By luck we reached the bottom of that canon without a fall. It was wide, well grown with oak trees, and belly deep in rich horse feed--an ideal place to camp were it not for the fact that a thin sheet of water a quarter of an inch deep was flowing over the entire surface of the ground. We spurred on desperately, thinking of a warm fire and a chance to steam.
The roof of the shack had fallen in, and the floor was six inches deep in adobe mud.
We did not dismount--that would have wet our saddles--but sat on our horses taking in the details. Finally Uncle Jim came to the front with a suggestion.
"I know of a cave," said he, "close under a b.u.t.te. It"s a big cave, but it has such a steep floor that I"m not sure as we could stay in it; and it"s back the other side of that ridge."
"I don"t know how the ridge is to get back over--it was slippery enough coming this way--and the cave may shoot us out into s.p.a.ce, but I"d like to LOOK at a dry place anyway," replied the Cattleman.
We all felt the same about it, so back over the ridge we went. About half way down the other side Uncle Jim turned sharp to the right, and as the "hog back" dropped behind us, we found ourselves out on the steep side of a mountain, the perpendicular cliff over us to the right, the river roaring savagely far down below our left, and sheets of water glazing the footing we could find among the boulders and debris.
Hardly could the ponies keep from slipping sideways on the slope, as we proceeded farther and farther from the solidity of the ridge behind us, we experienced the illusion of venturing out on a tight rope over abysses of s.p.a.ce. Even the feeling of danger was only an illusion, however, composite of the falling rain, the deepening twilight, and the night that had already enveloped the plunge of the canon below.
Finally Uncle Jim stopped just within the drip from the cliffs.
"Here she is," said he.
We descended eagerly. A deer bounded away from the base of the b.u.t.tes.
The cave ran steep, in the manner of an inclined tunnel, far up into the dimness. We had to dig our toes in and scramble to make way up it at all, but we found it dry, and after a little search discovered a foot-ledge of earth sufficiently broad for a seat.
"That"s all right," quoth Jed Parker. "Now, for sleeping places."
We scattered. Uncle Jim and Charley promptly annexed the slight overhang of the cliff whence the deer had jumped. It was dry at the moment, but we uttered pessimistic predictions if the wind should change. Tom Rich and Jim Lester had a little tent, and insisted on descending to the canon-bed.
"Got to cook there, anyways," said they, and departed with the two pack mules and their bed horse.
That left the Cattleman, Windy Bill, Jed Parker, and me. In a moment Windy Bill came up to us whispering and mysterious.
"Get your cavallos and follow me," said he.
We did so. He led us two hundred yards to another cave, twenty feet high, fifteen feet in diameter, level as a floor.
"How"s that?" he cried in triumph. "Found her just now while I was rustling n.i.g.g.e.r-heads for a fire."
We unpacked our beds with chuckles of joy, and spread them carefully within the shelter of the cave. Except for the very edges, which did not much matter, our blankets and "so-guns," protected by the canvas "tarp," were reasonably dry. Every once in a while a spasm of conscience would seize one or the other of us.
"It seems sort of mean on the other fellows," ruminated Jed Parker.
"They had their first choice," cried we all.
"Uncle Jim"s an old man," the Cattleman pointed out.
But Windy Bill had thought of that. "I told him of this yere cave first. But he allowed he was plumb satisfied."
We finished laying out our blankets. The result looked good to us. We all burst out laughing.
"Well, I"m sorry for those fellows," cried the Cattleman. We hobbled our horses and descended to the gleam of the fire, like guilty conspirators. There we ate hastily of meat, bread and coffee, merely for the sake of sustenance. It certainly amounted to little in the way of pleasure. The water from the direct rain, the shivering trees, and our hat brims acc.u.mulated in our plates faster than we could bail it out. The dishes were thrust under a canvas. Rich and Lester decided to remain with their tent, and so we saw them no more until morning.
We broke off back-loads of mesquite and toiled up the hill, tasting thickly the high alt.i.tude in the severe labour. At the big cave we dumped down our burdens, transported our fuel piecemeal to the vicinity of the narrow ledge, built a good fire, sat in a row, and lit our pipes. In a few moments, the blaze was burning high, and our bodies had ceased shivering. Fantastically the firelight revealed the k.n.o.bs and crevices, the ledges and the arching walls. Their shadows leaped, following the flames, receding and advancing like playful beasts. Far above us was a single tiny opening through which the smoke was sucked as through a chimney. The glow ruddied the men"s features. Outside was thick darkness, and the swish and rush and roar of rising waters.
Listening, Windy Bill was reminded of a story. We leaned back comfortably against the sloping walls of the cave, thrust our feet toward the blaze, smoked, and hearkened to the tale of Windy Bill.
There"s a tur"ble lot of water running loose here, but I"ve seen the time and place where even what is in that drip would be worth a gold mine. That was in the emigrant days. They used to come over south of here, through what they called Emigrant Pa.s.s, on their way to Californy. I was a kid then, about eighteen year old, and what I didn"t know about Injins and Agency cattle wasn"t a patch of alkali. I had a kid outfit of h"ar bridle, lots of silver and such, and I used to ride over and be the handsome boy before such outfits as happened along.
They were queer people, most of "em from Missoury and such-like southern seaports, and they were tur"ble sick of travel by the time they come in sight of Emigrant Pa.s.s. Up to Santa Fe they mostly hiked along any old way, but once there they herded up together in bunches of twenty wagons or so, "count of our old friends, Geronimo and Loco. A good many of "em had horned cattle to their wagons, and they crawled along about two miles an hour, hotter"n h.e.l.l with the blower on, nothin" to look at but a mountain a week way, chuck full of alkali, plenty of sage-brush and rattlesnakes--but mighty little water.
Why, you boys know that country down there. Between the Chiricahua Mountains and Emigrant Pa.s.s it"s maybe a three or four days" journey for these yere bull-slingers.
Mostly they filled up their bellies and their kegs, hoping to last through, but they sure found it drier than cork legs, and generally long before they hit the Springs their tongues was hangin" out a foot.
You see, for all their plumb nerve in comin" so far, the most of them didn"t know sic "em. They were plumb innocent in regard to savin"
their water, and Injins, and such; and the long-haired buckskin fakes they picked up at Santa Fe for guides wasn"t much better.
That was where Texas Pete made his killing.
Texas Pete was a tough citizen from the Lone Star. He was about as broad as he was long, and wore all sorts of big whiskers and black eyebrows. His heart was very bad. You never COULD tell where Texas Pete was goin" to jump next. He was a side-winder and a diamond-back and a little black rattlesnake all rolled into one. I believe that Texas Pete person cared about as little for killin" a man as for takin"
a drink--and he sh.o.r.ely drank without an effort. Peaceable citizens just spoke soft and minded their own business; onpeaceable citizens Texas Pete used to plant out in the sagebrush.
Now this Texas Pete happened to discover a water hole right out in the plumb middle of the desert. He promptly annexed said water hole, digs her out, timbers her up, and lays for emigrants.
He charged two bits a head--man or beast--and n.o.body got a mouthful till he paid up in hard coin.
Think of the wads he raked in! I used to figure it up, just for the joy of envyin" him, I reckon. An average twenty-wagon outfit, first and last, would bring him in somewheres about fifty dollars--and besides he had forty-rod at four bits a gla.s.s. And outfits at that time were thicker"n spatter.
We used all to go down sometimes to watch them come in. When they see that little canvas shack and that well, they begun to cheer up and move fast. And when they see that sign, "Water, two bits a head," their eyes stuck out like two raw oysters.
Then come the kicks. What a howl they did raise, sh.o.r.ely. But it didn"t do no manner of good. Texas Pete didn"t do nothin" but sit there and smoke, with a kind of sulky gleam in one corner of his eye.
He didn"t even take the trouble to answer, but his Winchester lay across his lap. There wasn"t no humour in the situation for him.
"How much is your water for humans?" asks one emigrant.
"Can"t you read that sign?" Texas Pete asks him.
"But you don"t mean two bits a head for HUMANS!" yells the man. "Why, you can get whisky for that!"
"You can read the sign, can"t you?" insists Texas Pete.
"I can read it all right?" says the man, tryin" a new deal, "but they tell me not to believe more"n half I read."
But that don"t go; and Mr. Emigrant sh.e.l.ls out with the rest.
I didn"t blame them for raisin" their howl. Why, at that time the regular water holes was chargin" five cents a head from the government freighters, and the motto was always "Hold up Uncle Sam," at that.
Once in a while some outfit would get mad and go chargin" off dry; but it was a long, long way to the Springs, and mighty hot and dusty.
Texas Pete and his one lonesome water hole sh.o.r.ely did a big business.
Late one afternoon me and Gentleman Tim was joggin" along above Texas Pete"s place. It was a tur"ble hot day--you had to prime yourself to spit--and we was just gettin" back from drivin" some beef up to the troops at Fort Huachuca. We was due to cross the Emigrant Trail--she"s wore in tur"ble deep--you can see the ruts to-day. When we topped the rise we see a little old outfit just makin" out to drag along.
It was one little schooner all by herself, drug along by two poor old cavallos that couldn"t have pulled my hat off. Their tongues was out, and every once in a while they"d stick in a chuck-hole. Then a man would get down and put his shoulder to the wheel, and everybody"d take a heave, and up they"d come, all a-trembling and weak.
Tim and I rode down just to take a look at the curiosity.