THE PROSPECTOR’S STORY
“WELL,” began Dr. Shonto reflectively, “Andy and I were in our camp on
the North Fork of the Lizard, about two and a half miles from Lovejoy’s
place. Two men came along with pack burros, bound up into the Catfish
Country--if you know where that is.”
Charmian nodded eagerly.
“They stopped, and as lunch was about ready we invited them to eat with
us.
“They called themselves Smith Morley and Omar Leach. They are both
middle-aged men and seem to have had a great deal of experience at
prospecting.
“Well, Andy and I are old-time ramblers ourselves. We spend a great
deal of time together in the outlands, mostly just loafing around and
enjoying camp life and the scenery. We were able to talk with the
pair about many things of interest to both factions. One thing led to
another, and finally Smith Morley mentioned that he had hunted for
opals with a camel train in Australia. We at once became interested
and asked him all about the life. It is vastly entertaining, from his
account.
“Then he told us of the California opals, but when Andy asked if he
ever found any in this state he grew reticent. Finally, however, when
he learned that both of us were men of some means, he told us about
certain opal claims that he and his partner had filed on this year,
and which they would be obliged to lose because they were financially
unable to get into the country and do their assessment work.
“They offered to sell the claims to us, and to take us to them and
establish us if we would defray the expenses. Morley showed us
one of the handsomest opals I have ever seen. Its fire was simply
wonderful--I’d never before seen anything to equal it.
“We weren’t greatly interested, however, until they mentioned the
undiscovered valley. While Andy has nothing much to occupy his time,
I have my investigations to carry on and a great deal of laboratory
work, though I am not practising medicine regularly. Anyway, we didn’t
want to go into the opal-mining game. But, as I said, the undiscovered
valley enticed us, and we wanted to know all about it.
“The opal claims are on the desert in what is called the Shinbone
Country. It is very difficult to get to them, and the soft, deep sand
makes automobiles a failure. One must use horses and pack burros,
and at best the water supply is dangerously short. However, the
undiscovered valley is something like thirty miles beyond the desert,
in the mountains, at an elevation of perhaps eight thousand feet.
“From the description they gave us, those who know of its existence say
that it is about thirteen miles long by seven or eight miles in width.
It is surrounded by high peaks upon which the snow lies for almost the
entire year. These peaks are said to be straight up and down, to use
Morley’s phrase, and heavily timbered up to the snow-line. The valley
is therefore like the crater of an extinct volcano, and many claim that
it is just that. To reach the timbered section, one must cross miles
and miles of country covered with the densest chaparral. He must either
cut his way through it with a knife and an ax or crawl on all fours.
This stretch is waterless, and exposed to the sunny side of steep
mountains, where the heat beats down unmercifully.
“But assuming that a fellow gets through this chaparral country, he has
yet to scale those grim peaks which Morley calls straight up and down.
And if he reaches the summit, he then will be obliged to get down into
the valley, perhaps several thousand feet in depth.
“The valley was discovered some years ago by a forest ranger. He had
climbed to a high peak about sixteen miles distant from it, and assumed
that, even then, he was on ground where no man of to-day, at least,
had ever stood before. He suffered a great deal on that trip, but
determination kept up his courage and he finally reached the goal for
which he had set out. And from the summit of that peak he glimpsed the
unexplored valley.
“It seems strange that, in this day and age, such a valley could remain
unknown. But such seems to be the case. Andy and I have found in our
travels over the state that there are vast stretches of forest land
where a white man has probably never set his foot. But in almost every
case, there was nothing to draw him. This instance is different.
“Fortunately the ranger had a telescope with him, and was able to see
a portion of the valley between two of the peaks that surround it. He
circulated the report that the valley is wooded, and that a fair-sized
river flows down the centre of it. He saw great quantities of meadow
land, and on it animals were grazing, but he could not determine what
they were. Altogether the valley presented a pleasing outlook, and he
made up his mind to explore it.
“He made many trips, alone and with friends, which occupied months.
They strove to get at that valley from every angle, and one man lost
his life in the attempt. Finally they were obliged to give it up,
though they estimated that they had approached to within three miles of
their goal. So throughout the Shinbone Country the undiscovered valley
is well known to be in existence, but that’s the end of it. The country
is thinly populated, of course, and the people who live there mind
their own business pretty well and are completely out of touch with the
outside world. And thus it transpires that the unexplored valley is not
generally known to be in existence.
“One of the most remarkable features concerning it is the river that
flows through it. All rivers in this country flow in a general westerly
direction, of course, toward the Pacific Ocean. Not so the river that
flows through the undiscovered valley. It runs due east, according to
the ranger, though that may mean much or nothing at all, for it may
change to a westward course farther on.
“But the question is, where does it come out of the valley? All of
the rivers and streams in that section are known and named. No one can
account for a river without a name, flowing toward the coast on the
west side of the range. But farther back in the mountains, estimated at
about ten miles from the peaks that surround the undiscovered valley,
there is what is known as a lost river. In fact, it is called Lost
River.
“The source of Lost River is known. It rises from springs high up in
the range, and is fed by other springs as it flows westward and gathers
width. Then, about ten miles from the high peaks, it vanishes--is
swallowed up by the earth in a mountain meadow. It is not just soaked
up by the ground, but plunges into a cave in the side of a hill. And,
so far as anybody knows, that is the end of it.
“Of course, it is assumed that this river runs underground from that
point and eventually reaches the undiscovered valley, where it rises
again and flows serenely across the valley--quite a large stream, it
seems--and then vanishes once more. And for the remainder of its course
to the sea, it may be any one of the known rivers in the Shinbone
Country. It probably would not pop up out of the ground in the lowlands
so abruptly as it plunges into the cave in the high altitudes. It may
rise again as springs--seep up from the soil in a natural way. Or its
waters may separate during their underground journey after leaving
the unexplored valley, and they may form two or more streams in the
lowlands.
“So that’s about all there is to be said about the undiscovered
valley--or perhaps the unexplored valley would be more proper--and the
river that loses itself in the ground. Andy and I grew quite excited
over it, but when we tried to pump Morley and Leach to find out the
location of the Shinbone Country they refused to come across. Shinbone
is a local name, it seems, and few besides the people who live there
know it as such. We don’t even know what county it is in. Leach and
Morley, however, promised to tell us all about it and to take us to it,
provided we would interest ourselves in their opal claims. So, as we
didn’t care to do that, we let the matter slide.”
Charmian Reemy had forgotten her dinner and was resting her bare elbows
on the table, nesting her chin in her hands. Her dark eyes were fixed
on Inman Shonto. And Andy’s eyes were fixed on her.
“Where,” she asked in a low voice, “are Morley and Leach now?”
“Still on their way to the Catfish Country, I suppose,” Shonto replied.
“When was it that they were in your camp?”
“Day before yesterday, about noon--wasn’t it, Andy?”
Andy Jerome nodded absently.
“Then they can’t have reached the Catfish Country yet,” said Charmian.
“I’m going after them to-morrow morning. Now, for the first time in my
life, I wish I had a car. I could travel in it as far as Jorny Springs,
and there I could get a saddle horse and run them down before they get
into the wilderness.”
“Do you really want to go after opals and the unexplored valley?” asked
Andy suddenly.
She turned her dark eyes on him. “I want to more than anything else
I’ve ever wanted to do,” she told him.
“Then you can have my car to-morrow morning. And, if you’ll let me,
I’ll go with you after Leach and Morley. And if we find them, and can
come to terms with them, I’ll--I’ll-- Well, if we can arrange matters
to suit you, I’d like to go with you to the Shinbone Country.”
For a short time they gazed into each other’s eyes. Andy Jerome’s lips
were parted, and Shonto noted the quick rise and fall of his breast.
Then a slight flush covered Charmian Reemy’s cheeks, and her long, dark
lashes hid her eyes.
“If we can arrange matters,” she said, “I’d--I’d be glad to have you,
Mr. Jerome.”
Then, with another pang, Dr. Inman Shonto interpreted the strange
silence that had existed between these two. It was the result of an odd
embarrassment that both had felt since they first clasped hands. It was
love at first sight between them, and they were backward and afraid of
each other.
The eyes of both now were lowered. Shonto glanced quickly at Mary
Temple. Her gaunt face was set in hard lines. She knew, and she
disapproved--at least until she knew more about this handsome young man
who had invaded their quiet retreat.
And Shonto-- Well, Shonto disapproved, too. Shonto was far older than
Andy--too old, perhaps, to think of loving a woman of Charmian Reemy’s
age. But he put all this behind him. If Andy and Charmian were going
in search of the unexplored valley, he meant to go along. Several
years her senior though he knew himself to be, Shonto believed that he
was the man for a woman like Charmian Reemy rather than Andy Jerome.
Anyway, he meant to know more about her. It would not do for Andy to
win her away from him if she was what he believed her to be. Yes,
Shonto would go along, and his life’s work could go hang, for all he
cared. Until he knew the truth about Charmian Reemy, at any rate.
“We could find it easily, I guess, in an airplane,” Andy suggested.
“An airplane!” scoffed the girl. “Not I! I hate airplanes--I hate
anything mechanical. I’ll find that valley as my forefathers would have
found it, or I’ll stay away. And I must think up an appropriate name
for it. Doctor Shonto seems undecided between ‘the undiscovered valley’
and ‘the unexplored valley.’ Neither is romantic enough. I’ll think up
a name before morning. I like to name things. And I’m going, really--if
we can overtake Leach and Morley. Do you approve, Mary Temple?”
“No!” snapped Mary Temple, and passed the venison to Andy with jerky
hospitality.