THE PATH ALONG THE CLIFF
A long, loud whistle sounded.
“What d’ye suppose that’s for?” asked Bob. “It came from the mine,
didn’t it?”
“To be sure,” replied Frank. “And I reckon it’s a call for the men to
get busy.”
“That would mean the new overseer is starting things again?”
continued Bob.
“Well, it looks that way, as sure as anything,” his chum went on,
with an air of satisfaction. “So we can take it for granted that the
men believe things are going to come out all right; which they will,
if I can make ’em.”
By this time they had arrived close to the spot where the trailer
stood awaiting their arrival. As Mr. Riley had kept closer to Sim
than had either of the boys, he was even then on the ground, looking
down at something to which his attention had evidently been directed
by the other.
Frank threw himself down, giving his chum the horses to care for.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Why, it seems as if another trail, much fresher, has crossed the one
we were following,” replied the former overseer.
“Why does that bother him?” asked Frank.
“Just because Sim, here, declares the tracks are so much like some of
those made by the men we’re chasing after, that he believes they must
be the same parties!” Mr. Riley answered.
“Oh! that changes the case a heap,” remarked Frank. “Let me take a
look and see if I can tell as much.”
A minute later he got up off his knees.
“How?” asked Bob, Indian fashion.
“Sim is dead right,” replied Frank.
“Same lot, then, Frank?”
“Not a little doubt about it,” replied the other.
“Three men, and all wearing store shoes, with narrow soles, eh?” Bob
continued.
Frank shot a look toward the experienced trailer. Then he held up two
fingers of his right hand, with a question in his eyes. Sim nodded
his head in the affirmative.
“There seems to be only two of them now,” remarked Frank.
“One missing, eh?” Bob kept on. “What d’ye suppose they could have
done with him?”
“What do _you_ think, Mr. Riley?” and Frank turned on the
ex-superintendent.
“Well,” said he reflectively, “I’ve seen many of these fellows in
my days, boys, and I reckon I know about how they pan out. There was
just three in the bunch to start. That was evidently one too many. It
made the shares of the swag too small. What happens? Oh! they just
lost the third man, that’s all.”
“What! Do you mean to say they disposed of him when he wasn’t
looking, and then ran away with the treasure?” demanded Bob.
“Oh! I don’t know,” resumed the ex-overseer. “Perhaps it wa’n’t so
bad as that. They might have only tumbled him down into some hole,
and left him there to climb out, or stay in. Then again, perhaps they
just held him up, took his guns away, and then walked off with his
sack.”
“That sounds as if it might be the way it happened,” remarked Bob,
who could, in imagination, almost see the treachery of the two
robbers being carried out; and, while he did not know why it should
be so, somehow his sympathy seemed to go out to the third man who was
being so badly treated by his mates.
“But you said the gold must have weighed in the neighborhood of two
hundred pounds, didn’t you, Mr. Riley?” asked Frank.
“Not far from that, Frank, and valued at nearly fifty thousand
dollars, counting it at about twenty dollars to the ounce, and twelve
ounces to the pound,” replied the other.
“That looks queer,” mused Frank.
“In what way?” asked Bob, quickly; while both the others listened
eagerly.
“Well, you told me the gold was in three sacks, didn’t you?” Frank
went on.
“Yes, it was, Frank.”
“Then if these two fellows were carrying it all, one of them would
have to tote two of the sacks, wouldn’t he?” the boy demanded.
“It stands to reason he would, because they couldn’t divide the third
bag,” Riley admitted, readily enough.
“All right. Now when a fellow staggers along carrying one hundred
and thirty pounds on his back he would be sure to sink into the soft
ground much deeper than when he only had half that much, eh, Mr.
Riley?” Frank continued.
The man gave utterance to an exclamation; while the experienced
trailer dropped once more to the ground.
“The boy’s right, Riley,” the last individual exclaimed, almost
immediately. “The cross tracks are as fresh as if made only a little
time ago; while the others are old, but if anything, the new ones are
not as deep as the first!”
“What would you take from that?” demanded Bob.
“Perhaps they hid the gold!” suggested Mr. Riley.
“Looks that way; though for the life of me I can’t understand why
they’ve been a-hangin’ around here all this time, takin’ chances,”
Sim Garrison said.
“Then what ought we do?” remarked the former superintendent, turning
to Frank. “Keep right along after the two thieves; or turn back on
this new trail, and try to find where they hid the stuff?”
Frank had to think fast just then. A mistake was apt to prove costly.
“We can always come back to this point, and take up the back trail,”
he said; “but the thieves will be getting farther and farther away
all the while. So I say, let’s start after them.”
“I cover that way,” remarked Sim. “Seems like no fellers’d ever come
up into this country without mounts; and I just reckon that these two
are headin’ for where the hosses are hid.”
“Then the sooner we start, the better chance we will have to get
sight of them,” Frank remarked.
Sim took the hint. Bending down he hastened along. So accustomed were
his eyes to picking out signs invisible to a greenhorn like Bob, that
he was able to run pretty much all the time; and the horses had to
keep up a little canter to hold their own.
“I wonder whether we will really get a glimpse of them before night
sets in?” Bob remarked, as he rode along close to his chum.
“Nobody can tell,” came the reply; “but it wouldn’t surprise me if we
did. What I’m wondering at is why these fellows hung around all this
time, when they must have known there would be a hunt as soon as the
robbery was discovered.”
“That _is_ queer, come to think of it,” Bob agreed. “And you don’t
happen to think of any explanation, eh?”
“That’s what I don’t,” Frank admitted, shaking his head. “Of course
I could give a dozen guesses; but all of ’em would be far from the
mark. Still, there must be a reason, and a mighty good one, too. A
whole lot might hinge on a little thing.”
“Do you suppose they just happened to cross their old trail?” Bob
asked.
“No doubt of it,” came the ready reply; “and see how accident helps a
fellow, sometimes. Only for that we’d have been forced to follow them
over all the ground they’ve covered since the robbery took place two
nights ago. That helped us along fine.”
“And that’s how hard luck sometimes upsets all the calculations of
the sharpest of rascals,” remarked Bob.
“Seems like it,” observed Frank, and immediately afterwards he cried
out: “Look up yonder; what’s that moving there? I’m nearly sure I
saw a horse pass that little gap, Mr. Riley.”
“That’s what you did, Frank!” exclaimed Sim, the trailer; “and there
goes a second one. Off we go, fellers, and it’s a stern chase now!”
“Are you sure they’re the men we’re looking for?” gasped Bob, as
Domino sprang after the horses ridden by the ex-superintendent and
Sim.
“Everything seems to point that way,” replied Frank. “They’re running
as if scared at sight of us; and that’s almost a sure evidence of
guilt. Then, as near as I can tell, the two men seem to be anything
but miners. I reckon we’ve put up our game, all right. And already
we’re pulling up on ’em some.”
“You’re right,” declared Bob. “They happen to have poor mounts. Why,
I can see one of the horses limp even from here. But, Frank, isn’t it
likely those fellows will put up a stiff fight before surrendering to
us?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they did, Bob. Now look at them turn that
bend, and disappear from sight. Seems as if the trail runs along a
path that’s fastened to the face of the cliff; doesn’t it? A slip
would mean trouble for man and horses. But if _they_ can make it,
_we_ ought to be able to.”
“Where they lead we follow!” cried Bob, much excited by this time.
They were soon sweeping along close to the dangerous place in the
trail. Sim was in the van, for since he had been installed in the
place of honor as tracker, it was only right he should assume the
lead. Next to him came Mr. Riley; then Frank, while Bob brought up in
the rear.
“Say, Frank, did you happen to see the sacks of treasure hung on the
animals?” asked the Kentucky boy.
“Not that I knew of; did you?” demanded the other quickly.
“Well, now, I didn’t, that’s a fact,” replied Bob. “But then, they
might have them concealed. They would expect to meet lots of white
people on the road after they had gone a certain distance. There, Sim
is turning the bend in the path along the face of the cliff. Ugh!
don’t look down, or you’ll get dizzy. It’s awful deep right here. One
little slip, and where would you land?”
Hardly had Bob made this suggestive remark, calculated to give Frank
a shiver, than their ears were saluted by a heavy explosion right
ahead around the bend.
A portion of the cliff path seemed to separate itself from the rock
wall, and go plunging down; and Sim, together with his horse, was
carried over the edge with it!