THE LOST MINE
"'Anybody down thar?' I yelled, but my voice was blown down my throat,
and you couldn't have heard it six feet away, as the wind was doing
all the talking that night. So I stepped back into my cabin, followed
by the dog, who kept growling to himself like a man with a grouch.
"No sooner was I inside than I let the heavy bar down across the door,
and, when it fell into place, I drew a full breath, for I felt nervous
at the action of the dog, and it was terrible lonesome, just as bad as
being adrift on a raft in this ocean."
"I'd take the land every time," cut in Tom. "It's what's under you
makes you so scarey on the ocean."
"I don't know but that the constant motion of the sea makes it kind of
company for a man," remarked Jim.
"Don't tell me that," said the shepherd with a quizzical look in his
eyes, "from my recent experience that same motion will separate you
from what is nearest to you. Anyhow, after I had put on a big log of
pine on the coals in the fireplace, and the flame began to blaze up, I
felt more cheerful, for it seemed to make my cabin alive with a hearty
glow.
"After I had toasted my blankets thoroughly, I wrapped them around me,
and laid down near the fire, with my rifle near me. The big hound was
just back a bit, between me and the door, and I felt quite secure and
perfectly comfortable. I was tired, too, for I had been working hard
all day, and I soon dropped off into a sound sleep.
"I do not know how long I had slept, when I sat up suddenly throwing
the blankets off from me and grabbing my rifle. The fire had died down
and there was that chill in the air that cramps a man's blood. The
cabin was full of shadows, except the dying glow on the stone hearth.
The dog had risen and was growling towards the door. Then I heard the
blow of a stick, I suppose it was, against the door.
"I tell you, it made me feel scared, coming in the dead of night, in
such a lonesome, utterly desolate place. I was kind of superstitious
in those days, too, and I was afraid of what was outside there,
because it didn't seem possible for anything human to have reached my
isolated cabin on such a night. Again came the blow upon the door;
then I crossed to the window and very cautiously looked out.
"It had evidently heard me or divined that I was at the window, for I
saw pressed against the pane and almost touching my face, it seemed,
the dark visage of a man with wild, black eyes. The dog saw him too,
but as he did not seem to be inspired with his usual ferocity, I
decided to take a chance and let him in. I would not have kept the Old
Boy himself out on a night like that.
"So with my weapon ready, I unbarred the door, and the man stumbled
in. I saw that he was not an American, but belonged to some dark race,
probably a Spaniard. When I got a good look at his face, I saw that my
unbidden guest was no other than Rodrigo Sandez, who was fabled all
through that region to have found the entrance to the famous Lost
Mine, whose wealth had been coupled with legends for many years.
"It seems that this mine had been known to the earliest Spanish
explorers, many of whom went back to Spain fabulously rich. Then, for
many years, all trace had been lost of it, and numerous miners and
prospectors laughed incredulously at any mention of it. Then came
Rodrigo Sandez with his friend, who likewise was Spanish, or as I
think Spanish-Mexican, and rediscovered the Lost Mine, probably
through some information long hidden, that had come to them in Mexico,
through some unknown sources.
"The man was half frozen from exposure to the elements, and when he
was thawed out physically, it did the same for his powers of speech.
I eagerly hoped that he would have something to say that would give me
a clue to the whereabouts of that mine, not that I expected he would
make me his heir, but I was anxious to make a stake in those days, for
one reason, if not for another, so I had hopes.
"In the three weeks that he stayed in my cabin before the storm broke,
not a hint could I get out of him, though he would talk volubly about
other matters, telling me of his travels in Mexico and South America.
All the time he was with me I kept wondering what had become of his
partner, but when I had it on the tip of my tongue to ask him,
something in his manner of looking at me held me back.
"Physically he was not impressive, this man, being short and stocky.
His complexion was very dark, and his hair was short and bristly.
But there was a peculiar power in his eyes at times, and when he was
disturbed about anything, instead of becoming sharp and brilliant they
took on a kind of glaze, that gave you a creepy feeling when he looked
at you.
"I might say right here that though Sandez and his partner had been
trailed many times in the effort to find where this mine was located,
they were always lost track of. Either they dropped out of sight as
though the earth had swallowed them, or something happened to the
party that was following them.
"When Sandez left my cabin to go on his way south, the weather having
cleared, I decided to take up his back trail in hope of finding some
trace of his partner, and thus getting a possible clue to the location
of the mine. So I started out one clear, cold day, with my dog for
guide and company.
"I knew the general direction that the two partners traveled, for
their trail was not lost until they had gone some twenty miles
northwest of my cabin. I made fast time over the frozen snow on my
skis, until by noon I had covered nigh onto fifteen miles. The dog
was trotting along ahead of me when suddenly he disappeared into a
deep gulch.
"In a second or two he set up a howl long-drawn-out and I knew then
that he had found the quarry. I discovered the body of the man under
some thick bushes at the bottom of the gulch. He had not been frozen
to death either, for there was a slit in his back, where the knife had
been driven.
"No wonder that I had found it hard to ask the Senor Sandez what had
become of his partner. Here was the answer. It was evident that this
deed of treachery had been the end of a bitter quarrel, perhaps over
the division of the wealth or some other matter of dispute. I always
felt that there was more back of it than appeared on the surface. I
found nothing to establish the identity of the dead man, neither his
name nor his place of residence.
"I did find, however, in an inner pocket the picture of a rather
pretty Spanish woman, and on the back of it was drawn a diagram
showing a certain part of the mountain. I instantly jumped to the
conclusion that it was the clue to the Lost Mine. I spent several
months thereafter trying to locate the place. I got most of the way
by the map and then I came to a mark that fooled me completely, and
I lost the trail."
"What did you do with that diagram, Jeems?" asked Jim intently.
"I kept it back of a rock in the chimney of my cabin, and it's there
yet for all I know."
"Unless the mountain rats have chewed it up," remarked Tom gloomily.
"I suppose you can find that cabin of yours, can't you?" inquired
Juarez.
"It's a good many years, but I reckon I could," Jeems replied.
"Well, I reckon you will have the chance," said Jim, "just as soon as
we land."
"That yarn of yours was not only interesting, Jeems, but it has some
practical value," remarked Jo.
"Ahoy there, Skipper," boomed out the old captain's voice from the
quarter deck. "It's about time the man at the wheel was relieved." Jim
sprang to his feet, and gave his head a hard thump with his fist to
wake himself up.
"Right, Captain," he replied, "I've been sitting here listening to a
yarn and forgetting my work. Jo, to the wheel. I'll stand watch."
Then he leaped up the steep steps leading to the quarter deck, closely
followed by Jo, who took Pete's place at the wheel, while that worthy
went below; and the captain turned into his cabin on the quarter deck
without more ado. If anyone besides Jim had been so forgetful, there
would have been a vast amount of growling on his part, but Jim was a
favorite.