"We will give them four hours' rest," Dave said; "that long halt on thepath was worse than traveling. We shall go three times as fast when weget light to help us as in the dark; besides, we have got to look forsome place where we can double on them. We shan't find that till we areout of this valley. We shall have to be pretty spry if we are going toget away from them; they will come along fast when they once take up thetrail. It has taken us six hours to get down here; it won't take themthree. Well, I hope we shall get on the move an hour or two before theydo. If they wait until daylight before advancing there will be a lot ofhubbub and talk before they really make up their minds that we havereally slipped through their fingers, and arrange for a start. Still, bymidday we shall be having them behind us if we can't find the way tothrow them off."
"I'd willingly take twenty ounces for my share of that gold, to be paidto me at Santa Fe," Boston Joe said.
"So would I, Joe; there ain't no denying it, we are in a tight place,and unless we find some way out of it in the morning, my own opinion isthat we have only got one chance, and that is to leave all the horsesbehind us and to take our rifles and a loaf of bread each, and to startback on foot."
"I should not wonder if we came to that," Zeke said; "but we will holdon for a few hours, and, anyhow, before we leave them we will hide thembags. Possibly we might come back some day; anyhow, we could each totealong what we have got in our blankets; it aint as if we were going torun all the way from here to the settlements. Twelve pound weight aintnothing one way or the other."
"No, nor twenty," Boston agreed. "I vote if we do have to leave thehorses we slip open one of the bags and take another eight pounds or soeach. Twenty pounds aint much for a man to carry besides his gun andammunition and a chunk of bread. Well, let the rest of you lie down andget a couple of hours' sleep. I was off once last night."
"All right; wake us directly you see a change in the sky. We should givethe horses a chunk of bread and a drink each before we start."
It seemed to the lads that they had been asleep for five minutes onlywhen they were roused. It was but the work of a few minutes to adjustthe loads again and to give the horses the bread and water. It was stillhardly light in the ravine when they were ready to start, but all weretoo anxious to get on to delay a moment. As soon as the day hadbroadened a little they were able to pick their way along on thecomparatively level ground beyond the edge of the water-course, and thehorses were put into a trot.
"If we can keep on like this," Joe said, "the Apaches won't be up to usbefore night. They will know that we have got nigh twelve hours' startof them, and though they may start off fast at first, they will soonsettle down into a pace that they can keep up all day."
After journeying for three hours they came upon the spot where two otherravines fell into that along which they were journeying.
"Let us hold a council," Dave said. "Now, what do you think had best bedone--push straight forward or take one of these other gulches?"
"They seem to run back almost the same line as that ye have beenfollowing," Dick said.
"All the better, lad. They will be less inclined to think that we havetaken it. What do you say, Zeke?"
"I think we had better push straight on, Dave. If they were coming alongin the dark it would be a different thing; but they would not go ahorse's length afore they missed our tracks, and even if we muffle thecritters' feet, they are strong enough to send a party each way."
"So they are, Zeke; but it would be a sight better to fight a third ofthem than the hull lot."
"I think that it would be better to push on, Dave," Boston Joe said."There ain't no saying where these narrow valleys lead, they wind anddouble every way; besides, they are dry, so I says let us push on tillwe get into one of the main valleys."
"Well, we will do it, Joe; anyhow, we may as well do as I say and muffletheir feet. The Injuns will know what we have done when they see thetracks stop here, but, as you say, they won't know whether we have gonestraight on or turned up one side or the other. I guess most likely theywill think that we have turned up; anyhow, they are sure to divide."
No further talking was necessary. The blankets were all cut up, bunchesof dry grass were laced under the horses' feet to form a pad, and thestrips of blankets wound round and round and securely fastened.
"Now, on we go again, lads," Dave said, setting the example, and theyrode straight down the ravine ahead of them. Two hours later theblankets were taken off and thrown among the bushes, the rocks havingcut through them, they were useless any longer to conceal the tracks,and they incommoded the horses. A mouthful of water was given to theanimals, and they again started at a brisk pace. The sides of the valleywere now narrowing in again, and becoming much steeper; the trees hadceased, and the bare rock rose in some places almost precipitously.
"The water rises high here when there is a storm," Zeke said. "You see,it is pretty nigh closed up somewhere in front here."
"All the better," Dave said; "we can make a fight for it in a place likethat, and hold it till dark. They can't be far behind us now. Stop thehorses a moment and listen."
A faint sound was heard.
"That is them," Dave said; "they aint above a mile behind; push on tillwe find a good place to make a stand."
Chapter XV.--Rifle-Shots.
Another five minutes they entered a gorge so blocked with rocks that hadfallen from above that they had the greatest difficulty in leading thehorses over them.
"It could not be better," Dave said. "We can stop them here. Zeke, doyou go on with Dick, see how far this goes, and what the chances arewhen we get out of it. If you can see any way of climbing the side ofthe valley come back and tell us. Then I reckon the best thing will befor you to take the horses down and go straight up, leaving Dick to tellus exactly where you have gone up; then, as soon as it is quite dark, wewill be off and follow you; they won't be able to pick up the trail andwill guess we have gone straight down the valley. Anyhow, it will giveus another twelve hours' start."
Zeke nodded. "We may as well take the critters down at once," he said;"it may be two or three miles before we can find a place where we canget out of this valley, and there aint no use making two journeys ofit."
Somewhat reluctantly Dick followed Zeke, driving the horses before them.
They had been gone but five minutes when he heard the crack of a riflebehind them.
"Do you think they are sure to be able to hold that place?"
"They are safe for some time, anyhow," Zeke said. "As soon as theredskins see they are brought to a stand they will draw off and waittill the bands that have gone up the other valleys join them. No doubt,as soon as they had made out our tracks again, they sent a kipple of menoff to fetch them back, but I reckon they wouldn't have seen them tillthey got four or five miles down, and by that time the other bands wouldhave been as much farther up the side-valleys, and the messengers wouldhave a long ride before they overtook them--ten or twelve miles,maybe--and they would have all that to come down again, so they would bepretty well four hours before they had joined the first band, and infour hours it will be dark enough for Dave to draw off."
"There they go again!"
Shot after shot echoed among the cliffs. The gorge extended for anothermile, and then widened rapidly. A mile and a half farther the sides wereclad with trees, and the slope, although still steep, was, Zeke said,possible for horses to scramble up.
"They will go up there safe enough," he said, "five of them with nothingto carry, and the other four ain't heavy loaded. You see them two treesstanding alone on the crest there?"
"I see them, Zeke."
"Well, that is to be your mark. You will make them out plainly enough inthe moonlight. I shall be just down beyond them. I need not tell you tobe keerful how you go when you get beyond the shelter of the treesbelow. Dave will know all about that. Now you can be off back again."
Dick started back at a run, and in less than half an hour joined theother three among the rocks.
"F
ound a place, lad?"
"Yes; they have started up."
"I am glad you are back. These fellows look as if they were going tomake an attack on us. They are about five-and-twenty of them, and Iguess they know as well as we do that it will be dark before theirfriends join them. However, I don't think they will make a rush; theywill lose heart when three or four of their number get shot, and weakenwhen it comes to climbing these rocks in face of our six-shooters. Now,do you two lads keep below; get down right among the rocks, so that youcan fire out through some hole between them, and directly you have firedget out of the line, for a stray bullet might come in."
Scarcely had the boys taken their position, and looked along theirbarrels, when they saw a dozen dark figures spring up among the rocksfifty yards away.
Two shots were fired by the miners, and two of the Indians fell forward;then, one after another, the lads fired, as they felt sure of their aim,while at the same moment two sharper cracks sounded close to them, forthe Colt at forty yards is as deadly a weapon as a rifle. Three more ofthe Indians fell, and the rest sank down behind rocks and opened fire atthe position held by the whites. These reloaded rapidly.
"Now keep a sharp lookout," Dave said, "but don't fire unless they riseagain. Joe and I will make it hot for them as they raise their heads totake aim."
The rifles were fired but twice, and then the fire of the Indiansceased.
"I think we have accounted for two more," Joe said. "We shan't hear anymore of them. Seven out of twenty-five is a sharp lesson, and the firstman who fell was their chief, I reckon, and they will wait till thesub-chiefs with the other bands come up. Now, the sooner the sun goesdown the better. There is one thing, it will be dark down here an hourbefore it is on the hill-tops."
"Why shouldn't we fall back at once?" Tom asked.
"Because, like enough, they will open fire occasionally, and if wedidn't reply they would think we had made off, and would follow us, andpick up the trail where the horses left the valley. We have got to waithere until it is too dark for them to follow the trail. The moment it isdark enough for that we are off."
It was just getting dusk, when Dave said, suddenly:
"There is one of the other bands coming up. They are a good bit awayyet, but I can hear them."
Dick could only make out a low, continuous murmur that sounded to himlike a distant waterfall.
"What do you think, Joe," Dave said; "would it be safe to make a run forit? We might beat off the first attack, but some of us are safe eitherto get killed or hurt too badly to travel. They will talk for a quarterof an hour at least after they come up, and by the time they find wehave gone, and got their horses over these rocks, and got down to themouth of this gorge, it will be too dark for them to follow the tracks."
"I am with you, Dave," Joe said, as he discharged his rifle. "That isone more wiped out. He was just going to fire to see whether we werehere still. That has answered the question; now let us be off. Go asquiet as you can, lads, and don't make the slightest noise. Just creepalong until we are three or four hundred yards away. You may be surethat they are listening."
For a quarter of a mile they moved very cautiously.
"Now I think we are safe," Dave said, breaking into a run.
At a steady trot they kept on down the gorge. Just as they reached itsmouth, they heard a faint yell in the distance.
"They have found we are off. They will be five minutes and more beforethey have brought up their horses and got over the rocks, and they willgo pretty cautious, because they will be expecting to be ambushed. It isgetting pretty dark now; we shall be in among the trees before they areout."
Chapter XVI.--On The Return.
The trees began fully half a mile above the point where Zeke had madehis way up with the horses, and, running now at the top of their speed,they were among them before the Indians issued from the gorge.
The fugitives went on at a slower pace among the trees, until they hearda war-whoop, and knew that the leading Indians had passed out.
"Now throw yourselves down," Dave said, "and just lie as still asmice--the slightest noise would tell them we had taken to the wood. Wewant them to go straight on for a bit."
In four or five minutes they heard the tramping of horses, and a partyof Indians rode down the valley.
"There are over fifty of them," Dave whispered. "I expect the other twobands must have come up together. Now let us get up as high as we can.As long as they are galloping they won't hear any little noise we maymake, but mind how you go, lads. Don't step on a twig, don't brushagainst any dead wood that might crack, and mind you don't set a stonerolling."
They climbed for ten minutes, and then came to a spot where they had aview through the trees down the valley.
"There they are in a heap about a mile down," Joe said, and the boys inthe moonlight could see a dark mass gathered in the middle.
"They are having a talk over it," Dave said; "they know if we held ondown the valley they would have overtaken us by this time, and they knowwe have taken to the wood one side or the other. I recken they won'tthink it any use searching for us to-night, but maybe they will gostraight on for a bit. They won't know how long a start the horses mayhave had, and will think we may have had them in the gorge, and havemounted and ridden down. Yes; there they go. Now we can move on againwithout fear of being heard."
Half an hour later they joined Zeke, who was with the horses a hundredyards over the crest of the hill in a line with the two trees.
"No one hurt?" he asked, as they approached.
"Nary a scratch, Zeke. We have wiped out eight of them. The rest havejust gone tearing down the valley."
"Well, we had best be moving so as to get as far as we can before welose the moon."
"That won't be till within an hour of daylight," Zeke said. "Now, whichway shall we go?"
"I think we had better keep along the hillside, Zeke. We can travel fasthere, and can get so far that when they find the trail in the morning,and follow us, we shall be too far away for them to overtake us beforenightfall."
So day after day they traveled, sometimes in deep ravines, sometimeshigh up among the hills, sometimes coming upon a stream and taking in asupply of water, and sometimes well-nigh mad with thirst. They had cutup two of the empty water-skins and had made rough shoes for theirhorses, and believed that they had entirely thrown their pursuers offthe trail, winding along on what was little more than a goat's track upthe steep face of a valley, the opposite side of which was aperpendicular cliff. They had nearly gained the top when the crack of arifle was heard from the opposite cliff, which was not more than twohundred yards away, although the depth of the gorge was fully a thousandfeet. Looking across they saw that nearly opposite to them stood anIndian village, and that a number of redskins were running toward theedge.
"Hurry up, hurry up!" Dave shouted. "It is too far for them to shootstraight, but a stray bullet might hit us. Push on, lads, with theponies. We will give them a shot or two. Our rifles will carry thatdistance easy enough."
The lads pushed on while the three miners opened fire. There was butanother fifty yards to climb. They could hear the sharp ping of thebullets round them. One of the ponies gave a sudden start, stumbledforward, and then rolled over the edge. In another minute the restgained the plateau.
"Oh, Dick, it is one of the treasure ponies," Tom exclaimed.
"That is a bad job, Tom; which is it?"
"The gray."
"Better him than the others. It was one of his bags that we took thegold out of to make us up twenty pounds each, so there aint aboveseventy pounds lost. Come on, let us get beyond range. We don't want tolose any more." When they got two or three hundred yards further thethree men ran up.
"One pony has gone, I see," Dave said.
"Yes; it is the gray. He had only seventy pounds, you know, so if onewas to go it were best it should be him."
"Well, let us mount and be off, lads; like enough those Indians willhave to ride forty or fifty miles to get
round this canyon, and comehere, but, anyhow, we may as well push on. It is lucky the horses havedone well the last day or two, and that we have got our water-skinsfull."
Chapter XVII.--Conclusion.
Another ten days of arduous toil, and, in turning a sharp corner in adefile, they saw a number of men at work. As these heard the sound ofthe horses' feet they threw down their picks and shovels, and seizedtheir guns.
"Don't say anything about the gold," Dave exclaimed to the others. "Itis lucky it is all covered up."
As soon as the miners saw that the new-comers were whites they loweredtheir guns.
"Why, where on earth have you come from?" one of them asked, as theyrode up.
"We have been making a prospecting tour among the hills."
"Have you found anything?"
"Yes; we have found a first-rate place, but the Apaches drove us offfrom it when we had been at work only four days, and we have had hardwork to save our scalps. I have no objection to give you theindications, for I will not go back again among them ramping Apaches notto find solid gold. There is the map as I steered by. Them three pointsare the Three Sisters, and that tree bears on the mouth of a narrowcanyon. There is gold there, you bet, and likewise the skeletons of aboutthirty Mexicans who got killed there three or four years ago. Now, letus have some grub; we finished our last ounce of flour yesterday, andhave been short for the last fortnight."
"You have had to leave everything behind, I see," the miner said,looking at the eight horses.