* * *
CHAPTER XLI.
BIG GABE.
The big man roared and raged, but he did not do any shooting.
"I'll see yer ag'in," he shouted, "an' burn my eyebrows, ef I don't make yer settle fer this yar!"
Then he saw the mounted boys on the opposite side of the cove, and he stared at them inquiringly.
"Wa-al," he shouted, "who be you, an' what do yer want?"
"We will meet you and make an explanation," Frank shouted back.
The two lads began riding along the shore of the cove, and the big man moved to meet them, regarding them with no little suspicion.
They finally met at the head of the cove, where the giant stood, with folded arms, scowling blackly at them.
A short distance away two dust-covered horses were standing, hitched to trees, their heads hanging low, while they still breathed heavily.
They were the animals abandoned by the man and girl.
"Ef you youngsters want ter steal anything, ye'd best mosey outer this yar part uv ther kentry," growled the big man, sullenly. "First it's a gang uv pleasure seekers thet comes an' takes my sailboat, then it's a man an' gal thet kerries off my canoe, an' next it's two boys as ain't got anything yit, but looks like they want something."
"We do," palpitated Frank. "We want some kind of a boat in which to follow those people—the man and the girl."
"Wa-al, yer won't git it."
"We will pay you—we have plenty of money."
"Ter thunder with yer money! What duz Gabe Blake want uv money! All I want is ter be let alone. Ther fust crowd promised me money fer my boat, but I told 'em ter take her an' bring her back before night. They took her, an' I ain't seen hide ner ha'r uv 'em sense. Ther man an' ther gal took my canoe without askin' leave."
"They left those horses——"
"Burn their hawses! What do I want uv hawses! Hawses ain't no good harabouts. Ther fust gang left four hawses, an' I've got ther critters ter feed. Hyar's two more! Burn ther hawses!"
It was plain the giant was in anything put a pleasant frame of mind. He scowled blackly at the boys.
"If you will furnish us with a boat——" began Frank.
"Ain't got no more boats. Can't go out fishin'. An' I'm too blamed lazy ter build another boat. Built ther sailboat an' canoe afore I got lazy livin' hyar. Man thet lives hyar six weeks gits too blamed lazy ter work. What 'm I goin' ter do when I want ter go out fishin'?"
Bart Hodge made a gesture of dismay.
"Do you know where we can get a boat?" he asked.
"Thar's none round hyar."
"Then we cannot follow that man and girl?"
"Not 'less yer kin walk on ther water."
"It's hard luck," declared Frank. "I did not believe they would be able to slip us."
"What did yer want uv 'em?" asked the big man, his curiosity getting the better of his anger.
Frank dismounted.
"Might as well get off and give the horses a breathing spell, Bart," he said. "They are blowed."
"But the party pursuing us—what of them?"
"Let them come."
"Are you going to give up thus easily?"
"No; but I am not going to run like a criminal. Why should I? Let them come."
"You do not mean to fight?"
"Not if a regular officer attempts my arrest."
"What they goin' ter arrest yer fer, youngster?" asked the man, becoming still more curious. "Hev yer bin stealin' hawses?"
"No."
"Wa-al, yer needn't tell ef yer don't want ter!" resentfully said the giant. "I don't keer."
"I will tell you the whole story," said Frank. "When you have heard it you may be able to advise us about continuing the pursuit."
Bart dismounted, and the boys sat down on the ground. The man took a seat near at hand, and brought forth a cob pipe, which he leisurely filled and lighted. He was brawny, weather-tanned, and healthy in appearance. He did not look like a person who had ever seen an hour of illness.
"Fire away, youngster," he urged. "Somehow, I kinder take ter you. You've got an honest face on yer, burn me ef yer hain't!"
Frank expressed thanks for the compliment, and then, as concisely and plainly as possible, he told of his experiences since meeting the girl on the train.
The big man listened closely, his interest growing each minute. When the boy had finished, the man slapped his thigh and cried:
"Brand me deep ef I don't reckon ye've guv it ter me fair an' squar! I know somethin' about this yar gang uv queer-makers."
"You do?"
Both lads ejaculated the words.
"You bet!"
"What do you know?"
"I hev heard ez how they has a young gal who is queen uv ther band, an' she shoves ther queer on ther market fer them."
"Is that all?" asked Frank, with a trace of disappointment.
"Hold yer critters!" advised the big man, with a lazy wave of one hand. "Don't git too oneasy. I said I know something erbout 'em. What I told yer wuz what I had heard."
"Well, tell us what you know."
"See them mountains over thar, beyond ther lake, right whar I'm p'intin'?"
"Yes."
"Purty wild place over thar."
"Well?"
"Thet's whar ther den uv them thar counterfeiters is."
Frank clutched the man's arm, his face full of eagerness.
"How do you know?"
"I hev bin over thar."
"What did you discover?"
"Say, I don't keer ter mix in no rows, an' so I ain't troubled myself ter inform on 'em."
"But you will tell us what you discovered? We will pay——"
"Pay be derned! I tell yer I don't keer a hoot erbout money. Ef I git enough ter buy some terbacker an' clothes, an' sech provisions ez I want, thet's all I ask. I don't keer how much bad money is in circulation, an' thet's why I ain't meddled with them critters. Ef I blowed, they might take a notion ter call on me, some time, an' make it derned onpleasant fer me."
The hopes of the boys dwindled.
"But think what it may mean to me—my liberty, honor, everything!" cried Frank. "You must understand the situation in which I am placed."
"I do. Ef them critters hedn't run off with my boat, I might hev kept my mouth shet; but now, burn me deep, ef I don't git squar!"
The hopes of the lads rose again.
"I'll tell yer whut I found over thar," the big man went on, slowly. "I found ther place whar ther queer-makers hang out."
"You did?" fluttered both lads.
"Thet's whatever. Thar's a hidden cabin on a cliff, an' thet thar is their headquarters."
"Will you guide us there?"
"Wa-al, what do you two youngsters think you could do? Thar's a gang. You say yer wuz pursued by officers. Wa-al, I know Jack Long, ther sheriff, an' I kin fix it with him, ef he is in ther crowd. He wuz one as brought me hyar ter die uv consumption two years ago."
The boys looked at the giant in amazement.
"Brought you here to die of consumption?" cried Frank. "You—you? Impossible!"
The giant smiled lazily.
"I don't look like a consumptive, now, do I? Wa-al, ther doctors said thar warn't one chance in a thousan' fer me. They hed guv me up. I come hyar ter die; but I got well. This is ther greatest place I ever struck fer bracin' up a feller's lungs; but it takes all ther ambition outer him. It hes made me so I don't care ter do anything but be lazy. Let ther old world wag, Gabriel Blake won't bother with her none whatever."
"How can we reach the mountains over there?" asked Frank.
"Reckon we'll hev ter go round ther shore, thet's all ther way."
"And you will guide us?"
"Ef Jack Long shows up an' wants ter go, I s'pose so."
Blake said this somewhat reluctantly, as if he dreaded the exertion.
"If Long should not show up—what, then?"
"It won't be nary dern bit uv use fer one ur two uv us ter go rampin' off over thar
. Ef Jack Long locates their hangout, he'll bring a posse an' scoop 'em."
The boys found the giant was set in his ways, and it was not strange that, as they were boys, he should consider them of minor importance in case of a collision with the counterfeiters.
He once more expressed his conviction that the lads were "squar," and it was his belief that he could thus convince Jack Long.
"Can we use our horses in getting round the lake?" asked Frank.
"Wa-al, I dunno but I kin pick out a trail fer yer; but fer me it'd be as much work ter travel hawseback ez afoot."
He then invited them to his cabin, and they followed him, leading the horses. He gave no heed to the animals the man and girl had abandoned.
Big Gabe's cabin was tucked away in a secluded nook, close to the shore of the lake, and not far from the cove. It was fairly comfortable in a rude way.
"Long will come hyar," he said. "Ef he wuz with yer pursuers he'll show up afore a great while. Make yourselves comfertable till he comes."
The lads did so.
* * *
CHAPTER XLII.
OVER THE PRECIPICE.
In time the sheriff appeared, but one man—a rough, awkward-looking fellow—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 allowed you had given me the slip, and they went back."
His hands fell on the butts of ready revolvers, and he ordered them to surrender without resistance.
"Hold on hyar a bit, Jack," said Big Gabe, stepping between the lads and the 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 and well. You once had the name of being the strongest man in Nevada; but you 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 at a time is outer my line ferever, arter this. I'm too lazy, an' besides thet, I'll allow it wuz a strain I got at that business as brought on my first bleedin' spell arter I hed ther grip. I'm purty well, now, but I don'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 critter feel 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 back into its holster, but motioned for Blake to stand aside.
"I judge you don't know the kind of youngsters these are as I have found here," 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 the surprise of the lads; "an' they're on the dead level. They came hyar to see me, sayin' as how they wuz in some trouble down at Carson over some counterfeit 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 and drawing forth a paper; "but here is a warrant for the arrest of one Frank Merriwell, and I must serve it. It is sworn out by Ezra Coburn, a leading citizen of Carson."
"Burn Ezra Coburn!" roared Big Gabe, becoming somewhat excited. "Burn him 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 do my 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. You know me."
"I do, and I do not fancy having trouble with you. At the same time I must do my duty."
"Wa-al, hold hard a bit. Don't be in a hurry about nabbin' them. I'll give 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 white man 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 I don'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 round here, you understand; but I've seen more'n forty thousan' miles of prairie sence comin' out this way, an' it makes me lonesome."
Having expressed himself thus, he sat down on a box and relapsed into silence, listening to the others and grinning now and then, but seldom speaking unless addressed.
Big Gabe urged them all to sit down, and they did so. He then directed Frank Merriwell to relate to the sheriff the story of his adventures since meeting Isa Isban on the train, and the boy was obliged to go over the ground once more.
Bart was impatient, thinking how much time was being wasted; but he held himself in check as far as possible.
The dark-eyed boy noticed that Silas Jones listened to Frank's story with great attentiveness, apparently greatly interested in the narrative.
When the boy had finished, Blake explained how his sailboat had been engaged by a pleasure party of four persons, two men, a woman and a girl, and how they had failed to return with it, making it impossible for 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, but it 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' I offered ter guide ther party ef you brung a good crowd with yer. You only brung one man."
"Here are five of us, in all," said Frank. "Two of us may be boys, but it is possible we can fight harder than you imagine."
"If such a thing can be avoided, we do not want to fight at all," said Long. "We want to take the makers of the queer by surprise and capture them 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 tickled ter git such a show."
Long gave Jones a peculiar look.
"The Secret Service men may be mighty glad if they get an opportunity to play 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 in custody, 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 stand good 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 a great incumbrance.
Both Frank and Bart resolved to show him his mistake, in case an opportunity was offered.
They made preparations for the trip, which Big Gabe declared would take the better part of four days, as they would have to pick their way carefully through the mountains.
The two horses left by the man and girl were brought up and stripped of their saddles, packs being substituted.
Big Gabe was almost entirely cleaned out of provisions, but he did not murmur because of that.
The giant insisted on making the jaunt on foot, saying he did not wish to be incumbered with a horse.
When everything was ready, they started out, Gabe in the lead, carrying his Winchester at his side.
It did not take the giant long to convince them that he was far from an invalid. He seemed built of iron, and he was sure footed as a mountain goat.
Before long they were forced back from the shore of the lake and compelled to pick their way through a rough and rocky region, where progress was exasperatingly slow.
It was midafternoon, when they halted at the beginning of a desperate and dangerous climb amid mighty bowlders, with yawning chasms on every hand.
Here they opened one of the packs and brought forth provisions enough for the party to satisfy their hunger, the food being washed down with water 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 they started onward.
Although Big Gabe had explored the greater part of the rough region lying around the lake, he had never before attempted to find a road for horses along the precipices and black ravines.
After eating, they set about the most severe and dangerous part of the journey yet reached. Up amid the giant bowlders they climbed, at times working around some part of the mountain where there would be a bare bluff on one hand and a yawning chasm on the other.
The giant guide warned them to look out for the loose bowlders, saying that some of them could be sent crashing down the mountain almost by the pressure of a hand.
The dangers from these huge rocks were made apparent before they had passed beyond that region.
Frank Merriwell's Bravery Page 22