AN UNEXPECTED MEETING
After the roar of the passing avalanche had ceased, and the awed silence
became oppressive, Stacy Brown's voice was heard.
"Ow-wow!" he wailed.
"Are we all here, and safe?" called Tad. "Professor, Ned, Walter,
Anvik!"
Each answered to his name.
"You didn't call for me," Chunky protested indignantly. "Don't I count
in this outfit?"
"That's easy," answered Tad. "When you're not making a noise we know
you're somewhere else. Let's see what the ice did to our camp."
"Heap one piece ice fall," grunted the guide. "Him sit on fire. Innua
him mad, by jink!"
"Is Innua the scoundrel who has been throwing sections of mountains at
us?" demanded Walter.
"He means the mountain spirit," explained Tad. "Don't you recall that
Anvik wouldn't start out with us the first day because he said the
mountain spirit was in a blue funk, or something of the sort?"
"Oh, yes."
"Old Innua must have been in a rage to-night then, and we are lucky that
we weren't in range of his projectiles," chuckled Tad.
Beyond destroying their fire, no damage had been done to the camp.
However, after the excitement no one felt like sleep, so the boys sat
about the fire discussing the ice avalanche for an hour or more. Then,
at the Professor's urgent insistence, they turned in. Anvik long since
had wound himself up in his blanket and gone to sleep.
Just as the dawn was graying, Tad got up, and shouldering his rifle
slipped from the camp unobserved by anyone except the Indian. Anvik
opened one eye, regarded the boy inquiringly, then closing the eye,
dozed off. He was by this time too well used to Tad's morning excursions
to ask any questions. He knew the boy was well able to take care of
himself.
Tad had a two-fold purpose in view in going out this morning. He wanted
to get some fresh meat for the outfit and he also was curious to know
what the smoke of the previous evening had meant. While he did not
expect to come up with any strangers, he thought that, perhaps he might
discover something.
Tad did. He had proceeded less than a mile from camp when he smelled
smoke. At first he thought the odor must come from his own camp, then he
saw that the slight breeze was from the opposite direction.
"That means that someone isn't far ahead of me. It means I am going to
find out who it is if I can."
After floundering about for fully half an hour, with the odor of smoke
becoming more pungent all the time, the boy was on the point of
confessing that he was beaten, when all at once he caught the sound of a
human voice. The voice was not loud enough to enable him to distinguish
the words, but he was quite sure it was the voice of a white man and not
far away at that.
"They have masked their camp. That's why I haven't been able to find
them," muttered the boy, starting ahead again. After creeping forward
cautiously for some time, a wave of suffocating smoke from burning wood
smote him full in the face.
Tad uttered a loud sneeze. Two men suddenly appeared in the haze of
smoke, and the boy heard the sound of hands slapping pistol holsters. He
was able to make the men out faintly, but not with sufficient clearness
to see who or what they were.
"Hold on, boys--don't shoot!" warned Butler, as he stepped around the
smudge to enable him to get a better view of the men whom he had come
upon so unexpectedly, to them.
Before him stood Curtis Darwood and Dill Bruce, the latter known among
his companions as the Pickle. Each man held his revolver ready for quick
action.
"Why, how do you do?" smiled Tad. "I hadn't the least idea I should find
anyone I knew."
"Well, suffering blue jays, if it isn't old Spotted Face!" exclaimed
Bruce. "Howdy?"
"Very good. How are you?" Tad stepped forward. Bruce shook hands
cordially with the boy. Tad turned to Darwood, who had not said a word.
The latter's face darkened, and he appeared not to have observed the
hand that Tad extended toward him.
"Aren't you going to shake hands with me, Mr. Darwood?" asked the lad.
"I reckon you ought to know better than to ask it," returned the gold
digger. "I reckon, further, that if you know what's good for you you'll
be mushing out of this as fast as your legs will carry you, unless you
are looking for trouble. Git!"