FINDING THE NUGGETS
"Quick with your gun, Will!" yelled Jed. "I laid mine down back there!"
"So did I," replied his brother. "What'll we do?"
The present position of the brothers was perilous in the extreme. They
were some distance away from their weapons, which they had rested
against the side of the cave, while they debated what they had better
do. The bear was rushing straight at them, growling savagely.
"Get behind me, Will!" bravely cried Jed. "I'll try to stand him off
with my knife," and at that he drew his knife, which had one big blade.
[Illustration: "Get behind me, Will!" bravely cried Ted]
"I'll get the guns!" cried Will, as he turned to run. But he slipped on
a stone, and fell. Jed turned to see what had happened to his brother,
and the bear, taking advantage of the lack of attention of the foremost
of the lads, gave a lunge forward, placing himself close to Jed.
"Look out!" yelled Will, who, from his position on the floor of the
cave, saw what was about to happen--that his brother was likely to be
clawed by the shaggy brute.
Jed turned, but only just in time. Then he did the only thing possible
under the circumstances. He hurled his burning torch, which he had
caught up, after opening his knife, right into the face of the bear.
With a growl of mingled terror and rage the brute halted. It dropped to
all-fours. Then, as the blazing mass of bark was on the floor of the
cave, right under its nose, bruin turned tail and fled back up the dark
recesses of the cave.
"Quick!" cried Jed. "The guns, Will! We'll try a shot at him!"
Will leaped to his feet and managed to reach the rifles, which were
loaded. He handed one to Jed, who took as good aim as he could at the
black, shaggy form, which was almost out of sight, the torch giving but
a faint light now.
The report of the gun nearly deafened the boys, and Jed felt certain
that he had missed. But a new plan came into his mind.
"Come on, Will!" he cried.
"Where?"
"Let's follow the brute! He came into the cave, and he must know the way
out. That's where he's making for now. Come on, it's our only chance!"
Will comprehended. Grabbing up the other gun and lighting another
torch, the two boys prepared to follow bruin. They could hear the beast
scrambling over the floor of the cavern, though they could not see it,
but Jed had watched in what direction it fled.
"Come on!" he called back to Will. "We'll get out of this place!"
The bear, which at first seemed likely to do them serious harm, proved a
friend instead of an enemy, for the frightened creature took the
shortest route out of the cave, to get away from those queer creatures,
who, instead of allowing themselves to be eaten up, threw blazing chunks
of fire in the face of peaceable bears.
Bruin scrambled out of a hole, some distance in advance of the boys, but
they could still hear the creature, and followed, lighting their way
with the torches. In a few minutes they were outside of the cave, on a
sort of rocky plateau, while, running as fast as it could, the bear
could be seen disappearing down the side of the mountain.
"Take a shot at him," suggested Will.
"No, it's too far. Besides, he did us a good turn. But for him we'd be
in the cave yet. Now to look about and see where we are."
The place was unfamiliar to the boys. They might have passed it before,
in their wanderings, but they did not recognize it.
"We're not much better off," murmured Will, despondently.
"Yes, we are," said Jed. "We're out of the cave, and it's only a
question of time before we'll be back at camp where Gabe is probably
waiting for us."
"If he isn't dead."
"Oh, quit it!" advised Jed, a trifle impatiently.
"Well, I'm hungry."
"So am I, but finding fault isn't going to do any good. Come on, let's
walk in some direction. Let's go down. That looks like the place where
we camped," and Jed pointed off to the left.
"Say, I believe you're right," admitted Will, after a moment's
inspection. "It does seem to be the spot. No, it isn't, either," he
added, after looking again. "There's a stream near that place, and there
wasn't any so close to our camp."
"You're right," agreed Jed. "But say, Will, am I mistaken, or are those
horses down there?" and he pointed toward the other side. "They look
just like two horses, with packs on their backs. I wonder if they can be
our nags, or from some other camp? Anyhow, we can get something to eat
now, for there must be persons near there."
Will, who had a little better eyesight than his brother, looked long and
earnestly in the direction indicated. Then he gave a great shout.
"They're our horses!" he cried. "I'm sure of it. I can tell old Pete
two miles off! Hurrah, Jed! We're all right. Probably Gabe has come up
to meet us."
The boys, their hearts beating high with hope, hurried down the mountain
side. As they came nearer to the horses they could see that there was no
one with the steeds. Gabe was not in sight, and when they reached the
animals, they saw that they had broken their tether ropes, and had
evidently strayed from the camp.
"Then Gabe isn't here," said Will, quickly.
"Looks that way," agreed Jed.
"Something must have happened to him."
"I'm afraid so. Still, the horses are all right. So are the packs on
their backs. They may have broken loose right after we went to look for
Gabe, and he may be hunting around for us. Anyhow, we can get something
to eat. I'm nearly starved."
There was food in the packs, and the boys made a hasty meal. They held a
brief consultation, and decided they would walk along, leading the
horses, as the trail was rough, and try to reach the camp, though they
had no idea in which direction it lay.
As they were about to start off, Jed, who picked up from the ground the
end of the broken tether rope, uttered a cry of surprise.
"What's the matter?" asked Will.
"Look here. See what I've found!"
He held out in his hand something of a dull yellow color. There was no
need to say what it was. The boys knew the color of gold by this time.
"It's a nugget! A big nugget!" whispered Will, for the discovery seemed
to awe him.
"Yes, and here's another, and a third!" exclaimed Jed, as he dropped the
rope, and picked up from among the stones two more irregular chunks of
the precious metal--the gold they had come so far to seek.