“He’s an unfriendly coot,” Warner observed. “It’s a mystery how he manages to live here.”
Ken said he had seen no one near the cabin while the others had been searching for the caches. Nevertheless, he had been absent himself for half an hour. It was during this period, they decided, that the fellow had sneaked out of the woods to leave the warning message.
After another frugal meal of fish and berries, everyone except Warner turned in for the night. He insisted upon keeping watch until midnight. At that hour, Mr. Livingston relieved him. It was nearing dawn when Jack awoke to see the Scout leader dozing by the fire.
“It’s my turn now,” he volunteered.
Mr. Livingston reluctantly permitted him to take over the watch. Jack sat a while with only his dreary thoughts for company. In his mind’s eye, he tried to reconstruct the treasure map as first he had seen it in Rocking Horse.
Definitely, he recalled that the two caches of gold had been close to each other at the mouth of a ravine. But the years might have wrought changes in the terrain. Wind and rain and rock slides could have altered the area.
For that matter, with the valley inhabited, might not the gold long ago have been removed?
Jack’s thoughts rambled back to his last talk with Stony in the hospital. Then he had seriously doubted that the prospector had found gold in this remote valley. Now that he was here, he had gradually begun to believe that the tale had been true.
The grave and marker with John Warner’s name indicated that Stony had indeed lost his partner in Headless Hollow. Mystery still shrouded the death. Restlessly, Jack rose and walked to the window. The sky was beginning to lighten. Very soon the sun would be up.
He built up the fire. Noticing that the supply of wood was low, he took the axe and went for more. He chopped a dead jackpine, stacking the pieces near the cabin door.