CHAPTER IV.--A PERILOUS SITUATION.
Sam Willett had courage and fortitude in no common degree, but the wordsof Ulna, who stood dripping and panting before him, froze him with aspeechless terror.
He took the wet paper from the Indian boy's hand, but for some secondshe had neither the courage nor the strength to open it.
The howling of the wind down the gorge and the hoarse roaring of themaddened waters heightened the terror of the situation.
Wah Shin, though not well versed in English, fully understood the importof Ulna's message, but realizing his own inability to do or to suggestanything, he stood with his lips drawn and his little oblique eyes halfclosed.
Ike was the only one of the party who did not appear to have lost thepower of speech. Taking the letter from Sam's hand, he said:
"Dat ar paper's powahful damp, an' I reckon, Mistah Sam, yeh kin read itbettah if so be I dries it so's it won't fall to pieces."
Ike opened the paper and while he held it before the fire, Ulna brieflyexplained the situation.
He said that Mr. Willett, Hank Tims and himself reached Hurley's Gulchwithout any mishap.
They found the rude mining camp in a great state of commotion owing to arobbery and murder that had recently been committed.
The more law-abiding, or rather the more industrious, for there was noorganized law in the place, had formed a vigilance committee to hang thenext murderer or robber, under the wild sanction of "lynch law."
"Just as soon as we reached Hurley's Gulch," continued Ulna, "we met TomEdwards, and he was very drunk and very abusive. He shouted to every onehe met that Mr. Willett had robbed him, and took Gold Cave Camp from himwithout paying a cent, though he had promised fifteen hundred dollars."
"Why, the man lies infamously!" interrupted Sam. "I was a witness toEdwards' receipt for the money in full, and I have it here amongfather's papers."
"And that receipt is what your father must have at once in order toclear him of the charge of robbery and murder," said Ulna.
"Murder!" repeated Sam.
"Yes. Last night Tom Edwards was found dying with a pistol bullet in hisbreast, and with his last breath he swore to the men who found him thatyour father and Hank Tims shot him to get rid of paying the money theyowed him. The vigilantes at once arrested Mr. Willett and Tom, and theyswear they will hang them if they do not prove that Tom Edwards waspaid. I saw the money paid myself, but they refuse to take the word ofan Indian," said Ulna, with a flash of indignation in his splendid blackeyes; then continuing, "but they agreed to let me come here for thepaper."
"Heah!" cried Ike, springing from beside the fire, "de lettah's dryenough to read. Let's know w'at Mistah Willett he has to say fohhisself."
Sam took the paper, and kneeling down to get the benefit of the light,he read aloud as follows:
"_My Dear Son_:--I do not want you to be at all alarmed at my detention. Ulna will explain why neither Tom nor I can return till you have brought us the receipt which Tom Edwards signed when I paid him the money in full for his claim at Gold Cave Camp.
"This receipt you will find among the papers in my saddle-bags. Bring it to me with all speed and leave Ulna back in charge of the camp; it does not matter if the mining ceases till we return.
"I regret to have to tell you that Tom Edwards is dead. He was drunk when he received the shot that killed him, and he accused Hank and me of the crime. If the people here knew us well they would not believe this charge for one instant, but they do not, and so we must wait till we can show the vigilance committee who hold us prisoners, that we could have no motive for, even if we were inclined to do this awful deed.
"I saw Frank Shirley here yesterday afternoon in company with a well-known desperado who goes by the name of 'One-Eyed Badger.' I cannot but think that these two men are at the bottom of this new trouble, but what their reasons can be I cannot even guess; certain it is that I have never done them or any one else a wrong knowingly.
"Do not lose heart, for I have no fear as to the result: only come as soon as you can to your loving father,
"_Samuel Willett._"
Sam read this over rapidly, then he read it a second time with moredeliberation.
"De boss am in a bad fix," groaned Ike, "an' I jest wish I could takehis place."
"I shall go to my father at once," said Sam, stoutly.
He went to the saddle-bags, got the necessary papers--the receipt anddeed--and placed them securely in the inner breast pocket of hisbuckskin tunic.
"You no gettee on holse an' lide such night as deez coz it was so mucheestolmy?" said Wah Shin when he saw Sam getting out his saddle, bridleand rifle.
"I must get to Hurley's Gulch before another day," was the resolutereply, "if I have to go there on my hands and knees."
"But you cannot go to-night," protested Ulna. "Come and see the danger."
He took Sam by the arm and led him out to the plateau before theentrance to the cave.
It has been said that it but seldom rains in this land, but when it doesthe watery torrents come down with a continued fury, of which thedwellers in more favored climes can have only the faintest conception.
The bare rocks refuse to absorb the rain as it falls, and so theever-accumulating waters sweep into the canyons and fill the narrow bedsbetween the precipitous banks with wild torrents, that must be once seenbefore an adequate idea can be formed of the tremendous and seeminglyirresistible power of water in action.
The four occupants of the caves, all fine types of four human races,went out to the plateau.
The light, streaming through the cave opening, cut across the inkyblackness of the canyon like a solid yellow shaft, that made thesurrounding darkness more impenetrable.
Laden with sheets rather than drops of rain, the wind swept down theravine with a force that threatened to tear the observers from the rocksand hurl them into the seething torrent.
"Before this time," said Ulna, speaking with the calmness thatdistinguished all he said, "the valley is flooded and the horses upthere are drowned."
Sam shuddered but made no reply.
He went back to the cave, secured a lighted brand, and, returning to theedge of the plateau, he dropped it over.
It went hissing down. If the current were as low as the day before itshould have fallen sheer down for a hundred feet, but before going halfthat distance, it lit up an expanse of water white with foam, and wasextinguished.
The result of this experiment brought Sam's heart to his mouth, and hecould not have uttered a word if the life of the father he so well loveddepended on it.
"If she keeps on a-climbin' up dat way," groaned Ike, "de watah'll benigh into de cave by mawnin'."
Sam now recalled that he had found drift-wood lodged in the crevices ofthe rocks, even higher than the entrances to the cave, and from this heinferred that at the highest water no one could stay in the cave andlive.
Maj, the fine setter dog, had been moaning beside the fire all theevening, but now he came out and crouched at his young master's feet, asif his instinct told him of the danger and that he wanted protection.
Fearing that the poor horses were gone, and well knowing that it wouldbe madness to attempt to cross the canyon that night, Sam turned sadly tohis companions and said:
"We can do nothing till daylight comes. Let us get in out of the storm."
They returned to the cave and silently sat down on the stones that hadbeen placed for seats near the fire.
It was a most trying situation.
Even if Mr. Willett and Hank Tims had been safely there in the cave, theever-increasing storm and the possibility, or rather the certainty ofits danger if it continued would have been sufficient to drive sleepfrom the eyes of all.
But Sam Willett, brave, unselfish youth that he was, gave no thought tothe peril of his own surroundings.
With his chin resting between his u
p-turned palms, he looked steadily atthe dying fire without seeing it.
His heart and his thoughts were ever with his sorely-tried father atHurley's Gulch, and he groaned as he read in the beating of the stormthe edict that might bar his going to the rescue.
But though unmindful of himself, it was not in Sam's nature to neglectthe comfort of others.
"Lie down, all of you," he said to his companions, "and I will standguard till daylight comes."
After a weak protest, Wah Shin, Ulna and Ike brought in their blanketsand lay down before the fire.
Ike pretended that he did not want to sleep, but, after an attempt atdesultory talk, his eyes closed and he soon became oblivious to hissurroundings.
Maj continued to be restless and frightened. Now and then, as if tojudge for himself how the storm was getting on, he would go to the caveopening, and, after whining in a pained way for some seconds, he wouldcome back and crouch down near the fire with his nose resting on hisyoung master's knees.
To sorrow-stricken Sam Willett that night seemed like an eternity ofdarkness.
He was beginning to feel that the storm had destroyed the sun, when thegrey light of another day began to creep slowly into the cave.