The Golden Canyon

by G. A. Henty

  The other two miners, who during Dick's illness had nothing to do but tostroll about the town, both knew of men who had rifles or revolvers todispose of, and in a couple of hours the purchases were completed and aconsiderable stock of ammunition was also bought.

  "I should recommend yer," the miner called 'Zekel said, as the partywere talking matters over that evening, "to rig yourselves out minerfashion. Them uniforms looks very nice on board ship, but they aint muchgood for knocking about in the mountains; and yer can leave them here,and take to them again when yer gets back."

  The lads thought the advice was good, and next day rigged themselves outin red shirts and high boots, in which were tucked the bottom of thethick moleskin trousers. They also bought jackets of the same materialas the troupers.

  "You will be glad of them at night," Dave said; "it gets pretty cold upin the mountains when the sun is down, and we shan't be lighting anyfires, you bet."

  They also bought a couple of rough blankets each, a spare shirt, and twoor three pairs of stockings, a couple of long bowie knives, and twobroad-brimmed felt hats.

  Chapter V.--The Search For The Canyon.

  Ten days later the party took passage in a large boat going up the riverto Santa Fe. It had come down freighted with hides, and the odor stillhung about it. However, by this time they had become accustomed to thesmell, and scarcely noticed it. The boat was manned by six Mexicans, whosometimes poled it along, sometimes, when the stream was rapid, gotashore and towed from the bank.

  It took them six days to arrive at Santa Fe. Although just inside theUnited States frontier, the population was almost entirely Mexican.There were, however, a few American stores, containing European goods ofall kinds, for the use of the natives, and such articles as miners orprospectors going up among the hills would require. Here they had nodifficulty in purchasing horses. Five rough, serviceable ponies for thecarriage of the baggage were picked up at twenty dollars a piece, andfive well-made and wiry horses for their own riding. Mexican saddles,with very high pommels and cantles, heavy and cumbersome to look at, butvery comfortable for long distances, were also obtained withoutdifficulty. At the stores were bought two sacks of flour and two sidesof bacon, a frying pan, saucepan, baking pot, and a good supply of teaand sugar; four large water-skins, five small ones, completed theirpurchases, with the exception of shovels, picks, and pails for washingthe gravel.

  "Going up among the hills again, Dave?" remarked the store-keeper, withwhom the miners had often dealt before.

  "Yes, we are going to try a new direction this time, and don't want tohave to come back directly we have struck anything. We have got enoughgrub here for three or four months, reckoning as we shall occasionallyget hold of bear or deer meat."

  "Well, you had better keep clear of the Indian country, Dave. They madea raid down South, I hear, last month, and burnt half a dozen Mexicanvillages, and they would make short work with you if they came acrossyou anywhere near their country. However, I suppose you aint going to befool enough to go that way, especially as I see you have got two greenhands with you."

  "They are old enough to be useful," Dave said. "We can put them to cookand look after the horses, if they can't do anything else. They areBritishers, and one of them stood by me pluckily in a mess I got into inSan Diego; so as they had left their ship and were out of a berth, Ithought I would bring them with me, as they had a fancy for seeing alittle of mining life, before they shipped back again."

  Two days after their arrival at Santa Fe they started.

  "We will strike due south as if intending to enter Mexico; one neverknows who is watching one," Dave said the evening before. "There arealways some pretty hard men about these border towns--miners who aredown on their luck; men who have had to run from the northern diggings,and such like. We may say what we like, but they will make a guess thatwe have located something rich, and are going back to work it quietlyand keep it to ourselves, and like enough some of them will take it intheir heads to follow us. Anyhow, we will travel south for a day or two,and then turn off sharp to the west. It aint as I should grudge anyoneelse a share in the mine, but the more there are the more chance of theInjuns finding us. Besides, some of these chaps are so reckless thatlike as not they would light a big fire if they wanted to cook a loaf ofbread. We three have been up that way before, although not so far as weare going now, and we know what we have got to expect, and that, if weare going to bring our scalps out again, we have got to sleep with oureyes open."

  Another fortnight's traveling and they had passed the last settlements,had left Fort Mason behind them, and had entered the country that theApaches and kindred tribes claimed as their own.

  The two lads had enjoyed the journey immensely. They had traveled aboutfifteen miles a day, their pace being regulated by that of the packanimals. During the heat of the day they had all halted in the shade ofsome clump of tree or bush. Here the horses had picked up theirsustenance, grass and leaves, while the men slept. At night they hadcamped, when they could find such a spot, on the banks of a stream. Thena big fire would be lighted, a dough of flour, water, and soda would bemixed, and placed in the baking pot. This was put among the red embers,which were drawn over the lid so as to bake it from above as well asbelow. Then, if they had no other meat, rashers of bacon would begrilled over the fire, and eaten with the hot bread. Generally, however,they had been able to purchase a kid or some fowls at one or other ofthe little villages through which they passed.

  They always carried with them two of the large skins filled with water,in case none should be met with at their halting places; this sufficedfor tea and for a good drink at night, and before starting in themorning for the horses. The villages, however, had become fewer andfewer, and at the last through which they had passed they had bought oneof the little bullocks of the country, cut the flesh into strips, andhung it in the sun to dry, halting three days for the purpose.

  Chapter VI.--The Map Again.

  "Now," Dave said, as they finished their meal on the evening afterleaving Fort Mason, "we have got to consider which course we had bettertake. First we will have another look at the map."

  This was taken out from a wash-leather case, in which it had been sewn,Dave carrying it under his shirt by a string that went round his neck.It was the first time that the boys had seen it. As Dave opened it theyexamined it with much curiosity. It was divided in two; the upper oneappeared to be a general map of the country, the lower one a plan of theimmediate locality of the spot.

  "It looks very confusing," Dick said, as he examined it.

  "You see the chap as made it did not do it for other people, but so thathe could find his way back by it. This line that runs along the bottomof the other map I take to be the Gila, which is a big river which runsright through the Indian country, and falls into the Rio Grande. I havegone up it from that side two or three hundred miles. We were a strongparty, but we had to fight our way back again, and lost pretty near halfour number. You see by the map it lies on the north side of the Gila.But as the Gila is eight or nine hundred miles long, that don't help usa great deal, and the map wouldn't be any good to us if it was not forthis mark here up near the top. You see all these things are meant formountains, but as one mountain on a map is just like another, we shouldbe downright done if it was not for this mark. Do you see there arethree little jags here close together? Now I take it those three jagsare meant for a mountain the Indians call the Three Sisters, which is amountain with three peaks close together. I never saw it myself, but Ihave spoken with miners who have seen it from the north. Now, here yousee, to the south of the Three Sisters, is a cross, and I take it that'sthe mine. You see there is a black line waving about among the mountainsthat stops at that point. I guess that is the line they traveled by."

  "But there is nothing to tell us what scale the map is on, Dave," Tomsaid; "it may mean five hundred miles from end to end, it may meanfifty. If it is five hundred it must be seventy or eighty miles fromthose peaks to the cross, if it is fifty it is only
seven or eight."

  "That is so," Dave agreed.

  "Have you any idea how far it is from the three peaks to the river?"

  "Yes, I have heard it is about fifty miles north of the Gila."

  "Well, that would make this spot marked from fifteen to twenty milesfrom them. The length of the map would be about two hundred miles, andas the peaks are about a quarter of the distance from the right-handside, this map begins about a hundred and fifty miles to the west of thepeaks. I should think it would be at some well-known place that themaker of this map began; some place that he knew he could find againwithout difficulty."

  "That is so; you will see the line begins at a stream running north andsouth. There is a mark here each side of the path-line. Of course theymight mean anything; they might mean trees or rocks. Then look here;there are two more dots out here, and if you were to draw a linestraight through them, it would come to the other dots. One must bethree or four miles off, and the other twelve or fifteen. The farthestone may be a peak, and the one nearer some conspicuous tree or rock in aline with it."

  "Yes, that is what we make it out to be," Boston Joe said. "We have thechoice of either going up the Gila valley and mounting this side streamtill we come upon something that agrees with these four marks, or ofkeeping along from the west by a valley about the right distance fromthe Gila."

  "I should not think we can trust much to distances," Dick said; "thisman was merely sketching out a plan to help him on his way up again,should he ever make up a party to return to the mine, and, thoughprobably these bendings and turnings of the road are to be dependedupon, the map itself cannot be done to any scale. Here the peaks aremade twice as far from the left side as they are from the river, butthey may be really four times as far, or they may be only the samedistance; there is no saying at all; as he has drawn it, the point wherethe road begins is a good deal more to the south than the peaks are. Ifthe scale is correct, it is not more than thirty miles at most north ofthe Gila that the path begins. You see about halfway between this pointand the river are five or six little marks like a V upside down. I seethere are other marks like these at different places on the map. Ishould say they were meant for Indian villages."

  "That is so, no doubt," Dave agreed. "Here is another thing beside them;what do you make that out to be, Dick?"

  "It looks to me like a tiny bird; it is very small and very badly done,but I am pretty sure that that is what is meant. What in the world canhe have put a bird there for? Let us look at the other villages." Heexamined them carefully. "Two of them have got figures. This one lookslike a cat, and this is a snake--at least, I should think so."

  "I have got it," Dave exclaimed. "Those are the names of the chiefs. Iknow the names of a good many of their chiefs, and there's Rattlesnakeand the Mountain Lion among them."

  "And there is the Crow, too, Dave," Boston Joe put in.

  "So there is; I know he is the chief of the tribes whose country liesthis side of the Arizona. No doubt that is his village. Now we have it.I know pretty well where his place is, for I have been further among thehills than that. I can find my way there easy enough. When we get to thestream his village is built on we have got to hunt along it till we findthese marks, and then follow on the line he took. The Crow's village isabout thirty miles north of the Gila. That will put these stops sixtymiles from the river. Yes, this straightens out the distances prettyconsiderable, for I should say that from them to the three peaks it mustbe nigh three hundred miles. I don't think it is more than a hundredfrom here to the Crow's village. It should be an easy thing followingthat marked line, but it won't matter if we miss it. Our course will bepretty nigh due east, not, as he makes it, north, for we know theSisters are not more than eighty miles from the Gila. When we get nearthem we can't help seeing them. Then we have only got to follow thedirection of this map below. There are the peaks. Well, right in frontof them is a lower hill with a tree on its top, and that tree exactly inline with the middle peak gives us the line, and as the tree justtouches the bottom of the peak, it will give us the distance to withinhalf a mile. Here are two lines, one on each side of the line from thepeak through the trees. I don't know what they mean, but I guess theymark a canyon, and when we go up that we can hardly help striking themine, wherever it is. I think we have got the thing pretty well down toa point, and if we go wrong it is our own fault."

  "Shall we have to come back this way?" Dick asked.

  "That must depend upon circumstances," Dave replied. "We might makestraight north and come down on a pass that crosses the mountains abouta hundred and fifty miles north of the Sisters, but I reckon it would bea terrible journey to undertake with loaded mules. Then again we mightstrike east, and make either for Albuquerque or Socorro. Like enough wemay find that our best way."

  Chapter VII.--The Scarcity Of Water.

  Five days later they reached the stream. The miners had all recognizedpoints that they had passed on their former journey, and all agreed thatit was lower down on this stream that the Crow's village was situated.For the moment this was a matter of inferior importance to them. It wasenough that they had reached water, for they had for the last four daysbeen traversing an arid waste of broken country, without as much as atree under which they could lie during the day. They had filled up alltheir water skins before entering on this region, and these had sufficedfor them and their animals, but for the last two days they had beenobliged to husband it. What remained tasted so strongly of the skinsthat at any other time the boys could not have drank it, but men andhorses were both filled with delight at the sight of the bright clearwater. The baggage and saddles were removed, and the animals wereallowed to drink their fill, and then to lie down in the stream whiletheir riders enjoyed the luxury of a bath.

  They had done no cooking for the last four days, as no fuel of any sortwas to be obtained, and they lived upon the dried meat and a drink offlour and water. The banks of the stream were well wooded, and theanimals, as soon as their thirst was quenched, fell to work upon thegrass that grew knee-deep near its banks.

  "We must do some cooking to-day," Dave said, "and a good batch of it;there is no saying when it will be safe to cook again. We must wait tillnight, and then light the fire in the thickest part of these trees, andfasten our blankets up round it to prevent its light being seen. We cancollect the firewood in readiness before it gets dark."

  The spot was carefully chosen, the horseropes were fastened from tree totree around it, and all the blankets hung on them.

  "We must take it by turns," Dave said, "to keep the fire up, and go onbaking. We will make a dozen loaves if we can."

  As they sat round the fire later on they discussed their next move, andagreed that as the river was shallow they would cross it at once, andthen follow it up stream. Should they find no landmarks answering tothose on the map, they would then return and go down the stream.

  Next morning they started again, with fifteen loaves done up in ablanket on one of the ponies. The journey was toilsome, for the riverran in places through gorges where the rocks rose sheer from its edge,and they were forced to make considerable detours, and to come down uponit again. They had traveled, they calculated, but eight miles up thestream, when they came upon a valley running east. A small stream randown it, and fell into the river they were following.

  "This looks a likely sort of place," Dave said; "it is the sort ofvalley a party exploring would be likely to follow. There is wood,water, and grass. Now for the landmarks."

  They went on until they reached the spot where the stream fell into theriver.

  "We can't do better than camp here, Dave," 'Zekel said; "it has been arough journey for the ponies, and they will be all the better foranother good feed."

  "All right," Dave agreed, "I don't see any signs of the landmarks, butthey may be somewhere about. We will unsaddle the ponies. Boys, you mayas well walk up the stream a bit. Keep your eyes open, but don't go veryfar away. Keep your rifles ready for use; there is no saying but whatsome prowling Indian may
not have caught sight of us as we came along."

  The boys unslung their rifles, which were strapped tightly to theirbacks--they were already loaded--and started up the valley. In a quarterof a mile they passed through the low wood which filled the bottom ofthe valley. In front of them was an open space, bright with long grassand flowers. In the center of this stood two large trees, one on eitherside of the stream. They hurried on, and when they reached the treessaw, to the northwest, two peaks, one nearer and lower than the other,in an exact line. As the direction was exactly that of the two dots onthe map, they had no doubt whatever that they had hit the right spot.They returned at once with the news to the men. Dave had already lighteda fire, for in this sheltered valley there was little fear of the slightsmoke it made being seen, broken up as it was in its passage through theleaves overhead.

  "We have found the marks," Dick said, as they arrived. "We don't thinkthere can be any mistakes about them."

  "Have you? That is good," and the three men at once went on to the twotrees.

  "There is no doubt that is what was meant," Boston Joe said. "Wall, I amglad to see them--it shows, anyhow, that we are right in our guess-workas to the map, which we never felt quite sure of before, seeing themthree peaks war the only thing we had to go on, and the marks might nothave been meant for them arter all. Now the matter air clear and fixed,and we have only got to go ahead."