"Well, what if they wasn"t--and that"s by no means sure," demanded Buck Barry at last, a little defiantly. "The whole lot is thieves and murderers; and if they"d had a chance at us, you bet they"d have taken it. And we showed the red devils they can"t monkey with us!"
I looked toward the cross over Vasquez, murdered as wantonly as ever man was murdered for plunder, and could find nothing to say. Whatever the eternal equities of the case may be--and long since I have given up trying to guess what they are--the cold, practical fact remains, that never during our stay on the Porcupine did any Indian come near us again. And I am convinced that if the initial stealing of horses and murder had gone without reprisal, we should have been a second time and more boldly attacked. But if that was the wrong village, what a train of reprisals and reprisals again in turn we may have laid!
"Only we didn"t start it, and never would have!" persisted Johnny stoutly.
CHAPTER XXVI
WE SEND OUT OUR TREASURE
Though these Indian troubles had nothing to do with it, nevertheless they marked the beginning of our change of luck. We suffered no definite misfortunes; but things did not go well. The slight malarial attack of Don Gaspar was the first of an annoying series. I suppose we had all been inoculated on the marshes of the Sacramento, and the disease had remained latent in our systems. The hard work in the open air had kept us healthy; but the fever only awaited the favourable moment of depression or of overwork. The combination of ice cold water around our legs and burning sun on our heads was not the best in the world.
Fortunately Yank, who came from an ague country, had had foresight enough to bring a supply of quinine. For two months one or the other of us was ailing; and once for a few days five of us were down!
Then, too, I think the zest of the game was palling on us a little, strange as it may seem. We could dig gold from the soil almost at will.
It would seem that this single fact would keep normally acquisitive men keyed to a high pitch of endeavour all the time; but it was not so. I suppose we needed a vacation. We began to discuss what we would do when we should see the city again. No one for a moment dreamed that we should quit these rich diggings. We were here to make our fortunes; and the fortunes seemed to be ready for the making. Only the novelty having pa.s.sed, it had become hard work, just like the making of any other kind of a fortune.
The Pine family camped below us, used our corral, at our invitation, and set placidly to work. They were typical frontiersmen, and settled down in the well-built cabin which they quickly ran up as though they meant to make of it a permanent home. For two months, which brought us up to the end of July, they lived a regular and leisurely life. Then one morning, without any warning at all, they rode over to our cabin, leading their horses, fully packed. Old man Pine explained, while his five tall, steady-eyed sons sat their horses quite immobile in the background, that they had dug enough gold for their necessities, and that they were now going down to the lower country to pick out some good land. These men were the very first I happened to meet who had come into the country with a definite idea of settling.
After the departure of this strong force, began our discussions as to the safeguarding of our gold. It had now reached a very considerable sum--somewhere near thirty-five thousand dollars, as I remember it.
Bagsby was very uneasy at its presence in camp.
"The Injuns are beginning to know it"s wuth something," he pointed out.
"They don"t know yet how much, but they know it will buy beads and b.u.t.tons and paint and whiskey and everything else an Injun wants. And they know that"s what we"re yere for; and that we must have a lot of it.
I don"t calc"late that lot we licked will bother us ag"in; but they"ll spread the news we"re yere. And there"s lots of bandits and scoundrels glad to take a chance at us. And while we come out all right before, they"ll git us in the long run if we keep at it. I"d like to git rid of the stuff."
Don Gaspar agreed with him, as did also Yank, Buck Barry, and Missouri Jones. McNally, Johnny, and I inclined to the belief that we would do better to keep our wealth by us until we finally left the diggings, maintaining always a proper guard. We could not quite see how the sending out of the gold would much reduce the likelihood of attack; but the others seemed to think the gold would then be safe anyhow, and that the news of its delivery at Sutter"s Fort would soon spread abroad.
About this time the discussion took a more practical turn from the fact that our provisions had run so low that we had put ourselves on half rations. As we did not believe it desirable nor healthy to drop down to an exclusively game diet, it would soon become necessary to go for more flour and coffee.
Buck Barry now brought up again strongly the advisability of sending our treasure out to a safe place. His argument was given point by the arrival in camp one evening of three evil-looking Mexicans, shabbily clothed, but well-armed, and mounted on beautiful horses. We fed them well, but saw to the caps of our revolvers and the security of our corral before turning in for the night. In the morning they departed before we were stirring, without so much as a word of thanks. These mysterious visitors had given us no faintest inkling of their business or destination. Don Gaspar stated flatly that they had come to spy us out, having heard of our presence in the valley from the Indians.
"And I told them," said he triumphantly, "that essoon we would be sen"
out for the food."
He went on to argue that thus he had prepared their minds for the fact that pack-horses would soon be going out. By distributing the gold its presence would be unsuspected.
I suggested a strong guard, but both Bagsby and Don Gaspar opposed me.
"There"s enough of these yere robbers to git us anyhow, even if we all went," said Bagsby, "and that"s why I want to send the stuff out now.
The place they"ll tackle will be right yere, if they tackle anything at all----"
I will not weary you with the pros and cons. At the time I thought, and I still think, the whole arrangement most ill advised; but against me was the united opinion of nearly the whole camp, including the most level-headed members of my own party. It was finally agreed that Yank, Buck Barry, and Don Gaspar should take out the gold.
They started very early in the morning, carrying the treasure in saddle-bags and across the horns of the saddle. I argued that Yank rode much the lightest and had the strongest horse, and managed to get the others to confide to him a full half of the metal. At the last moment we had modified the original plan to suit everybody. The hors.e.m.e.n enc.u.mbered by pack-animals were to push on as rapidly as possible in order to reach by nightfall the settlement where dwelt the Italian friend. Once there they could feel themselves reasonably safe. Johnny, Missouri Jones and I would ride with them until noon as a sort of escort for the uninhabited portion of the journey. By that hour we figured we should have reached the outskirts of the regular diggings, where, our experience told us, our companions would be safe.
Accordingly we pushed our mounts hard. Unhampered by pack-animals, and aided by knowledge of the route, we made great progress. By noon we had pa.s.sed the meadow of our night"s camp. After a hasty lunch we accompanied our men a few miles farther, then said farewell and G.o.dspeed, and hurried back in order to reach home before sunset.
CHAPTER XXVII
THE ROBBERY
We cooked ourselves a meal, and built ourselves a fire. About midnight we heard the sounds of horses rapidly approaching. Immediately we leaped from our bunks and seized our rifles, peering anxiously into the darkness. A moment later, however, we were rea.s.sured by a shrill whistle peculiar to Buck Barry, and a moment later he and Don Gaspar rode into camp.
We a.s.sailed them with a storm of questions--why had they returned? what had happened? where was Yank? had there been an accident?
Don Gaspar, who appeared very weary and depressed, shook his head sadly.
Barry looked at us savagely from beneath his brows.
"The gold is gone; and that"s an end of it!" he growled.
At these words a careful, dead silence fell on us all. The situation had suddenly become too serious for hasty treatment. We felt instinctively that a wrong word might do irreparable damage. But in our hearts suspicion and anger and dull hatred leaped to life full grown. We tightened our belts, as it were, and clamped our elbows to our sides, and became wary, watching with unfriendly eyes. Johnny alone opened his lips.
"Lost? I don"t believe it!" he cried.
Barry cast an ugly look at him, but said nothing. We all saw that look.
"Where"s Yank?" I asked.
"Dead by now, I suppose," flung back Barry.
"Good G.o.d!" I cried; and under my breath, "Then you"ve murdered him!"
I don"t know whether Barry heard me or not, and at the time I did not much care. His sullen eye was resting on one after the other of us as we stood there in the firelight. Every face was angry and suspicious. Barry flung himself from his horse, tore the pad from its back, slapped it on the flank, and turned away, reckless of where it went. He cut himself a steak and set to cooking his food, an uncompromising shoulder turned in our direction; nor did he open his mouth to utter another word until the general discussion later in the evening. Don Gaspar, who owned the only riding saddle, unharnessed his horse, led it to water, knee haltered it, and turned it loose to graze. While he was gone no one spoke, but we glanced at each other darkly. He returned, sat down by the fire, rolled himself a cigarette, and volunteered his story.
"My fren"," said he, with a directness and succinctness utterly foreign to his everyday speech, "you want to know what happen". Ver" well; it was like this."
He told us that, after we had left them, they hurried on as fast as possible in order to reach the settled country. Owing to the excellence of his animal he was generally some distance in advance. At one point, stopping on a slight elevation to allow them to catch up, he looked back in time to see two men on horseback emerge from the chaparral just behind his companions. Don Gaspar shouted and leaped from his saddle; but before the warning had reached the others, a riata from the hand of one of the men had fallen with deadly accuracy around Yank"s arms and body, jerking him violently from the saddle. The thrower whirled his horse to drag his victim, Don Gaspar fired, and by great good luck shot the animal through the brain. It fell in a heap, pinning its rider beneath it. In the meantime Barry had leaped to the ground, and from behind the shelter of his horse had shot the first robber through the body. Our two companions now drew together, and took refuge behind some large rocks, preparing to receive the charge of a band of half dozen who now appeared. The situation looked desperate. Don Gaspar fired and missed. He was never anything of a marksman, and his first shot must have been a great piece of luck. Barry held his fire. The robbers each discharged his rifle, but harmlessly. Then just as they seemed about to charge in, they whirled their horses and made off into the brush.
"We could not tell the why," observed Don Gaspar.
The two men did not speculate, but ran out to where Yank lay, apparently dead, his arms still bound close to his body by the noose of the riata.
Barry cut the rope with his bowie knife, and they rolled him over. They found he still breathed, but that, beside the shock of his violent fall, he had been badly trampled by the horses. After a moment he came to consciousness, but when they attempted to lift him upright, they found that his leg was broken.
At this moment they heard the sound of voices, and, looking up, saw coming from the other direction a band of a dozen men, half of whom were on horseback, and all of whom were armed. This looked serious.
"We got behind the rock," said Don Gaspar, "but we think to ourself our goose is cook."
The newcomers, however, proved to be miners, who had heard the shots, and who now came hurrying up. Evidently the robbers had caught sight or sound of their approach. They were much interested in the state of affairs, examined the horse Don Gaspar had killed, searched for and found the body of the robber Barry had shot. It proved to be a Mexican, well known to them all, and suspected to be a member of Andreas Aijo"s celebrated band. They inquired for the dead horse"s rider.
"And then, for the first time," said Don Gaspar, "we think of him. He went down with his horse. But now he was gone; and also the horse of Senor Yank. But I think he crawl off in the chaparral; and that the horse of Senor Yank run away with the other horse of the dead man."