CHAPTER XI
THE BLACK NIGHT
"How does this suit you, Bob?"
Frank asked this question as he and his comrade sat there in theirsaddles, and glanced around at the peaceful scene. They had climbedthe bank of the _barranca_, and reached a spot where the grass wasgrowing under a cluster of mesquite trees.
"It looks good enough for me," replied the young Kentuckian.
"Plenty of forage for the horses," Frank went on, nodding his head ashe looked; "and do you see that little trickling stream of water thatcrawls along? All we have to do is to hide the horses here. When wewant 'em, the chances are we'll find 'em safe."
"I hope so," remarked Bob, as he alighted.
In a short time they had removed saddles and bridles, hiding theseamong the neighboring rocks, together with their supplies, and hadpicketed the horses by means of the lariats.
"Now what?" asked Bob.
"You sit down here, and wait till I come back," Frank remarked.
"What are you going to do?" the Kentucky lad inquired; "something thatI might lend a hand at?"
"No, I reckon you're a little shy on knowing how to hide a trail, Bob.Old Hank showed me, and I've practiced it often. This promises to be achance to see whether I learned my lesson half-way decent."
"Oh! all right, Frank. But some day I expect you to show me all aboutthat sort of thing. You know I want to be in the swim, and learn howto do everything there is. I'll wait here by the water," and Bobdropped down to rest.
"I won't be gone long," Frank observed. "Pretty much all the slope wasmade up of stone; and what a great time the horses did have, trying tohang on. Once I thought your nag was going to take a nasty plunge,because he isn't as used to the work as a Western pony would be. Buthe recovered, thanks to the help you gave him, and made the top allright. So-long, Bob."
"I notice you're taking your gun along," remarked the one who was tostay.
"Well, when you're in the mountains it's just as well to be preparedall the time. You never can tell when you'll run slap into something.It might be a big grizzly like the one we met; then perhaps a hungrypanther might take a notion to tackle you. I knew a cowman who hadthat happen to him. Yes, and perhaps you heard him tell the story."
"You must mean Ike Lasker," Bob replied, quickly. "Yes, I remember howhe said he was lying down, waiting for some feeding deer off towindward to work closer, when, all of a sudden, something struck him onthe back, and nearly knocked the wind out of him for keeps. He managedto get his knife out, and they had it there, good and hard."
"Ike said he nearly cashed in his checks that time," Frank added."Some of his mates found him, after they discovered his horse feedingnear by. The panther was dead as a stone, and Ike was clawed and bittill he looked like a map of the delta of the Mississippi--anyhow,that's the way he told it. Keep your shooter handy, too, Bob."
"I will that," returned the Kentucky boy, impressed by his chum'searnestness.
After a little while Frank came back again. His manner told that hewas quite satisfied with what he had done.
"A sharp-eyed trailer might find where we left the canyon," headmitted; "but I don't believe any ordinary fellow would notice themarks. So I think our horses stand a first class chance of being herewhen we come back for 'em."
Bob got on his feet.
"I've fixed up some grub, just as you told me," he remarked. "It isn'tmuch, but ought to serve in a pinch."
"And as it's nearly noon now," observed Frank. "Why not take a snackbefore we leave our base of supplies? Let's get the stuff out of thecache again, and have a round of bites."
"I don't see the use of hurrying away from here right now, anyhow," Bobremarked, while they were eating.
"You mean," said Frank, "that we only came here to see what we couldfind out about the secret of old Thunder Mountain, and why it kicks upsuch a rumpus every little while?"
"Yes, and seems to me that since we're right on the ground now, wemight just as well start business, here," Bob asserted.
"That is, hang around until night, and wait to see if the grindingbegins again, as it did when we were in camp below?"
"We'd be in a position to guess what it was, better than before," Bobwent on.
"That's a fact," laughed Frank. "And if, as lots of people think, thisold mountain is a played-out volcano, perhaps we might even smell thesulphur cooking, by sticking our noses down into some of these crevicesin the rocks."
"Now you're joshing me, Frank!" declared the Kentucky lad, reprovingly.
"I am not," replied the other, immediately. "Suppose there was anytruth in that fairy story about the fires away down in the earth here;don't you think a fellow might get a whiff of the brimstone if he wasJohnny on the spot? Why, honest now, Bob, it was on my mind to findsome sort of cave up here, and go in just as far as we could. Don'tyou see the point?"
"Oh! I reckon I do, Frank. You take little stock in that yarn; but,all the same, you think we ought to look into it, now we're on theground?"
"That's it, Bob. Why, even my dad kind of favors that idea, and I wantto either prove it a fake, or learn that there's something to it."
So they lay there, lazily enough, instead of climbing farther up theside of the mountain. It was very pleasant to keep in the cool shadeof the trees, with that trickling little stream so near, for, as theafternoon advanced, it seemed as though the air became very oppressive.
Frank was looking up at the sky many times, and finally his companionasked him what was on his mind.
"I don't pretend to be a weather sharp," Frank replied; "but, all thesame, there are signs up there that've got me guessing."
"Well, it _is_ clouding up some," replied Bob, as he swept a lookaround at what they could see of the arch overhead. "Perhaps the longdrought is going to be broken at last, Frank. Your father will betickled, if it turns out that way. He's been complaining of late aboutthe stock having to hunt twice as far away from the ranch for forage.A rain would make things green again."
"Sure it would," replied Frank; "but, as I said to you before, a rainstorm up in the Rockies is sometimes no joke. We may have to do sometall climbing if it gets a whack at us when we're in the canyon."
The day was passing. They had seen nothing more of Peg Grant and histwo guides, but could easily believe the others were not a great wayoff. Perhaps they, too, were only waiting for night to come in orderto start their investigation.
"I don't think either Spanish Joe, or Nick, could be depended on, ifthe thing began to look too spooky," Frank had said more than once,showing that his thoughts must be running in the direction of the rivalparty.
"Oh! this is easy," chuckled Bob. "If all we've got to do is to squathere and take notes when the menagerie begins to wake up, it's going tobe a snap."
Frank did not want to make his chum nervous by confessing that he hadanother reason for agreeing to remain there idle the balance of theday, besides the fact of there being no hurry, and that they could takenotes just as easy there as farther up the mountain.
The fact was, he had concluded, it would be safer for them to remain inhiding while daylight lasted, and do what searching they expected toaccomplish in the darkness of night.
It was too easy, for anyone who had no scruples, and wished to do theminjury, to drop a rock down from the wall of the canyon. Against thissort of attack their rifles would be useless; and terrible damage mightresult.
As to who would be guilty of such an outrage, Frank only rememberedthat Peg was in a white heat of indignation, and fully capable of doingsome madcap prank in order to frighten off the two saddle boys. He wasalso not a little worried about the rustlers, supposed to be lurkingsomewhere not far distant.
Last, but not least, there were the prospectors to whom little Lopezhad admitted he was carrying the supplies that were secured on the packburro. Frank had not heard of any treasure-hunters having invaded theslopes and valleys around Thunder Mountain; but this did not mean itcould not be true
.
If these men were secretly taking out possibly large quantities ofprecious ore, and did not wish to be discovered, or disturbed in theiroperations, even they might try to alarm the invaders by hostiledemonstrations.
"It's as pretty a mixup as ever I heard tell of," Frank had saidseveral times that afternoon, while they were exchanging confidences inconnection with the remarkable possibilities around them. "What withthe rustlers, Peg and his crowd of thunder investigators, the littleMex. boy and his unknown prospector bunch; and last but not least, Bob,ourselves, it sure has me going some."
"Yes," the other had returned, "but I hope we'll keep clear of thewhole lot, and be able to find out something worth while. I wish thenext night was over, and we were galloping along over the plains headedfor good old Circle Ranch."
"Me too, Bob, always provided we carried with us an explanation forthose deep grumblings that shake the earth, and seem to come out of theheart of Thunder Mountain. I'm a stubborn fellow, as I reckon youknow; and when I throw my hat into the ring I like to stick it throughtill they carry me out."
"The same here," Bob had declared, after which the chums had to shakehands on it again, thus sealing the compact to stick.
And so the day went, and night came on apace.
The air did not seem to cool off to any extent as darkness approached.Frank took pains to call the attention of his comrade to this fact.
"You can guess what that means, Bob," he remarked. "It's sure going tobring on a whopper before a great while. All the signs point that wayright now. So we can expect to get ready for a ducking."
"Oh! that doesn't bother me," declared Bob. "I've been through many aone. All I hope is that we don't happen to be in the old canyon whenthat cloudburst you mentioned comes along. I'm not hankering after aride on a forty foot wave, and down that crooked old canyon, too.Excuse me, if you please!"
"Of course if we only stick it out here, there's going to be nodanger," Frank remarked, indifferently.
"I see that you're just itching to be on the move, old fellow,"ventured Bob, who knew the restless nature of his chum.
"Do you? Well, Bob, to tell the truth, if I was alone now, I supposeI'd be making for the top of the old hill, bent on finding out whetherthere was any sign of smoke oozing from the cracks and crevices at justthe time the rumblings came on."
"Then what's to hinder both of us going at it?" demanded the proudKentucky lad, fearful that Frank might think him timid because he hadsuggested their remaining out of the danger zone.
"We may, later on. Just now it's our business to get some supper; andhot or not, I'm going to make a cooking fire back of this big boulder,where nobody could ever glimpse the blaze."
"Did you say coffee?" remarked Bob. "All right, I'll go you, oldfellow. I feel a little that way myself, and that's no yarn."
So Frank got things started, and it was not a great while before thecoffee pot was bubbling as merrily as ever, with that appetizing odorwafting from it.
The darkness kept on increasing while they ate. An hour later it wasvery black all around them, and Bob viewed the possibility of theirventuring into the unknown perils around them with anything but acomfortable feeling.
It was just when he was wondering whether Frank would not conclude toremain in the safe position they occupied that he heard his comradegive a sharp cry.
"What have you discovered, Frank?" asked Bob, starting to get up.
"A light up the side of the mountain yonder," replied the other, "and,Bob, perhaps if we could only manage to climb up there, we'd learnsomething worth while. The question is, have we the nerve to try it?"