CHAPTER XVIII
FINDING THE NUGGETS
"Quick with your gun, Will!" yelled Jed. "I laid mine down back there!"
"So did I," replied his brother. "What'll we do?"
The present position of the brothers was perilous in the extreme. Theywere some distance away from their weapons, which they had restedagainst the side of the cave, while they debated what they had betterdo. The bear was rushing straight at them, growling savagely.
"Get behind me, Will!" bravely cried Jed. "I'll try to stand him offwith my knife," and at that he drew his knife, which had one big blade.
"Get behind me, Will!" bravely cried Ted]
"I'll get the guns!" cried Will, as he turned to run. But he slipped ona stone, and fell. Jed turned to see what had happened to his brother,and the bear, taking advantage of the lack of attention of the foremostof the lads, gave a lunge forward, placing himself close to Jed.
"Look out!" yelled Will, who, from his position on the floor of thecave, saw what was about to happen--that his brother was likely to beclawed by the shaggy brute.
Jed turned, but only just in time. Then he did the only thing possibleunder the circumstances. He hurled his burning torch, which he hadcaught up, after opening his knife, right into the face of the bear.
With a growl of mingled terror and rage the brute halted. It dropped toall-fours. Then, as the blazing mass of bark was on the floor of thecave, right under its nose, bruin turned tail and fled back up the darkrecesses of the cave.
"Quick!" cried Jed. "The guns, Will! We'll try a shot at him!"
Will leaped to his feet and managed to reach the rifles, which wereloaded. He handed one to Jed, who took as good aim as he could at theblack, shaggy form, which was almost out of sight, the torch giving buta faint light now.
The report of the gun nearly deafened the boys, and Jed felt certainthat he had missed. But a new plan came into his mind.
"Come on, Will!" he cried.
"Where?"
"Let's follow the brute! He came into the cave, and he must know the wayout. That's where he's making for now. Come on, it's our only chance!"
Will comprehended. Grabbing up the other gun and lighting anothertorch, the two boys prepared to follow bruin. They could hear the beastscrambling over the floor of the cavern, though they could not see it,but Jed had watched in what direction it fled.
"Come on!" he called back to Will. "We'll get out of this place!"
The bear, which at first seemed likely to do them serious harm, proved afriend instead of an enemy, for the frightened creature took theshortest route out of the cave, to get away from those queer creatures,who, instead of allowing themselves to be eaten up, threw blazing chunksof fire in the face of peaceable bears.
Bruin scrambled out of a hole, some distance in advance of the boys, butthey could still hear the creature, and followed, lighting their waywith the torches. In a few minutes they were outside of the cave, on asort of rocky plateau, while, running as fast as it could, the bearcould be seen disappearing down the side of the mountain.
"Take a shot at him," suggested Will.
"No, it's too far. Besides, he did us a good turn. But for him we'd bein the cave yet. Now to look about and see where we are."
The place was unfamiliar to the boys. They might have passed it before,in their wanderings, but they did not recognize it.
"We're not much better off," murmured Will, despondently.
"Yes, we are," said Jed. "We're out of the cave, and it's only aquestion of time before we'll be back at camp where Gabe is probablywaiting for us."
"If he isn't dead."
"Oh, quit it!" advised Jed, a trifle impatiently.
"Well, I'm hungry."
"So am I, but finding fault isn't going to do any good. Come on, let'swalk in some direction. Let's go down. That looks like the place wherewe camped," and Jed pointed off to the left.
"Say, I believe you're right," admitted Will, after a moment'sinspection. "It does seem to be the spot. No, it isn't, either," headded, after looking again. "There's a stream near that place, and therewasn't any so close to our camp."
"You're right," agreed Jed. "But say, Will, am I mistaken, or are thosehorses down there?" and he pointed toward the other side. "They lookjust like two horses, with packs on their backs. I wonder if they can beour nags, or from some other camp? Anyhow, we can get something to eatnow, for there must be persons near there."
Will, who had a little better eyesight than his brother, looked long andearnestly in the direction indicated. Then he gave a great shout.
"They're our horses!" he cried. "I'm sure of it. I can tell old Petetwo miles off! Hurrah, Jed! We're all right. Probably Gabe has come upto meet us."
The boys, their hearts beating high with hope, hurried down the mountainside. As they came nearer to the horses they could see that there was noone with the steeds. Gabe was not in sight, and when they reached theanimals, they saw that they had broken their tether ropes, and hadevidently strayed from the camp.
"Then Gabe isn't here," said Will, quickly.
"Looks that way," agreed Jed.
"Something must have happened to him."
"I'm afraid so. Still, the horses are all right. So are the packs ontheir backs. They may have broken loose right after we went to look forGabe, and he may be hunting around for us. Anyhow, we can get somethingto eat. I'm nearly starved."
There was food in the packs, and the boys made a hasty meal. They held abrief consultation, and decided they would walk along, leading thehorses, as the trail was rough, and try to reach the camp, though theyhad no idea in which direction it lay.
As they were about to start off, Jed, who picked up from the ground theend of the broken tether rope, uttered a cry of surprise.
"What's the matter?" asked Will.
"Look here. See what I've found!"
He held out in his hand something of a dull yellow color. There was noneed to say what it was. The boys knew the color of gold by this time.
"It's a nugget! A big nugget!" whispered Will, for the discovery seemedto awe him.
"Yes, and here's another, and a third!" exclaimed Jed, as he dropped therope, and picked up from among the stones two more irregular chunks ofthe precious metal--the gold they had come so far to seek.