Back from the Dead
Jack literally fell from his horse. Was he dreaming or was this a ghost that confronted him? He gazed at the other fellow with eyes that almost popped from his head.
“Ain’t yeou glad to see me?” came from the fellow in rags, and his voice took on a hurt tone. “Plum! Is it--is it really you?” faltered Jack.
“Sure ez yeou air born it’s me,” was the answer from Plum Plucky.
“But I thought you were dead--I was sure you were dead. Why, I--I buried your bones!”
“Not by a jugful yeou didn’t bury my bones, Jack. I’ve got ’em all with me, although I allow they ain’t much meat on ’em jest now,” went on Plum, dolefully.
“But this--this staggers me! I was certain you were dead, and when I found a heap of bones which the vultures had picked clean I buried them for yours. This is the most wonderful thing I ever heard of. I can’t understand it. Where have you been, and why didn’t you let me hear from you?”
“I have been a prisoner of war,” answered Plum. “Got caught in the mountains one day. Fust they was up fer shootin’ me, but then they changed their minds and carted me off to some little town in the mountains. They fired me into a dungeon an’ I took sick, an’ would have died only a native gal up an’ nussed me back to health. Then I give the gal some silver I had hidden away an’ she showed me how to git away, an’ I got. Then I got lost in the mountains, an’ would have starved to death only I run down some sort o’ a wild beast that had two legs broken in a fall over the rocks. I killed the beast--I reckon it was a puma--with some rocks, an’ lived on the meat fer nigh on to a week. Then, after all kinds o’ adventures in the mountains, I reached here, an’ here I am, an’ so happy to see yeou I don’t know what to do.”
As he finished tears stood in the honest eyes of the Yankee lad, and Jack was no less affected. They embraced, the native looking on in wonder, until the matter was explained to him.
“I know this road like a book, so ye won’t need thet native no longer,” said Plum. “But I’d like to have his nag. I’m dead tired o’ hoofin’ it.”
“You shall have the pony--if he will sell,” said Jack.
“Got any money to pay with? I ain’t got a red cent.”
Jack had some funds with him, and soon a bargain was closed with the native. Then the fellow went off, leaving the former chums to themselves.
The supper Plum had been cooking was spoilt, but another was presently prepared and both sat down to do justice to the repast. As they ate each told his story in detail, and Jack related his reason for coming back to that portion of the country.
“I’m glad to learn yeou made money on them nitrates,” said Plum. “An’ I am glad, too, thet you found yer gal true blue an’ waitin’ for ye, Jack. But about this treasure hunt,--well, I don’t put much stock in it.”
“I want to solve the mystery of that boiling lake, Plum. Even if I don’t get the treasure it will be something to learn what makes that water shoot up as it does.”
“Oh, I suppose so, but don’t yeou take too many risks finding eout,” returned the Yankee lad.
Plum said he had expected to remain at the deserted house all night and then push on for the seacoast. But now he had met Jack, and had a pony at his service, he was willing to go anywhere.
“I ain’t got no home nor nuthin’,” he remarked. “One place is ez good ez another to me,--only I like to be among friends.”
“Stay with me, Plum, and welcome,” said Jack, cordially. “I can use you in my business, if you want to come in.”
“I am with yeou every time,” said Plum, and shook hands on it. As said before, he was without funds and more than glad that our hero was willing to assist him.
The night was spent at the dilapidated house without anything unusual happening, and early in the morning they got breakfast,--eating some birds Jack brought down with his pistol--and then went on their journey.
Noon found them on the main road, and an hour later they came across two of the members of Jack’s party.
“Well, I am glad to see you are alive,” said one of the men. “We had about given you up for lost.”
“I came pretty near being lost forever,” answered Jack, and once again had to tell his story. Then one of the men was despatched to bring up the rest of the party; and by nightfall all hands were together again.
“I shall certainly be more careful in the future,” declared Jack. “Such absent-mindedness does not pay.”
Fortunately some extra clothing had been brought along, and a suit was given to Plum, for which he was exceedingly thankful. That night Jack slept finely, and in the morning declared himself in the best of health.
Once again the party moved forward to the rocky bowl in the mountains holding the Devil’s Waters. By noon the summit of the ascent was gained and the party came to a halt. Then Jack went ahead accompanied only by Plum.
As soon as Jack reached a spot where he could look into the vast bowl he saw that something unusual had occurred. He was mystified and appalled and sat on his pony spellbound.
The roar and thunder of the mysterious boiling lake was gone. Not a sound broke the stillness of the mountainous scene. He looked down on a grass-covered valley, somewhat round, in size and having in its center a mound or “island,” upon which grew a lonely pimento tree. A branch of the tree, devoid of foliage, pointed like a great finger, to a cut in the great mountain bowl.
There was no mistaking such a landmark, and as Jack viewed it he gave a long low whistle.
“Well?” demanded Plum, questioningly.
“I am--am staggered, Plum.”
“Why?”
“This doesn’t look like a lake, does it?”
“Sure not, Jack.”
“Well, the last time I was here it was a boiling, writhing lake, and that mound you see yonder was an island in the middle.”
“Gosh all hemlock, Jack! Yeou don’t mean it!”
“I assuredly do.”
“There ain’t a drop o’ water around here neow!”
“I know it and that is what puzzles me.”
“Ain’t mistaken in the spot?”
“Not at all. Do you see that solitary pimento tree? Well, that was there, exactly as it is now.”
“Yeou said it would be, I remember that,” said Plum, scratching his head. “But this ain’t no lake.”
“It has been. See, the grass shows signs of having been covered with water mixed with mud.”
“That is so too, an’ neow I look at it, Jack, ther’s big holes in the ground here an’ there, where the water must have run off.”
For several minutes Jack and his friend surveyed the scene. Then our hero urged his pony down the somewhat steep side of the gigantic mountain bowl.
“Whar be yeou a going now?” asked Plum.
“To the mound in the middle of the valley, to see if I can find the treasure,” shouted back Jack.
“All right, I’m with yeou,” answered the Yankee lad, and followed down the slope.