by G. A. Henty
"Yes, we will stick to the line they have traveled as shown in the map,but if we miss it, it is no great odds; we know where we have got to goto, and we can find our way there, I guess, anyhow. Still, their linemay be the best. They may have had some redskin as their guide, who knewthe country, and took them the best way. Anyhow, we can't do better thantry and follow it."
Chapter VIII.--The Golden Valley.
It was nearly a month later that the gold-seekers arrived at a point duesouth of the three peaks. The journey had been a toilsome one. At timesthey made their way through deep gorges. At others they had to climbrocky hills, where the horses could scarce obtain a foothold. One oftheir pack ponies had been lost, having slipped and fallen over aprecipice many hundreds of feet deep, and they had lost a day making along detour to reach the spot where he fell, in order to recover thearticles he had carried. For the first half of the distance they had,they believed, followed the track marked on the map, but they then foundthemselves at the head of a deep valley from which they could discoverno egress, and it was therefore clear that they must have misunderstoodthe marks and have taken a wrong turning somewhere.
From this time they had put aside the map, and made their way as nearlyeast as the inequalities of the ground permitted. They had nodifficulties as to forage for their horses. In many of the valleys therewas an abundance of coarse grass, and among the rocks the aloe andcactus grew thickly, and when, as was sometimes the case, no water wasto be found, they peeled the thorny skin from the thick juicy leaves andgave the pulp to the animals.
For themselves they shot three bears and several small mountain deer.There was little fear of the sound of their rifles being heard in thesemountain gorges, and should the report have reached the ear of an Indianhe would have supposed that it was the gun of some red hunters. Therewere indeed only two villages marked on the map anywhere near the linethey were following, as the great bulk of the Indians lived on theslopes of the hills on either side of the Gila, whence they could maketheir raids into Mexico to the south or to New Mexico to the east.
Here among the mountains they could subsist on the proceeds of the chaseand the little plantations tended by the women, but this offered smallattractions to the restless and warlike Indians, who preferred dependingupon the plunder that they could always gather by a raid upon thedefenseless Mexican villages. Thus during the whole journey they had notonce caught sight of an Indian, though they had two or three times madeout, with the aid of a telescope Tom had brought with him, littleclusters of wigwams far away among the hills.
"There will be more danger when we get near the place," 'Zekel said oneevening when they were talking it over. "The redskins know well enoughthat it is gold the whites who come into their mountains are in searchof, and I guess they know every place where it is to be found. A redskinalways has his eyes open. A broken branch, a stone newly rolled down ona path, the ashes of a fire, the slightest thing that is new, he is sureto notice, and the glitter of gold, whether in a stream or in a vein,would be certain to catch his eye, and if this place is specially richthey are safe to know of it, and would keep some sort of watch to seethat it is not found out by the whites."
"That is so," Dave agreed; "of course we don't know how the party thatMexican got the map from got wiped out. It may have been on their wayback, but it is more likely it was at the mine itself, and we may findsigns of them when we get there. I hope they had been at work some timebefore they were attacked; if so we may like enough find a store of goldwithout the trouble of working for it. It is no use to the redskins.They don't do any trade with the whites, and they don't wear goldornaments. They are wise enough to know that if they were to show muchgold about them it would make the whites more eager than ever to come inamong their mountains in search of it, so if the Mexican party gatheredsome up afore they went under, like enough we shall find it."
It was with deep satisfaction that they at last caught sight of themountain with three sharp peaks, but it was four days after they firstsaw it that they reached a point due south of it. They were now in awide valley running east and west; to the south a wall of rock rose in aseemingly unbroken line. On the northern side of the valley the hillssloped away, rising one above another, with the peaks of the Sistersvisible above them all.
They had left their animals in charge of Boston Joe, in a clump of treesfour miles back, as the miners were of opinion that some Indian villagemight lie somewhere in the neighborhood, and that it would be safer tomake their way on foot. One of the many branches of the Gila ran alongthe center of the valley, but except in deep pools it was now dry.
"Now we must keep a sharp lookout for marks on the hills," Dave said;"we know we are about right as to the line, but we may have to go two orthree miles north or as much south before we get a mark just bearing onthat middle peak. Stop," he broke off suddenly; "look up there justbeyond the shoulder of that hill; there are some wigwams, sure enough."
Tom brought his telescope to bear.
"Yes, there are about twenty of them, but they never can see us at thisdistance."
"Don't you make any mistake, young fellow; there aint no saying what anIndian can see and what he can't see. I reckon their eyes is as good asthat glass of yours, and I would not guarantee they could not see arabbit run at this distance. There, get among those rocks at the foot ofthe cliff; we will make our way along them, hiding as much as we can. Isuppose those are horses away there on the hillside to the right of thevillage; they can't be nothing else."
"Yes, they are horses, Dave."
For another half hour they made their way among the rocks, and then Dickexclaimed suddenly:
"Look, Dave, there is a tree standing by itself at the top of that hill.I believe in another fifty yards it will just be on the line of thepeaks."
"I think you are right, Dick, and we have hit the very point at thefirst try; if it is right, there must be a break in this wall above us."
Chapter IX.--The Tree On The Peak.
They hastened on now with their eyes fixed on the tree. A minute lateran exclamation broke from Dave, who was ahead, and the others on joininghim saw that the great wall of rock had been split as if by anearthquake. The opening was not more than ten yards wide, and on lookingup a narrow line of sky appeared between the walls of rock. Looking theother way, they saw that the tree on the hill bore exactly on the middlepeak, the Indian village lying just in the same line halfway up thehill.
"Here is the place, sure enough," Dave said; "there can't be no mistakeabout it; it is just as the map made it, the tree on the middle peak andthe line from them going right into this Canyon. Look, boys, there is astream comes down here in the wet season, and runs into the one in themiddle of the valley. See, I can make out gold sparkling in the sand;that is how it was the place was found; they were prospecting along thevalley, and they came upon gold, and traced it up to the mouth of thisCanyon."
"Shall we go in now, Dave?" Dick asked excitedly, for they were stillstanding among the rocks, which broke off abruptly opposite the mouth ofthe Canyon, those in front of it evidently having been swept away by thetorrents flowing down it.
"No, don't go a step forward, Dick. Don't let us risk nothing by showingourselves now. We will make our way back as we came to Boston, and bringup the horses after dark. We have not got a chance to throw away, I cantell you."
At night they returned with the horses; two blankets had been cut up,and the feet of the animals muffled.
"If one of them redskins was to come upon our track and saw the print ofa horseshoe, it would be all up with us," Zeke said; "we had best do thesame ourselves; the heel of boot would be as ugly a mark as a horseshoe.We must keep well along at the edge of these fallen rocks. Like enoughthey come down here to fetch water up to their village, and the furtherwe keep away from the stream the better."
The moon was half full, which was fortunate, as they would otherwisehave had great difficulty in finding the narrow gap in the cliff. Itslight, too, enabled them to avoid rocks that had roll
ed out farther thanthe rest; once inside the gorge it was pitch-dark, and they had to feeltheir way along.
In about a hundred yards it began to widen, and they soon foundthemselves in a narrow valley with perpendicular sides, which seemed towiden farther up. The horses, were at once unloaded.
"Now do you lie down," Dave said. "I will keep watch at the mouth. Idon't think there is any danger; still, we may as well begin as we shallhave to go on."
"Well, call me up in a couple of hours, then," Zeke said; "it will beginto get light in about four, and as soon as it does we will cover up thetracks."
With the first dawn of light the three miners, taking their blankets,went down to the mouth of the Canyon. The boys accompanied them to watchtheir operations. It was only in the sand and gravel swept down by thefloods from the gorge that any footmarks could be seen; these were firstleveled, and then with the blankets the surface of the sand wascarefully swept so as to erase all signs of disturbance. Before the sunwas up the operation was completed, twenty or thirty yards up the Canyon.
"That is enough for the present," Dave said; "we are safe from anyonepassing. Now, let us have a look round up above."
"They must have been awful careless if they were surprised in here,"Zeke said; "half a dozen men ought to hold this place against a hulltribe of redskins."
"That is so," Boston Joe agreed, "but the greasers are mighty badwatchmen, and no doubt they thought they were safe in here. That Indianvillage could not have been over on the hill opposite then, or it wouldhave been put down on the map."
"Like enough they had been followed," Dave said. "If a redskin hadcaught sight of them, he might have followed on their trail for weeks,till he found where they were going, and then made off to bring histribe down on them. It may be that one has been hanging behind us justin the same way."
"It is a very unpleasant idea," Tom said.
"The redskins' ways aint pleasant," Dave said. "Well, let us be movingup. The first thing we have got to look for aint gold. There is no doubtabout that being here somewhere. What we have got to look for is ifthere is any way out of this hole, because it is a regular trap, and ifwe were caught here we might hold the gorge for a long time, but theywould have us at last certain; besides, they could shoot us down fromthe top."
They proceeded a few hundred yards up the valley, and then stoppedsuddenly on a cleared space of ground. In the center lay a score ofskeletons, some separately, some in groups of twos and threes. Theremnants of the rags that still hung on them showed that they had beenMexicans. The two lads felt a thrill of horror at this proof of the fatethat had befallen their predecessors.
"Wall," Zeke exclaimed, "that was something like a surprise; there aintno sign they made a fight of it; they were just caught in their sleep,and never even gathered, for resistance. Well, well, what fools men areto be sure. I shouldn't have believed as even Mexicans would have beensuch fools as to sleep here without putting a guard at the entrance. Ireckon the redskins must have come down from above somewhere, and socaught them unawares. Well, let us be moving on."
Chapter X.--Watched.
A little higher up the valley narrowed again, the sides came closer andcloser, until they closed in abruptly in a rounded precipice, down whichin the wet season it was evident that a waterfall leaped from a heightabove.
"They didn't come down here," Dave said. "If it were anywhere it wasnear where the attack was made; the sides slope away a bit there. Nowkeep your eyes skinned, and see if you can make out any place where aman might climb up or down. Our lives may depend on it."
Just as they reached the old encampment Dick said, "Look, Dave, there isa ledge running up behind that bush; it seems to me that it joinsanother ledge halfway up. Tom and I are accustomed to climbing; we willgo up a bit and see if it goes anywhere."
The two lads stopped as they got behind the bush.
"It looks like a path here, Dave; it has certainly been trodden."
The miners came to the spot.
"You are right," Dave said; "it is a path, sure enough. Animals of somesort come up and down--bears, I should say; maybe goats, and lots ofthem, like enough; it is the only way they can get down from the topinto the valley, and they come down to drink."
The ridge was wider than it looked, being, where it started, fully twofeet across. The boys at once set off up it; as Dick had supposed, itmet another ledge running along halfway up the face of the hill. Frombelow this ledge seemed a mere line, but it was really two feet wide inmost places, and even at the narrowest was not less than a foot. Twohundred yards along, another ascent was met with, and after half anhour's climbing they found themselves on a level plateau, from whichthey could see across to the three peaks. The path was everywhere wornsmooth, showing that it had been used for ages by animals of some kind.
"One would almost think it had been cut by hand," Dick said; "who wouldhave thought from below that there was such a way as this out of thevalley? The best of it is, that it is good enough for the horses to getup as well as us. Well, thank goodness, we have found a back door tothat place. It was not a pleasant idea that we might be shut up therewith the option of being either shot or starved."
"They would take some time to starve us, Dick; nine horses would last usfor a long time."
"Yes, but it would come sooner or later, Tom. Anyhow, I shall feel agreat deal more comfortable now I know that there is a way out."
"But the Indians know of it too, Dick, if, as Dave thinks, they camedown this way to attack the Mexicans."
"Yes, that is not such a comfortable idea."
"Well, lads, what do you make of it?" Dave shouted to them as theyapproached the bottom.
"We have been right up to the top; the ponies could go anywhere. It isnarrow in places, but we have passed many worse on the way; the cliffsnever close up, so even at the worst places there is room for them toget along with their loads."
"What is it like at the top?"
"Level ground along to the drop of the cliffs, hills behind it to thesouth."
"Well, it is a comfort there is a way down into the valley. Anyhow,since you have been gone, we have been fossicking about, and there is nodoubt about the gold; it is the richest place any of us have ever seed."
"Have you found water, Dave?"
"No, that is the one thing bad, we shall have to go out to fetch water,but maybe if we dig in the center of the channel we shall find it. Thebest place to try will be at the end, right under where the waterfallcomes down in winter. There is most always a deep hole in the rockthere, where the water and stones and so on have come down and poundedaway the bed rock. We found where the gold comes from too. There is abig quartz vein running right up the face of the cliff there; it is justfull of gold. You can see it sparkle everywhere. Some day, when theIndians is all wiped out, fellows will bring machinery and powder, andwill have one of the richest mines in the world. However, that don'tconcern us. I reckon there is enough in this gravel under our feet tomake a hundred men rich. Now, Boston, what do you think is the bestthing to do first?"
"See if we can get water, Dave. If we were shut up here without waterthey would have us in twelve hours, so we have got to get enough forourselves and the horses to drink if we can, even if we have to fetch upwhat we want for the gravel. When we have got water, the next job willbe to make a cradle; there are plenty of trees here, and we have got ourhatchets, and we have brought the zinc screens, so we have goteverything we want. I don't say we mightn't pick up a lot in nuggets.Still, I have got a dozen already, making, I should say, over an ouncebetween them. Still, the others is the real thing to depend on."
"And there is another thing, Dave," Zeke put in; "we must have a watch.We had intended that, but we thought we should have only one place towatch; now we have found this track up the hill we have two."
"That is so, Dave, though it is pretty hard on us having two out of fiveidle. Still, we have got a lesson there," Boston said, pointing to thespot where they had found the skeletons.
"Aye,
aye, it has got to be done," Dave said. "Well, lads, will you takethe watch to-day, one above and one at the mouth, and we will set towork at the water hole?"
"We will toss up which goes up the hill again, Dick. You spin. Heads;tails it is."
"Then I will choose the mouth here. You go up to the mouth's head."
"Don't you be walking about when you get to the top," Dave said. "Findsome place where you can get a clear view all round, and then lie down.Choose a bit of shade, if you can find it. When we knock off work andhave had a bit of grub, I will come up and take your place."
It was just getting dusk when Dave came up and relieved Dick.
"Are you going to stay here all night, Dick?"
"Yes, we have agreed I shall keep watch here to-night, Boston to-morrownight, and then I go on again. Zeke will take the watch below regular;he sleeps like a dog, and the least noise in the world will wake him, sohe will do very well. Can you make out the Indian village across therefrom here?"
"Yes, quite plainly."
"You have not been using your glass, I hope," Dave said in alarm.
"No, I forgot to bring it up with me. But why shouldn't I?"
"Because if the sun were to flash on the glass or brasswork, it would besartin to catch the eye of someone in the village, and if it did you maybe sure they would send up to see what it was. Still, if you can makeout the village, it will save us the need for keeping watch in thedaytime down below. It is from there we have got to expect an attack themost, and if you saw them moving out strong, you could shout down to usand we should be ready for them. At night, in course, we must watch bothplaces, for there may be, for anything we know, a big village half amile from here, and the attack might come from one way or the other. Iexpect you would rather work than watch, Dick; so you had better arrangeto change places with Tom in the middle of the day, then you can eachwork half a day. You will find that plenty, I warrant."