The Cave of Gold

by Everett McNeil

  CHAPTER XX

  ROBBED

  "Now I'll say good-by to you men," Marshall said, when they reached theoutskirts of Hangtown. "I am real sorry that your venture turned out theway that it did; but a man has got to expect any sort of luck in thediggings, and usually it is the worst sort that he gets dealt out tohim, at least that has been my experience," and he smiled bitterly.

  Marshall now stood for a moment, irresolutely, his eyes fixed on Thureand Bud; and then, suddenly, he thrust one of his hands deep into histrousers pocket and drew out a little roll of buckskin, carefully foldedand tied. This little packet he at once untied and unrolled and broughtto light two small gold nuggets. With one of these in either hand he nowapproached Thure and Bud.

  "My young friends," he said, "I do not know as the life you saved is ofmuch value; but still I prize it, being the only life I have; and I wantto show you that I appreciate the quickness and the bravery of youraction, and to leave with you some memento of the deed and of the manyou saved from a horrible death. I am poor, others have grown rich offmy misfortunes--" Again that bitter look of mingled discontent anduseless rebellion swept over his face--"but I still have left these twolittle nuggets of gold, the very two pieces of gold that I picked upfrom the mill-race on that cold January morning, the first two nuggetsof gold found in California! I prize them above everything else that Ipossess; and, because they are so dear to me, I now most willingly givethem to you, to keep in memory of this day and of the unfortunate manwhose life you saved," and he handed one of the nuggets to Thure and theother to Bud. "Keep them carefully. They will be valuable mementos someday, Good-by," and without another word or waiting for a reply, hewhirled about and walked swiftly away.

  Thure and Bud both ran after him, and told him that, although they wouldprize the nuggets above anything else he could give them, they did notwish to take them from him, the one who first picked them up, that theybelonged to him, that he ought to keep them; but Marshall would notlisten to them, would not take the nuggets back, would not even stop tohear the boys' thanks, and strode on down the trail to where the lightsof Hangtown were beginning to twinkle through the gathering shadows ofnight.

  In after years these two little gold nuggets became the most valuedtreasures in the possession of the families of our young heroes; andtheir grandchildren still cherish them among their most prizedheirlooms.

  "I reckon thar's somethin' jest a leetle out of kilter in th' top ofMarshall's head," Ham commented, as he watched the man hurrying down thetrail. "He's smart enough when it comes tew th' use of tools; butoutside of them 'bout everything that he touches 'pears tew go wrongwith him, an' ginerally it goes wrong because of th' fool way he tacklesit, though he lays his bad luck all on th' ingratertude of his fellermortals."

  Thure and Bud very carefully stowed away the two nuggets in theirpockets, and hurried on after their companions, who were hurrying up thetrail leading to the log house.

  As they passed the Dickson log cabin Mr. and Mrs. Dickson both came out.Mrs. Dickson's eyes were red from crying, and the face of Dickson waswhite and set, with a look of despair in his eyes not good to see.

  "Hello! What has happened?" and Mr. Conroyal, who was in the lead,stopped suddenly and stared in astonishment at the woe-begone faces ofthe erstwhile happy couple.

  "Robbed," Dickson answered sententiously. "Robbed and the mine hasplayed out."

  "Yes, robbed of all but about fifty dollars' worth of gold-dust that wetook out this afternoon before the mine gave out," and Mrs. Dickson'svoice trembled. "And not a thing to tell us who did the robbing. Robbedof a good forty thousand dollors' worth of gold-dust! Enough to havetaken us both back to New York state and enabled us to have lived therest of our lives in comfort," and Mrs. Dickson's voice broke into sobs.

  "Robbed! Robbed of all your gold!" and our friends gather around them ingreat excitement and indignation.

  "When?"

  "How?"

  "Who did it?"

  "Sometime this afternoon," answered Mr. Dickson, "as near as we canfigure it out just a little before the storm. But all that we reallyknow is, that, when we went to get the gold to-night, it was gone, andwithout a sign left to tell who had taken it."

  "And we had it so well hidden," mourned Mrs. Dickson, "under a stone inthe fireplace. And then to think that the mine should give out at thesame time!" and again she burst into tears.

  "Wal, it shore is tough luck, Leetle Woman," sympathized Ham. "But we'vegot tew take th' tough luck with th' tender an' make th' best on it.Now, supposin' we have a look around. Maybe we can find some clue thatyou missed, you being some excited. It'll go mighty hard with th'robbers, if we catch them," and Ham's face hardened. "Now jest show uswhere you had th' gold hidden," and he and the others followed Mr. andMrs. Dickson into the house.

  "We had the gold hid right there, under that stone," and Dickson pointedto an upturned flat stone, about a foot square, that lay near a smallhole, excavated in the bed of the fireplace, which the stone hadevidently covered over and concealed. "When we got in to-night there wasnot a suspicious sign anywhere; and it was not until I lifted the stoneoff the hole to put the gold in that we'd taken out since noon that wediscovered that we had been robbed. I reckon there is no use of tryingto find the robbers. A hundred men could hide themselves in thesemountains in a couple of hours where ten thousand could not find them,"and the look of despair settled back on his face. "Nobody saw them comeand nobody saw them go and nobody has the least idea who did therobbing. So, I guess, it is just up to Mollie and me to buckle down tohard work and hard living again."

  "Now, don't git discourage. Maybe thar's better luck in store for youthan you dream of," and Ham's face lighted up, as if a pleasant idea hadsuddenly come to him. "I want tew have a talk with th' rest of th'members of th' Never-Give-Up California Mining Company; an' then, may bewe'll have a propersition tew make tew you, an', ag'in, maybe we won't,"and Ham grinned so good-naturedly that even Mrs. Dickson smiled wanly.

  "Come on, fellers, let's git tew th' office of th' Never-Give-UpCalifornia Mining Company; an' go intew secret session tew considerimportant matters," and he hurried out of the house, followed by all theothers, except Mr. and Mrs. Dickson, who stared after them withsomething like hope mingled with the look of wonderment on their faces.They knew that Hammer Jones never talked that way, under such seriouscircumstances, without meaning something. But, what could he mean?

  Ham was the first to open the door of the log house and enter. The roomwas dark and he struck a match and lit the candle, which had been lefton the table ready for lighting. The moment the light of the candleilluminated the surface of the table, Ham uttered an exclamation andstood staring blankly, for a moment, at something that glittered andshimmered in the flickering candle light near the center of the table.

  "Wal, I'll be durned!" and he reached out one of his big hands andgingerly drew from the table a small keen-bladed Mexican dagger, which,with a strong blow, had been driven through a piece of paper deep intothe wood of the table.

  All the others were now crowding excitedly around the table; and Mr.Conroyal quickly picked up the piece of paper and held it up to thecandlelight. On the paper were scrawled, with a piece of charred coal bya hand unused to writing, the following words:

  WE ARE AGOIN TEW GIT THE MAP OR WE ARE A GOIN TEW GIT THE GOLD AFTER YOU GIT IT IF WE HAVE TEW GIT YOU TEW DEW IT. SO TEW SAVE YURSELFS TRUBLE AND TEW KEEP HUL SKINS ON YUR BONES YOUD BETER HAND OVER THAT MAP. THARS ENUF ON US TEW WHIP THE HUL ON YOU OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH AND WE WIL DO IT IF YOU DONT GIVE UP THE MAP. A WORD TEW THE WISE IS ENUF. LIFE IS WURTH MORN GOLD. TI THE MAP TEW THE END OF THE STRING THAT YOU WIL FIND TIED TEW A STICK STUCK IN THE GROUND RIGHT NEAR YUR DOOR AND WE WIL PUL THE MAP TEW US. IF YOU TRI TEW FOLLOW THE MAP WE WIL SHOOT TEW KIL. IF YOU TRI TEW ROUSE THE TOWN WE WIL VAMOSE. WE ARE ON THE WATCH. GIVE 3 JERKS ON THE STRING WHEN YUR REDY FOR US TEW PUL THE MAP IN. IF WE DONT GIT THE MAP BY MIDNIGHT TEWNIGHT WE WIL KNOW ITS
TEW BE WAR TEW THE DEATH.

  This ominous note was unsigned; but there was no need of any signature.

  For a moment after all had finished reading, no one spoke, but eachstood staring from the paper to the dagger in Ham's hand. Then Hamsuddenly straightened up with a growl of rage.

  "I thought it was them, an' this proves I was right. Th' durned skunks!"and the righteous wrath in Ham's eyes was good to see. "Now, men," andhis glance swept swiftly the circle of excited faces, "this makes th'offerin' of proof unnecessary. We know who robbed th' Dicksons! An' weknow, if they hadn't a-ben watchin' us an' a tryin' tew git hold of thatthar skin map, they wouldn't have found out 'bout Dickson's gold an' didth' robbin'. This makes us sort of respons'ble for th' robbin'; an', Ireckon, it's up tew us tew try an' make good what th' Dicksons lost on'count of our bringin' them skunks down on them, more special sincetheir mine's gin out, tew. Now, seein' that thar durned dam has playedout on us, I reckon we're all a-calculatin' on havin' a try for th' Caveof Gold next; an' I figger 'twouldn't be more'n square for us tew askth' Dicksons tew go long with us on th' hunt for th' dead miner'swonderful cave, an', if we find it, for them tew share in th' gold sameas us. How does th' propersition strike you, men?"

  "Bully!" exclaimed Thure enthusiastically. "Mrs. Dickson can beat dadand the rest of you making flapjacks all hollow; and she can makebiscuits, real biscuits that a fellow can eat without cracking themfirst with a hammer, the same as nuts!"

  "Wal, I reckon, that argyment settles it," grinned Ham.

  "Supposing we consider the Never-Give-Up California Mining Company insession and put it to a vote," suggested Mr. Conroyal.

  All agreeing, Mr. Conroyal promptly put the matter to a vote; and Mr.and Mrs. Dickson were duly elected members of the Never-Give-UpCalifornia Mining Company, with all the rights and privilegesappertaining thereto, the vote being unanimous.

  "Now I'll appoint Hammer Jones and Rad Randolph a committee to notifyMr. and Mrs. Dickson of their election and to escort them to the officesof the Never-Give-Up California Mining Company," and Mr. Conroyalsmiled.

  Ham and Mr. Randolph at once caught up their hats and hurried off toperform their pleasant mission; and in five minutes were back with thewondering man and woman on their arms between them.

  As briefly as possible Mr. Conroyal now told the story of the skin mapand the Cave of Gold; and how they had every reason to believe that themen who had robbed them were the same men who had murdered the miner,and who now were striving so desperately to secure the skin map; and inproof that the robbers and the murderers were the same, he showed thenote and the dagger, which they had found on the table, in evidence thatthe men had been there that afternoon.

  "Now," he concluded, "Ham thinks, and we all agree with him mostemphatically, that, since we are in a way responsible for bringing therobbers down upon you, it would be no more than fair for us to inviteyou to join with us in our search for this Cave of Gold, understanding,of course, that, if the gold is found, all are to share alike, as allwill have to share alike the dangers and the difficulties of finding andkeeping it; and, judging by the note we found on the table, the dangerswill be real enough. Of course we are not sure that the cave reallyexists, nor, if it does exist, that we will be able to find it; but wehave faith enough in it to give it a try. We plan to start on the huntjust as soon as we can get ready, probably sometime tomorrow. This Ithink explains the matter sufficiently for you to come to a decision.Are you with us?"

  "Yes! Yes!" exclaimed both Mr. and Mrs. Dickson eagerly.

  "In to the death, as the note says," added Mrs. Dickson, smiling. "Andwe thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for the chance."

  "Do you know this murdered miner's name?" Dickson asked, his eyessparkling with excitement. "I think I know the man."

  "John Stackpole, the map says," answered Mr. Conroyal.

  "That's the man!" declared Dickson excitedly. "The very man I wentprospecting with last fall. He had some crazy idea in his head thenabout a Cave of Gold that an old Indian whom he had cured of somedisease, he had been an army doctor once, had told him he had found in ahidden gulch that opened into a canyon. We hunted all up and down thecanyon, into which the Indian said the gulch opened, but we couldn'tfind no such gulch as the Indian described, and had to give it up. Youremember my telling you all about it, don't you, Mollie?" and Dicksonturned to his wife.

  "Yes, yes," assented Mrs. Dickson eagerly. "You went on the trip while Iwas away to Sacramento City and you told me all about it, when I gotback. Queer how things do turn out!"

  "And so Stackpole really found the cave at last; but at the cost of hislife," and Dickson's face saddened. "Too bad!--I mean his murder; for hewas a good sort of a fellow, when he was away from liquor, but, let himget a little whiskey down him, and he was as ugly as the devil. I reckonthat it was drink that drove him out of the army in disgrace; and Ireckon it was drink that caused his murder; for he was a very cautiousman and would have said nothing about his discovering the Cave of Gold,especially to strangers, if he had been in his right senses--Can I, canI see that map?" and Dickson's face suddenly lighted up. "Possibly Iknow the place."

  "Sure," and Mr. Conroyal turned to Thure. "Get out the map, Thure."

  Thure's face reddened a little, but, turning his back to Mrs. Dickson,he quickly, with the aid of his knife, ripped open the bosom of hisshirt, and, pulling out the map, handed it to his father, who at oncespread it out on the table in front of Dickson.

  "Lot's Canyon!" Dickson cried excitedly, almost the moment his eyes fellon the map. "Why, that's the very name we gave the canyon where we triedto find the hidden gulch, on account of a white pillar of rock, thatStackpole said might have been Lot's wife. And here is the very pillaritself!" and he pointed to the little square on the map marked Lot'sWife. "And the Big Tree! And the Devil's Slide! And Goose Neck Lake!Every one of them names that we gave to places! I am sure that that isthe same canyon that Stackpole searched for the Cave of Gold when I waswith him," and Dickson turned an excited face to Mr. Conroyal. "It'sabout a five days' tramp from here."

  "That's what the dying miner said," broke in Bud eagerly.

  "And do you think you can find that canyon again?" asked Mr. Conroyalanxiously. "The trail on the map is none too clear; and I reckon we'dhave to do some hunting before we found it, with only the map to guideus."

  "I am sure I can," answered Dickson, his eyes still on the map.

  "Well, then, we are in great luck," declared Mr. Conroyal. "I--Jumpinggrasshoppers, if we are not forgetting all about that polite note!" heexclaimed, as his eyes happened suddenly to fall on the dagger and thebit of paper, which, during all this time, had lain on the tableneglected. "Now, what shall we do about that?" and his eyes flashedaround the circle of faces.

  "Let's first see if the string is really there," proposed Thure.

  "Good idee," and Ham caught up the candle and started for the door,followed by all the others, Thure and Bud at his heels.

  Within six feet of the door they found a sharpened stick thrust into theground, with the end of a strong string tied to it. The string ran alongthe ground as far as the eye could see and disappeared in the darknessof the night, in the direction of a thick clump of trees forty rodsaway.

  "Wal, now, they shore are cunnin' cusses!" and Ham's eyes followed thestring admiringly until it was lost in the darkness. "Jest tie th' maptew th' end of this string, an' somebudy out thar somewhere in th'darkness will pull it tew him, without nobudy here bein' th' wiser forit. Not a durned bit of use tew follow up th' string neither. They couldshoot an' cut an' run long afore we could see them in th' darkness. Theyshore are good at planning th' durned skunks! Say, jest supposin' wesend 'em a leetle message, jest tew see how th' string works," and Hamturned to the others, a broad grin on his face.

  This impressed all as a good idea, and they hurried back into the houseto prepare the message. In a few minutes the message, written on theback of the piece of paper which they had found on the table, was ready.It was
brief, but to the point, and read:

  If you want the map, come and get it. There are nine men and one woman, worth any two men, who will be glad to welcome you.

  The paper, with the message on it, was now rolled up tightly, and allhurried out to the string.

  Mr. Conroyal took the paper, and, kneeling down by the side of thestick, untied the string, tied the little packet of paper strongly toit, and then gave the string three sharp, strong jerks.

  The response was prompt. Hardly had he given the last jerk, when thestring was pulled out of his hand, and the little packet of paperstarted bobbing along over the ground toward the distant clump of trees,with all watching its progress with fascinated eyes, until itdisappeared in the darkness.

  For, perhaps, ten minutes they stood there, no one speaking a word, andall eyes turned in the direction whither the little packet of paper haddisappeared. Then they saw a faint glow in the little clump of trees, asif someone had struck a match.

  "I reckon they're readin' it," grinned Ham. "Wonder how they like it?"

  Ham did not have to wonder long; for, almost as he uttered the lastword, a spurt of flame leaped out from the dark shadows of the distantclump of trees, and a rifle bullet whistled so close by his face that itburnt the end of his nose, and buried itself in the logs of the house.

  "Gosh A'mighty, he's got my nose!" and Ham made a break for the door ofthe house, one big hand holding on to the end of his nose.

  In two seconds all were in the house and the door shut.

  "How much on it did he git? Not enough tew spoil my beauty, I hopes,"and Ham held a lighted candle in front of his face before a small mirrorhanging on the wall. "Wal, I'll be durned! Jest burnt th' tip end onit!" and he set the candle down on the table in disgust.

  The darkness of the night and the wilderness of the surroundingmountains made absolutely useless any attempt to follow up theirenemies; and, after an hour spent in discussing plans, Mr. and Mrs.Dickson returned to their house, and our friends hurried into theirbunks, to get the rest needed to fit them for a busy morrow.