CHAPTER VII
_THE MAP OF MYSTERY_
Tommy Sharpe had been given an old shed on the edge of the cliff fromwhich he could look straight down into the canyon behind the ranchhouse. He had made it over into a home. There were two rooms; one heused as a bedroom and the other was his den into which he put all thetreasures he had collected.
Outside, a narrow veranda had been built out over the cliff and it washere that the boy loved to sit and watch the sky grow bright with themorning sun and again at evening see the rosy glow of sunset.
Tommy Sharpe's cabin met the approval of the girls.
"You make me very proud of you, Tommy," laughed Enid. "You do creditto my teaching."
"You were a good teacher," and Tommy put on such a doleful expressionthat the girls screamed with laughter. "Do you remember the time youmade me clean out the cabin three times before I got it right?"
"Tilly was a cruel lady! But aren't you glad now? See what a goodhousekeeper I made of you." Enid looked proudly about the clean littleshack and showed her approval.
"Sure," said Tommy simply.
"That boy is just as much of a bluffer as ever," exclaimed Kit. "I sawCheerekee here with a broom. She disappeared as we came in. Tommynever dusted this place today, I know he didn't."
"Of course today is different. I couldn't go to the station to meetyou and clean house at the same time. Cheerekee did the work today."Tommy agreed without a smile.
"And every day. Look here, Tommy Sharpe, tell the truth and say youhave never swept or dusted this cabin in your life!" Bet grabbed himby the shoulder and turned him around. "Look me in the eye and tellthe truth."
"Well, if I don't, I see to it that Cheerekee does," he acknowledged atlast.
"What's more, Mr. Tommy Sharpe," cried Enid gleefully, "you give herstrict orders not to touch anything up on that shelf. Heavens! Lookat the dust, girls, it's an inch thick."
"Ah ha, Tommy, we caught you there!"
"You would! I might have known you girls would see a little thing likethat. But what's the difference?"
"None at all, Tommy, only we won't allow you to take credit for thingsthat you don't do," scolded Enid playfully.
"That's because you are all hard-hearted girls," Tommy answered with ascowl.
"Now, let's see your treasures." Bet was already peering on the highshelf. "I want to see every one of them."
The girls looked eagerly about on the shelves that ran three deep aboutthe room, and each shelf was full to overflowing with his strangecollections. Enid smiled as she noticed several little pine conefigures that she had given him for his own. These he had treasured andthey now held a conspicuous place in his assortment of knick-knacks.
There were stuffed birds, arrowheads, old bits of pottery, and manyIndian baskets.
"And look at that snake skin! Ugh, Tommy, how could you bear to touchthe wriggling thing?" exclaimed Joy with a shudder of disgust.
"It had stopped wriggling when I touched it," returned Tommy. "Can'tsay as I like them squirmy, myself."
"And what is this, Tommy?" called Enid. "Girls do come and look atthis ugly thing in the jar. What is it? It's like a big brown lizard."
"That's a baby Gila monster. Isn't it a beauty? If you'll look at itclosely you'll see that it's not ugly at all. Look at the design ofhis back, like an Indian rug." Tommy took the jar in his handcaressingly.
But Enid shuddered and turned to something more interesting which Betwas already examining.
"What's he got there, Bet?" asked Enid laying her arm across herfriend's shoulder.
"Looks like an old map! Isn't it quaint?" Bet was looking at itintently. "I love old maps. Where did you pick this up, Tommy?" sheinquired.
"Oh, a Mexican wanted some money and offered to sell it to me for fivedollars," the boy answered with a smile. "He was such a wicked lookingold fellow that I figured I might as well buy something from him ashave him rob me. So I gave him five dollars. The map was all intatters but I pasted it together. I rather like it myself."
"Five dollars!" exclaimed Bet. "And I'm almost sure you could sell itto a museum for fifty. That map is a beauty."
"If I ever get my five dollars back from it, I'll be surprised.Personally I don't believe it's worth fifty cents, Mex." Tommyshrugged his shoulders, and rather scorned Bet's enthusiasm.
"Why it's worth more than that just as a curiosity. Look at the arrowsand X marks. And that weird looking tree! I wonder what it's allabout?"
"It's a useful map," declared Tommy with a smile. "It hides astovepipe hole in that chimney. I couldn't do without it in thesummer."
The girls all laughed. Only Bet was seriously interested in the map.
"I believe it's a treasure map," she murmured half to herself as ifdreaming. "I'd love to hunt for treasure." Then she turned to TommySharpe: "Judge Breckenridge says there is an old legend of a treasurehere in Lost Canyon. Of course he makes fun of it, but it might betrue. What do you think about it, Kit?"
"I'd hurt too many people's feelings if I told you what I think aboutit," answered Kit.
"Go on, don't mind us. Say what's on your mind," laughed Tommy.
"Well, I'm surprised, Tommy Sharpe, that you would fall for that oldstory about a treasure being buried here. I thought boys were supposedto be clever," Kit said contemptuously.
"There's a treasure there all right," Tommy stated it with certainty."I have Ramon Salazar's word for it. He looked me in the eye and toldme."
"Now I know you're not telling us the truth. Ramon Salazar couldn'tlook one straight in the eye." Kit dropped into a chair, shriekingwith laughter as she visualized Ramon Salazar trying to look anyonestraight in the eye, for he was the most weirdly cross-eyed person shehad ever seen.
"Maybe that's why he could look at me and lie like a pirate," repliedTommy. "I paid him five good dollars for that map."
"You must have been crazy, Tommy."
"I wasn't. Ramon knew I had that five dollars, and if I hadn't givenit to him, he would have stolen it."
"There's something fishy about the whole story, Tommy. There must havebeen some other reason for Ramon Salazar wishing that old map off onyou." Kit knew the dwellers in the hills. "I can bet a nickel on itthat he thought you might get interested and dig for the treasure andmaybe find it." Suddenly Kit jumped up, "And I bet a dime on top ofthat that Kie Wicks was back of it."
"And I have reason to think you are right, Kit. Kie came in one day,saw the map and claimed that Ramon had stolen it from him, but when Ioffered it to him for nothing, he refused. Said that would be takingadvantage of me."
Kit gave a boisterous shout of laughter. "Oh girls, if you only knewKie Wicks, you'd see the joke of that. Why that man lives by takingadvantage of people, and he never puts through a deal of any kindwithout cheating. He's notorious. That's his business in life, totake advantage of people."
Tommy smiled. "I think Kie had a lot to do with it. I think he putRamon up to selling it to me. But I don't know why."
"I wonder why Kie didn't take back the map when you offered it to him?That surprised me. Usually he doesn't turn down any kind of a gift."
"He didn't need this map," said Tommy quietly.
"How do you know?"
"Because the map had been copied before I got it. The tracing markswere on it for a full day, then disappeared. I don't pretend to knowwhy," Tommy turned away from the map, and one could see that he was notinterested.
"It's a mystery," exclaimed Enid. "Get to work, Bet Baxter. Themystery of the treasure map! We'll give you a week to solve theproblem."
"Don't do it, Bet, please don't! If you go mooning away abouttreasures and all that sort of thing, we'll miss half the fun of theranch. When you hunt for treasure, it's work, work, work! And a bigdisappointment in the end," advised Kit Patten.
"I've always had a yearning to dig for something. Once when I was alittle girl, Uncle Nat was digging in our garden and he foun
d an oldrusty cannon ball and a piece of a flintlock, and ever since that I'vealways wanted to get a shovel and dig." Bet's voice had a longing init that set the girls into screams of laughter.
"You ridiculous girl!" cried Joy affectionately. "You would try tostart something!"
"But you'll have to acknowledge that Bet usually finds what she goesout after," remarked the quiet Shirley, pointing her camera toward thecanyon wall opposite Tommy's door. "And while we usually object, we'venever had more fun or thrills than when she leads us into adventure."
"Maybe so. But..." began Joy.
"And so I say," continued Shirley, "let Bet lead the way and we'llfollow. If it's treasure, we'll help her dig. And if she goes in forfancy bronco busting, that's O. K. too."
"Oh, Shirley, don't say that! You make me feel responsible and I don'twant that. Let's not make any plans at all. Just be ready to dowhatever comes our way. That's always more fun." Bet liked to havethe thrill of unexpected adventure, hoping that something new wouldcome their way.
"I have my heart set on teaching some of you to rope a steer," Kitspoke up.
"Sure! It wouldn't do at all for them to go back east before they'dlearned that," agreed Tommy, his eyes glowing at the prospect ofshowing off his skill with the rope.
"It isn't as hard as it looks," Kit encouraged the girls.
"I imagine we'll find it harder than it looks," laughed Bet as she toreherself away from the map. "It doesn't look a bit difficult when thatrope twirls through the air. I've seen it in the movies and once Itried it with the clothes line but I couldn't do more than get the ropearound my own neck. I know I'll never learn."
"Before the summer is over, Bet, you'll be a regular cowboy. I'llteach you myself," Tommy asserted.
"And I don't want to be taught. I'm sure I'd hate it," exclaimed Joy.
"Nobody will learn if we are going to get interested in treasure mapsand that sort of thing," pouted Kit.
Bet spoke up firmly: "I've decided not to go treasure hunting. As awork of art, that map is a treasure in itself, I love it, but I'm goingto leave the treasure hunting to Tommy and Kie Wicks and the cross-eyedMexican."
Bet was so positive in her assertion that the treasure could remain inthe ground for all she cared, that no one guessed that before the monthwas out, not Bet alone, but all The Merriweather Girls would have nothought of anything except that treasure, and all the adventure itbrought.
From early morning until late at night their one interest would beunravelling the mystery of Lost Canyon.
Even the old professor whose mind was set on Indian relics, wouldforget his errand to the hills and all that it involved and be heartand soul in the venture of the hidden treasure.
For Fate upsets all plans and leads into strange and undreamed-ofadventures.