CHAPTER XIII
_THE "ORPHAN ANNIE" CLAIM_
Disappointments could not long dampen the spirits of The MerriweatherGirls. Youth soon conquered discouragement and by the time they wereawake the next morning, they were happy and ready to take the next stepin the adventure.
But Judge Breckenridge, with his strong ideas of justice, was not soeasily appeased. And when the girls told him of what had happened hesat for a long time with a worried frown on his brow, then got up andwalked in the court. It was plain to be seen that he was agitatedabout the claim jumpers.
"If you are bothered about us, Judge Breckenridge," said Bet, linkingher arm in his and skipping into step beside him, "You might just aswell not think about it. We didn't like it at first either, but now wedon't care at all--not much, I mean. It will save us lots of work.And probably we couldn't be mine owners very well, anyway."
"You're a great little girl, Bet!" The Judge patted her handaffectionately. "You're a sport, all right. Now, _I'm_ mad cleanthrough!"
"That's what I thought, and I have never seen you angry before."
"I'm sorry, child, I didn't mean to have you see me in this mood,ever," said the Judge with a trembling voice.
"But I'm so glad I did. I usually snap and snarl when I have a temperspell, and I did not know it could be done in such a dignified way. Ithink it was wonderful!"
The Judge stopped short in his walk and laughed, his voice echoingthrough the patio.
Enid heard it in her own room and came on the run to see what amusedher father so greatly. When she saw Bet, she smiled.
"I might have known it was you. Dad always laughs at you." And thetall girl slipped up at the other side of her father, and snuggledclose with her head on his shoulder.
"Two daughters are better than one!" The grey-haired man clasped hisgirl to him as if he had not seen her for weeks. Then turning to Bethe said:
"Aren't you going to work your one claim?"
"Is it worth it?" she asked.
"I think I would. You can get a Mexican to do the assessment work, andhe'd be glad of the money. You never can tell what may happen,"advised Judge Breckenridge.
"I had a sort of hunch that we ought to keep it, but then again in thenight I decided that it would be foolish. We can go elsewhere andlocate more claims."
"I'll take a trip over there with you this afternoon and have a look at'Little Orphan Annie.' Tommy Sharpe is threatening to lay in wait forKie Wicks with a shotgun."
"Tommy's a fool! He always was!" exclaimed Enid impatiently. "Hecan't imagine there is any way of getting the better of a person exceptby shooting him. He even wanted to go after Sol Curtin. I believe hehad the notion that he could do it all by himself. He's a funny boy!"
The Judge frowned. Although a year had passed since Enid had beenfound, the father could not talk, without emotion, of the man who hadkidnapped his daughter when she was a child. Sol was in jail and wouldbe there for many years, but still the father was uneasy.
"This Kie Wicks makes me think of Sol," he said bitterly. "And I wantyou to keep as far away from him as possible. Have a man do the workfor you if you keep this claim near his."
That afternoon the Judge rode with the girls down Lost Canyon, throughthe Iron Gate to the smaller creek and picked their way around theboulders of the river bed.
About a mile from the claim, they met Professor Gillette. He had beenfar over one of the hills in search of the ruins. Half a dozenarrowheads were his reward. He was preparing a belated dinner in thecreek-bed, over a smouldering fire.
The girls were impatient to go on, and dragged the Judge away from hisfriend.
"Come on up over that hill when you finish your lunch," invited theJudge. "I have to obey, so I'm off."
"What made you think of coming away up here to locate claims, Kit?" theJudge asked as they brought their horses to the summit.
"Dad said there were some good claims over this way, and I've hadexperience. I've lived out here all my life and know how they go abouttheir location work."
"I'll say your view is worth as much as 'Orphan Annie,'" enthused JudgeBreckenridge, as he looked over the ranges of mountains and thedeep-cut canyons.
"But views are not worth a Mexican dime out here. You can't cash in ona good outlook," returned Bet with a chuckle. "It's the mine thatcounts. Now tell us, don't you think we made a good job of locatingthose claims?"
"I think you did, Bet. However as Ramon Salazar and Kie Wicks willreap the benefit, I think we might go on to other promising spots andlet them have a free hand here. You are only girls and can't fight menlike them."
No other remark could have roused all the spunk in the girls.
"I don't see why we can't hold our own against any man," sniffed Kit."Ramon Salazar is a cross-eyed Mexican with a lame leg, and Kie Wicksis a coward. I guess The Merriweather Girls could beat them with theireyes shut."
"That a girl, Kit! Of course we can," cried Bet indignantly. "And wewill!"
The Judge chuckled at their flare of independence, and turned to Joy,the timid one.
"What about you, Joy? Do you want to help the girls fight for theclaim?"
"I'm not saying that I want the old mine, if we can hold it, but I'mwilling to help fight, if the girls say so. The Merriweather Girlsstand together."
"Good for you, Joy Evans! I didn't expect it of you."
"You didn't? What are you trying to insinuate, Bet Baxter? I'm not atraitor!"
"Why, of course not, Joy, but you don't like digging mines and ridinghorseback and all that sort of thing."
"Maybe not. But you've never known me to back out of anything,especially where the honor of The Merriweather Girls was at stake."
"That's right," responded Bet quickly. "I didn't mean to hurt yourfeelings. You've always been a sport when it came to doing things,although you've sometimes made a frightful fuss about it."
"That's part of the game," laughed the butterfly girl. "Somebody hasto be a kicker. And I'm it."
"Please do it with your feet from now on, it's much more graceful!"teased Enid.
"I may do it with my feet and I may do it with my tongue," returned Joywith a happy laugh, "but you'll find me ready to back up any one ofyou."
"Well said, fair lady. Now let's have a look at 'Orphan Annie.'" TheJudge's eyes were sparkling with amusement as Bet led him up the gentleslope of the mountain. Suddenly Bet threw herself from the saddle.
"See folks, I found an arrowhead! Oh, boy! Isn't that lucky?"
The girls dismounted and grouped about her, all except Kit, who hadpicked up arrowheads since babyhood.
"It's a perfect one. I'm the happiest girl in all the world!"
"Doesn't take much to make some people happy," began Joy, then shestarted to laugh. "Come on, where's our little orphan?"
"This way, follow me," called Shirley Williams. "This is it, isn't it,Bet?"
"Yes, that's our baby. Poor little thing." Bet was trying to becheerful but there was a tinge of bitterness in her voice. There wasalways a great soul conflict when Bet's well developed plans went amissand in this case, where it involved double dealing, it was harder thanusual to give up.
"Nine chances out of ten," remarked Enid quietly and with littleemotion, "those other claims have all the ore and this one has nothing."
"For my part, I don't care if it hasn't any ore in it at all, I like itanyway," and Bet squatted down on a big flat rock within the boundariesof the claim. "It feels good to be on my own property," she added witha sigh of contentment.
But in a moment she had started up with a little cry of surprise."What's the matter, Bet? Be careful! If it's a strange bug, it mightbite you. There are so many stinging things out here," cautioned Kit.
Bet's head was bent over the rock. She did not hear what was said.Suddenly she called, "Judge Breckenridge, do come here and look atthese strange markings on the rock."
"Markings on a rock," said Joy Evans contemptuou
sly. "I thought it wasa tarantula or something."
"Well, you wouldn't have liked to see a tarantula any better than themarkings, and these at least are not poisonous," Bet retorted.
Judge Breckenridge was examining the markings with interest, and gave alow whistle of astonishment. "This is the sort of thing one readsabout. I'm wondering though if Kie Wicks put them here to fool you."
"It might be markings that tell of a buried treasure. See the arrow!Look the way the arrow points."
"Yes, look the way the arrow points," mimicked Joy. "Now at last youhave your mystery, Bet. I wish you joy of it. Follow the arrow andthen you'll come to a tall cactus, and in the cactus you'll find abullet..."
"Oh, keep quiet, Joy Evans!" flashed Bet angrily.
"We haven't found a mystery and I don't believe there is a treasurehere. This is far away from Lost Canyon," said Kit.
"I'm going to believe in the treasure!" cried Bet, fired withenthusiasm at the prospect of finding something unusual. "Why, I couldeasily believe in a buried treasure. What's more I'll find it."
"I'm going to go and call Professor Gillette," called Enid, already inthe saddle. "He can probably tell us what it means and what theIndians looked like who made the markings."
"These lines were not made by Indians," remarked the Judgethoughtfully. "There's a Spanish word there."
But when the professor came a few minutes later, he was all at sea asto the meaning of the tracings on the rock.
"It is very much like the sort of thing people used to draw when theyburied treasure. You've seen the map in Tommy Sharpe's room but thatdoesn't say that if we located the proper spot that there would be anytreasure left. Other people can read signs the same as we can, andmany people have been over this ground since that sign was carved,"Judge Breckenridge explained to the girls.
"Why be so sensible, Judge?" laughed Bet wistfully. "Why not let usthink that there is a treasure hidden in the ground somewhere? I'mthrilled all to pieces just thinking about it."
"And that's right, too, Bet. Don't let an old fellow like me spoilyour dreams by my common sense." The Judge acted as if he wanted tobelieve it himself and only needed a little urging.
"And there is just as much chance that no one has passed over this rocksince the early days and that we may find a fortune hidden." Theprofessor smiled around at the group with a happy, child-like stare asif he were one of the characters of a fairy story.
"Now that's the way to talk, Professor Gillette. You never can be sureunless you look around." Bet nodded at him approvingly.
The Judge suddenly looked at his watch. "I move we get home to dinner.Tang will be waiting and he hates that."
Bet very carefully spread some tiny twigs and sand over the rock sothat no one else would see the markings on the stone.
"Come along up with us to dinner, Professor," suggested the Judgecordially. "We'll have a meeting tonight and talk things over and seewhat is best to do. I have a feeling that the shrubs and rocks haveears around these claims of Ramon's."
"That's what I say. Otherwise how did Ramon and Kie Wicks find outabout the claims in the first place?" asked Bet.
"There's no mystery in that, Bet. Kie saw us coming here and followed.He spied on us, saw us building the monuments and then came and jumpedthe claims," explained Kit.
"All but one!" cried Bet as she clapped her hands. "And on that onelittle neglected claim, we find the tracings that will perhaps lead usto the buried treasure. That's luck!"
"Oh Bet, wake up, you're dreaming!" laughed Shirley, the quiet,sensible girl. Never in the world would Shirley have dreamed or lether imagination run wild. She was a practical, well-balanced girl, aclear thinker and not given to romantic flights of fancy.
"The bubble's burst!" sang Joy tantalizingly.
"It has not!" Bet swung easily into the saddle. "The bubble isn'tblown yet. Just wait and see!"
In single file they rode down into the canyon below them and let theirhorses pick a way through the rocks of the creek bed.
Just as they passed through the Iron Gate, the narrow pass that led toLost Canyon, they met Kie Wicks.
"Nice weather for a picnic!" he called to them gaily with a wave of hisdusty sombrero. "That's an interesting canyon!"
"Yes," the judge replied with his most courteous air. "We find it veryinteresting. The girls located a claim up that way, and have startedwork on it."
"You don't say so! Well, everybody to his liking. I'm through withlocating claims. It's a slave's life, forever digging, digging,digging! I don't care if I never see another copper claim as long as Ilive," Kie Wicks returned with decision. "I run a store, that's agood, clean business."
"You're right, Mr. Wicks. Stick to storekeeping," advised the Judge ashe took the trail toward the ranch.
The girls smiled back at Kie Wicks and waved him good-bye. They haddecided to play a part with this man. And not for worlds would theylet him know that they suspected that he had anything to do with theclaim jumping. Later, much later, they might get strong evidenceagainst him. They would deal with him then. Just now they could notafford to antagonize the man. Open enmity might be worse than thepresent situation. Kie and Maude, as long as they were making apretense of friendliness, might let drop some of their plans withoutmeaning to. People who talked so freely often did that.
"We'll string 'em along," said Joy slangily. "Maude Wicks can't keep asecret, if _I_ know anything."
"Which is doubtful!" laughed Bet.
"Say, who are you talking about? Maude Wicks or yours truly?" retortedJoy, at the same time making a face at her friend.
"Both!" cried Bet and gave her horse a tap on the neck, getting out ofthe way of Joy's quirt.
Everybody liked to tease Joy, perhaps because she flushed so prettilyas her slight anger rose. But whatever the reason she was always thebutt for their good natured teasing. And no matter how much sheresented it, she turned it off with a joke. Yet it could be seen thatshe always turned to Shirley Williams, who never teased her.
Tang was watching anxiously from the kitchen door when they rode up thetrail. He was always punctual and frowned on the late comers.
In the corridor of the patio, after dinner, the council met. Mrs.Breckenridge, although she could scarcely hope to be able to take sucha long ride to see the claim, was the most enthusiastic one of thegroup. She was a dreamer by nature, and the thrill of hidden thingsalways intrigued her. Bet threw both arms impulsively around her.
"You're a darling," Bet cried. "You are a real chum, a person after myown heart."
"But you see I've been reading lately and it seems that there is basisfor the story of hidden treasure in Lost Canyon. Lots of people havebelieved it."
"And lots of people have hunted for the treasure and failed," returnedKit skeptically.
"Perhaps we won't fail. It's that word 'perhaps' that adds thegreatest spice to life. It won't do any harm to spend a little timestudying out this sign on the rock. Tomorrow I'll make an accuratecopy of it and then we can have it here at home to puzzle over. And ifyou say so, I'll begin that assessment work on your one claim so thatthere will be an excuse for being over there so much." ProfessorGillette suggested.
"You're a dear! That's an awful good idea! But what about your Indianruins? You must find them." Bet was anxious for the old man torealize his desire and find the ancient village of the vanished tribe.It meant so much to his crippled daughter.
"That can wait for a little while. This looks as if it might be muchmore interesting." The professor's wrinkled face was flushed with theexcitement of a mystery to be unearthed. "I'll begin tomorrow," hedeclared as he rose to join Kit and her mother and accompany them home.
Bet's face was radiant. "Here's where the fun begins!" she laughed atthe prospect.
But little did Bet realize that the hunting for a treasure was to bringto the girls, not only the most thrilling adventure of their lives, butdanger, suspense and fear.
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