It was nearly a month later that the gold-seekers arrived at a point due
south of the three peaks. The journey had been a toilsome one. At times
they made their way through deep gorges. At others they had to climb
rocky hills, where the horses could scarce obtain a foothold. One of
their pack ponies had been lost, having slipped and fallen over a
precipice many hundreds of feet deep, and they had lost a day making a
long detour to reach the spot where he fell, in order to recover the
articles he had carried. For the first half of the distance they had,
they believed, followed the track marked on the map, but they then found
themselves at the head of a deep valley from which they could discover
no egress, and it was therefore clear that they must have misunderstood
the marks and have taken a wrong turning somewhere.
From this time they had put aside the map, and made their way as nearly
east as the inequalities of the ground permitted. They had no
difficulties as to forage for their horses. In many of the valleys there
was an abundance of coarse grass, and among the rocks the aloe and
cactus grew thickly, and when, as was sometimes the case, no water was
to be found, they peeled the thorny skin from the thick juicy leaves and
gave the pulp to the animals.
For themselves they shot three bears and several small mountain deer.
There was little fear of the sound of their rifles being heard in these
mountain gorges, and should the report have reached the ear of an Indian
he would have supposed that it was the gun of some red hunters. There
were indeed only two villages marked on the map anywhere near the line
they were following, as the great bulk of the Indians lived on the
slopes of the hills on either side of the Gila, whence they could make
their raids into Mexico to the south or to New Mexico to the east.
Here among the mountains they could subsist on the proceeds of the chase
and the little plantations tended by the women, but this offered small
attractions to the restless and warlike Indians, who preferred depending
upon the plunder that they could always gather by a raid upon the
defenseless Mexican villages. Thus during the whole journey they had not
once caught sight of an Indian, though they had two or three times made
out, with the aid of a telescope Tom had brought with him, little
clusters of wigwams far away among the hills.
"There will be more danger when we get near the place," 'Zekel said one
evening when they were talking it over. "The redskins know well enough
that it is gold the whites who come into their mountains are in search
of, and I guess they know every place where it is to be found. A redskin
always has his eyes open. A broken branch, a stone newly rolled down on
a path, the ashes of a fire, the slightest thing that is new, he is sure
to notice, and the glitter of gold, whether in a stream or in a vein,
would be certain to catch his eye, and if this place is specially rich
they are safe to know of it, and would keep some sort of watch to see
that it is not found out by the whites."
"That is so," Dave agreed; "of course we don't know how the party that
Mexican got the map from got wiped out. It may have been on their way
back, but it is more likely it was at the mine itself, and we may find
signs of them when we get there. I hope they had been at work some time
before they were attacked; if so we may like enough find a store of gold
without the trouble of working for it. It is no use to the redskins.
They don't do any trade with the whites, and they don't wear gold
ornaments. They are wise enough to know that if they were to show much
gold about them it would make the whites more eager than ever to come in
among their mountains in search of it, so if the Mexican party gathered
some up afore they went under, like enough we shall find it."
It was with deep satisfaction that they at last caught sight of the
mountain with three sharp peaks, but it was four days after they first
saw it that they reached a point due south of it. They were now in a
wide valley running east and west; to the south a wall of rock rose in a
seemingly unbroken line. On the northern side of the valley the hills
sloped away, rising one above another, with the peaks of the Sisters
visible above them all.
They had left their animals in charge of Boston Joe, in a clump of trees
four miles back, as the miners were of opinion that some Indian village
might lie somewhere in the neighborhood, and that it would be safer to
make their way on foot. One of the many branches of the Gila ran along
the center of the valley, but except in deep pools it was now dry.
"Now we must keep a sharp lookout for marks on the hills," Dave said;
"we know we are about right as to the line, but we may have to go two or
three miles north or as much south before we get a mark just bearing on
that middle peak. Stop," he broke off suddenly; "look up there just
beyond the shoulder of that hill; there are some wigwams, sure enough."
Tom brought his telescope to bear.
"Yes, there are about twenty of them, but they never can see us at this
distance."
"Don't you make any mistake, young fellow; there aint no saying what an
Indian can see and what he can't see. I reckon their eyes is as good as
that glass of yours, and I would not guarantee they could not see a
rabbit run at this distance. There, get among those rocks at the foot of
the cliff; we will make our way along them, hiding as much as we can. I
suppose those are horses away there on the hillside to the right of the
village; they can't be nothing else."
"Yes, they are horses, Dave."
For another half hour they made their way among the rocks, and then Dick
exclaimed suddenly:
"Look, Dave, there is a tree standing by itself at the top of that hill.
I believe in another fifty yards it will just be on the line of the
peaks."
"I think you are right, Dick, and we have hit the very point at the
first try; if it is right, there must be a break in this wall above us."