No reply came back, and Sam’s face turned white as he looked at Jack Wumble. “Do you think he has been—been killed?” The question nearly choked him.
“I can’t say, Sam,” was the answer. “We must git down an’ see.”
With extreme care the old miner let himself down from one clump of brush to another. His experience at prospecting stood him in good stead, for he had frequently climbed down just such heights to see if the mountain stream below would “pan out” sufficiently to set up a claim.
In the meanwhile Dick had gone to the very bottom of the stream, struck on the sand and rocks, and come up again. In falling down he had turned over and over, and he was as much dazed by this as he was by the quantity of cold water which he swallowed. For the minute after coming up he did not realize his situation. Then he felt himself borne along swiftly, he knew not to where. The rushing of the water was deafening, for the stream was approaching a narrow canyon, and here the water was lashed into a milky foam as it tumbled and tore over the rocks on its way to a broader spot quarter of a mile below.
Presently Dick felt his feet touch bottom, but only for an instant. The stream was calmer now, and to one side of the cut he saw a narrow strip of band, leading up to a shelving of rocks, with here and there a tiny brush struggling for existence in a spot which the sunlight never touched. He began to strive with might and main to reach the strip of sand, and finally succeeded. Then he threw himself down, too exhausted to make another move.
“I’m in for it now,” he thought, when he somewhat recovered. “How in the world am I ever to get back to that trail again?”
He looked above him. The mountain was high here, and there was nothing resembling a path leading upward. To climb from one scant footing to another would prove perilous, if not impossible.
“We are making a mess of this expedition,” he groaned. “First Tom must get lost, or worse, and now I am down here like a rat in a trap. Perhaps we would have been better off if we had never started out.”
When Dick felt able he walked from one end of the sand strip to the other. This gave him no satisfaction, and he began to inspect the stream again. Below him was a curve, and what was beyond there was no telling.
“If I enter the water again it may carry me along for miles before I have another chance to get out,” he reasoned. “And then I will be just that much further away from Sam and Wumble.”
If he had had his pistol he would have fired it to let them know that he was safe, and in the hope that they would come for him. But the weapon had been lost in the tumble down the cliff.
With much hesitation he began to climb up the side of the canyon, making sure that one footing was perfectly safe before he tried another. In this manner he at length reached the height of a hundred feet. He did not dare to look back for fear of tumbling. And yet the path to safety was still a long way off.
“If I can’t gain the top and can’t go back, what then?” he asked himself, and the cold perspiration stood out on his forehead in beads. There was a bush in front of him, and he squeezed into this, so that he might sit down to consider the situation. Pushed back, the bush suddenly gave way altogether, and to his astonishment Dick fell into the opening of a large cave.
CHAPTER XXV
A CAVE AND A BEAR
“Hullo, here’s something new!” thought Dick, as he gathered himself up. Bush and boy had rolled downward for a distance of a dozen feet. He found himself on a rocky floor that was almost level. The cave was ten to twenty feet wide, and so high that in the gloom he could not see the ceiling.
Luckily the boys had with them the waterproof match safes which had proved so handy in Africa, and now Dick brought out the one he carried and lit a match. The bush that had given way was dry, and soon he made of it quite a respectable torch. Satisfied that the cave had no side branches in which he might become lost, he resolved to push into it, in the hope that another opening might present itself, leading to the cliff where the accident had occurred.
The cave was dry and dusty, not a particle of water being anywhere visible. As he walked along he came across some dead leaves and then some small tree branches. These gave him much encouragement, for how could they have gotten into the place if there was no entrance from the mountain side?
Dick had advanced a distance of several hundred yards when he came to a turn to the right, and from this point the bottom of the cave sloped gradually upward. He also made out a glimmer of light, but it was so far off that nothing was to be seen distinctly.
Much encouraged, he pushed on faster than ever, until a line of rocks barred his further progress. He was about to climb the rocks when a growl from a distance caused him to pause.
What was it? With bated breath Dick listened until the growl was repeated. The walls of the cave took it up, and it was repeated over and over again until lost in the distance.
“A bear—or something just as bad!” thought the youth. “Now what’s to do?”
He crouched down on the rocks and sat as still as death for fully five minutes. But no further growl reached him, and then he plucked up courage enough to scramble up the rocks, which led to a flooring considerably higher than that over which he had been traveling.
Hurrah! It was the light of day ahead, and Dick could scarcely suppress a shout of joy. But the growl still hung in his mind, and though he went forward it was as silently as a cat and with eyes strained first in one direction and then in another. He was glad he still had the torch, for he remembered that the majority of wild beasts are afraid of a light. It had burned rather low, but by swinging it around he soon started up the blaze.
And now he could see the cave entrance distinctly, less than two hundred feet off. It was low and wide, and there were several bushes growing around it. He started on a run, and as he did so the growl sounded out again, this time almost directly beside him.
He turned swiftly and beheld two glaring eyeballs bent upon him, from the gloom of a hollow on one side of the cave. Whether or not the bear was preparing to leap upon him he could not say, but he jumped like lightning and then tore on as if the demon of the bottomless pit was after him.
The bear was following! Dick knew this without looking behind. The animal was heavy and clumsy, yet it covered the ground with an agility that was surprising. It was hungry, not having tasted meat for several days, and now thought it saw the prospect of a fine meal ahead.
“Back!” yelled Dick, but the animal paid no attention. The boy was running as never before, yet the bear kept drawing closer, until Dick almost felt its hot breath on his neck. He trailed the torch behind him and the beast fell back several paces.
The opening was now gained, and the youth ran out on the mountain side, which was covered with stubble and rocks. Glancing hastily around, Dick saw one rock that was both small and rather high and scrambled to the top of this.
The bear gained the mouth of the cave and looked out suspiciously. Then, as it discovered the boy on the rock, it let out another growl, more terrifying than any which had gone before. Slowly it trotted toward Dick, and then began a circle of the rock, as if to determine whether or not the ground was clear for an attack.
The boy still held the torch, but it was burnt nearly to the end and was in danger of going out every minute. Besides, in the sunshine it did not look half as formidable as it had in the gloomy cave.
Suddenly the bear reared itself up on its hind legs and advanced straight for the rock. At this movement Dick’s heart seemed to stop beating. Yet he managed to let out one long scream for help. Then as the bear came still nearer, he thrust the torch end directly into the brute’s face.
Of course the animal fell back, and down went the torch on the rocks below, and Dick was now utterly defenseless. The bear appeared to know this, and let out a growl of satisfaction, as though it had its next meal already within its grizzly grasp.
Bang! It was the report
of a gun not over a hundred yards away, and the bear dropped to all fours and shook its head wildly. Bang! came another report, and now the bear screamed with pain and fell over on its side. Dick looked behind him in amazement and beheld a stranger on horseback. The stranger had just emptied his double-barreled rifle, and now he came riding up with his pistol in his hand. The bear tried to rise up to meet him, but was too seriously wounded already, and a shot at close range finished the brute’s misery.
“Well, young fellow, reckon you was in a putty tight fix?” remarked the stranger, after he had made certain that the animal was dead.
“I was in a tight fix,” answered Dick, with a shiver. “You came in the nick of time, and I owe you a good deal for it.”
“That’s all right—I never go back on a bar if I git a chance at him. But how in thunder came you in such a fix in the fust place?” went on the horseman, who was at least six feet four in height—and about as thin a man as Dick had ever seen.
“It’s a long story, sir,” was the cautious response. “May I ask who it is that has saved me?”
“Wall, my right handle are James Carson,” was the answer. “But them as knows me well callers calls me Slim Jim, and it’s good enough fer the likes o’ a shadder like me, too, I calkerlate. An’ who might you be?”
“I am Dick Rover. I was with my two brothers and an old miner named Jack Wumble when I slipped off my horse into the river over there and nearly lost my life. But I managed to crawl out, and in climbing up the mountain side found yonder cave and came through to this end. In the cave I found the bear and he followed me to here. You know the rest.”
“Wall! wall! You have had a narrow escape, youngster, an’ no disputin’ the p’int. Ef I hadn’t a-come as I did, thet air bar would have chawed ye up in no time.”
“I know it, Mr. Carson. Your kind—”
“Whoopee, Rover, don’t go fer to mister me, or I’ll be sorry I killed the bar for ye. I’m plain Slim Jim to all as knows me—Slim Jim the hunter an’ trapper. I’ve spent forty year on these mountains, an’ like ez not I’ll spend forty more, ef the good Lord allows me to live thet long. An’ whar do ye calkerlate your brothers and Jack Wumble air now?”
“I’m sure I don’t know. One of my brothers, Tom, got lost and I and Sam and Wumble were looking for him when I had the mishap. Do you know Jack Wumble?”
“Fer sartin I do—knowned him when he war mining up on the ole Bumble Bee Creek, ez he called it.”
“Indeed!” cried Dick. “Then perhaps you knew my father, Anderson Rover? He used to be in partnership with a man named Kennedy.”
“Knew him—o’ course I knew him, lad! An’ so you air his son, hey? Wall! wall! shake!” And Slim Jim, as he preferred to be called, thrust forth a hand that was as hard as a piece of horn. But he had a soft heart, and Dick soon learned that he was as much to be trusted as was Jack Wumble.
“I’ll do my best to set ye right, lad,” said the old hunter, after he had listened to the details of Dick’s story. “I think I know about the spot whar ye took the tumble.”
Before leaving the vicinity Slim Jim set to work and cut the pelt off the bear and hung it up. He also cut away some of the choicest of the meat.
“It’s a pity to leave any o’ it behind,” he observed. “Some poor folks a-starvin’ to deth in the city, an’ thar’s a meal fer a hundred!”
It was well along in the afternoon when they started, Dick riding behind the old hunter. He felt that he could tell Slim Jim about their mission, and he mentioned how the Baxters were watching them and trying to outwit them.
“I remember thet Baxter, too,” said the old hunter. “Wumble kin tell ye how we come nigh to makin’ him do a dance on nuthin’ onct. I’ll take your part agin him every time, hear me!” And his openness showed that he meant what he said.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE BAXTERS TRY TO MAKE TERMS
For the moment after Tom found himself in the presence of the Baxters he could not speak. Then he turned fiercely upon Bill Noxton.
“You have fooled me!” he cried hotly.
“That’s right,” laughed Noxton sarcastically.
“And let me add, ye was fooled putty easy.”
“It’s Tom Rover!” ejaculated Dan Baxter, as he leaped to his feet, followed by his parent. “Where did you find him, Noxton; over to that fire?”
“Yes.”
“Were the others of the party with him?” put in Arnold Baxter quickly.
“No, he was alone. He got lost from the rest last night, when they gave us the slip in the dark.”
“Then you have seen nothing of the others?” said Arnold Baxter, and it was plain to see that he was keenly disappointed.
“No, but I reckon they can’t be far off,” replied Noxton.
Seeing that Tom contemplated running away, he made the youth dismount. “Better make a prisoner of him,” he suggested.
“By all means!” cried Dan Baxter, and brought forth a stout lariat. With this Toni’s hands were bound behind him, and his feet were also secured.
“That’s number one, Roebuck,” laughed Arnold Baxter, turning to the man who had thus far remained silent.
“Tom Rover?” asked the man laconically.
“Yes.”
“A bright-looking chap.”
“Oh, he’s bright enough,” growled Baxter senior.
“But it won’t help him any,” put in Dan, bound to say something.
“Is he the oldest of the three?”
“No, Dick is the oldest. Tom comes next.”
“Then it is Dick you ought to have collared,” said Roebuck, turning to Noxton.
“I collared the one I happened to see.”
“Well, Tom Rover, how do you like your situation?” asked Dan, with a sickly smile, as the men turned away to discuss the situation among themselves.
“Don’t like it,” replied Tom, as lightly as he could.
“I guess you are sorry, now, that you didn’t heed our warning and go back to Gunnison.”
“I’m not particularly sorry. I have as much right out here as anybody.”
“Oh, you needn’t put on airs to me. I know you are trembling in your boots.”
“Thanks, but if you’ll bring your chin out of the air, Baxter, you’ll see that I am wearing shoes.”
“Don’t you put on airs with me, Tom Rover. You are in our power and you shall suffer for the way you have treated my father and me in the past.”
“I have no doubt, Baxter, now I am helpless, that you will do your worst. You were always ready to take an unfair advantage of another.”
This answer made Dan Baxter boil with rage, and he stepped closer and shook his fist in Tom’s face.
“You be careful or I’ll—I’ll crack you one,” he blustered.
“You’re a cheerful brute, Dan, I must say. Why don’t you try to fight fair for once? It would be such a delightful change.”
“I do fight fair. You and your brothers have no right to poke your noses in my affairs, and my father’s.”
“This affair out here is our own, not yours. The Eclipse Mine is my father’s property.”
“And I say it belongs to me and dad,” answered Dan, with more force than elegance. “But I won’t argue with you. You are in our power and have got to take the consequence.”
“What do you intend to do with me?” asked Tom.
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
“Don’t you know that my brothers are in this neighborhood, and that they have the law on their side?”
“Yes, I know your brothers are here—and we’ll have them prisoners, too, before long,” returned Dan Baxter, and then cut the conversation short by walking away.
Tom had managed to speak bravely enough, yet his heart was by no means light. He realized that the Baxters had not forgotten the
past, and that here, in this wild country, they were more inclined than ever to take the law in their own hands.
He was left alone for the best part of an hour, only Noxton seeing to it that he did not run away. Then he was ordered to mount again, his legs being liberated for that purpose.
Feeling it would be foolhardy to refuse, with three men and a boy against him, Tom mounted, and the whole party moved along the mountain to a spot which was evidently well-known to Noxton. Here, at a certain point, was what had once been an overland hotel, but the building was now dilapidated and deserted.
“We’ll stop here for the present,” said Arnold Baxter grimly. “Get down, Rover,” and Tom obeyed.
Inside of the place, two of the rooms were found in fair condition and in one of these Tom was tied fast to a cupboard door. Then the men went out for another parley.
The youth could not hear all that was said, but learned enough to convince him that Al Roebuck, as he was called, was the party who had forged the pardon which had obtained for Arnold Baxter his liberty. For this work Roebuck had been promised a half share in the Eclipse Mine, and of some money which Baxter the elder was hoping to obtain.
At last Arnold Baxter and Dan came in once more and faced Tom.
“Rover, we are now ready to come to terms,” began the man.
“Are you ready to release me?”
“Yes—under certain conditions.”
“You’ve got to sign off all rights to that mine,” broke in Dan.
“Dan, keep quiet,” interposed his father. “I can do this better alone.”
“I know him better than you do, dad,” returned his graceless son.
“Perhaps, but I am fully capable of making terms with him.”
“All right, fire away, I don’t care. Only don’t let him off too easy.”
“I am anxious to settle this matter quietly,” went on Arnold Baxter to Tom. “I don’t want any more trouble.”
“Well, go ahead, I’m listening,” came from Tom.
“You are out here to locate a certain mine.”
“I don’t deny it. The mine belongs to my father.”
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