The Silver Canyon: A Tale of the Western Plains

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

  UNTRUSTWORTHY SENTINELS.

  They soon reached the little camp, where the Doctor eagerly communicatedhis news to his child, and then taking Joses aside he repeated it tohim.

  "Well, that's right, master. I'm glad, of course; and I hope it'll makeyou rich, for you want it bad enough after so many years of loss withyour cattle."

  "It has made me rich--I am rich, Joses!" cried the Doctor, excitedly.

  "That's good, master," said the man, coolly. "And now what's going tobe done? Are we to carry the mountain back to the old ranche?"

  The Doctor frowned.

  "We shall have to return at once, Joses, to organise a regular miningparty. We must have plenty of well-armed men, and tools, and machineryto work this great find. We must go back at once."

  "Now, master?"

  "No, no, perhaps not for a week, my man," said the Doctor, whose nervousexcitement seemed to increase. "I must thoroughly investigate theextent of the silver deposit, descend into the canyon, and ascend themountain. Then we must settle where our new town is to be."

  "Ah, we're going to have a new town, are we, master?"

  "To be sure! Of course! How could the mining adventure be carried onwithout?"

  Joses shook his head.

  "P'r'aps we shall stay here a week then, master?" he said at last.

  "Yes; perhaps a fortnight."

  "Then if you don't mind, master, I think we'll move camp to that littlepatch of rocks close by that old blasted tree that stands up like apost. I've been thinking it will be a better place; and if you'll givethe word, I'll put the little keg of powder in a hole somewhere. Idon't think it's quite right to have it so near our fire every day."

  "Do what you think best, Joses," said the Doctor, eagerly. "Yes; Ishould bury the powder under the rocks somewhere, so that we can easilyget it again. But why do you want to move the camp?"

  "Because that's a better place, with plenty of rocks for cover if theInjuns should come and look us up."

  "Let us change, then," said the Doctor, abstractedly; and that afternoonthey shifted to the cluster of rocks near the blasted tree, close underthe shelter of the tall wall-like mountain-side. Rocks were clearedfrom a centre and piled round; the waggon was well secured; a good placefound for the horses; and lastly, Joses lit his cigarette, and then tookthe keg of gunpowder, carried it to a convenient spot near the witheredtree, and buried it beneath some loose stones.

  The Beaver smiled at the preparations, and displayed his knowledge ofEnglish after a short conversation with the interpreter by exclaiming:

  "Good--good--good--very good!"

  A hasty meal was snatched, and then the Doctor went off again alone,while the Beaver signed to Bart to follow him, and then took him pastthe narrow opening that led to the way up the mountain, and showed him asecond opening, through which they passed, to find within a good opencavernous hollow at the foot of the mountain wall, shut in by hugemasses of rock.

  "Why, our horses would be safe here, even if we were attacked,"exclaimed Bart.

  "Horses," said the Beaver, nodding. "Yes; horses."

  There was no mistaking the value of such a place, for there was secureshelter for at least a hundred horses, and the entrance properlysecured--an entrance so narrow that there was only room for one animalto pass through--storm or attack from the hostile Indians could havebeen set at defiance.

  "Supposing a town to be built here somewhere up the mountain, this greatenclosure would be invaluable," said Bart, and, hurrying back, hefetched Joses to inspect the place.

  "Ah, that's not bad," said the rough frontier man. "Why, Master Bart,what a cattle corral that would make! Block the mouth up well, they'dbe clever Injuns who got anything away. Let's put the horses in here atonce."

  "Do you think it is necessary, Joses?" said Bart.

  "It's always necessary to be safe out in the plain, my lad," repliedJoses. "How do we know that the Injuns won't come to-night to lookafter the men they've lost? Same time, how do we know they will? Allthe same, though, you can never be too safe. Let's get the horsesinside, my lad, as we have such a place, and I half wish now we'd goneup the mountain somewhere to make our camp. You never know when dangermay come."

  "Horses in there," said Bart to the Beaver, and he pointed to theentrance.

  The chief nodded, and seemed to have understood them all along by theirlooks and ways, so that when the horses belonging to the English partywere driven in that evening he had those of his own followers driven inas well, and it was settled that Joses was to be the watchman thatnight.

  It was quite sundown when the Doctor returned, this time with Maude,whom he had taken to be an eye-witness of his good fortune. Bart wentto meet them, and that glorious, glowing evening they sat in theirlittle camp, revelling in the soft pure air, which seemed full ofexhilaration, and the lad could not help recalling afterwards what athoroughly satisfied, happy look there was in his guardian's countenanceas he sat there reckoning up the value of his grand discovery, andmaking his plans for the future.

  Then came a very unpleasant episode, one which Bart hid from the Doctor,for he would not trouble him with bad news upon a night like that; butall the same it caused the lad intense annoyance, and he went off towhere Joses was smoking his _cigarito_ and staring at the stars.

  "Tipsy! drunk!" he exclaimed. "What! Sam and Juan? Where could theyget the stuff?"

  "They must have crept under the waggon, and broken a hole through, forthe brandy lay there treasured up in case of illness."

  "I'll thrash 'em both till they can't crawl!" cried Joses, wrathfully."I didn't think it of them. It's no good though to do it to-night whenthey can't understand. Let them sleep it off to-night, my boy, andto-morrow morning we'll show the Beaver and his men what we do tothieves who steal liquor to get drunk. I wouldn't have thought it ofthem."

  "What shall you do to them, Joses?" said Bart.

  "Tie them up to that old post of a tree, my boy, and give them a tasteof horse-hair lariat on the bare back. That's what I'll do to them.They're under me, they are, and I'm answerable to the master. Butthere, don't say no more; it makes me mad, Master Bart. Go back now,and let them sleep it out. I'm glad I moved that powder."

  "So am I, Joses," said Bart; and after a few more, words he returned tothe little camp, to find the two offenders fast asleep.

  Bart was very weary when he lay down, after glancing round to see thatall proper precautions had been taken; and it seemed to him that hecould not have been asleep five minutes when he felt a hand laid uponhis mouth, and another grasp his shoulder, while on looking up, there,between him and the star-encrusted sky, was a dark Indian face.

  For a moment he thought of resistance. The next he had seen whose wasthe face, and obeying a sign to be silent, he listened while the Beaverbent lower, and said in good English, "Enemy. Indians coming."

  Bart rose on the instant, and roused the Doctor, who immediatelyawakened Maude, and obeying the signs of the Indian, they followed himinto the shadow of the mountain, for the Beaver shook his head fiercelyat the idea of attempting to defend the little camp.

  It all took place in a few hurried moments, and almost before they werehalf-way to their goal there was a fierce yell, the rush of tramplinghorses, and a dark shadowy body was seen to swoop down upon the camp.While before, in his excitement, Bart could realise his position, hefound himself with the Doctor and Maude beyond the narrow entrance, andon the slope that seemed to lead up into the mountains.

  As soon as Maude was in safety, Bart and the Doctor returned to theentrance, to find it well guarded by the Indians; and if the place werediscovered or known to the enemy, it was very plain that they could beeasily kept at bay if anything like a determined defence were made, andthere was no fear of that.

  Then came a sort of muster or examination of their little force, which,to Bart's agony, resulted in the discovery that while all the Indianswere present, and Harry was by their side, Joses, Sa
m, and Juan wereaway.

  In his excitement, Bart did not realise why this was. Now he recalledthat when he lay down to sleep the two offenders had been snoringstertorously, and it was evident that they were helplessly stupefiedwhen the Indians came, and were taken.

  But Joses?

  Of course he was at his post, and the question now was, would he remainundiscovered, or would the Indians find the hiding-place of the horses,and after killing Joses sweep them all away?

  It was a terrible thought, for to be left alone in that vast plainwithout horses seemed too hard to be borne. At the first blush it madeBart shudder, and it was quite in despair that with cocked rifle hewaited for morning light, which seemed as if it would never come.

  Bart's thoughts were many, and frequent were the whispered conversationswith the Doctor, as to whether the Indians would not find the _cache_ ofthe horses as soon as it was daylight by their trail, though to this hehad answered that the ground all around was so marked by horses' hoofsthat it was not likely that any definite track would be made out.

  Then moment by moment they expected their own hiding-place to be known,and that they would be engaged fighting for their lives with theirrelentless foes; but the hours wore on, and though they could hear thebuzz of many voices, and sometimes dark shadowy forms could be made outaway on the plain, the fugitives were in dense shadow, and remainedunmolested till the break of day.

  By this time Bart had given Maude such comforting intelligence as hecould, bidding her be hopeful, for that these Indians must be strangersto the place, or they would have known of the way up the mountain, andsearched it at once.

  "But if they found it in the morning, Bart," she said, "what then?"

  "What then?" said Bart, with a coolness he did not feel. "Why, then weshall have to kill all the poor wretches--that's all."

  Maude shuddered, and Bart returned to where the Beaver was at theopening, watching the place where the enemy had been plundering thewaggon, and had afterwards stirred up the camp fire and were seatedround.

  "Joses was glad that he had put away the powder," thought Bart, as hesaw the glare of the fire. "I begin to wish it had been left."