CHAPTER V
GRAVE SUSPICIONS
Tom's announcement took them all by surprise. For a moment no oneknew what to say, while the young inventor looked more closely atthe parchment map.
"Do you really think he has dared to make a copy of it?" asked Mr.Swift.
"I do," answered his son. "That ink spot wasn't there when Abe gavehim the map; was it?"
"No," replied the miner.
"And it couldn't get on in Andy's pocket," went on Tom. "So he musthave had it open near where there was ink."
"His fountain pen might have leaked," suggested Mr. Jackson.
"In that case the ink spot would be on the outside of the map, andnot on the inside," declared Tom, with the instinct of a detective."Unless he had the map folded in his pocket with the inside surfaceon the outside, the ink couldn't have gotten on. Besides, Andyalways carries his fountain pen in his upper vest pocket, and thatpocket is too small to hold the map. No, I'm almost positive thatAndy or his father have sneakingly made a copy of this map!"
"I'm sorry to have to admit that Mr. Foger is capable of such anact," spoke Mr. Swift, "but I believe it is true."
"And here is another thing," went on the young inventor, who was nowclosely scanning the parchment through a powerful magnifying glass,"do you see those tiny holes here and there, Mr. Jackson?"
"Yes," answered the engineer.
"Were they there before, Abe?" went on Tom, calling the old miner'sattention to them.
"Nary a one," was the answer. "It looks as if some one had beensticking pins in th' map."
"Not pins," said Tom, "but the sharp points of a pair of dividers,or compasses, for measuring distances. Andy, or whoever made a copyof the map, used the dividers to take off distances with. Thisclinches it, in my mind."
"But what can you do?" asked Tom's father.
"I don't know," answered the young inventor. "It would be of littleuse to go to Andy. Naturally he would deny having made a copy of themap, and his father would, also. Even though I am sure they have acopy, I don't see how I am going to make them give it up. It's ahard case. There's only one thing I see to do."
"What's that?" asked Abe.
"Start for Alaska as soon as possible, and be first on hand at thevalley of gold."
"Good!" cried the miner. "That's the way to talk! We'll start off atonce. I know my way around that country pretty well, an' even thoughwinter is coming on, I think we can travel in th' airship. That'sone reason why I wanted t' go in one of these flyin' machines.Winter is no time to be in Alaska, but if we have an airship wewon't mind it, an' it's the best time t' keep other people away, forth' ordinary miner or prospector can't do anythin' in Alaska inwinter--that is away up north where we're goin'."
"Exactly where are we going?" asked Tom. "I have been so excitedabout discovering Andy's trick that I haven't had much time toconsider where we're bound for nor what will be the best plan tofollow."
"Well, we're goin' to a region about seven hundred an' fifty milesnorthwest from Sitka," explained the old miner, as he pointed outthe location on the map. "We'll head for what they call th' SnowMountains, an' th' valley of gold is in their midst. It's just overth' Arctic circle, an' pretty cold, let me tell you!"
"You'll be warm enough in Tom's airship, with the electric stovesgoing," commented Mr. Jackson.
"Well, we'll need t' be," went on the miner. "Th' valley is full ofcaves of ice, an' it's dangerous for th' ordinary traveler. In factan airship was the only way I saw out of th' difficulty when I wasthere."
"Then you have been to the valley of gold?" asked Tom.
"Well, not exactly TO it," was the reply, "but I was where I couldsee it. That was in th' summer, though of course the summer thereisn't like here. I'll tell you how it was."
The miner settled himself more comfortably in his chair, and resumedhis story.
"It was two year ago," he said, "that me an' Jim Mace started toprospect in Alaska. We didn't have much luck, an' we kept on workin'our way farther north until we come to these Snow Mountains. Thenour supplies gave out, an' if it hadn't been for some friendlyEskimos I don't know what we would have done. Jim and me we gave 'emsome trinkets an' sich, and th' Indians began talkin' of a wonderfulvalley of gold, where th' stuff lay around in chunks on top of theground."
"Me and Jim pricked up our ears at that, so to speak, an' we wantedto see th' place. After some delay we was taken to th' top of a bigcrag, some distance away from where we had been stopping with thefriendly Eskimos, or Indians, as I call 'em. There, away down below,was a valley--an' a curious sort of a valley it were. It seemedfilled with big bubbles--bubbles made of solid banks of snow or ice,an' we was told, me an' Jim was, that these were caves of ice, an'that th' gold was near these caves."
"Well, of course me an' my partner wanted to go down the worst way,an' try for some gold, but th' Indians wouldn't let us. They said itwas dangerous, for th' ice caves were constantly fallin' in, an'smashin' whoever was inside. But to prove what they said about th'gold, they sent one of their number down, while we waited on th'side of th' mountain."
"Did he get any gold?" asked Tom, eagerly.
For answer the old miner pulled from his pocket a few yellowpebbles--little stones of dull, gleaming yellow.
"There's some of th' gold from amid th' caves of ice," he remarkedsimply. "I kept 'em for a souvenir, hopin' some day I might git backthere. Well, Jim an' me watched th' Indian going down into th'valley. He come back in about three hours, havin' only gone to th'nearest cave, an' he had two pockets filled with these little chunksof solid gold. They gave me an' Jim some, but they wouldn't hear ofus goin' t' th' valley by ourselves."
"Then a bad storm come up, an' we had t' hit th' trail for home--theIndians' home, I mean--for Jim an' I was far enough away from ours."
"Well, t' make a long story short, Jim an' me tried every way weknowed t' git t' that valley, but we couldn't. It come off colderan' colder, an' th' tribe of Indians with whom we lived was attackedby some of their enemies, an' driven away from their campin'grounds. Jim an' me, we went too, but not before Jim had drawed thismap on a piece of dog-skin we found in one of the huts. We had anidea we might get back, some day, an' find the valley, so we'd needa map t' go by. But poor Jim never got back. He got badly frozenwhen the Indians drove us an' our friends away, an' he never gotover it. He died up there in th' ice, an' we buried him. I took th'map, an' when spring come, I made a hike out of that country. Fromthen until now I've been plannin' how t' git t' that valley, an' th'only way I seen was an airship. Then, when I was prospectin' aroundout in Colorado I saw Tom's machine hidden in th' trees, an' Iwaited until he come along, which part you know as well as I do,"finished Abe.
"And that's the story of the valley of gold," spoke Mr. Swift.
"That's all there is to it," assented Abe, simply.
"Do you think there is much gold there?" asked Tom.
"Plenty of it--for th' pickin' up," replied the miner. "Around th'caves of ice it's full of it, but, of course, it's dangerous. An'th' only way t' git t' it, an' pass th' savage Indians that are allaround in th' mountains about th' valley, is t' fly over their headsin th' airship."
"Then that's what we'll do," decided Tom.
"Will you go all the way in the RED CLOUD?" inquired Mr. Jackson.
"No, I think I'll send the airship on ahead to some point inWashington--say Seattle," replied Tom, "put it together there, andstart for the Snow Mountains. In Seattle we can get plenty ofsupplies and stores. It will be a good point to start from, and willsave us a long, and perhaps dangerous, flight across the UnitedStates."
"I think that will be the best plan," agreed Mr. Swift. "But whatabout Andy--do you think he'll try to follow--or try to get ahead ofyou now that he has a copy of the map?"
"He may," answered Tom. "But I have a little trick I'm going to workon Andy. I will try to learn whether he really has a copy of themap, though I'm practically certain of it. Then I'll decide what'sbest to do."
"In th' me
anwhile, will you be gettin' ready?" asked Abe. "I'd liket' start as soon as we can, for it's awful cold there, the longeryou wait, at this time of th' year."
"Yes, I'll start right to work, getting the RED CLOUD in readinessto be shipped," promised Tom.