The next morning long before daylight Andrew and Carnally were getting together a supply of branches and logs so that Graham might keep a fire going night and day until their return: for the double purpose of warmth and of protection against the timber wolves. When they had made Graham comfortable, they set off. They had heard no wolves of late, which was rea.s.suring, but they had grave misgivings about leaving the crippled man, and meant to save every possible minute on the march. It was comparatively open country, they could use their snow-shoes, and they pressed on until dusk without stopping, though the last league taxed Andrew"s strength. He was badly tired when at noon the next day they reached a hillside commanding a rocky basin filled with stunted pines. A shallow ravine ran at their feet.
Carnally stopped suddenly.
"I believe we"ve struck it!" he cried. "That must be the creek Graham talks about!"
Forgetting their weariness, they ran down the hill and stopped beside a frozen stream hemmed in by ice-glazed rocks.
"I guess we"re somewhere about the spot, and we"ll fire a dump shot on yonder ridge where there"s not much snow," Carnally said. "That"s all we can do."
"Can"t we stake three claims?" Andrew suggested. "The recorder might allow Graham one if things were explained."
"It can"t be done. You get the frontage you apply for on the reef, but its extent is limited and full particulars must be supplied, while a man can hold only one claim on the same vein. Then a record isn"t secret. If you don"t stake off the best of the lode, you give the thing away, and send off every prospector who hears of it to locate what you have missed."
The situation was clear to Andrew, and it was daunting. After all the fatigue and dangers of the journey, he must go back without accomplishing anything useful; but there was no help for it.
"I suppose if we had a week we might form some idea of what is worth staking off, even with the snow on the ground," he said. "However, as it is, we have got about two hours. We had better make the most of them."
They lighted a fire and sat beside it, thawing two sticks of dynamite, a proceeding attended by some risk, which Carnally seriously increased when he crimped the powerful detonating caps on the fuses with numbed and clumsy fingers. Both men were moody and dejected, but they did not express their feelings, for they were capable of meeting reverses with silent fort.i.tude. Carnally stood to lose more money than he had ever had a prospect of earning until his companion took him north; Andrew knew at what a disadvantage his failure would place him in the struggle with Leonard. He was sincere in his purpose to see justice done, but he had no romantic ideas about it. His task was based on common honesty: Allinson"s had guaranteed the undertaking and Allinson"s must make good. Andrew was, however, troubled by two conflicting claims. He had a duty to the shareholders which could best be discharged by remaining near the lode until he proved its value; and a duty to Graham, whom he had promised to bring home safe and sound. Graham, most unfortunately, was crippled, and the scarcity of provisions made it doubtful whether he could be taken back to the Landing, unless they started without delay. The shareholders must wait.
Carnally kneaded the softening dynamite round the detonators.
"Try to sc.r.a.pe down to the rock on the spot I marked," he said. "I"ll come when you"re ready and we"ll fire the shot."
Andrew had some trouble in carrying out his instructions, but when he had done so Carnally laid the cartridges on the stone and covered them with snow carefully pressed down. Then they dragged up a small fallen spruce and, laying it on the spot, lighted the fuses and hastily retired. In a minute there was a flash, a sharp report; and a shower of flying fragments plunged into the snow, while a cloud of vapor curled up. Andrew sprang from his shelter, but Carnally seized his arm.
"Hold on!" he cried. "You don"t want the fumes to knock you over. I guess we"ll get dinner while we wait. You can"t expect any startling results from one shot."
Eager as he was, Andrew ate his share of the scanty meal; he could practise self-control and he had marched a long way on short rations in bitter frost.
When they had examined the cavity made by the explosion, Carnally covered it with snow, and picked up the broken bits of rock. They had gathered a small heap, and Carnally, carefully selecting a few, looked at Andrew with a smile.
"I suppose you feel that you"d like to take the whole lot?"
"I thought we might carry half of them," Andrew admitted.
"Unless you"re willing to dump your blankets, these will be enough.
It"s a long way to the Landing and we have to make the first food cache quick."
"You"re right," said Andrew. "Besides, we must reach Graham"s camp by to-morrow night."
"Rough on you!" Carnally sympathized; "I haven"t as big a stake."
Nothing more was said while they rolled up their packs and set off grimly on the return trail.
It had been dark for several hours the next night when Andrew wearily toiled up a long rise dotted with ragged spruces. He was hungry and very cold, though he panted with the exertion he was forced to make.
There was no feeling in his feet, which were bound to big snow-shoes; his hands were powerless in his thick mittens, and he carried a light ax under his arm. Fortunately, the trail they had broken when coming out led straight up the rise, and Carnally pressed on in front, a gray shape outlined against the glitter of the snow. A half-moon hung above them in a cloudless sky, the frost was intense, and the white desolation lay wrapped in an impressive silence. Not a breath of wind stirred the tops of the spruces.
Andrew"s knees were giving way, and it seemed to him that the ascent they were laboriously mounting ran on for ever. He felt as if they had spent hours on it, though the frozen river at its foot was not far behind them. It was discouraging to fix his eyes on the black shape of a spruce ahead and see how slowly it grew nearer, but he felt unequal to contemplating the long trail to the summit, and he divided the distance into stages between tree and tree.
At last they crossed the ridge and it was a relief to go downhill, though the spruces grew in thicker belts and there was half a mile of timber that they were forced to traverse in their moccasins. Fallen logs obstructed their pa.s.sage, they plunged into tangles of blown-down branches, the snow was loose among the slender trunks and here and there they sank deep in it. Andrew was, however, consumed by an anxiety which would brook no delay, and when he had with difficulty replaced his snow-shoes he looked up at his companion.
"We can"t be far from camp?" he queried.
"About three miles. We ought to see it when we"re through the timber on the lower bench. Graham had wood enough to keep a good fire going."
They pressed on, slipping down the steeper slopes, stumbling now and then, for both had regretted the necessity for leaving Graham alone, and at sunset they had seen the tracks of wolves. At last they plunged into a thick belt of spruce, where the trees were fairly large and there was not much fallen wood. Here and there a broad patch of moonlight glittered on the snow, confusing after the deep gloom, but the men could get through on their snow-shoes and avoid the trunks.
They made good speed and when they broke out into the open Andrew stopped. Where a bright blaze should have marked Graham"s fire there were only a few dying embers. The old man was nowhere to be seen.
CHAPTER XVI
THE CACHE
The two prospectors forgot their weariness as they rushed to the dying fire. Carnally looked at the embers.
"Can"t have been gone long," he declared.
"Shout, Jake!" cried Andrew. "I"m out of breath."
Carnally called, and Andrew"s heart throbbed when a faint cry rose in answer. His anxiety had not been groundless: a lonely man runs many risks in the frozen North. Following the sound, they hastened up the ravine, and as they rounded a projecting boulder, a red glow flashed out a little distance ahead, died down, and rose more clearly.
"That"s mighty good to see!" Carnally exclaimed.
Graham met them as they entered the firelight.
"Had any trouble?" Andrew asked anxiously.
"No; and the foot"s feeling better. The rest has done it good. I"ve been pretty comfortable since you left, though the wolves got so friendly last night that I thought I"d better shift my camp a bit to-night. I didn"t allow you could get back before to-morrow, and I knew I"d hear you shout if you did. I left the other fire burning as a beacon."
Andrew breathed deeply.
"It"s a wonderful relief!" he said.
Carnally looked hard at Graham"s face.
"Guess you didn"t sleep well, but we"ll get a good rest to-night, now there are three of us. A timber wolf is a cussed mean brute.
Government ought to supply the bush settlers with free a.r.s.enic."
There was a brief silence, while Graham waited, intent and eager, until Carnally broke into a soft laugh.
"We struck it, partner! Guess your lode"s right there, but we couldn"t do enough prospecting to tell you what it"s worth."
Graham turned his head for a moment, and his eyes glittered when he looked around.
"That is my misfortune and Mappin"s fault. But you must have your supper, and then we"ll talk."