Altsheler, Joseph - [Great West 01] Read online

  "Thar's one thing I'd like fur you to explain to me, Steve," said the Little Giant, who was enjoying the hospitality he gave, "why wuz you callin' so much through the storm? Wuz it jest a faint hope, one chance in a million that trappers might be here in the valley?"

  "No, Thomas, it was not a hope. A sign was vouchsafed to me. When I knew the storm was com- ing I started for this valley, which I visited once, years ago, and, although the snow caught me before I could reach it, I managed, owing to my former knowl- edge, to get down the slope without losing any of my

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  horses. Then in the valley I saw saplings cut freshly by the axe, cut so recently in truth that I knew the wielders of the steel must still be here, and in all likelihood were white men. Strong in that faith I called aloud and you answered, but I did not dream that one whom I knew long ago, and one, moreover, whom I knew to be honest and true, was here. It is a lesson to us that hope should never be wholly lost."

  All were silent for a little space, feeling deeply the truth of the man's words and manner, and then, when Brady finished his last elk steak and his last cup of coffee, Boyd said :

  "I think, Mr. Brady, that you've had a terrible time and that you need sleep. You can roll in dry blan- kets in the corner there, and we'll arrange your packs for you. Will reports that your animals have made friends with ours, as you and we have surely made friends, and there's nothing left for you now but to take a big sleep."

  "That I'll surely do," said Brady, smiling a solemn smile, "but first promise me one thing."

  "What is that?"

  "Don't call me Mr. Brady. It doesn't sound right coming from men of my own age. To you I'm Steve, just as I am to our friend Thomas."

  "All right, Steve, but into the blankets with you. Even a fur hunter can catch pneumonia, if he's just bent on doing it."

  Brady rolled himself in the blankets and soon slept. The hunter, the Little Giant and Will drew to the other side of the cavern, and before a word was spoken

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  every one of the three was conscious of what was in the minds of the others. Will was the first to speak.

  "He's the man," he said.

  "We shorely need him," said the Little Giant.

  "I don't think we could do better," said Boyd.

  "It's luck, big luck, that we found him or he found us," continued the Little Giant. "When these solemn, prayin* men are real, they're real all over. He's as brave as a lion, he'll hang on like a grizzly bear, an* he's as honest as they ever make 'em. He's a fightin' man from start to finish. From what you say thar must be more'n a million in that mine, an' in huntin' fur it an' keepin' it after we find it, Steve Brady is wuth at least a quarter o' a million to us."

  "All of that," said the hunter. "But the mine really belongs to Will, here, and it's for him to bring in a new partner."

  "It belongs to us all now," said the lad, "though I'll admit I was the original owner, I think Mr. Brady will just round out our band. I'm for offering him a full partnership."

  "Then you do the talkin'," said the Little Giant. "It's right that it should come from you."

  When Brady awoke many hours later three very serious faces confronted him, and his acute mind saw at once that he was about to receive a communication of weight.

  "It looks like a committee," he said with solemn im- portance. "Who is the spokesman ?"

  "I am," replied Will, "and what we have to say to you is really of importance, of vast importance. Mr.

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  Bent has been looking many years for gold, but has never yet found a grain of it. Now he has given up his independent search, and is joining with Mr. Boyd and me in a far bigger hunt. You've been looking eight or ten years, you say, for the gigantic beaver colony, but have never found it. Now we want you to give up that hunt for the time, and join us, because we need you much."

  "Your words have an earnest sound, young man, and I know that you and your comrades are honest, but I do not take your full meaning."

  "It is this," said Will, and he produced from his se- cret pocket the precious map. "My father, who was a captain in the army, found a great mine of gold, but before he could work it, or even make any preparations to do so, he was called for the Civil War, in which he fell. But he left this map that tells me how to reach it somewhere in the vast northwestern mountains. To locate it and get out the treasure I need fighting men, the best fighting men the world can furnish, wilder- ness fighters, patient, enduring and full of knowledge. I have two such in Mr. Boyd and Mr. Bent, but we need just one more, and we have agreed that you should be the fourth, if you will favor us by entering into the partnership. It is full of danger, as you know. We have already had a fight with the Sioux, and another with a band of outlaws, led by Martin Felton."

  A spark leaped up in the stern eye of Stephen Brady.

  "I am a fur hunter," he said, "though there is little prospect of success for me now, owing to the Indian wars, but I have spent all my manhood years among

  THE BEAVER HUNTER

  dangers. Perhaps I should feel lonely if they were absent, and you may dismiss that idea/'

  "I thought so. Will you enter into full partnership with us in this gr eat enterprise? Mr. Bent has ap- praised your full value as a fighting man in this crisis at a quarter of a million dollars, and we know that the mine contains at least a million. I beg you not to re- fuse. We need your strong arm and great heart. You will be conferring the favor upon us."

  "And the vast beaver colony that I'm going to find some day?"

  "It can wait. It will be there after we get out the gold."

  "And you are in full agreement with this, James Boyd?" "

  "I am."

  "And you are in full agreement with this, too, Thomas Bent?"

  "I am."

  "Then I accept. A quarter of a million dollars is a great sum. I scarcely thought there was so much money in the world, but one may do much with it. I am already forming certain plans in my mind. Will you let me take another and thorough look at your map, William?"

  He studied it long and attentively, and then as he handed it back to the owner, he said :

  "It will be a long journey, as you have said, full of dangers, but I think I am not boasting when I say we be four who know how to meet hardship and peril. I make the prediction that after unparalleled dangers we

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  will find the mine. Yet a quarter of a million is too vast a sum for my services. I could not accept such an amount. Make it about ten thousand dollars."

  Will laughed.

  "You must bear in mind, Mr. Brady," he said, "that we haven't all this gold yet, and it will be a long time before we do get it. We're all to be comrades and full partners, and you must be on exactly the same terms as the others. We've probably saved your life, and we demand, therefore, that you accept. Stand- ing squarely on our rights, we'll take no refusal."

  The stern eyes of Brady gleamed.

  "Since you give me no choice, I accept," he said.

  CHAPTER VIII

  THE MOUNTAIN RAM

  IT SNOWED for two days and two nights without ceasing, and then turned so cold that the snow froze over, a covering like glass forming upon it. Will broke a way to the stable, where he talked to the animals and fed them with the hay which had been cut with forethought. With the help of the others he also opened a path down to a little stream flowing into the lake, where the horses and mules were able to obtain water, spending the rest of the time in the cavern.

  The men usually had a small fire and they passed the time while they were snowed in in jerking more meat, repairing their clothes and doing a hundred other things that would be of service later on. Brady stored his traps in a remote corner of the cavern, hiding them so artfully that it was not likely anyone save the four would ever find them.

  "I shall have no further use for them for a l
ong time," he said, "but after we reach our gold I mean to return here and get them."

  Will, who noticed his grammatical and good Eng- lish, rather unusual on the border, asked him how he came to be a fur hunter.

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  "Drift," he replied. "You would not think it, but it was my original intention to become a schoolmaster. An excursion into the west made me fall in love with the forest, the mountains, solitude and independence. I've always taken enough furs for a good living, and I'm absolutely my own master. Moreover, I'm an explorer and it gives me a keen pleasure to find a new river or a new mountain. And this northwest is filled with wonders. After we find the gold and my beaver colony, I'm going to write a book of a thousand pages about the wonders^ I've seen."

  "I never saw anybody that wrote a book," said the Little Giant with the respect of the unlettered for the lettered, "an' I confess I ain't much of a.hand at read- in' 'em, but when I'm rich ez I expect to be a year or two from now, an' I build my fine house in St. Looey, I mean to have a room full of 'em, in fine leather an* morocco bindin's."

  "Will you read them?" asked Will.

  "Me read 'em! O' course not!" replied the. Little Giant. "I'll hire a man to read 'em, an' he kin keep -busy on them books while I'm away on my long hunt- in' trips."

  "But that won't be you reading 'em."

  "What diff'unce does that make? All a book asks is to be read by somebody, en' ef it's read by my reader 'stead o' me it's jest the same."

  The days confirmed them in their choice of Brady as the fourth partner in the great hunt. Despite his rather stern and solemn manner he was at heart a man of most cheerful and optimistic temperament.

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  He had, too, a vast fund of experience and he knew much of the wilderness that was unknown to others.

  "What do you think of our plan of going straight ahead as soon as we can travel, and passing over the left shoulder of the White Dome?" asked Boyd.

  "It's wisest," replied Brady thoughtfully. "I've heard something of this Felton, with whom you had such a sanguinary encounter, and I'm inclined to think from all you tell me that he has had a hint about the mine. He has affiliated with the Indians and he can command a large band of his own, white men, mostly murderous refugees from the border, and the worst type of half breeds. It's better for us to keep as long as we can in the depths of the mountains despite all the difficulties of travel there."

  On the fifth day it turned much warmer and rained heavily, and so violent were the changes in the high mountains that there was a tremendous manifestation of thunder and lightning. They watched the display of electricity with awe from the door of the cavern, and Will saw the great sword blades of light strike more than once on the rocks of the topmost peaks.

  "I think," said Brady devoutly, "that we have been watched over. Where else in the mountains could we have found such a refuge for our animals and our- selves ?"

  "Nowhere," said the Little Giant, cheerfully, "an* I want to say that I'm enjoyin' myself right here. We four hev got more o' time than anythin' else, an' I ain't goin' to stir from our nice, comf'table home 'til the travelings good."

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  The others were in full agreement with him, and, in truth, delay was absolutely necessary as a march now would have been accompanied by new and great dan- gers, snow slides, avalanches, and the best of the paths slippery with mud and water. When the rain ceased, although a warm sun that followed it hastened the melting of the snow, Will released the animals from the stable and with pleasure saw them run about among the trees, where the snow had melted and sprigs of hardy grass were again showing green against the earth. After they had drunk at the lake and gal- loped up and down awhile, they began to nibble the grass, while Will walked among them and stroked their manes or noses, and was as pleased as they were. Brady's three horses were already as firm friends of his as the earlier animals.

  "Did you ever notice that boy's ways with hosses an 1 mules?" said the Little Giant to Brady. "He's shorely a wonder. I think he's got some kind o* talk that we don't understand but which they do. My critters and Boyd's would quit us at any time fur him, an* so will yours."

  "I perceive it is true, my friend, and so far as my horses are concerned I don't grudge him his power. Now that the snow has gone and the greenness is returning this valley truly looks like the land of Canaan. And it is well for us to be outside again. People who live the lives that we do flourish best in the open air."

  The warm days lasted and all the snow melted, save where it lay perpetually on the crest of the White

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  Dome. Often they heard it thundering in masses down the slopes. The whole earth was soaked with water, and swift streams ran in every gulch and ravine and canyon. Will, although he was impatient to be up and away, recognized now how thoroughly neces- sary it was to wait. The mountains in such a condi- tion were impassable, and the valley was safe, too, be- cause for the time nobody could come there either.

  Big game wandered down again and Brady shot an- other large grizzly bear, the skin of which they saved and tanned, thinking it might prove in time as useful as the first. Another deer was added to their larder, and they also shot a number of wild fowl. But as the hills began to dry their minds returned with in- creasing strength to the great mine, hidden among far-away peaks. All were eager to be off, and it was only the patience coming from experience that de- layed the start.

  The valley dried out rapidly. The snow, deep as it had been, did not seem to have done any harm to the grass, which reappeared fresher and stronger than ever, forming a perfect harvest for the horses and mules. Then the time for departure came and they began to pack, having added considerably to their stores of skins and cured meats.

  Brady also had been exceedingly well equipped for a long journey, and the temporary abandonment of his traps gave them a chance to add further to their food supplies. All four of them, in addition to their food, carried extra weapons, including revolvers, rifles, and a fine double-barrelled shotgun for every

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  one. The two caverns, the one for the men and the other for the horses, they left almost as they had fitted them up.

  "We may come here ag'in," said the Little Giant. "It's true that Felton's men an' the Sioux also may come, but I don't think it's ez likely, 'cause the Sioux are mostly plains warriors, an' them that ain't are goin' down thar anyhow to fight, while the outlaws likely are ridin' to the west huntin' fur us."

  "Anyw ay," said Stephen Brady, in his deep, bass voice, "we'll trust to Providence. It's amazing how events happen in your favor when you really trust."

  Although eager to be on their way, they felt regret at leaving the valley. It had given them a snug home and shelter during the storm, and the melting of the snow had acted like a gigantic irrigation scheme, mak- ing it greener and fresher than before. As they climbed the western slope it looked more than ever a gem in its mountain setting. Will saw far beneath him the blue of lake and the green of grass, and he waved his hand in a good-bye, but not a good-bye forever.

  "I expect to sleep there again some day," he said.

  "It's a fine home," said Brady, "but we'll find other lakes and other valleys. As I have told you before, I have trapped for years through these regions, and they contain many such places."

  They pressed forward three more days and three more nights toward the left shoulder of the White Dome, which now rose before them clear and dazzlingly bright against the shining blue of the sky. The air was steadily growing colder, owing to their increasing

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  elevation, but they had no more storms of rain, sleet or snow. They were not above the timber line, and the vegetation, although dwarfed, was abundant. There was also plenty of game, and in order to save their supplies they shot a deer or two. On the third day Wil
l through his glasses saw a smoke, much lower down on their left, and he and the Little Giant, de- scending a considerable distance to discover what it meant, were able to discern a deep valley, perhaps ten miles long and two miles broad, filled with fine pastures and noble forest, and with a large Indian village in the centre. Smoke was rising from at least a hundred tall tepees, and several hundred horses were grazing on the meadows.

  "Tell me what you can about them," said the lad, handing the glasses to the Little Giant.

  "I think they're Teton Sioux," said Bent, "an* ez well ez I kin make out they're livin' a life o' plenty. I kin see game hangin' up everywhar to be cured. Some- times, young William, I envy the Indians. When the weather's right, an' the village is in a good place an' thar's plenty to eat you never see any happier fellers. The day's work an' huntin' over, they skylark 'roun' like boys havin' fun with all sorts o' little things. You wouldn't think they wuz the same men who could enjoy roastin' an enemy alive. Then, they ain't troubled a bit 'bout the future, either. Termorrer kin take care o' itself. I s'pose that's what downs 'em, an' gives all the land some day to the white man. Though I hev to fight the Indian, I've a lot o' sym- pathy with him, too."

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  "I feel the same way about it," said Will. "Maybe we won't have any more trouble with them."

  The Little Giant shook his head.

  "We may dodge 'em in the mountains, though that ain't shore," he said, "but when we go down into the plains, ez we've got to do sooner or later, the fur will fly. I'm mighty glad we picked up Steve Brady, 'cause fur all his solemn ways he's a pow'ful good fightin' man. Now, I think we'd better git back up the slope, 'cause warriors from that village may be huntin' 'long here an', however much we may sympathize with the Indians we're boun' to lose a hull lot o' that sympathy when they come at us, burnin' fur our scalps."