CHAPTER XLII.
OVER THE PRECIPICE.
In time the sheriff appeared, but one man--a rough, awkward-lookingfellow--was his only companion.
Long uttered a cry of satisfaction when he saw the boys.
"Well, I have caught you, after all!" he exclaimed. "The boys allowedyou had given me the slip, and they went back."
His hands fell on the butts of ready revolvers, and he ordered them tosurrender without resistance.
"Hold on hyar a bit, Jack," said Big Gabe, stepping between the lads andthe officer. "Let's we hold a little plarver. You know me, I'll allow."
"To be course I do, Gabe, and I am mighty glad to see you alive andwell. You once had the name of being the strongest man in Nevada; butyou didn't look very strong when we brought you up here, two year ago.You'll be up to the old tricks again, before long."
The giant shook his head.
"I reckon not," he said. "Liftin' bolders an' wrastlin' with four men ata time is outer my line ferever, arter this. I'm too lazy, an' besidesthet, I'll allow it wuz a strain I got at that business as brought on myfirst bleedin' spell arter I hed ther grip. I'm purty well, now, but Idon't make no exerbitions uv my strength, burn me ef I do!"
"Wait till you get away from here. Everybody that comes here gets lazy,and stays lazy as longs as they stay here."
At this Big Gabe nodded.
"Thet's sure as preachin'. It's ther derndest place ter make a critterfeel ez if he don't keer a hoot whether school keeps ur not!"
The sheriff had half drawn his revolvers. He now thrust one of them backinto its holster, but motioned for Blake to stand aside.
"I judge you don't know the kind of youngsters these are as I have foundhere," said Long.
"And I judge I do," returned the big man, quietly. "I know all about'em, an' they're all right."
The officer looked surprised.
"How does it happen you know about 'em?" he asked, wonderingly.
"They're old acquaintances uv mine," asserted Gabe, greatly to thesurprise of the lads; "an' they're on the dead level. They came hyar tosee me, sayin' as how they wuz in some trouble down at Carson over somecounterfeit money as they hed got by accident."
Long was scowling and looking disgusted. He listened in silence,motioning for the giant to go on.
"I hev listened ter their story," said Blake, "an' knowin' 'em ez I do,I'll allow it's straight, an' you ain't got no cause whatever ter rope'em, Jack."
"Mebbe you're right," admitted the sheriff, fishing in a pocket anddrawing forth a paper; "but here is a warrant for the arrest of oneFrank Merriwell, and I must serve it. It is sworn out by Ezra Coburn, aleading citizen of Carson."
"Burn Ezra Coburn!" roared Big Gabe, becoming somewhat excited. "Burnhim and double burn him! I tell yer them youngsters is my friends, an'I'm standin' by 'em! You an' I don't want any trouble, Jack."
"No, we don't want any trouble; but, at the same time, I'll have to domy duty," came firmly from the lips of the sheriff.
"By thet yer mean yer'll hev ter arrest Frank Merriwell?"
"Exactly."
"Stiddy, Jack! Don't be too quick ter lay yer paws on ther boys. Youknow me."
"I do, and I do not fancy having trouble with you. At the same time Imust do my duty."
"Wa-al, hold hard a bit. Don't be in a hurry about nabbin' them. I'llgive yer my pledge as how yer kin hev 'em any time. Does thet go?"
The sheriff hesitated a bit, and then said:
"It goes, if you are responsible for 'em, Gabe."
"All right. Boys, this yar is Jack Long, sheriff from Carson, a whiteman clean through. He'll guv yer a squar' deal."
The boys shook hands with the officer, after which the latter said:
"This man with me is Silas Jones, of Michigan, relation to my wife,somehow or other. He is thinking of locating out this way."
Jones grinned all over his bearded face, shook hands in a strong,blundering fashion, and said:
"I swan if this ain't a great country, out here! Beats all natur! But Idon't feel to hum, fer I was raised right in ther middle of the woods,an' there's too much open land out this way. I don't mean right roundhere, you understand; but I've seen more'n forty thousan' miles ofprairie sence comin' out this way, an' it makes me lonesome."
Having expressed himself thus, he sat down on a box and relapsed intosilence, listening to the others and grinning now and then, but seldomspeaking unless addressed.
Big Gabe urged them all to sit down, and they did so. He then directedFrank Merriwell to relate to the sheriff the story of his adventuressince meeting Isa Isban on the train, and the boy was obliged to goover the ground once more.
Bart was impatient, thinking how much time was being wasted; but he heldhimself in check as far as possible.
The dark-eyed boy noticed that Silas Jones listened to Frank's storywith great attentiveness, apparently greatly interested in thenarrative.
When the boy had finished, Blake explained how his sailboat had beenengaged by a pleasure party of four persons, two men, a woman and agirl, and how they had failed to return with it, making it impossiblefor him to pursue the man and the girl who ran off with his canoe.
"Then you saw the man and girl?" asked Long.
"I did that," nodded the giant. "An' I said a few things ter them, butit wuz a case uv wasted breath."
The sheriff seemed to hesitate, doubtfully, and then Frank spoke:
"Mr. Blake believes he knows where the retreat of the counterfeiters is,and he has offered to guide us there."
"How about it?" asked Long, quickly. "Is it right?"
"Wa-al, purty nigh right. I reckon I do know whar they're located, an' Ioffered ter guide ther party ef you brung a good crowd with yer. Youonly brung one man."
"Here are five of us, in all," said Frank. "Two of us may be boys, butit is possible we can fight harder than you imagine."
"If such a thing can be avoided, we do not want to fight at all," saidLong. "We want to take the makers of the queer by surprise and capturethem in a strategic manner."
Silas Jones nodded.
"Either that or send for plenty of officers ter ketch 'em on ther jump,"he said. "Ther United States Secret Service men would be mighty tickledter git such a show."
Long gave Jones a peculiar look.
"The Secret Service men may be mighty glad if they get an opportunity toplay second fiddle in this affair," he said.
Whereat the man from Michigan grinned, but made no further remark.
The sheriff was for taking the boys back to Carson, leaving them incustody, and then seeking the retreat of the counterfeiters.
To this Big Gabe would not agree.
"Give ther youngsters a show," he said. "I hev pledged myself ter standgood fer 'em. Take 'em erlong on ther expedition."
There was considerable discussion over this, and Long finally gave in,although he expressed himself as certain that the boys would prove agreat incumbrance.
Both Frank and Bart resolved to show him his mistake, in case anopportunity was offered.
They made preparations for the trip, which Big Gabe declared would takethe better part of four days, as they would have to pick their waycarefully through the mountains.
The two horses left by the man and girl were brought up and stripped oftheir saddles, packs being substituted.
Big Gabe was almost entirely cleaned out of provisions, but he did notmurmur because of that.
The giant insisted on making the jaunt on foot, saying he did not wishto be incumbered with a horse.
When everything was ready, they started out, Gabe in the lead, carryinghis Winchester at his side.
It did not take the giant long to convince them that he was far from aninvalid. He seemed built of iron, and he was sure footed as a mountaingoat.
Before long they were forced back from the shore of the lake andcompelled to pick their way through a rough and rocky region, whereprogress was exasperatingly slow.
It was midafternoon, whe
n they halted at the beginning of a desperateand dangerous climb amid mighty bowlders, with yawning chasms on everyhand.
Here they opened one of the packs and brought forth provisions enoughfor the party to satisfy their hunger, the food being washed down withwater from a tinkling brook that ran toward the lake.
After they had satisfied their hunger, and allowed the horses to feed,the animals were saddled again, the packs made fast, and once more theystarted onward.
Although Big Gabe had explored the greater part of the rough regionlying around the lake, he had never before attempted to find a road forhorses along the precipices and black ravines.
After eating, they set about the most severe and dangerous part of thejourney yet reached. Up amid the giant bowlders they climbed, at timesworking around some part of the mountain where there would be a barebluff on one hand and a yawning chasm on the other.
The giant guide warned them to look out for the loose bowlders, sayingthat some of them could be sent crashing down the mountain almost by thepressure of a hand.
The dangers from these huge rocks were made apparent before they hadpassed beyond that region.
Frank's horse proved far more skillful in climbing, keeping close to BigGabe's heels, and the others were left at a considerable distance, so itbecame necessary to pause once or twice for them to come up.
A nearly level bit of the mountain had been reached, and they werepausing before the next climb, when a rumbling jar was heard, and a cryof warning broke from the guide.
"Loose bowlder! Look out fer it, boy!"
The others were yet some distance away, so that Frank and Gabe weretogether, the boy being astride his heavily breathing horse.
With each moment the roaring grew louder, till it swelled to jarringthunder, and then past them shot a huge black mass, enveloped in a cloudof dust. This mass leaped down into the black depths of a great chasmthat yawned close at hand.
Frank's horse was frightened and began to plunge. The boy tried to quietthe animal, which was no easy task. In its mad plunging the creaturereached the edge of the chasm. Big Gabe leaped forward with a secondshout of warning, but it came too late.
Horse and rider went over the brink!
Frank Merriwell's Bravery Page 42