CHAPTER III.--SAM'S TRIALS BEGIN.
While daylight was flooding the upper world next morning, and theshadows were lifting from the gloomy depths of the canyon, the moderncave dwellers ate their breakfast.
About three hundred yards above the caves the canyon widened out into avalley some three hundred yards in diameter. The bottom of this valleywas covered with rich grass, and in it was a grove of cotton-wood treeswhose bright verdure gave the place the appearance of a rich emerald gemin a mighty setting of granite.
In this valley the horses and pack mules were kept, and, as they had butlittle to do, they might be said to "live in clover."
While it was still dusky in these depths, though the glimpses of far-offruddy mountain peaks told that the sun was rising in the upper world,Sam and Ike, who were hardly ever apart, went up to the valley and soonreturned with three horses and two mules, the latter were to carry backthe necessary supplies from Hurley's Gulch.
It had been Mr. Willett's custom to make this trip once a month, so thathis going now was not an unusual event, yet his face showed that he wasmuch dejected, as if he had a premonition of the awful calamity that wasso soon to come upon himself and his beloved boy.
His last words, as he kissed Sam, were:
"If anything should happen to detain me longer than four days, I willsend a letter back by Ulna."
"But we'll be back on time," joined in Hank Tims, "for I don't likecrowds, an', then, we've struck pay dirt rich up at the head of thevalley, an' I'm just a spilein' to see how it'll pan out to the ind."
Good-bys were said, and Sam, Ike and Wah Shin stood on the plateaubefore the cave and waved their hats, till the three men had led theanimals up the giddy trail and disappeared beyond the towering summit ofthe cliff.
Under the teaching of his father and Hank Tims, Sam had become askillful gold miner, that is, so far as panning out the gravel andcollecting the gold were concerned.
The fact that he was the prospective heir to a large fortune did notunfit him for work this morning. With Ike he went up to the sluicesimmediately after his father left, and until the sun was in mid-heaventhey worked, shoveling gravel into the cradle and rocking it under thewater, and only stopping to pick out the nuggets and yellow dust andscales that rewarded their effort every hour.
By means of an old-fashioned horn, Wah Shin summoned them to dinner. Ofthe fresh meat he had made pies that would have tempted an invalid'sappetite. And, as the boys ate, sitting before the entrance to the cave,the Chinaman's face fairly glowed with delight at the evidence of hisexcellent cooking.
"Ven'zon pie belly good," chuckled Wah Shin, as he produced a secondwhen the first had vanished. "But man eatee too muchee, den get mebbesick."
"Dat ar edvice is 'tended foh Mistah Sam," laughed Ike, as he helpedhimself again. "But vanzon pie an' 'possums are two tings I ain't nebbergot my fill ob up to dis time."
Sam heard but did not heed the talk of his companions, for his attentionwas at the moment attracted to two strange men who were slowly makingtheir way down the trail on the opposite side of the canyon wall.
As there was danger from prowling bands of Indians who had left thereservation, and also from white outlaws who frequently robbed weakmining camps, every one at Gold Cave Camp strapped on a belt, with aknife and pistols in it, as regularly as he pulled on his boots.
Starting to his feet and followed by Ike, Sam went down to the stream,getting there just as the two men reached the bottom.
One of the strangers was a tall, dark-bearded man, with one eye, and theother was a short, yellow-skinned man with a mean expression of face,whom Sam recognized as his cousin, Frank Shirley.
Sam had never spoken to this man, so he did not greet him like anacquaintance now.
Both men were well armed, as is the fashion of the country, and whenthey came within hailing distance, Frank Shirley called out:
"Hello, young man, is this Mr. Willett's camp?"
"It is, sir," was Sam's reply, as he came to a halt.
"Is Mr. Willett home?"
"He is not."
"Where is he?"
"He has gone to Hurley's Gulch."
"When did he leave?"
"This morning."
"Ah, I'm sorry I missed him. When do you expect him back?"
"In a few days. Won't you come over and have some dinner?" asked Sam,waving his hand in the direction of the plateau, on which Wah Shin wasvisible.
"Thank you; no. We are going on to Hurley's Gulch, and are in a greathurry," said Frank Shirley, turning and whispering to his companion, whonodded vigorously in response.
"Who shall I say called?" asked Sam, as the two men turned to ascend thetrail.
"Friends," was the laconical reply.
"If dem's frien's," said Ike, when the men had gone out of hearing, "denIze de biggest kind ob a foe."
The conversation of the two men when they reached the top of the cliffproved the black boy's surmise to be correct.
They had left their horses hitched to a rock, and as they prepared tomount, Frank Shirley said to his companion:
"That's the boy, Badger."
"The boy ez stan's atween you an' fortune?" said Badger.
"Yes."
"Wa'll, ain't you hired me to help you clear the way?"
"I have, Badger."
"Good; then let us git rid of the father first, an' then all the rest'llbe ez smooth ez ile."
"You will stick to your contract?"
"I'd be a fool if I didn't. You pay expenses an' give me ten thousanddollars to get 'em out of the way. Isn't that it?"
"That's it, Badger," said Frank Shirley, as he mounted and rode alongbeside his companion.
"That ar boy down thar," said Badger, waving his hand back at the canyon,"ain't no slouch. He'll fight, he will; an' the best way with sich is togive 'em no chance."
"No chance," echoed Frank Shirley, "that's it exactly. And now that wehave them parted our opportunity has come."
"Just ez if 'twas made to order," said Badger.
After the men had gone, Sam and Ike went to work again, but the formerhad lost the cheerfulness that distinguished him in the morning.
He could not get those two men out of his mind, not that he feared theirreturn--indeed, he could not account to himself for the strange feelingof dread that possessed him for the next three days.
While working, on the afternoon of the fourth day since his father'sdeparture, he noticed that the sky had become overcast and that thewater in the bed of the stream was rapidly rising.
He and Ike quit work earlier than usual, and they had great difficultyin making their way to the caves through the swollen torrent.
They had hardly reached cover when a terrific storm came up and thecanyon became as dark as night, while the roar of the waters and thecrashing of the thunder were ceaseless and appalling.
It was about nine o'clock at night, and the three occupants of the cavewere sitting with awed faces before the fire, when, to theirinexpressible surprise, Ulna, the young Ute, stood dripping before them.
"How did you reach here?" asked Sam, springing to his feet and graspingUlna's hand.
"I rode till I killed my horse, then I ran for hours. The flood was up,and it is rising, but I managed to swim across----"
"But my father!" interrupted Sam, pleadingly laying his arm on the youngIndian's shoulders.
"He and Hank Tims are prisoners at Hurley's Gulch," said Ulna.
"Prisoners."
"Yes, and in the hands of the lynchers who charge them with the murderof Tom Edwards. Here is a letter from your father that will explainall," said Ulna, pulling a damp paper from his pocket and adding, "yourtestimony is wanted at once to clear the accused; but no man can crossthe canyon for a week, and then it will be too late!"