Boy Scouts in the Rockies; Or, The Secret of the Hidden Silver Mine

by Herbert Carter

  CHAPTER XXV.

  CLOSE TO DISCOVERY.

  When the sound of the voice came again even Aleck heard it plainly. Why,it seemed so very near that his first thought was that the men must havefound the entrance to the treasure cave, and were pushing along thetunnel at that very moment. But on reflection Aleck realized that thiscould not be so, for the voice came from somewhere in the open air.

  "I jest ain't agoin' any further, an' that's a fact. Might as wellrest up right here as keep on. I never was for comin' back, to spy onthem ere scouts, but two agin one kerried the day. So here we be,tired in body, hungry, and nigh 'bout ready to drop. I say let's camp,and wait till mornin'."

  "That's Dickey Bird," whispered Thad in the ear of his companion.

  Aleck had had a load taken from his breast. Although the three menmight be so close to the entrance of the mine that they could toss astone into it, still it seemed only mere accident that brought themhere, and not design, or a suspicion as to the truth.

  Another voice chimed in now, that of Kracker himself.

  "Oh! as for that, I'm about as leg weary as you can be; and ready torest up a bit. So Waffles, stir around, and gather some tinder tostart a blaze. This night air is some cool, too. And say, I'm thathungry I could eat anything 'most. But with only one six-shot gun inthe crowd, it's going to be hard lines to provide grub, I reckon."

  "Then why'd you turn back, when we was all started for a place wherewe could git all the eats we wanted, with money to pay for 'em?"grumbled Dickey Bird.

  "Why? Any fool could see that," retorted the big prospector, sternly."Here I've been looking for this mine years and years, and it's got tobe the one dream of my life to find the same. That boy knows; he'sjust been waitin' till he growed up big enough to start out. You sawhow he acted, and said he'd die before he'd give up what belonged tohis mother. That proves he's got the combination, either in his head,or somewhar about his clothes, which we couldn't find."

  "Well," said the grumbler, "what good is that same agoin' to do us,now that he's in with that party of scouts, who say they'll stand upfor him right along? We ain't got no show, seems to me, Kracker."

  "We ain't, hey?" replied the other, disdainfully. "Jest because youcan't see anything before your nose, you say they ain't nothing doing.Let me tell you we never was nearer that same mine than we is now."

  Thad felt his companion give a sudden start; he himself was wonderingwhat these strange words of the prospector might mean; though he couldnot believe that the other could really suspect the presence of thatfissure back of the vines.

  "As how? Mebbe you wouldn't mind tellin' me, to ease up the pain in mylegs; while Waffles, he's astartin' that ere fire?" Dickey Bird wenton, skeptically.

  "Sure thing," answered the big man who controlled the party of mineseekers. "If that boy does know the secret, he's going to open upwhile he's got them scouts to back him, ain't he? He'll want to feasthis eyes on some of that same rich ore--that goes without saying. Allright, let him, say I. We'll try and be close enough at hand todiscover whar the pesky entrance lies; and while they're hangin' on uphere, it's us to streak it for town and file a claim on that mine bydescription. First comer gets the persimmon every time. I ain't beenin this line of business all my life without learnin' something."

  Again did Thad feel his companion move restlessly. It was as thoughAleck felt a sudden fear oppress him lest this sly old thief shouldyet get ahead in entering a claim for the mine.

  The flicker of the kindling fire now began to show through the vinesat the mouth of the opening. What if these men stayed there untilmorning, how were the boys to leave? Even when the moon stoppedshining upon the face of the cliff, the light of the nearby fire wouldcontinue to light it up, so that they would not dare try and creepout. Such a movement, if seen or suspected by the campers, must arousetheir curiosity, and lead to an investigation. Then the only thingthat could save the mine for Aleck would be a hurried rush to town, inwhich they might be beaten by the others.

  It was not a pleasant thought, although of course, if necessary, theboys could stay there without any great amount of privation. Theconstant chance of discovery would bother them much more than anythingelse.

  Dickey Bird was still grumbling, it seemed. Things evidently did notplease him at all, and only because the fear he entertained forKracker, the man might have deserted the expedition.

  "I jest don't like it around here, and that's what," they heard him saypresently. "It ain't the nicest place agoin' either. Now what d'yereckon that ere rumbling noise was, we all heard a while ago? Waffles,he sez it was thunder; but they ain't nary a cloud as big as my handanywhar 'round. Sounded more like earthquake noise to me. I was in thatshake down at Frisco remember, an' ain't likely to forgit how it starts.If these here mountings began to roll over on us, we'd be in a nicepickle, now, eh? I tell you I don't like it any too much."

  "Drop that kind of talk, Dickey Bird," ordered the big prospector,gruffly, "and draw up closer to the fire here. You're cold that'swhat, and things they looks kind of blue like. Get warmed up andyou'll feel better. I've got a little dried meat in my knapsack, andwe'll chew on that for a change."

  "Good for you, Kunnel!" exclaimed the discontented one, whose moodprobably had its inception in hunger, after all. "And don't be longabout passin' that same around, will ye? I'm that nigh famished Icould eat Indian dog, though I never thought I'd ever come to that."

  The three prospectors sat down around the fire, and in order tooverhear what they might say while they munched at the tough pemmican,Thad crept closer to the vine screen.

  Something moved ahead of him, and he thought he saw the vines tremble,as though giving passage to some sort of body. Immediately afterwardsthere was a shout from one of the three prospectors, and they could beseen scrambling hastily to their feet, showing every evidence of alarm.

  "What is that coming this way?" roared Kracker.

  "Say, looks like on'y a wolf cub, arter all!" declared Dickey Bird, witha catch in his husky voice, showing plainly how startled he had been.

  "Well, now, that's just what it seems to be; knock the critter on thehead, one of you," and the big man dropped back again to his seat.

  It was Waffles who picked up a club, and jumping forward, hastened towind up the earthly career of the motherless wolf whelp; though thesavage little beast snarled furiously at his approach, and showed fight.

  "Now I wonder what next?" remarked Kracker, as he watched the otherengaged in a regular fight with the cub, which would not give up theghost as easily as Waffles had evidently anticipated.

  Indeed, the second man had to also arm himself with a club, and put ina few vicious blows before the wolf whelp was subdued.

  "That's what comes to a man when he ain't got no gun!" complainedDickey Bird; from which remark it might be taken for granted that ifthere was only one revolver in the crowd, which the scouts had allowedthem to retain possession of, Kracker had made sure to hold that.

  "Oh! that was only a cub, and a wolf ain't anything to be scared of!"remarked the big prospector; though he turned his head even whilespeaking, as though he fancied that he heard something moving in thebushes back of him, with visions of a red-eyed furious wolf mothercoming to demand satisfaction for the killing of her offspring.

  "Whar d'ye reckon the critter kim from now?" demanded Dickey Bird.

  "Oh!" whispered Aleck, as though something warned him the danger pointwas getting very close now.

  "First thing I see, he was acomin' away from the rock yonder,"remarked Waffles, pointing straight at the hanging vines that screenedthe fissure so completely.

  "Then it looks like he might a come out of them vines?" suggestedKracker, carelessly.

  "Reckon, now, he did," replied the other.

  "Go and take a look, Waffles," added the big man. "If so be we expectto sleep right here, we want to know if there's any wolf around. Iain't so fond of the ugly critters that I want to have one crawlin'all over me when I'm trying to get some rest. Look beh
ind the vines, Isay, Waffles, and make sure."

  Waffles did not seem any too anxious to obey. Possibly, if he hadgripped some sort of firearm in his hand, he might not have shown thesame timidity. Perhaps he too had an animosity toward ferocious andmaddened wolves; and besides, it had been his hand that had given thefinishing blow to that nasty little spitting cub, just now, and themother wolf might have it in for him on that account.

  But then he feared the scorn of the big prospector even more than hedid the possibility of danger from a she wolf bereft of her whelps.And so, rather hesitatingly to be sure, the man started toward thecliff, with the intention of lifting the screen of vines, and peeringbehind the same.

  Of course he would immediately learn of the fact that there was afissure in the rock; and curiosity was apt to induce the men to make anattempt to explore the cavity, since they were all experienced miners,and eager to discover signs of a "find" in some unexpected place.

  Closer came Waffles. He was now within a few feet of the vines, andindeed, had one hand stretched out, as with the intention of clutchingthe mass of vegetation, and drawing it aside; while the other grippedthat stout cudgel, with which he expected to defend himselfdesperately, should he be attacked.

  Aleck was quivering with suspense, and Thad could easily understandthat he must be handling his gun, as though tempted to discharge this,and frighten the man off. But that would be giving the secret away,for these men were cunning; and after they had come to figure thingsout, they would arrive at something like the truth.

  If discovery were to be averted other means must be employed in orderto keep Waffles from raising that curtain, or at least daring toventure into the fissure as much as one foot.

  Finding the ear of his companion Thad managed to whisper in it the fewwords:

  "Don't shout."

  "Do just what I do; we've got to scare him!"

  And Aleck pressed his arm, to let the scoutmaster know that heunderstood; even though the means to be employed might as yet be amystery to him.