CHAPTER XI
_STAKING A CLAIM_
But it was rarely ever that the professor wanted company in his search.Bet was inclined to feel offended, for she had hoped that he wouldaccept her offer of help and consider The Merriweather Girls aspartners.
"All right, Kit, let's do something by ourselves. What's the use ofjust looking at the glorious scenery? If an old man like ProfessorGillette can go out and hunt for a lost village, we should be able tofind some copper claims or other interesting things. Let's do it."
The girls were in the saddle while Bet discussed the possibility ofdiscovering something. It was really adventure that Bet was seeking.
The horses stepped gingerly over the slippery rocks of the creek bed asthe girls chatted and laughed on their way to Table Mountain, a greatflat-topped summit in the high hills.
Joy Evans suddenly laughed outright. "Bet Baxter, it would take you tothink of a thing like this. What under the sun will we do with acopper mine if we do locate one? I'm very sure I have no use for one."
"Don't be a spoil-sport, Joy! Think of the romance and the fun. Why,we'll be mine owners!"
"What I want to know is, who will do the actual work?" It was ShirleyWilliams, the practical girl of affairs who put the question.
"We'll hire the work done, of course. It would be foolish for us towaste our valuable time digging holes in the ground," returned Bet.
"Certainly," giggled Kit. "We'll do the brain work and let the_greasers_ do the digging."
"Please don't call the Mexicans that horrid word again. It doesn'tsound nice. I think the Mexican boys have such wonderful dreamy eyes."
"We've heard that before. Go on, Joy, rave some more!" Bet treatedJoy's outbursts of enthusiasm over boys with contempt. "I'm going todo something useful in life."
"Like finding copper mines! Hm! What use are they?" snapped Joy."I'd rather think about boys any time."
"Of course you would! Go on and dream then!" Bet was angry. She andJoy were often near to a quarrel, but somehow it was always averted.
"Quit your fighting, girls," laughed Enid. "What's to hinder us fromfinding our mine and letting Joy dream of romantic brown eyes at thesame time?"
"I'm for the mine! I've always had a secret passion to locate claims,myself, and see them develop into a big mine." Kit caught some ofBet's enthusiasm and wanted to start out at once. She continued: "It'slots of fun to locate a claim. Once I followed an outcropping of oreup over a high hill, but when I got to the top I found it alreadylocated."
"Oh, what a shame!" cried Bet. "And did you give up then?" Bet lookedher disappointment at Kit's lack of enthusiasm.
"I did for a while but I've never really given up wanting to and had afeeling that I _would_ sooner or later. Guess I was waiting for you tohelp me. Say, girls, let's follow this stream."
"What for?" asked Shirley. She was looking about her in a bewilderedway, which set Kit into peals of laughter.
"Well, you see the stream carries bits of ore and if we follow it, wemay find the place the ore comes from. Watch for copper stain on therocks."
"But it's such a tiny stream!" protested Joy.
Kit had already guided her horse to the right and led through a narrowpassage between the high canyon walls. "This is the Iron Gate, girls.It's a landmark around here."
Bet looked up at the high cliffs. They towered above her.
"The Iron Gate! Doesn't that sound romantic?"
Suddenly Enid called excitedly, "Oh, Kit, is that greenish color on therock copper stain?"
"That's it," said Kit, "but here there is hardly more than a tint.Let's go on farther," and Kit urged her pony ahead.
After half an hour of slow travel through the creek, the girls wererewarded. The tiny canyon had widened out, the stream was larger andthey found sufficient emerald green stain to suggest that there mightbe a large deposit of copper nearby. They also found more fragments ofore.
Dismounting, the girls left their horses standing with trailingbridles. Bet suggested unfastening the rope she had brought forpractising, to tie her pony to a tree. Kit laughed.
"The very idea! Don't insult a mountain horse in that way. He'd neverforgive you. Never! Look, here's a small outcrop!"
Kit led the way up over the hill, following an exposed vein of copperore that appeared at intervals. Bet squealed with delight.
"Just look at it! Isn't that lovely? Kit, do you think it's rich ore?"
"I can't tell you that, Bet, but Dad said there were a lot of fineclaims up this way."
"Oh, isn't it glorious?" enthused Bet. "We'll stake them out and own amine!"
"And if we find any good claims, we'll locate them today, for Dad gaveme some location blanks to give to the professor. Dad thinks that itis all foolishness to hunt for a lost Indian village, so he was tryingto persuade the old man to go in for mining. And I have those blanksin my saddle bag right here." And Kit waved her hand back toward thecanyon where Powder was standing patiently waiting his mistress'sreturn.
The girls had reached the flat and here they found a large outcroppingof greenish ore. Delightedly they set to work. On the legal formsthat they had brought with them, they filled in a description of theclaim. They erected a monument built of stones in the center and thenpaced off the required number of feet and placed a small pile of stonesat four corners.
"It's a good thing I've watched Dad and other folks build theirmonuments. Now I know just how to do it." Kit was jubilant. It wasthrilling to be able to show the girls the way to locate claims.
Kit took the blank that had been filled in and placed it in the centerof the monument. "There!" she exclaimed. "The first time we come backhere we'll bring a tin can and put that paper in it and bury it in therocks again. That will keep it dry."
"What a funny thing to do," laughed Bet.
"It's the rule up here. We're doing it the same as all the prospectorsdid. Every claim was located that way!" Kit carefully covered theblank, then folded up another, a duplicate and handed it to Bet. "Keepthis one."
"What for?" asked Shirley.
"That is the one we send in to be recorded at the County Office."
"I'm excited!" cried Bet as she dropped beside the pillar of rock inthe center of the claim. "Isn't it just too wonderful for anything toown a mine like this? I feel rich already. And just think there maybe a big mine on this very spot some day!"
"Bet, you should have been a prospector. Every old miner in the hillsthinks that his own particular claims are going to be the biggest minein sight," laughed the Arizona girl. "As soon as he builds a monumenthe begins to talk of private cars and mansions."
"I almost wish I were a prospector. It must be lots of fun to havemarvelous hopes of success. If I hadn't come a girl, I'd be aprospector. Just think of it, not having anything to do in life butroam around the hills and look at the rocks!" Bet lost herself in herdreams.
"And build funny little play monuments!" added Enid.
"Yes, and half starve to death before you get ore enough mined tosell," Kit reminded her.
"Oh, Kit, that isn't fair to wake me up so rudely. Why not dreampleasant things while you're about it?" Bet laughed. "Where do welocate the next claim?" They followed Kit to some distance from themonument and when they had found sufficient outcropping they repeatedthe same process.
There was a hot breeze that seemed to intensify the heat of the sun andbrought the aromatic scent of the greasewood. The wild beauty of thecanyon was not lost on the girls. From the cliff they could see downinto the depths, they could hear the rippling of water over the rockybed of the creek, the flash of a bright bird in the trees would bringthem out of their day dreams. It was good to be alive, good to beroaming through the hills looking for romance and adventure.
"I'm glad we gave up the idea of hunting for treasure," declared Betwith a shade of contempt in her voice as she paced off the requirednumber of feet for marking the fourth and last claim. "
Somehow orother that seems silly now. This is far more important and worthwhile."
"After seeing those excavations that were made, I could never think ofit seriously," Enid said quietly. "Kie Wicks must have spent a fortunetrying to find treasure in that spot."
"Yes, but not _his_ fortune! He formed a company and sold stock, so itwasn't his own money he spent," Kit reminded them.
The girls stood looking over their claims with affectionate glances."I love them, Bet, and I'd just hate to have anyone else do thedigging. Why can't we do it?" asked Kit.
Enid spoke up. "Don't do it, girls. Take my advice and hire it done,it will be cheaper in the end."
"Maybe Enid's right," agreed Bet. "We mustn't get too ambitious orwe'll miss half the fun."
"Say, when do we eat?" demanded Joy suddenly. "I'm famished! I can'tdo another thing until I get my lunch."
"Poor starved child!" laughed Enid. "Do you suppose you could rolldown the hill so we can build a camp fire by the stream? If you thinkyou can't, we might fix up a stretcher and carry you."
Joy answered with a toss of her head and a puckered-up grin. "I thinkI can manage to crawl there, if I am sure of a feed immediately."
The girls scrambled down the steep cliff side and began to unpack thelunch. Joy chose a large granite rock in the middle of the stream andperched thereon, she surveyed her surroundings.
"Isn't that a lovely copper stain? And to think it's coming from ourmine!" she enthused in a mocking tone, while the other girls unpackedthe lunch or hustled around to find sticks for a fire.
Their lunch preparations were to be quite elaborate, roast potatoes andcorn on the cob and steak. Enid and Kit built the fire with care andsoon a bed of coals was ready. While the two girls worked over thefire and Shirley gave attention to spreading the feast, Bet sat on thecliff, dreaming of the mine to be.
"This is adventure! This is romance!" she cried to her friends.
"Romance!" chuckled Joy. "It's not what I call romance."
"Dark brown eyes and a heavenly smile on the face of a boy, is youronly idea of romance. You are a silly girl!" Bet shrugged her boyishshoulders and laughed at Joy as she undid her long rope, and standingup straight, tried to send the loop over a stump in the manner approvedby Tommy Sharpe, her teacher. Her efforts were not very successful.Out of twenty attempts she managed one that coiled over the spot thatshe was aiming at. Bet decided then and there that she would not makea good cowboy. While she practised the throw again and again, shecontinued to talk to Joy who seemed half vexed as she snapped:
"You needn't talk about liking boys, Bet Baxter. I don't blush everytime the mail arrives and a letter is handed me. And you seem to haveno objection to dreamy brown eyes yourself. I've seen the way youlooked at Phil Gordon. Now Phil's eyes haven't got enough snap in themfor me--they're altogether too brooding to suit me. I think that youngMexican's eyes are much more exciting."
"Why, Joy Evans, how dare you say that I like to look at Phil's eyes?He's a dear boy, one of our best chums, but I don't think at all abouthis eyes," retorted Bet.
"You don't think his eyes are nice? Answer me, Bet?" teased Shirley.
"They're all right I tell you, but I think you girls are just toohorrid trying to insinuate that I'm in love with Phil," protested Bet,her face flushing, her blue eyes snapping with anger.
"We don't have to insinuate anything, Bet. You give yourself awayevery time his name is mentioned," was Joy's emphatic reply.
"I move we change the subject. It's a sore point with me for I'm halfin love with Phil myself," laughed Kit. "He's one of the nicest boysI've ever seen. But when Bet's around he won't even notice me."
"What will Bob say to that?" laughed the impish Joy for it was nosecret that Bob Evans had lost his heart to the Arizona girl from thefirst time he met her. His heart was hers to crush or treasure as shesaw fit. But at present Kit preferred to hold on to her girlhood andnot allow the thought of love and grown-up responsibilities to enterher head.
That was one nice thing about the relationship of the girls and theirboy friends. There was comradeship and loyal friendship.
Bet suddenly jumped down from her perch on the cliff and saiddisgustedly: "Joy Evans, I think you are corrupting all of us with yoursilly ideas regarding boys. I love Bob and Phil and Paul Breckenridgeand Tommy Sharpe just exactly the same, and I won't be teased about anyone in particular."
"Methinks thou dost protest too much, my dear!" exclaimed Joytantalizingly. "We'll change the subject for the time, but when I getyou alone, Bet Baxter, I'll make you own up that Phil Gordon is alittle dearer to you than any of them." Joy dodged and slid from thegranite rock just in time to miss the loop of rope that Bet had aimedat her with no gentle hand.
"Come on girls, you selfish things, give your horses a chance," and Kitstroked Powder's muzzle and gave him a nosebag of oats. All the girlsfollowed her example, then while the potatoes were getting ready, Bettook a book from her pack behind the saddle and lost herself in a story.
"Do read aloud, Bet," begged Enid, dropping down beside her friend. "Iwill always remember how you read to me on Campers' Trail when I washurt."
So while Kit tended the fire, keeping a bed of hot coals just right forthe baking, and Shirley fried steak and cooked the corn, Enid stretchedout on a flat rock and listened to Bet. She had chosen "The WonderfulWindow" by Dunsany, and when she finished Enid sighed softly.
"I like a story that gives you something to think about," said Bet,moved by the loveliness of the tale.
"I don't see anything particularly nice to think about in that story,Bet," objected Joy with a shrug. "It isn't lively enough to suit me."
"Of course you wouldn't!" laughed Enid. "Your idea of a story isCinderella. There has to be a girl, a prince and a wedding. Isn'tthat right?"
"Of course," answered the butterfly girl, twirling about on her toes asusual. "It's the only kind that counts. I wouldn't give a snap of myfinger for any other kind."
With a bound, Bet jumped to her feet, caught the slight form of Joy,lifted her clear off the ground, then ran with her down to the creek.
"Come on, Enid, this girl needs to have her head soaked in cold water.Let's do it." And in spite of the protests of the kicking, shriekingJoy, the girls managed to get her to a pool of water in the creek bed.
"Now, Joy Evans, will you behave yourself?"
Bet held Joy's head under her arm, and using her arm as a dipper shepoured water freely over the girl's head.
Kit and Shirley came to the rescue at Joy's screams, but Shirley heldthem off.
"She had it coming to her, girls. It will do her good."
Between Bet's bursts of laughter she managed to say, "Promise you won'ttalk about boys and love for a week at least, then I'll let you go."
"Don't be as unreasonable as all that," protested Shirley. "She mightlive through twenty-four hours of it, but not much longer."
"Then promise that you won't mention a boy's name for two days!" andfor good measure another handful of water splashed into Joy's laughingface.
"I promise! I promise! Please let me go!" choked Joy who had openedher mouth just in time to get it full of water.
"All right! Here you go!" And Bet gave a quick shove, landing thedripping girl on her feet, then she stood back admiringly. "There isone fine thing about you, Joy Evans. You're a good sport. I couldn'tbe as good natured as that." Bet threw an arm about the smaller girlaffectionately.
"Yes, I am good natured. I let you abuse me just turrible! I'm sokind and lovable and......"
"Give her another bath!" cried Kit, making a bound to catch Joy. Butquick as a flash the girl had sprung to a rocky ledge and wasscrambling up the cliff-side like a mountain goat.
The girls shrieked with laughter and the echoes resounded back andforth across the canyon like the voices of a thousand imps. This setthem deliberately to letting their voices out in strange calls andweird whisperings in order to hear the echoes coming b
ack to them.
"Isn't it wonderful!" exclaimed Bet. "There are so many more things toentertain one here than in the cities. And after this, Lynnwood willseem dull."
"I could never call Lynnwood dull," said the sensible Shirley. "Wealways managed to have plenty of adventure there, thanks to Bet who canfind a thrilling mystery anywhere."
"Say, girls, I wish you'd get that silly idea you have of me out ofyour heads. From now on I'm a business woman, a mine-owner, and allother adventures are out. I'm going to be known as Sensible Bet."
"Listen to her! She thinks it will be an adventure to work a copperclaim. My idea of an adventure is altogether different. I can't seeany thrill in five girls getting out in the hills, miles away fromnowhere, and without the boys......"
Bet made a dash toward Joy, who had just stepped down to the creek fromher place of refuge.
"Put her in the creek!" Bet shouted. "This time she goes in all over!"
"Oh please!" begged Joy, taking refuge once more on the steep trail."Truly I forgot! I won't say it again."
"All right, come on down, and we'll let you off this once, but nexttime, in you go, head and all!"
Kit had drawn away at some distance from the girls and was lookinganxiously at the sky. "Looks to me as if a storm was coming up. We'dbetter get home at once."
On mountain weather forecasts, Kit was authority so the girls quicklyseized their horses' bridles, tightened the cinches as Kit directed,then hastily mounted and started toward home.
"It's beginning to look worse and worse! Don't waste a minute. Wemust reach the pass down there before it catches us. Otherwise we'llbe in a jam."
The horses sensed the excitement and the tenseness that goes before astorm and raced through the creek-bed without any urging. Even the oldhorse, Dolly, needed neither spur nor whip. Snorting and blowing ingood earnest, she held her own with the more spirited animals as theypicked their way around boulders and pools of water.
At the first drop of rain, Kit drew in her pony. "We can't make it,girls! We'll never make it in time," she cried in a panic of fear.
"Of course we can make it. There it is right ahead of us," Enidencouraged them. "We can get through the pass."
"No, we can't!" declared Kit anxiously.
"Then we'd better stay right here where it's dry," said Bet.
"We can't do that either," screamed Kit. "In ten minutes this will bea raging torrent instead of a little trickle of water. You don'tunderstand."
It was not often that Kit lost her presence of mind, but theresponsibility of looking after the girls quite unnerved her.
"Then what shall we do?" asked Shirley, who never got excited or losther head.
Kit looked at the canyon walls on both sides. They were steep, theyseemed straight up.
"Oh, I shouldn't have started back, I should have waited," in Kit'svoice was a sob.
Heavy clouds had shut out all the blue of the sky. Never before hadthe girls seen such black and menacing clouds. They rolled and seethedlike foaming billows. It looked as if the demons of some underworldwere engaged in a tremendous battle. Black, castle-like shapes piledup, to be tumbled into the abyss, the next second. It was an infernothrough which a flash of lightning darted from time to time, followedby thunderclaps.
The girls were terrified.
Joy was sobbing outright and at every blast of thunder a high-pitched,uncontrollable shriek broke from her lips. The horses stood still,trembling with fright.
"We're in terrible danger here. We must get out!" cried Kit,frantically. "Come on back. Let your horse take you wherever he wantsto, and hold on for dear life."
Kit wheeled her horse back the way they had come and the girlsfollowed. And just at that moment the downpour came and looking backtoward the pass, the girls saw a strange sight. A body of water cameroaring through the narrow opening as if a gigantic fire-hydrant hadburst. A cloudburst in the mountain beyond had sent the water roaringand tumbling down the bed of the stream.
Just what happened the girls could hardly tell afterwards. They heldon as Kit had directed and the horses raced madly away from theoncoming torrent.
Bet's heart almost stopped beating as her pony took the trail up thewall of the canyon, so steep that she would not have dared to attemptit on foot. Half way up the wall, the horse stopped.
"I've never seen anything braver than that! This is thrilling!"breathed Bet as she held on to the horn of the saddle with a grip thatstrained her hands. Although she was as frightened as any of thegirls, she still had an eye to the adventure.
The stream bed was a river now, swirling, foaming and roaring. It madeone dizzy to look down into it.
Bet finally got up the courage to turn her head to see if the othergirls were safe, and behind her on the trail, she made out Joy's horse.
The animal had followed Bet's lead and it stood on the trail dejectedand drooping, a picture of woe.
And the saddle was empty.
"Joy! Joy!" screamed Bet. "Where are you? Joy!"
No one, even a few feet away, could have heard her call and if therehad been any answer, the roar of the storm deadened it.
The rain came down in a heavy sheet, soaking her to the skin andshutting out the hills across the canyon. She was alone in thisblinding downpour. It seemed as if the inferno she had witnessed inthe sky had fallen upon her and was eager to swallow her up. And yetBet was thrilled.
She wanted to huddle over her pony, hold on to the saddle horn, but shedared not do it. She must find Joy.
What had happened to the other girls? Kit was probably with them, andleading them to safety. Joy was near and in need of help.
Bet carefully took her feet from the stirrups and slid to the groundwith a death-grip on the saddle. There was only room for one foot onthe tiny shelf of rock, and that slight space was slippery with therain. Slowly Bet lowered herself, with the aid of the stirrup, andclutching at the tough-fibred plants, she lay down flat on her stomach.Sliding and wriggling, an inch at a time, down that slippery incline,she managed to hold on to the narrow shelf.
"Joy! Joy! Where are you?" she cried.
At last Bet could hear the heavy breathing of Joy's horse, got hold ofa stirrup and clung there trembling.
Again and again she called, then listened.
Finally above the roar of the storm she thought she heard a faint cryfrom the trail below. Bet crept along the trail, this time underDolly's feet. She had to take a chance even though one move on thepart of the horse might send her over the side of the cliff.
Then Bet saw Joy. She was clinging to a mass of bear grass, her facewhite and her eyes wild with fear. It was impossible to reach her.She seemed to be clinging there only with her hands, her feet swingingwithout any support. But of that Bet could not be certain.
It would be sure destruction to attempt to climb down that wall.
Then quick as a flash Bet thought of the reata on Joy's saddle. Bethad insisted that the girl carry the rope with her, and Joy hadprotested as usual.
That rope was her only chance.
Bet slowly crept up the incline to Joy's horse and managed to get toher feet and undo the long coil of rope. Then crouching to her kneesonce more she made a loop, thankful that she had learned to do thatstunt as a child. The other end she tied to the saddle.
Bet heard a groan from the cliff and hastened toward it.
But haste was one thing that could not be attempted with safety. Betregretted that effort. Her body slipped, a plant gave way and her feetslid over the wall.
Bet's mind was clear. She heard once more Joy's faint cry in thedistance and knew that it depended on her to rescue her friend. Theempty hand clutched and found another tough root, and slowly, now, shebrought first one foot then the other to the ledge. She was saved!But would she reach Joy in time?
With greater caution she crept the few feet along that treacherous pathuntil she came close above Joy's head.
"Hold on, Joy, don't giv
e up! I'll help you in a minute." Betencouraged her.
Working desperately, Bet got to her feet and clung there. It was theonly hope for Joy. The rain had ceased to pour down in such a torrent,and Bet could now see her friend clinging to that slender plant.Leaning over as far as she dared, she dropped the loop over Joy's headand shoulders.
"Joy dear," she called. "Put one arm inside the loop, quick!"
Joy heard and understood. She let go with one hand. There was ashriek, a groan, a shower of rocks descended as Joy slipped down thatsteep wall.
For Bet, everything went black. She grew faint and closed her eyes,then suddenly pulled herself together, and looked over.
The rope was taut. It had held.
A second shower of rocks came from the trail, started by the suddenjerk on the saddle. The horse pawed the ground in an effort to keepits footing.
It held. And Bet gripped the stirrup with her foot and drew on therope.
It was well that Joy was tiny. Even then, Bet had difficulty inbringing her up. She tugged, she pulled, trying to ease the girl'sbody over the sharp projecting rocks.
Bet was weak and trembling when she clasped Joy in her arms, perched onthat narrow shelf of rock.
And that was the way Kit found them ten minutes later, when the stormhad passed and the sun shone fiercely down once more.
Joy was sobbing as if her heart would break and Bet was saying in acrooning voice: "Joy dear, you can talk about the boys as much as youwant to from now on. I'll never again object to anything you do."