CHAPTER XI.
SNOWED UP.
“I never in my life was so overjoyed to see men disappointed,” whispered Eugene. “They’ve had all their trouble for nothing, and I am glad of it.”
“Be careful,” replied Archie, earnestly. “Don’t say that again; for if they should chance to overhear you I don’t know what they would do. They are perfectly desperate.”
For two or three minutes the hunters stood like statues looking at one another, and then they made the cliffs echo with horrible yells and imprecations. Their rage was perfectly ungovernable and the boys trembled in fear of the result. Zack’s first move was to demolish the machine, which he did most completely with one kick of his foot, sending the wheels and weights in every direction. Then he and Silas jumped into the wagons, which they proceeded to overhaul most thoroughly. Not the smallest article escaped close examination. Clothes were ripped up, in the hope of finding something hidden away in the seams; the one bed the family possessed was torn open and its contents scattered far and wide; skillets and frying-pans were sounded, as if the hunters expected to find some hidden compartments in them, and then smashed into atoms on the boulders; and in five minutes’ time the emigrant had not a single whole article of furniture, bedding or clothing left. The boys looked on with great indignation, but were powerless to stop the wanton destruction. It would have been dangerous even to remonstrate with the enraged men.
“I say, fellows, just cast your eyes toward Simon,” whispered Archie, suddenly.
The boys looked, and told themselves that some things which they had not been able to understand, were perfectly clear to them now. They had discovered another guilty man, and one whom nobody had suspected. If Simon Cool was not as much interested in finding the treasure as the hunters were, and if he was not as keenly disappointed to learn that the contents of the black trunk which the old man had watched so closely, were an invention of some kind, instead of a million dollars in gold, his face belied him.
“Do you know now how we were disarmed that night?” whispered Archie.
“I believe I do,” replied Fred, “and I shouldn’t wonder if the scamp was about to get himself into trouble. I certainly hope so. See how Zack and Silas scowl at him.”
“If I thought you had fooled us a purpose, Simon, you’d never fool nobody else, I bet you,” said Zack, in savage tones.