THE WHITE DOME
The tide of cool water restored Will's nerves. After drinking he bathed
his face in it, and then poured it over his neck. Good as he knew water
to be he had never known that it could be so very good. It was in truth
the wine of life. He shook out his thick hair, wet from the rill, and
said triumphantly and aloud to the animals:
"We beat 'em back, Jim Boyd, the Little Giant and me, and we can do it
again. We beat back a whole band of the Sioux nation, and we defy 'em to
come on again. And you predicted it, all six of you! And you predict
that we'll do it a second time, don't you?"
He was in a state of great spiritual exaltation, seeing things that
others might not have seen, and he distinctly saw the six wise heads of
the brutes, dumb but knowing so much, nod in affirmation.
"I accept the omen!" he said, some old scrap of Latin translation coming
into his mind, "and await the future with absolute confidence!"
The horses and mules, stirred at first by the shots, and then not
caring, perhaps, to rest, began to graze. All sign of alarm was gone
from them and Will's heart resumed its normal beat. He listened
attentively, but no sound came from the pass where his comrades, those
deadly sharpshooters, watched. Far overhead the cliffs towered, and over
them a sky darkly blue. He looked at it a little while, and then went
back to the pass.
He had left his glasses with them, and they had not been able to
discover anything suspicious.
"They won't come again into the mouth of the pass," said Boyd with
confidence. "That rush cost 'em too much. They'll spend a long time
thinking up some sort of trick, and that being the case you go now,
Giant, and have a drink at the stream, and pour water over your head and
face as Will has done."
"So I will, Jim. I'm noticing that young William has a lot o' sense, an'
after I've 'tended to myself fine I'll come back, an' you kin do ez much
fur yourself. A good bathin' o' your face won't hurt your beauty, Jim."
He was gone a half hour, not hurrying back, because he felt there was no
need to do so. Meanwhile Will lay behind his rock and watched the dusky
pass. Wisps of vapor and thin clouds were floating across the heavens,
hiding some of the stars, and the light was not as good as it had been
earlier in the night, but constant use and habit enable one to see
through the shadows, and he also had the glasses to fall back upon. But
even with their aid he could discern nothing save the stony steep.
"They won't come again, not that way, as I told you before," said Boyd,
when young Clarke put down his glasses after the tenth searching look.
"When they made the rush they expected to have a warrior or two hit, but
they didn't know the greatest marksman in all the world, the Little
Giant, was here waiting for 'em, and if I do say it myself, I'm as good
with the rifle as anybody in the west, except Tom, and you're 'way above
the average too, Will. No, they've had enough of charging, but I wish to
heaven I knew what wicked trick they're thinking out now."
The Little Giant returned, bathed, refreshed and joyous.
"Your turn now, Jim," he said, "an' you soak your head an' face good in
the water. Don't dodge it because you think thar ain't plenty o' water,
'cause thar is. It keeps on a-runnin' an' a-runnin', an' it never runs
out. Stay ez long ez you want to, 'cause young William an' me kin hold
the pass ag'inst all the confederated tribes o' the Sioux nation, an'
the Crows an' the Cheyennes an' the Blackfeet throwed in."
Boyd departed and presently he too returned, strengthened anew for any
task.
"Now, Will," he said, "you being the youngest, and it's only because
you're the youngest, you'd better go back there where the horses and
mules are. They've got over their fright and are taking their rest
again. They appear to like you, to look upon you as a kind of comrade,
and I think it's about time you took a bit of rest with them."
"But don't hev a nightmare an' kick one o' my mules," said the Little
Giant, "'cause the best tempered mule in the world is likely to kick
back ag'in."
Will smiled. He knew their raillery was meant to cheer him up, because
of his inexperience, and their desperate situation. He recognized, too,
that it would be better for him to sleep if he could, as they were more
than sufficient to guard the pass.
"All right," he said. "I obey orders."
"Good night to you," said the hunter.
"Good night," said the Little Giant, "an' remember not to kick one o' my
mules in your sleep."
"I won't," replied Will, cheerfully, as he went around the curve of the
wall.
He found the horses and mules at rest, and everything very quiet and
peaceful in the alcove. The rill murmured a little in its stony bed,
and, far overhead, he heard the wind sighing among the trees on the
mountain. He chose a place close to the wall, spread two blankets there,
on which he expected to lie, and prepared to cover himself with two
more. He realized now that he was tired to the bone, but it was not a
nervous weariness and sleep would cure it almost at once.
He was arranging the two blankets that were to cover him, when he heard
a rumbling noise far over his head. At first he thought it was distant
thunder echoing along the ridges, but the wisps of cloud were too light
and thin to indicate any storm. He saw the horses and mules rise in
alarm, and then not one but several of them gave out shrill and terrible
neighs of terror, a volume of frightened sound that made young Clarke's
heart stand still for a moment.
The sound which was not that of thunder, but of something rolling and
crashing, increased with terrific rapidity, stopped abruptly for a
moment or two and then a huge dark object shooting down in front of his
eyes, struck the ground with mighty impact. It seemed to him that the
earth trembled. He sprang back several feet and all the horses and
mules, rearing in alarm, crouched against the cliff.
A great bowlder lay partly buried. It had rolled from the edge of the
cliff high above, and he divined at once that the Sioux had made it
roll. They had climbed the stony mountains enclosing the defile, and
were opening a bombardment, necessarily at random, but nevertheless
terrible in its nature. While he hesitated, not knowing what to do, a
second bowlder thundered, bounded and crashed into the chasm. But it
struck much farther away.
The Little Giant came running at the sound, leaving Boyd on guard at the
mouth of the pass, and as he arrived a third rock struck, though, like
the second, at a distance, and he knew without any words from Will, what
the Sioux were now trying to do. As he looked up, a fourth crashed down,
and it fell very near.
"So that's thar trick?" exclaimed the Little Giant. "Simple ez you
please, but ez dang'rous ez a batt'ry o' cannon. Look out, young
William, thar's another."
It struck so close to Will that he felt the shock and ran back to the
shelter of the overhanging cliff, where, driven by instinct, the horses
and mules were already crowding. Nor did the Little Giant, brave as he
was, hesitate to follow him.
"When you're shot at out o' the sky," he said, "the best thing to do is
to go into hidin'. One ain't wholly under cover here, but it ud be a
long chance ef any o' them rocks got us."
"What about Jim, watching at the mouth of the pass?"
"He won't stir until he hears from me. He'll set thar, unmoved, with his
rifle ready, waitin' fur the Sioux jest ez ef he expected them to come.
I'll slip back an' tell him to keep on waitin', also what's goin' on in
here."
"Skip fast then! Look out! That barely missed you! They're sending the
rocks down in showers now."
The Little Giant, as agile as a greyhound, vanished around the curve,
and Will instinctively crowded himself closely and more closely against
the stone wall while the dangerous bombardment went on. The animals,
their instinct still guiding them, were doing the same, and Boyd's brave
Selim, which was next to him, reached out his head and nuzzled Will's
hand, as if he found strength and protection in the presence of the
human being, who knew so much more about some things than he or his
comrades did. Will responded at once.
"I don't think they can get us here, Selim, old boy," he said. "The
projection of the wall is slight, but it sends every rock out toward the
center. Now, if you and your comrades will only be intelligent you'll
keep safe."
He arranged them in a row along the wall, where none would interfere
with the protection of another, and standing with Selim's nose in his
hand, watched the great rocks strike. Luckily at that particular point
the bottom of the defile was soft earth and they sank into it, but
farther up they fell with a crash on a stony floor, and when they did
not split to pieces they bounded and rebounded like ricochetting cannon
balls.
The Little Giant returned presently, but as yet no damage had been done,
although the bombardment was going on as furiously as ever.
"They'll keep it up awhile," he said, as he huddled against the wall by
the side of Will. "I knowed they would be up to some trick, but I didn't
think 'bout them bowlders that lay thick on the mounting. They hev got
'nuff ammunition o' that kind to last a year, but arter a while thar
arms will grow tired, an' then they'll grow tired too, o' not knowin'
whether they hit or not. It wears out the best man in the world to keep
on workin' forever an' forever without knowin' whether he's
accomplishin' anything or not. All we've got to do is to hug the wall
an' set tight."
"Wouldn't it be well, Giant, when the bombardment lets up, to gather
together our own little army and take to flight up the pass?"
"An' whar would we fetch up?"
"It's not likely to be a box canyon. I've read that they abound more in
the southern mountains, and are not met with very often here. And even
if the pass itself didn't take us out we might find a cross canyon or a
slope that we could climb."
"Sounds good, young William. We'll git the hosses an' mules ready, packs
on 'em, and bridles in thar mouths, an' ez soon ez the arms an' sperrits
o' the Sioux git tired, I'll hot foot after Jim, an' then we'll gallop
up the pass."
The Little Giant's psychology was correct. In a half hour the
bombardment began to decrease in violence, and in ten more minutes it
ceased entirely. Then, according to plan, he ran to the mouth of the
pass and returned with the hunter, who had promptly accepted their plan.
Coaxing forth the reluctant animals, which were still in fear, they set
off up the great defile, passing among the bowlders, some of great size,
which had been tumbled down in search of their heads.
"Thar's one consolation," said the Little Giant, philosophically, "ef
any o' them big rocks had hit our heads we wouldn't hev been troubled
with wounds. My skull's hard, but it would hev been shattered like an
eggshell."
"They may begin again," said Boyd, "but by then we ought to be far
away."
It was a venture largely at random, but the three were agreed that it
must be made. The Sioux undoubtedly would resume the bombardment later
on, and they might also receive reinforcements sufficient to resume the
attack at the mouth of the pass, or at least to keep up there a distant
fire that would prove troublesome. Every motive prompted to farther
flight, and they pushed on as fast as they could, although the bottom of
the defile became rough, sown with bowlders and dangerous to the
fugitives.
They made no attempt to ride, but led the horses and mules at the ends
of their lariats, all the animals becoming exceedingly wary at the bad
footing.
"It's a blind canyon after all!" suddenly exclaimed the Little Giant in
deep disgust. "The stream comes down that mountain wall thar, droppin'
from ledge to ledge, an' here we are headed off."
"Then there's nothing to do," said the hunter, "but choose a good place
among the rocks and fight for our lives when they come."
Will looked up at the steep and lofty slopes on either side. The one on
the right seemed less steep and lofty than the other, and upon it hung a
short growth of pine and cedar, characteristic of the region. His
spirit, which danger had made bold and venturesome, seized upon an idea.
"Why not go up the slope on the right?" he asked.
"It's like the side of a house, only many times as high," said Boyd in
amazement.
"But it isn't," said the lad. "It merely looks so in the dark. We can
climb it."
"Of course we could, but we'd have to abandon the horses and mules and
all our packs and stores, and then where would we be?"
"But we won't have to leave 'em. They can climb too. You know how you
boasted of our horses, and the Giant's horses are mules which can go
anywhere."
"I believe the boy's right," said the Little Giant. "By our pullin' on
the lariats an' thar takin' advantage o' ev'ry footgrip, they might do
it. Leastways we kin try it."
"It's a desperate chance," said the hunter, "but I think with you, Tom,
that it's worth trying. Now, boys, make fast the packs to the last
strap, and up we go."
"Bein' as my hosses are mules," said the Little Giant, "I'll lead the
way, an' you foller, each feller pullin' on two lariats."
He started up the slope, whistling gayly but low to his mules, and,
after some hesitation, they attacked the ascent, Tom still whistling to
them in his most cheerful and engaging manner. There was a sound of
scrambling feet, and small stones rolled down, but not the mules, which
disappeared from sight among the cedars.
"Thunderation! I wouldn't have thought it!" exclaimed the hunter, "but I
believe you're right, Will! The mules are climbing the wall. Now, we'll
see if the horses can do it!"
"Let me start with 'em!"
"All right! But pull hard on the lariat, whenever you feel one of 'em
slipping."
Will attacked the steep wall with vigor, but he had to pull very hard
indeed on the lariats before he could make the horses try it. Finally
they made the effort, and, though slipping and sliding at times, they
crept up the slope. Behind him he heard Boyd, coming with the last two
and speaking in encouraging tones to Selim.
The lariats were a great help, and if Will had not hung on to them so
hard his horses would have fallen. But he was right in his judgment that
the face of the wall was not so steep as it looked. Moreover there were
little shelves and gullies, and the tough clumps of cedar were a
wonderful aid. The horses justified their reputation as climbers, and,
although Will's heart was in his mouth more than once, and his hands and
wrists were cut and bleeding by the pull on the lariats, they did not
fall. Always he heard in front of him the low and cheerful whistling of
the Little Giant, to his mules, which, sure-footed, went on almost
without a slip.
At last they drew out upon the crest of the slope and the three human
beings and the six animals stood there trembling violently from
exertion, the perspiration pouring from them.
"My legs are shaking under me," said the hunter. "I'd never have
believed that it could have been done, and I know it couldn't, but here
we are, anyhow."
"It wuz young William who thought of it, and who dared to speak of it,"
said the Little Giant, "an' so it's his win."
"Right you are, Giant," said the hunter heartily. "When I looked at that
cliff it stood up straight as a wall to me. It was like most other
things, it wasn't as hard when you attacked it as you thought it was,
but I still don't see how we ever got the animals up, and if I didn't
see 'em standing here I wouldn't believe it."
Will, holding to a cedar, looked into the gulf from which they had
climbed. As more of the stars had gone away he could not now see the
bottom. The great defile had all the aspects of a vast and bottomless
abyss, and he felt that their emergence from it was a marvel, a miracle
in which they had been assisted by some greater power. He was assailed
by a weakness and, trembling, he drew back from the ledge. But neither
the hunter nor the Little Giant had seen his momentary collapse and he
was glad, pardonable though it was.
"The ground back o' the cliff seems to be pretty well covered with
forest," said the Little Giant, "an' I reckon we'd better stay here a
spell 'til everybody, men an' animals, git rested up a bit."
"You never spoke truer words, Tom Bent," said Boyd. "I can make out a
fairly level stretch of ground just ahead, and I'll lead the way to it."
They crouched there. "Crouch" is the only word that describes it, as the
horses and mules themselves sank down through weariness, and their
masters, too, were glad enough to lie on the earth and wait for their
strength to come back. Will's senses, despite his exhaustion, were
nevertheless acute. He heard a heavy, lumbering form shuffling through a
thicket, and he knew that it was an alarmed bear moving from the
vicinity of the intruders. He heard also the light tread of small
animals.
"I judge from these sounds," said Boyd, "that we must be on a sort of
plateau of some extent. If it was just a knife edge ridge between two
chasms you wouldn't find so many animals here. Maybe we'd better lay by
until day, or until it's light enough to see. In the dark we might
tumble into some place a thousand feet deep."
"What about the Sioux who were on the heights throwing down the rocks?"
asked Will. "Mightn't they come along the cliff and find us here?"
"No. The way may be so cut by dips and ravines that it's all but
impassable. The chances are a thousand to one in favor of it, as this is
one of the roughest countries in the world."
"A thousand to one is good enough for me," said Will, stretching himself
luxuriously on the ground. Presently he saw Boyd and Bent wrapping
themselves in the blankets and he promptly imitated them, as a cold wind
was beginning to blow down from the northwest, a wind that cut, and, at
such a time, a lack of protection from the weather might be fatal.
The warmth from the blankets pervaded his frame, and with the heat came
the restoration of his nerves. There was also a buoyancy caused by the
escape from the Sioux, and, for the time being at least, he felt a
certain freedom from care. His comrades and the animals did not stir,
and, while not thinking of sleep, he fell asleep just the same.
He was awakened by a long, fierce shout, much like the howl of hungry
wolves, and full of rage and disappointment. He sat up on his blankets,
and was amazed to hear the two men laughing softly.
"It's them thar Sioux, Will," said the Little Giant. "They've found out
at last that thar was no outlet at the end o' the pass, an' they've come
up it to the end, jest to run ag'inst a blank wall, an' to find that
we've plum' vanished, flew away, hosses an' mules an' all."
"But won't they find our trail up the cliff?"
"No, they won't dream o' sech a thing, but in case they do dream o' it
we'll all three creep to the edge an' set thar with our repeatin'
rifles. A fine time they'd hev climbin' up thar in the face o' three
sharpshooters armed with sech weapons ez ours."
Will saw at once that their position was well nigh impregnable, at least
against foes in the defile, and he crept with the others to the edge,
not forgetting his invaluable glasses. A lot of the stars had come back
and with the aid of the powerful lenses, he was able to penetrate the
depths of the pass, seeing there at least a score of Sioux in a group,
apparently taking counsel with one another. He could not discern their
faces, and, of course, their words were inaudible at the distance, but
their gestures expressed perplexity. Their savage minds might well
believe that witchcraft had been at work, and he hoped that they had
some such idea. The climbing of the cliff by the animals was an
achievement bordering so closely upon the impossible that even if they
saw traces of the hoofs on the lower slopes they would think the spirits
of the air had come down to help the fugitives.
"What are they doing, young William?" asked the Little Giant.
"Nothing that I can see except to talk as if puzzled."
"I almost wish they would strike our trail and start up the cliff. We
could pick off every one of 'em before they reached the top."
"I'd rather they went back."
"That's what they're likely to do, young William. Even if they saw our
trail going up the cliff, they won't follow it. They've had a taste of
our marksmanship, an' they know it would be certain death. It looks to
me ez if they wuz goin' to drift back down the trail."
"You judge right, Tom. There they go. I wish I could read the expression
on their faces. They must be wild with rage. They're moving a little
faster now, and the sooner they disappear from my sight the better."
He handed the glasses to the Little Giant, who, after taking a look,
passed them to Boyd. The hunter had the last glimpse of them as they
turned a curve and were hidden by the rocky wall.
"That settles 'em, for the time, anyway," he said, "and now I think we'd
better see what kind of a country we've come into. You stay here with
the animals, Will, they like you and it's easy for you to keep 'em
quiet, while Giant and me scout about and see the lay of the land."
Will promptly accepted his part of the task. The horses and mules,
alarmed perhaps by such a wild and lonely situation, and tremulous, too,
from memories of that frightful climb up the cliff, crowded close about
him, while he stroked their noses and manes, and felt himself their
protector.
The hunter and the Little Giant vanished without noise, and Will waited
a full hour before either returned. But he was not lonesome. The horses
and mules rubbed their noses against him, and in the dark and the
wilderness they made evident their feeling that he was the one who would
guard them.
The noise of a light footstep sounded and the hunter, who had gone
south, stood before him.
"It's good news I bring," said Boyd. "We're cut off to the south by a
cliff that no one can climb, and it seems to run away toward the west
for countless miles. The Sioux can't reach us from that direction. Ah,
here is Tom! What has he to say?"
"What I hev to say is always important," replied the Little Giant, "but
this time its importance is speshul. A couple o' miles to the north a
great transverse pass runs out o' the main one, an' cuts off toward the
west. It's deep an' steep an' I reckon it bars the way thar."
"That being the case, we're on a peninsula," said Boyd, "and this
peninsula rises in the west toward very high mountains. I can see a
white dome off in that direction."
"All these facts now bein' diskivered," said the Little Giant, "I think
we've shook off them Sioux fur good, though thar ain't no tellin' when
we'll run afoul another bunch. But we'll take the good things the moment
hez give us, an' look fur what we need, wood, water an' grass."
"Wood we have all about us," said Will. "Water is bound to be plentiful
in these forested mountains, and we may strike grass by daylight."
They began an advance, making it very cautious, owing to the extremely
rough nature of the country, and all their caution was needed, as they
had to cross several ravines, and the ground was so broken that a
misstep at any time might have proved serious. In this manner they made
several miles and the general trend of the ground was a rapid ascent.
Toward dawn they came to a brook flowing very fast, and they found its
waters almost as cold as ice. Will judged it to be a glacial stream
issuing from the great white dome, now plainly visible, though far
ahead.
A short distance beyond the stream they found an open space with grass
for the animals, and very glad, too, they were to reach it, as they were
shaken by their immense exertions and the hard trail in the dark.
"This valley jest had to be here," said the Little Giant, "'cause we
couldn't hev stood goin' on any more. The hosses an' mules theirselves
are too tired to eat, but they will begin croppin' afore long."
"And it's so cold up here I think we'd better light a fire and have warm
food," said Boyd. "We can smother the smoke, and anyway it will pay us
to run the risk."
It was a task soon done, and long before breakfast was finished the
horses and mules were peacefully grazing. Will then took his rifle and
examined the country himself in some detail, going as far as the great
precipice on the south. It was not a gulch or ravine, but the ground
dropped down suddenly three or four hundred feet. Beyond that the forest
extended as before.
The view to the west was magnificent and majestic beyond description.
Up, up rose the slope, cliff on cliff and the imperial white dome
beyond! That way, too, apparently, they had to go, as they were cut off
by the precipices on all other sides, and at the moment Will felt no
particular sorrow because of it. The gold had taken a second place in
his mind, and with these two wise and brave comrades of his he would
penetrate the great mysteries of the west. The southward turn into the
plains, following the diagram of the map, could wait.
When he returned to the camp he found the animals still grazing and his
comrades sitting by the fire, which had now burned down to a bed of
coals.
"I don't see anything for us to do except to go straight on toward the
great snow mountain," he said.
"That's about the same conclusion that Tom and I have come to," said
Boyd. "We're likely to get up pretty high, where it's winter all the
year 'round, but it's better than running into the hands of the Sioux,
or any of the mountain tribes. I vote, though, that this army of three
spend the rest of the day here, and since storms gather at any time on
these uplands, we'd better build another wickiup."
"An' make brush shelters for the animals, too," said the Little Giant.
The wickiup was built and they arranged crude, but nevertheless
excellent, protection for the horses, a precaution that was soon
justified, as it began to rain the following night, and they had
alternating rain, snow and sleet for two days and two nights. The
animals were able to dig enough grass from under the snow for
sustenance, but most of the time they spent in the shelter devised for
them. When the fair weather returned and the snow melted, they left the
second wickiup, resuming the ascent of the mighty slopes. They were all
restored by their rest, and despite the elevation and the wildness they
were able to find plenty of forage for the animals.
"We've got to be mighty partic'ler with them hosses an' mules," said the
Little Giant, "'cause even ef we should reach the mine without 'em we're
bound to hev 'em to pack out the gold fur us. I expect we'll hev to
ketch an' train 'bout twenty wild hosses, too, ez we'll need 'em fur all
the gold that I'm countin' on findin'. Didn't you say thar was that
much, young William?"
"I didn't give the exact amount," replied the lad, "nor do I suppose
anyone can tell from surface indications how much gold there is in a
mine, but from the word my father brought we'll need the twenty wild
horses and more."
"O' course we will. I knowed it afore you said it. I've hunted gold
fifteen to twenty years without findin' a speck, an' so it stands to
reason that when I do find it I'll find a mountain of it."
Although the slope rose steadily, the ground, for the present, was not
much cut up, and they were able to ride in comfort. Much of the country
was beautiful and parklike. While far below there were endless brown
plains, here were great forests, without much undergrowth, and cold,
clear streams, running down from the vast snowy dome that always loomed
ahead, and that never seemed to come any nearer.
"How high would you say that peak wuz, young William?" asked the Little
Giant. "You're an eddicated lad, an' I reckon you know 'bout these
things."
"You give me too much credit," laughed Will in reply. "One has to have
instruments with which to calculate the height of mountains, and I
couldn't do it even if I had the instruments, but I should say from what
I've heard about the country and the tales of explorers that the peak
we're looking at is about 14,000 feet high."
"I've seen it once before, though from the south," said Boyd, "and I've
also met an exploring geographer kind of fellow who had seen it and who
told me it rose close on to three miles above the sea. Different Indian
tribes have different names for it, but I don't remember any of 'em."
"I think I'll call it the White Dome," said Will, examining it for the
hundredth time through his glasses. "From here it looks like a round
mountain, though it may have another shape, of course, on the other
three sides. It's a fine mountain and as it's the first time I ever saw
it I'm going to call it my peak. The forest is heavy and green clear up
to the snow line, and beyond that I think I see a vast glacier."
Two days later they made another stop in a sheltered valley through
which ran a mountain torrent. The hunter and the Little Giant shot two
mule deer and a mountain sheep, and they considered the addition to
their larder very welcome, as they had been making large inroads on
their stores. The weather, too, had grown so cold that they kept a fire
burning both day and night. Far over their heads they heard a bitter
wind of the mountains blowing, and when Will climbed out of the valley
and turned his glasses toward the White Dome he could not see the peak,
it was wrapped around so thoroughly by mists and vapors and falling
snow.
They built the fire large and high on the second night, and as they sat
around it they held a serious consultation. They feared incessant storms
and blizzards if they rose to still higher levels, and attempted to pass
around on the lofty slopes of the peak. It would, perhaps, be wiser to
follow the torrent, and enter the plains below, braving the dangers of
the Sioux.
"What good will the gold be to us if we're all froze to death under
fifty feet o' snow?" asked the Little Giant.
"None at all," replied the hunter, "and it wouldn't be any good to us,
either, if we was to slip down a precipice a thousand feet and fall on
the rocks below."
Will shivered.
"I believe I'd rather be frozen to death in Tom's way," he said.
"Then I vote that in the morning, if the wind dies, we turn down the
gorge and hunt the plains. What say you, Will?"
"It seems the wise thing to do."
"And you, Giant?"
"Me votin' last, the vote is unany-mous, an' I reckon ef we wuz to put
it to the four hosses an' two mules they'd vote jest ez we're votin'.
Tomorrow mornin', bright an' early, we start on our farewell journey
from the mountings."
They had saved and tanned the skins of three black bears they had slain,
and with big needles and pack thread they had turned them into crude
overcoats with the hair inside. Now when they put them on they found
them serviceable but heavy. At any rate, wrapped in furs they ceased to
shiver, though the wind of the mountains was still exceedingly bitter.
Fortunately the gorge down which the stream flowed was wide, and, the
descent not being too rapid, they were able to follow it a long time,
though the pace was very slow. At points where the gorge narrowed, they
took to the water, and were compelled to lead the animals with great
care, lest they slip on the bowlders that were thick in the bed of the
stream.
When night came they were far down the mountain and there had been no
accident, but they were wet to the waist, and as quickly as they could
they kindled a big and roaring fire in the lee of a cliff, careless
whether or not it was seen by enemies. Then they roasted themselves
before it, until every thread of clothing they wore was dry, ate heavily
of their food and drank two or three cups of coffee apiece.
Only then did Will feel warmed thoroughly. The older men found a fairly
level place with sparse grass for the horses, and then they put out
their fire. They told the lad there was no need to keep a watch, and,
wrapped in his bear overcoat and blankets, he slept in the shadow of the
cliff. But the hunter had seen a trace which he believed to be a human
footprint. When the Little Giant knelt in the dusk and looked at it he
was of the same opinion.
"It's too faint, Jim," he said, "fur us to tell whether it wuz made by a
white man or a red man."
"We don't care to meet either. If it's a white man it may be an outlaw,
horse thief or murderer, and that's not the kind of people we want to
join us on this gold hunt. If it's Indians, they're enemies, no matter
to what tribe they belong."
"An' then, whichever it is, our repeatin' rifles are our best friends."