"The Indian camp he sent Strange to was in thin bush, close under the broken range, on the north side."
Thirlwell turned to Agatha. "Then we oughtn"t to have much trouble in locating the ore. We know where the factory stood, and if we can find the thin bush, I can follow the line your father took."
Agatha"s eyes shone and her color came and went, but with an effort she preserved her calm.
"After all, the bush may have grown."
"I think not," said Thirlwell. "It"s probably rocky ground where the trees are small."
"But how was it my father did not see the gap?"
"That is easily accounted for. The gap"s not large, and I expect you can only see it when you"re directly opposite, at a right angle to the line of the high ground. If you moved back a mile or two, the rocks and trees would shut it in. Drummond didn"t see it as we came up the lake."
"I suppose we must wait until to-morrow?"
"Yes," said Thirlwell. "We must leave the water, and can"t get through the bush in the dark."
Agatha made a sign of agreement. "Very well; I am glad the nights are very short. But I would like to start at daybreak."
Then they turned and went back silently to camp. Thirlwell was conscious of a keen disturbance that he would not a.n.a.lyze and saw that Agatha did not want to talk. As a matter of fact, Agatha could not talk. She felt a curious exaltation: her heart was full.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE LODE
At daybreak next morning Thirlwell sent the _Metis_ up the lake to make a _cache_ of the provisions he did not need, and hide the canoes in the brush. In the meantime, he scattered the ashes of the fire and buried the empty cans and all the chips he could find. There was another party in the neighborhood, and he wanted to leave nothing to indicate that the spot had been recently occupied by a camp. When the men returned the party set off along the beach, loaded with food and tools. Walking across the stones and ledges was laborious, but he did not mean to leave a trail, and kept to the water"s edge for some distance before he plunged into the bush.
After this, their progress was very slow. The small trees grew close together and in places the ground was covered with rotting trunks and branches. Moreover the line he took led steadily upwards towards the break in the range. It did not look very far off when they started, but dusk was falling and the packers were nearly exhausted when they threw down their loads at the bottom of the gap. Thirlwell"s back ached and the straps had galled his shoulders, but he noted with some surprise that Agatha did not look tired. She dropped behind as they toiled up the last rough stony slope, but she helped to pitch camp. Her movements were not languid and her eyes were bright.
By and by she took out the worn paper from the tobacco-box and asked Thirlwell a few questions. He answered rather moodily, and as soon as he could picked up his blanket and went off to the bed he had made of twigs. The hollow he had found was sheltered and the twigs were soft, but it was long before he slept. They were near the spot where Strange claimed to have seen the ore, and he was now persuaded that they would find the vein. If the ore carried as much silver as the specimens indicated, Agatha would be rich. She would go back to the cities, and if her riches were not to separate them altogether, he must enter her employment. Somehow he shrank from this.
But the ore might prove poorer than one thought and the mine cost much to work. He would not admit that he hoped so, since he wanted Agatha to enjoy all the happiness that wealth could give. Indeed, he did not know what he hoped; he was physically tired and although he felt strangely restless his brain was dull. At length his eyes closed and for some hours he slept brokenly.
Getting up at daybreak, he scrambled along the bottom of the gap until he could look down on the other side, and presently turned with a start as he heard a rattle of stones. Agatha, whom he had thought asleep, advanced with a smile. She looked very fresh, and although he imagined she was highly strung, her face was calm. For a few moments she said nothing, but stood close by, gazing fixedly in front.
There was some mist on the low ground, but, for the most part, the tops of the pines rose above the haze. The sky in the east was getting red, and here and there one saw gleams of water and the gray backs of rocks.
That was all, for the landscape was blurred to the north, where a vague gray line hinted at another range.
"The haze is tantalizing," she remarked by and by. "One could not see when we got here and I have been waiting for the dawn."
"I hoped you slept. We made a long march yesterday."
"Did you sleep?"
"No," said Thirlwell. "Anyhow, not very much."
Agatha smiled. "Yet you haven"t been thinking about the lode as I have--thinking of nothing else for ever so long! Can"t you imagine what it means to feel I am near the place at last?"
"I can imagine it to some extent. If the ore carries as much silver as we think, you can do what you like when you get your patent; build laboratories, travel, make friends with clever people. In fact, your money will buy you anything you want."
"Do you really believe that?" Agatha asked, with a hint of mockery in her voice. "Do you imagine I have been thinking about the money?"
"I have thought about it," Thirlwell said, and stopped when she gave him a curious glance. "Of course," he resumed, "there"s some satisfaction in feeling you have finished a difficult job."
"Now you"re nearer the mark! But you don"t feel in the mood for philosophizing?"
"I"m often dull before breakfast," Thirlwell replied. "All the same, I"m glad you"re happy. In fact, I"m trying to be sympathetic."
"And you find it hard!"
Thirlwell colored, but looked at her steadily.
"Anyhow, if the thing"s possible, I"m going to find the lode for you."
"Yes," she said, without moving her eyes from his face, "I know you"ll try to find it. You"re trustworthy; you play a straight game!"
"I cheated once."
"That was when you thought the advantage would be mine. But how far do you think we will have to go?"
"Perhaps I can tell you when the sun gets up. We may have to search for three or four days; we may strike the creek to-night."
"Ah," she said, "I hope it will not be three or four days. Now we are very near, the suspense is keen." Then she smiled. "However, we will go back and get breakfast, because you must set your brain to work."
It was next morning when they saw the first of Strange"s landmarks; and Thirlwell, taking its bearing with the compa.s.s, changed their line of march. In the evening they climbed a low hill, and when they reached its top, which rose like an island from a waste of short pine-scrub, Drummond stopped and, touching Agatha, indicated the ridge across the valley.
"Look!" he said. "The _hollow rock_!"
A small gray object, dwarfed by the distance, stood out against a smear of dark green on the crest of the high ground. After studying it for a few moments Thirlwell nodded.
"Yes; I think he"s right."
Drummond turned to Agatha with a sparkle in his eyes. "I quit now, Miss Strange. You"ve got there ahead of Stormont; I guess I"ve made good!"
"You made good when you found the broken range," Agatha replied, giving him a grateful look, and Drummond"s dark face flushed with color as he turned away.
They lost the rock as they went down hill, but when they made camp the roar of falling water came faintly across the woods.
"_The creek that runs south_!" said Thirlwell as he lighted the fire.
They started early next morning, but the ground was rough and the sun was getting low when they came down a rocky hill into a small round hollow, through which shining water flowed. The opposite slope was in shadow, but the slanting sunbeams touched a belt of fresh growth that glowed a vivid green against the somber color of the surrounding trees.
"That," said Thirlwell, "is, no doubt, where the rampikes stood. They"ve gone, and young willows have sprung up. Yonder"s the low cliff. It looks as if we had arrived!"