“Tell it to us,” begged Jerry, eagerly, believing that they had unexpectedly gotten on the track of the mystery.
“Well, there isn’t much to tell, or, rather, I don’t know an awful lot about it,” resumed Tod. “It happened a number of years ago. A party of Easterners who got tired of the life in cities decided to come out West. They heard of a place where some good gold claims could be had, nothing remarkable, you know, but sufficient to attract them. They planned to come together, take up claims, build a little settlement and live there the rest of their lives.
“Well, they started out, and they got to the mountains. Men I’ve known, who have been prospecting since forty-nine remember to have met the party on their travels. As I said, they had nearly reached their diggings when they suddenly disappeared.”
“Where to?” asked Bob, who, like his companions, was greatly interested.
“That’s the mystery of it,” answered Tod. “No one knew where they went to. The last seen of them was that they were being led up into the Uncompahgre mountains in Colorado, and an Indian was their guide. Some old prospectors seen ’em, and they thought it was rather risky for to trust an Indian, but they didn’t say nothin’, for folks out here get in the habit of mindin’ their own business. Anyway, that was the last seen of the party of white folks. As I said, there were men, women and children, though the children must be growed up now.”
“How many of them were there?” asked Bob softly.
“About two score, I reckon, though if they’re alive now I don’t s’pose there’s so many, for some must have died, as they were old men. Anyhow that’s the story of the missing party. They were called the ‘Deering Band,’ as they were led by a man named Deering. I don’t s’pose they will ever be located, but it’s true, what your friend Jackson Bell intimated, that there is a mystery about them. Though how Bell came to know of them, and why he started to rescue them is more than I can figure. But Deering and his crowd seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth. Maybe the Indians killed them all.”
“That’s what we always thought,” spoke a voice at the side of Sledge Hammer Tod. It came so suddenly that everyone gave a start, until it was seen that it was Professor Snodgrass who had made the remark.
“Do you know the story of the missing Deering Band?” asked Jerry. “We did not speak to you about this mystery, Professor, as we did not want to take your mind off your work.”