Hidden Gold Read online

  CHAPTER XIV

  A DASTARD'S BLOW

  At about the time when Rexhill was freeing Moran from his bonds, Wadeand Santry, with rifles slung across their backs were tramping the banksof Piah Creek. In the rocky canyon, which they finally reached, theplacid little stream narrowed into a roaring torrent, which rushedbetween the steep banks and the huge, water-worn bowlders, with furyuncontrolled.

  Neither of the cattlemen greatly feared the coming of a second posse, atleast immediately, but for the sake of prudence, they went armed andkept a careful watch. Wade mounted guard while Santry, who in hisyounger days had prospected in California, squatted over a sandy,rock-rimmed pool and deftly "washed out" a pan of gravel. One glance atthe fine, yellow residue in the bottom of the pan decided him. With atriumphant yell that echoed and reechoed through the gorge, he sprang tohis feet.

  "Whoop-e-e-e! I've struck it!" he shouted excitedly, as Wade ran up tohim. "Look there!" The old man held out a small handful of the yellowdust.

  Wade drew a long breath.

  "Gold! It's true, then!"

  "You betcher, and it's the richest pay-dirt I ever met up with. Nowonder Moran has been willin' to do murder to get a-holt of this land.You're a rich man, boy; a millionaire, I reckon."

  "You mean that _we_ are rich, Bill." The younger man spoke slowly andemphatically. "Whatever comes out of here"--he waved his hand toward thecreek--"is one-half yours. I decided on that long ago. Never mind askingme why." He clapped Santry on the back. "It's because we're partners infact, if not in name. Because you've stuck with me through all the leanyears. That's reason enough."

  The old plainsman carefully emptied the dust back into the pan before hesaid anything.

  "Have you gone clean crazy?" he finally demanded. "Givin' away a fortunelike it was the makin's of a cigareet? If you have, I ain't. Thisstuff's yourn. I'm not sayin' that I won't take a ounce or two, maybe,of this here dust, for old times' sake, if you offer it to me, butthat's all." His wrinkled face twisted into a grin. "You'll be needin'it all one o' these days to pay for your honeymoonin', if I read thesigns right. Ain't that so, son?" He laughed softly as Wade flushed."Shake, boy! Put 'er there! I wish you all the luck that's comin' to anywhite man, by the great horned toad, I do!"

  During the whole of the morning they examined the creek bed and theyfound signs of the yellow metal almost everywhere. At one point, Wadebroke a knob of rock from the face of the cliff, the under surface ofwhich was seamed and streaked with golden veins. Santry could scarcelyrestrain himself; usually taciturn, he was for once as light-hearted andjoyous as a boy. But on the way back to the ranch-house he becameserious.

  "Say, ain't the bulk of that lode on that forty-acre tract that you tookup as a timber claim?" he asked.

  "Yes," Wade answered. "That is, I think so. We can run over the linesthis afternoon and make sure."

  "I reckon we'd better make sure, and if it is, you'll have to lay lowuntil you get your deed. Your homestead rights might be hard to claimnow that there's mineral in the ground. Moran'll most likely keep hismouth shut for reasons of his own, and he may not know about your nothavin' proved up yet, but some other jasper might get wise."

  "I don't think any one around here would contest my right to the land,Bill," Wade replied thoughtfully. "Still, as you say, we'd better becareful. The gold will keep. We haven't heard the last of Moran and hiscrowd yet, not by a jugful." He chuckled grimly. "I wonder if anybody'scut him loose yet."

  "I reckon they have, boy. He'll keep monkeyin' around this territoryuntil he meets up with some feller like me, with a bad temper and aquick gun hand, who'll make him good the same way we useter make goodInjuns. Hullo, steady!"

  Although they were now in sight of the house and the men hanging aboutit for the noon-day meal, Santry had not relaxed his caution and hiseyes had picked out two moving dots in the distance, which presentlydeveloped into galloping horses. He smiled instantly.

  "Can't be nobody lookin' for trouble," he observed, and presently hiseyes twinkled. "Take a good look, boy. I reckon you know _one_ of 'em,anyhow."

  The horses came on rapidly, until upon the foremost of them Wade couldsee the fluttering skirt of a woman, while the other he recognized asbelonging to Lem Trowbridge even before he could clearly make out therider.

  "Tell the cook we'll have company to dinner," Wade called to Santry ashe untied a horse from the hitching rack near the barn and rode off tomeet the newcomers.

  With fine prescience, Trowbridge, when he saw him ride toward them, drewhis horse down to a walk, and so was discreetly in the rear when Dorothyand Wade met.

  "Mighty glad to see you," he greeted her, "but that goes withoutsaying."

  "Thanks," she responded, hoping that he would attribute the heightenedcolor of her cheeks to the exertion of the ride. "We thought we'd rideout to see how you were getting along."

  Despite her blush, that had come at the recollection of his kiss thenight before, she still looked him straight in the eyes, but with asweet humility, an attitude of surrender, which he understood and whichtouched him. There was nothing bold about her look, but an engagingwomanliness, which would have appealed to any decent man, even while itstirred his pulse. She wore a wide felt hat, from beneath the brim ofwhich her hair floated, shaken out of its moorings by the jolting ofher gallop. A flannel blouse, which was most becoming, and a dividedskirt completed a sensible costume, which seemed to Wade more attractivethan any he had ever seen in the East. She rode with the straightstirrups of the cattle country, and sat her mount with the grace of aborn horsewoman.

  "What's happened to Moran?" he asked, waving his hat to Trowbridge, asthe latter rode toward them.

  "He's out and around again. I saw him this morning. He was an awfulsight. You must keep your eyes open, Gordon, really you must. He'll bemore dangerous than ever now."

  "Oh, I guess we've clipped his claws for a while," he said lightly,unwilling that she should be anxious for his safety, sweet though hefound her sympathy to be. "Hello, Lem!"

  "Hello, yourself!" They shook hands, the firm handclasp of strong men,and then all three rode on together to the house.

  After dinner, the plainness of which meant nothing to such appetites astheir out-door living had aroused, they sat on the porch, the men overtheir cigarettes and Dorothy quite content in the contemplation of thesweetness which her heart had found.

  "How are things going on your place, Lem?" asked Wade.

  "Badly, Gordon. That's one reason I rode over to see you. Have you heardabout the fight on my range? You haven't?"

  "I didn't have time last night to tell him," Dorothy interposed.

  "A number of my boys got into a shooting affray with some herders,"Trowbridge explained. "Two of the boys were hurt and one of the herders,I understand, was badly shot."

  "Too bad," Wade commented. "Confound it, Lem, what are these fellowsthinking of? They must know that our patience won't last always, andwhen it breaks we're ten to their one."

  "Well,"--Trowbridge deftly flecked his cigarette stub over the porchrailing,--"I'm through now, Gordon. I've given my men orders to standfor no more nonsense. I've told them to shoot at the drop of the hat,and I'll stand behind 'em, law or no law. The next time there's trouble,and it's likely to come any hour, I'm going to lead my outfit into afight that'll be some fight, believe me. And I'm not going to quit untilevery sheep man in the county is headed East on the run."

  "We'll be with you," Wade said heartily. "Tip us the word and we'll beright after you."

  Trowbridge nodded.

  "I'll take you up on that, Gordon. Not that we need help, youunderstand, but because it'll be best for us to present a united frontin this business. United, we stand; divided, we fall; that's the word,eh?"

  Dorothy leaned forward, with an anxious look.

  "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I hope neither one of you will get shot."

  Trowbridge made her a bow from his chair.

  "We'll try not to," he said mockingly, and she was obliged to join
inthe general laugh.

  "If you feel that you ought to do it, of course you will--fight, Imean," she said, helplessly. "But I think it's dreadful, all the same."

  "What has Thomas done about me?" Wade asked. "I understand that he'sholding quite a bunch of warrants up his sleeve?"

  "I don't think he's done anything, and I don't believe he's anxious to,"Trowbridge answered. "He's shown some courage, that fellow, in the past,but I always thought he had a yellow streak in him somewhere. I don'tthink you need fear him much."

  "Well, I'm glad to know that, not that I've been very uneasy, but we'vehad to keep a pretty close look-out here, and it's doubled us upuncomfortably. I want to go out to my timber claim this afternoon, andbut for what you've said, I know Bill would insist on going along. Now Ican leave him here to attend to his work."

  Dorothy was opposed to the idea and she said so, but her opinion wasoverridden by the two men. Trowbridge declared that there was absolutelynothing to fear from Sheriff Thomas, at least immediately.

  "I'm positive of that," he summed up. "If there was any new move onfoot, I'd have heard of it."

  "That may be," Dorothy argued, "but you know Senator Rexhill is behindhim to urge him on."

  "That's another man we ought to run out of this neighborhood,"Trowbridge declared. "The only trouble is that the old fox has laid solow that we haven't anything definite on him. We can suspect all welike; but when it comes right down to facts, he has us guessing. Wecan't prove a thing against him, and he's too big game to flush withoutpowder. Well, we'd better be off."

  "Stay a while," Wade urged. "It's early yet. I didn't mean to hurry youwhen I spoke of going out to the claim. I've got plenty of time."

  "I haven't told him about the gold," Dorothy whispered, as he helped herinto her saddle. "I thought you might want to keep it quiet for thepresent."

  "Sure, we'll tell him," he said, pressing her hand. "We're all on thesame side in this business."

  He explained his good fortune to Trowbridge, who was delighted andenthusiastic over the prospect of the vein impinging upon his own range.

  "Well, that _is_ some luck, eh?" Trowbridge skillfully managed hishorse, which was high-spirited enough to still be sportive in spite ofthe long ride of the morning. "Every cloud's got a silver lining, as thepoet says. And another thing, it shows Rexhill's real motive, don'tforget that. Oh, we'll get 'em by and by. Sure thing, we will. Well, solong."

  "So long, Lem! Call on us when you want us."

  "Good-by!" Dorothy waved to him as the horses sped away in the directionof Crawling Water.

  Wade watched them out of sight, and then entered the house to tellSantry that he would not be needed on the afternoon trip to the timberclaim. The old man growled a little at the idea of Wade going alone,but he finally gave in.

  "I'll take my gun and keep my eye peeled," his employer promised. "If Ican't stand off trouble until I get home, or you can get to me, I'lllose my bet. You've got your work to do, Bill. If you're going to nurseme all the time, I'll have to get another foreman to run the crew."

  He rode away, then, toward the foothills, confident of his ability tolook after himself in case of trouble. There was nothing in the peacefulaspect of the range to suggest an enemy, but he kept his rifle ready andhis ears and eyes open. Once he paused abruptly when a rabbit jumped outof a clump of quaking-aspens, a hundred yards ahead, only to chuckle athis own overcaution.

  The sun, which was still high, was shining as only a Wyoming sun canshine, from out of a blue-vaulted canopy, flecked with fleecy clouds.Swinging from the tops of the sagebrush, or an occasional cottonwood,yellow-breasted meadowlarks were singing sweetly. At intervals a flockof curlews circled above the rider, uttering their sharp, plaintivecries; then they would drop to the ground and run rapidly to and fro ontheir frail, stilt-like legs, their long ungainly bills darting fromside to side in search of food.

  Over the plains, from which Wade now turned, hundreds of red and whitecattle, their hides as sleek as velvet, were grazing, singly and inscattered groups, as far as the eye could see. Toward its mouth, thevalley was spotted with many fenced alfalfa fields, and traversed byirrigation ditches; while to the right, in the direction in which Wadenow rode, rose the timber belt. A fresh, soft breeze, fragrant with theodor of clean, damp earth, rustled the leaves of the cottonwoods, someof which were of enormous size, as the horseman pushed his way fartherinto the shadow of the mountains.

  After a careful scrutiny, which satisfied him that the vicinity harboredno enemies, he dismounted, but still actuated by caution, kept thebridle reins looped over his wrist, as he searched for further evidenceof gold. Unlike Santry, the ranchman was not trained in the ways ofprospecting, and he began to regret that he had not allowed the foremanto accompany him. He followed what he thought were promising signsdeeper into the silence of the tall timber, and finally dropped on hisknees to make sure of some outcroppings of quartz near the base of ahuge bowlder. He was so crouched when a sudden movement of his horsewarned him of danger; but he had not time to arise before a crushingblow on the head, delivered from behind, shook him to the very marrow ofhis spine. With a low groan, he toppled over onto his face, senseless.

  "Have you got him?" Moran peered around the side of the bowlder, andsmiled exultantly when he saw Wade's still figure. "Throw him acrossyour saddle," he commanded, "and follow me."