A LION IN THE PATH.
To put it mildly, the man was astonished. Not dreaming the boy was
armed, he had been foolish enough to announce that he had brought him
to terms by the display of a useless weapon. He stared in amazement at
Roswell, and then elevated both hands. The boy laughed.
"You needn't do that; I am not afraid of you. If you will lead me to
the spot where you and Hardman hid our gold, I will set you free."
"I don't know anything about your gold," whimpered the fellow, who now
proved himself a coward. "I was only joking with you."
"You and he took it. I shall hold you a prisoner until my friend comes
up, and then turn you over to the mounted police."
"All right; if it is a square deal, follow me."
He turned and darted behind the rock. The youth made after him, but
when he came in sight of the fugitive again he was fifty feet distant,
and running like a deer. Perhaps Roswell might have winged him, but he
did not try to do so. He felt a natural repugnance to doing a thing of
that nature, and the fact was self-evident that it would do no good.
The man would sturdily insist that he knew nothing of the missing gold,
and there could be no actual proof that he did. Had he been held a
prisoner he might have been forced to terms, but it was too late now to
think of that, and the youth stood motionless and saw him disappear
among the rocks.
"I wonder how Frank has made out," was his thought. "He can't have done
worse than I."
Meanwhile, young Mansley had no idle time on his hands. He had hurried
up the fork of the trail, after parting with his companion, until he
had passed about the same distance. The two paths, although diverging,
did not do so to the extent the boys thought, and thus it came about
that they were considerably nearer each other than they supposed.
It need not be said that Frank was on the alert. Suspecting he was in
the vicinity of the men for whom they were searching, he paid no
attention to the ground, but glanced keenly to the right and left, and
even behind him. He was thus engaged when something moved beside a
craggy mass of rocks a little way ahead and slightly to the right of
the path he was following. A second look showed the object to be a man,
and though his back was toward the lad, his dress and general
appearance left little doubt that he was Hardman.
His attitude was that of listening. His shoulders were thrown slightly
forward, and he gave a quick flirt of his head, which brought his
profile for the moment into view. This removed all doubt as to his
identity. It was Ike Hardman.
Frank's first thought was that he was standing near the spot where the
gold had been secreted, and was looking around to make sure no one saw
him, but it may have been he heard something of the movements of his
confederate that had escaped Roswell Palmer.
Afraid of being detected, Frank crouched behind the nearest bowlder,
but was a second too late. Hardman had observed him, and was off like
a flash. To Frank's amazement, when he looked for him he was gone.
Determined not to lose him, the youth ran forward as fast as the nature
of the ground would permit. Reaching the spot where he had first
discovered the man, he glanced at the surroundings, but could see
nothing to indicate that the gold had been hidden anywhere near, though
the probabilities pointed to such being the fact, for it must have been
in that vicinity that the burro was turned free.
But the boy felt the necessity of bringing the man himself to terms,
and with scarcely a halt he hurried over the bowlders and around the
rocks in what he believed to be the right direction, though he had no
certain knowledge that such was the fact.
He was still clambering forward, panting, impatient, and angry, when a
figure suddenly came to view a little way in advance. Frank abruptly
stopped and brought his gun to a level, but before he could aim he
perceived to his amazement that it was his cousin Roswell standing
motionless and looking with wonderment around him. A moment later the
two came together and hastily exchanged experiences.
"We have made a mess of it," was the disgusted comment of Frank, "for
we had them both and let them get away."
[Illustration: "WE HAVE MADE A MESS OF IT," WAS THE DISGUSTED COMMENT
OF FRANK.]
"All the same we must be near the spot where the gold was hidden, and I
believe we can find it by searching."
"We may, but the chances are a hundred to one against it. How strange
that those two men carried no firearms!"
It has been shown that the Klondike country is not one of dangerous
weapons, because it is well governed, and the necessity, therefore,
does not exist for men to go about armed. Many of them unquestionably
carry pistols, but larger weapons are few, and the majority have
neither, for they only serve as incumbrances. Strange, therefore, as it
may seem, Hardman and his companion had but a single revolver between
them, and the man who carried that spoke the truth when he said all its
chambers were empty and he was without the means of loading it.
The great oversight of the two was that when they entered the cavern
and took away the gold, they left the Winchester and revolvers. This
may have been due to their eagerness to carry off every ounce of gold,
but the commonest prudence would have suggested that they "spike" the
weapons, so as to prevent their being used against them.
A brief consultation caused the boys to decide to return to the cavern
and await the return of their friends. Then the whole party could take
up the search, though it seemed almost hopeless.
Disheartened, they started down the trail, Frank in advance and both
silent, for their thoughts were too depressing for expression. Suddenly
the leader stopped and raised his hand for his companion to do the
same. The cause was apparent, for at that moment, in rounding a bend in
the path, they saw Ike Hardman in front, moving stealthily in the same
direction with themselves, but the rogue was watchful and caught sight
of them at the same moment. As before, he was off like an arrow, the
winding trail allowing him to pass from sight in the twinkling of an
eye, as may be said.
Before they could take up the pursuit a great commotion broke out below
them, and wondering what it could mean, the boys stopped to listen. It
immediately became apparent that the fugitive had come in collision
with some one approaching from the other direction over the trail, and
that same person was gifted with a vigorous voice of which he was
making free use.
"Ah, but ye are the spalpeen I've been looking fur! This is the way ye
sittle up fur the money ye tuk from me! Mister Hardman, do your bist,
for that's what I'm going to do. Do ye hear me?"
"It's Tim!" exclaimed Roswell; "let's hurry to his help!"
But Frank caught his arm.
"It's the other fellow who needs help, and Tim will take it as unkind
for us to interfere, but we can look on."
And they hurried forward.