Treasure-Trove
When Dick passed the crest of the ridge and began the descent
toward the fatal pass, his heart beat heavily. The terror and
shock of the night before, those distant shots and shouts,
returned to him, and it was many minutes before he could shake
off a dread that was almost superstitious in its nature. But
youth, health, and the sunlight conquered. The day was
uncommonly brilliant. The mountains rolled back, green on the
slopes, blue at the crests, and below him, like a brown robe, lay
the wavering plain across which they had come.
Dick could see no sign of human life down there. No rejoicing
Sioux warrior galloped over the swells, no echo of a triumphant
war whoop came to his ear. Over mountain and plain alike the
silence of the desert brooded. But high above the pass great
black birds wheeled on lazy pinions.
Dick believed more strongly than ever that the Sioux had gone
away. Savage tribes do not linger over a battlefield that is
finished; yet as he reached the bottom of the slope his heart
began to beat heavily again, and he was loath to leave the
protecting shadow of the pines. He fingered his rifle, passing
his hand gently over the barrel and the trigger. It was a fine
weapon, a beautiful weapon, and just at this moment it was a
wonderful weapon. He felt in its full force, for the first time
in his life, what the rifle meant to the pioneer.
The boy, after much hesitation and a great searching of eye and
ear, entered the pass. At once the sunlight dimmed. Walls as
straight as the side of a house rose above him three of four
hundred feet, while the distance between was not more than thirty
feet. Dwarf pines grew here and there in the crannies of the
cliffs, but mostly the black rock showed. Dwarf pines also grew
at the bottom of the pass close to either cliff, and Dick kept
among them, bending far down and advancing very slowly.
Fifty yards were passed, and still there was no sound save a
slight moaning through the pass, which Dick knew was the sigh of
the wind drawn into the narrow cleft. It made him shudder, and
had he not been of uncommon courage he would have turned back.
He looked up. The great black birds, wheeling on lazy pinions,
seemed to have sunk lower. That made him shudder, too, but it
was another confirmation of his belief that all the Sioux had
gone. He went eight or ten yards farther and then stopped short.
Before him lay two dead horses and an overturned wagon. Both
horses had been shot, and were still in their gear attached to
the wagon.
Dick examined the wagon carefully, and as he yet heard and saw no
signs of a human being save himself, his courage grew. It was a
big wagon of the kind used for crossing the plains, with boxes
around the inside like lockers. Almost everything of value had
been taken by the Sioux, but in one of the lockers Dick was lucky
enough to find a large, heavy, gray blanket. He rolled it up at
once, and with a strap cut from the horse's gear tied it on his back,
after the fashion of a soldier on the march.
"The first great treasure!" he murmured exultantly. "Now for the
next!"
He found in the same wagon, jammed under the driver's seat and
hidden from hasty view, about the half of a side of bacon--ten
pounds, perhaps. Dick fairly laughed when he got his hands upon
it, and he clasped it lovingly, as if it were a ten-pound nugget of
pure gold. But it was far better than gold just then. He wrapped
it in a piece of canvas which he cut from the cover of the wagon,
and tied it on his back above the blanket.
Finding nothing more of value in the wagon, he resumed his
progress up the pass. It was well for Dick that he was
stout-hearted, and well for him, too, that he was driven by great
need, else he would surely have gone back.
He was now come into the thick of it. Around him everywhere lay
the fallen, and the deeds done in Indian warfare were not
lacking. Sam Conway lay upon his side, and brutal as the man had
been, Dick felt grief when he saw him. Here were others, too,
that he knew, and he counted the bodies of the few women who had
been with the train. They had died probably in the battle like
the rest. They, like the men, had been hardened, rough, and
coarse of speech and act, but Dick felt grief, too, when he saw
them. Nearly all the animals had been slain also in the fury of
the attack, and they were scattered far up the pass.
Dick resolutely turned his face away from the dead and began to
glean among the wagons for what the Sioux might have left. All
these wagons were built like the first that he had searched, and
he was confident that he would find much of value. Nor was he
disappointed. He found three more blankets, and in their own
wagon the buffalo robe that he had lamented. Doubtless, its
presence there was accounted for by the fact that the Sioux did
not consider a buffalo robe a trophy of their victory over white
men.
Other treasures were several boxes of crackers, about twenty
boxes of sardines, three flasks of brandy, suitable for illness,
a heavy riding cloak, a Virginia ham, two boxes of matches, a
small iron skillet, and an empty tin canteen. He might have
searched further, but he realized that time was passing, and that
Albert must be on the verge of starvation. He had forgotten his
own hunger in the excitement of seek and find, but it came back
now and gnawed at him fiercely. Yet he would not touch any of
the food. No matter how great the temptation he would not take a
single bite until Albert had the same chance.
He now made all his treasures into one great package, except the
buffalo robe. That was too heavy to add to the others, and he
tied it among the boughs of a pine, where the wolves could not
reach it. Then, with the big pack on his back, he began the
return. It was more weight than he would have liked to carry at
an ordinary time, but now in his elation he scarcely felt it. He
went rapidly up the slope and by the middle of the afternoon was
going down the other side.
As he approached the pine alcove he whistled a familiar tune,
popular at the time--"Silver Threads Among the Gold." He knew
that Albert, if he were there--and he surely must be there--would
recognize his whistle and come forth. He stopped, and his heart
hammered for a moment, but Albert's whistle took up the second line
of the air and Albert himself came forth jauntily.
"We win, Al, old boy!" called Dick. "Just look at this pack!"
"I can't look at anything else," replied Albert in the same joyful
tones. "It's so big that I don't see you under it. Dick, have
you robbed a treasure ship?"
"No, Al," replied Dick, very soberly. "I haven't robbed a
treasure ship, but I've been prowling with success over a lost
battlefield--a ghoul I believe they call such a person, but it
had to be done. I've enough food here to last a week at least,
and we may find more."
He put down his pack and took out the bacon. As Albert looked at
it he began unconsciously to clinch and unclinch his teeth. Dick
saw his face, and, knowing that the same eager look was in his
own, he laughed a little.
"Al," he said, "you and I know now how wolves often feel, but
we're not going to behave like wolves. We're going to light a
fire and cook this bacon. We'll take the risk of the flame or
smoke being seen by Sioux. In so vast a country the chances are
all in our favor."
They gathered up pine cones and other fallen wood, and with the
help of the matches soon had a fire. Then they cut strips of
bacon and fried them on the ends of sharpened sticks, the sputter
making the finest music in their ears.
Never before had either tasted food so delicious, and they ate
strip after strip. Dick noticed with pleasure how the color came
into Albert's cheeks, and how his eyes began to sparkle.
Sleeping under the pines seemed to have benefited instead of
injuring him, and certainly there was a wonderful healing balm in
the air of that pine-clad mountain slope. Dick could feel it
himself. How strong he was after eating! He shook his big shoulders.
"What are you bristling up about?" asked Albert.
"Merely getting ready to start again," replied Dick. "You know the
old saying, Al, 'you've got to hit while the iron's hot.' More
treasure is down there in the pass, but if we wait it won't stay
there. Everything that we get now is worth more to us than diamonds."
"It's so," said Albert, and then he sighed sadly as he added,
"How I wish I were strong enough to go with you and help!"
"Just you wait," said Dick. "You'll be as strong as a horse in a
month, and then you'll have to do all the work and bring me my
breakfast in the morning as I lie in bed. Besides, you'd have to
stay here and guard the treasure that we already have. Better
get into the pine den. Bears and wolves may be drawn by the
scent of the food, and they might think of attacking you."
They put out the fire, and while Albert withdrew into the pine
shelter, Dick started again over the mountain. The sun was
setting blood red in the west, and in the east the shadows of
twilight were advancing. It required a new kind of courage to
enter the pass in the night, and Dick's shudders returned. At
certain times there is something in the dark that frightens the
bravest and those most used to it.
Dick hurried. He knew the way down the mountain now, and after
the food and rest he was completely refreshed. But as fast as he
went the shadows of twilight came faster, and when he reached the
bottom of the mountain it was quite dark. The plain before him
was invisible, and the forest on the slope behind him was a solid
robe of black.
Dick set foot in the pass and then stopped. It was not dread but
awe that thrilled him in every vein. He saw nothing before him
but the well of darkness that was the great slash in the
mountains. The wind, caught between the walls, moaned as in the
day, and he knew perfectly well what if was, but it had all the
nature of a dirge, nevertheless. Overhead a few dim stars
wavered in a dusky sky.
Dick forced himself to go on. It required now moral, as well as
physical, courage to approach that lost battlefield lying under
its pall of night. Never was the boy a greater hero than at that
moment. He advanced slowly. A bush caught him by the coat and
held him an instant. He felt as if he had been seized in a man's
grasp. He reached the first wagon, and it seemed to him, broken
and rifled, an emblem of desolation. As he passed it a strange,
low, whining cry made his backbone turn to ice. But he recovered
and forced an uneasy little laugh at himself. It was only a
wolf, the mean coyote of the prairies!
He came now into the space where the mass of the wagons and the
fallen lay. Dark figures, low and skulking, darted away. More
wolves! But one, a huge timber wolf, with a powerful body and
long fangs, stood up boldly and stared at him with red eyes.
Dick's own eyes were used to the darkness now, and he stared back
at the wolf, which seemed to be giving him a challenge. He half
raised his rifle, but the monster did not move. It was a
stranger to guns, and this wilderness was its own.
It was Dick's first impulse to fire at the space between the red
eyes, but he restrained it. He had not come there to fight with
wolves, nor to send the report of a shot through the mountains.
He picked up a stone and threw it at the wolf, striking him on
the flank. The monster turned and stalked sullenly away, showing
but little sign of fear. Dick pursued his task, and as he advanced
something rose and, flapping heavily, sailed away. The shiver came
again, but his will stopped it.
He was now in the center of the wreckage, which in the darkness
looked as if it had all happened long ago. Nearly every wagon
had been turned over, and now and then dark forms lay between the
wheels. The wind moaned incessantly down the pass and over the
ruin.
Overcoming his repulsion, Dick went to work. The moon was now
coming out and he could see well enough for his task. There was
still much gleaning left by the quick raiders, and everything would
be of use to Albert and himself, even to the very gear on the
fallen animals. He cut off a great quantity of this at once and
put it in a heap at the foot of the cliff. Then he invaded the
wagons and again brought forth treasures better than gold.
He found in one side box some bottles of medicine, the simple
remedies of the border, which he packed very carefully, and in
another he discovered half a sack of flour--fifty pounds,
perhaps. A third rewarded him with a canister of tea and a
twenty-pound bag of ground coffee. He clutched these treasures
eagerly. They would be invaluable to Albert.
Continuing his search, he was rewarded with two pairs of heavy
shoes, an ax, a hatchet, some packages of pins, needles, and
thread, and a number of cooking utensils--pots, kettles, pans,
and skillets. Just as he was about to quit for the purpose of
making up his pack, he noticed in one of the wagons a long,
narrow locker made into the side and fastened with a stout
padlock. The wagon had been plundered, but evidently the Sioux
had balked at the time this stout box would take for opening, and
had passed on. Dick, feeling sure that it must contain something
of value, broke the padlock with the head of the ax. When he
looked in he uttered a cry of delight at his reward.
He brought forth from the box a beautiful double-barreled
breech-loading shotgun, and the bounty of chance did not stop
with the gun, for in the locker were over a thousand cartridges
to fit it. Dick foresaw at once that it would be invaluable to
Albert and himself in the pursuit of wild ducks, wild geese,
and other feathered game. He removed some of the articles from
his pack, which was already heavy enough, and put the shotgun
and cartridges in their place. Then he set forth on the return
journey.
As he left the wagons and went toward the mouth of the pass, he
heard soft, padding sounds behind him, and knew that the wolves
were returning, almost on his heels. He looked back once, and
saw a pair of fiery red eyes which he felt must belong to the
monster, the timber wolf, but Dick was no longer under the
uncanny spell of the night and the place; he was rejoicing too
much in his new treasures, like a miser who has just added a
great sum to his hoard, to feel further awe of the wolves, the
darkness, and a new battlefield.
Dick's second pack was heavier than his first, but as before, he
trod lightly. He took a different path when he left the pass,
and here in the moonlight, which was now much brighter, he saw
the trace of wheels on the earth. The trace ran off irregularly
through the short bushes and veered violently to and fro like the
path of a drunken man. Dick inferred at once that it had been
made, not by a wagon entering the pass, but by one leaving it,
and in great haste. No doubt the horses or mules had been
running away in fright at the firing.
Dick's curiosity was excited. He wished to see what had become
of that wagon. The trail continued to lead through the short
bushes that covered the plain just before entering the pass, and
then turned off sharply to the right, where it led to an abrupt
little canyon or gully about ten feet deep. The gully also was
lined with bushes, and at first Dick could see nothing else, but
presently he made out a wagon lying on its side. No horses or
mules were there; undoubtedly, they had torn themselves loose
from the gear in time to escape the fall.
Dick laid down his pack and descended to the wagon. He believed
that in such a place it had escaped the plundering hands of the
hasty Sioux, and his belief was correct. The wagon, a large one,
was loaded with all the articles necessary for the passage of the
plains. Although much tossed about by the fall, nothing was
hurt.
Here was a treasure-trove, indeed! Dick's sudden sense of wealth
was so overpowering that he felt a great embarrassment. How was
he to take care of such riches? He longed at that moment for the
strength of twenty men, that he might take it all at once and go
over the mountain to Albert.
It was quite a quarter of an hour before he was able to compose
himself thoroughly. Then he made a hasty examination of the
wagon, so far as its position allowed. He found in it a rifle of
the same pattern as that used by Albert and himself, a
sixteen-shot repeater, the most advanced weapon of the time, and
a great quantity of cartridges to fit. There was also two of the
new revolvers, with sufficient cartridges, another ax, hatchets,
saws, hammers, chisels, and a lot of mining tools. The remaining
space in the wagon was occupied by clothing, bedding, provisions,
and medicines.
Dick judged that the wolves could not get at the wagon as it lay,
and leaving it he began his third ascent of the slope. He found
Albert sound asleep in the pine alcove with his rifle beside
him. He looked so peaceful that Dick was careful not to awaken
him. He stored the second load of treasure in the alcove, and,
wrapping one of the heavy blankets around himself, slept heavily.
He told Albert the next day of the wagon in the gully, and
nothing could keep him from returning in the morning for
salvage. He worked there two or three days, carrying heavy loads
up the mountain, and finally, when it was all in their den, he
and Albert felt equipped for anything. Nor had the buffalo robe
been neglected. It was spread over much of the treasure.
Albert, meanwhile, had assumed the functions of cook, and he
discharged them with considerable ability. His strength was
quite sufficient to permit of his collecting firewood, and he
could fry bacon and make coffee and tea beautifully. But they
were very sparing of the coffee and tea, as they also were of the
flour, although their supplies of all three of these were greatly
increased by the wagon in the gully. In fact, the very last
thing that Dick had brought over the mountain was a hundred-pound
sack of flour, and after accomplishing this feat he had rested a
long time.
Both boys felt that they had been remarkably fortunate while this
work was going on. One circumstance, apparently simple in
itself, had been a piece of great luck, and that was the absence
of rain. It was not a particularly rainy country, but a shower
could have made them thoroughly miserable, and, moreover, would
have been extremely dangerous for Albert. But nights and days
alike remained dry and cool, and as Albert breathed the marvelous
balsamic air he could almost feel himself transfused with its
healing property. Meanwhile, the color in his cheeks was
steadily deepening.
"We've certainly had good fortune," said Dick.
"Aided by your courage and strength," said Albert. "It took a
lot of nerve to go down there in that pass and hunt for what the
Sioux might have left behind."
Dick disclaimed any superior merit, but he said nothing of the
many tremors that he felt while performing the great task.
An hour or two later, Albert, who was hunting through their
belongings, uttered a cry of joy on finding a little package of
fishhooks. String they had among their stores, and it was easy
enough to cut a slim rod for a pole.
"Now I can be useful for something besides cooking," he said.
"It doesn't require any great strength to be a fisherman, and I'm
much mistaken if I don't soon have our table supplied with
trout."
There was a swift creek farther down the slope, and, angling with
much patience, Albert succeeded in catching several mountain
trout and a larger number of fish of an unknown species, but
which, like the trout, were very good to eat.
Albert's exploit caused him intense satisfaction, and Dick
rejoiced with him, not alone because of the fish, but also
because of his brother's triumph.