They hastened on now with their eyes fixed on the tree. A minute later
an exclamation broke from Dave, who was ahead, and the others on joining
him saw that the great wall of rock had been split as if by an
earthquake. The opening was not more than ten yards wide, and on looking
up a narrow line of sky appeared between the walls of rock. Looking the
other way, they saw that the tree on the hill bore exactly on the middle
peak, the Indian village lying just in the same line halfway up the
hill.
"Here is the place, sure enough," Dave said; "there can't be no mistake
about it; it is just as the map made it, the tree on the middle peak and
the line from them going right into this Canyon. Look, boys, there is a
stream comes down here in the wet season, and runs into the one in the
middle of the valley. See, I can make out gold sparkling in the sand;
that is how it was the place was found; they were prospecting along the
valley, and they came upon gold, and traced it up to the mouth of this
Canyon."
"Shall we go in now, Dave?" Dick asked excitedly, for they were still
standing among the rocks, which broke off abruptly opposite the mouth of
the Canyon, those in front of it evidently having been swept away by the
torrents flowing down it.
"No, don't go a step forward, Dick. Don't let us risk nothing by showing
ourselves now. We will make our way back as we came to Boston, and bring
up the horses after dark. We have not got a chance to throw away, I can
tell you."
At night they returned with the horses; two blankets had been cut up,
and the feet of the animals muffled.
"If one of them redskins was to come upon our track and saw the print of
a horseshoe, it would be all up with us," Zeke said; "we had best do the
same ourselves; the heel of boot would be as ugly a mark as a horseshoe.
We must keep well along at the edge of these fallen rocks. Like enough
they come down here to fetch water up to their village, and the further
we keep away from the stream the better."
The moon was half full, which was fortunate, as they would otherwise
have had great difficulty in finding the narrow gap in the cliff. Its
light, too, enabled them to avoid rocks that had rolled out farther than
the rest; once inside the gorge it was pitch-dark, and they had to feel
their way along.
In about a hundred yards it began to widen, and they soon found
themselves in a narrow valley with perpendicular sides, which seemed to
widen farther up. The horses, were at once unloaded.
"Now do you lie down," Dave said. "I will keep watch at the mouth. I
don't think there is any danger; still, we may as well begin as we shall
have to go on."
"Well, call me up in a couple of hours, then," Zeke said; "it will begin
to get light in about four, and as soon as it does we will cover up the
tracks."
With the first dawn of light the three miners, taking their blankets,
went down to the mouth of the Canyon. The boys accompanied them to watch
their operations. It was only in the sand and gravel swept down by the
floods from the gorge that any footmarks could be seen; these were first
leveled, and then with the blankets the surface of the sand was
carefully swept so as to erase all signs of disturbance. Before the sun
was up the operation was completed, twenty or thirty yards up the Canyon.
"That is enough for the present," Dave said; "we are safe from anyone
passing. Now, let us have a look round up above."
"They must have been awful careless if they were surprised in here,"
Zeke said; "half a dozen men ought to hold this place against a hull
tribe of redskins."
"That is so," Boston Joe agreed, "but the greasers are mighty bad
watchmen, and no doubt they thought they were safe in here. That Indian
village could not have been over on the hill opposite then, or it would
have been put down on the map."
"Like enough they had been followed," Dave said. "If a redskin had
caught sight of them, he might have followed on their trail for weeks,
till he found where they were going, and then made off to bring his
tribe down on them. It may be that one has been hanging behind us just
in the same way."
"It is a very unpleasant idea," Tom said.
"The redskins' ways aint pleasant," Dave said. "Well, let us be moving
up. The first thing we have got to look for aint gold. There is no doubt
about that being here somewhere. What we have got to look for is if
there is any way out of this hole, because it is a regular trap, and if
we were caught here we might hold the gorge for a long time, but they
would have us at last certain; besides, they could shoot us down from
the top."
They proceeded a few hundred yards up the valley, and then stopped
suddenly on a cleared space of ground. In the center lay a score of
skeletons, some separately, some in groups of twos and threes. The
remnants of the rags that still hung on them showed that they had been
Mexicans. The two lads felt a thrill of horror at this proof of the fate
that had befallen their predecessors.
"Wall," Zeke exclaimed, "that was something like a surprise; there aint
no sign they made a fight of it; they were just caught in their sleep,
and never even gathered, for resistance. Well, well, what fools men are
to be sure. I shouldn't have believed as even Mexicans would have been
such fools as to sleep here without putting a guard at the entrance. I
reckon the redskins must have come down from above somewhere, and so
caught them unawares. Well, let us be moving on."