Dick’s idea was followed out, and once more they went on, up a narrow stream which had many a turn among the cedar brakes and hemlocks which lined either side. Rocks were likewise numerous, and the lad came to the conclusion that locating the treasure was going to be no easy task.
“It’s rather desolate,” he remarked. “I wonder what ever possessed that old Goupert to come here?”
“It’s not so desolate in the summer time, Dick. But I reckon Goupert was a mighty odd stick, as it was.”
At last they rounded a turn in the stream and came in sight of Bear Pond, a long and wide stretch of water located in the very midst of two tall mountains. The pond was covered with thick ice, and the snow lay upon it in long drifts and ridges. The ice was blackish and almost as hard as flint.
“We may as well go into camp near the mouth of this stream,” said Dick. “For from this spot we’ll make our first hunt for the treasure.”
“I hope with all my heart that you find it, lad. But if you don’t, don’t be too disappointed.”
“I want to find Sam and Tom first. I shan’t hunt for the treasure until I know of them.”
“That’s right. We’ll go on a hunt this afternoon, jest as soon as we’ve had some of these fish broiled for dinner.”
If there was one thing which John Barrow could do to perfection, it was to broil fish, and the meal he set before Dick half an hour later was so appetizing the lad could not help enjoy it, in spite of his anxiety over his brothers’ prolonged absence. The fish was as sweet as a nut, and both lingered some time over the meal, until all that had been broiled were gone.
“And now to find Tom and Sam,” said Dick, at last, as he leaped up from the log upon which he had been sitting. “What shall we do with our things?”
“Here is a hole in the rocks,” answered the guide. “We’ll hide them there and cover them with stones. I don’t think anything will disturb the things between now and nightfall.”
The stores were placed in the cache and carefully covered, so that the wild animals might not get at them, and then they saw to it that their firearms were ready for use. A minute later they were off, on the hunt for Tom and Sam.
CHAPTER XXI
A PAIR OF PRISONERS
It is high time that we return to Tom and Sam, and learn how the two Rover boys were faring in their unequal contest with Dan Baxter and his followers.
As we know, it was Baxter himself who attacked Sam, while big Bill Harney threw Tom to the ground. Jasper Grinder went to Baxter’s assistance, while Lemuel Husty ran to aid Harney.
“Let go of him!” cried Sam, and managed to hit Baxter a glancing blow on the cheek.
“I’ll not let go yet,” answered Baxter, and bore the youngest Rover to the earth. Over and over they rolled in the snow, until Grinder caught Sam by the legs and held him still.
“That’s right, Grinder, hold him!” panted Dan Baxter. “Don’t let him get up!”
But Sam was not yet subdued, and getting one foot clear at last, he kicked Jasper Grinder in the ear.
“Oh! oh! my ear!” screamed the former teacher. “He has kicked my ear off. You scamp, take that!” And letting out with his foot, he gave Sam a vigorous kick on the side. At the same time Baxter struck the boy in the head with a stick he had been carrying, and then Sam suddenly lost consciousness.
In the meantime Tom was having a similar struggle with Harney and Husty. But the boy, though strong, was no match for the two men, and they soon pinned him to the ground and held him there as in a vise, while he was nearly choked by the big guide, who had clutched him by the throat.
“Let—let go—my—throat!” Tom managed to gasp.
“Will you keep quiet?” demanded Harney.
“Yes—yes.”
“All right, mind you do.” And then the guide released his hold, but continued to sit as he was, astride of poor Tom’s chest.
“Have you got him?” came from Dan Baxter.
“Yes,” returned the big guide.
“All right; then hold him.”
“I will.”
Leaving Sam to be watched by Jasper Grinder, Baxter ran over to one of the sleds and procured a long rope.
“Now then, Tom Rover, get up,” he said sourly.
Tom was glad to arise.
“What are you going to do with me?” he questioned.
“You’ll see fast enough.”
“Going to try your old tricks of making me a prisoner, I suppose.”
“You’re a prisoner already.”
“Thank you, for nothing,” returned Tom, as coolly as he could.
“Don’t you get impudent, Tom Rover. If you try it on, you’ll get more than you bargain for, let me tell you that.”
“You always were a first-class bully, Baxter. You like to tackle little boys, or else somebody who is helpless.”
“Shut up! I won’t listen to you, now!” roared Baxter, and grabbing Tom’s hands he forced them back and bound them together. Then the ropes was passed around Tom’s waist, so that he could not move his hands to the front.
By the time this work was accomplished Sam was regaining consciousness. He gave a moan of pain, and then sat up in bewilderment.
“Who—what’s happened?” he stammered. Then he looked around. “Oh! I remember now!”
He was very unsteady when he got on his feet, and it was Tom who made the first move toward him.
“Too bad, Sam. They are a set of brutes.”
“Don’t call me a brute Rover,” growled Jasper Grinder. “Neither you nor your brother have all you deserve.”
Sam was bound with a rope, and then both prisoners were told to walk over to the fire. This they did, and were left in charge of Husty and Jasper Grinder, while Baxter went off a distance, in company with big Bill Harney.
“Well, what do you want to do with ‘em?” demanded Harney, when he and the bully were out of hearing of the others, “’Pears to me you’ve taken the law in yer own hands.”
“I’m glad I’ve caught them,” returned Dan Baxter. “They may help us to find what I am after.”
“Think they’ve got a better map nor yours?”
“They may have.”
“Supposing that brother comes up, with John Barrow? They may make it hot for us.”
“That’s what I want to ask you about, Harney. Isn’t there some place around here where we might hide the prisoners? A cave, or something like that?”
The big guide scratched his chin thoughtfully.
“There’s a tolerable place about quarter of a mile from here—the old B’ars’ Hole, we use ter call it.”
“Of course we don’t want to run up against any bears,” said Baxter, with a show of nervousness.
At this the big guide let out a rough laugh.
“Aint got no use fer them critters, eh?”
“I have not.”
“’Taint likely there are any b’ars around. Me an Jim Wister cleaned out the hole last spring—got three on ‘em. No new b’ars will take that hole yet awhile.”
“Then we had better make tracks for it at once—before Dick Rover and the man who is with him get on our trail.”
They walked back to the camp-fire and, calling Jasper Grinder and Lemuel Husty aside, Baxter explained the situation. A talk, lasting several minutes, followed.
“Now then, you come with us,” said Dan Baxter to the Rovers. “And see to it that you don’t try to get away.”
“Where do you want us to go?” asked Tom.
“We are going to try to find your brother,” was the bully’s smooth reply.
“Humph! Do you expect us to believe that?”
“You can suit yourself, Tom Rover. But, just the same, you’ll come along.”
“And if we refuse?” put in Sam.
“I’ll hammer you
into submission.”
“By jinks! but you always were a cheerful brute, Baxter,” cried Sam.
“Shut up and come along,” growled the bully.
Feeling it would be folly to resist, the two Rovers moved off with the party. The big guide led the way and the others followed.
“You may as well earn your salt,” observed Baxter. “Here, take hold and pull one of the sleds.”
He placed the rope in their hands and compelled them to haul the load, which they did unwillingly enough.
Curious as it may seem, none of the Baxter party had given a thought to the sled which Sam and Tom had had with them, and this had been left under the bushes at the spot where Husty had discovered the Rovers.
At first Tom and Sam had thought to speak about the matter, but they finally decided it would be better to run the risk of losing that portion of the outfit entirely than to place it in the hands of their enemy.
The way was rough, and it was only with the greatest of difficulty that they could drag the sleds along. But less than half an hour brought them to the spot which Bill Harney had in mind—a grand and wild place, where the mountain appeared to split in two for a distance of several hundred feet. Here there was a gorge fifty or sixty feet deep, partly choked with small scrub cedars.
“There’s the hole,” said Harney, advancing into the gorge and pointing with his hand.
“Better go ahead and see if it is free of bears or other wild animals,” suggested Dan Baxter, as he came to a halt.
Rifle in hand the guide went into the opening, and made a thorough examination of the surroundings.
“Aint been no b’ars nor nothin’ else here,” he declared. “You can come right in.”
The opening on one side of the gully was an irregular one, and beyond this was a large cave having several chambers. All was pitch dark in the inner chambers, and they lit some brushwood to give them light. Then a regular fire was started, which did much toward making the surroundings warmer and more cheerful.
Dan Baxter and his friends were hungry, and lost no time in preparing a meal. Tom and Sam were led to one side of an inner chamber, and the rope fastened to their hands was bound tightly to the protruding roots of a tree.
“Now, don’t you attempt to escape,” said Baxter. “If you do—well, you’ll wish you hadn’t, that’s all.”
And then he rejoined his companions in the outer chamber, leaving poor Tom and Sam to their misery.
CHAPTER XXII
JASPER GRINDER TRIES TO MAKE TERMS
“Well, Tom, this looks as if we had put our foot into it,” was Sam’s comment, delivered in a whisper.
“Don’t despair, Sam,” said his brother cheerfully. “We have been in worse holes, remember, and always managed to escape with a whole skin.”
“That’s true, but I don’t see how we are going to get away now. I suppose somebody will stand on guard all the time.”
“Perhaps Dick and Mr. Barrow will come to the rescue.”
“If they can find the way. The wind and snow will cover the trail pretty well.”
“There’s no use of crying over the affair. If we can break away, I’ll be for doing so.”
“So will I.”
“Hi, you stop your talking in there!” shouted Dan Baxter. “Plotting to run away, I reckon. It won’t do you any good. If you try it, somebody will get a dose of buckshot in the leg.”
“You don’t mean to say you’re going to stop our talking,” said Tom, in indignation.
“That’s just what I do mean to say. Now stop—or go hungry.”
As the Rovers did not wish to starve, they relapsed into silence. A meal was being prepared by the Baxter party, and the appetizing odors floated into the inner chamber, where Tom and Sam sniffed them eagerly, for the walk and the bracing air had given them an appetite.
“Smells good, don’t it?” remarked Dan Baxter, as he came in, fire-brand in hand, and confronted Tom.
“What, the cave?” asked Tom carelessly.
“No, the grub.”
“Oh, you are cooking something, aren’t you?”
“You know well enough that we are.”
“Well, I can’t stop you, Baxter, so cook away.”
“Don’t you want something to eat?”
“To be sure we do,” put in Sam. “Nobody wants to go hungry.”
“Perhaps you’ll have to go hungry,” said Dan Baxter significantly.
“It would be just like you to starve us, Baxter!” burst out Tom. “I know you are as mean as they make them.”
“No compliments, please. I know my business, Tom Rover; and let me say I am in this game to win.”
“I don’t see what that has to do with our eating.”
“You will see presently. I know all about what brought you here.”
“And we know what brought you here,” put in Sam.
“I suppose you fellows have a map, or something like it,” went on Baxter, after a pause, during which he gazed curiously first at Tom and then at the youngest Rover.
“A map of what?” demanded Tom.
“A map whereby to find that treasure.”
“If we have a map we’ll take good care to keep it to ourselves,” came from Sam, before he had taken time to think twice.
“Ha! then you have a map!” And now Dan Baxter’s eyes brightened. “Where is it?”
“I didn’t say so.”
“I’ll search you,” said the bully, and at once proceeded to turn out one pocket after another. Of course the map, being in Dick’s possession, was not found.
“You got it hidden,” said Baxter sourly. “Tell we where it is, or you shall have nothing to eat.”
“Will you give us a good meal if we do tell you?” demanded Tom promptly.
“Yes.”
“Honor bright?”
“Yes.”
“Well, then, Dick has the only map we possess.” And Tom grinned, while Sam had all he could do to keep from laughing outright.
Instantly Dan Baxter’s face grew dark, and he drew back his hand as if to strike Tom.
“You’re a fresh one!” he burst out. “Are you telling me the truth?”
“I am. He has the map, and I reckon he’ll keep it. Now, if it’s all the same to you, we’ll take that meal. Eh, Sam?”
“I’m hungry enough.”
“I shan’t give you a mouthful!” roared Baxter. “You can’t play any game on me.”
“That shows what your promise is worth, Baxter,” returned Tom. “I didn’t expect much else, though, for I know you thoroughly. Still, we told you nothing but the truth.”
With a face full of hatred Dan Baxter turned on his heel and left them. Presently they heard him sit down with the others, and all began to eat the food that had been cooking.
“I must say we didn’t gain much,” observed Tom gloomily. “I suppose I ought to have humored him, in order to get something. But I despise him so I can’t help pitching into him.”
“I wouldn’t humor him—I’d starve first!” returned Sam earnestly. “I am glad we weren’t carrying the map.”
“So am I glad. Rather than give it to him, I would have chewed it up and swallowed it.”
Half an hour went by, during which both boys said but little, each being busy trying to concoct some scheme by which they might escape. They heard the others talking in low voices, but were unable to catch what was said.
Presently Jasper Grinder came in, bringing with him a small portion of food and a kettle of water. Setting the things on a rock, he untied one hand of each of the boys, that they might eat and drink.
“This is a fine meal,” said Tom sarcastically.
“It is more than you deserve,” replied the former teacher of Putnam Hall.
“You always were a hard one, Grinder.”
<
br /> “Mr. Grinder, if you please,” said the man pointedly.
“And if I don’t please to call you Mister?”
“Then you will get nothing more from me.”
“Do you know that you are playing a high game here, keeping us prisoners?” asked Sam.
“What we are doing is our business.” Jasper Grinder paused for a moment. “I want you to tell me something of that treasure for which you are seeking,” he went on.
“What do you want to know?” asked Tom.
“What is the treasure worth?”
“We can’t tell that until it is found.”
“You are quite sure it has never been removed?”
“How can we be sure, when we don’t know anything about it.”
“Baxter says your brother Dick has a map.”
“Hasn’t Baxter a map, too?” questioned Sam.
“Something of a map, yes, but it is not very complete.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” said Tom quickly.
“But Baxter claims the treasure for himself.”
“Really?” said Sam sarcastically. “Well, let him claim what he pleases. If we find it, it will belong to us—don’t forget that.”
Again there was a pause. Jasper Grinder looked anxiously toward the outer cave, to see if Baxter or the guide were watching him. But the two were talking earnestly between themselves.
“I have a plan,” began the former teacher of Putnam Hall, in a low voice, “a plan to aid you.”
“What plan?” demanded Tom.
“Hush! not so loud—or they may hear you. I presume you know what sort of a fellow Baxter is?”
“Well, rather,” said Sam dryly.
“He is planning to do you a great deal of harm. Now I think I can save you.”
“Then save us,” said Tom. “Or untie us, and we will save ourselves.”
“You can’t save yourselves. Baxter is strong, and that guide is a giant in strength.”
“What do you propose?”
“I’m coming to that. But you must make me a promise first.”
“What promise?”
“That half that treasure shall be mine when it is found.”
“Half!” cried Tom and Sam together.
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