MAKING A LAST STAND
"You poor fish!" roared Hippy as he came up sputtering.
Stacy was making for the shore at full speed, creating considerable
disturbance in the water as he progressed. Tom Gray and Hippy,
concluding that safety first was the motto for them, were hitting up a
rapid gait. The bullets, however, did not cease falling about them. All
at once reports of other rifles, apparently fired close at hand, reached
the ears of the swimmers.
"The girls are shooting!" cried Tom.
The Overland girls had run to camp for their rifles, and with them were
trying to search out the hidden mountain marksmen, trusting to drive the
mountaineers off, or at least to check their fire until their three
companions could reach shore.
Hippy and Tom were swimming for the shore in the direction of the
mountain cave. Observing this, the Overland girls ran forward to meet
them.
"Hurry! Oh, hurry!" shouted Nora in great distress.
"They can't reach us with their bullets now," answered Hippy. "We are
protected by the overhang of the mountain on their side."
"Hippy is right. They have stopped shooting," announced Grace.
At this juncture Stacy Brown floundered ashore and ran dripping towards
the cave.
"Here, here! Where are you going?" called Elfreda.
"Into my bomb-proof shelter; that's where I'm going," flung back Stacy.
"You had better hide," reminded Elfreda.
"Where's that boy?" cried Hippy as he, too, floundered ashore.
"Never mind Stacy now. We have other and more important matters on
hand," answered Grace. "Hurry, Tom. I have sent Woo up among the rocks
to act as lookout while we consider what to do next."
"This is a fine mess. Here I am drenched to the skin, shivering like a
man with the ague, and a band of scoundrels trying to shoot me up.
Hospitable country, I must say," complained Tom Gray.
"It might be worse. You and Hippy had better go into the cave and change
your clothes," suggested Grace.
"Change to what?"
"That's so. It might be imprudent for any of us to go to camp for fresh
clothing."
"Come, girls, let's gather wood and build a fire," urged Miss Briggs.
"We can build a small fire in the cave and let our men dry out in there
and we will stand guard on the outside."
"Good! That is real headwork," agreed Tom. "Give me a handful of sticks
and I'll start a fire if you will provide the matches. Mine are soaked."
Hippy had already started in search of Stacy Brown, but Stacy was not in
sight. He had fled to the farther end of the cave, whence he was gazing
apprehensively towards the opening.
"You may come out," offered Hippy. "I'm too wet to have my interview
with you now. When I get dried out I'll have a friendly conversation
with you. Come out!"
Stacy sidled out, watching Uncle Hip narrowly. Tom came in at this
juncture, with an armful of twigs that the girls had gathered, and
started a small fire.
"I don't want to be smoked out," complained Stacy.
"There is worse than that coming to you, young man," reminded Tom. "At
present, however, we have other things to attend to. Strip and dry out."
"I don't want to dry out. I want to be soaked," retorted Stacy.
"Don't worry. You're going to be," warned Lieutenant Wingate.
"If it hadn't been for me you folks never would have discovered
anything," Stacy declared, turning a reproachful gaze on his two
companions.
"And if it hadn't been for you, I should not have been dumped into a
lake of ice water twice in one day," returned Hippy. "Tom, what is your
idea of this shooting?"
"We have interfered with someone's business, that's plain," replied Tom.
"When we hauled up that box of plunder, or whatever it may be, they let
go at us with their rifles. Nor is that the worst of it--we are in for
more trouble, and I should not be at all surprised to see it break at
any moment, I--"
"Tom!" cried Grace Harlowe with a rising inflection in her voice.
"Yes?"
"Woo is running towards the cave, waving his arms. I think he has
discovered something."
Hippy nodded at Tom and began drawing on his wet clothing.
"May the girls go inside now?" called Grace.
"No! Keep out! We will be ready in a moment," answered Hippy.
A shot, followed by a howl from Woo Smith, caused the two men to
redouble their efforts. Hippy finished dressing first and ran out, rifle
in hand, just as the guide came running up.
"Me savvy tlouble. Plenty men come 'long."
"How many?" interjected Tom.
"Sees."
"Six, eh? We ought to be able to handle them," answered Hippy.
"There probably are more than six. What shall we do?" questioned Grace.
"All hands get inside the cave. From there we can watch the lake, and at
the same time be fairly well protected," directed Hippy.
Acting upon a hail from Tom that he was ready, the Overlanders hastened
into the cave, where Woo was questioned in detail as to what he had
observed. Having obtained all the information that the guide had to
give, Hippy and Tom crept out, and lay secreted in the bushes in front
of the cave to guard against surprises.
They had been there but a short time when Lieutenant Wingate discovered
a man on the rocks about a hundred yards to the right of them. At almost
the same instant Tom Gray nudged his companion.
"Two men are over in our camp," he whispered.
"Don't shoot. Time enough for that. They don't know where we are.
They--" Hippy paused abruptly.
"They don't, eh?" jeered Tom Gray as a bullet flattened itself on the
rocks just above the opening into the cave. "Keep down in there!"
"I think they are merely trying to smoke us out," answered Hippy calmly.
A scattering volley of bullets was fired at the cave opening as he
spoke, but there was no response from the besieged Overland Riders.
Elfreda called softly to know if the two men needed assistance, but both
said all the assistance they needed just then was to be let alone.
"There go the ponies!" exclaimed Tom Gray.
When Hippy looked he saw three men leading the Overland saddle ponies
into a defile in the mountains. Hippy threw up his rifle, but lowered it
instantly.
"It won't do any good to shoot. Then again I might hit a pony. What I
want to do is to get a man. Sh-h-h-h!"
The man that Hippy had seen, but who had disappeared immediately
afterward, he now discovered lying on a slab of rock up high enough to
give him a fairly good view of the entrance to the cave.
"I see him. Don't move. He is looking this way," whispered Lieutenant
Wingate.
After a few moments of cautious observation, the man on the rock crawled
back and disappeared.
The day was rapidly drawing to a close and the two Overland men began to
feel considerable concern. There was little hope in their minds that
they were going to get out of their present situation that night. Tom
and Hippy discussed the situation, and considered the idea of creeping
away in the night, but finally concluded that their greatest safety lay
in keeping out of sight and awaiting developments.
"It is their move first," declared Tom. "And when they do start
something we shall be on the job, though I am a little concerned about
our ammunition. We have none to waste. It seems to me that there ought
to be some in that cave, if the scoundrels are half as prudent as we
think they are."
Hippy called softly to Nora, asking her to have a thorough search of the
cave made to see if ammunition might not be found. Half an hour later
Nora reported that they could find none.
"Then we shall have to get along with what we have," decided Tom Gray.
"With what we have we ought to be able to give a pretty fair account of
ourselves."
Night fell, with the lake and the mountainsides bathed in a flood of
moonlight, for the moon was full and well up. The fire in the cave had
long since been put out so that the besiegers might not smell the smoke,
and, shortly after dark, the girls passed out a luncheon, taken from the
stores of food that Stacy Brown had discovered on his first visit to the
cave. Tom and Hippy were munching this eagerly, when Tom uttered a
suppressed exclamation.
"Look yonder!" he whispered.
"It's the dugout!" breathed Hippy.
The dugout, with three men in it, was being rapidly paddled out into the
lake, which was now quiet, a gleaming sheet of silver in the bright
moonlight. The paddlers went straight to the log and began hauling up on
the rope at one end.
"They are after the chests. What would you advise, Tom?" asked Hippy
eagerly.
"We are going to shoot, that's what," answered Tom Gray, leveling his
rifle. "I don't want to hit anyone, but I do want to give them a scare."
Taking careful aim at the canoe, he fired--and missed. Tom shot again,
and this time his bullet reached its mark--the dugout.
Hippy Wingate tried a shot and scored a hit the first time. The men in
the dugout showed indications of panic.
"Let 'em have it hard," urged Tom, whereupon both men began shooting,
but the shooting was not confined to their own rifles. From somewhere on
the mountain-side other rifles spoke, and bullets spattered against the
rocks that stood out white in the moonlight, hard by the cave.
"They've located us!" cried Tom Gray. "Stacy, come out here, but creep
out," he ordered.
The fat boy came wriggling out, rifle in hand.
"See if you can find the fellows who are shooting at us; then stir them
up," directed Tom.
A few moments later, Chunky's rifle spoke. In the meantime Tom and Hippy
had been shooting at the boat, taking their time, aiming with
deliberation, until finally the fire became too hot for the men in the
dugout, and they paddled rapidly shoreward to the other side of the
lake. Soon after their arrival there they began to shoot at the
cave-mouth. Hippy and Tom then turned their rifles in that direction,
but with what result they were unable to determine.
Stacy shot slowly and steadily, without apparent nervousness, and the
two men began to feel respect for the irrepressible Chunky. After a time
the fire on both sides died down and silence settled over the scene.
Finally, Grace suggested that she and Elfreda relieve the men of their
watch, which, after reflection, was agreed to. After a vigil of some
hours Grace called for Tom and pointed towards the lake, that was
shining in the moonlight.
"Is not something moving out there?" she questioned.
"Yes. It is those scoundrels after the chests again. Call Hippy!"
After watching the shadowy shape of the dugout for some moments the two
Overland men again opened fire, and once more the dugout was hurriedly
paddled ashore.
No further disturbance occurred that night. The girls went to sleep, but
Lieutenant Wingate and Captain Gray remained on duty from that time on.
All of the following day was spent in the cave, not a shot being fired
on either side. The Overlanders were of the opinion that their
adversaries were keeping out of sight for the purpose of luring the
party out into the open, so they remained where they were.
Another night came on, and at about ten o'clock the Overland Riders were
treated to a deluge of rifle bullets, which was not returned, as the
ammunition supply was now too low.
"Grace, have you taken an inventory of the food?" asked Tom, after the
firing had died down.
"Yes. We have enough for present needs, but have you considered that we
may be held here until either we starve or are shot? I, for one, am in
favor of making our escape. Take my word for it, our besiegers will play
some trick that will prove our undoing," declared Grace with strong
conviction in her tone.
"We will stick it out another day," answered Lieutenant Wingate.
"And walk all the way back to Gardner," finished Elfreda Briggs. "I am
of the opinion that--"
"Hark!" warned Nora, holding up a hand for silence. A faint tapping
sound was heard by all. It seemed to be somewhere over their heads, but
no one was able to interpret the sound, and after a time it ceased.
"Something is doing. Get your rifles ready," ordered Tom.
The words had no sooner left his lips than a heavy detonating explosion
sent a shower of rock and dirt down over their heads. None of the pieces
was large enough to injure the Overlanders, but the dust set them
coughing and choking so that instinctively all crowded towards the cave
entrance for air, and further, because of fear that the rocks above
might cave in on them.
"That was dynamite!" exclaimed Tom Gray. "Either they are trying to bury
us here or to drive us out."
"And I am going out," declared Lieutenant Wingate. "Tom, you stay here,
but for goodness sake make the folks keep down. The first head I see I
am going to shoot at. Give me some cartridges, each of you."
Five minutes later Lieutenant Wingate was crawling out on his stomach as
silently as an Indian. Once more he heard that familiar tapping on the
rocks above the cave.
"The fiends!" he muttered. "I've got to get up to their level or go
above them." He decided to proceed to the left of the cave, then ascend
and approach the rocks above it. This he succeeded in doing. About the
time he came within sight of the rocks over the cave the ground was
shaken by another explosion. In the bright moonlight, he saw three men
running towards the scene.
Hippy threw up his rifle and fired. One of the three men plunged forward
and rolled over the edge of the rocks, landing, as Lieutenant Wingate
thought, near the entrance to the cave. The other two men instantly
disappeared.
"One!" growled the Overland Rider, hurriedly removing himself from that
particular locality. Reaching a point where he could look across the
cave entrance, Hippy made a startling discovery. The second charge of
dynamite had been fired close to the edge of the rocks overhanging the
cave entrance, so that the falling rocks had blocked it entirely.
Lieutenant Wingate now crawled to the entrance, not knowing what instant
he might be the target for a bullet, and, placing his lips close to a
crevice, called softly.
His hail was answered from within. To his great relief, he learned that
none of his companions had been injured, but that they dared not try to
remove the wreckage from the inside fearing they might bring down a mass
of rocks. Hippy advised them to remain quiet until later when he would
try to work his way in.
"Just now, I must keep a sharp lookout," he added. Not another shot did
he get at their adversaries, however, but just after daylight a rattling
fire sprang up. Listening attentively, Hippy concluded that two parties
were engaged in the shooting--at it "hammer and tongs," as he expressed
it. A few minutes later he saw two men running for the lake--saw them
leap into the dugout and paddle excitedly towards the anchored log. He
waited until they began to haul in on the rope at one end of the log,
and then opened fire. One bullet bowled a man over. The other man
grabbed the paddle and struck out for the shore with all speed. He had
nearly reached it when a burst of fire from among the trees near where
the Overland camp was located knocked the man over. He fell over
backwards in the dugout, which slowly drifted ashore.
A group of horsemen at this juncture rode out into the open, and an
instant later a bullet whistled past Hippy's head.
"Gee whiz!" exclaimed Lieutenant Wingate. "I reckon the whole community
has it in for me. I've got to have a look at those people." With that
Hippy worked his way cautiously through the bushes until he got an
unobstructed view of the newcomers. The Overland Rider gazed, and as he
did so his under jaw sagged.
"Ye-o-o-o-w!" yelled Hippy, leaping to his feet.
A rifle bullet answered him, but he was down ere it reached him. Once
more he sprang up and fired three quick shots straight up into the air,
then went down again. This time there was an interval, then the welcome
answer--three signal shots--was fired. Hippy got up and waved his hat.
He had recognized one member of that party. That member was Sheriff
Ford.
"Overland!" shouted Lieutenant Wingate upon getting to his feet.
Sheriff Ford did not recognize him at once, but the party of horsemen
rode towards him with rifles at ready, Hippy standing out in the open
with hands held up. Sheriff Ford then uttered a shout as he recognized
the Overland Rider.
It was a happy meeting--for Hippy Wingate. It took but a moment for
explanations. A posse, with two sheriffs, including Ford, and five husky
citizens of Gardner, had come out in search of the bandits who had tried
to rob the Red Limited, and who were supposed to have held up and robbed
another treasure train a week earlier.
On their way to release the Overland party, Hippy confided to Sheriff
Ford the discovery of the iron chests secured to the log in the lake.
"I suppose there is a reward for the recovery of the plunder, but if
there is, you take it. We don't want it," said Hippy.
Sheriff Ford protested, but Hippy said the Overland Riders could not
consider accepting a reward under any circumstances. Ford said that in
such event, the reward would be shared by the members of the posse, and
that, in fact, the reward offered by the express company was the
principal motive for the posse coming out to try to accomplish what the
Pinkertons had thus far failed to do.
The Overlanders were, after considerable hard work, released from their
imprisonment in the cave, and it was then that Ford told them of the
fight with the bandits, who, he said, were all members of the Jones
Boys' gang. Of ten bandits, the posse had killed or wounded four. They
found two who had been wounded before the arrival of the posse, one of
whom, Hippy believed, was the fellow he had shot on the shelf of rock,
and took four prisoners, including Mother Jones, the mother of the
leaders of the gang. Four bandits had succeeded in escaping.
"Mother Jones!" exclaimed the Overlanders.
As it later developed, it was Mother Jones whose face had so frightened
Woo, and which Grace Harlowe had seen reflected in the pool. Mother
Jones had done the shooting at the Overlanders, following the Overland
party's discovery of the chests in the lake. It was Mother Jones who had
fired at them when they were bombarding the lake with boulders.
No time was lost in getting the chests from the bottom of the lake, and
none was more interested in the contents than were the original
discoverers, the Overland Riders. The chests were found to contain
something more than half a million dollars in gold and banknotes, but
two other chests stolen from the same shipment never were found, though
the lake was dragged from end to end. It was believed that the contents
of the missing chests had been divided among the bandits and secreted
somewhere in the mountains, but not a man of the Jones gang would admit
this to be the fact.
The Overland ponies were found secreted in a mountain defile, and that
night there was a jollification in camp, a real feast of venison and
trout, songs and story-telling, even Woo Smith indulging in his familiar
song, to which no one now objected. Stacy Brown overlooked no
opportunity to call attention to the fact that he was the one who had
discovered the treasure chests, discovered the log to which they were
anchored, and said he supposed that the railroad or the express company
owed him a hundred thousand dollars.
"How much do you want? Come now," urged Sheriff Ford.
"Want?" exclaimed Stacy. "I don't want anything from you, but I want
these unfortunate Overland Riders to appreciate what I have done for
them, and I want them to apologize to me for the abuse they heaped on me
while I was seeking to transmigrate trouble from their doors."
Sheriff Ford laughed heartily at Stacy's remarks.
"For he's a jolly good fellow," began Nora Wingate, in which the
Overland Riders joined whole-heartedly, even Emma Dean, for the moment,
forgetting her feud with Stacy Brown to the extent of keeping time with
her lips, Woo Smith independently chattering his "Hi-lee, hi-lo!" shouts
of laughter winding up the tribute to the fat boy's hold on their
affections.
The Overland Riders decided to accompany the sheriffs and their party to
Gardner. Being well satisfied with their vacation they were now ready to
go home. The prisoners and the treasure were taken along to Gardner,
which was reached several days later. Then the Riders entrained for home
after the most interesting journey they had ever taken. On their way
east they elected the irrepressible Chunky to full membership in the
Overland Riders, and he promised to accompany them on their next
season's ride.
The story of that ride will be found in a following volume entitled,
"GRACE HARLOWE'S OVERLAND RIDERS IN THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK." The
mysterious loss of the Riders' ponies, the raid of the grizzlies, the
puzzling robbery at the Springs Hotel, a night of terror on Electric
Mountain, the hold-up of the Cumberland coach, and the solving of the
Yellowstone mystery, are among the many experiences that befell Grace
Harlowe's Riders on their never-to-be-forgotten journey through the
great National Park.
THE END