VISIONS OF GOLD
After satisfying themselves that Stacy was not injured, the others of
the party each made an effort to pick up the hat, though with much
more caution than Stacy had used.
Ned accomplished the trick the first time he tried. Walter, however,
made several attempts, instructed by Tad, before he finally caught the
knack of it.
"That will do for one day," decided the instructor, finally. "We must
not tire out our ponies, for we still have a long jaunt ahead of us,
according to the guide."
When they reached the camp, Stacy was still rubbing his head, much to
the amusement of his companions. The noonday lunch was a light one;
while they were eating it the ponies were tethered out on the plain to
browse on the fresh, green grass.
Shortly after noon the party was on its way again, Lige being anxious
to reach their destination before dark. Yet the trail was so rugged
and precipitous that rapid progress was impossible. To add to this,
late in the afternoon they overtook the pack train, which they found
halted in the trail. One of the burros had gone lame, nor did Jose
know what the trouble was. He was sitting by the side of the trail
helplessly, waiting for someone to come along.
Tad hastily slipped from his saddle, running over to the burro.
"Which foot is he lame in?" asked the boy.
"Donno," answered the Mexican.
The boy led the little animal back and forth several times.
"It's the off hind foot," he announced.
"Off?" queried Chunky. "He doesn't seem to have a foot off."
"No, I didn't mean that. Horsemen call the right the off side, and the
left the near one," explained Tad, picking up the beast's foot and
examining it critically.
"He has stepped on a sharp piece of rock and driven it into the hoof,"
announced the boy. "I am afraid we shall have to unload the pack and
strap him down before I can get it out."
Tying their horses, all hands drew near to witness the proceeding,
which bade fair to be unusually interesting. However, Tad skilfully
rigged a harness out of a long piece of quarter-inch rope. This he put
on the burro, and soon had the animal on its knees, then on its
side. The rope was drawn taut so that the burro could not kick, after
which the boy cautiously cut around the sharp stone with his pocket
knife, and, after considerable effort, extracted it.
"I'm sorry we have nothing to put in the wound. But I guess he will go
along all right. He'll be lame for the rest of the day; but we cannot
help that."
Once more they loaded up the beast of burden and the procession
continued on its way, Lige having decided to keep the train in sight
in case it was thought advisable to stop and make camp. They had been
so delayed that it was now close to sunset.
At dusk they were still some distance from their destination.
"I think we bad better pull up here," suggested the guide.
"There's a moon up there," answered Tad. "Why not go on by moonlight?
That is, of course, if you can follow the trail."
"I could follow the trail with my eyes shut, young man," grinned the
guide. "What do you say, Professor?"
"As you think best, Lige. I do not mind a moonlight ride."
"Yes; let's go on," urged the boys, looking forward with keen
anticipation to traveling over the mountains by night, for this they
had not yet had an opportunity to do.
"Very well, if your appetites will keep for another hour or so. We
should make it in an hour and a half," Lige decided, glancing about
him keenly for landmarks. "We'll try, at any rate."
The shadows now began to close in, the gulches standing out in bold
relief, black, forbidding seas at the foot of the ridges that lay a
white wonderland in the moonlight.
"This is great!" declared Ned enthusiastically.
"Glorious," breathed Tad, drinking in the scene with wide open eyes,
while inhaling in long, slow breaths, the soft mountain air. "I never
saw anything more beautiful."
Now that night had settled over the trail, the riders had to move
along more cautiously, and with tight reins, that their ponies might
not stumble and hurl the riders over their heads. Tad, with an eye to
caution, had advised them to do this. In this way the train moved on
until nearly nine o'clock, when Lige announced that they had reached
their halting place.
The mountain top where they stopped was thickly studded with cedars
and pinyon trees, while off in the ravines slender spruces reared
their sharp points above the shadows, projecting up through the black
sea like the spars of a whole fleet of sunken schooners.
"Old Ben Tackers lives nigh here," the guide told them. "I'll go over
and get him after supper. We can then talk with him about his dog. He
can tell us all about the game. Ben is a character. However, you
mustn't mind his blunt way of speaking. The old fellow is all right at
heart."
Ben came over later in the evening, and the boys were much interested
in him. A thick shock of shaggy hair covered his head and face, while
through the mass of gray and brown twinkled a pair of bright, beady
eyes. Ned said they reminded him of a couple of burnt holes in a horse
blanket.
"Any game about here, Mr. Tackers?" asked Ned after the old
mountaineer had been introduced to them.
"For them as can see, there's things to be seen," answered Ben
enigmatically. "What do you reckon on shooting?"
"Anything we can find to shoot at," answered Ned.
"Beckon I'll go home and lock up my pigs, then," declared the old man
firmly.
"Oh, it's not as bad as that, sir," hastily added Tad. "My friend,
Ned, means anything in the game line. Surely we can be trusted to tell
the difference between a bob-cat and a litter of pigs. Stacy Brown,
here, knocked out a bobcat with nothing but a club at Beaver Mountain
yesterday."
Ben turned to look at Chunky, who, huddled on the ground, appeared not
unlike a large, round ball.
"Huh! He ain't much to look at," grunted the old man. "I got a tame
cub over to my cabin that would be a good mate for him."
Stacy flushed painfully.
"Mr. Thomas was saying that you might be willing to make some
arrangement with us so we could use your dog for a few days," hinted
Professor Zepplin.
"Eh! Dogs! Lige Thomas kin have my dogs--I've got two of them
now. No arrangement ain't necessary," growled Ben.
"We prefer to pay for them, sir," spoke up Walter. "And perhaps you
may be able to tell us, also, where we may hope to find game?"
"Mebby so and mebby not. I'll see Lige about that. Got that cat skin
ye was talking about?" he demanded suddenly, looking from one to the
other.
Chunky brought it out, the old man examining it critically, nodding
his head over some thought of his own.
"Bigger cats on Tacker's mountain," he grunted. "Want to sell it?"
Chunky shook his head.
"Huh!" exclaimed the old man, rising and starting away.
"What's your hurry, sir?" asked the Professor politely.
"Must shut up the pigs. The little red-faced bear over there by the
fire might get loose with his club again," and the mountaineer strode
from the camp without another word.
Stacy Brown hung his head in chagrin, while the boys laughed heartily
at what they considered a most excellent joke on Stacy.
"Chatty old person, isn't he, Mr. Thomas?" grinned Ned.
"Well, not exactly. But he's one of the best hunters on the Park
Range. Besides, he is credited with knowing more about what's hidden
under these mountains than any other man on them. But Ben doesn't care
much for money. He'll set us right about the game when the time
comes. If the game is not running he'll stay away and say
nothing. However, at the right moment, you'll see old Ben Tackers and
his dogs suddenly appearing in camp. It will do you no good to ask him
questions. He'll tell me in a word what he has to say, and I shall
have to guess the rest."
"And you will know what he means?" asked Tad.
"I reckon," grinned Lige.
"In about the same way he told me to-night that there were some bad
men in these parts--prospectors they called themselves--who were
trying to locate some sort of a claim----"
"Claim? What kind?" asked Walter.
"Gold."
"Gold? Here?" spoke up the Professor sharply.
"Mountains are full of it, if you can find it," answered Lige in an
impressive tone.
And the boys, thrilled by the thought that perhaps fortunes in the
bright yellow metal lay beneath their feet, went to bed to dream of
buried treasures and limitless wealth.