CHAPTER XVII.
TROUBLES THICKEN FOR YOUNG ALECK.
The scouts were pretty hungry, and they united in pronouncing thesupper "just prime." But then the conditions would not allow of anyother verdict; and as Toby regretfully declared, they all had goodteeth, while his were getting "frayed and worn."
But after a period of stress and storm, a haven does seem good indeed;and sitting there, chatting, alongside that blaze, which had now beenbuilt up into a real camp-fire, the three boys were feeling a thousandper cent better than they had a couple of hours before.
Of course Step Hen had told all about his great combat with the twofighting eagles. He even led the doubting Davy along the foot of thedescent, with a blazing torch in his hand, until they had found both ofthe dead birds, which they lugged back to camp with them, to show to thewondering Smithy as positive evidence of the truth of the story.
And after that the boys would surely feel more respect for Step Hen'sprowess as a hunter, and the possessor of unlimited nerve.
Smithy declared that nothing on earth could tempt him to try and descendthat precipice where Step Hen had done it; and was amazed when Davyannounced that they had accomplished a feat very nearly as hazardous;only, coming a yard at a time, they had not noticed the danger.
"I only hope nothing will run off with my sheep," Smithy had remarked,plaintively, at one time, after they had finished their meal, and werejust lounging around, taking things easy.
"How about that, Toby?" asked Davy Jones; "will wolves be apt to robSmithy of his hard-earned laurels?"
"Don't know anything about that ere," grinned the guide; "but if so beyou mean will they come around, and eat his mutton, I'm afraid that'sjest what'll happen. But," he added, as Smithy gave a plaintive littlebleat, "they cain't eat them big horns, you know; and I reckons as howthat's the main thing you wants, ain't it?"
"Oh! yes, if that is so, I shall stop worrying. But I surely do wantto carry that souvenir back with me; because, you know that is myfirst game," Smithy went on to say.
"Wall," remarked the guide, with a nod, "you had ought to be proud of'em; 'cause they ain't many fellers as kin say the fust wild gamethey ever knocked down was a big-horn. I've knowed old hunters ascouldn't ever git one, try as hard as they might. We had a heap ofluck to-day, let me tell you, boys, a heap of it. And for mutton,'twan't so _very_ tough, either."
"Oh! I thought I heard some one give a funny little cough just then!"exclaimed Step Hen, suddenly sitting up straight.
"You was correct at that," said the guide, quietly drawing his riflecloser to him, as though caution were second nature. "There is someparties accomin' down the canyon here, and headin' for our fire."
"The boys, mebbe!" exclaimed Davy Jones.
"No, I don't think they be," Toby Smathers added, straining his eyesto catch the first glimpse of the newcomers; for in this wild region,strangers are not to be always recognized as friends until they haveproven themselves such.
"There's two of 'em," remarked Step Hen, "and they're men, I c'n see."
"Hello! there, don't shoot, we're friends, all right!" called a voice,so peculiar in itself that Toby immediately laughed aloud, as thoughhe had no difficulty in recognizing it.
"Is that Sheriff Bob McNulty?" he asked.
"Nobody else," came the reply; "and unless I'm mighty far off my base,that must be my old friend, Toby Smathers, the forest ranger."
The two men came on to the fire. The boys saw that the one whom Toby hadcalled Sheriff Bob was a tall, angular man, wearing the regulationwide-brimmed soft hat, and long black coat that sheriffs out in the Wildand Woolly West seem to so frequently think a badge of their calling.
He impressed them as a man of sterling character; but they did notentertain the same sort of an opinion toward his companion, who was amiddle-aged man, lanky and sinister in appearance, and with a craftygleam in his shifting eyes that somehow gave Step Hep and Davy Jones acold feeling of distrust.
"Why, what's this mean, Toby; you a forest ranger camping with a parcelof kids?" exclaimed the sheriff, throwing a quick, interrogative glancetoward his companion, which the other answered with a negative shake ofthe head, after giving each of the three boys a keen look, while a shadeof bitter disappointment crossed his crafty face.
"Oh! it was an off season for me, Sheriff Bob," replied the guide,laughing; "an' I thought I'd try playing guide again, this time to abunch of Boy Scouts what come out to the Rockies from the Far East, tohunt big game."
The sheriff grinned broadly, as though that struck him a good deal inthe nature of a joke.
"Boy Scouts, eh?" he continued, as he calmly sat him down by the fire;"well, I've heard a heap about them, but these are the first I've seteyes on. They brought their nerve along with 'em I reckon, Toby?" andhe chuckled again while speaking.
"That's the way I thought about 'em fust pop, Sheriff Bob," remarkedToby, in a quiet, convincing tone; "but I've found out that I sized'em up a lot too low. They's eight of 'em in the bunch, and the restis keepin' camp down by that willow that stands by the spring hole inthe valley. We came out to-day to try and get a big-horn."
The sheriff sniffed the air at this.
"Say, you don't mean to tell me they shot a sheep?" he demanded.
"Two of the same, and at a pretty fair distance too. We got 'em both.This here, who is known as Smithy, had never killed anything bigger'na mouse afore, I understands, an' precious few of 'em; while Step Henhere, he's had considerable experience up in Maine, which is said tobe a good hunting ground."
The sheriff pursed up his lips, and arched his eyebrows.
"Well," he remarked, "I'd like to shake hands with you both, boys,because you've done what I never yet accomplished in my life--shot abig-horn."
"But sho! that ain't near all," declared the proud Toby; "they got acouple of big grizzlies in the bargain; and right this very day StepHen, he clumb half way down that cliff thar, to shove his sheeploose; and had to fight for his life agin a pair o' cantankerouseagles what had a nest up thar. I went to his help, an' thar the birdslie, Sheriff Bob!"
The officer whistled again.
"This _is_ a surprise, I must say," he remarked. "But Toby, if so beyou could spare us a mouthful of that same mutton, why, we'd beobliged. We've got to be going in a little while, because, you see,I'm up here to assist this gentleman, who's name is Mr. ArtemusRawson, and a lawyer from Denver, look up a boy who's his nephew, andwho's stolen something his uncle values a heap. We learned he was lastseen on the hike for this country roundabout; and I'm bound to findhim, by hook or by crook. I always do, you remember, Toby; none ofthem ever gets away from Sheriff Bob."
Step Hen almost cried out, such was the thrill that shot through him.Almost instinctively his eyes sough those of Davy Jones, and a look ofintelligence passed between them.
Rawson, the sheriff said his name was, and he was a lawyer fromDenver, looking for a boy who was his nephew, and whose name thereforewas likely to be the same!
Surely he must be referring to their new friend, Aleck. But thesheriff had declared the boy to be a thief; and they could neverbelieve Aleck that, with his frank face, his clear eyes, and engagingmanners. There must be some sort of a mistake; or else this so-calledArtemus Rawson was a fraud of the first water, and just trying to getpossession of that secret connected with the hidden mine, the same asColonel Kracker!
Step Hen put a finger on his lips, and that told Davy to keep quiet, sothat the others might not suspect their comrades in the other camp wereentertaining the very boy these men sought at that particular minute.
And when he had the chance, Step Hen whispered a few words to Smithythat rather startled that worthy, who had apparently not noticed whatwas being said when the sheriff was talking; he having hurried over totry and cut some slices from the carcase of the big-horn, as he wishedto get into the habit of doing these handy things about camp.
There now remained but Toby; and from the sly wink which the guidegave Step Hen, upon seeing the anxio
us look on the boy's face, it wasplain that he had grasped the situation immediately, and they need notfear that he would betray Aleck.
While the two men were eating a little later, Step Hen tried to makeup his mind as to what sort of a party this so-called Artemus Rawsonmight be. If he indeed proved to be a genuine brother of the man whohad discovered the silver lode, and the real uncle of Aleck, then hemust have been a different sort of a man altogether from the boy'sfather. On his small, rat-like face scheming was written plainly; andthe chances were, Step Hen concluded, that he too knew something aboutthe "find" Aleck had lately made, and was plotting to get possessionof that precious chart to the mine.
This gave Step Hen cause for sudden excitement. The sheriff had justsaid they could not stay all night with Toby and his charges; that theywere bound in the direction of the valley, called by _business_. Thenthe chances were that they knew something of the boy's plans, and thathe might be run across heading into the valley from the other side. Theyhad laid out to meet him on the way, and take him by surprise.
What bothered Step Hen was the fact that the sheriff had just saidthey were likely to come upon the camp of the scouts on the way,between then and morning, and in case they did, he promised himselfthe pleasure of dropping in to take a bite of breakfast with the smartscoutmaster and his chums, whom he would like to meet very much.
Step Hen worried over this very nearly all the time the two men wereeating. He thought those rat-like eyes of Artemus Rawson, so-called,were often searching his face, as though the man suspected that heknew something about the boy the sheriff had been engaged to find; andthat being the case, the man would even go out of their way to visitthe camp of the scouts, to see whether the one they sought might bestopping there.
And how under the sun could Thad be warned of the impending trouble?