WHAT HAPPENED TO GABE
When Gabe Harrison started up the mountain, with the intention of
prospecting around a bit, seeking for indications of gold, he fully
expected to be back within two hours. It was his idea that he might see
signs of a lead which would be better than the one he and the boys were
on.
Now if Gabe had had a horse that was used to mountain climbing several
things in this story would not have happened. For a steed accustomed to
scrambling over loose rocks, up steep slopes and down others still
steeper, would have kept its footing, and not stumbled, as did Gabe's
animal.
The old miner had ridden a few miles, and was convinced that no gold
could be found in that direction. He was on the point of returning when
something happened.
The horse stepped on a loose rock, on the edge of a gully, tried to
recover its balance, in obedience to the frantic calls of Gabe, and his
yankings on the bridle, and then pitched forward, throwing the old man
off its back.
When Gabe recovered his senses, after many hours of unconsciousness, he
found himself lying on the cold ground. He was quite wet with the dew,
and lame and stiff. It was dark, and when he tried to move such a pain
shot through his left leg that he had to lie quietly.
"Well, I wonder what in the world happened to me," said Gabe, speaking
aloud. Then it came back to him, how his horse had stumbled with him,
and how he had fallen into the gully, the last thing he remembered being
when his head hit a stone.
"And I reckon I didn't hurt that rock as much as it hurt me," mused the
old man, feeling of a large lump on the back of his head. "This is tough
luck. My leg must be broken by the way it feels. Here I am, all alone in
these mountains, and nobody knows where I am. Even the boys can't find
me in this place."
He managed to get to a sitting position, moving cautiously because of
his leg. Then he felt in his pocket and got a match, which he struck. By
the glare of it he looked around. He saw nothing but a bowlder-strewn
expanse. Then something moving, about a hundred feet away from him,
attracted his attention.
"It's my horse!" he exclaimed. "If I can only get the animal over here,
maybe I can crawl on his back and he'll take me to camp."
He called to the steed, but the animal gave no sign that it heard him.
It continued to crop what scanty herbage there was.
"I've got to crawl over to it," mused poor Gabe, "and how I'm going to
do it with a busted leg is more than I know. But it's got to be done.
Something may happen to the boys. Here goes."
He started to crawl, but such an intense pain shot through his leg that
it made him sick and faint. He leaned back against a big rock with a
groan.
"No use!" he murmured. "I'm done for, I guess. Old Gabe Harrison has
done his last prospecting. I'll die here--all alone. If I only knew the
boys were safe!"
Then the pain and exhaustion brought a merciful insensibility. When Gabe
opened his eyes again it was morning, and the sun was shining brightly.
The horse he had ridden, and which had been the innocent cause of his
misfortune, was now farther off, having gone to a little stream to
drink.
"Oh, how I wish I had some of that water," thought poor Gabe. "My throat
is parched. I wonder if the horse won't come to me now?"
He called, but the animal only raised its head, looked at him, and went
on feeding.
"I'm going to crawl and get a drink of water if it kills me!" exclaimed
the miner. "Might as well die in comfort if I've got to go."
He moved his leg cautiously. To his surprise the pain was not so great
as it had been. Then he felt of it. Though the limb was sore and tender
no bones seemed to be broken.
"Guess it's only a bad strain," he said. "There's some chance for me,
after all. I'll try to catch the horse."
It was hard work, crawling along a few feet at a time, stopping to rest
every now and then, to ease the pain, but Gabe accomplished it. He
reached the little mountain stream, and drank the cold water. That made
him feel better, and a little later he managed to catch the horse, and
pull himself up into the saddle. Fortunately the animal seemed to know
that the man was wounded, and kept still until the miner was mounted.
"Now it isn't so bad," said Gabe, "though my leg does hurt like all
possessed. But I guess I can get to camp, and the boys will take care of
me for a while. I'll be as good as ever in a few days, as long as
nothing's broken."
Cautiously guiding his horse, Gabe made his way down the mountain trail.
It took him twice as long to reach the camp as it had to make the
journey the night before, but finally he came to where he had left the
boys and their horses.
To his surprise neither of the lads were there, nor were their horses.
There was only some of the camp stuff, and the pack which Gabe had
removed from his steed's back before setting off into the mountains.
"Well, this gets me!" he exclaimed. "Where can they have gone? I told
them to stay here until I came back, and I'm sure they would, for they
don't know the trail. Their horses are gone too. I wonder----"
A sudden idea coming to him, he slowly dismounted from his horse, and
crawled to the stakes to which had been fastened the steeds of the two
lads. The short ends of the ropes that remained showed they had been
broken.
"Something's happened!" exclaimed Gabe. "Those horses have got loose
while the boys were away. But why did Jed and Will go away? Could it
have been to look for me? If so, why aren't they here now? It's too much
for me. Lucky my pack is left. I'm half starved."
By slowly crawling about he managed to get himself a meal. He felt
better after that, and, having made a closer examination of his injured
leg, and finding there was only a strain, which was rapidly getting
better, he prepared to make himself as comfortable as possible in camp.
But he was sorely puzzled at the absence of the boys, and he made up his
mind, as soon as he could travel with more safety, that he would set
off after them, if they did not return that night, which he hoped they
would do. But night came, and Jed and Will did not come back. Much
worried, Gabe prepared to spend the lonely dark hours in the deserted
camp.
Meanwhile, Jed and Will were flying from the pursuing gamblers. As they
went on along the valley, they found that the trail turned and went up
the mountain.
"Shall we take it?" asked Will.
"Nothing else to do," replied Jed. "We can't stand and fight those
scoundrels. The only thing to do is to keep on."
"But we may get lost in the mountains."
"That's happened already. We can't be much worse off that way. Neither
of us know where we are, nor how to get back to camp. The only thing to
do is to keep on. We may distance them, and we may strike a mining camp,
where we can get help."
Still behind them came the desperate men who half guessed at the
truth--that the boys had gold--and this gold the gamblers were
determined to obtain.
"I think we're leaving them behind," remarked Will, after a pause,
during which they rode hard.
"Seems as if we couldn't hear them quite so plainly," agreed Jed. "But
don't stop. It'll soon be dark, and maybe we can give them the slip."
Whether this happened, or whether the pursuers knew the boys could not
escape them, the lads did not know. Certainly when it got too dark to
travel any more in safety on the uncertain mountain trail, there was no
longer the echo of hoofbeats behind them.
"Let's stop and make a sort of camp," proposed Jed. "We can't go on like
this all night. We'll eat a bit, rest, and start the first thing in the
morning."
But in the morning they had hardly made a hurried breakfast, and started
along the trail again, ere from behind came the sounds of pursuit.
"They're after us!" said Jed grimly.
"They want that gold," added Will, "but they're not going to get it!"