The Cave of Gold

by Everett McNeil

  CHAPTER XVII

  POCKFACE AGAIN

  Thure and Bud were very tired and very sleepy and both slept verysoundly; but, when the door of their house was suddenly flung violentlyopen some three hours after they had closed their eyes in sleep, and avoice, hoarse with excitement, yelled: "Fire! Fire! Fire!" they foundthemselves out of their bunks and on their feet and wide-awake almostbefore the startling cry ceased to echo in the room.

  "Where, where is the fire?" they heard Conroyal asking excitedly, asthey hurried into their trousers and heavy boots--they had slept intheir shirts. A moment later came a cry of horror from Ham in reply.

  "God in heaven!" he yelled. "It's Dickson's! Th' Leetle Woman!" and heplunged madly out through the door, followed by every other man in thehouse.

  Thure and Bud were close behind the last man. The moment they wereoutside their eyes caught the red glow of the fire shining wickedlythrough the openings between the pine trees that surrounded Dickson'slittle cabin, and raced madly toward it. The distance was not great, notover twenty rods; and they soon found themselves in front of the burninghouse.

  Dickson and his wife, half-dressed, were rushing madly about, emptywater-pails in their hands. Already the red flames were leaping throughone of the windows; and, as they looked, a heavy jet of black smoke,swiftly followed by a long tongue of fire, shot out from the roof abovethe flaming window.

  "Buckets! Buckets!" yelled Ham. "Form a line tew th' spring an' passbuckets of water from it tew th' house. Here, you," he cried, as hiseyes caught sight of Thure and Bud, "back tew th' house an' giteverything in it that'll hold water--pails, gold-pans, kettles,anything--Hurry!"

  Thure and Bud turned instantly and sped back to the house, their heartsthumping with excitement. They knew the value of moments in a case likethis. Thure was a little longer-legged, a little the swifter runner, andhe reached the open door perhaps a rod ahead of Bud and sprang throughit, thinking only of how he could get hold of the kettles and the pailsand the pans in the quickest manner possible.

  The room was dimly lighted by a ruddy glow from the coals still burningin the fireplace; and by this light, Thure, the moment he sprang throughthe door, saw a figure start up suddenly from near the bunk where heslept and turn a pock-marked, face, white with fear, toward him; andthen, as his momentum carried him into the room and before he could lifta hand in self-defense, he saw the right hand suddenly swing up a heavyclub, as the figure leaped toward him, and--a blinding crash and he knewno more for the present.

  Bud was more fortunate. He saw the figure, saw the blow hurriedly aimedat him, in time to spring aside; and then, with a yell of rage, for he,too, had caught sight of the pock-marked face of his assailant, hehurled himself toward him.

  But Pockface had had all of the fight he wanted; for, the instant hestruck at Bud and failed to hit him, he sprang through the door.

  Bud, in his mad rush to get at the man, failed to see the body of Thuresprawled out on the ground at his feet, and, as he sprang after thefleeing scoundrel, his feet struck the body and pitched him head-firstto the ground, where he lay for an instant, stunned by the fall. When hejumped to his feet and sprang excitedly to the door, Pockface hadvanished completely into the darkness of the night.

  There was no use now of trying to follow him. Besides, there was Thure!What had happened to him? He--he might be dead! And, with fingers thattrembled with anxiety and dread, Bud hurriedly lit a candle and bentover Thure, for the moment forgetful of the fire and of everything elsebut the condition of his friend.

  A great bump on the top of Thure's head showed where the blow hadfallen; but he was breathing, and Bud's experience in such mattersquickly told him that he was only stunned.

  On a box in a corner of the room stood a pail, filled with water. Budquickly seized this pail, and, in his excitement, dumped its wholecontents directly down on the white face of Thure.

  A shiver ran through the still form, then both eyes opened and staredwildly, blankly around for a moment. Suddenly the blank, wild look leftthe eyes, and Thure struggled desperately to get on his feet.

  "Did he--did he get the skin map?" he cried excitedly, as Bud endeavoredto quiet him. "I--I left it under my pillow. Hurry! See if it is stillthere. Never mind me. I'll be all right in a minute. Hurry and see ifthe map is still where I left it," and he pushed Bud impatiently awayfrom him.

  Bud quickly caught up the candle and hurried to the bunk. Both pillowslay on the floor, where some hurried hand had thrown them, and thelittle buckskin bag, with its precious contents, was nowhere in sight.Bud jerked off all the blankets and held the candle up high; but nosight of the buckskin bag rewarded his efforts.

  "It is gone!" and he turned a despairing face to Thure. "He got the map!And after all we have gone through!"

  "What!" Thure was now on his feet, all the dizziness gone, and rushingtoward the bunk. "The map gone!" and he seized the candle from Bud'shand, and, holding it so that its light illuminated the whole bunk,stared wildly down on the rumpled surface of the rude bedtick, whichnow, the blankets having been thrown off, showed its entire surface tothe light of the candle. There could be no doubting his own eyes. Thebuckskin bag was not there!

  "Gone! It is gone!" and Thure staggered back from the bunk, almost as ifhe had received a blow. "But," and he straightened up suddenly, his facewhite and his eyes sparkling with rage, "he has not had time to go far.Get your rifle, your pistols," and he sprang to the rack where hung hisrifle and pistols. "We must catch him. Oh, if I could but just get holdof him!" and, rifle and pistols in hands, he rushed to the door; and notuntil the glare of the burning house met his eyes did he come to hissenses sufficiently to see the folly of rushing blindly out into thedarkness of the night and the wildness of the mountains after thescoundrel who had fled he knew not whither, or to recall the purpose forwhich he and Bud had been sent back to the house.

  "Mother of men! We are forgetting all about the fire!" and he stoppedabruptly. "Well, it would be useless to try to find him now," and hiseyes glared wrathfully out into the darkness of the night. "The buckets!Hurry!" and he rushed back into the house.

  When, a few minutes later, Thure and Bud, loaded down with kettles,pails, pans, and even frying-pans, rushed pantingly up to Ham, who stoodat the end of the long line of men, stretching from the house to thespring, throwing the water, as it was passed to him, with his greatstrong arms, on the fire, he turned angrily on them.

  "Git tew th' spring," he shouted, "with them kettles and pails, youyoung--" Then, catching sight of their white faces, he stopped abruptly."What's happened?"

  "They've got the map!"

  "Burn th' map! Git tew th' spring with them pails an' git busy with th'water," and, with a violent swing of his huge body, Ham flung a largegold-pan full of water on top of the flaming roof.

  Thure and Bud at once hurried to the spring.

  By this time the alarm of fire had raced up and down the gulches andravines of Hangtown and men were running from every direction toward theburning building. Already a hundred or more men were stretched in a longline from the house to the spring; and down this line buckets and pailsand pans of water were passing as swiftly as strong and willing armscould send them. The air was filled with the yells and cries of excitedmen.

  Thure and Bud at once pushed their pails and buckets into service andpromptly joined a new line that was forming.

  Fortunately the spring was a large one and the water held out; and, in ashort time, a great shout went up from the house and rushed along thetwo lines of bucket men up to the spring and echoed and reechoedtriumphantly up and down through the rocky gulches and canyons ofHangtown.

  The fire had been conquered; but not until the larger part of the roofhad been burned and the greater part of the interior furnishingsdestroyed.

  The cause of the fire was a mystery. Mr. and Mrs. Dickson were positivethat it did not come from the fireplace, that, in fact, it had startedin almost the opposite end of the house and nearly directly under theirbunk; for, when the
heat and the smoke awoke them, the foot of the bunkand the lower end of the bed-clothes were already ablaze. Everythinginside the house was too badly burnt to furnish any positive clues; butit was the opinion of nearly all the excited men that the house had beenset on fire purposely; and, if they could have but laid their hands onthe miscreant, there would have been as speedy a hanging as the one hadbeen that had given the town its unsavory name.

  The moment the excitement of the fire was over, Thure and Bud hastenedto their fathers and hurriedly told them what had happened on theirreturn to the house and of the disappearance of the map.

  The two men at once quietly but quickly gathered the other members ofthe company and soon all were back again in the house, with the doortightly closed.

  "Now," and Mr. Conroyal turned to the two boys, "tell us exactly whathappened."

  Thure quickly told all that he knew up to the moment the club hadknocked him senseless and exhibited the bump, now as large as a gooseegg, on the top of his head in proof of the story; and then Bud relatedhis part in the adventure. Both boys were certain that the man they hadseen in the house was Quinley, or Pockface as they continued to callhim.

  "An' you say th' skunk got that thar skin map an' gold nugget!" and Hamsprang excitedly to his feet.

  "Yes. I--I left it under my pillow. We found both pillows on the floor;and the buckskin bag gone. The man was standing near my bunk when Irushed in, and must have just found it. Oh, if I only could have gothold of him before he hit me!" and tears of baffled rage filled Thure'seyes.

  "You're sart'in th' bag ain't thar?" and Ham glanced at the dismantledbunk and the disordered bed-clothes scattered about.

  "Look for yourself," and Thure sank down on one of the rude chairs and,throwing his arms disconsolately on the table, laid his aching head downon them.

  Ham seized a lighted candle and strode over to the bunk, followed by allthe other men. He held the candle over the bunk and his eyes swiftlysearched every inch of the surface of the bedtick.

  "Th' yunks are right! Th' bag's not here!" and, with an angry growl, heseized the offending mattress and hurled it out on the floor.

  There was a soft thud, as of something small but heavy striking theground of the floor; and then, with a yell that caused Thure to jumpnearly a foot up in the air from his seat at the table, Ham dropped thecandle and caught up something from the floor.

  "Hal'lujah! Hurrah! Amen! Here it is!" yelled the excited man, as heheld up where all could see the missing buckskin bag.

  In his mad tumble out of the bunk at the alarm of fire, Thure must haveknocked the little bag down between the mattress and the side of thebunk, whence the rude hands of Ham had dislodged it when he had jerkedthe mattress off the bunk; and this, probably, was all that had saved itfrom the fingers of Pockface, for the pillows lying on the floor showedthat he had evidently searched underneath them.

  There is no need of picturing the rejoicing in that log house for thenext few minutes; but, when all had quieted down and were beginning totalk sensible again, Rex suddenly jumped to his feet with an exclamationof horror and rage.

  "The curs! The cowards! The murderers!" he cried excitedly.

  "What's bitin' you?" demanded Ham in astonishment.

  "The fire! Can't you see the curs set Dickson's house on fire on purposeto get us out of the way?"

  "Great guns! If I don't believe you are right!" and Ham leaped to hisfeet, his face white with rage. "An' a woman asleep in th' house! Theymight have burnt both on 'em tew death! They shore won't stop at nuthin'tew git that map! An' tew think I had my grip on that red-headed skunk'sshoulder, an' I only knocked him down!" and Ham dropped back on hisseat, muttering wrathfully to himself.

  "I reckon Rex has the right of it," and Mr. Conroyal's lips tightened."But the devilish cunning of it! They knew that whoever had the buckskinbag would not be apt to sleep with it on him; and they calculated thatthe sudden alarm of fire, coming when all were sound asleep, would sostartle, that, for the moment, even the skin map would be forgotten andall would rush out to help put out the fire, and give them a chance tosearch the house. Cunning, but as devilish as it is cunning! Think ofhow they might have burnt Dickson and the Little Woman in their bed! Bythe good God, we would be justified in killing either one of them onsight!" and his rugged face hardened.

  "We certainly would," agreed Mr. Randolph emphatically. "They haveforfeited all their rights of manhood. But, I fancy, the cunning devilswon't give us a chance for an open fight. They will always strike frombehind something; but now that we know they are on our trail, we've gotto be on the lookout for them."

  "'Pears tew me," and Ham held the buckskin bag up, "that it's this herething that needs special guardin'. It's th' map that they are after; an'they don't 'pear tew be none particular how many or who they kill tewgit it, only so they save their own hides. Now, I reckon, we've got tewkeep an eye on this here map night an' day 'til we gits tew th' Cave ofGold; an' then, like as not, we'll have tew fight for th' gold. Firstoff, it 'pears tew me, we otter git some better place tew hide th' mapsince them curs seem tew know 'bout th' buckskin bag," and Ham took thefateful map out of the little bag and spread it out on his knees.

  "I know," and, in his excitement, Thure jumped to his feet and caught upthe map. "I know a good way to hide the map, and, maybe, fool them.We'll leave the gold nugget in the bag, and I'll sew the skin map on theinside of my shirt bosom. Then, if they should somehow get hold of thebuckskin bag, they'd only get the gold nugget; but, to get the map,they'd have to get me; and, I reckon, dad and the rest of you are ableto keep them from doing that!"

  "That sounds sensible," declared Ham. "Thure'll always have his shirt onhis back night an' day; an' so we'll jest have tew keep an eye on Thure.I reckon that idee is 'bout as good as any we can think of--only, wemust be powerful careful tew keep it secret an' tew never let th' yunkgit out of our sight for an instant."

  After a little discussion all agreed that Thure's plan was a good one;and, accordingly, Thure at once took off his shirt and carefully andsmoothly sewed the skin map on the inside of its bosom, the face of themap toward the cloth; and then, over all, he sewed another piece ofcloth, so that the map was completely hidden between the two folds ofcloth.

  "There," he said, as he pulled the shirt back on his body, "I'd like tosee Pockface or Brokennose get the map now, without getting me; and, Ireckon, you fellers will see that they have their hands full if theytackle that job," and his eyes glanced proudly around the little circleof men, who had gathered close about him while he was performing hisinteresting little feat in sewing.

  And Thure had good reasons for his pride and confidence in his comrades;for his father and Frank Holt, his uncle, and Hammer Jones and Rex andDill and Mr. Randolph were all old trappers and hunters and Indianfighters, who had been tried by every form of peril and had never beenfound wanting. Indeed, the names of Hammer Jones and Noel Conroyal andSteeltrap Smith, as Frank Holt was once called, were still famousthroughout all the Rocky Mountain region, for the deeds of daring andskill that had made them comrades in fame, as they often had been infact, with trappers and Indian fighters like Kit Carson and Jim Bridgerand Old Bill Williams and half-a-dozen other fearless men, whose courageand pluck and wonderful skill had made their names known wherever acampfire blazed throughout all the great West. Yes, Thure had goodreasons to believe that Brokennose and Pockface, cunning as they were,would certainly have their hands full, if they got the skin map awayfrom him, while he was watched by such men as these.

  "They'll have tew git all of us afore they git you, son," declared Ham,in reply to Thure's assertion. "Now," and he stretched his big frame andyawned, "seein' that we've 'tended tew all th' business that needs'tendin' tew tew-night, we'd better try an' git a leetle more sleepafore mornin'. Leastwise I'm a-goin' tew," and, after a glance throughthe window to assure himself that everything was all safe and quietaround the Dickson house, he slipped a loaded pistol under his pillowand climbed into his bunk.

  Ham's advice,
as usual, was too good to be neglected, and soon all werein their bunks. But, just before each had climbed into his bunk, he,like Ham, had slipped a loaded pistol under his pillow. They were notthe kind of men to go unprepared when danger threatened.