CHAPTER XXII
DAVE AND THE MOUNTAIN LION
"Don't fire, I beg of you! We--we are friends! Don't fire! Please putdown that pistol, do!"
It was Job Haskers who called out in this fashion, as he raised hishands high in the air. He was seized with a chill, and shook from headto foot.
Link Merwell was also agitated, and for the instant tried to back away.Perhaps, now that Sol Blugg had spoken so harshly, the youth realizedthat he was not such a kind-hearted fellow as Abe Blower had proved tobe.
"Come out here, where we can see you!" cried Blugg. "Larry, got yerpistol?"
"I sure have," responded Larry Jaley, with a wicked grin.
"There is no need to do any shooting," said Link Merwell.
"You were spyin' on us," growled Staver.
"Who are you? Come here and give an account o' yourselves," ordered SolBlugg.
There was no help for it now, and, rather awkwardly, with their handsstill upraised, Job Haskers and Link Merwell stumbled over the rocks towhere the three men had been resting and talking.
"Humph, a tenderfoot!" muttered the leader of the trio, as he inspectedthe former teacher of Oak Hall. "I don't reckon he's goin' to do us anyharm." He turned to Merwell. "Who are you, sonny?"
Link told him and also mentioned Haskers's name. "I was just comingforward to introduce myself," he added.
"How kind," sneered Larry Jaley, with a mock bow.
"I was. We stepped behind the rocks to find out what sort of men youwere. And I guess you are just our kind," added Merwell, with a sicklygrin.
"How so?" demanded Sol Blugg, sharply. "No game, now."
"I'll give it to you straight," answered Link Merwell. "Can I put downmy hands? It's not comfortable to talk with them up in the air."
"All right,--and fire away," answered the leader of the men.
"We overheard what you said about the Abe Blower party and the TomDillon party," pursued Merwell. "We were with Abe Blower, but the othercrowd came up and made it hot for us, and we got out. You saidsomething about their being here to locate gold. So they are, and nowthat we are on the outs with those other people, if you say the word,we'll go in with you. Isn't that right, Haskers?" asked Link, coolly.
"I--I presume so," answered the former teacher, nervously. He haddropped his hands, but Sol Blugg still had his weapon handy, and thesight of it was far from comforting.
"Had a row, did ye?" asked Blugg, curiously.
"Yes. You see, Blower wanted to run things to suit himself andwe--er--we didn't see things quite that way. Then Dillon came up withhis crowd, and they made matters worse than ever. We had someinformation that we didn't want the others to have, so we got out," wenton Link Merwell, glibly. He was now recovering from his fright.
"Got information, have ye?" cried Larry Jaley. "About wot fer instance?"
"About what those fellows are after," answered Merwell. "Isn't that so?"he asked, of Haskers.
"It is," answered the former teacher.
"Is it another gold strike?" burst out Sol Blugg, eagerly.
"Not exactly a strike," answered Merwell. "All of us came out torelocate the lost Landslide Mine."
"What! That mine!" yelled Staver, and the tone of his voice showed hisdeep disgust. "Nuthin' to it--nuthin' at all. If you're arfter thet mineye might as well go right back home. It's buried deep an' fer good."
"Let us hear what they have to tell," said Sol Blugg. "They may havenews worth listenin' to, Ham."
"I ain't goin' to waste no time lookin' fer thet lost mine," growled therascal who had been shot. "I'm goin' back to town an' let a doctor lookat this hand o' mine."
"And I will go with you!" put in Job Haskers, eagerly. "I have hadenough of the mountains! The others can locate that lost mine if theywish."
"See here, you fellers sit down an' we'll talk this thing over," saidSol Blugg. "If you've got Blower an' Dillon interested in lookin' ferthe lost mine there must be somethin' in it wuth knowin'. Might be asyou've got a new lead, or somethin'."
"I'll tell you what I know," answered Link Merwell.
He and Haskers, after bringing in their horses, sat down, and a talklasting the best part of an hour followed. The men from Butte asked manyquestions, and wanted to know about the map and papers Roger wascarrying. Blugg and Jaley were evidently much impressed.
"You are right about one thing, Merwell," he said. "That mine is nowteetotally lost--the claim was shifted by the landslide. If we couldrelocate the mine I think we could make our claim to it good at the landoffice."
"Let us try it!" cried Merwell, eagerly. "We have as much chance to doit as the Morr crowd."
"But he has that map, and the directions."
"We overheard all their talk, so I know as much as Roger Morr does. Asfor Blower and Dillon, they don't know this district any better than youmen do, do they?"
"Not much better," answered Larry Jaley. "We've been here a good manyyears." He turned to Staver. "What do you say, now?"
"Wall, wot this young feller says puts a different look on thesituation," replied the man who had been shot. "I'd like to have aninterest in thet mine myself--thet or the one Tom Dillon onct said hehad near it. An' as Sol says, if we relocated the claim, maybe we couldhold it at the land office--anyway, we could claim a fat slice o' thewuth o' it."
"We'd claim it all!" cried Merwell.
"So we would!" came from Sol Blugg. "Say, sonny, you're the right kind,I reckon, an' we'll call ourselves friends," he added, and put out hishand to Link.
"Then we are--ahem!--not going back to town?" queried Job Haskers, indisappointed tones.
"No, we'll watch those other fellers an' try to locate the lost mine,"answered Sol Blugg; and this was finally agreed to, after a discussionlasting another half-hour. Job Haskers was plainly disappointed, and hisface showed it, and Link Merwell had much difficulty in cheering up theformer teacher.
"We came out to locate that gold mine and we'll do it," said Merwell."And I want you to be on hand, when the time comes, to attend to thelegal end of it, so that we get our share. Of course, as I am wanted bythe police, I can't appear, but you can, and you can, secretly,represent me."
"All provided the lost mine is found," responded Job Haskers. He hadplainly lost heart in the undertaking.
"Oh, we are bound to locate it--sooner or later," said Link Merwell,enthusiastically.
While this plotting was going on, Roger and those with him were pickingtheir way with care over the loose stones that covered the ridge ofrocks where the great landslide had taken place. Here traveling wasexceedingly dangerous and often they had to proceed on foot, for fear ofgoing down into some hollow. None of the footing seemed to be safe, andmore than once Tom Dillon shook his head doubtfully.
"This land ain't got settled yet," he said to Abe Blower. "I shouldn'tbe surprised if there was another landslide before long."
"Mebbe you're right, Tom," was Blower's reply. "But if it's to come, Ihope it comes arter we're away."
"I was thinkin' that maybe we had better go over to the second ridge. Itmight be safer."
"I was thinkin' that myself."
"Then we'll git over as soon as we hit a good crossin-over place,"replied Tom Dillon.
As they were now close to the spot where the Landslide Mine was supposedto have been located, Roger became very eager to do some real searchingfor the mine. And Dave and Phil were equally anxious to aid their chum.
Coming to something of a plateau of rocks, the party spread out,searching for certain landmarks which Abe Blower had mentioned. Thissearch was by no means easy, for some of the loose rocks were very largein size--one being as big as a house--and it was difficult to find one'sway along among them.
Dave was riding along slowly, letting his horse find the best footingpossible, when he came to a narrow defile. The rocks were on both sides,and most of them sticking up from five to ten feet above his head.
"It wouldn't be any fun if some of those loose rocks came down on afellow's head, or on
his horse," mused our hero, as he moved along. "Iwonder where this way leads to?"
At a distance he could hear the others talking, so he knew they were notfar off. They, too, were now among the big rocks, and each hidden fromthe others. Then the talking gradually ceased, giving way to anoccasional call or whistle.
"Oh, if only I could just stumble into the entrance to that mine!"thought Dave. "What a fine thing it would be for Roger and his family! Iknow they need the money!"
He kept his eyes on the alert, but none of the signs for which he wassearching appeared, nor did anything that looked like a mine entranceshow itself.
It was growing towards sunset when Dave, who had just met Phil andseparated from him, came to another rocky defile, this time leading tosomething of a hollow. Here the air was damp and cool and our heropaused for a moment, for he felt tired and hot after the hard riding ofthe day.
"Wonder where we will camp for to-night," he mused, as he gazed aroundhim. "I hope we find some nicer spot than this. This looks so lonely andspookish. Well, I suppose I've got to go on, or they'll get ahead ofme, and it would be no fun to get lost. A fellow----"
Dave came to a stop in his musings and also drew up his horse. He hadtaken but a few steps farther, and now saw, to one side of the rockydefile, a small opening, leading into a sort of hill.
"Looks as if it might be a kind of cave," he told himself. "I guess I'dbetter dismount and take a look inside. It might be the entrance to thelost mine!"
Suiting the action to the word, Dave leaped from his horse, and lettingthe steed stand, approached the cave. The entrance was comparativelysmall and he had to stoop down to peer inside.
As he did this there came a sudden ominous growl from the interior ofthe cave. It was the growl of a wild beast and caused the youth to leapback in alarm. Then a slinking body came into view and a full-sizedmountain lion showed himself!
Dave ran toward his horse. But as the mountain lion gave another growl,the horse snorted and plunged, in sudden fright. Then the steed took tohis heels and went clattering along the rocky defile.
"Stop!" yelled the youth. "Stop!" And then he set up a call forassistance.
At the sound of his voice, the mountain lion paused, just outside theentrance of the cave. Evidently he did not wish to become trapped insuch narrow quarters. He eyed Dave with glaring eyeballs, and showed hisgleaming teeth. His tail began to switch from side to side, and hecrouched low, as if contemplating a spring at the boy.