THE SECRET OF THE RING.
Astonished and horrified though he was, Bart Hodge realized that Frank
had been stabbed. At that moment, with the lack of resolution that was
characteristic of him on occasions of peril, and not through fear, he
stood quite still and did nothing.
Without a shout or a sound, the man in black leaped toward the end of
the station, where a saddled and bridled horse was hitched to a post.
One slash of the knife set the horse free, and the desperate man leaped
to the creature's back, riding rapidly away.
Frank had swiftly risen to his feet, and several persons, who had
witnessed the blow, crowded anxiously around him, asking how badly he
was hurt.
"It's nothing but a scratch in the shoulder, for I saw it coming, and
dodged. Don't mind me. Don't let that man get away!"
"He won't get very fur on that hoss," said the owner of the animal.
"She's lame in her off hind foot, an' she'll tarnal soon give out if he
pushes her like that."
"Still he will get away if he is not immediately pursued. Come--who'll
follow?"
"Into this carriage, boy!" cried a man. "I have a little horse here
that will give him a hot chase. Come on!"
"I am the constable," said another man, with great dignity. "I'll
foller as soon as I can get a boss saddled."
Realizing that the boy was not seriously hurt, half of those who had
been lingering about the station made a rush to join in the pursuit of
the murderous stranger. All kinds of teams were pressed into use, and
the road was soon filled with a string of pursuers.
Looking back anxiously, the man in black saw them coming, and he grated
his teeth fiercely, for he had already discovered that the horse he had
appropriated was seriously lamed.
"Let 'em come!" he cried. "I'll not be taken easily! I have the key
to a fortune in my pocket, and I will escape with it, if it is in me to
do so!"
Ruthlessly and cruelly he pricked the lame mare with the keen point of
the knife, which he still held in his hand, and a trail of dust rose
behind him.
Out of the village and into the country the lame horse bore the
fugitive. Not far from Fardale was a big stone quarry, and, by chance,
the man had selected the road which skirted the jagged hole in the
ground.
His pursuers were gaining on him, and he continued to use the knife
mercilessly as the horse bore him along the road past the quarry.
Of a sudden a large dog bounded into the road in front of the man in
black, and the horse which the man bestrode gave a snort and whirled
sideways, coming with a crash against the rail which ran along by the
roadside.
At that point the rail was somewhat rotten, and a shriek of horror
broke from the man's lips as he saw it break. He made one desperate
effort to spring from the saddle and escape going down into the quarry
with the horse, but the pursuers were dismayed to see man and beast
disappear into the yawning hole.
"He won't get away to-day, my boy," said the man in the foremost
carriage, at whose side was Frank. "We'll find him down at the bottom
of the quarry, dead as a flounder."
Finding a place to hitch the horse at the side of the road, the man did
so, and they went forward together, while the other pursuers kept
coming up.
Reaching the point where the man and horse had fallen into the quarry,
they looked down.
Amid the jagged rocks far below were two motionless forms.
"Come," said the man; "we'll go down there by the regular road."
They passed round the quarry till they found a road that wound downward
till it reached the bottom. By this road they descended, with scores
of others at their heels.
When they came to the man and the horse, great was their astonishment
to hear the man moaning and to see him open his eyes and look at them.
"Why, the critter an't dead yet!" exclaimed the constable. "I think
it's my sollum duty to arrest him on the spot."
Frank quickly knelt by the side of the mysterious man, who faintly
whispered:
"So I didn't kill you, boy. Well, I have crimes enough to answer for.
The ring is here in my vest pocket. Take it. It will never do me any
good now."
Frank quickly extracted the ring from the man's pocket, and slipped it
upon his finger.
"I am dying," murmured the man.
"Perhaps not. We'll have you taken back to town, and see what a doctor
can do for you."
"No use; I wouldn't live to get there. My time has come. The hidden
mine will never reveal its riches to me."
"He is really dying," whispered some one in Frank's ear. "He will not
live ten minutes. The wonder is that he is alive at all."
"Who are you? and what is the mystery connected with this ring?"
hurriedly asked the boy.
"Never mind my name," came faintly from the lips of the dying man. "It
would do you no good to know it. I have lived a wild life--a wicked
life. This is the end! Fate brought me to Fardale--fate showed me the
ring that bore the chart to the lost mine."
The man stopped and closed his eyes, while the ghastly pallor spread
over his face.
A hand held a bottle of liquor to his lips, and he swallowed a few
drops, which gave him a few more moments of life. Again his eyes
unclosed.
"Once I committed murder for that ring," he whispered. "I killed the
Mexican who possessed it. It was a crazy hermit who cut that map on
the stone. He discovered one of the richest mines in Arizona, and a
fantasy of his deranged brain led him to cut the chart upon the stone,
for he cared nothing for the gold himself. When he died, he gave the
ring to a Mexican who attended him in his last moments, telling him its
secret. In Tombstone the Mexican got drunk and boasted of his riches,
showing the ring. That night I killed the greaser, and obtained the
ring. I had a partner, and he stole the ring from me. How he came to
part with it, and how it fell into the hands of your father, boy, is
something I do not know."
He was exhausted, and his voice sunk till Frank could not catch the
words. Then he lay still, short breaths fluttering his lips.
Frank feared the man would not rally again, but he did, and the boy
panted:
"Tell me where this mine is located. What part of Arizona does the
chart represent?"
With a last great effort, the dying man whispered:
"Northwest from Tombstone--lies the--Santa--Catarina--mountains.
There--there--is----"
His eyes grew glassy--the last faint breath fluttered over his
lips--the man of mystery was dead.
* * * * * *
The man in black was buried in the cemetery just outside Fardale
village, and the small stone which Frank Merriwell caused to be placed
at the head of his grave bears the word "Unknown."
The man had died just as his lips were about to reveal the location of
the country depicted by the chart cut on the black stone of the ring
that had caused so much trouble. He had mentioned the Santa Catarina
mountains, but he had not told what part of the large range the chart
depicted.
"If he had lived thirty seconds longer, I should have learned his
secret--should have known how to reach the lost mine by aid of the
chart. Now----"
"You may be able to reach the mine after all," said Bart,
encouragingly. "You have the ring, and you know its value. When you
leave school, you may go West and search for your mine, for it
certainly belongs to you now. You may find somebody in the Santa
Catarina region that will recognize this portion of the country
depicted here."
"Long before that the mine may be found by some one else."
"It is possible, but hardly probable. If it were so easy to find, that
man would not have made such desperate attempts to obtain possession of
the ring."
"Well, I am not going to kick. I have the ring, and his knife did not
end my life, as it would if I had not dodged. He slit open my sleeve
from the shoulder to the elbow, and brought the blood."
"Oh, you're a lucky dog," laughed Bart. "You are sure to come out on
top every time."
Wat Snell found it convenient to take a vacation, but he returned to
the academy later, although he found himself regarded with scorn by all
save a certain few of his own sort.
Had Frank seen fit, he could have had Wat expelled; but it seemed that,
if the fellow had any sense of shame, the way he was treated by the
other cadets was quite punishment enough.
Sometimes Frank and Bart would get out the drawing the latter boy had
made from the lines on the ring, and they would study over it a long
time, but they always found it baffling, and they finally gave up in
despair.
Still Frank clung to both ring and chart, hoping they would some day
prove valuable to him.