CHAPTER XXIV.
ALECK COMES INTO HIS OWN AT LAST.
"Do you think we're close enough, Thad?" whispered Aleck, as they bentforward, and strained their eyes to make out the dim gaunt figure thatblocked all further progress, and which they knew full well must bethat mother wolf.
"Yes," answered the other, in the same cautious tone; "if we went anyfurther on, I'm afraid the beast would fly at us; and in that case youknow, we'd have a harder time taking aim."
Thad had managed to set the lantern down on a level place, where, hehoped it would stand little danger of being knocked over, in case therewas anything in the nature of a fight between themselves and the wolf.
This allowed him the free use of both his arms, which of course wasthe main idea he had in view, when getting rid of the lantern.
Of course Thad had never had any experience in thus entering the den ofa wolf with young ones. All he knew about it he had heard from the lipsof others, or possibly read. Somehow, just then it flashed through hismind how history told of Israel Putnam, afterwards a celebrated generalin the Continental Army, crawling into a wolf's den as a youth, andfetching the animal out, after a severe fight; but so far as Thad couldremember, that was not a mother wolf; and Israel had an easy timecompared to what it might have been under different conditions.
Well, there was their intended quarry; and with two guns to depend on,surely they ought to make quick work of the beast. The only difficultyabout it was the treacherous light, for the lantern flickered in thedraught; though until that critical moment Thad had paid no attentionto this fact.
"Have you a bead on her head, Aleck?" he whispered; at the same timehimself drawing his gun up to his shoulder and glancing along thedouble barrel; for Thad was of course carrying his Marlin with him atthe time.
"Yes," came the answer.
"I'm going to count, slowly and evenly. When I say three, let go,Aleck!"
"I understand, Thad."
"All right. Hope we get her, sure. I'd hate to be bitten, or clawed bysuch a mad creature. Here goes, Aleck! One!"
"Yes."
"Two!"
A second passed, and then came the word:
"Three!"
It was drowned in a tremendous, deafening crash, as both guns weredischarged so closely together that it made one report.
Thad of course had a second barrel to hold in reserve. He had more orless difficulty in seeing through the thin curtain of powder smoke thatfollowed the double discharge; but at least no sprawling figure cameflying at them, with snapping jaws that were eager to rend and tear.
"She's done for, Thad!" exclaimed Aleck, joyfully, as they heard acommotion beyond, and could see something moving with short jerks,like an animal kicking its last.
"Wait--hold on till I pick up the lantern; she may only be wounded,and get you, if you don't look out. Besides, those cubs are partlygrown, and may be big enough to show fight."
Thad thus held his comrade back for a brief time until he could snatchup the light, and take his place in the van, which was really what hewanted to do.
As they approached the spot where a dark bundle lay, they could stillsee something of a movement.
"She isn't dead yet, I'm afraid, Thad," cried Aleck, who had asingle-shot rifle, and was therefore without further means of defenceuntil he could find time to slip another cartridge into the chamber.
"Oh! I guess so," answered Thad; "what you see moving must be thewhelps. Yes, I can see one right now, and he's a savage looking littlebeast on my word. We'll have to knock him on the head, Aleck. Wolvesmust be killed wherever they are found. Nobody ever spares them, TobySmathers says. They're of no use at all, and do a great amount of harm,killing game and sheep, and even weak cattle in the winter season."
Aleck soon dispatched the growling cub with the stock of his gun, andthen looked around for more.
"Do you expect that this was the only whelp?" he asked.
"Well, no, but the other must have escaped, somehow," replied Thad."It doesn't matter to us, though, for the little beast will perish,without a mother to supply it food."
But although Thad never dreamed that such a small thing could have anybearing on their fortunes, it proved to be a fact, as would be shownbefore a great while.
"Shall we go on, now?" asked Aleck, after they had looked down on thebig lean wolf that would never again hunt game in the passes andvalleys of the Rockies; "I'm anxious to see what lies beyond, youknow, Thad."
"Well, I don't blame you a bit, either, Aleck; in fact, to tell thehonest truth, I'm feeling somewhat that way myself, even if I haven'tgot the interest you have in the matter. So let's go right along. Haveyou loaded up again?"
"I'm just finishing now, Thad," came the reply.
Accordingly, the forward progress was resumed. Thad saw that they wererapidly drawing near what would likely prove to be a chamber of somesize; and he anticipated that whatever was to be found would greetthem here.
Just as he expected, a couple of minutes later they passed out fromthe tunnel which was a continuation of the fissure they had entered,and found themselves in a vaulted chamber. It was of some height, forthe dim light of the lantern just reached the roof.
"Oh! what a strange place!" exclaimed Aleck, looking around withsomething like awe; "and to think that this was that my father sawthat time. Do you expect this can be the silver lode, Thad?" and hepointed to the wall, where a broad streak of darkish ore cropped out.
Thad was no miner, but he had been interested in geology at school,and knew a little about the appearance of precious metals in theirnatural state.
"I don't doubt it one little bit, Aleck," he said, with a quiver tohis voice. "And see here, you can tell that some one has pounded offpieces of the ore; why, I can even note where the hammer struck; andon the ground small bits still lie, just as they fell years ago, whenyour father found his way in here, and made this grand discovery.Shake hands, Aleck! I want to be the first to congratulate you onfinding the hidden mine again. You're a lucky boy, let me tell you.I'm glad for your sake, Aleck; and for that dear little mother who isthinking of you right now, no doubt."
"Thank you, Thad," replied the other, with a break in his voice,although it was joy that almost overcame him. "And what do I not oweto you, and the chums of the Silver Fox Patrol? For if you hadn't cometo my rescue, when that scoundrel of a Kracker had me caged on thathorrible little shelf of rock up the cliff, like as not I'd be therestill, and ready to tell all to save my life."
"I don't believe that!" cried the scoutmaster, quickly. "I've seenenough of you to know you'd have died before you gave him whatbelonged only to your mother. And the chances are, you'd have foundsome way of getting down from there, when it came to the worst."
"Yes, fallen down, most likely, when they had made me so weak Icouldn't look over without getting dizzy. But Thad, let's forget allthat now, and look around here. How it thrills me just to think thatdad found this mine so long ago, and that during these years it'sremained hidden from all men; just as if something might be holdingit back until I grew old enough to come up here with that chart, todiscover it again. Why, I can almost believe that _he_ is here rightnow, and smiling his approval on my work; for he was a good dad, Itell you."
They prowled around for a long time, examining the walls of thechamber, and following up the wide lode of rich ore, until Thad,inexperienced as he was, could estimate that it must prove to be avery valuable mine, once placed in working condition.
"Here, let's both of us fill our pockets with specimens of the ore,"the patrol leader remarked, when they began to think of once moreseeking the exit, so strangely hidden from the eyes of any possiblepasser by; "like as not you'll want them, to convince some capitalistthat you've got the goods, when making arrangements to sell a part ofthe mine, so as to get the money to work with."
"Yes, that sounds sensible," declared Aleck. "Dad did the same; and ifhe hadn't those specimens, nobody would ever have believed that he'dfound anything worth while. And now, do
we start back to the fissurein the cliff, Thad?"
"Might as well;" replied the other. "And while we're about it, let'sdrag out the dead wolves, so as to throw them in some hole where theywon't bother any more."
"I wonder if that other cub came back; I'd better make ready to knockit on the head, for it would die anyway, without a mother."
Aleck's voice had a catch in it as he said this, and Thad understood;the boy was thinking of his own mother, and how her prayers for hissafety must have been the means of raising up for him such staunchfriends as the scouts of the Silver Fox Patrol.
But when they came to the place where the animals lay they saw nothingof the other partly grown wolf. So Thad, having his gun and thelantern to manage, took charge of the offspring, while Aleck tugged atthe big she wolf; and in this fashion they drew near the exit.
"Sh!"
It was Thad who uttered this low hiss of warning. His action wasprompt in addition, for raising the lantern, he gave one sturdy puff,causing the flame to vanish.
Utter darkness surrounded them. Aleck had dropped the leg of the bigwolf, and drew back the hammer of his rifle.
"Perhaps it was the other cub, Thad?" he whispered, as softly as thenight wind creeps in and out of the trees, caressing each leaf as itpasses on.
"No, it sounded more like voices!" came the equally low reply.
"Voices! Oh! do you mean men may be near us?" gasped Aleck, a coldchill passing over him at the dreadful prospect of losing hislong-sought patrimony just after finding it.
"It sounded like that Kracker; listen, and we'll soon know," Thad wenton to say; and crouching there, the two boys waited for a repetitionof the suspicious sound.
Boy Scouts in the Rockies; Or, The Secret of the Hidden Silver Mine Page 24