While daylight was flooding the upper world next morning, and the
shadows were lifting from the gloomy depths of the canyon, the modern
cave dwellers ate their breakfast.
About three hundred yards above the caves the canyon widened out into a
valley some three hundred yards in diameter. The bottom of this valley
was covered with rich grass, and in it was a grove of cotton-wood trees
whose bright verdure gave the place the appearance of a rich emerald gem
in a mighty setting of granite.
In this valley the horses and pack mules were kept, and, as they had but
little to do, they might be said to "live in clover."
While it was still dusky in these depths, though the glimpses of far-off
ruddy mountain peaks told that the sun was rising in the upper world,
Sam and Ike, who were hardly ever apart, went up to the valley and soon
returned with three horses and two mules, the latter were to carry back
the necessary supplies from Hurley's Gulch.
It had been Mr. Willett's custom to make this trip once a month, so that
his going now was not an unusual event, yet his face showed that he was
much dejected, as if he had a premonition of the awful calamity that was
so soon to come upon himself and his beloved boy.
His last words, as he kissed Sam, were:
"If anything should happen to detain me longer than four days, I will
send a letter back by Ulna."
"But we'll be back on time," joined in Hank Tims, "for I don't like
crowds, an', then, we've struck pay dirt rich up at the head of the
valley, an' I'm just a spilein' to see how it'll pan out to the ind."
Good-bys were said, and Sam, Ike and Wah Shin stood on the plateau
before the cave and waved their hats, till the three men had led the
animals up the giddy trail and disappeared beyond the towering summit of
the cliff.
Under the teaching of his father and Hank Tims, Sam had become a
skillful gold miner, that is, so far as panning out the gravel and
collecting the gold were concerned.
The fact that he was the prospective heir to a large fortune did not
unfit him for work this morning. With Ike he went up to the sluices
immediately after his father left, and until the sun was in mid-heaven
they worked, shoveling gravel into the cradle and rocking it under the
water, and only stopping to pick out the nuggets and yellow dust and
scales that rewarded their effort every hour.
By means of an old-fashioned horn, Wah Shin summoned them to dinner. Of
the fresh meat he had made pies that would have tempted an invalid's
appetite. And, as the boys ate, sitting before the entrance to the cave,
the Chinaman's face fairly glowed with delight at the evidence of his
excellent cooking.
"Ven'zon pie belly good," chuckled Wah Shin, as he produced a second
when the first had vanished. "But man eatee too muchee, den get mebbe
sick."
"Dat ar edvice is 'tended foh Mistah Sam," laughed Ike, as he helped
himself again. "But vanzon pie an' 'possums are two tings I ain't nebber
got my fill ob up to dis time."
Sam heard but did not heed the talk of his companions, for his attention
was at the moment attracted to two strange men who were slowly making
their way down the trail on the opposite side of the canyon wall.
As there was danger from prowling bands of Indians who had left the
reservation, and also from white outlaws who frequently robbed weak
mining camps, every one at Gold Cave Camp strapped on a belt, with a
knife and pistols in it, as regularly as he pulled on his boots.
Starting to his feet and followed by Ike, Sam went down to the stream,
getting there just as the two men reached the bottom.
One of the strangers was a tall, dark-bearded man, with one eye, and the
other was a short, yellow-skinned man with a mean expression of face,
whom Sam recognized as his cousin, Frank Shirley.
Sam had never spoken to this man, so he did not greet him like an
acquaintance now.
Both men were well armed, as is the fashion of the country, and when
they came within hailing distance, Frank Shirley called out:
"Hello, young man, is this Mr. Willett's camp?"
"It is, sir," was Sam's reply, as he came to a halt.
"Is Mr. Willett home?"
"He is not."
"Where is he?"
"He has gone to Hurley's Gulch."
"When did he leave?"
"This morning."
"Ah, I'm sorry I missed him. When do you expect him back?"
"In a few days. Won't you come over and have some dinner?" asked Sam,
waving his hand in the direction of the plateau, on which Wah Shin was
visible.
"Thank you; no. We are going on to Hurley's Gulch, and are in a great
hurry," said Frank Shirley, turning and whispering to his companion, who
nodded vigorously in response.
"Who shall I say called?" asked Sam, as the two men turned to ascend the
trail.
"Friends," was the laconical reply.
"If dem's frien's," said Ike, when the men had gone out of hearing, "den
Ize de biggest kind ob a foe."
The conversation of the two men when they reached the top of the cliff
proved the black boy's surmise to be correct.
They had left their horses hitched to a rock, and as they prepared to
mount, Frank Shirley said to his companion:
"That's the boy, Badger."
"The boy ez stan's atween you an' fortune?" said Badger.
"Yes."
"Wa'll, ain't you hired me to help you clear the way?"
"I have, Badger."
"Good; then let us git rid of the father first, an' then all the rest'll
be ez smooth ez ile."
"You will stick to your contract?"
"I'd be a fool if I didn't. You pay expenses an' give me ten thousand
dollars to get 'em out of the way. Isn't that it?"
"That's it, Badger," said Frank Shirley, as he mounted and rode along
beside his companion.
"That ar boy down thar," said Badger, waving his hand back at the canyon,
"ain't no slouch. He'll fight, he will; an' the best way with sich is to
give 'em no chance."
"No chance," echoed Frank Shirley, "that's it exactly. And now that we
have them parted our opportunity has come."
"Just ez if 'twas made to order," said Badger.
After the men had gone, Sam and Ike went to work again, but the former
had lost the cheerfulness that distinguished him in the morning.
He could not get those two men out of his mind, not that he feared their
return--indeed, he could not account to himself for the strange feeling
of dread that possessed him for the next three days.
While working, on the afternoon of the fourth day since his father's
departure, he noticed that the sky had become overcast and that the
water in the bed of the stream was rapidly rising.
He and Ike quit work earlier than usual, and they had great difficulty
in making their way to the caves through the swollen torrent.
They had hardly reached cover when a terrific storm came up and the
canyon became as dark as night, while the roar of the waters and the
crashing of the thunder were ceaseless and appalling.
It was about nine o'clock at night, and the three occupants of the cave
were sitting with awed faces before the fire, when, to their
inexpressible surprise, Ulna, the young Ute, stood dripping before them.
"How did you reach here?" asked Sam, springing to his feet and grasping
Ulna's hand.
"I rode till I killed my horse, then I ran for hours. The flood was up,
and it is rising, but I managed to swim across----"
"But my father!" interrupted Sam, pleadingly laying his arm on the young
Indian's shoulders.
"He and Hank Tims are prisoners at Hurley's Gulch," said Ulna.
"Prisoners."
"Yes, and in the hands of the lynchers who charge them with the murder
of Tom Edwards. Here is a letter from your father that will explain
all," said Ulna, pulling a damp paper from his pocket and adding, "your
testimony is wanted at once to clear the accused; but no man can cross
the canyon for a week, and then it will be too late!"