The Trail of The Badger: A Story of the Colorado Border Thirty Years Ago

by Anonymous

  CHAPTER XVIII

  THE BIG FLUME

  As the first step in restoring the old Pueblo irrigation system, wemoved camp next morning as arranged. Packing our scanty belongings uponold Fritz, we rode up the ledge, past the site of the proposed flume,and down the mountain a short distance to a point between two of the bigclaw-like spurs, where, two days before, in riding down to speak toGalvez, we had come across a little spring which would furnish waterenough for ourselves and our animals.

  Thence, walking back to the bridge, taking with us, besides our rifles,the two axes and one of our long picket-ropes, Pedro first tied thelatter to the tree on our side, and then, taking the other end in hishand, he walked across and fastened it to the stump on the far side.

  It was now our turn to cross, and very little did either of us relishthe idea. Dick, who had volunteered to go first, took hold of the rope,set one foot on the bridge, and then--he could not resist it--did justwhat he ought not to have done:--looked down. The inevitable consequencewas that he took his foot off again and retreated a few steps.

  "My word, Frank!" said he. "You may laugh if you like, but I'll be shotif I'm going to walk across that place. Crawling's good enough for me."

  So saying, he again approached the bridge, and going down on his handsand knees, crawled carefully over.

  For myself, I found it equally impossible to screw up my courage farenough to attempt the passage on foot. In fact, even crawling seemed toorisky, so I just sat myself astride of the three poles and "humped"myself along with my hands to the other side, where the grinning Pedrogave me a hand to help me to my feet again.

  It was ignominious, perhaps, to be thus outdone by an ignorant,semi-savage Mexican; but, as Dick said, "You may laugh if you like": Iwas not going to break my neck just to prove that I was not afraid--whenI was.

  At that hour in the morning the wolves, I suppose, were all asleep. Atany rate we heard nothing of them. But knowing very well that theymight turn up again at any moment, we wasted no time in starting ourfirst piece of work, namely, preparing a place of refuge against them.

  Choosing a spot on the level near the point where we expected to dig oursaw-pit, we cut a number of good, heavy logs, with which, aftercarefully notching and fitting them, we erected a pen, seven feet highand about ten feet square inside. It was the plainest kind of astructure: merely four walls, without even a doorway; but as it was notchinked it would be a simple matter for us to clamber up and get inside;whereas, for a wolf to do the same--with safety--would be far fromsimple with us waiting in there to crack him on the head with an ax assoon as he showed it above the top log.

  It may be that we were unnecessarily cautious in providing this refuge.If the wolves should molest us--a contingency pretty sure to occur sometime or other--it was probable that we should hear them coming in timeto retreat by the bridge, which was not more than a hundred yardsdistant. But on the other hand, if they should not give us timely noticeof their approach, it might be very awkward, not to say dangerous--forDick and me, at least.

  "For Pedro it might be all right," was my partner's comment, "but forus--no, thank you. I have no desire to be hustled across that bridge ina hurry. Just imagine how it would paralyze you to try to crawl acrossthose poles, knowing that there was a wolf standing at the far endtrying to make up his mind to follow you. No, thank you; not for me.We'll have a refuge here on 'dry land.'"

  It was a long day's work, the building of this pen, for we were carefulto make it strong and solid; indeed, we had not yet quite finished it,when, about four in the afternoon, we heard the first faint whimperingsof the wolves, a long way off somewhere. So, fearing they might comedown upon us before we were quite ready for them, we postponed thecompletion of the job until the morrow, and re-crossing the bridge inthe same order and the same manner as before, we went back to camp,where we spent the remaining hours of daylight in making thingscomfortable for a lengthened stay.

  To this end we built a little three-sided shelter of logs about fourfeet high, the side to the east, facing down the mountain, being leftopen. This we roofed with a wagon-sheet we had brought with us in placeof a tent, dug a trench all round it to drain off the rain-water,covered the floor with a thick mat of pine-boughs, and there we were,prepared for a residence of six months or more, if necessary.

  "Now, Frank," said my partner, as we sat by the fire that evening, "wehave about got to a point where we have to have tools. One of us has gotto go to Mosby to get them, while the other stays here with Pedro. Thequestion is, which shall go. Take your choice. I'll stay or go, just asyou like."

  "Then I think you had better go, Dick," I replied. "You know better thanI do what tools we shall need; you are far more handy at packing a mulethan I am; and besides all that, it will give you an opportunity to seethe professor."

  "Thanks, old chap," said Dick, heartily. "That is a consideration. Yes,I shall be glad to go, if you don't mind staying here with Pedro."

  "Not a bit," I replied. "He's an interesting companion; and if oneneeded a protector it would be hard to find a better one. No; I'll stay.I don't at all mind it."

  "Very well," said Dick. "Then I think I'll dig out the first thing inthe morning. It will take me, I expect, about six days: two days eachway and perhaps two days in Mosby. It depends on whether I can get thetools there that I want."

  "I should think you could," said I, "unless it is the big rip-saw."

  "I don't think there'll be any trouble about that," replied my partner."Before the saw-mill came in, two or three of the mines used to cuttheir own big timbers by hand, and I've no doubt the old saws are lyingaround somewhere still. If they are, I'm pretty sure I can get one fornext-to-nothing, for, of course, they are never used now."

  "There's one thing, Dick," said I, after a thoughtful pause, "whichmakes me feel a little doubtful about your going alone, and that is lestGalvez should interfere with you. If he caught sight of you, eithergoing or returning, he might make trouble."

  "He might," replied Dick. "Though I don't much think he is likely totrouble you or me. Anyhow, when I leave to-morrow, you can take theglass and just keep watch on the village for an hour or so to see thathe doesn't make any attempt to cut me off. If he should, you can raise abig smoke here to warn me and ride down to help."

  "All right. I will. But how about when you come back?"

  "Why, I'll arrange to leave The Foolscap, as we did before, at fouro'clock in the morning, which would bring me about half way across thevalley by sunrise. On the sixth morning, and every morning after till Iturn up, you can take the field-glass and look out for me. From thiselevation you would be able to see me long before Galvez could, and thenyou might ride down to meet me."

  "That's a good idea. Yes; I'll do that."

  Our camp was so placed that we could not only see the whole stretch ofthe valley between us and The Foolscap, but also the village and thecountry beyond it for many miles, and for about two hours after Dick'sdeparture I sat there with the glass in my hand watching his retreatingfigure, and more especially watching the village. For, though in realityI had little fear that Galvez would attempt to play any tricks on him,particularly after Dick's exhibition of rifle-shooting, I was not goingto take any avoidable chances.

  At the end of that time, however, I rose up, put away the glass, and incompany with Pedro went over to the other side of the canon, where wefirst finished up the building of the pen, and then, picking out a big,straight tree suitable for a stringer, I went to work upon it, trimmingoff the branches, while Pedro with the shovel began the task of diggingout the saw-pit.

  That evening, and each succeeding evening, just before the sun set, westopped work and retreated across the bridge in order to avoid anytrouble with the wolves, which, as a rule, did not come out in forceuntil about that hour. Once only during the time that Pedro and I wereat work there by ourselves did any of them venture on an attack. It wasa pack of about a dozen which came down on us one evening just beforequitting-time, but as we heard them coming, we r
etired into the pen,whence I shot one of them before they had found out where we were;whereupon the rest bolted.

  I think the survivors of the fight in Wolf Arroyo--as we had named theravine where we had had our battle--must have imparted to all the othersthe intelligence that we were dangerous creatures to deal with, for thewolves in general were certainly much less venturesome than they hadbeen that first day. At night, though, they came out in droves, andcontinuous were the howlings, especially when the wind was south andthey could smell us and our animals only a hundred yards away on theother side of the canon.

  At sunrise on the sixth day, and again on the seventh, I searched thevalley with the glass to see if Dick was within sight, but it was notuntil the morning of the eighth day that I saw him and old Fritz comingalong, not more than five miles away. He must have made a very earlystart.

  Jumping on my pony, I rode to meet him, while Pedro remained behind towatch the village.

  I was very glad to see my partner safely back again, and especiallypleased to hear the news he brought.

  The professor, he told me, was delighted with the turn of events whichbade fair to provide Dick with a settled occupation, and one so wellsuited to his tastes and training; while as to Uncle Tom, Dick hadwritten to him an account of the present condition of the King Philipmine, and had given him a full description of the undertaking upon whichwe proposed to enter. In reply, my genial guardian had sent to me acharacteristic telegram, delivered the very morning Dick left Mosby. Itread thus:

  "Go ahead. Money when wanted. How about book-learning now?"

  "How's that, Dick?" said I, handing it over to my companion to read.

  Dick laughed. "You made a pretty good guess, didn't you?" he replied.

  It was a matter of intense satisfaction to both of us to find ourguardians so heartily in favor of the prosecution of our design, and itwas with high spirits and a firm determination to "do or die" that wecarried over the bridge the assortment of tools with which old Fritz wasladen, and that very afternoon went systematically to work.

  It was not until we really went about it in earnest that we fullyrealized the magnitude of the task we had set ourselves when weundertook to build that flume. We were determined that if we did it atall we would do it thoroughly well, and in consequence the timbers weselected for the stringers were of such size and weight that we shouldhave been beaten at the word "go" if we had not had for an assistant aman like Pedro, who combined in his own person the strength of fiveordinary men. It was a pleasure to see him when he put forth all hispowers. Give him a lever, and let him take his own time, and the mostobstinate log was made to travel sulkily down hill when Pedro took it inhand.

  After measuring with particular accuracy the space between the socketson either side of the gorge, we sawed off one big timber to the rightlength, and getting it into position over the saw-pit we squared its twoends and then sawed it flat on one side, leaving the other sidesuntouched.

  I had always understood that working in a saw-pit was a disagreeablejob, but not till I had practical experience of it did I discover howcorrect my understanding had been. I discovered also why the expression,"top sawyer," was meant to indicate an enviable position.

  It fell to Pedro to be top sawyer, for the harder part of the work isthe continuous lifting of the saw; but for all that, the man below hasthe worst of it, for if he looks up he gets a stream of sawdust into hiseyes, and if he looks down he gets it in the back of his neck. There isno escape, as Dick and I found--for we took it in turns to go below andpull at the saw-handle.

  However, we were not going to shirk the task just because it happened tobe unpleasant, and being fairly in for it, we made the best of it.

  Our first big timber being at length prepared, we got it down to theedge of the canon, and then were ready for the next move--the mostimportant move of all--getting it across the gorge. This could not bedone by main strength, as had been the case with our bridge-timbers, forthis stick, twenty-nine feet long and sixteen inches square, thoughpretty well seasoned, was an immense weight.

  But what could not be done by force might be accomplished bycontrivance. The most bulky part of old Fritz's load had been composedof ropes and pulley-blocks, and it was with these that we intended tocoax our big stick across the gap.

  Going over to the other side, we set up a framework of stout poles--aderrick, we called it--to the top of which we attached a big pulley.Threading a strong rope through this pulley, we carried it back andfastened it to a windlass which Dick built; he having seen dozens ofthem at work among the mines, having observed, fortunately, how theywere made, and being himself a very handy fellow with tools. Thewindlass was securely anchored to two trees, when, the other end of therope having been carried over and tied to our big log, we were ready totry the experiment of placing it athwart the chasm.

  With this object, Dick and Pedro turned the windlass, while I, crossingthe bridge once more, pried the log forward from behind. It was a slowand laborious operation, but inch by inch the great log went grating andgrinding forward, until at length its end overlapped the further edge ofthe gorge. Soon, with a sullen thump, my end fell into its socket, whenDick lowered his end into the socket opposite, and our first bigstringer was successfully laid.

  It was a good start and greatly heartened us up to tackle the rest ofthe work.

  Our second big stringer we prepared and laid in the same manner--flatside up--and then came the most ticklish job of all--the placing of thetwo supports beneath each stringer. Without Pedro, with his steadynerves and his cat-like agility, we could not have done it.

  Tying a rope to the stringer, Pedro descended the face of the cliff andset the butt-end of the supporting beam in its socket--the other endbeing temporarily tied in place--repeating the same process on the otherside. These beams we had measured and prepared with great care, so thatwhen their bases were set, the beveled smaller ends, by persistentpounding, could be tightly jammed into the notch previously cut fortheir reception in the under side of the big stringer. It was a goodpiece of work, and very thankful I was when it was safely accomplished;for though to one with a clear head it might not be very dangerous, itlooked so, and I was, as I say, greatly relieved when it was done.

  It might seem that we made these stringers unnecessarily strong, andperhaps we did. But we intended to be on the safe side if we could. Ourflume was designed to be eight feet wide and five feet deep, and thoughthe pitch was considerable and the water in consequence would run fast,if it should by chance ever fill to the top there would be by ourcalculation thirty-three or thirty-four tons of water in it.

  Having now our foundation laid, the rest of the work was plain,straightforward building, in which there was no special mechanicaldifficulty. One part of our task, however--the sawing of the lumber--wesoon found to be so slow that we decided, if we could get them, toprocure the assistance of two or three Mexicans from Hermanos, and withthat object in view we sought an interview with our friend, JoseSantanna.

  To do this we supposed we should have to go down to Hermanos, but onconsulting Pedro, we found that there was another and a much easierway.

  I had often wondered if Pedro, during all the years he had lived on themountain, had subsisted exclusively on meat, or whether he had somemeans of obtaining other supplies, and now I found out. I found that hehad a regular system of exchange with the villagers, by which he tradeddeer-meat and bear-meat for other provisions, and that by an arrangedcode of signals, familiar to everybody in the village, with the singleexception of Galvez himself, he was accustomed to let it be known whenhe desired to communicate with the inhabitants.

  Accordingly, Pedro that day at noon went down to a certain spot on oneof the spurs, and there built a fire, and piling on it a number of greenboughs he soon had a column of smoke rising skyward. This was thesignal, and that same evening he and we two boys, going down to the samespot, sat down there and waited, until about an hour after dark, weheard the sound of a horse's hoofs, and presently a man rode into sight
.It proved to be Santanna himself, much to our satisfaction.

  He, as soon as he learned what we wanted, engaged to send us up threestout young Mexicans, an engagement he duly fulfilled--to the rage andbewilderment of Galvez, as we afterward heard, who could not for thelife of him make out what had become of them.

  With this accession of strength we needed a second saw, and Dick wentoff to Mosby to get one. In a few days he returned with two saws insteadof one, and with a load of dried apples, sugar and coffee with which tofeed our hungry Mexicans. Flour--of a kind--we could get from thevillage, and deer-meat, though poor and tough at that season of theyear, we could always procure.

  Dick also brought back with him that commodity so necessary in allbusiness undertakings--some money. The professor had insisted onadvancing him some, while Uncle Tom had enclosed fifty dollars in aregistered letter to me.

  Thus armed, we procured two more Mexicans, and setting Pedro and hisfive compatriots to work with the three saws, while Dick and I did thecarpenter work, we very soon began to make a showing.

  As it was obviously too dangerous to attempt to work on the barestringers, we first laid a solid temporary floor of three-inch planks,and having then a good platform we could proceed in safety to set ourbig cross-pieces--upon which the permanent floor was afterward laid--andto go ahead with the rest of the building.

  There being no stint of timber, we could afford to make our flumeimmensely strong--and we did. The framework was composed mostly often-by-ten pieces, while the planks for the floor and sides were threeinches thick. The wings at each end of the flume were extended up streamand down stream eight feet in either direction; and to prevent the waterfrom getting around these ends we built rough stone walls on the edge ofthe gorge and filled in the spaces with well-tamped clay, of which wewere fortunate enough to find a great supply close at hand.

  I do not intend to go into all the many details of the work, or torelate our mistakes or the accidents--all of them slight,fortunately--which now and then befell us. There was one little item ofconstruction, however, which seemed to me so ingenious and withal sosimple and so effective that I think it is worth special mention.

  When we came to lay our floor and build the sides, the question ofleakage cropped up, when Dick suggested a plan which he said he hadheard of as being adopted by sheepmen on the plains in buildingdipping-troughs.

  Each three-inch plank, before being spiked in place, was set up on edge,and along the middle of its whole length we hammered a dent about halfan inch wide and half an inch deep. Then, taking the jack-plane, weplaned off the projecting edges to the same level. The consequence wasthat when the plank became water-soaked, this dented line swelled up andcompletely closed any crack between itself and the plank above or besideit. It was an ingenious trick, and proved so successful that it was wellworth the time and trouble it took.

  In fact, by the expenditure of time and trouble, in addition to a verymodest sum of money, we did at length put together a flume which, Ithink I may say, was a very creditable piece of work. It was strenuousand unceasing labor, and at first it was pretty hard on me, but as mymuscles became used to the strain I enjoyed it more and more, especiallyas every evening showed a forward step--a small one, perhaps, but stilla forward step--toward the accomplishment of our object.

  Week after week we kept at it, steadily and perseveringly pegging away,and at last, one day near the end of July, summoning our six Mexicans towitness the ceremony, Dick and I, in alternate "licks" drove the lastspike, and the flume was finished!