes they were at the face of the wall of rock. Here Thure paused for a moment, then he was seen to rise on his feet, push a few branches aside, and, with a yell, disappear. The next moment he was followed by Bud.
"Wal, I'll be teetotally durned!" and Ham and the others stared blankly at the spot where the two boys had disappeared.
For five minutes they stood staring at the spot, without speaking a word, so intense was their interest. Then the heads of the two boys appeared through the branches almost simultaneously; and a loud yell of triumph broke wildly from the mouth of each.
"Found! Found!" yelled Thure.
"We've found the gulch! Crooked Arm Gulch!" cried Bud. "Come up and see."
"Durned if I don't!" and Ham leaped for the trunk of the tree, followed by every other man in the company, except Pedro, who, together with Mrs. Dickson, remained below.
"Not too many on the limb at a time," cautioned Rex, who had succeeded in reaching the third limb first. "It might break," and he began working his way along it, closely followed by Dill.
In a couple of minutes he had reached the opening in the wall of rock, a jagged hole some four or five feet in diameter, into which the sturdy limb had thrust itself in such a manner that its branches completely concealed all signs of the opening from below.
"Great! This is great!" Rex exclaimed, as he pushed his way through the branches into the hole.
In a few minutes more all were through the hole, and were standing on a narrow shelf of rock, looking down into a deep, narrow gulch, whose bottom was considerably below the level of the bottom of Lot's Canyon.
"By gum! if we ain't struck th' right spot at last!" and Ham stared in astonishment up the gulch to where it made a bend, like a crook at the elbow in a man's bent arm. "Thar's th' Golden Elbow," and he pointed to the bend; "an' this shore must be Crooked Arm Gulch. Wal, this is what I call luck! Hurra!" and he swung his hat around his head and yelled at the very top of his strong lungs; and every man there joined with him in the yell; and the rocky walls of the narrow gulch echoed and reëchoed the sound, until it seemed as if a hundred men were shouting their joyous yells of triumph.
"Too bad it is so late in the day that we must put off exploring the gulch until to-morrow," Mr. Conroyal lamented, when the excitement had somewhat quieted down.
"Oh, dad, just let us see if the cave is really there!" begged Thure.
"Impossible. See how swiftly the dark shadows of night are gathering. We must hasten back to Lot's Canyon at once. In fifteen minutes it will be too dark to see our way plainly. Come on, everybody. I reckon the Little Woman is some curious to know what has been happening up here," and, smiling happily, he started back toward the opening, followed by all the others.
When they again reached the ground at the bottom of the Big Tree, they found Mrs. Dickson alone. She said that Pedro had asked permission to go back to where the grizzly bear had been filled to get a chunk of bear steak for their supper, and had hurried off, taking one of their rifles with him, as soon as she had said yes. She was nearly wild with joy, when told of the find they had made, and vowed that she would go with them in the morning, when they started out to look for the Cave of Gold, in spite of the seemingly dangerous climb along the big limb of the Big Tree.
Half an hour later Pedro returned with a big chunk of bear meat, which was soon roasting on wooden spits placed around the blazing camp-fire.
That was as joyful an evening as the night before had been gloomy. Even the saturnine spirits of Pedro seemed greatly affected by the general hilarity; for his sallow face was all smiles and his little black eyes snapped and twinkled, as he passed hither and thither among the men, and he was very careful to place the pan in which he washed the dishes within easy hearing distance of every word they might utter. Indeed, it seemed almost impossible for him to tear himself away from the sound of their voices; and, when he was compelled to go to the little spring they had discovered some twenty rods distant from the Big Tree, after water, he had gone there and back on the run, as if he was fearful that something might be said while he was away that he ought to hear. But, to all this, our friends gave no heed, save that Ham once or twice turned his eyes on Pedro's excited face, with just a flicker of suspicion in them.
"Wal, I don't wonder he's some excited, seein' us so upset," he thought. "Still thar won't be no harm in keepin' as much as possible from him. I don't believe in trustin' a Mexican nohow, any more than you've got tew," and Ham lowered his own voice and cautioned the others to do likewise, when Pedro was near. "Jest tew be on the safe side," he explained.
"We must de doubly cautious now," warned Mr. Conroyal, when they made ready for bed, "and keep somebody on guard night and day all the time; for now that we have found the secret of Crooked Arm Gulch them devils are likely to be down upon us at the first unguarded moment. We will put four men on guard again to-night. Rex, you and Dill and Bud and his father can stand guard for the first half of the night; and you can call Ham and Frank and Thure and me to relieve you about one o'clock. Now, get to your stations and we will get to our blankets. Good night, everybody," and he began rolling himself up in his blanket.
An example that all except the guards followed very speedily.