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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/11668-0.txt b/11668-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e73ca00 --- /dev/null +++ b/11668-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6786 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gold Hunters, by James Oliver Curwood + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Gold Hunters + A Story of Life and Adventure in the Hudson Bay Wilds + +Author: James Oliver Curwood + +Posting Date: February 10, 2020 [EBook #11668] +Release Date: March 22, 2004 + +Language: English + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLD HUNTERS *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark, Suzanne Shell, Björn Lijnema +and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +[Illustration: The canoe sped out into the gloom.] + + +THE GOLD HUNTERS + +A Story of Life and Adventure in the Hudson Bay Wilds + +BY +JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD + +1909 + + +To the sweet-voiced, dark-eyed little half-Cree maiden +at Lac-Bain, who is the Minnetaki of this story; and to "Teddy" Brown, +guide and trapper, and loyal comrade of the author in many of his +adventures, this book is affectionately dedicated. + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +THE PURSUIT OF THE HUDSON BAY MAIL + +The deep hush of noon hovered over the vast solitude of Canadian +forest. The moose and caribou had fed since early dawn, and were +resting quietly in the warmth of the February sun; the lynx was curled +away in his niche between the great rocks, waiting for the sun to +sink farther into the north and west before resuming his marauding +adventures; the fox was taking his midday slumber and the restless +moose-birds were fluffing themselves lazily in the warm glow that was +beginning to melt the snows of late winter. + +It was that hour when the old hunter on the trail takes off his pack, +silently gathers wood for a fire, eats his dinner and smokes his pipe, +eyes and ears alert;--that hour when, if you speak above a whisper, he +will say to you, + +"Sh-h-h-h! Be quiet! You can't tell how near we are to game. +Everything has had its morning feed and is lying low. The game won't +be moving again for an hour or two, and there may be moose or caribou +a gunshot ahead. We couldn't hear them--now!" + +And yet, after a time one thing detached itself from this lifeless +solitude. At first it was nothing more than a spot on the sunny side +of a snow-covered ridge. Then it moved, stretched itself like a dog, +with its forefeet extended far to the front and its shoulders hunched +low--and was a wolf. + +A wolf is a heavy sleeper after a feast. A hunter would have said that +this wolf had gorged itself the night before. Still, something had +alarmed it. Faintly there came to this wilderness outlaw that most +thrilling of all things to the denizens of the forest--the scent of +man. He came down the ridge with the slow indifference of a full-fed +animal, and with only a half of his old cunning; trotted across the +softening snow of an opening and stopped where the man-scent was so +strong that he lifted his head straight up to the sky and sent out to +his comrades in forest and plain the warning signal that he had struck +a human trail. A wolf will do this, and no more, in broad day. At +night he might follow, and others would join him in the chase; but +with daylight about him he gives the warning and after a little slinks +away from the trail. + +But something held this wolf. There was a mystery in the air which +puzzled him. Straight ahead there ran the broad, smooth trail of a +sled and the footprints of many dogs. Sometime within the last hour +the "dog mail" from Wabinosh House had passed that way on its long +trip to civilization. But it was not the swift passage of man and +dog that held the wolf rigidly alert, ready for flight--and yet +hesitating. It was something from the opposite direction, from the +North, out of which the wind was coming. First it was sound; then it +was scent--then both, and the wolf sped in swift flight up the sunlit +ridge. + +In the direction from which the alarm came there stretched a small +lake, and on its farther edge, a quarter of a mile away, there +suddenly darted out from the dense rim of balsam forest a jumble of +dogs and sledge and man. For a few moments the mass of animals seemed +entangled in some kind of wreck or engaged in one of those fierce +battles in which the half-wild sledge-dogs of the North frequently +engage, even on the trail. Then there came the sharp, commanding cries +of a human voice, the cracking of a whip, the yelping of the +huskies, and the disordered team straightened itself and came like a +yellowish-gray streak across the smooth surface of the lake. Close +beside the sledge ran the man. He was tall, and thin, and even at that +distance one would have recognized him as an Indian. Hardly had the +team and its wild-looking driver progressed a quarter of the distance +across the lake when there came a shout farther back, and a second +sledge burst into view from out of the thick forest. Beside this +sledge, too, a driver was running with desperate speed. + +The leader now leaped upon his sledge, his voice rising in sharp cries +of exhortation, his whip whirling and cracking over the backs of his +dogs. The second driver still ran, and thus gained upon the team +ahead, so that when they came to the opposite side of the lake, where +the wolf had sent out the warning cry to his people, the twelve dogs +of the two teams were almost abreast. + +Quickly there came a slackening in the pace set by the leading dog of +each team, and half a minute later the sledges stopped. The dogs flung +themselves down in their harness, panting, with gaping jaws, the snow +reddening under their bleeding feet. The men, too, showed signs of +terrible strain. The elder of these, as we have said, was an Indian, +pure breed of the great Northern wilderness. His companion was a youth +who had not yet reached his twenties, slender, but with the strength +and agility of an animal in his limbs, his handsome face bronzed by +the free life of the forest, and in his veins a plentiful strain of +that blood which made his comrade kin. + +In those two we have again met our old friends Mukoki and Wabigoon: +Mukoki, the faithful old warrior and pathfinder, and Wabigoon, the +adventurous half-Indian son of the factor of Wabinosh House. Both +were at the height of some great excitement. For a few moments, while +gaining breath, they gazed silently into each other's face. + +"I'm afraid--we can't--catch them, Muky," panted the younger. "What do +you think--" + +He stopped, for Mukoki had thrown himself on his knees in the snow a +dozen feet in front of the teams. From that point there ran straight +ahead of them the trail of the dog mail. For perhaps a full minute he +examined the imprints of the dogs' feet and the smooth path made +by the sledge. Then he looked up, and with one of those inimitable +chuckles which meant so much when coming from him, he said: + +"We catch heem--sure! See--sledge heem go _deep_. Both ride. Big load +for dogs. We catch heem--sure!" + +"But our dogs!" persisted Wabigoon, his face still filled with doubt. +"They're completely bushed, and my leader has gone lame. See how +they're bleeding!" + +The huskies, as the big wolfish sledge-dogs of the far North are +called, were indeed in a pitiable condition. The warm sun had weakened +the hard crust of the snow until at every leap the feet of the animals +had broken through, tearing and wounding themselves on its ragged, +knife-like edges. Mukoki's face became more serious as he carefully +examined the teams. + +"Bad--ver' bad," he grunted. "We fool--fool!" + +"For not bringing dog shoes?" said Wabigoon. "I've got a dozen shoes +on my sledge--enough for three dogs. By George--" He leaped quickly to +his toboggan, caught up the dog moccasins, and turned again to the old +Indian, alive with new excitement. "We've got just one chance, Muky!" +he half shouted. + +"Pick out the strongest dogs. One of us must go on alone!" + +The sharp commands of the two adventurers and the cracking of Mukoki's +whip brought the tired and bleeding animals to their feet. Over the +pads of three of the largest and strongest were drawn the buckskin +moccasins, and to these three, hitched to Wabigoon's sledge, were +added six others that appeared to have a little endurance still left +in them. A few moments later the long line of dogs was speeding +swiftly over the trail of the Hudson Bay mail, and beside the sled ran +Wabigoon. + +Thus this thrilling pursuit of the dog mail had continued since early +dawn. For never more than a minute or two at a time had there been a +rest. Over mountain and lake, through dense forest and across barren +plain man and dog had sped without food or drink, snatching up +mouthfuls of snow here and there--always their eyes upon the fresh +trail of the flying mail. Even the fierce huskies seemed to understand +that the chase had become a matter of life and death, and that they +were to follow the trail ahead of them, ceaselessly and without +deviation, until the end of their masters was accomplished. The human +scent was becoming stronger and stronger in their wolf-like nostrils. +Somewhere on that trail there were men, and other dogs, and they were +to overtake them! + +Even now, bleeding and stumbling as they ran, the blood of battle, the +excitement of the chase, was hot within them. Half-wolf, half-dog, +their white fangs snarling as stronger whiffs of the man-smell came to +them, they were filled with the savage desperation of the youth who +urged them on. The keen instinct of the wild pointed out their road to +them, and they needed no guiding hand. Faithful until the last they +dragged on their burden, their tongues lolling farther from their +jaws, their hearts growing weaker, their eyes bloodshot until they +glowed like red balls. Now and then, when he had run until his +endurance was gone, Wabigoon would fling himself upon the sledge to +regain breath and rest his limbs, and the dogs would tug harder, +scarce slackening their speed under the increased weight. Once a huge +moose crashed through the forest a hundred paces away, but the huskies +paid no attention to it; a little farther on a lynx, aroused from +his sun bath on a rock, rolled like a great gray ball across the +trail,--the dogs cringed but for an instant at the sight of this +mortal enemy of theirs, and then went on. + +Slower and slower grew the pace. The rearmost dog was now no more than +a drag, and reaching a keen-edged knife far out over the end of the +sledge Wabi severed his breast strap and the exhausted animal rolled +out free beside the trail. Two others of the team were pulling scarce +a pound, another was running lame, and the trail behind was spotted +with pads of blood. Each minute added to the despair that was growing +in the youth's face. His eyes, like those of his faithful dogs, were +red from the terrible strain of the race, his lips were parted, his +legs, as tireless as those of a red deer, were weakening under him. +More and more frequently he flung himself upon the sledge, panting +for breath, and shorter and shorter became his intervals of running +between these periods of rest. The end of the chase was almost at +hand. They could not overtake the Hudson Bay mail! + +With a final cry of encouragement Wabi sprang from the sledge and +plunged along at the head of the dogs, urging them on in one last +supreme effort. Ahead of them was a break in the forest trail and +beyond that, mile upon mile, stretched the vast white surface of Lake +Nipigon. And far out in the glare of sun and snow there moved an +object, something that was no more than a thin black streak to +Wabi's blinded eyes but which he knew was the dog mail on its way to +civilization. He tried to shout, but the sound that fell from his lips +could not have been heard a hundred paces away; his limbs tottered +beneath him; his feet seemed suddenly to turn into lead, and he sank +helpless into the snow. The faithful pack crowded about him licking +his face and hands, their hot breath escaping between their gaping +jaws like hissing steam For a few moments it seemed to the Indian +youth that day had suddenly turned into night. His eyes closed, the +panting of the dogs came to him more and more faintly, as if they were +moving away; he felt himself sinking, sinking slowly down into utter +blackness. + +Desperately he fought to bring himself back into life. There was one +more chance--just one! He heard the dogs again, he felt their tongues +upon his hands and face, and he dragged himself to his knees, groping +out with his hands like one who had gone blind. A few feet away was +the sledge, and out there, far beyond his vision now, was the Hudson +Bay mail! + +Foot by foot he drew himself out from among the tangle of dogs. He +reached the sledge, and his fingers gripped convulsively at the cold +steel of his rifle. One more chance! One more chance! The words--the +thought--filled his brain, and he raised the rifle to his shoulder, +pointing its muzzle up to the sky so that he would not harm the dogs. +And then, once, twice, five times he fired into the air, and at the +end of the fifth shot he drew fresh cartridges from his belt, +and fired again and again, until the black streak far out in the +wilderness of ice and snow stopped in its progress--and turned back. +And still the sharp signals rang out again and again, until the barrel +of Wabi's rifle grew hot, and his cartridge belt was empty. + +Slowly the gloom cleared away before his eyes. He heard a shout, and +staggered to his feet, stretching out his arms and calling a name as +the dog mail stopped half a hundred yards from his own team. + +With something between a yell of joy and a cry of astonishment a youth +of about Wabi's age sprang from the second sleigh and ran to the +Indian boy, catching him in his arms as for a second time, he sank +fainting upon the snow. + +"Wabi--what's the matter?" he cried. "Are you hurt? Are you--" + +For a moment Wabigoon struggled to overcome his weakness. + +"Rod--" he whispered, "Rod--Minnetaki--" + +His lips ceased to move and he sank heavily in his companion's arms. + +"What is it, Wabi? Quick! Speak!" urged the other. His face had grown +strangely white, his voice trembled. "What about--Minnetaki?" + +Again the Indian youth fought to bring himself back to life. His words +came faintly, + +"Minnetaki--has been captured--by--the--Woongas!" + +Then even his breath seemed to stop, and he lay like one dead. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +MINNETAKI IN THE HANDS OF THE OUTLAWS + +For a brief time Roderick believed that life had indeed passed from +the body of his young friend. So still did Wabi lie and so terrifying +was the strange pallor in his face that the white boy found himself +calling on his comrade in a voice filled with choking sobs. The driver +of the dog mail dropped on his knees beside the two young hunters. +Running his hand under Wabi's thick shirt he held it there for an +instant, and said, + +"He's alive!" + +Quickly drawing a small metal flask from one of his pockets he +unscrewed the top, and placing the mouthpiece to the Indian youth's +lips forced a bit of its contents down his throat. The liquor had +almost immediate effect, and Wabigoon opened his eyes, gazed into the +rough visage of the courier, then closed them again. There was relief +in the courier's face as he pointed to the dogs from Wabinosh House. +The exhausted animals were lying stretched upon the snow, their heads +drooping between their forefeet. Even the presence of a rival team +failed to arouse them from their lethargy. One might have thought that +death had overtaken them upon the trail were it not for their panting +sides and lolling tongues. + +"He's not hurt!" exclaimed the driver, "see the dogs! He's been +running--running until he dropped in his tracks!" + +The assurance brought but little comfort to Rod. He could feel the +tremble of returning life in Wabi's body now, but the sight of the +exhausted and bleeding dogs and the memory of his comrade's last words +had filled him with a new and terrible fear. What had happened to +Minnetaki? Why had the factor's son come all this distance for him? +Why had he pursued the mail until his dogs were nearly dead, and he +himself had fallen unconscious in his tracks? Was Minnetaki dead? Had +the Woongas killed Wabi's beautiful little sister? + +Again and again he implored his friend to speak to him, until the +courier pushed him back and carried Wabi to the mail sled. + +"Hustle up there to that bunch of spruce and build a fire," he +commanded. "We've got to get something hot into him, and rub him down, +and roll him in furs. This is bad enough, bad enough!" + +Rod waited to hear no more, but ran to the clump of spruce to which +the courier had directed him. Among them he found a number of birch +trees, and stripping off an armful of bark he had a fire blazing upon +the snow by the time the dog mail drew up with its unconscious burden. +While the driver was loosening Wabi's clothes and bundling him in +heavy bearskins Rod added dry limbs to the fire until it threw a warm +glow for a dozen paces around. Within a few minutes a pot of ice and +snow was melting over the flames and the courier was opening a can of +condensed soup. + +The deathly pallor had gone from Wabi's face, and Rod, kneeling close +beside him, was rejoiced to see the breath coming more and more +regularly from between his lips. But even as he rejoiced the other +fear grew heavier at his heart. What had happened to Minnetaki? He +found himself repeating the question again and again as he watched +Wabi slowly returning to life, and, so quickly that it had passed in a +minute or two, there flashed through his mind a vision of all that had +happened the last few months. For a few moments, as his mind traveled +back, he was again in Detroit with his widowed mother; he thought of +the day he had first met Wabigoon, the son of an English factor and a +beautiful Indian princess, who had come far down into civilization to +be educated; of the friendship that had followed, of their weeks and +months together in school, and then of those joyous days and nights in +which they had planned a winter of thrilling adventure at Wabi's home +in the far North. + +And what adventures there had been, when, as the Wolf Hunters, he and +Wabi and Mukoki had braved the perils of the frozen solitudes! As +Wabigoon's breath came more and more regularly he thought of that +wonderful canoe trip from the last bit of civilization up into the +wilds; of his first sight of moose, the first bear he had killed, and +of his meeting with Minnetaki. + +His eyes became blurred and his heart grew cold as he thought of what +might have happened to her. A vision of the girl swept between him and +Wabi's face, in which the glow of life was growing warmer and warmer, +a vision of the little half-Indian maiden as he had first seen her, +when she came out to meet them in her canoe from Wabinosh House, the +sun shining on her dark hair, her cheeks flushed with excitement, her +eyes and teeth sparkling in glad welcome to her beloved brother +and the white youth of whom she had heard so much--the boy from +civilization--Roderick Drew. He remembered how his cap had blown off +into the water, how she had rescued it for him. In a flash all that +passed after that came before him like a picture; the days that he and +Minnetaki had rambled together in the forest, the furious battle +in which, single-handed, he had saved her from those fierce outlaw +Indians of the North, the Woongas; and after that he thought of +the weeks of thrilling adventure they three--Mukoki, Wabigoon and +himself--had spent in the wilderness far from the Hudson Bay Post, of +their months of trapping, their desperate war with the Woongas, the +discovery of the century-old cabin and its ancient skeletons, and +their finding of the birch-bark map between the bones of one of the +skeleton's fingers, on which, dimmed by age, was drawn the trail to a +land of gold. + +Instinctively, as for an instant this map came into his mental +picture, he thrust a hand into one of his inside pockets to feel that +his own copy of that map was there, the map which was to have brought +him back into this wilderness a few weeks hence, when they three would +set out on the romantic quest for the gold to which the skeletons in +the old cabin had given them the key. + +The vision left him as he saw a convulsive shudder pass through +Wabigoon. In another moment the Indian youth had opened his eyes, and +as he looked up into Rod's eager face he smiled feebly. He tried to +speak, but words failed him, and his eyes closed again. There was a +look of terror in Roderick's face as he turned to the courier, who +came to his side. Less than twenty-four hours before he had left +Wabigoon in the full strength of his splendid youth at Wabinosh House, +a lithe young giant, hardened by their months of adventure, quivering +with buoyant life, anxious for the spring that they might meet again +to take up another trail into the unexplored North. + +And now what a change! The glimpse he had caught of Wabi's bloodshot +eyes, the terrible thinness of the Indian youth's face, the chilling +lifelessness of his hands, made him shiver with dread. Was it +possible that a few short hours could bring about that remarkable +transformation? And where was Mukoki, the faithful old warrior from +whose guardianship Wabigoon and Minnetaki were seldom allowed to +escape? + +It seemed an hour before Wabi opened his eyes again, and yet it was +only a few minutes. This time Rod lifted him gently in his arms and +the courier placed a cup of the hot soup to his lips. The warmth of +the liquid put new life into the famished Indian youth. He drank +slowly of it at first, then eagerly, and when he had finished the cup +he made an effort to sit up. + +"I'll take another," he said faintly. "It's mighty good!" + +He drank the second cup with even greater relish. Then he sat bolt +upright, stretched out his arms, and with his companion's assistance +staggered to his feet. His bloodshot eyes burned with a strange +excitement as he looked at Rod. + +"I was afraid--I wouldn't--catch you!" + +"What is it, Wabi? What has happened? You say--Minnetaki--" + +"Has been captured by the Woongas. Chief Woonga himself is her captor, +and they are taking her into the North. Rod, only you can save her!" + +"Only--I--can--save--her?" gasped Rod slowly. "What do you mean?" + +"Listen!" cried the Indian boy, clutching him by the arm. "You +remember that after our fight with the Woongas and our escape from the +chasm we fled to the south, and that the next day, while you were away +from camp hunting for some animal that would give us fat for Mukoki's +wound, you discovered a trail. You told us that you followed the +sledge tracks, and that after a time the party had been met by others +on snow-shoes, and that among the imprints in the snow was one that +made you think of Minnetaki. When we reached the Post we learned that +Minnetaki and two sledges had gone to Kenegami House and at once +concluded that those snow-shoe trails were made by Kenegami people +sent out to meet her. But they were not! They were made by Woongas! + +"One of the guides, who escaped with a severe wound, brought the news +to us last night, and the doctor at the Post says that his hurt is +fatal and that he will not live another day. Everything depends on +you. You and the dying guide are the only two who know where to find +the place where the attack was made. It has been thawing for two days +and the trail may be obliterated. But you saw Minnetaki's footprints. +You saw the snow-shoe trails. You--and you alone--know which way they +went!" + +Wabi spoke rapidly, excitedly, and then sank down on the sledge, +weakened by his exertion. + +"We have been chasing you with two teams since dawn," he added, "and +pretty nearly killed the dogs. As a last chance we doubled up the +teams and I came on alone. I left Mukoki a dozen miles back on the +trail." + +Rod's blood had turned cold with horror at the knowledge that +Minnetaki was in the clutches of Woonga himself. The terrible change +in Wabi was no longer a mystery. Both Minnetaki and her brother had +told him more than once of the relentless feud waged against Wabinosh +House by this bloodthirsty savage and during the last winter he had +come into personal contact with it. He had fought, had seen people +die, and had almost fallen a victim to Woonga's vengeance. + +But it was not of these things that he thought just now. It was of the +reason for the feud, and something rose in his throat and choked him +until he made no effort to speak. Many years before, George Newsome, a +young Englishman, had come to Wabinosh House, and there he had met +and fallen in love with a beautiful Indian princess, who loved him in +turn, and became his wife. Woonga, chief of a warlike tribe, had been +his rival, and when the white man won in the battle for love his +fierce heart blazed with the fire of hatred and revenge. From that day +the relentless strife against the people of Wabinosh House began. The +followers of Woonga turned from trappers and hunters to murderers and +outlaws, and became known all over that wilderness country as the +Woongas. For years the feud had continued. Like a hawk Woonga watched +his opportunities, killing here, robbing there, and always waiting a +chance to rob the factor of his wife or children. Only a few weeks +before Rod had saved Minnetaki in that terrible struggle in the +forest. And now, more hopelessly than before, she had fallen into the +clutches of her enemies, and alone with Woonga was being carried into +the far North country, into those vast unexplored regions from which +she would probably never return! + +Rod turned to Wabi, his hands clenched, his eyes blazing. + +"I can find the trail, Wabi! I can find the trail--and we'll follow +it to the North Pole if we have to! We beat the Woongas in the +chasm--we'll beat them now! We'll find Minnetaki if it takes us until +doomsday!" + +From far back in the forest there came the faint pistol-like cracks of +a whip, the distant hallooing of a voice. + +For a few moments the three stood listening. + +The voice came again. + +"It's Mukoki," said Wabigoon, "Mukoki and the other dogs!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +ON THE TRAIL OF THE WOONGAS + +The cries came nearer, interspersed with the cracking of Mukoki's whip +as he urged on the few lagging dogs that Wabi had left with him upon +the trail. In another moment the old warrior and his team burst into +view and both of the young hunters hurried to meet him. A glance +showed Rod that a little longer and Mukoki would have dropped in his +tracks, as Wabi had done. The two led their faithful comrade to the +heap of bearskins on the mail sled and made him sit there while fresh +soup was being made. + +"You catch heem," grinned Mukoki joyously. "You catch heem--queek!" + +"And pretty nearly killed himself doing it, Muky," added Rod. "Now--" +he glanced from one to the other of his companions, "what is the first +thing to be done?" + +"We must strike for the Woonga trail without a moment of unnecessary +delay," declared Wabi. "Minutes are priceless, an hour lost or gained +may mean everything!" + +"But the dogs--" + +"You can take mine," interrupted the courier. "There are six of them, +all good heavy fellows and not overly bushed. You can add a few of +your own and I'll take what's left to drive on the mail. I would +advise you to rest for an hour or so and give them and yourselves a +good feed. It'll count in the long run." + +Mukoki grunted his approval of the driver's words and Rod at once +began gathering more fuel for the fire. The temporary camp was soon +a scene of the liveliest activity. While the courier unpacked his +provisions, Mukoki and Wabigoon assembled the teams and proceeded to +select three of the best of their own animals to put in harness with +those of the Hudson Bay mail. The dogs from Wabinosh House were wildly +famished and at the sight and odor of the great piece of meat which +the courier began cutting up for them they set up a snarling and +snapping of jaws, and began fighting indiscriminately among themselves +until the voices of their human companions were almost drowned in the +tumult. A full pound of the meat was given to each dog, and other +pieces of it were suspended over beds of coals drawn out from the big +fire. Meanwhile Rod was chopping through the thick ice of the lake in +search of water. + +After a little Wabi came down to join him. + +"Our sledge is ready," he said, as Rod stopped to rest for a moment. +"We're a little short on grub for nine dogs and three people, but +we've got plenty of ammunition. We ought to find something on the +trail." + +"Rabbits, anyway," suggested Rod, resuming his chopping. A few more +strokes, and water gushed through. Filling two pails the boys returned +to camp. + +The shadows from the sharp pointed cedars of the forest were falling +far out upon the frozen lake when the meal was finished, and the sun, +sinking early to its rest beyond the homeless solitudes, infused but +little warmth as the three hunters prepared to leave. It was only +three o'clock, but a penetrating chill was growing in the air. Half +an hour more and only a reddish glow would be where the northern sun +still shone feebly. In the far North winter night falls with the +swiftness of wings; it enshrouds one like a palpable, moving thing, a +curtain of gloom that can almost be touched and felt, and so it came +now, as the dogs were hitched to their sledge and Rod, Mukoki and +Wabigoon bade good-by to the driver of the Hudson Bay mail. + +"You'll make the other side in four hours," he called, as Mukoki's +cries sent the dogs trotting out upon the lake. "And then--I'd camp!" + +Running on ahead Mukoki set the pace and marked the trail. Wabi took +the first turn on the sledge, and Rod, who was fresher than either of +his comrades, followed close behind. After a little he drew up beside +the young Indian and placed a hand on his shoulder as he ran. + +"We will reach our old camp--in the plain--to-morrow?" he questioned, +between breaths. + +"To-morrow," affirmed Wabi. "Mukoki will show us the shortest cut to +it. After that, after we reach the camp, everything will depend upon +you." + +Rod fell behind in the path made by the sledge, and saved his breath. +His mind was working as never before in his life. When they reached +the camp in which the wounded Mukoki had lain after their escape from +the Woongas, could he find the old trail where he had seen Minnetaki's +footprints? He was quite sure of himself, and yet he was conscious of +an indefinable something growing in him as he noticed more and more +what the sun had done that day. Was it nervousness, or fear? Surely he +could find the trail, even though it was almost obliterated! But he +wished that it had been Mukoki or Wabigoon who had discovered it, +either of whom, with the woodcraft instinct born in them, would have +gone to it as easily as a fox to the end of a strong trail hidden in +autumn leaves. If he did fail-- + +He shuddered, even as he ran, as he thought of the fate that awaited +Minnetaki. A few hours before he had been one of the happiest youths in +the world. Wabi's lovely little sister, he had believed, was safe at +Kenegami House; he had bade adieu to his friends at the Post; every +minute after that had taken him nearer to that far city in the South, to +his mother, and home. And now so suddenly that he had hardly come to +realize the situation he was plunged into what gave promise of being the +most thrilling and tragic adventure of his life. A few weeks more, when +spring had come, he would have returned to his friends accompanied by +his mother, and they three--Mukoki, Wabigoon and he--would have set out +on their romantic quest for the lost gold-mine that had been revealed to +them by the ancient skeletons in the old cabin. Even as these visions +were glowing in his brain there had come the interruption, the signal +shots on the lake, the return of the dog mail, and now this race to save +the life of Minnetaki! + +In his eagerness he ran ahead of the sledge and urged Mukoki into a +faster pace. Every ten minutes the one who rode exchanged place with +one of the runners, so that there were intervals of rest for each two +times an hour. Quickly the red glow over the southwestern forests +faded away; the gloom grew thicker; far ahead, like an endless sheet +losing itself in a distant smother of blackness, stretched the ice and +snow of Lake Nipigon. There was no tree, no rock for guidance over +the trackless waste, yet never for an instant did Mukoki or Wabigoon +falter. The stars began burning brilliantly in the sky; far away the +red edge of the moon rose over this world of ice and snow and forest, +throbbing and palpitating like a bursting ball of fire, as one sees it +now and then in the glory of the great northern night. + +Tirelessly, mile after mile, hour after hour, broken only by the +short intervals of rest on the sledge, continued the race across Lake +Nipigon. The moon rose higher; the blood in it paled to the crimson +glow of the moose flower, and silvered as it climbed into the sky, +until the orb hung like a great golden-white disk. In the splendor of +it the solitude of ice and snow glistened without end. There was no +sound but the slipping of the sledge, the pattering of the dogs' +moccasined feet, and now and then a few breathless words spoken by Rod +or his companions. It was a little after eight o'clock by Rod's watch +when there came a change in the appearance of the lake ahead of them. +Wabi, who was on the sledge, was the first to notice it, and he +shouted back his discovery to the white youth. + +"The forest! We're across!" + +The tired dogs seemed to leap into new life at his words, and the +leader replied with a whining joyous cry as the odors of balsam and +fir came to him. The sharp pinnacles of the forest, reaching up into +the night's white glow, grew more and more distinct as the sledge sped +on, and five minutes later the team drew up in a huddled, panting +bunch on the shore. That day the men and dogs from Wabinosh House had +traveled sixty miles. + +"We'll camp here!" declared Wabi, as he dropped on the sledge. "We'll +camp here--unless you leave me behind!" + +Mukoki, tireless to the last, had already found an ax. + +"No rest now," he warned, "Too tired! You rest now--build no camp. +Build camp--then rest!" + +"You're right, Muky," cried Wabi, jumping to his feet with forced +enthusiasm. "If I sit down for five minutes I'll fall asleep. Rod, you +build a fire. Muky and I will make the shelter." + +In less than half an hour the balsam bough shelter was complete, and +in front of it roared a fire that sent its light and heat for twenty +paces round. From farther back in the forest the three dragged several +small logs, and no sooner had they been added to the flames than both +Mukoki and Wabigoon wrapped themselves in their furs and burrowed deep +into the sweet-scented balsam under the shelter. Rod's experience that +day had not been filled with the terrible hardships of his companions, +and for some time after they had fallen asleep he sat close to the +fire, thinking again of the strangeness with which his fortunes had +changed, and watching the flickering firelight as it played in a +thousand fanciful figures in the deeper and denser gloom of the +forest. The dogs had crept in close to the blazing logs and lay as +still as though life no longer animated their tawny bodies. From far +away there came the lonely howl of a wolf; a great white man-owl +fluttered close to the camp and chortled his crazy, half-human "hello, +hello, hello;" the trees cracked with the tightening frost, but +neither wolf howl nor frost nor the ghostly visitant's insane voice +aroused those who were sleeping. + +An hour passed and still Rod sat by the fire; his rifle lying across +his knees. His imagination had painted a thousand pictures in that +time. Never for an instant had his mind ceased to work. Somewhere in +that great wilderness there was another camp-fire that night, and in +that camp Minnetaki was a captive. Some indefinable sensation seemed +to creep into him, telling him that she was awake, and that she was +thinking of her friends. Was it a touch of sleep, or that wonderful +thing called mental telepathy, that wrought the next picture in his +brain? It came with startling vividness. He saw the girl beside a +fire. Her beautiful hair, glistening black in the firelight, hung in a +heavy braid over her shoulder; her eyes were staring wildly into the +flames, as if she were about to leap into them, and back of her so +close that he might have touched her, was a figure that sent a chill +of horror through him. It was Woonga, the outlaw chief! He was +talking, his red face was fiendish, he stretched out a hand! + +With a cry that startled the dogs Rod sprang to his feet. He was +shivering as if in a chill. Had he dreamed? Or was it something more +than a dream? He thought of the vision that had come to him weeks +before in the mysterious chasm, the vision of the dancing skeletons, +and which had revealed the secret of the old cabin and the lost gold. +In vain he tried to shake off his nervousness and his fear. Why had +Woonga reached out his hands for Minnetaki? He worked to free himself +of the weight that had fallen on him, stirred the fire until clouds of +sparks shot high up into the gloom of the trees, and added new fuel. + +Then he sat down again, and for the twentieth time since leaving +Wabinosh House drew from his pocket the map that was to have led them +on their search for gold when he returned with his mother. It was a +vision that had guided him to the discovery of this precious map, and +the knowledge of it made him more uneasy now. A few moments before he +had seen Minnetaki as plainly as though she had been with him there +beside the fire; he fancied that he might almost have sent a bullet +through the Indian's chief face as he reached out his long arms toward +the girl. + +He stirred the fire again, awakened one of the dogs to keep him +company, and then went in to lie down between Mukoki and Wabigoon in +an attempt at slumber. During the hours that followed he secured only +short snatches of sleep. He dreamed, dreamed constantly of Minnetaki +whenever he lost consciousness. Now he saw her before the fire, as he +had seen her in his vision; again, she was struggling in the Woonga's +powerful grasp. At one time the strife between the two--the young girl +and the powerful savage--became terrible for him to behold, and at +last he saw the Indian catch her in his arms and disappear into the +blackness of the forest. + +This time when he wakened Rod made no further effort to sleep. It was +only a little past midnight. His companions had obtained four hours of +rest. In another hour he would arouse them. Quietly he began making +preparations for breakfast, and fed the dogs. At half-past one o'clock +he shook Wabigoon by the shoulder. + +"Get up!" he cried, as the Indian youth sat erect. "It's time to go!" + +He tried to suppress his nervousness when Mukoki and Wabi joined him +beside the fire. He determined not to let them know of his visions, +for there was gloom enough among them as it was. But he would hurry. +He was the first to get through with breakfast, the first to set to +work among the dogs, and when Mukoki started out at the head of the +team through the forest he was close beside him, urging him to greater +speed by his own endeavors. + +"How far are we from the camp, Mukoki?" he asked. + +"Four hour--twent' mile," replied the old pathfinder. + +"Twenty miles. We ought to make it by dawn." + +Mukoki made no answer, but quickened his pace as the cedar and balsam +forest gave place to an open plain which stretched for a mile or two +ahead of them. For an hour longer the moon continued to light up the +wilderness; then, with its descent lower and lower into the west, the +gloom began to thicken, until only the stars were left to guide the +pursuers. Even these were beginning to fade when Mukoki halted the +panting team on the summit of a mountainous ridge, and pointed into +the north. + +"The plains!" + +For several minutes the three stood silent, gazing out into the gloom +of the vast solitudes that swept unbroken to Hudson Bay. Again Rod's +blood was thrilled with the romance of what lay at his feet and far +beyond, thrilled with the romance and mystery of that land of the wild +which reached for hundreds of miles into the North, and into which the +foot of the white man had as yet scarce left its imprint. + +Before him, enveloped now in the deep gloom of the northern night, +slept a vast unexplored world, a land whose story the passing of +ages had left unrevealed. What tragedies of nature had its silent +fastnesses beheld? What treasure did they hold? Half a century or more +ago the men whose skeletons they had found in the old cabin had braved +the perils of those trackless solitudes, and somewhere hundreds of +miles out in that black gloom they had found gold, the gold that +had fallen as an inheritance to them in the discovery of the old +birch-bark map. And somewhere, somewhere out there was Minnetaki! + +Across the plain at their feet the three adventurers had raced for +their lives from the bloodthirsty Woongas only a week or so before; +now they crossed it a second time and at even greater speed, for then +they had possessed no dogs. At the end of another hour Mukoki no +longer traveled faster than a walk. His eyes were constantly on the +alert. Occasionally he would stop the dogs and strike off to the right +or the left of the trail alone. He spoke no word to his companions, +and neither Rod nor Wabigoon offered a suggestion. They knew, without +questioning, that they were approaching their old camp, and just as +the experienced hunter makes no sign or sound while his dog is nosing +out a half-lost trail so they held back while Mukoki, the most famous +pathfinder in all those regions, led them slowly on. The last of the +stars went out. For a time the blackness of the night grew deeper; +then, in the southeast, came the first faint streak of dawn. Day is +born as suddenly as it dies in these regions, and it was soon light +enough for Mukoki to resume his trail at a trot. A few minutes more +and a clump of balsam and spruce loomed up out of the plain ahead of +them. Neither Rod nor Wabigoon recognized it until the old warrior +halted the dogs close in its shadows and they saw the look of triumph +in his face. + +"The camp!" breathed Wabi. + +"The camp!" + +Trembling, his voice quivering with suppressed excitement, the Indian +youth turned to Roderick Drew. + +"Rod--it's all up to you!" + +Mukoki, too, had come close to his side. + +"There--camp!" he whispered. "Now--where Minnetaki's trail?" + +The old warrior's eyes were blazing. + +"Where?" + +A dozen paces away was the balsam shelter they had built. But that was +all. Not a track was left in the snow. The warm sun had obliterated +every sign of their presence of a short time before! + +If their own trail was gone what could he hope to find of Minnetaki's +dainty foot-prints? + +Deep down in his heart Rod prayed for guidance in this moment of +terrible doubt. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +ROD FOLLOWS THE MAN-FOOTED BEAR + +"I must wait until it is lighter," he said. He tried to control +himself, to fortify himself with the assurance which he no longer +felt. + +"We will have breakfast," suggested Wabi. "We have cold meat and there +will be no need of a fire." + +Finishing before the others, Rod grasped his rifle and walked out from +among the trees. Wabi made a movement as if to follow, but Mukoki held +him back. There was a shrewd light in his eyes. + +"He do better--alone," he warned. + +The red glow of the sun was rising above the forest and Rod could now +see far about him. He had come out from the cedars, like this, on the +afternoon that he had gone to hunt and had found Minnetaki's trail. A +mile away he saw the snow-covered ridge where he had hunted for moose. +That ridge was his first guide, and he hurried toward it while Mukoki +and Wabigoon followed far behind him with the dogs and the sledge. +He was breathless when he reached the top. Eagerly he gazed into the +North. It was in that direction he had gone on the afternoon of his +discovery of the strange trail. But nothing that he recognized met his +eyes now, no familiar landmark or tree to guide him again over his +wandering footsteps of that day. Vainly he sought along the ridge for +some slight sign of his former presence there. But everything was +gone. The sun had destroyed his last hope. + +He was glad that Mukoki and Wabigoon were at the foot of the ridge, +for he knew that his despair almost brought tears to his eyes, +Minnetaki's fate was in his hands--and he had failed. He dreaded to +tell his companions, to let them see his face. For once in his life, +though he was as courageous a youth as ever lived, Roderick Drew +almost wished that he was dead. + +Suddenly, as in their hopeless search for some familiar object Rod's +eyes traveled again over the endless waste of snow, he saw, far away, +something that glittered in the morning sun like a pane of glass, and +from his lips there fell a low exultant cry. He remembered now that he +had seen that strange gleam before, that he had gone straight to it +from the ridge and had found it to be a sheet of crystal ice frozen +to the side of a rock from above which the water of a spring gushed +forth. Without waiting for his companions he hurried down the +ridge and sped like a deer across the narrow plain at its foot. A +five-minute run brought him to the rock, and for a moment he paused, +his heart almost choking him in its excitement. Just beyond this he +had first encountered the strange trail. There were no signs of it +left in the snow, but he saw other things which led him on: a huge +rock thrusting itself out of the chaos of white, a dead poplar which +stood in his path, and at last, half a mile ahead, the edge of a dense +forest. + +He turned and waved his arms wildly to Mukoki and Wabigoon, who were +far behind. Then he ran on, and when he reached the forest he waved +his arms again, and his joy was flung back in a thrilling shout to his +comrades. There was the log on which Minnetaki had been forced to sit +while awaiting the pleasure of her savage captors; he found the very +spot where her footprint had been in the snow, close to a protruding +stub! The outlaw Indians and their captives had rested here for a +brief spell, and had built a fire, and so many feet had beaten the +snow about it that their traces still remained. + +He pointed to these signs as Mukoki and Wabigoon joined him. + +For several minutes no one of the three spoke a word. Crouched over +until his eyes were within a foot of the snow the old pathfinder +examined every inch of the little clearing in which the Woongas had +built their fire, and when at last he drew himself erect his face +betrayed the utmost astonishment. + +The boys saw that in those faint marks in the snow he had discovered +something of unusual if not startling significance. + +"What is it, Muky?" asked the young Indian. + +Mukoki made no reply, but returning to the charred remains of the +fire he again fell upon his hands and knees and repeated his strange +scrutiny of the snow even more closely than before. When he arose a +second time the astonishment had grown deeper in his face. + +"Only six!" he exclaimed. "Two guides from Post--four Woongas!" + +"But the wounded driver told us that there were at least a dozen +Woongas in the attacking party," said Wabi. + +The old warrior chuckled, and for a moment his face twisted itself +into a ludicrous grimace. + +"Driver lie!" he declared. "He run when fight begin. Shot in back +while heem run!" + +He pointed into the cold depths of the forest. + +"No sun there! Follow trail easy!" + +There was no uneasiness in Mukoki's manner now. His eyes gleamed, but +it was with the fire of battle and resolution, not with excitement. +Once before Rod had seen that look in the old warrior's face, when +they two had fought to save Wabigoon's life as they were now about to +fight to save Minnetaki. And he knew what it meant. Cautiously they +penetrated the forest, their eyes and ears alert, and, as Mukoki had +predicted, the trail of the retreating savages was quite distinct. +They had taken both of the captured sledges, and Rod knew that on one +of these Minnetaki was being carried. Hardly had the three progressed +a hundred paces when Mukoki, who was in the lead, stopped short with +a huge grunt. Squarely across the trail lay the body of a dead man. A +glance at the upturned face showed that it was one of the two drivers +from Wabinosh House. + +"Head split," said Mukoki, as he led the team around the body. "Shot, +mebby--then killed with ax." + +The dogs sniffed and cringed as they passed the slain man, and Rod +shuddered. Involuntarily he thought of what might have happened to +Minnetaki, and he noticed that after passing this spectacle of death +Mukoki doubled his speed. For an hour the pursuit continued without +interruption. The Woongas were traveling in a narrow trail, single +file, with the two sledges between their number. At the end of that +hour the three came upon the remains of another camp-fire near which +were built two cedar-bough shelters. Here the tracks in the snow were +much fresher; in places they seemed to have been but lately made. +Still there were no evidences of the captured girl. The boys could see +that Mukoki himself had found no explanation for the sudden freshness +of the trail and for the absence of Minnetaki's footprints among the +tracks. Again and again the shrewd old pathfinder went over the camp. +Not a sign escaped his eyes, not a mark or a broken stick but that was +examined by him. Rod knew that Minnetaki's capture must have occurred +at least three days before, and yet the tracks about this camp were +not more than a day old, if they were that. What did it mean? + +The very mystery of the thing filled him with a nameless fear. Why had +not the outlaw Woongas continued their flight? Why this delay so near +the scene of their crime? He glanced at Wabi, but the Indian youth was +as bewildered as himself. In his eyes, too, there was the gleam of a +fear which he could not have named. + +Mukoki was beside the charred remains of the fire. He had buried his +hand deep among them, and when he rose he made a sign toward Rod's +watch. + +"Eight o'clock, Mukoki." + +"Woonga here las' night," declared the old Indian slowly. "Leave camp +four hour ago!" + +What did it mean? + +Had Minnetaki been hurt, so dangerously hurt that her captors had not +dared to move her? + +Rod asked himself no more questions. But he was trembling. And Mukoki +and Wabigoon went on with strange, unnatural faces and breathed not +the whisper of a word between them. The mystery was beyond them all. +But one thing they realized, whatever had happened they were close +upon the heels of the savages. And each step brought them nearer, +for with every mile the freshness of the trail increased. Then came +another great surprise. + +The trail divided! + +At the edge of a small opening the Indians had separated themselves +into two parties. The trail of one sledge led into the northeast, that +of the other into the northwest! + +With which sledge was Minnetaki? They looked at one another in +bewilderment. + +Mukoki pointed to the trail into the northeast. + +"We must fin' sign--sign of Minnetaki. You take that--I take this!" + +Rod started off at a dog trot over the easternmost trail. At the +farther side of the opening, where the sledge had plunged into a clump +of hazel, he suddenly stopped, and for a second time that morning +a thrilling cry escaped his lips. On a projecting thorny twig, +glistening full in the sun, there fluttered a long, silken strand of +hair. He reached out for it, but Wabi caught his hand, and in another +moment Mukoki had joined them. Gently he took the raven tress between +his fingers, his deep-set eyes glaring like red coals of fire. It was +a strand of Minnetaki's beautiful hair, not for a moment did one of +them doubt that; but what held them most, what increased the horror in +their eyes, was the quantity of it! Suddenly Mukoki gave it a gentle +pull and the tress slipped free of the twig. + +In the next breath he uttered the only expression of supreme disgust +in his vocabulary a long-drawn, hissing sound which he used only in +those moments when his command of English was entirely inadequate to +the situation. + +"Minnetaki on other sledge!" + +He showed the end of the strand to his young companions. + +"See--hair been cut! No pulled out by twig. Woonga hang heem +there--make us think wrong." + +He waited for no reply, but darted back to the other trail, with Wabi +and Rod close behind him. A quarter of a mile farther on the old +pathfinder paused and pointed in exultant silence at a tiny footprint +close beside the path of the sledge. At almost regular intervals now +there appeared this sign of Minnetaki's moccasin. Her two guards were +running ahead of the sledge, and it was apparent to the pursuers that +Wabi's sister was taking advantage of her opportunities to leave these +signs behind for those whom she knew would make an attempt at her +rescue. And yet, as they left farther and farther behind them the +trail which ran into the northeast, an inexplicable feeling of +uneasiness began to steal over Rod. What if Mukoki had made a mistake? +His confidence in the old warrior's judgment and sagacity was usually +absolute, but it occurred to him, like an ugly humor to stir up his +fears, that if the Woongas could cut off a bit of the girl's hair they +could also take off one of her shoes! Several times he was on the +point of giving audible voice to his suspicions but refrained from +doing so when he saw the assurance with which both Wabi and Mukoki +followed the trail. + +Finally he could hold himself no longer. + +"Wabi, I'm going back," he cried softly, forging alongside his +companion. "I'm going back and follow the other trail. If I don't find +anything in a mile or so I'll return on the double-quick and overtake +you!" + +Wabi's efforts to dissuade him were futile, and a few minutes later +Rod was again at the clearing. What presentiment was it that caused +his heart to beat faster and his breath to come in tense excitement as +he stole through the bushes where they had found the silken tress of +hair? What something was it, away down in his soul, that kept urging +him on and on, even after he had gone a mile, and then two miles, in +fruitless search? Rod could not have answered these questions had he +stopped to ask them of himself. He was not superstitious. He did not +believe in dreams. And yet each moment, without apparent reason added +to his conviction that Mukoki had made a mistake, and that Minnetaki +was on the sledge ahead of him. + +The country into which he was penetrating grew wilder. Rocky ridges +rose before him, split by rifts and gullies through which the water +must have rushed in torrents in the spring. He listened, and proceeded +more cautiously; and through his mind there flashed a memory of his +thrilling exploration of the mysterious chasm of a few weeks before, +when, in his lonely night camp, he had dreamed of the skeletons. He +was thinking of this when he came around the end of a huge rock which +lay as big as a house in his path. Upon the snow, almost at his feet, +was a sight that froze the blood in his veins. For the second time +that day he gazed upon the distorted features of a dead man. Squarely +across the trail, as the other had lain, was the body of an Indian, +his arms outstretched, his twisted face turned straight up to the +clear sky, the snow about his head glistening a sickening red in the +sun. For a full minute Rod gazed in silent horror on the scene. There +was no sign of a struggle, there were no footprints in the snow. The +man had been killed while upon the sledge, and the only mark he had +made was when he had fallen off. + +Who had killed him? + +Had Minnetaki saved herself by taking her captor's life? + +For a moment Rod was almost convinced that this was so. He examined +the stains in the snow and found that they were still damp and +unfrozen. He was sure that the tragedy had occurred less than an hour +before. More cautiously, and yet swifter than before, he followed the +trail of the sledge, his rifle held in readiness for a shot at +any moment. The path became wilder and in places it seemed almost +inaccessible. But between the tumbled mass of rock the sledge had +found its way, its savage driver not once erring in his choice of the +openings ahead. Gradually the trail ascended until it came to the +summit of a huge ridge. Hardly had Rod reached the top when another +trail cut across that of the sledge. + +Deeply impressed in the softening snow were the footprints of a big +bear! + +The first warm sunshine, thought Rod, had aroused the beast from his +winter sleep, and he was making a short excursion from his den. From +where the bear had crossed the trail the sledge turned abruptly in the +direction from which the bear had come. + +Without giving a thought to his action, Rod began his descent of the +ridge in the trail made by the bear, at the same time keeping his eyes +fixed upon the sledge track and the distant forest. At the foot of the +ridge the great trunk of a fallen tree lay in his path, and as he went +to climb over it he stopped, a cry of amazement stifling itself in his +throat. Over that tree the bear had scrambled, and upon it, close to +the spot where the animal had brushed off the snow in his passage, was +the imprint of a human hand! + +For a full minute Rod stood as motionless as if he had been paralyzed, +scarcely breathing in his excitement. The four fingers and thumb of +the hand had left their impressions with startling clearness. The +fingers were long and delicately slender, the palm narrow. The imprint +had assuredly not been made by the hand of a man! + +Recovering himself, Rod looked about him. There were no marks in the +snow except those of the bear. Was it possible that he was mistaken? +He scrutinized the mysterious handprint again. As he gazed an uncanny +chill crept through him, and when he raised his head he knew that he +was trembling in spite of his efforts to control himself. Turning +about he swiftly followed the trail to the top of the ridge, recrossed +the sledge track, and descended again into the wildness of the gorge +on the other side. He had not progressed twenty rods when without a +sound he dropped behind a rock. He had seen no movement ahead of him. +He had heard nothing. Yet in that moment he was thrilled as never +before in his life. + +For the bear trail had ceased. + +And ahead of him, instead of the tracks of a beast, there continued +_the footprints of a man_! + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +ROD'S FIGHT FOR LIFE + +It was some time before Roderick moved from his concealment behind the +rock. It was not fear that held him there, but a knowledge within +him that he needed to think, to collect his senses as he would have +expressed it if Wabi had been with him. For a brief spell he was +stunned by the succession of surprises which he had encountered, and +he felt that now, if ever in his life, he needed control of himself. +He did not attempt to solve the mystery of the trail beyond the fact +that it was not made by a bear and that the handprint on the log +was not made by a man. But he was certain of one thing. In some way +Minnetaki was associated with both. + +When he continued his pursuit he made his way with extreme caution. At +each new turn in the trail he fell behind some rock or clump of bushes +and scanned the gorge as far as he could see ahead of him. But each +moment these distances of observation became shorter. The ridge on his +left became almost a sheer wall; on his right a second ridge closed +in until the gorge had narrowed to a hundred feet in width, choked by +huge masses of rock thrown there in some mighty upheaval of past ages. +It was very soon apparent to Rod that the mysterious person whom he +was pursuing was perfectly at home in the lonely chasm. As straight as +a drawn whip-lash his trail led from one break in the rocky chaos to +another. Never did he err. Once the tracks seemed to end squarely +against a broad face of rock, but there the young hunter found a cleft +in the granite wall scarcely wider than his body, through which he +cautiously wormed his way. Where this cleft opened into the chasm +again the fugitive had rested for a few moments, and had placed some +burden upon the snow at his feet. A single glance disclosed what +this burden had been, for in the snow was that same clearly-defined +impression of a human hand! + +There was no longer a doubt in Roderick's mind. He was on the trail +of Minnetaki's captor, and the outlaw was carrying his victim in his +arms! Minnetaki was injured! Perhaps she was dead. The fear gripped at +his heart until he looked again at the imprint in the snow--the widely +spread fingers, the flat, firm palm. Only a living hand would have +left its mark in that manner. + +As on that autumn day in the forest, when he had fought for +Minnetaki's life, so now all hesitation and fear left him. His blood +leaped with anticipation rather than excitement, and he was eager for +the moment when he would once more throw his life in the balance in +behalf of Wabi's sister. He was determined to take advantage of the +Woonga fighting code and fire upon his enemy from ambush if the +opportunity offered, but at the same time he had no dread at the +thought of engaging in a closer struggle if this should be necessary. +He looked well to his rifle, loosened his big army revolver in its +holster, and saw that his hunting-knife did not stick in its scabbard. +A short distance from the cleft in the wall of rock the outlaw had +rested again; and this time, when he continued his flight, Minnetaki +had walked beside him. + +A peculiarity in the new trail struck Rod, and for some moments he was +at a loss to account for it. One of the girl's dainty feet left its +moccasin imprint very distinctly; the mark of the other was no more +than a formless blotch in the snow. Then the youth thought of the +footprints that were leading on Mukoki and Wabigoon, and despite his +desperate situation he could not repress a smile. He had been right. +The Woongas had taken off one of Minnetaki's moccasins and were using +it to make a false trail into the northwest. Those formless tracks +ahead of him meant that one of the Indian maiden's feet was wrapped +with a bit of cloth or fur to protect it from the cold. + +Rod soon perceived that the flight of the outlaw and his captive was +now much more rapid, and he quickened his own pace. The chasm grew +wilder. At times it appeared impassable, but always the trail of the +fugitives led straight to some hidden cleft through which the boy +followed, holding his breath in tense expectancy of what might happen +at any instant. + +Suddenly Rod stopped. From ahead of him he was sure that he had heard +a sound. He scarcely breathed while he listened. But there came no +repetition of the noise. Had some animal, a fox or a wolf, perhaps, +set a stone rolling down one of the precipitous walls of the chasm? He +went on slowly, listening, watching. A few paces more and he stopped +again. There was a faint, suspicious odor in the air; a turn around +the end of a huge mass of rock and his nostrils were filled with it, +the pungent odor of smoke mingled with the sweet scent of burning +cedar! + +There was a fire ahead of him. More than that, it was not a gunshot +away! + +For a space of sixty seconds he stood still, nerving himself for the +final step. His resolution was made. He would creep upon the outlaw +and shoot him down. There would be no warning, no quarter, no parley. +Foot by foot he advanced, as stealthily as a fox. The odor of smoke +came to him more plainly; over his head he saw thin films of it +floating lazily up the chasm. It came from beyond another of those +walls of rock which seemed to bar his way, creeping up over it as +though the fire were just on the other side. With his rifle half to +his shoulder Rod stole through the break in this wall. At its farther +end he peered out cautiously, exposing his face an inch at a time. +Wider and wider became his vision. There was no trail ahead. The +outlaw and his captive were behind the rock! + +With his rifle now full to his shoulder Rod stepped boldly forth and +whirled to the left. Twenty feet away, almost entirely concealed among +the tumbled masses of boulders, was a small cabin. About it there were +no signs of life with the exception of a thin wreath of smoke rising +like a ghostly spiral up the side of the chasm wall; from it there +came no sound. Rod's index finger quivered on the trigger of his +rifle. Should he wait--until the outlaw came forth? Half a minute he +stood there, a minute, two minutes, and still he heard nothing, saw +nothing. He advanced a step, then another, and still another, until +he saw the open door of the cabin. And as he stood there, his rifle +leveled, there came to him a faint, sobbing cry, a cry that reached +out and caught him like a strong hand and brought him in a single +desperate leap to the door itself. + +Inside the cabin was Minnetaki, alone! She was crouched upon the +floor, her beautiful hair tumbling in disheveled masses over her +shoulders and into her lap, her face, as white as death, staring +wildly at the youth who had appeared like an apparition before her. + +In an instant Rod was at her side, upon his knees. For that brief +moment he had lost his caution, and only a terrible cry from the girl +turned him back again, half upon his feet, to the door. Standing +there, about to spring upon him, was one of the most terrifying +figures he had ever seen. In a flash he saw the huge form of an +Indian, a terrible face, the gleam of an uplifted knife. In such a +crisis one's actions are involuntary, machine-like, as if life itself, +hovering by a thread, protects itself in its own manner without +thought or reasoning on the part of the human creature it animates. +Rod neither thought nor reasoned; without any motive on his own part, +he flung himself face downward upon the cabin floor. And the move +saved him. With a guttural cry the savage leaped toward him, struck +out with his knife and missed, stumbled over the boy's prostrate form +and fell beside him. + +Months of hardship and adventure in the wilderness had made Rod as +lithe as a forest cat, his muscles like steel. Without rising he flung +himself upon his enemy, his own knife raised in gleaming death above +the savage's breast. But the Woonga was as quick. Like a flash he +struck up with one of his powerful arms and the force of the blow that +was descending upon him fell to the earth floor. In another instant +his free arm had encircled Rod's neck, and for a few brief moments the +two were locked in a crushing embrace, neither being able to use the +weapon in his hand without offering an advantage to the other. + +In that respite, which only death could follow, Rod's brain worked +with the swiftness of fire. He was lying face downward upon his enemy; +the Woonga was flat upon his back, the latter's knife hand stretched +out behind his head with Rod's knife hand locking it. For either to +strike a blow both of their fighting hands must be freed. In the first +instant of that freedom, the savage, with his arm already extended, +could deliver a blow sooner than his antagonist, who would have to +raise his arm as well as strike. In other words, by the time Rod's +knife was poised his enemy's would be buried in his breast. With a +curious thrill the white youth saw the fearful odds against him in +their position. If he remained clutched in the Indian's embrace there +would be only one end. He would die, and Minnetaki would be more than +ever in the power of her captor. + +There was only one chance now, and that was to break away, at least +to free himself enough to get hold of his revolver. He was nerving +himself for the strain when, turning his head a trifle sidewise, he +saw Minnetaki. The girl had risen to her feet, and Rod saw that her +hands were bound behind her. She, too, realized the disadvantage of +Rod's position in the contest, and now with a thrilling cry she sprang +to the outlaw's head and stepped with all her weight upon his extended +arm. + +"Quick, Rod--quick!" she cried. "Strike! Strike!" + +With a terrible yell the powerful savage wrenched his arm free; in a +last superhuman effort he swung his knife upward as Rod's blade sank +to the hilt in his breast, and the blow fell with a sickening thud +under Rod's arm. With a sharp cry the young hunter staggered to his +feet, and the Indian's knife fell from him, red with blood. Making +an effort to control himself he picked up the knife and loosed the +captive girl's arms. + +There came over him then a strange dizziness, a weakness in his limbs. +He was conscious that his head was sinking, and he knew, too, that a +pair of arms was about him, and that from what seemed to be a great, +great distance a voice was calling to him, calling his name. And then +he seemed to be sinking into a deep and painless sleep. + +When he regained consciousness his eyes were first turned to the door, +which was still open, and through which he caught the white gleam of +the snow. A hand was pressed gently upon his face. + +"Rod--" + +Minnetaki spoke in a whisper, a whisper that trembled with gladness, +with relief. Rod smiled. Weakly he lifted a hand and touched the +sweet, white face above him. + +"I'm glad to see you--Minnetaki--" he breathed. + +The girl quickly put a cup of cold water to his lips. + +"You mustn't try to move," she said softly, her eyes glowing. "It +isn't a very bad wound, and I've dressed it nicely. But you mustn't +move--or talk--or it may begin bleeding again." + +"But I'm so glad to see you, Minnetaki," persisted the youth. "You +don't know how disappointed I was to find you gone when we returned to +Wabinosh House from our hunting trip. Wabi and Mukoki--" + +"Sh-h-h-h!" + +Minnetaki placed her hand upon his lips. + +"You must keep quiet, Roderick. Don't you know how curious I am to +know how you are here? But you must not tell me--now. Let me do the +talking. Will you? Please!" + +Involuntarily the young girl's eyes left his face, and Rod, weakly +following her gaze, saw that a blanket had been spread over a huddled +heap in the middle of the floor. He shuddered, and feeling the sudden +tremor in his hand Minnetaki turned to him quickly, her cheeks whiter +than before, but her eyes shining like stars. + +"It is Woonga," she whispered. In her voice was a thrilling tremble. +"It is Woonga, and he is dead!" + +Rod understood the look in her face now. Woonga, the Nemesis of her +people, the outlaw chief who had sworn vengeance on the house of +Wabinosh, and whose murderous hand had hovered for years like a +threatening cloud over the heads of the factor and his wife and +children, was dead! And he, Roderick Drew, who once before had saved +Minnetaki's life, had killed him. In his weakness and pain he smiled, +and said, + +"I am glad, Minne--" + +He did not finish. There had come a stealthy, crumbling step to the +door, and in another moment Mukoki and Wabigoon were in the little +cabin. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +THE SHADOW OF DEATH + +Rod was hardly conscious of what passed during the next half-hour. The +excitement of the sudden entrance of Minnetaki's brother and the old +Indian set his head reeling, and he sank back upon the blankets, from +which he had partly raised himself, fainting and weak. The last that +he heard was Minnetaki's warning voice, and then he felt something +cool upon his face. It seemed a long time before he heard sound again, +and when he stirred himself, struggling toward consciousness, there +came a whisper in his ear urging him to be quiet. It was Minnetaki, +and he obeyed. + +After a little he heard low voices, and then movement, and opened his +eyes. He could feel Minnetaki's gentle hand stroking his face and +hair, as if weaning him to sleep, and at his feet he saw Mukoki, the +old warrior, crouching like a lynx, his beady eyes glaring at him. The +glare fascinated Roderick. He had seen it in Mukoki's eyes before, +when the Indian believed that injury had come to those he loved; and +when the white boy saw it now, bent upon himself, he knew that he, +too, had become more than a friend to this savage pathfinder of the +wilderness. Minnetaki's caressing hand and the fearful anxiety in the +crouching posture of the old hunter thrilled him, and two words fell +from his lips before they knew that he had come back into life. + +"Hello, Muky!" + +Instantly the old Indian was at his side, kneeling there silent, +trembling, his face twitching with joy, his eyes gleaming, and where +he had crouched a moment before there came Wabigoon, smiling down upon +Rod in his own bursting happiness, which was only held in check by +Minnetaki's hand and the almost inaudible "Sh-h-h-h!" that fell from +her lips. + +"You right--me wrong," the white boy heard Mukoki saying. "You save +Minnetaki--kill Woonga. Very much dam'--dam'--dam'--brave man!" + +Mukoki was pressed back by Wabi's sister before he could say more, and +a cool drink of spring water was placed to Roderick's lips. He felt +feverish and the water gave him new strength. He turned his face to +Minnetaki, and she smiled at him. Then he saw that the dead outlaw had +been removed from the cabin. When he made an effort to raise himself a +little the girl helped him, and rolled a blanket under his shoulders. + +"You're not so badly hurt as I thought you were, Rod," she said. "That +is, you're not dangerously hurt. Mukoki has dressed your wound, and +you will be better soon." Wabigoon, coming nearer, put both arms +around his lovely little sister and kissed her again and again. + +"Rod, you're a hero!" he cried softly, gripping his comrade's hand. +"God bless you!" + +Rod blushed, and to restrain further effusions closed his eyes. During +the next quarter of an hour Minnetaki prepared some coffee and meat, +while both Mukoki and Wabi cared for the sledge-dogs outside. + +"To-morrow, if you are stronger, we're going to take you on to +Kenegami House," the girl said to him. "Then you can tell me all about +your adventures during the winter. Wabi has told me just enough about +your battles with the Indians and about the old skeletons and the lost +gold-mine to set me wild. Oh, I wish you would take me with you on +your hunt for gold!" + +"By George, I wish we could!" exclaimed Rod with enthusiasm. "Coax +Wabi, Minnetaki--coax him hard." + +"You'll coax him, too, won't you, Rod? But then, I don't suppose it +will do any good. And father and mother wouldn't listen to it for a +moment. All of them are so afraid that some harm is going to befall +me. That's why they sent me from Wabinosh House just before you boys +returned. You see the Indians were more hostile than ever, and they +thought I would be safer at Kenegami House. How I do wish they'd let +me go! I'd love to hunt bears, and wolves, and moose, and help you +find the gold. Please coax him hard, Roderick!" + +And that very day, when he was strong enough to sit up, Rod did plead +with his half-Indian comrade that Minnetaki might be allowed to +accompany them. But Wabi stanchly refused even to consider the +proposition, and Mukoki, when he learned of the girl's desire, grinned +and chuckled in his astonishment for the next half-hour. + +"Minnetaki ver' brave--ver' brave girl," he confided to Rod, "but she +die up there, I guess so! You want Minnetaki die?" + +Rod assured him that he did not, and the subject was dropped. + +That day and night in the old cabin was one of the pleasantest within +Rod's memory, despite the youth's wound. A cheerful fire of dry pine +and poplar burned in the stone fireplace, and when Minnetaki announced +that the evening meal was ready Rod was for the first time allowed to +leave his bunk. For the greater part of the day Wabi and Mukoki had +searched in the chasm and along the mountains for signs of the outlaw +Indian's band, but their search had revealed nothing to arouse their +fears. As mysterious and unaccountable as the fact seemed, there +was no doubt that the old cabin was a retreat known only to Woonga +himself, and as the four sat in the warm glow of the fire, eating and +drinking, the whole adventure was gone over again and again until +there seemed no part of it left in doubt. Minnetaki described her +capture and explained the slowness of their flight after the massacre. +Woonga was ill and had refused to move far from the scene of the +slaughter until he had fully regained his strength. + +"But why did Woonga kill the Indian back on the trail?" asked Rod. + +Minnetaki shuddered as she thought of the terrible scene that had been +enacted before her eyes. + +"I heard them quarreling," she said, "but I couldn't understand. I +know that it was about me. We had gone but a short distance after the +sledges separated when Woonga, who was ahead of me, turned about and +shot the other in the breast. It was terrible! And then he drove on as +coolly as though nothing had happened." + +"I'm curious to know how he used the bear's feet," exclaimed Rod. + +"They were huge pads into which he slipped his feet, moccasins and +all," explained Minnetaki. "He told me that the dogs would go on to +Kenegami House, and that if pursuers followed us they would follow the +sledge trail and never give a thought to the bear tracks." + +Mukoki chuckled deep down in his throat. + +"He no fool Rod," he said. "Nobody fool Rod!" + +"Especially when he's on Minnetaki's trail," laughed Wabi happily. + +"Wasn't it Rod who discovered the secret of the lost gold, after you +had given up all hope?" retorted Minnetaki. + +The lost gold! + +How those three words, falling clearly from the girl's lips, thrilled +the hearts of Mukoki and the young adventurers. Night had closed in, +and only the fitful flashes of the fire illumined the interior of the +old cabin. The four had finished eating, and as they drew themselves +close about the fire there fell a strange silence among them. The lost +gold. Rod gazed across at Wabigoon, whose bronzed face was half hid in +the dancing shadows, and then at Mukoki, whose wrinkled visage shone +like dull copper as he stared like some watchful animal into the flame +glow. But it was Minnetaki who sent the blood in a swift rush of joy +and pride through his veins. He caught her eyes upon him, shining like +stars from out of the gloom, and he knew that she was looking at him +in that way because he was her hero. + +For many minutes no one broke the stillness. The fire burned down, and +with its slow dying away the gloom in the corners of the old cabin +thickened, and the faces became more and more like ghostly shadows, +until they reminded Rod of his first vision of the ancient skeletons +in that other old cabin many miles away. Then came Wabigoon's voice, +as he stirred the coals and added fresh fuel. + +"Yes, it was Rod. This is the map he found, Minnetaki." + +He kneeled close beside his sister and drew forth his copy of the +precious secret which the skeletons had guarded. With a little cry +of excitement the girl took the map in her hands, and step by step, +adventure by adventure, was gone over the thrilling story of the Wolf +Hunters, until the late hours of night had changed into the first of +morning. Twice did Minnetaki insist on having repeated to her the +story of Rod's wild adventure in the mysterious chasm, and when he +came to the terrors of that black night and its strange sounds Rod +felt a timid little hand come close to him, and as Wabigoon continued +the narration, and told of the map in the skeleton hand, and of the +tale of murder and tragedy it revealed, Minnetaki's breath came in +quick, tense eagerness. + +"And you are going back in the spring?" she asked. + +"In the spring," replied Rod. + +Again Wabigoon urged Rod, as he had done at the Post, to send down to +civilization for his mother instead of going for her himself. Time +would be saved, he argued. They could set out on their search for the +gold within a few weeks. But Rod was firm. + +"It would not be fair to mother," he declared. "I must go home first, +even if I have to arrange for a special sledge at Kenegami House to +take me down to civilization." + +But even while he was stoutly declaring what it was his intention to +do, fate was stealthily at work weaving another of her webs of destiny +for Roderick Drew, and his friends' anxious eyes saw the first signs +of it when they bade him good night. For fever had laid its hand on +the white youth, the fever that foreshadows death unless a surgeon +is near, the fever of a wound going bad. Even Mukoki, graduated by +Nature, taught by half a century's battle with life in this great +desolation of the North, knew that his own powers were now of no +avail. + +So Roderick was bundled in blankets, and the race for life to Kenegami +House was begun. It was a race of which Rod could only guess the +import, for he did not know that Death was running a fierce pursuit +behind. Many days and nights of delirium followed. One morning he +seemed to awaken from a terrible dream, in which he was constantly +burning and roasting, and when he opened his eyes he knew for the +first time that it was Minnetaki who sat close beside him, and that it +was her hand that was gently stroking his forehead. From that day on +he gained strength rapidly, but it was a month before he could sit up, +and another two weeks before he could stand. And so it happened that +it was full two months after he had made his assertion in the old +cabin before Rod was in good health again. + +One day Minnetaki had a tremendous surprise in store for him. Rod had +never seen her look quite so pretty, or quite so timid, as she did on +this particular morning. + +"Will you forgive me for--for--keeping something from you, Rod?" she +asked. She did not wait for the boy's reply, but went on. "When you +were so sick, and we thought you might die, I wrote to your mother and +we sent the letter down by a special sledge. And--and--oh, Rod, I just +can't keep it in any longer, no matter if you do scold me! Your mother +has come--and she is at Wabinosh House now!" + +For a moment Rod stood like one struck dumb. Then he found his voice +in a series of war-whoops which quickly brought Wabi in, only to see +his friend dancing around Minnetaki like one gone crazy. + +"Forgive you!" he shouted again and again. "Minnetaki, you're a +brick--you certainly are a brick!" + +As soon as Wabi was made acquainted with the cause of Roderick's +excitement he also joined in the other's wild rejoicing, and their +antics startled half the house of Kenegami. Mukoki shared their joy, +and Wabi hugged and kissed his sister until her pretty face was like a +wild rose. + +"Hurrah!" shouted Wabi for the twentieth time. "That means we start on +our hunt for the lost gold-mine within a fortnight!" + +"It means--" began Roderick. + +"It means--" interrupted Minnetaki, "it means that you're all happy +but me--and I'm glad for Rod's sake, and I want to know his mother. +But you're all going--and I'm to be left behind!" + +There was no laughter in her voice, and Rod and Wabigoon became +suddenly quiet as she turned away. + +"I'm sorry," said Wabi. "But--we can't help it." + +Mukoki broke the tension. + +"How bright the sun shine!" he exclaimed. "Snow an' ice go. +Spring--heem here!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +ON THE TRAIL OF GOLD + +And each day thereafter the sun rose earlier, and the day was longer, +and the air was warmer; and with the warmth there now came the sweet +scents of the budding earth and the myriad sounds of the deep, unseen +life of the forests, awakening from its long slumber in its bed of +snow. The moose-birds chirped their mating songs and flirted from +morning till night in bough and air, and the jays and ravens fluffed +themselves in the sun, and the snowbirds, little black and white +beauties that were wont to whisk about like so many flashing gems, +became fewer and fewer, until they were gone altogether. The poplar +buds swelled more and more in their joy, until they split like +over-fat peas, and the partridges feasted upon them. + +And Mother Bear came out of her winter den, accompanied by her little +ones born two months before, and taught them how to pull down the +slender saplings for these same buds; and the moose came down from the +blizzardy tops of the great ridges, which are called mountains in the +North, and where for good reasons they had passed the winter, followed +by the wolves, who fed upon their weak and sick. Everywhere there were +the rushing torrents of melting snows, the crackle of crumbling ice, +the dying frost-cries of rock and earth and tree, and each night the +cold, pale glow of the Aurora Borealis crept farther and farther +toward the Pole in fading glory. + +It was spring, and at Wabinosh House it brought more joy than +elsewhere, for there Roderick Drew joined his mother. We have not time +here to dwell on the things that happened at the old Hudson Bay Post +during the ten days after their first happy reunion--of the love that +sprang up between Rod's mother and Minnetaki, and the princess wife +of George Newsome, the factor; of the departure of the soldiers whose +task of running down Woonga ended with Rod's desperate fight in the +cabin, or of the preparations of the gold hunters themselves. + +On a certain evening in April, Wabi, Mukoki and Rod had assembled in +the latter's room. The next morning they were to start on their long +and thrilling adventure into the far North, and on this last night +they went carefully over their equipment and plans to see that nothing +had been forgotten. That night Rod slept little. For the second time +in his life the fever of adventure was running wild in his blood. +After the others had gone he studied the precious old map until his +eyes grew dim; in the half slumber that came to him afterward his +brain worked ceaselessly, and he saw visions of the romantic old cabin +again, and the rotting buckskin bag filled with nuggets of gold on the +table. + +He was up before the stars began fading in the dawn, and in the big +dining-room of the Post, in which had gathered the factors and their +families for two hundred years, the boys ate their last breakfast with +those whom they were about to leave for many weeks, perhaps months. +The factor himself was boisterously cheerful in his efforts to keep +up the good cheer of Mrs. Drew and the princess mother, and even +Minnetaki forced herself to smile and laugh, though her eyes were +red, and all knew that she had been crying. Rod was glad when the meal +was over and they went out into the chill air of the morning, and down +to the edge of the lake, where their big birch-bark canoe was loaded +and waiting for their departure, and he was still more relieved when +they had bade a last good-by to the two mothers. But Minnetaki came +down to the canoe with them, and when Wabi kissed her she burst into +tears, and Rod felt a queer thickening in his throat as he took her +firm little hand and held it for a moment between both his own. + +"Good-by, Minnetaki," he whispered. + +He turned and took his position in the middle of the canoe, and with a +last shout Wabi shoved off and the canoe sped out into the gloom. + +For a long time there was silence, except for the rhythmic dip of the +three paddles. Once Minnetaki's voice came to them faintly, and they +answered it with a shout. But that was all. After a time Rod said, + +"By George, this saying good-by is the toughest part of the whole +business!" + +His words cleared away the feeling of oppression that seemed to have +fallen on them. + +"It's always hard for me to leave Minnetaki," replied Wabigoon. "Some +day I'm going to take her on a trip with me." + +"She'd be a bully fellow!" cried Rod with enthusiasm. + +From the stern of the canoe came a delighted chuckle from Mukoki. + +"She brave--she shoot, she hunt, she be dam' fine!" he added, and +both Rod and Wabi burst out laughing. The young Indian looked at his +compass by the light of a match. + +"We'll strike straight across Lake Nipigon instead of following the +shore. What do you say, Muky?" he called back. + +The old pathfinder was silent. In surprise Wabi ceased paddling, and +repeated his question. + +"Don't you think it is safe?" + +Mukoki wet his hand over the side and held it above his head. + +"Wind in south," he said. "Maybe no get stronger, but--" + +"If she did," added Rod dubiously, noting how heavily laden the canoe +was, "we'd be in a fix, as sure as you live!" + +"It will take us all of to-day and half of to-morrow to follow the +shore," urged Wabi, "while by cutting straight across the lake we can +make the other side early this afternoon. Let's risk it!" + +Mukoki grunted something that was a little less than approval, and Rod +felt a peculiar sensation shoot through him as the frail birch headed +out into the big lake. Their steady strokes sent the canoe through the +water at fully four miles an hour, and by the time broad day had come +the forest-clad shore at Wabinosh House was only a hazy outline in the +distance. The white youth's unspoken fears were dispelled when the sun +rose, warm and glorious, over the shimmering lake, driving the chill +from the air, and seeming to bring with it the sweet scents of +the forests far away. Joyfully he labored at his paddle, the mere +exhilaration of the morning filling his arms with the strength of a +young giant. Wabi whistled and sang wild snatches of Indian song by +turns, Rod joined him with _Yankee Doodle_ and _The Star Spangled +Banner_, and even the silent Mukoki gave a whoop now and then to show +that he was as happy as they. + +One thought filled the minds of all. They were fairly started on that +most thrilling of all trails, the trail of gold. In their possession +was the secret of a great fortune. Romance, adventure, discovery, +awaited them. The big, silent North, mysterious in its age-old +desolation, where even the winds seemed to whisper of strange things +that had happened countless years before, was just ahead of them. They +were about to bury themselves in its secrets, to wrest from it the +yellow treasure it guarded, and their blood tingled and leaped +excitedly at the thought. What would be revealed to them? What might +they not discover? What strange adventures were they destined to +encounter in that Unknown World, peopled only by the things of the +wild, that stretched trackless and unexplored before them? A hundred +thoughts like these fired the brains of the three adventurers, and +made their work a play, and every breath they drew one of joy. + +The lake was alive with ducks. Huge flocks of big black ducks, +mallards, blue bills and whistlers rose about them, and now and then, +when an unusually large flock was seen floating upon the water ahead +of them, one of the three would take a pot-shot with his rifle. Rod +and Mukoki had each killed two, and Wabi three, when the old warrior +stopped the fun. + +"No waste too much shooting on ducks," he advised. "Need shells--big +game." + +Several times during the morning the three rested from their +exertions, and at noon they ceased paddling for more than an hour +while they ate the generous dinner that had been put up for them at +Wabinosh House. The farther side of the lake was now plainly visible, +and when the journey was resumed all eyes eagerly sought for signs +of the mouth of the Ombabika, where their stirring adventures of the +winter before had begun. For some time Wabi's gaze had been fixed +upon a long, white rim along the shore, to which he now called his +companions' attention. + +"It seems to be moving," he said, turning to Mukoki. "Is it +possible--" He paused doubtfully. + +"What?" questioned Rod. + +"That it's swans!" he completed. + +"Swans!" cried the young hunter. "Great Scott, do you mean to say +there could be enough swans--" + +"They sometimes cover the lake in thousands," said Wabi. "I have seen +them whitening the water as far as one could see." + +"More swan as you count in twent' t'ous'nd year!" affirmed Mukoki. +After a few moments he added, "Them no swan. Ice!" + +There was an unpleasant ring in his voice as he spoke the last +word, and though Rod did not fully understand what significance the +discovery held for them he could not but observe that it occasioned +both of his comrades considerable anxiety. The cause was not long in +doubt. Another half hour of brisk paddling brought them to the edge of +a frozen field of ice that extended for a quarter of a mile from the +shore. In both directions it stretched beyond their vision. Wabi's +face was filled with dismay. Mukoki sat with his paddle across his +knees, uttering not a sound. + +"What's the matter?" asked Rod. "Can't we make it?" + +"Make it!" exclaimed Wabigoon. "Yes--perhaps to-morrow, or the next +day!" + +"Do you mean to say we can't get over that ice?" + +"That's just exactly the predicament we are in. The edge of that ice +is rotten." + +The canoe had drifted alongside the ice, and Rod began pounding it +with his paddle. For a distance of two feet it broke off in chunks, +then became more firm. + +"I believe that if we cut our way in for a canoe length or so it would +hold us," he declared. + +Wabi reached for an ax. + +"We'll try it!" + +Mukoki shook his head. + +But for a second time that day Wabigoon persisted in acting against +the old pathfinder's judgment, something that Rod had never known him +to be guilty of before. Foot by foot he broke the ice ahead of the +canoe, until the frail craft had thrust its length into the rotten +field. Then, steadying himself on the bow, he stepped out cautiously +upon the ice. + +"There!" he cried triumphantly. "You next, Rod! Steady!" + +In a moment Rod had joined him. What happened after that seemed to +pass like a terrible nightmare. First there came a light cracking in +the ice under their feet, but it was over in an instant. Wabi was +laughing at him for the fear that had come into his face, and calling +his name, when with a thunderous crash the whole mass gave way under +them, and they plunged down into the black depths of the lake. The +last that Rod saw was his friend's horror-stricken face sinking in the +crumbling ice; he heard a sharp, terrible cry from Mukoki, and then he +knew that the cold waters had engulfed him, and that he was battling +for his life under the surface. + +Fiercely he struck out with arms and legs in an effort to rise, and in +that moment of terror he thought of the great sheet of ice. What if he +should come up under it? In which direction should he strike out? +He opened his eyes but all was a black chaos about him. The seconds +seemed like ages. There came a splitting, rending sensation in his +head, an almost overpowering desire to open his mouth, to gasp, gasp +for air where there was nothing but death! Then his head struck +something. It was the ice! He had come up under the ice, and there was +but one end to that! + +He began to sink again, slowly, as if an invisible hand were pulling +him down, and in his despair he made a last frantic effort, striking +out blindly, knowing that in another second he must open his mouth. +Even under the water he still had consciousness enough left to know +that he tried to cry out, and he felt the first gurgling rush of water +into his lungs. But he did not see the long arm that reached down +where the bubbles were coming up, he did not feel the grip that +dragged him out upon the ice. His first sense of life was that +something very heavy was upon his stomach, and that he was being +rubbed, and pummeled, and rolled about as if he had become the +plaything of a great bear. Then he saw Mukoki, and then Wabigoon. + +"You go build fire," he heard Mukoki say, and he could hear Wabi +running swiftly shoreward. For he knew that they were still upon the +ice. The canoe was drawn safely up a dozen feet away, and the old +Indian was dragging blankets from it. When Mukoki turned he found Rod +resting upon his elbow, looking at him. + +"That--w'at you call heem--close shave!" he grinned, placing a +supporting arm under Rod's shoulder. + +With Mukoki's assistance the youth rose to his feet, and a thick +blanket was wrapped about him. Slowly they made their way shoreward, +and soon Wabi came running out to meet them, dripping wet. + +"Rod, when we get thawed out, I want you to kick me," he pleaded. "I +want you to kick me good and hard, and then I'll take great pleasure +in kicking you. And ever after this, when we do a thing that Mukoki +tells us not to do, we'll kick some more!" + +"Who pulled us out?" asked Rod. + +"Mukoki, of course. Will you kick me?" + +"Shake!" + +And the two dripping, half-frozen young adventurers shook hands, +while Mukoki chuckled and grunted and gurgled until he set the others +bursting into laughter. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +THE YELLOW BULLET + +Before a rousing fire of logs Rod and Wabigoon began to see the +cheerful side of life again, and as soon as Mukoki had built them a +balsam shelter they stripped off their clothes and wrapped themselves +in blankets, while the old Indian dried their outfits. It was two +hours before they were dressed. No sooner were they out than Wabi +went into the bush and returned a few minutes later brandishing a +good-sized birch in his hand. There was no sign of humor in his face +as he eyed Rod. + +"Do you see that log?" he said, pointing to the big trunk of a fallen +tree near the fire "That will just fit your stomach, Rod. It will be +better than kicking. Double yourself over that, face down, pantaloons +up. I'm going to lick you first because I want you to know just how +much to give me. I want it twice as hard, for I was more to blame than +you." + +In some astonishment Rod doubled himself over the log. + +"Great Scott!" he ejaculated, peering up in dismay. "Not too hard, +Wabi!" + +Swish! fell the birch, and a yell of pain burst from the white youth's +lips. + +Swish!--Swish!--Swish! + +"Ouch! Great Caesar--Let up!" + +"Don't move!" shouted Wabi. "Take it like a man--you deserve it!" + +Again and again the birch fell. Rod groaned as he rose to his feet +after Wabi had stopped. "Oh, please--please give me that whip!" + +"Not too hard, you know," warned Wabi, as he fitted himself over the +log. + +"You chose your own poison," reminded Rod, rolling up his sleeve. +"Just twice as hard, no more!" + +And the birch began to fall. + +When it was over Rod's arm ached, and Wabi, despite his Indian +stoicism, let out a long howl at the last blow. + +During the entire scene of chastisement Mukoki stood like one struck +dumb. + +"We'll never be bad any more, Muky," promised Wabigoon, rubbing +himself gently. "That is, if we are, we'll whip ourselves again, eh, +Rod?" + +"Not so long as I can run!" assured Rod with emphasis. "I'm willing +to lend a helping hand at any time you think you deserve another, but +beyond that please count me out!" + +For an hour after the self-punishment of the young gold hunters the +three gathered fuel for the night and balsam boughs for their beds. It +was dark by the time they sat down to their supper, which they ate in +the light of a huge fire of dry poplar. + +"This is better than paddling all night, even if we did have a close +shave," said Rod, after they had finished and settled themselves +comfortably. + +Wabi gave a grimace and shrugged his shoulders. + +"Do you know how close your call was?" he asked. "It was so close that +just by one chance in ten thousand you were saved. I had pulled myself +upon the ice by catching hold of the bow of the canoe and when Muky +saw that I was safe he watched for you. But you didn't show up. We +had given you up for dead when a few bubbles came to the surface, and +quicker than a wink Mukoki thrust down his arm. He got you by the hair +as you were sinking for the last time. Think of that, Rod, and dream +of it to-night. It'll do you good." + +"Ugh!" shuddered the white youth. "Let's talk of something more +cheerful. What a glorious fire that poplar makes!" + +"Mak' light more as twent' t'ous'nd candles!" agreed Mukoki. "Heem +bright!" + +"Once upon a time, many ages ago, there was a great chief in this +country," began Wabigoon, "and he had seven beautiful daughters. So +beautiful were they that the Great Spirit himself fell in love with +them, and for the first time in countless moons he appeared upon +earth, and told the chief that if he would give him his seven +daughters he, in turn, would grant the father seven great desires. And +the chief, surrendering his daughters, asked that he might be given a +day without night, and a night without day, and his wish was granted; +and his third and fourth and fifth desires were that the land might +always be filled with fish and game, the forests remain for ever +green, and fire be given to his people. His sixth desire was that a +fuel be given to him which would burn even in water, and the Great +Spirit gave him birch; and his seventh desire was that he might +possess another fuel, which would throw off no smoke, and might bring +comfort and joy to his wigwams--and the poplar sprang up in the +forests. And because of that chief, and his seven beautiful daughters, +all of these things are true even to this day. Isn't it so, Mukoki?" + +The old warrior nodded. + +"And what became of the Great Spirit and the seven beautiful +daughters?" questioned Rod. + +Mukoki rose and left the fire. + +"He believes in that as he believes in the sun and the moon," spoke +Wabi softly. "But he knows that you do not, and that all white people +laugh at it. He could tell you many wonderful stories of the creation +of these forests and mountains and the things in them if he would. +But he knows that you would not believe, and would laugh at him +afterward." + +In an instant Rod was upon his feet. + +"Mukoki!" he called. "Mukoki!" + +The old Indian turned and came back slowly. The white youth met him +half-way, his face flushed, his eyes shining. + +"Mukoki," he said gently, gripping the warrior's hand, "Mukoki--I love +your Great Spirit! I love the one who made these glorious forests, and +that glorious moon up there, and the mountains and lakes and rivers! +I want to know more about him. You must tell me, so that I will know +when he talks about me, in the winds, in the stars, in the forests! +Will you?" + +Mukoki was looking at him, his thin lips parted, his grim visage +relaxed, as if he were weighing the truthfulness of the white youth's +words. + +"And I will tell you about our Great Spirit, the white man's Great +Spirit," urged Rod. "For we have a Great Spirit, too, Mukoki, and He +did for the white man's world what yours did for you. He created the +earth, the sky and the sea and all the things in them in six days, and +on the seventh He rested. And that seventh day we call Sunday, Mukoki. +And He made our forests for us, as your Great Spirit made them for +you, only instead of giving them for the love of seven beautiful women +He gave them for the love of man. I'll tell you wonderful things about +Him, Mukoki, if you will tell me about yours. Is it a bargain?" + +"Mebby--yes," replied the old pathfinder slowly. His face had +softened, and for the second time Rod knew that he had touched the +heartstrings of his red comrade. They returned to the fire, and Wabi +made room for them upon the log beside him. In his hand he held a copy +of the old birch-bark map. + +"I've been thinking about this all day," he said, spreading it out so +that the others could see. "Somehow I haven't been able to get the +idea out of my head that--" + +"What?" asked Rod. + +"Oh, nothing," hastily added Wabi, as if he regretted what he had +said. "It's a mighty curious map, isn't it? I wonder if we'll ever +know its whole story." + +"I believe we know it now," declared Rod. "In the first place, we +found it clutched by one of the skeletons, and we know from the knife +wounds in those skeletons, and the weapons near them, that the two +men fought and killed themselves. They fought for this map, for the +precious secret which each wished to possess alone. Now--" + +He took the map from Wabi's fingers and held it up between them and +the fire. + +"Isn't the rest of it clear?" + +For a few moments the three looked at it in silence. + +From the faded outlines of the original it had been drawn with +painstaking accuracy. + +With a splinter Rod pointed to the top of the map, where were written +the words, "Cabin and head of chasm." + +"Could anything be clearer?" he repeated. "Here is the cabin in which +the men killed themselves, and where we found their skeletons, and +here they have marked the chasm in which I shot the silver fox, and +down which we must go to find the gold. According to this we must go +until we come to the third waterfall, and there we will find another +cabin--and the gold." + +"It all seems very simple--by the map," agreed Wabi. + +Under the crude diagram were a number of lines in writing. They were: + +"We, John Ball, Henri Langlois, and Peter Plante, having discovered +gold at this fall, do hereby agree to joint partnership in the same, +and do pledge ourselves to forget our past differences and work in +mutual good will and honesty, so help us God. Signed, + +"JOHN BALL, HENRI LANGLOIS, PETER PLANTE." + +Through the name of John Ball had been drawn a broad black line which +had almost destroyed the letters, and at the end of this line, in +brackets, was printed a word in French, which for the hundredth time +Wabi translated aloud: + +"Dead!" + +"From the handwriting of the original we know that Ball was a man of +some education," continued Rod. "And there is no doubt but that the +birch-bark sketch was made by him. All of the writing was in one hand, +with the exception of the signatures of Langlois and Plante, and you +could hardly decipher the letters in those signatures if you did not +already know their names. From these lines it is quite certain that +we were right at the cabin when we concluded that the two Frenchmen +killed the Englishman to get him out of the partnership. Isn't that +story clear enough?" + +"Yes, as far as you have gone," replied Wabi. "These three men +discovered gold, quarreled, signed this agreement, and then Ball was +murdered. The two Frenchmen, as Mukoki suggested at the cabin, came +out a little later for supplies, and brought the buckskin bag full of +gold with them. They had come as far as the cabin at the head of the +chasm when they quarreled over possession of the map and agreement, +fought, and died. From the old guns and other evidences we found near +them we know that all this happened at least fifty years ago, and +perhaps more. But--" + +He paused, whistling softly. + +"Where is the third waterfall?" + +"I thought we settled that last winter," replied Rod, a little +irritated by his companion's doubt. "If writing goes for anything, +Ball was a man of education, and he drew the map according to some +sort of scale. The second fall is only half as far from the first fall +as the third fall is from the second, which is conclusive evidence of +this. Now Mukoki discovered the first waterfall fifty miles down the +chasm!" + +"And we figured from the distances between John Ball's marks on the +birch, that the third fall was about two hundred and fifty miles from +our old camp at the head of the chasm," rejoined Wabigoon. "It looks +reasonable." + +"It is reasonable," declared Rod, his face flushed with excitement. +"From the head of the chasm our trail is as plain as day. We can't +miss it!" + +Mukoki had been listening in silence, and now joined in the +conversation for the first time. + +"Must get to chasm first," he grunted, giving his shoulders a hunch +that suggested a great deal. + +Wabi returned the map to his pocket. + +"You're right, Muky," he laughed. "We're climbing mountains before we +come to them. It will be tough work getting to the chasm." + +"Much water--ver' swift. River run lak twent' t'ous'nd cari-boo!" + +"I'll bet the Ombabika is a raging torrent," said Rod. + +"And we've got forty miles of it, all upstream," replied Wabi. "Then +we come to the Height of Land. After that the streams run northward, +to Hudson Bay, and when we reach them we'll hold our breath and pray +instead of paddling. Oh, it will be exciting fun rushing down-stream +on the floods!" + +"But there is work before us to-morrow--hard work," said Rod. "And I'm +going to bed. Good night!" + +Mukoki and Wabigoon soon followed their companion's example, and half +an hour later nothing but the crackling of the fire disturbed the +stillness of the camp. Mukoki was as regular as clockwork in his +rising, and an hour before dawn he was up and preparing breakfast. +When his young comrades aroused themselves they found the ducks they +had shot the preceding day roasting on spits over the fire, and coffee +nearly ready. Rod also noticed that a part of the contents of the +canoe were missing. + +"Took load up to river," explained Mukoki in response to the youth's +questioning. + +"Working while we sleep, as usual," exclaimed the disgusted Wabigoon. +"If it keeps on we'll deserve another whipping, Rod!" + +Mukoki examined a fat bluebill, roasted to a rich brown, and gave it +to Rod. Another he handed to Wabigoon, and with a third in his own +hands he found a seat for himself upon the ground close to the coffee +and bread. + +"Ah, if this isn't fit for a king!" cried Rod, poising his savory +bluebill on the end of a fork. + +Half an hour later the three went to their canoe. Mukoki had already +packed a half of its contents to the river, a quarter of a mile away, +and he now loaded himself with the remainder while the two boys +hoisted the light birch upon their shoulders. As Roderick caught his +first glimpse of the Ombabika in the growing light of day he gave a +cry of astonishment. When he had gone up the stream the preceding +winter it was scarce more than a dozen gun lengths in width. Now it +was a veritable Amazon, its black, ugly waters rolling and twisting +like the slow boiling of a thick liquid over a fire. There was little +rush about it, no frenzied haste, no mountain-like madness in the +advance of the torrent. Rod had expected to see this, and he would not +have been startled by it. + +But there was something vastly more appalling in the flood that rolled +slowly before his eyes, with its lazily twisting whirlpools, its +thousand unseen currents, rolling the water here and there--always in +different places--like the gurgling eruptions he had often observed +in a pot of simmering oatmeal. There was something uncanny about +it, something terribly suggestive of giant hands under the surface, +waiting to pull them down. He knew, without questioning, that +there was more deadly power in that creeping flood than in a dozen +boisterous torrents thundering down from the mountains. In it were the +cumulative waters of a score of those torrents, and in its broad, deep +sweep into the big lake the currents and perils of each were combined +into one great threatening force. + +The thoughts that were in Rod's mind betrayed themselves as he looked +at his companions. Mukoki was reloading the canoe. Wabi watched the +flood. + +"She's running pretty strong," said the Indian youth dubiously. "What +do you think of it, Muky?" + +"Keep close to shore," replied the old warrior, without stopping his +work. "We mak' heem--safe!" + +There was a good deal of consolation in Mukoki's words, for both +youths still bore smarting reminders of his caution and good judgment. +In a short time the canoe was safely launched where a small eddy had +worked into the shore, and the three adventurers dug in their paddles. +Mukoki, who held the important position in the stern, kept the bow of +the birch within half a dozen yards of the bank, and to Rod's mind +they slipped up-stream with amazing speed and ease. Now and then one +of the upheavings of the currents would catch the canoe, and from the +way in which it was pitched either to one side or the other Rod easily +imagined what perils the middle of the stream would have held for +them. Quick action on the part of Mukoki and Wabigoon was always +necessary to counteract the effect of these upheavals, and in the bow +Wabi was constantly on the alert. At no time could they tell when to +expect the attacks of the unseen forces below. Ten feet ahead the +water might be running as smooth as oil, then--a single huge bubble, +as if a great fish had sent up a gasp of air--and in an instant it +would be boiling like a small maelstrom. + +Rod noticed that each time they were caught near one of these some +unseen power seemed sucking them down, and that at those times the +canoe would settle several inches deeper than when they were in calm +water. The discovery thrilled him, and he wondered what one of the big +eruptions out in mid-stream would do to them if they were caught in +it. Other perils were constantly near them. Floating logs and masses +of brush and other debris swept down with the flood, and Wabi's +warning cries of "right," "left," and "back" came with such frequency +that Rod's arms ached with the mighty efforts which he made with his +paddle in response to them. Again the stream would boil with such fury +ahead of them that Mukoki would put in to shore, and a portage would +be made beyond the danger point. Five times during the day were the +canoe and its contents carried in this manner, so that including all +time lost an average of not more than two miles an hour was made. When +camp was struck late that afternoon, however, Mukoki figured that they +had covered half the distance up the Ombabika. + +The following day's progress was even slower. With every mile the +stream became narrower and swifter. The treacherous upheavals caused +by undercurrents no longer harassed the gold seekers, but logs and +debris swept down with greater velocity. Several times the frail canoe +was saved from destruction only by the quick and united action of the +three. They worked now like a well-regulated machine, engineered by +Wabigoon, whose sharp eyes were always on the alert for danger ahead. +This second day was one of thrills and tense anxiety for Rod, and he +was glad when it came to an end. It was early, and the sun was still +two hours high, when they stopped to camp. + +Mukoki had chosen an open space, backed by a poplar-covered rocky +ridge, and scarce had the bow of the canoe touched shore when Wabi +gave an excited exclamation, caught up his rifle, and fired three +rapid shots in the direction of a small clump of spruce near the foot +of the mountain. + +"Missed, by all that's good and great!" he yelled. "Quick, Mukoki, +shove her in! There's the biggest bear I've seen in all my life!" + +"Where?" demanded Rod. "Where is he?" + +He dropped his paddle and snatched his own rifle, while Mukoki, +keeping his self-possession, brought the canoe so that Wabi could leap +ashore. Rod followed like a flash, and the two excited youths sped in +the direction of the bear, leaving their companion to care for himself +and the heavily-laden birch. A short, swift run brought them to the +edge of the spruce, and with hearts beating wildly the two scanned the +barren side of the mountain ahead of them. There was no sign of the +bear. + +"He turned down-stream!" cried Wabi, "We must cut--" + +"There he is," whispered Rod sharply. + +Just beginning the ascent of the mountain, four or five hundred yards +below them, was the bear. Even at that distance Rod was amazed at the +size of the beast. + +"What a monster!" he gasped. + +"Blaze away!" urged Wabi. "It's four hundred yards if it's a foot! Aim +for the top of his back and you'll bring him!" + +Suiting action to his words he fired the two remaining shots in +his rifle, and as he slipped in fresh cartridges Rod continued the +long-range fusillade. His first and second shots produced no effect. +At his third the running animal paused for a moment and looked down at +them, and the young hunter seized his opportunity to take a careful +aim. At the report of his gun the bear gave a quick lunge forward, +half-fell among the rocks, and then was off again. + +"You hit him!" shouted Wabi, setting off on a dead run between the +spruce and the mountain. + +For a few brief moments Rod studied the situation as he reloaded. The +bear was rapidly nearing the summit of the ridge. By swift running +Wabigoon would have another fair shot before the animal got out of +range. If that shot were a miss they would lose their game. In a flash +he discerned a break in the mountain. If he could make that, and the +bear turned in his direction-- + +Without further thought he ran toward the break. He heard the sharp +reports of Wabi's rifle behind him, but didn't stop to see the effect +of the fire. If it was another miss--every second counted. The cut in +the mountain was clear. Breathlessly he dashed through it and stopped +on the opposite side, his eyes eagerly scanning the rock-strewn ridge. +He made no attempt to suppress the exclamation of joy that came to +his lips when, fully eight hundred yards away, he discerned the bear +coming down the side of the mountain, and in his direction. Crouching +behind a huge boulder Rod waited. Seven hundred yards, six hundred, +five hundred, and the bear turned, this time striking into the edge +of the plain. The animal was traveling slowly, partly stopping in his +flight now and then, and Rod knew that he was badly wounded. It was +soon evident that the course being taken by the game would bring it no +nearer, and the young hunter leveled his rifle. + +Five hundred yards, more than a quarter of a mile! + +This was desperate shooting, shooting that sent a strange thrill +through Roderick Drew. The magnificent weapon in his hands was equal +to the task. It would kill easily at that distance. But would he fail? +He was confident that his first shot went high. His second had no +effect. To his third there came the sharp response of a fourth from +the top of the mountain. Wabigoon had reached the summit, and was +firing at six hundred yards! + +The bear stopped. With deadly precision Rod now took aim at the +motionless animal. An instant after he had fired a wild shout burst +from his throat, and was answered by Wabigoon's joyful yell from the +mountain. It was a wonderful shot, and the bear was down! + +The animal was dead when the triumphant young hunters reached its +side. It was some time before either of them spoke. Panting from their +exertions, both looked down in silence upon the huge beast at their +feet. That he had made a remarkable kill Rod could see by the look of +wonder in his companion's face. They were still mutely regarding +the dead animal when Mukoki came through the break in the ridge and +hurried toward them. His face, too, became filled with amazement when +he saw the bear. + +"Big bear!" he exclaimed. + +There was a world of meaning in his words, and Rod flushed with +pleasure. + +"He weighs five hundred," said Wabi, "and he stands four feet at the +shoulders if an inch." + +"Fine rug!" grinned Mukoki. + +"Let's see, Rod; he'll make a rug--" Wabi walked critically around +the bear. "He'll make you a rug over eight feet long by about six in +width. I wonder where he is hit?" + +A brief examination showed that while the honors of the actual kill +were with Rod, at least one, and perhaps two, of Wabi's shots had +taken effect. The last shot from the white youth's rifle had struck +the bear just below the right ear, causing almost instantaneous death. +On this same side, which had been exposed to Rod's fire, was a body +wound, undoubtedly made by the shot on the mountain side. When the +animal was rolled over by the combined efforts of the three two more +wounds were discovered on the left side, which had mostly been exposed +to Wabigoon's fire. It was while examining these that the sharp-eyed +Mukoki gave a sudden grunt of surprise. + +"Heem shot before--long time ago! Old wound--feel bullet!" + +Between his fingers he was working the loose hide back of the foreleg. +The scar of an old wound was plainly visible, and both Rod and Wabi +could feel the ball under the skin. There is something that fascinates +the big game hunter in this discovery of an old wound in his quarry, +and especially in the vast solitudes of the North, where hunters are +few and widely scattered. It brings with it a vivid picture of +what happened long ago, the excitement of some other chase, the +well-directed shot, and at last the escape of the game. And so it was +now. The heads of Rod and Wabigoon hung close over Mukoki's shoulders +while the old Indian dug out the bullet with his knife. Another grunt +of surprise fell from the pathfinder's lips as he dropped the pellet +in the palm of his hand. + +It was a strange-looking object, smooth, and curiously flattened. + +"Ver' soft bullet," said Mukoki. "Never know lead thin, thin out lak +that!" + +With his knife he peeled off a thin slice of the ball. + +"Heem--" + +He held up the two pieces. In the sun they gleamed a dull, rich +yellow. + +"That bullet made of gold!" he breathed, scarcely above a whisper. "No +yellow lead. That gold, pure gold!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +UP THE OMBABIKA + +For a few moments after Mukoki's remarkable discovery the three stood +speechless. Wabigoon stared as if he could not bring himself to +believe the evidence of his eyes. Rod was quivering with the old, +thrilling excitement that had first come to him in the cabin where +they had found the skeletons and the buckskin bag with its precious +nuggets, and Mukoki's face was a study. The thin, long fingers which +held the two pieces of the gold bullet trembled, which was an unusual +symptom in the old pathfinder. It was he who broke the silence, and +his words gave utterance to the question which had rushed into the +heads of the two young hunters. + +"Who shoot gold bullets at bear?" + +And to this question there was, for the time, absolutely no answer. To +tell who shot that bullet was impossible. But why was it used? + +Wabigoon had taken the parts of the yellow ball and was weighing them +in the palm of his hand. + +"It weighs an ounce," he declared. + +"Twenty dollars' worth of gold!" gasped Rod, as if he lacked breath +to express himself. "Who in the wide world is shooting twenty dollar +bullets at bear?" he cried more excitedly, repeating Mukoki's question +of a minute before. + +He, too, weighed the yellow pellets in his hand. + +The puzzled look had gone out of Mukoki's face. Again the battle-scarred +old warrior wore the stoic mask of his race, which only now and then is +lifted for an instant by some sudden and unexpected happening. Behind +that face, immobile, almost expressionless, worked a mind alive to every +trick and secret of the vast solitudes, and even before his young +comrades had gained the use of their tongues he was, in his savage +imagination, traveling swiftly back over the trail of the monster bear +to the gun that had fired the golden bullet. Wabigoon understood him, +and watched him eagerly. + +"What do you think of it, Muky?" + +"Man shoot powder and ball gun, not cartridge," replied Mukoki slowly. +"Old gun. Strange; ver' strange!" + +"A muzzle loader!" said Wabi. + +The Indian nodded. + +"Had powder, no lead. Got hungry; used gold." + +Eight words had told the story, or at least enough of it to clear away +a part of the cloud of mystery, but the other part still remained. + +Who had fired the bullet, _and where had the gold come from?_ + +"He must have struck it rich," said Wabi "else would he have a chunk +of gold like that?" + +"Where that come from--more, much more," agreed Mukoki shortly. + +"Do you suppose--" began Rod. There was a curious thrill in his voice, +and he paused, as if scarce daring to venture the rest of what he had +meant to say. "Do you suppose--somebody has found--our gold?" + +Mukoki and Wabigoon stared at him as if he had suddenly exploded a +mine. Then Wabi turned and looked silently at the old Indian. Not +a word was spoken. Silently Rod drew something from his pocket, +carefully wrapped in a bit of cloth. + +"You remember I kept this little nugget from my share in the buckskin +bag, intending to have a scarf-pin made of it," he explained. "When I +took my course in geology and mineralogy I learned that, if one had +half a dozen specimens of gold, each from a different mine, the +chances were about ten to one that no two of them would be exactly +alike in coloring. Now--" + +He exposed the nugget, and made a fresh cut in it with his knife, as +Mukoki had done with the yellow bullet. Then the two gleaming surfaces +were compared. + +One glance was sufficient. + +The gold was the same! + +Wabi drew back, uttering something under his breath, his eyes gleaming +darkly. Rod's face had suddenly turned a shade whiter, and Mukoki, not +understanding the mysteries of mineralogy, stared at the youth in mute +suspense. + +"Somebody has found our gold!" cried Wabi, almost savagely. + +"We are not sure," interrupted Rod. "We know only that the evidence is +very suspicious. The rock formation throughout this country is almost +identically the same, deep trap on top, with slate beneath, and for +that reason it is very possible that gold found right in this locality +would be of exactly the same appearance as gold found two hundred +miles from here. Only--it's suspicious," Rod concluded. + +"Man probably dead," consoled Mukoki. "No lead--hungry--shoot bear an' +no git heem. Mebby starve!" + +"The poor devil!" exclaimed Wabigoon. "We've been too selfish to give +a thought to that, Rod. Of course he was hungry, or he wouldn't have +used gold for bullets. And he didn't get this bear! By George--" + +"I wish he'd got him," said Rod simply. + +Somehow Mukoki's words sent a flush into his face. There came to him, +suddenly, a mental picture of that possible tragedy in the wilderness: +the starving man, his last hopeless molding of a golden bullet, the +sight of the monster bear, the shot, and after that the despair and +suffering and slow death of the man who had fired it. + +"I wish he'd got it," he repeated. "We have plenty of grub." + +Mukoki was already at work skinning the bear, and Rod and Wabigoon +unsheathed their knives and joined him. + +"Wound 'bout fi', six month old," said the Indian. "Shot just before +snow." + +"When there wasn't a berry in the woods for a starving man to eat," +added Wabi. "Well, here's hoping he found something, Rod." + +An hour later the three gold seekers returned to their canoe laden +with the choicest of the bear meat, and the animal's skin, which was +immediately stretched between two trees, high up out of the reach of +depredating animals. Rod gazed at it proudly. + +"We'll be sure and get it when we come back, won't we?" + +"Sure," replied Wabi. + +"It will be safe?" + +"As safe as though it were at home." + +"Unless somebody comes along and steals it," added Rod. + +Wabi was busy unloading certain necessary articles from the canoe, but +he ceased his work to look at Rod. + +"Steal!" he cried in astonishment. + +Mukoki, too, had heard Rod's remark and was listening. + +"Rod," continued Wabigoon quietly, "that is one thing we don't have up +here. Our great big glorious North doesn't know the word thief, except +when it is applied to a Woonga. If a white hunter came along here +to-morrow, and found that hide stretched so low that the animals were +getting at it, he would nail it higher for us. An Indian, if he camped +here, would build his fire so that the sparks wouldn't strike it. Rod, +up here, where we don't know civilization, we're honest!" + +"But down in the States," said Rod, "the Indians steal." + +The words slipped from him. The next instant he would have given +anything to have been able to recall them. Mukoki had grown a little +more tense in his attitude. + +"That's because white men have lived so much among them, white men who +are called civilized," answered the young scion of Wabinosh House, his +eyes growing bright. "White blood makes thieves. Pardon me for saying +it, Rod, but it does, at least among Indians. But our white blood +up here is different from yours. It's the same blood that's in our +Indians, every drop of it honest, loyal to its friends, and it runs +red and strong with the love of this great wilderness. There are +exceptions, of course, as you have seen in the Woongas, who are an +outlaw race. But we are honest, and Mukoki there, if he were dying of +cold, wouldn't steal a skin to save himself. An ordinary Indian might +take it, if he were dying for want of it, but not unless he had a gun +to leave in its place!" + +"I didn't mean to say what I did," said Rod. "Oh, I wish I were one +of you! I love this big wilderness, and everything in it, and it's +glorious to hear you say what you do!" + +"You are one of us," cried Wabi, gripping his hand. + +That evening, after they had finished their supper and the three were +gathered about the fire, Wabigoon said: + +"Muky could tell you one reason why the Indians of the North are +honest if he wanted to, Rod. But he won't, so I will. There was once a +tribe in the country of Mukoki's fore-fathers, along the Makoki River, +which empties into the Albany, whose men were great thieves, and who +stole from one another. No man's snare was safe from his neighbor, +fights and killings were of almost daily occurrence, and the chief +of the tribe was the greatest thief of all, and of course escaped +punishment. This chief loved to set his own snares, and one day he was +enraged to find that one of his tribe had been so bold as to set a +snare within a few inches of his own, and in the trail of the same +animal. He determined on meting out a terrible punishment, and waited. + +"While he was waiting a rabbit ran into the snare of his rival. +Picking up a stick he approached to kill the game, when suddenly there +seemed to pass a white mist before his eyes, and when he looked again +there was no rabbit, but the most wonderful creature he had ever +beheld in the form of man, and he knew that it was the Great Spirit, +and fell upon his face. And a great voice came to him, as if rolling +from far beyond the most distant mountains, and it told him that the +forests and streams of the red man's heaven were closed to him and his +people, that in the hunting-grounds that came after death there was no +place for thieves. + +"'Go to your people,' he said, 'and tell them this. Tell them that +from this day on, moon upon moon, until the end of time, must they +live like brothers, setting their snares side by side without war, to +escape the punishment that hovers over them.' + +"And the chief told his people this," finished Wabi, "and from that +hour there was no more thievery in the land. And because the Great +Spirit came in the form he did the rabbit is the good luck animal of +the Crees and Chippewayans of the far North, and wherever the snows +fall deep, men set their traps side by side to this day, and do not +rob." + +Rod had listened with glowing eyes. + +"It's glorious!" he repeated. "It's glorious, if it's true!" + +"It is true," said Wabi. "In all this great country between here and +the Barren Lands, where the musk-ox lives, there is not one Indian in +a hundred who would steal another Indian's trap, or the game in it. +It is one of the understood laws of the North that every hunter shall +have his 'trap line,' or 'run,' and it is not courtesy for another +trapper to encroach upon it; but if he should, and he should lay a +trap close beside another's, it would not be wrong, for the law of the +Great Spirit is greater than the law of man. Why, last winter even the +outlaw Woongas made no effort to steal our traps, though they thirsted +for our lives!" + +"Mukoki," said Rod, rising, "I want to shake hands with you before I +go to bed. I'm learning--fast. I wish I were half Indian!" + +The next morning the journey up the Ombabika was resumed, and a +little more of anxiety was now mingled with the enthusiasm of the +adventurers. For no one of them could relieve himself of the possible +significance of the gold bullet, the fear that their treasure had been +discovered by another. Wabi regained his confidence first. + +"I don't believe it!" he exclaimed at last. Without questioning, the +others knew to what he referred. "I don't believe that our gold +has been found. It is in the heart of the wildest country on the +continent, and surely if such a rich find had been made we would have +heard something about it at Wabinosh House or Kenegami, which are the +nearest points of supply." + +"Or, if it was found, the discoverer is dead," added Rod. + +"Yes." + +In the stern, Mukoki nodded and grunted his conviction. + +"Dead," he repeated. + +The Ombabika had now become narrow and violent. Against its swift +current the canoe made but little headway, and at noon Mukoki +announced that the river journey was at an end. For a few moments Rod +did not recognize where they had landed. Then he gave a sudden cry of +glad surprise. + +"Why, this is where we had supper that night after our terrible +adventure on the river last winter," he exclaimed. + +From far off there came faintly to his ears a low, rumbling thunder. + +"Listen! That's the river rushing through the break in the mountain +where we walked the edge of the precipice!" + +Wabi shrugged his shoulders at the memory of that fearful night and +its desperate race to escape from the Woonga country. + +"We've got to do the same thing again, only this time it will be in +daylight." + +"Long portage," said Mukoki. "Six mile. Carry everything." + +"Until we reach the little creek in the plains beyond the mountain, +where you shot the caribou?" asked Rod. + +"Yes," replied Wabigoon. "That little creek will now be a pretty husky +stream, and by hard work we can paddle up it until we come within +about eight miles of our old camp at the head of the chasm, where we +found the skeletons and the map." + +"And from that point we shall have to carry our canoe and supplies +to the creek in the chasm," finished Rod. "And then--hurrah for the +gold!" + +"Mak' old camp on mountain by night," said Mukoki. + +Wabi broke into a happy laugh and thumped Rod on the back. + +"Remember the big lynx you shot, Rod, and thought it was a Woonga, and +had us all frightened out of our wits?" he cried. + +Rod colored at the memory of his funny adventure, which was thrilling +enough at the time, and began assisting Mukoki in unloading the canoe. +Two hours were taken for dinner and rest, and then the young hunters +shouldered their canoe while Mukoki hurried on ahead of them, weighted +with a half of their supplies. Every step now brought the thunder of +the torrent rushing through the mountain more clearly to their ears, +and they had not progressed more than a mile when they were compelled +to shout to make each other hear. On their right the wall of the +mountain closed in rapidly, and as they stumbled with their burden +over a mass of huge boulders the two boys saw just ahead of them the +narrow trail at the edge of the precipice. + +At its beginning they rested their canoe. On one side of them, a dozen +yards away, the face of the mountain rose sheer above them for a +thousand feet; on the other, scarce that distance from where they +stood, was the roaring chasm. And ahead of them the mountain wall and +the edge of the precipice came nearer and nearer, until there was no +more than a six-foot ledge to walk upon. Rod's face turned strangely +white as he realized, for the first time, the terrible chances they +had taken on that black, eventful night of a few months ago; and for a +time Wabi stood silent, his face as hard-set as a rock. Up out of the +chasm there came a deafening thunder of raging waters, like the +hollow explosions of great guns echoing and reëchoing in subterranean +caverns. + +"Let's take a look!" shouted Wabi close up to his companion's ear. + +He went to the edge of the precipice, and Rod forced himself to +follow, though there was in him a powerful inclination to hug close +to the mountain wall. For half a minute he stood fascinated, +terror-stricken, and yet in those thirty seconds he saw that which +would remain with him for a lifetime. Five hundred feet below him the +over-running floods of spring were caught between the ragged edges of +the two chasm walls, beating themselves in their fury to the whiteness +of milk froth, until it seemed as though the earth itself must tremble +under their mad rush. Now and then through the twisting foam there +shot the black crests of great rocks, as though huge monsters of +some kind were at play, whipping the torrent into greater fury, and +bellowing forth thunderous voices when they rose triumphant for an +instant above the sweep of the flood. + +All this Rod saw in less than a breath, and he drew back, shivering +in every fiber of his body. But Wabigoon did not move. For several +minutes the Indian youth stood looking down upon the wonderful force +at play below him, his body as motionless as though hewn out of stone, +the wild blood in his veins leaping in response to the tumult and +thunder of the magnificent spectacle deep down in the chasm. When he +turned to Rod his lips made no sound, but his eyes glowed with that +half-slumbering fire which came only when the red blood of the +princess mother gained ascendency, and the wild in him called out +greeting to the savage in nature. It is not music, or fine talk, or +artificial wonders that waken a thrill deep down in the Indian soul, +it is the great mountain, the vast plain, the roaring cataract! And so +it was with Wabigoon. + +They went on, now, with the canoe upon their shoulders, and hugging +close to the mountain wall. Slowly, avoiding every stone and stick +that might cause one of them to stumble, they passed along the +perilously narrow ledge, and did not rest again until they had come +in safety to the broader trail leading up the mountain. An hour later +Mukoki met them on his return for the remainder of their supplies. +Shortly after this they reached the small plateau where they had +camped during the previous winter, and lowered their canoe close to +the old balsam shelter. + +Everything was as they had left it. Neither snow nor storm had +destroyed their lodging of boughs. There were the charred remains of +their fire, the bones of the huge lynx which Roderick had thought was +an attacking Woonga, and had killed; and beside the shelter was a +stake driven into the ground, the stake to which they had fastened +their faithful comrade of many an adventure, the tame wolf. + +To this stake went Wabigoon, speaking no word. He sat down close +beside it, with his arm resting upon it, and when he looked up at Rod +there was an expression in his face which spoke more than words. + +"Poor old Wolf!" + +Rod turned and walked to the edge of the plateau, something hot and +uncomfortable filling his eyes. Below him, as far as he could see, +there stretched the vast, mysterious wilderness that reached to Hudson +Bay. And somewhere out there in that limitless space was Wolf. + +As he looked, the hot film clouding his vision, he thought of the old +tragedy in Mukoki's life, and of how Wolf had helped him to avenge +himself. In his imagination he went back to that terrible day many, +many years ago, when Mukoki, happy in the strength of his youth, found +his young wife and child dead upon the trail, killed by wolves; he +thought of the story that Wabi had told him of the madness that came +to the young warrior, of how year after year he followed the trail of +wolves, wreaking his vengeance on their breed. And last he thought +of Wolf--how Mukoki and Wabigoon had found the whelp in one of their +traps; how they tamed him, grew to love him, and taught him to decoy +other wolves to their rifles. Wolf had been their comrade of a few +months before; fearless, faithful, until at last, escaping from the +final murderous assault of the Woongas, he had fled into the forests, +while his human friends fought their way back to civilization. + +Where was Wolf now? + +Unconsciously Rod questioned himself aloud, and from close behind him +Wabi answered. + +"With the hunt-pack, Rod. He's forgotten us; gone back to the wild." + +"Gone back to the wild, yes," said Rod; "but forgotten us, no!" + +Wabi made no reply. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +THE MYSTERIOUS SHOT + +For many minutes the two stood silently gazing into the North. At +their feet spread the broad plain where Mukoki had killed the caribou +while they watched him from the plateau; beyond that were the dense +stretches of forest, broken here and there by other plains and +meadows, and a dozen lakes glistened in the red tints of the setting +sun. When Rod first looked upon that country a few months before it +was a world of ice and snow, a cold, dazzling panorama of white that +reached from where he stood to the Pole. Now it was wakening under +the first magic touch of spring. Far away the two young gold hunters +caught a glimmer of the stream which they were to follow up to the +chasm. Last winter it had been a tiny creek; now it was swollen to the +size of a river. + +Suddenly, as they looked, two dark objects came slowly out into an +opening a mile away. At that distance they appeared hardly larger +than dogs, and Rod, whose mind was still filled with thoughts of +Wolf, exclaimed "Wolves!" + +In the same breath he caught himself, and added: + +"Moose!" + +"A cow and her calf," said Wabi. + +"How do you know?" asked Rod. + +"There; watch them now!" cried Wabi, catching his companion by the +arm. "The mother is ahead, and even from here I can see that she is +pacing. A moose never trots or gallops, like a deer, but paces, using +both feet on a side at the same time. Notice how the calf jumps about. +An old moose would never do that." + +"But both animals look to be about the same size," replied Rod, still +doubtful. + +"It's a two-year-old calf; almost as big as its mother. In fact, it's +not really a calf, because it is too old; but so long as young moose +stick to their mothers we call them calves up here. I've known them to +remain together for three years." + +"They're coming this way!" whispered the white youth. + +The moose had turned, heading for the base of the mountain upon which +they stood. Wabi drew his companion behind a big rock, from which both +could look down without being seen. + +"Be quiet!" he warned. "They're coming to feed on the sprouting poplar +along the mountain side. Just been over to the creek to get a drink. +We may have some fun!" + +He wet a finger in his mouth and held it above his head, the forest +pathfinder's infallible method of telling how the wind blows. No +matter how slight the movement of the air may be, one side of the +finger dries first, in an instant, and is warm, while the side that +remains damp is cold, and in the lee, that side toward which the wind +is blowing. + +"The wind is wrong, dead wrong," said Wabi. "It's blowing straight +toward them. Unless we are so high that our scent goes above them they +won't come much nearer." + +Another minute and Rod nudged Wabigoon. + +"They're within range!" + +"Yes, but we won't shoot. We don't need meat." + +As the young Indian spoke the cow brought herself to a dead stop so +suddenly that Wabi gave a delighted grunt. + +"Great!" he whispered. "She's caught a whiff of us, a quarter of a +mile away. See how she holds her head, her great ears chucked forward +to hear, her nose half to the sky! She knows there's danger on this +mountain. Now--" + +He did not finish. Like a flash the cow had darted ahead of her calf, +seeming to shoulder it back, and in another moment the two were racing +swiftly into the North, the mother this time in the rear instead of +leading. + +"I love moose," said Wabi, his eyes glowing. "Do you notice that I +never shoot them, Rod?" + +"By George, so you don't! I never thought of it. What is the reason?" + +"There are a good many reasons. Of course I have shot them, when in +very great need of meat; but it's an unpleasant job for me. You call +the lion the king of beasts. Well, he isn't. The moose is monarch of +them all. You saw how the mother moose acted. She led her calf when +approaching, because if there should be danger she wanted to meet it +first; and when she found danger she drove her calf ahead of her in +retreat, so that if harm came to either of them it would come to her. +Isn't that the human mother instinct? And the bull is glorious! In the +mating season he will face a dozen men in defense of his cow. If she +falls first he will stand between her body and the hunters' rifles, +pawing the earth, his eyes glaring defiance, until he is riddled with +bullets. Once I saw a wounded cow, and as she staggered away the big +bull that was with her hugged her close behind, never for a moment +leaving her exposed to the fire, but unflinchingly taking every bullet +in his own body. So beautiful was his courage that you would not have +known he was wounded until he fell dead in his tracks, literally cut +to pieces. It was that sight that made me swear never to kill another +moose--unless I had to." + +Rod was silent. The mother and the calf had disappeared when he turned +to Wabigoon. + +"I'm glad you told me that, Wabi," he said. "You are teaching me new +things about this big wilderness every day. I've shot one moose. I +won't shoot another unless we need him." + +They went back to their old camp, and by the time Mukoki returned with +his second load everything was in shape for the night, and a supper of +delicious bear steaks, coffee and "hot-stone biscuits," as Rod called +their baked combination of flour, water and salt, was soon ready. +After their meal the three sat for a long time near the fire, for +there was still a slight chill in the night air, and talked +mostly about Wolf and his adventures. Rod, in his distant home in +civilization had read and heard much that was false about wild +animals, was confident that Wolf would find they had returned into the +wilderness and would join them again, and to corroborate his belief +he narrated several stories of similar happenings. Wabigoon listened +courteously to him, which is the way of the Indian. Then he said: + +"Such stories as those are false, Rod. When I spent my year at school +with you I read dozens of stories about wild animals, and very few of +them were true. All sorts of people write about the wilderness, and +yet not one out of a hundred of those same people have ever been in +the real wilderness. And it is wonderful what some of them make wild +animals do!" + +Rod straightened himself with a jerk. + +"I have been here only a few months, Wabi, and yet I have seen more +wonderful things about animals than I have ever read in print," he +declared. + +"Of course you have," agreed his companion. "And there is just the +point I want to make clear. Wild animals are the most wonderful +creatures in existence, and if some of their actual habits and +adventures were told they would be laughed at down where you came +from. Where your writers make their mistake is in bringing them into +too close association with human beings, and making them half human. +Wolf remained with us because he knew no better. We caught him when he +was a whelp, and as he grew older both Mukoki and I could see that at +times he was filled with a wild longing to join his people. We knew +that it was coming. He will never return to us." + +Mukoki made a soft sound deep down in his throat, and Rod turned +suddenly toward him. + +"You believe that, Mukoki?" + +"Wolf gone!" + +"But animals think, don't they?" persisted Rod, to whom the discussion +was of absorbing interest. "They reason, they remember!" + +"They do all of that," replied Wabi, "and more. I have read certain +so-called natural history stories which ridiculed the idea of wild +animals possessing mental abilities, and which ascribed pretty nearly +all their actions to instinct. Such stories are as wrong as those +which give wild animals human endowments. Animals do think. Don't you +suppose that mother moose was thinking when she stopped out there in +the plain? Wasn't she turning the situation over in her mind, if you +want to speak of it as that, and mentally figuring just where the +danger lay, and in which direction she ought to take flight? And +besides reason wild animals have instinct. One proof of this is their +sixth sense; the sense of--of--what do you call it?" + +"Orientation?" assisted Rod. + +"Yes; that's it. Orientation. A bear, for instance, doesn't carry +a compass with him, as some nature writers would like to have you +believe, and yet he can go from this mountain to a den a hundred miles +away as straight as a bird can fly. That's instinct." + +"Then Wolf--" mused Rod slowly. + +"Is with the hunt pack," finished the young Indian. + +Mukoki spoke softly, as though to himself. + +"Last winter the snow came, and now it is water. Two moons past, Wolf, +heem tame. Now wild. The Great Spirit say that is right, I guess so." + +"He means that it is nature," said Wabi. + +For an hour after the others had wrapped themselves in their blankets +Rod sat alone beside the fire, listening, and thinking. And after that +he went to the edge of the plateau, and watched the great spring moon +as it floated slowly over the vast, still wilderness. How wonderful +these solitudes were, how little the teeming millions of civilization +knew about them! Somehow, in those moments, as he watched the +shivering Northern Lights playing far beyond the farthest footstep of +man, there came to Roderick Drew the thought that God must be nearer +to earth here than anywhere else in the world. For the first time his +soul was filled with something that was almost love for the red man's +Great Spirit. And why not? For was not that Great Spirit his own God? +Sad, lonely, silent, mysterious, a whole world lay before him, a world +that was the Indian Bible, that contained for the red man of the North +the teachings and the voice of the Creator of all things. A wind had +risen and was whispering over the plains; he heard the hushed voices +of the quivering poplar boughs, and there came from far below him the +soft, chuckling, mating hoot of an owl. Gradually his eyes closed, +and he leaned more heavily upon the rock against which he had seated +himself. After that he dreamed of what he had looked upon, while +the fire at the camp died away, and Mukoki and Wabigoon slumbered, +oblivious of his absence. + +Of how long he slept Rod had no idea. He was suddenly brought back +into wakefulness by a sound that startled him to the marrow of his +bones, a terrible scream close to his ears. He sat bolt upright, +quaking in every limb. For a moment he tried to cry out, but his +tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. What had happened? Was it Wabi, +or Mukoki? + +A dozen paces away was a huge rock and as he looked he saw something +move upon it, a long, lithe object that shone a silvery white in the +moonlight, and he knew that it was a lynx. Stealthily Rod reached for +his rifle, which had slipped between his knees, and as he did so the +lynx sent forth another of its blood-curdling screams. Even now the +white youth shivered at the sound, so much like the terrible cry of +some person in dying agony. He leveled his gun. There was a flash in +the moonlight, a sharp report, and a shout from the direction of the +camp. In another moment Rod was upon his feet, and sorry that he had +shot. It flashed upon him that he might have watched the lynx, one of +the night pirates of all this strange wilderness, and that its pelt, +at this season, would be worthless. He went to the rock cautiously. +The lynx was not there. He walked around it, holding his rifle in +readiness for attack. The lynx was gone. He had made a clean miss! + +Both Mukoki and Wabigoon met him on the opposite side of the rock. + +"'Nother heap big Woonga," grinned the old pathfinder remembering +Rod's former adventure on this same plateau. "Kill?" + +"Missed!" said Rod shortly. "What a scream that was! Ugh!" + +This time he went to bed with the others, and slept until early dawn. +The morning was one of those rare gifts of budding spring, warm and +redolent with the sweetness of new life, and its beauty acted as a +tonic on the three adventurers. Their fears of the day before were +gone, and with song and whistle and cheery voice they began the +descent of the mountain. Mukoki went on ahead of Rod and Wabigoon with +his pack, and the two boys had not made more than two of the six miles +in the portage across the plain when he met them again, returning for +his second load. By noon the canoe and its contents were safely at +the creek, and the gold hunters halted until after dinner. The little +stream across which Rod had easily leaped without wetting his feet a +few weeks before had swollen into a fair-sized river, and in places +its searching waters had formed tiny lakes. Unlike the Ombabika, +sweeping down from its mountain heights, there was but little current +here, a fact that immensely pleased Mukoki and his companions. + +"We near mak' cabin to-night," said the old Indian. "I take load +to-night." + +During the two hours' paddle up-stream Mukoki spoke but little, and as +they approached nearer to their last winter's thrilling fight with the +Woongas, in which they had so nearly lost their lives, he ceased even +to respond by nod or grunt to the conversation of his companions. Once +Wabigoon spoke again of Wolf, and for an instant the old Indian, who +was in the bow, half turned to them, and for two strokes his paddle +rested in mid air. From the stern Wabi reached forward and poked Rod, +and the white youth understood. Next to Minnetaki and Wabigoon, and +perhaps himself, he knew that the faithful pathfinder loved Wolf best, +and that; he was filled with a little of that savage madness which +came to him now and then when he dwelt on the terrible tragedy that +had entered his life many years before. When the hunters reached the +end of their canoe journey up the stream Mukoki silently shouldered +his pack and set out over the plain. He spoke no word, made no sign. + +"It would be useless," said Wabigoon, as Rod made a movement as if to +follow and stop their comrade. "No persuasion could turn Mukoki now. +He wants to reach the old camp to-night, where Wolf disappeared. He +won't be back until morning." + +And Mukoki went on, never for an instant turning his face, until his +companions lost sight of him. But once out of their vision his manner +took on a strange and sudden change. He lowered the head strap of his +pack over his breast, so that he might clutch at it with one hand, and +move his head freely. His eyes glowed with the dull fire of wakening +excitement; his steps were quick, and yet cautious, every movement in +his advance was one of listening and watchful expectancy. A person +watching the old warrior would have said that he was keenly on the +alert for game, or danger. And yet the safety of his rifle was locked, +a fresh trail of bear aroused no new interest in him, and when he +heard a crashing in the brush on his right, where a buck had got wind +of him, he gave but a single glance in its direction. He was not +seeking game. Nor were his fears aroused by suspicion of possible +danger. Wherever the ground was soft and moist he traveled slowly, +with his eyes on the earth, and at one of these spots he came to a +sudden pause. Before him were the clearly defined imprints of a wolf's +feet. + +With a low cry Mukoki threw off his pack and fell upon his knees. His +eyes burned fiercely now. There was something of madness in the way in +which he groveled in the soft earth, creeping from one footprint to +the next ahead of it, and stopping always where the right forefoot +had left its track. It was that foot which had held Wolf a captive in +Mukoki's trap, and he had lost two toes. None was missing here, and +the old pathfinder rose to his feet again, disappointment shadowing +the twitching expectancy in his face. + +Five times that afternoon Mukoki fell on his knees beside the trails +of wolves, and five times the light of hope went out for a moment in +his eyes. It was sunset when he climbed the mountain ridge to the +little lake hidden away in the dip; only a last pale glow tinted the +sky behind the forests when he set down his pack close to the charred +remains of the old cabin. For many minutes he rested, his gaze fixed +on those blackened reminders of their thrilling battle for life the +winter before. His wild blood leaped again at the thought of the +strife, of the desperate race that he and Roderick had run over the +mountain to the burning cabin, and of their rescue of Wabigoon. +Suddenly his eyes caught the white gleam of something half a hundred +paces away, and he rose and walked toward it, grunting and chuckling +in half-savage pleasure. The Woongas had not returned to bury their +dead, and the bones beside which he stopped were those of the outlaw +whom Wabigoon had killed, picked clean by the small animals of the +forest. + +Mukoki returned to his pack and sat down. As darkness fell about him he +made no effort to build a fire. He had brought food, but did not eat +it. More dense grew the shadows in the forest, thicker the gloom that +hung over the mountains. Still he sat, silent, listening. To him, +softly and timidly at first, came the sounds of the night: the +chuckling notes of birds that awakened when the earth masked itself +in darkness, the hoot of an owl, the faint wailing echo of a far-away +lynx cry, the plunge of a mink in the lake. And now the wind began +whispering in the balsams, singing gently its age-old song of +loneliness, of desolation, of mystery, and Mukoki straightened himself +and looked to where the red glow of the moon was rising above the +mountain. After a little he rose to his feet, took his rifle, +and climbed to the summit of the ridge, with a thousand miles of +wilderness sweeping between him and the Arctic sea. And somewhere out +there in that wilderness--was Wolf! + +The moon rose higher. It disclosed the old Indian, as rigid as a rock, +with his back to a white, barkless tree in which the sap had run dry a +generation before. As he stood there he heard a sound, and turned his +face toward it, a sound that came from a mass of tumbled boulders, +like the falling of a small rock upon a larger one. And as he looked +there came from the darkness of the boulders a flash of fire and the +explosion of a gun, and as Mukoki crumpled down in his tracks there +followed a cry so terrible, so unhuman, so blood-curdling that, as +he fell, an answering cry of horror burst from the lips of the old +warrior. He lay like dead, though he was not touched. Instinct more +than reason had impelled him to fall at the sound of the mysterious +shot. Cautiously he wormed his rifle to his shoulder. But there came +no movement from the rocks. + +Then, from half-way down the mountain, there came again that terrible +cry, and Mukoki knew that no animal in all these wilds could make it, +but that it was human, and yet more savage than anything that had ever +brought terror into his soul. Trembling, he crouched to the earth, a +nameless fear chilling the blood in his veins. And the cry came again, +and yet again, always farther and farther away, now at the foot of +the mountain, now upon the plain, now floating away toward the chasm, +echoing and reechoing between the mountain ridges, startling the +creatures of the night into silence, and wresting deep sobbing breaths +from out of Mukoki's soul. And the old warrior moved not a muscle +until far away, miles and miles, it seemed, there died the last echo +of it, and only the whispering winds rustled over the mountain top. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +THE CRY IN THE CHASM + +If Mukoki had been a white man he would have analyzed in some way the +meaning of those strange cries. But the wild and its savage things +formed his world; and his world, until this night, had never known +human or beast that could make the terrible sounds he had heard. So +for an hour he crouched where he had fallen, still trembling with +that nameless fear, and trying hard to form a solution of what had +happened. Slowly he recovered himself. For many years he had mingled +with white people at the Post and reason now battled with the +superstitions of his race. + +He had been fired at. He had heard the whistling song of the ball over +his head, and had heard it strike the tree behind him. For a time +those rocks toward which he stared like fascinated beast had concealed +a man. But what kind of man! He remembered the ancient battle-cries +of his tribe, and of the enemies of his tribe, but none was like the +cries that had followed the shot. He heard them still; they rang in +his ears, and sent shivering chills up his back. And the more he tried +to reason the greater that nameless fear grew in him, until he slunk +like an animal down the side of the mountain, through the dip, and out +again upon the plain. And with that same nameless fear always close +behind him, urging him on with its terrors, he sped back over the +trail that he had followed that day, nor for an instant did he stop to +rest until he came to the camp-fire of Rod and Wabigoon. + +Usually an Indian hides his fears; he conceals them as a white man +does his sins. But to-night Mukoki's experience had passed beyond the +knowledge of his race, and he told of what had happened, trembling +still, cringing when a great white rabbit darted close to the fire. +Rod and Wabi listened to him in mute astonishment. + +"Could it have been a Woonga?" asked Wabi. + +"No Woonga," replied the old warrior quickly, shaking his head. +"Woonga no mak' noise lak that!" + +He drew away from the fire, wrapped himself in a blanket, and crept +into the shelter that Rod and Wabigoon had built. The two boys looked +at each other in silence. + +"Muky has certainly had some most extraordinary adventure," said Wabi +at last. "I have never seen him like this before. It is easy to guess +the meaning of the shot. Some of the Woongas may still be in the +country, and one of them saw Mukoki, and fired at him. But the scream! +What do you make of that?" + +"Do you suppose," whispered Rod, speaking close to his companion's +ear, "that Mukoki's imagination helped him out to-night?" He paused +for a moment as he saw the look of disapproval in Wabigoon's eyes, +and then went on. "I don't mean to hint that he stretched his story +purposely. He was standing on the mountain top. Suddenly there came a +flash of fire, the report of a rifle, and a bullet zipped close to his +head. And at that same instant, or a moment later--well, you remember +the scream of the lynx!" + +"You believe that it might have been a lynx, startled by the shot, and +sent screaming across the plain?" + +"Yes." + +"Impossible. At the sound of that shot a lynx would have remained as +still as death!" + +"Still there are always exceptions," persisted the white youth. + +"Not in the case of lynx," declared Wabigoon. "No animal made those +cries. Mukoki is as fearless as a lion. The cry of a lynx would have +stirred his blood with pleasure instead of fear. Whatever the sounds +were they turned Mukoki's blood into water. They made him a coward, +and he ran, ran, mind you! until he got back to us! Is that like +Mukoki? I tell you the cries--" + +"What?" + +"Were something very unusual," finished Wabigoon quietly, rising to +his feet "Perhaps we will find out more to-morrow. As it is, I believe +we had better stand guard in camp to-night. I will go to bed now and +you can awaken me after a while." + +Wabigoon's words and the strangeness of his manner put Rod ill at +ease, despite his arguments of a few moments before, and no sooner did +he find himself alone beside the fire than he began to be filled with +an unpleasant premonition of lurking danger. For a time he sat very +still, trying to peer into the shadows beyond the fire and listening +to the sounds that came to him from out of the night. As he watched +and listened his brain worked ceaselessly, conjuring picture after +picture of what that danger might be, and at last he drew out of the +firelight and concealed himself in the deep gloom of the bush. From +here he could see the camp, and at the same time was safe from a +possible rifle shot. + +The night passed with tedious slowness, and he was glad when, a little +after midnight, Wabi came out to relieve him. At dawn he was in turn +awakened by the young Indian. Mukoki was already up and had prepared +his pack. Apparently he had regained his old spirits, but both Rod and +Wabigoon could see that behind them the fear of the preceding night +still haunted him. That morning he did not set off ahead of the two +boys with his pack but walked beside them, stopping to rest when they +lowered their canoe, his eyes never ceasing their sharp scrutiny of +the plain and distant ridges. Once when Mukoki mounted a big rock to +look about him, Wabi whispered, + +"I tell you it's strange, Rod--mighty strange!" + +An hour later the old warrior halted and threw off his load. The three +had approached within a quarter of a mile of the dip in the mountain. + +"Leave canoe here," he said. "Go lak fox to old camp. Mebbe see!" + +He took the lead now, followed closely by the boys. The safety of the +old pathfinder's rifle was down, and following his example Rod and +Wabigoon held their own guns in readiness for instant fire. As they +neared the summit of the ridge on which Mukoki's life had been +attempted the suspense of the two young hunters became almost +painfully acute. Mukoki's actions not only astonished them, but +set their blood tingling with his own strange fear. Many times had +Wabigoon seen his faithful comrade in moments of deadly peril but +never, even when the Woongas were close upon their trail, had he known +him to take them as seriously as he did the ascent of this mountain. +Every few steps Mukoki paused, listening and watchful. Not the +smallest twig broke under his moccasined feet; the movement of the +smallest bird, the trembling of a bush, the scurry of a rabbit halted +him, rigid, his rifle half to shoulder. And Rod and Wabigoon soon +become filled with this same panic-stricken fear. What terrible dread +was it that filled Mukoki's soul? Had he seen something of which he +had not told them? Did he think something which he had not revealed? + +Foot by foot the three came to the top of the ridge. There Mukoki +straightened himself, and stood erect. There were no signs of a living +creature about them. Down in the dip nestled the little lake, gleaming +in the midday sun. They could make out the debris of the burned cabin +in which they had passed their hunting season, and close to this was +the pack which Mukoki had dropped there the night before. No one had +molested it. Wabi's face relaxed. Rod, breathing easier, laughed +softly. What had there been to fear? He glanced questioningly at +Mukoki. + +"There rocks, there tree," said the old warrior, in answer to Rod's +glance, "down there went scream!" He pointed far out across the plain. + +Wabi had gone to the tree. + +"See here, Rod!" he cried. "By George, this was a close shave!" He +pointed to a tiny hole freshly made in the smooth white surface of the +tree as the others came up. "There--stand there, Mukoki, back to the +tree, as you said you were when the shot was fired. Great Caesar, that +fellow had a dead line on your head--two inches high! No wonder it +made you think the scream of a lynx was something else!" + +"No lynx," said Mukoki, his face darkening. + +"Shame on you, Muky!" laughed Wabigoon. "Don't get angry. I won't say +it again if it makes you mad." + +Rod had drawn his hunting-knife and was prodding the point of it in +the bullet hole. + +"I can feel the ball," he said. "It's not in more than an inch." + +"That's curious," exclaimed Wabigoon, coming close beside him. "It +ought to be half-way through the tree at least! Eh, Muky? I don't +believe it would have hurt--" + +He stopped. Rod had turned with a sudden excited cry. He held out his +knife, tip upward, and pointed to it with the index finger of his free +hand. Wabi's eyes fell on the tip of the blade. Mukoki stared. For a +full half minute the three stood in speechless amazement. Clinging to +the knife tip was a tiny fleck of yellow, gleaming lustrously in the +sun as Rod slowly turned the handle of his weapon. + +"Another--gold--bullet!" + +The words fell from Wabi's lips very slowly, and so low that they were +scarce above a whisper. Mukoki seemed to have ceased breathing. Rod's +eyes met the old warrior's. + +"What does it mean?" + +Wabi had pulled his knife and was digging into the tree. A few deep +cuts and the golden bullet lay exposed to view. + +"What does it mean?" repeated the white youth. + +Again he addressed his question to Mukoki. + +"Man who shoot bear--heem no dead," replied the old pathfinder. "Same +gun, same gold, same--" + +"Same what?" + +A strange gleam came for an instant into Mukoki's eyes, and without +finishing he turned and pointed across the narrow plain that lay +between them and the mysterious chasm which they were to follow in +their search for treasure. + +"Cry went there!" he said shortly. + +"To the chasm!" said Wabi. + +"To the chasm!" repeated Rod. + +Impelled by the same thought the three adventurers went toward the +rocks from which the shot had been fired. Surely they would discover +some sign there, or lower down upon the plain, where the melting snows +had softened the earth. Mukoki led in the search, and foot by foot +they examined the spot where the mysterious marksman must have stood +when he sent his golden bullet so close to the Indian's head. + +But not a trace of his presence had he left behind. Working abreast, +the three began the descent of the ridge. Hardly had they covered a +third of the distance to the plain when Wabi, who was trailing between +Rod and the old Indian, called out that he had made a discovery. +Mukoki had already reached him when Rod came up, and the two were +gazing silently at something fluttering from a bush. + +"Lynx hair!" cried Rod. "A lynx has been this way!" He could not +entirely conceal the triumph in his voice. He had been right in his +conjecture of the night before, the cry that had frightened Mukoki had +been made by a lynx! + +"Yes, a lynx has been this way, a lynx four feet high," said Wabigoon +quietly, and the touch of raillery in his voice assured Rod that he +had still other lessons to learn in the life of this big wilderness. +"Lynx don't grow that big, Rod!" + +"Then it's--" Rod feared to go on. + +"Lynx fur. That's just what it is. Whoever fired at Mukoki last night +was dressed in skins! Now, can you tell us what that means?" + +Without waiting for an answer Wabigoon resumed his search. But the +mountain side gave no further evidence. Not a footprint was found upon +the plain. If the mysterious person who had fired the golden bullet +had leaped from the mountain top into space he could have left no +fewer traces behind him. At the end of an hour Rod and his companions +returned to the canoe, carried their loads to the pack in the dip, +and prepared dinner. Their suspense and fear, and specially Mukoki's +dread, were in a large measure gone. But at the same time they were +more hopelessly mystified than ever. That there was danger ahead of +them, that the menace of golden bullets was actual and thrilling, all +three were well agreed, but the sunlight of day and a little sound +reasoning had dispelled their half superstitious terrors of the +previous night and they began to face the new situation with their +former confidence. + +"We can't let this delay us," said Wabi, as they ate their dinner. "By +night we ought to be in our old camp at the head of the chasm, where +we held the Woongas at bay last winter. The sooner we get out of the +way of these golden bullets the better it will be for us!" + +Mukoki shrugged his shoulders. + +"Gold bullet follow, I guess so," he grunted, "Cry went there--to +chasm!" + +"I don't believe this fellow, whoever he is, will hang to our trail," +continued Wabi, giving Rod a suggestive look. A few moments later he +found an opportunity to whisper, "We've got to get that cry out of +Muky's head, Rod, or we'll never find our gold!" + +When Mukoki had gone to arrange his pack the young Indian spoke +earnestly to his companion. + +"Muky isn't afraid of bullets, either gold or lead; he isn't afraid of +any danger on earth. But that cry haunts him. He is trying not to +let us know, yet it haunts him just the same. Do you know what he is +thinking? No? Well, I do! He is superstitious, like the rest of his +race, and the two gold bullets, the terrible cries, and the fact that +we found no tracks upon the plain are all carrying him toward one +conclusion, that the strange thing that fired at him is--" + +Wabigoon paused and wiped his face, and it was easy for Rod to see +that he was suppressing some unusual excitement. + +"What does he think it is?" + +"I'm not sure, not quite sure, yet," went on the Indian youth. "But +listen! It is a legend in Mukoki's tribe, and always has been, that +once in every so many generations they are visited by a terrible +warrior sent by the Great Spirit who takes sacrifice of them, a +sacrifice of human life, because of a great wrong that was once done +by their people. And this warrior, though invisible, has a voice that +makes the mountains quake and the rivers stand still with fear, and +in his great bow he shoots shafts that are made of gold! Do you +understand? Last night I heard Mukoki talking about it in his sleep. +Either we must hear this cry, and find out more about it, or hurry to +a place where it won't be heard again. Golden bullets and cries and +Mukoki's superstitions are going to be worse than Woongas if we don't +watch out!" + +"But the whole thing is as plain as day!" declared Rod in +astonishment. "A man shot at the bear, and the same man shot at +Mukoki, and he fired gold each time. Surely--" + +"It's not the man part of it," interrupted the other. "It's the cry. +There, Mukoki has his pack ready. Let's start for the chasm at once!" + +This time the boys had a heavier burden than usual, for in the canoe +they placed one of the two loads carried by Mukoki, and consequently +their progress toward the chasm was much slower than that across the +plain. It was late in the afternoon when they reached the break that +led into the chasm, and as they cautiously made the descent now Rod +thought of the thrilling pursuit of the Woonga horde, and how a few +weeks before they had discovered this break just in time for Wabi and +him to save their lives, and that of the wounded Mukoki. It was with a +feeling almost of awe that the three adventurers penetrated deeper and +deeper into the silent gloom of this mystery-filled gulch between the +mountains, and when they reached the bottom they set their loads down +without speaking, their eyes roving over the black walls of rock, +their hearts throbbing a little faster with excitement. + +For here, at this break in the mountain, began the romantic trail +drawn by men long dead, the trail that led to a treasure of gold. + +As the three sat in silence, the gloom in the chasm thickened. The sun +had passed beyond the southwestern forests, and through the narrow +rift between the mountain walls there fell but the ebbing light of +day, dissolving itself into the shadows of dusk as it struggled weakly +in the cavernous depths. For a few minutes this swift fading of day +into night gripped the adventurers in its spell. What did the lonely +solitudes of that chasm hold for them? Where would they lead them? To +Rod's mind there came a picture of the silver fox and a thought of +his dream, when for a few miles he had explored the mysteries of this +strange, sunless world shut in by rock walls. Again he saw the dancing +skeletons, heard the rattle of their bones, and watched the wonderful +dream-battle that had led him to the birch-bark map. Wabigoon, his +eyes gleaming in the gathering darkness, thought of their flight from +the outlaw savages, and Mukoki-- + +The white youth had turned a little to look at the old warrior. Mukoki +sat as rigid as a pillar of stone an arm's reach from him. Head erect, +arms tense, his eyes gleaming strangely, he stared straight out into +the gloom between the chasm walls. Rod shivered. He knew, knew without +questioning, that Mukoki was thinking of the cry! + +And at that instant there floated up from the black chaos ahead a +sound, a sound low and weird, like the moaning of a winter's wind +through the pine tops, swelling, advancing, until it ended in a +shriek--a shriek that echoed and reëchoed between the chasm walls, +dying away in a wail that froze the blood of the three who sat and +listened! + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +WABI MAKES A STRANGE DISCOVERY + +Mukoki broke the silence which followed the terrible cry. With a +choking sound, as if some unseen hand were clutching at his throat, he +slipped from the rock upon which he was sitting and crouched behind +it, his rifle gleaming faintly as he leveled it down the chasm. There +came the warning click of Wabigoon's gun, and the young Indian hunched +himself forward until he was no more than an indistinct shadow in the +fast-deepening gloom of night. Only Rod still sat erect. For a moment +his heart seemed to stand still. Then something leaped into his brain +and spread like fire through his veins, calling him to his feet, +trembling with the knowledge of what that cry had told him! It was not +a lesson from the wilderness that Roderick Drew was learning now. As +fast as the mind could travel he had gone far back into the strife and +misery and madness of civilization, and there he found the language +of that fearful cry floating up the chasm. He had heard it once, +twice--yes, again and again, and the memory of it had burned deep down +into his soul. He turned to his companions, trying to speak, but the +horror that had first filled Mukoki now fastened itself on him, and +his tongue was lifeless. + +"A madman!" + +Wabi's fingers dug into his arm like the claws of a bear. + +"A what!" + +"A madman!" repeated Rod, trying to speak more calmly. "The man who +shot the bear and fired at Mukoki and who uses gold bullets in his gun +is mad--raving mad! I have heard those screams before--in the Eloise +insane asylum, near Detroit. He's--" + +The words were frozen on his lips. Again the cry echoed up the +chasm. It was nearer this time, and with a sobbing, terrified sound, +something that Wabi had never heard fall from Mukoki's lips before, +the old warrior clung to Roderick's arm. Darkness hid the terror in +his face, but the white boy could feel it in the grip of his hands. + +"Mad, raving mad!" he cried. Suddenly he gripped Mukoki fiercely by +the shoulders, and as Wabigoon crouched forward, ready to fire at the +first movement in the gloom, he thrust the butt of his rifle in his +back. "Don't shoot!" he commanded. "Mukoki, don't be a fool! That's +a man back there, a man who has suffered and starved, starved, mind +you!--until he's mad, stark mad! It would be worse than murder to kill +him!" + +He stopped, and Mukoki drew back a step, breathing deeply. + +"Heem--starve--no eat--gone bad dog?" he questioned softly. In an +instant Wabi was at his side. + +"That's it, Muky--he's gone bad dog, just like that husky of ours who +went bad because he swallowed a fish bone. White men sometimes go bad +dog when they are thirsty and starving!" + +"Our Great Spirit tells us that we must never harm them," added Rod. +"We put them in big houses, larger than all of the houses at the Post +together, and feed them and clothe them and care for them all their +lives. Are you afraid of a bad dog, Muky, or of a man who has gone bad +dog?" + +"Bad dog bite deep--mebby so we kill heem!" + +"But we don't kill them until we have to," persisted the quick-witted +Wabigoon, who saw the way in which Rod's efforts were being directed. +"Didn't we save our husky by taking the fish bone out of his throat? +We must save this bad dog, because he is a white man, like Rod. He +thinks all men are his enemies, just as a bad dog thinks all other +dogs are his enemies. So we must be careful and not give him a chance +to shoot us but we mustn't harm him!" + +"It will be best if we don't let him know we are in the chasm," said +Rod, still speaking for Mukoki's benefit. "He's probably going out on +the plain, and must climb up this break in the mountain. Let's move +our stuff a little out of his path." + +As the two boys went to the canoe their hands touched. Wabi was +startled by the coldness of his friend's fingers. + +"We've fixed Mukoki," he whispered. "He won't shoot. But--" + +"We may have to," replied Rod. "That will be up to you and me, Wabi. +We must use judgment, and unless it's a case of life or death--" + +"Ugh!" shuddered the young Indian. + +"If he doesn't discover our presence to-night we will get out of his +way to-morrow," continued Rod. "No fire--no talking. We must be as +still as death!" + +For some time after their outfit was concealed among the rocks +Wabigoon sat with his mouth close to the old pathfinder's ear. Then he +returned to Rod. + +"Muky understands. He has never seen or heard of a madman, and it is +hard for him to comprehend. But he knows--now, and understands what he +must do." + +"Sh-h-h-h-h!" + +"What is it?" + +"I thought I heard a sound!" breathed Rod. "Did you hear it?" + +"No." + +The two listened. There was an awesome silence in the chasm now, +broken only by the distant murmur of running water, a strange, +chilling stillness in which the young hunters could hear the excited +beating of their own hearts. To Roderick the minutes passed like so +many hours. His ears were keyed to the highest tension of expectancy, +his eyes stared into the gloom beyond them until they ached with +his efforts to see. At every instant he expected to hear again that +terrible scream, this time very near, and he prepared himself to meet +it. But the seconds passed, and then the minutes, and still there came +no quick running of mad footsteps, no repetition of the cry. Had the +madman turned the other way? Was he plunging deeper into the blackness +of this mysterious world of his between the mountains? + +"I guess I was mistaken," he whispered softly to Wabigoon. "Shall we +get out our blankets?" + +"We might as well make ourselves comfortable," replied the young +Indian. "You sit here, and listen while I undo the pack." + +He went noiselessly to Mukoki, who was leaning against the pack, and +Rod could hear them fumbling at the straps on the bundle. After a +little Wabi returned and the two boys spread out their blankets beside +the rock upon which they had been sitting. But there was no thought of +sleep in the mind of either, though both were dead tired from their +long day's work. They sat closer together, shoulder touching shoulder, +and unknown to his companion Roderick drew his revolver, cocked it +silently and placed it where he could feel the cold touch of its steel +between his fingers. He knew that he was the only one of the three who +fully realized the horror of their situation. + +Mukoki's mind, simple in its reasoning of things that did not belong +to the wilderness, had accepted the assurances and explanations of +Rod and Wabigoon. Wabi, half-bred in the wild, felt alarm only in the +sense of physical peril. It was different with the white youth. What +is there in civilization that sends the chill of terror to one's heart +more quickly than the presence of a human being who has gone mad? And +this madman was at large! At that very instant he might be listening +to their breathing and their whispered words half a dozen feet away; +any moment might see the blackness take form and the terrible thing +hurl itself at their throats. Rod, unlike Wabigoon, knew that the +powers of this strange creature of the chasm were greater than their +own, that it could travel with the swiftness and silence of an animal +through the darkness, that perhaps it could smell them and feel their +presence as it passed on its way to the plain. He was anxious now to +hear the cry again. What was the meaning of this silence? Was the +madman already conscious of their presence? Was he creeping upon them +at that moment, as still as the black shadows that shut in their +vision? His mind was working in such vivid imaginings that he was +startled when Wabi prodded him gently in the side. + +"Look over there--across the chasm," he whispered. "See that glow on +the mountain wall?" + +"The moon!" replied Rod. + +"Yes. I've been watching it, and it's creeping down and down. The +moon is going to swing across this break in the mountains. In fifteen +minutes we shall be able to see." + +"It won't swing across so much as it will come up in line with us," +replied Rod. "Watch how that light is lengthening! We shall be able to +see for several hours." + +He started to rise to his feet but fell back with an astonished cry. +For a third time there came the mad hunter's scream, this time far +above and beyond them, floating down from the distance of the moon-lit +plain! + +"He passed us!" exclaimed Wabi. "He passed us--and we didn't hear +him!" He leaped to his feet and his voice rose excitedly until it rang +in a hundred echoes between the chasm walls. "He passed us, and we +didn't hear him!" + +Mukoki's voice came strangely from out of the gloom. + +"No man do that! No man--no man--" + +"Hush!" commanded Rod. "Now is our time, boys! Quick, get everything +to the creek. He's half a mile out on the plain and we can get away +before he comes back. I'd rather risk a few rocks than another one of +his golden bullets!" + +"So had I!" cried Wabi. + +As if their lives depended on their exertions the three set to work. +Mukoki staggered ahead over the rocks with his burden while the boys +followed with the light canoe and the remaining pack. Their previous +experiences in the chasm had taught them where to approach the stream, +and ten minutes later they were at its side. Without a moment's +hesitation Mukoki dropped his pack and plunged in. The edge of the +moon was just appearing over the southern mountain wall and by its +light Rod and Wabigoon could see that the water of the creek was +rushing with great swiftness as high as the old warrior's knees. + +"No ver' deep," said the Indian. "Rocks--" + +"I followed this creek for half a dozen miles and its bottom is as +smooth as a floor!" interrupted Rod. "There's no danger of rocks for +that distance!" + +He made no effort now to suppress the pleasure which he felt at the +escape from their unpleasant situation. Mukoki steadied the canoe as +it was placed in the water, and was the last to climb into it, taking +his usual position in the stern where he could use to best advantage +the powerful sweeps of his paddle. In an instant the swift current +of the little stream caught the birch bark and carried it along with +remarkable speed. After several futile strokes of his paddle Wabi +settled back upon his heels. + +"It's all up to you, Muky," he called softly. "I can't do a thing from +the bow. The current is too swift. All you can do is to keep her nose +straight." + +The light of the moon was now filling the chasm and the adventurers +could see distinctly for a hundred yards or more ahead of them. Each +minute seemed to add to the swiftness and size of the stream, and by +the use of his paddle Wabi found that it was constantly deepening, +until he could no longer touch bottom. Rod's eyes were ceaselessly on +the alert for familiar signs along the shore. He was sure that he +knew when they passed the spot where he killed the silver fox, and +he called Wabi's attention to it. Then the rocks sped past with +increasing swiftness, and as the moon rose higher the three could see +where the overflowing torrent sent out little streams that twisted +and dashed themselves into leaping foam in the wildness of the chasm +beyond the main channel. These increased in number and size as the +journey continued, until Mukoki began to feel the influence of their +currents and called on Wabi and Rod for assistance. Suddenly Rod gave +a muffled shout as they shot past a mass of huge boulders on their +right. + +"That's where I camped the night I dreamed of the skeletons!" he +cried. "I don't know what the stream is like from here on. Be +careful!" + +Wabi gave a terrific lunge with his paddle and the cone of a black +rock hissed past half a canoe length away. + +"It's as black as a dungeon ahead, and I can hear rocks!" he shouted. +"Bring her in if you can, Muky, bring her in!" + +There came the sudden sharp crack of snapping wood and a low +exclamation of alarm fell from Mukoki. His paddle had broken at the +shaft. In a flash Rod realized what had happened and passed back his +own, but that moment's loss of time proved almost fatal. Freed of its +guiding hand the birch bark swung broadside to the current, and at the +same time Wabi's voice rose in a shrill cry of warning. + +"It's not rocks, it's a whirlpool!" he yelled. "The other shore, swing +her out, swing her out!" + +He dug his own paddle deep down into the racing current and from +behind Mukoki exerted his most powerful efforts, but it was too late! +A hundred feet ahead the stream tore between two huge rocks as big as +houses, and just beyond these Rod caught a glimpse of frothing water +churning itself milk-white in the moonlight. But it was only a +glimpse. With a velocity that was startling the canoe shot between +the rocks, and as a choking sea of spray leaped into their faces +Wabigoon's voice came back again in a loud command for the others to +hang to the gunwales of their frail craft. For an instant, in which +his thoughts seemed to have left him, a roaring din filled Rod's ears; +a white, churning mist hid everything but his own arms and clutching +hands, and then the birch bark darted with the sudden impetus of a +freshly-shot arrow around the jagged edge of the boulder--and he could +see again. + +Here was the whirlpool! More than once Wabi had told him of these +treacherous traps, made by the mountain streams, and of the almost +certain death that awaited the unlucky canoe man drawn into their +smothering embrace. There was no angry raging of the flood here; at +first it seemed to Rod that they were floating almost without motion +upon a black, lazy sea that made neither sound nor riffle. Scarce half +a dozen canoe lengths away he saw the white center of the maelstrom, +and there came to his ears above the dash of the stream between the +two great rocks a faint hissing sound that curdled the blood in his +veins, the hissing of the treacherous undertow that would soon drag +them to their death! In the passing of a thought there flashed into +the white youth's mind a story that Mukoki had told him of an Indian +who had been lost in one of these whirlpools of the spring floods, and +whose body had been tossed and pitched about in its center for more +than a week. For the first time the power of speech came to him. + +"Shall we jump?" he shouted. + +"Hang to the canoe." + +Wabi fairly shrieked the words, and yet as he spoke he drew himself +half erect, as if about to leap into the flood. The momentum gathered +in its swift rush between the rocks had carried their frail craft +almost to the outer edge of the deadly trap, and as this momentum +ceased and the canoe yielded to the sucking forces of the maelstrom +the young Indian shrieked out his warning again. + +"Hang to the canoe!" + +The words were scarcely out of his mouth when he stood erect and +launched himself like an animal into the black depths toward shore. +With a terrified cry Rod rose to his knees. In another instant he +would have plunged recklessly after Wabi, but Mukoki's voice sounding +behind him, snarling in its fierceness, stopped him. + +"Hang to canoe!" + +There came a jerk. The bow of the canoe swung inward and the stern +whirled so quickly that Rod, half kneeling, nearly lost his balance. +In that instant he turned his face and saw the old warrior standing, +as Wabigoon had done before him, and as Mukoki leaped there came for a +third time that warning cry: + +"Hang to canoe!" + +And Rod hung. He knew that for some reason those commands were meant +for him, and him alone; he knew that the desperate plunges of his +comrades were not inspired by cowardice or fear, but not until the +birch bark ground upon the shore and he tumbled out in safety did he +fully comprehend what had happened. Holding the rope with which they +tied their canoe, Wabigoon had taken a desperate chance. His quick +mind had leaped like a flash of powder to their last hope, and at the +crucial moment, just as the momentum of the birch bark gave way to the +whirling forces of the pool, he had jumped a good seven feet toward +shore, and had found bottom! Another twelve inches of water under him +and all would have been lost. + +Wabigoon stood panting and dripping wet, and in the moonlight his face +was as white as the tub-like spot of foam out in the center of the +maelstrom. + +"That's what you call going to kingdomcome and getting out again!" he +gasped. "Muky, that was the closest shave we've ever had! It has your +avalanche beaten to a frazzle!" + +Mukoki was dragging the canoe upon the pebbly shore, and still +overcome by the suddenness of all that had happened Rod went to his +assistance. + +The adventurers now discovered themselves in a most interesting +situation. The night had indeed been one of curious and thrilling +happenings for them, and here was a pretty climax to it all! They had +escaped the mad hunter by running into the almost fatal grip of the +whirlpool, and now they had escaped the perils of that seething +death-trap by plunging into a tiny rock-bound prison which seemed +destined to hold them for all time, or at least until the floods of +spring subsided. Straight above them, and shutting them in entirely, +rose precipitous rock walls. On the only open side was the deadly +maelstrom. + +Even Mukoki as he glanced about him was struck by the humor of their +situation, and chuckled softly. + +Wabi stood with his hands deep in his soaked pockets, facing the +moonlit walls. Then he turned to Rod, and grinned; then he faced the +whirlpool, and after that his eyes swept the space of sky above them. +The situation was funny, at first; but when he looked at the white +youth again the smile had died out of his face. + +"Wouldn't that madman have fun if he found us now!" he whispered. + +Mukoki was traveling slowly around the rock walls. The space in which +they were confined was not more than fifty feet in diameter, and there +was not even a crack by means of which a squirrel might have found +exit. The prison was perfect. The old pathfinder came back and sat +down with a grunt. + +"We might as well have supper and a good sleep," suggested Rod, +who was hungry. "Surely we need fear no attack from beast or man +to-night!" + +At least there was this consolation, and the gold hunters ate a +hearty meal of cold bear meat and prepared for slumber. The night +was unusually warm, and both Mukoki and Wabigoon hung out their wet +clothes to dry while they slept in their blankets. Rod did not open +his eyes again until Wabi awakened him in the morning. Both Indians +were dressed and it was evident that they had been up for some time. +When Rod went to the water to wash himself he was surprised to find +all of their supplies repacked in the canoe, as though their journey +was about to be resumed immediately after breakfast, and when he +returned to where Mukoki and Wabigoon had placed their food on a +flat stone in the center of what he had regarded as their prison, he +observed that both of his companions were in an unusually cheerful +frame of mind. + +"Looks as though you expected to get out of here pretty soon," he +said, nodding toward the canoe. + +"So we do!" responded Wabi. "We're going to take a swim through the +whirlpool!" + +He laughed at the incredulity in Rod's face. + +"That is, we're going to navigate along the edge of it," he amended. +"Muky and I have tied together every bit of rope and strap in our +outfit, even to our gun-slings, and we've got a piece about eighty +feet long. We'll show you how to use it after breakfast." + +It took but a few minutes to dispose of the rather unappetizing repast +of cold bear meat, biscuits and water. Wabi then led the way to the +extreme edge of the great rock which formed the eastern wall of their +prison, waded in the water to his knees, and directed Rod's gaze to a +point of land jutting out into the stream about sixty feet beyond the +rock. + +"If we can reach that," explained Wabi, "we can portage around the +rest of the whirlpool to the main channel. The water is very deep +along the edge of this rock, but the undertow doesn't seem to have any +great force. I believe that we can make it. The experiment won't be a +dangerous one at any rate." + +The canoe was now dragged to the edge of the rock and launched, Mukoki +taking his place in the stern while Wabigoon placed Rod a little ahead +of the midship rib. + +"You must paddle on your left side, every minute and as fast as you +can," advised the young Indian. "I am to remain behind, holding one +end of this rope, so that if you are drawn toward the maelstrom I can +pull you back. Understand?" + +"Yes--but you. How--" + +"Oh, I'll swim!" said Wabi in rank bravado. "I don't mind a little +whirlpool like that at all!" + +Mukoki chuckled in high humor, and Roderick asked no more questions, +but at Wabi's command dug in his paddle and kept at it until the birch +bark safely made the point of land beyond the rock. When he looked +back Wabi had tied the rope around his body and was already waist +deep in the water. At a signal from Mukoki the young Indian plunged +fearlessly into the edge of the whirlpool and like a great floundering +fish he was quickly pulled across to safety. Most of his clothes had +been brought over in the canoe, and after Wabigoon had exchanged his +wet garments for these the adventurers were ready to continue their +journey down the chasm. A short portage brought them to the main +channel of the stream, where they once more launched their birch bark. + +"If the whole trip is as exciting as this we'll never reach our gold," +said Wabi, as they slipped out into the swift current. "A madman, a +whirlpool and a prison, all in one night, is almost more than we can +stand." + +"There's a good deal of truth in the old saying that it never rains +but it pours," replied Rod. "Maybe we'll have smooth sailing from now +on." + +"Mebby!" grunted the old pathfinder from behind. + +Rod's optimism was vindicated for that day, at least. Until noon the +canoe sped swiftly down the chasm without mishap. The stream, to which +each mile added its contribution of flood water from the mountain +tops, increased constantly in width and depth, but only now and then +was there a rock to threaten their progress, and no driftwood at all. +When the gold seekers landed for dinner they were confident of two +things: that they had passed far beyond the mad hunter's reach, +and were very near to the first waterfall. Memory of the thrilling +experiences through which they had so recently run the gauntlet was +replaced by the most exciting anticipation of the sound and sight +of that first waterfall, which was so vitally associated with their +search for the lost treasure. This time a hearty dinner was cooked, +and it took more than an hour to prepare and eat it. + +When the journey was resumed Mukoki placed himself in the bow, his +sharp eyes scanning the rocks and mountain walls ahead of him. Two +hours after the start he gave an exultant exclamation, and raised a +warning hand above his head. The three listened. Faintly above the +rush of the swift current there came to their ears the distant rumble +of falling water! + +Forgetful now of the madman back in the chasm, oblivious of everything +but the fact that they had at last reached the first of the three +falls which were to lead them to the gold, Wabi gave a whoop that +echoed and reëchoed between the mountain walls, and Rod joined him +with all the power of his lungs. Mukoki grinned, chuckled in his +curious way, and a few moments later signaled Wabi to guide the canoe +ashore. + +"We portage here," he explained. "Current swift there--mebby go over +fall!" + +A short carry of two or three hundred yards brought them to the +cataract. It was, as Mukoki had said after his long trip of +exploration a few months before, a very small fall, not more than a +dozen feet in height. But over it there was now rushing a thundering +deluge of water. An easy trail led to the stream below it, and no time +was lost in getting under way again. + +Although they had traveled fully forty miles since morning, the day +had been an easy and most interesting one for the three adventurers. +On the swift current of the chasm stream they had worked but little, +and the ceaseless change of scenery in this wonderful break between +the mountain ridges held an ever-increasing fascination for them. Late +in the afternoon the course changed from its northeasterly direction +to due north, and at this point there was an ideal spot for camping. +Over an extent of an acre or more there was a sweeping hollow of fine +white sand, with great quantities of dry wood cluttering the edge of +the depression. + +"That's a curious spot!" said Wabi as they drew up their canoe. "Looks +like--" + +"A lake," grunted Mukoki. "Long time ago--a lake." + +"The curve of the stream right here has swept up so much sand that the +water can't get into it," added Rod, looking the place over. + +Wabi had gone a few paces back. Suddenly he stopped, and with a half +shout he gesticulated excitedly to his companions. Something in his +manner took Rod and Mukoki to him on the run. + +When they came up the Indian youth stood mutely pointing at something +in the sand. + +Clearly imprinted in that sand was the shape of a human foot, a foot +that had worn neither boot nor moccasin when it left its trail in the +lake bed, but which was as naked as the quivering hand which Wabigoon +now held toward it! + +And from that single footprint the eyes of the astonished adventurers +traveled quickly to a hundred others, until it seemed to them that a +dozen naked savages must have been dancing in these sands only a few +hours before. + +And Rod, glancing toward the driftwood, saw something else,--something +toward which he pointed, speechless, white with that same strange +excitement that had taken possession of Wabigoon! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +THE THIRD WATERFALL + +The others followed Rod's arm. Behind him he heard the gentle click +of Wabigoon's revolver and the sharp, vicious snap of the safety on +Mukoki's rifle. + +From beyond the driftwood there was rising a thin spiral of smoke! + +"Whoever they are, they have certainly seen or heard us!" said Wabi, +after they had stood in silence for a full minute. + +"Unless they are gone from camp," replied Rod in a whisper. + +"Keep eyes open!" warned Mukoki as they advanced cautiously in the +direction of the smoke. "No can tell what, I guess so!" + +He was first to mount the driftwood, and then he gave vent to a huge +grunt. The smoke was rising from beside a charred log which was heaped +half-way up its side with ashes and earth. In a flash the meaning +of the ash and dirt dawned on Rod and his companions. The fire was +banked. Those who had built it were gone, but they expected to return. +The naked footprints were thick about the camp-fire, and close to one +end of the charred log were scattered a number of bones. One after +another Mukoki picked up several of these and closely examined +them. While Rod and Wabigoon were still gazing about them in blank +astonishment, half expecting attack from a savage horde at any moment, +the old warrior had already reached a conclusion, and calling to his +companions he brought their attention to the tracks in the sand. + +"Same feet!" he exclaimed. "One man mak' all track!" + +"Impossible!" cried Wabi. "There are--thousands of them!" + +Mukoki grunted and fell upon his knees. + +"Heem big toe--right foot--broke sometime. Same in all track. See?" + +Disgusted at his own lack of observation, Wabigoon saw at once that +the old pathfinder was right. The joint of the big toe on the right +foot was twisted fully half an inch outward, a deformity that left +a peculiar impression in the sand, and every other track bore +this telltale mark. No sooner were the two boys convinced of the +correctness of Mukoki's assertion than another and still more +startling surprise was sprung on them. Holding out his handful of +bones, Mukoki said: + +"Meat no cook--eat raw!" + +"Great Scott!" gasped Rod. + +Wabi's eyes flashed with a new understanding, and as he gazed into +Rod's astonished face the latter, too, began to comprehend the +significance of it all. + +"It must have been the madman!" + +"Yes." + +"And he was here yesterday!" + +"Probably the day before," said Wabi. The young Indian turned suddenly +to Mukoki. "What did he want of the fire if he didn't cook meat?" he +asked. + +Mukoki shrugged his shoulders but did not answer. + +"Well, it wasn't cooked, anyway," declared Wabi, again examining the +bones. "Here are chunks of raw flesh clinging to the bones. Perhaps he +just singed the outside of his meat." + +The old Indian nodded at this suggestion and turned to investigate the +fire. On the end of the log were two stones, one flat and the other +round and smooth, and after a moment's inspection of these he dropped +an exclamation which was unusual for him, and which he used only in +those rare intervals when all other language seemed to fail him. + +"Bad dog man--mak' bullet--here!" he called, holding out the stones. +"See--gold--gold!" + +The boys hurried to his side. + +"See--gold!" he repeated excitedly. + +In the center of the flat stone there was a gleaming yellow film. A +single glance told the story. With the round stone for a hammer the +mad hunter had pounded his golden bullets into shape upon the flat +stone! There was no longer a doubt in their minds; they were in the +madman's camp. That morning they had left this strange creature of the +wilderness fifty miles away. But how far away was he now? The fire +slumbering under its covering of ash and earth proved that he meant to +return--and soon. Would he travel by night as well as by day? Was it +possible that he was already close behind them? + +"He travels with the swiftness of an animal," said Wabi, speaking in a +low voice to Rod. "Perhaps he will return to-night!" + +Mukoki overheard him and shook his head. + +"Mak' heem through chasm in two day on snow-shoe," he declared, +referring to his trip of exploration to the first waterfall over the +snows of the previous winter. "No mak' in t'ree day over rock!" + +"If Mukoki is satisfied, I am," said Rod. "We can pull up behind the +driftwood on the farther edge of the lake bed." + +Wabi made no objection, and the camp site was chosen. Strangely +enough, with the discovery of the footprints, the fire, the picked +bones and the stones with which the mad hunter had manufactured his +golden bullets, Mukoki seemed to have lost all fear of the wild +creature of the chasm. He was confident now that he had only a man to +deal with, a man who had gone "bad dog," and his curiosity overcame +his alarm. His assurance served to dispel the apprehension of his +companions, and sleep came early to the tired adventurers. Nor did +anything occur during the night to awaken them. + +Soon after dawn the trip down the chasm stream was resumed. With the +abrupt turning of the channel to the north, however, there was an +almost immediate change in the topography of the country. Within +an hour the precipitous walls of the mountains gave place to +verdure-covered slopes, and now and then the gold seekers found +themselves between plains that swept back for a mile or more on either +side. Frequent signs of game were observed along the shores of the +river and several times during the morning moose and caribou were +seen in the distance. A few months before, when they had invaded the +wilderness to hunt and trap, this country would have aroused the +wildest enthusiasm among Rod and his friends, but now they gave but +little thought to their rifles. That morning they had set out with the +intention of reaching the second waterfall before dusk, and it was +with disappointment rather than gladness that they saw the swift +current of the chasm torrent change into the slower, steadier sweep of +a stream that had now widened into a fair-sized river. According +to the map the second fall was about fifty-five miles from the mad +hunter's camp. Darkness found them still fifteen miles from where it +should be. + +Excitement kept Rod awake most of that night. Try as he would, he +could not keep visions of the lost treasure out of his mind. The next +day they would be far on their way to the third and last waterfall. +And then--the gold! That they might not find it, that the passing of +half a century or more might have obliterated all traces left by its +ancient discoverers, never for a moment disturbed his belief. + +He was the first awake the following morning, the first to take his +place in the canoe. Every minute now his ears were keenly attuned for +that distant sound of falling water. But hours passed without a +sign of it. Noon came. They had traveled six hours and had covered +twenty-five miles instead of fifteen! Where was the waterfall? + +There was a little more of anxiety in Wabigoon's eyes when they +resumed their journey after dinner. Again and again Rod looked at his +map, figuring out the distances as drawn by John Ball, the murdered +Englishman. Surely the second waterfall could not be far away now! And +still hour after hour passed, and mile after mile slipped behind them, +until the three knew that they had gone fully thirty miles beyond +where the cataract should have been, if the map was right. Twilight +was falling when they stopped for supper. For the last hour Mukoki +had spoken no word. A feeling of gloom was on them all; without +questioning, each knew what the fears of the others were. + +Was it possible that, after all, they had not solved the secret of the +mysterious map? + +The more Rod thought of it the more his fears possessed him. The +two men who fought and died in the old cabin were on their way to +civilization. They were taking gold with them, gold which they meant +to exchange for supplies. Would they, at the same time, dare to have +in their possession a map so closely defining their trail as the rude +sketch on the bit of birch bark? Was there not some strange key, known +only to themselves, necessary to the understanding of that sketch? + +Mukoki had taken his rifle and disappeared in the plain along the +river, and for a long time after they had eaten their bear steak and +drank their hot coffee Rod and Wabigoon sat talking in the glow of +the camp-fire. The old warrior had been gone for about an hour when +suddenly there came the report of a gun from far down the stream, +which was quickly followed by two others--three in rapid succession. +After an interval of a few seconds there sounded two other shots. + +"The signal!" cried Rod. "Mukoki wants us!" + +Wabigoon sprang to his feet and emptied the five shots of his magazine +into the air. + +"Listen!" + +Hardly had the echoes died away when there came again the reports of +Mukoki's rifle. + +Without another word the two boys hurried to the canoe, which had not +been unloaded. + +"He's a couple of miles down-stream," said Wabi, as they shoved off. +"I wonder what's the matter?" + +"I can make a pretty good guess," replied Rod, his voice trembling +with a new excitement. "He has found the second waterfall!" + +The thought gave fresh strength to their aching arms and the canoe +sped swiftly down the stream. Fifteen minutes later another shot +signaled to them, this time not more than a quarter of a mile away, +and Wabi responded to it with a loud shout. Mukoki's voice floated +back in an answering halloo, but before the young hunters came within +sight of their comrade another sound reached their ears,--the muffled +roar of a cataract! Again and again the boys sent their shouts of joy +echoing through the night, and above the tumult of their own voices +they heard the old warrior calling on them to put into shore. Mukoki +was waiting for them when they landed. + +"This is big un!" he greeted. "Mak' much noise, much swift water!" + +"Hurrah!" yelled Rod for the twentieth time, jumping up and down in +his excitement. + +"Hurrah!" cried Wabi. + +And Mukoki chuckled, and grinned, and rubbed his leathery hands +together in high glee. + +At last, when they had somewhat cooled down, Wabi said: + +"That John Ball was a pretty poor fellow at a guess, eh? What do you +say, Rod?" + +"Or else pretty clever," added Rod. "By George, I wonder if he had a +reason for making his scale fifty miles or so out of the way?" + +Wabi looked at him, only partly understanding. + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that our third waterfall is more than likely to be mighty +close to this one! And if it is--well, John Ball had a reason, and a +good one! If we strike the last fall to-morrow it will be pretty +good proof that he drew the map in a way intended to puzzle +somebody,--perhaps his two partners, who were just about to start for +civilization." + +"Muky, how far have we come?" asked Wabigoon. + +"T'ree time first fall," replied the old Indian quickly. + +"A hundred and fifty miles--in three days and one night. I don't +believe that is far out of the way. Then, according to the map, we +should still be a hundred miles from the third fall." + +"And we're not more than twenty-five!" declared Rod confidently. +"Let's build a fire and go to bed. We'll have enough to do +to-morrow--hunting gold!" + +The fourth day's journey was begun before it was yet light. Breakfast +was eaten in the glow of the camp-fire, and by the time dawn broke the +adventurers were already an hour upon their way. Nothing but confidence +now animated them. The mad hunter and his golden bullets were entirely +forgotten in these last hours of their exciting quest. Once, far back, +Rod had thought with chilling dread that this might be the madman's +trail, that his golden bullets might come from the treasure they were +seeking. But he gave no thought to this possibility now. His own belief +that the third and last fall was not far distant, in spite of the +evidence of the map, gradually gained possession of his companions, and +the nerves of all three were keyed to the highest tension of expectancy. +The preceding night Mukoki had made himself a paddle to replace the one +he had broken, and not a stroke of the three pairs of arms was lost. +Early in the morning a young moose allowed them to pass within a hundred +yards of him. But no shot was fired, for to obtain the meat would have +meant an hour's loss of time. + +Two hours after the start the country again began taking on a sudden +change. From east and west the wild mountain ridges closed in, and +with each mile's progress the stream narrowed and grew swifter, until +again it was running between chasm walls that rose black and silent +over the adventurers' heads. Darker and gloomier became the break +between the mountains. Far above, a thousand feet or more, dense +forests of red pine flung their thick shadows over the edge of the +chasm, in places almost completely shutting out the light of day. +This was not like the other chasm. It was deeper and darker and more +sullen. Under its walls the gloom was almost that of night. Its +solitude was voiceless; not a bird fluttered or chirped among +its rocks; the lowest of whispered words sounded with startling +distinctness. Once Rod spoke aloud, and his voice rose and beat itself +in the cavernous depths of the walls until it seemed as though he had +shouted. Now they ceased paddling, and Mukoki steered. Noiselessly the +current swept them on. In the twilight gloom Rod's face shone +with singular whiteness. Mukoki and Wabigoon crouched like bronze +silhouettes. It was as if some mysterious influence held them in its +power, forbidding speech, holding their eyes in staring expectancy +straight ahead, filling them with indefinable sensations that made +their hearts beat faster and their blood tingle. + +Softly, from far ahead, at last there came a murmur. It was like the +first gentle whispering of an approaching wind, the soughing of a +breath among the pines at the top of the chasm. But a wind among the +trees rises, and then dies away, like a chord struck low and gently +upon some soft-toned instrument. This whisper that came up the chasm +remained. It grew no louder, and sometimes it almost faded away, until +the straining ears of those who listened could barely detect it; but +after a moment it was there again, as plainly as before. Little by +little it became more distinct, until there were no longer intervals +when it died away, and at last Wabigoon turned in the bow and faced +his companions, and though he spoke no word there was the gleam of a +great excitement in his eyes. Rod's heart beat like a drum. He, too, +began to understand. That moaning, whispering sound floating up +the chasm was not the wind, but the far-away rumble of the third +waterfall! + +Mukoki's voice broke the tense silence from behind. + +"That the fall!" + +Wabigoon replied in words scarcely louder than a whisper. There was no +joyful shouting now, as there had been at the discovery of the second +fall. Even Mukoki's voice was so low that the others could barely +hear. Something between these chasm walls seemed to demand silence +from them, and as the rumble of the cataract came more and +more clearly to their ears they held their breath in voiceless +anticipation. A few hundred yards ahead of them was the treasure which +men long since dead had discovered more than half a century before; +between the black mountain walls that so silently guarded that +treasure there seemed to lurk the spirit presence of the three men who +had died because of it. Here, somewhere very near, John Ball had been +murdered, and Rod almost fancied that along the sandy edge of the +chasm stream they might stumble on the footprints of the men whose +skeletons they had discovered in the ancient cabin. + +Mukoki uttered no sound as he guided the canoe ashore. Still without +word, the three picked up their rifles and Wabigoon led the way along +the edge of the stream. Soon it dashed a swift racing torrent between +the rocks, and Rod and his companions knew that they were close upon +the fall. A hundred yards or more and they saw the white mist of it +leaping up before their eyes. Wabi began to run, his moccasined feet +springing from stone to stone with the caution of a hunter approaching +game, and Mukoki and Rod came close behind him. + +They paused upon the edge of a great mass of rock with the spray of +the plunging cataract rising in their faces. Breathless they gazed +down. It was not a large fall. Wabi silently measured it at forty +feet. But it added just that much more to the depth and the gloom of +the chasm beyond, into which there seemed no way of descent. The rock +walls rose sheer and black, with clumps of cedar and stunted pine +growing at their feet. Farther on the space between the mountains +became wider, and the river reached out on either side, frothing and +beating itself into white fury in a chaos of slippery water-worn +rocks. + +Down there--somewhere--was the golden treasure they had come to seek, +unless the map lied! Was it among those rocks, where the water dashed +and fumed? Was it hidden in some gloomy cavern of the mountain sides, +its trail concealed by the men who discovered it half an age ago? +Would they find it, after all--would they find it? + +A great gulp of excitement rose in Rod's throat, and he looked at +Wabigoon. + +The Indian youth had stretched out an arm. His eyes were blazing, his +whole attitude was one of tense emotion. + +"There's the cabin," he cried, "the cabin built by John Ball and the +two Frenchmen! See, over there among those cedars, almost hidden in +that black shadow of the mountain! Great Scott, Muky--Rod--can't you +see? Can't you see?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +THE PAPER IN THE OLD TIN BOX + +Slowly out of that mysterious gloom there grew a shape before Rod's +eyes. At first it was only a shadow, then it might have been a rock, +and then the gulp in his throat leaped out in a shout when he saw that +Wabigoon's sharp eyes had in truth discovered the old cabin of the +map. For what else could it be? What else but the wilderness home of +the adventurers whose skeletons they had found, Peter Plante and Henri +Langlois, and John Ball, the man whom these two had murdered? + +Rod's joyous voice was like the touch of fire to Wabi's enthusiasm and +in a moment the oppressive silence of their journey down the chasm was +broken by the wild cheers which the young gold seekers sent echoing +between the mountains. Grimacing and chuckling in his own curious way, +Mukoki was already slipping along the edge of the rock, seeking some +break by which he might reach the lower chasm. They were on the point +of turning to the ascent of the mountain, along which they would have +to go until they found such a break, when the old pathfinder directed +the attention of his companions to the white top of a dead cedar stub +projecting over the edge of the precipice. + +"Go down that, mebby," he suggested, shrugging his shoulders to +suggest that the experiment might be a dangerous one. + +Rod looked over. The top of the stub was within easy reach, and the +whole tree was entirely free of bark or limbs, a fact which in his +present excitement did not strike him as especially unusual. Swinging +his rifle strap over his shoulders he reached out, caught the slender +apex of the stub, and before the others could offer a word of +encouragement or warning was sliding down the wall of the rock into +the chasm. Wabi was close behind him, and not waiting for Mukoki's +descent the two boys hurried toward the cabin. Half-way to it Wabi +stopped. + +"This isn't fair. We've got to wait for Muky." + +They looked back. Mukoki was not following. The old warrior was upon +his knees at the base of the dead tree, as though he was searching for +something among the rocks at its foot. Then he rose slowly, and rubbed +his hands along the stub as high as he could reach. When he saw that +Rod and Wabi were observing him he quickly came toward them, and +Wabigoon, who was quick to notice any change in him, was confident +that he had made a discovery of some kind. + +"What have you found, Muky?" + +"No so ver' much. Funny tree," grunted the Indian. + +"Smooth as a fireman's brass pole," added Rod, seeing no significance +in Mukoki's words. "Listen!" + +He stopped so suddenly that Wabigoon bumped into him from behind. + +"Did you hear that?" + +"No." + +For a few moments the three huddled close together in watchful +silence. Mukoki was behind the boys or they would have seen that his +rifle was ready to spring to his shoulder and that his black eyes were +snapping with something not aroused by curiosity alone. The cabin was +not more than twenty paces away. It was old, so old that Rod wondered +how it had withstood the heavy storms of the last winter. A growth of +saplings had found root in its rotting roof and the logs of which it +was built were in the last stage of decay. There was no window, +and where the door had once been there had grown a tree a foot in +diameter, almost closing the narrow aperture through which the +mysterious inhabitants had passed years before. A dozen paces, five +paces from this door, and Mukoki's hand reached out and laid itself +gently upon Wabi's shoulder. Rod saw the movement and stopped. A +strange look had come into the old Indian's face, an expression in +which there was incredulity and astonishment, as if he believed and +yet doubted what his eyes beheld. Mutely he pointed to the tree +growing before the door, and to the reddish, crumbling rot into which +the logs had been turned by the passing of generations. + +"Red pine," he said at last. "That cabin more'n' twent' t'ous'nd year +old!" + +There was an awesome ring in his voice. Rod understood, and clutched +Wabi's arm. In an instant he thought of the other old cabin, in which +they had found the skeletons. They had repaired that cabin and had +passed the winter in it, and they knew that it had been built half a +century or more before. But this cabin was beyond repair. To Rod it +seemed as though centuries of time instead of decades had been at work +on its timbers. Following close after Wabi he thrust his head through +the door. Deep gloom shut out their vision. But as they looked, +steadily inuring their eyes to the darkness within, the walls of the +old cabin took form, and they saw that everywhere was vacancy. There +was no ancient table, as in the other cabin they had discovered at the +head of the first chasm, there were no signs of the life that had once +existed, not even the remnants of a chair or a stool. The cabin was +bare. + +Foot by foot the two boys went around its walls. Mukoki took but a +single glance inside and disappeared. Once alone he snapped down the +safety of his rifle. Quickly, as if he feared interruption, he hurried +around the old cabin, his eyes close to the earth. When Rod and Wabi +returned to the door he was at the edge of the fall, crouching low +among the rocks like an animal seeking a trail. Wabi pulled his +companion back. + +"Look!" + +The old warrior rose, suddenly erect, and turned toward them, but the +boys were hidden in the gloom. Then he hurried to the dead stub beside +the chasm wall. Again he reached far up, rubbing his hand along its +surface. + +"I'm going to have a look at that tree!" whispered Wabi. "Something is +puzzling Mukoki. Are you coming?" + +He hurried across the rock-strewn opening, but Rod hung back. He could +not understand his companions. For weeks and months they had planned +to find this third waterfall. Visions of a great treasure had been +constantly before their eyes, and now that they were here, with the +gold perhaps under their very feet, both Mukoki and Wabigoon were more +interested in a dead stub than in their search for it! His own heart +was almost bursting with excitement. The very air which he breathed +in the old cabin set his blood leaping with anticipation. Here those +earlier adventurers had lived half a century or more ago. In it the +life-blood of the murdered John Ball might have ebbed away. In this +cabin the men whose skeletons he had found had slept, and planned, and +measured their gold. And the gold! It was that and not the stub that +interested Roderick Drew! Where was the lost treasure? Surely the old +cabin must hold some clue for them, it would at least tell them more +than the limbless white corpse of a tree! + +From the door he looked back into the dank gloom, straining his eyes +to see, and then glanced across the opening. Wabi had reached the +stub, and both he and Mukoki were on their knees beside it. Probably +they have found the marks of a lynx or a bear, thought Rod. A dozen +paces away something else caught his eyes, a fallen red pine, dry and +heavy with pitch, and in less than a minute he had gone to it and was +back with a torch. Breathlessly he touched the tiny flame of a match +to the stick. For a moment the pitch sputtered and hissed, then flared +into light, and Rod held the burning wood above his head. + +The young gold seeker's first look about him was disappointing. +Nothing but the bare walls met his eyes. Then, in the farthest corner, +he observed something that in the dancing torch-light was darker than +the logs themselves, and he moved toward it. It was a tiny shelf, not +more than a foot long, and upon it was a small tin box, black and +rust-eaten by the passing of ages. With trembling fingers Rod took it +in his hand. It was very light, probably empty. In it he might find +the dust of John Ball's last tobacco. Then, suddenly, as he thought of +this, he stopped in his search and a muffled exclamation of surprise +fell from him. In the glow of the torch he looked at the tin box. It +was crumbling with age and he might easily have crushed it in his +hand--and yet it was still a tin box! If this box had remained why +had not other things? Where were the pans and kettles, the pail and +frying-pan, knives, cups and other articles which John Ball and the +two Frenchmen must at one time have possessed in this cabin? + +He returned to the door. Mukoki and Wabigoon were still at the dead +stub. Even the flare of light in the old cabin had not attracted them. +Tossing his torch away Rod tore off the top of the tin box. Something +fell at his feet, and as he reached for it he saw that it was a little +roll of paper, almost as discolored as the rust-eaten box itself. As +gently as Mukoki had unrolled the precious birchbark map a few months +before he smoothed out the paper. The edges of it broke and crumbled +under his fingers, but the inner side of the roll was still quite +white. Mukoki and Wabigoon, looking back, saw him suddenly turn toward +them with a shrill cry on his lips, and the next instant he was racing +in their direction, shouting wildly at every step. + +"The gold!" he shrieked. "The gold! Hurrah!" + +He was almost sobbing in his excitement when he stopped between them, +holding out the bit of paper. + +"I found it in the cabin--in a tin box! See, it's John Ball's +writing--the writing that was on the old map! I found it--in a tin +box--" + +Wabi seized the paper. His own breath came more quickly when he saw +what was upon it. There were a few lines of writing, dim but still +legible, and a number of figures. Across the top of the paper was +written, + +"Account of John Ball, Henri Langlois, and Peter Plante for month +ending June thirtieth, 1859." + +Below these lines was the following: + +"Plante's work: nuggets, 7 pounds, nine ounces; dust, 1 pound, 3 +ounces. Langlois' work: nuggets, 9 pounds, 13 ounces; dust, none. +Ball's work: nuggets, 6 pounds, 4 ounces; dust, 2 pounds, 3 ounces. +Total, 27 pounds. +Plante's share, 6 pounds, 12 ounces. +Langlois' share, 6 pounds, 12 ounces. +Ball's share, 13 pounds, 8 ounces. +Division made." + +Softly Wabigoon read the words aloud. When he finished his eyes met +Rod's, Mukoki was still crouching at the foot of the stub, staring at +the two boys in silence, as if stupefied by what he had just heard. + +"This doesn't leave a doubt," said Wabi at last. "We've struck the +right place!" + +"The gold is somewhere--very near--" + +Rod could not master the tremble in his voice. As though hoping to see +the yellow treasure heaped in a pile before his eyes he turned to the +waterfall, to the gloomy walls of the chasm, and finally extended an +arm to where the spring torrent, leaping over the edge of the chasm +above, beat itself into frothing rage among the rocks between the two +mountains. + +"It's there!" + +"In the stream?" + +"Yes. Where else near this cabin would they have found pure nuggets +of gold? Surely not in rock! And gold-dust is always in the sands of +streams. It's there--without a doubt!" + +Both Indians went with him to the edge of the water. + +"The creek widens here until it is very shallow," said Wabi. "I don't +believe that it is more than four feet deep out there in the middle. +What do you say--" He paused as he saw Mukoki slip back to the dead +stub again, then went on, "What do you say to making a trip to the +canoe after grub for our dinner, and the pans?" + +The first flash of enthusiasm that had filled Wabigoon on reading the +paper discovered by Rod was quickly passing away, and the white youth +could not but notice the change which came over both Mukoki and his +young friend when they stood once more beside the smooth white stub +that reached up to the floor of the chasm above. He controlled his +own enthusiasm enough to inspect more closely the dead tree which had +affected them so strangely. The discovery he made fairly startled him. +The surface of the stub was not only smooth and free of limbs, but was +polished until it shone with the reflecting luster of a waxed pillar! +For a moment he forgot the paper which he held in his hand, forgot +the old cabin, and the nearness of gold. In blank wonder he stared at +Mukoki, and the old Indian shrugged his shoulders. + +"Ver' nice an' smooth!" + +"Ver' dam' smooth!" emphasized Wabi, without a suggestion of humor in +his voice. + +"What does it mean?" asked Rod. + +"It means," continued Wabigoon, "that this old stub has for a good +many years been used by something as a sort of stairway in and out of +this chasm! Now if it were a bear, there would be claw marks. If it +were a lynx, the surface of the stub would be cut into shreds. Any +kind of animal would have left his mark behind, and no animal would +have put this polish on it!" + +"Then what in the world--" + +Rod did not finish. Mukoki lifted his shoulders to a level with his +chin, and Wabi whistled as he looked straight at him. + +"Not a hard guess, eh?" + +"You mean--" + +"That it's a man! Only the arms and legs of a man going up and down +that stub hundreds and thousands of times could have worn it so +smooth! Now, can you guess who that man is?" + +In a flash the answer shot into Rod's brain. He understood now why +this old stub had drawn his companions away from their search for +gold, and he felt the flush of excitement go out of his own cheeks, +and an involuntary thrill pass up his back. + +"The mad hunter!" + +Wabi nodded. Mukoki grunted and rubbed his hands. + +"Gold in bullet come from here!" said the old pathfinder. "Bad dog man +ver' swift on trail. We hurry get canoe--cut down tree!" + +"That's more than you've said in the last half-hour, and it's a good +idea!" exclaimed Wabi. "Let's get our stuff down here and chop this +stub into firewood! When he comes back and finds his ladder gone he'll +give a screech or two, I'll wager, and then it will be our chance to +do something with him. Here goes!" + +He started to climb the stub, and a minute or two later stood safely +on the rock above. + +"Slippery as a greased pole!" he called down. "Bet you can't make it, +Rod!" + +But Rod did, after a tremendous effort that left him breathless and +gasping by the time Wabi stretched out a helping hand to him. Mukoki +came up more easily. Taking only their revolvers with them the +three hurried to the birch bark, and in a single load brought their +possessions to the rock. By means of ropes the packs and other +contents of the canoe, and finally the canoe itself, were lowered into +the chasm, and while the others looked on Mukoki seized the ax and +chopped down the stub. + +"There!" he grunted, as a last blow sent the tree crashing among the +rocks. "Too high for heem jump!" + +"But a mighty good place for him to shoot from," said Wabi, looking +up. "We'd better camp out of range." + +"Not until we know what we've struck," cried Rod, unstrapping a pan +from one of the packs. "Boys, the first thing to do is to wash out a +little of that river-bed!" + +He started for the creek, with Wabi close behind him bearing a second +pan. Mukoki looked after them and chuckled softly to himself as he +began making preparations for dinner. Choosing a point where the +current had swept up a small bar of pebbles and sand Wabi and Rod both +set to work. The white youth had never before panned gold, but he +had been told how it was done, and there now shot through him that +strange, thrilling excitement which enthralls the treasure hunter +when he believes that at last he has struck pay dirt. Scooping up a +quantity of the gravel and sand he filled his pan with water, then +moved it quickly back and forth, every few moments splashing some of +the "wash" or muddy water, over the side. Thus, filling and refilling +his pan with fresh water, he excitedly went through the process of +"washing" everything but solid substance out of it. + +With each fresh dip into the stream the water in the pan became +clearer, and within fifteen minutes the three or four double handfuls +of sand and gravel with which he began work dwindled down to one. +Scarcely breathing in his eagerness he watched for the yellow gleam of +gold. Once a glitter among the pebbles drew a low cry from him, but +when with the point of his knife he found it to be only mica he was +glad that Wabi had not heard him. The young Indian was squatting upon +the sand, with his pan turned toward a gleam of the sun that shot +faintly down into the chasm. Without raising his head he called to +Rod. + +"Found anything?" + +"No. Have you?" + +"No--yes--but I don't think it's gold." + +"What does it look like?" + +"It gleams yellow but is as hard as steel." + +"Mica!" said Rod. + +Neither of the boys looked up during the conversation. With the point +of his hunting-knife Rod still searched in the bottom of his pan, +turning over the pebbles and raking the gravelly sand with a +painstaking care that would have made a veteran gold seeker laugh. +Some minutes had passed when Wabi spoke again. + +"I say, Rod, that's a funny-looking thing I found! If it wasn't so +hard I'd swear it was gold? Want to see it?" + +"It's mica," repeated Rod, as another gleam of "fool's gold" in his +own pan caught his eyes. "The stream is full of it!" + +"Never saw mica in chunks before," mumbled Wabi, bending low over his +pan. + +"Chunks!" cried Rod, straightening as if some one had run a pin into +his back. "How big is it?" + +"Big as a pea--a big pea!" + +The words were no sooner out of the young Indian's mouth than Roderick +was upon his feet and running to his companion. + +"Mica doesn't come in chunks! Where--" + +He bent over Wabi's pan. In the very middle of it lay a suspiciously +yellow pebble, worn round and smooth by the water, and when Rod took +it in his fingers he gave a low whistle of mock astonishment as he +gazed down into Wabigoon's face. + +"Wabi, I'm ashamed of you!" he said, trying hard to choke back the +quiver in his voice. "Mica doesn't come in round chunks like this. +Mica isn't heavy. And this is _both_!" + +From the cedars beyond the old cabin came Mukoki's whooping signal +that dinner was ready. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +THE TREASURE IN THE POOL + +For a few moments after Rod's words and Mukoki's signal from the +cedars Wabigoon sat as if stunned. + +"It isn't--gold," he said, his voice filled with questioning doubt. + +"That's just what it is!" declared Rod, his words now rising in the +excitement which he was vainly striving to suppress. "It's hard, but +see how your knife point has scratched it! It weighs a quarter of an +ounce! Are there any more nuggets in there?" + +He fell upon his knees beside Wabi, and their two heads were close +together, their four eyes eagerly searching the contents of the pan, +when Mukoki came up behind them. Rod passed the golden nugget to the +old Indian, and rose to his feet. + +"That settles it, boys. We've hit the right spot. Let's give three +cheers for John Ball and the old map, and go to dinner!" + +"I agree to dinner, but cut out the cheers," said Wabi, "or else let's +give them under our breath. Notice how hollow our voices sound in this +chasm! I believe we could hear a shout half a dozen miles away!" + +For their camp Mukoki had chosen a site in the edge of the cedars, +and had spread dinner on a big flat rock about which the three now +gathered. For inspiration, as Wabi said, the young Indian placed +the yellow nugget in the center of the improvised table, and if the +enthusiasm with which they hurried through their meal counted for +anything there was great merit in the golden centerpiece. Mukoki +joined the young gold seekers when they again returned to the chasm +stream, and the quest of the yellow treasure was vigorously renewed in +trembling and feverish expectancy. + +Only those who have lived in this quest and who have pursued that +elusive _ignis fatuus_ of all nations--the lure of gold--can realize +the sensations which stir the blood and heat the brain of the treasure +seeker as he dips his pan into the sands of the stream where he +believes nature has hidden her wealth. As Roderick Drew, a child of +that civilization where the dollar is law as well as might, returned +to the exciting work which promised him a fortune he seemed to be in +a half dream. About him, everywhere, was gold! For no moment did he +doubt it; not for an instant did he fear that there might be no more +gold in the sand and gravel from which Wabigoon's nugget had come. +Treasure was in the very sandbar under his feet! It was out there +among the rocks, where the water beat itself angrily into sputtering +froth; it was under the fall, and down in the chasm, everywhere, +everywhere about him. In one month John Ball and his companions had +gathered twenty-seven pounds of it, a fortune of nearly seven thousand +dollars! And they had gathered it here! Eagerly he scooped up a fresh +pan of the precious earth. He heard the swish-swish of the water in +Wabigoon's and Mukoki's pans. But beyond this there were no sounds +made by them. + +In these first minutes of treasure seeking no words were spoken. Who +would give the first shout of discovery? Five minutes, ten, fifteen of +them passed, and Rod found no gold. As he emptied his pan he saw Wabi +scooping up fresh dirt. He, too, had failed. Mukoki had waded out +waist deep among the rocks. A second and a third pan, and a little +chill of disappointment cooled Rod's blood. Perhaps he had chosen an +unlucky spot, where the gold had not settled! He moved his position, +and noticed that Wabigoon had done the same. A fourth and a fifth pan +and the result was the same. Mukoki had waded across the stream, which +was shallow below the fall, and was working on the opposite side. A +sixth pan, and Rod approached the young Indian. The excitement was +gone out of their faces. An hour and a half--and no more gold! + +"Guess we haven't hit the right place, after all," said Wabi. + +"It must be here," replied Rod. "Where there is one nugget there must +be more. Gold is heavy, and settles. Perhaps it's deeper down in the +river bed." + +Mukoki came across to join them. Out among the rocks he had found a +fleck of gold no larger than the head of a pin, and this new sign gave +them all fresh enthusiasm. Taking off their boots both Rod and Wabi +joined the old pathfinder in midstream. But each succeeding pan added +to the depressing conviction that was slowly replacing their hopes. +The shadows in the chasm began growing longer and deeper. Far overhead +the dense canopies of red pine shut out the last sun-glow of day, and +the gathering gloom between the mountains gave warning that in this +mysterious world of the ancient cabin the dusk of night was not far +away. But not until they could no longer see the gleaming mica in +their pans did the three cease work. Wet to the waist, tired, and with +sadly-shattered dreams they returned to their camp. For a short time +Rod's hopes were at their lowest ebb. Was it possible that there was +no more gold, that the three adventurers of long ago had discovered a +"pocket" here, and worked it out? The thought had been growing in his +head. Now it worried him. + +But his depression did not last long. The big fire which Mukoki +built and the stimulating aroma of strong coffee revived his natural +spirits, and both Wabi and he were soon laughing and planning again as +they made their cedar-bough shelter. Supper on the big flat stone--a +feast of bear steak, hot-stone biscuits, coffee, and that most +delectable of all wilderness luxuries, a potato apiece,--and the two +irrepressible young gold hunters were once more scheming and building +their air-castles for the following day. Mukoki listened, and attended +to the clothes drying before the fire, now and then walking out into +the gloom of the chasm to look up to where the white rim of the fall +burst over the edge of the great rock above them. All that afternoon +Wabi and Rod had forgotten the mad hunter and the strange, smoothly +worn tree. Mukoki had not. + +In the glow of the camp-fire the two boys read over again the old +account of John Ball and the two Frenchmen. The tiny slip of paper, +yellow with age, was the connecting link between them and the dim +and romantic past, a relic of the grim tragedy which these black and +gloomy chasm walls would probably keep for ever a secret. + +"Twenty-seven pounds," repeated Rod, as if half to himself. "That was +one month's work!" + +"Pretty nearly a pound a day!" gasped Wabi. "I tell you, Rod, we +haven't hit the right spot--yet!" + +"I wonder why John Ball's share was twice that of his companions'? Do +you suppose it was because he discovered the gold in the first place?" +speculated Rod. + +"In all probability it was. That accounts for his murder. The +Frenchmen were getting the small end of the deal." + +"Eighteen hundred fifty-nine," mused Rod. "That was forty-nine years +ago, before the great Civil War. Say--" + +He stopped and looked hard at Wabigoon. + +"Did it ever strike you that John Ball might not have been murdered?" + +Wabi leaned forward with more than usual eagerness. + +"I have had a thought--" he began. + +"What?" + +"That perhaps he was not killed." + +"And that after the two Frenchmen died in the knife duel he returned +and got the gold," continued Rod. + +"No, I had not thought of that," said Wabi. Suddenly he rose to his +feet and joined Mukoki out in the gloom of the chasm. + +Rod was puzzled. Something in his companion's voice, in his face and +words, disturbed him. What had Wabigoon meant? + +The young Indian soon rejoined him, but he spoke no more of John Ball. + +When the two boys went to their blankets Mukoki still remained awake. +For a long time he sat beside the fire, his hands gripping the rifle +across his knees, his head slightly bowed in that statue-like posture +so characteristic of the Indian. For fully an hour he sat motionless, +and in his own way he was deeply absorbed in thought. Soon after their +discovery of the first golden bullet Wabigoon had whispered a few +words into his ear, unknown to Rod; and to-night out in the gloom of +the chasm, he had repeated those same words. They had set Mukoki's +mind working. He was thinking now of something that happened long ago, +when, in his reasoning, the wilderness was young and he was a youth. +In those days his one great treasure was a dog, and one winter he +went with this faithful companion far into the hunting regions of the +North, a long moon's travel from his village. When he returned, +months later, he was alone. From his lonely hunting shack deep in the +solitudes his comrade had disappeared, and had never returned. This +all happened before Mukoki met the pretty Indian girl who became his +wife, and was afterward killed by the wolves, and he missed the dog +as he would have missed a human brother. The Indian's love, even +for brutes, is some thing that lives, and more than twenty moons +later--two years in the life of a man--he returned once again to the +old shack, and there he found Wholdaia, the dog! The animal knew him, +and bounded about on three legs for joy, and because of the missing +leg Mukoki understood why he had not returned to him two years before. +Two years is a long time in the life of a dog, and the gray hairs of +suffering and age were freely sprinkled in Wholdaia's muzzle and along +his spine. + +Mukoki was not thinking of Wholdaia without a reason. He was thinking +of Wabigoon's words--and the mad hunter. Could not the mad hunter do +as Wholdaia had done? Was it possible that the bad-dog man who shot +golden bullets and who screamed like a lynx was the man who had lived +there many, many years ago, and whom the boys called John Ball? Those +were the thoughts that Wabi had set working in his brain. The young +Indian had not suggested this to Rod. He had spoken of it to Mukoki +only because he knew the old pathfinder might help him to solve the +riddle, and so he had started Mukoki upon the trail. + +The next morning, while the others were finishing their breakfast, +Mukoki equipped himself for a journey. + +"Go down chasm," he explained to Rod. "Fin' where get out to plain. +Shoot meat." + +That day the gold hunters were more systematic in their work, +beginning close to the fall, one on each side of the stream, and +panning their way slowly down the chasm. By noon they had covered two +hundred yards, and their only reward was a tiny bit of gold, worth +no more than a dollar, which Rod had found in his pan. By the time +darkness again compelled them to stop they had prospected a quarter +of a mile down stream without discovering other signs of John Ball's +treasure. In spite of their failure they were less discouraged than +the previous evening, for this failure, in a way, was having a +sedative and healthful effect. It convinced them that there was a hard +and perhaps long task ahead of them, and that they could not expect to +find their treasure winnowed in yellow piles for them. + +Early in the evening Mukoki returned laden with caribou meat, and with +the news that the first break in the chasm walls was fully five miles +below. The adventurers now regretted that they had chopped down the +stub, for it was decided that the next work should be in the stream +above the fall, which would necessitate a ten-mile tramp, five miles +to the break and five miles back. When the journey was begun at dawn +the following morning several days' supplies were taken along, and +also a stout rope by means of which the gold hunters could lower +themselves back into their old camp when their work above was +completed. Rod noticed that the rocks in the stream seemed much +larger than when he had first seen them, and he mentioned the fact to +Wabigoon. + +"The floods are going down rapidly," explained the young Indian. "All +of the snow is melted from the sides of the mountains, and there are +no lakes to feed this chasm stream. Within a week there won't be more +than a few inches of water below the fall." + +"And that is when we shall find the gold!" declared Rod with his old +enthusiasm. "I tell you, we haven't gone deep enough! This gold has +been here for centuries and centuries, and it has probably settled +several feet below the surface of the river-bed. Ball and the +Frenchmen found twenty-seven pounds in June, when the creek was +practically dry. Did you ever read about the discoveries of gold in +Alaska and the Yukon?" + +"A little, when I was going to school with you." + +"Well, the richest finds were nearly always from three to a dozen +feet under the surface, and when a prospector found signs in surface +panning he knew there was rich dirt below. We’ll find our gold in this +chasm, and near the fall!" + +Rod's confidence was the chief thing that kept up the spirits of the +treasure seekers during the next few days, for not the first sign +of gold was discovered above the fall. Yard by yard the prospectors +worked up the chasm until they had washed its sands for more than a +mile. And with the passing of each day, as Wabigoon had predicted, the +stream became more and more shallow, until they could wade across it +without wetting themselves above their knees. At the close of the +fourth day the three lowered themselves over the face of the rock into +the second chasm. So convinced was Rod in his belief that the gold was +hidden deep down under the creek bed that he dug a four-foot hole by +torch-light and that night after supper washed out several pans of +dirt in the glow of the camp-fire. He still found no signs of gold. + +The next day's exertions left no room for doubt. Beyond two or three +tiny flecks of gold the three adventurers found nothing of value +in the deeper sand and gravel of the stream. That night absolute +dejection settled on the camp. Both Rod and Wabigoon made vain efforts +to liven up their drooping spirits. Only Mukoki, to whom gold +carried but a fleeting and elusive value, was himself, and even his +hopefulness was dampened by the gloom of his companions. Rod could see +but one explanation of their failure. Somewhere near the cataract John +Ball and the Frenchmen had found a rich pocket of gold, and they had +worked it out, probably before the fatal tragedy in the old cabin. + +"But how about the mad hunter and his golden bullets?" insisted Wabi, +in another effort to brighten their prospects. "The bullets weighed an +ounce each, and I'll stake my life they came from this chasm. He knows +where the gold is, if we don't!" + +"Come back soon!" grunted Mukoki. "Watch heem. Fin' gol'!" + +"That's what we'll do!" cried the young Indian, jumping suddenly to +his feet and toppling Rod backward off the rock upon which he was +sitting. "Come, cheer up, Rod! The gold is here, somewhere, and we're +going to find it! I'm heartily ashamed of you; you, whom I thought +would never get discouraged!" + +Rod was laughing when he recovered from the playful mauling which Wabi +administered before he could regain his feet. + +"That's right, I deserve another licking! We've got all the spring and +summer before us, and if we don't find the gold by the time snow flies +we'll come back and try it again next year! What do you say?" + +"And bring Minnetaki with us!" added Wabi, jumping into the air and +kicking his heels together. "How will you like that, Rod?" He nudged +his comrade in the ribs, and in another moment both were puffing and +laughing in one of their good-natured wrestling bouts, in which the +cat-like agility of the young Indian always won for him in the end. + +In spite of momentary times like this, when the natural buoyancy and +enthusiasm of the young adventurers rose above their discouragement, +the week that followed added to their general depression. For miles +the chasm was explored and at the end of the week they had found less +than an ounce of gold. If their pans had given them no returns at all +their disappointment would have been less, for then, as Wabi said, +they could have given up the ghost with good grace. But the few +precious yellow grains which they found now and then lured them on, as +these same grains have lured other hundreds and thousands since the +dawn of civilization. Day after day they persisted in their efforts; +night after night about their camp-fire they inspired each other with +new hope and made new plans. The spring sun grew stronger, the poplar +buds burst into tiny leaf and out beyond the walls of the chasm the +first promises of summer came in the sweetly scented winds of the +south, redolent with the breath of balsam and pine and the thousand +growing things of the plains. + +But at last the search came to an end. For three days not even a grain +of gold had been found. Around the big rock, where they were eating +dinner, Rod and his friends came to a final conclusion. The following +morning they would break camp, and leaving their canoe behind, for the +creek was now too shallow for even birch-bark navigation, they would +continue their exploration of the chasm in search of other adventures. +The whole summer was ahead of them, and though they had failed +in discovering a treasure where John Ball and the Frenchmen had +succeeded, they might find one farther on. At least the trip deeper +into the unexplored wilderness would be filled with excitement. + +Mukoki rose to his feet, leaving Rod and Wabi still discussing their +plans. Suddenly he turned toward them, and a startled cry fell from +his lips, while with one long arm he pointed beyond the fall into the +upper chasm. + +"Listen--heem--heem!" + +The old warrior's face twitched with excitement, and for a full half +minute he stood motionless, his arm still extended, his black eyes +staring steadily at Rod and Wabigoon who sat as silent as the rocks +about them. Then there came to them from a great distance a quavering, +thrilling sound, a sound that filled them again with the old horror of +the upper chasm--the cry of the mad hunter. + +At that distant cry Wabigoon sprang to his feet, his eyes leaping +fire, his bronzed cheeks whitening in an excitement even greater than +that of Mukoki. + +"Muky, I told you!" he cried. "I told you!" The young Indian's body +quivered, his hands were clenched, and when he turned upon Rod the +white youth was startled by the look in his face. + +"Rod, John Ball is coming back to his gold!" + +Hardly had he spoken the words when the tenseness left his body and +his hands dropped to his side. + +The words shot from him before he could control himself enough to hold +them back. In another moment he was sorry. The thought that John Ball +and the mad hunter were the same person he had kept to himself, until +for reasons of his own he had let Mukoki into his secret. While the +idea had taken larger and larger growth in his mind he knew that +from every logical point of view the thing was impossible, and that +constraint which came of the Indian blood in him held him from +discussing it with Rod. But now the words were out. A quick flush +replaced the whiteness that had come into his face. In another instant +he was leaning eagerly toward Rod, his eyes kindling into fire again. +He had not expected the change that he now saw come over the white +youth. + +"I have been thinking that for a long time," he continued. "Ever since +we found the footprints in the sand. There's just one proof that we +need, just one, and--" + +"Listen!" + +Rod fairly hissed the word as he held up a warning hand. + +This time the cry of the mad hunter came to them more distinctly. He +was approaching through the upper chasm! + +The white youth rose to his feet, his eyes steadily fixed upon +Wabigoon's. His face was deathly pale. + +"John Ball!" he repeated, as if he had just heard what the other had +said. "John Ball!" What seemed to him to be the only truth swept upon +him like a flood, and for a score of seconds, in every one of which he +could hear his heart thumping excitedly, he stood like one stunned. +John Ball! John Ball returned to life to find their gold for them, to +tell them of the tragedy and mystery of those days long dead and gone! +Like powder touched by a spark of fire his imagination leaped at +Wabi's thrilling suggestion. + +Mukoki set to work. + +"Hide!" he exclaimed. "Hide thees--thees--thees!" He pointed about him +at all the things in camp. + +Both of the boys understood. + +"He must see no signs of our presence from the top of the fall!" cried +Wabi, gathering an armful of camp utensils. "Hide them back among the +cedars!" + +Mukoki hurried to the cedar bough shelter and began tearing it down. +For five minutes the adventurers worked on the run. Once during that +time they heard the madman's wailing cry, and hardly had they finished +and concealed themselves in the gloom of the old cabin when it came +again, this time from not more than a rifle-shot's distance beyond +the cataract. It was not a scream that now fell from the mad hunter's +lips, but a low wail and in it there was something that drove the old +horror from the three wildly beating hearts and filled them with a +measureless, nameless pity. What change had come over the madman? The +cry was repeated every few seconds now, each time nearer than before, +and in it there was a questioning, appealing note that seemed to end +in sobbing despair, a something that gripped at Rod's heart and filled +him with a great half-mastering impulse to answer it, to run out and +stretch his hands forth in greeting to the strange, wild creature +coming down the chasm! + +Then, as he looked, something ran out upon the edge of the great rock +beside the cataract, and he clutched at his own breast to hold back +what he thought must burst forth in words. For he knew--as surely as +he knew that Wabi was at his side--that he was looking upon John Ball! +For a moment the strange creature crouched where the stub had been, +and when he saw that it was gone he stood erect, and a quavering, +pitiful cry echoed softly through the chasm. And as he stood there +motionless the watchers saw that the mad hunter was an old man, tall +and thin, but as straight as a sapling, and that his head and breast +were hidden in shaggy beard and hair. In his hands he carried a +gun--the gun that had fired the golden bullets--and even at that +distance those who were peering from the gloom of the cabin saw that +it was a long barreled weapon similar to those they had found in the +other old cabin, along with the skeletons of the Frenchmen who had +died in the fatal knife duel. + +In breathless suspense the three waited, not a muscle of their bodies +moving. Again the old man leaned over the edge of the rock, and his +voice came to them in a moaning, sobbing appeal, and after a little +he stretched out his arms, still crying softly, as if beseeching help +from some one below. The spectacle gripped at Rod's soul. A hot film +came into his eyes and there was an odd little tremble in his throat. +The Indians were looking with dark, staring eyes. To them this was +another unusual incident of the wilderness. But to Rod it was the +white man's soul crying out to his own. The old man's outstretched +arms seemed reaching to him, the sobbing voice, filled with its +pathos, its despair, its hopeless loneliness, seemed a supplication +for him to come forth, to reach up his own arms, to respond to this +lost soul of the solitudes. With a little cry Rod darted between his +companions. He threw off his cap and lifted his white face to the +startled creature on the rock, and as he advanced step by step, +reaching out his hands in friendship, he called softly a name: + +"John Ball, John Ball, John Ball!" + +In an instant the mad hunter had straightened himself, half turned to +flee. + +"John Ball! Hello, John Ball--John Ball--" + +In his earnestness Rod was almost sobbing the name. He forgot +everything now, everything but that lonely figure on the rock, and he +drew nearer and nearer, gently calling the name, until the mad hunter +dropped on his knees and, crumpled in his long beard and gray lynx +skin, looked down upon Rod and sent back a low moaning, answering cry. + +"John Ball! John Ball, is that you?" + +Rod stopped, with the madman forty feet above him, and something +seemed choking back the very breath in him when he saw the strange +look that had come into the old man's eyes. + +"John Ball--" + +The wild eyes above shifted for a moment. They caught a glimpse of two +heads thrust from the door of the old cabin, and the madman sprang to +his feet. For a breath he stood on the edge of the rock, then with a +cry he leaped with the fierce agility of an animal far out into the +swirl of the cataract! For an instant he was visible in the downward +plunge of the water. Another instant and with a heavy splash he +disappeared in the deep pool under the fall! + +Wabi and Mukoki had seen the desperate leap and the young Indian +was beside the pool before Rod had recovered from his horrified +astonishment. For centuries the water of the chasm stream had been +tumbling into this pool wearing it deeper and deeper each year, until +the water in it was over a man's head. In width it was not more than a +dozen feet. + +"Watch for him! He'll drown if we don't get him out," shouted Wabi. + +Rod leaped to the edge of the pool, with Mukoki between him and +Wabigoon. Ready to spring into the cold depths at the first sign of +the old man's gray head or struggling arms the three stood with every +muscle ready for action. A second, two seconds, five seconds passed, +and there was no sign of him. Rod's heart began to beat with drum-like +fierceness. Ten seconds! A quarter of a minute! He looked at Wabigoon. +The young Indian had thrown off his caribou-skin coat; his eyes, as he +turned them for a moment toward Rod, flashed back the white youth's +fear. + +"I'm going to dive for him!" + +In another instant he had plunged head foremost into the pool. +Mukoki's coat fell to the ground. He crouched forward until it seemed +he must topple from the stone upon which he stood. Another fifteen +seconds and Wabigoon's head appeared above the water, and the old +warrior gave a shout. + +"Me come!" + +He shot out and disappeared in a huge splash close to Wabi. Rod stood +transfixed, filled with a fear that was growing in him at every breath +he drew. He saw the convulsions of the water made by the two Indians, +who were groping about below the surface. Wabigoon came up again for +breath, then Mukoki. It seemed to him that an age had passed, and he +felt no hope. John Ball was dead! + +Not for a moment now did he doubt the identity of the mad hunter. The +strange, wistful light that had replaced the glare in the old man's +eyes when he heard his own name called to him had spoken more than +words. It was John Ball! And he was dead! For a third time, a fourth, +and a fifth Mukoki and Wabigoon came up for air, and the fifth time +they dragged themselves out upon the rocks that edged the pool. Mukoki +spoke no word but ran back to the camp and threw a great armful of dry +fuel upon the fire. Wabigoon still remained at the edge of the pool, +dripping and shivering. His hands were clenched, and Rod could see +that they were filled with sand and gravel. Mechanically the Indian +opened his fingers and looked at what he had unconsciously brought up +from under the fall. + +For a moment he stared, then with his gasping breath there came a low, +thrilling cry. + +He held out his hands to Rod. + +Gleaming richly among the pebbles which he held was a nugget of pure +gold, a nugget so large that Rod gave a wild yell, and in that one +moment forgot that John Ball, the mad hunter, was dead or dying +beneath the fall! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +JOHN BALL AND THE MYSTERY OF THE GOLD + +Mukoki, hearing Rod's cry, hurried to the pool, but before he reached +the spot where the white youth was standing with the yellow nugget in +his hand Wabigoon had again plunged beneath the surface. For several +minutes he remained in the water, and when he once more crawled out +upon the rocks there was something so strange in his face and eyes +that for a moment Rod believed he had found the dead body of the +madman. + +"He isn't--in--the--pool!" he panted. Mukoki shrugged his shoulders +and shivered. + +"Dead!" he grunted. + +"He isn't in the pool!" + +Wabigoon's black eyes gleamed in uncanny emphasis of his words. + +"He isn't in the pool!" + +The others understood what he meant. Mukoki's eyes wandered to where +the water of the pool gushed between the rocks into the broader +channel of the chasm stream. It was not more than knee deep! + +"He no go out there!" + +"No!" + +"Then--where?" + +He shrugged his shoulders suggestively again, and pointed into the +pool. + +"Body slip under rock. He there!" + +"Try it!" said Wabigoon tersely. + +He hurried to the fire, and Rod went with him to gather more fuel +while the young Indian warmed his chilled body. They heard the old +pathfinder leap into the water under the fall as they ran. + +Ten minutes later Mukoki joined them. + +"Gone! Bad-dog man no there!" + +He stretched out one of his dripping arms. + +"Gol' bullet!" he grunted. + +In the palm of his hand lay another yellow nugget, as large as a +hazelnut! + +"I told you," said Wabi softly, "that John Ball was coming back to his +gold. And he has done so! The treasure is in the pool!" + +But where was John Ball? + +Dead or alive, where could he have disappeared? + +Under other conditions the chasm would have rung with the wild +rejoicing of the gold seekers. But there was something now that +stilled the enthusiasm in them. At last the ancient map had given up +its secret, and riches were within their grasp. But no one of the +three shouted out his triumph. Somehow it seemed that John Ball had +died for them, and the thought clutched at their hearts that if they +had not cut down the stub he would still be alive. Indirectly they had +brought about the death of the poor creature who for nearly half a +century had lived alone with the beasts in these solitudes. And that +one glimpse of the old man on the rock, the prayerful entreaty in his +wailing voice, the despair which he sobbed forth when he found his +tree gone, had livened in them something that was more than sympathy. +At this moment the three adventurers would willingly have given up all +hopes of gold could sacrifice have brought back that sad, lonely old +man who had looked down upon them from the wall of the upper chasm. + +"I am sorry we cut down the stub," said Rod. + +They were the first words spoken. + +"So am I," replied Wabi simply, beginning to strip off his wet +clothes. "But--" He stopped, and shrugged his shoulders. + +"What?" + +"Well, we're taking it for granted that John Ball is dead. If he is +dead why isn't he in the pool? By George, I should think that Mukoki's +old superstition would be getting the best of him!" + +"I believe he is in the pool!" declared Rod. + +Wabi turned upon him and repeated the words he had spoken to the old +warrior half an hour before. + +"Try it!" + +After the attempts of the two Indians, who could dive like otter, Rod +had no inclination to follow Wabi's invitation. Mukoki, who had hung +up a half of his clothes near the fire, was fitting one of the pans +to the end of a long pole which he had cut from a sapling, and it was +obvious that his intention was to begin at once the dredging of +the pool for gold. Rod joined him, and once more the excitement of +treasure hunting stirred in his veins. When the pan was on securely +Wabi left the fire to join his companions, and the three returned to +the pool. With a long sweep of his improvised dredge Mukoki scooped up +two quarts or more of sand and gravel and emptied it upon one of the +flat rocks, and the two boys pounced upon it eagerly, raking it out +with their fingers and wiping the mud and sand from every suspicious +looking pebble. + +"The quickest way is to wash it!" said Rod, as Mukoki dumped another +load upon the rock. "I'll get some water!" + +He ran to the camp for the remaining pans and when he turned back he +saw Wabi leaping in a grotesque dance about the rock while Mukoki +stood on the edge of the pool, his dredge poised over it, silent and +grinning. + +"What do you think of that?" cried the young Indian as Rod hurried to +him. "What do you think of that?" + +He held out his hand, and in it there gleamed a third yellow nugget, +fully twice as large as the one discovered by Mukoki! + +Rod fairly gasped. "The pool must be full of 'em!" + +He half-filled his pan with the sand and gravel and ran knee-deep out +into the running stream. In his eagerness he splashed over a part of +his material with the wash, but he excused himself by thinking that +this was his first pan, and that with the rest he would be more +careful. He began to notice now that all of the sand was not washing +out, and when he saw that it persisted in lying heavy and thick among +the pebbles his heart leaped into his mouth. One more dip, and he held +his pan to the light coming through the rift in the chasm. A thousand +tiny, glittering particles met his eyes! In the center of the pan +there gleamed dully a nugget of pure gold as big as a pea! At last +they had struck it rich, so rich that he trembled as he stared down +into the pan, and the cry that had welled up in his throat was choked +back by the swift, excited beating of his heart. In that moment's +glance down into his treasure-laden pan he saw all of his hopes +and all of his ambitions achieved. He was rich! In those gleaming +particles he saw freedom for his mother and himself. No longer a +bitter struggle for existence in the city, no more pinching and +striving and sacrifice that they might keep the little home in which +his father had died! When he turned toward Wabigoon his face was +filled with the ecstasy of those visions. He waded ashore and held his +pan under the other's eyes. + +"Another nugget!" exclaimed Wabi excitedly. + +"Yes. But it isn't the nugget. It's the--" He moved the pan until the +thousand little particles glittered and swam before the Indian's eyes. +"It's the dust. The sand is full of gold!" + +His voice trembled, his face was white. From his crouching posture +Wabi looked up at him, and they spoke no more words. + +Mukoki looked, and was silent. Then he went back to his dredging. +Little by little Rod washed down his pan. Half an hour later he showed +it again to Wabigoon. The pebbles were gone. What sand was left was +heavy with the gleaming particles, and half buried in it all was the +yellow nugget! In Wabi's pan there was no nugget but it was rich with +the gleam of fine gold. + +Mukoki had dredged a bushel of sand and gravel from the pool, and was +upon his knees beside the heap which he had piled on the rock. When +Rod went to that rock for his third pan of dirt the old warrior made +no sign that he had discovered anything. The early gloom of afternoon +was beginning to settle between the chasm walls, and at the end of his +fourth pan Rod found that it was becoming so dark that he could +no longer distinguish the yellow particles in the sand. With the +exception of one nugget he had found only fine gold. With Wabi's dust +were three small nuggets. + +When they ceased work Mukoki rose from beside the rock, chuckling, +grimacing, and holding out his hand. Wabi was the first to see, and +his cry of astonishment drew Rod quickly to his side. The hollow of +the old warrior's hand was filled with nuggets! He turned them into +Wabigoon's hand, and the young Indian turned them into Rod's, and +as he felt the weight of the treasure he held Rod could no longer +restrain the yell of exultation that had been held in all that +afternoon. Jumping high into the air and whooping at every other step +he raced to the camp and soon had the small scale which they had +brought with them from Wabinosh House. The nuggets they had found that +afternoon weighed full seven ounces, and the fine gold, after allowing +the deduction of a third for sand, weighed a little more than eleven +ounces. + +"Eighteen ounces--and a quarter!" + +Rod gave the total in a voice tremulous with incredulity. + +"Eighteen ounces--at twenty dollars an ounce--three hundred and sixty +dollars!" he figured rapidly. "By George--" The prospect seemed too +big for him, and he stopped. + +"Less than half a day's work," added Wabi. "We're doing better than +John Ball and the Frenchmen. It means eighteen thousand dollars a +month!" + +"And by autumn--" began Rod. + +He was interrupted by the inimitable chuckling laugh of Mukoki and +found the old warrior's face a map of creases and grimaces. + +"In twent' t'ous'nd moon--mak' heem how much?" he questioned. + +In all his life Wabigoon had never heard Mukoki joke before, and with +a wild whoop of joy he rolled the stoical old pathfinder off the rock +on which he was sitting, and Rod joined heartily in Wabi's merriment. + +And Mukoki's question proved not to be so much of a joke after all, +as the boys were soon to learn. For several days the work went on +uninterrupted. The buckskin bags in the balsam shelter grew heavier +and heavier. Each succeeding hour added to the visions of the gold +seekers. On the fifth day Rod found seventeen nuggets among his fine +gold, one of them as large as the end of his thumb. On the seventh +came the richest of all their panning, but on the ninth a startling +thing happened. Mukoki was compelled to work ceaselessly to keep the +two boys supplied with "pay dirt" from the pool. His improvised dredge +now brought up only a handful or two of sand and pebbles at a dip. It +was on this ninth day that the truth dawned upon them all. + +The pool was becoming exhausted of its treasure! + +But the discovery brought no great gloom with it. Somewhere near that +pool must be the very source of the treasure itself, and the gold +hunters were confident of finding it. Besides, they had already +accumulated what to them was a considerable fortune, at least two +thousand dollars apiece. For three more days the work continued, and +then Mukoki's dredge no longer brought up pebbles or sand from the +bottom of the pool. + +The last pan was washed early in the morning, and as the warm +weather had begun to taint the caribou meat Mukoki and Wabigoon left +immediately after dinner to secure fresh meat out on the plains, while +Rod remained in camp. The strange thick gloom of night which began to +gather in the chasm before the sun had disappeared beyond the plains +above was already descending upon him when Rod began preparations for +supper. He knew that the Indians would not wait until dark before +reëntering the break between the mountains, and confident that they +would soon appear he began mixing up flour and water for their usual +batch of hot-stone biscuits. So intent was he upon his task that he +did not see a shadowy form creeping up foot by foot from the rocks. He +caught no glimpse of the eyes that glared like smoldering coals from +out of the half darkness between him and the fall. + +His first knowledge of another presence came in a low, whining cry, a +cry that was not much more than a whisper, and he leaped to his feet, +every nerve in his body once more tingling with that excitement which +had possessed him when he stood under the rock talking to the madman. +A dozen yards away he saw a face, a great, white, ghost-like face, +staring at him from out of the thickening shadows, and under that face +and its tangled veil of beard and hair he saw the crouching form of +the mad hunter! + +In that moment Roderick Drew thanked God that he was not afraid. +Standing full in the glow of the fire he stretched out his arms, as he +had once before reached them out to this weird creature, and again, +softly, pleadingly, he called the name of John Ball! There came in +reply a faint, almost unheard sound from the wild man, a sound that +was repeated again and again, and which sent a thrill into the young +hunter, for it was wondrously like the name he was calling: "John +Ball! John Ball! John Ball!" And as the mad hunter repeated that sound +he advanced, foot by foot, as though creeping upon all fours, and Rod +saw then that one of his arms was stretched out to him, and that in +the extended hand was a fish. + +He advanced a step, reaching out his own hands eagerly, and the wild +creature stopped, cringing as if fearing a blow. + +"John Ball! John Ball!" he repeated. He thought of no other words but +those, and advanced bit by bit as he called them gently again and +again. Now he was within ten feet of the old man, now eight, presently +he was so near that he might have reached him in a single leap. Then +he stopped. + +The mad hunter laid down his fish. Slowly he retreated, murmuring +incoherent sounds in his beard, then sprang to his feet and with a +wailing cry sped back toward the pool. Swiftly Rod followed. He saw +the form leap from the rocks at its edge, heard a heavy splash, and +all was still! + +For many minutes Rod stood with the spray of the cataract dashing in +his face. This time the madman's plunge into the cold depths at his +feet filled him with none of the horror of that first insane leap from +the rock above. Somewhere in that pool the old man was seeking refuge! +What did it mean? His eyes scanned the thin sheet of water that +plunged down from the upper chasm. It was a dozen feet in width and +hid the black wall of rock behind it like a thick veil. What was there +just behind that falling torrent? Was it possible that in the wall +of rock behind the waterfall there was a place where John Ball found +concealment? + +Rod returned to camp, convinced that he had at last guessed a solution +to the mystery. John Ball was behind the cataract! The strange +murmurings of the old man who for a few moments had crouched so +close to him still rang in his ears, and he was sure that in these +half-articulate sounds had been John Ball's own name. If there had +been a doubt in his mind before, it was wiped away now. The mad hunter +was John Ball, and with that thought burning in his brain Rod stopped +beside the fish--the madman's offering of peace--and turned his face +once more back toward the black loneliness of the pool. + +Unconsciously a sobbing cry of sympathy fell softly from Rod's lips, +and he called John Ball's name again, louder and louder, until +it echoed far down the gloomy depths of the chasm. There came no +response. Then he turned to the fish. John Ball wished them to be +friends, and he had brought this offering! In the firelight Rod saw +that it was a curious looking, dark-colored fish, covered with small +scales that were almost black. It was the size of a large trout, and +yet it was not a trout. The head was thick and heavy, like a sucker's, +and yet it was not a sucker. He looked at this head more closely, and +gave a sudden start when he saw that it had no eyes! + +In one great flood the truth swept upon him, the truth of what lay +behind the cataract, of where John Ball had gone! For he held in his +hands an eyeless creature of another world, a world hidden in the +bowels of the earth itself, a proof that beyond the fall was a great +cavern filled with the mystery and the sightless things of eternal +night, and that in this cavern John Ball found his food and made his +home! + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +IN A SUBTERRANEAN WORLD + +When Mukoki and Wabigoon returned half an hour later the hot-stone +biscuits were still unbaked. The fire was only a bed of coals. Beside +it sat Rod, the strange fish upon the ground at his feet. Before +Mukoki had thrown down the pack of meat which he was carrying he was +showing them this fish. Quickly he related what had happened. He added +to this some of the things which he had thought while sitting by the +fire. The chief of these things were that just behind the cataract was +the entrance to a great cavern, and that in this cavern they would not +only find John Ball, but also the rich storehouse of that treasure of +which they had discovered a part in the pool. + +And as the night lengthened there was little talk about the gold and +much about John Ball. Again and again Rod described the madman's +visit, the trembling, pleading voice, the offering of the fish, the +eager glow that had come into the wild eyes when he talked to him and +called him by name. Even Mukoki's stoic heart was struck by the deep +pathos of it all. The mad hunter no longer carried his gun. He no +longer sought their lives. In his crazed brain something new and +wonderful was at work, something that drew him to them, with the +half-fear of an animal, and yet with growing trust. He was pleading +for their companionship, their friendship, and deep down in his heart +Rod felt that the spark of sanity was not completely gone from John +Ball. + +When the three adventurers retired to their blankets in the cedar +shelter it was not the thought of gold that quickened their blood in +anticipation of the morning. The passing of an age would not dull the +luster of what they had come to seek. It would wait for them. The +greatest of all things--the sympathy of man for man--had stilled that +other passion in them. John Ball's salvation, and not more gold, was +the day's work ahead of them now. + +With the dawn they were up, and by the time it was light enough to see +they were ready for the exploration of whatever was hidden behind the +fall. In a rubber blanket Wabigoon wrapped a rifle and half a dozen +pine torches. Mukoki carried a quantity of cooked meat. Standing on +the edge of the pool Rod pointed into the falling torrent. + +"He dived straight under," he said. "The opening to the cavern is +directly behind the shoot of falling water." + +Wabi placed his hat and coat upon a rock. + +"I'll try it first. Wait until I come back," he said. + +Without another word he plunged into the pool. Minute after minute +passed, and he did not reappear. Rod was conscious of a nervous chill +creeping into his blood. But Mukoki was chuckling confidently. + +"Found heem!" he replied in response to the white youth's inquiring +look. + +As he spoke Wabigoon came up out of the pool like a great fish. Rod +helped him upon the rocks. + +"We're two bright ones, we are, Muky!" he exclaimed, as soon as he +gained his breath. "Just behind the fall I ran up against the wall of +rock we found when we were hunting for John Ball, stood on my feet, +and--" he swung his arms suggestively--"there I was, head and +shoulders out of water, looking into a hole as big as a house!" + +"Dive easy!" warned the old pathfinder, turning to Rod. "Bump head on +rock--swush!" + +"We won't have to dive," continued Wabi. "The water directly under the +fall of the stream isn't more than four feet deep. If we wade into it +from over there we can make it easy." + +Taking his waterproof bundle the young Indian slipped into the pool +close up against the wall of rock that formed the foundation of the +upper chasm and plunged straight into the tumbling cataract. Mukoki +followed close behind and preparing himself with a long breath Rod +hurried into this new experience. For a moment he was conscious of a +smothering weight upon him and a thunderous roaring in his ears, and +he was borne irresistibly down. There was still air in his lungs when +he found himself safely through the deluge so he knew that its passage +had taken him only a brief but thrilling instant. For a time he could +see nothing. Then he made out a dark form drawing itself up out of the +water. Beyond that there lay a chaos of midnight blackness, and he +knew that his eyes were staring into the depths of a great cavern! + +Gripping the edge of the rock ledge he dragged himself up as both +Wabigoon and Mukoki had done, and found his feet upon a soft floor of +sand. Suddenly he felt a hand clutch his arm. A half-shout, rising +faintly above the wash of the cataract, sounded in his ear. + +"Look!" + +He wiped the water from his eyes and gazed ahead of him. For a moment +he saw nothing. Then, so faintly that at first it appeared no larger +than a star, he caught the faint glimmer of a light. As he looked it +became more and more distinct, and to his astonishment he saw that +it was slowly rising, like a huge will-o'-the-wisp that had suddenly +risen from the floor of the cavern to float off into the utter +blackness of space above. And even as he stared, gripping Wabi's arm +in his excitement, the strange light began to descend, and quickly +disappeared! + +The two boys saw Mukoki slip off into the gloom, and without +questioning his motive they followed close behind. As they progressed +the sound of the fall came more and more faintly to their ears. A +blackness deeper than the gloom of the darkest night environed them, +and the three now held to one another's arms. Rod understood why his +companions lighted no torches. Somewhere ahead of them was another +light, carried by the mad hunter. His blood thrilled with excitement. +Where would John Ball lead them? + +Suddenly he became conscious that they were no longer walking on a +level floor of sand but that they were ascending, as the light had +done. Mukoki stopped and for a full minute they stood and listened. +The tumult of the fall came to them in a far, subdued murmur. Beyond +that there was not the breath of a sound in the strange world of gloom +about them. They were about to start on again when something held +them, a whispering, sobbing echo, and Rod's heart seemed to stop its +beating. It died away slowly, and a weird stillness fell after it. +Then came a low moaning cry, a cry that was human in its agony, and +yet which had in it something so near the savage that even Wabigoon +found himself trembling as he strained in futile effort to pierce +the impenetrable gloom ahead. Before the cry had lost itself in the +distances of the cavern Mukoki was leading them on again. + +Step by step they followed in the path taken by the strange light. Rod +knew that they were climbing a hill of sand, and that just beyond +it they would see the light again, but he was not prepared for the +startling suddenness with which the next change came. As if a black +curtain had dropped from before their eyes the three adventurers +beheld a scene that halted them in their tracks. A hundred paces away +a huge pitch-pine torch a yard in length was burning in the sand, and +crouching in the red glow of this, his arms stretched out as if in the +supplication of a strange prayer, was John Ball! Just beyond him was +the gleam of water, inky-black in the weird flickerings of the torch, +and toward this John Ball reached out in his grief. His voice came up +softly to the three watchers now, so low that even in the vast silence +of the cavern it could barely be heard. To Roderick Drew it was as if +the strange creature below him was sobbing like a heart-broken child, +and he whispered in Wabigoon's ear. Then, foot by foot, so gently that +his moccasined feet made no sound, he approached the madman. + +Half-way to him he paused. + +"Hello, John Ball!" he called softly. + +The faint light of the torch was falling upon him, and he advanced +another step. The murmuring of the wild man ceased, but he made no +movement. He still knelt in his rigid posture, his arms stretched +toward the black chaos beyond him. Rod came very close to him before +he spoke again. + +"Is that you, John Ball?" + +Slowly the kneeling figure turned, and once more Rod saw in those wild +eyes, gleaming brightly now in the torch-light, the softer, thrilling +glow of recognition and returning reason. He reached out his own arms +and advanced boldly, calling John Ball's name, and the madman made no +retreat but crouched lower in the sand, strange, soft sounds again +falling from his lips. Rod had come within half a dozen feet of him +when he sprang up with the quickness of a cat, and with a wailing +cry plunged waist deep into the water. With his arms stretched +entreatingly into the mysterious world beyond the torch-light he +turned his face to the white youth, and Rod knew that he was trying as +best he could to tell him something. + +"What is it, John Ball?" + +He went to the edge of the black water and waded out until it rose to +his knees, his eyes staring into the blackness. + +"What is it?" + +He, too, pointed with one arm, and the madman gave an excited gesture. +Then he placed his hands funnel-shaped to his mouth, as Rod had often +seen Wabi and Mukoki do when calling moose, and there burst from him a +far-reaching cry, and Rod's heart gave a sudden bound as he listened, +for the cry was that of a woman's name! + +"Dol--o--res-s-s-s--Dol--o--res-s-s-s--" + +The cry died away in distant murmuring echoes, and with an answering +cry Rod shouted forth the name which he fancied John Ball had spoken. + +"Dolores! Dolores! Dolores!" + +There came a sudden leaping plunge, and John Ball was at his feet, +clasping him about the knees, and sobbing again and again that +name--Dolores. Rod put his arms about the old man's shoulders, and the +gray, shaggy head fell against him. The sobbing voice grew lower, the +weight of the head greater, and after a little Rod called loudly for +Mukoki and Wabigoon, for there was no longer movement or sound from +the form at his feet, and he knew that something had happened to John +Ball. The two Indians were quickly at his side, and together they +carried the unconscious form of Ball within the circle of torch-light. +The old man's eyes were closed, his claw-like fingers were clenched +fiercely upon his breast, and not until Mukoki placed a hand over his +heart did the three know that he was still breathing. + +"Now is our time to get him to camp," said Wabi. "Lead the way with +the torch, Rod!" + +There was not much weight to John Ball, and the two Indians carried +him easily. At the fall the rubber blanket was wound about his head +and the adventurers plunged under the cataract with their burden. It +was an hour after that before the old man opened his eyes again. Rod +was close beside him and for a full minute the mad hunter gazed +up into his face, then once more he sank off into that strange +unconsciousness which had overcome him in the cavern. Rod rose +white-faced and turned to Mukoki and Wabigoon. + +"I'm afraid--he's dying," he said. + +The Indians made no answer. For several minutes the three sat silently +about John Ball watching for signs of returning consciousness. At +last Mukoki roused himself to take a pot of soup from the fire. The +movement seemed to stir John Ball into life, and Rod was at his side +again, holding a cup of water to his lips. After a little he helped +the old man to sit up, and a spoonful at a time the warm soup was fed +to him. + +Through the whole of that day he returned to consciousness only for +brief intervals, lapsing back into a death-like sleep after each +awakening. During one of these periods of unconsciousness Wabi cut +short the tangled beard and hair, and for the first time they saw +in all its emaciation the thin, ghastly face of the man who, half a +century before, had drawn the map that led them to the gold. There was +little change in his condition during the night that followed, except +that now and then he muttered incoherently, and at these times Rod +always caught in his ravings the name that he had heard in the cavern. +The next day there was no change. And there was still none on the +third. Even Mukoki, who had tried every expedient of wilderness craft +in nursing, gave up in despair. So far as they could see John Ball had +no fever. Yet three-quarters of the time he lay as if dead. Nothing +but soup could be forced between his lips. + +On the second day Wabi revisited the subterranean world beyond the +cataract. When he came back he had discovered the secret of the +treasure in the pool. The gold came from the cavern. The soft sand +through which they had followed the strange light was rich in dust and +nuggets. During the floods of spring water came into the cavern from +somewhere, and flowing for a brief space out through the mouth of the +cave brought with it the precious burden of treasure-laden sand which +was dumped into the pool. The constant wash of the cataract had caused +most of the sand to overflow into the running stream, but the heavier +gold-dust and nuggets remained in the trap into which they had fallen. + +But the joy that came of this discovery was subdued by thoughts of +John Ball. The gold meant everything to Rod, the realization of his +hopes and ambitions; and he knew that it meant everything to his +mother, and to all those who belonged to Mukoki and Wabigoon. But the +gold could wait. They had already accumulated a small fortune, and +they could return for the rest a little later. At present they must do +something for John Ball, the man to whom they were indebted for all +that they had found, and to whom the treasure really belonged. On the +third day Rod laid his plans before Wabi and Mukoki. + +"We must take John Ball back to the Post as quickly as we can," he +said. "It is our only chance of saving him. If we start now, while +the water in the creek is deep enough to float our canoe, we can make +Wabinosh House in ten or fifteen days." + +"It will be impossible to paddle against the swift current," said +Wabi. + +"That is true. But we can put John Ball into the canoe and tow him +up-stream. It will be a long wade and hard work, but--" + +He looked at Wabi in silence, then added, + +"Do we want John Ball to live, or do we want him to die?" + +"If I thought he would live I would wade a thousand miles to save +him," rejoined the young Indian. "It means little to us but work. We +know where the rest of the gold is and can return to it within a few +weeks." + +If there had been a doubt in the boys' minds as to the right course to +pursue John Ball settled it himself that very afternoon. He awakened +from an unusually long stupor. His eyes were burning with a new light, +and as Rod bent over him he whispered softly, but distinctly, + +"Dolores--Dolores--Where is Dolores?" + +"Who is Dolores, John Ball?" whispered the white youth, his heart +thumping wildly. "Who is Dolores?" + +Ball drew up one of his emaciated hands and clasped it to his head, +and a sobbing moan fell from his lips. Then, after a moment, he +repeated, as though to himself, + +"Dolores--Dolores--Who is Dolores?" + +The Indians had come near, and heard. But John Ball said no more. He +swallowed a few spoonfuls of soup and fell again into his death-like +trance. + +"Who is Dolores?" repeated Wabigoon, his face whitening as he looked +at Rod. "Is there somebody else in the cavern?" + +"He is talking of some one whom he probably knew forty or fifty years +ago," replied Rod. But his own face was white. He stared hard at +Wabigoon, and a strange look came into Mukoki's face. + +"Dolores," he mused, without taking his eyes from Wabi. "It's a +woman's name, or a girl's name. We must save John Ball! We must start +for Wabinosh House--now!" + +"While he's unconscious we can tie the rope about him and hoist him +into the upper chasm," quickly added Wabigoon. "Muky, get to work. We +move this minute!" + +It was still two hours before dusk, and now that they had determined +on returning to Wabinosh House the adventurers lost no time in getting +under way. Wabi climbed the rope that was suspended from the upper +chasm, and that part of their equipment which it was necessary to take +back with them was hoisted up by him. Mukoki sheltered the rest in the +old cabin. John Ball was drawn up last. For an hour after that, until +the gray shadows of night began settling about them, the three waded +up the shallow stream, pulling the canoe and its unconscious burden +after them. That night the madman was not left unwatched for a minute. +Mukoki sat beside him until eleven o'clock. Then Wabi took his turn. A +little after midnight Rod was aroused by being violently pulled from +his bed of balsam boughs. + +"For the love of Heaven, get up!" whispered the young Indian. "He's +talking, Rod! He's talking about Dolores, and about some kind of a +great beast that's bigger than anything that ever lived up here! +Listen!" + +The madman was moaning softly. + +"I've killed it, Dolores--I've killed it--killed it! Where is Dolores? +Where--is--" There came a deep sigh, and John Ball was quiet. + +"Killed what?" panted Rod, his heart thumping until it choked him. + +"The beast--whatever it was," whispered Wabi. "Rod, something terrible +happened in that cavern! We don't know the whole story. The Frenchmen +who killed themselves for possession of the birch-bark map played +only a small part in it. The greater part was played by John Ball and +Dolores!" + +For a long time the two listened, but the old man made no sound or +movement. + +"Better go back to bed," said Wabi. "I thought if he was going to keep +it up you would like to hear. I'll call you at two." + +But Rod could not sleep. For a long time he lay awake thinking of John +Ball and his strange ravings. Who was Dolores? What terrible tragedy +had that black world under the mountains some time beheld? Despite his +better reason an indefinable sensation of uneasiness possessed him as +the madman's sobbing out of the woman's name recurred to him. He spoke +nothing of this to Wabi when he relieved him, and he said nothing of +it during the days that followed. They were days of unending toil, of +fierce effort to beat out death in the race to Wabinosh House. + +For it seemed that the end of time was very near for John Ball. On the +fourth day his thin cheeks showed signs of fever, and on the fifth he +was tossing in delirium. The race now continued by night as well as +by day, only an hour or two of rest being snatched at a time. During +these days John Ball babbled ceaselessly of Dolores, and great beasts, +and the endless cavern; and now the beasts began taking the form of +strange people whose eyes gleamed from out of masses of fur, and who +had hands, and flung spears. On the eighth day the madman sank +back into his old lethargy. On the fourth day after that the three +adventurers, worn and exhausted, reached the shore of Lake Nipigon. +Thirty miles across the lake was Wabinosh House, and it was decided +that Mukoki and Rod should leave for assistance, while Wabigoon +remained with John Ball. The two rolled themselves in their blankets +immediately after supper, and after three hours' sleep were awakened +by the young Indian. All that night they paddled with only occasional +moments of rest. The sun was just rising over the forests when they +grounded their canoe close to the Post. As Rod sprang ashore he saw a +figure walk slowly out from the edge of the forest an eighth of a mile +away. Even at that distance he recognized Minnetaki! He looked at the +sharp-eyed Mukoki. He, too, had seen and recognized the girl. + +"Muky, I'm going along in the edge of the woods and give her a +surprise," said Rod courageously. "Will you wait here?" + +Mukoki grinned a nodding assent, and the youth darted into the edge of +the forest. He was breathless when he came up a hundred yards behind +the girl, screened from view by the trees. Softly he whistled. It was +a signal that Minnetaki had taught him on his first trip into the +North, and he knew of only two who used it in all that Northland, and +those two were the Indian maiden and himself. The girl turned as +she heard the trilling note, and Rod drew himself farther back. +He whistled again, more loudly than before, and Minnetaki came +hesitatingly toward the forest's edge, and when he whistled a third +time there came a timid response from her, as if she recognized and +yet doubted the notes that floated to her from the shadows of the +balsams. + +Again Rod whistled, laughing as he drew a little farther back, and +again Minnetaki answered, peering in among the trees. He saw the +wondering, half-expectant glow in her eyes, and suddenly crying out +her name he sprang from his concealment. With a little cry of joy and +with hands outstretched Minnetaki ran to meet him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +JOHN BALL'S STORY + +That same morning two big canoes set out across Lake Nipigon for +Wabigoon and John Ball. Mukoki returned with the canoes, but Rod +remained at the Post, and not a moment's rest did he have during the +whole of that day from the eager questions of those whom he had so +completely surprised by his unexpected return. Few stories could have +been more thrilling than his, though he told it in the simplest manner +possible. Rod's appearance more than his words was evidence of +the trials he and his companions had passed through. His face was +emaciated to startling thinness by desperate exertion and lack of +sleep, and both his face and his hands were covered with scratches and +bruises. Not until late in the afternoon did he go to bed, and it was +noon the following day when he awoke from his heavy slumber. + +The canoes had returned, and John Ball was in the doctor's care. At +dinner Rod and Wabi were made to go over their adventures again, and +even Mukoki, who had joined them in this reunion, was not allowed to +escape the endless questioning of Minnetaki, the factor's wife, and +Rod's mother. Rod was seated at the table between Mrs. Drew and +Minnetaki. Several times during the conversation he felt the young +girl's hand touch his arm. Once, when the factor spoke about their +return to the gold in the cavern, this mysterious signaling of +Minnetaki's took the form of a pinch that made him squirm. Not until +after dinner, and the two were alone, did he begin to comprehend. + +"I'm ashamed of you, Roderick Drew!" said the girl, standing before +him in mock displeasure. "You and Wabi were the stupidest things I +ever saw at dinner! Have you all forgotten your promise to me?--your +promise that I should go with you on your next trip? I wanted you to +speak about it right there at dinner!" + +"But I--I--couldn't!" stammered Rod awkwardly. + +"But I'm going!" said Minnetaki decisively. "I'm going with you boys +on this next trip--if I have to run away! It's not fair for Wabi and +Mukoki and you to leave me alone all of the time. And, besides, I've +been making all the arrangements while you were gone. I've won over +mamma and your mother, and Maballa, mamma's Indian woman, will go with +me. There's just one who says--'No!'" And Minnetaki clasped her hands +pathetically. + +"And that's papa," completed Rod, laughing. + +"Yes." + +"Well, if he is the only one against us we stand a good chance of +winning." + +"I'm going to have mamma and Wabigoon get him by themselves to-night," +said the girl. "Papa will do anything on earth for her, and he thinks +Wabi is the best boy on earth. Mamma says she will lock the door and +won't let him out until he has given his promise. Oh, what a glorious +time we'll have!" + +"Perhaps he would go with us," suggested Rod. + +"No, he couldn't leave the Post. If he went Wabi would have to stay." + +Rod was counting on his fingers. + +"That means six in our next expedition,--Wabi, Mukoki, John Ball and +myself, and you and Maballa. Why, it'll be a regular picnic party!" + +Minnetaki's eyes were brimming with fun. + +"Do you know," she said, "that Maballa thinks Mukoki is just about the +nicest Indian that ever lived? Oh, I'd be so glad if--if--" + +She puckered her mouth into a round, red O, and left Rod to guess the +rest. It was not difficult for him to understand. + +"So would I," he cried. Then he added, + +"Muky is the best fellow on earth." + +"And Maballa is just as good," said the girl loyally. + +The boy held out his hand. + +"Let's shake on that, Minnetaki! I'll handle Mukoki, you take care of +Maballa. What a picnic this next trip will be!" + +"And there'll be lots and lots of adventures, won't there?" asked the +girl a little anxiously. + +"Plenty of them." Rod became immediately serious. "This will be the +most important of all our trips, Minnetaki, that is, if John Ball +lives. I haven't told the others, but I believe that great cavern +holds something for us besides gold!" + +The smile left the girl's face. Her eyes were soft and eager. + +"You believe that--Dolores--" + +"I don't know what to believe. But--we'll find something there!" + +For an hour Rod and Minnetaki talked of John Ball and of the strange +things he said in his delirium. Then the girl rejoined Mrs. Drew and +the princess mother, while Rod went in search of Mukoki and Wabigoon. +That night the big event happened. George Newsome, the factor, gave +a reluctant consent which meant that Wabi's sister and Maballa would +accompany the adventurers on their next journey into the untraveled +solitudes of Hudson Bay. + +For a week John Ball hovered between life and death. After that his +improvement was slow but sure, and each day added strength to his +emaciated body and a new light to his eyes. At the end of the second +week there was no question but that he was slowly returning to sanity. +Gradually he came to know those who sat beside his bed, and whenever +Rod visited him he insisted on holding the youth's hand. At first the +sight of Minnetaki or her mother, or of Mrs. Drew, had a startling +effect on him and in their presence he would moan ceaselessly the name +Rod first heard in the cavern. A little at a time the language of +those about him came back to the old man, and bit by bit those who +waited and listened and watched learned the story of John Ball. +Midsummer came before he could gather the scattered threads of his +life in his memory, and even then there were breaks in this story +which seemed but trivial things to John Ball, but which to the others +meant the passing of forgotten years. + +In fact, years played but a small part in the strange story that fell +from the old man's lips. "In time," said the Post physician, "he will +remember everything. Now only the most important happenings in his +life have returned to him." + +John Ball could not remember the date when, as a young boy, he +left York Factory, on Hudson Bay, to come a thousand miles down to +civilization in company with the two Frenchmen who killed themselves +in the old cabin. But the slip of paper which Rod had discovered +filled that gap. He was the son of the factor at York Factory, and was +to spend a year at school in Montreal. On their trip down it was the +boy who found gold in the chasm. John Ball could remember none of the +details. He only knew that they remained to gather the treasure, and +that he, as its discoverer and the son of one of the lords of the +Hudson Bay Company, was to receive twice the share of the others, and +that in the autumn they were to return to York Factory instead of +going on to Montreal. He remembered indistinctly a quarrel over the +gold, and after that of writing some sort of agreement, and then, +early one morning, he awoke to find the two Frenchmen standing over +him, and after that, for a long time, everything seemed to pass as in +a dream. + +When he awoke into life he was no longer in the chasm, but among a +strange people who were so small that they reached barely to his +shoulders, and who dressed in fur, and carried spears, and though the +sick man said no more about these people those who listened to him +knew that he had wandered far north among the Eskimos. They treated +him kindly, and he lived among them for a long time, hunting and +fishing with them, and sleeping in houses built of ice and snow. + +The next that John Ball remembered was of white people. In some way +he returned to York Factory, and he knew that when this happened many +years had passed, for his father and mother were dead, and there were +strangers at the Post. At this time John Ball must have returned +fully to his reason again. He remembered, faintly, leading several +unsuccessful expeditions in search of the gold which he and the +Frenchmen had discovered, and that once he went to a great city, which +must have been Montreal, and that he stayed there a long time doing +something for the Hudson Bay Company, and met a girl whom he married. +When he spoke of the girl John Ball's eyes would glow feverishly and +her name would fall from him in a moaning sob. For as yet returning +reason had not placed the hand of age upon him. It was as if he was +awakening from a deep sleep, and Dolores, his young wife, had been +with him but a few hours before. + +There came another break in John Ball's life after this. He could not +remember how long they lived in Montreal, but he knew that after a +time he returned with his wife into the far North, and that they were +very happy, and one summer set off in a canoe to search for the lost +chasm together. They found it. How or when he could not remember. +After this John Ball's story was filled with wild visions of a great +black world where there was neither sun nor moon nor stars, and they +found gold and dug it by the light of fires. And one day the woman +went a little way back in this world and never came back. + +It was then that the old madness returned. In his search for his lost +wife John Ball never found the end of the great cavern. He saw strange +people, he fought great beasts in this black world that were larger +than the biggest moose in the forests, and he told of rushing torrents +and thundering cataracts in the bowels of the earth. Even in his +returning sanity the old man told these things as true. + +George Newsome, the factor, lost no time in writing to the Company at +Montreal, inquiring about John Ball, and a month later he received +word that a man by that name had worked as an inspector of raw furs +during the years 1877 and 1878. He had left Montreal for the North +thirty years before. In all probability he soon after went in search +of the lost gold, and for more than a quarter of a century had lived +as a wild man in the solitudes. + +It was at this time in the convalescence of the doctor's patient that +Roderick's mother made a suggestion which took the Post by storm. +It was that the factor and his family accompany her and Rod back to +civilization for a few weeks' visit. To the astonishment of all, and +especially to Minnetaki and the princess mother, the factor fell in +heartily with the scheme, with the stipulation that the Drews return +with them early in the autumn. An agent from the head office of the +Company had come up for a month's fishing and he cheerfully expressed +his willingness to take charge of affairs at the Post during their +absence. + +The happiness of Rod and Wabi was complete when Mukoki was compelled +to give his promise to go with them. For several days the old warrior +withstood their combined assaults, but at last he surrendered when +Minnetaki put her arms around his neck and nestled her soft cheek +against his leathery face, with the avowal that she would not move a +step unless he went with her. + +So it happened, one beautiful summer morning, that three big canoes +put out into the lake from Wabinosh House and headed into the +South, and only Mukoki, of all the seven who were going down into +civilization, felt something that was not joy as the forests slipped +behind them. For Mukoki was to get a glimpse of a new world, a world +far from the land of his fathers, and the loyal heart inside his +caribou-skin coat quickened its pulse a little as he thought of the +wonderful journey. + +Thus began the journey to civilization. + + + + +THE END + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Gold Hunters, by James Oliver Curwood + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLD HUNTERS *** + +***** This file should be named 11668-8.txt or 11668-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/6/6/11668/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark, Suzanne Shell, Björn Lijnema +and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org</p> + +<p id="id00002" style="margin-top: 2em">Title: The Gold Hunters + A Story of Life and Adventure in the Hudson Bay Wilds</p> + +<p id="id00003">Author: James Oliver Curwood</p> + +<p id="id00004">Posting Date: February 10, 2020 [EBook #11668]<br /> +Release Date: March 22, 2004</p> + +<p id="id00005">Language: English</p> + +<p id="id00006" style="margin-top: 2em">*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLD HUNTERS ***</p> + +<p id="id00007" style="margin-top: 4em">Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark, Suzanne Shell, Björn Lijnema +and PG Distributed Proofreaders</p> + +<div style='margin:1em auto; width:80%'> +<img src='images/illus-fpc.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%;height:auto;max-width:477px;'/> +<p style='text-align:center;'>The canoe sped out into the gloom.</p> +</div> + +<h4 id="id00009" style="margin-top: 2em; page-break-before:always;">THE GOLD HUNTERS</h4> + +<p id="id00010">A Story of Life and Adventure in the Hudson Bay Wilds</p> + +<h5 id="id00011">BY +JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD</h5> + +<p id="id00012">1909</p> + +<p id="id00013" style="margin-top: 2em; page-break-before:always;">To the sweet-voiced, dark-eyed little half-Cree maiden +at Lac-Bain, who is the Minnetaki of this story; and to "Teddy" Brown, +guide and trapper, and loyal comrade of the author in many of his +adventures, this book is affectionately dedicated.</p> + +<h2 id="id00014" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h4 id="id00015" style="margin-top: 2em">THE PURSUIT OF THE HUDSON BAY MAIL</h4> + +<p id="id00016">The deep hush of noon hovered over the vast solitude of Canadian +forest. The moose and caribou had fed since early dawn, and were +resting quietly in the warmth of the February sun; the lynx was curled +away in his niche between the great rocks, waiting for the sun to +sink farther into the north and west before resuming his marauding +adventures; the fox was taking his midday slumber and the restless +moose-birds were fluffing themselves lazily in the warm glow that was +beginning to melt the snows of late winter.</p> + +<p id="id00017">It was that hour when the old hunter on the trail takes off his pack, +silently gathers wood for a fire, eats his dinner and smokes his pipe, +eyes and ears alert;—that hour when, if you speak above a whisper, he +will say to you,</p> + +<p id="id00018">"Sh-h-h-h! Be quiet! You can't tell how near we are to game. +Everything has had its morning feed and is lying low. The game won't +be moving again for an hour or two, and there may be moose or caribou +a gunshot ahead. We couldn't hear them—now!"</p> + +<p id="id00019">And yet, after a time one thing detached itself from this lifeless +solitude. At first it was nothing more than a spot on the sunny side +of a snow-covered ridge. Then it moved, stretched itself like a dog, +with its forefeet extended far to the front and its shoulders hunched +low—and was a wolf.</p> + +<p id="id00020">A wolf is a heavy sleeper after a feast. A hunter would have said that +this wolf had gorged itself the night before. Still, something had +alarmed it. Faintly there came to this wilderness outlaw that most +thrilling of all things to the denizens of the forest—the scent of +man. He came down the ridge with the slow indifference of a full-fed +animal, and with only a half of his old cunning; trotted across the +softening snow of an opening and stopped where the man-scent was so +strong that he lifted his head straight up to the sky and sent out to +his comrades in forest and plain the warning signal that he had struck +a human trail. A wolf will do this, and no more, in broad day. At +night he might follow, and others would join him in the chase; but +with daylight about him he gives the warning and after a little slinks +away from the trail.</p> + +<p id="id00021">But something held this wolf. There was a mystery in the air which +puzzled him. Straight ahead there ran the broad, smooth trail of a +sled and the footprints of many dogs. Sometime within the last hour +the "dog mail" from Wabinosh House had passed that way on its long +trip to civilization. But it was not the swift passage of man and +dog that held the wolf rigidly alert, ready for flight—and yet +hesitating. It was something from the opposite direction, from the +North, out of which the wind was coming. First it was sound; then it +was scent—then both, and the wolf sped in swift flight up the sunlit +ridge.</p> + +<p id="id00022">In the direction from which the alarm came there stretched a small +lake, and on its farther edge, a quarter of a mile away, there +suddenly darted out from the dense rim of balsam forest a jumble of +dogs and sledge and man. For a few moments the mass of animals seemed +entangled in some kind of wreck or engaged in one of those fierce +battles in which the half-wild sledge-dogs of the North frequently +engage, even on the trail. Then there came the sharp, commanding cries +of a human voice, the cracking of a whip, the yelping of the +huskies, and the disordered team straightened itself and came like a +yellowish-gray streak across the smooth surface of the lake. Close +beside the sledge ran the man. He was tall, and thin, and even at that +distance one would have recognized him as an Indian. Hardly had the +team and its wild-looking driver progressed a quarter of the distance +across the lake when there came a shout farther back, and a second +sledge burst into view from out of the thick forest. Beside this +sledge, too, a driver was running with desperate speed.</p> + +<p id="id00023">The leader now leaped upon his sledge, his voice rising in sharp cries +of exhortation, his whip whirling and cracking over the backs of his +dogs. The second driver still ran, and thus gained upon the team +ahead, so that when they came to the opposite side of the lake, where +the wolf had sent out the warning cry to his people, the twelve dogs +of the two teams were almost abreast.</p> + +<p id="id00024">Quickly there came a slackening in the pace set by the leading dog of +each team, and half a minute later the sledges stopped. The dogs flung +themselves down in their harness, panting, with gaping jaws, the snow +reddening under their bleeding feet. The men, too, showed signs of +terrible strain. The elder of these, as we have said, was an Indian, +pure breed of the great Northern wilderness. His companion was a youth +who had not yet reached his twenties, slender, but with the strength +and agility of an animal in his limbs, his handsome face bronzed by +the free life of the forest, and in his veins a plentiful strain of +that blood which made his comrade kin.</p> + +<p id="id00025">In those two we have again met our old friends Mukoki and Wabigoon: +Mukoki, the faithful old warrior and pathfinder, and Wabigoon, the +adventurous half-Indian son of the factor of Wabinosh House. Both +were at the height of some great excitement. For a few moments, while +gaining breath, they gazed silently into each other's face.</p> + +<p id="id00026">"I'm afraid—we can't—catch them, Muky," panted the younger. "What do +you think—"</p> + +<p id="id00027">He stopped, for Mukoki had thrown himself on his knees in the snow a +dozen feet in front of the teams. From that point there ran straight +ahead of them the trail of the dog mail. For perhaps a full minute he +examined the imprints of the dogs' feet and the smooth path made +by the sledge. Then he looked up, and with one of those inimitable +chuckles which meant so much when coming from him, he said:</p> + +<p id="id00028">"We catch heem—sure! See—sledge heem go <i>deep</i>. Both ride. Big load +for dogs. We catch heem—sure!"</p> + +<p id="id00029">"But our dogs!" persisted Wabigoon, his face still filled with doubt. +"They're completely bushed, and my leader has gone lame. See how +they're bleeding!"</p> + +<p id="id00030">The huskies, as the big wolfish sledge-dogs of the far North are +called, were indeed in a pitiable condition. The warm sun had weakened +the hard crust of the snow until at every leap the feet of the animals +had broken through, tearing and wounding themselves on its ragged, +knife-like edges. Mukoki's face became more serious as he carefully +examined the teams.</p> + +<p id="id00031">"Bad—ver' bad," he grunted. "We fool—fool!"</p> + +<p id="id00032">"For not bringing dog shoes?" said Wabigoon. "I've got a dozen shoes +on my sledge—enough for three dogs. By George—" He leaped quickly to +his toboggan, caught up the dog moccasins, and turned again to the old +Indian, alive with new excitement. "We've got just one chance, Muky!" +he half shouted.</p> + +<p id="id00033">"Pick out the strongest dogs. One of us must go on alone!"</p> + +<p id="id00034">The sharp commands of the two adventurers and the cracking of Mukoki's +whip brought the tired and bleeding animals to their feet. Over the +pads of three of the largest and strongest were drawn the buckskin +moccasins, and to these three, hitched to Wabigoon's sledge, were +added six others that appeared to have a little endurance still left +in them. A few moments later the long line of dogs was speeding +swiftly over the trail of the Hudson Bay mail, and beside the sled ran +Wabigoon.</p> + +<p id="id00035">Thus this thrilling pursuit of the dog mail had continued since early +dawn. For never more than a minute or two at a time had there been a +rest. Over mountain and lake, through dense forest and across barren +plain man and dog had sped without food or drink, snatching up +mouthfuls of snow here and there—always their eyes upon the fresh +trail of the flying mail. Even the fierce huskies seemed to understand +that the chase had become a matter of life and death, and that they +were to follow the trail ahead of them, ceaselessly and without +deviation, until the end of their masters was accomplished. The human +scent was becoming stronger and stronger in their wolf-like nostrils. +Somewhere on that trail there were men, and other dogs, and they were +to overtake them!</p> + +<p id="id00036">Even now, bleeding and stumbling as they ran, the blood of battle, the +excitement of the chase, was hot within them. Half-wolf, half-dog, +their white fangs snarling as stronger whiffs of the man-smell came to +them, they were filled with the savage desperation of the youth who +urged them on. The keen instinct of the wild pointed out their road to +them, and they needed no guiding hand. Faithful until the last they +dragged on their burden, their tongues lolling farther from their +jaws, their hearts growing weaker, their eyes bloodshot until they +glowed like red balls. Now and then, when he had run until his +endurance was gone, Wabigoon would fling himself upon the sledge to +regain breath and rest his limbs, and the dogs would tug harder, +scarce slackening their speed under the increased weight. Once a huge +moose crashed through the forest a hundred paces away, but the huskies +paid no attention to it; a little farther on a lynx, aroused from +his sun bath on a rock, rolled like a great gray ball across the +trail,—the dogs cringed but for an instant at the sight of this +mortal enemy of theirs, and then went on.</p> + +<p id="id00037">Slower and slower grew the pace. The rearmost dog was now no more than +a drag, and reaching a keen-edged knife far out over the end of the +sledge Wabi severed his breast strap and the exhausted animal rolled +out free beside the trail. Two others of the team were pulling scarce +a pound, another was running lame, and the trail behind was spotted +with pads of blood. Each minute added to the despair that was growing +in the youth's face. His eyes, like those of his faithful dogs, were +red from the terrible strain of the race, his lips were parted, his +legs, as tireless as those of a red deer, were weakening under him. +More and more frequently he flung himself upon the sledge, panting +for breath, and shorter and shorter became his intervals of running +between these periods of rest. The end of the chase was almost at +hand. They could not overtake the Hudson Bay mail!</p> + +<p id="id00038">With a final cry of encouragement Wabi sprang from the sledge and +plunged along at the head of the dogs, urging them on in one last +supreme effort. Ahead of them was a break in the forest trail and +beyond that, mile upon mile, stretched the vast white surface of Lake +Nipigon. And far out in the glare of sun and snow there moved an +object, something that was no more than a thin black streak to +Wabi's blinded eyes but which he knew was the dog mail on its way to +civilization. He tried to shout, but the sound that fell from his lips +could not have been heard a hundred paces away; his limbs tottered +beneath him; his feet seemed suddenly to turn into lead, and he sank +helpless into the snow. The faithful pack crowded about him licking +his face and hands, their hot breath escaping between their gaping +jaws like hissing steam For a few moments it seemed to the Indian +youth that day had suddenly turned into night. His eyes closed, the +panting of the dogs came to him more and more faintly, as if they were +moving away; he felt himself sinking, sinking slowly down into utter +blackness.</p> + +<p id="id00039">Desperately he fought to bring himself back into life. There was one +more chance—just one! He heard the dogs again, he felt their tongues +upon his hands and face, and he dragged himself to his knees, groping +out with his hands like one who had gone blind. A few feet away was +the sledge, and out there, far beyond his vision now, was the Hudson +Bay mail!</p> + +<p id="id00040">Foot by foot he drew himself out from among the tangle of dogs. He +reached the sledge, and his fingers gripped convulsively at the cold +steel of his rifle. One more chance! One more chance! The words—the +thought—filled his brain, and he raised the rifle to his shoulder, +pointing its muzzle up to the sky so that he would not harm the dogs. +And then, once, twice, five times he fired into the air, and at the +end of the fifth shot he drew fresh cartridges from his belt, +and fired again and again, until the black streak far out in the +wilderness of ice and snow stopped in its progress—and turned back. +And still the sharp signals rang out again and again, until the barrel +of Wabi's rifle grew hot, and his cartridge belt was empty.</p> + +<p id="id00041">Slowly the gloom cleared away before his eyes. He heard a shout, and +staggered to his feet, stretching out his arms and calling a name as +the dog mail stopped half a hundred yards from his own team.</p> + +<p id="id00042">With something between a yell of joy and a cry of astonishment a youth +of about Wabi's age sprang from the second sleigh and ran to the +Indian boy, catching him in his arms as for a second time, he sank +fainting upon the snow.</p> + +<p id="id00043">"Wabi—what's the matter?" he cried. "Are you hurt? Are you—"</p> + +<p id="id00044">For a moment Wabigoon struggled to overcome his weakness.</p> + +<p id="id00045">"Rod—" he whispered, "Rod—Minnetaki—"</p> + +<p id="id00046">His lips ceased to move and he sank heavily in his companion's arms.</p> + +<p id="id00047">"What is it, Wabi? Quick! Speak!" urged the other. His face had grown +strangely white, his voice trembled. "What about—Minnetaki?"</p> + +<p id="id00048">Again the Indian youth fought to bring himself back to life. His words +came faintly,</p> + +<p id="id00049">"Minnetaki—has been captured—by—the—Woongas!"</p> + +<p id="id00050">Then even his breath seemed to stop, and he lay like one dead.</p> + +<h2 id="id00051" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h4 id="id00052" style="margin-top: 2em">MINNETAKI IN THE HANDS OF THE OUTLAWS</h4> + +<p id="id00053">For a brief time Roderick believed that life had indeed passed from +the body of his young friend. So still did Wabi lie and so terrifying +was the strange pallor in his face that the white boy found himself +calling on his comrade in a voice filled with choking sobs. The driver +of the dog mail dropped on his knees beside the two young hunters. +Running his hand under Wabi's thick shirt he held it there for an +instant, and said,</p> + +<p>"He's alive!"</p> + +<p id="id00054">Quickly drawing a small metal flask from one of his pockets he +unscrewed the top, and placing the mouthpiece to the Indian youth's +lips forced a bit of its contents down his throat. The liquor had +almost immediate effect, and Wabigoon opened his eyes, gazed into the +rough visage of the courier, then closed them again. There was relief +in the courier's face as he pointed to the dogs from Wabinosh House. +The exhausted animals were lying stretched upon the snow, their heads +drooping between their forefeet. Even the presence of a rival team +failed to arouse them from their lethargy. One might have thought that +death had overtaken them upon the trail were it not for their panting +sides and lolling tongues.</p> + +<p id="id00055">"He's not hurt!" exclaimed the driver, "see the dogs! He's been +running—running until he dropped in his tracks!"</p> + +<p id="id00056">The assurance brought but little comfort to Rod. He could feel the +tremble of returning life in Wabi's body now, but the sight of the +exhausted and bleeding dogs and the memory of his comrade's last words +had filled him with a new and terrible fear. What had happened to +Minnetaki? Why had the factor's son come all this distance for him? +Why had he pursued the mail until his dogs were nearly dead, and he +himself had fallen unconscious in his tracks? Was Minnetaki dead? Had +the Woongas killed Wabi's beautiful little sister?</p> + +<p id="id00057">Again and again he implored his friend to speak to him, until the +courier pushed him back and carried Wabi to the mail sled.</p> + +<p id="id00058">"Hustle up there to that bunch of spruce and build a fire," he +commanded. "We've got to get something hot into him, and rub him down, +and roll him in furs. This is bad enough, bad enough!"</p> + +<p id="id00059">Rod waited to hear no more, but ran to the clump of spruce to which +the courier had directed him. Among them he found a number of birch +trees, and stripping off an armful of bark he had a fire blazing upon +the snow by the time the dog mail drew up with its unconscious burden. +While the driver was loosening Wabi's clothes and bundling him in +heavy bearskins Rod added dry limbs to the fire until it threw a warm +glow for a dozen paces around. Within a few minutes a pot of ice and +snow was melting over the flames and the courier was opening a can of +condensed soup.</p> + +<p id="id00060">The deathly pallor had gone from Wabi's face, and Rod, kneeling close +beside him, was rejoiced to see the breath coming more and more +regularly from between his lips. But even as he rejoiced the other +fear grew heavier at his heart. What had happened to Minnetaki? He +found himself repeating the question again and again as he watched +Wabi slowly returning to life, and, so quickly that it had passed in a +minute or two, there flashed through his mind a vision of all that had +happened the last few months. For a few moments, as his mind traveled +back, he was again in Detroit with his widowed mother; he thought of +the day he had first met Wabigoon, the son of an English factor and a +beautiful Indian princess, who had come far down into civilization to +be educated; of the friendship that had followed, of their weeks and +months together in school, and then of those joyous days and nights in +which they had planned a winter of thrilling adventure at Wabi's home +in the far North.</p> + +<p id="id00061">And what adventures there had been, when, as the Wolf Hunters, he and +Wabi and Mukoki had braved the perils of the frozen solitudes! As +Wabigoon's breath came more and more regularly he thought of that +wonderful canoe trip from the last bit of civilization up into the +wilds; of his first sight of moose, the first bear he had killed, and +of his meeting with Minnetaki.</p> + +<p id="id00062">His eyes became blurred and his heart grew cold as he thought of what +might have happened to her. A vision of the girl swept between him and +Wabi's face, in which the glow of life was growing warmer and warmer, +a vision of the little half-Indian maiden as he had first seen her, +when she came out to meet them in her canoe from Wabinosh House, the +sun shining on her dark hair, her cheeks flushed with excitement, her +eyes and teeth sparkling in glad welcome to her beloved brother +and the white youth of whom she had heard so much—the boy from +civilization—Roderick Drew. He remembered how his cap had blown off +into the water, how she had rescued it for him. In a flash all that +passed after that came before him like a picture; the days that he and +Minnetaki had rambled together in the forest, the furious battle +in which, single-handed, he had saved her from those fierce outlaw +Indians of the North, the Woongas; and after that he thought of +the weeks of thrilling adventure they three—Mukoki, Wabigoon and +himself—had spent in the wilderness far from the Hudson Bay Post, of +their months of trapping, their desperate war with the Woongas, the +discovery of the century-old cabin and its ancient skeletons, and +their finding of the birch-bark map between the bones of one of the +skeleton's fingers, on which, dimmed by age, was drawn the trail to a +land of gold.</p> + +<p id="id00063">Instinctively, as for an instant this map came into his mental +picture, he thrust a hand into one of his inside pockets to feel that +his own copy of that map was there, the map which was to have brought +him back into this wilderness a few weeks hence, when they three would +set out on the romantic quest for the gold to which the skeletons in +the old cabin had given them the key.</p> + +<p id="id00064">The vision left him as he saw a convulsive shudder pass through +Wabigoon. In another moment the Indian youth had opened his eyes, and +as he looked up into Rod's eager face he smiled feebly. He tried to +speak, but words failed him, and his eyes closed again. There was a +look of terror in Roderick's face as he turned to the courier, who +came to his side. Less than twenty-four hours before he had left +Wabigoon in the full strength of his splendid youth at Wabinosh House, +a lithe young giant, hardened by their months of adventure, quivering +with buoyant life, anxious for the spring that they might meet again +to take up another trail into the unexplored North.</p> + +<p id="id00065">And now what a change! The glimpse he had caught of Wabi's bloodshot +eyes, the terrible thinness of the Indian youth's face, the chilling +lifelessness of his hands, made him shiver with dread. Was it +possible that a few short hours could bring about that remarkable +transformation? And where was Mukoki, the faithful old warrior from +whose guardianship Wabigoon and Minnetaki were seldom allowed to +escape?</p> + +<p id="id00066">It seemed an hour before Wabi opened his eyes again, and yet it was +only a few minutes. This time Rod lifted him gently in his arms and +the courier placed a cup of the hot soup to his lips. The warmth of +the liquid put new life into the famished Indian youth. He drank +slowly of it at first, then eagerly, and when he had finished the cup +he made an effort to sit up.</p> + +<p id="id00067">"I'll take another," he said faintly. "It's mighty good!"</p> + +<p id="id00068">He drank the second cup with even greater relish. Then he sat bolt +upright, stretched out his arms, and with his companion's assistance +staggered to his feet. His bloodshot eyes burned with a strange +excitement as he looked at Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00069">"I was afraid—I wouldn't—catch you!"</p> + +<p id="id00070">"What is it, Wabi? What has happened? You say—Minnetaki—"</p> + +<p id="id00071">"Has been captured by the Woongas. Chief Woonga himself is her captor, +and they are taking her into the North. Rod, only you can save her!"</p> + +<p id="id00072">"Only—I—can—save—her?" gasped Rod slowly. "What do you mean?"</p> + +<p id="id00073">"Listen!" cried the Indian boy, clutching him by the arm. "You +remember that after our fight with the Woongas and our escape from the +chasm we fled to the south, and that the next day, while you were away +from camp hunting for some animal that would give us fat for Mukoki's +wound, you discovered a trail. You told us that you followed the +sledge tracks, and that after a time the party had been met by others +on snow-shoes, and that among the imprints in the snow was one that +made you think of Minnetaki. When we reached the Post we learned that +Minnetaki and two sledges had gone to Kenegami House and at once +concluded that those snow-shoe trails were made by Kenegami people +sent out to meet her. But they were not! They were made by Woongas!</p> + +<p id="id00074">"One of the guides, who escaped with a severe wound, brought the news +to us last night, and the doctor at the Post says that his hurt is +fatal and that he will not live another day. Everything depends on +you. You and the dying guide are the only two who know where to find +the place where the attack was made. It has been thawing for two days +and the trail may be obliterated. But you saw Minnetaki's footprints. +You saw the snow-shoe trails. You—and you alone—know which way they +went!"</p> + +<p id="id00075">Wabi spoke rapidly, excitedly, and then sank down on the sledge, +weakened by his exertion.</p> + +<p id="id00076">"We have been chasing you with two teams since dawn," he added, "and +pretty nearly killed the dogs. As a last chance we doubled up the +teams and I came on alone. I left Mukoki a dozen miles back on the +trail."</p> + +<p id="id00077">Rod's blood had turned cold with horror at the knowledge that +Minnetaki was in the clutches of Woonga himself. The terrible change +in Wabi was no longer a mystery. Both Minnetaki and her brother had +told him more than once of the relentless feud waged against Wabinosh +House by this bloodthirsty savage and during the last winter he had +come into personal contact with it. He had fought, had seen people +die, and had almost fallen a victim to Woonga's vengeance.</p> + +<p id="id00078">But it was not of these things that he thought just now. It was of the +reason for the feud, and something rose in his throat and choked him +until he made no effort to speak. Many years before, George Newsome, a +young Englishman, had come to Wabinosh House, and there he had met +and fallen in love with a beautiful Indian princess, who loved him in +turn, and became his wife. Woonga, chief of a warlike tribe, had been +his rival, and when the white man won in the battle for love his +fierce heart blazed with the fire of hatred and revenge. From that day +the relentless strife against the people of Wabinosh House began. The +followers of Woonga turned from trappers and hunters to murderers and +outlaws, and became known all over that wilderness country as the +Woongas. For years the feud had continued. Like a hawk Woonga watched +his opportunities, killing here, robbing there, and always waiting a +chance to rob the factor of his wife or children. Only a few weeks +before Rod had saved Minnetaki in that terrible struggle in the +forest. And now, more hopelessly than before, she had fallen into the +clutches of her enemies, and alone with Woonga was being carried into +the far North country, into those vast unexplored regions from which +she would probably never return!</p> + +<p id="id00079">Rod turned to Wabi, his hands clenched, his eyes blazing.</p> + +<p id="id00080">"I can find the trail, Wabi! I can find the trail—and we'll follow +it to the North Pole if we have to! We beat the Woongas in the +chasm—we'll beat them now! We'll find Minnetaki if it takes us until +doomsday!"</p> + +<p id="id00081">From far back in the forest there came the faint pistol-like cracks of +a whip, the distant hallooing of a voice.</p> + +<p id="id00082">For a few moments the three stood listening.</p> + +<p id="id00083">The voice came again.</p> + +<p id="id00084">"It's Mukoki," said Wabigoon, "Mukoki and the other dogs!"</p> + +<h2 id="id00085" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h4 id="id00086" style="margin-top: 2em">ON THE TRAIL OF THE WOONGAS</h4> + +<p id="id00087">The cries came nearer, interspersed with the cracking of Mukoki's whip +as he urged on the few lagging dogs that Wabi had left with him upon +the trail. In another moment the old warrior and his team burst into +view and both of the young hunters hurried to meet him. A glance +showed Rod that a little longer and Mukoki would have dropped in his +tracks, as Wabi had done. The two led their faithful comrade to the +heap of bearskins on the mail sled and made him sit there while fresh +soup was being made.</p> + +<p id="id00088">"You catch heem," grinned Mukoki joyously. "You catch heem—queek!"</p> + +<p id="id00089">"And pretty nearly killed himself doing it, Muky," added Rod. "Now—" +he glanced from one to the other of his companions, "what is the first +thing to be done?"</p> + +<p>"We must strike for the Woonga trail without a +moment of unnecessary delay," declared Wabi. "Minutes are priceless, +an hour lost or gained may mean everything!"</p> + +<p id="id00090">"But the dogs—"</p> + +<p id="id00091">"You can take mine," interrupted the courier. "There are six of them, +all good heavy fellows and not overly bushed. You can add a few of +your own and I'll take what's left to drive on the mail. I would +advise you to rest for an hour or so and give them and yourselves a +good feed. It'll count in the long run."</p> + +<p id="id00092">Mukoki grunted his approval of the driver's words and Rod at once +began gathering more fuel for the fire. The temporary camp was soon +a scene of the liveliest activity. While the courier unpacked his +provisions, Mukoki and Wabigoon assembled the teams and proceeded to +select three of the best of their own animals to put in harness with +those of the Hudson Bay mail. The dogs from Wabinosh House were wildly +famished and at the sight and odor of the great piece of meat which +the courier began cutting up for them they set up a snarling and +snapping of jaws, and began fighting indiscriminately among themselves +until the voices of their human companions were almost drowned in the +tumult. A full pound of the meat was given to each dog, and other +pieces of it were suspended over beds of coals drawn out from the big +fire. Meanwhile Rod was chopping through the thick ice of the lake in +search of water.</p> + +<p id="id00093">After a little Wabi came down to join him.</p> + +<p id="id00094">"Our sledge is ready," he said, as Rod stopped to rest for a moment. +"We're a little short on grub for nine dogs and three people, but +we've got plenty of ammunition. We ought to find something on the +trail."</p> + +<p id="id00095">"Rabbits, anyway," suggested Rod, resuming his chopping. A few more +strokes, and water gushed through. Filling two pails the boys returned +to camp.</p> + +<p id="id00096">The shadows from the sharp pointed cedars of the forest were falling +far out upon the frozen lake when the meal was finished, and the sun, +sinking early to its rest beyond the homeless solitudes, infused but +little warmth as the three hunters prepared to leave. It was only +three o'clock, but a penetrating chill was growing in the air. Half +an hour more and only a reddish glow would be where the northern sun +still shone feebly. In the far North winter night falls with the +swiftness of wings; it enshrouds one like a palpable, moving thing, a +curtain of gloom that can almost be touched and felt, and so it came +now, as the dogs were hitched to their sledge and Rod, Mukoki and +Wabigoon bade good-by to the driver of the Hudson Bay mail.</p> + +<p id="id00097">"You'll make the other side in four hours," he called, as Mukoki's +cries sent the dogs trotting out upon the lake. "And then—I'd camp!"</p> + +<p id="id00098">Running on ahead Mukoki set the pace and marked the trail. Wabi took +the first turn on the sledge, and Rod, who was fresher than either of +his comrades, followed close behind. After a little he drew up beside +the young Indian and placed a hand on his shoulder as he ran.</p> + +<p id="id00099">"We will reach our old camp—in the plain—to-morrow?" he questioned, +between breaths.</p> + +<p id="id00100">"To-morrow," affirmed Wabi. "Mukoki will show us the shortest cut to +it. After that, after we reach the camp, everything will depend upon +you."</p> + +<p id="id00101">Rod fell behind in the path made by the sledge, and saved his breath. +His mind was working as never before in his life. When they reached +the camp in which the wounded Mukoki had lain after their escape from +the Woongas, could he find the old trail where he had seen Minnetaki's +footprints? He was quite sure of himself, and yet he was conscious of +an indefinable something growing in him as he noticed more and more +what the sun had done that day. Was it nervousness, or fear? Surely he +could find the trail, even though it was almost obliterated! But he +wished that it had been Mukoki or Wabigoon who had discovered it, +either of whom, with the woodcraft instinct born in them, would have +gone to it as easily as a fox to the end of a strong trail hidden in +autumn leaves. If he did fail—</p> + +<p>He shuddered, even as he ran, as he thought of the fate that awaited +Minnetaki. A few hours before he had been one of the happiest youths in +the world. Wabi's lovely little sister, he had believed, was safe at +Kenegami House; he had bade adieu to his friends at the Post; every +minute after that had taken him nearer to that far city in the South, to +his mother, and home. And now so suddenly that he had hardly come to +realize the situation he was plunged into what gave promise of being the +most thrilling and tragic adventure of his life. A few weeks more, when +spring had come, he would have returned to his friends accompanied by +his mother, and they three—Mukoki, Wabigoon and he—would have set out on +their romantic quest for the lost gold-mine that had been revealed to +them by the ancient skeletons in the old cabin. Even as these visions +were glowing in his brain there had come the interruption, the signal +shots on the lake, the return of the dog mail, and now this race to save +the life of Minnetaki!</p> + +<p id="id00102">In his eagerness he ran ahead of the sledge and urged Mukoki into a +faster pace. Every ten minutes the one who rode exchanged place with +one of the runners, so that there were intervals of rest for each two +times an hour. Quickly the red glow over the southwestern forests +faded away; the gloom grew thicker; far ahead, like an endless sheet +losing itself in a distant smother of blackness, stretched the ice and +snow of Lake Nipigon. There was no tree, no rock for guidance over +the trackless waste, yet never for an instant did Mukoki or Wabigoon +falter. The stars began burning brilliantly in the sky; far away the +red edge of the moon rose over this world of ice and snow and forest, +throbbing and palpitating like a bursting ball of fire, as one sees it +now and then in the glory of the great northern night.</p> + +<p id="id00103">Tirelessly, mile after mile, hour after hour, broken only by the +short intervals of rest on the sledge, continued the race across Lake +Nipigon. The moon rose higher; the blood in it paled to the crimson +glow of the moose flower, and silvered as it climbed into the sky, +until the orb hung like a great golden-white disk. In the splendor of +it the solitude of ice and snow glistened without end. There was no +sound but the slipping of the sledge, the pattering of the dogs' +moccasined feet, and now and then a few breathless words spoken by Rod +or his companions. It was a little after eight o'clock by Rod's watch +when there came a change in the appearance of the lake ahead of them. +Wabi, who was on the sledge, was the first to notice it, and he +shouted back his discovery to the white youth.</p> + +<p id="id00104">"The forest! We're across!"</p> + +<p id="id00105">The tired dogs seemed to leap into new life at his words, and the +leader replied with a whining joyous cry as the odors of balsam and +fir came to him. The sharp pinnacles of the forest, reaching up into +the night's white glow, grew more and more distinct as the sledge sped +on, and five minutes later the team drew up in a huddled, panting +bunch on the shore. That day the men and dogs from Wabinosh House had +traveled sixty miles.</p> + +<p id="id00106">"We'll camp here!" declared Wabi, as he dropped on the sledge. "We'll +camp here—unless you leave me behind!"</p> + +<p id="id00107">Mukoki, tireless to the last, had already found an ax.</p> + +<p id="id00108">"No rest now," he warned, "Too tired! You rest now—build no camp. +Build camp—then rest!" +</p> + +<p id="id00109">"You're right, Muky," cried Wabi, jumping to his feet with forced +enthusiasm. "If I sit down for five minutes I'll fall asleep. Rod, you +build a fire. Muky and I will make the shelter."</p> + +<p id="id00110">In less than half an hour the balsam bough shelter was complete, and +in front of it roared a fire that sent its light and heat for twenty +paces round. From farther back in the forest the three dragged several +small logs, and no sooner had they been added to the flames than both +Mukoki and Wabigoon wrapped themselves in their furs and burrowed deep +into the sweet-scented balsam under the shelter. Rod's experience that +day had not been filled with the terrible hardships of his companions, +and for some time after they had fallen asleep he sat close to the +fire, thinking again of the strangeness with which his fortunes had +changed, and watching the flickering firelight as it played in a +thousand fanciful figures in the deeper and denser gloom of the +forest. The dogs had crept in close to the blazing logs and lay as +still as though life no longer animated their tawny bodies. From far +away there came the lonely howl of a wolf; a great white man-owl +fluttered close to the camp and chortled his crazy, half-human "hello, +hello, hello;" the trees cracked with the tightening frost, but +neither wolf howl nor frost nor the ghostly visitant's insane voice +aroused those who were sleeping.</p> + +<p id="id00111">An hour passed and still Rod sat by the fire; his rifle lying across +his knees. His imagination had painted a thousand pictures in that +time. Never for an instant had his mind ceased to work. Somewhere in +that great wilderness there was another camp-fire that night, and in +that camp Minnetaki was a captive. Some indefinable sensation seemed +to creep into him, telling him that she was awake, and that she was +thinking of her friends. Was it a touch of sleep, or that wonderful +thing called mental telepathy, that wrought the next picture in his +brain? It came with startling vividness. He saw the girl beside a +fire. Her beautiful hair, glistening black in the firelight, hung in a +heavy braid over her shoulder; her eyes were staring wildly into the +flames, as if she were about to leap into them, and back of her so +close that he might have touched her, was a figure that sent a chill +of horror through him. It was Woonga, the outlaw chief! He was +talking, his red face was fiendish, he stretched out a hand!</p> + +<p id="id00112">With a cry that startled the dogs Rod sprang to his feet. He was +shivering as if in a chill. Had he dreamed? Or was it something more +than a dream? He thought of the vision that had come to him weeks +before in the mysterious chasm, the vision of the dancing skeletons, +and which had revealed the secret of the old cabin and the lost gold. +In vain he tried to shake off his nervousness and his fear. Why had +Woonga reached out his hands for Minnetaki? He worked to free himself +of the weight that had fallen on him, stirred the fire until clouds of +sparks shot high up into the gloom of the trees, and added new fuel.</p> + +<p id="id00113">Then he sat down again, and for the twentieth time since leaving +Wabinosh House drew from his pocket the map that was to have led them +on their search for gold when he returned with his mother. It was a +vision that had guided him to the discovery of this precious map, and +the knowledge of it made him more uneasy now. A few moments before he +had seen Minnetaki as plainly as though she had been with him there +beside the fire; he fancied that he might almost have sent a bullet +through the Indian's chief face as he reached out his long arms toward +the girl.</p> + +<p id="id00114">He stirred the fire again, awakened one of the dogs to keep him +company, and then went in to lie down between Mukoki and Wabigoon in +an attempt at slumber. During the hours that followed he secured only +short snatches of sleep. He dreamed, dreamed constantly of Minnetaki +whenever he lost consciousness. Now he saw her before the fire, as he +had seen her in his vision; again, she was struggling in the Woonga's +powerful grasp. At one time the strife between the two—the young girl +and the powerful savage—became terrible for him to behold, and at +last he saw the Indian catch her in his arms and disappear into the +blackness of the forest.</p> + +<p id="id00115">This time when he wakened Rod made no further effort to sleep. It was +only a little past midnight. His companions had obtained four hours of +rest. In another hour he would arouse them. Quietly he began making +preparations for breakfast, and fed the dogs. At half-past one o'clock +he shook Wabigoon by the shoulder.</p> + +<p id="id00116">"Get up!" he cried, as the Indian youth sat erect. "It's time to go!"</p> + +<p id="id00117">He tried to suppress his nervousness when Mukoki and Wabi joined him +beside the fire. He determined not to let them know of his visions, +for there was gloom enough among them as it was. But he would hurry. +He was the first to get through with breakfast, the first to set to +work among the dogs, and when Mukoki started out at the head of the +team through the forest he was close beside him, urging him to greater +speed by his own endeavors.</p> + +<p id="id00118">"How far are we from the camp, Mukoki?" he asked.</p> + +<p id="id00119">"Four hour—twent' mile," replied the old pathfinder.</p> + +<p id="id00120">"Twenty miles. We ought to make it by dawn."</p> + +<p id="id00121">Mukoki made no answer, but quickened his pace as the cedar and balsam +forest gave place to an open plain which stretched for a mile or two +ahead of them. For an hour longer the moon continued to light up the +wilderness; then, with its descent lower and lower into the west, the +gloom began to thicken, until only the stars were left to guide the +pursuers. Even these were beginning to fade when Mukoki halted the +panting team on the summit of a mountainous ridge, and pointed into +the north.</p> + +<p id="id00122">"The plains!"</p> + +<p id="id00123">For several minutes the three stood silent, gazing out into the gloom +of the vast solitudes that swept unbroken to Hudson Bay. Again Rod's +blood was thrilled with the romance of what lay at his feet and far +beyond, thrilled with the romance and mystery of that land of the wild +which reached for hundreds of miles into the North, and into which the +foot of the white man had as yet scarce left its imprint.</p> + +<p id="id00124">Before him, enveloped now in the deep gloom of the northern night, +slept a vast unexplored world, a land whose story the passing of +ages had left unrevealed. What tragedies of nature had its silent +fastnesses beheld? What treasure did they hold? Half a century or more +ago the men whose skeletons they had found in the old cabin had braved +the perils of those trackless solitudes, and somewhere hundreds of +miles out in that black gloom they had found gold, the gold that +had fallen as an inheritance to them in the discovery of the old +birch-bark map. And somewhere, somewhere out there was Minnetaki!</p> + +<p id="id00125">Across the plain at their feet the three adventurers had raced for +their lives from the bloodthirsty Woongas only a week or so before; +now they crossed it a second time and at even greater speed, for then +they had possessed no dogs. At the end of another hour Mukoki no +longer traveled faster than a walk. His eyes were constantly on the +alert. Occasionally he would stop the dogs and strike off to the right +or the left of the trail alone. He spoke no word to his companions, +and neither Rod nor Wabigoon offered a suggestion. They knew, without +questioning, that they were approaching their old camp, and just as +the experienced hunter makes no sign or sound while his dog is nosing +out a half-lost trail so they held back while Mukoki, the most famous +pathfinder in all those regions, led them slowly on. The last of the +stars went out. For a time the blackness of the night grew deeper; +then, in the southeast, came the first faint streak of dawn. Day is +born as suddenly as it dies in these regions, and it was soon light +enough for Mukoki to resume his trail at a trot. A few minutes more +and a clump of balsam and spruce loomed up out of the plain ahead of +them. Neither Rod nor Wabigoon recognized it until the old warrior +halted the dogs close in its shadows and they saw the look of triumph +in his face.</p> + +<p id="id00126">"The camp!" breathed Wabi.</p> + +<p id="id00127">"The camp!"</p> + +<p id="id00128">Trembling, his voice quivering with suppressed excitement, the Indian +youth turned to Roderick Drew.</p> + +<p id="id00129">"Rod—it's all up to you!"</p> + +<p id="id00130">Mukoki, too, had come close to his side.</p> + +<p id="id00131">"There—camp!" he whispered. "Now—where Minnetaki's trail?"</p> + +<p id="id00132">The old warrior's eyes were blazing.</p> + +<p id="id00133">"Where?"</p> + +<p id="id00134">A dozen paces away was the balsam shelter they had built. But that was +all. Not a track was left in the snow. The warm sun had obliterated +every sign of their presence of a short time before!</p> + +<p id="id00135">If their own trail was gone what could he hope to find of Minnetaki's +dainty foot-prints?</p> + +<p id="id00136">Deep down in his heart Rod prayed for guidance in this moment of +terrible doubt.</p> + +<h2 id="id00137" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h4 id="id00138" style="margin-top: 2em">ROD FOLLOWS THE MAN-FOOTED BEAR</h4> + +<p id="id00139">"I must wait until it is lighter," he said. He tried to control +himself, to fortify himself with the assurance which he no longer +felt.</p> + +<p id="id00140">"We will have breakfast," suggested Wabi. "We have cold meat and there +will be no need of a fire."</p> + +<p id="id00141">Finishing before the others, Rod grasped his rifle and walked out from +among the trees. Wabi made a movement as if to follow, but Mukoki held +him back. There was a shrewd light in his eyes.</p> + +<p id="id00142">"He do better—alone," he warned.</p> + +<p id="id00143">The red glow of the sun was rising above the forest and Rod could now +see far about him. He had come out from the cedars, like this, on the +afternoon that he had gone to hunt and had found Minnetaki's trail. A +mile away he saw the snow-covered ridge where he had hunted for moose. +That ridge was his first guide, and he hurried toward it while Mukoki +and Wabigoon followed far behind him with the dogs and the sledge. +He was breathless when he reached the top. Eagerly he gazed into the +North. It was in that direction he had gone on the afternoon of his +discovery of the strange trail. But nothing that he recognized met his +eyes now, no familiar landmark or tree to guide him again over his +wandering footsteps of that day. Vainly he sought along the ridge for +some slight sign of his former presence there. But everything was +gone. The sun had destroyed his last hope.</p> + +<p id="id00144">He was glad that Mukoki and Wabigoon were at the foot of the ridge, +for he knew that his despair almost brought tears to his eyes, +Minnetaki's fate was in his hands—and he had failed. He dreaded to +tell his companions, to let them see his face. For once in his life, +though he was as courageous a youth as ever lived, Roderick Drew +almost wished that he was dead.</p> + +<p id="id00145">Suddenly, as in their hopeless search for some familiar object Rod's +eyes traveled again over the endless waste of snow, he saw, far away, +something that glittered in the morning sun like a pane of glass, and +from his lips there fell a low exultant cry. He remembered now that he +had seen that strange gleam before, that he had gone straight to it +from the ridge and had found it to be a sheet of crystal ice frozen +to the side of a rock from above which the water of a spring gushed +forth. Without waiting for his companions he hurried down the +ridge and sped like a deer across the narrow plain at its foot. A +five-minute run brought him to the rock, and for a moment he paused, +his heart almost choking him in its excitement. Just beyond this he +had first encountered the strange trail. There were no signs of it +left in the snow, but he saw other things which led him on: a huge +rock thrusting itself out of the chaos of white, a dead poplar which +stood in his path, and at last, half a mile ahead, the edge of a dense +forest.</p> + +<p id="id00146">He turned and waved his arms wildly to Mukoki and Wabigoon, who were +far behind. Then he ran on, and when he reached the forest he waved +his arms again, and his joy was flung back in a thrilling shout to his +comrades. There was the log on which Minnetaki had been forced to sit +while awaiting the pleasure of her savage captors; he found the very +spot where her footprint had been in the snow, close to a protruding +stub! The outlaw Indians and their captives had rested here for a +brief spell, and had built a fire, and so many feet had beaten the +snow about it that their traces still remained.</p> + +<p id="id00147">He pointed to these signs as Mukoki and Wabigoon joined him.</p> + +<p id="id00148">For several minutes no one of the three spoke a word. Crouched over +until his eyes were within a foot of the snow the old pathfinder +examined every inch of the little clearing in which the Woongas had +built their fire, and when at last he drew himself erect his face +betrayed the utmost astonishment.</p> + +<p id="id00149">The boys saw that in those faint marks in the snow he had discovered +something of unusual if not startling significance.</p> + +<p id="id00150">"What is it, Muky?" asked the young Indian.</p> + +<p id="id00151">Mukoki made no reply, but returning to the charred remains of the +fire he again fell upon his hands and knees and repeated his strange +scrutiny of the snow even more closely than before. When he arose a +second time the astonishment had grown deeper in his face.</p> + +<p id="id00152">"Only six!" he exclaimed. "Two guides from Post—four Woongas!"</p> + +<p id="id00153">"But the wounded driver told us that there were at least a dozen +Woongas in the attacking party," said Wabi.</p> + +<p id="id00154">The old warrior chuckled, and for a moment his face twisted itself +into a ludicrous grimace.</p> + +<p id="id00155">"Driver lie!" he declared. "He run when fight begin. Shot in back +while heem run!"</p> + +<p id="id00156">He pointed into the cold depths of the forest.</p> + +<p id="id00157">"No sun there! Follow trail easy!"</p> + +<p id="id00158">There was no uneasiness in Mukoki's manner now. His eyes gleamed, but +it was with the fire of battle and resolution, not with excitement. +Once before Rod had seen that look in the old warrior's face, when +they two had fought to save Wabigoon's life as they were now about to +fight to save Minnetaki. And he knew what it meant. Cautiously they +penetrated the forest, their eyes and ears alert, and, as Mukoki had +predicted, the trail of the retreating savages was quite distinct. +They had taken both of the captured sledges, and Rod knew that on one +of these Minnetaki was being carried. Hardly had the three progressed +a hundred paces when Mukoki, who was in the lead, stopped short with +a huge grunt. Squarely across the trail lay the body of a dead man. A +glance at the upturned face showed that it was one of the two drivers +from Wabinosh House.</p> + +<p id="id00159">"Head split," said Mukoki, as he led the team around the body. "Shot, +mebby—then killed with ax."</p> + +<p id="id00160">The dogs sniffed and cringed as they passed the slain man, and Rod +shuddered. Involuntarily he thought of what might have happened to +Minnetaki, and he noticed that after passing this spectacle of death +Mukoki doubled his speed. For an hour the pursuit continued without +interruption. The Woongas were traveling in a narrow trail, single +file, with the two sledges between their number. At the end of that +hour the three came upon the remains of another camp-fire near which +were built two cedar-bough shelters. Here the tracks in the snow were +much fresher; in places they seemed to have been but lately made. +Still there were no evidences of the captured girl. The boys could see +that Mukoki himself had found no explanation for the sudden freshness +of the trail and for the absence of Minnetaki's footprints among the +tracks. Again and again the shrewd old pathfinder went over the camp. +Not a sign escaped his eyes, not a mark or a broken stick but that was +examined by him. Rod knew that Minnetaki's capture must have occurred +at least three days before, and yet the tracks about this camp were +not more than a day old, if they were that. What did it mean?</p> + +<p id="id00161">The very mystery of the thing filled him with a nameless fear. Why had +not the outlaw Woongas continued their flight? Why this delay so near +the scene of their crime? He glanced at Wabi, but the Indian youth was +as bewildered as himself. In his eyes, too, there was the gleam of a +fear which he could not have named.</p> + +<p id="id00162">Mukoki was beside the charred remains of the fire. He had buried his +hand deep among them, and when he rose he made a sign toward Rod's +watch.</p> + +<p id="id00163">"Eight o'clock, Mukoki."</p> + +<p id="id00164">"Woonga here las' night," declared the old Indian slowly. "Leave camp +four hour ago!"</p> + +<p id="id00165">What did it mean?</p> + +<p id="id00166">Had Minnetaki been hurt, so dangerously hurt that her captors had not +dared to move her?</p> + +<p id="id00167">Rod asked himself no more questions. But he was trembling. And Mukoki +and Wabigoon went on with strange, unnatural faces and breathed not +the whisper of a word between them. The mystery was beyond them all. +But one thing they realized, whatever had happened they were close +upon the heels of the savages. And each step brought them nearer, +for with every mile the freshness of the trail increased. Then came +another great surprise.</p> + +<p id="id00168">The trail divided!</p> + +<p id="id00169">At the edge of a small opening the Indians had separated themselves +into two parties. The trail of one sledge led into the northeast, that +of the other into the northwest!</p> + +<p id="id00170">With which sledge was Minnetaki? They looked at one another in +bewilderment.</p> + +<p id="id00171">Mukoki pointed to the trail into the northeast.</p> + +<p id="id00172">"We must fin' sign—sign of Minnetaki. You take that—I take this!"</p> + +<p id="id00173">Rod started off at a dog trot over the easternmost trail. At the +farther side of the opening, where the sledge had plunged into a clump +of hazel, he suddenly stopped, and for a second time that morning +a thrilling cry escaped his lips. On a projecting thorny twig, +glistening full in the sun, there fluttered a long, silken strand of +hair. He reached out for it, but Wabi caught his hand, and in another +moment Mukoki had joined them. Gently he took the raven tress between +his fingers, his deep-set eyes glaring like red coals of fire. It was +a strand of Minnetaki's beautiful hair, not for a moment did one of +them doubt that; but what held them most, what increased the horror in +their eyes, was the quantity of it! Suddenly Mukoki gave it a gentle +pull and the tress slipped free of the twig.</p> + +<p id="id00174">In the next breath he uttered the only expression of supreme disgust +in his vocabulary a long-drawn, hissing sound which he used only in +those moments when his command of English was entirely inadequate to +the situation.</p> + +<p id="id00175">"Minnetaki on other sledge!"</p> + +<p id="id00176">He showed the end of the strand to his young companions.</p> + +<p id="id00177">"See—hair been cut! No pulled out by twig. Woonga hang heem +there—make us think wrong."</p> + +<p id="id00178">He waited for no reply, but darted back to the other trail, with Wabi +and Rod close behind him. A quarter of a mile farther on the old +pathfinder paused and pointed in exultant silence at a tiny footprint +close beside the path of the sledge. At almost regular intervals now +there appeared this sign of Minnetaki's moccasin. Her two guards were +running ahead of the sledge, and it was apparent to the pursuers that +Wabi's sister was taking advantage of her opportunities to leave these +signs behind for those whom she knew would make an attempt at her +rescue. And yet, as they left farther and farther behind them the +trail which ran into the northeast, an inexplicable feeling of +uneasiness began to steal over Rod. What if Mukoki had made a mistake? +His confidence in the old warrior's judgment and sagacity was usually +absolute, but it occurred to him, like an ugly humor to stir up his +fears, that if the Woongas could cut off a bit of the girl's hair they +could also take off one of her shoes! Several times he was on the +point of giving audible voice to his suspicions but refrained from +doing so when he saw the assurance with which both Wabi and Mukoki +followed the trail.</p> + +<p id="id00179">Finally he could hold himself no longer.</p> + +<p id="id00180">"Wabi, I'm going back," he cried softly, forging alongside his +companion. "I'm going back and follow the other trail. If I don't find +anything in a mile or so I'll return on the double-quick and overtake +you!"</p> + +<p id="id00181">Wabi's efforts to dissuade him were futile, and a few minutes later +Rod was again at the clearing. What presentiment was it that caused +his heart to beat faster and his breath to come in tense excitement as +he stole through the bushes where they had found the silken tress of +hair? What something was it, away down in his soul, that kept urging +him on and on, even after he had gone a mile, and then two miles, in +fruitless search? Rod could not have answered these questions had he +stopped to ask them of himself. He was not superstitious. He did not +believe in dreams. And yet each moment, without apparent reason added +to his conviction that Mukoki had made a mistake, and that Minnetaki +was on the sledge ahead of him.</p> + +<p id="id00182">The country into which he was penetrating grew wilder. Rocky ridges +rose before him, split by rifts and gullies through which the water +must have rushed in torrents in the spring. He listened, and proceeded +more cautiously; and through his mind there flashed a memory of his +thrilling exploration of the mysterious chasm of a few weeks before, +when, in his lonely night camp, he had dreamed of the skeletons. He +was thinking of this when he came around the end of a huge rock which +lay as big as a house in his path. Upon the snow, almost at his feet, +was a sight that froze the blood in his veins. For the second time +that day he gazed upon the distorted features of a dead man. Squarely +across the trail, as the other had lain, was the body of an Indian, +his arms outstretched, his twisted face turned straight up to the +clear sky, the snow about his head glistening a sickening red in the +sun. For a full minute Rod gazed in silent horror on the scene. There +was no sign of a struggle, there were no footprints in the snow. The +man had been killed while upon the sledge, and the only mark he had +made was when he had fallen off.</p> + +<p id="id00183">Who had killed him?</p> + +<p id="id00184">Had Minnetaki saved herself by taking her captor's life?</p> + +<p id="id00185">For a moment Rod was almost convinced that this was so. He examined +the stains in the snow and found that they were still damp and +unfrozen. He was sure that the tragedy had occurred less than an hour +before. More cautiously, and yet swifter than before, he followed the +trail of the sledge, his rifle held in readiness for a shot at +any moment. The path became wilder and in places it seemed almost +inaccessible. But between the tumbled mass of rock the sledge had +found its way, its savage driver not once erring in his choice of the +openings ahead. Gradually the trail ascended until it came to the +summit of a huge ridge. Hardly had Rod reached the top when another +trail cut across that of the sledge.</p> + +<p id="id00186">Deeply impressed in the softening snow were the footprints of a big +bear!</p> + +<p id="id00187">The first warm sunshine, thought Rod, had aroused the beast from his +winter sleep, and he was making a short excursion from his den. From +where the bear had crossed the trail the sledge turned abruptly in the +direction from which the bear had come.</p> + +<p id="id00188">Without giving a thought to his action, Rod began his descent of the +ridge in the trail made by the bear, at the same time keeping his eyes +fixed upon the sledge track and the distant forest. At the foot of the +ridge the great trunk of a fallen tree lay in his path, and as he went +to climb over it he stopped, a cry of amazement stifling itself in his +throat. Over that tree the bear had scrambled, and upon it, close to +the spot where the animal had brushed off the snow in his passage, was +the imprint of a human hand!</p> + +<p id="id00189">For a full minute Rod stood as motionless as if he had been paralyzed, +scarcely breathing in his excitement. The four fingers and thumb of +the hand had left their impressions with startling clearness. The +fingers were long and delicately slender, the palm narrow. The imprint +had assuredly not been made by the hand of a man!</p> + +<p id="id00190">Recovering himself, Rod looked about him. There were no marks in the +snow except those of the bear. Was it possible that he was mistaken? +He scrutinized the mysterious handprint again. As he gazed an uncanny +chill crept through him, and when he raised his head he knew that he +was trembling in spite of his efforts to control himself. Turning +about he swiftly followed the trail to the top of the ridge, recrossed +the sledge track, and descended again into the wildness of the gorge +on the other side. He had not progressed twenty rods when without a +sound he dropped behind a rock. He had seen no movement ahead of him. +He had heard nothing. Yet in that moment he was thrilled as never +before in his life.</p> + +<p id="id00191">For the bear trail had ceased.</p> + +<p id="id00192">And ahead of him, instead of the tracks of a beast, there continued +<i>the footprints of a man</i>!</p> + +<h2 id="id00193" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h4 id="id00194" style="margin-top: 2em">ROD'S FIGHT FOR LIFE</h4> + +<p id="id00195">It was some time before Roderick moved from his concealment behind the +rock. It was not fear that held him there, but a knowledge within +him that he needed to think, to collect his senses as he would have +expressed it if Wabi had been with him. For a brief spell he was +stunned by the succession of surprises which he had encountered, and +he felt that now, if ever in his life, he needed control of himself. +He did not attempt to solve the mystery of the trail beyond the fact +that it was not made by a bear and that the handprint on the log +was not made by a man. But he was certain of one thing. In some way +Minnetaki was associated with both.</p> + +<p id="id00196">When he continued his pursuit he made his way with extreme caution. At +each new turn in the trail he fell behind some rock or clump of bushes +and scanned the gorge as far as he could see ahead of him. But each +moment these distances of observation became shorter. The ridge on his +left became almost a sheer wall; on his right a second ridge closed +in until the gorge had narrowed to a hundred feet in width, choked by +huge masses of rock thrown there in some mighty upheaval of past ages. +It was very soon apparent to Rod that the mysterious person whom he +was pursuing was perfectly at home in the lonely chasm. As straight as +a drawn whip-lash his trail led from one break in the rocky chaos to +another. Never did he err. Once the tracks seemed to end squarely +against a broad face of rock, but there the young hunter found a cleft +in the granite wall scarcely wider than his body, through which he +cautiously wormed his way. Where this cleft opened into the chasm +again the fugitive had rested for a few moments, and had placed some +burden upon the snow at his feet. A single glance disclosed what +this burden had been, for in the snow was that same clearly-defined +impression of a human hand!</p> + +<p id="id00197">There was no longer a doubt in Roderick's mind. He was on the trail +of Minnetaki's captor, and the outlaw was carrying his victim in his +arms! Minnetaki was injured! Perhaps she was dead. The fear gripped at +his heart until he looked again at the imprint in the snow—the widely +spread fingers, the flat, firm palm. Only a living hand would have +left its mark in that manner.</p> + +<p id="id00198">As on that autumn day in the forest, when he had fought for +Minnetaki's life, so now all hesitation and fear left him. His blood +leaped with anticipation rather than excitement, and he was eager for +the moment when he would once more throw his life in the balance in +behalf of Wabi's sister. He was determined to take advantage of the +Woonga fighting code and fire upon his enemy from ambush if the +opportunity offered, but at the same time he had no dread at the +thought of engaging in a closer struggle if this should be necessary. +He looked well to his rifle, loosened his big army revolver in its +holster, and saw that his hunting-knife did not stick in its scabbard. +A short distance from the cleft in the wall of rock the outlaw had +rested again; and this time, when he continued his flight, Minnetaki +had walked beside him.</p> + +<p id="id00199">A peculiarity in the new trail struck Rod, and for some moments he was +at a loss to account for it. One of the girl's dainty feet left its +moccasin imprint very distinctly; the mark of the other was no more +than a formless blotch in the snow. Then the youth thought of the +footprints that were leading on Mukoki and Wabigoon, and despite his +desperate situation he could not repress a smile. He had been right. +The Woongas had taken off one of Minnetaki's moccasins and were using +it to make a false trail into the northwest. Those formless tracks +ahead of him meant that one of the Indian maiden's feet was wrapped +with a bit of cloth or fur to protect it from the cold.</p> + +<p id="id00200">Rod soon perceived that the flight of the outlaw and his captive was +now much more rapid, and he quickened his own pace. The chasm grew +wilder. At times it appeared impassable, but always the trail of the +fugitives led straight to some hidden cleft through which the boy +followed, holding his breath in tense expectancy of what might happen +at any instant.</p> + +<p id="id00201">Suddenly Rod stopped. From ahead of him he was sure that he had heard +a sound. He scarcely breathed while he listened. But there came no +repetition of the noise. Had some animal, a fox or a wolf, perhaps, +set a stone rolling down one of the precipitous walls of the chasm? He +went on slowly, listening, watching. A few paces more and he stopped +again. There was a faint, suspicious odor in the air; a turn around +the end of a huge mass of rock and his nostrils were filled with it, +the pungent odor of smoke mingled with the sweet scent of burning +cedar!</p> + +<p id="id00202">There was a fire ahead of him. More than that, it was not a gunshot +away!</p> + +<p id="id00203">For a space of sixty seconds he stood still, nerving himself for the +final step. His resolution was made. He would creep upon the outlaw +and shoot him down. There would be no warning, no quarter, no parley. +Foot by foot he advanced, as stealthily as a fox. The odor of smoke +came to him more plainly; over his head he saw thin films of it +floating lazily up the chasm. It came from beyond another of those +walls of rock which seemed to bar his way, creeping up over it as +though the fire were just on the other side. With his rifle half to +his shoulder Rod stole through the break in this wall. At its farther +end he peered out cautiously, exposing his face an inch at a time. +Wider and wider became his vision. There was no trail ahead. The +outlaw and his captive were behind the rock!</p> + +<p id="id00204">With his rifle now full to his shoulder Rod stepped boldly forth and +whirled to the left. Twenty feet away, almost entirely concealed among +the tumbled masses of boulders, was a small cabin. About it there were +no signs of life with the exception of a thin wreath of smoke rising +like a ghostly spiral up the side of the chasm wall; from it there +came no sound. Rod's index finger quivered on the trigger of his +rifle. Should he wait—until the outlaw came forth? Half a minute he +stood there, a minute, two minutes, and still he heard nothing, saw +nothing. He advanced a step, then another, and still another, until +he saw the open door of the cabin. And as he stood there, his rifle +leveled, there came to him a faint, sobbing cry, a cry that reached +out and caught him like a strong hand and brought him in a single +desperate leap to the door itself.</p> + +<p id="id00205">Inside the cabin was Minnetaki, alone! She was crouched upon the +floor, her beautiful hair tumbling in disheveled masses over her +shoulders and into her lap, her face, as white as death, staring +wildly at the youth who had appeared like an apparition before her.</p> + +<p id="id00206">In an instant Rod was at her side, upon his knees. For that brief +moment he had lost his caution, and only a terrible cry from the girl +turned him back again, half upon his feet, to the door. Standing +there, about to spring upon him, was one of the most terrifying +figures he had ever seen. In a flash he saw the huge form of an +Indian, a terrible face, the gleam of an uplifted knife. In such a +crisis one's actions are involuntary, machine-like, as if life itself, +hovering by a thread, protects itself in its own manner without +thought or reasoning on the part of the human creature it animates. +Rod neither thought nor reasoned; without any motive on his own part, +he flung himself face downward upon the cabin floor. And the move +saved him. With a guttural cry the savage leaped toward him, struck +out with his knife and missed, stumbled over the boy's prostrate form +and fell beside him.</p> + +<p id="id00207">Months of hardship and adventure in the wilderness had made Rod as +lithe as a forest cat, his muscles like steel. Without rising he flung +himself upon his enemy, his own knife raised in gleaming death above +the savage's breast. But the Woonga was as quick. Like a flash he +struck up with one of his powerful arms and the force of the blow that +was descending upon him fell to the earth floor. In another instant +his free arm had encircled Rod's neck, and for a few brief moments the +two were locked in a crushing embrace, neither being able to use the +weapon in his hand without offering an advantage to the other.</p> + +<p id="id00208">In that respite, which only death could follow, Rod's brain worked +with the swiftness of fire. He was lying face downward upon his enemy; +the Woonga was flat upon his back, the latter's knife hand stretched +out behind his head with Rod's knife hand locking it. For either to +strike a blow both of their fighting hands must be freed. In the first +instant of that freedom, the savage, with his arm already extended, +could deliver a blow sooner than his antagonist, who would have to +raise his arm as well as strike. In other words, by the time Rod's +knife was poised his enemy's would be buried in his breast. With a +curious thrill the white youth saw the fearful odds against him in +their position. If he remained clutched in the Indian's embrace there +would be only one end. He would die, and Minnetaki would be more than +ever in the power of her captor.</p> + +<p id="id00209">There was only one chance now, and that was to break away, at least +to free himself enough to get hold of his revolver. He was nerving +himself for the strain when, turning his head a trifle sidewise, he +saw Minnetaki. The girl had risen to her feet, and Rod saw that her +hands were bound behind her. She, too, realized the disadvantage of +Rod's position in the contest, and now with a thrilling cry she sprang +to the outlaw's head and stepped with all her weight upon his extended +arm.</p> + +<p id="id00210">"Quick, Rod—quick!" she cried. "Strike! Strike!"</p> + +<p id="id00211">With a terrible yell the powerful savage wrenched his arm free; in a +last superhuman effort he swung his knife upward as Rod's blade sank +to the hilt in his breast, and the blow fell with a sickening thud +under Rod's arm. With a sharp cry the young hunter staggered to his +feet, and the Indian's knife fell from him, red with blood. Making +an effort to control himself he picked up the knife and loosed the +captive girl's arms.</p> + +<p id="id00212">There came over him then a strange dizziness, a weakness in his limbs. +He was conscious that his head was sinking, and he knew, too, that a +pair of arms was about him, and that from what seemed to be a great, +great distance a voice was calling to him, calling his name. And then +he seemed to be sinking into a deep and painless sleep.</p> + +<p id="id00213">When he regained consciousness his eyes were first turned to the door, +which was still open, and through which he caught the white gleam of +the snow. A hand was pressed gently upon his face.</p> + +<p id="id00214">"Rod—"</p> + +<p id="id00215">Minnetaki spoke in a whisper, a whisper that trembled with gladness, +with relief. Rod smiled. Weakly he lifted a hand and touched the +sweet, white face above him.</p> + +<p id="id00216">"I'm glad to see you—Minnetaki—" he breathed.</p> + +<p id="id00217">The girl quickly put a cup of cold water to his lips.</p> + +<p id="id00218">"You mustn't try to move," she said softly, her eyes glowing. "It +isn't a very bad wound, and I've dressed it nicely. But you mustn't +move—or talk—or it may begin bleeding again."</p> + +<p id="id00219">"But I'm so glad to see you, Minnetaki," persisted the youth. "You +don't know how disappointed I was to find you gone when we returned to +Wabinosh House from our hunting trip. Wabi and Mukoki—"</p> + +<p id="id00220">"Sh-h-h-h!"</p> + +<p id="id00221">Minnetaki placed her hand upon his lips.</p> + +<p id="id00222">"You must keep quiet, Roderick. Don't you know how curious I am to +know how you are here? But you must not tell me—now. Let me do the +talking. Will you? Please!"</p> + +<p id="id00223">Involuntarily the young girl's eyes left his face, and Rod, weakly +following her gaze, saw that a blanket had been spread over a huddled +heap in the middle of the floor. He shuddered, and feeling the sudden +tremor in his hand Minnetaki turned to him quickly, her cheeks whiter +than before, but her eyes shining like stars.</p> + +<p id="id00224">"It is Woonga," she whispered. In her voice was a thrilling tremble. +"It is Woonga, and he is dead!"</p> + +<p id="id00225">Rod understood the look in her face now. Woonga, the Nemesis of her +people, the outlaw chief who had sworn vengeance on the house of +Wabinosh, and whose murderous hand had hovered for years like a +threatening cloud over the heads of the factor and his wife and +children, was dead! And he, Roderick Drew, who once before had saved +Minnetaki's life, had killed him. In his weakness and pain he smiled, +and said,</p> + +<p id="id00226">"I am glad, Minne—"</p> + +<p id="id00227">He did not finish. There had come a stealthy, crumbling step to the +door, and in another moment Mukoki and Wabigoon were in the little +cabin.</p> + +<h2 id="id00228" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h4 id="id00229" style="margin-top: 2em">THE SHADOW OF DEATH</h4> + +<p id="id00230">Rod was hardly conscious of what passed during the next half-hour. The +excitement of the sudden entrance of Minnetaki's brother and the old +Indian set his head reeling, and he sank back upon the blankets, from +which he had partly raised himself, fainting and weak. The last that +he heard was Minnetaki's warning voice, and then he felt something +cool upon his face. It seemed a long time before he heard sound again, +and when he stirred himself, struggling toward consciousness, there +came a whisper in his ear urging him to be quiet. It was Minnetaki, +and he obeyed.</p> + +<p id="id00231">After a little he heard low voices, and then movement, and opened his +eyes. He could feel Minnetaki's gentle hand stroking his face and +hair, as if weaning him to sleep, and at his feet he saw Mukoki, the +old warrior, crouching like a lynx, his beady eyes glaring at him. The +glare fascinated Roderick. He had seen it in Mukoki's eyes before, +when the Indian believed that injury had come to those he loved; and +when the white boy saw it now, bent upon himself, he knew that he, +too, had become more than a friend to this savage pathfinder of the +wilderness. Minnetaki's caressing hand and the fearful anxiety in the +crouching posture of the old hunter thrilled him, and two words fell +from his lips before they knew that he had come back into life.</p> + +<p id="id00232">"Hello, Muky!"</p> + +<p id="id00233">Instantly the old Indian was at his side, kneeling there silent, +trembling, his face twitching with joy, his eyes gleaming, and where +he had crouched a moment before there came Wabigoon, smiling down upon +Rod in his own bursting happiness, which was only held in check by +Minnetaki's hand and the almost inaudible "Sh-h-h-h!" that fell from +her lips.</p> + +<p id="id00234">"You right—me wrong," the white boy heard Mukoki saying. "You save +Minnetaki—kill Woonga. Very much dam'—dam'—dam'—brave man!"</p> + +<p id="id00235">Mukoki was pressed back by Wabi's sister before he could say more, and +a cool drink of spring water was placed to Roderick's lips. He felt +feverish and the water gave him new strength. He turned his face to +Minnetaki, and she smiled at him. Then he saw that the dead outlaw had +been removed from the cabin. When he made an effort to raise himself a +little the girl helped him, and rolled a blanket under his shoulders.</p> + +<p id="id00236">"You're not so badly hurt as I thought you were, Rod," she said. "That +is, you're not dangerously hurt. Mukoki has dressed your wound, and +you will be better soon." Wabigoon, coming nearer, put both arms +around his lovely little sister and kissed her again and again.</p> + +<p id="id00237">"Rod, you're a hero!" he cried softly, gripping his comrade's hand. +"God bless you!"</p> + +<p id="id00238">Rod blushed, and to restrain further effusions closed his eyes. During +the next quarter of an hour Minnetaki prepared some coffee and meat, +while both Mukoki and Wabi cared for the sledge-dogs outside.</p> + +<p id="id00239">"To-morrow, if you are stronger, we're going to take you on to +Kenegami House," the girl said to him. "Then you can tell me all about +your adventures during the winter. Wabi has told me just enough about +your battles with the Indians and about the old skeletons and the lost +gold-mine to set me wild. Oh, I wish you would take me with you on +your hunt for gold!"</p> + +<p id="id00240">"By George, I wish we could!" exclaimed Rod with enthusiasm. "Coax +Wabi, Minnetaki—coax him hard."</p> + +<p id="id00241">"You'll coax him, too, won't you, Rod? But then, I don't suppose it +will do any good. And father and mother wouldn't listen to it for a +moment. All of them are so afraid that some harm is going to befall +me. That's why they sent me from Wabinosh House just before you boys +returned. You see the Indians were more hostile than ever, and they +thought I would be safer at Kenegami House. How I do wish they'd let +me go! I'd love to hunt bears, and wolves, and moose, and help you +find the gold. Please coax him hard, Roderick!"</p> + +<p id="id00242">And that very day, when he was strong enough to sit up, Rod did plead +with his half-Indian comrade that Minnetaki might be allowed to +accompany them. But Wabi stanchly refused even to consider the +proposition, and Mukoki, when he learned of the girl's desire, grinned +and chuckled in his astonishment for the next half-hour.</p> + +<p id="id00243">"Minnetaki ver' brave—ver' brave girl," he confided to Rod, "but she +die up there, I guess so! You want Minnetaki die?"</p> + +<p id="id00244">Rod assured him that he did not, and the subject was dropped.</p> + +<p id="id00245">That day and night in the old cabin was one of the pleasantest within +Rod's memory, despite the youth's wound. A cheerful fire of dry pine +and poplar burned in the stone fireplace, and when Minnetaki announced +that the evening meal was ready Rod was for the first time allowed to +leave his bunk. For the greater part of the day Wabi and Mukoki had +searched in the chasm and along the mountains for signs of the outlaw +Indian's band, but their search had revealed nothing to arouse their +fears. As mysterious and unaccountable as the fact seemed, there +was no doubt that the old cabin was a retreat known only to Woonga +himself, and as the four sat in the warm glow of the fire, eating and +drinking, the whole adventure was gone over again and again until +there seemed no part of it left in doubt. Minnetaki described her +capture and explained the slowness of their flight after the massacre. +Woonga was ill and had refused to move far from the scene of the +slaughter until he had fully regained his strength.</p> + +<p id="id00246">"But why did Woonga kill the Indian back on the trail?" asked Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00247">Minnetaki shuddered as she thought of the terrible scene that had been +enacted before her eyes.</p> + +<p id="id00248">"I heard them quarreling," she said, "but I couldn't understand. I +know that it was about me. We had gone but a short distance after the +sledges separated when Woonga, who was ahead of me, turned about and +shot the other in the breast. It was terrible! And then he drove on as +coolly as though nothing had happened."</p> + +<p id="id00249">"I'm curious to know how he used the bear's feet," exclaimed Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00250">"They were huge pads into which he slipped his feet, moccasins and +all," explained Minnetaki. "He told me that the dogs would go on to +Kenegami House, and that if pursuers followed us they would follow the +sledge trail and never give a thought to the bear tracks."</p> + +<p id="id00251">Mukoki chuckled deep down in his throat.</p> + +<p id="id00252">"He no fool Rod," he said. "Nobody fool Rod!"</p> + +<p id="id00253">"Especially when he's on Minnetaki's trail," laughed Wabi happily.</p> + +<p id="id00254">"Wasn't it Rod who discovered the secret of the lost gold, after you +had given up all hope?" retorted Minnetaki.</p> + +<p id="id00255">The lost gold!</p> + +<p id="id00256">How those three words, falling clearly from the girl's lips, thrilled +the hearts of Mukoki and the young adventurers. Night had closed in, +and only the fitful flashes of the fire illumined the interior of the +old cabin. The four had finished eating, and as they drew themselves +close about the fire there fell a strange silence among them. The lost +gold. Rod gazed across at Wabigoon, whose bronzed face was half hid in +the dancing shadows, and then at Mukoki, whose wrinkled visage shone +like dull copper as he stared like some watchful animal into the flame +glow. But it was Minnetaki who sent the blood in a swift rush of joy +and pride through his veins. He caught her eyes upon him, shining like +stars from out of the gloom, and he knew that she was looking at him +in that way because he was her hero.</p> + +<p id="id00257">For many minutes no one broke the stillness. The fire burned down, and +with its slow dying away the gloom in the corners of the old cabin +thickened, and the faces became more and more like ghostly shadows, +until they reminded Rod of his first vision of the ancient skeletons +in that other old cabin many miles away. Then came Wabigoon's voice, +as he stirred the coals and added fresh fuel.</p> + +<p id="id00258">"Yes, it was Rod. This is the map he found, Minnetaki."</p> + +<p id="id00259">He kneeled close beside his sister and drew forth his copy of the +precious secret which the skeletons had guarded. With a little cry +of excitement the girl took the map in her hands, and step by step, +adventure by adventure, was gone over the thrilling story of the Wolf +Hunters, until the late hours of night had changed into the first of +morning. Twice did Minnetaki insist on having repeated to her the +story of Rod's wild adventure in the mysterious chasm, and when he +came to the terrors of that black night and its strange sounds Rod +felt a timid little hand come close to him, and as Wabigoon continued +the narration, and told of the map in the skeleton hand, and of the +tale of murder and tragedy it revealed, Minnetaki's breath came in +quick, tense eagerness.</p> + +<p id="id00260">"And you are going back in the spring?" she asked.</p> + +<p id="id00261">"In the spring," replied Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00262">Again Wabigoon urged Rod, as he had done at the Post, to send down to +civilization for his mother instead of going for her himself. Time +would be saved, he argued. They could set out on their search for the +gold within a few weeks. But Rod was firm.</p> + +<p id="id00263">"It would not be fair to mother," he declared. "I must go home first, +even if I have to arrange for a special sledge at Kenegami House to +take me down to civilization."</p> + +<p id="id00264">But even while he was stoutly declaring what it was his intention to +do, fate was stealthily at work weaving another of her webs of destiny +for Roderick Drew, and his friends' anxious eyes saw the first signs +of it when they bade him good night. For fever had laid its hand on +the white youth, the fever that foreshadows death unless a surgeon +is near, the fever of a wound going bad. Even Mukoki, graduated by +Nature, taught by half a century's battle with life in this great +desolation of the North, knew that his own powers were now of no +avail.</p> + +<p id="id00265">So Roderick was bundled in blankets, and the race for life to Kenegami +House was begun. It was a race of which Rod could only guess the +import, for he did not know that Death was running a fierce pursuit +behind. Many days and nights of delirium followed. One morning he +seemed to awaken from a terrible dream, in which he was constantly +burning and roasting, and when he opened his eyes he knew for the +first time that it was Minnetaki who sat close beside him, and that it +was her hand that was gently stroking his forehead. From that day on +he gained strength rapidly, but it was a month before he could sit up, +and another two weeks before he could stand. And so it happened that +it was full two months after he had made his assertion in the old +cabin before Rod was in good health again.</p> + +<p id="id00266">One day Minnetaki had a tremendous surprise in store for him. Rod had +never seen her look quite so pretty, or quite so timid, as she did on +this particular morning.</p> + +<p id="id00267">"Will you forgive me for—for—keeping something from you, Rod?" she +asked. She did not wait for the boy's reply, but went on. "When you +were so sick, and we thought you might die, I wrote to your mother and +we sent the letter down by a special sledge. And—and—oh, Rod, I just +can't keep it in any longer, no matter if you do scold me! Your mother +has come—and she is at Wabinosh House now!"</p> + +<p id="id00268">For a moment Rod stood like one struck dumb. Then he found his voice +in a series of war-whoops which quickly brought Wabi in, only to see +his friend dancing around Minnetaki like one gone crazy.</p> + +<p id="id00269">"Forgive you!" he shouted again and again. "Minnetaki, you're a +brick—you certainly are a brick!"</p> + +<p id="id00270">As soon as Wabi was made acquainted with the cause of Roderick's +excitement he also joined in the other's wild rejoicing, and their +antics startled half the house of Kenegami. Mukoki shared their joy, +and Wabi hugged and kissed his sister until her pretty face was like a +wild rose.</p> + +<p id="id00271">"Hurrah!" shouted Wabi for the twentieth time. "That means we start on +our hunt for the lost gold-mine within a fortnight!"</p> + +<p id="id00272">"It means—" began Roderick.</p> + +<p id="id00273">"It means—" interrupted Minnetaki, "it means that you're all happy +but me—and I'm glad for Rod's sake, and I want to know his mother. +But you're all going—and I'm to be left behind!"</p> + +<p id="id00274">There was no laughter in her voice, and Rod and Wabigoon became +suddenly quiet as she turned away.</p> + +<p id="id00275">"I'm sorry," said Wabi. "But—we can't help it."</p> + +<p id="id00276">Mukoki broke the tension.</p> + +<p id="id00277">"How bright the sun shine!" he exclaimed. "Snow an' ice go. +Spring—heem here!"</p> + +<h2 id="id00278" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h4 id="id00279" style="margin-top: 2em">ON THE TRAIL OF GOLD</h4> + +<p id="id00280">And each day thereafter the sun rose earlier, and the day was longer, +and the air was warmer; and with the warmth there now came the sweet +scents of the budding earth and the myriad sounds of the deep, unseen +life of the forests, awakening from its long slumber in its bed of +snow. The moose-birds chirped their mating songs and flirted from +morning till night in bough and air, and the jays and ravens fluffed +themselves in the sun, and the snowbirds, little black and white +beauties that were wont to whisk about like so many flashing gems, +became fewer and fewer, until they were gone altogether. The poplar +buds swelled more and more in their joy, until they split like +over-fat peas, and the partridges feasted upon them.</p> + +<p id="id00281">And Mother Bear came out of her winter den, accompanied by her little +ones born two months before, and taught them how to pull down the +slender saplings for these same buds; and the moose came down from the +blizzardy tops of the great ridges, which are called mountains in the +North, and where for good reasons they had passed the winter, followed +by the wolves, who fed upon their weak and sick. Everywhere there were +the rushing torrents of melting snows, the crackle of crumbling ice, +the dying frost-cries of rock and earth and tree, and each night the +cold, pale glow of the Aurora Borealis crept farther and farther +toward the Pole in fading glory.</p> + +<p id="id00282">It was spring, and at Wabinosh House it brought more joy than +elsewhere, for there Roderick Drew joined his mother. We have not time +here to dwell on the things that happened at the old Hudson Bay Post +during the ten days after their first happy reunion—of the love that +sprang up between Rod's mother and Minnetaki, and the princess wife +of George Newsome, the factor; of the departure of the soldiers whose +task of running down Woonga ended with Rod's desperate fight in the +cabin, or of the preparations of the gold hunters themselves.</p> + +<p id="id00283">On a certain evening in April, Wabi, Mukoki and Rod had assembled in +the latter's room. The next morning they were to start on their long +and thrilling adventure into the far North, and on this last night +they went carefully over their equipment and plans to see that nothing +had been forgotten. That night Rod slept little. For the second time +in his life the fever of adventure was running wild in his blood. +After the others had gone he studied the precious old map until his +eyes grew dim; in the half slumber that came to him afterward his +brain worked ceaselessly, and he saw visions of the romantic old cabin +again, and the rotting buckskin bag filled with nuggets of gold on the +table.</p> + +<p id="id00284">He was up before the stars began fading in the dawn, and in the big +dining-room of the Post, in which had gathered the factors and their +families for two hundred years, the boys ate their last breakfast with +those whom they were about to leave for many weeks, perhaps months. +The factor himself was boisterously cheerful in his efforts to keep +up the good cheer of Mrs. Drew and the princess mother, and even +Minnetaki forced herself to smile and laugh, though her eyes were +red, and all knew that she had been crying. Rod was glad when the meal +was over and they went out into the chill air of the morning, and down +to the edge of the lake, where their big birch-bark canoe was loaded +and waiting for their departure, and he was still more relieved when +they had bade a last good-by to the two mothers. But Minnetaki came +down to the canoe with them, and when Wabi kissed her she burst into +tears, and Rod felt a queer thickening in his throat as he took her +firm little hand and held it for a moment between both his own.</p> + +<p id="id00285">"Good-by, Minnetaki," he whispered.</p> + +<p id="id00286">He turned and took his position in the middle of the canoe, and with a +last shout Wabi shoved off and the canoe sped out into the gloom.</p> + +<p id="id00287">For a long time there was silence, except for the rhythmic dip of the +three paddles. Once Minnetaki's voice came to them faintly, and they +answered it with a shout. But that was all. After a time Rod said,</p> + +<p id="id00288">"By George, this saying good-by is the toughest part of the whole +business!"</p> + +<p id="id00289">His words cleared away the feeling of oppression that seemed to have +fallen on them.</p> + +<p id="id00290">"It's always hard for me to leave Minnetaki," replied Wabigoon. "Some +day I'm going to take her on a trip with me."</p> + +<p id="id00291">"She'd be a bully fellow!" cried Rod with enthusiasm.</p> + +<p id="id00292">From the stern of the canoe came a delighted chuckle from Mukoki.</p> + +<p id="id00293">"She brave—she shoot, she hunt, she be dam' fine!" he added, and +both Rod and Wabi burst out laughing. The young Indian looked at his +compass by the light of a match.</p> + +<p id="id00294">"We'll strike straight across Lake Nipigon instead of following the +shore. What do you say, Muky?" he called back.</p> + +<p id="id00295">The old pathfinder was silent. In surprise Wabi ceased paddling, and +repeated his question.</p> + +<p id="id00296">"Don't you think it is safe?"</p> + +<p id="id00297">Mukoki wet his hand over the side and held it above his head.</p> + +<p id="id00298">"Wind in south," he said. "Maybe no get stronger, but—"</p> + +<p id="id00299">"If she did," added Rod dubiously, noting how heavily laden the canoe +was, "we'd be in a fix, as sure as you live!"</p> + +<p id="id00300">"It will take us all of to-day and half of to-morrow to follow the +shore," urged Wabi, "while by cutting straight across the lake we can +make the other side early this afternoon. Let's risk it!"</p> + +<p id="id00301">Mukoki grunted something that was a little less than approval, and Rod +felt a peculiar sensation shoot through him as the frail birch headed +out into the big lake. Their steady strokes sent the canoe through the +water at fully four miles an hour, and by the time broad day had come +the forest-clad shore at Wabinosh House was only a hazy outline in the +distance. The white youth's unspoken fears were dispelled when the sun +rose, warm and glorious, over the shimmering lake, driving the chill +from the air, and seeming to bring with it the sweet scents of +the forests far away. Joyfully he labored at his paddle, the mere +exhilaration of the morning filling his arms with the strength of a +young giant. Wabi whistled and sang wild snatches of Indian song by +turns, Rod joined him with <i>Yankee Doodle</i> and <i>The Star Spangled +Banner</i>, and even the silent Mukoki gave a whoop now and then to show +that he was as happy as they.</p> + +<p id="id00302">One thought filled the minds of all. They were fairly started on that +most thrilling of all trails, the trail of gold. In their possession +was the secret of a great fortune. Romance, adventure, discovery, +awaited them. The big, silent North, mysterious in its age-old +desolation, where even the winds seemed to whisper of strange things +that had happened countless years before, was just ahead of them. They +were about to bury themselves in its secrets, to wrest from it the +yellow treasure it guarded, and their blood tingled and leaped +excitedly at the thought. What would be revealed to them? What might +they not discover? What strange adventures were they destined to +encounter in that Unknown World, peopled only by the things of the +wild, that stretched trackless and unexplored before them? A hundred +thoughts like these fired the brains of the three adventurers, and +made their work a play, and every breath they drew one of joy.</p> + +<p id="id00303">The lake was alive with ducks. Huge flocks of big black ducks, +mallards, blue bills and whistlers rose about them, and now and then, +when an unusually large flock was seen floating upon the water ahead +of them, one of the three would take a pot-shot with his rifle. Rod +and Mukoki had each killed two, and Wabi three, when the old warrior +stopped the fun.</p> + +<p id="id00304">"No waste too much shooting on ducks," he advised. "Need shells—big +game."</p> + +<p id="id00305">Several times during the morning the three rested from their +exertions, and at noon they ceased paddling for more than an hour +while they ate the generous dinner that had been put up for them at +Wabinosh House. The farther side of the lake was now plainly visible, +and when the journey was resumed all eyes eagerly sought for signs +of the mouth of the Ombabika, where their stirring adventures of the +winter before had begun. For some time Wabi's gaze had been fixed +upon a long, white rim along the shore, to which he now called his +companions' attention.</p> + +<p id="id00306">"It seems to be moving," he said, turning to Mukoki. "Is it +possible—" He paused doubtfully.</p> + +<p id="id00307">"What?" questioned Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00308">"That it's swans!" he completed.</p> + +<p id="id00309">"Swans!" cried the young hunter. "Great Scott, do you mean to say +there could be enough swans—"</p> + +<p id="id00310">"They sometimes cover the lake in thousands," said Wabi. "I have seen +them whitening the water as far as one could see."</p> + +<p id="id00311">"More swan as you count in twent' t'ous'nd year!" affirmed Mukoki. +After a few moments he added, "Them no swan. Ice!"</p> + +<p id="id00312">There was an unpleasant ring in his voice as he spoke the last +word, and though Rod did not fully understand what significance the +discovery held for them he could not but observe that it occasioned +both of his comrades considerable anxiety. The cause was not long in +doubt. Another half hour of brisk paddling brought them to the edge of +a frozen field of ice that extended for a quarter of a mile from the +shore. In both directions it stretched beyond their vision. Wabi's +face was filled with dismay. Mukoki sat with his paddle across his +knees, uttering not a sound.</p> + +<p id="id00313">"What's the matter?" asked Rod. "Can't we make it?"</p> + +<p id="id00314">"Make it!" exclaimed Wabigoon. "Yes—perhaps to-morrow, or the next +day!"</p> + +<p id="id00315">"Do you mean to say we can't get over that ice?"</p> + +<p id="id00316">"That's just exactly the predicament we are in. The edge of that ice +is rotten."</p> + +<p id="id00317">The canoe had drifted alongside the ice, and Rod began pounding it +with his paddle. For a distance of two feet it broke off in chunks, +then became more firm.</p> + +<p id="id00318">"I believe that if we cut our way in for a canoe length or so it would +hold us," he declared.</p> + +<p id="id00319">Wabi reached for an ax.</p> + +<p id="id00320">"We'll try it!"</p> + +<p id="id00321">Mukoki shook his head.</p> + +<p id="id00322">But for a second time that day Wabigoon persisted in acting against +the old pathfinder's judgment, something that Rod had never known him +to be guilty of before. Foot by foot he broke the ice ahead of the +canoe, until the frail craft had thrust its length into the rotten +field. Then, steadying himself on the bow, he stepped out cautiously +upon the ice.</p> + +<p id="id00323">"There!" he cried triumphantly. "You next, Rod! Steady!"</p> + +<p id="id00324">In a moment Rod had joined him. What happened after that seemed to +pass like a terrible nightmare. First there came a light cracking in +the ice under their feet, but it was over in an instant. Wabi was +laughing at him for the fear that had come into his face, and calling +his name, when with a thunderous crash the whole mass gave way under +them, and they plunged down into the black depths of the lake. The +last that Rod saw was his friend's horror-stricken face sinking in the +crumbling ice; he heard a sharp, terrible cry from Mukoki, and then he +knew that the cold waters had engulfed him, and that he was battling +for his life under the surface.</p> + +<p id="id00325">Fiercely he struck out with arms and legs in an effort to rise, and in +that moment of terror he thought of the great sheet of ice. What if he +should come up under it? In which direction should he strike out? +He opened his eyes but all was a black chaos about him. The seconds +seemed like ages. There came a splitting, rending sensation in his +head, an almost overpowering desire to open his mouth, to gasp, gasp +for air where there was nothing but death! Then his head struck +something. It was the ice! He had come up under the ice, and there was +but one end to that!</p> + +<p id="id00326">He began to sink again, slowly, as if an invisible hand were pulling +him down, and in his despair he made a last frantic effort, striking +out blindly, knowing that in another second he must open his mouth. +Even under the water he still had consciousness enough left to know +that he tried to cry out, and he felt the first gurgling rush of water +into his lungs. But he did not see the long arm that reached down +where the bubbles were coming up, he did not feel the grip that +dragged him out upon the ice. His first sense of life was that +something very heavy was upon his stomach, and that he was being +rubbed, and pummeled, and rolled about as if he had become the +plaything of a great bear. Then he saw Mukoki, and then Wabigoon.</p> + +<p id="id00327">"You go build fire," he heard Mukoki say, and he could hear Wabi +running swiftly shoreward. For he knew that they were still upon the +ice. The canoe was drawn safely up a dozen feet away, and the old +Indian was dragging blankets from it. When Mukoki turned he found Rod +resting upon his elbow, looking at him.</p> + +<p id="id00328">"That—w'at you call heem—close shave!" he grinned, placing a +supporting arm under Rod's shoulder.</p> + +<p id="id00329">With Mukoki's assistance the youth rose to his feet, and a thick +blanket was wrapped about him. Slowly they made their way shoreward, +and soon Wabi came running out to meet them, dripping wet.</p> + +<p id="id00330">"Rod, when we get thawed out, I want you to kick me," he pleaded. "I +want you to kick me good and hard, and then I'll take great pleasure +in kicking you. And ever after this, when we do a thing that Mukoki +tells us not to do, we'll kick some more!"</p> + +<p id="id00331">"Who pulled us out?" asked Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00332">"Mukoki, of course. Will you kick me?"</p> + +<p id="id00333">"Shake!"</p> + +<p id="id00334">And the two dripping, half-frozen young adventurers shook hands, +while Mukoki chuckled and grunted and gurgled until he set the others +bursting into laughter.</p> + +<h2 id="id00335" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h4 id="id00336" style="margin-top: 2em">THE YELLOW BULLET</h4> + +<p id="id00337">Before a rousing fire of logs Rod and Wabigoon began to see the +cheerful side of life again, and as soon as Mukoki had built them a +balsam shelter they stripped off their clothes and wrapped themselves +in blankets, while the old Indian dried their outfits. It was two +hours before they were dressed. No sooner were they out than Wabi +went into the bush and returned a few minutes later brandishing a +good-sized birch in his hand. There was no sign of humor in his face +as he eyed Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00338">"Do you see that log?" he said, pointing to the big trunk of a fallen +tree near the fire "That will just fit your stomach, Rod. It will be +better than kicking. Double yourself over that, face down, pantaloons +up. I'm going to lick you first because I want you to know just how +much to give me. I want it twice as hard, for I was more to blame than +you."</p> + +<p id="id00339">In some astonishment Rod doubled himself over the log.</p> + +<p id="id00340">"Great Scott!" he ejaculated, peering up in dismay. "Not too hard, +Wabi!"</p> + +<p id="id00341">Swish! fell the birch, and a yell of pain burst from the white youth's +lips.</p> + +<p id="id00342">Swish!—Swish!—Swish!</p> + +<p id="id00343">"Ouch! Great Caesar—Let up!"</p> + +<p id="id00344">"Don't move!" shouted Wabi. "Take it like a man—you deserve it!"</p> + +<p id="id00345">Again and again the birch fell. Rod groaned as he rose to his feet +after Wabi had stopped. "Oh, please—please give me that whip!"</p> + +<p id="id00346">"Not too hard, you know," warned Wabi, as he fitted himself over the +log.</p> + +<p id="id00347">"You chose your own poison," reminded Rod, rolling up his sleeve. +"Just twice as hard, no more!"</p> + +<p id="id00348">And the birch began to fall.</p> + +<p id="id00349">When it was over Rod's arm ached, and Wabi, despite his Indian +stoicism, let out a long howl at the last blow.</p> + +<p id="id00350">During the entire scene of chastisement Mukoki stood like one struck +dumb.</p> + +<p id="id00351">"We'll never be bad any more, Muky," promised Wabigoon, rubbing +himself gently. "That is, if we are, we'll whip ourselves again, eh, +Rod?"</p> + +<p id="id00352">"Not so long as I can run!" assured Rod with emphasis. "I'm willing +to lend a helping hand at any time you think you deserve another, but +beyond that please count me out!"</p> + +<p id="id00353">For an hour after the self-punishment of the young gold hunters the +three gathered fuel for the night and balsam boughs for their beds. It +was dark by the time they sat down to their supper, which they ate in +the light of a huge fire of dry poplar.</p> + +<p id="id00354">"This is better than paddling all night, even if we did have a close +shave," said Rod, after they had finished and settled themselves +comfortably.</p> + +<p id="id00355">Wabi gave a grimace and shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p id="id00356">"Do you know how close your call was?" he asked. "It was so close that +just by one chance in ten thousand you were saved. I had pulled myself +upon the ice by catching hold of the bow of the canoe and when Muky +saw that I was safe he watched for you. But you didn't show up. We +had given you up for dead when a few bubbles came to the surface, and +quicker than a wink Mukoki thrust down his arm. He got you by the hair +as you were sinking for the last time. Think of that, Rod, and dream +of it to-night. It'll do you good."</p> + +<p id="id00357">"Ugh!" shuddered the white youth. "Let's talk of something more +cheerful. What a glorious fire that poplar makes!"</p> + +<p id="id00358">"Mak' light more as twent' t'ous'nd candles!" agreed Mukoki. "Heem +bright!"</p> + +<p id="id00359">"Once upon a time, many ages ago, there was a great chief in this +country," began Wabigoon, "and he had seven beautiful daughters. So +beautiful were they that the Great Spirit himself fell in love with +them, and for the first time in countless moons he appeared upon +earth, and told the chief that if he would give him his seven +daughters he, in turn, would grant the father seven great desires. And +the chief, surrendering his daughters, asked that he might be given a +day without night, and a night without day, and his wish was granted; +and his third and fourth and fifth desires were that the land might +always be filled with fish and game, the forests remain for ever +green, and fire be given to his people. His sixth desire was that a +fuel be given to him which would burn even in water, and the Great +Spirit gave him birch; and his seventh desire was that he might +possess another fuel, which would throw off no smoke, and might bring +comfort and joy to his wigwams—and the poplar sprang up in the +forests. And because of that chief, and his seven beautiful daughters, +all of these things are true even to this day. Isn't it so, Mukoki?"</p> + +<p id="id00360">The old warrior nodded.</p> + +<p id="id00361">"And what became of the Great Spirit and the seven beautiful +daughters?" questioned Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00362">Mukoki rose and left the fire.</p> + +<p id="id00363">"He believes in that as he believes in the sun and the moon," spoke +Wabi softly. "But he knows that you do not, and that all white people +laugh at it. He could tell you many wonderful stories of the creation +of these forests and mountains and the things in them if he would. +But he knows that you would not believe, and would laugh at him +afterward."</p> + +<p id="id00364">In an instant Rod was upon his feet.</p> + +<p id="id00365">"Mukoki!" he called. "Mukoki!"</p> + +<p id="id00366">The old Indian turned and came back slowly. The white youth met him +half-way, his face flushed, his eyes shining.</p> + +<p id="id00367">"Mukoki," he said gently, gripping the warrior's hand, "Mukoki—I love +your Great Spirit! I love the one who made these glorious forests, and +that glorious moon up there, and the mountains and lakes and rivers! +I want to know more about him. You must tell me, so that I will know +when he talks about me, in the winds, in the stars, in the forests! +Will you?"</p> + +<p id="id00368">Mukoki was looking at him, his thin lips parted, his grim visage +relaxed, as if he were weighing the truthfulness of the white youth's +words.</p> + +<p id="id00369">"And I will tell you about our Great Spirit, the white man's Great +Spirit," urged Rod. "For we have a Great Spirit, too, Mukoki, and He +did for the white man's world what yours did for you. He created the +earth, the sky and the sea and all the things in them in six days, and +on the seventh He rested. And that seventh day we call Sunday, Mukoki. +And He made our forests for us, as your Great Spirit made them for +you, only instead of giving them for the love of seven beautiful women +He gave them for the love of man. I'll tell you wonderful things about +Him, Mukoki, if you will tell me about yours. Is it a bargain?"</p> + +<p id="id00370">"Mebby—yes," replied the old pathfinder slowly. His face had +softened, and for the second time Rod knew that he had touched the +heartstrings of his red comrade. They returned to the fire, and Wabi +made room for them upon the log beside him. In his hand he held a copy +of the old birch-bark map.</p> + +<p id="id00371">"I've been thinking about this all day," he said, spreading it out so +that the others could see. "Somehow I haven't been able to get the +idea out of my head that—"</p> + +<p id="id00372">"What?" asked Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00373">"Oh, nothing," hastily added Wabi, as if he regretted what he had +said. "It's a mighty curious map, isn't it? I wonder if we'll ever +know its whole story."</p> + +<p id="id00374">"I believe we know it now," declared Rod. "In the first place, we +found it clutched by one of the skeletons, and we know from the knife +wounds in those skeletons, and the weapons near them, that the two +men fought and killed themselves. They fought for this map, for the +precious secret which each wished to possess alone. Now—"</p> + +<p id="id00375">He took the map from Wabi's fingers and held it up between them and +the fire.</p> + +<p id="id00376">"Isn't the rest of it clear?"</p> + +<p id="id00377">For a few moments the three looked at it in silence.</p> + +<p id="id00378">From the faded outlines of the original it had been drawn with +painstaking accuracy.</p> + +<p id="id00379">With a splinter Rod pointed to the top of the map, where were written +the words, "Cabin and head of chasm."</p> + +<p id="id00380">"Could anything be clearer?" he repeated. "Here is the cabin in which +the men killed themselves, and where we found their skeletons, and +here they have marked the chasm in which I shot the silver fox, and +down which we must go to find the gold. According to this we must go +until we come to the third waterfall, and there we will find another +cabin—and the gold."</p> + +<p id="id00381">"It all seems very simple—by the map," agreed Wabi.</p> + +<p id="id00382">Under the crude diagram were a number of lines in writing. They were:</p> + +<p id="id00383">"We, John Ball, Henri Langlois, and Peter Plante, having discovered +gold at this fall, do hereby agree to joint partnership in the same, +and do pledge ourselves to forget our past differences and work in +mutual good will and honesty, so help us God. Signed,</p> + +<h5 id="id00384">"JOHN BALL, HENRI LANGLOIS, PETER PLANTE."</h5> + +<p id="id00385">Through the name of John Ball had been drawn a broad black line which +had almost destroyed the letters, and at the end of this line, in +brackets, was printed a word in French, which for the hundredth time +Wabi translated aloud:</p> + +<p id="id00386">"Dead!"</p> + +<p id="id00387">"From the handwriting of the original we know that Ball was a man of +some education," continued Rod. "And there is no doubt but that the +birch-bark sketch was made by him. All of the writing was in one hand, +with the exception of the signatures of Langlois and Plante, and you +could hardly decipher the letters in those signatures if you did not +already know their names. From these lines it is quite certain that +we were right at the cabin when we concluded that the two Frenchmen +killed the Englishman to get him out of the partnership. Isn't that +story clear enough?"</p> + +<p id="id00388">"Yes, as far as you have gone," replied Wabi. "These three men +discovered gold, quarreled, signed this agreement, and then Ball was +murdered. The two Frenchmen, as Mukoki suggested at the cabin, came +out a little later for supplies, and brought the buckskin bag full of +gold with them. They had come as far as the cabin at the head of the +chasm when they quarreled over possession of the map and agreement, +fought, and died. From the old guns and other evidences we found near +them we know that all this happened at least fifty years ago, and +perhaps more. But—"</p> + +<p id="id00389">He paused, whistling softly.</p> + +<p id="id00390">"Where is the third waterfall?"</p> + +<p id="id00391">"I thought we settled that last winter," replied Rod, a little +irritated by his companion's doubt. "If writing goes for anything, +Ball was a man of education, and he drew the map according to some +sort of scale. The second fall is only half as far from the first fall +as the third fall is from the second, which is conclusive evidence of +this. Now Mukoki discovered the first waterfall fifty miles down the +chasm!"</p> + +<p id="id00392">"And we figured from the distances between John Ball's marks on the +birch, that the third fall was about two hundred and fifty miles from +our old camp at the head of the chasm," rejoined Wabigoon. "It looks +reasonable."</p> + +<p id="id00393">"It is reasonable," declared Rod, his face flushed with excitement. +"From the head of the chasm our trail is as plain as day. We can't +miss it!"</p> + +<p id="id00394">Mukoki had been listening in silence, and now joined in the +conversation for the first time.</p> + +<p id="id00395">"Must get to chasm first," he grunted, giving his shoulders a hunch +that suggested a great deal.</p> + +<p id="id00396">Wabi returned the map to his pocket.</p> + +<p id="id00397">"You're right, Muky," he laughed. "We're climbing mountains before we +come to them. It will be tough work getting to the chasm."</p> + +<p id="id00398">"Much water—ver' swift. River run lak twent' t'ous'nd cari-boo!"</p> + +<p id="id00399">"I'll bet the Ombabika is a raging torrent," said Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00400">"And we've got forty miles of it, all upstream," replied Wabi. "Then +we come to the Height of Land. After that the streams run northward, +to Hudson Bay, and when we reach them we'll hold our breath and pray +instead of paddling. Oh, it will be exciting fun rushing down-stream +on the floods!"</p> + +<p id="id00401">"But there is work before us to-morrow—hard work," said Rod. "And I'm +going to bed. Good night!"</p> + +<p id="id00402">Mukoki and Wabigoon soon followed their companion's example, and half +an hour later nothing but the crackling of the fire disturbed the +stillness of the camp. Mukoki was as regular as clockwork in his +rising, and an hour before dawn he was up and preparing breakfast. +When his young comrades aroused themselves they found the ducks they +had shot the preceding day roasting on spits over the fire, and coffee +nearly ready. Rod also noticed that a part of the contents of the +canoe were missing.</p> + +<p id="id00403">"Took load up to river," explained Mukoki in response to the youth's +questioning.</p> + +<p id="id00404">"Working while we sleep, as usual," exclaimed the disgusted Wabigoon. +"If it keeps on we'll deserve another whipping, Rod!"</p> + +<p id="id00405">Mukoki examined a fat bluebill, roasted to a rich brown, and gave it +to Rod. Another he handed to Wabigoon, and with a third in his own +hands he found a seat for himself upon the ground close to the coffee +and bread.</p> + +<p id="id00406">"Ah, if this isn't fit for a king!" cried Rod, poising his savory +bluebill on the end of a fork.</p> + +<p id="id00407">Half an hour later the three went to their canoe. Mukoki had already +packed a half of its contents to the river, a quarter of a mile away, +and he now loaded himself with the remainder while the two boys +hoisted the light birch upon their shoulders. As Roderick caught his +first glimpse of the Ombabika in the growing light of day he gave a +cry of astonishment. When he had gone up the stream the preceding +winter it was scarce more than a dozen gun lengths in width. Now it +was a veritable Amazon, its black, ugly waters rolling and twisting +like the slow boiling of a thick liquid over a fire. There was little +rush about it, no frenzied haste, no mountain-like madness in the +advance of the torrent. Rod had expected to see this, and he would not +have been startled by it.</p> + +<p id="id00408">But there was something vastly more appalling in the flood that rolled +slowly before his eyes, with its lazily twisting whirlpools, its +thousand unseen currents, rolling the water here and there—always in +different places—like the gurgling eruptions he had often observed +in a pot of simmering oatmeal. There was something uncanny about +it, something terribly suggestive of giant hands under the surface, +waiting to pull them down. He knew, without questioning, that +there was more deadly power in that creeping flood than in a dozen +boisterous torrents thundering down from the mountains. In it were the +cumulative waters of a score of those torrents, and in its broad, deep +sweep into the big lake the currents and perils of each were combined +into one great threatening force.</p> + +<p id="id00409">The thoughts that were in Rod's mind betrayed themselves as he looked +at his companions. Mukoki was reloading the canoe. Wabi watched the +flood.</p> + +<p id="id00410">"She's running pretty strong," said the Indian youth dubiously. "What +do you think of it, Muky?"</p> + +<p id="id00411">"Keep close to shore," replied the old warrior, without stopping his +work. "We mak' heem—safe!"</p> + +<p id="id00412">There was a good deal of consolation in Mukoki's words, for both +youths still bore smarting reminders of his caution and good judgment. +In a short time the canoe was safely launched where a small eddy had +worked into the shore, and the three adventurers dug in their paddles. +Mukoki, who held the important position in the stern, kept the bow of +the birch within half a dozen yards of the bank, and to Rod's mind +they slipped up-stream with amazing speed and ease. Now and then one +of the upheavings of the currents would catch the canoe, and from the +way in which it was pitched either to one side or the other Rod easily +imagined what perils the middle of the stream would have held for +them. Quick action on the part of Mukoki and Wabigoon was always +necessary to counteract the effect of these upheavals, and in the bow +Wabi was constantly on the alert. At no time could they tell when to +expect the attacks of the unseen forces below. Ten feet ahead the +water might be running as smooth as oil, then—a single huge bubble, +as if a great fish had sent up a gasp of air—and in an instant it +would be boiling like a small maelstrom.</p> + +<p id="id00413">Rod noticed that each time they were caught near one of these some +unseen power seemed sucking them down, and that at those times the +canoe would settle several inches deeper than when they were in calm +water. The discovery thrilled him, and he wondered what one of the big +eruptions out in mid-stream would do to them if they were caught in +it. Other perils were constantly near them. Floating logs and masses +of brush and other debris swept down with the flood, and Wabi's +warning cries of "right," "left," and "back" came with such frequency +that Rod's arms ached with the mighty efforts which he made with his +paddle in response to them. Again the stream would boil with such fury +ahead of them that Mukoki would put in to shore, and a portage would +be made beyond the danger point. Five times during the day were the +canoe and its contents carried in this manner, so that including all +time lost an average of not more than two miles an hour was made. When +camp was struck late that afternoon, however, Mukoki figured that they +had covered half the distance up the Ombabika.</p> + +<p id="id00414">The following day's progress was even slower. With every mile the +stream became narrower and swifter. The treacherous upheavals caused +by undercurrents no longer harassed the gold seekers, but logs and +debris swept down with greater velocity. Several times the frail canoe +was saved from destruction only by the quick and united action of the +three. They worked now like a well-regulated machine, engineered by +Wabigoon, whose sharp eyes were always on the alert for danger ahead. +This second day was one of thrills and tense anxiety for Rod, and he +was glad when it came to an end. It was early, and the sun was still +two hours high, when they stopped to camp.</p> + +<p id="id00415">Mukoki had chosen an open space, backed by a poplar-covered rocky +ridge, and scarce had the bow of the canoe touched shore when Wabi +gave an excited exclamation, caught up his rifle, and fired three +rapid shots in the direction of a small clump of spruce near the foot +of the mountain.</p> + +<p id="id00416">"Missed, by all that's good and great!" he yelled. "Quick, Mukoki, +shove her in! There's the biggest bear I've seen in all my life!"</p> + +<p id="id00417">"Where?" demanded Rod. "Where is he?"</p> + +<p id="id00418">He dropped his paddle and snatched his own rifle, while Mukoki, +keeping his self-possession, brought the canoe so that Wabi could leap +ashore. Rod followed like a flash, and the two excited youths sped in +the direction of the bear, leaving their companion to care for himself +and the heavily-laden birch. A short, swift run brought them to the +edge of the spruce, and with hearts beating wildly the two scanned the +barren side of the mountain ahead of them. There was no sign of the +bear.</p> + +<p id="id00419">"He turned down-stream!" cried Wabi, "We must cut—"</p> + +<p id="id00420">"There he is," whispered Rod sharply.</p> + +<p id="id00421">Just beginning the ascent of the mountain, four or five hundred yards +below them, was the bear. Even at that distance Rod was amazed at the +size of the beast.</p> + +<p id="id00422">"What a monster!" he gasped.</p> + +<p id="id00423">"Blaze away!" urged Wabi. "It's four hundred yards if it's a foot! Aim +for the top of his back and you'll bring him!"</p> + +<p id="id00424">Suiting action to his words he fired the two remaining shots in +his rifle, and as he slipped in fresh cartridges Rod continued the +long-range fusillade. His first and second shots produced no effect. +At his third the running animal paused for a moment and looked down at +them, and the young hunter seized his opportunity to take a careful +aim. At the report of his gun the bear gave a quick lunge forward, +half-fell among the rocks, and then was off again.</p> + +<p id="id00425">"You hit him!" shouted Wabi, setting off on a dead run between the +spruce and the mountain.</p> + +<p id="id00426">For a few brief moments Rod studied the situation as he reloaded. The +bear was rapidly nearing the summit of the ridge. By swift running +Wabigoon would have another fair shot before the animal got out of +range. If that shot were a miss they would lose their game. In a flash +he discerned a break in the mountain. If he could make that, and the +bear turned in his direction—</p> + +<p id="id00427">Without further thought he ran toward the break. He heard the sharp +reports of Wabi's rifle behind him, but didn't stop to see the effect +of the fire. If it was another miss—every second counted. The cut in +the mountain was clear. Breathlessly he dashed through it and stopped +on the opposite side, his eyes eagerly scanning the rock-strewn ridge. +He made no attempt to suppress the exclamation of joy that came to +his lips when, fully eight hundred yards away, he discerned the bear +coming down the side of the mountain, and in his direction. Crouching +behind a huge boulder Rod waited. Seven hundred yards, six hundred, +five hundred, and the bear turned, this time striking into the edge +of the plain. The animal was traveling slowly, partly stopping in his +flight now and then, and Rod knew that he was badly wounded. It was +soon evident that the course being taken by the game would bring it no +nearer, and the young hunter leveled his rifle.</p> + +<p id="id00428">Five hundred yards, more than a quarter of a mile!</p> + +<p id="id00429">This was desperate shooting, shooting that sent a strange thrill +through Roderick Drew. The magnificent weapon in his hands was equal +to the task. It would kill easily at that distance. But would he fail? +He was confident that his first shot went high. His second had no +effect. To his third there came the sharp response of a fourth from +the top of the mountain. Wabigoon had reached the summit, and was +firing at six hundred yards!</p> + +<p id="id00430">The bear stopped. With deadly precision Rod now took aim at the +motionless animal. An instant after he had fired a wild shout burst +from his throat, and was answered by Wabigoon's joyful yell from the +mountain. It was a wonderful shot, and the bear was down!</p> + +<p id="id00431">The animal was dead when the triumphant young hunters reached its +side. It was some time before either of them spoke. Panting from their +exertions, both looked down in silence upon the huge beast at their +feet. That he had made a remarkable kill Rod could see by the look of +wonder in his companion's face. They were still mutely regarding +the dead animal when Mukoki came through the break in the ridge and +hurried toward them. His face, too, became filled with amazement when +he saw the bear.</p> + +<p id="id00432">"Big bear!" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p id="id00433">There was a world of meaning in his words, and Rod flushed with +pleasure.</p> + +<p id="id00434">"He weighs five hundred," said Wabi, "and he stands four feet at the +shoulders if an inch."</p> + +<p id="id00435">"Fine rug!" grinned Mukoki.</p> + +<p id="id00436">"Let's see, Rod; he'll make a rug—" Wabi walked critically around +the bear. "He'll make you a rug over eight feet long by about six in +width. I wonder where he is hit?"</p> + +<p id="id00437">A brief examination showed that while the honors of the actual kill +were with Rod, at least one, and perhaps two, of Wabi's shots had +taken effect. The last shot from the white youth's rifle had struck +the bear just below the right ear, causing almost instantaneous death. +On this same side, which had been exposed to Rod's fire, was a body +wound, undoubtedly made by the shot on the mountain side. When the +animal was rolled over by the combined efforts of the three two more +wounds were discovered on the left side, which had mostly been exposed +to Wabigoon's fire. It was while examining these that the sharp-eyed +Mukoki gave a sudden grunt of surprise.</p> + +<p id="id00438">"Heem shot before—long time ago! Old wound—feel bullet!"</p> + +<p id="id00439">Between his fingers he was working the loose hide back of the foreleg. +The scar of an old wound was plainly visible, and both Rod and Wabi +could feel the ball under the skin. There is something that fascinates +the big game hunter in this discovery of an old wound in his quarry, +and especially in the vast solitudes of the North, where hunters are +few and widely scattered. It brings with it a vivid picture of +what happened long ago, the excitement of some other chase, the +well-directed shot, and at last the escape of the game. And so it was +now. The heads of Rod and Wabigoon hung close over Mukoki's shoulders +while the old Indian dug out the bullet with his knife. Another grunt +of surprise fell from the pathfinder's lips as he dropped the pellet +in the palm of his hand.</p> + +<p id="id00440">It was a strange-looking object, smooth, and curiously flattened.</p> + +<p id="id00441">"Ver' soft bullet," said Mukoki. "Never know lead thin, thin out lak +that!"</p> + +<p id="id00442">With his knife he peeled off a thin slice of the ball.</p> + +<p id="id00443">"Heem—"</p> + +<p id="id00444">He held up the two pieces. In the sun they gleamed a dull, rich +yellow.</p> + +<p id="id00445">"That bullet made of gold!" he breathed, scarcely above a whisper. "No +yellow lead. That gold, pure gold!"</p> + +<h2 id="id00446" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h4 id="id00447" style="margin-top: 2em">UP THE OMBABIKA</h4> + +<p id="id00448">For a few moments after Mukoki's remarkable discovery the three stood +speechless. Wabigoon stared as if he could not bring himself to +believe the evidence of his eyes. Rod was quivering with the old, +thrilling excitement that had first come to him in the cabin where +they had found the skeletons and the buckskin bag with its precious +nuggets, and Mukoki's face was a study. The thin, long fingers which +held the two pieces of the gold bullet trembled, which was an unusual +symptom in the old pathfinder. It was he who broke the silence, and +his words gave utterance to the question which had rushed into the +heads of the two young hunters.</p> + +<p id="id00449">"Who shoot gold bullets at bear?"</p> + +<p id="id00450">And to this question there was, for the time, absolutely no answer. To +tell who shot that bullet was impossible. But why was it used?</p> + +<p id="id00451">Wabigoon had taken the parts of the yellow ball and was weighing them +in the palm of his hand.</p> + +<p id="id00452">"It weighs an ounce," he declared.</p> + +<p id="id00453">"Twenty dollars' worth of gold!" gasped Rod, as if he lacked breath +to express himself. "Who in the wide world is shooting twenty dollar +bullets at bear?" he cried more excitedly, repeating Mukoki's question +of a minute before.</p> + +<p id="id00454">He, too, weighed the yellow pellets in his hand.</p> + +<p id="id00455">The puzzled look had gone out of Mukoki's face. Again the +battle-scarred old warrior wore the stoic mask of his race, which only +now and then is lifted for an instant by some sudden and unexpected +happening. Behind that face, immobile, almost expressionless, worked a +mind alive to every trick and secret of the vast solitudes, and even +before his young comrades had gained the use of their tongues he was, +in his savage imagination, traveling swiftly back over the trail of +the monster bear to the gun that had fired the golden bullet. Wabigoon +understood him, and watched him eagerly.</p> + +<p id="id00456">"What do you think of it, Muky?"</p> + +<p id="id00457">"Man shoot powder and ball gun, not cartridge," replied Mukoki slowly. +"Old gun. Strange; ver' strange!"</p> + +<p id="id00458">"A muzzle loader!" said Wabi.</p> + +<p id="id00459">The Indian nodded.</p> + +<p id="id00460">"Had powder, no lead. Got hungry; used gold."</p> + +<p id="id00461">Eight words had told the story, or at least enough of it to clear away +a part of the cloud of mystery, but the other part still remained.</p> + +<p id="id00462">Who had fired the bullet, <i>and where had the gold come from?</i></p> + +<p id="id00463">"He must have struck it rich," said Wabi "else would he have a chunk +of gold like that?"</p> + +<p id="id00464">"Where that come from—more, much more," agreed Mukoki shortly.</p> + +<p id="id00465">"Do you suppose—" began Rod. There was a curious thrill in his voice, +and he paused, as if scarce daring to venture the rest of what he had +meant to say. "Do you suppose—somebody has found—our gold?"</p> + +<p id="id00466">Mukoki and Wabigoon stared at him as if he had suddenly exploded a +mine. Then Wabi turned and looked silently at the old Indian. Not +a word was spoken. Silently Rod drew something from his pocket, +carefully wrapped in a bit of cloth.</p> + +<p id="id00467">"You remember I kept this little nugget from my share in the buckskin +bag, intending to have a scarf-pin made of it," he explained. "When I +took my course in geology and mineralogy I learned that, if one had +half a dozen specimens of gold, each from a different mine, the +chances were about ten to one that no two of them would be exactly +alike in coloring. Now—"</p> + +<p id="id00468">He exposed the nugget, and made a fresh cut in it with his knife, as +Mukoki had done with the yellow bullet. Then the two gleaming surfaces +were compared.</p> + +<p id="id00469">One glance was sufficient.</p> + +<p id="id00470">The gold was the same!</p> + +<p id="id00471">Wabi drew back, uttering something under his breath, his eyes gleaming +darkly. Rod's face had suddenly turned a shade whiter, and Mukoki, not +understanding the mysteries of mineralogy, stared at the youth in mute +suspense.</p> + +<p id="id00472">"Somebody has found our gold!" cried Wabi, almost savagely.</p> + +<p id="id00473">"We are not sure," interrupted Rod. "We know only that the evidence is +very suspicious. The rock formation throughout this country is almost +identically the same, deep trap on top, with slate beneath, and for +that reason it is very possible that gold found right in this locality +would be of exactly the same appearance as gold found two hundred +miles from here. Only—it's suspicious," Rod concluded.</p> + +<p id="id00474">"Man probably dead," consoled Mukoki. "No lead—hungry—shoot bear an' +no git heem. Mebby starve!"</p> + +<p id="id00475">"The poor devil!" exclaimed Wabigoon. "We've been too selfish to give +a thought to that, Rod. Of course he was hungry, or he wouldn't have +used gold for bullets. And he didn't get this bear! By George—"</p> + +<p id="id00476">"I wish he'd got him," said Rod simply.</p> + +<p id="id00477">Somehow Mukoki's words sent a flush into his face. There came to him, +suddenly, a mental picture of that possible tragedy in the wilderness: +the starving man, his last hopeless molding of a golden bullet, the +sight of the monster bear, the shot, and after that the despair and +suffering and slow death of the man who had fired it.</p> + +<p id="id00478">"I wish he'd got it," he repeated. "We have plenty of grub."</p> + +<p id="id00479">Mukoki was already at work skinning the bear, and Rod and Wabigoon +unsheathed their knives and joined him.</p> + +<p id="id00480">"Wound 'bout fi', six month old," said the Indian. "Shot just before +snow."</p> + +<p id="id00481">"When there wasn't a berry in the woods for a starving man to eat," +added Wabi. "Well, here's hoping he found something, Rod."</p> + +<p id="id00482">An hour later the three gold seekers returned to their canoe laden +with the choicest of the bear meat, and the animal's skin, which was +immediately stretched between two trees, high up out of the reach of +depredating animals. Rod gazed at it proudly.</p> + +<p id="id00483">"We'll be sure and get it when we come back, won't we?"</p> + +<p id="id00484">"Sure," replied Wabi.</p> + +<p id="id00485">"It will be safe?"</p> + +<p id="id00486">"As safe as though it were at home."</p> + +<p id="id00487">"Unless somebody comes along and steals it," added Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00488">Wabi was busy unloading certain necessary articles from the canoe, but +he ceased his work to look at Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00489">"Steal!" he cried in astonishment.</p> + +<p id="id00490">Mukoki, too, had heard Rod's remark and was listening.</p> + +<p id="id00491">"Rod," continued Wabigoon quietly, "that is one thing we don't have up +here. Our great big glorious North doesn't know the word thief, except +when it is applied to a Woonga. If a white hunter came along here +to-morrow, and found that hide stretched so low that the animals were +getting at it, he would nail it higher for us. An Indian, if he camped +here, would build his fire so that the sparks wouldn't strike it. Rod, +up here, where we don't know civilization, we're honest!"</p> + +<p id="id00492">"But down in the States," said Rod, "the Indians steal."</p> + +<p id="id00493">The words slipped from him. The next instant he would have given +anything to have been able to recall them. Mukoki had grown a little +more tense in his attitude.</p> + +<p id="id00494">"That's because white men have lived so much among them, white men who +are called civilized," answered the young scion of Wabinosh House, his +eyes growing bright. "White blood makes thieves. Pardon me for saying +it, Rod, but it does, at least among Indians. But our white blood +up here is different from yours. It's the same blood that's in our +Indians, every drop of it honest, loyal to its friends, and it runs +red and strong with the love of this great wilderness. There are +exceptions, of course, as you have seen in the Woongas, who are an +outlaw race. But we are honest, and Mukoki there, if he were dying of +cold, wouldn't steal a skin to save himself. An ordinary Indian might +take it, if he were dying for want of it, but not unless he had a gun +to leave in its place!"</p> + +<p id="id00495">"I didn't mean to say what I did," said Rod. "Oh, I wish I were one +of you! I love this big wilderness, and everything in it, and it's +glorious to hear you say what you do!"</p> + +<p id="id00496">"You are one of us," cried Wabi, gripping his hand.</p> + +<p id="id00497">That evening, after they had finished their supper and the three were +gathered about the fire, Wabigoon said:</p> + +<p id="id00498">"Muky could tell you one reason why the Indians of the North are +honest if he wanted to, Rod. But he won't, so I will. There was once a +tribe in the country of Mukoki's fore-fathers, along the Makoki River, +which empties into the Albany, whose men were great thieves, and who +stole from one another. No man's snare was safe from his neighbor, +fights and killings were of almost daily occurrence, and the chief +of the tribe was the greatest thief of all, and of course escaped +punishment. This chief loved to set his own snares, and one day he was +enraged to find that one of his tribe had been so bold as to set a +snare within a few inches of his own, and in the trail of the same +animal. He determined on meting out a terrible punishment, and waited.</p> + +<p id="id00499">"While he was waiting a rabbit ran into the snare of his rival. +Picking up a stick he approached to kill the game, when suddenly there +seemed to pass a white mist before his eyes, and when he looked again +there was no rabbit, but the most wonderful creature he had ever +beheld in the form of man, and he knew that it was the Great Spirit, +and fell upon his face. And a great voice came to him, as if rolling +from far beyond the most distant mountains, and it told him that the +forests and streams of the red man's heaven were closed to him and his +people, that in the hunting-grounds that came after death there was no +place for thieves.</p> + +<p id="id00500">"'Go to your people,' he said, 'and tell them this. Tell them that +from this day on, moon upon moon, until the end of time, must they +live like brothers, setting their snares side by side without war, to +escape the punishment that hovers over them.'</p> + +<p id="id00501">"And the chief told his people this," finished Wabi, "and from that +hour there was no more thievery in the land. And because the Great +Spirit came in the form he did the rabbit is the good luck animal of +the Crees and Chippewayans of the far North, and wherever the snows +fall deep, men set their traps side by side to this day, and do not +rob."</p> + +<p id="id00502">Rod had listened with glowing eyes.</p> + +<p id="id00503">"It's glorious!" he repeated. "It's glorious, if it's true!"</p> + +<p id="id00504">"It is true," said Wabi. "In all this great country between here and +the Barren Lands, where the musk-ox lives, there is not one Indian in +a hundred who would steal another Indian's trap, or the game in it. +It is one of the understood laws of the North that every hunter shall +have his 'trap line,' or 'run,' and it is not courtesy for another +trapper to encroach upon it; but if he should, and he should lay a +trap close beside another's, it would not be wrong, for the law of the +Great Spirit is greater than the law of man. Why, last winter even the +outlaw Woongas made no effort to steal our traps, though they thirsted +for our lives!"</p> + +<p id="id00505">"Mukoki," said Rod, rising, "I want to shake hands with you before I +go to bed. I'm learning—fast. I wish I were half Indian!"</p> + +<p id="id00506">The next morning the journey up the Ombabika was resumed, and a +little more of anxiety was now mingled with the enthusiasm of the +adventurers. For no one of them could relieve himself of the possible +significance of the gold bullet, the fear that their treasure had been +discovered by another. Wabi regained his confidence first.</p> + +<p id="id00507">"I don't believe it!" he exclaimed at last. Without questioning, the +others knew to what he referred. "I don't believe that our gold +has been found. It is in the heart of the wildest country on the +continent, and surely if such a rich find had been made we would have +heard something about it at Wabinosh House or Kenegami, which are the +nearest points of supply."</p> + +<p id="id00508">"Or, if it was found, the discoverer is dead," added Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00509">"Yes."</p> + +<p id="id00510">In the stern, Mukoki nodded and grunted his conviction.</p> + +<p id="id00511">"Dead," he repeated.</p> + +<p id="id00512">The Ombabika had now become narrow and violent. Against its swift +current the canoe made but little headway, and at noon Mukoki +announced that the river journey was at an end. For a few moments Rod +did not recognize where they had landed. Then he gave a sudden cry of +glad surprise.</p> + +<p id="id00513">"Why, this is where we had supper that night after our terrible +adventure on the river last winter," he exclaimed.</p> + +<p id="id00514">From far off there came faintly to his ears a low, rumbling thunder.</p> + +<p id="id00515">"Listen! That's the river rushing through the break in the mountain +where we walked the edge of the precipice!"</p> + +<p id="id00516">Wabi shrugged his shoulders at the memory of that fearful night and +its desperate race to escape from the Woonga country.</p> + +<p id="id00517">"We've got to do the same thing again, only this time it will be in +daylight."</p> + +<p id="id00518">"Long portage," said Mukoki. "Six mile. Carry everything."</p> + +<p id="id00519">"Until we reach the little creek in the plains beyond the mountain, +where you shot the caribou?" asked Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00520">"Yes," replied Wabigoon. "That little creek will now be a pretty husky +stream, and by hard work we can paddle up it until we come within +about eight miles of our old camp at the head of the chasm, where we +found the skeletons and the map."</p> + +<p id="id00521">"And from that point we shall have to carry our canoe and supplies +to the creek in the chasm," finished Rod. "And then—hurrah for the +gold!"</p> + +<p id="id00522">"Mak' old camp on mountain by night," said Mukoki.</p> + +<p id="id00523">Wabi broke into a happy laugh and thumped Rod on the back.</p> + +<p id="id00524">"Remember the big lynx you shot, Rod, and thought it was a Woonga, and +had us all frightened out of our wits?" he cried.</p> + +<p id="id00525">Rod colored at the memory of his funny adventure, which was thrilling +enough at the time, and began assisting Mukoki in unloading the canoe. +Two hours were taken for dinner and rest, and then the young hunters +shouldered their canoe while Mukoki hurried on ahead of them, weighted +with a half of their supplies. Every step now brought the thunder of +the torrent rushing through the mountain more clearly to their ears, +and they had not progressed more than a mile when they were compelled +to shout to make each other hear. On their right the wall of the +mountain closed in rapidly, and as they stumbled with their burden +over a mass of huge boulders the two boys saw just ahead of them the +narrow trail at the edge of the precipice.</p> + +<p id="id00526">At its beginning they rested their canoe. On one side of them, a dozen +yards away, the face of the mountain rose sheer above them for a +thousand feet; on the other, scarce that distance from where they +stood, was the roaring chasm. And ahead of them the mountain wall and +the edge of the precipice came nearer and nearer, until there was no +more than a six-foot ledge to walk upon. Rod's face turned strangely +white as he realized, for the first time, the terrible chances they +had taken on that black, eventful night of a few months ago; and for a +time Wabi stood silent, his face as hard-set as a rock. Up out of the +chasm there came a deafening thunder of raging waters, like the +hollow explosions of great guns echoing and reëchoing in subterranean +caverns.</p> + +<p id="id00527">"Let's take a look!" shouted Wabi close up to his companion's ear.</p> + +<p id="id00528">He went to the edge of the precipice, and Rod forced himself to +follow, though there was in him a powerful inclination to hug close +to the mountain wall. For half a minute he stood fascinated, +terror-stricken, and yet in those thirty seconds he saw that which +would remain with him for a lifetime. Five hundred feet below him the +over-running floods of spring were caught between the ragged edges of +the two chasm walls, beating themselves in their fury to the whiteness +of milk froth, until it seemed as though the earth itself must tremble +under their mad rush. Now and then through the twisting foam there +shot the black crests of great rocks, as though huge monsters of +some kind were at play, whipping the torrent into greater fury, and +bellowing forth thunderous voices when they rose triumphant for an +instant above the sweep of the flood.</p> + +<p id="id00529">All this Rod saw in less than a breath, and he drew back, shivering +in every fiber of his body. But Wabigoon did not move. For several +minutes the Indian youth stood looking down upon the wonderful force +at play below him, his body as motionless as though hewn out of stone, +the wild blood in his veins leaping in response to the tumult and +thunder of the magnificent spectacle deep down in the chasm. When he +turned to Rod his lips made no sound, but his eyes glowed with that +half-slumbering fire which came only when the red blood of the +princess mother gained ascendency, and the wild in him called out +greeting to the savage in nature. It is not music, or fine talk, or +artificial wonders that waken a thrill deep down in the Indian soul, +it is the great mountain, the vast plain, the roaring cataract! And so +it was with Wabigoon.</p> + +<p id="id00530">They went on, now, with the canoe upon their shoulders, and hugging +close to the mountain wall. Slowly, avoiding every stone and stick +that might cause one of them to stumble, they passed along the +perilously narrow ledge, and did not rest again until they had come +in safety to the broader trail leading up the mountain. An hour later +Mukoki met them on his return for the remainder of their supplies. +Shortly after this they reached the small plateau where they had +camped during the previous winter, and lowered their canoe close to +the old balsam shelter.</p> + +<p id="id00531">Everything was as they had left it. Neither snow nor storm had +destroyed their lodging of boughs. There were the charred remains of +their fire, the bones of the huge lynx which Roderick had thought was +an attacking Woonga, and had killed; and beside the shelter was a +stake driven into the ground, the stake to which they had fastened +their faithful comrade of many an adventure, the tame wolf.</p> + +<p id="id00532">To this stake went Wabigoon, speaking no word. He sat down close +beside it, with his arm resting upon it, and when he looked up at Rod +there was an expression in his face which spoke more than words.</p> + +<p id="id00533">"Poor old Wolf!"</p> + +<p id="id00534">Rod turned and walked to the edge of the plateau, something hot and +uncomfortable filling his eyes. Below him, as far as he could see, +there stretched the vast, mysterious wilderness that reached to Hudson +Bay. And somewhere out there in that limitless space was Wolf.</p> + +<p id="id00535">As he looked, the hot film clouding his vision, he thought of the old +tragedy in Mukoki's life, and of how Wolf had helped him to avenge +himself. In his imagination he went back to that terrible day many, +many years ago, when Mukoki, happy in the strength of his youth, found +his young wife and child dead upon the trail, killed by wolves; he +thought of the story that Wabi had told him of the madness that came +to the young warrior, of how year after year he followed the trail of +wolves, wreaking his vengeance on their breed. And last he thought +of Wolf—how Mukoki and Wabigoon had found the whelp in one of their +traps; how they tamed him, grew to love him, and taught him to decoy +other wolves to their rifles. Wolf had been their comrade of a few +months before; fearless, faithful, until at last, escaping from the +final murderous assault of the Woongas, he had fled into the forests, +while his human friends fought their way back to civilization.</p> + +<p id="id00536">Where was Wolf now?</p> + +<p id="id00537">Unconsciously Rod questioned himself aloud, and from close behind him +Wabi answered.</p> + +<p id="id00538">"With the hunt-pack, Rod. He's forgotten us; gone back to the wild."</p> + +<p id="id00539">"Gone back to the wild, yes," said Rod; "but forgotten us, no!"</p> + +<p id="id00540">Wabi made no reply.</p> + +<h2 id="id00541" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h4 id="id00542" style="margin-top: 2em">THE MYSTERIOUS SHOT</h4> + +<p id="id00543">For many minutes the two stood silently gazing into the North. At +their feet spread the broad plain where Mukoki had killed the caribou +while they watched him from the plateau; beyond that were the dense +stretches of forest, broken here and there by other plains and +meadows, and a dozen lakes glistened in the red tints of the setting +sun. When Rod first looked upon that country a few months before it +was a world of ice and snow, a cold, dazzling panorama of white that +reached from where he stood to the Pole. Now it was wakening under +the first magic touch of spring. Far away the two young gold hunters +caught a glimmer of the stream which they were to follow up to the +chasm. Last winter it had been a tiny creek; now it was swollen to the +size of a river.</p> + +<p id="id00544">Suddenly, as they looked, two dark objects came slowly out into an +opening a mile away. At that distance they appeared hardly larger +than dogs, and Rod, whose mind was still filled with thoughts of +Wolf, exclaimed "Wolves!"</p> + +<p id="id00545">In the same breath he caught himself, and added:</p> + +<p id="id00546">"Moose!"</p> + +<p id="id00547">"A cow and her calf," said Wabi.</p> + +<p id="id00548">"How do you know?" asked Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00549">"There; watch them now!" cried Wabi, catching his companion by the +arm. "The mother is ahead, and even from here I can see that she is +pacing. A moose never trots or gallops, like a deer, but paces, using +both feet on a side at the same time. Notice how the calf jumps about. +An old moose would never do that."</p> + +<p id="id00550">"But both animals look to be about the same size," replied Rod, still +doubtful.</p> + +<p id="id00551">"It's a two-year-old calf; almost as big as its mother. In fact, it's +not really a calf, because it is too old; but so long as young moose +stick to their mothers we call them calves up here. I've known them to +remain together for three years."</p> + +<p id="id00552">"They're coming this way!" whispered the white youth.</p> + +<p id="id00553">The moose had turned, heading for the base of the mountain upon which +they stood. Wabi drew his companion behind a big rock, from which both +could look down without being seen.</p> + +<p id="id00554">"Be quiet!" he warned. "They're coming to feed on the sprouting poplar +along the mountain side. Just been over to the creek to get a drink. +We may have some fun!"</p> + +<p id="id00555">He wet a finger in his mouth and held it above his head, the forest +pathfinder's infallible method of telling how the wind blows. No +matter how slight the movement of the air may be, one side of the +finger dries first, in an instant, and is warm, while the side that +remains damp is cold, and in the lee, that side toward which the wind +is blowing.</p> + +<p id="id00556">"The wind is wrong, dead wrong," said Wabi. "It's blowing straight +toward them. Unless we are so high that our scent goes above them they +won't come much nearer."</p> + +<p id="id00557">Another minute and Rod nudged Wabigoon.</p> + +<p id="id00558">"They're within range!"</p> + +<p id="id00559">"Yes, but we won't shoot. We don't need meat."</p> + +<p id="id00560">As the young Indian spoke the cow brought herself to a dead stop so +suddenly that Wabi gave a delighted grunt.</p> + +<p id="id00561">"Great!" he whispered. "She's caught a whiff of us, a quarter of a +mile away. See how she holds her head, her great ears chucked forward +to hear, her nose half to the sky! She knows there's danger on this +mountain. Now—"</p> + +<p id="id00562">He did not finish. Like a flash the cow had darted ahead of her calf, +seeming to shoulder it back, and in another moment the two were racing +swiftly into the North, the mother this time in the rear instead of +leading.</p> + +<p id="id00563">"I love moose," said Wabi, his eyes glowing. "Do you notice that I +never shoot them, Rod?"</p> + +<p id="id00564">"By George, so you don't! I never thought of it. What is the reason?"</p> + +<p id="id00565">"There are a good many reasons. Of course I have shot them, when in +very great need of meat; but it's an unpleasant job for me. You call +the lion the king of beasts. Well, he isn't. The moose is monarch of +them all. You saw how the mother moose acted. She led her calf when +approaching, because if there should be danger she wanted to meet it +first; and when she found danger she drove her calf ahead of her in +retreat, so that if harm came to either of them it would come to her. +Isn't that the human mother instinct? And the bull is glorious! In the +mating season he will face a dozen men in defense of his cow. If she +falls first he will stand between her body and the hunters' rifles, +pawing the earth, his eyes glaring defiance, until he is riddled with +bullets. Once I saw a wounded cow, and as she staggered away the big +bull that was with her hugged her close behind, never for a moment +leaving her exposed to the fire, but unflinchingly taking every bullet +in his own body. So beautiful was his courage that you would not have +known he was wounded until he fell dead in his tracks, literally cut +to pieces. It was that sight that made me swear never to kill another +moose—unless I had to."</p> + +<p id="id00566">Rod was silent. The mother and the calf had disappeared when he turned +to Wabigoon.</p> + +<p id="id00567">"I'm glad you told me that, Wabi," he said. "You are teaching me new +things about this big wilderness every day. I've shot one moose. I +won't shoot another unless we need him."</p> + +<p id="id00568">They went back to their old camp, and by the time Mukoki returned with +his second load everything was in shape for the night, and a supper of +delicious bear steaks, coffee and "hot-stone biscuits," as Rod called +their baked combination of flour, water and salt, was soon ready. +After their meal the three sat for a long time near the fire, for +there was still a slight chill in the night air, and talked +mostly about Wolf and his adventures. Rod, in his distant home in +civilization had read and heard much that was false about wild +animals, was confident that Wolf would find they had returned into the +wilderness and would join them again, and to corroborate his belief +he narrated several stories of similar happenings. Wabigoon listened +courteously to him, which is the way of the Indian. Then he said:</p> + +<p id="id00569">"Such stories as those are false, Rod. When I spent my year at school +with you I read dozens of stories about wild animals, and very few of +them were true. All sorts of people write about the wilderness, and +yet not one out of a hundred of those same people have ever been in +the real wilderness. And it is wonderful what some of them make wild +animals do!"</p> + +<p id="id00570">Rod straightened himself with a jerk.</p> + +<p id="id00571">"I have been here only a few months, Wabi, and yet I have seen more +wonderful things about animals than I have ever read in print," he +declared.</p> + +<p id="id00572">"Of course you have," agreed his companion. "And there is just the +point I want to make clear. Wild animals are the most wonderful +creatures in existence, and if some of their actual habits and +adventures were told they would be laughed at down where you came +from. Where your writers make their mistake is in bringing them into +too close association with human beings, and making them half human. +Wolf remained with us because he knew no better. We caught him when he +was a whelp, and as he grew older both Mukoki and I could see that at +times he was filled with a wild longing to join his people. We knew +that it was coming. He will never return to us."</p> + +<p id="id00573">Mukoki made a soft sound deep down in his throat, and Rod turned +suddenly toward him.</p> + +<p id="id00574">"You believe that, Mukoki?"</p> + +<p id="id00575">"Wolf gone!"</p> + +<p id="id00576">"But animals think, don't they?" persisted Rod, to whom the discussion +was of absorbing interest. "They reason, they remember!"</p> + +<p id="id00577">"They do all of that," replied Wabi, "and more. I have read certain +so-called natural history stories which ridiculed the idea of wild +animals possessing mental abilities, and which ascribed pretty nearly +all their actions to instinct. Such stories are as wrong as those +which give wild animals human endowments. Animals do think. Don't you +suppose that mother moose was thinking when she stopped out there in +the plain? Wasn't she turning the situation over in her mind, if you +want to speak of it as that, and mentally figuring just where the +danger lay, and in which direction she ought to take flight? And +besides reason wild animals have instinct. One proof of this is their +sixth sense; the sense of—of—what do you call it?"</p> + +<p id="id00578">"Orientation?" assisted Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00579">"Yes; that's it. Orientation. A bear, for instance, doesn't carry +a compass with him, as some nature writers would like to have you +believe, and yet he can go from this mountain to a den a hundred miles +away as straight as a bird can fly. That's instinct."</p> + +<p id="id00580">"Then Wolf—" mused Rod slowly.</p> + +<p id="id00581">"Is with the hunt pack," finished the young Indian.</p> + +<p id="id00582">Mukoki spoke softly, as though to himself.</p> + +<p id="id00583">"Last winter the snow came, and now it is water. Two moons past, Wolf, +heem tame. Now wild. The Great Spirit say that is right, I guess so."</p> + +<p id="id00584">"He means that it is nature," said Wabi.</p> + +<p id="id00585">For an hour after the others had wrapped themselves in their blankets +Rod sat alone beside the fire, listening, and thinking. And after that +he went to the edge of the plateau, and watched the great spring moon +as it floated slowly over the vast, still wilderness. How wonderful +these solitudes were, how little the teeming millions of civilization +knew about them! Somehow, in those moments, as he watched the +shivering Northern Lights playing far beyond the farthest footstep of +man, there came to Roderick Drew the thought that God must be nearer +to earth here than anywhere else in the world. For the first time his +soul was filled with something that was almost love for the red man's +Great Spirit. And why not? For was not that Great Spirit his own God? +Sad, lonely, silent, mysterious, a whole world lay before him, a world +that was the Indian Bible, that contained for the red man of the North +the teachings and the voice of the Creator of all things. A wind had +risen and was whispering over the plains; he heard the hushed voices +of the quivering poplar boughs, and there came from far below him the +soft, chuckling, mating hoot of an owl. Gradually his eyes closed, +and he leaned more heavily upon the rock against which he had seated +himself. After that he dreamed of what he had looked upon, while +the fire at the camp died away, and Mukoki and Wabigoon slumbered, +oblivious of his absence.</p> + +<p id="id00586">Of how long he slept Rod had no idea. He was suddenly brought back +into wakefulness by a sound that startled him to the marrow of his +bones, a terrible scream close to his ears. He sat bolt upright, +quaking in every limb. For a moment he tried to cry out, but his +tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. What had happened? Was it Wabi, +or Mukoki?</p> + +<p id="id00587">A dozen paces away was a huge rock and as he looked he saw something +move upon it, a long, lithe object that shone a silvery white in the +moonlight, and he knew that it was a lynx. Stealthily Rod reached for +his rifle, which had slipped between his knees, and as he did so the +lynx sent forth another of its blood-curdling screams. Even now the +white youth shivered at the sound, so much like the terrible cry of +some person in dying agony. He leveled his gun. There was a flash in +the moonlight, a sharp report, and a shout from the direction of the +camp. In another moment Rod was upon his feet, and sorry that he had +shot. It flashed upon him that he might have watched the lynx, one of +the night pirates of all this strange wilderness, and that its pelt, +at this season, would be worthless. He went to the rock cautiously. +The lynx was not there. He walked around it, holding his rifle in +readiness for attack. The lynx was gone. He had made a clean miss!</p> + +<p id="id00588">Both Mukoki and Wabigoon met him on the opposite side of the rock.</p> + +<p id="id00589">"'Nother heap big Woonga," grinned the old pathfinder remembering +Rod's former adventure on this same plateau. "Kill?"</p> + +<p id="id00590">"Missed!" said Rod shortly. "What a scream that was! Ugh!"</p> + +<p id="id00591">This time he went to bed with the others, and slept until early dawn. +The morning was one of those rare gifts of budding spring, warm and +redolent with the sweetness of new life, and its beauty acted as a +tonic on the three adventurers. Their fears of the day before were +gone, and with song and whistle and cheery voice they began the +descent of the mountain. Mukoki went on ahead of Rod and Wabigoon with +his pack, and the two boys had not made more than two of the six miles +in the portage across the plain when he met them again, returning for +his second load. By noon the canoe and its contents were safely at +the creek, and the gold hunters halted until after dinner. The little +stream across which Rod had easily leaped without wetting his feet a +few weeks before had swollen into a fair-sized river, and in places +its searching waters had formed tiny lakes. Unlike the Ombabika, +sweeping down from its mountain heights, there was but little current +here, a fact that immensely pleased Mukoki and his companions.</p> + +<p id="id00592">"We near mak' cabin to-night," said the old Indian. "I take load +to-night."</p> + +<p id="id00593">During the two hours' paddle up-stream Mukoki spoke but little, and as +they approached nearer to their last winter's thrilling fight with the +Woongas, in which they had so nearly lost their lives, he ceased even +to respond by nod or grunt to the conversation of his companions. Once +Wabigoon spoke again of Wolf, and for an instant the old Indian, who +was in the bow, half turned to them, and for two strokes his paddle +rested in mid air. From the stern Wabi reached forward and poked Rod, +and the white youth understood. Next to Minnetaki and Wabigoon, and +perhaps himself, he knew that the faithful pathfinder loved Wolf best, +and that; he was filled with a little of that savage madness which +came to him now and then when he dwelt on the terrible tragedy that +had entered his life many years before. When the hunters reached the +end of their canoe journey up the stream Mukoki silently shouldered +his pack and set out over the plain. He spoke no word, made no sign.</p> + +<p id="id00594">"It would be useless," said Wabigoon, as Rod made a movement as if to +follow and stop their comrade. "No persuasion could turn Mukoki now. +He wants to reach the old camp to-night, where Wolf disappeared. He +won't be back until morning."</p> + +<p id="id00595">And Mukoki went on, never for an instant turning his face, until his +companions lost sight of him. But once out of their vision his manner +took on a strange and sudden change. He lowered the head strap of his +pack over his breast, so that he might clutch at it with one hand, and +move his head freely. His eyes glowed with the dull fire of wakening +excitement; his steps were quick, and yet cautious, every movement in +his advance was one of listening and watchful expectancy. A person +watching the old warrior would have said that he was keenly on the +alert for game, or danger. And yet the safety of his rifle was locked, +a fresh trail of bear aroused no new interest in him, and when he +heard a crashing in the brush on his right, where a buck had got wind +of him, he gave but a single glance in its direction. He was not +seeking game. Nor were his fears aroused by suspicion of possible +danger. Wherever the ground was soft and moist he traveled slowly, +with his eyes on the earth, and at one of these spots he came to a +sudden pause. Before him were the clearly defined imprints of a wolf's +feet.</p> + +<p id="id00596">With a low cry Mukoki threw off his pack and fell upon his knees. His +eyes burned fiercely now. There was something of madness in the way in +which he groveled in the soft earth, creeping from one footprint to +the next ahead of it, and stopping always where the right forefoot +had left its track. It was that foot which had held Wolf a captive in +Mukoki's trap, and he had lost two toes. None was missing here, and +the old pathfinder rose to his feet again, disappointment shadowing +the twitching expectancy in his face.</p> + +<p id="id00597">Five times that afternoon Mukoki fell on his knees beside the trails +of wolves, and five times the light of hope went out for a moment in +his eyes. It was sunset when he climbed the mountain ridge to the +little lake hidden away in the dip; only a last pale glow tinted the +sky behind the forests when he set down his pack close to the charred +remains of the old cabin. For many minutes he rested, his gaze fixed +on those blackened reminders of their thrilling battle for life the +winter before. His wild blood leaped again at the thought of the +strife, of the desperate race that he and Roderick had run over the +mountain to the burning cabin, and of their rescue of Wabigoon. +Suddenly his eyes caught the white gleam of something half a hundred +paces away, and he rose and walked toward it, grunting and chuckling +in half-savage pleasure. The Woongas had not returned to bury their +dead, and the bones beside which he stopped were those of the outlaw +whom Wabigoon had killed, picked clean by the small animals of the +forest.</p> + +<p id="id00598">Mukoki returned to his pack and sat down. As darkness fell about him he +made no effort to build a fire. He had brought food, but did not eat +it. More dense grew the shadows in the forest, thicker the gloom that +hung over the mountains. Still he sat, silent, listening. To him, +softly and timidly at first, came the sounds of the night: the +chuckling notes of birds that awakened when the earth masked itself +in darkness, the hoot of an owl, the faint wailing echo of a far-away +lynx cry, the plunge of a mink in the lake. And now the wind began +whispering in the balsams, singing gently its age-old song of +loneliness, of desolation, of mystery, and Mukoki straightened himself +and looked to where the red glow of the moon was rising above the +mountain. After a little he rose to his feet, took his rifle, +and climbed to the summit of the ridge, with a thousand miles of +wilderness sweeping between him and the Arctic sea. And somewhere out there +in that wilderness—was Wolf!</p> + +<p id="id00599">The moon rose higher. It disclosed the old Indian, as rigid as a rock, +with his back to a white, barkless tree in which the sap had run dry a +generation before. As he stood there he heard a sound, and turned his +face toward it, a sound that came from a mass of tumbled boulders, +like the falling of a small rock upon a larger one. And as he looked +there came from the darkness of the boulders a flash of fire and the +explosion of a gun, and as Mukoki crumpled down in his tracks there +followed a cry so terrible, so unhuman, so blood-curdling that, as +he fell, an answering cry of horror burst from the lips of the old +warrior. He lay like dead, though he was not touched. Instinct more +than reason had impelled him to fall at the sound of the mysterious +shot. Cautiously he wormed his rifle to his shoulder. But there came +no movement from the rocks.</p> + +<p id="id00600">Then, from half-way down the mountain, there came again that terrible +cry, and Mukoki knew that no animal in all these wilds could make it, +but that it was human, and yet more savage than anything that had ever +brought terror into his soul. Trembling, he crouched to the earth, a +nameless fear chilling the blood in his veins. And the cry came again, +and yet again, always farther and farther away, now at the foot of +the mountain, now upon the plain, now floating away toward the chasm, +echoing and reechoing between the mountain ridges, startling the +creatures of the night into silence, and wresting deep sobbing breaths +from out of Mukoki's soul. And the old warrior moved not a muscle +until far away, miles and miles, it seemed, there died the last echo +of it, and only the whispering winds rustled over the mountain top.</p> + +<h2 id="id00601" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h4 id="id00602" style="margin-top: 2em">THE CRY IN THE CHASM</h4> + +<p id="id00603">If Mukoki had been a white man he would have analyzed in some way the +meaning of those strange cries. But the wild and its savage things +formed his world; and his world, until this night, had never known +human or beast that could make the terrible sounds he had heard. So +for an hour he crouched where he had fallen, still trembling with +that nameless fear, and trying hard to form a solution of what had +happened. Slowly he recovered himself. For many years he had mingled +with white people at the Post and reason now battled with the +superstitions of his race.</p> + +<p id="id00604">He had been fired at. He had heard the whistling song of the ball over +his head, and had heard it strike the tree behind him. For a time +those rocks toward which he stared like fascinated beast had concealed +a man. But what kind of man! He remembered the ancient battle-cries +of his tribe, and of the enemies of his tribe, but none was like the +cries that had followed the shot. He heard them still; they rang in +his ears, and sent shivering chills up his back. And the more he tried +to reason the greater that nameless fear grew in him, until he slunk +like an animal down the side of the mountain, through the dip, and out +again upon the plain. And with that same nameless fear always close +behind him, urging him on with its terrors, he sped back over the +trail that he had followed that day, nor for an instant did he stop to +rest until he came to the camp-fire of Rod and Wabigoon.</p> + +<p id="id00605">Usually an Indian hides his fears; he conceals them as a white man +does his sins. But to-night Mukoki's experience had passed beyond the +knowledge of his race, and he told of what had happened, trembling +still, cringing when a great white rabbit darted close to the fire. +Rod and Wabi listened to him in mute astonishment.</p> + +<p id="id00606">"Could it have been a Woonga?" asked Wabi.</p> + +<p id="id00607">"No Woonga," replied the old warrior quickly, shaking his head. +"Woonga no mak' noise lak that!"</p> + +<p id="id00608">He drew away from the fire, wrapped himself in a blanket, and crept +into the shelter that Rod and Wabigoon had built. The two boys looked +at each other in silence.</p> + +<p id="id00609">"Muky has certainly had some most extraordinary adventure," said Wabi +at last. "I have never seen him like this before. It is easy to guess +the meaning of the shot. Some of the Woongas may still be in the +country, and one of them saw Mukoki, and fired at him. But the scream! +What do you make of that?"</p> + +<p id="id00610">"Do you suppose," whispered Rod, speaking close to his companion's +ear, "that Mukoki's imagination helped him out to-night?" He paused +for a moment as he saw the look of disapproval in Wabigoon's eyes, +and then went on. "I don't mean to hint that he stretched his story +purposely. He was standing on the mountain top. Suddenly there came a +flash of fire, the report of a rifle, and a bullet zipped close to his +head. And at that same instant, or a moment later—well, you remember +the scream of the lynx!"</p> + +<p id="id00611">"You believe that it might have been a lynx, startled by the shot, and +sent screaming across the plain?"</p> + +<p id="id00612">"Yes."</p> + +<p id="id00613">"Impossible. At the sound of that shot a lynx would have remained as +still as death!"</p> + +<p id="id00614">"Still there are always exceptions," persisted the white youth.</p> + +<p id="id00615">"Not in the case of lynx," declared Wabigoon. "No animal made those +cries. Mukoki is as fearless as a lion. The cry of a lynx would have +stirred his blood with pleasure instead of fear. Whatever the sounds +were they turned Mukoki's blood into water. They made him a coward, +and he ran, ran, mind you! until he got back to us! Is that like +Mukoki? I tell you the cries—"</p> + +<p id="id00616">"What?"</p> + +<p id="id00617">"Were something very unusual," finished Wabigoon quietly, rising to +his feet "Perhaps we will find out more to-morrow. As it is, I believe +we had better stand guard in camp to-night. I will go to bed now and +you can awaken me after a while."</p> + +<p id="id00618">Wabigoon's words and the strangeness of his manner put Rod ill at +ease, despite his arguments of a few moments before, and no sooner did +he find himself alone beside the fire than he began to be filled with +an unpleasant premonition of lurking danger. For a time he sat very +still, trying to peer into the shadows beyond the fire and listening +to the sounds that came to him from out of the night. As he watched +and listened his brain worked ceaselessly, conjuring picture after +picture of what that danger might be, and at last he drew out of the +firelight and concealed himself in the deep gloom of the bush. From +here he could see the camp, and at the same time was safe from a +possible rifle shot.</p> + +<p id="id00619">The night passed with tedious slowness, and he was glad when, a little +after midnight, Wabi came out to relieve him. At dawn he was in turn +awakened by the young Indian. Mukoki was already up and had prepared +his pack. Apparently he had regained his old spirits, but both Rod and +Wabigoon could see that behind them the fear of the preceding night +still haunted him. That morning he did not set off ahead of the two +boys with his pack but walked beside them, stopping to rest when they +lowered their canoe, his eyes never ceasing their sharp scrutiny of +the plain and distant ridges. Once when Mukoki mounted a big rock to +look about him, Wabi whispered,</p> + +<p id="id00620">"I tell you it's strange, Rod—mighty strange!"</p> + +<p id="id00621">An hour later the old warrior halted and threw off his load. The three +had approached within a quarter of a mile of the dip in the mountain.</p> + +<p id="id00622">"Leave canoe here," he said. "Go lak fox to old camp. Mebbe see!"</p> + +<p id="id00623">He took the lead now, followed closely by the boys. The safety of the +old pathfinder's rifle was down, and following his example Rod and +Wabigoon held their own guns in readiness for instant fire. As they +neared the summit of the ridge on which Mukoki's life had been +attempted the suspense of the two young hunters became almost +painfully acute. Mukoki's actions not only astonished them, but +set their blood tingling with his own strange fear. Many times had +Wabigoon seen his faithful comrade in moments of deadly peril but +never, even when the Woongas were close upon their trail, had he known +him to take them as seriously as he did the ascent of this mountain. +Every few steps Mukoki paused, listening and watchful. Not the +smallest twig broke under his moccasined feet; the movement of the +smallest bird, the trembling of a bush, the scurry of a rabbit halted +him, rigid, his rifle half to shoulder. And Rod and Wabigoon soon +become filled with this same panic-stricken fear. What terrible dread +was it that filled Mukoki's soul? Had he seen something of which he +had not told them? Did he think something which he had not revealed?</p> + +<p id="id00624">Foot by foot the three came to the top of the ridge. There Mukoki +straightened himself, and stood erect. There were no signs of a living +creature about them. Down in the dip nestled the little lake, gleaming +in the midday sun. They could make out the debris of the burned cabin +in which they had passed their hunting season, and close to this was +the pack which Mukoki had dropped there the night before. No one had +molested it. Wabi's face relaxed. Rod, breathing easier, laughed +softly. What had there been to fear? He glanced questioningly at +Mukoki.</p> + +<p id="id00625">"There rocks, there tree," said the old warrior, in answer to Rod's +glance, "down there went scream!" He pointed far out across the plain.</p> + +<p id="id00626">Wabi had gone to the tree.</p> + +<p id="id00627">"See here, Rod!" he cried. "By George, this was a close shave!" He +pointed to a tiny hole freshly made in the smooth white surface of the +tree as the others came up. "There—stand there, Mukoki, back to the +tree, as you said you were when the shot was fired. Great Caesar, that +fellow had a dead line on your head—two inches high! No wonder it +made you think the scream of a lynx was something else!"</p> + +<p id="id00628">"No lynx," said Mukoki, his face darkening.</p> + +<p id="id00629">"Shame on you, Muky!" laughed Wabigoon. "Don't get angry. I won't say +it again if it makes you mad."</p> + +<p id="id00630">Rod had drawn his hunting-knife and was prodding the point of it in +the bullet hole.</p> + +<p id="id00631">"I can feel the ball," he said. "It's not in more than an inch."</p> + +<p id="id00632">"That's curious," exclaimed Wabigoon, coming close beside him. "It +ought to be half-way through the tree at least! Eh, Muky? I don't +believe it would have hurt—"</p> + +<p id="id00633">He stopped. Rod had turned with a sudden excited cry. He held out his +knife, tip upward, and pointed to it with the index finger of his free +hand. Wabi's eyes fell on the tip of the blade. Mukoki stared. For a +full half minute the three stood in speechless amazement. Clinging to +the knife tip was a tiny fleck of yellow, gleaming lustrously in the +sun as Rod slowly turned the handle of his weapon.</p> + +<p id="id00634">"Another—gold—bullet!"</p> + +<p id="id00635">The words fell from Wabi's lips very slowly, and so low that they were +scarce above a whisper. Mukoki seemed to have ceased breathing. Rod's +eyes met the old warrior's.</p> + +<p id="id00636">"What does it mean?"</p> + +<p id="id00637">Wabi had pulled his knife and was digging into the tree. A few deep +cuts and the golden bullet lay exposed to view.</p> + +<p id="id00638">"What does it mean?" repeated the white youth.</p> + +<p id="id00639">Again he addressed his question to Mukoki.</p> + +<p id="id00640">"Man who shoot bear—heem no dead," replied the old pathfinder. "Same +gun, same gold, same—"</p> + +<p id="id00641">"Same what?"</p> + +<p id="id00642">A strange gleam came for an instant into Mukoki's eyes, and without +finishing he turned and pointed across the narrow plain that lay +between them and the mysterious chasm which they were to follow in +their search for treasure.</p> + +<p id="id00643">"Cry went there!" he said shortly.</p> + +<p id="id00644">"To the chasm!" said Wabi.</p> + +<p id="id00645">"To the chasm!" repeated Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00646">Impelled by the same thought the three adventurers went toward the +rocks from which the shot had been fired. Surely they would discover +some sign there, or lower down upon the plain, where the melting snows +had softened the earth. Mukoki led in the search, and foot by foot +they examined the spot where the mysterious marksman must have stood +when he sent his golden bullet so close to the Indian's head.</p> + +<p id="id00647">But not a trace of his presence had he left behind. Working abreast, +the three began the descent of the ridge. Hardly had they covered a +third of the distance to the plain when Wabi, who was trailing between +Rod and the old Indian, called out that he had made a discovery. +Mukoki had already reached him when Rod came up, and the two were +gazing silently at something fluttering from a bush.</p> + +<p id="id00648">"Lynx hair!" cried Rod. "A lynx has been this way!" He could not +entirely conceal the triumph in his voice. He had been right in his +conjecture of the night before, the cry that had frightened Mukoki had +been made by a lynx!</p> + +<p id="id00649">"Yes, a lynx has been this way, a lynx four feet high," said Wabigoon +quietly, and the touch of raillery in his voice assured Rod that he +had still other lessons to learn in the life of this big wilderness. +"Lynx don't grow that big, Rod!"</p> + +<p id="id00650">"Then it's—" Rod feared to go on.</p> + +<p id="id00651">"Lynx fur. That's just what it is. Whoever fired at Mukoki last night +was dressed in skins! Now, can you tell us what that means?"</p> + +<p id="id00652">Without waiting for an answer Wabigoon resumed his search. But the +mountain side gave no further evidence. Not a footprint was found upon +the plain. If the mysterious person who had fired the golden bullet +had leaped from the mountain top into space he could have left no +fewer traces behind him. At the end of an hour Rod and his companions +returned to the canoe, carried their loads to the pack in the dip, +and prepared dinner. Their suspense and fear, and specially Mukoki's +dread, were in a large measure gone. But at the same time they were +more hopelessly mystified than ever. That there was danger ahead of +them, that the menace of golden bullets was actual and thrilling, all +three were well agreed, but the sunlight of day and a little sound +reasoning had dispelled their half superstitious terrors of the +previous night and they began to face the new situation with their +former confidence.</p> + +<p id="id00653">"We can't let this delay us," said Wabi, as they ate their dinner. "By +night we ought to be in our old camp at the head of the chasm, where +we held the Woongas at bay last winter. The sooner we get out of the +way of these golden bullets the better it will be for us!"</p> + +<p id="id00654">Mukoki shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p id="id00655">"Gold bullet follow, I guess so," he grunted, "Cry went there—to +chasm!"</p> + +<p id="id00656">"I don't believe this fellow, whoever he is, will hang to our trail," +continued Wabi, giving Rod a suggestive look. A few moments later he +found an opportunity to whisper, "We've got to get that cry out of +Muky's head, Rod, or we'll never find our gold!"</p> + +<p id="id00657">When Mukoki had gone to arrange his pack the young Indian spoke +earnestly to his companion.</p> + +<p id="id00658">"Muky isn't afraid of bullets, either gold or lead; he isn't afraid of +any danger on earth. But that cry haunts him. He is trying not to +let us know, yet it haunts him just the same. Do you know what he is +thinking? No? Well, I do! He is superstitious, like the rest of his +race, and the two gold bullets, the terrible cries, and the fact that +we found no tracks upon the plain are all carrying him toward one +conclusion, that the strange thing that fired at him is—"</p> + +<p id="id00659">Wabigoon paused and wiped his face, and it was easy for Rod to see +that he was suppressing some unusual excitement.</p> + +<p id="id00660">"What does he think it is?"</p> + +<p id="id00661">"I'm not sure, not quite sure, yet," went on the Indian youth. "But +listen! It is a legend in Mukoki's tribe, and always has been, that +once in every so many generations they are visited by a terrible +warrior sent by the Great Spirit who takes sacrifice of them, a +sacrifice of human life, because of a great wrong that was once done +by their people. And this warrior, though invisible, has a voice that +makes the mountains quake and the rivers stand still with fear, and +in his great bow he shoots shafts that are made of gold! Do you +understand? Last night I heard Mukoki talking about it in his sleep. +Either we must hear this cry, and find out more about it, or hurry to +a place where it won't be heard again. Golden bullets and cries and +Mukoki's superstitions are going to be worse than Woongas if we don't +watch out!"</p> + +<p id="id00662">"But the whole thing is as plain as day!" declared Rod in +astonishment. "A man shot at the bear, and the same man shot at +Mukoki, and he fired gold each time. Surely—"</p> + +<p id="id00663">"It's not the man part of it," interrupted the other. "It's the cry. +There, Mukoki has his pack ready. Let's start for the chasm at once!"</p> + +<p id="id00664">This time the boys had a heavier burden than usual, for in the canoe +they placed one of the two loads carried by Mukoki, and consequently +their progress toward the chasm was much slower than that across the +plain. It was late in the afternoon when they reached the break that +led into the chasm, and as they cautiously made the descent now Rod +thought of the thrilling pursuit of the Woonga horde, and how a few +weeks before they had discovered this break just in time for Wabi and +him to save their lives, and that of the wounded Mukoki. It was with a +feeling almost of awe that the three adventurers penetrated deeper and +deeper into the silent gloom of this mystery-filled gulch between the +mountains, and when they reached the bottom they set their loads down +without speaking, their eyes roving over the black walls of rock, +their hearts throbbing a little faster with excitement.</p> + +<p id="id00665">For here, at this break in the mountain, began the romantic trail +drawn by men long dead, the trail that led to a treasure of gold.</p> + +<p id="id00666">As the three sat in silence, the gloom in the chasm thickened. The sun +had passed beyond the southwestern forests, and through the narrow +rift between the mountain walls there fell but the ebbing light of +day, dissolving itself into the shadows of dusk as it struggled weakly +in the cavernous depths. For a few minutes this swift fading of day +into night gripped the adventurers in its spell. What did the lonely +solitudes of that chasm hold for them? Where would they lead them? To +Rod's mind there came a picture of the silver fox and a thought of +his dream, when for a few miles he had explored the mysteries of this +strange, sunless world shut in by rock walls. Again he saw the dancing +skeletons, heard the rattle of their bones, and watched the wonderful +dream-battle that had led him to the birch-bark map. Wabigoon, his +eyes gleaming in the gathering darkness, thought of their flight from +the outlaw savages, and Mukoki—</p> + +<p id="id00667">The white youth had turned a little to look at the old warrior. Mukoki +sat as rigid as a pillar of stone an arm's reach from him. Head erect, +arms tense, his eyes gleaming strangely, he stared straight out into +the gloom between the chasm walls. Rod shivered. He knew, knew without +questioning, that Mukoki was thinking of the cry!</p> + +<p id="id00668">And at that instant there floated up from the black chaos ahead a +sound, a sound low and weird, like the moaning of a winter's wind +through the pine tops, swelling, advancing, until it ended in a +shriek—a shriek that echoed and reëchoed between the chasm walls, +dying away in a wail that froze the blood of the three who sat and +listened!</p> + +<h2 id="id00669" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h4 id="id00670" style="margin-top: 2em">WABI MAKES A STRANGE DISCOVERY</h4> + +<p id="id00671">Mukoki broke the silence which followed the terrible cry. With a +choking sound, as if some unseen hand were clutching at his throat, he +slipped from the rock upon which he was sitting and crouched behind +it, his rifle gleaming faintly as he leveled it down the chasm. There +came the warning click of Wabigoon's gun, and the young Indian hunched +himself forward until he was no more than an indistinct shadow in the +fast-deepening gloom of night. Only Rod still sat erect. For a moment +his heart seemed to stand still. Then something leaped into his brain +and spread like fire through his veins, calling him to his feet, +trembling with the knowledge of what that cry had told him! It was not +a lesson from the wilderness that Roderick Drew was learning now. As +fast as the mind could travel he had gone far back into the strife and +misery and madness of civilization, and there he found the language +of that fearful cry floating up the chasm. He had heard it once, +twice—yes, again and again, and the memory of it had burned deep down +into his soul. He turned to his companions, trying to speak, but the +horror that had first filled Mukoki now fastened itself on him, and +his tongue was lifeless.</p> + +<p id="id00672">"A madman!"</p> + +<p id="id00673">Wabi's fingers dug into his arm like the claws of a bear.</p> + +<p id="id00674">"A what!"</p> + +<p id="id00675">"A madman!" repeated Rod, trying to speak more calmly. "The man who +shot the bear and fired at Mukoki and who uses gold bullets in his gun +is mad—raving mad! I have heard those screams before—in the Eloise +insane asylum, near Detroit. He's—"</p> + +<p id="id00676">The words were frozen on his lips. Again the cry echoed up the +chasm. It was nearer this time, and with a sobbing, terrified sound, +something that Wabi had never heard fall from Mukoki's lips before, +the old warrior clung to Roderick's arm. Darkness hid the terror in +his face, but the white boy could feel it in the grip of his hands.</p> + +<p id="id00677">"Mad, raving mad!" he cried. Suddenly he gripped Mukoki fiercely by +the shoulders, and as Wabigoon crouched forward, ready to fire at the +first movement in the gloom, he thrust the butt of his rifle in his +back. "Don't shoot!" he commanded. "Mukoki, don't be a fool! That's +a man back there, a man who has suffered and starved, starved, mind +you!—until he's mad, stark mad! It would be worse than murder to kill +him!"</p> + +<p id="id00678">He stopped, and Mukoki drew back a step, breathing deeply.</p> + +<p id="id00679">"Heem—starve—no eat—gone bad dog?" he questioned softly. In an +instant Wabi was at his side.</p> + +<p id="id00680">"That's it, Muky—he's gone bad dog, just like that husky of ours who +went bad because he swallowed a fish bone. White men sometimes go bad +dog when they are thirsty and starving!"</p> + +<p id="id00681">"Our Great Spirit tells us that we must never harm them," added Rod. +"We put them in big houses, larger than all of the houses at the Post +together, and feed them and clothe them and care for them all their +lives. Are you afraid of a bad dog, Muky, or of a man who has gone bad +dog?"</p> + +<p id="id00682">"Bad dog bite deep—mebby so we kill heem!"</p> + +<p id="id00683">"But we don't kill them until we have to," persisted the quick-witted +Wabigoon, who saw the way in which Rod's efforts were being directed. +"Didn't we save our husky by taking the fish bone out of his throat? +We must save this bad dog, because he is a white man, like Rod. He +thinks all men are his enemies, just as a bad dog thinks all other +dogs are his enemies. So we must be careful and not give him a chance +to shoot us but we mustn't harm him!"</p> + +<p id="id00684">"It will be best if we don't let him know we are in the chasm," said +Rod, still speaking for Mukoki's benefit. "He's probably going out on +the plain, and must climb up this break in the mountain. Let's move +our stuff a little out of his path."</p> + +<p id="id00685">As the two boys went to the canoe their hands touched. Wabi was +startled by the coldness of his friend's fingers.</p> + +<p id="id00686">"We've fixed Mukoki," he whispered. "He won't shoot. But—"</p> + +<p id="id00687">"We may have to," replied Rod. "That will be up to you and me, Wabi. +We must use judgment, and unless it's a case of life or death—"</p> + +<p id="id00688">"Ugh!" shuddered the young Indian.</p> + +<p id="id00689">"If he doesn't discover our presence to-night we will get out of his +way to-morrow," continued Rod. "No fire—no talking. We must be as +still as death!"</p> + +<p id="id00690">For some time after their outfit was concealed among the rocks +Wabigoon sat with his mouth close to the old pathfinder's ear. Then he +returned to Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00691">"Muky understands. He has never seen or heard of a madman, and it is +hard for him to comprehend. But he knows—now, and understands what he +must do."</p> + +<p id="id00692">"Sh-h-h-h-h!"</p> + +<p id="id00693">"What is it?"</p> + +<p id="id00694">"I thought I heard a sound!" breathed Rod. "Did you hear it?"</p> + +<p id="id00695">"No."</p> + +<p id="id00696">The two listened. There was an awesome silence in the chasm now, +broken only by the distant murmur of running water, a strange, +chilling stillness in which the young hunters could hear the excited +beating of their own hearts. To Roderick the minutes passed like so +many hours. His ears were keyed to the highest tension of expectancy, +his eyes stared into the gloom beyond them until they ached with +his efforts to see. At every instant he expected to hear again that +terrible scream, this time very near, and he prepared himself to meet +it. But the seconds passed, and then the minutes, and still there came +no quick running of mad footsteps, no repetition of the cry. Had the +madman turned the other way? Was he plunging deeper into the blackness +of this mysterious world of his between the mountains?</p> + +<p id="id00697">"I guess I was mistaken," he whispered softly to Wabigoon. "Shall we +get out our blankets?"</p> + +<p id="id00698">"We might as well make ourselves comfortable," replied the young +Indian. "You sit here, and listen while I undo the pack."</p> + +<p id="id00699">He went noiselessly to Mukoki, who was leaning against the pack, and +Rod could hear them fumbling at the straps on the bundle. After a +little Wabi returned and the two boys spread out their blankets beside +the rock upon which they had been sitting. But there was no thought of +sleep in the mind of either, though both were dead tired from their +long day's work. They sat closer together, shoulder touching shoulder, +and unknown to his companion Roderick drew his revolver, cocked it +silently and placed it where he could feel the cold touch of its steel +between his fingers. He knew that he was the only one of the three who +fully realized the horror of their situation.</p> + +<p id="id00700">Mukoki's mind, simple in its reasoning of things that did not belong +to the wilderness, had accepted the assurances and explanations of +Rod and Wabigoon. Wabi, half-bred in the wild, felt alarm only in the +sense of physical peril. It was different with the white youth. What +is there in civilization that sends the chill of terror to one's heart +more quickly than the presence of a human being who has gone mad? And +this madman was at large! At that very instant he might be listening +to their breathing and their whispered words half a dozen feet away; +any moment might see the blackness take form and the terrible thing +hurl itself at their throats. Rod, unlike Wabigoon, knew that the +powers of this strange creature of the chasm were greater than their +own, that it could travel with the swiftness and silence of an animal +through the darkness, that perhaps it could smell them and feel their +presence as it passed on its way to the plain. He was anxious now to +hear the cry again. What was the meaning of this silence? Was the +madman already conscious of their presence? Was he creeping upon them +at that moment, as still as the black shadows that shut in their +vision? His mind was working in such vivid imaginings that he was +startled when Wabi prodded him gently in the side.</p> + +<p id="id00701">"Look over there—across the chasm," he whispered. "See that glow on +the mountain wall?"</p> + +<p id="id00702">"The moon!" replied Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00703">"Yes. I've been watching it, and it's creeping down and down. The +moon is going to swing across this break in the mountains. In fifteen +minutes we shall be able to see."</p> + +<p id="id00704">"It won't swing across so much as it will come up in line with us," +replied Rod. "Watch how that light is lengthening! We shall be able to +see for several hours."</p> + +<p id="id00705">He started to rise to his feet but fell back with an astonished cry. +For a third time there came the mad hunter's scream, this time far +above and beyond them, floating down from the distance of the moon-lit +plain!</p> + +<p id="id00706">"He passed us!" exclaimed Wabi. "He passed us—and we didn't hear +him!" He leaped to his feet and his voice rose excitedly until it rang +in a hundred echoes between the chasm walls. "He passed us, and we +didn't hear him!"</p> + +<p id="id00707">Mukoki's voice came strangely from out of the gloom.</p> + +<p id="id00708">"No man do that! No man—no man—"</p> + +<p id="id00709">"Hush!" commanded Rod. "Now is our time, boys! Quick, get everything +to the creek. He's half a mile out on the plain and we can get away +before he comes back. I'd rather risk a few rocks than another one of +his golden bullets!"</p> + +<p id="id00710">"So had I!" cried Wabi.</p> + +<p id="id00711">As if their lives depended on their exertions the three set to work. +Mukoki staggered ahead over the rocks with his burden while the boys +followed with the light canoe and the remaining pack. Their previous +experiences in the chasm had taught them where to approach the stream, +and ten minutes later they were at its side. Without a moment's +hesitation Mukoki dropped his pack and plunged in. The edge of the +moon was just appearing over the southern mountain wall and by its +light Rod and Wabigoon could see that the water of the creek was +rushing with great swiftness as high as the old warrior's knees.</p> + +<p id="id00712">"No ver' deep," said the Indian. "Rocks—"</p> + +<p id="id00713">"I followed this creek for half a dozen miles and its bottom is as +smooth as a floor!" interrupted Rod. "There's no danger of rocks for +that distance!"</p> + +<p id="id00714">He made no effort now to suppress the pleasure which he felt at the +escape from their unpleasant situation. Mukoki steadied the canoe as +it was placed in the water, and was the last to climb into it, taking +his usual position in the stern where he could use to best advantage +the powerful sweeps of his paddle. In an instant the swift current +of the little stream caught the birch bark and carried it along with +remarkable speed. After several futile strokes of his paddle Wabi +settled back upon his heels.</p> + +<p id="id00715">"It's all up to you, Muky," he called softly. "I can't do a thing from +the bow. The current is too swift. All you can do is to keep her nose +straight."</p> + +<p id="id00716">The light of the moon was now filling the chasm and the adventurers +could see distinctly for a hundred yards or more ahead of them. Each +minute seemed to add to the swiftness and size of the stream, and by +the use of his paddle Wabi found that it was constantly deepening, +until he could no longer touch bottom. Rod's eyes were ceaselessly on +the alert for familiar signs along the shore. He was sure that he +knew when they passed the spot where he killed the silver fox, and +he called Wabi's attention to it. Then the rocks sped past with +increasing swiftness, and as the moon rose higher the three could see +where the overflowing torrent sent out little streams that twisted +and dashed themselves into leaping foam in the wildness of the chasm +beyond the main channel. These increased in number and size as the +journey continued, until Mukoki began to feel the influence of their +currents and called on Wabi and Rod for assistance. Suddenly Rod gave +a muffled shout as they shot past a mass of huge boulders on their +right.</p> + +<p id="id00717">"That's where I camped the night I dreamed of the skeletons!" he +cried. "I don't know what the stream is like from here on. Be +careful!"</p> + +<p id="id00718">Wabi gave a terrific lunge with his paddle and the cone of a black +rock hissed past half a canoe length away.</p> + +<p id="id00719">"It's as black as a dungeon ahead, and I can hear rocks!" he shouted. +"Bring her in if you can, Muky, bring her in!"</p> + +<p id="id00720">There came the sudden sharp crack of snapping wood and a low +exclamation of alarm fell from Mukoki. His paddle had broken at the +shaft. In a flash Rod realized what had happened and passed back his +own, but that moment's loss of time proved almost fatal. Freed of its +guiding hand the birch bark swung broadside to the current, and at the +same time Wabi's voice rose in a shrill cry of warning.</p> + +<p id="id00721">"It's not rocks, it's a whirlpool!" he yelled. "The other shore, swing +her out, swing her out!"</p> + +<p id="id00722">He dug his own paddle deep down into the racing current and from +behind Mukoki exerted his most powerful efforts, but it was too late! +A hundred feet ahead the stream tore between two huge rocks as big as +houses, and just beyond these Rod caught a glimpse of frothing water +churning itself milk-white in the moonlight. But it was only a +glimpse. With a velocity that was startling the canoe shot between +the rocks, and as a choking sea of spray leaped into their faces +Wabigoon's voice came back again in a loud command for the others to +hang to the gunwales of their frail craft. For an instant, in which +his thoughts seemed to have left him, a roaring din filled Rod's ears; +a white, churning mist hid everything but his own arms and clutching +hands, and then the birch bark darted with the sudden impetus of a +freshly-shot arrow around the jagged edge of the boulder—and he could +see again.</p> + +<p id="id00723">Here was the whirlpool! More than once Wabi had told him of these +treacherous traps, made by the mountain streams, and of the almost +certain death that awaited the unlucky canoe man drawn into their +smothering embrace. There was no angry raging of the flood here; at +first it seemed to Rod that they were floating almost without motion +upon a black, lazy sea that made neither sound nor riffle. Scarce half +a dozen canoe lengths away he saw the white center of the maelstrom, +and there came to his ears above the dash of the stream between the +two great rocks a faint hissing sound that curdled the blood in his +veins, the hissing of the treacherous undertow that would soon drag +them to their death! In the passing of a thought there flashed into +the white youth's mind a story that Mukoki had told him of an Indian +who had been lost in one of these whirlpools of the spring floods, and +whose body had been tossed and pitched about in its center for more +than a week. For the first time the power of speech came to him.</p> + +<p id="id00724">"Shall we jump?" he shouted.</p> + +<p id="id00725">"Hang to the canoe."</p> + +<p id="id00726">Wabi fairly shrieked the words, and yet as he spoke he drew himself +half erect, as if about to leap into the flood. The momentum gathered +in its swift rush between the rocks had carried their frail craft +almost to the outer edge of the deadly trap, and as this momentum +ceased and the canoe yielded to the sucking forces of the maelstrom +the young Indian shrieked out his warning again.</p> + +<p id="id00727">"Hang to the canoe!"</p> + +<p id="id00728">The words were scarcely out of his mouth when he stood erect and +launched himself like an animal into the black depths toward shore. +With a terrified cry Rod rose to his knees. In another instant he +would have plunged recklessly after Wabi, but Mukoki's voice sounding +behind him, snarling in its fierceness, stopped him.</p> + +<p id="id00729">"Hang to canoe!"</p> + +<p id="id00730">There came a jerk. The bow of the canoe swung inward and the stern +whirled so quickly that Rod, half kneeling, nearly lost his balance. +In that instant he turned his face and saw the old warrior standing, +as Wabigoon had done before him, and as Mukoki leaped there came for a +third time that warning cry:</p> + +<p id="id00731">"Hang to canoe!"</p> + +<p id="id00732">And Rod hung. He knew that for some reason those commands were meant +for him, and him alone; he knew that the desperate plunges of his +comrades were not inspired by cowardice or fear, but not until the +birch bark ground upon the shore and he tumbled out in safety did he +fully comprehend what had happened. Holding the rope with which they +tied their canoe, Wabigoon had taken a desperate chance. His quick +mind had leaped like a flash of powder to their last hope, and at the +crucial moment, just as the momentum of the birch bark gave way to the +whirling forces of the pool, he had jumped a good seven feet toward +shore, and had found bottom! Another twelve inches of water under him +and all would have been lost.</p> + +<p id="id00733">Wabigoon stood panting and dripping wet, and in the moonlight his face +was as white as the tub-like spot of foam out in the center of the +maelstrom.</p> + +<p id="id00734">"That's what you call going to kingdomcome and getting out again!" he +gasped. "Muky, that was the closest shave we've ever had! It has your +avalanche beaten to a frazzle!"</p> + +<p id="id00735">Mukoki was dragging the canoe upon the pebbly shore, and still +overcome by the suddenness of all that had happened Rod went to his +assistance.</p> + +<p id="id00736">The adventurers now discovered themselves in a most interesting +situation. The night had indeed been one of curious and thrilling +happenings for them, and here was a pretty climax to it all! They had +escaped the mad hunter by running into the almost fatal grip of the +whirlpool, and now they had escaped the perils of that seething +death-trap by plunging into a tiny rock-bound prison which seemed +destined to hold them for all time, or at least until the floods of +spring subsided. Straight above them, and shutting them in entirely, +rose precipitous rock walls. On the only open side was the deadly +maelstrom.</p> + +<p id="id00737">Even Mukoki as he glanced about him was struck by the humor of their +situation, and chuckled softly.</p> + +<p id="id00738">Wabi stood with his hands deep in his soaked pockets, facing the +moonlit walls. Then he turned to Rod, and grinned; then he faced the +whirlpool, and after that his eyes swept the space of sky above them. +The situation was funny, at first; but when he looked at the white +youth again the smile had died out of his face.</p> + +<p id="id00739">"Wouldn't that madman have fun if he found us now!" he whispered.</p> + +<p id="id00740">Mukoki was traveling slowly around the rock walls. The space in which +they were confined was not more than fifty feet in diameter, and there +was not even a crack by means of which a squirrel might have found +exit. The prison was perfect. The old pathfinder came back and sat +down with a grunt.</p> + +<p id="id00741">"We might as well have supper and a good sleep," suggested Rod, +who was hungry. "Surely we need fear no attack from beast or man +to-night!"</p> + +<p id="id00742">At least there was this consolation, and the gold hunters ate a +hearty meal of cold bear meat and prepared for slumber. The night +was unusually warm, and both Mukoki and Wabigoon hung out their wet +clothes to dry while they slept in their blankets. Rod did not open +his eyes again until Wabi awakened him in the morning. Both Indians +were dressed and it was evident that they had been up for some time. +When Rod went to the water to wash himself he was surprised to find +all of their supplies repacked in the canoe, as though their journey +was about to be resumed immediately after breakfast, and when he +returned to where Mukoki and Wabigoon had placed their food on a +flat stone in the center of what he had regarded as their prison, he +observed that both of his companions were in an unusually cheerful +frame of mind.</p> + +<p id="id00743">"Looks as though you expected to get out of here pretty soon," he +said, nodding toward the canoe.</p> + +<p id="id00744">"So we do!" responded Wabi. "We're going to take a swim through the +whirlpool!"</p> + +<p id="id00745">He laughed at the incredulity in Rod's face.</p> + +<p id="id00746">"That is, we're going to navigate along the edge of it," he amended. +"Muky and I have tied together every bit of rope and strap in our +outfit, even to our gun-slings, and we've got a piece about eighty +feet long. We'll show you how to use it after breakfast."</p> + +<p id="id00747">It took but a few minutes to dispose of the rather unappetizing repast +of cold bear meat, biscuits and water. Wabi then led the way to the +extreme edge of the great rock which formed the eastern wall of their +prison, waded in the water to his knees, and directed Rod's gaze to a +point of land jutting out into the stream about sixty feet beyond the +rock.</p> + +<p id="id00748">"If we can reach that," explained Wabi, "we can portage around the +rest of the whirlpool to the main channel. The water is very deep +along the edge of this rock, but the undertow doesn't seem to have any +great force. I believe that we can make it. The experiment won't be a +dangerous one at any rate."</p> + +<p id="id00749">The canoe was now dragged to the edge of the rock and launched, Mukoki +taking his place in the stern while Wabigoon placed Rod a little ahead +of the midship rib.</p> + +<p id="id00750">"You must paddle on your left side, every minute and as fast as you +can," advised the young Indian. "I am to remain behind, holding one +end of this rope, so that if you are drawn toward the maelstrom I can +pull you back. Understand?"</p> + +<p id="id00751">"Yes—but you. How—"</p> + +<p id="id00752">"Oh, I'll swim!" said Wabi in rank bravado. "I don't mind a little +whirlpool like that at all!"</p> + +<p id="id00753">Mukoki chuckled in high humor, and Roderick asked no more questions, +but at Wabi's command dug in his paddle and kept at it until the birch +bark safely made the point of land beyond the rock. When he looked +back Wabi had tied the rope around his body and was already waist +deep in the water. At a signal from Mukoki the young Indian plunged +fearlessly into the edge of the whirlpool and like a great floundering +fish he was quickly pulled across to safety. Most of his clothes had +been brought over in the canoe, and after Wabigoon had exchanged his +wet garments for these the adventurers were ready to continue their +journey down the chasm. A short portage brought them to the main +channel of the stream, where they once more launched their birch bark.</p> + +<p id="id00754">"If the whole trip is as exciting as this we'll never reach our gold," +said Wabi, as they slipped out into the swift current. "A madman, a +whirlpool and a prison, all in one night, is almost more than we can +stand."</p> + +<p id="id00755">"There's a good deal of truth in the old saying that it never rains +but it pours," replied Rod. "Maybe we'll have smooth sailing from now +on."</p> + +<p id="id00756">"Mebby!" grunted the old pathfinder from behind.</p> + +<p id="id00757">Rod's optimism was vindicated for that day, at least. Until noon the +canoe sped swiftly down the chasm without mishap. The stream, to which +each mile added its contribution of flood water from the mountain +tops, increased constantly in width and depth, but only now and then +was there a rock to threaten their progress, and no driftwood at all. +When the gold seekers landed for dinner they were confident of two +things: that they had passed far beyond the mad hunter's reach, +and were very near to the first waterfall. Memory of the thrilling +experiences through which they had so recently run the gauntlet was +replaced by the most exciting anticipation of the sound and sight +of that first waterfall, which was so vitally associated with their +search for the lost treasure. This time a hearty dinner was cooked, +and it took more than an hour to prepare and eat it.</p> + +<p id="id00758">When the journey was resumed Mukoki placed himself in the bow, his +sharp eyes scanning the rocks and mountain walls ahead of him. Two +hours after the start he gave an exultant exclamation, and raised a +warning hand above his head. The three listened. Faintly above the +rush of the swift current there came to their ears the distant rumble +of falling water!</p> + +<p id="id00759">Forgetful now of the madman back in the chasm, oblivious of everything +but the fact that they had at last reached the first of the three +falls which were to lead them to the gold, Wabi gave a whoop that +echoed and reëchoed between the mountain walls, and Rod joined him +with all the power of his lungs. Mukoki grinned, chuckled in his +curious way, and a few moments later signaled Wabi to guide the canoe +ashore.</p> + +<p id="id00760">"We portage here," he explained. "Current swift there—mebby go over +fall!"</p> + +<p id="id00761">A short carry of two or three hundred yards brought them to the +cataract. It was, as Mukoki had said after his long trip of +exploration a few months before, a very small fall, not more than a +dozen feet in height. But over it there was now rushing a thundering +deluge of water. An easy trail led to the stream below it, and no time +was lost in getting under way again.</p> + +<p id="id00762">Although they had traveled fully forty miles since morning, the day +had been an easy and most interesting one for the three adventurers. +On the swift current of the chasm stream they had worked but little, +and the ceaseless change of scenery in this wonderful break between +the mountain ridges held an ever-increasing fascination for them. Late +in the afternoon the course changed from its northeasterly direction +to due north, and at this point there was an ideal spot for camping. +Over an extent of an acre or more there was a sweeping hollow of fine +white sand, with great quantities of dry wood cluttering the edge of +the depression.</p> + +<p id="id00763">"That's a curious spot!" said Wabi as they drew up their canoe. "Looks +like—"</p> + +<p id="id00764">"A lake," grunted Mukoki. "Long time ago—a lake."</p> + +<p id="id00765">"The curve of the stream right here has swept up so much sand that the +water can't get into it," added Rod, looking the place over.</p> + +<p id="id00766">Wabi had gone a few paces back. Suddenly he stopped, and with a half +shout he gesticulated excitedly to his companions. Something in his +manner took Rod and Mukoki to him on the run.</p> + +<p id="id00767">When they came up the Indian youth stood mutely pointing at something +in the sand.</p> + +<p id="id00768">Clearly imprinted in that sand was the shape of a human foot, a foot +that had worn neither boot nor moccasin when it left its trail in the +lake bed, but which was as naked as the quivering hand which Wabigoon +now held toward it!</p> + +<p id="id00769">And from that single footprint the eyes of the astonished adventurers +traveled quickly to a hundred others, until it seemed to them that a +dozen naked savages must have been dancing in these sands only a few +hours before.</p> + +<p id="id00770">And Rod, glancing toward the driftwood, saw something else,—something +toward which he pointed, speechless, white with that same strange +excitement that had taken possession of Wabigoon!</p> + +<h2 id="id00771" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h4 id="id00772" style="margin-top: 2em">THE THIRD WATERFALL</h4> + +<p id="id00773">The others followed Rod's arm. Behind him he heard the gentle click +of Wabigoon's revolver and the sharp, vicious snap of the safety on +Mukoki's rifle.</p> + +<p id="id00774">From beyond the driftwood there was rising a thin spiral of smoke!</p> + +<p id="id00775">"Whoever they are, they have certainly seen or heard us!" said Wabi, +after they had stood in silence for a full minute.</p> + +<p id="id00776">"Unless they are gone from camp," replied Rod in a whisper.</p> + +<p id="id00777">"Keep eyes open!" warned Mukoki as they advanced cautiously in the +direction of the smoke. "No can tell what, I guess so!"</p> + +<p id="id00778">He was first to mount the driftwood, and then he gave vent to a huge +grunt. The smoke was rising from beside a charred log which was heaped +half-way up its side with ashes and earth. In a flash the meaning +of the ash and dirt dawned on Rod and his companions. The fire was +banked. Those who had built it were gone, but they expected to return. +The naked footprints were thick about the camp-fire, and close to one +end of the charred log were scattered a number of bones. One after +another Mukoki picked up several of these and closely examined +them. While Rod and Wabigoon were still gazing about them in blank +astonishment, half expecting attack from a savage horde at any moment, +the old warrior had already reached a conclusion, and calling to his +companions he brought their attention to the tracks in the sand.</p> + +<p id="id00779">"Same feet!" he exclaimed. "One man mak' all track!"</p> + +<p id="id00780">"Impossible!" cried Wabi. "There are—thousands of them!"</p> + +<p id="id00781">Mukoki grunted and fell upon his knees.</p> + +<p id="id00782">"Heem big toe—right foot—broke sometime. Same in all track. See?"</p> + +<p id="id00783">Disgusted at his own lack of observation, Wabigoon saw at once that +the old pathfinder was right. The joint of the big toe on the right +foot was twisted fully half an inch outward, a deformity that left +a peculiar impression in the sand, and every other track bore +this telltale mark. No sooner were the two boys convinced of the +correctness of Mukoki's assertion than another and still more +startling surprise was sprung on them. Holding out his handful of +bones, Mukoki said:</p> + +<p id="id00784">"Meat no cook—eat raw!"</p> + +<p id="id00785">"Great Scott!" gasped Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00786">Wabi's eyes flashed with a new understanding, and as he gazed into +Rod's astonished face the latter, too, began to comprehend the +significance of it all.</p> + +<p id="id00787">"It must have been the madman!"</p> + +<p id="id00788">"Yes."</p> + +<p id="id00789">"And he was here yesterday!"</p> + +<p id="id00790">"Probably the day before," said Wabi. The young Indian turned suddenly +to Mukoki. "What did he want of the fire if he didn't cook meat?" he +asked.</p> + +<p id="id00791">Mukoki shrugged his shoulders but did not answer.</p> + +<p id="id00792">"Well, it wasn't cooked, anyway," declared Wabi, again examining the +bones. "Here are chunks of raw flesh clinging to the bones. Perhaps he +just singed the outside of his meat."</p> + +<p id="id00793">The old Indian nodded at this suggestion and turned to investigate the +fire. On the end of the log were two stones, one flat and the other +round and smooth, and after a moment's inspection of these he dropped +an exclamation which was unusual for him, and which he used only in +those rare intervals when all other language seemed to fail him.</p> + +<p id="id00794">"Bad dog man—mak' bullet—here!" he called, holding out the stones. +"See—gold—gold!"</p> + +<p id="id00795">The boys hurried to his side.</p> + +<p id="id00796">"See—gold!" he repeated excitedly.</p> + +<p id="id00797">In the center of the flat stone there was a gleaming yellow film. A +single glance told the story. With the round stone for a hammer the +mad hunter had pounded his golden bullets into shape upon the flat +stone! There was no longer a doubt in their minds; they were in the +madman's camp. That morning they had left this strange creature of the +wilderness fifty miles away. But how far away was he now? The fire +slumbering under its covering of ash and earth proved that he meant to +return—and soon. Would he travel by night as well as by day? Was it +possible that he was already close behind them?</p> + +<p id="id00798">"He travels with the swiftness of an animal," said Wabi, speaking in a +low voice to Rod. "Perhaps he will return to-night!"</p> + +<p id="id00799">Mukoki overheard him and shook his head.</p> + +<p id="id00800">"Mak' heem through chasm in two day on snow-shoe," he declared, +referring to his trip of exploration to the first waterfall over the +snows of the previous winter. "No mak' in t'ree day over rock!"</p> + +<p id="id00801">"If Mukoki is satisfied, I am," said Rod. "We can pull up behind the +driftwood on the farther edge of the lake bed."</p> + +<p id="id00802">Wabi made no objection, and the camp site was chosen. Strangely +enough, with the discovery of the footprints, the fire, the picked +bones and the stones with which the mad hunter had manufactured his +golden bullets, Mukoki seemed to have lost all fear of the wild +creature of the chasm. He was confident now that he had only a man to +deal with, a man who had gone "bad dog," and his curiosity overcame +his alarm. His assurance served to dispel the apprehension of his +companions, and sleep came early to the tired adventurers. Nor did +anything occur during the night to awaken them.</p> + +<p id="id00803">Soon after dawn the trip down the chasm stream was resumed. With the +abrupt turning of the channel to the north, however, there was an +almost immediate change in the topography of the country. Within +an hour the precipitous walls of the mountains gave place to +verdure-covered slopes, and now and then the gold seekers found +themselves between plains that swept back for a mile or more on either +side. Frequent signs of game were observed along the shores of the +river and several times during the morning moose and caribou were +seen in the distance. A few months before, when they had invaded the +wilderness to hunt and trap, this country would have aroused the +wildest enthusiasm among Rod and his friends, but now they gave but +little thought to their rifles. That morning they had set out with the +intention of reaching the second waterfall before dusk, and it was +with disappointment rather than gladness that they saw the swift +current of the chasm torrent change into the slower, steadier sweep of +a stream that had now widened into a fair-sized river. According +to the map the second fall was about fifty-five miles from the mad +hunter's camp. Darkness found them still fifteen miles from where it +should be.</p> + +<p id="id00804">Excitement kept Rod awake most of that night. Try as he would, he +could not keep visions of the lost treasure out of his mind. The next +day they would be far on their way to the third and last waterfall. +And then—the gold! That they might not find it, that the passing of +half a century or more might have obliterated all traces left by its +ancient discoverers, never for a moment disturbed his belief.</p> + +<p id="id00805">He was the first awake the following morning, the first to take his +place in the canoe. Every minute now his ears were keenly attuned for +that distant sound of falling water. But hours passed without a +sign of it. Noon came. They had traveled six hours and had covered +twenty-five miles instead of fifteen! Where was the waterfall?</p> + +<p id="id00806">There was a little more of anxiety in Wabigoon's eyes when they +resumed their journey after dinner. Again and again Rod looked at his +map, figuring out the distances as drawn by John Ball, the murdered +Englishman. Surely the second waterfall could not be far away now! And +still hour after hour passed, and mile after mile slipped behind them, +until the three knew that they had gone fully thirty miles beyond +where the cataract should have been, if the map was right. Twilight +was falling when they stopped for supper. For the last hour Mukoki +had spoken no word. A feeling of gloom was on them all; without +questioning, each knew what the fears of the others were.</p> + +<p id="id00807">Was it possible that, after all, they had not solved the secret of the +mysterious map?</p> + +<p id="id00808">The more Rod thought of it the more his fears possessed him. The +two men who fought and died in the old cabin were on their way to +civilization. They were taking gold with them, gold which they meant +to exchange for supplies. Would they, at the same time, dare to have +in their possession a map so closely defining their trail as the rude +sketch on the bit of birch bark? Was there not some strange key, known +only to themselves, necessary to the understanding of that sketch?</p> + +<p id="id00809">Mukoki had taken his rifle and disappeared in the plain along the +river, and for a long time after they had eaten their bear steak and +drank their hot coffee Rod and Wabigoon sat talking in the glow of +the camp-fire. The old warrior had been gone for about an hour when +suddenly there came the report of a gun from far down the stream, +which was quickly followed by two others—three in rapid succession. +After an interval of a few seconds there sounded two other shots.</p> + +<p id="id00810">"The signal!" cried Rod. "Mukoki wants us!"</p> + +<p id="id00811">Wabigoon sprang to his feet and emptied the five shots of his magazine +into the air.</p> + +<p id="id00812">"Listen!"</p> + +<p id="id00813">Hardly had the echoes died away when there came again the reports of +Mukoki's rifle.</p> + +<p id="id00814">Without another word the two boys hurried to the canoe, which had not +been unloaded.</p> + +<p id="id00815">"He's a couple of miles down-stream," said Wabi, as they shoved off. +"I wonder what's the matter?"</p> + +<p id="id00816">"I can make a pretty good guess," replied Rod, his voice trembling +with a new excitement. "He has found the second waterfall!"</p> + +<p id="id00817">The thought gave fresh strength to their aching arms and the canoe +sped swiftly down the stream. Fifteen minutes later another shot +signaled to them, this time not more than a quarter of a mile away, +and Wabi responded to it with a loud shout. Mukoki's voice floated +back in an answering halloo, but before the young hunters came within +sight of their comrade another sound reached their ears,—the muffled +roar of a cataract! Again and again the boys sent their shouts of joy +echoing through the night, and above the tumult of their own voices +they heard the old warrior calling on them to put into shore. Mukoki +was waiting for them when they landed.</p> + +<p id="id00818">"This is big un!" he greeted. "Mak' much noise, much swift water!"</p> + +<p id="id00819">"Hurrah!" yelled Rod for the twentieth time, jumping up and down in +his excitement.</p> + +<p id="id00820">"Hurrah!" cried Wabi.</p> + +<p id="id00821">And Mukoki chuckled, and grinned, and rubbed his leathery hands +together in high glee.</p> + +<p id="id00822">At last, when they had somewhat cooled down, Wabi said:</p> + +<p id="id00823">"That John Ball was a pretty poor fellow at a guess, eh? What do you +say, Rod?"</p> + +<p id="id00824">"Or else pretty clever," added Rod. "By George, I wonder if he had a +reason for making his scale fifty miles or so out of the way?"</p> + +<p id="id00825">Wabi looked at him, only partly understanding.</p> + +<p id="id00826">"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p id="id00827">"I mean that our third waterfall is more than likely to be mighty +close to this one! And if it is—well, John Ball had a reason, and a +good one! If we strike the last fall to-morrow it will be pretty +good proof that he drew the map in a way intended to puzzle +somebody,—perhaps his two partners, who were just about to start for +civilization."</p> + +<p id="id00828">"Muky, how far have we come?" asked Wabigoon.</p> + +<p id="id00829">"T'ree time first fall," replied the old Indian quickly.</p> + +<p id="id00830">"A hundred and fifty miles—in three days and one night. I don't +believe that is far out of the way. Then, according to the map, we +should still be a hundred miles from the third fall."</p> + +<p id="id00831">"And we're not more than twenty-five!" declared Rod confidently. +"Let's build a fire and go to bed. We'll have enough to do +to-morrow—hunting gold!"</p> + +<p>The fourth day's journey was begun before it +was yet light. Breakfast was eaten in the glow of the camp-fire, and +by the time dawn broke the adventurers were already an hour upon their +way. Nothing but confidence now animated them. The mad hunter and his +golden bullets were entirely forgotten in these last hours of their +exciting quest. Once, far back, Rod had thought with chilling dread +that this might be the madman's trail, that his golden bullets might +come from the treasure they were seeking. But he gave no thought to +this possibility now. His own belief that the third and last fall was +not far distant, in spite of the evidence of the map, gradually gained +possession of his companions, and the nerves of all three were keyed +to the highest tension of expectancy. The preceding night Mukoki had +made himself a paddle to replace the one he had broken, and not a +stroke of the three pairs of arms was lost. Early in the morning a +young moose allowed them to pass within a hundred yards of him. But no +shot was fired, for to obtain the meat would have meant an hour's loss +of time.</p> + +<p id="id00832">Two hours after the start the country again began taking on a sudden +change. From east and west the wild mountain ridges closed in, and +with each mile's progress the stream narrowed and grew swifter, until +again it was running between chasm walls that rose black and silent +over the adventurers' heads. Darker and gloomier became the break +between the mountains. Far above, a thousand feet or more, dense +forests of red pine flung their thick shadows over the edge of the +chasm, in places almost completely shutting out the light of day. +This was not like the other chasm. It was deeper and darker and more +sullen. Under its walls the gloom was almost that of night. Its +solitude was voiceless; not a bird fluttered or chirped among +its rocks; the lowest of whispered words sounded with startling +distinctness. Once Rod spoke aloud, and his voice rose and beat itself +in the cavernous depths of the walls until it seemed as though he had +shouted. Now they ceased paddling, and Mukoki steered. Noiselessly the +current swept them on. In the twilight gloom Rod's face shone +with singular whiteness. Mukoki and Wabigoon crouched like bronze +silhouettes. It was as if some mysterious influence held them in its +power, forbidding speech, holding their eyes in staring expectancy +straight ahead, filling them with indefinable sensations that made +their hearts beat faster and their blood tingle.</p> + +<p id="id00833">Softly, from far ahead, at last there came a murmur. It was like the +first gentle whispering of an approaching wind, the soughing of a +breath among the pines at the top of the chasm. But a wind among the +trees rises, and then dies away, like a chord struck low and gently +upon some soft-toned instrument. This whisper that came up the chasm +remained. It grew no louder, and sometimes it almost faded away, until +the straining ears of those who listened could barely detect it; but +after a moment it was there again, as plainly as before. Little by +little it became more distinct, until there were no longer intervals +when it died away, and at last Wabigoon turned in the bow and faced +his companions, and though he spoke no word there was the gleam of a +great excitement in his eyes. Rod's heart beat like a drum. He, too, +began to understand. That moaning, whispering sound floating up +the chasm was not the wind, but the far-away rumble of the third +waterfall!</p> + +<p id="id00834">Mukoki's voice broke the tense silence from behind.</p> + +<p id="id00835">"That the fall!"</p> + +<p id="id00836">Wabigoon replied in words scarcely louder than a whisper. There was no +joyful shouting now, as there had been at the discovery of the second +fall. Even Mukoki's voice was so low that the others could barely +hear. Something between these chasm walls seemed to demand silence +from them, and as the rumble of the cataract came more and +more clearly to their ears they held their breath in voiceless +anticipation. A few hundred yards ahead of them was the treasure which +men long since dead had discovered more than half a century before; +between the black mountain walls that so silently guarded that +treasure there seemed to lurk the spirit presence of the three men who +had died because of it. Here, somewhere very near, John Ball had been +murdered, and Rod almost fancied that along the sandy edge of the +chasm stream they might stumble on the footprints of the men whose +skeletons they had discovered in the ancient cabin.</p> + +<p id="id00837">Mukoki uttered no sound as he guided the canoe ashore. Still without +word, the three picked up their rifles and Wabigoon led the way along +the edge of the stream. Soon it dashed a swift racing torrent between +the rocks, and Rod and his companions knew that they were close upon +the fall. A hundred yards or more and they saw the white mist of it +leaping up before their eyes. Wabi began to run, his moccasined feet +springing from stone to stone with the caution of a hunter approaching +game, and Mukoki and Rod came close behind him.</p> + +<p id="id00838">They paused upon the edge of a great mass of rock with the spray of +the plunging cataract rising in their faces. Breathless they gazed +down. It was not a large fall. Wabi silently measured it at forty +feet. But it added just that much more to the depth and the gloom of +the chasm beyond, into which there seemed no way of descent. The rock +walls rose sheer and black, with clumps of cedar and stunted pine +growing at their feet. Farther on the space between the mountains +became wider, and the river reached out on either side, frothing and +beating itself into white fury in a chaos of slippery water-worn +rocks.</p> + +<p id="id00839">Down there—somewhere—was the golden treasure they had come to seek, +unless the map lied! Was it among those rocks, where the water dashed +and fumed? Was it hidden in some gloomy cavern of the mountain sides, +its trail concealed by the men who discovered it half an age ago? +Would they find it, after all—would they find it?</p> + +<p id="id00840">A great gulp of excitement rose in Rod's throat, and he looked at +Wabigoon.</p> + +<p id="id00841">The Indian youth had stretched out an arm. His eyes were blazing, his +whole attitude was one of tense emotion.</p> + +<p id="id00842">"There's the cabin," he cried, "the cabin built by John Ball and the +two Frenchmen! See, over there among those cedars, almost hidden in +that black shadow of the mountain! Great Scott, Muky—Rod—can't you +see? Can't you see?"</p> + +<h2 id="id00843" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h4 id="id00844" style="margin-top: 2em">THE PAPER IN THE OLD TIN BOX</h4> + +<p id="id00845">Slowly out of that mysterious gloom there grew a shape before Rod's +eyes. At first it was only a shadow, then it might have been a rock, +and then the gulp in his throat leaped out in a shout when he saw that +Wabigoon's sharp eyes had in truth discovered the old cabin of the +map. For what else could it be? What else but the wilderness home of +the adventurers whose skeletons they had found, Peter Plante and Henri +Langlois, and John Ball, the man whom these two had murdered?</p> + +<p id="id00846">Rod's joyous voice was like the touch of fire to Wabi's enthusiasm and +in a moment the oppressive silence of their journey down the chasm was +broken by the wild cheers which the young gold seekers sent echoing +between the mountains. Grimacing and chuckling in his own curious way, +Mukoki was already slipping along the edge of the rock, seeking some +break by which he might reach the lower chasm. They were on the point +of turning to the ascent of the mountain, along which they would have +to go until they found such a break, when the old pathfinder directed +the attention of his companions to the white top of a dead cedar stub +projecting over the edge of the precipice.</p> + +<p id="id00847">"Go down that, mebby," he suggested, shrugging his shoulders to +suggest that the experiment might be a dangerous one.</p> + +<p id="id00848">Rod looked over. The top of the stub was within easy reach, and the +whole tree was entirely free of bark or limbs, a fact which in his +present excitement did not strike him as especially unusual. Swinging +his rifle strap over his shoulders he reached out, caught the slender +apex of the stub, and before the others could offer a word of +encouragement or warning was sliding down the wall of the rock into +the chasm. Wabi was close behind him, and not waiting for Mukoki's +descent the two boys hurried toward the cabin. Half-way to it Wabi +stopped.</p> + +<p id="id00849">"This isn't fair. We've got to wait for Muky."</p> + +<p id="id00850">They looked back. Mukoki was not following. The old warrior was upon +his knees at the base of the dead tree, as though he was searching for +something among the rocks at its foot. Then he rose slowly, and rubbed +his hands along the stub as high as he could reach. When he saw that +Rod and Wabi were observing him he quickly came toward them, and +Wabigoon, who was quick to notice any change in him, was confident +that he had made a discovery of some kind.</p> + +<p id="id00851">"What have you found, Muky?"</p> + +<p id="id00852">"No so ver' much. Funny tree," grunted the Indian.</p> + +<p id="id00853">"Smooth as a fireman's brass pole," added Rod, seeing no significance +in Mukoki's words. "Listen!"</p> + +<p id="id00854">He stopped so suddenly that Wabigoon bumped into him from behind.</p> + +<p id="id00855">"Did you hear that?"</p> + +<p id="id00856">"No."</p> + +<p id="id00857">For a few moments the three huddled close together in watchful +silence. Mukoki was behind the boys or they would have seen that his +rifle was ready to spring to his shoulder and that his black eyes were +snapping with something not aroused by curiosity alone. The cabin was +not more than twenty paces away. It was old, so old that Rod wondered +how it had withstood the heavy storms of the last winter. A growth of +saplings had found root in its rotting roof and the logs of which it +was built were in the last stage of decay. There was no window, +and where the door had once been there had grown a tree a foot in +diameter, almost closing the narrow aperture through which the +mysterious inhabitants had passed years before. A dozen paces, five +paces from this door, and Mukoki's hand reached out and laid itself +gently upon Wabi's shoulder. Rod saw the movement and stopped. A +strange look had come into the old Indian's face, an expression in +which there was incredulity and astonishment, as if he believed and +yet doubted what his eyes beheld. Mutely he pointed to the tree +growing before the door, and to the reddish, crumbling rot into which +the logs had been turned by the passing of generations.</p> + +<p id="id00858">"Red pine," he said at last. "That cabin more'n' twent' t'ous'nd year +old!"</p> + +<p id="id00859">There was an awesome ring in his voice. Rod understood, and clutched +Wabi's arm. In an instant he thought of the other old cabin, in which +they had found the skeletons. They had repaired that cabin and had +passed the winter in it, and they knew that it had been built half a +century or more before. But this cabin was beyond repair. To Rod it +seemed as though centuries of time instead of decades had been at work +on its timbers. Following close after Wabi he thrust his head through +the door. Deep gloom shut out their vision. But as they looked, +steadily inuring their eyes to the darkness within, the walls of the +old cabin took form, and they saw that everywhere was vacancy. There +was no ancient table, as in the other cabin they had discovered at the +head of the first chasm, there were no signs of the life that had once +existed, not even the remnants of a chair or a stool. The cabin was +bare.</p> + +<p id="id00860">Foot by foot the two boys went around its walls. Mukoki took but a +single glance inside and disappeared. Once alone he snapped down the +safety of his rifle. Quickly, as if he feared interruption, he hurried +around the old cabin, his eyes close to the earth. When Rod and Wabi +returned to the door he was at the edge of the fall, crouching low +among the rocks like an animal seeking a trail. Wabi pulled his +companion back.</p> + +<p id="id00861">"Look!"</p> + +<p id="id00862">The old warrior rose, suddenly erect, and turned toward them, but the +boys were hidden in the gloom. Then he hurried to the dead stub beside +the chasm wall. Again he reached far up, rubbing his hand along its +surface.</p> + +<p id="id00863">"I'm going to have a look at that tree!" whispered Wabi. "Something is +puzzling Mukoki. Are you coming?"</p> + +<p id="id00864">He hurried across the rock-strewn opening, but Rod hung back. He could +not understand his companions. For weeks and months they had planned +to find this third waterfall. Visions of a great treasure had been +constantly before their eyes, and now that they were here, with the +gold perhaps under their very feet, both Mukoki and Wabigoon were more +interested in a dead stub than in their search for it! His own heart +was almost bursting with excitement. The very air which he breathed +in the old cabin set his blood leaping with anticipation. Here those +earlier adventurers had lived half a century or more ago. In it the +life-blood of the murdered John Ball might have ebbed away. In this +cabin the men whose skeletons he had found had slept, and planned, and +measured their gold. And the gold! It was that and not the stub that +interested Roderick Drew! Where was the lost treasure? Surely the old +cabin must hold some clue for them, it would at least tell them more +than the limbless white corpse of a tree!</p> + +<p id="id00865">From the door he looked back into the dank gloom, straining his eyes +to see, and then glanced across the opening. Wabi had reached the +stub, and both he and Mukoki were on their knees beside it. Probably +they have found the marks of a lynx or a bear, thought Rod. A dozen +paces away something else caught his eyes, a fallen red pine, dry and +heavy with pitch, and in less than a minute he had gone to it and was +back with a torch. Breathlessly he touched the tiny flame of a match +to the stick. For a moment the pitch sputtered and hissed, then flared +into light, and Rod held the burning wood above his head.</p> + +<p id="id00866">The young gold seeker's first look about him was disappointing. +Nothing but the bare walls met his eyes. Then, in the farthest corner, +he observed something that in the dancing torch-light was darker than +the logs themselves, and he moved toward it. It was a tiny shelf, not +more than a foot long, and upon it was a small tin box, black and +rust-eaten by the passing of ages. With trembling fingers Rod took it +in his hand. It was very light, probably empty. In it he might find +the dust of John Ball's last tobacco. Then, suddenly, as he thought of +this, he stopped in his search and a muffled exclamation of surprise +fell from him. In the glow of the torch he looked at the tin box. It +was crumbling with age and he might easily have crushed it in his +hand—and yet it was still a tin box! If this box had remained why +had not other things? Where were the pans and kettles, the pail and +frying-pan, knives, cups and other articles which John Ball and the +two Frenchmen must at one time have possessed in this cabin?</p> + +<p id="id00867">He returned to the door. Mukoki and Wabigoon were still at the dead +stub. Even the flare of light in the old cabin had not attracted them. +Tossing his torch away Rod tore off the top of the tin box. Something +fell at his feet, and as he reached for it he saw that it was a little +roll of paper, almost as discolored as the rust-eaten box itself. As +gently as Mukoki had unrolled the precious birchbark map a few months +before he smoothed out the paper. The edges of it broke and crumbled +under his fingers, but the inner side of the roll was still quite +white. Mukoki and Wabigoon, looking back, saw him suddenly turn toward +them with a shrill cry on his lips, and the next instant he was racing +in their direction, shouting wildly at every step.</p> + +<p id="id00868">"The gold!" he shrieked. "The gold! Hurrah!"</p> + +<p id="id00869">He was almost sobbing in his excitement when he stopped between them, +holding out the bit of paper.</p> + +<p id="id00870">"I found it in the cabin—in a tin box! See, it's John Ball's +writing—the writing that was on the old map! I found it—in a tin +box—"</p> + +<p id="id00871">Wabi seized the paper. His own breath came more quickly when he saw +what was upon it. There were a few lines of writing, dim but still +legible, and a number of figures. Across the top of the paper was +written,</p> + +<p id="id00872">"Account of John Ball, Henri Langlois, and Peter Plante for month +ending June thirtieth, 1859."</p> + +<p id="id00873">Below these lines was the following:</p> + +<p id="id00874">"Plante's work: nuggets, 7 pounds, nine ounces; dust, 1 pound, 3<br/> + +ounces. Langlois' work: nuggets, 9 pounds, 13 ounces; dust, none.<br/> + +Ball's work: nuggets, 6 pounds, 4 ounces; dust, 2 pounds, 3 ounces.<br/> + +Total, 27 pounds.<br/> + +Plante's share, 6 pounds, 12 ounces.<br/> + +Langlois' share, 6 pounds, 12 ounces.<br/> + +Ball's share, 13 pounds, 8 ounces.<br/> + +Division made."<br/> +</p> + +<p id="id00875">Softly Wabigoon read the words aloud. When he finished his eyes met +Rod's, Mukoki was still crouching at the foot of the stub, staring at +the two boys in silence, as if stupefied by what he had just heard.</p> + +<p id="id00876">"This doesn't leave a doubt," said Wabi at last. "We've struck the +right place!"</p> + +<p id="id00877">"The gold is somewhere—very near—"</p> + +<p id="id00878">Rod could not master the tremble in his voice. As though hoping to see +the yellow treasure heaped in a pile before his eyes he turned to the +waterfall, to the gloomy walls of the chasm, and finally extended an +arm to where the spring torrent, leaping over the edge of the chasm +above, beat itself into frothing rage among the rocks between the two +mountains.</p> + +<p id="id00879">"It's there!"</p> + +<p id="id00880">"In the stream?"</p> + +<p id="id00881">"Yes. Where else near this cabin would they have found pure nuggets +of gold? Surely not in rock! And gold-dust is always in the sands of +streams. It's there—without a doubt!"</p> + +<p id="id00882">Both Indians went with him to the edge of the water.</p> + +<p id="id00883">"The creek widens here until it is very shallow," said Wabi. "I don't +believe that it is more than four feet deep out there in the middle. +What do you say—" He paused as he saw Mukoki slip back to the dead +stub again, then went on, "What do you say to making a trip to the +canoe after grub for our dinner, and the pans?"</p> + +<p id="id00884">The first flash of enthusiasm that had filled Wabigoon on reading the +paper discovered by Rod was quickly passing away, and the white youth +could not but notice the change which came over both Mukoki and his +young friend when they stood once more beside the smooth white stub +that reached up to the floor of the chasm above. He controlled his +own enthusiasm enough to inspect more closely the dead tree which had +affected them so strangely. The discovery he made fairly startled him. +The surface of the stub was not only smooth and free of limbs, but was +polished until it shone with the reflecting luster of a waxed pillar! +For a moment he forgot the paper which he held in his hand, forgot +the old cabin, and the nearness of gold. In blank wonder he stared at +Mukoki, and the old Indian shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p id="id00885">"Ver' nice an' smooth!"</p> + +<p id="id00886">"Ver' dam' smooth!" emphasized Wabi, without a suggestion of humor in +his voice.</p> + +<p id="id00887">"What does it mean?" asked Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00888">"It means," continued Wabigoon, "that this old stub has for a good +many years been used by something as a sort of stairway in and out of +this chasm! Now if it were a bear, there would be claw marks. If it +were a lynx, the surface of the stub would be cut into shreds. Any +kind of animal would have left his mark behind, and no animal would +have put this polish on it!"</p> + +<p id="id00889">"Then what in the world—"</p> + +<p id="id00890">Rod did not finish. Mukoki lifted his shoulders to a level with his +chin, and Wabi whistled as he looked straight at him.</p> + +<p id="id00891">"Not a hard guess, eh?"</p> + +<p id="id00892">"You mean—"</p> + +<p id="id00893">"That it's a man! Only the arms and legs of a man going up and down +that stub hundreds and thousands of times could have worn it so +smooth! Now, can you guess who that man is?"</p> + +<p id="id00894">In a flash the answer shot into Rod's brain. He understood now why +this old stub had drawn his companions away from their search for +gold, and he felt the flush of excitement go out of his own cheeks, +and an involuntary thrill pass up his back.</p> + +<p id="id00895">"The mad hunter!"</p> + +<p id="id00896">Wabi nodded. Mukoki grunted and rubbed his hands.</p> + +<p id="id00897">"Gold in bullet come from here!" said the old pathfinder. "Bad dog man +ver' swift on trail. We hurry get canoe—cut down tree!"</p> + +<p id="id00898">"That's more than you've said in the last half-hour, and it's a good +idea!" exclaimed Wabi. "Let's get our stuff down here and chop this +stub into firewood! When he comes back and finds his ladder gone he'll +give a screech or two, I'll wager, and then it will be our chance to +do something with him. Here goes!"</p> + +<p id="id00899">He started to climb the stub, and a minute or two later stood safely +on the rock above.</p> + +<p id="id00900">"Slippery as a greased pole!" he called down. "Bet you can't make it, +Rod!"</p> + +<p id="id00901">But Rod did, after a tremendous effort that left him breathless and +gasping by the time Wabi stretched out a helping hand to him. Mukoki +came up more easily. Taking only their revolvers with them the +three hurried to the birch bark, and in a single load brought their +possessions to the rock. By means of ropes the packs and other +contents of the canoe, and finally the canoe itself, were lowered into +the chasm, and while the others looked on Mukoki seized the ax and +chopped down the stub.</p> + +<p id="id00902">"There!" he grunted, as a last blow sent the tree crashing among the +rocks. "Too high for heem jump!"</p> + +<p id="id00903">"But a mighty good place for him to shoot from," said Wabi, looking +up. "We'd better camp out of range."</p> + +<p id="id00904">"Not until we know what we've struck," cried Rod, unstrapping a pan +from one of the packs. "Boys, the first thing to do is to wash out a +little of that river-bed!"</p> + +<p id="id00905">He started for the creek, with Wabi close behind him bearing a second +pan. Mukoki looked after them and chuckled softly to himself as he +began making preparations for dinner. Choosing a point where the +current had swept up a small bar of pebbles and sand Wabi and Rod both +set to work. The white youth had never before panned gold, but he +had been told how it was done, and there now shot through him that +strange, thrilling excitement which enthralls the treasure hunter +when he believes that at last he has struck pay dirt. Scooping up a +quantity of the gravel and sand he filled his pan with water, then +moved it quickly back and forth, every few moments splashing some of +the "wash" or muddy water, over the side. Thus, filling and refilling +his pan with fresh water, he excitedly went through the process of +"washing" everything but solid substance out of it.</p> + +<p id="id00906">With each fresh dip into the stream the water in the pan became +clearer, and within fifteen minutes the three or four double handfuls +of sand and gravel with which he began work dwindled down to one. +Scarcely breathing in his eagerness he watched for the yellow gleam of +gold. Once a glitter among the pebbles drew a low cry from him, but +when with the point of his knife he found it to be only mica he was +glad that Wabi had not heard him. The young Indian was squatting upon +the sand, with his pan turned toward a gleam of the sun that shot +faintly down into the chasm. Without raising his head he called to +Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00907">"Found anything?"</p> + +<p id="id00908">"No. Have you?"</p> + +<p id="id00909">"No—yes—but I don't think it's gold."</p> + +<p id="id00910">"What does it look like?"</p> + +<p id="id00911">"It gleams yellow but is as hard as steel."</p> + +<p id="id00912">"Mica!" said Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00913">Neither of the boys looked up during the conversation. With the point +of his hunting-knife Rod still searched in the bottom of his pan, +turning over the pebbles and raking the gravelly sand with a +painstaking care that would have made a veteran gold seeker laugh. +Some minutes had passed when Wabi spoke again.</p> + +<p id="id00914">"I say, Rod, that's a funny-looking thing I found! If it wasn't so +hard I'd swear it was gold? Want to see it?"</p> + +<p id="id00915">"It's mica," repeated Rod, as another gleam of "fool's gold" in his +own pan caught his eyes. "The stream is full of it!"</p> + +<p id="id00916">"Never saw mica in chunks before," mumbled Wabi, bending low over his +pan.</p> + +<p id="id00917">"Chunks!" cried Rod, straightening as if some one had run a pin into +his back. "How big is it?"</p> + +<p id="id00918">"Big as a pea—a big pea!"</p> + +<p id="id00919">The words were no sooner out of the young Indian's mouth than Roderick +was upon his feet and running to his companion.</p> + +<p id="id00920">"Mica doesn't come in chunks! Where—"</p> + +<p id="id00921">He bent over Wabi's pan. In the very middle of it lay a suspiciously +yellow pebble, worn round and smooth by the water, and when Rod took +it in his fingers he gave a low whistle of mock astonishment as he +gazed down into Wabigoon's face.</p> + +<p id="id00922">"Wabi, I'm ashamed of you!" he said, trying hard to choke back the +quiver in his voice. "Mica doesn't come in round chunks like this. +Mica isn't heavy. And this is <i>both</i>!"</p> + +<p id="id00923">From the cedars beyond the old cabin came Mukoki's whooping signal +that dinner was ready.</p> + +<h2 id="id00924" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h4 id="id00925" style="margin-top: 2em">THE TREASURE IN THE POOL</h4> + +<p id="id00926">For a few moments after Rod's words and Mukoki's signal from the +cedars Wabigoon sat as if stunned.</p> + +<p id="id00927">"It isn't—gold," he said, his voice filled with questioning doubt.</p> + +<p id="id00928">"That's just what it is!" declared Rod, his words now rising in the +excitement which he was vainly striving to suppress. "It's hard, but +see how your knife point has scratched it! It weighs a quarter of an +ounce! Are there any more nuggets in there?"</p> + +<p id="id00929">He fell upon his knees beside Wabi, and their two heads were close +together, their four eyes eagerly searching the contents of the pan, +when Mukoki came up behind them. Rod passed the golden nugget to the +old Indian, and rose to his feet.</p> + +<p id="id00930">"That settles it, boys. We've hit the right spot. Let's give three +cheers for John Ball and the old map, and go to dinner!"</p> + +<p id="id00931">"I agree to dinner, but cut out the cheers," said Wabi, "or else let's +give them under our breath. Notice how hollow our voices sound in this +chasm! I believe we could hear a shout half a dozen miles away!"</p> + +<p id="id00932">For their camp Mukoki had chosen a site in the edge of the cedars, +and had spread dinner on a big flat rock about which the three now +gathered. For inspiration, as Wabi said, the young Indian placed +the yellow nugget in the center of the improvised table, and if the +enthusiasm with which they hurried through their meal counted for +anything there was great merit in the golden centerpiece. Mukoki +joined the young gold seekers when they again returned to the chasm +stream, and the quest of the yellow treasure was vigorously renewed in +trembling and feverish expectancy.</p> + +<p id="id00933">Only those who have lived in this quest and who have pursued that +elusive <i>ignis fatuus</i> of all nations—the lure of gold—can realize +the sensations which stir the blood and heat the brain of the treasure +seeker as he dips his pan into the sands of the stream where he +believes nature has hidden her wealth. As Roderick Drew, a child of +that civilization where the dollar is law as well as might, returned +to the exciting work which promised him a fortune he seemed to be in +a half dream. About him, everywhere, was gold! For no moment did he +doubt it; not for an instant did he fear that there might be no more +gold in the sand and gravel from which Wabigoon's nugget had come. +Treasure was in the very sandbar under his feet! It was out there +among the rocks, where the water beat itself angrily into sputtering +froth; it was under the fall, and down in the chasm, everywhere, +everywhere about him. In one month John Ball and his companions had +gathered twenty-seven pounds of it, a fortune of nearly seven thousand +dollars! And they had gathered it here! Eagerly he scooped up a fresh +pan of the precious earth. He heard the swish-swish of the water in +Wabigoon's and Mukoki's pans. But beyond this there were no sounds +made by them.</p> + +<p id="id00934">In these first minutes of treasure seeking no words were spoken. Who +would give the first shout of discovery? Five minutes, ten, fifteen of +them passed, and Rod found no gold. As he emptied his pan he saw Wabi +scooping up fresh dirt. He, too, had failed. Mukoki had waded out +waist deep among the rocks. A second and a third pan, and a little +chill of disappointment cooled Rod's blood. Perhaps he had chosen an +unlucky spot, where the gold had not settled! He moved his position, +and noticed that Wabigoon had done the same. A fourth and a fifth pan +and the result was the same. Mukoki had waded across the stream, which +was shallow below the fall, and was working on the opposite side. A +sixth pan, and Rod approached the young Indian. The excitement was +gone out of their faces. An hour and a half—and no more gold!</p> + +<p id="id00935">"Guess we haven't hit the right place, after all," said Wabi.</p> + +<p id="id00936">"It must be here," replied Rod. "Where there is one nugget there must +be more. Gold is heavy, and settles. Perhaps it's deeper down in the +river bed."</p> + +<p id="id00937">Mukoki came across to join them. Out among the rocks he had found a +fleck of gold no larger than the head of a pin, and this new sign gave +them all fresh enthusiasm. Taking off their boots both Rod and Wabi +joined the old pathfinder in midstream. But each succeeding pan added +to the depressing conviction that was slowly replacing their hopes. +The shadows in the chasm began growing longer and deeper. Far overhead +the dense canopies of red pine shut out the last sun-glow of day, and +the gathering gloom between the mountains gave warning that in this +mysterious world of the ancient cabin the dusk of night was not far +away. But not until they could no longer see the gleaming mica in +their pans did the three cease work. Wet to the waist, tired, and with +sadly-shattered dreams they returned to their camp. For a short time +Rod's hopes were at their lowest ebb. Was it possible that there was +no more gold, that the three adventurers of long ago had discovered a +"pocket" here, and worked it out? The thought had been growing in his +head. Now it worried him.</p> + +<p id="id00938">But his depression did not last long. The big fire which Mukoki +built and the stimulating aroma of strong coffee revived his natural +spirits, and both Wabi and he were soon laughing and planning again as +they made their cedar-bough shelter. Supper on the big flat stone—a +feast of bear steak, hot-stone biscuits, coffee, and that most +delectable of all wilderness luxuries, a potato apiece,—and the two +irrepressible young gold hunters were once more scheming and building +their air-castles for the following day. Mukoki listened, and attended +to the clothes drying before the fire, now and then walking out into +the gloom of the chasm to look up to where the white rim of the fall +burst over the edge of the great rock above them. All that afternoon +Wabi and Rod had forgotten the mad hunter and the strange, smoothly +worn tree. Mukoki had not.</p> + +<p id="id00939">In the glow of the camp-fire the two boys read over again the old +account of John Ball and the two Frenchmen. The tiny slip of paper, +yellow with age, was the connecting link between them and the dim +and romantic past, a relic of the grim tragedy which these black and +gloomy chasm walls would probably keep for ever a secret.</p> + +<p id="id00940">"Twenty-seven pounds," repeated Rod, as if half to himself. "That was +one month's work!"</p> + +<p id="id00941">"Pretty nearly a pound a day!" gasped Wabi. "I tell you, Rod, we +haven't hit the right spot—yet!"</p> + +<p id="id00942">"I wonder why John Ball's share was twice that of his companions'? Do +you suppose it was because he discovered the gold in the first place?" +speculated Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00943">"In all probability it was. That accounts for his murder. The +Frenchmen were getting the small end of the deal."</p> + +<p id="id00944">"Eighteen hundred fifty-nine," mused Rod. "That was forty-nine years +ago, before the great Civil War. Say—"</p> + +<p id="id00945">He stopped and looked hard at Wabigoon.</p> + +<p id="id00946">"Did it ever strike you that John Ball might not have been murdered?"</p> + +<p id="id00947">Wabi leaned forward with more than usual eagerness.</p> + +<p id="id00948">"I have had a thought—" he began.</p> + +<p id="id00949">"What?"</p> + +<p id="id00950">"That perhaps he was not killed."</p> + +<p id="id00951">"And that after the two Frenchmen died in the knife duel he returned +and got the gold," continued Rod.</p> + +<p id="id00952">"No, I had not thought of that," said Wabi. Suddenly he rose to his +feet and joined Mukoki out in the gloom of the chasm.</p> + +<p id="id00953">Rod was puzzled. Something in his companion's voice, in his face and +words, disturbed him. What had Wabigoon meant?</p> + +<p id="id00954">The young Indian soon rejoined him, but he spoke no more of John Ball.</p> + +<p id="id00955">When the two boys went to their blankets Mukoki still remained awake. +For a long time he sat beside the fire, his hands gripping the rifle +across his knees, his head slightly bowed in that statue-like posture +so characteristic of the Indian. For fully an hour he sat motionless, +and in his own way he was deeply absorbed in thought. Soon after their +discovery of the first golden bullet Wabigoon had whispered a few +words into his ear, unknown to Rod; and to-night out in the gloom of +the chasm, he had repeated those same words. They had set Mukoki's +mind working. He was thinking now of something that happened long ago, +when, in his reasoning, the wilderness was young and he was a youth. +In those days his one great treasure was a dog, and one winter he +went with this faithful companion far into the hunting regions of the +North, a long moon's travel from his village. When he returned, +months later, he was alone. From his lonely hunting shack deep in the +solitudes his comrade had disappeared, and had never returned. This +all happened before Mukoki met the pretty Indian girl who became his +wife, and was afterward killed by the wolves, and he missed the dog +as he would have missed a human brother. The Indian's love, even +for brutes, is some thing that lives, and more than twenty moons +later—two years in the life of a man—he returned once again to the +old shack, and there he found Wholdaia, the dog! The animal knew him, +and bounded about on three legs for joy, and because of the missing +leg Mukoki understood why he had not returned to him two years before. +Two years is a long time in the life of a dog, and the gray hairs of +suffering and age were freely sprinkled in Wholdaia's muzzle and along +his spine.</p> + +<p id="id00956">Mukoki was not thinking of Wholdaia without a reason. He was thinking +of Wabigoon's words—and the mad hunter. Could not the mad hunter do +as Wholdaia had done? Was it possible that the bad-dog man who shot +golden bullets and who screamed like a lynx was the man who had lived +there many, many years ago, and whom the boys called John Ball? Those +were the thoughts that Wabi had set working in his brain. The young +Indian had not suggested this to Rod. He had spoken of it to Mukoki +only because he knew the old pathfinder might help him to solve the +riddle, and so he had started Mukoki upon the trail.</p> + +<p id="id00957">The next morning, while the others were finishing their breakfast, +Mukoki equipped himself for a journey.</p> + +<p id="id00958">"Go down chasm," he explained to Rod. "Fin' where get out to plain. +Shoot meat."</p> + +<p id="id00959">That day the gold hunters were more systematic in their work, +beginning close to the fall, one on each side of the stream, and +panning their way slowly down the chasm. By noon they had covered two +hundred yards, and their only reward was a tiny bit of gold, worth +no more than a dollar, which Rod had found in his pan. By the time +darkness again compelled them to stop they had prospected a quarter +of a mile down stream without discovering other signs of John Ball's +treasure. In spite of their failure they were less discouraged than +the previous evening, for this failure, in a way, was having a +sedative and healthful effect. It convinced them that there was a hard +and perhaps long task ahead of them, and that they could not expect to +find their treasure winnowed in yellow piles for them.</p> + +<p id="id00960">Early in the evening Mukoki returned laden with caribou meat, and with +the news that the first break in the chasm walls was fully five miles +below. The adventurers now regretted that they had chopped down the +stub, for it was decided that the next work should be in the stream +above the fall, which would necessitate a ten-mile tramp, five miles +to the break and five miles back. When the journey was begun at dawn +the following morning several days' supplies were taken along, and +also a stout rope by means of which the gold hunters could lower +themselves back into their old camp when their work above was +completed. Rod noticed that the rocks in the stream seemed much +larger than when he had first seen them, and he mentioned the fact to +Wabigoon.</p> + +<p id="id00961">"The floods are going down rapidly," explained the young Indian. "All +of the snow is melted from the sides of the mountains, and there are +no lakes to feed this chasm stream. Within a week there won't be more +than a few inches of water below the fall."</p> + +<p id="id00962">"And that is when we shall find the gold!" declared Rod with his old +enthusiasm. "I tell you, we haven't gone deep enough! This gold has +been here for centuries and centuries, and it has probably settled +several feet below the surface of the river-bed. Ball and the +Frenchmen found twenty-seven pounds in June, when the creek was +practically dry. Did you ever read about the discoveries of gold in +Alaska and the Yukon?"</p> + +<p id="id00963">"A little, when I was going to school with you."</p> + +<p id="id00964">"Well, the richest finds were nearly always from three to a dozen +feet under the surface, and when a prospector found signs in surface +panning he knew there was rich dirt below. We’ll find our gold in this +chasm, and near the fall!"</p> + +<p id="id00965">Rod's confidence was the chief thing that kept up the spirits of the +treasure seekers during the next few days, for not the first sign +of gold was discovered above the fall. Yard by yard the prospectors +worked up the chasm until they had washed its sands for more than a +mile. And with the passing of each day, as Wabigoon had predicted, the +stream became more and more shallow, until they could wade across it +without wetting themselves above their knees. At the close of the +fourth day the three lowered themselves over the face of the rock into +the second chasm. So convinced was Rod in his belief that the gold was +hidden deep down under the creek bed that he dug a four-foot hole by +torch-light and that night after supper washed out several pans of +dirt in the glow of the camp-fire. He still found no signs of gold.</p> + +<p id="id00966">The next day's exertions left no room for doubt. Beyond two or three +tiny flecks of gold the three adventurers found nothing of value +in the deeper sand and gravel of the stream. That night absolute +dejection settled on the camp. Both Rod and Wabigoon made vain efforts +to liven up their drooping spirits. Only Mukoki, to whom gold +carried but a fleeting and elusive value, was himself, and even his +hopefulness was dampened by the gloom of his companions. Rod could see +but one explanation of their failure. Somewhere near the cataract John +Ball and the Frenchmen had found a rich pocket of gold, and they had +worked it out, probably before the fatal tragedy in the old cabin.</p> + +<p id="id00967">"But how about the mad hunter and his golden bullets?" insisted Wabi, +in another effort to brighten their prospects. "The bullets weighed an +ounce each, and I'll stake my life they came from this chasm. He knows +where the gold is, if we don't!"</p> + +<p id="id00968">"Come back soon!" grunted Mukoki. "Watch heem. Fin' gol'!"</p> + +<p id="id00969">"That's what we'll do!" cried the young Indian, jumping suddenly to +his feet and toppling Rod backward off the rock upon which he was +sitting. "Come, cheer up, Rod! The gold is here, somewhere, and we're +going to find it! I'm heartily ashamed of you; you, whom I thought +would never get discouraged!"</p> + +<p id="id00970">Rod was laughing when he recovered from the playful mauling which Wabi +administered before he could regain his feet.</p> + +<p id="id00971">"That's right, I deserve another licking! We've got all the spring and +summer before us, and if we don't find the gold by the time snow flies +we'll come back and try it again next year! What do you say?"</p> + +<p id="id00972">"And bring Minnetaki with us!" added Wabi, jumping into the air and +kicking his heels together. "How will you like that, Rod?" He nudged +his comrade in the ribs, and in another moment both were puffing and +laughing in one of their good-natured wrestling bouts, in which the +cat-like agility of the young Indian always won for him in the end.</p> + +<p id="id00973">In spite of momentary times like this, when the natural buoyancy and +enthusiasm of the young adventurers rose above their discouragement, +the week that followed added to their general depression. For miles +the chasm was explored and at the end of the week they had found less +than an ounce of gold. If their pans had given them no returns at all +their disappointment would have been less, for then, as Wabi said, +they could have given up the ghost with good grace. But the few +precious yellow grains which they found now and then lured them on, as +these same grains have lured other hundreds and thousands since the +dawn of civilization. Day after day they persisted in their efforts; +night after night about their camp-fire they inspired each other with +new hope and made new plans. The spring sun grew stronger, the poplar +buds burst into tiny leaf and out beyond the walls of the chasm the +first promises of summer came in the sweetly scented winds of the +south, redolent with the breath of balsam and pine and the thousand +growing things of the plains.</p> + +<p id="id00974">But at last the search came to an end. For three days not even a grain +of gold had been found. Around the big rock, where they were eating +dinner, Rod and his friends came to a final conclusion. The following +morning they would break camp, and leaving their canoe behind, for the +creek was now too shallow for even birch-bark navigation, they would +continue their exploration of the chasm in search of other adventures. +The whole summer was ahead of them, and though they had failed +in discovering a treasure where John Ball and the Frenchmen had +succeeded, they might find one farther on. At least the trip deeper +into the unexplored wilderness would be filled with excitement.</p> + +<p id="id00975">Mukoki rose to his feet, leaving Rod and Wabi still discussing their +plans. Suddenly he turned toward them, and a startled cry fell from +his lips, while with one long arm he pointed beyond the fall into the +upper chasm.</p> + +<p id="id00976">"Listen—heem—heem!"</p> + +<p id="id00977">The old warrior's face twitched with excitement, and for a full half +minute he stood motionless, his arm still extended, his black eyes +staring steadily at Rod and Wabigoon who sat as silent as the rocks +about them. Then there came to them from a great distance a quavering, +thrilling sound, a sound that filled them again with the old horror of +the upper chasm—the cry of the mad hunter.</p> + +<p id="id00978">At that distant cry Wabigoon sprang to his feet, his eyes leaping +fire, his bronzed cheeks whitening in an excitement even greater than +that of Mukoki.</p> + +<p id="id00979">"Muky, I told you!" he cried. "I told you!" The young Indian's body +quivered, his hands were clenched, and when he turned upon Rod the +white youth was startled by the look in his face.</p> + +<p id="id00980">"Rod, John Ball is coming back to his gold!"</p> + +<p id="id00981">Hardly had he spoken the words when the tenseness left his body and +his hands dropped to his side.</p> + +<p id="id00982">The words shot from him before he could control himself enough to hold +them back. In another moment he was sorry. The thought that John Ball +and the mad hunter were the same person he had kept to himself, until +for reasons of his own he had let Mukoki into his secret. While the +idea had taken larger and larger growth in his mind he knew that +from every logical point of view the thing was impossible, and that +constraint which came of the Indian blood in him held him from +discussing it with Rod. But now the words were out. A quick flush +replaced the whiteness that had come into his face. In another instant +he was leaning eagerly toward Rod, his eyes kindling into fire again. +He had not expected the change that he now saw come over the white +youth.</p> + +<p id="id00983">"I have been thinking that for a long time," he continued. "Ever since +we found the footprints in the sand. There's just one proof that we +need, just one, and—"</p> + +<p id="id00984">"Listen!"</p> + +<p id="id00985">Rod fairly hissed the word as he held up a warning hand.</p> + +<p id="id00986">This time the cry of the mad hunter came to them more distinctly. He +was approaching through the upper chasm!</p> + +<p id="id00987">The white youth rose to his feet, his eyes steadily fixed upon +Wabigoon's. His face was deathly pale.</p> + +<p id="id00988">"John Ball!" he repeated, as if he had just heard what the other had +said. "John Ball!" What seemed to him to be the only truth swept upon +him like a flood, and for a score of seconds, in every one of which he +could hear his heart thumping excitedly, he stood like one stunned. +John Ball! John Ball returned to life to find their gold for them, to +tell them of the tragedy and mystery of those days long dead and gone! +Like powder touched by a spark of fire his imagination leaped at +Wabi's thrilling suggestion.</p> + +<p id="id00989">Mukoki set to work.</p> + +<p id="id00990">"Hide!" he exclaimed. "Hide thees—thees—thees!" He pointed about him +at all the things in camp.</p> + +<p id="id00991">Both of the boys understood.</p> + +<p id="id00992">"He must see no signs of our presence from the top of the fall!" cried +Wabi, gathering an armful of camp utensils. "Hide them back among the +cedars!"</p> + +<p id="id00993">Mukoki hurried to the cedar bough shelter and began tearing it down. +For five minutes the adventurers worked on the run. Once during that +time they heard the madman's wailing cry, and hardly had they finished +and concealed themselves in the gloom of the old cabin when it came +again, this time from not more than a rifle-shot's distance beyond +the cataract. It was not a scream that now fell from the mad hunter's +lips, but a low wail and in it there was something that drove the old +horror from the three wildly beating hearts and filled them with a +measureless, nameless pity. What change had come over the madman? The +cry was repeated every few seconds now, each time nearer than before, +and in it there was a questioning, appealing note that seemed to end +in sobbing despair, a something that gripped at Rod's heart and filled +him with a great half-mastering impulse to answer it, to run out and +stretch his hands forth in greeting to the strange, wild creature +coming down the chasm!</p> + +<p id="id00994">Then, as he looked, something ran out upon the edge of the great rock +beside the cataract, and he clutched at his own breast to hold back +what he thought must burst forth in words. For he knew—as surely as +he knew that Wabi was at his side—that he was looking upon John Ball! +For a moment the strange creature crouched where the stub had been, +and when he saw that it was gone he stood erect, and a quavering, +pitiful cry echoed softly through the chasm. And as he stood there +motionless the watchers saw that the mad hunter was an old man, tall +and thin, but as straight as a sapling, and that his head and breast +were hidden in shaggy beard and hair. In his hands he carried a +gun—the gun that had fired the golden bullets—and even at that +distance those who were peering from the gloom of the cabin saw that +it was a long barreled weapon similar to those they had found in the +other old cabin, along with the skeletons of the Frenchmen who had +died in the fatal knife duel.</p> + +<p id="id00995">In breathless suspense the three waited, not a muscle of their bodies +moving. Again the old man leaned over the edge of the rock, and his +voice came to them in a moaning, sobbing appeal, and after a little +he stretched out his arms, still crying softly, as if beseeching help +from some one below. The spectacle gripped at Rod's soul. A hot film +came into his eyes and there was an odd little tremble in his throat. +The Indians were looking with dark, staring eyes. To them this was +another unusual incident of the wilderness. But to Rod it was the +white man's soul crying out to his own. The old man's outstretched +arms seemed reaching to him, the sobbing voice, filled with its +pathos, its despair, its hopeless loneliness, seemed a supplication +for him to come forth, to reach up his own arms, to respond to this +lost soul of the solitudes. With a little cry Rod darted between his +companions. He threw off his cap and lifted his white face to the +startled creature on the rock, and as he advanced step by step, +reaching out his hands in friendship, he called softly a name:</p> + +<p id="id00996">"John Ball, John Ball, John Ball!"</p> + +<p id="id00997">In an instant the mad hunter had straightened himself, half turned to +flee.</p> + +<p id="id00998">"John Ball! Hello, John Ball—John Ball—"</p> + +<p id="id00999">In his earnestness Rod was almost sobbing the name. He forgot +everything now, everything but that lonely figure on the rock, and he +drew nearer and nearer, gently calling the name, until the mad hunter +dropped on his knees and, crumpled in his long beard and gray lynx +skin, looked down upon Rod and sent back a low moaning, answering cry.</p> + +<p id="id01000">"John Ball! John Ball, is that you?"</p> + +<p id="id01001">Rod stopped, with the madman forty feet above him, and something +seemed choking back the very breath in him when he saw the strange +look that had come into the old man's eyes.</p> + +<p id="id01002">"John Ball—"</p> + +<p id="id01003">The wild eyes above shifted for a moment. They caught a glimpse of two +heads thrust from the door of the old cabin, and the madman sprang to +his feet. For a breath he stood on the edge of the rock, then with a +cry he leaped with the fierce agility of an animal far out into the +swirl of the cataract! For an instant he was visible in the downward +plunge of the water. Another instant and with a heavy splash he +disappeared in the deep pool under the fall!</p> + +<p id="id01004">Wabi and Mukoki had seen the desperate leap and the young Indian +was beside the pool before Rod had recovered from his horrified +astonishment. For centuries the water of the chasm stream had been +tumbling into this pool wearing it deeper and deeper each year, until +the water in it was over a man's head. In width it was not more than a +dozen feet.</p> + +<p id="id01005">"Watch for him! He'll drown if we don't get him out," shouted Wabi.</p> + +<p id="id01006">Rod leaped to the edge of the pool, with Mukoki between him and +Wabigoon. Ready to spring into the cold depths at the first sign of +the old man's gray head or struggling arms the three stood with every +muscle ready for action. A second, two seconds, five seconds passed, +and there was no sign of him. Rod's heart began to beat with drum-like +fierceness. Ten seconds! A quarter of a minute! He looked at Wabigoon. +The young Indian had thrown off his caribou-skin coat; his eyes, as he +turned them for a moment toward Rod, flashed back the white youth's +fear.</p> + +<p id="id01007">"I'm going to dive for him!"</p> + +<p id="id01008">In another instant he had plunged head foremost into the pool. +Mukoki's coat fell to the ground. He crouched forward until it seemed +he must topple from the stone upon which he stood. Another fifteen +seconds and Wabigoon's head appeared above the water, and the old +warrior gave a shout.</p> + +<p id="id01009">"Me come!"</p> + +<p id="id01010">He shot out and disappeared in a huge splash close to Wabi. Rod stood +transfixed, filled with a fear that was growing in him at every breath +he drew. He saw the convulsions of the water made by the two Indians, +who were groping about below the surface. Wabigoon came up again for +breath, then Mukoki. It seemed to him that an age had passed, and he +felt no hope. John Ball was dead!</p> + +<p id="id01011">Not for a moment now did he doubt the identity of the mad hunter. The +strange, wistful light that had replaced the glare in the old man's +eyes when he heard his own name called to him had spoken more than +words. It was John Ball! And he was dead! For a third time, a fourth, +and a fifth Mukoki and Wabigoon came up for air, and the fifth time +they dragged themselves out upon the rocks that edged the pool. Mukoki +spoke no word but ran back to the camp and threw a great armful of dry +fuel upon the fire. Wabigoon still remained at the edge of the pool, +dripping and shivering. His hands were clenched, and Rod could see +that they were filled with sand and gravel. Mechanically the Indian +opened his fingers and looked at what he had unconsciously brought up +from under the fall.</p> + +<p id="id01012">For a moment he stared, then with his gasping breath there came a low, +thrilling cry.</p> + +<p id="id01013">He held out his hands to Rod.</p> + +<p id="id01014">Gleaming richly among the pebbles which he held was a nugget of pure +gold, a nugget so large that Rod gave a wild yell, and in that one +moment forgot that John Ball, the mad hunter, was dead or dying +beneath the fall!</p> + +<h2 id="id01015" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h4 id="id01016" style="margin-top: 2em">JOHN BALL AND THE MYSTERY OF THE GOLD</h4> + +<p id="id01017">Mukoki, hearing Rod's cry, hurried to the pool, but before he reached +the spot where the white youth was standing with the yellow nugget in +his hand Wabigoon had again plunged beneath the surface. For several +minutes he remained in the water, and when he once more crawled out +upon the rocks there was something so strange in his face and eyes +that for a moment Rod believed he had found the dead body of the +madman.</p> + +<p id="id01018">"He isn't—in—the—pool!" he panted. Mukoki shrugged his shoulders +and shivered.</p> + +<p id="id01019">"Dead!" he grunted.</p> + +<p id="id01020">"He isn't in the pool!"</p> + +<p id="id01021">Wabigoon's black eyes gleamed in uncanny emphasis of his words.</p> + +<p id="id01022">"He isn't in the pool!"</p> + +<p id="id01023">The others understood what he meant. Mukoki's eyes wandered to where +the water of the pool gushed between the rocks into the broader +channel of the chasm stream. It was not more than knee deep!</p> + +<p id="id01024">"He no go out there!"</p> + +<p id="id01025">"No!"</p> + +<p id="id01026">"Then—where?"</p> + +<p id="id01027">He shrugged his shoulders suggestively again, and pointed into the +pool.</p> + +<p id="id01028">"Body slip under rock. He there!"</p> + +<p id="id01029">"Try it!" said Wabigoon tersely.</p> + +<p id="id01030">He hurried to the fire, and Rod went with him to gather more fuel +while the young Indian warmed his chilled body. They heard the old +pathfinder leap into the water under the fall as they ran.</p> + +<p id="id01031">Ten minutes later Mukoki joined them.</p> + +<p id="id01032">"Gone! Bad-dog man no there!"</p> + +<p id="id01033">He stretched out one of his dripping arms.</p> + +<p id="id01034">"Gol' bullet!" he grunted.</p> + +<p id="id01035">In the palm of his hand lay another yellow nugget, as large as a +hazelnut!</p> + +<p id="id01036">"I told you," said Wabi softly, "that John Ball was coming back to his +gold. And he has done so! The treasure is in the pool!"</p> + +<p id="id01037">But where was John Ball?</p> + +<p id="id01038">Dead or alive, where could he have disappeared?</p> + +<p id="id01039">Under other conditions the chasm would have rung with the wild +rejoicing of the gold seekers. But there was something now that +stilled the enthusiasm in them. At last the ancient map had given up +its secret, and riches were within their grasp. But no one of the +three shouted out his triumph. Somehow it seemed that John Ball had +died for them, and the thought clutched at their hearts that if they +had not cut down the stub he would still be alive. Indirectly they had +brought about the death of the poor creature who for nearly half a +century had lived alone with the beasts in these solitudes. And that +one glimpse of the old man on the rock, the prayerful entreaty in his +wailing voice, the despair which he sobbed forth when he found his +tree gone, had livened in them something that was more than sympathy. +At this moment the three adventurers would willingly have given up all +hopes of gold could sacrifice have brought back that sad, lonely old +man who had looked down upon them from the wall of the upper chasm.</p> + +<p id="id01040">"I am sorry we cut down the stub," said Rod.</p> + +<p id="id01041">They were the first words spoken.</p> + +<p id="id01042">"So am I," replied Wabi simply, beginning to strip off his wet +clothes. "But—" He stopped, and shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p id="id01043">"What?"</p> + +<p id="id01044">"Well, we're taking it for granted that John Ball is dead. If he is +dead why isn't he in the pool? By George, I should think that Mukoki's +old superstition would be getting the best of him!"</p> + +<p id="id01045">"I believe he is in the pool!" declared Rod.</p> + +<p id="id01046">Wabi turned upon him and repeated the words he had spoken to the old +warrior half an hour before.</p> + +<p id="id01047">"Try it!"</p> + +<p id="id01048">After the attempts of the two Indians, who could dive like otter, Rod +had no inclination to follow Wabi's invitation. Mukoki, who had hung +up a half of his clothes near the fire, was fitting one of the pans +to the end of a long pole which he had cut from a sapling, and it was +obvious that his intention was to begin at once the dredging of +the pool for gold. Rod joined him, and once more the excitement of +treasure hunting stirred in his veins. When the pan was on securely +Wabi left the fire to join his companions, and the three returned to +the pool. With a long sweep of his improvised dredge Mukoki scooped up +two quarts or more of sand and gravel and emptied it upon one of the +flat rocks, and the two boys pounced upon it eagerly, raking it out +with their fingers and wiping the mud and sand from every suspicious +looking pebble.</p> + +<p id="id01049">"The quickest way is to wash it!" said Rod, as Mukoki dumped another +load upon the rock. "I'll get some water!"</p> + +<p id="id01050">He ran to the camp for the remaining pans and when he turned back he +saw Wabi leaping in a grotesque dance about the rock while Mukoki +stood on the edge of the pool, his dredge poised over it, silent and +grinning.</p> + +<p id="id01051">"What do you think of that?" cried the young Indian as Rod hurried to +him. "What do you think of that?"</p> + +<p id="id01052">He held out his hand, and in it there gleamed a third yellow nugget, +fully twice as large as the one discovered by Mukoki!</p> + +<p id="id01053">Rod fairly gasped. "The pool must be full of 'em!"</p> + +<p id="id01054">He half-filled his pan with the sand and gravel and ran knee-deep out +into the running stream. In his eagerness he splashed over a part of +his material with the wash, but he excused himself by thinking that +this was his first pan, and that with the rest he would be more +careful. He began to notice now that all of the sand was not washing +out, and when he saw that it persisted in lying heavy and thick among +the pebbles his heart leaped into his mouth. One more dip, and he held +his pan to the light coming through the rift in the chasm. A thousand +tiny, glittering particles met his eyes! In the center of the pan +there gleamed dully a nugget of pure gold as big as a pea! At last +they had struck it rich, so rich that he trembled as he stared down +into the pan, and the cry that had welled up in his throat was choked +back by the swift, excited beating of his heart. In that moment's +glance down into his treasure-laden pan he saw all of his hopes +and all of his ambitions achieved. He was rich! In those gleaming +particles he saw freedom for his mother and himself. No longer a +bitter struggle for existence in the city, no more pinching and +striving and sacrifice that they might keep the little home in which +his father had died! When he turned toward Wabigoon his face was +filled with the ecstasy of those visions. He waded ashore and held his +pan under the other's eyes.</p> + +<p id="id01055">"Another nugget!" exclaimed Wabi excitedly.</p> + +<p id="id01056">"Yes. But it isn't the nugget. It's the—" He moved the pan until the +thousand little particles glittered and swam before the Indian's eyes. +"It's the dust. The sand is full of gold!"</p> + +<p id="id01057">His voice trembled, his face was white. From his crouching posture +Wabi looked up at him, and they spoke no more words.</p> + +<p id="id01058">Mukoki looked, and was silent. Then he went back to his dredging. +Little by little Rod washed down his pan. Half an hour later he showed +it again to Wabigoon. The pebbles were gone. What sand was left was +heavy with the gleaming particles, and half buried in it all was the +yellow nugget! In Wabi's pan there was no nugget but it was rich with +the gleam of fine gold.</p> + +<p id="id01059">Mukoki had dredged a bushel of sand and gravel from the pool, and was +upon his knees beside the heap which he had piled on the rock. When +Rod went to that rock for his third pan of dirt the old warrior made +no sign that he had discovered anything. The early gloom of afternoon +was beginning to settle between the chasm walls, and at the end of his +fourth pan Rod found that it was becoming so dark that he could +no longer distinguish the yellow particles in the sand. With the +exception of one nugget he had found only fine gold. With Wabi's dust +were three small nuggets.</p> + +<p id="id01060">When they ceased work Mukoki rose from beside the rock, chuckling, +grimacing, and holding out his hand. Wabi was the first to see, and +his cry of astonishment drew Rod quickly to his side. The hollow of +the old warrior's hand was filled with nuggets! He turned them into +Wabigoon's hand, and the young Indian turned them into Rod's, and +as he felt the weight of the treasure he held Rod could no longer +restrain the yell of exultation that had been held in all that +afternoon. Jumping high into the air and whooping at every other step +he raced to the camp and soon had the small scale which they had +brought with them from Wabinosh House. The nuggets they had found that +afternoon weighed full seven ounces, and the fine gold, after allowing +the deduction of a third for sand, weighed a little more than eleven +ounces.</p> + +<p id="id01061">"Eighteen ounces—and a quarter!"</p> + +<p id="id01062">Rod gave the total in a voice tremulous with incredulity.</p> + +<p id="id01063">"Eighteen ounces—at twenty dollars an ounce—three hundred and sixty +dollars!" he figured rapidly. "By George—" The prospect seemed too +big for him, and he stopped.</p> + +<p id="id01064">"Less than half a day's work," added Wabi. "We're doing better than +John Ball and the Frenchmen. It means eighteen thousand dollars a +month!"</p> + +<p id="id01065">"And by autumn—" began Rod.</p> + +<p id="id01066">He was interrupted by the inimitable chuckling laugh of Mukoki and +found the old warrior's face a map of creases and grimaces.</p> + +<p id="id01067">"In twent' t'ous'nd moon—mak' heem how much?" he questioned.</p> + +<p id="id01068">In all his life Wabigoon had never heard Mukoki joke before, and with +a wild whoop of joy he rolled the stoical old pathfinder off the rock +on which he was sitting, and Rod joined heartily in Wabi's merriment.</p> + +<p id="id01069">And Mukoki's question proved not to be so much of a joke after all, +as the boys were soon to learn. For several days the work went on +uninterrupted. The buckskin bags in the balsam shelter grew heavier +and heavier. Each succeeding hour added to the visions of the gold +seekers. On the fifth day Rod found seventeen nuggets among his fine +gold, one of them as large as the end of his thumb. On the seventh +came the richest of all their panning, but on the ninth a startling +thing happened. Mukoki was compelled to work ceaselessly to keep the +two boys supplied with "pay dirt" from the pool. His improvised dredge +now brought up only a handful or two of sand and pebbles at a dip. It +was on this ninth day that the truth dawned upon them all.</p> + +<p id="id01070">The pool was becoming exhausted of its treasure!</p> + +<p id="id01071">But the discovery brought no great gloom with it. Somewhere near that +pool must be the very source of the treasure itself, and the gold +hunters were confident of finding it. Besides, they had already +accumulated what to them was a considerable fortune, at least two +thousand dollars apiece. For three more days the work continued, and +then Mukoki's dredge no longer brought up pebbles or sand from the +bottom of the pool.</p> + +<p id="id01072">The last pan was washed early in the morning, and as the warm +weather had begun to taint the caribou meat Mukoki and Wabigoon left +immediately after dinner to secure fresh meat out on the plains, while +Rod remained in camp. The strange thick gloom of night which began to +gather in the chasm before the sun had disappeared beyond the plains +above was already descending upon him when Rod began preparations for +supper. He knew that the Indians would not wait until dark before +reëntering the break between the mountains, and confident that they +would soon appear he began mixing up flour and water for their usual +batch of hot-stone biscuits. So intent was he upon his task that he +did not see a shadowy form creeping up foot by foot from the rocks. He +caught no glimpse of the eyes that glared like smoldering coals from +out of the half darkness between him and the fall.</p> + +<p id="id01073">His first knowledge of another presence came in a low, whining cry, a +cry that was not much more than a whisper, and he leaped to his feet, +every nerve in his body once more tingling with that excitement which +had possessed him when he stood under the rock talking to the madman. +A dozen yards away he saw a face, a great, white, ghost-like face, +staring at him from out of the thickening shadows, and under that face +and its tangled veil of beard and hair he saw the crouching form of +the mad hunter!</p> + +<p id="id01074">In that moment Roderick Drew thanked God that he was not afraid. +Standing full in the glow of the fire he stretched out his arms, as he +had once before reached them out to this weird creature, and again, +softly, pleadingly, he called the name of John Ball! There came in +reply a faint, almost unheard sound from the wild man, a sound that +was repeated again and again, and which sent a thrill into the young +hunter, for it was wondrously like the name he was calling: "John +Ball! John Ball! John Ball!" And as the mad hunter repeated that sound +he advanced, foot by foot, as though creeping upon all fours, and Rod +saw then that one of his arms was stretched out to him, and that in +the extended hand was a fish.</p> + +<p id="id01075">He advanced a step, reaching out his own hands eagerly, and the wild +creature stopped, cringing as if fearing a blow.</p> + +<p id="id01076">"John Ball! John Ball!" he repeated. He thought of no other words but +those, and advanced bit by bit as he called them gently again and +again. Now he was within ten feet of the old man, now eight, presently +he was so near that he might have reached him in a single leap. Then +he stopped.</p> + +<p id="id01077">The mad hunter laid down his fish. Slowly he retreated, murmuring +incoherent sounds in his beard, then sprang to his feet and with a +wailing cry sped back toward the pool. Swiftly Rod followed. He saw +the form leap from the rocks at its edge, heard a heavy splash, and +all was still!</p> + +<p id="id01078">For many minutes Rod stood with the spray of the cataract dashing in +his face. This time the madman's plunge into the cold depths at his +feet filled him with none of the horror of that first insane leap from +the rock above. Somewhere in that pool the old man was seeking refuge! +What did it mean? His eyes scanned the thin sheet of water that +plunged down from the upper chasm. It was a dozen feet in width and +hid the black wall of rock behind it like a thick veil. What was there +just behind that falling torrent? Was it possible that in the wall +of rock behind the waterfall there was a place where John Ball found +concealment?</p> + +<p id="id01079">Rod returned to camp, convinced that he had at last guessed a solution +to the mystery. John Ball was behind the cataract! The strange +murmurings of the old man who for a few moments had crouched so +close to him still rang in his ears, and he was sure that in these +half-articulate sounds had been John Ball's own name. If there had +been a doubt in his mind before, it was wiped away now. The mad hunter +was John Ball, and with that thought burning in his brain Rod stopped +beside the fish—the madman's offering of peace—and turned his face +once more back toward the black loneliness of the pool.</p> + +<p id="id01080">Unconsciously a sobbing cry of sympathy fell softly from Rod's lips, +and he called John Ball's name again, louder and louder, until +it echoed far down the gloomy depths of the chasm. There came no +response. Then he turned to the fish. John Ball wished them to be +friends, and he had brought this offering! In the firelight Rod saw +that it was a curious looking, dark-colored fish, covered with small +scales that were almost black. It was the size of a large trout, and +yet it was not a trout. The head was thick and heavy, like a sucker's, +and yet it was not a sucker. He looked at this head more closely, and +gave a sudden start when he saw that it had no eyes!</p> + +<p id="id01081">In one great flood the truth swept upon him, the truth of what lay +behind the cataract, of where John Ball had gone! For he held in his +hands an eyeless creature of another world, a world hidden in the +bowels of the earth itself, a proof that beyond the fall was a great +cavern filled with the mystery and the sightless things of eternal +night, and that in this cavern John Ball found his food and made his +home!</p> + +<h2 id="id01082" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h4 id="id01083" style="margin-top: 2em">IN A SUBTERRANEAN WORLD</h4> + +<p id="id01084">When Mukoki and Wabigoon returned half an hour later the hot-stone +biscuits were still unbaked. The fire was only a bed of coals. Beside +it sat Rod, the strange fish upon the ground at his feet. Before +Mukoki had thrown down the pack of meat which he was carrying he was +showing them this fish. Quickly he related what had happened. He added +to this some of the things which he had thought while sitting by the +fire. The chief of these things were that just behind the cataract was +the entrance to a great cavern, and that in this cavern they would not +only find John Ball, but also the rich storehouse of that treasure of +which they had discovered a part in the pool.</p> + +<p id="id01085">And as the night lengthened there was little talk about the gold and +much about John Ball. Again and again Rod described the madman's +visit, the trembling, pleading voice, the offering of the fish, the +eager glow that had come into the wild eyes when he talked to him and +called him by name. Even Mukoki's stoic heart was struck by the deep +pathos of it all. The mad hunter no longer carried his gun. He no +longer sought their lives. In his crazed brain something new and +wonderful was at work, something that drew him to them, with the +half-fear of an animal, and yet with growing trust. He was pleading +for their companionship, their friendship, and deep down in his heart +Rod felt that the spark of sanity was not completely gone from John +Ball.</p> + +<p id="id01086">When the three adventurers retired to their blankets in the cedar +shelter it was not the thought of gold that quickened their blood in +anticipation of the morning. The passing of an age would not dull the +luster of what they had come to seek. It would wait for them. The +greatest of all things—the sympathy of man for man—had stilled that +other passion in them. John Ball's salvation, and not more gold, was +the day's work ahead of them now.</p> + +<p id="id01087">With the dawn they were up, and by the time it was light enough to see +they were ready for the exploration of whatever was hidden behind the +fall. In a rubber blanket Wabigoon wrapped a rifle and half a dozen +pine torches. Mukoki carried a quantity of cooked meat. Standing on +the edge of the pool Rod pointed into the falling torrent.</p> + +<p id="id01088">"He dived straight under," he said. "The opening to the cavern is +directly behind the shoot of falling water."</p> + +<p id="id01089">Wabi placed his hat and coat upon a rock.</p> + +<p id="id01090">"I'll try it first. Wait until I come back," he said.</p> + +<p id="id01091">Without another word he plunged into the pool. Minute after minute +passed, and he did not reappear. Rod was conscious of a nervous chill +creeping into his blood. But Mukoki was chuckling confidently.</p> + +<p id="id01092">"Found heem!" he replied in response to the white youth's inquiring +look.</p> + +<p id="id01093">As he spoke Wabigoon came up out of the pool like a great fish. Rod +helped him upon the rocks.</p> + +<p id="id01094">"We're two bright ones, we are, Muky!" he exclaimed, as soon as he +gained his breath. "Just behind the fall I ran up against the wall of +rock we found when we were hunting for John Ball, stood on my feet, +and—" he swung his arms suggestively—"there I was, head and +shoulders out of water, looking into a hole as big as a house!"</p> + +<p id="id01095">"Dive easy!" warned the old pathfinder, turning to Rod. "Bump head on +rock—swush!"</p> + +<p id="id01096">"We won't have to dive," continued Wabi. "The water directly under the +fall of the stream isn't more than four feet deep. If we wade into it +from over there we can make it easy."</p> + +<p id="id01097">Taking his waterproof bundle the young Indian slipped into the pool +close up against the wall of rock that formed the foundation of the +upper chasm and plunged straight into the tumbling cataract. Mukoki +followed close behind and preparing himself with a long breath Rod +hurried into this new experience. For a moment he was conscious of a +smothering weight upon him and a thunderous roaring in his ears, and +he was borne irresistibly down. There was still air in his lungs when +he found himself safely through the deluge so he knew that its passage +had taken him only a brief but thrilling instant. For a time he could +see nothing. Then he made out a dark form drawing itself up out of the +water. Beyond that there lay a chaos of midnight blackness, and he +knew that his eyes were staring into the depths of a great cavern!</p> + +<p id="id01098">Gripping the edge of the rock ledge he dragged himself up as both +Wabigoon and Mukoki had done, and found his feet upon a soft floor of +sand. Suddenly he felt a hand clutch his arm. A half-shout, rising +faintly above the wash of the cataract, sounded in his ear.</p> + +<p id="id01099">"Look!"</p> + +<p id="id01100">He wiped the water from his eyes and gazed ahead of him. For a moment +he saw nothing. Then, so faintly that at first it appeared no larger +than a star, he caught the faint glimmer of a light. As he looked it +became more and more distinct, and to his astonishment he saw that +it was slowly rising, like a huge will-o'-the-wisp that had suddenly +risen from the floor of the cavern to float off into the utter +blackness of space above. And even as he stared, gripping Wabi's arm +in his excitement, the strange light began to descend, and quickly +disappeared!</p> + +<p id="id01101">The two boys saw Mukoki slip off into the gloom, and without +questioning his motive they followed close behind. As they progressed +the sound of the fall came more and more faintly to their ears. A +blackness deeper than the gloom of the darkest night environed them, +and the three now held to one another's arms. Rod understood why his +companions lighted no torches. Somewhere ahead of them was another +light, carried by the mad hunter. His blood thrilled with excitement. +Where would John Ball lead them?</p> + +<p id="id01102">Suddenly he became conscious that they were no longer walking on a +level floor of sand but that they were ascending, as the light had +done. Mukoki stopped and for a full minute they stood and listened. +The tumult of the fall came to them in a far, subdued murmur. Beyond +that there was not the breath of a sound in the strange world of gloom +about them. They were about to start on again when something held +them, a whispering, sobbing echo, and Rod's heart seemed to stop its +beating. It died away slowly, and a weird stillness fell after it. +Then came a low moaning cry, a cry that was human in its agony, and +yet which had in it something so near the savage that even Wabigoon +found himself trembling as he strained in futile effort to pierce +the impenetrable gloom ahead. Before the cry had lost itself in the +distances of the cavern Mukoki was leading them on again.</p> + +<p id="id01103">Step by step they followed in the path taken by the strange light. Rod +knew that they were climbing a hill of sand, and that just beyond +it they would see the light again, but he was not prepared for the +startling suddenness with which the next change came. As if a black +curtain had dropped from before their eyes the three adventurers +beheld a scene that halted them in their tracks. A hundred paces away +a huge pitch-pine torch a yard in length was burning in the sand, and +crouching in the red glow of this, his arms stretched out as if in the +supplication of a strange prayer, was John Ball! Just beyond him was +the gleam of water, inky-black in the weird flickerings of the torch, +and toward this John Ball reached out in his grief. His voice came up +softly to the three watchers now, so low that even in the vast silence +of the cavern it could barely be heard. To Roderick Drew it was as if +the strange creature below him was sobbing like a heart-broken child, +and he whispered in Wabigoon's ear. Then, foot by foot, so gently that +his moccasined feet made no sound, he approached the madman.</p> + +<p id="id01104">Half-way to him he paused.</p> + +<p id="id01105">"Hello, John Ball!" he called softly.</p> + +<p id="id01106">The faint light of the torch was falling upon him, and he advanced +another step. The murmuring of the wild man ceased, but he made no +movement. He still knelt in his rigid posture, his arms stretched +toward the black chaos beyond him. Rod came very close to him before +he spoke again.</p> + +<p id="id01107">"Is that you, John Ball?"</p> + +<p id="id01108">Slowly the kneeling figure turned, and once more Rod saw in those wild +eyes, gleaming brightly now in the torch-light, the softer, thrilling +glow of recognition and returning reason. He reached out his own arms +and advanced boldly, calling John Ball's name, and the madman made no +retreat but crouched lower in the sand, strange, soft sounds again +falling from his lips. Rod had come within half a dozen feet of him +when he sprang up with the quickness of a cat, and with a wailing +cry plunged waist deep into the water. With his arms stretched +entreatingly into the mysterious world beyond the torch-light he +turned his face to the white youth, and Rod knew that he was trying as +best he could to tell him something.</p> + +<p id="id01109">"What is it, John Ball?"</p> + +<p id="id01110">He went to the edge of the black water and waded out until it rose to +his knees, his eyes staring into the blackness.</p> + +<p id="id01111">"What is it?"</p> + +<p id="id01112">He, too, pointed with one arm, and the madman gave an excited gesture. +Then he placed his hands funnel-shaped to his mouth, as Rod had often +seen Wabi and Mukoki do when calling moose, and there burst from him a +far-reaching cry, and Rod's heart gave a sudden bound as he listened, +for the cry was that of a woman's name!</p> + +<p id="id01113">"Dol—o—res-s-s-s—Dol—o—res-s-s-s—"</p> + +<p id="id01114">The cry died away in distant murmuring echoes, and with an answering +cry Rod shouted forth the name which he fancied John Ball had spoken.</p> + +<p id="id01115">"Dolores! Dolores! Dolores!"</p> + +<p id="id01116">There came a sudden leaping plunge, and John Ball was at his feet, +clasping him about the knees, and sobbing again and again that +name—Dolores. Rod put his arms about the old man's shoulders, and the +gray, shaggy head fell against him. The sobbing voice grew lower, the +weight of the head greater, and after a little Rod called loudly for +Mukoki and Wabigoon, for there was no longer movement or sound from +the form at his feet, and he knew that something had happened to John +Ball. The two Indians were quickly at his side, and together they +carried the unconscious form of Ball within the circle of torch-light. +The old man's eyes were closed, his claw-like fingers were clenched +fiercely upon his breast, and not until Mukoki placed a hand over his +heart did the three know that he was still breathing.</p> + +<p id="id01117">"Now is our time to get him to camp," said Wabi. "Lead the way with +the torch, Rod!"</p> + +<p id="id01118">There was not much weight to John Ball, and the two Indians carried +him easily. At the fall the rubber blanket was wound about his head +and the adventurers plunged under the cataract with their burden. It +was an hour after that before the old man opened his eyes again. Rod +was close beside him and for a full minute the mad hunter gazed +up into his face, then once more he sank off into that strange +unconsciousness which had overcome him in the cavern. Rod rose +white-faced and turned to Mukoki and Wabigoon.</p> + +<p id="id01119">"I'm afraid—he's dying," he said.</p> + +<p id="id01120">The Indians made no answer. For several minutes the three sat silently +about John Ball watching for signs of returning consciousness. At +last Mukoki roused himself to take a pot of soup from the fire. The +movement seemed to stir John Ball into life, and Rod was at his side +again, holding a cup of water to his lips. After a little he helped +the old man to sit up, and a spoonful at a time the warm soup was fed +to him.</p> + +<p id="id01121">Through the whole of that day he returned to consciousness only for +brief intervals, lapsing back into a death-like sleep after each +awakening. During one of these periods of unconsciousness Wabi cut +short the tangled beard and hair, and for the first time they saw +in all its emaciation the thin, ghastly face of the man who, half a +century before, had drawn the map that led them to the gold. There was +little change in his condition during the night that followed, except +that now and then he muttered incoherently, and at these times Rod +always caught in his ravings the name that he had heard in the cavern. +The next day there was no change. And there was still none on the +third. Even Mukoki, who had tried every expedient of wilderness craft +in nursing, gave up in despair. So far as they could see John Ball had +no fever. Yet three-quarters of the time he lay as if dead. Nothing +but soup could be forced between his lips.</p> + +<p id="id01122">On the second day Wabi revisited the subterranean world beyond the +cataract. When he came back he had discovered the secret of the +treasure in the pool. The gold came from the cavern. The soft sand +through which they had followed the strange light was rich in dust and +nuggets. During the floods of spring water came into the cavern from +somewhere, and flowing for a brief space out through the mouth of the +cave brought with it the precious burden of treasure-laden sand which +was dumped into the pool. The constant wash of the cataract had caused +most of the sand to overflow into the running stream, but the heavier +gold-dust and nuggets remained in the trap into which they had fallen.</p> + +<p id="id01123">But the joy that came of this discovery was subdued by thoughts of +John Ball. The gold meant everything to Rod, the realization of his +hopes and ambitions; and he knew that it meant everything to his +mother, and to all those who belonged to Mukoki and Wabigoon. But the +gold could wait. They had already accumulated a small fortune, and +they could return for the rest a little later. At present they must do +something for John Ball, the man to whom they were indebted for all +that they had found, and to whom the treasure really belonged. On the +third day Rod laid his plans before Wabi and Mukoki.</p> + +<p id="id01124">"We must take John Ball back to the Post as quickly as we can," he +said. "It is our only chance of saving him. If we start now, while +the water in the creek is deep enough to float our canoe, we can make +Wabinosh House in ten or fifteen days."</p> + +<p id="id01125">"It will be impossible to paddle against the swift current," said +Wabi.</p> + +<p id="id01126">"That is true. But we can put John Ball into the canoe and tow him +up-stream. It will be a long wade and hard work, but—"</p> + +<p id="id01127">He looked at Wabi in silence, then added,</p> + +<p id="id01128">"Do we want John Ball to live, or do we want him to die?"</p> + +<p id="id01129">"If I thought he would live I would wade a thousand miles to save +him," rejoined the young Indian. "It means little to us but work. We +know where the rest of the gold is and can return to it within a few +weeks."</p> + +<p id="id01130">If there had been a doubt in the boys' minds as to the right course to +pursue John Ball settled it himself that very afternoon. He awakened +from an unusually long stupor. His eyes were burning with a new light, +and as Rod bent over him he whispered softly, but distinctly,</p> + +<p id="id01131">"Dolores—Dolores—Where is Dolores?"</p> + +<p id="id01132">"Who is Dolores, John Ball?" whispered the white youth, his heart +thumping wildly. "Who is Dolores?"</p> + +<p id="id01133">Ball drew up one of his emaciated hands and clasped it to his head, +and a sobbing moan fell from his lips. Then, after a moment, he +repeated, as though to himself,</p> + +<p id="id01134">"Dolores—Dolores—Who is Dolores?"</p> + +<p id="id01135">The Indians had come near, and heard. But John Ball said no more. He +swallowed a few spoonfuls of soup and fell again into his death-like +trance.</p> + +<p id="id01136">"Who is Dolores?" repeated Wabigoon, his face whitening as he looked +at Rod. "Is there somebody else in the cavern?"</p> + +<p id="id01137">"He is talking of some one whom he probably knew forty or fifty years +ago," replied Rod. But his own face was white. He stared hard at +Wabigoon, and a strange look came into Mukoki's face.</p> + +<p id="id01138">"Dolores," he mused, without taking his eyes from Wabi. "It's a +woman's name, or a girl's name. We must save John Ball! We must start +for Wabinosh House—now!"</p> + +<p id="id01139">"While he's unconscious we can tie the rope about him and hoist him +into the upper chasm," quickly added Wabigoon. "Muky, get to work. We +move this minute!"</p> + +<p id="id01140">It was still two hours before dusk, and now that they had determined +on returning to Wabinosh House the adventurers lost no time in getting +under way. Wabi climbed the rope that was suspended from the upper +chasm, and that part of their equipment which it was necessary to take +back with them was hoisted up by him. Mukoki sheltered the rest in the +old cabin. John Ball was drawn up last. For an hour after that, until +the gray shadows of night began settling about them, the three waded +up the shallow stream, pulling the canoe and its unconscious burden +after them. That night the madman was not left unwatched for a minute. +Mukoki sat beside him until eleven o'clock. Then Wabi took his turn. A +little after midnight Rod was aroused by being violently pulled from +his bed of balsam boughs.</p> + +<p id="id01141">"For the love of Heaven, get up!" whispered the young Indian. "He's +talking, Rod! He's talking about Dolores, and about some kind of a +great beast that's bigger than anything that ever lived up here! +Listen!"</p> + +<p id="id01142">The madman was moaning softly.</p> + +<p id="id01143">"I've killed it, Dolores—I've killed it—killed it! Where is Dolores? +Where—is—" There came a deep sigh, and John Ball was quiet.</p> + +<p id="id01144">"Killed what?" panted Rod, his heart thumping until it choked him.</p> + +<p id="id01145">"The beast—whatever it was," whispered Wabi. "Rod, something terrible +happened in that cavern! We don't know the whole story. The Frenchmen +who killed themselves for possession of the birch-bark map played +only a small part in it. The greater part was played by John Ball and +Dolores!"</p> + +<p id="id01146">For a long time the two listened, but the old man made no sound or +movement.</p> + +<p id="id01147">"Better go back to bed," said Wabi. "I thought if he was going to keep +it up you would like to hear. I'll call you at two."</p> + +<p id="id01148">But Rod could not sleep. For a long time he lay awake thinking of John +Ball and his strange ravings. Who was Dolores? What terrible tragedy +had that black world under the mountains some time beheld? Despite his +better reason an indefinable sensation of uneasiness possessed him as +the madman's sobbing out of the woman's name recurred to him. He spoke +nothing of this to Wabi when he relieved him, and he said nothing of +it during the days that followed. They were days of unending toil, of +fierce effort to beat out death in the race to Wabinosh House.</p> + +<p id="id01149">For it seemed that the end of time was very near for John Ball. On the +fourth day his thin cheeks showed signs of fever, and on the fifth he +was tossing in delirium. The race now continued by night as well as +by day, only an hour or two of rest being snatched at a time. During +these days John Ball babbled ceaselessly of Dolores, and great beasts, +and the endless cavern; and now the beasts began taking the form of +strange people whose eyes gleamed from out of masses of fur, and who +had hands, and flung spears. On the eighth day the madman sank +back into his old lethargy. On the fourth day after that the three +adventurers, worn and exhausted, reached the shore of Lake Nipigon. +Thirty miles across the lake was Wabinosh House, and it was decided +that Mukoki and Rod should leave for assistance, while Wabigoon +remained with John Ball. The two rolled themselves in their blankets +immediately after supper, and after three hours' sleep were awakened +by the young Indian. All that night they paddled with only occasional +moments of rest. The sun was just rising over the forests when they +grounded their canoe close to the Post. As Rod sprang ashore he saw a +figure walk slowly out from the edge of the forest an eighth of a mile +away. Even at that distance he recognized Minnetaki! He looked at the +sharp-eyed Mukoki. He, too, had seen and recognized the girl.</p> + +<p id="id01150">"Muky, I'm going along in the edge of the woods and give her a +surprise," said Rod courageously. "Will you wait here?"</p> + +<p id="id01151">Mukoki grinned a nodding assent, and the youth darted into the edge of +the forest. He was breathless when he came up a hundred yards behind +the girl, screened from view by the trees. Softly he whistled. It was +a signal that Minnetaki had taught him on his first trip into the +North, and he knew of only two who used it in all that Northland, and +those two were the Indian maiden and himself. The girl turned as +she heard the trilling note, and Rod drew himself farther back. +He whistled again, more loudly than before, and Minnetaki came +hesitatingly toward the forest's edge, and when he whistled a third +time there came a timid response from her, as if she recognized and +yet doubted the notes that floated to her from the shadows of the +balsams.</p> + +<p id="id01152">Again Rod whistled, laughing as he drew a little farther back, and +again Minnetaki answered, peering in among the trees. He saw the +wondering, half-expectant glow in her eyes, and suddenly crying out +her name he sprang from his concealment. With a little cry of joy and +with hands outstretched Minnetaki ran to meet him.</p> + +<h2 id="id01153" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h4 id="id01154" style="margin-top: 2em">JOHN BALL'S STORY</h4> + +<p id="id01155">That same morning two big canoes set out across Lake Nipigon for +Wabigoon and John Ball. Mukoki returned with the canoes, but Rod +remained at the Post, and not a moment's rest did he have during the +whole of that day from the eager questions of those whom he had so +completely surprised by his unexpected return. Few stories could have +been more thrilling than his, though he told it in the simplest manner +possible. Rod's appearance more than his words was evidence of +the trials he and his companions had passed through. His face was +emaciated to startling thinness by desperate exertion and lack of +sleep, and both his face and his hands were covered with scratches and +bruises. Not until late in the afternoon did he go to bed, and it was +noon the following day when he awoke from his heavy slumber.</p> + +<p id="id01156">The canoes had returned, and John Ball was in the doctor's care. At +dinner Rod and Wabi were made to go over their adventures again, and +even Mukoki, who had joined them in this reunion, was not allowed to +escape the endless questioning of Minnetaki, the factor's wife, and +Rod's mother. Rod was seated at the table between Mrs. Drew and +Minnetaki. Several times during the conversation he felt the young +girl's hand touch his arm. Once, when the factor spoke about their +return to the gold in the cavern, this mysterious signaling of +Minnetaki's took the form of a pinch that made him squirm. Not until +after dinner, and the two were alone, did he begin to comprehend.</p> + +<p id="id01157">"I'm ashamed of you, Roderick Drew!" said the girl, standing before +him in mock displeasure. "You and Wabi were the stupidest things I +ever saw at dinner! Have you all forgotten your promise to me?—your +promise that I should go with you on your next trip? I wanted you to +speak about it right there at dinner!"</p> + +<p id="id01158">"But I—I—couldn't!" stammered Rod awkwardly.</p> + +<p id="id01159">"But I'm going!" said Minnetaki decisively. "I'm going with you boys +on this next trip—if I have to run away! It's not fair for Wabi and +Mukoki and you to leave me alone all of the time. And, besides, I've +been making all the arrangements while you were gone. I've won over +mamma and your mother, and Maballa, mamma's Indian woman, will go with +me. There's just one who says—'No!'" And Minnetaki clasped her hands +pathetically.</p> + +<p id="id01160">"And that's papa," completed Rod, laughing.</p> + +<p id="id01161">"Yes."</p> + +<p id="id01162">"Well, if he is the only one against us we stand a good chance of +winning."</p> + +<p id="id01163">"I'm going to have mamma and Wabigoon get him by themselves to-night," +said the girl. "Papa will do anything on earth for her, and he thinks +Wabi is the best boy on earth. Mamma says she will lock the door and +won't let him out until he has given his promise. Oh, what a glorious +time we'll have!"</p> + +<p id="id01164">"Perhaps he would go with us," suggested Rod.</p> + +<p id="id01165">"No, he couldn't leave the Post. If he went Wabi would have to stay."</p> + +<p id="id01166">Rod was counting on his fingers.</p> + +<p id="id01167">"That means six in our next expedition,—Wabi, Mukoki, John Ball and +myself, and you and Maballa. Why, it'll be a regular picnic party!"</p> + +<p id="id01168">Minnetaki's eyes were brimming with fun.</p> + +<p id="id01169">"Do you know," she said, "that Maballa thinks Mukoki is just about the +nicest Indian that ever lived? Oh, I'd be so glad if—if—"</p> + +<p id="id01170">She puckered her mouth into a round, red O, and left Rod to guess the +rest. It was not difficult for him to understand.</p> + +<p id="id01171">"So would I," he cried. Then he added,</p> + +<p id="id01172">"Muky is the best fellow on earth."</p> + +<p id="id01173">"And Maballa is just as good," said the girl loyally.</p> + +<p id="id01174">The boy held out his hand.</p> + +<p id="id01175">"Let's shake on that, Minnetaki! I'll handle Mukoki, you take care of +Maballa. What a picnic this next trip will be!" +</p> + +<p id="id01176">"And there'll be lots and lots of adventures, won't there?" asked the +girl a little anxiously.</p> + +<p id="id01177">"Plenty of them." Rod became immediately serious. "This will be the +most important of all our trips, Minnetaki, that is, if John Ball +lives. I haven't told the others, but I believe that great cavern +holds something for us besides gold!"</p> + +<p id="id01178">The smile left the girl's face. Her eyes were soft and eager.</p> + +<p id="id01179">"You believe that—Dolores—"</p> + +<p id="id01180">"I don't know what to believe. But—we'll find something there!"</p> + +<p id="id01181">For an hour Rod and Minnetaki talked of John Ball and of the strange +things he said in his delirium. Then the girl rejoined Mrs. Drew and +the princess mother, while Rod went in search of Mukoki and Wabigoon. +That night the big event happened. George Newsome, the factor, gave +a reluctant consent which meant that Wabi's sister and Maballa would +accompany the adventurers on their next journey into the untraveled +solitudes of Hudson Bay.</p> + +<p id="id01182">For a week John Ball hovered between life and death. After that his +improvement was slow but sure, and each day added strength to his +emaciated body and a new light to his eyes. At the end of the second +week there was no question but that he was slowly returning to sanity. +Gradually he came to know those who sat beside his bed, and whenever +Rod visited him he insisted on holding the youth's hand. At first the +sight of Minnetaki or her mother, or of Mrs. Drew, had a startling +effect on him and in their presence he would moan ceaselessly the name +Rod first heard in the cavern. A little at a time the language of +those about him came back to the old man, and bit by bit those who +waited and listened and watched learned the story of John Ball. +Midsummer came before he could gather the scattered threads of his +life in his memory, and even then there were breaks in this story +which seemed but trivial things to John Ball, but which to the others +meant the passing of forgotten years.</p> + +<p id="id01183">In fact, years played but a small part in the strange story that fell +from the old man's lips. "In time," said the Post physician, "he will +remember everything. Now only the most important happenings in his +life have returned to him."</p> + +<p id="id01184">John Ball could not remember the date when, as a young boy, he +left York Factory, on Hudson Bay, to come a thousand miles down to +civilization in company with the two Frenchmen who killed themselves +in the old cabin. But the slip of paper which Rod had discovered +filled that gap. He was the son of the factor at York Factory, and was +to spend a year at school in Montreal. On their trip down it was the +boy who found gold in the chasm. John Ball could remember none of the +details. He only knew that they remained to gather the treasure, and +that he, as its discoverer and the son of one of the lords of the +Hudson Bay Company, was to receive twice the share of the others, and +that in the autumn they were to return to York Factory instead of +going on to Montreal. He remembered indistinctly a quarrel over the +gold, and after that of writing some sort of agreement, and then, +early one morning, he awoke to find the two Frenchmen standing over +him, and after that, for a long time, everything seemed to pass as in +a dream.</p> + +<p id="id01185">When he awoke into life he was no longer in the chasm, but among a +strange people who were so small that they reached barely to his +shoulders, and who dressed in fur, and carried spears, and though the +sick man said no more about these people those who listened to him +knew that he had wandered far north among the Eskimos. They treated +him kindly, and he lived among them for a long time, hunting and +fishing with them, and sleeping in houses built of ice and snow.</p> + +<p id="id01186">The next that John Ball remembered was of white people. In some way +he returned to York Factory, and he knew that when this happened many +years had passed, for his father and mother were dead, and there were +strangers at the Post. At this time John Ball must have returned +fully to his reason again. He remembered, faintly, leading several +unsuccessful expeditions in search of the gold which he and the +Frenchmen had discovered, and that once he went to a great city, which +must have been Montreal, and that he stayed there a long time doing +something for the Hudson Bay Company, and met a girl whom he married. +When he spoke of the girl John Ball's eyes would glow feverishly and +her name would fall from him in a moaning sob. For as yet returning +reason had not placed the hand of age upon him. It was as if he was +awakening from a deep sleep, and Dolores, his young wife, had been +with him but a few hours before.</p> + +<p id="id01187">There came another break in John Ball's life after this. He could not +remember how long they lived in Montreal, but he knew that after a +time he returned with his wife into the far North, and that they were +very happy, and one summer set off in a canoe to search for the lost +chasm together. They found it. How or when he could not remember. +After this John Ball's story was filled with wild visions of a great +black world where there was neither sun nor moon nor stars, and they +found gold and dug it by the light of fires. And one day the woman +went a little way back in this world and never came back.</p> + +<p id="id01188">It was then that the old madness returned. In his search for his lost +wife John Ball never found the end of the great cavern. He saw strange +people, he fought great beasts in this black world that were larger +than the biggest moose in the forests, and he told of rushing torrents +and thundering cataracts in the bowels of the earth. Even in his +returning sanity the old man told these things as true.</p> + +<p id="id01189">George Newsome, the factor, lost no time in writing to the Company at +Montreal, inquiring about John Ball, and a month later he received +word that a man by that name had worked as an inspector of raw furs +during the years 1877 and 1878. He had left Montreal for the North +thirty years before. In all probability he soon after went in search +of the lost gold, and for more than a quarter of a century had lived +as a wild man in the solitudes.</p> + +<p id="id01190">It was at this time in the convalescence of the doctor's patient that +Roderick's mother made a suggestion which took the Post by storm. +It was that the factor and his family accompany her and Rod back to +civilization for a few weeks' visit. To the astonishment of all, and +especially to Minnetaki and the princess mother, the factor fell in +heartily with the scheme, with the stipulation that the Drews return +with them early in the autumn. An agent from the head office of the +Company had come up for a month's fishing and he cheerfully expressed +his willingness to take charge of affairs at the Post during their +absence.</p> + +<p id="id01191">The happiness of Rod and Wabi was complete when Mukoki was compelled +to give his promise to go with them. For several days the old warrior +withstood their combined assaults, but at last he surrendered when +Minnetaki put her arms around his neck and nestled her soft cheek +against his leathery face, with the avowal that she would not move a +step unless he went with her.</p> + +<p id="id01192">So it happened, one beautiful summer morning, that three big canoes +put out into the lake from Wabinosh House and headed into the +South, and only Mukoki, of all the seven who were going down into +civilization, felt something that was not joy as the forests slipped +behind them. For Mukoki was to get a glimpse of a new world, a world +far from the land of his fathers, and the loyal heart inside his +caribou-skin coat quickened its pulse a little as he thought of the +wonderful journey.</p> + +<p id="id01193">Thus began the journey to civilization.</p> + +<h2 id="id01194" style="margin-top: 4em">THE END</h2> + +<p id="id01195" style="margin-top: 6em">End of Project Gutenberg's The Gold Hunters, by James Oliver Curwood</p> + +<p id="id01196">*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLD HUNTERS ***</p> + +<p id="id01197">***** This file should be named 11668-8.txt or 11668-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/6/6/11668/</p> + +<p id="id01198">Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark, Suzanne Shell, Björn Lijnema +and PG Distributed Proofreaders</p> + +<p id="id01199">Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p id="id01200">Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..90f5444 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11668 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11668) diff --git a/old/20040322-11668-8.txt b/old/20040322-11668-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f715364 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20040322-11668-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6779 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gold Hunters, by James Oliver Curwood + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net + + +Title: The Gold Hunters + A Story of Life and Adventure in the Hudson Bay Wilds + +Author: James Oliver Curwood + +Release Date: March 22, 2004 [EBook #11668] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLD HUNTERS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Björn Lijnema and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +[Illustration: The canoe sped out into the gloom.] + + +THE GOLD HUNTERS + +A Story of Life and Adventure in the Hudson Bay Wilds + +BY +JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD + +1909 + + +To the sweet-voiced, dark-eyed little half-Cree maiden +at Lac-Bain, who is the Minnetaki of this story; and to "Teddy" Brown, +guide and trapper, and loyal comrade of the author in many of his +adventures, this book is affectionately dedicated. + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +THE PURSUIT OF THE HUDSON BAY MAIL + +The deep hush of noon hovered over the vast solitude of Canadian +forest. The moose and caribou had fed since early dawn, and were +resting quietly in the warmth of the February sun; the lynx was curled +away in his niche between the great rocks, waiting for the sun to +sink farther into the north and west before resuming his marauding +adventures; the fox was taking his midday slumber and the restless +moose-birds were fluffing themselves lazily in the warm glow that was +beginning to melt the snows of late winter. + +It was that hour when the old hunter on the trail takes off his pack, +silently gathers wood for a fire, eats his dinner and smokes his pipe, +eyes and ears alert;--that hour when if you speak above a whisper, he +will say to you, + +"Sh-h-h-h! Be quiet! You can't tell how near we are to game. +Everything has had its morning feed and is lying low. The game won't +be moving again for an hour or two, and there may be moose or caribou +a gunshot ahead. We couldn't hear them--now!" + +And yet, after a time one thing detached itself from this lifeless +solitude. At first it was nothing more than a spot on the sunny side +of a snow-covered ridge. Then it moved, stretched itself like a dog, +with its forefeet extended far to the front and its shoulders hunched +low--and was a wolf. + +A wolf is a heavy sleeper after a feast. A hunter would have said that +this wolf had gorged itself the night before. Still, something had +alarmed it. Faintly there came to this wilderness outlaw that most +thrilling of all things to the denizens of the forest--the scent of +man. He came down the ridge with the slow indifference of a full-fed +animal, and with only a half of his old cunning; trotted across the +softening snow of an opening and stopped where the man-scent was so +strong that he lifted his head straight up to the sky and sent out to +his comrades in forest and plain the warning signal that he had struck +a human trail. A wolf will do this, and no more, in broad day. At +night he might follow, and others would join him in the chase; but +with daylight about him he gives the warning and after a little slinks +away from the trail. + +But something held this wolf. There was a mystery in the air which +puzzled him. Straight ahead there ran the broad, smooth trail of a +sled and the footprints of many dogs. Sometime within the last hour +the "dog mail" from Wabinosh House had passed that way on its long +trip to civilization. But it was not the swift passage of man and +dog that held the wolf rigidly alert, ready for flight--and yet +hesitating. It was something from the opposite direction, from the +North, out of which the wind was coming. First it was sound; then it +was scent--then both, and the wolf sped in swift flight up the sunlit +ridge. + +In the direction from which the alarm came there stretched a small +lake, and on its farther edge, a quarter of a mile away, there +suddenly darted out from the dense rim of balsam forest a jumble of +dogs and sledge and man. For a few moments the mass of animals seemed +entangled in some kind of wreck or engaged in one of those fierce +battles in which the half-wild sledge-dogs of the North frequently +engage, even on the trail. Then there came the sharp, commanding cries +of a human voice, the cracking of a whip, the yelping of the +huskies, and the disordered team straightened itself and came like a +yellowish-gray streak across the smooth surface of the lake. Close +beside the sledge ran the man. He was tall, and thin, and even at that +distance one would have recognized him as an Indian. Hardly had the +team and its wild-looking driver progressed a quarter of the distance +across the lake when there came a shout farther back, and a second +sledge burst into view from out of the thick forest. Beside this +sledge, too, a driver was running with desperate speed. + +The leader now leaped upon his sledge, his voice rising in sharp cries +of exhortation, his whip whirling and cracking over the backs of his +dogs. The second driver still ran, and thus gained upon the team +ahead, so that when they came to the opposite side of the lake, where +the wolf had sent out the warning cry to his people, the twelve dogs +of the two teams were almost abreast. + +Quickly there came a slackening in the pace set by the leading dog of +each team, and half a minute later the sledges stopped. The dogs flung +themselves down in their harness, panting, with gaping jaws, the snow +reddening under their bleeding feet. The men, too, showed signs of +terrible strain. The elder of these, as we have said, was an Indian, +pure breed of the great Northern wilderness. His companion was a youth +who had not yet reached his twenties, slender, but with the strength +and agility of an animal in his limbs, his handsome face bronzed by +the free life of the forest, and in his veins a plentiful strain of +that blood which made his comrade kin. + +In those two we have again met our old friends Mukoki and Wabigoon: +Mukoki, the faithful old warrior and pathfinder, and Wabigoon, the +adventurous half-Indian son of the factor of Wabinosh House. Both +were at the height of some great excitement. For a few moments, while +gaining breath, they gazed silently into each other's face. + +"I'm afraid--we can't--catch them, Muky," panted the younger. "What do +you think--" + +He stopped, for Mukoki had thrown himself on his knees in the snow a +dozen feet in front of the teams. From that point there ran straight +ahead of them the trail of the dog mail. For perhaps a full minute he +examined the imprints of the dogs' feet and the smooth path made +by the sledge. Then he looked up, and with one of those inimitable +chuckles which meant so much when coming from him, he said: + +"We catch heem--sure! See--sledge heem go _deep_. Both ride. Big load +for dogs. We catch heem--sure!" + +"But our dogs!" persisted Wabigoon, his face still filled with doubt. +"They're completely bushed, and my leader has gone lame. See how +they're bleeding!" + +The huskies, as the big wolfish sledge-dogs of the far North are +called, were indeed in a pitiable condition. The warm sun had weakened +the hard crust of the snow until at every leap the feet of the animals +had broken through, tearing and wounding themselves on its ragged, +knife-like edges. Mukoki's face became more serious as he carefully +examined the teams. + +"Bad--ver' bad," he grunted. "We fool--fool!" + +"For not bringing dog shoes?" said Wabigoon. "I've got a dozen shoes +on my sledge--enough for three dogs. By George--" He leaped quickly to +his toboggan, caught up the dog moccasins, and turned again to the old +Indian, alive with new excitement. "We've got just one chance, Muky!" +he half shouted. + +"Pick out the strongest dogs. One of us must go on alone!" + +The sharp commands of the two adventurers and the cracking of Mukoki's +whip brought the tired and bleeding animals to their feet. Over the +pads of three of the largest and strongest were drawn the buckskin +moccasins, and to these three, hitched to Wabigoon's sledge, were +added six others that appeared to have a little endurance still left +in them. A few moments later the long line of dogs was speeding +swiftly over the trail of the Hudson Bay mail, and beside the sled ran +Wabigoon. + +Thus this thrilling pursuit of the dog mail had continued since early +dawn. For never more than a minute or two at a time had there been a +rest. Over mountain and lake, through dense forest and across barren +plain man and dog had sped without food or drink, snatching up +mouthfuls of snow here and there--always their eyes upon the fresh +trail of the flying mail. Even the fierce huskies seemed to understand +that the chase had become a matter of life and death, and that they +were to follow the trail ahead of them, ceaselessly and without +deviation, until the end of their masters was accomplished. The human +scent was becoming stronger and stronger in their wolf-like nostrils. +Somewhere on that trail there were men, and other dogs, and they were +to overtake them! + +Even now, bleeding and stumbling as they ran, the blood of battle, the +excitement of the chase, was hot within them. Half-wolf, half-dog, +their white fangs snarling as stronger whiffs of the man-smell came to +them, they were filled with the savage desperation of the youth who +urged them on. The keen instinct of the wild pointed out their road to +them, and they needed no guiding hand. Faithful until the last they +dragged on their burden, their tongues lolling farther from their +jaws, their hearts growing weaker, their eyes bloodshot until they +glowed like red balls. Now and then, when he had run until his +endurance was gone, Wabigoon would fling himself upon the sledge to +regain breath and rest his limbs, and the dogs would tug harder, +scarce slackening their speed under the increased weight. Once a huge +moose crashed through the forest a hundred paces away, but the huskies +paid no attention to it; a little farther on a lynx, aroused from +his sun bath on a rock, rolled like a great gray ball across the +trail,--the dogs cringed but for an instant at the sight of this +mortal enemy of theirs, and then went on. + +Slower and slower grew the pace. The rearmost dog was now no more than +a drag, and reaching a keen-edged knife far out over the end of the +sledge Wabi severed his breast strap and the exhausted animal rolled +out free beside the trail. Two others of the team were pulling scarce +a pound, another was running lame, and the trail behind was spotted +with pads of blood. Each minute added to the despair that was growing +in the youth's face. His eyes, like those of his faithful dogs, were +red from the terrible strain of the race, his lips were parted, his +legs, as tireless as those of a red deer, were weakening under him. +More and more frequently he flung himself upon the sledge, panting +for breath, and shorter and shorter became his intervals of running +between these periods of rest. The end of the chase was almost at +hand. They could not overtake the Hudson Bay mail! + +With a final cry of encouragement Wabi sprang from the sledge and +plunged along at the head of the dogs, urging them on in one last +supreme effort. Ahead of them was a break in the forest trail and +beyond that, mile upon mile, stretched the vast white surface of Lake +Nipigon. And far out in the glare of sun and snow there moved an +object, something that was no more than a thin black streak to +Wabi's blinded eyes but which he knew was the dog mail on its way to +civilization. He tried to shout, but the sound that fell from his lips +could not have been heard a hundred paces away; his limbs tottered +beneath him; his feet seemed suddenly to turn into lead, and he sank +helpless into the snow. The faithful pack crowded about him licking +his face and hands, their hot breath escaping between their gaping +jaws like hissing steam For a few moments it seemed to the Indian +youth that day had suddenly turned into night. His eyes closed, the +panting of the dogs came to him more and more faintly, as if they were +moving away; he felt himself sinking, sinking slowly down into utter +blackness. + +Desperately he fought to bring himself back into life. There was one +more chance--just one! He heard the dogs again, he felt their tongues +upon his hands and face, and he dragged himself to his knees, groping +out with his hands like one who had gone blind. A few feet away was +the sledge, and out there, far beyond his vision now, was the Hudson +Bay mail! + +Foot by foot he drew himself out from among the tangle of dogs. He +reached the sledge, and his fingers gripped convulsively at the cold +steel of his rifle. One more chance! One more chance! The words--the +thought--filled his brain, and he raised the rifle to his shoulder, +pointing its muzzle up to the sky so that he would not harm the dogs. +And then, once, twice, five times he fired into the air, and at the +end of the fifth shot he drew fresh cartridges from his belt, +and fired again and again, until the black streak far out in the +wilderness of ice and snow stopped in its progress--and turned back. +And still the sharp signals rang out again and again, until the barrel +of Wabi's rifle grew hot, and his cartridge belt was empty. + +Slowly the gloom cleared away before his eyes. He heard a shout, and +staggered to his feet, stretching out his arms and calling a name as +the dog mail stopped half a hundred yards from his own team. + +With something between a yell of joy and a cry of astonishment a youth +of about Wabi's age sprang from the second sleigh and ran to the +Indian boy, catching him in his arms as for a second time, he sank +fainting upon the snow. + +"Wabi--what's the matter?" he cried. "Are you hurt? Are you--" + +For a moment Wabigoon struggled to overcome his weakness. + +"Rod--" he whispered, "Rod--Minnetaki--" + +His lips ceased to move and he sank heavily in his companion's arms. + +"What is it, Wabi? Quick! Speak!" urged the other. His face had grown +strangely white, his voice trembled. "What about--Minnetaki?" + +Again the Indian youth fought to bring himself back to life. His words +came faintly, + +"Minnetaki--has been captured--by--the--Woongas!" + +Then even his breath seemed to stop, and he lay like one dead. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +MINNETAKI IN THE HANDS OF THE OUTLAWS + +For a brief time Roderick believed that life had indeed passed from +the body of his young friend. So still did Wabi lie and so terrifying +was the strange pallor in his face that the white boy found himself +calling on his comrade in a voice filled with choking sobs. The driver +of the dog mail dropped on his knees beside the two young hunters. +Running his hand under Wabi's thick shirt he held it there for an +instant, and said, "He's alive!" + +Quickly drawing a small metal flask from one of his pockets he +unscrewed the top, and placing the mouthpiece to the Indian youth's +lips forced a bit of its contents down his throat. The liquor had +almost immediate effect, and Wabigoon opened his eyes, gazed into the +rough visage of the courier, then closed them again. There was relief +in the courier's face as he pointed to the dogs from Wabinosh House. +The exhausted animals were lying stretched upon the snow, their heads +drooping between their forefeet. Even the presence of a rival team +failed to arouse them from their lethargy. One might have thought that +death had overtaken them upon the trail were it not for their panting +sides and lolling tongues. + +"He's not hurt!" exclaimed the driver, "see the dogs! He's been +running--running until he dropped in his tracks!" + +The assurance brought but little comfort to Rod. He could feel the +tremble of returning life in Wabi's body now, but the sight of the +exhausted and bleeding dogs and the memory of his comrade's last words +had filled him with a new and terrible fear. What had happened to +Minnetaki? Why had the factor's son come all this distance for him? +Why had he pursued the mail until his dogs were nearly dead, and he +himself had fallen unconscious in his tracks? Was Minnetaki dead? Had +the Woongas killed Wabi's beautiful little sister? + +Again and again he implored his friend to speak to him, until the +courier pushed him back and carried Wabi to the mail sled. + +"Hustle up there to that bunch of spruce and build a fire," he +commanded. "We've got to get something hot into him, and rub him down, +and roll him in furs. This is bad enough, bad enough!" + +Rod waited to hear no more, but ran to the clump of spruce to which +the courier had directed him. Among them he found a number of birch +trees, and stripping off an armful of bark he had a fire blazing upon +the snow by the time the dog mail drew up with its unconscious burden. +While the driver was loosening Wabi's clothes and bundling him in +heavy bearskins Rod added dry limbs to the fire until it threw a warm +glow for a dozen paces around. Within a few minutes a pot of ice and +snow was melting over the flames and the courier was opening a can of +condensed soup. + +The deathly pallor had gone from Wabi's face, and Rod, kneeling close +beside him, was rejoiced to see the breath coming more and more +regularly from between his lips. But even as he rejoiced the other +fear grew heavier at his heart. What had happened to Minnetaki? He +found himself repeating the question again and again as he watched +Wabi slowly returning to life, and, so quickly that it had passed in a +minute or two, there flashed through his mind a vision of all that had +happened the last few months. For a few moments, as his mind traveled +back, he was again in Detroit with his widowed mother; he thought of +the day he had first met Wabigoon, the son of an English factor and a +beautiful Indian princess, who had come far down into civilization to +be educated; of the friendship that had followed, of their weeks and +months together in school, and then of those joyous days and nights in +which they had planned a winter of thrilling adventure at Wabi's home +in the far North. + +And what adventures there had been, when, as the Wolf Hunters, he and +Wabi and Mukoki had braved the perils of the frozen solitudes! As +Wabigoon's breath came more and more regularly he thought of that +wonderful canoe trip from the last bit of civilization up into the +wilds; of his first sight of moose, the first bear he had killed, and +of his meeting with Minnetaki. + +His eyes became blurred and his heart grew cold as he thought of what +might have happened to her. A vision of the girl swept between him and +Wabi's face, in which the glow of life was growing warmer and warmer, +a vision of the little half-Indian maiden as he had first seen her, +when she came out to meet them in her canoe from Wabinosh House, the +sun shining on her dark hair, her cheeks flushed with excitement, her +eyes and teeth sparkling in glad welcome to her beloved brother +and the white youth of whom she had heard so much--the boy from +civilization--Roderick Drew. He remembered how his cap had blown off +into the water, how she had rescued it for him. In a flash all that +passed after that came before him like a picture; the days that he and +Minnetaki had rambled together in the forest, the furious battle +in which, single-handed, he had saved her from those fierce outlaw +Indians of the North, the Woongas; and after that he thought of +the weeks of thrilling adventure they three--Mukoki, Wabigoon and +himself--had spent in the wilderness far from the Hudson Bay Post, of +their months of trapping, their desperate war with the Woongas, the +discovery of the century-old cabin and its ancient skeletons, and +their finding of the birch-bark map between the bones of one of the +skeleton's fingers, on which, dimmed by age, was drawn the trail to a +land of gold. + +Instinctively, as for an instant this map came into his mental +picture, he thrust a hand into one of his inside pockets to feel that +his own copy of that map was there, the map which was to have brought +him back into this wilderness a few weeks hence, when they three would +set out on the romantic quest for the gold to which the skeletons in +the old cabin had given them the key. + +The vision left him as he saw a convulsive shudder pass through +Wabigoon. In another moment the Indian youth had opened his eyes, and +as he looked up into Rod's eager face he smiled feebly. He tried to +speak, but words failed him, and his eyes closed again. There was a +look of terror in Roderick's face as he turned to the courier, who +came to his side. Less than twenty-four hours before he had left +Wabigoon in the full strength of his splendid youth at Wabinosh House, +a lithe young giant, hardened by their months of adventure, quivering +with buoyant life, anxious for the spring that they might meet again +to take up another trail into the unexplored North. + +And now what a change! The glimpse he had caught of Wabi's bloodshot +eyes, the terrible thinness of the Indian youth's face, the chilling +lifelessness of his hands, made him shiver with dread. Was it +possible that a few short hours could bring about that remarkable +transformation? And where was Mukoki, the faithful old warrior from +whose guardianship Wabigoon and Minnetaki were seldom allowed to +escape? + +It seemed an hour before Wabi opened his eyes again, and yet it was +only a few minutes. This time Rod lifted him gently in his arms and +the courier placed a cup of the hot soup to his lips. The warmth of +the liquid put new life into the famished Indian youth. He drank +slowly of it at first, then eagerly, and when he had finished the cup +he made an effort to sit up. + +"I'll take another," he said faintly. "It's mighty good!" + +He drank the second cup with even greater relish. Then he sat bolt +upright, stretched out his arms, and with his companion's assistance +staggered to his feet. His bloodshot eyes burned with a strange +excitement as he looked at Rod. + +"I was afraid--I wouldn't--catch you!" + +"What is it, Wabi? What has happened? You say--Minnetaki--" + +"Has been captured by the Woongas. Chief Woonga himself is her captor, +and they are taking her into the North. Rod, only you can save her!" + +"Only--I--can--save--her?" gasped Rod slowly. "What do you mean?" + +"Listen!" cried the Indian boy, clutching him by the arm. "You +remember that after our fight with the Woongas and our escape from the +chasm we fled to the south, and that the next day, while you were away +from camp hunting for some animal that would give us fat for Mukoki's +wound, you discovered a trail. You told us that you followed the +sledge tracks, and that after a time the party had been met by others +on snow-shoes, and that among the imprints in the snow was one that +made you think of Minnetaki. When we reached the Post we learned that +Minnetaki and two sledges had gone to Kenegami House and at once +concluded that those snow-shoe trails were made by Kenegami people +sent out to meet her. But they were not! They were made by Woongas! + +"One of the guides, who escaped with a severe wound, brought the news +to us last night, and the doctor at the Post says that his hurt is +fatal and that he will not live another day. Everything depends on +you. You and the dying guide are the only two who know where to find +the place where the attack was made. It has been thawing for two days +and the trail may be obliterated. But you saw Minnetaki's footprints. +You saw the snow-shoe trails. You--and you alone--know which way they +went!" + +Wabi spoke rapidly, excitedly, and then sank down on the sledge, +weakened by his exertion. + +"We have been chasing you with two teams since dawn," he added, "and +pretty nearly killed the dogs. As a last chance we doubled up the +teams and I came on alone. I left Mukoki a dozen miles back on the +trail." + +Rod's blood had turned cold with horror at the knowledge that +Minnetaki was in the clutches of Woonga himself. The terrible change +in Wabi was no longer a mystery. Both Minnetaki and her brother had +told him more than once of the relentless feud waged against Wabinosh +House by this bloodthirsty savage and during the last winter he had +come into personal contact with it. He had fought, had seen people +die, and had almost fallen a victim to Woonga's vengeance. + +But it was not of these things that he thought just now. It was of the +reason for the feud, and something rose in his throat and choked him +until he made no effort to speak. Many years before, George Newsome, a +young Englishman, had come to Wabinosh House, and there he had met +and fallen in love with a beautiful Indian princess, who loved him in +turn, and became his wife. Woonga, chief of a warlike tribe, had been +his rival, and when the white man won in the battle for love his +fierce heart blazed with the fire of hatred and revenge. From that day +the relentless strife against the people of Wabinosh House began. The +followers of Woonga turned from trappers and hunters to murderers and +outlaws, and became known all over that wilderness country as the +Woongas. For years the feud had continued. Like a hawk Woonga watched +his opportunities, killing here, robbing there, and always waiting a +chance to rob the factor of his wife or children. Only a few weeks +before Rod had saved Minnetaki in that terrible struggle in the +forest. And now, more hopelessly than before, she had fallen into the +clutches of her enemies, and alone with Woonga was being carried into +the far North country, into those vast unexplored regions from which +she would probably never return! + +Rod turned to Wabi, his hands clenched, his eyes blazing. + +"I can find the trail, Wabi! I can find the trail--and we'll follow +it to the North Pole if we have to! We beat the Woongas in the +chasm--we'll beat them now! We'll find Minnetaki if it takes us until +doomsday!" + +From far back in the forest there came the faint pistol-like cracks of +a whip, the distant hallooing of a voice. + +For a few moments the three stood listening. + +The voice came again. + +"It's Mukoki," said Wabigoon, "Mukoki and the other dogs!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +ON THE TRAIL OF THE WOONGAS + +The cries came nearer, interspersed with the cracking of Mukoki's whip +as he urged on the few lagging dogs that Wabi had left with him upon +the trail. In another moment the old warrior and his team burst into +view and both of the young hunters hurried to meet him. A glance +showed Rod that a little longer and Mukoki would have dropped in his +tracks, as Wabi had done. The two led their faithful comrade to the +heap of bearskins on the mail sled and made him sit there while fresh +soup was being made. + +"You catch heem," grinned Mukoki joyously. "You catch heem--queek!" + +"And pretty nearly killed himself doing it, Muky," added Rod. "Now--" +he glanced from one to the other of his companions, "what is the first +thing to be done?" "We must strike for the Woonga trail without a +moment of unnecessary delay," declared Wabi. "Minutes are priceless, +an hour lost or gained may mean everything!" + +"But the dogs--" + +"You can take mine," interrupted the courier. "There are six of them, +all good heavy fellows and not overly bushed. You can add a few of +your own and I'll take what's left to drive on the mail. I would +advise you to rest for an hour or so and give them and yourselves a +good feed. It'll count in the long run." + +Mukoki grunted his approval of the driver's words and Rod at once +began gathering more fuel for the fire. The temporary camp was soon +a scene of the liveliest activity. While the courier unpacked his +provisions, Mukoki and Wabigoon assembled the teams and proceeded to +select three of the best of their own animals to put in harness with +those of the Hudson Bay mail. The dogs from Wabinosh House were wildly +famished and at the sight and odor of the great piece of meat which +the courier began cutting up for them they set up a snarling and +snapping of jaws, and began fighting indiscriminately among themselves +until the voices of their human companions were almost drowned in the +tumult. A full pound of the meat was given to each dog, and other +pieces of it were suspended over beds of coals drawn out from the big +fire. Meanwhile Rod was chopping through the thick ice of the lake in +search of water. + +After a little Wabi came down to join him. + +"Our sledge is ready," he said, as Rod stopped to rest for a moment. +"We're a little short on grub for nine dogs and three people, but +we've got plenty of ammunition. We ought to find something on the +trail." + +"Rabbits, anyway," suggested Rod, resuming his chopping. A few more +strokes, and water gushed through. Filling two pails the boys returned +to camp. + +The shadows from the sharp pointed cedars of the forest were falling +far out upon the frozen lake when the meal was finished, and the sun, +sinking early to its rest beyond the homeless solitudes, infused but +little warmth as the three hunters prepared to leave. It was only +three o'clock, but a penetrating chill was growing in the air. Half +an hour more and only a reddish glow would be where the northern sun +still shone feebly. In the far North winter night falls with the +swiftness of wings; it enshrouds one like a palpable, moving thing, a +curtain of gloom that can almost be touched and felt, and so it came +now, as the dogs were hitched to their sledge and Rod, Mukoki and +Wabigoon bade good-by to the driver of the Hudson Bay mail. + +"You'll make the other side in four hours," he called, as Mukoki's +cries sent the dogs trotting out upon the lake. "And then--I'd camp!" + +Running on ahead Mukoki set the pace and marked the trail. Wabi took +the first turn on the sledge, and Rod, who was fresher than either of +his comrades, followed close behind. After a little he drew up beside +the young Indian and placed a hand on his shoulder as he ran. + +"We will reach our old camp--in the plain--to-morrow?" he questioned, +between breaths. + +"To-morrow," affirmed Wabi. "Mukoki will show us the shortest cut to +it. After that, after we reach the camp, everything will depend upon +you." + +Rod fell behind in the path made by the sledge, and saved his breath. +His mind was working as never before in his life. When they reached +the camp in which the wounded Mukoki had lain after their escape from +the Woongas, could he find the old trail where he had seen Minnetaki's +footprints? He was quite sure of himself, and yet he was conscious of +an indefinable something growing in him as he noticed more and more +what the sun had done that day. Was it nervousness, or fear? Surely he +could find the trail, even though it was almost obliterated! But he +wished that it had been Mukoki or Wabigoon who had discovered it, +either of whom, with the woodcraft instinct born in them, would have +gone to it as easily as a fox to the end of a strong trail hidden in +autumn leaves. If he did fail--He shuddered, even as he ran, as he +thought of the fate that awaited Minnetaki. A few hours before he had +been one of the happiest youths in the world. Wabi's lovely little +sister, he had believed, was safe at Kenegami House; he had bade adieu +to his friends at the Post; every minute after that had taken him +nearer to that far city in the South, to his mother, and home. And now +so suddenly that he had hardly come to realize the situation he was +plunged into what gave promise of being the most thrilling and tragic +adventure of his life. A few weeks more, when spring had come, he +would have returned to his friends accompanied by his mother, and they +three--Mukoki, Wabigoon and he--would have set out on their romantic +quest for the lost gold-mine that had been revealed to them by the +ancient skeletons in the old cabin. Even as these visions were glowing +in his brain there had come the interruption, the signal shots on the +lake, the return of the dog mail, and now this race to save the life +of Minnetaki! + +In his eagerness he ran ahead of the sledge and urged Mukoki into a +faster pace. Every ten minutes the one who rode exchanged place with +one of the runners, so that there were intervals of rest for each two +times an hour. Quickly the red glow over the southwestern forests +faded away; the gloom grew thicker; far ahead, like an endless sheet +losing itself in a distant smother of blackness, stretched the ice and +snow of Lake Nipigon. There was no tree, no rock for guidance over +the trackless waste, yet never for an instant did Mukoki or Wabigoon +falter. The stars began burning brilliantly in the sky; far away the +red edge of the moon rose over this world of ice and snow and forest, +throbbing and palpitating like a bursting ball of fire, as one sees it +now and then in the glory of the great northern night. + +Tirelessly, mile after mile, hour after hour, broken only by the +short intervals of rest on the sledge, continued the race across Lake +Nipigon. The moon rose higher; the blood in it paled to the crimson +glow of the moose flower, and silvered as it climbed into the sky, +until the orb hung like a great golden-white disk. In the splendor of +it the solitude of ice and snow glistened without end. There was no +sound but the slipping of the sledge, the pattering of the dogs' +moccasined feet, and now and then a few breathless words spoken by Rod +or his companions. It was a little after eight o'clock by Rod's watch +when there came a change in the appearance of the lake ahead of them. +Wabi, who was on the sledge, was the first to notice it, and he +shouted back his discovery to the white youth. + +"The forest! We're across!" + +The tired dogs seemed to leap into new life at his words, and the +leader replied with a whining joyous cry as the odors of balsam and +fir came to him. The sharp pinnacles of the forest, reaching up into +the night's white glow, grew more and more distinct as the sledge sped +on, and five minutes later the team drew up in a huddled, panting +bunch on the shore. That day the men and dogs from Wabinosh House had +traveled sixty miles. + +"We'll camp here!" declared Wabi, as he dropped on the sledge. "We'll +camp here--unless you leave me behind!" + +Mukoki, tireless to the last, had already found an ax. + +"No rest now," he warned, "Too tired! You rest now--build no camp. +Build camp--then rest!" + +"You're right, Muky," cried Wabi, jumping to his feet with forced +enthusiasm. "If I sit down for five minutes I'll fall asleep. Rod, you +build a fire. Muky and I will make the shelter." + +In less than half an hour the balsam bough shelter was complete, and +in front of it roared a fire that sent its light and heat for twenty +paces round. From farther back in the forest the three dragged several +small logs, and no sooner had they been added to the flames than both +Mukoki and Wabigoon wrapped themselves in their furs and burrowed deep +into the sweet-scented balsam under the shelter. Rod's experience that +day had not been filled with the terrible hardships of his companions, +and for some time after they had fallen asleep he sat close to the +fire, thinking again of the strangeness with which his fortunes had +changed, and watching the flickering firelight as it played in a +thousand fanciful figures in the deeper and denser gloom of the +forest. The dogs had crept in close to the blazing logs and lay as +still as though life no longer animated their tawny bodies. From far +away there came the lonely howl of a wolf; a great white man-owl +fluttered close to the camp and chortled his crazy, half-human "hello, +hello, hello;" the trees cracked with the tightening frost, but +neither wolf howl nor frost nor the ghostly visitant's insane voice +aroused those who were sleeping. + +An hour passed and still Rod sat by the fire; his rifle lying across +his knees. His imagination had painted a thousand pictures in that +time. Never for an instant had his mind ceased to work. Somewhere in +that great wilderness there was another camp-fire that night, and in +that camp Minnetaki was a captive. Some indefinable sensation seemed +to creep into him, telling him that she was awake, and that she was +thinking of her friends. Was it a touch of sleep, or that wonderful +thing called mental telepathy, that wrought the next picture in his +brain? It came with startling vividness. He saw the girl beside a +fire. Her beautiful hair, glistening black in the firelight, hung in a +heavy braid over her shoulder; her eyes were staring wildly into the +flames, as if she were about to leap into them, and back of her so +close that he might have touched her, was a figure that sent a chill +of horror through him. It was Woonga, the outlaw chief! He was +talking, his red face was fiendish, he stretched out a hand! + +With a cry that startled the dogs Rod sprang to his feet. He was +shivering as if in a chill. Had he dreamed? Or was it something more +than a dream? He thought of the vision that had come to him weeks +before in the mysterious chasm, the vision of the dancing skeletons, +and which had revealed the secret of the old cabin and the lost gold. +In vain he tried to shake off his nervousness and his fear. Why had +Woonga reached out his hands for Minnetaki? He worked to free himself +of the weight that had fallen on him, stirred the fire until clouds of +sparks shot high up into the gloom of the trees, and added new fuel. + +Then he sat down again, and for the twentieth time since leaving +Wabinosh House drew from his pocket the map that was to have led them +on their search for gold when he returned with his mother. It was a +vision that had guided him to the discovery of this precious map, and +the knowledge of it made him more uneasy now. A few moments before he +had seen Minnetaki as plainly as though she had been with him there +beside the fire; he fancied that he might almost have sent a bullet +through the Indian's chief face as he reached out his long arms toward +the girl. + +He stirred the fire again, awakened one of the dogs to keep him +company, and then went in to lie down between Mukoki and Wabigoon in +an attempt at slumber. During the hours that followed he secured only +short snatches of sleep. He dreamed, dreamed constantly of Minnetaki +whenever he lost consciousness. Now he saw her before the fire, as he +had seen her in his vision; again, she was struggling in the Woonga's +powerful grasp. At one time the strife between the two--the young girl +and the powerful savage--became terrible for him to behold, and at +last he saw the Indian catch her in his arms and disappear into the +blackness of the forest. + +This time when he wakened Rod made no further effort to sleep. It was +only a little past midnight. His companions had obtained four hours of +rest. In another hour he would arouse them. Quietly he began making +preparations for breakfast, and fed the dogs. At half-past one o'clock +he shook Wabigoon by the shoulder. + +"Get up!" he cried, as the Indian youth sat erect. "It's time to go!" + +He tried to suppress his nervousness when Mukoki and Wabi joined him +beside the fire. He determined not to let them know of his visions, +for there was gloom enough among them as it was. But he would hurry. +He was the first to get through with breakfast, the first to set to +work among the dogs, and when Mukoki started out at the head of the +team through the forest he was close beside him, urging him to greater +speed by his own endeavors. + +"How far are we from the camp, Mukoki?" he asked. + +"Four hour--twent' mile," replied the old pathfinder. + +"Twenty miles. We ought to make it by dawn." + +Mukoki made no answer, but quickened his pace as the cedar and balsam +forest gave place to an open plain which stretched for a mile or two +ahead of them. For an hour longer the moon continued to light up the +wilderness; then, with its descent lower and lower into the west, the +gloom began to thicken, until only the stars were left to guide the +pursuers. Even these were beginning to fade when Mukoki halted the +panting team on the summit of a mountainous ridge, and pointed into +the north. + +"The plains!" + +For several minutes the three stood silent, gazing out into the gloom +of the vast solitudes that swept unbroken to Hudson Bay. Again Rod's +blood was thrilled with the romance of what lay at his feet and far +beyond, thrilled with the romance and mystery of that land of the wild +which reached for hundreds of miles into the North, and into which the +foot of the white man had as yet scarce left its imprint. + +Before him, enveloped now in the deep gloom of the northern night, +slept a vast unexplored world, a land whose story the passing of +ages had left unrevealed. What tragedies of nature had its silent +fastnesses beheld? What treasure did they hold? Half a century or more +ago the men whose skeletons they had found in the old cabin had braved +the perils of those trackless solitudes, and somewhere hundreds of +miles out in that black gloom they had found gold, the gold that +had fallen as an inheritance to them in the discovery of the old +birch-bark map. And somewhere, somewhere out there was Minnetaki! + +Across the plain at their feet the three adventurers had raced for +their lives from the bloodthirsty Woongas only a week or so before; +now they crossed it a second time and at even greater speed, for then +they had possessed no dogs. At the end of another hour Mukoki no +longer traveled faster than a walk. His eyes were constantly on the +alert. Occasionally he would stop the dogs and strike off to the right +or the left of the trail alone. He spoke no word to his companions, +and neither Rod nor Wabigoon offered a suggestion. They knew, without +questioning, that they were approaching their old camp, and just as +the experienced hunter makes no sign or sound while his dog is nosing +out a half-lost trail so they held back while Mukoki, the most famous +pathfinder in all those regions, led them slowly on. The last of the +stars went out. For a time the blackness of the night grew deeper; +then, in the southeast, came the first faint streak of dawn. Day is +born as suddenly as it dies in these regions, and it was soon light +enough for Mukoki to resume his trail at a trot. A few minutes more +and a clump of balsam and spruce loomed up out of the plain ahead of +them. Neither Rod nor Wahigoon recognized it until the old warrior +halted the dogs close in its shadows and they saw the look of triumph +in his face. + +"The camp!" breathed Wabi. + +"The camp!" + +Trembling, his voice quivering with suppressed excitement, the Indian +youth turned to Roderick Drew. + +"Rod--it's all up to you!" + +Mukoki, too, had come close to his side. + +"There--camp!" he whispered. "Now--where Minnetaki's trail?" + +The old warrior's eyes were blazing. + +"Where?" + +A dozen paces away was the balsam shelter they had built. But that was +all. Not a track was left in the snow. The warm sun had obliterated +every sign of their presence of a short time before! + +If their own trail was gone what could he hope to find of Minnetaki's +dainty foot-prints? + +Deep down in his heart Rod prayed for guidance in this moment of +terrible doubt. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +ROD FOLLOWS THE MAN-FOOTED BEAR + +"I must wait until it is lighter," he said. He tried to control +himself, to fortify himself with the assurance which he no longer +felt. + +"We will have breakfast," suggested Wabi. "We have cold meat and there +will be no need of a fire." + +Finishing before the others, Rod grasped his rifle and walked out from +among the trees. Wabi made a movement as if to follow, but Mukoki held +him back. There was a shrewd light in his eyes. + +"He do better--alone," he warned. + +The red glow of the sun was rising above the forest and Rod could now +see far about him. He had come out from the cedars, like this, on the +afternoon that he had gone to hunt and had found Minnetaki's trail. A +mile away he saw the snow-covered ridge where he had hunted for moose. +That ridge was his first guide, and he hurried toward it while Mukoki +and Wabigoon followed far behind him with the dogs and the sledge. +He was breathless when he reached the top. Eagerly he gazed into the +North. It was in that direction he had gone on the afternoon of his +discovery of the strange trail. But nothing that he recognized met his +eyes now, no familiar landmark or tree to guide him again over his +wandering footsteps of that day. Vainly he sought along the ridge for +some slight sign of his former presence there. But everything was +gone. The sun had destroyed his last hope. + +He was glad that Mukoki and Wabigoon were at the foot of the ridge, +for he knew that his despair almost brought tears to his eyes, +Minnetaki's fate was in his hands--and he had failed. He dreaded to +tell his companions, to let them see his face. For once in his life, +though he was as courageous a youth as ever lived, Roderick Drew +almost wished that he was dead. + +Suddenly, as in their hopeless search for some familiar object Rod's +eyes traveled again over the endless waste of snow, he saw, far away, +something that glittered in the morning sun like a pane of glass, and +from his lips there fell a low exultant cry. He remembered now that he +had seen that strange gleam before, that he had gone straight to it +from the ridge and had found it to be a sheet of crystal ice frozen +to the side of a rock from above which the water of a spring gushed +forth. Without waiting for his companions he hurried down the +ridge and sped like a deer across the narrow plain at its foot. A +five-minute run brought him to the rock, and for a moment he paused, +his heart almost choking him in its excitement. Just beyond this he +had first encountered the strange trail. There were no signs of it +left in the snow, but he saw other things which led him on: a huge +rock thrusting itself out of the chaos of white, a dead poplar which +stood in his path, and at last, half a mile ahead, the edge of a dense +forest. + +He turned and waved his arms wildly to Mukoki and Wabigoon, who were +far behind. Then he ran on, and when he reached the forest he waved +his arms again, and his joy was flung back in a thrilling shout to his +comrades. There was the log on which Minnetaki had been forced to sit +while awaiting the pleasure of her savage captors; he found the very +spot where her footprint had been in the snow, close to a protruding +stub! The outlaw Indians and their captives had rested here for a +brief spell, and had built a fire, and so many feet had beaten the +snow about it that their traces still remained. + +He pointed to these signs as Mukoki and Wabigoon joined him. + +For several minutes no one of the three spoke a word. Crouched over +until his eyes were within a foot of the snow the old pathfinder +examined every inch of the little clearing in which the Woongas had +built their fire, and when at last he drew himself erect his face +betrayed the utmost astonishment. + +The boys saw that in those faint marks in the snow he had discovered +something of unusual if not startling significance. + +"What is it, Muky?" asked the young Indian. + +Mukoki made no reply, but returning to the charred remains of the +fire he again fell upon his hands and knees and repeated his strange +scrutiny of the snow even more closely than before. When he arose a +second time the astonishment had grown deeper in his face. + +"Only six!" he exclaimed. "Two guides from Post--four Woongas!" + +"But the wounded driver told us that there were at least a dozen +Woongas in the attacking party," said Wabi. + +The old warrior chuckled, and for a moment his face twisted itself +into a ludicrous grimace. + +"Driver lie!" he declared. "He run when fight begin. Shot in back +while heem run!" + +He pointed into the cold depths of the forest. + +"No sun there! Follow trail easy!" + +There was no uneasiness in Mukoki's manner now. His eyes gleamed, but +it was with the fire of battle and resolution, not with excitement. +Once before Rod had seen that look in the old warrior's face, when +they two had fought to save Wabigoon's life as they were now about to +fight to save Minnetaki. And he knew what it meant. Cautiously they +penetrated the forest, their eyes and ears alert, and, as Mukoki had +predicted, the trail of the retreating savages was quite distinct. +They had taken both of the captured sledges, and Rod knew that on one +of these Minnetaki was being carried. Hardly had the three progressed +a hundred paces when Mukoki, who was in the lead, stopped short with +a huge grunt. Squarely across the trail lay the body of a dead man. A +glance at the upturned face showed that it was one of the two drivers +from Wabinosh House. + +"Head split," said Mukoki, as he led the team around the body. "Shot, +mebby--then killed with ax." + +The dogs sniffed and cringed as they passed the slain man, and Rod +shuddered. Involuntarily he thought of what might have happened to +Minnetaki, and he noticed that after passing this spectacle of death +Mukoki doubled his speed. For an hour the pursuit continued without +interruption. The Woongas were traveling in a narrow trail, single +file, with the two sledges between their number. At the end of that +hour the three came upon the remains of another camp-fire near which +were built two cedar-bough shelters. Here the tracks in the snow were +much fresher; in places they seemed to have been but lately made. +Still there were no evidences of the captured girl. The boys could see +that Mukoki himself had found no explanation for the sudden freshness +of the trail and for the absence of Minnetaki's footprints among the +tracks. Again and again the shrewd old pathfinder went over the camp. +Not a sign escaped his eyes, not a mark or a broken stick but that was +examined by him. Rod knew that Minnetaki's capture must have occurred +at least three days before, and yet the tracks about this camp were +not more than a day old, if they were that. What did it mean? + +The very mystery of the thing filled him with a nameless fear. Why had +not the outlaw Woongas continued their flight? Why this delay so near +the scene of their crime? He glanced at Wabi, but the Indian youth was +as bewildered as himself. In his eyes, too, there was the gleam of a +fear which he could not have named. + +Mukoki was beside the charred remains of the fire. He had buried his +hand deep among them, and when he rose be made a sign toward Rod's +watch. + +"Eight o'clock, Mukoki." + +"Woonga here las' night," declared the old Indian slowly. "Leave camp +four hour ago!" + +What did it mean? + +Had Minnetaki been hurt, so dangerously hurt that her captors had not +dared to move her? + +Rod asked himself no more questions. But he was trembling. And Mukoki +and Wabigoon went on with strange, unnatural faces and breathed not +the whisper of a word between them. The mystery was beyond them all. +But one thing they realized, whatever had happened they were close +upon the heels of the savages. And each step brought them nearer, +for with every mile the freshness of the trail increased. Then came +another great surprise. + +The trail divided! + +At the edge of a small opening the Indians had separated themselves +into two parties. The trail of one sledge led into the northeast, that +of the other into the northwest! + +With which sledge was Minnetaki? They looked at one another in +bewilderment. + +Mukoki pointed to the trail into the northeast. + +"We must fin' sign--sign of Minnetaki. You take that--I take this!" + +Rod started off at a dog trot over the easternmost trail. At the +farther side of the opening, where the sledge had plunged into a clump +of hazel, he suddenly stopped, and for a second time that morning +a thrilling cry escaped his lips. On a projecting thorny twig, +glistening full in the sun, there fluttered a long, silken strand of +hair. He reached out for it, but Wabi caught his hand, and in another +moment Mukoki had joined them. Gently he took the raven tress between +his fingers, his deep-set eyes glaring like red coals of fire. It was +a strand of Minnetaki's beautiful hair, not for a moment did one of +them doubt that; but what held them most, what increased the horror in +their eyes, was the quantity of it! Suddenly Mukoki gave it a gentle +pull and the tress slipped free of the twig. + +In the next breath he uttered the only expression of supreme disgust +in his vocabulary a long-drawn, hissing sound which he used only in +those moments when his command of English was entirely inadequate to +the situation. + +"Minnetaki on other sledge!" + +He showed the end of the strand to his young companions. + +"See--hair been cut! No pulled out by, twig. Woonga hang heem +there--make us think wrong." + +He waited for no reply, but darted back to the other trail, with Wabi +and Rod close behind him. A quarter of a mile farther on the old +pathfinder paused and pointed in exultant silence at a tiny footprint +close beside the path of the sledge. At almost regular intervals now +there appeared this sign of Minnetaki's moccasin. Her two guards were +running ahead of the sledge, and it was apparent to the pursuers that +Wabi's sister was taking advantage of her opportunities to leave these +signs behind for those whom she knew would make an attempt at her +rescue. And yet, as they left farther and farther behind them the +trail which ran into the northeast, an inexplicable feeling of +uneasiness began to steal over Rod. What if Mukoki had made a mistake? +His confidence in the old warrior's judgment and sagacity was usually +absolute, but it occurred to him, like an ugly humor to stir up his +fears, that if the Woongas could cut off a bit of the girl's hair they +could also take off one of her shoes! Several times he was on the +point of giving audible voice to his suspicions but refrained from +doing so when he saw the assurance with which both Wabi and Mukoki +followed the trail. + +Finally he could hold himself no longer. + +"Wabi, I'm going back," he cried softly, forging alongside his +companion. "I'm going back and follow the other trail. If I don't find +anything in a mile or so I'll return on the double-quick and overtake +you!" + +Wabi's efforts to dissuade him were futile, and a few minutes later +Rod was again at the clearing. What presentiment was it that caused +his heart to beat faster and his breath to come in tense excitement as +he stole through the bushes where they had found the silken tress of +hair? What something was it, away down in his soul, that kept urging +him on and on, even after he had gone a mile, and then two miles, in +fruitless search? Rod could not have answered these questions had he +stopped to ask them of himself. He was not superstitious. He did not +believe in dreams. And yet each moment, without apparent reason added +to his conviction that Mukoki had made a mistake, and that Minnetaki +was on the sledge ahead of him. + +The country into which he was penetrating grew wilder. Rocky ridges +rose before him, split by rifts and gullies through which the water +must have rushed in torrents in the spring. He listened, and proceeded +more cautiously; and through his mind there flashed a memory of his +thrilling exploration of the mysterious chasm of a few weeks before, +when, in his lonely night camp, he had dreamed of the skeletons. He +was thinking of this when he came around the end of a huge rock which +lay as big as a house in his path. Upon the snow, almost at his feet, +was a sight that froze the blood in his veins. For the second time +that day he gazed upon the distorted features of a dead man. Squarely +across the trail, as the other had lain, was the body of an Indian, +his arms outstretched, his twisted face turned straight up to the +clear sky, the snow about his head glistening a sickening red in the +sun. For a full minute Rod gazed in silent horror on the scene. There +was no sign of a struggle, there were no footprints in the snow. The +man had been killed while upon the sledge, and the only mark he had +made was when he had fallen off. + +Who had killed him? + +Had Minnetaki saved herself by taking her captor's life? + +For a moment Rod was almost convinced that this was so. He examined +the stains in the snow and found that they were still damp and +unfrozen. He was sure that the tragedy had occurred less than an hour +before. More cautiously, and yet swifter than before, he followed the +trail of the sledge, his rifle held in readiness for a shot at +any moment. The path became wilder and in places it seemed almost +inaccessible. But between the tumbled mass of rock the sledge had +found its way, its savage driver not once erring in his choice of the +openings ahead. Gradually the trail ascended until it came to the +summit of a huge ridge. Hardly had Rod reached the top when another +trail cut across that of the sledge. + +Deeply impressed in the softening snow were the footprints of a big +bear! + +The first warm sunshine, thought Rod, had aroused the beast from his +winter sleep, and he was making a short excursion from his den. From +where the bear had crossed the trail the sledge turned abruptly in the +direction from which the bear had come. + +Without giving a thought to his action, Rod began his descent of the +ridge in the trail made by the bear, at the same time keeping his eyes +fixed upon the sledge track and the distant forest. At the foot of the +ridge the great trunk of a fallen tree lay in his path, and as he went +to climb over it he stopped, a cry of amazement stifling itself in his +throat. Over that tree the bear had scrambled, and upon it, close to +the spot where the animal had brushed off the snow in his passage, was +the imprint of a human hand! + +For a full minute Rod stood as motionless as if he had been paralyzed, +scarcely breathing in his excitement. The four fingers and thumb of +the hand had left their impressions with startling clearness. The +fingers were long and delicately slender, the palm narrow. The imprint +had assuredly not been made by the hand of a man! + +Recovering himself, Rod looked about him. There were no marks in the +snow except those of the bear. Was it possible that he was mistaken? +He scrutinized the mysterious handprint again. As he gazed an uncanny +chill crept through him, and when he raised his head he knew that he +was trembling in spite of his efforts to control himself. Turning +about he swiftly followed the trail to the top of the ridge, recrossed +the sledge track, and descended again into the wildness of the gorge +on the other side. He had not progressed twenty rods when without a +sound he dropped behind a rock. He had seen no movement ahead of him. +He had heard nothing. Yet in that moment he was thrilled as never +before in his life. + +For the bear trail had ceased. + +And ahead of him, instead of the tracks of a beast, there continued +_the footprints of a man_! + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +ROD'S FIGHT FOR LIFE + +It was some time before Roderick moved from his concealment behind the +rock. It was not fear that held him there, but a knowledge within +him that he needed to think, to collect his senses as he would have +expressed it if Wabi had been with him. For a brief spell he was +stunned by the succession of surprises which he had encountered, and +he felt that now, if ever in his life, he needed control of himself. +He did not attempt to solve the mystery of the trail beyond the fact +that it was not made by a bear and that the handprint on the log +was not made by a man. But he was certain of one thing. In some way +Minnetaki was associated with both. + +When he continued his pursuit he made his way with extreme caution. At +each new turn in the trail he fell behind some rock or clump of bushes +and scanned the gorge as far as he could see ahead of him. But each +moment these distances of observation became shorter. The ridge on his +left became almost a sheer wall; on his right a second ridge closed +in until the gorge had narrowed to a hundred feet in width, choked by +huge masses of rock thrown there in some mighty upheaval of past ages. +It was very soon apparent to Rod that the mysterious person whom he +was pursuing was perfectly at home in the lonely chasm. As straight as +a drawn whip-lash his trail led from one break in the rocky chaos to +another. Never did he err. Once the tracks seemed to end squarely +against a broad face of rock, but there the young hunter found a cleft +in the granite wall scarcely wider than his body, through which he +cautiously wormed his way. Where this cleft opened into the chasm +again the fugitive had rested for a few moments, and had placed some +burden upon the snow at his feet. A single glance disclosed what +this burden had been, for in the snow was that same clearly-defined +impression of a human hand! + +There was no longer a doubt in Roderick's mind. He was on the trail +of Minnetaki's captor, and the outlaw was carrying his victim in his +arms! Minnetaki was injured! Perhaps she was dead. The fear gripped at +his heart until he looked again at the imprint in the snow--the widely +spread fingers, the flat, firm palm. Only a living hand would have +left its mark in that manner. + +As on that autumn day in the forest, when he had fought for +Minnetaki's life, so now all hesitation and fear left him. His blood +leaped with anticipation rather than excitement, and he was eager for +the moment when he would once more throw his life in the balance in +behalf of Wabi's sister. He was determined to take advantage of the +Woonga fighting code and fire upon his enemy from ambush if the +opportunity offered, but at the same time he had no dread at the +thought of engaging in a closer struggle if this should be necessary. +He looked well to his rifle, loosened his big army revolver in its +holster, and saw that his hunting-knife did not stick in its scabbard. +A short distance from the cleft in the wall of rock the outlaw had +rested again; and this time, when he continued his flight, Minnetaki +had walked beside him. + +A peculiarity in the new trail struck Rod, and for some moments he was +at a loss to account for it. One of the girl's dainty feet left its +moccasin imprint very distinctly; the mark of the other was no more +than a formless blotch in the snow. Then the youth thought of the +footprints that were leading on Mukoki and Wabigoon, and despite his +desperate situation he could not repress a smile. He had been right. +The Woongas had taken off one of Minnetaki's moccasins and were using +it to make a false trail into the northwest. Those formless tracks +ahead of him meant that one of the Indian maiden's feet was wrapped +with a bit of cloth or fur to protect it from the cold. + +Rod soon perceived that the flight of the outlaw and his captive was +now much more rapid, and he quickened his own pace. The chasm grew +wilder. At times it appeared impassable, but always the trail of the +fugitives led straight to some hidden cleft through which the boy +followed, holding his breath in tense expectancy of what might happen +at any instant. + +Suddenly Rod stopped. From ahead of him he was sure that he had heard +a sound. He scarcely breathed while he listened. But there came no +repetition of the noise. Had some animal, a fox or a wolf, perhaps, +set a stone rolling down one of the precipitous walls of the chasm? He +went on slowly, listening, watching. A few paces more and he stopped +again. There was a faint, suspicious odor in the air; a turn around +the end of a huge mass of rock and his nostrils were filled with it, +the pungent odor of smoke mingled with the sweet scent of burning +cedar! + +There was a fire ahead of him. More than that, it was not a gunshot +away! + +For a space of sixty seconds he stood still, nerving himself for the +final step. His resolution was made. He would creep upon the outlaw +and shoot him down. There would be no warning, no quarter, no parley. +Foot by foot he advanced, as stealthily as a fox. The odor of smoke +came to him more plainly; over his head he saw thin films of it +floating lazily up the chasm. It came from beyond another of those +walls of rock which seemed to bar his way, creeping up over it as +though the fire were just on the other side. With his rifle half to +his shoulder Rod stole through the break in this wall. At its farther +end he peered out cautiously, exposing his face an inch at a time. +Wider and wider became his vision. There was no trail ahead. The +outlaw and his captive were behind the rock! + +With his rifle now full to his shoulder Rod stepped boldly forth and +whirled to the left. Twenty feet away, almost entirely concealed among +the tumbled masses of boulders, was a small cabin. About it there were +no signs of life with the exception of a thin wreath of smoke rising +like a ghostly spiral up the side of the chasm wall; from it there +came no sound. Rod's index finger quivered on the trigger of his +rifle. Should he wait--until the outlaw came forth? Half a minute he +stood there, a minute, two minutes, and still he heard nothing, saw +nothing. He advanced a step, then another, and still another, until +he saw the open door of the cabin. And as he stood there, his rifle +leveled, there came to him a faint, sobbing cry, a cry that reached +out and caught him like a strong hand and brought him in a single +desperate leap to the door itself. + +Inside the cabin was Minnetaki, alone! She was crouched upon the +floor, her beautiful hair tumbling in disheveled masses over her +shoulders and into her lap, her face, as white as death, staring +wildly at the youth who had appeared like an apparition before her. + +In an instant Rod was at her side, upon his knees. For that brief +moment he had lost his caution, and only a terrible cry from the girl +turned him back again, half upon his feet, to the door. Standing +there, about to spring upon him, was one of the most terrifying +figures he had ever seen. In a flash he saw the huge form of an +Indian, a terrible face, the gleam of an uplifted knife. In such a +crisis one's actions are involuntary, machine-like, as if life itself, +hovering by a thread, protects itself in its own manner without +thought or reasoning on the part of the human creature it animates. +Rod neither thought nor reasoned; without any motive on his own part, +he flung himself face downward upon the cabin floor. And the move +saved him. With a guttural cry the savage leaped toward him, struck +out with his knife and missed, stumbled over the boy's prostrate form +and fell beside him. + +Months of hardship and adventure in the wilderness had made Rod as +lithe as a forest cat, his muscles like steel. Without rising he flung +himself upon his enemy, his own knife raised in gleaming death above +the savage's breast. But the Woonga was as quick. Like a flash he +struck up with one of his powerful arms and the force of the blow that +was descending upon him fell to the earth floor. In another instant +his free arm had encircled Rod's neck, and for a few brief moments the +two were locked in a crushing embrace, neither being able to use the +weapon in his hand without offering an advantage to the other. + +In that respite, which only death could follow, Rod's brain worked +with the swiftness of fire. He was lying face downward upon his enemy; +the Woonga was flat upon his back, the latter's knife hand stretched +out behind his head with Rod's knife hand locking it. For either to +strike a blow both of their fighting hands must be freed. In the first +instant of that freedom, the savage, with his arm already extended, +could deliver a blow sooner than his antagonist, who would have to +raise his arm as well as strike. In other words, by the time Rod's +knife was poised his enemy's would be buried in his breast. With a +curious thrill the white youth saw the fearful odds against him in +their position. If he remained clutched in the Indian's embrace there +would be only one end. He would die, and Minnetaki would be more than +ever in the power of her captor. + +There was only one chance now, and that was to break away, at least +to free himself enough to get hold of his revolver. He was nerving +himself for the strain when, turning his head a trifle sidewise, he +saw Minnetaki. The girl had risen to her feet, and Rod saw that her +hands were bound behind her. She, too, realized the disadvantage of +Rod's position in the contest, and now with a thrilling cry she sprang +to the outlaw's head and stepped with all her weight upon his extended +arm. + +"Quick, Rod--quick!" she cried. "Strike! Strike!" + +With a terrible yell the powerful savage wrenched his arm free; in a +last superhuman effort he swung his knife upward as Rod's blade sank +to the hilt in his breast, and the blow fell with a sickening thud +under Rod's arm. With a sharp cry the young hunter staggered to his +feet, and the Indian's knife fell from him, red with blood. Making +an effort to control himself he picked up the knife and loosed the +captive girl's arms. + +There came over him then a strange dizziness, a weakness in his limbs. +He was conscious that his head was sinking, and he knew, too, that a +pair of arms was about him, and that from what seemed to be a great, +great distance a voice was calling to him, calling his name. And then +he seemed to be sinking into a deep and painless sleep. + +When he regained consciousness his eyes were first turned to the door, +which was still open, and through which he caught the white gleam of +the snow. A hand was pressed gently upon his face. + +"Rod--" + +Minnetaki spoke in a whisper, a whisper that trembled with gladness, +with relief. Rod smiled. Weakly he lifted a hand and touched the +sweet, white face above him. + +"I'm glad to see you--Minnetaki--" he breathed. + +The girl quickly put a cup of cold water to his lips. + +"You mustn't try to move," she said softly, her eyes glowing. "It +isn't a very bad wound, and I've dressed it nicely. But you mustn't +move--or talk--or it may begin bleeding again." + +"But I'm so glad to see you, Minnetaki," persisted the youth. "You +don't know how disappointed I was to find you gone when we returned to +Wabinosh House from our hunting trip. Wabi and Mukoki--" + +"Sh-h-h-h!" + +Minnetaki placed her hand upon his lips. + +"You must keep quiet, Roderick. Don't you know how curious I am to +know how you are here? But you must not tell me--now. Let me do the +talking. Will you? Please!" + +Involuntarily the young girl's eyes left his face, and Rod, weakly +following her gaze, saw that a blanket had been spread over a huddled +heap in the middle of the floor. He shuddered, and feeling the sudden +tremor in his hand Minnetaki turned to him quickly, her cheeks whiter +than before, but her eyes shining like stars. + +"It is Woonga," she whispered. In her voice was a thrilling tremble. +"It is Woonga, and he is dead!" + +Rod understood the look in her face now. Woonga, the Nemesis of her +people, the outlaw chief who had sworn vengeance on the house of +Wabinosh, and whose murderous hand had hovered for years like a +threatening cloud over the heads of the factor and his wife and +children, was dead! And he, Roderick Drew, who once before had saved +Minnetaki's life, had killed him. In his weakness and pain he smiled, +and said, + +"I am glad, Minne--" + +He did not finish. There had come a stealthy, crumbling step to the +door, and in another moment Mukoki and Wabigoon were in the little +cabin. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +THE SHADOW OF DEATH + +Rod was hardly conscious of what passed during the next half-hour. The +excitement of the sudden entrance of Minnetaki's brother and the old +Indian set his head reeling, and he sank back upon the blankets, from +which he had partly raised himself, fainting and weak. The last that +he heard was Minnetaki's warning voice, and then he felt something +cool upon his face. It seemed a long time before he heard sound again, +and when he stirred himself, struggling toward consciousness, there +came a whisper in his ear urging him to be quiet. It was Minnetaki, +and he obeyed. + +After a little he heard low voices, and then movement, and opened his +eyes. He could feel Minnetaki's gentle hand stroking his face and +hair, as if weaning him to sleep, and at his feet he saw Mukoki, the +old warrior, crouching like a lynx, his beady eyes glaring at him. The +glare fascinated Roderick. He had seen it in Mukoki's eyes before, +when the Indian believed that injury had come to those he loved; and +when the white boy saw it now, bent upon himself, he knew that he, +too, had become more than a friend to this savage pathfinder of the +wilderness. Minnetaki's caressing hand and the fearful anxiety in the +crouching posture of the old hunter thrilled him, and two words fell +from his lips before they knew that he had come back into life. + +"Hello, Muky!" + +Instantly the old Indian was at his side, kneeling there silent, +trembling, his face twitching with joy, his eyes gleaming, and where +he had crouched a moment before there came Wabigoon, smiling down upon +Rod in his own bursting happiness, which was only held in check by +Minnetaki's hand and the almost inaudible "Sh-h-h-h!" that fell from +her lips. + +"You right--me wrong," the white boy heard Mukoki saying. "You save +Minnetaki--kill Woonga. Very much dam'--dam'--dam'--brave man!" + +Mukoki was pressed back by Wabi's sister before he could say more, and +a cool drink of spring water was placed to Roderick's lips. He felt +feverish and the water gave him new strength. He turned his face to +Minnetaki, and she smiled at him. Then he saw that the dead outlaw had +been removed from the cabin. When he made an effort to raise himself a +little the girl helped him, and rolled a blanket under his shoulders. + +"You're not so badly hurt as I thought you were, Rod," she said. "That +is, you're not dangerously hurt. Mukoki has dressed your wound, and +you will be better soon." Wabigoon, coming nearer, put both arms +around his lovely little sister and kissed her again and again. + +"Rod, you're a hero!" he cried softly, gripping his comrade's hand. +"God bless you!" + +Rod blushed, and to restrain further effusions closed his eyes. During +the next quarter of an hour Minnetaki prepared some coffee and meat, +while both Mukoki and Wabi cared for the sledge-dogs outside. + +"To-morrow, if you are stronger, we're going to take you on to +Kenegami House," the girl said to him. "Then you can tell me all about +your adventures during the winter. Wabi has told me just enough about +your battles with the Indians and about the old skeletons and the lost +gold-mine to set me wild. Oh, I wish you would take me with you on +your hunt for gold!" + +"By George, I wish we could!" exclaimed Rod with enthusiasm. "Coax +Wabi, Minnetaki--coax him hard." + +"You'll coax him, too, won't you, Rod? But then, I don't suppose it +will do any good. And father and mother wouldn't listen to it for a +moment. All of them are so afraid that some harm is going to befall +me. That's why they sent me from Wabinosh House just before you boys +returned. You see the Indians were more hostile than ever, and they +thought I would be safer at Kenegami House. How I do wish they'd let +me go! I'd love to hunt bears, and wolves, and moose, and help you +find the gold. Please coax him hard, Roderick!" + +And that very day, when he was strong enough to sit up, Rod did plead +with his half-Indian comrade that Minnetaki might be allowed to +accompany them. But Wabi stanchly refused even to consider the +proposition, and Mukoki, when he learned of the girl's desire, grinned +and chuckled in his astonishment for the next half-hour. + +"Minnetaki ver' brave--ver' brave girl," he confided to Rod, "but she +die up there, I guess so! You want Minnetaki die?" + +Rod assured him that he did not, and the subject was dropped. + +That day and night in the old cabin was one of the pleasantest within +Rod's memory, despite the youth's wound. A cheerful fire of dry pine +and poplar burned in the stone fireplace, and when Minnetaki announced +that the evening meal was ready Rod was for the first time allowed to +leave his bunk. For the greater part of the day Wabi and Mukoki had +searched in the chasm and along the mountains for signs of the outlaw +Indian's band, but their search had revealed nothing to arouse their +fears. As mysterious and unaccountable as the fact seemed, there +was no doubt that the old cabin was a retreat known only to Woonga +himself, and as the four sat in the warm glow of the fire, eating and +drinking, the whole adventure was gone over again and again until +there seemed no part of it left in doubt. Minnetaki described her +capture and explained the slowness of their flight after the massacre. +Woonga was ill and had refused to move far from the scene of the +slaughter until he had fully regained his strength. + +"But why did Woonga kill the Indian back on the trail?" asked Rod. + +Minnetaki shuddered as she thought of the terrible scene that had been +enacted before her eyes. + +"I heard them quarreling," she said, "but I couldn't understand. I +know that it was about me. We had gone but a short distance after the +sledges separated when Woonga, who was ahead of me, turned about and +shot the other in the breast. It was terrible! And then he drove on as +coolly as though nothing had happened." + +"I'm curious to know how he used the bear's feet," exclaimed Rod. + +"They were huge pads into which he slipped his feet, moccasins and +all," explained Minnetaki. "He told me that the dogs would go on to +Kenegami House, and that if pursuers followed us they would follow the +sledge trail and never give a thought to the bear tracks." + +Mukoki chuckled deep down in his throat. + +"He no fool Rod," he said. "Nobody fool Rod!" + +"Especially when he's on Minnetaki's trail," laughed Wabi happily. + +"Wasn't it Rod who discovered the secret of the lost gold, after you +had given up all hope?" retorted Minnetaki. + +The lost gold! + +How those three words, falling clearly from the girl's lips, thrilled +the hearts of Mukoki and the young adventurers. Night had closed in, +and only the fitful flashes of the fire illumined the interior of the +old cabin. The four had finished eating, and as they drew themselves +close about the fire there fell a strange silence among them. The lost +gold. Rod gazed across at Wabigoon, whose bronzed face was half hid in +the dancing shadows, and then at Mukoki, whose wrinkled visage shone +like dull copper as he stared like some watchful animal into the flame +glow. But it was Minnetaki who sent the blood in a swift rush of joy +and pride through his veins. He caught her eyes upon him, shining like +stars from out of the gloom, and he knew that she was looking at him +in that way because he was her hero. + +For many minutes no one broke the stillness. The fire burned down, and +with its slow dying away the gloom in the corners of the old cabin +thickened, and the faces became more and more like ghostly shadows, +until they reminded Rod of his first vision of the ancient skeletons +in that other old cabin many miles away. Then came Wabigoon's voice, +as he stirred the coals and added fresh fuel. + +"Yes, it was Rod. This is the map he found, Minnetaki." + +He kneeled close beside his sister and drew forth his copy of the +precious secret which the skeletons had guarded. With a little cry +of excitement the girl took the map in her hands, and step by step, +adventure by adventure, was gone over the thrilling story of the Wolf +Hunters, until the late hours of night had changed into the first of +morning. Twice did Minnetaki insist on having repeated to her the +story of Rod's wild adventure in the mysterious chasm, and when he +came to the terrors of that black night and its strange sounds Rod +felt a timid little hand come close to him, and as Wabigoon continued +the narration, and told of the map in the skeleton hand, and of the +tale of murder and tragedy it revealed, Minnetaki's breath came in +quick, tense eagerness. + +"And you are going back in the spring?" she asked. + +"In the spring," replied Rod. + +Again Wabigoon urged Rod, as he had done at the Post, to send down to +civilization for his mother instead of going for her himself. Time +would be saved, he argued. They could set out on their search for the +gold within a few weeks. But Rod was firm. + +"It would not be fair to mother," he declared. "I must go home first, +even if I have to arrange for a special sledge at Kenegami House to +take me down to civilization." + +But even while he was stoutly declaring what it was his intention to +do, fate was stealthily at work weaving another of her webs of destiny +for Roderick Drew, and his friends' anxious eyes saw the first signs +of it when they bade him good night. For fever had laid its hand on +the white youth, the fever that foreshadows death unless a surgeon +is near, the fever of a wound going bad. Even Mukoki, graduated by +Nature, taught by half a century's battle with life in this great +desolation of the North, knew that his own powers were now of no +avail. + +So Roderick was bundled in blankets, and the race for life to Kenegami +House was begun. It was a race of which Rod could only guess the +import, for he did not know that Death was running a fierce pursuit +behind. Many days and nights of delirium followed. One morning he +seemed to awaken from a terrible dream, in which he was constantly +burning and roasting, and when he opened his eyes he knew for the +first time that it was Minnetaki who sat close beside him, and that it +was her hand that was gently stroking his forehead. From that day on +he gained strength rapidly, but it was a month before he could sit up, +and another two weeks before he could stand. And so it happened that +it was full two months after he had made his assertion in the old +cabin before Rod was in good health again. + +One day Minnetaki had a tremendous surprise in store for him. Rod had +never seen her look quite so pretty, or quite so timid, as she did on +this particular morning. + +"Will you forgive me for--for--keeping something from you, Rod?" she +asked. She did not wait for the boy's reply, but went on. "When you +were so sick, and we thought you might die, I wrote to your mother and +we sent the letter down by a special sledge. And--and--oh, Rod, I just +can't keep it in any longer, no matter if you do scold me! Your mother +has come--and she is at Wabinosh House now!" + +For a moment Rod stood like one struck dumb. Then he found his voice +in a series of war-whoops which quickly brought Wabi in, only to see +his friend dancing around Minnetaki like one gone crazy. + +"Forgive you!" he shouted again and again. "Minnetaki, you're a +brick--you certainly are a brick!" + +As soon as Wabi was made acquainted with the cause of Roderick's +excitement he also joined in the other's wild rejoicing, and their +antics startled half the house of Kenegami. Mukoki shared their joy, +and Wabi hugged and kissed his sister until her pretty face was like a +wild rose. + +"Hurrah!" shouted Wabi for the twentieth time. "That means we start on +our hunt for the lost gold-mine within a fortnight!" + +"It means--" began Roderick. + +"It means--" interrupted Minnetaki, "it means that you're all happy +but me--and I'm glad for Rod's sake, and I want to know his mother. +But you're all going--and I'm to be left behind!" + +There was no laughter in her voice, and Rod and Wabigoon became +suddenly quiet as she turned away. + +"I'm sorry," said Wabi. "But--we can't help it." + +Mukoki broke the tension. + +"How bright the sun shine!" he exclaimed. "Snow an' ice go. +Spring--heem here!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +ON THE TRAIL OF GOLD + +And each day thereafter the sun rose earlier, and the day was longer, +and the air was warmer; and with the warmth there now came the sweet +scents of the budding earth and the myriad sounds of the deep, unseen +life of the forests, awakening from its long slumber in its bed of +snow. The moose-birds chirped their mating songs and flirted from +morning till night in bough and air, and the jays and ravens fluffed +themselves in the sun, and the snowbirds, little black and white +beauties that were wont to whisk about like so many flashing gems, +became fewer and fewer, until they were gone altogether. The poplar +buds swelled more and more in their joy, until they split like +over-fat peas, and the partridges feasted upon them. + +And Mother Bear came out of her winter den, accompanied by her little +ones born two months before, and taught them how to pull down the +slender saplings for these same buds; and the moose came down from the +blizzardy tops of the great ridges, which are called mountains in the +North, and where for good reasons they had passed the winter, followed +by the wolves, who fed upon their weak and sick. Everywhere there were +the rushing torrents of melting snows, the crackle of crumbling ice, +the dying frost-cries of rock and earth and tree, and each night the +cold, pale glow of the Aurora Borealis crept farther and farther +toward the Pole in fading glory. + +It was spring, and at Wabinosh House it brought more joy than +elsewhere, for there Roderick Drew joined his mother. We have not time +here to dwell on the things that happened at the old Hudson Bay Post +during the ten days after their first happy reunion--of the love that +sprang up between Rod's mother and Minnetaki, and the princess wife +of George Newsome, the factor; of the departure of the soldiers whose +task of running down Woonga ended with Rod's desperate fight in the +cabin, or of the preparations of the gold hunters themselves. + +On a certain evening in April, Wabi, Mukoki and Rod had assembled in +the latter's room. The next morning they were to start on their long +and thrilling adventure into the far North, and on this last night +they went carefully over their equipment and plans to see that nothing +had been forgotten. That night Rod slept little. For the second time +in his life the fever of adventure was running wild in his blood. +After the others had gone he studied the precious old map until his +eyes grew dim; in the half slumber that came to him afterward his +brain worked ceaselessly, and he saw visions of the romantic old cabin +again, and the rotting buckskin bag filled with nuggets of gold on the +table. + +He was up before the stars began fading in the dawn, and in the big +dining-room of the Post, in which had gathered the factors and their +families for two hundred years, the boys ate their last breakfast with +those whom they were about to leave for many weeks, perhaps months. +The factor himself was boisterously cheerful in his efforts to keep +up the good cheer of Mrs. Drew and the princess mother, and even +Minnetaki forced herself to smile, and laugh, though her eyes were +red, and all knew that she had been crying. Rod was glad when the meal +was over and they went out into the chill air of the morning, and down +to the edge of the lake, where their big birch-bark canoe was loaded +and waiting for their departure, and he was still more relieved when +they had bade a last good-by to the two mothers. But Minnetaki came +down to the canoe with them, and when Wabi kissed her she burst into +tears, and Rod felt a queer thickening in his throat as he took her +firm little hand and held it for a moment between both his own. + +"Good-by, Minnetaki," he whispered. + +He turned and took his position in the middle of the canoe, and with a +last shout Wabi shoved off and the canoe sped out into the gloom. + +For a long time there was silence, except for the rhythmic dip of the +three paddles. Once Minnetaki's voice came to them faintly, and they +answered it with a shout. But that was all. After a time Rod said, + +"By George, this saying good-by is the toughest part of the whole +business!" + +His words cleared away the feeling of oppression that seemed to have +fallen on them. + +"It's always hard for me to leave Minnetaki," replied Wabigoon. "Some +day I'm going to take her on a trip with me." + +"She'd be a bully fellow!" cried Rod with enthusiasm. + +From the stern of the canoe came a delighted chuckle from Mukoki. + +"She brave--she shoot, she hunt, she be dam' fine!" he added, and +both Rod and Wabi burst out laughing. The young Indian looked at his +compass by the light of a match. + +"We'll strike straight across Lake Nipigon instead of following the +shore. What do you say, Muky?" he called back. + +The old pathfinder was silent. In surprise Wabi ceased paddling, and +repeated his question. + +"Don't you think it is safe?" + +Mukoki wet his hand over the side and held it above his head. + +"Wind in south," he said. "Maybe no get stronger, but--" + +"If she did," added Rod dubiously, noting how heavily laden the canoe +was, "we'd be in a fix, as sure as you live!" + +"It will take us all of to-day and half of to-morrow to follow the +shore," urged Wabi, "while by cutting straight across the lake we can +make the other side early this afternoon. Let's risk it!" + +Mukoki grunted something that was a little less than approval, and Rod +felt a peculiar sensation shoot through him as the frail birch headed +out into the big lake. Their steady strokes sent the canoe through the +water at fully four miles an hour, and by the time broad day had come +the forest-clad shore at Wabinosh House was only a hazy outline in the +distance. The white youth's unspoken fears were dispelled when the sun +rose, warm and glorious, over the shimmering lake, driving the chill +from the air, and seeming to bring with it the sweet scents of +the forests far away. Joyfully he labored at his paddle, the mere +exhilaration of the morning filling his arms with the strength of a +young giant. Wabi whistled and sang wild snatches of Indian song by +turns, Rod joined him with _Yankee Doodle_ and _The Star Spangled +Banner_, and even the silent Mukoki gave a whoop now and then to show +that he was as happy as they. + +One thought filled the minds of all. They were fairly started on that +most thrilling of all trails, the trail of gold. In their possession +was the secret of a great fortune. Romance, adventure, discovery, +awaited them. The big, silent North, mysterious in its age-old +desolation, where even the winds seemed to whisper of strange things +that had happened countless years before, was just ahead of them. They +were about to bury themselves in its secrets, to wrest from it the +yellow treasure it guarded, and their blood tingled and leaped +excitedly at the thought. What would be revealed to them? What might +they not discover? What strange adventures were they destined to +encounter in that Unknown World, peopled only by the things of the +wild, that stretched trackless and unexplored before them? A hundred +thoughts like these fired the brains of the three adventurers, and +made their work a play, and every breath they drew one of joy. + +The lake was alive with ducks. Huge flocks of big black ducks, +mallards, blue bills and whistlers rose about them, and now and then, +when an unusually large flock was seen floating upon the water ahead +of them, one of the three would take a pot-shot with his rifle. Rod +and Mukoki had each killed two, and Wabi three, when the old warrior +stopped the fun. + +"No waste too much shooting on ducks," he advised. "Need shells--big +game." + +Several times during the morning the three rested from their +exertions, and at noon they ceased paddling for more than an hour +while they ate the generous dinner that had been put up for them at +Wabinosh House. The farther side of the lake was now plainly visible, +and when the journey was resumed all eyes eagerly sought for signs +of the mouth of the Ombabika, where their stirring adventures of the +winter before had begun. For some time Wabi's gaze had been fixed +upon a long, white rim along the shore, to which he now called his +companions' attention. + +"It seems to be moving," he said, turning to Mukoki. "Is it +possible--" He paused doubtfully. + +"What?" questioned Rod. + +"That it's swans!" he completed. + +"Swans!" cried the young hunter. "Great Scott, do you mean to say +there could be enough swans--" + +"They sometimes cover the lake in thousands," said Wabi. "I have seen +them whitening the water as far as one could see." + +"More swan as you count in twent' t'ous'nd year!" affirmed Mukoki. +After a few moments he added, "Them no swan. Ice!" + +There was an unpleasant ring in his voice as he spoke the last +word, and though Rod did not fully understand what significance the +discovery held for them he could not but observe that it occasioned +both of his comrades considerable anxiety. The cause was not long in +doubt. Another half hour of brisk paddling brought them to the edge of +a frozen field of ice that extended for a quarter of a mile from the +shore. In both directions it stretched beyond their vision. Wabi's +face was filled with dismay. Mukoki sat with his paddle across his +knees, uttering not a sound. + +"What's the matter?" asked Rod. "Can't we make it?" + +"Make it!" exclaimed Wabigoon. "Yes--perhaps to-morrow, or the next +day!" + +"Do you mean to say we can't get over that ice?" + +"That's just exactly the predicament we are in. The edge of that ice +is rotten." + +The canoe had drifted alongside the ice, and Rod began pounding it +with his paddle. For a distance of two feet it broke off in chunks, +then became more firm. + +"I believe that if we cut our way in for a canoe length or so it would +hold us," he declared. + +Wabi reached for an ax. + +"We'll try it!" + +Mukoki shook his head. + +But for a second time that day Wabigoon persisted in acting against +the old pathfinder's judgment, something that Rod had never known him +to be guilty of before. Foot by foot he broke the ice ahead of the +canoe, until the frail craft had thrust its length into the rotten +field. Then, steadying himself on the bow, he stepped out cautiously +upon the ice. + +"There!" he cried triumphantly. "You next, Rod! Steady!" + +In a moment Rod had joined him. What happened after that seemed to +pass like a terrible nightmare. First there came a light cracking in +the ice under their feet, but it was over in an instant. Wabi was +laughing at him for the fear that had come into his face, and calling +his name, when with a thunderous, crash the whole mass gave way under +them, and they plunged down into the black depths of the lake. The +last that Rod saw was his friend's horror-stricken face sinking in the +crumbling ice; he heard a sharp, terrible cry from Mukoki, and then he +knew that the cold waters had engulfed him, and that he was battling +for his life under the surface. + +Fiercely he struck out with arms and legs in an effort to rise, and in +that moment of terror he thought of the great sheet of ice. What if he +should come up under it? In which direction should he strike out? +He opened his eyes but all was a black chaos about him. The seconds +seemed like ages. There came a splitting, rending sensation in his +head, an almost overpowering desire to open his mouth, to gasp, gasp +for air where there was nothing but death! Then his head struck +something. It was the ice! He had come up under the ice, and there was +but one end to that! + +He began to sink again, slowly, as if an invisible hand were pulling +him down, and in his despair he made a last frantic effort, striking +out blindly, knowing that in another second he must open his mouth. +Even under the water he still had consciousness enough left to know +that he tried to cry out, and he felt the first gurgling rush of water +into his lungs. But he did not see the long arm that reached down +where the bubbles were coming up, he did not feel the grip that +dragged him out upon the ice. His first sense of life was that +something very heavy was upon his stomach, and that he was being +rubbed, and pummeled, and rolled about as if he had become the +plaything of a great bear. Then he saw Mukoki, and then Wabigoon. + +"You go build fire," he heard Mukoki say, and he could hear Wabi +running swiftly shoreward. For he knew that they were still upon the +ice. The canoe was drawn safely up a dozen feet away, and the old +Indian was dragging blankets from it. When Mukoki turned he found Rod +resting upon his elbow, looking at him. + +"That--w'at you call heem--close shave!" he grinned, placing a +supporting arm under Rod's shoulder. + +With Mukoki's assistance the youth rose to his feet, and a thick +blanket was wrapped about him. Slowly they made their way shoreward, +and soon Wabi came running out to meet them, dripping wet. + +"Rod, when we get thawed out, I want you to kick me," he pleaded. "I +want you to kick me good and hard, and then I'll take great pleasure +in kicking you. And ever after this, when we do a thing that Mukoki +tells us not to do, we'll kick some more!" + +"Who pulled us out?" asked Rod. + +"Mukoki, of course. Will you kick me?" + +"Shake!" + +And the two dripping, half-frozen young adventurers shook hands, +while Mukoki chuckled and grunted and gurgled until he set the others +bursting into laughter. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +THE YELLOW BULLET + +Before a rousing fire of logs Rod and Wabigoon began to see the +cheerful side of life again, and as soon as Mukoki had built them a +balsam shelter they stripped off their clothes and wrapped themselves +in blankets, while the old Indian dried their outfits. It was two +hours before they were dressed. No sooner were they out than Wabi +went into the bush and returned a few minutes later brandishing a +good-sized birch in his hand. There was no sign of humor in his face +as he eyed Rod. + +"Do you see that log?" he said, pointing to the big trunk of a fallen +tree near the fire "That will just fit your stomach, Rod. It will be +better than kicking. Double yourself over that, face down, pantaloons +up. I'm going to lick you first because I want you to know just how +much to give me. I want it twice as hard, for I was more to blame than +you." + +In some astonishment Rod doubled himself over the log. + +"Great Scott!" he ejaculated, peering up in dismay. "Not too hard, +Wabi!" + +Swish! fell the birch, and a yell of pain burst from the white youth's +lips. + +Swish!--Swish!--Swish! + +"Ouch! Great Caesar--Let up!" + +"Don't move!" shouted Wabi. "Take it like a man--you deserve it!" + +Again and again the birch fell. Rod groaned as he rose to his feet +after Wabi had stopped. "Oh, please--please give me that whip!" + +"Not too hard, you know," warned Wabi, as he fitted himself over the +log. + +"You chose your own poison," reminded Rod, rolling up his sleeve. +"Just twice as hard, no more!" + +And the birch began to fall. + +When it was over Rod's arm ached, and Wabi, despite his Indian +stoicism, let out a long howl at the last blow. + +During the entire scene of chastisement Mukoki stood like one struck +dumb. + +"We'll never be bad any more, Muky," promised Wabigoon, rubbing +himself gently. "That is, if we are, we'll whip ourselves again, eh, +Rod?" + +"Not so long as I can run!" assured Rod with emphasis. "I'm willing +to lend a helping hand at any time you think you deserve another, but +beyond that please count me out!" + +For an hour after the self-punishment of the young gold hunters the +three gathered fuel for the night and balsam boughs for their beds. It +was dark by the time they sat down to their supper, which they ate in +the light of a huge fire of dry poplar. + +"This is better than paddling all night, even if we did have a close +shave," said Rod, after they had finished and settled themselves +comfortably. + +Wabi gave a grimace and shrugged his shoulders. + +"Do you know how close your call was?" he asked. "It was so close that +just by one chance in ten thousand you were saved. I had pulled myself +upon the ice by catching hold of the bow of the canoe and when Muky +saw that I was safe he watched for you. But you didn't show up. We +had given you up for dead when a few bubbles came to the surface, and +quicker than a wink Mukoki thrust down his arm. He got you by the hair +as you were sinking for the last time. Think of that, Rod, and dream +of it to-night. It'll do you good." + +"Ugh!" shuddered the white youth. "Let's talk of something more +cheerful. What a glorious fire that poplar makes!" + +"Mak' light more as twent' t'ous'nd candles!" agreed Mukoki. "Heem +bright!" + +"Once upon a time, many ages ago, there was a great chief in this +country," began Wabigoon, "and he had seven beautiful daughters. So +beautiful were they that the Great Spirit himself fell in love with +them, and for the first time in countless moons he appeared upon +earth, and told the chief that if he would give him his seven +daughters he, in turn, would grant the father seven great desires. And +the chief, surrendering his daughters, asked that he might be given a +day without night, and a night without day, and his wish was granted; +and his third and fourth and fifth desires were that the land might +always be filled with fish and game, the forests remain for ever +green, and fire be given to his people. His sixth desire was that a +fuel be given to him which would burn even in water, and the Great +Spirit gave him birch; and his seventh desire was that he might +possess another fuel, which would throw off no smoke, and might bring +comfort and joy to his wigwams--and the poplar sprang up in the +forests. And because of that chief, and his seven beautiful daughters, +all of these things are true even to this day. Isn't it so, Mukoki?" + +The old warrior nodded. + +"And what became of the Great Spirit and the seven beautiful +daughters?" questioned Rod. + +Mukoki rose and left the fire. + +"He believes in that as he believes in the sun and the moon," spoke +Wabi softly. "But he knows that you do not, and that all white people +laugh at it. He could tell you many wonderful stories of the creation +of these forests and mountains and the things in them if he would. +But he knows that you would not believe, and would laugh at him +afterward." + +In an instant Rod was upon his feet. + +"Mukoki!" he called. "Mukoki!" + +The old Indian turned and came back slowly. The white youth met him +half-way, his face flushed, his eyes shining. + +"Mukoki," he said gently, gripping the warrior's hand, "Mukoki--I love +your Great Spirit! I love the one who made these glorious forests, and +that glorious moon up there, and the mountains and lakes and rivers! +I Want to know more about him. You must tell me, so that I will know +when he talks about me, in the winds, in the stars, in the forests! +Will you?" + +Mukoki was looking at him, his thin lips parted, his grim visage +relaxed, as if he were weighing the truthfulness of the white youth's +words. + +"And I will tell you about our Great Spirit, the white man's Great +Spirit," urged Rod. "For we have a Great Spirit, too, Mukoki, and He +did for the white man's world what yours did for you. He created the +earth, the sky and the sea and all the things in them in six days, and +on the seventh He rested. And that seventh day we call Sunday, Mukoki. +And He made our forests for us, as your Great Spirit made them for +you, only instead of giving them for the love of seven beautiful women +He gave them for the love of man. I'll tell you wonderful things about +Him, Mukoki, if you will tell me about yours. Is it a bargain?" + +"Mebby--yes," replied the old pathfinder slowly. His face had +softened, and for the second time Rod knew that he had touched the +heartstrings of his red comrade. They returned to the fire, and Wabi +made room for them upon the log beside him. In his hand he held a copy +of the old birch-bark map. + +"I've been thinking about this all day," he said, spreading it out so +that the others could see. "Somehow I haven't been able to get the +idea out of my head that--" + +"What?" asked Rod. + +"Oh, nothing," hastily added Wabi, as if he regretted what he had +said. "It's a mighty curious map, isn't it? I wonder if we'll ever +know its whole story." + +"I believe we know it now," declared Rod. "In the first place, we +found it clutched by one of the skeletons, and we know from the knife +wounds in those skeletons, and the weapons near them, that the two +men fought and killed themselves. They fought for this map, for the +precious secret which each wished to possess alone. Now--" + +He took the map from Wabi's fingers and held it up between them and +the fire. + +"Isn't the rest of it clear?" + +For a few moments the three looked at it in silence. + +From the faded outlines of the original it had been drawn with +painstaking accuracy. + +With a splinter Rod pointed to the top of the map, where were written +the words, "Cabin and head of chasm." + +"Could anything be clearer?" he repeated. "Here is the cabin in which +the men killed themselves, and where we found their skeletons, and +here they have marked the chasm in which I shot the silver fox, and +down which we must go to find the gold. According to this we must go +until we come to the third waterfall, and there we will find another +cabin--and the gold." + +"It all seems very simple--by the map," agreed Wabi. + +Under the crude diagram were a number of lines in writing. They were: + +"We, John Ball, Henri Langlois, and Peter Plante, having discovered +gold at this fall, do hereby agree to joint partnership in the same, +and do pledge ourselves to forget our past differences and work in +mutual good will and honesty, so help us God. Signed, + +"JOHN BALL, HENRI LANGLOIS, PETER PLANTE." + +Through the name of John Ball had been drawn a broad black line which +had almost destroyed the letters, and at the end of this line, in +brackets, was printed a word in French, which for the hundredth time +Wabi translated aloud: + +"Dead!" + +"From the handwriting of the original we know that Ball was a man of +some education," continued Rod. "And there is no doubt but that the +birch-bark sketch was made by him. All of the writing was in one hand, +with the exception of the signatures of Langlois and Plante, and you +could hardly decipher the letters in those signatures if you did not +already know their names. From these lines it is quite certain that +we were right at the cabin when we concluded that the two Frenchmen +killed the Englishman to get him out of the partnership. Isn't that +story clear enough?" + +"Yes, as far as you have gone," replied Wabi. "These three men +discovered gold, quarreled, signed this agreement, and then Ball was +murdered. The two Frenchmen, as Mukoki suggested at the cabin, came +out a little later for supplies, and brought the buckskin bag full of +gold with them. They had come as far as the cabin at the head of the +chasm when they quarreled over possession of the map and agreement, +fought, and died. From the old guns and other evidences we found near +them we know that all this happened at least fifty years ago, and +perhaps more. But--" + +He paused, whistling softly. + +"Where is the third waterfall?" + +"I thought we settled that last winter," replied Rod, a little +irritated by his companion's doubt. "If writing goes for anything, +Ball was a man of education, and he drew the map according to some +sort of scale. The second fall is only half as far from the first fall +as the third fall is from the second, which is conclusive evidence of +this. Now Mukoki discovered the first waterfall fifty miles down the +chasm!" + +"And we figured from the distances between John Ball's marks on the +birch, that the third fall was about two hundred and fifty miles from +our old camp at the head of the chasm," rejoined Wabigoon. "It looks +reasonable." + +"It is reasonable," declared Rod, his face flushed with excitement. +"From the head of the chasm our trail is as plain as day. We can't +miss it!" + +Mukoki had been listening in silence, and now joined in the +conversation for the first time. + +"Must get to chasm first," he grunted, giving his shoulders a hunch +that suggested a great deal. + +Wabi returned the map to his pocket. + +"You're right, Muky," he laughed. "We're climbing mountains before we +come to them. It will be tough work getting to the chasm." + +"Much water--ver' swift. River run lak twent' t'ous'nd cari-boo!" + +"I'll bet the Ombabika is a raging torrent," said Rod. + +"And we've got forty miles of it, all upstream," replied Wabi. "Then +we come to the Height of Land. After that the streams run northward, +to Hudson Bay, and when we reach them we'll hold our breath and pray +instead of paddling. Oh, it will be exciting fun rushing down-stream +on the floods!" + +"But there is work before us to-morrow--hard work," said Rod. "And I'm +going to bed. Good night!" + +Mukoki and Wabigoon soon followed their companion's example, and half +an hour later nothing but the crackling of the fire disturbed the +stillness of the camp. Mukoki was as regular as clockwork in his +rising, and an hour before dawn he was up and preparing breakfast. +When his young comrades aroused themselves they found the ducks they +had shot the preceding day roasting on spits over the fire, and coffee +nearly ready. Rod also noticed that a part of the contents of the +canoe were missing. + +"Took load up to river," explained Mukoki in response to the youth's +questioning. + +"Working while we sleep, as usual," exclaimed the disgusted Wabigoon. +"If it keeps on we'll deserve another whipping, Rod!" + +Mukoki examined a fat bluebill, roasted to a rich brown, and gave it +to Rod. Another he handed to Wabigoon, and with a third in his own +hands he found a seat for himself upon the ground close to the coffee +and bread. + +"Ah, if this isn't fit for a king!" cried Rod, poising his savory +bluebill on the end of a fork. + +Half an hour later the three went to their canoe. Mukoki had already +packed a half of its contents to the river, a quarter of a mile away, +and he now loaded himself with the remainder while the two boys +hoisted the light birch upon their shoulders. As Roderick caught his +first glimpse of the Ombabika in the growing light of day he gave a +cry of astonishment. When he had gone up the stream the preceding +winter it was scarce more than a dozen gun lengths in width. Now it +was a veritable Amazon, its black, ugly waters rolling and twisting +like the slow boiling of a thick liquid over a fire. There was little +rush about it, no frenzied haste, no mountain-like madness in the +advance of the torrent. Rod had expected to see this, and he would not +have been startled by it. + +But there was something vastly more appalling in the flood that rolled +slowly before his eyes, with its lazily twisting whirlpools, its +thousand unseen currents, rolling the water here and there--always in +different places--like the gurgling eruptions he had often observed +in a pot of simmering oatmeal. There was something uncanny about +it, something terribly suggestive of giant hands under the surface, +waiting to pull them down. He knew, without questioning, that +there was more deadly power in that creeping flood than in a dozen +boisterous torrents thundering down from the mountains. In it were the +cumulative waters of a score of those torrents, and in its broad, deep +sweep into the big lake the currents and perils of each were combined +into one great threatening force. + +The thoughts that were in Rod's mind betrayed themselves as he looked +at his companions. Mukoki was reloading the canoe. Wabi watched the +flood. + +"She's running pretty strong," said the Indian youth dubiously. "What +do you think of it, Muky?" + +"Keep close to shore," replied the old warrior, without stopping his +work. "We mak' heem--safe!" + +There was a good deal of consolation in Mukoki's words, for both +youths still bore smarting reminders of his caution and good judgment. +In a short time the canoe was safely launched where a small eddy had +worked into the shore, and the three adventurers dug in their paddles. +Mukoki, who held the important position in the stern, kept the bow of +the birch within half a dozen yards of the bank, and to Rod's mind +they slipped up-stream with amazing speed and ease. Now and then one +of the upheavings of the currents would catch the canoe, and from the +way in which it was pitched either to one side or the other Rod easily +imagined what perils the middle of the stream would have held for +them. Quick action on the part of Mukoki and Wabigoon was always +necessary to counteract the effect of these upheavals, and in the bow +Wabi was constantly on the alert. At no time could they tell when to +expect the attacks of the unseen forces below. Ten feet ahead the +water might be running as smooth as oil, then--a single huge bubble, +as if a great fish had sent up a gasp of air--and in an instant it +would be boiling like a small maelstrom. + +Rod noticed that each time they were caught near one of these some +unseen power seemed sucking them down, and that at those times the +canoe would settle several inches deeper than when they were in calm +water. The discovery thrilled him, and he wondered what one of the big +eruptions out in mid-stream would do to them if they were caught in +it. Other perils were constantly near them. Floating logs and masses +of brush and other debris swept down with the flood, and Wabi's +warning cries of "right," "left," and "back" came with such frequency +that Rod's arms ached with the mighty efforts which he made with his +paddle in response to them. Again the stream would boil with such fury +ahead of them that Mukoki would put in to shore, and a portage would +be made beyond the danger point. Five times during the day were the +canoe and its contents carried in this manner, so that including all +time lost an average of not more than two miles an hour was made. When +camp was struck late that afternoon, however, Mukoki figured that they +had covered half the distance up the Ombabika. + +The following day's progress was even slower. With every mile the +stream became narrower and swifter. The treacherous upheavals caused +by undercurrents no longer harassed the gold seekers, but logs and +debris swept down with greater velocity. Several times the frail canoe +was saved from destruction only by the quick and united action of the +three. They worked now like a well-regulated machine, engineered by +Wabigoon, whose sharp eyes were always on the alert for danger ahead. +This second day was one of thrills and tense anxiety for Rod, and he +was glad when it came to an end. It was early, and the sun was still +two hours high, when they stopped to camp. + +Mukoki had chosen an open space, backed by a poplar-covered rocky +ridge, and scarce had the bow of the canoe touched shore when Wabi +gave an excited exclamation, caught up his rifle, and fired three +rapid shots in the direction of a small clump of spruce near the foot +of the mountain. + +"Missed, by all that's good and great!" he yelled. "Quick, Mukoki, +shove her in! There's the biggest bear I've seen in all my life!" + +"Where?" demanded Rod. "Where is he?" + +He dropped his paddle and snatched his own rifle, while Mukoki, +keeping his self-possession, brought the canoe so that Wabi could leap +ashore. Rod followed like a flash, and the two excited youths sped in +the direction of the bear, leaving their companion to care for himself +and the heavily-laden birch. A short, swift run brought them to the +edge of the spruce, and with hearts beating wildly the two scanned the +barren side of the mountain ahead of them. There was no sign of the +bear. + +"He turned down-stream!" cried Wabi, "We must cut--" + +"There he is," whispered Rod sharply. + +Just beginning the ascent of the mountain, four or five hundred yards +below them, was the bear. Even at that distance Rod was amazed at the +size of the beast. + +"What a monster!" he gasped. + +"Blaze away!" urged Wabi. "It's four hundred yards if it's a foot! Aim +for the top of his back and you'll bring him!" + +Suiting action to his words he fired the two remaining shots in +his rifle, and as he slipped in fresh cartridges Rod continued the +long-range fusillade. His first and second shots produced no effect. +At his third the running animal paused for a moment and looked down at +them, and the young Hunter seized his opportunity to take a careful +aim. At the report of his gun the bear gave a quick lunge forward, +half-fell among the rocks, and then was off again. + +"You hit him!" shouted Wabi, setting off on a dead run between the +spruce and the mountain. + +For a few brief moments Rod studied the situation as he reloaded. The +bear was rapidly nearing the summit of the ridge. By, swift running +Wabigoon would have another fair shot before the animal got out of +range. If that shot were a miss they would lose their game. In a flash +he discerned a break in the mountain. If he could make that, and the +bear turned in his direction-- + +Without further thought he ran toward the break. He heard the sharp +reports of Wabi's rifle behind him, but didn't stop to see the effect +of the fire. If it was another miss--every second counted. The cut in +the mountain was clear. Breathlessly he dashed through it and stopped +on the opposite side, his eyes eagerly scanning the rock-strewn ridge. +He made no attempt to suppress the exclamation of joy that came to +his lips when, fully eight hundred yards away, he discerned the bear +coming down the side of the mountain, and in his direction. Crouching +behind a huge boulder Rod waited. Seven hundred yards, six hundred, +five hundred, and the bear turned, this time striking into the edge +of the plain. The animal was traveling slowly, partly stopping in his +flight now and then, and Rod knew that he was badly wounded. It was +soon evident that the course being taken by the game would bring it no +nearer, and the young hunter leveled his rifle. + +Five hundred yards, more than a quarter of a mile! + +This was desperate shooting, shooting that sent a strange thrill +through Roderick Drew. The magnificent weapon in his hands was equal +to the task. It would kill easily at that distance. But would he fail? +He was confident that his first shot went high. His second had no +effect. To his third there came the sharp response of a fourth from +the top of the mountain. Wabigoon had reached the summit, and was +firing at six hundred yards! + +The bear stopped. With deadly precision Rod now took aim at the +motionless animal. An instant after he had fired a wild shout burst +from his throat, and was answered by Wabigoon's joyful yell from the +mountain. It was a wonderful shot, and the bear was down! + +The animal was dead when the triumphant young hunters reached its +side. It was some time before either of them spoke. Panting from their +exertions, both looked down in silence upon the huge beast at their +feet. That he had made a remarkable kill Rod could see by the look of +wonder in his companion's face. They were still mutely regarding +the dead animal when Mukoki came through the break in the ridge and +hurried toward them. His face, too, became filled with amazement when +he saw the bear. + +"Big bear!" he exclaimed. + +There was a world of meaning in his words, and Rod flushed with +pleasure. + +"He weighs five hundred," said Wabi, "and he stands four feet at the +shoulders if an inch." + +"Fine rug!" grinned Mukoki. + +"Let's see, Rod; he'll make a rug--" Wabi walked critically around +the bear. "He'll make you a rug over eight feet long by about six in +width. I wonder where he is hit?" + +A brief examination showed that while the honors of the actual kill +were with Rod, at least one, and perhaps two, of Wabi's shots had +taken effect. The last shot from the white youth's rifle had struck +the bear just below the right ear, causing almost instantaneous death. +On this same side, which had been exposed to Rod's fire, was a body +wound, undoubtedly made by the shot on the mountain side. When the +animal was rolled over by the combined efforts of the three two more +wounds were discovered on the left side, which had mostly been exposed +to Wabigoon's fire. It was while examining these that the sharp-eyed +Mukoki gave a sudden grunt of surprise. + +"Heem shot before--long time ago! Old wound--feel bullet!" + +Between his fingers he was working the loose hide back of the foreleg. +The scar of an old wound was plainly visible, and both Rod and Wabi +could feel the ball under the skin. There is something that fascinates +the big game hunter in this discovery of an old wound in his quarry, +and especially in the vast solitudes of the North, where hunters are +few and widely scattered. It brings with it a vivid picture of +what happened long ago, the excitement of some other chase, the +well-directed shot, and at last the escape of the game. And so it was +now. The heads of Rod and Wabigoon hung close over Mukoki's shoulders +while the old Indian dug out the bullet with his knife. Another grunt +of surprise fell from the pathfinder's lips as he dropped the pellet +in the palm of his hand. + +It was a strange-looking object, smooth, and curiously flattened. + +"Ver' soft bullet," said Mukoki. "Never know lead thin, thin out lak +that!" + +With his knife he peeled off a thin slice of the ball. + +"Heem--" + +He held up the two pieces. In the sun they gleamed a dull, rich +yellow. + +"That bullet made of gold!" he breathed, scarcely above a whisper. "No +yellow lead. That gold, pure gold!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +UP THE OMBABIKA + +For a few moments after Mukoki's remarkable discovery the three stood +speechless. Wabigoon stared as if he could not bring himself to +believe the evidence of his eyes. Rod was quivering with the old, +thrilling excitement that had first come to him in the cabin where +they had found the skeletons and the buckskin bag with its precious +nuggets, and Mukoki's face was a study. The thin, long fingers which +held the two pieces of the gold bullet trembled, which was an unusual +symptom in the old pathfinder. It was he who broke the silence, and +his words gave utterance to the question which had rushed into the +heads of the two young hunters. + +"Who shoot gold bullets at bear?" + +And to this question there was, for the time, absolutely no answer. To +tell who shot that bullet was impossible. But why was it used? + +Wabigoon had taken the parts of the yellow ball and was weighing them +in the palm of his hand. + +"It weighs an ounce," he declared. + +"Twenty dollars' worth of gold!" gasped Rod, as if he lacked breath +to express himself. "Who in the wide world is shooting twenty dollar +bullets at bear?" he cried more excitedly, repeating Mukoki's question +of a minute before. + +He, too, weighed the yellow pellets in his hand. + +The puzzled look had gone out of Mukoki's face. 'Again the +battle-scarred old warrior wore the stoic mask of his race, which only +now and then is lifted for an instant by some sudden and unexpected +happening. Behind that face, immobile, almost expressionless, worked a +mind alive to every trick and secret of the vast solitudes, and even +before his young comrades had gained the use of their tongues he was, +in his savage imagination, traveling swiftly back over the trail of +the monster bear to the gun that had fired the golden bullet. Wabigoon +understood him, and watched him eagerly. + +"What do you think of it, Muky?" + +"Man shoot powder and ball gun, not cartridge," replied Mukoki slowly. +"Old gun. Strange; ver' strange!" + +"A muzzle loader!" said Wabi. + +The Indian nodded. + +"Had powder, no lead. Got hungry; used gold." + +Eight words had told the story, or at least enough of it to clear away +a part of the cloud of mystery, but the other part still remained. + +Who had fired the bullet, _and where had the gold come from?_ + +"He must have struck it rich," said Wabi "else would he have a chunk +of gold like that?" + +"Where that come from--more, much! more," agreed Mukoki shortly. + +"Do you suppose--" began Rod. There was a curious thrill in his voice, +and he paused, as if scarce daring to venture the rest of what he had +meant to say. "Do you suppose--somebody has found--our gold?" + +Mukoki and Wabigoon stared at him as if he had suddenly exploded a +mine. Then Wabi turned and looked silently at the old Indian. Not +a word was spoken. Silently Rod drew something from his pocket, +carefully wrapped in a bit of cloth. + +"You remember I kept this little nugget from my share in the buckskin +bag, intending to have a scarf-pin made of it," he explained. "When I +took my course in geology and mineralogy I learned that, if one had +half a dozen specimens of gold, each from a different mine, the +chances were about ten to one that no two of them would be exactly +alike in coloring. Now--" + +He exposed the nugget, and made a fresh cut in it with his knife, as +Mukoki had done with the yellow bullet. Then the two gleaming surfaces +were compared. + +One glance was sufficient. + +The gold was the same! + +Wabi drew back, uttering something under his breath, his eyes gleaming +darkly. Rod's face had suddenly turned a shade whiter, and Mukoki, not +understanding the mysteries of mineralogy, stared at the youth in mute +suspense. + +"Somebody has found our gold!" cried Wabi, almost savagely. + +"We are not sure," interrupted Rod. "We know only that the evidence is +very suspicious. The rock formation throughout this country is almost +identically the same, deep trap on top, with slate beneath, and for +that reason it is very possible that gold found right in this locality +would be of exactly the same appearance as gold found two hundred +miles from here. Only--it's suspicious," Rod concluded. + +"Man probably dead," consoled Mukoki. "No lead--hungry--shoot bear an' +no git heem. Mebby starve!" + +"The poor devil!" exclaimed Wabigoon. "We've been too selfish to give +a thought to that, Rod. Of course he was hungry, or he wouldn't have +used gold for bullets. And he didn't get this bear! By George--" + +"I wish he'd got him," said Rod simply. + +Somehow Mukoki's words sent a flush into his face. There came to him, +suddenly, a mental picture of that possible tragedy in the wilderness: +the starving man, his last hopeless molding of a golden bullet, the +sight of the monster bear, the shot, and after that the despair and +suffering and slow death of the man who had fired it. + +"I wish he'd got it," he repeated. "We have plenty of grub." + +Mukoki was already at work skinning the bear, and Rod and Wabigoon +unsheathed their knives and joined him. + +"Wound 'bout fi', six month old," said the Indian. "Shot just before +snow." + +"When there wasn't a berry in the woods for a starving man to eat," +added Wabi. "Well, here's hoping he found something, Rod." + +An hour later the three gold seekers returned to their canoe laden +with the choicest of the bear meat, and the animal's skin, which was +immediately stretched between two trees, high up out of the reach of +depredating animals. Rod gazed at it proudly. + +"We'll be sure and get it when we come back, won't we?" + +"Sure," replied Wabi. + +"It will be safe?" + +"As safe as though it were at home." + +"Unless somebody comes along and steals it," added Rod. + +Wabi was busy unloading certain necessary articles from the canoe, but +he ceased his work to look at Rod. + +"Steal!" he cried in astonishment. + +Mukoki, too, had heard Rod's remark and was listening. + +"Rod," continued Wabigoon quietly, "that is one thing we don't have up +here. Our great big glorious North doesn't know the word thief, except +when it is applied to a Woonga. If a white hunter came along here +to-morrow, and found that hide stretched so low that the animals were +getting at it, he would nail it higher for us. An Indian, if he camped +here, would build his fire so that the sparks wouldn't strike it. Rod, +up here, where we don't know civilization, we're honest!" + +"But down in the States," said Rod, "the Indians steal." + +The words slipped from him. The next instant he would have given +anything to have been able to recall them. Mukoki had grown a little +more tense in his attitude. + +"That's because white men have lived so much among them, white men who +are called civilized," answered the young scion of Wabinosh House, his +eyes growing bright. "White blood makes thieves. Pardon me for saying +it, Rod, but it does, at least among Indians. But our white blood +up here is different from yours. It's the same blood that's in our +Indians, every drop of it honest, loyal to its friends, and it runs +red and strong with the love of this great wilderness. There are +exceptions, of course, as you have seen in the Woongas, who are an +outlaw race. But we are honest, and Mukoki there, if he were dying of +cold, wouldn't steal a skin to save himself. An ordinary Indian might +take it, if he were dying for want of it, but not unless he had a gun +to leave in its place!" + +"I didn't mean to say what I did," said Rod. "Oh, I wish I were one +of you! I love this big wilderness, and everything in it, and it's +glorious to hear you say what you do!" + +"You are one of us," cried Wabi, gripping his hand. + +That evening, after they had finished their supper and the three were +gathered about the fire, Wabigoon said: + +"Muky could tell you one reason why the Indians of the North are +honest if he wanted to, Rod. But he won't, so I will. There was once a +tribe in the country of Mukoki's fore-fathers, along the Makoki River, +which empties into the Albany, whose men were great thieves, and who +stole from one another. No man's snare was safe from his neighbor, +fights and killings were of almost daily occurrence, and the chief +of the tribe was the greatest thief of all, and of course escaped +punishment. This chief loved to set his own snares, and one day he was +enraged to find that one of his tribe had been so bold as to set a +snare within a few inches of his own, and in the trail of the same +animal. He determined on meting out a terrible punishment, and waited. + +"While he was waiting a rabbit ran into the snare of his rival. +Picking up a stick he approached to kill the game, when suddenly there +seemed to pass a white mist before his eyes, and when he looked again +there was no rabbit, but the most wonderful creature he had ever +beheld in the form of man, and he knew that it was the Great Spirit, +and fell upon his face. And a great voice came to him, as if rolling +from far beyond the most distant mountains, and it told him that the +forests and streams of the red man's heaven were closed to him and his +people, that in the hunting-grounds that came after death there was no +place for thieves. + +"'Go to your people,' he said, 'and tell them this. Tell them that +from this day on, moon upon moon, until the end of time, must they +live like brothers, setting their snares side by side without war, to +escape the punishment that hovers over them.' + +"And the chief told his people this," finished Wabi, "and from that +hour there was no more thievery in the land. And because the Great +Spirit came in the form he did the rabbit is the good luck animal of +the Crees and Chippewayans of the far North, and wherever the snows +fall deep, men set their traps side by side to this day, and do not +rob." + +Rod had listened with glowing eyes. + +"It's glorious!" he repeated. "It's glorious, if it's true!" + +"It is true," said Wabi. "In all this great country between here and +the Barren Lands, where the musk-ox lives, there is not one Indian in +a hundred who would steal another Indian's trap, or the game in it. +It is one of the understood laws of the North that every hunter shall +have his 'trap line,' or 'run,' and it is not courtesy for another +trapper to encroach upon it; but if he should, and he should lay a +trap close beside another's, it would not be wrong, for the law of the +Great Spirit is greater than the law of man. Why, last winter even the +outlaw Woongas made no effort to steal our traps, though they thirsted +for our lives!" + +"Mukoki," said Rod, rising, "I want to shake hands with you before I +go to bed. I'm learning--fast. I wish I were half Indian!" + +The next morning the journey up the Ombabika was resumed, and a +little more of anxiety was now mingled with the enthusiasm of the +adventurers. For no one of them could relieve himself of the possible +significance of the gold bullet, the fear that their treasure had been +discovered by another. Wabi regained his confidence first. + +"I don't believe it!" he exclaimed at last. Without questioning, the +others knew to what he referred. "I don't believe that our gold +has been found. It is in the heart of the wildest country on the +continent, and surely if such a rich find had been made we would have +heard something about it at Wabinosh House or Kenegami, which are the +nearest points of supply." + +"Or, if it was found, the discoverer is dead," added Rod. + +"Yes." + +In the stern, Mukoki nodded and grunted his conviction. + +"Dead," he repeated. + +The Ombabika had now become narrow and violent. Against its swift +current the canoe made but little headway, and at noon Mukoki +announced that the river journey was at an end. For a few moments Rod +did not recognize where they had landed. Then he gave a sudden cry of +glad surprise. + +"Why, this is where we had supper that night after our terrible +adventure on the river last winter," he exclaimed. + +From far off there came faintly to his ears a low, rumbling thunder. + +"Listen! That's the river rushing through the break in the mountain +where we walked the edge of the precipice!" + +Wabi shrugged his shoulders at the memory of that fearful night and +its desperate race to escape from the Woonga country. + +"We've got to do the same thing again, only this time it will be in +daylight." + +"Long portage," said Mukoki. "Six mile. Carry everything." + +"Until we reach the little creek in the plains beyond the mountain, +where you shot the caribou?" asked Rod. + +"Yes," replied Wabigoon. "That little creek will now be a pretty husky +stream, and by hard work we can paddle up it until we come within +about eight miles of our old camp at the head of the chasm, where we +found the skeletons and the map." + +"And from that point we shall have to carry our canoe and supplies +to the creek in the chasm," finished Rod. "And then--hurrah for the +gold!" + +"Mak' old camp on mountain by night," said Mukoki. + +Wabi broke into a happy laugh and thumped Rod on the back. + +"Remember the big lynx you shot, Rod, and thought it was a Woonga, and +had us all frightened out of our wits?" he cried. + +Rod colored at the memory of his funny adventure, which was thrilling +enough at the time, and began assisting Mukoki in unloading the canoe. +Two hours were taken for dinner and rest, and then the young hunters +shouldered their canoe while Mukoki hurried on ahead of them, weighted +with a half of their supplies. Every step now brought the thunder of +the torrent rushing through the mountain more clearly to their ears, +and they had not progressed more than a mile when they were compelled +to shout to make each other hear. On their right the wall of the +mountain closed in rapidly, and as they stumbled with their burden +over a mass of huge boulders the two boys saw just ahead of them the +narrow trail at the edge of the precipice. + +At its beginning they rested their canoe. On one side of them, a dozen +yards away, the face of the mountain rose sheer above them for a +thousand feet; on the other, scarce that distance from where they +stood, was the roaring chasm. And ahead of them the mountain wall and +the edge of the precipice came nearer and nearer, until there was no +more than a six-foot ledge to walk upon. Rod's face turned strangely +white as he realized, for the first time, the terrible chances they +had taken on that black, eventful night of a few months ago; and for a +time Wabi stood silent, his face as hard-set as a rock. Up out of the +chasm there came a deafening thunder of raging waters, like the +hollow explosions of great guns echoing and reëchoing in subterranean +caverns. + +"Let's take a look!" shouted Wabi close up to his companion's ear. + +He went to the edge of the precipice, and Rod forced himself to +follow, though there was in him a powerful inclination to hug close +to the mountain wall. For half a minute he stood fascinated, +terror-stricken, and yet in those thirty seconds he saw that which +would remain with him for a lifetime. Five hundred feet below him the +over-running floods of spring were caught between the ragged edges of +the two chasm walls, beating themselves in their fury to the whiteness +of milk froth, until it seemed as though the earth itself must tremble +under their mad rush. Now and then through the twisting foam there +shot the black crests of great rocks, as though huge monsters of +some kind were at play, whipping the torrent into greater fury, and +bellowing forth thunderous voices when they rose triumphant for an +instant above the sweep of the flood. + +All this Rod saw in less than a breath, and he drew back, shivering +in every fiber of his body. But Wabigoon did not move. For several +minutes the Indian youth stood looking down upon the wonderful force +at play below him, his body as motionless as though hewn out of stone, +the wild blood in his veins leaping in response to the tumult and +thunder of the magnificent spectacle deep down in the chasm. When he +turned to Rod his lips made no sound, but his eyes glowed with that +half-slumbering fire which came only when the red blood of the +princess mother gained ascendency, and the wild in him called out +greeting to the savage in nature. It is not music, or fine talk, or +artificial wonders that waken a thrill deep down in the Indian soul, +it is the great mountain, the vast plain, the roaring cataract! And so +it was with Wabigoon. + +They went on, now, with the canoe upon their shoulders, and hugging +close to the mountain wall. Slowly, avoiding every stone and stick +that might cause one of them to stumble, they passed along the +perilously narrow ledge, and did not rest again until they had come +in safety to the broader trail leading up the mountain. An hour later +Mukoki met them on his return for the remainder of their supplies. +Shortly after this they reached the small plateau where they had +camped during the previous winter, and lowered their canoe close to +the old balsam shelter. + +Everything was as they had left it. Neither snow nor storm had +destroyed their lodging of boughs. There were the charred remains of +their fire, the bones of the huge lynx which Roderick had thought was +an attacking Woonga, and had killed; and beside the shelter was a +stake driven into the ground, the stake to which they had fastened +their faithful comrade of many an adventure, the tame wolf. + +To this stake went Wabigoon, speaking no word. He sat down close +beside it, with his arm resting upon it, and when he looked up at Rod +there was an expression in his face which spoke more than words. + +"Poor old Wolf!" + +Rod turned and walked to the edge of the plateau, something hot and +uncomfortable filling his eyes. Below him, as far as he could see, +there stretched the vast, mysterious wilderness that reached to Hudson +Bay. And somewhere out there in that limitless space was Wolf. + +As he looked, the hot film clouding his vision, he thought of the old +tragedy in Mukoki's life, and of how Wolf had helped him to avenge +himself. In his imagination he went back to that terrible day many, +many years ago, when Mukoki, happy in the strength of his youth, found +his young wife and child dead upon the trail, killed by wolves; he +thought of the story that Wabi had told him of the madness that came +to the young warrior, of how year after year he followed the trail of +wolves, wreaking his vengeance on their breed. And last he thought +of Wolf--how Mukoki and Wabigoon had found the whelp in one of their +traps; how they tamed him, grew to love him, and taught him to decoy +other wolves to their riffes. Wolf had been their comrade of a few +months before; fearless, faithful, until at last, escaping from the +final murderous assault of the Woongas, he had fled into the forests, +while his human friends fought their way back to civilization. + +Where was Wolf now? + +Unconsciously Rod questioned himself aloud, and from close behind him +Wabi answered. + +"With the hunt-pack, Rod. He's forgotten us; gone back to the wild." + +"Gone back to the wild, yes," said Rod; "but forgotten us, no!" + +Wabi made no reply. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +THE MYSTERIOUS SHOT + +For many minutes the two stood silently gazing into the North. At +their feet spread the broad plain where Mukoki had killed the caribou +while they watched him from the plateau; beyond that were the dense +stretches of forest, broken here and there by other plains and +meadows, and a dozen lakes glistened in the red tints of the setting +sun. When Rod first looked upon that country a few months before it +was a world of ice and snow, a cold, dazzling panorama of white that +reached from where he stood to the Pole. Now it was wakening under +the first magic touch of spring. Far away the two young gold hunters +caught a glimmer of the stream which they were to follow up to the +chasm. Last winter it had been a tiny creek; now it was swollen to the +size of a river. + +Suddenly, as they looked, two dark objects came slowly out into an +opening a mile away. At that distance they appeared hardly larger +than dogs, and Rod, whose mind was still filled with thoughts of +Wolf, exclaimed "Wolves!" + +In the same breath he caught himself, and added: + +"Moose!" + +"A cow and her calf," said Wabi. + +"How do you know?" asked Rod. + +"There; watch them now!" cried Wabi, catching his companion by the +arm. "The mother is ahead, and even from here I can see that she is +pacing. A moose never trots or gallops, like a deer, but paces, using +both feet on a side at the same time. Notice how the calf jumps about. +An old moose would never do that." + +"But both animals look to be about the same size," replied Rod, still +doubtful. + +"It's a two-year-old calf; almost as big as its mother. In fact, it's +not really a calf, because it is too old; but so long as young moose +stick to their mothers we call them calves up here. I've known them to +remain together for three years." + +"They're coming this way!" whispered the white youth. + +The moose had turned, heading for the base of the mountain upon which +they stood. Wabi drew his companion behind a big rock, from which both +could look down without being seen. + +"Be quiet!" he warned. "They're coming to feed on the sprouting poplar +along the mountain side. Just been over to the creek to get a drink. +We may have some fun!" + +He wet a finger in his mouth and held it above his head, the forest +pathfinder's infallible method of telling how the wind blows. No +matter how slight the movement of the air may be, one side of the +finger dries first, in an instant, and is warm, while the side that +remains damp is cold, and in the lee, that side toward which the wind +is blowing. + +"The wind is wrong, dead wrong," said Wabi. "It's blowing straight +toward them. Unless we are so high that our scent goes above them they +won't come much nearer." + +Another minute and Rod nudged Wabigoon. + +"They're within range!" + +"Yes, but we won't shoot. We don't need meat." + +As the young Indian spoke the cow brought herself to a dead stop so +suddenly that Wabi gave a delighted grunt. + +"Great!" he whispered. "She's caught a whiff of us, a quarter of a +mile away. See how she holds her head, her great ears chucked forward +to hear, her nose half to the sky! She knows there's danger on this +mountain. Now--" + +He did not finish. Like a flash the cow had darted ahead of her calf, +seeming to shoulder it back, and in another moment the two were racing +swiftly into the North, the mother this time in the rear instead of +leading. + +"I love moose," said Wabi, his eyes glowing. "Do you notice that I +never shoot them, Rod?" + +"By George, so you don't! I never thought of it. What is the reason?" + +"There are a good many reasons. Of course I have shot them, when in +very great need of meat; but it's an unpleasant job for me. You call +the lion the king of beasts. Well, he isn't. The moose is monarch of +them all. You saw how the mother moose acted. She led her calf when +approaching, because if there should be danger she wanted to meet it +first; and when she found danger she drove her calf ahead of her in +retreat, so that if harm came to either of them it would come to her. +Isn't that the human mother instinct? And the bull is glorious! In the +mating season he will face a dozen men in defense of his cow. If she +falls first he will stand between her body and the hunters' rifles, +pawing the earth, his eyes glaring defiance, until he is riddled with +bullets. Once I saw a wounded cow, and as she staggered away the big +bull that was with her hugged her close behind, never for a moment +leaving her exposed to the fire, but unflinchingly taking every bullet +in his own body. So beautiful was his courage that you would not have +known he was wounded until he fell dead in his tracks, literally cut +to pieces. It was that sight that made me swear never to kill another +moose--unless I had to." + +Rod was silent. The mother and the calf had disappeared when he turned +to Wabigoon. + +"I'm glad you told me that, Wabi," he said. "You are teaching me new +things about this big wilderness every day. I've shot one moose. I +won't shoot another unless we need him." + +They went back to their old camp, and by the time Mukoki returned with +his second load everything was in shape for the night, and a supper of +delicious bear steaks, coffee and "hot-stone biscuits," as Rod called +their baked combination of flour, water and salt, was soon ready. +After their meal the three sat for a long time near the fire, for +there was still a slight chill in the night air, and talked +mostly about Wolf and his adventures. Rod, in his distant home in +civilization had read and heard much that was false about wild +animals, was confident that Wolf would find they had returned into the +wilderness and would join them again, and to corroborate his belief +he narrated several stories of similar happenings. Wabigoon listened +courteously to him, which is the way of the Indian. Then he said: + +"Such stories as those are false, Rod. When I spent my year at school +with you I read dozens of stories about wild animals, and very few of +them were true. All sorts of people write about the wilderness, and +yet not one out of a hundred of those same people have ever been in +the real wilderness. And it is wonderful what some of them make wild +animals do!" + +Rod straightened himself with a jerk. + +"I have been here only a few months, Wabi, and yet I have seen more +wonderful things about animals than I have ever read in print," he +declared. + +"Of course you have," agreed his companion. "And there is just the +point I want to make clear. Wild animals are the most wonderful +creatures in existence, and if some of their actual habits and +adventures were told they would be laughed at down where you came +from. Where your writers make their mistake is in bringing them into +too close association with human beings, and making them half human. +Wolf remained with us because he knew no better. We caught him when he +was a whelp, and as he grew older both Mukoki and I could see that at +times he was filled with a wild longing to join his people. We knew +that it was coming. He will never return to us." + +Mukoki made a soft sound deep down in his throat, and Rod turned +suddenly toward him. + +"You believe that, Mukoki?" + +"Wolf gone!" + +"But animals think, don't they?" persisted Rod, to whom the discussion +was of absorbing interest. "They reason, they remember!" + +"They do all of that," replied Wabi, "and more. I have read certain +so-called natural history stories which ridiculed the idea of wild +animals possessing mental abilities, and which ascribed pretty nearly +all their actions to instinct. Such stories are as wrong as those +which give wild animals human endowments. Animals do think. Don't you +suppose that mother moose was thinking when she stopped out there in +the plain? Wasn't she turning the situation over in her mind, if you +want to speak of it as that, and mentally figuring just where the +danger lay, and in which direction she ought to take flight? And +besides reason wild animals have instinct. One proof of this is their +sixth sense; the sense of--of--what do you call it?" + +"Orientation?" assisted Rod. + +"Yes; that's it. Orientation. A bear, for instance, doesn't carry +a compass with him, as some nature writers would like to have you +believe, and yet he can go from this mountain to a den a hundred miles +away as straight as a bird can fly. That's instinct." + +"Then Wolf--" mused Rod slowly. + +"Is with the hunt pack," finished the young Indian. + +Mukoki spoke softly, as though to himself. + +"Last winter the snow came, and now it is water. Two moons past, Wolf, +heem tame. Now wild. The Great Spirit say that is right, I guess so." + +"He means that it is nature," said Wabi. + +For an hour after the others had wrapped themselves in their blankets +Rod sat alone beside the fire, listening, and thinking. And after that +he went to the edge of the plateau, and watched the great spring moon +as it floated slowly over the vast, still wilderness. How wonderful +these solitudes were, how little the teeming millions of civilization +knew about them! Somehow, in those moments, as he watched the +shivering Northern Lights playing far beyond the farthest footstep of +man, there came to Roderick Drew the thought that God must be nearer +to earth here than anywhere else in the world. For the first time his +soul was filled with something that was almost love for the red man's +Great Spirit. And why not? For was not that Great Spirit his own God? +Sad, lonely, silent, mysterious, a whole world lay before him, a world +that was the Indian Bible, that contained for the red man of the North +the teachings and the voice of the Creator of all things. A wind had +risen and was whispering over the plains; he heard the hushed voices +of the quivering poplar boughs, and there came from far below him the +soft, chuckling, mating hoot of an owl. Gradually his eyes closed, +and he leaned more heavily upon the rock against which he had seated +himself. After that he dreamed of what he had looked upon, while +the fire at the camp died away, and Mukoki and Wabigoon slumbered, +oblivious of his absence. + +Of how long he slept Rod had no idea. He was suddenly brought back +into wakefulness by a sound that startled him to the marrow of his +bones, a terrible scream close to his ears. He sat bolt upright, +quaking in every limb. For a moment he tried to cry out, but his +tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. What had happened? Was it Wabi, +or Mukoki? + +A dozen paces away was a huge rock and as he looked he saw something +move upon it, a long, lithe object that shone a silvery white in the +moonlight, and he knew that it was a lynx. Stealthily Rod reached for +his rifle, which had slipped between his knees, and as he did so the +lynx sent forth another of its blood-curdling screams. Even now the +white youth shivered at the sound, so much like the terrible cry of +some person in dying agony. He leveled his gun. There was a flash in +the moonlight, a sharp report, and a shout from the direction of the +camp. In another moment Rod was upon his feet, and sorry that he had +shot. It flashed upon him that he might have watched the lynx, one of +the night pirates of all this strange wilderness, and that its pelt, +at this season, would be worthless. He went to the rock cautiously. +The lynx was not there. He walked around it, holding his rifle in +readiness for attack. The lynx was gone. He had made a clean miss! + +Both Mukoki and Wabigoon met him on the opposite side of the rock. + +"'Nother heap big Woonga," grinned the old pathfinder remembering +Rod's former adventure on this same plateau. "Kill?" + +"Missed!" said Rod shortly. "What a scream that was! Ugh!" + +This time he went to bed with the others, and slept until early dawn. +The morning was one of those rare gifts of budding spring, warm and +redolent with the sweetness of new life, and its beauty acted as a +tonic on the three adventurers. Their fears of the day before were +gone, and with song and whistle and cheery voice they began the +descent of the mountain. Mukoki went on ahead of Rod and Wabigoon with +his pack, and the two boys had not made more than two of the six miles +in the portage across the plain when he met them again, returning for +his second load. By noon the canoe and its contents were safely at +the creek, and the gold hunters halted until after dinner. The little +stream across which Rod had easily leaped without wetting his feet a +few weeks before had swollen into a fair-sized river, and in places +its searching waters had formed tiny lakes. Unlike the Ombabika, +sweeping down from its mountain heights, there was but little current +here, a fact that immensely pleased Mukoki and his companions. + +"We near mak' cabin to-night," said the old Indian. "I take load +to-night." + +During the two hours' paddle up-stream Mukoki spoke but little, and as +they approached nearer to their last winter's thrilling fight with the +Woongas, in which they had so nearly lost their lives, he ceased even +to respond by nod or grunt to the conversation of his companions. Once +Wabigoon spoke again of Wolf, and for an instant the old Indian, who +was in the bow, half turned to them, and for two strokes his paddle +rested in mid air. From the stern Wabi reached forward and poked Rod, +and the white youth understood. Next to Minnetaki and Wabigoon, and +perhaps himself, he knew that the faithful pathfinder loved Wolf best, +and that; he was filled with a little of that savage madness which +came to him now and then when he dwelt on the terrible tragedy that +had entered his life many years before. When the hunters reached the +end of their canoe journey up the stream Mukoki silently shouldered +his pack and set out over the plain. He spoke no word, made no sign. + +"It would be useless," said Wabigoon, as Rod made a movement as if to +follow and stop their comrade. "No persuasion could turn Mukoki now. +He wants to reach the old camp to-night, where Wolf disappeared. He +won't be back until morning." + +And Mukoki went on, never for an instant turning his face, until his +companions lost sight of him. But once out of their vision his, manner +took on a strange and sudden change. He lowered the head strap of his +pack over his breast, so that he might clutch at it with one hand, and +move his head freely. His eyes glowed with the dull fire of wakening +excitement; his steps were quick, and yet cautious, every movement in +his advance was one of listening and watchful expectancy. A person +watching the old warrior would have said that he was keenly on the +alert for game, or danger. And yet the safety of his rifle was locked, +a fresh trail of bear aroused no new interest in him, and when he +heard a crashing in the brush on his right, where a buck had got wind +of him, he gave but a single glance in its direction. He was not +seeking game. Nor were his fears aroused by suspicion of possible +danger. Wherever the ground was soft and moist he traveled slowly, +with his eyes on the earth, and at one of these spots he came to a +sudden pause. Before him were the clearly defined imprints of a wolf's +feet. + +With a low cry Mukoki threw off his pack and fell upon his knees. His +eyes burned fiercely now. There was something of madness in the way in +which he groveled in the soft earth, creeping from one footprint to +the next ahead of it, and stopping always where the right forefoot +had left its track. It was that foot which had held Wolf a captive in +Mukoki's trap, and he had lost two toes. None was missing here, and +the old pathfinder rose to his feet again, disappointment shadowing +the twitching expectancy in his face. + +Five times that afternoon Mukoki fell on his knees beside the trails +of wolves, and five times the light of hope went out for a moment in +his eyes. It was sunset when he climbed the mountain ridge to the +little lake hidden away in the dip; only a last pale glow tinted the +sky behind the forests when he set down his pack close to the charred +remains of the old cabin. For many minutes he rested, his gaze fixed +on those blackened reminders of their thrilling battle for life the +winter before. His wild blood leaped again at the thought of the +strife, of the desperate race that he and Roderick had run over the +mountain to the burning cabin, and of their rescue of Wabigoon. +Suddenly his eyes caught the white gleam of something half a hundred +paces away, and he rose and walked toward it, grunting and chuckling +in half-savage pleasure. The Woongas had not returned to bury their +dead, and the bones beside which he stopped were those of the outlaw +whom Wabigoon had killed, picked clean by the small animals of the +forest. + +Mukoki returned to his pack and sat down As darkness fell about him he +made no effort to build a fire. He had brought food, but did not eat +it. More dense grew the shadows in the forest, thicker the gloom that +hung over the mountains. Still he sat, silent, listening. To him, +softly and timidly at first, came the sounds of the night: the +chuckling notes of birds that awakened when the earth masked itself +in darkness, the hoot of an owl, the faint wailing echo of a far-away +lynx cry, the plunge of a mink in the lake. And now the wind began +whispering in the balsams, singing gently its age-old song of +loneliness, of desolation, of mystery, and Mukoki straightened himself +and looked to where the red glow of the moon was rising above the +mountain. After a little he rose to his feet, took his rifle, +and climbed to the summit of the ridge, with a thousand miles of +wilderness sweeping between him and the Arctic sea somewhere out there +in that wilderness--was Wolf! + +The moon rose higher. It disclosed the old Indian, as rigid as a rock, +with his back to a white, barkless tree in which the sap had run dry a +generation before. As he stood there he heard a sound, and turned his +face toward it, a sound that came from a mass of tumbled boulders, +like the falling of a small rock upon a larger one. And as he looked +there came from the darkness of the boulders a flash of fire and the +explosion of a gun, and as Mukoki crumpled down in his tracks there +followed a cry so terrible, so unhuman, so blood-curdling that, as +he fell, an answering cry of horror burst from the lips of the old +warrior. He lay like dead, though he was not touched. Instinct more +than reason had impelled him to fall at the sound of the mysterious +shot. Cautiously he wormed his rifle to his shoulder. But there came +no movement from the rocks. + +Then, from half-way down the mountain, there came again that terrible +cry, and Mukoki knew that no animal in all these wilds could make it, +but that it was human, and yet more savage than anything that had ever +brought terror into his soul. Trembling, he crouched to the earth, a +nameless fear chilling the blood in his veins. And the cry came again, +and yet again, always farther and farther away, now at the foot of +the mountain, now upon the plain, now floating away toward the chasm, +echoing and reechoing between the mountain ridges, startling the +creatures of the night into silence, and wresting deep sobbing breaths +from out of Mukoki's soul. And the old warrior moved not a muscle +until far away, miles and miles, it seemed, there died the last echo +of it, and only the whispering winds rustled over the mountain top. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +THE CRY IN THE CHASM + +If Mukoki had been a white man he would have analyzed in some way the +meaning of those strange cries. But the wild and its savage things +formed his world; and his world, until this night, had never known +human or beast that could make the terrible sounds he had heard. So +for an hour he crouched where he had fallen, still trembling with +that nameless fear, and trying hard to form a solution of what had +happened. Slowly he recovered himself. For many years he had mingled +with white people at the Post and reason now battled with the +superstitions of his race. + +He had been fired at. He had heard the whistling song of the ball over +his head, and had heard it strike the tree behind him. For a time +those rocks toward which he stared like fascinated beast had concealed +a man. But what kind of man! He remembered the ancient battle-cries +of his tribe, and of the enemies of his tribe, but none was like the +cries that had followed the shot. He heard them still; they rang in +his ears, and sent shivering chills up his back. And the more he tried +to reason the greater that nameless fear grew in him, until he slunk +like an animal down the side of the mountain, through the dip, and out +again upon the plain. And with that same nameless fear always close +behind him, urging him on with its terrors, he sped back over the +trail that he had followed that day, nor for an instant did he stop to +rest until he came to the camp-fire of Rod and Wabigoon. + +Usually an Indian hides his fears; he conceals them as a white man +does his sins. But to-night Mukoki's experience had passed beyond the +knowledge of his race, and he told of what had happened, trembling +still, cringing when a great white rabbit darted close to the fire. +Rod and Wabi listened to him in mute astonishment. + +"Could it have been a Woonga?" asked Wabi. + +"No Woonga," replied the old warrior quickly, shaking his head. +"Woonga no mak' noise lak that!" + +He drew away from the fire, wrapped himself in a blanket, and crept +into the shelter that Rod and Wabigoon had built. The two boys looked +at each other in silence. + +"Muky has certainly had some most extraordinary adventure," said Wabi +at last. "I have never seen him like this before. It is easy to guess +the meaning of the shot. Some of the Woongas may still be in the +country, and one of them saw Mukoki, and fired at him. But the scream! +What do you make of that?" + +"Do you suppose," whispered Rod, speaking close to his companion's +ear, "that Mukoki's imagination helped him out to-night?" He paused +for a moment as he saw the look of disapproval in Wabigoon's eyes, +and then went on. "I don't mean to hint that he stretched his story +purposely. He was standing on the mountain top. Suddenly there came a +flash of fire, the report of a rifle, and a bullet zipped close to his +head. And at that same instant, or a moment later--well, you remember +the scream of the lynx!" + +"You believe that it might have been a lynx, startled by the shot, and +sent screaming across the plain?" + +"Yes." + +"Impossible. At the sound of that shot a lynx would have remained as +still as death!" + +"Still there are always exceptions," persisted the white youth. + +"Not in the case of lynx," declared Wabigoon. "No animal made those +cries. Mukoki is as fearless as a lion. The cry of a lynx would have +stirred his blood with pleasure instead of fear. Whatever the sounds +were they turned Mukoki's blood into water. They made him a coward, +and he ran, ran, mind you! until he got back to us! Is that like +Mukoki? I tell you the cries--" + +"What?" + +"Were something very unusual," finished Wabigoon quietly, rising to +his feet "Perhaps we will find out more to-morrow. As it is, I believe +we had better stand guard in camp to-night. I will go to bed now and +you can awaken me after a while." + +Wabigoon's words and the strangeness of his manner put Rod ill at +ease, despite his arguments of a few moments before, and no sooner did +he find himself alone beside the fire than he began to be filled with +an unpleasant premonition of lurking danger. For a time he sat very +still, trying to peer into the shadows beyond the fire and listening +to the sounds that came to him from out of the night. As he watched +and listened his brain worked ceaselessly, conjuring picture after +picture of what that danger might be, and at last he drew out of the +firelight and concealed himself in the deep gloom of the bush. From +here he could see the camp, and at the same time was safe from a +possible rifle shot. + +The night passed with tedious slowness, and he was glad when, a little +after midnight, Wabi came out to relieve him. At dawn he was in turn +awakened by the young Indian. Mukoki was already up and had prepared +his pack. Apparently he had regained his old spirits, but both Rod and +Wabigoon could see that behind them the fear of the preceding night +still haunted him. That morning he did not set off ahead of the two +boys with his pack but walked beside them, stopping to rest when they +lowered their canoe, his eyes never ceasing their sharp scrutiny of +the plain and distant ridges. Once when Mukoki mounted a big rock to +look about him, Wabi whispered, + +"I tell you it's strange, Rod--mighty strange!" + +An hour later the old warrior halted and threw off his load. The three +had approached within a quarter of a mile of the dip in the mountain. + +"Leave canoe here," he said. "Go lak fox to old camp. Mebbe see!" + +He took the lead now, followed closely by the boys. The safety of the +old pathfinder's rifle was down, and following his example Rod and +Wabigoon held their own guns in readiness for instant fire. As they +neared the summit of the ridge on which Mukoki's life had been +attempted the suspense of the two young hunters became almost +painfully acute. Mukoki's actions not only astonished them, but +set their blood tingling with his own strange fear. Many times had +Wabigoon seen his faithful comrade in moments of deadly peril but +never, even when the Woongas were close upon their trail, had he known +him to take them as seriously as he did the ascent of this mountain. +Every few steps Mukoki paused, listening and watchful. Not the +smallest twig broke under his moccasined feet; the movement of the +smallest bird, the trembling of a bush, the scurry of a rabbit halted +him, rigid, his rifle half to shoulder. And Rod and Wabigoon soon +become filled with this same panic-stricken fear. What terrible dread +was it that filled Mukoki's soul? Had he seen something of which he +had not told them? Did he think something which he had not revealed? + +Foot by foot the three came to the top of the ridge. There Mukoki +straightened himself, and stood erect. There were no signs of a living +creature about them. Down in the dip nestled the little lake, gleaming +in the midday sun. They could make out the debris of the burned cabin +in which they had passed their hunting season, and close to this was +the pack which Mukoki had dropped there the night before. No one had +molested it. Wabi's face relaxed. Rod, breathing easier, laughed +softly. What had there been to fear? He glanced questioningly at +Mukoki. + +"There rocks, there tree," said the old warrior, in answer to Rod's +glance, "down there went scream!" He pointed far out across the plain. + +Wabi had gone to the tree. + +"See here, Rod!" he cried. "By George, this was a close shave!" He +pointed to a tiny hole freshly made in the smooth white surface of the +tree as the others came up. "There--stand there, Mukoki, back to the +tree, as you said you were when the shot was fired. Great Caesar, that +fellow had a dead line on your head--two inches high! No wonder it +made you think the scream of a lynx was something else!" + +"No lynx," said Mukoki, his face darkening. + +"Shame on you, Muky!" laughed Wabigoon. "Don't get angry. I won't say +it again if it makes you mad." + +Rod had drawn his hunting-knife and was prodding the point of it in +the bullet hole. + +"I can feel the ball," he said. "It's not in more than an inch." + +"That's curious," exclaimed Wabigoon, coming close beside him. "It +ought to be half-way through the tree at least! Eh, Muky? I don't +believe it would have hurt--" + +He stopped. Rod had turned with a sudden excited cry. He held out his +knife, tip upward, and pointed to it with the index finger of his free +hand. Wabi's eyes fell on the tip of the blade. Mukoki stared. For a +full half minute the three stood in speechless amazement. Clinging to +the knife tip was a tiny fleck of yellow, gleaming lustrously in the +sun as Rod slowly turned the handle of his weapon. + +"Another--gold--bullet!" + +The words fell from Wabi's lips very slowly, and so low that they were +scarce above a whisper. Mukoki seemed to have ceased breathing. Rod's +eyes met the old warrior's. + +"What does it mean?" + +Wabi had pulled his knife and was digging into the tree. A few deep +cuts and the golden bullet lay exposed to view. + +"What does it mean?" repeated the white youth. + +Again he addressed his question to Mukoki. + +"Man who shoot bear--heem no dead," replied the old pathfinder. "Same +gun, same gold, same--" + +"Same what?" + +A strange gleam came for an instant into Mukoki's eyes, and without +finishing he turned and pointed across the narrow plain that lay +between them and the mysterious chasm which they were to follow in +their search for treasure. + +"Cry went there!" he said shortly. + +"To the chasm!" said Wabi. + +"To the chasm!" repeated Rod. + +Impelled by the same thought the three adventurers went toward the +rocks from which the shot had been fired. Surely they would discover +some sign there, or lower down upon the plain, where the melting snows +had softened the earth. Mukoki led in the search, and foot by foot +they examined the spot where the mysterious marksman must have stood +when he sent his golden bullet so close to the Indian's head. + +But not a trace of his presence had he left behind. Working abreast, +the three began the descent of the ridge. Hardly had they covered a +third of the distance to the plain when Wabi, who was trailing between +Rod and the old Indian, called out that he had made a discovery. +Mukoki had already reached him when Rod came up, and the two were +gazing silently at something fluttering from a bush. + +"Lynx hair!" cried Rod. "A lynx has been this way!" He could not +entirely conceal the triumph in his voice. He had been right in his +conjecture of the night before, the cry that had frightened Mukoki had +been made by a lynx! + +"Yes, a lynx has been this way, a lynx four feet high," said Wabigoon +quietly, and the touch of raillery in his voice assured Rod that he +had still other lessons to learn in the life of this big wilderness. +"Lynx don't grow that big, Rod!" + +"Then it's--" Rod feared to go on. + +"Lynx fur. That's just what it is. Whoever fired at Mukoki last night +was dressed in skins! Now, can you tell us what that means?" + +Without waiting for an answer Wabigoon resumed his search. But the +mountain side gave no further evidence. Not a footprint was found upon +the plain. If the mysterious person who had fired the golden bullet +had leaped from the mountain top into space he could have left no +fewer traces behind him. At the end of an hour Rod and his companions +returned to the canoe, carried their loads to the pack in the dip, +and prepared dinner. Their suspense and fear, and specially Mukoki's +dread, were in a large measure gone. But at the same time they were +more hopelessly mystified than ever. That there was danger ahead of +them, that the menace of golden bullets was actual and thrilling, all +three were well agreed, but the sunlight of day and a little sound +reasoning had dispelled their half superstitious terrors of the +previous night and they began to face the new situation with their +former confidence. + +"We can't let this delay us," said Wabi, as they ate their dinner. "By +night we ought to be in our old camp at the head of the chasm, where +we held the Woongas at bay last winter. The sooner we get out of the +way of these golden bullets the better it will be for us!" + +Mukoki shrugged his shoulders. + +"Gold bullet follow, I guess so," he grunted, "Cry went there--to +chasm!" + +"I don't believe this fellow, whoever he is, will hang to our trail," +continued Wabi, giving Rod a suggestive look. A few moments later he +found an opportunity to whisper, "We've got to get that cry out of +Muky's head, Rod, or we'll never find our gold!" + +When Mukoki had gone to arrange his pack the young Indian spoke +earnestly to his companion. + +"Muky isn't afraid of bullets, either gold or lead; he isn't afraid of +any danger on earth. But that cry haunts him. He is trying not to +let us know, yet it haunts him just the same. Do you know what he is +thinking? No? Well, I do! He is superstitious, like the rest of his +race, and the two gold bullets, the terrible cries, and the fact that +we found no tracks upon the plain are all carrying him toward one +conclusion, that the strange thing that fired at him is--" + +Wabigoon paused and wiped his face, and it was easy for Rod to see +that he was suppressing some unusual excitement. + +"What does he think it is?" + +"I'm not sure, not quite sure, yet," went on the Indian youth. "But +listen! It is a legend in Mukoki's tribe, and always has been, that +once in every so many generations they are visited by a terrible +warrior sent by the Great Spirit who takes sacrifice of them, a +sacrifice of human life, because of a great wrong that was once done +by their people. And this warrior, though invisible, has a voice that +makes the mountains quake and the rivers stand still with fear, and +in his great bow he shoots shafts that are made of gold! Do you +understand? Last night I heard Mukoki talking about it in his sleep. +Either we must hear this cry, and find out more about it, or hurry to +a place where it won't be heard again. Golden bullets and cries and +Mukoki's superstitions are going to be worse than Woongas if we don't +watch out!" + +"But the whole thing is as plain as day!" declared Rod in +astonishment. "A man shot at the bear, and the same man shot at +Mukoki, and he fired gold each time. Surely--" + +"It's not the man part of it," interrupted the other. "It's the cry. +There, Mukoki has his pack ready. Let's start for the chasm at once!" + +This time the boys had a heavier burden than usual, for in the canoe +they placed one of the two loads carried by Mukoki, and consequently +their progress toward the chasm was much slower than that across the +plain. It was late in the afternoon when they reached the break that +led into the chasm, and as they cautiously made the descent now Rod +thought of the thrilling pursuit of the Woonga horde, and how a few +weeks before they had discovered this break just in time for Wabi and +him to save their lives, and that of the wounded Mukoki. It was with a +feeling almost of awe that the three adventurers penetrated deeper and +deeper into the silent gloom of this mystery-filled gulch between the +mountains, and when they reached the bottom they set their loads down +without speaking, their eyes roving over the black walls of rock, +their hearts throbbing a little faster with excitement. + +For here, at this break in the mountain, began the romantic trail +drawn by men long dead, the trail that led to a treasure of gold. + +As the three sat in silence, the gloom in the chasm thickened. The sun +had passed beyond the southwestern forests, and through the narrow +rift between the mountain walls there fell but the ebbing light of +day, dissolving itself into the shadows of dusk as it struggled weakly +in the cavernous depths. For a few minutes this swift fading of day +into night gripped the adventurers in its spell. What did the lonely +solitudes of that chasm hold for them? Where would they lead them? To +Rod's mind there came a picture of the silver fox and a thought of +his dream, when for a few miles he had explored the mysteries of this +strange, sunless world shut in by rock walls. Again he saw the dancing +skeletons, heard the rattle of their bones, and watched the wonderful +dream-battle that had led him to the birch-bark map. Wabigoon, his +eyes gleaming in the gathering darkness, thought of their flight from +the outlaw savages, and Mukoki-- + +The white youth had turned a little to look at the old warrior. Mukoki +sat as rigid as a pillar of stone an arm's reach from him. Head erect, +arms tense, his eyes gleaming strangely, he stared straight out into +the gloom between the chasm walls. Rod shivered. He knew, knew without +questioning, that Mukoki was thinking of the cry! + +And at that instant there floated up from the black chaos ahead a +sound, a sound low and weird, like the moaning of a winter's wind +through the pine tops, swelling, advancing, until it ended in a +shriek--a shriek that echoed and reëchoed between the chasm walls, +dying away in a wail that froze the blood of the three who sat and +listened! + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +WABI MAKES A STRANGE DISCOVERY + +Mukoki broke the silence which followed the terrible cry. With a +choking sound, as if some unseen hand were clutching at his throat, he +slipped from the rock upon which he was sitting and crouched behind +it, his rifle gleaming faintly as he leveled it down the chasm. There +came the warning click of Wabigoon's gun, and the young Indian hunched +himself forward until he was no more than an indistinct shadow in the +fast-deepening gloom of night. Only Rod still sat erect. For a moment +his heart seemed to stand still. Then something leaped into his brain +and spread like fire through his veins, calling him to his feet, +trembling with the knowledge of what that cry had told him! It was not +a lesson from the wilderness that Roderick Drew was learning now. As +fast as the mind could travel he had gone far back into the strife and +misery and madness of civilization, and there he found the language +of that fearful cry floating up the chasm. He had heard it once, +twice--yes, again and again, and the memory of it had burned deep down +into his soul. He turned to his companions, trying to speak, but the +horror that had first filled Mukoki now fastened itself on him, and +his tongue was lifeless. + +"A madman!" + +Wabi's fingers dug into his arm like the claws of a bear. + +"A what!" + +"A madman!" repeated Rod, trying to speak more calmly. "The man who +shot the bear and fired at Mukoki and who uses gold bullets in his gun +is mad--raving mad! I have heard those screams before--in the Eloise +insane asylum, near Detroit. He's--" + +The words were frozen on his lips. Again the cry echoed up the +chasm. It was nearer this time, and with a sobbing, terrified sound, +something that Wabi had never heard fall from Mukoki's lips before, +the old warrior clung to Roderick's arm. Darkness hid the terror in +his face, but the white boy could feel it in the grip of his hands. + +"Mad, raving mad!" he cried. Suddenly he gripped Mukoki fiercely by +the shoulders, and as Wabigoon crouched forward, ready to fire at the +first movement in the gloom, he thrust the butt of his rifle in his +back. "Don't shoot!" he commanded. "Mukoki, don't be a fool! That's +a man back there, a man who has suffered and starved, starved, mind +you!--until he's mad, stark mad! It would be worse than murder to kill +him!" + +He stopped, and Mukoki drew back a step, breathing deeply. + +"Heem--starve--no eat--gone bad dog?" he questioned softly. In an +instant Wabi was at his side. + +"That's it, Muky--he's gone bad dog, just like that husky of ours who +went bad because he swallowed a fish bone. White men sometimes go bad +dog when they are thirsty and starving!" + +"Our Great Spirit tells us that we must never harm them," added Rod. +"We put them in big houses, larger than all of the houses at the Post +together, and feed them and clothe them and care for them all their +lives. Are you afraid of a bad dog, Muky, or of a man who has gone bad +dog?" + +"Bad dog bite deep--mebby so we kill heem!" + +"But we don't kill them until we have to," persisted the quick-witted +Wabigoon, who saw the way in which Rod's efforts were being directed. +"Didn't we save our husky by taking the fish bone out of his throat? +We must save this bad dog, because he is a white man, like Rod. He +thinks all men are his enemies, just as a bad dog thinks all other +dogs are his enemies. So we must be careful and not give him a chance +to shoot us but we mustn't harm him!" + +"It will be best if we don't let him know we are in the chasm," said +Rod, still speaking for Mukoki's benefit. "He's probably going out on +the plain, and must climb up this break in, the mountain. Let's move +our stuff a little out of his path." + +As the two boys went to the canoe their hands touched. Wabi was +startled by the coldness of his friend's fingers. + +"We've fixed Mukoki," he whispered. "He won't shoot. But--" + +"We may have to," replied Rod. "That will be up to you and me, Wabi. +We must use judgment, and unless it's a case of life or death--" + +"Ugh!" shuddered the young Indian. + +"If he doesn't discover our presence to-night we will get out of his +way to-morrow," continued Rod. "No fire--no talking. We must be as +still as death!" + +For some time after their outfit was concealed among the rocks +Wabigoon sat with his mouth close to the old pathfinder's ear. Then he +returned to Rod. + +"Muky understands. He has never seen or heard of a madman, and it is +hard for him to comprehend. But he knows--now, and understands what he +must do." + +"Sh-h-h-h-h!" + +"What is it?" + +"I thought I heard a sound!" breathed Rod. "Did you hear it?" + +"No." + +The two listened. There was an awesome silence in the chasm now, +broken only by the distant murmur of running water, a strange, +chilling stillness in which the young hunters could hear the excited +beating of their own hearts. To Roderick the minutes passed like so +many hours. His ears were keyed to the highest tension of expectancy, +his eyes stared into the gloom beyond them until they ached with +his efforts to see. At every instant he expected to hear again that +terrible scream, this time very near, and he prepared himself to meet +it. But the seconds passed, and then the minutes, and still there came +no quick running of mad footsteps, no repetition of the cry. Had the +madman turned the other way? Was he plunging deeper into the blackness +of this mysterious world of his between the mountains? + +"I guess I was mistaken," he whispered softly to Wabigoon. "Shall we +get out our blankets?" + +"We might as well make ourselves comfortable," replied the young +Indian. "You sit here, and listen while I undo the pack." + +He went noiselessly to Mukoki, who was leaning against the pack, and +Rod could hear them fumbling at the straps on the bundle. After a +little Wabi returned and the two boys spread out their blankets beside +the rock upon which they had been sitting. But there was no thought of +sleep in the mind of either, though both were dead tired from their +long day's work. They sat closer together, shoulder touching shoulder, +and unknown to his companion Roderick drew his revolver, cocked it +silently and placed it where he could feel the cold touch of its steel +between his fingers. He knew that he was the only one of the three who +fully realized the horror of their situation. + +Mukoki's mind, simple in its reasoning of things that did not belong +to the wilderness, had accepted the assurances and explanations of +Rod and Wabigoon. Wabi, half-bred in the wild, felt alarm only in the +sense of physical peril. It was different with the white youth. What +is there in civilization that sends the chill of terror to one's heart +more quickly than the presence of a human being who has gone mad? And +this madman was at large! At that very instant he might be listening +to their breathing and their whispered words half a dozen feet away; +any moment might see the blackness take form and the terrible thing +hurl itself at their throats. Rod, unlike Wabigoon, knew that the +powers of this strange creature of the chasm were greater than their +own, that it could travel with the swiftness and silence of an animal +through the darkness, that perhaps it could smell them and feel their +presence as it passed on its way to the plain. He was anxious now to +hear the cry again. What was the meaning of this silence? Was the +madman already conscious of their presence? Was he creeping upon them +at that moment, as still as the black shadows that shut in their +vision? His mind was working in such vivid imaginings that he was +startled when Wabi prodded him gently in the side. + +"Look over there--across the chasm," he whispered. "See that glow on +the mountain wall?" + +"The moon!" replied Rod. + +"Yes. I've been watching it, and it's creeping down and down. The +moon is going to swing across this break in the mountains. In fifteen +minutes we shall be able to see." + +"It won't swing across so much as it will come up in line with us," +replied Rod. "Watch how that light is lengthening! We shall be able to +see for several hours." + +He started to rise to his feet but fell back with an astonished cry. +For a third time there came the mad hunter's scream, this time far +above and beyond them, floating down from the distance of the moon-lit +plain! + +"He passed us!" exclaimed Wabi. "He passed us--and we didn't hear +him!" He leaped to his feet and his voice rose excitedly until it rang +in a hundred echoes between the chasm walls. "He passed us, and we +didn't hear him!" + +Mukoki's voice came strangely from out of the gloom. + +"No man do that! No man--no man--" + +"Hush!" commanded Rod. "Now is our time, boys! Quick, get everything +to the creek. He's half a mile out on the plain and we can get away +before he comes back. I'd rather risk a few rocks than another one of +his golden bullets!" + +"So had I!" cried Wabi. + +As if their lives depended on their exertions the three set to work. +Mukoki staggered ahead over the rocks with his burden while the boys +followed with the light canoe and the remaining pack. Their previous +experiences in the chasm had taught them where to approach the stream, +and ten minutes later they were at its side. Without a moment's +hesitation Mukoki dropped his pack and plunged in. The edge of the +moon was just appearing over the southern mountain wall and by its +light Rod and Wabigoon could see that the water of the creek was +rushing with great swiftness as high as the old warrior's knees. + +"No ver' deep," said the Indian. "Rocks--" + +"I followed this creek for half a dozen miles and its bottom is as +smooth as a floor!" interrupted Rod. "There's no danger of rocks for +that distance!" + +He made no effort now to suppress the pleasure which he felt at the +escape from their unpleasant situation. Mukoki steadied the canoe as +it was placed in the water, and was the last to climb into it, taking +his usual position in the stern where he could use to best advantage +the powerful sweeps of his paddle. In an instant the swift current +of the little stream caught the birch bark and carried it along with +remarkable speed. After several futile strokes of his paddle Wabi +settled back upon his heels. + +"It's all up to you, Muky," he called softly. "I can't do a thing from +the bow. The current is too swift. All you can do is to keep her nose +straight." + +The light of the moon was now filling the chasm and the adventurers +could see distinctly for a hundred yards or more ahead of them. Each +minute seemed to add to the swiftness and size of the stream, and by +the use of his paddle Wabi found that it was constantly deepening, +until he could no longer touch bottom. Rod's eyes were ceaselessly on +the alert for familiar signs along the shore. He was sure that he +knew when they passed the spot where he killed the silver fox, and +he called Wabi's attention to it. Then the rocks sped past with +increasing swiftness, and as the moon rose higher the three could see +where the overflowing torrent sent out little streams that twisted +and dashed themselves into leaping foam in the wildness of the chasm +beyond the main channel. These increased in number and size as the +journey continued, until Mukoki began to feel the influence of their +currents and called on Wabi and Rod for assistance. Suddenly Rod gave +a muffled shout as they shot past a mass of huge boulders on their +right. + +"That's where I camped the night I dreamed of the skeletons!" he +cried. "I don't know what the stream is like from here on. Be +careful!" + +Wabi gave a terrific lunge with his paddle and the cone of a black +rock hissed past half a canoe length away. + +"It's as black as a dungeon ahead, and I can hear rocks!" he shouted. +"Bring her in if you can, Muky, bring her in!" + +There came the sudden sharp crack of snapping wood and a low +exclamation of alarm fell from Mukoki. His paddle had broken at the +shaft. In a flash Rod realized what had happened and passed back his +own, but that moment's loss of time proved almost fatal. Freed of its +guiding hand the birch bark swung broadside to the current, and at the +same time Wabi's voice rose in a shrill cry of warning. + +"It's not rocks, it's a whirlpool!" he yelled. "The other shore, swing +her out, swing her out!" + +He dug his own paddle deep down into the racing current and from +behind Mukoki exerted his most powerful efforts, but it was too late! +A hundred feet ahead the stream tore between two huge rocks as big as +houses, and just beyond these Rod caught a glimpse of frothing water +churning itself milk-white in the moonlight. But it was only a +glimpse. With a velocity that was startling the canoe shot between +the rocks, and as a choking sea of spray leaped into their faces +Wabigoon's voice came back again in a loud command for the others to +hang to the gunwales of their frail craft. For an instant, in which +his thoughts seemed to have left him, a roaring din filled Rod's ears; +a white, churning mist hid everything but his own arms and clutching +hands, and then the birch bark darted with the sudden impetus of a +freshly-shot arrow around the jagged edge of the boulder--and he could +see again. + +Here was the whirlpool! More than once Wabi had told him of these +treacherous traps, made by the mountain streams, and of the almost +certain death that awaited the unlucky canoe man drawn into their +smothering embrace. There was no angry raging of the flood here; at +first it seemed to Rod that they were floating almost without motion +upon a black, lazy sea that made neither sound nor riffle. Scarce half +a dozen canoe lengths away he saw the white center of the maelstrom, +and there came to his ears above the dash of the stream between the +two great rocks a faint hissing sound that curdled the blood in his +veins, the hissing of the treacherous undertow that would soon drag +them to their death! In the passing of a thought there flashed into +the white youth's mind a story that Mukoki had told him of an Indian +who had been lost in one of these whirlpools of the spring floods, and +whose body had been tossed and pitched about in its center for more +than a week. For the first time the power of speech came to him. + +"Shall we jump?" he shouted. + +"Hang to the canoe." + +Wabi fairly shrieked the words, and yet as he spoke he drew himself +half erect, as if about to leap into the flood. The momentum gathered +in its swift rush between the rocks had carried their frail craft +almost to the outer edge of the deadly trap, and as this momentum +ceased and the canoe yielded to the sucking forces of the maelstrom +the young Indian shrieked out his warning again. + +"Hang to the canoe!" + +The words were scarcely out of his mouth when he stood erect and +launched himself like an animal into the black depths toward shore. +With a terrified cry Rod rose to his knees. In another instant he +would have plunged recklessly after Wabi, but Mukoki's voice sounding +behind him, snarling in its fierceness, stopped him. + +"Hang to canoe!" + +There came a jerk. The bow of the canoe swung inward and the stern +whirled so quickly that Rod, half kneeling, nearly lost his balance. +In that instant he turned his face and saw the old warrior standing, +as Wabigoon had done before him, and as Mukoki leaped there came for a +third time that warning cry: + +"Hang to canoe!" + +And Rod hung. He knew that for some reason those commands were meant +for him, and him alone; he knew that the desperate plunges of his +comrades were not inspired by cowardice or fear, but not until the +birch bark ground upon the shore and he tumbled out in safety did he +fully comprehend what had happened. Holding the rope with which they +tied their canoe, Wabigoon had taken a desperate chance. His quick +mind had leaped like a flash of powder to their last hope, and at the +crucial moment, just as the momentum of the birch bark gave way to the +whirling forces of the pool, he had jumped a good seven feet toward +shore, and had found bottom! Another twelve inches of water under him +and all would have been lost. + +Wabigoon stood panting and dripping wet, and in the moonlight his face +was as white as the tub-like spot of foam out in the center of the +maelstrom. + +"That's what you call going to kingdomcome and getting out again!" he +gasped. "Muky, that was the closest shave we've ever had! It has your +avalanche beaten to a frazzle!" + +Mukoki was dragging the canoe upon the pebbly shore, and still +overcome by the suddenness of all that had happened Rod went to his +assistance. + +The adventurers now discovered themselves in a most interesting +situation. The night had indeed been one of curious and thrilling +happenings for them, and here was a pretty climax to it all! They had +escaped the mad hunter by running into the almost fatal grip of the +whirlpool, and now they had escaped the perils of that seething +death-trap by plunging into a tiny rock-bound prison which seemed +destined to hold them for all time, or at least until the floods of +spring subsided. Straight above them, and shutting them in entirely, +rose precipitous rock walls. On the only open side was the deadly +maelstrom. + +Even Mukoki as he glanced about him was struck by the humor of their +situation, and chuckled softly. + +Wabi stood with his hands deep in his soaked pockets, facing the +moonlit walls. Then he turned to Rod, and grinned; then he faced the +whirlpool, and after that his eyes swept the space of sky above them. +The situation was funny, at first; but when he looked at the white +youth again the smile had died out of his face. + +"Wouldn't that madman have fun if he found us now!" he whispered. + +Mukoki was traveling slowly around the rock walls. The space in which +they were confined was not more than fifty feet in diameter, and there +was not even a crack by means of which a squirrel might have found +exit. The prison was perfect. The old pathfinder came back and sat +down with a grunt. + +"We might as well have supper and a good sleep," suggested Rod, +who was hungry. "Surely we need fear no attack from beast or man +to-night!" + +At least there was this consolation, and the gold hunters ate a +hearty meal of cold bear meat and prepared for slumber. The night +was unusually warm, and both Mukoki and Wabigoon hung out their wet +clothes to dry while they slept in their blankets. Rod did not open +his eyes again until Wabi awakened him in the morning. Both Indians +were dressed and it was evident that they had been up for some time. +When Rod went to the water to wash himself he was surprised to find +all of their supplies repacked in the canoe, as though their journey +was about to be resumed immediately after breakfast, and when he +returned to where Mukoki and Wabigoon had placed their food on a +flat stone in the center of what he had regarded as their prison, he +observed that both of his companions were in an unusually cheerful +frame of mind. + +"Looks as though you expected to get out of here pretty soon," he +said, nodding toward the canoe. + +"So we do!" responded Wabi. "We're going to take a swim through the +whirlpool!" + +He laughed at the incredulity in Rod's face. + +"That is, we're going to navigate along the edge of it," he amended. +"Muky and I have tied together every bit of rope and strap in our +outfit, even to our gun-slings, and we've got a piece about eighty +feet long. We'll show you how to use it after breakfast." + +It took but a few minutes to dispose of the rather unappetizing repast +of cold bear meat, biscuits and water. Wabi then led the way to the +extreme edge of the great rock which formed the eastern wall of their +prison, waded in the water to his knees, and directed Rod's gaze to a +point of land jutting out into the stream about sixty feet beyond the +rock. + +"If we can reach that," explained Wabi, "we can portage around the +rest of the whirlpool to the main channel. The water is very deep +along the edge of this rock, but the undertow doesn't seem to have any +great force. I believe that we can make it. The experiment won't be a +dangerous one at any rate." + +The canoe was now dragged to the edge of the rock and launched, Mukoki +taking his place in the stern while Wabigoon placed Rod a little ahead +of the midship rib. + +"You must paddle on your left side, every minute and as fast as you +can," advised the young Indian. "I am to remain behind, holding one +end of this rope, so that if you are drawn toward the maelstrom I can +pull you back. Understand?" + +"Yes--but you. How--" + +"Oh, I'll swim!" said Wabi in rank bravado. "I don't mind a little +whirlpool like that at all!" + +Mukoki chuckled in high humor, and Roderick asked no more questions, +but at Wabi's command dug in his paddle and kept at it until the birch +bark safely made the point of land beyond the rock. When he looked +back Wabi had tied the rope around his body and was already waist +deep in the water. At a signal from Mukoki the young Indian plunged +fearlessly into the edge of the whirlpool and like a great floundering +fish he was quickly pulled across to safety. Most of his clothes had +been brought over in the canoe, and after Wabigoon had exchanged his +wet garments for these the adventurers were ready to continue their +journey down the chasm. A short portage brought them to the main +channel of the stream, where they once more launched their birch bark. + +"If the whole trip is as exciting as this we'll never reach our gold," +said Wabi, as they slipped out into the swift current. "A madman, a +whirlpool and a prison, all in one night, is almost more than we can +stand." + +"There's a good deal of truth in the old saying that it never rains +but it pours," replied Rod. "Maybe we'll have smooth sailing from now +on." + +"Mebby!" grunted the old pathfinder from behind. + +Rod's optimism was vindicated for that day, at least. Until noon the +canoe sped swiftly down the chasm without mishap. The stream, to which +each mile added its contribution of flood water from the mountain +tops, increased constantly in width and depth, but only now and then +was there a rock to threaten their progress, and no driftwood at all. +When the gold seekers landed for dinner they were confident of two +things: that they had passed far beyond the mad hunter's reach, +and were very near to the first waterfall. Memory of the thrilling +experiences through which they had so recently run the gauntlet was +replaced by the most exciting anticipation of the sound and sight +of that first waterfall, which was so vitally associated with their +search for the lost treasure. This time a hearty dinner was cooked, +and it took more than an hour to prepare and eat it. + +When the journey was resumed Mukoki placed himself in the bow, his +sharp eyes scanning the rocks and mountain walls ahead of him. Two +hours after the start he gave an exultant exclamation, and raised a +warning hand above his head. The three listened. Faintly above the +rush of the swift current there came to their ears the distant rumble +of falling water! + +Forgetful now of the madman back in the chasm, oblivious of everything +but the fact that they had at last reached the first of the three +falls which were to lead them to the gold, Wabi gave a whoop that +echoed and reëchoed between the mountain walls, and Rod joined him +with all the power of his lungs. Mukoki grinned, chuckled in his +curious way, and a few moments later signaled Wabi to guide the canoe +ashore. + +"We portage here," he explained. "Current swift there--mebby go over +fall!" + +A short carry of two or three hundred yards brought them to the +cataract. It was, as Mukoki had said after his long trip of +exploration a few months before, a very small fall, not more than a +dozen feet in height. But over it there was now rushing a thundering +deluge of water. An easy trail led to the stream below it, and no time +was lost in getting under way again. + +Although they had traveled fully forty miles since morning, the day +had been an easy and most interesting one for the three adventurers. +On the swift current of the chasm stream they had worked but little, +and the ceaseless change of scenery in this wonderful break between +the mountain ridges held an ever-increasing fascination for them. Late +in the afternoon, the course changed from its northeasterly direction +to due north, and at this point there was an ideal spot for camping. +Over an extent of an acre or more there was a sweeping hollow of fine +white sand, with great quantities of dry wood cluttering the edge of +the depression. + +"That's a curious spot!" said Wabi as they drew up their canoe. "Looks +like--" + +"A lake," grunted Mukoki. "Long time ago--a lake." + +"The curve of the stream right here has swept up so much sand that the +water can't get into it," added Rod, looking the place over. + +Wabi had gone a few paces back. Suddenly he stopped, and with a half +shout he gesticulated excitedly to his companions. Something in his +manner took Rod and Mukoki to him on the run. + +When they came up the Indian youth stood mutely pointing at something +in the sand. + +Clearly imprinted in that sand was the shape of a human foot, a foot +that had worn neither boot nor moccasin when it left its trail in the +lake bed, but which was as naked as the quivering hand which Wabigoon +now held toward it! + +And from that single footprint the eyes of the astonished adventurers +traveled quickly to a hundred others, until it seemed to them that a +dozen naked savages must have been dancing in these sands only a few +hours before. + +And Rod, glancing toward the driftwood, saw something else,--something +toward which he pointed, speechless, white with that same strange +excitement that had taken possession of Wabigoon! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +THE THIRD WATERFALL + +The others followed Rod's arm. Behind him he heard the gentle click +of Wabigoon's revolver and the sharp, vicious snap of the safety on +Mukoki's rifle. + +From beyond the driftwood there was rising a thin spiral of smoke! + +"Whoever they are, they have certainly seen or heard us!" said Wabi, +after they had stood in silence for a full minute. + +"Unless they are gone from camp," replied Rod in a whisper. + +"Keep eyes open!" warned Mukoki as they advanced cautiously in the +direction of the smoke. "No can tell what, I guess so!" + +He was first to mount the driftwood, and then he gave vent to a huge +grunt. The smoke was rising from beside a charred log which was heaped +half-way up its side with ashes and earth. In a flash the meaning +of the ash and dirt dawned on Rod and his companions. The fire was +banked. Those who had built it were gone, but they expected to return. +The naked footprints were thick about the camp-fire, and close to one +end of the charred log were scattered a number of bones. One after +another Mukoki picked up several of these and closely examined +them. While Rod and Wabigoon were still gazing about them in blank +astonishment, half expecting attack from a savage horde at any moment, +the old warrior had already reached a conclusion, and calling to his +companions he brought their attention to the tracks in the sand. + +"Same feet!" he exclaimed. "One man mak' all track!" + +"Impossible!" cried Wabi. "There are--thousands of them!" + +Mukoki grunted and fell upon his knees. + +"Heem big toe--right foot--broke sometime. Same in all track. See?" + +Disgusted at his own lack of observation, Wabigoon saw at once that +the old pathfinder was right. The joint of the big toe on the right +foot was twisted fully half an inch outward, a deformity that left +a peculiar impression in the sand, and every other track bore +this telltale mark. No sooner were the two boys convinced of the +correctness of Mukoki's assertion than another and still more +startling surprise was sprung on them. Holding out his handful of +bones, Mukoki said: + +"Meat no cook--eat raw!" + +"Great Scott!" gasped Rod. + +Wabi's eyes flashed with a new understanding, and as he gazed into +Rod's astonished face the latter, too, began to comprehend the +significance of it all. + +"It must have been the madman!" + +"Yes." + +"And he was here yesterday!" + +"Probably the day before," said Wabi. The young Indian turned suddenly +to Mukoki. "What did he want of the fire if he didn't cook meat?" he +asked. + +Mukoki shrugged his shoulders but did not answer. + +"Well, it wasn't cooked, anyway," declared Wabi, again examining the +bones. "Here are chunks of raw flesh clinging to the bones. Perhaps he +just singed the outside of his meat." + +The old Indian nodded at this suggestion and turned to investigate the +fire. On the end of the log were two stones, one flat and the other +round and smooth, and after a moment's inspection of these he dropped +an exclamation which was unusual for him, and which he used only in +those rare intervals when all other language seemed to fail him. + +"Bad dog man--mak' bullet--here!" he called, holding out the stones. +"See--gold--gold!" + +The boys hurried to his side. + +"See--gold!" he repeated excitedly. + +In the center of the flat stone there was a gleaming yellow film. A +single glance told the story. With the round stone for a hammer the +mad hunter had pounded his golden bullets into shape upon the flat +stone! There was no longer a doubt in their minds; they were in the +madman's camp. That morning they had left this strange creature of the +wilderness fifty miles away. But how far away was he now? The fire +slumbering under its covering of ash and earth proved that he meant to +return--and soon. Would he travel by night as well as by day? Was it +possible that he was already close behind them? + +"He travels with the swiftness of an animal," said Wabi, speaking in a +low voice to Rod. "Perhaps he will return to-night!" + +Mukoki overheard him and shook his head. + +"Mak' heem through chasm in two day on snow-shoe," he declared, +referring to his trip of exploration to the first waterfall over the +snows of the previous winter. "No mak' in t'ree day over rock!" + +"If Mukoki is satisfied, I am," said Rod. "We can pull up behind the +driftwood on the farther edge of the lake bed." + +Wabi made no objection, and the camp site was chosen. Strangely +enough, with the discovery of the footprints, the fire, the picked +bones and the stones with which the mad hunter had manufactured his +golden bullets, Mukoki seemed to have lost all fear of the wild +creature of the chasm. He was confident now that he had only a man to +deal with, a man who had gone "bad dog," and his curiosity overcame +his alarm. His assurance served to dispel the apprehension of his +companions, and sleep came early to the tired adventurers. Nor did +anything occur during the night to awaken them. + +Soon after dawn the trip down the chasm stream was resumed. With the +abrupt turning of the channel to the north, however, there was an +almost immediate change in the topography of the country. Within +an hour the precipitous walls of the mountains gave place to +verdure-covered slopes, and now and then the gold seekers found +themselves between plains that swept back for a mile or more on either +side. Frequent signs of game were observed along the shores of the +river and several times during the morning moose and caribou were +seen in the distance. A few months before, when they had invaded the +wilderness to hunt and trap, this country would have aroused the +wildest enthusiasm among Rod and his friends, but now they gave but +little thought to their rifles. That morning they had set out with the +intention of reaching the second waterfall before dusk, and it was +with disappointment rather than gladness that they saw the swift +current of the chasm torrent change into the slower, steadier sweep of +a stream that had now widened into a fair-sized river. According +to the map the second fall was about fifty-five miles from the mad +hunter's camp. Darkness found them still fifteen miles from where it +should be. + +Excitement kept Rod awake most of that night. Try as he would, he +could not keep visions of the lost treasure out of his mind. The next +day they would be far on their way to the third and last waterfall. +And then--the gold! That they might not find it, that the passing of +half a century or more might have obliterated all traces left by its +ancient discoverers, never for a moment disturbed his belief. + +He was the first awake the following morning, the first to take his +place in the canoe. Every minute now his ears were keenly attuned for +that distant sound of falling water. But hours passed without a +sign of it. Noon came. They had traveled six hours and had covered +twenty-five miles instead of fifteen! Where was the waterfall? + +There was a little more of anxiety in Wabigoon's eyes when they +resumed their journey after dinner. Again and again Rod looked at his +map, figuring out the distances as drawn by John Ball, the murdered +Englishman. Surely the second waterfall could not be far away now! And +still hour after hour passed, and mile after mile slipped behind them, +until the three knew that they had gone fully thirty miles beyond +where the cataract should have been, if the map was right. Twilight +was falling when they stopped for supper. For the last hour Mukoki +had spoken no word. A feeling of gloom was on them all; without +questioning, each knew what the fears of the others were. + +Was it possible that, after all, they had not solved the secret of the +mysterious map? + +The more Rod thought of it the more his fears possessed him. The +two men who fought and died in the old cabin were on their way to +civilization. They were taking gold with them, gold which they meant +to exchange for supplies. Would they, at the same time, dare to have +in their possession a map so closely defining their trail as the rude +sketch on the bit of birch bark? Was there not some strange key, known +only to themselves, necessary to the understanding of that sketch? + +Mukoki had taken his rifle and disappeared in the plain along the +river, and for a long time after they had eaten their bear steak and +drank their hot coffee Rod and Wabigoon sat talking in the glow of +the camp-fire. The old warrior had been gone for about an hour when +suddenly there came the report of a gun from far down the stream, +which was quickly followed by two others--three in rapid succession. +After an interval of a few seconds there sounded two other shots. + +"The signal!" cried Rod. "Mukoki wants us!" + +Wabigoon sprang to his feet and emptied the five shots of his magazine +into the air. + +"Listen!" + +Hardly had the echoes died away when there came again the reports of +Mukoki's rifle. + +Without another word the two boys hurried to the canoe, which had not +been unloaded. + +"He's a couple of miles down-stream," said Wabi, as they shoved off. +"I wonder what's the matter?" + +"I can make a pretty good guess," replied Rod, his voice trembling +with a new excitement. "He has found the second waterfall!" + +The thought gave fresh strength to their aching arms and the canoe +sped swiftly down the stream. Fifteen minutes later another shot +signaled to them, this time not more than a quarter of a mile away, +and Wabi responded to it with a loud shout. Mukoki's voice floated +back in an answering halloo, but before the young hunters came within +sight of their comrade another sound reached their ears,--the muffled +roar of a cataract! Again and again the boys sent their shouts of joy +echoing through the night, and above the tumult of their own voices +they heard the old warrior calling on them to put into shore. Mukoki +was waiting for them when they landed. + +"This is big un!" he greeted. "Mak' much noise, much swift water!" + +"Hurrah!" yelled Rod for the twentieth time, jumping up and down in +his excitement. + +"Hurrah!" cried Wabi. + +And Mukoki chuckled, and grinned, and rubbed his leathery hands +together in high glee. + +At last, when they had somewhat cooled down, Wabi said: + +"That John Ball was a pretty poor fellow at a guess, eh? What do you +say, Rod?" + +"Or else pretty clever," added Rod. "By George, I wonder if he had a +reason for making his scale fifty miles or so out of the way?" + +Wabi looked at him, only partly understanding. + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that our third waterfall is more than likely to be mighty +close to this one! And if it is--well, John Ball had a reason, and a +good one! If we strike the last fall to-morrow it will be pretty +good proof that he drew the map in a way intended to puzzle +somebody,--perhaps his two partners, who were just about to start for +civilization." + +"Muky, how far have we come?" asked Wabigoon. + +"T'ree time first fall," replied the old Indian quickly. + +"A hundred and fifty miles--in three days and one night. I don't +believe that is far out of the way. Then, according to the map, we +should still be a hundred miles from the third fall." + +"And we're not more than twenty-five!" declared Rod confidently. +"Let's build a fire and go to bed. We'll have enough to do +to-morrow--hunting gold!" The fourth day's journey was begun before it +was yet light. Breakfast was eaten in the glow of the camp-fire, and +by the time dawn broke the adventurers were already an hour upon their +way. Nothing but confidence now, animated them. The mad hunter and his +golden bullets were entirely forgotten in these last hours of their +exciting quest. Once, far back, Rod had thought with chilling dread +that this might be the madman's trail, that his golden bullets might +come from the treasure they were seeking. But he gave no thought to +this possibility now. His own belief that the third and last fall was +not far distant, in spite of the evidence of the map, gradually gained +possession of his companions, and the nerves of all three were keyed +to the highest tension of expectancy. The preceding night Mukoki had +made himself a paddle to replace the one he had broken, and not a +stroke of the three pairs of arms was lost. Early in the morning a +young moose allowed them to pass within a hundred yards of him. But no +shot was fired, for to obtain the meat would have meant an hour's loss +of time. + +Two hours after the start the country again began taking on a sudden +change. From east and west the wild mountain ridges closed in, and +with each mile's progress the stream narrowed and grew swifter, until +again it was running between chasm walls that rose black and silent +over the adventurers' heads. Darker and gloomier became the break +between the mountains. Far above, a thousand feet or more, dense +forests of red pine flung their thick shadows over the edge of the +chasm, in places almost completely shutting out the light of day. +This was not like the other chasm. It was deeper and darker and more +sullen. Under its walls the gloom was almost that of night. Its +solitude was voiceless; not a bird fluttered or chirped among +its rocks; the lowest of whispered words sounded with startling +distinctness. Once Rod spoke aloud, and his voice rose and beat itself +in the cavernous depths of the walls until it seemed as though he had +shouted. Now they ceased paddling, and Mukoki steered. Noiselessly the +current swept them on. In the twilight gloom Rod's face shone +with singular whiteness. Mukoki and Wabigoon crouched like bronze +silhouettes. It was as if some mysterious influence held them in its +power, forbidding speech, holding their eyes in staring expectancy +straight ahead, filling them with indefinable sensations that made +their hearts beat faster and their blood tingle. + +Softly, from far ahead, at last there came a murmur. It was like the +first gentle whispering of an approaching wind, the soughing of a +breath among the pines at the top of the chasm. But a wind among the +trees rises, and then dies away, like a chord struck low and gently +upon some soft-toned instrument. This whisper that came up the chasm +remained. It grew no louder, and sometimes it almost faded away, until +the straining ears of those who listened could barely detect it; but +after a moment it was there again, as plainly as before. Little by +little it became more distinct, until there were no longer intervals +when it died away, and at last Wabigoon turned in the bow and faced +his companions, and though he spoke no word there was the gleam of a +great excitement in his eyes. Rod's heart beat like a drum. He, too, +began to understand. That moaning, whispering sound floating up +the chasm was not the wind, but the far-away rumble of the third +waterfall! + +Mukoki's voice broke the tense silence from behind. + +"That the fall!" + +Wabigoon replied in words scarcely louder than a whisper. There was no +joyful shouting now, as there had been at the discovery of the second +fall. Even Mukoki's voice was so low that the others could barely +hear. Something between these chasm walls seemed to demand silence +from them, and as the rumble of the cataract came more and +more clearly to their ears they held their breath in voiceless +anticipation. A few hundred yards ahead of them was the treasure which +men long since dead had discovered more than half a century before; +between the black mountain walls that so silently guarded that +treasure there seemed to lurk the spirit presence of the three men who +had died because of it. Here, somewhere very near, John Ball had been +murdered, and Rod almost fancied that along the sandy edge of the +chasm stream they might stumble on the footprints of the men whose +skeletons they had discovered in the ancient cabin. + +Mukoki uttered no sound as he guided the canoe ashore. Still without +word, the three picked up their rifles and Wabigoon led the way along +the edge of the stream. Soon it dashed a swift racing torrent between +the rocks, and Rod and his companions knew that they were close upon +the fall. A hundred yards or more and they saw the white mist of it +leaping up before their eyes. Wabi began to run, his moccasined feet +springing from stone to stone with the caution of a hunter approaching +game, and Mukoki and Rod came close behind him. + +They paused upon the edge of a great mass of rock with the spray of +the plunging cataract rising in their faces. Breathless they gazed +down. It was not a large fall. Wabi silently measured it at forty +feet. But it added just that much more to the depth and the gloom of +the chasm beyond, into which there seemed no way of descent. The rock +walls rose sheer and black, with clumps of cedar and stunted pine +growing at their feet. Farther on the space between the mountains +became wider, and the river reached out on either side, frothing and +beating itself into white fury in a chaos of slippery water-worn +rocks. + +Down there--somewhere--was the golden treasure they had come to seek, +unless the map lied! Was it among those rocks, where the water dashed +and fumed? Was it hidden in some gloomy cavern of the mountain sides, +its trail concealed by the men who discovered it half an age ago? +Would they find it, after all--would they find it? + +A great gulp of excitement rose in Rod's throat, and he looked at +Wabigoon. + +The Indian youth had stretched out an arm. His eyes were blazing, his +whole attitude was one of tense emotion. + +"There's the cabin," he cried, "the cabin built by John Ball and the +two Frenchmen! See, over there among those cedars, almost hidden in +that black shadow of the mountain! Great Scott, Muky--Rod--can't you +see? Can't you see?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +THE PAPER IN THE OLD TIN BOX + +Slowly out of that mysterious gloom there grew a shape before Rod's +eyes. At first it was only a shadow, then it might have been a rock, +and then the gulp in his throat leaped out in a shout when he saw that +Wabigoon's sharp eyes had in truth discovered the old cabin of the +map. For what else could it be? What else but the wilderness home of +the adventurers whose skeletons they had found, Peter Plante and Henri +Langlois, and John Ball, the man whom these two had murdered? + +Rod's joyous voice was like the touch of fire to Wabi's enthusiasm and +in a moment the oppressive silence of their journey down the chasm was +broken by the wild cheers which the young gold seekers sent echoing +between the mountains. Grimacing and chuckling in his own curious way, +Mukoki was already slipping along the edge of the rock, seeking some +break by which he might reach the lower chasm. They were on the point +of turning to the ascent of the mountain, along which they would have +to go until they found such a break, when the old pathfinder directed +the attention of his companions to the white top of a dead cedar stub +projecting over the edge of the precipice. + +"Go down that, mebby," he suggested, shrugging his shoulders to +suggest that the experiment might be a dangerous one. + +Rod looked over. The top of the stub was within easy reach, and the +whole tree was entirely free of bark or limbs, a fact which in his +present excitement did not strike him as especially unusual. Swinging +his rifle strap over his shoulders he reached out, caught the slender +apex of the stub, and before the others could offer a word of +encouragement or warning was sliding down the wall of the rock into +the chasm. Wabi was close behind him, and not waiting for Mukoki's +descent the two boys hurried toward the cabin. Half-way to it Wabi +stopped. + +"This isn't fair. We've got to wait for Muky." + +They looked back. Mukoki was not following. The old warrior was upon +his knees at the base of the dead tree, as though he was searching for +something among the rocks at its foot. Then he rose slowly, and rubbed +his hands along the stub as high as he could reach. When he saw that +Rod and Wabi were observing him he quickly came toward them, and +Wabigoon, who was quick to notice any change in him, was confident +that he had made a discovery of some kind. + +"What have you found, Muky?" + +"No so ver' much. Funny tree," grunted the Indian. + +"Smooth as a fireman's brass pole," added Rod, seeing no significance +in Mukoki's words. "Listen!" + +He stopped so suddenly that Wabigoon bumped into him from behind. + +"Did you hear that?" + +"No." + +For a few moments the three huddled close together in watchful +silence. Mukoki was behind the boys or they would have seen that his +rifle was ready to spring to his shoulder and that his black eyes were +snapping with something not aroused by curiosity alone. The cabin was +not more than twenty paces away. It was old, so old that Rod wondered +how it had withstood the heavy storms of the last winter. A growth of +saplings had found root in its rotting roof and the logs of which it +was built were in the last stage of decay. There was no window, +and where the door had once been there had grown a tree a foot in +diameter, almost closing the narrow aperture through which the +mysterious inhabitants had passed years before. A dozen paces, five +paces from this door, and Mukoki's hand reached out and laid itself +gently upon Wabi's shoulder. Rod saw the movement and stopped. A +strange look had come into the old Indian's face, an expression in +which there was incredulity and astonishment, as if he believed and +yet doubted what his eyes beheld. Mutely he pointed to the tree +growing before the door, and to the reddish, crumbling rot into which +the logs had been turned by the passing of generations. + +"Red pine," he said at last. "That cabin more'n' twent' t'ous'nd year +old!" + +There was an awesome ring in his voice. Rod understood, and clutched +Wabi's arm. In an instant he thought of the other old cabin, in which +they had found the skeletons. They had repaired that cabin and had +passed the winter in it, and they knew that it had been built half a +century or more before. But this cabin was beyond repair. To Rod it +seemed as though centuries of time instead of decades had been at work +on its timbers. Following close after Wabi he thrust his head through +the door. Deep gloom shut out their vision. But as they looked, +steadily inuring their eyes to the darkness within, the walls of the +old cabin took form, and they saw that everywhere was vacancy. There +was no ancient table, as in the other cabin they had discovered at the +head of the first chasm, there were no signs of the life that had once +existed, not even the remnants of a chair or a stool. The cabin was +bare. + +Foot by foot the two boys went around its walls. Mukoki took but a +single glance inside and disappeared. Once alone he snapped down the +safety of his rifle. Quickly, as if he feared interruption, he hurried +around the old cabin, his eyes close to the earth. When Rod and Wabi +returned to the door he was at the edge of the fall, crouching low +among the rocks like an animal seeking a trail. Wabi pulled his +companion back. + +"Look!" + +The old warrior rose, suddenly erect, and turned toward them, but the +boys were hidden in the gloom. Then he hurried to the dead stub beside +the chasm wall. Again he reached far up, rubbing his hand along its +surface. + +"I'm going to have a look at that tree!" whispered Wabi. "Something is +puzzling Are you coming?" + +He hurried across the rock-strewn opening, but Rod hung back. He could +not understand his companions. For weeks and months they had planned +to find this third waterfall. Visions of a great treasure had been +constantly before their eyes, and now that they were here, with the +gold perhaps under their very feet, both Mukoki and Wabigoon were more +interested in a dead stub than in their search for it! His own heart +was almost bursting with excitement. The very air which he breathed +in the old cabin set his blood leaping with anticipation. Here those +earlier adventurers had lived half a century or more ago. In it the +life-blood of the murdered John Ball might have ebbed away. In this +cabin the men whose skeletons he had found had slept, and planned, and +measured their gold. And the gold! It was that and not the stub that +interested Roderick Drew! Where was the lost treasure? Surely the old +cabin must hold some clue for them, it would at least tell them more +than the limbless white corpse of a tree! + +From the door he looked back into the dank gloom, straining his eyes +to see, and then glanced across the opening. Wabi had reached the +stub, and both he and Mukoki were on their knees beside it. Probably +they have found the marks of a lynx or a bear, thought Rod. A dozen +paces away something else caught his eyes, a fallen red pine, dry and +heavy with pitch, and in less than a minute he had gone to it and was +back with a torch. Breathlessly he touched the tiny flame of a match +to the stick. For a moment the pitch sputtered and hissed, then flared +into light, and Rod held the burning wood above his head. + +The young gold seeker's first look about him was disappointing. +Nothing but the bare walls met his eyes. Then, in the farthest corner, +he observed something that in the dancing torch-light was darker than +the logs themselves, and he moved toward it. It was a tiny shelf, not +more than a foot long, and upon it was a small tin box, black and +rust-eaten by the passing of ages. With trembling fingers Rod took it +in his hand. It was very light, probably empty. In it he might find +the dust of John Ball's last tobacco. Then, suddenly, as he thought of +this, he stopped in his search and a muffled exclamation of surprise +fell from him. In the glow of the torch he looked at the tin box. It +was crumbling with age and he might easily have crushed it in his +hand--and yet it was still a tin box! If this box had remained why +had not other things? Where were the pans and kettles, the pail and +frying-pan, knives, cups and other articles which John Ball and the +two Frenchmen must at one time have possessed in this cabin? + +He returned to the door. Mukoki and Wabigoon were still at the dead +stub. Even the flare of light in the old cabin had not attracted them. +Tossing his torch away Rod tore off the top of the tin box. Something +fell at his feet, and as he reached for it he saw that it was a little +roll of paper, almost as discolored as the rust-eaten box itself. As +gently as Mukoki had unrolled the precious birchbark map a few months +before he smoothed out the paper. The edges of it broke and crumbled +under his fingers, but the inner side of the roll was still quite +white. Mukoki and Wabigoon, looking back, saw him suddenly turn toward +them with a shrill cry on his lips, and the next instant he was racing +in their direction, shouting wildly at every step. + +"The gold!" he shrieked. "The gold! Hurrah!" + +He was almost sobbing in his excitement when he stopped between them, +holding out the bit of paper. + +"I found it in the cabin--in a tin box! See, it's John Ball's +writing--the writing that was on the old map! I found it--in a tin +box--" + +Wabi seized the paper. His own breath came more quickly when he saw +what was upon it. There were a few lines of writing, dim but still +legible, and a number of figures. Across the top of the paper was +written, + +"Account of John Ball, Henri Langlois, and Peter Plante for month +ending June thirtieth, 1859." + +Below these lines was the following: + +"Plante's work: nuggets, 7 pounds, nine ounces; dust, 1 pound, 3 +ounces. Langlois' work: nuggets, 9 pounds, 13 ounces; dust, none. +Ball's work: nuggets, 6 pounds, 4 ounces; dust, 2 pounds, 3 ounces. +Total, 27 pounds. +Plante's share, 6 pounds, 12 ounces. +Langlois' share, 6 pounds, 12 ounces. +Ball's share, 13 pounds, 8 ounces. +Division made." + +Softly Wabigoon read the words aloud. When he finished his eyes met +Rod's, Mukoki was still crouching at the foot of the stub, staring at +the two boys in silence, as if stupefied by what he had just heard. + +"This doesn't leave a doubt," said Wabi at last. "We've struck the +right place!" + +"The gold is somewhere--very near--" + +Rod could not master the tremble in his voice. As though hoping to see +the yellow treasure heaped in a pile before his eyes he turned to the +waterfall, to the gloomy walls of the chasm, and finally extended an +arm to where the spring torrent, leaping over the edge of the chasm +above, beat itself into frothing rage among the rocks between the two +mountains. + +"It's there!" + +"In the stream?" + +"Yes. Where else near this cabin would they have found pure nuggets +of gold? Surely not in rock! And gold-dust is always in the sands of +streams. It's there--without a doubt!" + +Both Indians went with him to the edge of the water. + +"The creek widens here until it is very shallow," said Wabi. "I don't +believe that it is more than four feet deep out there in the middle. +What do you say--" He paused as he saw Mukoki slip back to the dead +stub again, then went on, "What do you say to making a trip to the +canoe after grub for our dinner, and the pans?" + +The first flash of enthusiasm that had filled Wabigoon on reading the +paper discovered by Rod was quickly passing away, and the white youth +could not but notice the change which came over both Mukoki and his +young friend when they stood once more beside the smooth white stub +that reached up to the floor of the chasm above. He controlled his +own enthusiasm enough to inspect more closely the dead tree which had +affected them so strangely. The discovery he made fairly startled him. +The surface of the stub was not only smooth and free of limbs, but was +polished until it shone with the reflecting luster of a waxed pillar! +For a moment he forgot the paper which he held in his hand, forgot +the old cabin, and the nearness of gold. In blank wonder he stared at +Mukoki, and the old Indian shrugged his shoulders. + +"Ver' nice an' smooth!" + +"Ver' dam' smooth!" emphasized Wabi, without a suggestion of humor in +his voice. + +"What does it mean?" asked Rod. + +"It means," continued Wabigoon, "that this old stub has for a good +many years been used! by something as a sort of stairway in and out of +this chasm! Now if it were a bear, there would be claw marks. If it +were a lynx, the surface of the stub would be cut into shreds. Any +kind of animal would have left his mark behind, and no animal would +have put this polish on it!" + +"Then what in the world--" + +Rod did not finish. Mukoki lifted his shoulders to a level with his +chin, and Wabi whistled as he looked straight at him. + +"Not a hard guess, eh?" + +"You mean--" + +"That it's a man! Only the arms and legs of a man going up and down +that stub hundreds and thousands of times could have worn it so +smooth! Now, can you guess who that man is?" + +In a flash the answer shot into Rod's brain. He understood now why +this old stub had drawn his companions away from their search for +gold, and he felt the flush of excitement go out of his own cheeks, +and an involuntary thrill pass up his back. + +"The mad hunter!" + +Wabi nodded. Mukoki grunted and rubbed his hands. + +"Gold in bullet come from here!" said the old pathfinder. "Bad dog man +ver' swift on trail. We hurry get canoe--cut down tree!" + +"That's more than you've said in the last half-hour, and it's a good +idea!" exclaimed Wabi. "Let's get our stuff down here and chop this +stub into firewood! When he comes back and finds his ladder gone he'll +give a screech or two, I'll wager, and then it will be our chance to +do something with him. Here goes!" + +He started to climb the stub, and a minute or two later stood safely +on the rock above. + +"Slippery as a greased pole!" he called down. "Bet you can't make it, +Rod!" + +But Rod did, after a tremendous effort that left him breathless and +gasping by the time Wabi stretched out a helping hand to him. Mukoki +came up more easily. Taking only their revolvers with them the +three hurried to the birch bark, and in a single load brought their +possessions to the rock. By means of ropes the packs and other +contents of the canoe, and finally the canoe itself, were lowered into +the chasm, and while the others looked on Mukoki seized the ax and +chopped down the stub. + +"There!" he grunted, as a last blow sent the tree crashing among the +rocks. "Too high for heem jump!" + +"But a mighty good place for him to shoot from," said Wabi, looking +up. "We'd better camp out of range." + +"Not until we know what we've struck," cried Rod, unstrapping a pan +from one of the packs. "Boys, the first thing to do is to wash out a +little of that river-bed!" + +He started for the creek, with Wabi close behind him bearing a second +pan. Mukoki looked after them and chuckled softly to himself as he +began making preparations for dinner. Choosing a point where the +current had swept up a small bar of pebbles and sand Wabi and Rod both +set to work. The white youth had never before panned gold, but he +had been told how it was done, and there now shot through him that +strange, thrilling excitement which enthralls the treasure hunter +when he believes that at last he has struck pay dirt. Scooping up a +quantity of the gravel and sand he filled his pan with water, then +moved it, quickly back and forth, every few moments splashing some of +the "wash" or muddy water, over the side. Thus, filling and refilling +his pan with fresh water, he excitedly went through the process of +"washing" everything but solid substance out of it. + +With each fresh dip into the stream the water in the pan became +clearer, and within fifteen minutes the three or four double handfuls +of sand and gravel with which he began work dwindled down to one. +Scarcely breathing in his eagerness he watched for the yellow gleam of +gold. Once a glitter among the pebbles drew a low cry from him, but +when with the point of his knife he found it to be only mica he was +glad that Wabi had not heard him. The young Indian was squatting upon +the sand, with his pan turned toward a gleam of the sun that shot +faintly down into the chasm. Without raising his head he called to +Rod. + +"Found anything?" + +"No. Have you?" + +"No--yes--but I don't think it's gold" + +"What does it look like?" + +"It gleams yellow but is as hard as steel." + +"Mica!" said Rod. + +Neither of the boys looked up during the conversation. With the point +of his hunting-knife Rod still searched in the bottom of his pan, +turning over the pebbles and raking the gravelly sand with a +painstaking care that would have made a veteran gold seeker laugh. +Some minutes had passed when Wabi spoke again. + +"I say, Rod, that's a funny-looking thing I found! If it wasn't so +hard I'd swear it was gold? Want to see it?" + +"It's mica," repeated Rod, as another gleam, of "fool's gold" in his +own pan caught his eyes. "The stream is full of it!" + +"Never saw mica in chunks before," mumbled Wabi, bending low over his +pan. + +"Chunks!" cried Rod, straightening as if some one had run a pin into +his back. "How big is it?" + +"Big as a pea--a big pea!" + +The words were no sooner out of the young Indian's mouth than Roderick +was upon his feet and running to his companion. + +"Mica doesn't come in chunks! Where--" + +He bent over Wabi's pan. In the very middle of it lay a suspiciously +yellow pebble, worn round and smooth by the water, and when Rod took +it in his fingers he gave a low whistle of mock astonishment as he +gazed down into Wabigoon's face. + +"Wabi, I'm ashamed of you!" he said, trying hard to choke back the +quiver in his voice. "Mica doesn't come in round chunks like this. +Mica isn't heavy. And this is _both_!" + +From the cedars beyond the old cabin came Mukoki's whooping signal +that dinner was ready. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +THE TREASURE IN THE POOL + +For a few moments after Rod's words and Mukoki's signal from the +cedars Wabigoon sat as if stunned. + +"It isn't--gold," he said, his voice filled with questioning doubt. + +"That's just what it is!" declared Rod, his words now rising in the +excitement which he was vainly striving to suppress. "It's hard, but +see how your knife point has scratched it! It weighs a quarter of an +ounce! Are there any more nuggets in there?" + +He fell upon his knees beside Wabi, and their two heads were close +together, their four eyes eagerly searching the contents of the pan, +when Mukoki came up behind them. Rod passed the golden nugget to the +old Indian, and rose to his feet. + +"That settles it, boys. We've hit the right spot. Let's give three +cheers for John Ball and the old map, and go to dinner!" + +"I agree to dinner, but cut out the cheers." said Wabi, "or else let's +give them under our breath. Notice how hollow our voices sound in this +chasm! I believe we could hear a shout half a dozen miles away!" + +For their camp Mukoki had chosen a site in the edge of the cedars, +and had spread dinner on a big flat rock about which the three now +gathered. For inspiration, as Wabi said, the young Indian placed +the yellow nugget in the center of the improvised table, and if the +enthusiasm with which they hurried through their meal counted for +anything there was great merit in the golden centerpiece. Mukoki +joined the young gold seekers when they again returned to the chasm +stream, and the quest of the yellow treasure was vigorously renewed in +trembling and feverish expectancy. + +Only those who have lived in this quest and who have pursued that +elusive _ignis fatuus_ of all nations--the lure of gold--can realize +the sensations which stir the blood and heat the brain of the treasure +seeker as he dips his pan into the sands of the stream where he +believes nature has hidden her wealth. As Roderick Drew, a child of +that civilization where the dollar is law as well as might, returned +to the exciting work which promised him a fortune he seemed to be in +a half dream. About him, everywhere, was gold! For no moment did he +doubt it; not for an instant did he fear that there might be no more +gold in the sand and gravel from which Wabigoon's nugget had come. +Treasure was in the very sandbar under his feet! It was out there +among the rocks, where the water beat itself angrily into sputtering +froth; it was under the fall, and down in the chasm, everywhere, +everywhere about him. In one month John Ball and his companions had +gathered twenty-seven pounds of it, a fortune of nearly seven thousand +dollars! And they had gathered it here! Eagerly he scooped up a fresh +pan of the precious earth. He heard the swish-swish of the water in +Wabigoon's and Mukoki's pans. But beyond this there were no sounds +made by them. + +In these first minutes of treasure seeking no words were spoken. Who +would give the first shout of discovery? Five minutes, ten, fifteen of +them passed, and Rod found no gold. As he emptied his pan he saw Wabi +scooping up fresh dirt. He, too, had failed. Mukoki had waded out +waist deep among the rocks. A second and a third pan, and a little +chill of disappointment cooled Rod's blood. Perhaps he had chosen an +unlucky spot, where the gold had not settled! He moved his position, +and noticed that Wabigoon had done the same. A fourth and a fifth pan +and the result was the same. Mukoki had waded across the stream, which +was shallow below the fall, and was working on the opposite side. A +sixth pan, and Rod approached the young Indian. The excitement was +gone out of their faces. An hour and a half--and no more gold! + +"Guess we haven't hit the right place, after all," said Wabi. + +"It must be here," replied Rod. "Where there is one nugget there must +be more. Gold is heavy, and settles. Perhaps it's deeper down in the +river bed." + +Mukoki came across to join them. Out among the rocks he had found a +fleck of gold no larger than the head of a pin, and this new sign gave +them all fresh enthusiasm. Taking off their boots both Rod and Wabi +joined the old pathfinder in midstream. But each succeeding pan added +to the depressing conviction that was slowly replacing their hopes. +The shadows in the chasm began growing longer and deeper. Far overhead +the dense canopies of red pine shut out the last sun-glow of day, and +the gathering gloom between the mountains gave warning that in this +mysterious world of the ancient cabin the dusk of night was not far +away. But not until they could no longer see the gleaming mica in +their pans did the three cease work. Wet to the waist, tired, and with +sadly-shattered dreams they returned to their camp. For a short time +Rod's hopes were at their lowest ebb. Was it possible that there was +no more gold, that the three adventurers of long ago had discovered a +"pocket" here, and worked it out? The thought had been growing in his +head. Now it worried him. + +But his depression did not last long. The big fire which Mukoki +built and the stimulating aroma of strong coffee revived his natural +spirits, and both Wabi and he were soon laughing and planning again as +they made their cedar-bough shelter. Supper on the big flat stone--a +feast of bear steak, hot-stone biscuits, coffee, and that most +delectable of all wilderness luxuries, a potato apiece,--and the two +irrepressible young gold hunters were once more scheming and building +their air-castles for the following day. Mukoki listened, and attended +to the clothes drying before the fire, now and then walking out into +the gloom of the chasm to look up to where the white rim of the fall +burst over the edge of the great rock above them. All that afternoon +Wabi and Rod had forgotten the mad hunter and the strange, smoothly +worn tree. Mukoki had not. + +In the glow of the camp-fire the two boys read over again the old +account of John Ball and the two Frenchmen. The tiny slip of paper, +yellow with age, was the connecting link between them and the dim +and romantic past, a relic of the grim tragedy which these black and +gloomy chasm walls would probably keep for ever a secret. + +"Twenty-seven pounds," repeated Rod, as if half to himself. "That was +one month's work!" + +"Pretty nearly a pound a day!" gasped Wabi. "I tell you, Rod, we +haven't hit the right spot--yet!" + +"I wonder why John Ball's share was twice that of his companions'? Do +you suppose it was because he discovered the gold in the first place?" +speculated Rod. + +"In all probability it was. That accounts for his murder. The +Frenchmen were getting the small end of the deal." + +"Eighteen hundred fifty-nine," mused Rod. "That was forty-nine years +ago, before the great Civil War. Say--" + +He stopped and looked hard at Wabigoon. + +"Did it ever strike you that John Ball might not have been murdered?" + +Wabi leaned forward with more than usual eagerness. + +"I have had a thought--" he began. + +"What?" + +"That perhaps he was not killed." + +"And that after the two Frenchmen died in the knife duel he returned +and got the gold," continued Rod. + +"No, I had not thought of that," said Wabi. Suddenly he rose to his +feet and joined Mukoki out in the gloom of the chasm. + +Rod was puzzled. Something in his companion's voice, in his face and +words, disturbed him. What had Wabigoon meant? + +The young Indian soon rejoined him, but he spoke no more of John Ball. + +When the two boys went to their blankets Mukoki still remained awake. +For a long time he sat beside the fire, his hands gripping the rifle +across his knees, his head slightly bowed in that statue-like posture +so characteristic of the Indian. For fully an hour he sat motionless, +and in his own way he was deeply absorbed in thought. Soon after their +discovery of the first golden bullet Wabigoon had whispered a few +words into his ear, unknown to Rod; and to-night out in the gloom of +the chasm, he had repeated those same words. They had set Mukoki's +mind working. He was thinking now of something that happened long ago, +when, in his reasoning, the wilderness was young and he was a youth. +In those days his one great treasure was a dog, and one winter he +went with this faithful companion far into the hunting regions of the +North, a long moon's travel from his village. When he returned, +months later, he was alone. From his lonely hunting shack deep in the +solitudes his comrade had disappeared, and had never returned. This +all happened before Mukoki met the pretty Indian girl who became his +wife, and was afterward killed by the wolves, and he missed the dog +as he would have missed a human brother. The Indian's love, even +for brutes, is some thing that lives, and more than twenty moons +later--two years in the life of a man--he returned once again to the +old shack, and there he found Wholdaia, the dog! The animal knew him, +and bounded about on three legs for joy, and because of the missing +leg Mukoki understood why he had not returned to him two years before. +Two years is a long time in the life of a dog, and the gray hairs of +suffering and age were freely sprinkled in Wholdaia's muzzle and along +his spine. + +Mukoki was not thinking of Wholdaia without a reason. He was thinking +of Wabigoon's words--and the mad hunter. Could not the mad hunter do +as Wholdaia had done? Was it possible that the bad-dog man who shot +golden bullets and who screamed like a lynx was the man who had lived +there many, many years ago, and whom the boys called John Ball? Those +were the thoughts that Wabi had set working in his brain. The young +Indian had not suggested this to Rod. He had spoken of it to Mukoki +only because he knew the old pathfinder might help him to solve the +riddle, and so he had started Mukoki upon the trail. + +The next morning, while the others were finishing their breakfast, +Mukoki equipped himself for a journey. + +"Go down chasm," he explained to Rod "Fin' where get out to plain. +Shoot meat." + +That day the gold hunters were more systematic in their work, +beginning close to the fall, one on each side of the stream, and +panning their way slowly down the chasm. By noon they had covered two +hundred yards, and their only reward was a tiny bit of gold, worth +no more than a dollar, which Rod had found in his pan. By the time +darkness again compelled them to stop they had prospected a quarter +of a mile down stream without discovering other signs of John Ball's +treasure. In spite of their failure they were less discouraged than +the previous evening, for this failure, in a way, was having a +sedative and healthful effect. It convinced them that there was a hard +and perhaps long task ahead of them, and that they could not expect to +find their treasure winnowed in yellow piles for them. + +Early in the evening Mukoki returned laden with caribou meat, and with +the news that the first break in the chasm walls was fully five miles +below. The adventurers now regretted that they had chopped down the +stub, for it was decided that the next work should be in the stream +above the fall, which would necessitate a ten-mile tramp, five miles +to the break and five miles back. When the journey was begun at dawn +the following morning several days' supplies were taken along, and +also a stout rope by means of which the gold hunters could lower +themselves back into their old camp when their work above was +completed. Rod noticed that the rocks in the stream seemed much +larger than when he had first seen them, and he mentioned the fact to +Wabigoon. + +"The floods are going down rapidly," explained the young Indian. "All +of the snow is melted from the sides of the mountains, and there are +no lakes to feed this chasm stream. Within a week there won't be more +than a few inches of water below the fall." + +"And that is when we shall find the gold!" declared Rod with his old +enthusiasm. "I tell you, we haven't gone deep enough! This gold has +been here for centuries and centuries, and it has probably settled +several feet below the surface of the river-bed. Ball and the +Frenchmen found twenty-seven pounds in June, when the creek was +practically dry. Did you ever read about the discoveries of gold in +Alaska and the Yukon?" + +"A little, when I was going to school with you." + +"Well, the richest finds were nearly always from three to a dozen +feet under the surface, and when a prospector found signs in surface +panning he knew there was rich dirt below. Well find our gold in this +chasm, and near the fall!" + +Rod's confidence was the chief thing that kept up the spirits of the +treasure seekers during the next few days, for not the first sign +of gold was discovered above the fall. Yard by yard the prospectors +worked up the chasm until they had washed its sands for more than a +mile. And with the passing of each day, as Wabigoon had predicted, the +stream became more and more shallow, until they could wade across it +without wetting themselves above their knees. At the close of the +fourth day the three lowered themselves over the face of the rock into +the second chasm. So convinced was Rod in his belief that the gold was +hidden deep down under the creek bed that he dug a four-foot hole by +torch-light and that night after supper washed out several pans of +dirt in the glow of the camp-fire. He still found no signs of gold. + +The next day's exertions left no room for doubt. Beyond two or three +tiny flecks of gold the three adventurers found nothing of value +in the deeper sand and gravel of the stream. That night absolute +dejection settled on the camp. Both Rod and Wabigoon made vain efforts +to liven up their drooping spirits. Only Mukoki, to whom gold +carried but a fleeting and elusive value, was himself, and even his +hopefulness was dampened by the gloom of his companions. Rod could see +but one explanation of their failure. Somewhere near the cataract John +Ball and the Frenchmen had found a rich pocket of gold, and they had +worked it out, probably before the fatal tragedy in the old cabin. + +"But how about the mad hunter and his golden bullets?" insisted Wabi, +in another effort to brighten their prospects. "The bullets weighed an +ounce each, and I'll stake my life they came from this chasm. He knows +where the gold is, if we don't!" + +"Come back soon!" grunted Mukoki. "Watch heem. Fin' gol'!" + +"That's what we'll do!" cried the young Indian, jumping suddenly to +his feet and toppling Rod backward off the rock upon which he was +sitting. "Come, cheer up, Rod! The gold is here, somewhere, and we're +going to find it! I'm heartily ashamed of you; you, whom I thought +would never get discouraged!" + +Rod was laughing when he recovered from the playful mauling which Wabi +administered before he could regain his feet. + +"That's right, I deserve another licking! We've got all the spring and +summer before us, and if we don't find the gold by the time snow flies +we'll come back and try it again next year! What do you say?" + +"And bring Minnetaki with us!" added Wabi, jumping into the air and +kicking his heels together. "How will you like that, Rod?" He nudged +his comrade in the ribs, and in another moment both were puffing and +laughing in one of their good-natured wrestling bouts, in which the +cat-like agility of the young Indian always won for him in the end. + +In spite of momentary times like this, when the natural buoyancy and +enthusiasm of the young adventurers rose above their discouragement, +the week that followed added to their general depression. For miles +the chasm was explored and at the end of the week they had found less +than an ounce of gold. If their pans had given them no returns at all +their disappointment would have been less, for then, as Wabi said, +they could have given up the ghost with good grace. But the few +precious yellow grains which they found now and then lured them on, as +these same grains have lured other hundreds and thousands since the +dawn of civilization. Day after day they persisted in their efforts; +night after night about their camp-fire they inspired each other with +new hope and made new plans. The spring sun grew stronger, the poplar +buds burst into tiny leaf and out beyond the walls of the chasm the +first promises of summer came in the sweetly scented winds of the +south, redolent with the breath of balsam and pine and the thousand +growing things of the plains. + +But at last the search came to an end. For three days not even a grain +of gold had been found. Around the big rock, where they were eating +dinner, Rod and his friends came to a final conclusion. The following +morning they would break camp, and leaving their canoe behind, for the +creek was now too shallow for even birch-bark navigation, they would +continue their exploration of the chasm in search of other adventures. +The whole summer was ahead of them, and though they had failed +in discovering a treasure where John Ball and the Frenchmen had +succeeded, they might find one farther on. At least the trip deeper +into the unexplored wilderness would be filled with excitement. + +Mukoki rose to his feet, leaving Rod and Wabi still discussing their +plans. Suddenly he turned toward them, and a startled cry fell from +his lips, while with one long arm he pointed beyond the fall into the +upper chasm. + +"Listen--heem--heem!" + +The old warrior's face twitched with excitement, and for a full half +minute he stood motionless, his arm still extended, his black eyes +staring steadily at Rod and Wabigoon who sat as silent as the rocks +about them. Then there came to them from a great distance a quavering, +thrilling sound, a sound that filled them again with the old horror of +the upper chasm--the cry of the mad hunter. + +At that distant cry Wabigoon sprang to his feet, his eyes leaping +fire, his bronzed cheeks whitening in an excitement even greater than +that of Mukoki. + +"Muky, I told you!" he cried. "I told you!" The young Indian's body +quivered, his hands were clenched, and when he turned upon Rod the +white youth was startled by the look in his face. + +"Rod, John Ball is coming back to his gold!" + +Hardly had he spoken the words when the tenseness left his body and +his hands dropped to his side. + +The words shot from him before he could control himself enough to hold +them back. In another moment he was sorry. The thought that John Ball +and the mad hunter were the same person he had kept to himself, until +for reasons of his own he had let Mukoki into his secret. While the +idea had taken larger and larger growth in his mind he knew that +from every logical point of view the thing was impossible, and that +constraint which came of the Indian blood in him held him from +discussing it with Rod. But now the words were out. A quick flush +replaced the whiteness that had come into his face. In another instant +he was leaning eagerly toward Rod, his eyes kindling into fire again. +He had not expected the change that he now saw come over the white +youth. + +"I have been thinking that for a long time," he continued. "Ever since +we found the footprints in the sand. There's just one proof that we +need, just one, and--" + +"Listen!" + +Rod fairly hissed the word as he held up a warning hand. + +This time the cry of the mad hunter came to them more distinctly. He +was approaching through the upper chasm! + +The white youth rose to his feet, his eyes steadily fixed upon +Wabigoon's. His face was deathly pale. + +"John Ball!" he repeated, as if he had just heard what the other had +said. "John Ball!" What seemed to him to be the only truth swept upon +him like a flood, and for a score of seconds, in every one of which he +could hear his heart thumping excitedly, he stood like one stunned. +John Ball! John Ball returned to life to find their gold for them, to +tell them of the tragedy and mystery of those days long dead and gone! +Like powder touched by a spark of fire his imagination leaped at +Wabi's thrilling suggestion. + +Mukoki set to work. + +"Hide!" he exclaimed. "Hide thees--thees--thees!" He pointed about him +at all the things in camp. + +Both of the boys understood. + +"He must see no signs of our presence from the top of the fall!" cried +Wabi, gathering an armful of camp utensils. "Hide them back among the +cedars!" + +Mukoki hurried to the cedar bough shelter and began tearing it down. +For five minutes the adventurers worked on the run. Once during that +time they heard the madman's wailing cry, and hardly had they finished +and concealed themselves in the gloom of the old cabin when it came +again, this time from not more than a rifle-shot's distance beyond +the cataract. It was not a scream that now fell from the mad hunter's +lips, but a low wail and in it there was something that drove the old +horror from the three wildly beating hearts and filled them with a +measureless, nameless pity. What change had come over the madman? The +cry was repeated every few seconds now, each time nearer than before, +and in it there was a questioning, appealing note that seemed to end +in sobbing despair, a something that gripped at Rod's heart and filled +him with a great half-mastering impulse to answer it, to run out and +stretch his hands forth in greeting to the strange, wild creature +coming down the chasm! + +Then, as he looked, something ran out upon the edge of the great rock +beside the cataract, and he clutched at his own breast to hold back +what he thought must burst forth in words. For he knew--as surely as +he knew that Wabi was at his side--that he was looking upon John Ball! +For a moment the strange creature crouched where the stub had been, +and when he saw that it was gone he stood erect, and a quavering, +pitiful cry echoed softly through the chasm. And as he stood there +motionless the watchers saw that the mad hunter was an old man, tall +and thin, but as straight as a sapling, and that his head and breast +were hidden in shaggy beard and hair. In his hands he carried a +gun--the gun that had fired the golden bullets--and even at that +distance those who were peering from the gloom of the cabin saw that +it was a long barreled weapon similar to those they had found in the +other old cabin, along with the skeletons of the Frenchmen who had +died in the fatal knife duel. + +In breathless suspense the three waited, not a muscle of their bodies +moving. Again the old man leaned over the edge of the rock, and his +voice came to them in a moaning, sobbing appeal, and after a little +he stretched out his arms, still crying softly, as if beseeching help +from some one below. The spectacle gripped at Rod's soul. A hot film +came into his eyes and there was an odd little tremble in his throat. +The Indians were looking with dark, staring eyes. To them this was +another unusual incident of the wilderness. But to Rod it was the +white man's soul crying out to his own. The old man's outstretched +arms seemed reaching to him, the sobbing voice, filled with its +pathos, its despair, its hopeless loneliness, seemed a supplication +for him to come forth, to reach up his own arms, to respond to this +lost soul of the solitudes. With a little cry Rod darted between his +companions. He threw off his cap and lifted his white face to the +startled creature on the rock, and as he advanced step by step, +reaching out his hands in friendship, he called softly a name: + +"John Ball, John Ball, John Ball!" + +In an instant the mad hunter had straightened himself, half turned to +flee. + +"John Ball! Hello, John Ball--John Ball--" + +In his earnestness Rod was almost sobbing the name. He forgot +everything now, everything but that lonely figure on the rock, and he +drew nearer and nearer, gently calling the name, until the mad hunter +dropped on his knees and, crumpled in his long beard and gray lynx +skin, looked down upon Rod and sent back a low moaning, answering cry. + +"John Ball! John Ball, is that you?" + +Rod stopped, with the madman forty feet above him, and something +seemed choking back the very breath in him when he saw the strange +look that had come into the old man's eyes. + +"John Ball--" + +The wild eyes above shifted for a moment. They caught a glimpse of two +heads thrust from the door of the old cabin, and the madman sprang to +his feet. For a breath he stood on the edge of the rock, then with a +cry he leaped with the fierce agility of an animal far out into the +swirl of the cataract! For an instant he was visible in the downward +plunge of the water. Another instant and with a heavy splash he +disappeared in the deep pool under the fall! + +Wabi and Mukoki had seen the desperate leap and the young Indian +was beside the pool before Rod had recovered from his horrified +astonishment. For centuries the water of the chasm stream had been +tumbling into this pool wearing it deeper and deeper each year, until +the water in it was over a man's head. In width it was not more than a +dozen feet. + +"Watch for him! He'll drown if we don't get him out," shouted Wabi. + +Rod leaped to the edge of the pool, with Mukoki between him and +Wabigoon. Ready to spring into the cold depths at the first sign of +the old man's gray head or struggling arms the three stood with every +muscle ready for action. A second, two seconds, five seconds passed, +and there was no sign of him. Rod's heart began to beat with drum-like +fierceness. Ten seconds! A quarter of a minute! He looked at Wabigoon. +The young Indian had thrown off his caribou-skin coat; his eyes, as he +turned them for a moment toward Rod, flashed back the white youth's +fear. + +"I'm going to dive for him!" + +In another instant he had plunged head foremost into the pool. +Mukoki's coat fell to the ground. He crouched forward until it seemed +he must topple from the stone upon which he stood. Another fifteen +seconds and Wabigoon's head appeared above the water, and the old +warrior gave a shout. + +"Me come!" + +He shot out and disappeared in a huge splash close to Wabi. Rod stood +transfixed, filled with a fear that was growing in him at every breath +he drew. He saw the convulsions of the water made by the two Indians, +who were groping about below the surface. Wabigoon came up again for +breath, then Mukoki. It seemed to him that an age had passed, and he +felt no hope. John Ball was dead! + +Not for a moment now did he doubt the identity of the mad hunter. The +strange, wistful light that had replaced the glare in the old man's +eyes when he heard his own name called to him had spoken more than +words. It was John Ball! And he was dead! For a third time, a fourth, +and a fifth Mukoki and Wabigoon came up for air, and the fifth time +they dragged themselves out upon the rocks that edged the pool. Mukoki +spoke no word but ran back to the camp and threw a great armful of dry +fuel upon the fire. Wabigoon still remained at the edge of the pool, +dripping and shivering. His hands were clenched, and Rod could see +that they were filled with sand and gravel. Mechanically the Indian +opened his fingers and looked at what he had unconsciously brought up +from under the fall. + +For a moment he stared, then with his gasping breath there came a low, +thrilling cry. + +He held out his hands to Rod. + +Gleaming richly among the pebbles which he held was a nugget of pure +gold, a nugget so large that Rod gave a wild yell, and in that one +moment forgot that John Ball, the mad hunter, was dead or dying +beneath the fall! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +JOHN BALL AND THE MYSTERY OF THE GOLD + +Mukoki, hearing Rod's cry, hurried to the pool, but before he reached +the spot where the white youth was standing with the yellow nugget in +his hand Wabigoon had again plunged beneath the surface. For several +minutes he remained in the water, and when he once more crawled out +upon the rocks there was something so strange in his face and eyes +that for a moment Rod believed he had found the dead body of the +madman. + +"He isn't--in--the--pool!" he panted. Mukoki shrugged his shoulders +and shivered. + +"Dead!" he grunted + +"He isn't in the pool!" + +Wabigoon's black eyes gleamed in uncanny emphasis of his words. + +"He isn't in the pool!" + +The others understood what he meant. Mukoki's eyes wandered to where +the water of the pool gushed between the rocks into the broader +channel of the chasm stream. It was not more than knee deep! + +"He no go out there!" + +"No!" + +"Then--where?" + +He shrugged his shoulders suggestively again, and pointed into the +pool. + +"Body slip under rock. He there!" + +"Try it!" said Wabigoon tersely. + +He hurried to the fire, and Rod went with him to gather more fuel +while the young Indian warmed his chilled body. They heard the old +pathfinder leap into the water under the fall as they ran. + +Ten minutes later Mukoki joined them. + +"Gone! Bad-dog man no there!" + +He stretched out one of his dripping arms. + +"Gol' bullet!" he grunted. + +In the palm of his hand lay another yellow nugget, as large as a +hazelnut! + +"I told you," said Wabi softly, "that John Ball was coming back to his +gold. And he has done so! The treasure is in the pool!" + +But where was John Ball? + +Dead or alive, where could he have disappeared? + +Under other conditions the chasm would have rung with the wild +rejoicing of the gold seekers. But there was something now that +stilled the enthusiasm in them. At last the ancient map had given up +its secret, and riches were within their grasp. But no one of the +three shouted out his triumph. Somehow it seemed that John Ball had +died for them, and the thought clutched at their hearts that if they +had not cut down the stub he would still be alive. Indirectly they had +brought about the death of the poor creature who for nearly half a +century had lived alone with the beasts in these solitudes. And that +one glimpse of the old man on the rock, the prayerful entreaty in his +wailing voice, the despair which he sobbed forth when he found his +tree gone, had livened in them something that was more than sympathy. +At this moment the three adventurers would willingly have given up all +hopes of gold could sacrifice have brought back that sad, lonely old +man who had looked down upon them from the wall of the upper chasm. + +"I am sorry we cut down the stub," said Rod. + +They were the first words spoken. + +"So am I," replied Wabi simply, beginning to strip off his wet +clothes. "But--" He stopped, and shrugged his shoulders. + +"What?" + +"Well, we're taking it for granted that John Ball is dead. If he is +dead why isn't he in the pool? By George, I should think that Mukoki's +old superstition would be getting the best of him!" + +"I believe he is in the pool!" declared Rod. + +Wabi turned upon him and repeated the words he had spoken to the old +warrior half an hour before. + +"Try it!" + +After the attempts of the two Indians, who could dive like otter, Rod +had no inclination to follow Wabi's invitation. Mukoki, who had hung +up a half of his clothes near the fire, was fitting one of the pans +to the end of a long pole which he had cut from a sapling, and it was +obvious that his intention was to begin at once the dredging of +the pool for gold. Rod joined him, and once more the excitement of +treasure hunting stirred in his veins. When the pan was on securely +Wabi left the fire to join his companions, and the three returned to +the pool. With a long sweep of his improvised dredge Mukoki scooped up +two quarts or more of sand and gravel and emptied it upon one of the +flat rocks, and the two boys pounced upon it eagerly, raking it out +with their fingers and wiping the mud and sand from every suspicious +looking pebble. + +"The quickest way is to wash it!" said Rod, as Mukoki dumped another +load upon the rock. "I'll get some water!" + +He ran to the camp for the remaining pans and when he turned back he +saw Wabi leaping in a grotesque dance about the rock while Mukoki +stood on the edge of the pool, his dredge poised over it, silent and +grinning. + +"What do you think of that?" cried the young Indian as Rod hurried to +him. "What do you think of that?" + +He held out his hand, and in it there gleamed a third yellow nugget, +fully twice as large as the one discovered by Mukoki! + +Rod fairly gasped. "The pool must be full of 'em!" + +He half-filled his pan with the sand and gravel and ran knee-deep out +into the running stream. In his eagerness he splashed over a part of +his material with the wash, but he, excused himself by thinking that +this was his first pan, and that with the rest he would be more +careful. He began to notice now that all of the sand was not washing +out, and when he saw that it persisted in lying heavy and thick among +the pebbles his heart leaped into his mouth. One more dip, and he held +his pan to the light coming through the rift in the chasm. A thousand +tiny, glittering particles met his eyes! In the center of the pan +there gleamed dully a nugget of pure gold as big as a pea! At last +they had struck it rich, so rich that he trembled as he stared down +into the pan, and the cry that had welled up in his throat was choked +back by the swift, excited beating of his heart. In that moment's +glance down into his treasure-laden pan he saw all of his hopes +and all of his ambitions achieved. He was rich! In those gleaming +particles he saw freedom for his mother and himself. No longer a +bitter struggle for existence in the city, no more pinching and +striving and sacrifice that they might keep the little home in which +his father had died! When he turned toward Wabigoon his face was +filled with the ecstasy of those visions. He waded ashore and held his +pan under the other's eyes. + +"Another nugget!" exclaimed Wabi excitedly. + +"Yes. But it isn't the nugget. It's the--" He moved the pan until the +thousand little particles glittered and swam before the Indian's eyes. +"It's the dust. The sand is full of gold!" + +His voice trembled, his face was white. From his crouching posture +Wabi looked up at him, and they spoke no more words. + +Mukoki looked, and was silent. Then he went back to his dredging. +Little by little Rod washed down his pan. Half an hour later he showed +it again to Wabigoon. The pebbles were gone. What sand was left was +heavy with the gleaming particles, and half buried in it all was the +yellow nugget! In Wabi's pan there was no nugget but it was rich with +the gleam of fine gold. + +Mukoki had dredged a bushel of sand and gravel from the pool, and was +upon his knees beside the heap which he had piled on the rock. When +Rod went to that rock for his third pan of dirt the old warrior made +no sign that he had discovered anything. The early gloom of afternoon +was beginning to settle between the chasm walls, and at the end of his +fourth pan Rod found that it was becoming so dark that he could +no longer distinguish the yellow particles in the sand. With the +exception of one nugget he had found only fine gold. With Wabi's dust +were three small nuggets. + +When they ceased work Mukoki rose from beside the rock, chuckling, +grimacing, and holding out his hand. Wabi was the first to see, and +his cry of astonishment drew Rod quickly to his side. The hollow of +the old warrior's hand was filled with nuggets! He turned them into +Wabigoon's hand, and the young Indian turned them into Rod's, and +as he felt the weight of the treasure he held Rod could no longer +restrain the yell of exultation that had been held in all that +afternoon. Jumping high into the air and whooping at every other step +he raced to the camp and soon had the small scale which they had +brought with them from Wabinosh House. The nuggets they had found that +afternoon weighed full seven ounces, and the fine gold, after allowing +the deduction of a third for sand, weighed a little more than eleven +ounces. + +"Eighteen ounces--and a quarter!" + +Rod gave the total in a voice tremulous with incredulity. + +"Eighteen ounces--at twenty dollars an ounce--three hundred and sixty +dollars!" he figured rapidly. "By George--" The prospect seemed too +big for him, and he stopped. + +"Less than half a day's work," added Wabi. "We're doing better than +John Ball and the Frenchmen. It means eighteen thousand dollars a +month!" + +"And by autumn--" began Rod. + +He was interrupted by the inimitable chuckling laugh of Mukoki and +found the old warrior's face a map of creases and grimaces. + +"In twent' t'ous'nd moon--mak' heem how much?" he questioned. + +In all his life Wabigoon had never heard Mukoki joke before, and with +a wild whoop of joy he rolled the stoical old pathfinder off the rock +on which he was sitting, and Rod joined heartily in Wabi's merriment. + +And Mukoki's question proved not to be so much of a joke after all, +as the boys were soon to learn. For several days the work went on +uninterrupted. The buckskin bags in the balsam shelter grew heavier +and heavier. Each succeeding hour added to the visions of the gold +seekers. On the fifth day Rod found seventeen nuggets among his fine +gold, one of them as large as the end of his thumb. On the seventh +came the richest of all their panning, but on the ninth a startling +thing happened. Mukoki was compelled to work ceaselessly to keep the +two boys supplied with "pay dirt" from the pool. His improvised dredge +now brought up only a handful or two of sand and pebbles at a dip. It +was on this ninth day that the truth dawned upon them all. + +The pool was becoming exhausted of its treasure! + +But the discovery brought no great gloom with it. Somewhere near that +pool must be the very source of the treasure itself, and the gold +hunters were confident of finding it. Besides, they had already +accumulated what to them was a considerable fortune, at least two +thousand dollars apiece. For three more days the work continued, and +then Mukoki's dredge no longer brought up pebbles or sand from the +bottom of the pool. + +The last pan was washed early in the morning, and as the warm +weather had begun to taint the caribou meat Mukoki and Wabigoon left +immediately after dinner to secure fresh meat out on the plains, while +Rod remained in camp. The strange thick gloom of night which began to +gather in the chasm before the sun had disappeared beyond the plains +above was already descending upon him when Rod began preparations for +supper. He knew that the Indians would not wait until dark before +reëntering the break between the mountains, and confident that they +would soon appear he began mixing up flour and water for their usual +batch of hot-stone biscuits. So intent was he upon his task that he +did not see a shadowy form creeping up foot by foot from the rocks. He +caught no glimpse of the eyes that glared like smoldering coals from +out of the half darkness between him and the fall. + +His first knowledge of another presence came in a low, whining cry, a +cry that was not much more than a whisper, and he leaped to his feet, +every nerve in his body once more tingling with that excitement which +had possessed him when he stood under the rock talking to the madman. +A dozen yards away he saw a face, a great, white, ghost-like face, +staring at him from out of the thickening shadows, and under that face +and its tangled veil of beard and hair he saw the crouching form of +the mad hunter! + +In that moment Roderick Drew thanked God that he was not afraid. +Standing full in the glow of the fire he stretched out his arms, as he +had once before reached them out to this weird creature, and again, +softly, pleadingly, he called the name of John Ball! There came in +reply a faint, almost unheard sound from the wild man, a sound that +was repeated again and again, and which sent a thrill into the young +hunter, for it was wondrously like the name he was calling: "John +Ball! John Ball! John Ball!" And as the mad hunter repeated that sound +he advanced, foot by foot, as though creeping upon all fours, and Rod +saw then that one of his arms was stretched out to him, and that in +the extended hand was a fish. + +He advanced a step, reaching out his own hands eagerly, and the wild +creature stopped, cringing as if fearing a blow. + +"John Ball! John Ball!" he repeated. He thought of no other words but +those, and advanced bit by bit as he called them gently again and +again. Now he was within ten feet of the old man, now eight, presently +he was so near that he might have reached him in a single leap. Then +he stopped. + +The mad hunter laid down his fish. Slowly he retreated, murmuring +incoherent sounds in his beard, then sprang to his feet and with a +wailing cry sped back toward the pool. Swiftly Rod followed. He saw +the form leap from the rocks at its edge, heard a heavy splash, and +all was still! + +For many minutes Rod stood with the spray of the cataract dashing in +his face. This time the madman's plunge into the cold depths at his +feet filled him with none of the horror of that first insane leap from +the rock above. Somewhere in that pool the old man was seeking refuge! +What did it mean? His eyes scanned the thin sheet of water that +plunged down from the upper chasm. It was a dozen feet in width and +hid the black wall of rock behind it like a thick veil. What was there +just behind that falling torrent? Was it possible that in the wall +of rock behind the waterfall there was a place where John Ball found +concealment? + +Rod returned to camp, convinced that he had at last guessed a solution +to the mystery. John Ball was behind the cataract! The strange +murmurings of the old man who for a few moments had crouched so +close to him still rang in his ears, and he was sure that in these +half-articulate sounds had been John Ball's own name. If there had +been a doubt in his mind before, it was wiped away now. The mad hunter +was John Ball, and with that thought burning in his brain Rod stopped +beside the fish--the madman's offering of peace--and turned his face +once more back toward the black loneliness of the pool. + +Unconsciously a sobbing cry of sympathy fell softly from Rod's lips, +and he called John Ball's name again, louder and louder, until +it echoed far down the gloomy depths of the chasm. There came no +response. Then he turned to the fish. John Ball wished them to be +friends, and he had brought this offering! In the firelight Rod saw +that it was a curious looking, dark-colored fish, covered with small +scales that were almost black. It was the size of a large trout, and +yet it was not a trout. The head was thick and heavy, like a sucker's, +and yet it was not a sucker. He looked at this head more closely, and +gave a sudden start when he saw that it had no eyes! + +In one great flood the truth swept upon him, the truth of what lay +behind the cataract, of where John Ball had gone! For he held in his +hands an eyeless creature of another world, a world hidden in the +bowels of the earth itself, a proof that beyond the fall was a great +cavern filled with the mystery and the sightless things of eternal +night, and that in this cavern John Ball found his food and made his +home! + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +IN A SUBTERRANEAN WORLD + +When Mukoki and Wabigoon returned half an hour later the hot-stone +biscuits were still unbaked. The fire was only a bed of coals. Beside +it sat Rod, the strange fish upon the ground at his feet. Before +Mukoki had thrown down the pack of meat which he was carrying he was +showing them this fish. Quickly he related what had happened. He added +to this some of the things which he had thought while sitting by the +fire. The chief of these things were that just behind the cataract was +the entrance to a great cavern, and that in this cavern they would not +only find John Ball, but also the rich storehouse of that treasure of +which they, had discovered a part in the pool. + +And as the night lengthened there was little talk about the gold and +much about John Ball. Again and again Rod described the madman's +visit, the trembling, pleading voice, the offering of the fish, the +eager glow that had come into the wild eyes when he talked to him and +called him by name. Even Mukoki's stoic heart was struck by the deep +pathos of it all. The mad hunter no longer carried his gun. He no +longer sought their lives. In his crazed brain something new and +wonderful was at work, something that drew him to them, with the +half-fear of an animal, and yet with growing trust. He was pleading +for their companionship, their friendship, and deep down in his heart +Rod felt that the spark of sanity was not completely gone from John +Ball. + +When the three adventurers retired to their blankets in the cedar +shelter it was not the thought of gold that quickened their blood in +anticipation of the morning. The passing of an age would not dull the +luster of what they had come to seek. It would wait for them. The +greatest of all things--the sympathy of man for man--had stilled that +other passion in them. John Ball's salvation, and not more gold, was +the day's work ahead of them now. + +With the dawn they were up, and by the time it was light enough to see +they were ready for the exploration of whatever was hidden behind the +fall. In a rubber blanket Wabigoon wrapped a rifle and half a dozen +pine torches. Mukoki carried a quantity of cooked meat. Standing on +the edge of the pool Rod pointed into the falling torrent. + +"He dived straight under," he said. "The opening to the cavern is +directly behind the shoot of falling water." + +Wabi placed his hat and coat upon a rock. + +"I'll try it first. Wait until I come back," he said. + +Without another word he plunged into the pool. Minute after minute +passed, and he did not reappear. Rod was conscious of a nervous chill +creeping into his blood. But Mukoki was chuckling confidently. + +"Found heem!" he replied in response to the white youth's inquiring +look. + +As he spoke Wabigoon came up out of the pool like a great fish. Rod +helped him upon the rocks. + +"We're two bright ones, we are, Muky!" he exclaimed, as soon as he +gained his breath. "Just behind the fall I ran up against the wall of +rock we found when we were hunting for John Ball, stood on my feet, +and--" he swung his arms suggestively--"there I was, head and +shoulders out of water, looking into a hole as big as a house!" + +"Dive easy!" warned the old pathfinder, turning to Rod. "Bump head on +rock--swush!" + +"We won't have to dive," continued Wabi. "The water directly under the +fall of the stream isn't more than four feet deep. If we wade into it +from over there we can make it easy." + +Taking his waterproof bundle the young Indian slipped into the pool +close up against the wall of rock that formed the foundation of the +upper chasm and plunged straight into the tumbling cataract. Mukoki +followed close behind and preparing himself with a long breath Rod +hurried into this new experience. For a moment he was conscious of a +smothering weight upon him and a thunderous roaring in his ears, and +he was borne irresistibly down. There was still air in his lungs when +he found himself safely through the deluge so he knew that its passage +had taken him only a brief but thrilling instant. For a time he could +see nothing. Then he made out a dark form drawing itself up out of the +water. Beyond that there lay a chaos of midnight blackness, and he +knew that his eyes were staring into the depths of a great cavern! + +Gripping the edge of the rock ledge he dragged himself up as both +Wabigoon and Mukoki had done, and found his feet upon a soft floor of +sand. Suddenly he felt a hand clutch his arm. A half-shout, rising +faintly above the wash of the cataract, sounded in his ear. + +"Look!" + +He wiped the water from his eyes and gazed ahead of him. For a moment +he saw nothing. Then, so faintly that at first it appeared no larger +than a star, he caught the faint glimmer of a light. As he looked it +became more and more distinct, and to his astonishment he saw that +it was slowly rising, like a huge will-o'-the-wisp that had suddenly +risen from the floor of the cavern to float off into the utter +blackness of space above. And even as he stared, gripping Wabi's arm +in his excitement, the strange light began to descend, and quickly +disappeared! + +The two boys saw Mukoki slip off into the gloom, and without +questioning his motive they followed close behind. As they progressed +the sound of the fall came more and more faintly to their ears. A +blackness deeper than the gloom of the darkest night environed them, +and the three now held to one another's arms. Rod understood why his +companions lighted no torches. Somewhere ahead of them was another +light, carried by the mad hunter. His blood thrilled with excitement. +Where would John Ball lead them? + +Suddenly he became conscious that they were no longer walking on a +level floor of sand but that they were ascending, as the light had +done. Mukoki stopped and for a full minute they stood and listened. +The tumult of the fall came to them in a far, subdued murmur. Beyond +that there was not the breath of a sound in the strange world of gloom +about them. They were about to start on again when something held +them, a whispering, sobbing echo, and Rod's heart seemed to stop its +beating. It died away slowly, and a weird stillness fell after it. +Then came a low moaning cry, a cry that was human in its agony, and +yet which had in it something so near the savage that even Wabigoon +found himself trembling as he strained in futile effort to pierce +the impenetrable gloom ahead. Before the cry had lost itself in the +distances of the cavern Mukoki was leading them on again. + +Step by step they followed in the path taken by the strange light. Rod +knew that they were climbing a hill of sand, and that just beyond +it they would see the light again, but he was not prepared for the +startling suddenness with which the next change came. As if a black +curtain had dropped from before their eyes the three adventurers +beheld a scene that halted them in their tracks. A hundred paces away +a huge pitch-pine torch a yard in length was burning in the sand, and +crouching in the red glow of this, his arms stretched out as if in the +supplication of a strange prayer, was John Ball! Just beyond him was +the gleam of water, inky-black in the weird flickerings of the torch, +and toward this John Ball reached out in his grief. His voice came up +softly to the three watchers now, so low that even in the vast silence +of the cavern it could barely be heard. To Roderick Drew it was as if +the strange creature below him was sobbing like a heart-broken child, +and he whispered in Wabigoon's ear. Then, foot by foot, so gently that +his moccasined feet made no sound, he approached the madman. + +Half-way to him he paused. + +"Hello, John Ball!" he called softly. + +The faint light of the torch was falling upon him, and he advanced +another step. The murmuring of the wild man ceased, but he made no +movement. He still knelt in his rigid posture, his arms stretched +toward the black chaos beyond him. Rod came very close to him before +he spoke again. + +"Is that you, John Ball?" + +Slowly the kneeling figure turned, and once more Rod saw in those wild +eyes, gleaming brightly now in the torch-light, the softer, thrilling +glow of recognition and returning reason. He reached out his own arms +and advanced boldly, calling John Ball's name, and the madman made no +retreat but crouched lower in the sand, strange, soft sounds again +falling from his lips. Rod had come within half a dozen feet of him +when he sprang up with the quickness of a cat, and with a wailing +cry plunged waist deep into the water. With his arms stretched +entreatingly into the mysterious world beyond the torch-light he +turned his face to the white youth, and Rod knew that he was trying as +best he could to tell him something. + +"What is it, John Ball?" + +He went to the edge of the black water and waded out until it rose to +his knees, his eyes staring into the blackness. + +"What is it?" + +He, too, pointed with one arm, and the madman gave an excited gesture. +Then he placed his hands funnel-shaped to his mouth, as Rod had often +seen Wabi and Mukoki do when calling moose, and there burst from him a +far-reaching cry, and Rod's heart gave a sudden bound as he listened, +for the cry was that of a woman's name! + +"Dol--o--res-s-s-s--Dol--o--res-s-s-s--" + +The cry died away in distant murmuring echoes, and with an answering +cry Rod shouted forth the name which he fancied John Ball had spoken. + +"Dolores! Dolores! Dolores!" + +There came a sudden leaping plunge, and John Ball was at his feet, +clasping him about the knees, and sobbing again and again that +name--Dolores. Rod put his arms about the old man's shoulders, and the +gray, shaggy head fell against him. The sobbing voice grew lower, the +weight of the head greater, and after a little Rod called loudly for +Mukoki and Wabigoon, for there was no longer movement or sound from +the form at his feet, and he knew that something had happened to John +Ball. The two Indians were quickly at his side, and together they +carried the unconscious form of Ball within the circle of torch-light. +The old man's eyes were closed, his claw-like fingers were clenched +fiercely upon his breast, and not until Mukoki placed a hand over his +heart did the three know that he was still breathing. + +"Now is our time to get him to camp," said Wabi. "Lead the way with +the torch, Rod!" + +There was not much weight to John Ball, and the two Indians carried +him easily. At the fall the rubber blanket was wound about his head +and the adventurers plunged under the cataract with their burden. It +was an hour after that before the old man opened his eyes again. Rod +was close beside him and for a full minute the mad hunter gazed +up into his face, then once more he sank off into that strange +unconsciousness which had overcome him in the cavern. Rod rose +white-faced and turned to Mukoki and Wabigoon. + +"I'm afraid--he's dying," he said. + +The Indians made no answer. For several minutes the three sat silently +about John Ball watching for signs of returning consciousness. At +last Mukoki roused himself to take a pot of soup from the fire. The +movement seemed to stir John Ball into life, and Rod was at his side +again, holding a cup of water to his lips. After a little he helped +the old man to sit up, and a spoonful at a time the warm soup was fed +to him. + +Through the whole of that day he returned to consciousness only for +brief intervals, lapsing back into a death-like sleep after each +awakening. During one of these periods of unconsciousness Wabi cut +short the tangled beard and hair, and for the first time they saw +in all its emaciation the thin, ghastly face of the man who, half a +century before, had drawn the map that led them to the gold. There was +little change in his condition during the night that followed, except +that now and then he muttered incoherently, and at these times Rod +always caught in his ravings the name that he had heard in the cavern. +The next day there was no change. And there was still none on the +third. Even Mukoki, who had tried every expedient of wilderness craft +in nursing, gave up in despair. So far as they could see John Ball had +no fever. Yet three-quarters of the time he lay as if dead. Nothing +but soup could be forced between his lips. + +On the second day Wabi revisited the subterranean world beyond the +cataract. When he came back he had discovered the secret of the +treasure in the pool. The gold came from the cavern. The soft sand +through which they had followed the strange light was rich in dust and +nuggets. During the floods of spring water came into the cavern from +somewhere, and flowing for a brief space out through the mouth of the +cave brought with it the precious burden of treasure-laden sand which +was dumped into the pool. The constant wash of the cataract had caused +most of the sand to overflow into the running stream, but the heavier +gold-dust and nuggets remained in the trap into which they had fallen. + +But the joy that came of this discovery was subdued by thoughts of +John Ball. The gold meant everything to Rod, the realization of his +hopes and ambitions; and he knew that it meant everything to his +mother, and to all those who belonged to Mukoki and Wabigoon. But the +gold could wait. They had already accumulated a small fortune, and +they could return for the rest a little later. At present they must do +something for John Ball, the man to whom they were indebted for all +that they had found, and to whom the treasure really belonged. On the +third day Rod laid his plans before Wabi and Mukoki. + +"We must take John Ball back to the Post as quickly as we can," he +said. "It is our only chance of saving him. If we start now, while +the water in the creek is deep enough to float our canoe, we can make +Wabinosh House in ten or fifteen days." + +"It will be impossible to paddle against the swift current," said +Wabi. + +"That is true. But we can put John Ball into the canoe and tow him +up-stream. It will be a long wade and hard work, but--" + +He looked at Wabi in silence, then added, + +"Do we want John Ball to live, or do we want him to die?" + +"If I thought he would live I would wade a thousand miles to save +him," rejoined the young Indian. "It means little to us but work. We +know where the rest of the gold is and can return to it within a few +weeks." + +If there had been a doubt in the boys' minds as to the right course to +pursue John Ball settled it himself that very afternoon. He awakened +from an unusually long stupor. His eyes were burning with a new light, +and as Rod bent over him he whispered softly, but distinctly, + +"Dolores--Dolores--Where is Dolores?" + +"Who is Dolores, John Ball?" whispered the white youth, his heart +thumping wildly. "Who is Dolores?" + +Ball drew up one of his emaciated hands and clasped it to his head, +and a sobbing moan fell from his lips. Then, after a moment, he +repeated, as though to himself, + +"Dolores--Dolores--Who is Dolores?" + +The Indians had come near, and heard. But John Ball said no more. He +swallowed a few spoonfuls of soup and fell again into his death-like +trance. + +"Who is Dolores?" repeated Wabigoon, his face whitening as he looked +at Rod. "Is there somebody else in the cavern?" + +"He is talking of some one whom he probably knew forty or fifty years +ago," replied Rod. But his own face was white. He stared hard at +Wabigoon, and a strange look came into Mukoki's face. + +"Dolores," he mused, without taking his eyes from Wabi. "It's a +woman's name, or a girl's name. We must save John Ball! We must start +for Wabinosh House--now!" + +"While he's unconscious we can tie the rope about him and hoist him +into the upper chasm," quickly added Wabigoon. "Muky, get to work. We +move this minute!" + +It was still two hours before dusk, and now that they had determined +on returning to Wabinosh House the adventurers lost no time in getting +under way. Wabi climbed the rope that was suspended from the upper +chasm, and that part of their equipment which it was necessary to take +back with them was hoisted up by him. Mukoki sheltered the rest in the +old cabin. John Ball was drawn up last. For an hour after that, until +the gray shadows of night began settling about them, the three waded +up the shallow stream, pulling the canoe and its unconscious burden +after them. That night the madman was not left unwatched for a minute. +Mukoki sat beside him until eleven o'clock. Then Wabi took his turn. A +little after midnight Rod was aroused by being violently pulled from +his bed of balsam boughs. + +"For the love of Heaven, get up!" whispered the young Indian. "He's +talking, Rod! He's talking about Dolores, and about some kind of a +great beast that's bigger than anything that ever lived up here! +Listen!" + +The madman was moaning softly. + +"I've killed it, Dolores--I've killed it--killed it! Where is Dolores? +Where--is--" There came a deep sigh, and John Ball was quiet. + +"Killed what?" panted Rod, his heart thumping until it choked him. + +"The beast--whatever it was," whispered Wabi. "Rod, something terrible +happened in that cavern! We don't know the whole story. The Frenchmen +who killed themselves for possession of the birch-bark map played +only a small part in it. The greater part was played by John Ball and +Dolores!" + +For a long time the two listened, but the old man made no sound or +movement. + +"Better go back to bed," said Wabi. "I thought if he was going to keep +it up you would like to hear. I'll call you at two." + +But Rod could not sleep. For a long time he lay awake thinking of John +Ball and his, strange ravings. Who was Dolores? What terrible tragedy +had that black world under the mountains some time beheld? Despite his +better reason an indefinable sensation of uneasiness possessed him as +the madman's sobbing out of the woman's name recurred to him. He spoke +nothing of this to Wabi when he relieved him, and he said nothing of +it during the days that followed. They were days of unending toil, of +fierce effort to beat out death in the race to Wabinosh House. + +For it seemed that the end of time was very near for John Ball. On the +fourth day his thin cheeks showed signs of fever, and on the fifth he +was tossing in delirium. The race now continued by night as well as +by day, only an hour or two of rest being snatched at a time. During +these days John Ball babbled ceaselessly of Dolores, and great beasts, +and the endless cavern; and now the beasts began taking the form of +strange people whose eyes gleamed from out of masses of fur, and who +had hands, and flung spears. On the eighth day the madman sank +back into his old lethargy. On the fourth day after that the three +adventurers, worn and exhausted, reached the shore of Lake Nipigon. +Thirty miles across the lake was Wabinosh House, and it was decided +that Mukoki and Rod should leave for assistance, while Wabigoon +remained with John Ball. The two rolled themselves in their blankets +immediately after supper, and after three hours' sleep were awakened +by the young Indian. All that night they paddled with only occasional +moments of rest. The sun was just rising over the forests when they +grounded their canoe close to the Post. As Rod sprang ashore he saw a +figure walk slowly out from the edge of the forest an eighth of a mile +away. Even at that distance he recognized Minnetaki! He looked at the +sharp-eyed Mukoki. He, too, had seen and recognized the girl. + +"Muky, I'm going along in the edge of the woods and give her a +surprise," said Rod courageously. "Will you wait here?" + +Mukoki grinned a nodding assent, and the youth darted into the edge of +the forest. He was breathless when he came up a hundred yards behind +the girl, screened from view by the trees. Softly he whistled. It was +a signal that Minnetaki had taught him on his first trip into the +North, and he knew of only two who used it in all that Northland, and +those two were the Indian maiden and himself. The girl turned as +she heard the trilling note, and Rod drew himself farther back. +He whistled again, more loudly than before, and Minnetaki came +hesitatingly toward the forest's edge, and when he whistled a third +time there came a timid response from her, as if she recognized and +yet doubted the notes that floated to her from the shadows of the +balsams. + +Again Rod whistled, laughing as he drew a little farther back, and +again Minnetaki answered, peering in among the trees. He saw the +wondering, half-expectant glow in her eyes, and suddenly crying out +her name he sprang from his concealment. With a little cry of joy and +with hands outstretched Minnetaki ran to meet him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +JOHN BALL'S STORY + +That same morning two big canoes set out across Lake Nipigon for +Wabigoon and John Ball. Mukoki returned with the canoes, but Rod +remained at the Post, and not a moment's rest did he have during the +whole of that day from the eager questions of those whom he had so +completely surprised by his unexpected return. Few stories could have +been more thrilling than his, though he told it in the simplest manner +possible. Rod's appearance more than his words was evidence of +the trials he and his companions had passed through. His face was +emaciated to startling thinness by desperate exertion and lack of +sleep, and both his face and his hands were covered with scratches and +bruises. Not until late in the afternoon did he go to bed, and it was +noon the following day when he awoke from his heavy slumber. + +The canoes had returned, and John Ball was in the doctor's care. At +dinner Rod and Wabi were made to go over their adventures again, and +even Mukoki, who had joined them in this reunion, was not allowed to +escape the endless questioning of Minnetaki, the factor's wife, and +Rod's mother. Rod was seated at the table between Mrs. Drew and +Minnetaki. Several times during the conversation he felt the young +girl's hand touch his arm. Once, when the factor spoke about their +return to the gold in the cavern, this mysterious signaling of +Minnetaki's took the form of a pinch that made him squirm. Not until +after dinner, and the two were alone, did he begin to comprehend. + +"I'm ashamed of you, Roderick Drew!" said the girl, standing before +him in mock displeasure. "You and Wabi were the stupidest things I +ever saw at dinner! Have you all forgotten your promise to me?--your +promise that I should go with you on your next trip? I wanted you to +speak about it right there at dinner!" + +"But I--I--couldn't!" stammered Rod awkwardly. + +"But I'm going!" said Minnetaki decisively. "I'm going with you boys +on this next trip--if I have to run away! It's not fair for Wabi and +Mukoki and you to leave me alone all of the time. And, besides, I've +been making all the arrangements while you were gone. I've won over +mamma and your mother, and Maballa, mamma's Indian woman, will go with +me. There's just one who says--'No!'" And Minnetaki clasped her hands +pathetically. + +"And that's papa," completed Rod, laughing. + +"Yes." + +"Well, if he is the only one against us we stand a good chance of +winning." + +"I'm going to have mamma and Wabigoon get him by themselves to-night," +said the girl. "Papa will do anything on earth for her, and he thinks +Wabi is the best boy on earth. Mamma says she will lock the door and +won't let him out until he has given his promise. Oh, what a glorious +time we'll have!" + +"Perhaps he would go with us," suggested Rod. + +"No, he couldn't leave the Post. If he went Wabi would have to stay." + +Rod was counting on his fingers. + +"That means six in our next expedition,--Wabi, Mukoki, John Ball and +myself, and you and Maballa. Why, it'll be a regular picnic party!" + +Minnetaki's eyes were brimming with fun. + +"Do you know," she said, "that Maballa thinks Mukoki is just about the +nicest Indian that ever lived? Oh, I'd be so glad if--if--" + +She puckered her mouth into a round, red O, and left Rod to guess the +rest. It was not difficult for him to understand. + +"So would I," he cried. Then he added, + +"Muky is the best fellow on earth." + +"And Maballa is just as good," said the girl loyally. + +The boy held out his hand. + +"Let's shake on that, Minnetaki! I'll handle Mukoki, you take care of +Maballa. What a picnic this next trip will be!" + +"And there'll be lots and lots of adventures, won't there?" asked the +girl a little anxiously. + +"Plenty of them." Rod became immediately serious. "This will be the +most important of all our trips, Minnetaki, that is, if John Ball +lives. I haven't told the others, but I believe that great cavern +holds something for us besides gold!" + +The smile left the girl's face. Her eyes were soft and eager. + +"You believe that--Dolores--" + +"I don't know what to believe. But--we'll find something there!" + +For an hour Rod and Minnetaki talked of John Ball and of the strange +things he said in his delirium. Then the girl rejoined Mrs. Drew and +the princess mother, while Rod went in search of Mukoki and Wabigoon. +That night the big event happened. George Newsome, the factor, gave +a reluctant consent which meant that Wabi's sister and Maballa would +accompany the adventurers on their next journey into the untraveled +solitudes of Hudson Bay. + +For a week John Ball hovered between life and death. After that his +improvement was slow but sure, and each day added strength to his +emaciated body and a new light to his eyes. At the end of the second +week there was no question but that he was slowly returning to sanity. +Gradually he came to know those who sat beside his bed, and whenever +Rod visited him he insisted on holding the youth's hand. At first the +sight of Minnetaki or her mother, or of Mrs. Drew, had a startling +effect on him and in their presence he would moan ceaselessly the name +Rod first heard in the cavern. A little at a time the language of +those about him came back to the old man, and bit by bit those who +waited and listened and watched learned the story of John Ball. +Midsummer came before he could gather the scattered threads of his +life in his memory, and even then there were breaks in this story +which seemed but trivial things to John Ball, but which to the others +meant the passing of forgotten years. + +In fact, years played but a small part in the strange story that fell +from the old man's lips. "In time," said the Post physician, "he will +remember everything. Now only the most important happenings in his +life have returned to him." + +John Ball could not remember the date when, as a young boy, he +left York Factory, on Hudson Bay, to come a thousand miles down to +civilization in company with the two Frenchmen who killed themselves +in the old cabin. But the slip of paper which Rod had discovered +filled that gap. He was the son of the factor at York Factory, and was +to spend a year at school in Montreal. On their trip down it was the +boy who found gold in the chasm. John Ball could remember none of the +details. He only knew that they remained to gather the treasure, and +that he, as its discoverer and the son of one of the lords of the +Hudson Bay Company, was to receive twice the share of the others, and +that in the autumn they were to return to York Factory instead of +going on to Montreal. He remembered indistinctly a quarrel over the +gold, and after that of writing some sort of agreement, and then, +early one morning, he awoke to find the two Frenchmen standing over +him, and after that, for a long time, everything seemed to pass as in +a dream. + +When he awoke into life he was no longer in the chasm, but among a +strange people who were so small that they reached barely to his +shoulders, and who dressed in fur, and carried spears, and though the +sick man said no more about these people those who listened to him +knew that he had wandered far north among the Eskimos. They treated +him kindly, and he lived among them for a long time, hunting and +fishing with them, and sleeping in houses built of ice and snow. + +The next that John Ball remembered was of white people. In some way +he returned to York Factory, and he knew that when this happened many +years had passed, for his father and mother were dead, and there were +strangers at the Post. At this time John Ball must have returned +fully to his reason again. He remembered, faintly, leading several +unsuccessful expeditions in search of the gold which he and the +Frenchmen had discovered, and that once he went to a great city, which +must have been Montreal, and that he stayed there a long time doing +something for the Hudson Bay Company, and met a girl whom he married. +When he spoke of the girl John Ball's eyes would glow feverishly and +her name would fall from him in a moaning sob. For as yet returning +reason had not placed the hand of age upon him. It was as if he was +awakening from a deep sleep, and Dolores, his young wife, had been +with him but a few hours before. + +There came another break in John Ball's life after this. He could not +remember how, long they lived in Montreal, but he knew that after a +time he returned with his wife into the far North, and that they were +very happy, and one summer set off in a canoe to search for the lost +chasm together. They found it. How or when he could not remember. +After this John Ball's story was filled with wild visions of a great +black world where there was neither sun nor moon nor stars, and they +found gold and dug it by the light of fires. And one day the woman +went a little way back in this world and never came back. + +It was then that the old madness returned. In his search for his lost +wife John Ball never found the end of the great cavern. He saw strange +people, he fought great beasts in this black world that were larger +than the biggest moose in the forests, and he told of rushing torrents +and thundering cataracts in the bowels of the earth. Even in his +returning sanity the old man told these things as true. + +George Newsome, the factor, lost no time in writing to the Company at +Montreal, inquiring about John Ball, and a month later he received +word that a man by that name had worked as an inspector of raw furs +during the years 1877 and 1878. He had left Montreal for the North +thirty years before. In all probability he soon after went in search +of the lost gold, and for more than a quarter of a century had lived +as a wild man in the solitudes. + +It was at this time in the convalescence of the doctor's patient that +Roderick's mother made a suggestion which took the Post by storm. +It was that the factor and his family accompany her and Rod back to +civilization for a few weeks' visit. To the astonishment of all, and +especially to Minnetaki and the princess mother, the factor fell in +heartily with the scheme, with the stipulation that the Drews return +with them early in the autumn. An agent from the head office of the +Company had come up for a month's fishing and he cheerfully expressed +his willingness to take charge of affairs at the Post during their +absence. + +The happiness of Rod and Wabi was complete when Mukoki was compelled +to give his promise to go with them. For several days the old warrior +withstood their combined assaults, but at last he surrendered when +Minnetaki put her arms around his neck and nestled her soft cheek +against his leathery face, with the avowal that she would not move a +step unless he went with her. + +So it happened, one beautiful summer morning, that three big canoes +put out into the lake from Wabinosh House and headed into the +South, and only Mukoki, of all the seven who were going down into +civilization, felt something that was not joy as the forests slipped +behind them. For Mukoki was to get a glimpse of a new world, a world +far from the land of his fathers, and the loyal heart inside his +caribou-skin coat quickened its pulse a little as he thought of the +wonderful journey. + +Thus began the journey to civilization. + + + + +THE END + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Gold Hunters, by James Oliver Curwood + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLD HUNTERS *** + +***** This file should be named 11668-8.txt or 11668-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.net/1/1/6/6/11668/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Björn Lijnema and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net + + +Title: The Gold Hunters + A Story of Life and Adventure in the Hudson Bay Wilds + +Author: James Oliver Curwood + +Release Date: March 22, 2004 [EBook #11668] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLD HUNTERS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Bjoern Lijnema and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +[Illustration: The canoe sped out into the gloom.] + + +THE GOLD HUNTERS + +A Story of Life and Adventure in the Hudson Bay Wilds + +BY +JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD + +1909 + + +To the sweet-voiced, dark-eyed little half-Cree maiden +at Lac-Bain, who is the Minnetaki of this story; and to "Teddy" Brown, +guide and trapper, and loyal comrade of the author in many of his +adventures, this book is affectionately dedicated. + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +THE PURSUIT OF THE HUDSON BAY MAIL + +The deep hush of noon hovered over the vast solitude of Canadian +forest. The moose and caribou had fed since early dawn, and were +resting quietly in the warmth of the February sun; the lynx was curled +away in his niche between the great rocks, waiting for the sun to +sink farther into the north and west before resuming his marauding +adventures; the fox was taking his midday slumber and the restless +moose-birds were fluffing themselves lazily in the warm glow that was +beginning to melt the snows of late winter. + +It was that hour when the old hunter on the trail takes off his pack, +silently gathers wood for a fire, eats his dinner and smokes his pipe, +eyes and ears alert;--that hour when if you speak above a whisper, he +will say to you, + +"Sh-h-h-h! Be quiet! You can't tell how near we are to game. +Everything has had its morning feed and is lying low. The game won't +be moving again for an hour or two, and there may be moose or caribou +a gunshot ahead. We couldn't hear them--now!" + +And yet, after a time one thing detached itself from this lifeless +solitude. At first it was nothing more than a spot on the sunny side +of a snow-covered ridge. Then it moved, stretched itself like a dog, +with its forefeet extended far to the front and its shoulders hunched +low--and was a wolf. + +A wolf is a heavy sleeper after a feast. A hunter would have said that +this wolf had gorged itself the night before. Still, something had +alarmed it. Faintly there came to this wilderness outlaw that most +thrilling of all things to the denizens of the forest--the scent of +man. He came down the ridge with the slow indifference of a full-fed +animal, and with only a half of his old cunning; trotted across the +softening snow of an opening and stopped where the man-scent was so +strong that he lifted his head straight up to the sky and sent out to +his comrades in forest and plain the warning signal that he had struck +a human trail. A wolf will do this, and no more, in broad day. At +night he might follow, and others would join him in the chase; but +with daylight about him he gives the warning and after a little slinks +away from the trail. + +But something held this wolf. There was a mystery in the air which +puzzled him. Straight ahead there ran the broad, smooth trail of a +sled and the footprints of many dogs. Sometime within the last hour +the "dog mail" from Wabinosh House had passed that way on its long +trip to civilization. But it was not the swift passage of man and +dog that held the wolf rigidly alert, ready for flight--and yet +hesitating. It was something from the opposite direction, from the +North, out of which the wind was coming. First it was sound; then it +was scent--then both, and the wolf sped in swift flight up the sunlit +ridge. + +In the direction from which the alarm came there stretched a small +lake, and on its farther edge, a quarter of a mile away, there +suddenly darted out from the dense rim of balsam forest a jumble of +dogs and sledge and man. For a few moments the mass of animals seemed +entangled in some kind of wreck or engaged in one of those fierce +battles in which the half-wild sledge-dogs of the North frequently +engage, even on the trail. Then there came the sharp, commanding cries +of a human voice, the cracking of a whip, the yelping of the +huskies, and the disordered team straightened itself and came like a +yellowish-gray streak across the smooth surface of the lake. Close +beside the sledge ran the man. He was tall, and thin, and even at that +distance one would have recognized him as an Indian. Hardly had the +team and its wild-looking driver progressed a quarter of the distance +across the lake when there came a shout farther back, and a second +sledge burst into view from out of the thick forest. Beside this +sledge, too, a driver was running with desperate speed. + +The leader now leaped upon his sledge, his voice rising in sharp cries +of exhortation, his whip whirling and cracking over the backs of his +dogs. The second driver still ran, and thus gained upon the team +ahead, so that when they came to the opposite side of the lake, where +the wolf had sent out the warning cry to his people, the twelve dogs +of the two teams were almost abreast. + +Quickly there came a slackening in the pace set by the leading dog of +each team, and half a minute later the sledges stopped. The dogs flung +themselves down in their harness, panting, with gaping jaws, the snow +reddening under their bleeding feet. The men, too, showed signs of +terrible strain. The elder of these, as we have said, was an Indian, +pure breed of the great Northern wilderness. His companion was a youth +who had not yet reached his twenties, slender, but with the strength +and agility of an animal in his limbs, his handsome face bronzed by +the free life of the forest, and in his veins a plentiful strain of +that blood which made his comrade kin. + +In those two we have again met our old friends Mukoki and Wabigoon: +Mukoki, the faithful old warrior and pathfinder, and Wabigoon, the +adventurous half-Indian son of the factor of Wabinosh House. Both +were at the height of some great excitement. For a few moments, while +gaining breath, they gazed silently into each other's face. + +"I'm afraid--we can't--catch them, Muky," panted the younger. "What do +you think--" + +He stopped, for Mukoki had thrown himself on his knees in the snow a +dozen feet in front of the teams. From that point there ran straight +ahead of them the trail of the dog mail. For perhaps a full minute he +examined the imprints of the dogs' feet and the smooth path made +by the sledge. Then he looked up, and with one of those inimitable +chuckles which meant so much when coming from him, he said: + +"We catch heem--sure! See--sledge heem go _deep_. Both ride. Big load +for dogs. We catch heem--sure!" + +"But our dogs!" persisted Wabigoon, his face still filled with doubt. +"They're completely bushed, and my leader has gone lame. See how +they're bleeding!" + +The huskies, as the big wolfish sledge-dogs of the far North are +called, were indeed in a pitiable condition. The warm sun had weakened +the hard crust of the snow until at every leap the feet of the animals +had broken through, tearing and wounding themselves on its ragged, +knife-like edges. Mukoki's face became more serious as he carefully +examined the teams. + +"Bad--ver' bad," he grunted. "We fool--fool!" + +"For not bringing dog shoes?" said Wabigoon. "I've got a dozen shoes +on my sledge--enough for three dogs. By George--" He leaped quickly to +his toboggan, caught up the dog moccasins, and turned again to the old +Indian, alive with new excitement. "We've got just one chance, Muky!" +he half shouted. + +"Pick out the strongest dogs. One of us must go on alone!" + +The sharp commands of the two adventurers and the cracking of Mukoki's +whip brought the tired and bleeding animals to their feet. Over the +pads of three of the largest and strongest were drawn the buckskin +moccasins, and to these three, hitched to Wabigoon's sledge, were +added six others that appeared to have a little endurance still left +in them. A few moments later the long line of dogs was speeding +swiftly over the trail of the Hudson Bay mail, and beside the sled ran +Wabigoon. + +Thus this thrilling pursuit of the dog mail had continued since early +dawn. For never more than a minute or two at a time had there been a +rest. Over mountain and lake, through dense forest and across barren +plain man and dog had sped without food or drink, snatching up +mouthfuls of snow here and there--always their eyes upon the fresh +trail of the flying mail. Even the fierce huskies seemed to understand +that the chase had become a matter of life and death, and that they +were to follow the trail ahead of them, ceaselessly and without +deviation, until the end of their masters was accomplished. The human +scent was becoming stronger and stronger in their wolf-like nostrils. +Somewhere on that trail there were men, and other dogs, and they were +to overtake them! + +Even now, bleeding and stumbling as they ran, the blood of battle, the +excitement of the chase, was hot within them. Half-wolf, half-dog, +their white fangs snarling as stronger whiffs of the man-smell came to +them, they were filled with the savage desperation of the youth who +urged them on. The keen instinct of the wild pointed out their road to +them, and they needed no guiding hand. Faithful until the last they +dragged on their burden, their tongues lolling farther from their +jaws, their hearts growing weaker, their eyes bloodshot until they +glowed like red balls. Now and then, when he had run until his +endurance was gone, Wabigoon would fling himself upon the sledge to +regain breath and rest his limbs, and the dogs would tug harder, +scarce slackening their speed under the increased weight. Once a huge +moose crashed through the forest a hundred paces away, but the huskies +paid no attention to it; a little farther on a lynx, aroused from +his sun bath on a rock, rolled like a great gray ball across the +trail,--the dogs cringed but for an instant at the sight of this +mortal enemy of theirs, and then went on. + +Slower and slower grew the pace. The rearmost dog was now no more than +a drag, and reaching a keen-edged knife far out over the end of the +sledge Wabi severed his breast strap and the exhausted animal rolled +out free beside the trail. Two others of the team were pulling scarce +a pound, another was running lame, and the trail behind was spotted +with pads of blood. Each minute added to the despair that was growing +in the youth's face. His eyes, like those of his faithful dogs, were +red from the terrible strain of the race, his lips were parted, his +legs, as tireless as those of a red deer, were weakening under him. +More and more frequently he flung himself upon the sledge, panting +for breath, and shorter and shorter became his intervals of running +between these periods of rest. The end of the chase was almost at +hand. They could not overtake the Hudson Bay mail! + +With a final cry of encouragement Wabi sprang from the sledge and +plunged along at the head of the dogs, urging them on in one last +supreme effort. Ahead of them was a break in the forest trail and +beyond that, mile upon mile, stretched the vast white surface of Lake +Nipigon. And far out in the glare of sun and snow there moved an +object, something that was no more than a thin black streak to +Wabi's blinded eyes but which he knew was the dog mail on its way to +civilization. He tried to shout, but the sound that fell from his lips +could not have been heard a hundred paces away; his limbs tottered +beneath him; his feet seemed suddenly to turn into lead, and he sank +helpless into the snow. The faithful pack crowded about him licking +his face and hands, their hot breath escaping between their gaping +jaws like hissing steam For a few moments it seemed to the Indian +youth that day had suddenly turned into night. His eyes closed, the +panting of the dogs came to him more and more faintly, as if they were +moving away; he felt himself sinking, sinking slowly down into utter +blackness. + +Desperately he fought to bring himself back into life. There was one +more chance--just one! He heard the dogs again, he felt their tongues +upon his hands and face, and he dragged himself to his knees, groping +out with his hands like one who had gone blind. A few feet away was +the sledge, and out there, far beyond his vision now, was the Hudson +Bay mail! + +Foot by foot he drew himself out from among the tangle of dogs. He +reached the sledge, and his fingers gripped convulsively at the cold +steel of his rifle. One more chance! One more chance! The words--the +thought--filled his brain, and he raised the rifle to his shoulder, +pointing its muzzle up to the sky so that he would not harm the dogs. +And then, once, twice, five times he fired into the air, and at the +end of the fifth shot he drew fresh cartridges from his belt, +and fired again and again, until the black streak far out in the +wilderness of ice and snow stopped in its progress--and turned back. +And still the sharp signals rang out again and again, until the barrel +of Wabi's rifle grew hot, and his cartridge belt was empty. + +Slowly the gloom cleared away before his eyes. He heard a shout, and +staggered to his feet, stretching out his arms and calling a name as +the dog mail stopped half a hundred yards from his own team. + +With something between a yell of joy and a cry of astonishment a youth +of about Wabi's age sprang from the second sleigh and ran to the +Indian boy, catching him in his arms as for a second time, he sank +fainting upon the snow. + +"Wabi--what's the matter?" he cried. "Are you hurt? Are you--" + +For a moment Wabigoon struggled to overcome his weakness. + +"Rod--" he whispered, "Rod--Minnetaki--" + +His lips ceased to move and he sank heavily in his companion's arms. + +"What is it, Wabi? Quick! Speak!" urged the other. His face had grown +strangely white, his voice trembled. "What about--Minnetaki?" + +Again the Indian youth fought to bring himself back to life. His words +came faintly, + +"Minnetaki--has been captured--by--the--Woongas!" + +Then even his breath seemed to stop, and he lay like one dead. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +MINNETAKI IN THE HANDS OF THE OUTLAWS + +For a brief time Roderick believed that life had indeed passed from +the body of his young friend. So still did Wabi lie and so terrifying +was the strange pallor in his face that the white boy found himself +calling on his comrade in a voice filled with choking sobs. The driver +of the dog mail dropped on his knees beside the two young hunters. +Running his hand under Wabi's thick shirt he held it there for an +instant, and said, "He's alive!" + +Quickly drawing a small metal flask from one of his pockets he +unscrewed the top, and placing the mouthpiece to the Indian youth's +lips forced a bit of its contents down his throat. The liquor had +almost immediate effect, and Wabigoon opened his eyes, gazed into the +rough visage of the courier, then closed them again. There was relief +in the courier's face as he pointed to the dogs from Wabinosh House. +The exhausted animals were lying stretched upon the snow, their heads +drooping between their forefeet. Even the presence of a rival team +failed to arouse them from their lethargy. One might have thought that +death had overtaken them upon the trail were it not for their panting +sides and lolling tongues. + +"He's not hurt!" exclaimed the driver, "see the dogs! He's been +running--running until he dropped in his tracks!" + +The assurance brought but little comfort to Rod. He could feel the +tremble of returning life in Wabi's body now, but the sight of the +exhausted and bleeding dogs and the memory of his comrade's last words +had filled him with a new and terrible fear. What had happened to +Minnetaki? Why had the factor's son come all this distance for him? +Why had he pursued the mail until his dogs were nearly dead, and he +himself had fallen unconscious in his tracks? Was Minnetaki dead? Had +the Woongas killed Wabi's beautiful little sister? + +Again and again he implored his friend to speak to him, until the +courier pushed him back and carried Wabi to the mail sled. + +"Hustle up there to that bunch of spruce and build a fire," he +commanded. "We've got to get something hot into him, and rub him down, +and roll him in furs. This is bad enough, bad enough!" + +Rod waited to hear no more, but ran to the clump of spruce to which +the courier had directed him. Among them he found a number of birch +trees, and stripping off an armful of bark he had a fire blazing upon +the snow by the time the dog mail drew up with its unconscious burden. +While the driver was loosening Wabi's clothes and bundling him in +heavy bearskins Rod added dry limbs to the fire until it threw a warm +glow for a dozen paces around. Within a few minutes a pot of ice and +snow was melting over the flames and the courier was opening a can of +condensed soup. + +The deathly pallor had gone from Wabi's face, and Rod, kneeling close +beside him, was rejoiced to see the breath coming more and more +regularly from between his lips. But even as he rejoiced the other +fear grew heavier at his heart. What had happened to Minnetaki? He +found himself repeating the question again and again as he watched +Wabi slowly returning to life, and, so quickly that it had passed in a +minute or two, there flashed through his mind a vision of all that had +happened the last few months. For a few moments, as his mind traveled +back, he was again in Detroit with his widowed mother; he thought of +the day he had first met Wabigoon, the son of an English factor and a +beautiful Indian princess, who had come far down into civilization to +be educated; of the friendship that had followed, of their weeks and +months together in school, and then of those joyous days and nights in +which they had planned a winter of thrilling adventure at Wabi's home +in the far North. + +And what adventures there had been, when, as the Wolf Hunters, he and +Wabi and Mukoki had braved the perils of the frozen solitudes! As +Wabigoon's breath came more and more regularly he thought of that +wonderful canoe trip from the last bit of civilization up into the +wilds; of his first sight of moose, the first bear he had killed, and +of his meeting with Minnetaki. + +His eyes became blurred and his heart grew cold as he thought of what +might have happened to her. A vision of the girl swept between him and +Wabi's face, in which the glow of life was growing warmer and warmer, +a vision of the little half-Indian maiden as he had first seen her, +when she came out to meet them in her canoe from Wabinosh House, the +sun shining on her dark hair, her cheeks flushed with excitement, her +eyes and teeth sparkling in glad welcome to her beloved brother +and the white youth of whom she had heard so much--the boy from +civilization--Roderick Drew. He remembered how his cap had blown off +into the water, how she had rescued it for him. In a flash all that +passed after that came before him like a picture; the days that he and +Minnetaki had rambled together in the forest, the furious battle +in which, single-handed, he had saved her from those fierce outlaw +Indians of the North, the Woongas; and after that he thought of +the weeks of thrilling adventure they three--Mukoki, Wabigoon and +himself--had spent in the wilderness far from the Hudson Bay Post, of +their months of trapping, their desperate war with the Woongas, the +discovery of the century-old cabin and its ancient skeletons, and +their finding of the birch-bark map between the bones of one of the +skeleton's fingers, on which, dimmed by age, was drawn the trail to a +land of gold. + +Instinctively, as for an instant this map came into his mental +picture, he thrust a hand into one of his inside pockets to feel that +his own copy of that map was there, the map which was to have brought +him back into this wilderness a few weeks hence, when they three would +set out on the romantic quest for the gold to which the skeletons in +the old cabin had given them the key. + +The vision left him as he saw a convulsive shudder pass through +Wabigoon. In another moment the Indian youth had opened his eyes, and +as he looked up into Rod's eager face he smiled feebly. He tried to +speak, but words failed him, and his eyes closed again. There was a +look of terror in Roderick's face as he turned to the courier, who +came to his side. Less than twenty-four hours before he had left +Wabigoon in the full strength of his splendid youth at Wabinosh House, +a lithe young giant, hardened by their months of adventure, quivering +with buoyant life, anxious for the spring that they might meet again +to take up another trail into the unexplored North. + +And now what a change! The glimpse he had caught of Wabi's bloodshot +eyes, the terrible thinness of the Indian youth's face, the chilling +lifelessness of his hands, made him shiver with dread. Was it +possible that a few short hours could bring about that remarkable +transformation? And where was Mukoki, the faithful old warrior from +whose guardianship Wabigoon and Minnetaki were seldom allowed to +escape? + +It seemed an hour before Wabi opened his eyes again, and yet it was +only a few minutes. This time Rod lifted him gently in his arms and +the courier placed a cup of the hot soup to his lips. The warmth of +the liquid put new life into the famished Indian youth. He drank +slowly of it at first, then eagerly, and when he had finished the cup +he made an effort to sit up. + +"I'll take another," he said faintly. "It's mighty good!" + +He drank the second cup with even greater relish. Then he sat bolt +upright, stretched out his arms, and with his companion's assistance +staggered to his feet. His bloodshot eyes burned with a strange +excitement as he looked at Rod. + +"I was afraid--I wouldn't--catch you!" + +"What is it, Wabi? What has happened? You say--Minnetaki--" + +"Has been captured by the Woongas. Chief Woonga himself is her captor, +and they are taking her into the North. Rod, only you can save her!" + +"Only--I--can--save--her?" gasped Rod slowly. "What do you mean?" + +"Listen!" cried the Indian boy, clutching him by the arm. "You +remember that after our fight with the Woongas and our escape from the +chasm we fled to the south, and that the next day, while you were away +from camp hunting for some animal that would give us fat for Mukoki's +wound, you discovered a trail. You told us that you followed the +sledge tracks, and that after a time the party had been met by others +on snow-shoes, and that among the imprints in the snow was one that +made you think of Minnetaki. When we reached the Post we learned that +Minnetaki and two sledges had gone to Kenegami House and at once +concluded that those snow-shoe trails were made by Kenegami people +sent out to meet her. But they were not! They were made by Woongas! + +"One of the guides, who escaped with a severe wound, brought the news +to us last night, and the doctor at the Post says that his hurt is +fatal and that he will not live another day. Everything depends on +you. You and the dying guide are the only two who know where to find +the place where the attack was made. It has been thawing for two days +and the trail may be obliterated. But you saw Minnetaki's footprints. +You saw the snow-shoe trails. You--and you alone--know which way they +went!" + +Wabi spoke rapidly, excitedly, and then sank down on the sledge, +weakened by his exertion. + +"We have been chasing you with two teams since dawn," he added, "and +pretty nearly killed the dogs. As a last chance we doubled up the +teams and I came on alone. I left Mukoki a dozen miles back on the +trail." + +Rod's blood had turned cold with horror at the knowledge that +Minnetaki was in the clutches of Woonga himself. The terrible change +in Wabi was no longer a mystery. Both Minnetaki and her brother had +told him more than once of the relentless feud waged against Wabinosh +House by this bloodthirsty savage and during the last winter he had +come into personal contact with it. He had fought, had seen people +die, and had almost fallen a victim to Woonga's vengeance. + +But it was not of these things that he thought just now. It was of the +reason for the feud, and something rose in his throat and choked him +until he made no effort to speak. Many years before, George Newsome, a +young Englishman, had come to Wabinosh House, and there he had met +and fallen in love with a beautiful Indian princess, who loved him in +turn, and became his wife. Woonga, chief of a warlike tribe, had been +his rival, and when the white man won in the battle for love his +fierce heart blazed with the fire of hatred and revenge. From that day +the relentless strife against the people of Wabinosh House began. The +followers of Woonga turned from trappers and hunters to murderers and +outlaws, and became known all over that wilderness country as the +Woongas. For years the feud had continued. Like a hawk Woonga watched +his opportunities, killing here, robbing there, and always waiting a +chance to rob the factor of his wife or children. Only a few weeks +before Rod had saved Minnetaki in that terrible struggle in the +forest. And now, more hopelessly than before, she had fallen into the +clutches of her enemies, and alone with Woonga was being carried into +the far North country, into those vast unexplored regions from which +she would probably never return! + +Rod turned to Wabi, his hands clenched, his eyes blazing. + +"I can find the trail, Wabi! I can find the trail--and we'll follow +it to the North Pole if we have to! We beat the Woongas in the +chasm--we'll beat them now! We'll find Minnetaki if it takes us until +doomsday!" + +From far back in the forest there came the faint pistol-like cracks of +a whip, the distant hallooing of a voice. + +For a few moments the three stood listening. + +The voice came again. + +"It's Mukoki," said Wabigoon, "Mukoki and the other dogs!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +ON THE TRAIL OF THE WOONGAS + +The cries came nearer, interspersed with the cracking of Mukoki's whip +as he urged on the few lagging dogs that Wabi had left with him upon +the trail. In another moment the old warrior and his team burst into +view and both of the young hunters hurried to meet him. A glance +showed Rod that a little longer and Mukoki would have dropped in his +tracks, as Wabi had done. The two led their faithful comrade to the +heap of bearskins on the mail sled and made him sit there while fresh +soup was being made. + +"You catch heem," grinned Mukoki joyously. "You catch heem--queek!" + +"And pretty nearly killed himself doing it, Muky," added Rod. "Now--" +he glanced from one to the other of his companions, "what is the first +thing to be done?" "We must strike for the Woonga trail without a +moment of unnecessary delay," declared Wabi. "Minutes are priceless, +an hour lost or gained may mean everything!" + +"But the dogs--" + +"You can take mine," interrupted the courier. "There are six of them, +all good heavy fellows and not overly bushed. You can add a few of +your own and I'll take what's left to drive on the mail. I would +advise you to rest for an hour or so and give them and yourselves a +good feed. It'll count in the long run." + +Mukoki grunted his approval of the driver's words and Rod at once +began gathering more fuel for the fire. The temporary camp was soon +a scene of the liveliest activity. While the courier unpacked his +provisions, Mukoki and Wabigoon assembled the teams and proceeded to +select three of the best of their own animals to put in harness with +those of the Hudson Bay mail. The dogs from Wabinosh House were wildly +famished and at the sight and odor of the great piece of meat which +the courier began cutting up for them they set up a snarling and +snapping of jaws, and began fighting indiscriminately among themselves +until the voices of their human companions were almost drowned in the +tumult. A full pound of the meat was given to each dog, and other +pieces of it were suspended over beds of coals drawn out from the big +fire. Meanwhile Rod was chopping through the thick ice of the lake in +search of water. + +After a little Wabi came down to join him. + +"Our sledge is ready," he said, as Rod stopped to rest for a moment. +"We're a little short on grub for nine dogs and three people, but +we've got plenty of ammunition. We ought to find something on the +trail." + +"Rabbits, anyway," suggested Rod, resuming his chopping. A few more +strokes, and water gushed through. Filling two pails the boys returned +to camp. + +The shadows from the sharp pointed cedars of the forest were falling +far out upon the frozen lake when the meal was finished, and the sun, +sinking early to its rest beyond the homeless solitudes, infused but +little warmth as the three hunters prepared to leave. It was only +three o'clock, but a penetrating chill was growing in the air. Half +an hour more and only a reddish glow would be where the northern sun +still shone feebly. In the far North winter night falls with the +swiftness of wings; it enshrouds one like a palpable, moving thing, a +curtain of gloom that can almost be touched and felt, and so it came +now, as the dogs were hitched to their sledge and Rod, Mukoki and +Wabigoon bade good-by to the driver of the Hudson Bay mail. + +"You'll make the other side in four hours," he called, as Mukoki's +cries sent the dogs trotting out upon the lake. "And then--I'd camp!" + +Running on ahead Mukoki set the pace and marked the trail. Wabi took +the first turn on the sledge, and Rod, who was fresher than either of +his comrades, followed close behind. After a little he drew up beside +the young Indian and placed a hand on his shoulder as he ran. + +"We will reach our old camp--in the plain--to-morrow?" he questioned, +between breaths. + +"To-morrow," affirmed Wabi. "Mukoki will show us the shortest cut to +it. After that, after we reach the camp, everything will depend upon +you." + +Rod fell behind in the path made by the sledge, and saved his breath. +His mind was working as never before in his life. When they reached +the camp in which the wounded Mukoki had lain after their escape from +the Woongas, could he find the old trail where he had seen Minnetaki's +footprints? He was quite sure of himself, and yet he was conscious of +an indefinable something growing in him as he noticed more and more +what the sun had done that day. Was it nervousness, or fear? Surely he +could find the trail, even though it was almost obliterated! But he +wished that it had been Mukoki or Wabigoon who had discovered it, +either of whom, with the woodcraft instinct born in them, would have +gone to it as easily as a fox to the end of a strong trail hidden in +autumn leaves. If he did fail--He shuddered, even as he ran, as he +thought of the fate that awaited Minnetaki. A few hours before he had +been one of the happiest youths in the world. Wabi's lovely little +sister, he had believed, was safe at Kenegami House; he had bade adieu +to his friends at the Post; every minute after that had taken him +nearer to that far city in the South, to his mother, and home. And now +so suddenly that he had hardly come to realize the situation he was +plunged into what gave promise of being the most thrilling and tragic +adventure of his life. A few weeks more, when spring had come, he +would have returned to his friends accompanied by his mother, and they +three--Mukoki, Wabigoon and he--would have set out on their romantic +quest for the lost gold-mine that had been revealed to them by the +ancient skeletons in the old cabin. Even as these visions were glowing +in his brain there had come the interruption, the signal shots on the +lake, the return of the dog mail, and now this race to save the life +of Minnetaki! + +In his eagerness he ran ahead of the sledge and urged Mukoki into a +faster pace. Every ten minutes the one who rode exchanged place with +one of the runners, so that there were intervals of rest for each two +times an hour. Quickly the red glow over the southwestern forests +faded away; the gloom grew thicker; far ahead, like an endless sheet +losing itself in a distant smother of blackness, stretched the ice and +snow of Lake Nipigon. There was no tree, no rock for guidance over +the trackless waste, yet never for an instant did Mukoki or Wabigoon +falter. The stars began burning brilliantly in the sky; far away the +red edge of the moon rose over this world of ice and snow and forest, +throbbing and palpitating like a bursting ball of fire, as one sees it +now and then in the glory of the great northern night. + +Tirelessly, mile after mile, hour after hour, broken only by the +short intervals of rest on the sledge, continued the race across Lake +Nipigon. The moon rose higher; the blood in it paled to the crimson +glow of the moose flower, and silvered as it climbed into the sky, +until the orb hung like a great golden-white disk. In the splendor of +it the solitude of ice and snow glistened without end. There was no +sound but the slipping of the sledge, the pattering of the dogs' +moccasined feet, and now and then a few breathless words spoken by Rod +or his companions. It was a little after eight o'clock by Rod's watch +when there came a change in the appearance of the lake ahead of them. +Wabi, who was on the sledge, was the first to notice it, and he +shouted back his discovery to the white youth. + +"The forest! We're across!" + +The tired dogs seemed to leap into new life at his words, and the +leader replied with a whining joyous cry as the odors of balsam and +fir came to him. The sharp pinnacles of the forest, reaching up into +the night's white glow, grew more and more distinct as the sledge sped +on, and five minutes later the team drew up in a huddled, panting +bunch on the shore. That day the men and dogs from Wabinosh House had +traveled sixty miles. + +"We'll camp here!" declared Wabi, as he dropped on the sledge. "We'll +camp here--unless you leave me behind!" + +Mukoki, tireless to the last, had already found an ax. + +"No rest now," he warned, "Too tired! You rest now--build no camp. +Build camp--then rest!" + +"You're right, Muky," cried Wabi, jumping to his feet with forced +enthusiasm. "If I sit down for five minutes I'll fall asleep. Rod, you +build a fire. Muky and I will make the shelter." + +In less than half an hour the balsam bough shelter was complete, and +in front of it roared a fire that sent its light and heat for twenty +paces round. From farther back in the forest the three dragged several +small logs, and no sooner had they been added to the flames than both +Mukoki and Wabigoon wrapped themselves in their furs and burrowed deep +into the sweet-scented balsam under the shelter. Rod's experience that +day had not been filled with the terrible hardships of his companions, +and for some time after they had fallen asleep he sat close to the +fire, thinking again of the strangeness with which his fortunes had +changed, and watching the flickering firelight as it played in a +thousand fanciful figures in the deeper and denser gloom of the +forest. The dogs had crept in close to the blazing logs and lay as +still as though life no longer animated their tawny bodies. From far +away there came the lonely howl of a wolf; a great white man-owl +fluttered close to the camp and chortled his crazy, half-human "hello, +hello, hello;" the trees cracked with the tightening frost, but +neither wolf howl nor frost nor the ghostly visitant's insane voice +aroused those who were sleeping. + +An hour passed and still Rod sat by the fire; his rifle lying across +his knees. His imagination had painted a thousand pictures in that +time. Never for an instant had his mind ceased to work. Somewhere in +that great wilderness there was another camp-fire that night, and in +that camp Minnetaki was a captive. Some indefinable sensation seemed +to creep into him, telling him that she was awake, and that she was +thinking of her friends. Was it a touch of sleep, or that wonderful +thing called mental telepathy, that wrought the next picture in his +brain? It came with startling vividness. He saw the girl beside a +fire. Her beautiful hair, glistening black in the firelight, hung in a +heavy braid over her shoulder; her eyes were staring wildly into the +flames, as if she were about to leap into them, and back of her so +close that he might have touched her, was a figure that sent a chill +of horror through him. It was Woonga, the outlaw chief! He was +talking, his red face was fiendish, he stretched out a hand! + +With a cry that startled the dogs Rod sprang to his feet. He was +shivering as if in a chill. Had he dreamed? Or was it something more +than a dream? He thought of the vision that had come to him weeks +before in the mysterious chasm, the vision of the dancing skeletons, +and which had revealed the secret of the old cabin and the lost gold. +In vain he tried to shake off his nervousness and his fear. Why had +Woonga reached out his hands for Minnetaki? He worked to free himself +of the weight that had fallen on him, stirred the fire until clouds of +sparks shot high up into the gloom of the trees, and added new fuel. + +Then he sat down again, and for the twentieth time since leaving +Wabinosh House drew from his pocket the map that was to have led them +on their search for gold when he returned with his mother. It was a +vision that had guided him to the discovery of this precious map, and +the knowledge of it made him more uneasy now. A few moments before he +had seen Minnetaki as plainly as though she had been with him there +beside the fire; he fancied that he might almost have sent a bullet +through the Indian's chief face as he reached out his long arms toward +the girl. + +He stirred the fire again, awakened one of the dogs to keep him +company, and then went in to lie down between Mukoki and Wabigoon in +an attempt at slumber. During the hours that followed he secured only +short snatches of sleep. He dreamed, dreamed constantly of Minnetaki +whenever he lost consciousness. Now he saw her before the fire, as he +had seen her in his vision; again, she was struggling in the Woonga's +powerful grasp. At one time the strife between the two--the young girl +and the powerful savage--became terrible for him to behold, and at +last he saw the Indian catch her in his arms and disappear into the +blackness of the forest. + +This time when he wakened Rod made no further effort to sleep. It was +only a little past midnight. His companions had obtained four hours of +rest. In another hour he would arouse them. Quietly he began making +preparations for breakfast, and fed the dogs. At half-past one o'clock +he shook Wabigoon by the shoulder. + +"Get up!" he cried, as the Indian youth sat erect. "It's time to go!" + +He tried to suppress his nervousness when Mukoki and Wabi joined him +beside the fire. He determined not to let them know of his visions, +for there was gloom enough among them as it was. But he would hurry. +He was the first to get through with breakfast, the first to set to +work among the dogs, and when Mukoki started out at the head of the +team through the forest he was close beside him, urging him to greater +speed by his own endeavors. + +"How far are we from the camp, Mukoki?" he asked. + +"Four hour--twent' mile," replied the old pathfinder. + +"Twenty miles. We ought to make it by dawn." + +Mukoki made no answer, but quickened his pace as the cedar and balsam +forest gave place to an open plain which stretched for a mile or two +ahead of them. For an hour longer the moon continued to light up the +wilderness; then, with its descent lower and lower into the west, the +gloom began to thicken, until only the stars were left to guide the +pursuers. Even these were beginning to fade when Mukoki halted the +panting team on the summit of a mountainous ridge, and pointed into +the north. + +"The plains!" + +For several minutes the three stood silent, gazing out into the gloom +of the vast solitudes that swept unbroken to Hudson Bay. Again Rod's +blood was thrilled with the romance of what lay at his feet and far +beyond, thrilled with the romance and mystery of that land of the wild +which reached for hundreds of miles into the North, and into which the +foot of the white man had as yet scarce left its imprint. + +Before him, enveloped now in the deep gloom of the northern night, +slept a vast unexplored world, a land whose story the passing of +ages had left unrevealed. What tragedies of nature had its silent +fastnesses beheld? What treasure did they hold? Half a century or more +ago the men whose skeletons they had found in the old cabin had braved +the perils of those trackless solitudes, and somewhere hundreds of +miles out in that black gloom they had found gold, the gold that +had fallen as an inheritance to them in the discovery of the old +birch-bark map. And somewhere, somewhere out there was Minnetaki! + +Across the plain at their feet the three adventurers had raced for +their lives from the bloodthirsty Woongas only a week or so before; +now they crossed it a second time and at even greater speed, for then +they had possessed no dogs. At the end of another hour Mukoki no +longer traveled faster than a walk. His eyes were constantly on the +alert. Occasionally he would stop the dogs and strike off to the right +or the left of the trail alone. He spoke no word to his companions, +and neither Rod nor Wabigoon offered a suggestion. They knew, without +questioning, that they were approaching their old camp, and just as +the experienced hunter makes no sign or sound while his dog is nosing +out a half-lost trail so they held back while Mukoki, the most famous +pathfinder in all those regions, led them slowly on. The last of the +stars went out. For a time the blackness of the night grew deeper; +then, in the southeast, came the first faint streak of dawn. Day is +born as suddenly as it dies in these regions, and it was soon light +enough for Mukoki to resume his trail at a trot. A few minutes more +and a clump of balsam and spruce loomed up out of the plain ahead of +them. Neither Rod nor Wahigoon recognized it until the old warrior +halted the dogs close in its shadows and they saw the look of triumph +in his face. + +"The camp!" breathed Wabi. + +"The camp!" + +Trembling, his voice quivering with suppressed excitement, the Indian +youth turned to Roderick Drew. + +"Rod--it's all up to you!" + +Mukoki, too, had come close to his side. + +"There--camp!" he whispered. "Now--where Minnetaki's trail?" + +The old warrior's eyes were blazing. + +"Where?" + +A dozen paces away was the balsam shelter they had built. But that was +all. Not a track was left in the snow. The warm sun had obliterated +every sign of their presence of a short time before! + +If their own trail was gone what could he hope to find of Minnetaki's +dainty foot-prints? + +Deep down in his heart Rod prayed for guidance in this moment of +terrible doubt. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +ROD FOLLOWS THE MAN-FOOTED BEAR + +"I must wait until it is lighter," he said. He tried to control +himself, to fortify himself with the assurance which he no longer +felt. + +"We will have breakfast," suggested Wabi. "We have cold meat and there +will be no need of a fire." + +Finishing before the others, Rod grasped his rifle and walked out from +among the trees. Wabi made a movement as if to follow, but Mukoki held +him back. There was a shrewd light in his eyes. + +"He do better--alone," he warned. + +The red glow of the sun was rising above the forest and Rod could now +see far about him. He had come out from the cedars, like this, on the +afternoon that he had gone to hunt and had found Minnetaki's trail. A +mile away he saw the snow-covered ridge where he had hunted for moose. +That ridge was his first guide, and he hurried toward it while Mukoki +and Wabigoon followed far behind him with the dogs and the sledge. +He was breathless when he reached the top. Eagerly he gazed into the +North. It was in that direction he had gone on the afternoon of his +discovery of the strange trail. But nothing that he recognized met his +eyes now, no familiar landmark or tree to guide him again over his +wandering footsteps of that day. Vainly he sought along the ridge for +some slight sign of his former presence there. But everything was +gone. The sun had destroyed his last hope. + +He was glad that Mukoki and Wabigoon were at the foot of the ridge, +for he knew that his despair almost brought tears to his eyes, +Minnetaki's fate was in his hands--and he had failed. He dreaded to +tell his companions, to let them see his face. For once in his life, +though he was as courageous a youth as ever lived, Roderick Drew +almost wished that he was dead. + +Suddenly, as in their hopeless search for some familiar object Rod's +eyes traveled again over the endless waste of snow, he saw, far away, +something that glittered in the morning sun like a pane of glass, and +from his lips there fell a low exultant cry. He remembered now that he +had seen that strange gleam before, that he had gone straight to it +from the ridge and had found it to be a sheet of crystal ice frozen +to the side of a rock from above which the water of a spring gushed +forth. Without waiting for his companions he hurried down the +ridge and sped like a deer across the narrow plain at its foot. A +five-minute run brought him to the rock, and for a moment he paused, +his heart almost choking him in its excitement. Just beyond this he +had first encountered the strange trail. There were no signs of it +left in the snow, but he saw other things which led him on: a huge +rock thrusting itself out of the chaos of white, a dead poplar which +stood in his path, and at last, half a mile ahead, the edge of a dense +forest. + +He turned and waved his arms wildly to Mukoki and Wabigoon, who were +far behind. Then he ran on, and when he reached the forest he waved +his arms again, and his joy was flung back in a thrilling shout to his +comrades. There was the log on which Minnetaki had been forced to sit +while awaiting the pleasure of her savage captors; he found the very +spot where her footprint had been in the snow, close to a protruding +stub! The outlaw Indians and their captives had rested here for a +brief spell, and had built a fire, and so many feet had beaten the +snow about it that their traces still remained. + +He pointed to these signs as Mukoki and Wabigoon joined him. + +For several minutes no one of the three spoke a word. Crouched over +until his eyes were within a foot of the snow the old pathfinder +examined every inch of the little clearing in which the Woongas had +built their fire, and when at last he drew himself erect his face +betrayed the utmost astonishment. + +The boys saw that in those faint marks in the snow he had discovered +something of unusual if not startling significance. + +"What is it, Muky?" asked the young Indian. + +Mukoki made no reply, but returning to the charred remains of the +fire he again fell upon his hands and knees and repeated his strange +scrutiny of the snow even more closely than before. When he arose a +second time the astonishment had grown deeper in his face. + +"Only six!" he exclaimed. "Two guides from Post--four Woongas!" + +"But the wounded driver told us that there were at least a dozen +Woongas in the attacking party," said Wabi. + +The old warrior chuckled, and for a moment his face twisted itself +into a ludicrous grimace. + +"Driver lie!" he declared. "He run when fight begin. Shot in back +while heem run!" + +He pointed into the cold depths of the forest. + +"No sun there! Follow trail easy!" + +There was no uneasiness in Mukoki's manner now. His eyes gleamed, but +it was with the fire of battle and resolution, not with excitement. +Once before Rod had seen that look in the old warrior's face, when +they two had fought to save Wabigoon's life as they were now about to +fight to save Minnetaki. And he knew what it meant. Cautiously they +penetrated the forest, their eyes and ears alert, and, as Mukoki had +predicted, the trail of the retreating savages was quite distinct. +They had taken both of the captured sledges, and Rod knew that on one +of these Minnetaki was being carried. Hardly had the three progressed +a hundred paces when Mukoki, who was in the lead, stopped short with +a huge grunt. Squarely across the trail lay the body of a dead man. A +glance at the upturned face showed that it was one of the two drivers +from Wabinosh House. + +"Head split," said Mukoki, as he led the team around the body. "Shot, +mebby--then killed with ax." + +The dogs sniffed and cringed as they passed the slain man, and Rod +shuddered. Involuntarily he thought of what might have happened to +Minnetaki, and he noticed that after passing this spectacle of death +Mukoki doubled his speed. For an hour the pursuit continued without +interruption. The Woongas were traveling in a narrow trail, single +file, with the two sledges between their number. At the end of that +hour the three came upon the remains of another camp-fire near which +were built two cedar-bough shelters. Here the tracks in the snow were +much fresher; in places they seemed to have been but lately made. +Still there were no evidences of the captured girl. The boys could see +that Mukoki himself had found no explanation for the sudden freshness +of the trail and for the absence of Minnetaki's footprints among the +tracks. Again and again the shrewd old pathfinder went over the camp. +Not a sign escaped his eyes, not a mark or a broken stick but that was +examined by him. Rod knew that Minnetaki's capture must have occurred +at least three days before, and yet the tracks about this camp were +not more than a day old, if they were that. What did it mean? + +The very mystery of the thing filled him with a nameless fear. Why had +not the outlaw Woongas continued their flight? Why this delay so near +the scene of their crime? He glanced at Wabi, but the Indian youth was +as bewildered as himself. In his eyes, too, there was the gleam of a +fear which he could not have named. + +Mukoki was beside the charred remains of the fire. He had buried his +hand deep among them, and when he rose be made a sign toward Rod's +watch. + +"Eight o'clock, Mukoki." + +"Woonga here las' night," declared the old Indian slowly. "Leave camp +four hour ago!" + +What did it mean? + +Had Minnetaki been hurt, so dangerously hurt that her captors had not +dared to move her? + +Rod asked himself no more questions. But he was trembling. And Mukoki +and Wabigoon went on with strange, unnatural faces and breathed not +the whisper of a word between them. The mystery was beyond them all. +But one thing they realized, whatever had happened they were close +upon the heels of the savages. And each step brought them nearer, +for with every mile the freshness of the trail increased. Then came +another great surprise. + +The trail divided! + +At the edge of a small opening the Indians had separated themselves +into two parties. The trail of one sledge led into the northeast, that +of the other into the northwest! + +With which sledge was Minnetaki? They looked at one another in +bewilderment. + +Mukoki pointed to the trail into the northeast. + +"We must fin' sign--sign of Minnetaki. You take that--I take this!" + +Rod started off at a dog trot over the easternmost trail. At the +farther side of the opening, where the sledge had plunged into a clump +of hazel, he suddenly stopped, and for a second time that morning +a thrilling cry escaped his lips. On a projecting thorny twig, +glistening full in the sun, there fluttered a long, silken strand of +hair. He reached out for it, but Wabi caught his hand, and in another +moment Mukoki had joined them. Gently he took the raven tress between +his fingers, his deep-set eyes glaring like red coals of fire. It was +a strand of Minnetaki's beautiful hair, not for a moment did one of +them doubt that; but what held them most, what increased the horror in +their eyes, was the quantity of it! Suddenly Mukoki gave it a gentle +pull and the tress slipped free of the twig. + +In the next breath he uttered the only expression of supreme disgust +in his vocabulary a long-drawn, hissing sound which he used only in +those moments when his command of English was entirely inadequate to +the situation. + +"Minnetaki on other sledge!" + +He showed the end of the strand to his young companions. + +"See--hair been cut! No pulled out by, twig. Woonga hang heem +there--make us think wrong." + +He waited for no reply, but darted back to the other trail, with Wabi +and Rod close behind him. A quarter of a mile farther on the old +pathfinder paused and pointed in exultant silence at a tiny footprint +close beside the path of the sledge. At almost regular intervals now +there appeared this sign of Minnetaki's moccasin. Her two guards were +running ahead of the sledge, and it was apparent to the pursuers that +Wabi's sister was taking advantage of her opportunities to leave these +signs behind for those whom she knew would make an attempt at her +rescue. And yet, as they left farther and farther behind them the +trail which ran into the northeast, an inexplicable feeling of +uneasiness began to steal over Rod. What if Mukoki had made a mistake? +His confidence in the old warrior's judgment and sagacity was usually +absolute, but it occurred to him, like an ugly humor to stir up his +fears, that if the Woongas could cut off a bit of the girl's hair they +could also take off one of her shoes! Several times he was on the +point of giving audible voice to his suspicions but refrained from +doing so when he saw the assurance with which both Wabi and Mukoki +followed the trail. + +Finally he could hold himself no longer. + +"Wabi, I'm going back," he cried softly, forging alongside his +companion. "I'm going back and follow the other trail. If I don't find +anything in a mile or so I'll return on the double-quick and overtake +you!" + +Wabi's efforts to dissuade him were futile, and a few minutes later +Rod was again at the clearing. What presentiment was it that caused +his heart to beat faster and his breath to come in tense excitement as +he stole through the bushes where they had found the silken tress of +hair? What something was it, away down in his soul, that kept urging +him on and on, even after he had gone a mile, and then two miles, in +fruitless search? Rod could not have answered these questions had he +stopped to ask them of himself. He was not superstitious. He did not +believe in dreams. And yet each moment, without apparent reason added +to his conviction that Mukoki had made a mistake, and that Minnetaki +was on the sledge ahead of him. + +The country into which he was penetrating grew wilder. Rocky ridges +rose before him, split by rifts and gullies through which the water +must have rushed in torrents in the spring. He listened, and proceeded +more cautiously; and through his mind there flashed a memory of his +thrilling exploration of the mysterious chasm of a few weeks before, +when, in his lonely night camp, he had dreamed of the skeletons. He +was thinking of this when he came around the end of a huge rock which +lay as big as a house in his path. Upon the snow, almost at his feet, +was a sight that froze the blood in his veins. For the second time +that day he gazed upon the distorted features of a dead man. Squarely +across the trail, as the other had lain, was the body of an Indian, +his arms outstretched, his twisted face turned straight up to the +clear sky, the snow about his head glistening a sickening red in the +sun. For a full minute Rod gazed in silent horror on the scene. There +was no sign of a struggle, there were no footprints in the snow. The +man had been killed while upon the sledge, and the only mark he had +made was when he had fallen off. + +Who had killed him? + +Had Minnetaki saved herself by taking her captor's life? + +For a moment Rod was almost convinced that this was so. He examined +the stains in the snow and found that they were still damp and +unfrozen. He was sure that the tragedy had occurred less than an hour +before. More cautiously, and yet swifter than before, he followed the +trail of the sledge, his rifle held in readiness for a shot at +any moment. The path became wilder and in places it seemed almost +inaccessible. But between the tumbled mass of rock the sledge had +found its way, its savage driver not once erring in his choice of the +openings ahead. Gradually the trail ascended until it came to the +summit of a huge ridge. Hardly had Rod reached the top when another +trail cut across that of the sledge. + +Deeply impressed in the softening snow were the footprints of a big +bear! + +The first warm sunshine, thought Rod, had aroused the beast from his +winter sleep, and he was making a short excursion from his den. From +where the bear had crossed the trail the sledge turned abruptly in the +direction from which the bear had come. + +Without giving a thought to his action, Rod began his descent of the +ridge in the trail made by the bear, at the same time keeping his eyes +fixed upon the sledge track and the distant forest. At the foot of the +ridge the great trunk of a fallen tree lay in his path, and as he went +to climb over it he stopped, a cry of amazement stifling itself in his +throat. Over that tree the bear had scrambled, and upon it, close to +the spot where the animal had brushed off the snow in his passage, was +the imprint of a human hand! + +For a full minute Rod stood as motionless as if he had been paralyzed, +scarcely breathing in his excitement. The four fingers and thumb of +the hand had left their impressions with startling clearness. The +fingers were long and delicately slender, the palm narrow. The imprint +had assuredly not been made by the hand of a man! + +Recovering himself, Rod looked about him. There were no marks in the +snow except those of the bear. Was it possible that he was mistaken? +He scrutinized the mysterious handprint again. As he gazed an uncanny +chill crept through him, and when he raised his head he knew that he +was trembling in spite of his efforts to control himself. Turning +about he swiftly followed the trail to the top of the ridge, recrossed +the sledge track, and descended again into the wildness of the gorge +on the other side. He had not progressed twenty rods when without a +sound he dropped behind a rock. He had seen no movement ahead of him. +He had heard nothing. Yet in that moment he was thrilled as never +before in his life. + +For the bear trail had ceased. + +And ahead of him, instead of the tracks of a beast, there continued +_the footprints of a man_! + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +ROD'S FIGHT FOR LIFE + +It was some time before Roderick moved from his concealment behind the +rock. It was not fear that held him there, but a knowledge within +him that he needed to think, to collect his senses as he would have +expressed it if Wabi had been with him. For a brief spell he was +stunned by the succession of surprises which he had encountered, and +he felt that now, if ever in his life, he needed control of himself. +He did not attempt to solve the mystery of the trail beyond the fact +that it was not made by a bear and that the handprint on the log +was not made by a man. But he was certain of one thing. In some way +Minnetaki was associated with both. + +When he continued his pursuit he made his way with extreme caution. At +each new turn in the trail he fell behind some rock or clump of bushes +and scanned the gorge as far as he could see ahead of him. But each +moment these distances of observation became shorter. The ridge on his +left became almost a sheer wall; on his right a second ridge closed +in until the gorge had narrowed to a hundred feet in width, choked by +huge masses of rock thrown there in some mighty upheaval of past ages. +It was very soon apparent to Rod that the mysterious person whom he +was pursuing was perfectly at home in the lonely chasm. As straight as +a drawn whip-lash his trail led from one break in the rocky chaos to +another. Never did he err. Once the tracks seemed to end squarely +against a broad face of rock, but there the young hunter found a cleft +in the granite wall scarcely wider than his body, through which he +cautiously wormed his way. Where this cleft opened into the chasm +again the fugitive had rested for a few moments, and had placed some +burden upon the snow at his feet. A single glance disclosed what +this burden had been, for in the snow was that same clearly-defined +impression of a human hand! + +There was no longer a doubt in Roderick's mind. He was on the trail +of Minnetaki's captor, and the outlaw was carrying his victim in his +arms! Minnetaki was injured! Perhaps she was dead. The fear gripped at +his heart until he looked again at the imprint in the snow--the widely +spread fingers, the flat, firm palm. Only a living hand would have +left its mark in that manner. + +As on that autumn day in the forest, when he had fought for +Minnetaki's life, so now all hesitation and fear left him. His blood +leaped with anticipation rather than excitement, and he was eager for +the moment when he would once more throw his life in the balance in +behalf of Wabi's sister. He was determined to take advantage of the +Woonga fighting code and fire upon his enemy from ambush if the +opportunity offered, but at the same time he had no dread at the +thought of engaging in a closer struggle if this should be necessary. +He looked well to his rifle, loosened his big army revolver in its +holster, and saw that his hunting-knife did not stick in its scabbard. +A short distance from the cleft in the wall of rock the outlaw had +rested again; and this time, when he continued his flight, Minnetaki +had walked beside him. + +A peculiarity in the new trail struck Rod, and for some moments he was +at a loss to account for it. One of the girl's dainty feet left its +moccasin imprint very distinctly; the mark of the other was no more +than a formless blotch in the snow. Then the youth thought of the +footprints that were leading on Mukoki and Wabigoon, and despite his +desperate situation he could not repress a smile. He had been right. +The Woongas had taken off one of Minnetaki's moccasins and were using +it to make a false trail into the northwest. Those formless tracks +ahead of him meant that one of the Indian maiden's feet was wrapped +with a bit of cloth or fur to protect it from the cold. + +Rod soon perceived that the flight of the outlaw and his captive was +now much more rapid, and he quickened his own pace. The chasm grew +wilder. At times it appeared impassable, but always the trail of the +fugitives led straight to some hidden cleft through which the boy +followed, holding his breath in tense expectancy of what might happen +at any instant. + +Suddenly Rod stopped. From ahead of him he was sure that he had heard +a sound. He scarcely breathed while he listened. But there came no +repetition of the noise. Had some animal, a fox or a wolf, perhaps, +set a stone rolling down one of the precipitous walls of the chasm? He +went on slowly, listening, watching. A few paces more and he stopped +again. There was a faint, suspicious odor in the air; a turn around +the end of a huge mass of rock and his nostrils were filled with it, +the pungent odor of smoke mingled with the sweet scent of burning +cedar! + +There was a fire ahead of him. More than that, it was not a gunshot +away! + +For a space of sixty seconds he stood still, nerving himself for the +final step. His resolution was made. He would creep upon the outlaw +and shoot him down. There would be no warning, no quarter, no parley. +Foot by foot he advanced, as stealthily as a fox. The odor of smoke +came to him more plainly; over his head he saw thin films of it +floating lazily up the chasm. It came from beyond another of those +walls of rock which seemed to bar his way, creeping up over it as +though the fire were just on the other side. With his rifle half to +his shoulder Rod stole through the break in this wall. At its farther +end he peered out cautiously, exposing his face an inch at a time. +Wider and wider became his vision. There was no trail ahead. The +outlaw and his captive were behind the rock! + +With his rifle now full to his shoulder Rod stepped boldly forth and +whirled to the left. Twenty feet away, almost entirely concealed among +the tumbled masses of boulders, was a small cabin. About it there were +no signs of life with the exception of a thin wreath of smoke rising +like a ghostly spiral up the side of the chasm wall; from it there +came no sound. Rod's index finger quivered on the trigger of his +rifle. Should he wait--until the outlaw came forth? Half a minute he +stood there, a minute, two minutes, and still he heard nothing, saw +nothing. He advanced a step, then another, and still another, until +he saw the open door of the cabin. And as he stood there, his rifle +leveled, there came to him a faint, sobbing cry, a cry that reached +out and caught him like a strong hand and brought him in a single +desperate leap to the door itself. + +Inside the cabin was Minnetaki, alone! She was crouched upon the +floor, her beautiful hair tumbling in disheveled masses over her +shoulders and into her lap, her face, as white as death, staring +wildly at the youth who had appeared like an apparition before her. + +In an instant Rod was at her side, upon his knees. For that brief +moment he had lost his caution, and only a terrible cry from the girl +turned him back again, half upon his feet, to the door. Standing +there, about to spring upon him, was one of the most terrifying +figures he had ever seen. In a flash he saw the huge form of an +Indian, a terrible face, the gleam of an uplifted knife. In such a +crisis one's actions are involuntary, machine-like, as if life itself, +hovering by a thread, protects itself in its own manner without +thought or reasoning on the part of the human creature it animates. +Rod neither thought nor reasoned; without any motive on his own part, +he flung himself face downward upon the cabin floor. And the move +saved him. With a guttural cry the savage leaped toward him, struck +out with his knife and missed, stumbled over the boy's prostrate form +and fell beside him. + +Months of hardship and adventure in the wilderness had made Rod as +lithe as a forest cat, his muscles like steel. Without rising he flung +himself upon his enemy, his own knife raised in gleaming death above +the savage's breast. But the Woonga was as quick. Like a flash he +struck up with one of his powerful arms and the force of the blow that +was descending upon him fell to the earth floor. In another instant +his free arm had encircled Rod's neck, and for a few brief moments the +two were locked in a crushing embrace, neither being able to use the +weapon in his hand without offering an advantage to the other. + +In that respite, which only death could follow, Rod's brain worked +with the swiftness of fire. He was lying face downward upon his enemy; +the Woonga was flat upon his back, the latter's knife hand stretched +out behind his head with Rod's knife hand locking it. For either to +strike a blow both of their fighting hands must be freed. In the first +instant of that freedom, the savage, with his arm already extended, +could deliver a blow sooner than his antagonist, who would have to +raise his arm as well as strike. In other words, by the time Rod's +knife was poised his enemy's would be buried in his breast. With a +curious thrill the white youth saw the fearful odds against him in +their position. If he remained clutched in the Indian's embrace there +would be only one end. He would die, and Minnetaki would be more than +ever in the power of her captor. + +There was only one chance now, and that was to break away, at least +to free himself enough to get hold of his revolver. He was nerving +himself for the strain when, turning his head a trifle sidewise, he +saw Minnetaki. The girl had risen to her feet, and Rod saw that her +hands were bound behind her. She, too, realized the disadvantage of +Rod's position in the contest, and now with a thrilling cry she sprang +to the outlaw's head and stepped with all her weight upon his extended +arm. + +"Quick, Rod--quick!" she cried. "Strike! Strike!" + +With a terrible yell the powerful savage wrenched his arm free; in a +last superhuman effort he swung his knife upward as Rod's blade sank +to the hilt in his breast, and the blow fell with a sickening thud +under Rod's arm. With a sharp cry the young hunter staggered to his +feet, and the Indian's knife fell from him, red with blood. Making +an effort to control himself he picked up the knife and loosed the +captive girl's arms. + +There came over him then a strange dizziness, a weakness in his limbs. +He was conscious that his head was sinking, and he knew, too, that a +pair of arms was about him, and that from what seemed to be a great, +great distance a voice was calling to him, calling his name. And then +he seemed to be sinking into a deep and painless sleep. + +When he regained consciousness his eyes were first turned to the door, +which was still open, and through which he caught the white gleam of +the snow. A hand was pressed gently upon his face. + +"Rod--" + +Minnetaki spoke in a whisper, a whisper that trembled with gladness, +with relief. Rod smiled. Weakly he lifted a hand and touched the +sweet, white face above him. + +"I'm glad to see you--Minnetaki--" he breathed. + +The girl quickly put a cup of cold water to his lips. + +"You mustn't try to move," she said softly, her eyes glowing. "It +isn't a very bad wound, and I've dressed it nicely. But you mustn't +move--or talk--or it may begin bleeding again." + +"But I'm so glad to see you, Minnetaki," persisted the youth. "You +don't know how disappointed I was to find you gone when we returned to +Wabinosh House from our hunting trip. Wabi and Mukoki--" + +"Sh-h-h-h!" + +Minnetaki placed her hand upon his lips. + +"You must keep quiet, Roderick. Don't you know how curious I am to +know how you are here? But you must not tell me--now. Let me do the +talking. Will you? Please!" + +Involuntarily the young girl's eyes left his face, and Rod, weakly +following her gaze, saw that a blanket had been spread over a huddled +heap in the middle of the floor. He shuddered, and feeling the sudden +tremor in his hand Minnetaki turned to him quickly, her cheeks whiter +than before, but her eyes shining like stars. + +"It is Woonga," she whispered. In her voice was a thrilling tremble. +"It is Woonga, and he is dead!" + +Rod understood the look in her face now. Woonga, the Nemesis of her +people, the outlaw chief who had sworn vengeance on the house of +Wabinosh, and whose murderous hand had hovered for years like a +threatening cloud over the heads of the factor and his wife and +children, was dead! And he, Roderick Drew, who once before had saved +Minnetaki's life, had killed him. In his weakness and pain he smiled, +and said, + +"I am glad, Minne--" + +He did not finish. There had come a stealthy, crumbling step to the +door, and in another moment Mukoki and Wabigoon were in the little +cabin. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +THE SHADOW OF DEATH + +Rod was hardly conscious of what passed during the next half-hour. The +excitement of the sudden entrance of Minnetaki's brother and the old +Indian set his head reeling, and he sank back upon the blankets, from +which he had partly raised himself, fainting and weak. The last that +he heard was Minnetaki's warning voice, and then he felt something +cool upon his face. It seemed a long time before he heard sound again, +and when he stirred himself, struggling toward consciousness, there +came a whisper in his ear urging him to be quiet. It was Minnetaki, +and he obeyed. + +After a little he heard low voices, and then movement, and opened his +eyes. He could feel Minnetaki's gentle hand stroking his face and +hair, as if weaning him to sleep, and at his feet he saw Mukoki, the +old warrior, crouching like a lynx, his beady eyes glaring at him. The +glare fascinated Roderick. He had seen it in Mukoki's eyes before, +when the Indian believed that injury had come to those he loved; and +when the white boy saw it now, bent upon himself, he knew that he, +too, had become more than a friend to this savage pathfinder of the +wilderness. Minnetaki's caressing hand and the fearful anxiety in the +crouching posture of the old hunter thrilled him, and two words fell +from his lips before they knew that he had come back into life. + +"Hello, Muky!" + +Instantly the old Indian was at his side, kneeling there silent, +trembling, his face twitching with joy, his eyes gleaming, and where +he had crouched a moment before there came Wabigoon, smiling down upon +Rod in his own bursting happiness, which was only held in check by +Minnetaki's hand and the almost inaudible "Sh-h-h-h!" that fell from +her lips. + +"You right--me wrong," the white boy heard Mukoki saying. "You save +Minnetaki--kill Woonga. Very much dam'--dam'--dam'--brave man!" + +Mukoki was pressed back by Wabi's sister before he could say more, and +a cool drink of spring water was placed to Roderick's lips. He felt +feverish and the water gave him new strength. He turned his face to +Minnetaki, and she smiled at him. Then he saw that the dead outlaw had +been removed from the cabin. When he made an effort to raise himself a +little the girl helped him, and rolled a blanket under his shoulders. + +"You're not so badly hurt as I thought you were, Rod," she said. "That +is, you're not dangerously hurt. Mukoki has dressed your wound, and +you will be better soon." Wabigoon, coming nearer, put both arms +around his lovely little sister and kissed her again and again. + +"Rod, you're a hero!" he cried softly, gripping his comrade's hand. +"God bless you!" + +Rod blushed, and to restrain further effusions closed his eyes. During +the next quarter of an hour Minnetaki prepared some coffee and meat, +while both Mukoki and Wabi cared for the sledge-dogs outside. + +"To-morrow, if you are stronger, we're going to take you on to +Kenegami House," the girl said to him. "Then you can tell me all about +your adventures during the winter. Wabi has told me just enough about +your battles with the Indians and about the old skeletons and the lost +gold-mine to set me wild. Oh, I wish you would take me with you on +your hunt for gold!" + +"By George, I wish we could!" exclaimed Rod with enthusiasm. "Coax +Wabi, Minnetaki--coax him hard." + +"You'll coax him, too, won't you, Rod? But then, I don't suppose it +will do any good. And father and mother wouldn't listen to it for a +moment. All of them are so afraid that some harm is going to befall +me. That's why they sent me from Wabinosh House just before you boys +returned. You see the Indians were more hostile than ever, and they +thought I would be safer at Kenegami House. How I do wish they'd let +me go! I'd love to hunt bears, and wolves, and moose, and help you +find the gold. Please coax him hard, Roderick!" + +And that very day, when he was strong enough to sit up, Rod did plead +with his half-Indian comrade that Minnetaki might be allowed to +accompany them. But Wabi stanchly refused even to consider the +proposition, and Mukoki, when he learned of the girl's desire, grinned +and chuckled in his astonishment for the next half-hour. + +"Minnetaki ver' brave--ver' brave girl," he confided to Rod, "but she +die up there, I guess so! You want Minnetaki die?" + +Rod assured him that he did not, and the subject was dropped. + +That day and night in the old cabin was one of the pleasantest within +Rod's memory, despite the youth's wound. A cheerful fire of dry pine +and poplar burned in the stone fireplace, and when Minnetaki announced +that the evening meal was ready Rod was for the first time allowed to +leave his bunk. For the greater part of the day Wabi and Mukoki had +searched in the chasm and along the mountains for signs of the outlaw +Indian's band, but their search had revealed nothing to arouse their +fears. As mysterious and unaccountable as the fact seemed, there +was no doubt that the old cabin was a retreat known only to Woonga +himself, and as the four sat in the warm glow of the fire, eating and +drinking, the whole adventure was gone over again and again until +there seemed no part of it left in doubt. Minnetaki described her +capture and explained the slowness of their flight after the massacre. +Woonga was ill and had refused to move far from the scene of the +slaughter until he had fully regained his strength. + +"But why did Woonga kill the Indian back on the trail?" asked Rod. + +Minnetaki shuddered as she thought of the terrible scene that had been +enacted before her eyes. + +"I heard them quarreling," she said, "but I couldn't understand. I +know that it was about me. We had gone but a short distance after the +sledges separated when Woonga, who was ahead of me, turned about and +shot the other in the breast. It was terrible! And then he drove on as +coolly as though nothing had happened." + +"I'm curious to know how he used the bear's feet," exclaimed Rod. + +"They were huge pads into which he slipped his feet, moccasins and +all," explained Minnetaki. "He told me that the dogs would go on to +Kenegami House, and that if pursuers followed us they would follow the +sledge trail and never give a thought to the bear tracks." + +Mukoki chuckled deep down in his throat. + +"He no fool Rod," he said. "Nobody fool Rod!" + +"Especially when he's on Minnetaki's trail," laughed Wabi happily. + +"Wasn't it Rod who discovered the secret of the lost gold, after you +had given up all hope?" retorted Minnetaki. + +The lost gold! + +How those three words, falling clearly from the girl's lips, thrilled +the hearts of Mukoki and the young adventurers. Night had closed in, +and only the fitful flashes of the fire illumined the interior of the +old cabin. The four had finished eating, and as they drew themselves +close about the fire there fell a strange silence among them. The lost +gold. Rod gazed across at Wabigoon, whose bronzed face was half hid in +the dancing shadows, and then at Mukoki, whose wrinkled visage shone +like dull copper as he stared like some watchful animal into the flame +glow. But it was Minnetaki who sent the blood in a swift rush of joy +and pride through his veins. He caught her eyes upon him, shining like +stars from out of the gloom, and he knew that she was looking at him +in that way because he was her hero. + +For many minutes no one broke the stillness. The fire burned down, and +with its slow dying away the gloom in the corners of the old cabin +thickened, and the faces became more and more like ghostly shadows, +until they reminded Rod of his first vision of the ancient skeletons +in that other old cabin many miles away. Then came Wabigoon's voice, +as he stirred the coals and added fresh fuel. + +"Yes, it was Rod. This is the map he found, Minnetaki." + +He kneeled close beside his sister and drew forth his copy of the +precious secret which the skeletons had guarded. With a little cry +of excitement the girl took the map in her hands, and step by step, +adventure by adventure, was gone over the thrilling story of the Wolf +Hunters, until the late hours of night had changed into the first of +morning. Twice did Minnetaki insist on having repeated to her the +story of Rod's wild adventure in the mysterious chasm, and when he +came to the terrors of that black night and its strange sounds Rod +felt a timid little hand come close to him, and as Wabigoon continued +the narration, and told of the map in the skeleton hand, and of the +tale of murder and tragedy it revealed, Minnetaki's breath came in +quick, tense eagerness. + +"And you are going back in the spring?" she asked. + +"In the spring," replied Rod. + +Again Wabigoon urged Rod, as he had done at the Post, to send down to +civilization for his mother instead of going for her himself. Time +would be saved, he argued. They could set out on their search for the +gold within a few weeks. But Rod was firm. + +"It would not be fair to mother," he declared. "I must go home first, +even if I have to arrange for a special sledge at Kenegami House to +take me down to civilization." + +But even while he was stoutly declaring what it was his intention to +do, fate was stealthily at work weaving another of her webs of destiny +for Roderick Drew, and his friends' anxious eyes saw the first signs +of it when they bade him good night. For fever had laid its hand on +the white youth, the fever that foreshadows death unless a surgeon +is near, the fever of a wound going bad. Even Mukoki, graduated by +Nature, taught by half a century's battle with life in this great +desolation of the North, knew that his own powers were now of no +avail. + +So Roderick was bundled in blankets, and the race for life to Kenegami +House was begun. It was a race of which Rod could only guess the +import, for he did not know that Death was running a fierce pursuit +behind. Many days and nights of delirium followed. One morning he +seemed to awaken from a terrible dream, in which he was constantly +burning and roasting, and when he opened his eyes he knew for the +first time that it was Minnetaki who sat close beside him, and that it +was her hand that was gently stroking his forehead. From that day on +he gained strength rapidly, but it was a month before he could sit up, +and another two weeks before he could stand. And so it happened that +it was full two months after he had made his assertion in the old +cabin before Rod was in good health again. + +One day Minnetaki had a tremendous surprise in store for him. Rod had +never seen her look quite so pretty, or quite so timid, as she did on +this particular morning. + +"Will you forgive me for--for--keeping something from you, Rod?" she +asked. She did not wait for the boy's reply, but went on. "When you +were so sick, and we thought you might die, I wrote to your mother and +we sent the letter down by a special sledge. And--and--oh, Rod, I just +can't keep it in any longer, no matter if you do scold me! Your mother +has come--and she is at Wabinosh House now!" + +For a moment Rod stood like one struck dumb. Then he found his voice +in a series of war-whoops which quickly brought Wabi in, only to see +his friend dancing around Minnetaki like one gone crazy. + +"Forgive you!" he shouted again and again. "Minnetaki, you're a +brick--you certainly are a brick!" + +As soon as Wabi was made acquainted with the cause of Roderick's +excitement he also joined in the other's wild rejoicing, and their +antics startled half the house of Kenegami. Mukoki shared their joy, +and Wabi hugged and kissed his sister until her pretty face was like a +wild rose. + +"Hurrah!" shouted Wabi for the twentieth time. "That means we start on +our hunt for the lost gold-mine within a fortnight!" + +"It means--" began Roderick. + +"It means--" interrupted Minnetaki, "it means that you're all happy +but me--and I'm glad for Rod's sake, and I want to know his mother. +But you're all going--and I'm to be left behind!" + +There was no laughter in her voice, and Rod and Wabigoon became +suddenly quiet as she turned away. + +"I'm sorry," said Wabi. "But--we can't help it." + +Mukoki broke the tension. + +"How bright the sun shine!" he exclaimed. "Snow an' ice go. +Spring--heem here!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +ON THE TRAIL OF GOLD + +And each day thereafter the sun rose earlier, and the day was longer, +and the air was warmer; and with the warmth there now came the sweet +scents of the budding earth and the myriad sounds of the deep, unseen +life of the forests, awakening from its long slumber in its bed of +snow. The moose-birds chirped their mating songs and flirted from +morning till night in bough and air, and the jays and ravens fluffed +themselves in the sun, and the snowbirds, little black and white +beauties that were wont to whisk about like so many flashing gems, +became fewer and fewer, until they were gone altogether. The poplar +buds swelled more and more in their joy, until they split like +over-fat peas, and the partridges feasted upon them. + +And Mother Bear came out of her winter den, accompanied by her little +ones born two months before, and taught them how to pull down the +slender saplings for these same buds; and the moose came down from the +blizzardy tops of the great ridges, which are called mountains in the +North, and where for good reasons they had passed the winter, followed +by the wolves, who fed upon their weak and sick. Everywhere there were +the rushing torrents of melting snows, the crackle of crumbling ice, +the dying frost-cries of rock and earth and tree, and each night the +cold, pale glow of the Aurora Borealis crept farther and farther +toward the Pole in fading glory. + +It was spring, and at Wabinosh House it brought more joy than +elsewhere, for there Roderick Drew joined his mother. We have not time +here to dwell on the things that happened at the old Hudson Bay Post +during the ten days after their first happy reunion--of the love that +sprang up between Rod's mother and Minnetaki, and the princess wife +of George Newsome, the factor; of the departure of the soldiers whose +task of running down Woonga ended with Rod's desperate fight in the +cabin, or of the preparations of the gold hunters themselves. + +On a certain evening in April, Wabi, Mukoki and Rod had assembled in +the latter's room. The next morning they were to start on their long +and thrilling adventure into the far North, and on this last night +they went carefully over their equipment and plans to see that nothing +had been forgotten. That night Rod slept little. For the second time +in his life the fever of adventure was running wild in his blood. +After the others had gone he studied the precious old map until his +eyes grew dim; in the half slumber that came to him afterward his +brain worked ceaselessly, and he saw visions of the romantic old cabin +again, and the rotting buckskin bag filled with nuggets of gold on the +table. + +He was up before the stars began fading in the dawn, and in the big +dining-room of the Post, in which had gathered the factors and their +families for two hundred years, the boys ate their last breakfast with +those whom they were about to leave for many weeks, perhaps months. +The factor himself was boisterously cheerful in his efforts to keep +up the good cheer of Mrs. Drew and the princess mother, and even +Minnetaki forced herself to smile, and laugh, though her eyes were +red, and all knew that she had been crying. Rod was glad when the meal +was over and they went out into the chill air of the morning, and down +to the edge of the lake, where their big birch-bark canoe was loaded +and waiting for their departure, and he was still more relieved when +they had bade a last good-by to the two mothers. But Minnetaki came +down to the canoe with them, and when Wabi kissed her she burst into +tears, and Rod felt a queer thickening in his throat as he took her +firm little hand and held it for a moment between both his own. + +"Good-by, Minnetaki," he whispered. + +He turned and took his position in the middle of the canoe, and with a +last shout Wabi shoved off and the canoe sped out into the gloom. + +For a long time there was silence, except for the rhythmic dip of the +three paddles. Once Minnetaki's voice came to them faintly, and they +answered it with a shout. But that was all. After a time Rod said, + +"By George, this saying good-by is the toughest part of the whole +business!" + +His words cleared away the feeling of oppression that seemed to have +fallen on them. + +"It's always hard for me to leave Minnetaki," replied Wabigoon. "Some +day I'm going to take her on a trip with me." + +"She'd be a bully fellow!" cried Rod with enthusiasm. + +From the stern of the canoe came a delighted chuckle from Mukoki. + +"She brave--she shoot, she hunt, she be dam' fine!" he added, and +both Rod and Wabi burst out laughing. The young Indian looked at his +compass by the light of a match. + +"We'll strike straight across Lake Nipigon instead of following the +shore. What do you say, Muky?" he called back. + +The old pathfinder was silent. In surprise Wabi ceased paddling, and +repeated his question. + +"Don't you think it is safe?" + +Mukoki wet his hand over the side and held it above his head. + +"Wind in south," he said. "Maybe no get stronger, but--" + +"If she did," added Rod dubiously, noting how heavily laden the canoe +was, "we'd be in a fix, as sure as you live!" + +"It will take us all of to-day and half of to-morrow to follow the +shore," urged Wabi, "while by cutting straight across the lake we can +make the other side early this afternoon. Let's risk it!" + +Mukoki grunted something that was a little less than approval, and Rod +felt a peculiar sensation shoot through him as the frail birch headed +out into the big lake. Their steady strokes sent the canoe through the +water at fully four miles an hour, and by the time broad day had come +the forest-clad shore at Wabinosh House was only a hazy outline in the +distance. The white youth's unspoken fears were dispelled when the sun +rose, warm and glorious, over the shimmering lake, driving the chill +from the air, and seeming to bring with it the sweet scents of +the forests far away. Joyfully he labored at his paddle, the mere +exhilaration of the morning filling his arms with the strength of a +young giant. Wabi whistled and sang wild snatches of Indian song by +turns, Rod joined him with _Yankee Doodle_ and _The Star Spangled +Banner_, and even the silent Mukoki gave a whoop now and then to show +that he was as happy as they. + +One thought filled the minds of all. They were fairly started on that +most thrilling of all trails, the trail of gold. In their possession +was the secret of a great fortune. Romance, adventure, discovery, +awaited them. The big, silent North, mysterious in its age-old +desolation, where even the winds seemed to whisper of strange things +that had happened countless years before, was just ahead of them. They +were about to bury themselves in its secrets, to wrest from it the +yellow treasure it guarded, and their blood tingled and leaped +excitedly at the thought. What would be revealed to them? What might +they not discover? What strange adventures were they destined to +encounter in that Unknown World, peopled only by the things of the +wild, that stretched trackless and unexplored before them? A hundred +thoughts like these fired the brains of the three adventurers, and +made their work a play, and every breath they drew one of joy. + +The lake was alive with ducks. Huge flocks of big black ducks, +mallards, blue bills and whistlers rose about them, and now and then, +when an unusually large flock was seen floating upon the water ahead +of them, one of the three would take a pot-shot with his rifle. Rod +and Mukoki had each killed two, and Wabi three, when the old warrior +stopped the fun. + +"No waste too much shooting on ducks," he advised. "Need shells--big +game." + +Several times during the morning the three rested from their +exertions, and at noon they ceased paddling for more than an hour +while they ate the generous dinner that had been put up for them at +Wabinosh House. The farther side of the lake was now plainly visible, +and when the journey was resumed all eyes eagerly sought for signs +of the mouth of the Ombabika, where their stirring adventures of the +winter before had begun. For some time Wabi's gaze had been fixed +upon a long, white rim along the shore, to which he now called his +companions' attention. + +"It seems to be moving," he said, turning to Mukoki. "Is it +possible--" He paused doubtfully. + +"What?" questioned Rod. + +"That it's swans!" he completed. + +"Swans!" cried the young hunter. "Great Scott, do you mean to say +there could be enough swans--" + +"They sometimes cover the lake in thousands," said Wabi. "I have seen +them whitening the water as far as one could see." + +"More swan as you count in twent' t'ous'nd year!" affirmed Mukoki. +After a few moments he added, "Them no swan. Ice!" + +There was an unpleasant ring in his voice as he spoke the last +word, and though Rod did not fully understand what significance the +discovery held for them he could not but observe that it occasioned +both of his comrades considerable anxiety. The cause was not long in +doubt. Another half hour of brisk paddling brought them to the edge of +a frozen field of ice that extended for a quarter of a mile from the +shore. In both directions it stretched beyond their vision. Wabi's +face was filled with dismay. Mukoki sat with his paddle across his +knees, uttering not a sound. + +"What's the matter?" asked Rod. "Can't we make it?" + +"Make it!" exclaimed Wabigoon. "Yes--perhaps to-morrow, or the next +day!" + +"Do you mean to say we can't get over that ice?" + +"That's just exactly the predicament we are in. The edge of that ice +is rotten." + +The canoe had drifted alongside the ice, and Rod began pounding it +with his paddle. For a distance of two feet it broke off in chunks, +then became more firm. + +"I believe that if we cut our way in for a canoe length or so it would +hold us," he declared. + +Wabi reached for an ax. + +"We'll try it!" + +Mukoki shook his head. + +But for a second time that day Wabigoon persisted in acting against +the old pathfinder's judgment, something that Rod had never known him +to be guilty of before. Foot by foot he broke the ice ahead of the +canoe, until the frail craft had thrust its length into the rotten +field. Then, steadying himself on the bow, he stepped out cautiously +upon the ice. + +"There!" he cried triumphantly. "You next, Rod! Steady!" + +In a moment Rod had joined him. What happened after that seemed to +pass like a terrible nightmare. First there came a light cracking in +the ice under their feet, but it was over in an instant. Wabi was +laughing at him for the fear that had come into his face, and calling +his name, when with a thunderous, crash the whole mass gave way under +them, and they plunged down into the black depths of the lake. The +last that Rod saw was his friend's horror-stricken face sinking in the +crumbling ice; he heard a sharp, terrible cry from Mukoki, and then he +knew that the cold waters had engulfed him, and that he was battling +for his life under the surface. + +Fiercely he struck out with arms and legs in an effort to rise, and in +that moment of terror he thought of the great sheet of ice. What if he +should come up under it? In which direction should he strike out? +He opened his eyes but all was a black chaos about him. The seconds +seemed like ages. There came a splitting, rending sensation in his +head, an almost overpowering desire to open his mouth, to gasp, gasp +for air where there was nothing but death! Then his head struck +something. It was the ice! He had come up under the ice, and there was +but one end to that! + +He began to sink again, slowly, as if an invisible hand were pulling +him down, and in his despair he made a last frantic effort, striking +out blindly, knowing that in another second he must open his mouth. +Even under the water he still had consciousness enough left to know +that he tried to cry out, and he felt the first gurgling rush of water +into his lungs. But he did not see the long arm that reached down +where the bubbles were coming up, he did not feel the grip that +dragged him out upon the ice. His first sense of life was that +something very heavy was upon his stomach, and that he was being +rubbed, and pummeled, and rolled about as if he had become the +plaything of a great bear. Then he saw Mukoki, and then Wabigoon. + +"You go build fire," he heard Mukoki say, and he could hear Wabi +running swiftly shoreward. For he knew that they were still upon the +ice. The canoe was drawn safely up a dozen feet away, and the old +Indian was dragging blankets from it. When Mukoki turned he found Rod +resting upon his elbow, looking at him. + +"That--w'at you call heem--close shave!" he grinned, placing a +supporting arm under Rod's shoulder. + +With Mukoki's assistance the youth rose to his feet, and a thick +blanket was wrapped about him. Slowly they made their way shoreward, +and soon Wabi came running out to meet them, dripping wet. + +"Rod, when we get thawed out, I want you to kick me," he pleaded. "I +want you to kick me good and hard, and then I'll take great pleasure +in kicking you. And ever after this, when we do a thing that Mukoki +tells us not to do, we'll kick some more!" + +"Who pulled us out?" asked Rod. + +"Mukoki, of course. Will you kick me?" + +"Shake!" + +And the two dripping, half-frozen young adventurers shook hands, +while Mukoki chuckled and grunted and gurgled until he set the others +bursting into laughter. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +THE YELLOW BULLET + +Before a rousing fire of logs Rod and Wabigoon began to see the +cheerful side of life again, and as soon as Mukoki had built them a +balsam shelter they stripped off their clothes and wrapped themselves +in blankets, while the old Indian dried their outfits. It was two +hours before they were dressed. No sooner were they out than Wabi +went into the bush and returned a few minutes later brandishing a +good-sized birch in his hand. There was no sign of humor in his face +as he eyed Rod. + +"Do you see that log?" he said, pointing to the big trunk of a fallen +tree near the fire "That will just fit your stomach, Rod. It will be +better than kicking. Double yourself over that, face down, pantaloons +up. I'm going to lick you first because I want you to know just how +much to give me. I want it twice as hard, for I was more to blame than +you." + +In some astonishment Rod doubled himself over the log. + +"Great Scott!" he ejaculated, peering up in dismay. "Not too hard, +Wabi!" + +Swish! fell the birch, and a yell of pain burst from the white youth's +lips. + +Swish!--Swish!--Swish! + +"Ouch! Great Caesar--Let up!" + +"Don't move!" shouted Wabi. "Take it like a man--you deserve it!" + +Again and again the birch fell. Rod groaned as he rose to his feet +after Wabi had stopped. "Oh, please--please give me that whip!" + +"Not too hard, you know," warned Wabi, as he fitted himself over the +log. + +"You chose your own poison," reminded Rod, rolling up his sleeve. +"Just twice as hard, no more!" + +And the birch began to fall. + +When it was over Rod's arm ached, and Wabi, despite his Indian +stoicism, let out a long howl at the last blow. + +During the entire scene of chastisement Mukoki stood like one struck +dumb. + +"We'll never be bad any more, Muky," promised Wabigoon, rubbing +himself gently. "That is, if we are, we'll whip ourselves again, eh, +Rod?" + +"Not so long as I can run!" assured Rod with emphasis. "I'm willing +to lend a helping hand at any time you think you deserve another, but +beyond that please count me out!" + +For an hour after the self-punishment of the young gold hunters the +three gathered fuel for the night and balsam boughs for their beds. It +was dark by the time they sat down to their supper, which they ate in +the light of a huge fire of dry poplar. + +"This is better than paddling all night, even if we did have a close +shave," said Rod, after they had finished and settled themselves +comfortably. + +Wabi gave a grimace and shrugged his shoulders. + +"Do you know how close your call was?" he asked. "It was so close that +just by one chance in ten thousand you were saved. I had pulled myself +upon the ice by catching hold of the bow of the canoe and when Muky +saw that I was safe he watched for you. But you didn't show up. We +had given you up for dead when a few bubbles came to the surface, and +quicker than a wink Mukoki thrust down his arm. He got you by the hair +as you were sinking for the last time. Think of that, Rod, and dream +of it to-night. It'll do you good." + +"Ugh!" shuddered the white youth. "Let's talk of something more +cheerful. What a glorious fire that poplar makes!" + +"Mak' light more as twent' t'ous'nd candles!" agreed Mukoki. "Heem +bright!" + +"Once upon a time, many ages ago, there was a great chief in this +country," began Wabigoon, "and he had seven beautiful daughters. So +beautiful were they that the Great Spirit himself fell in love with +them, and for the first time in countless moons he appeared upon +earth, and told the chief that if he would give him his seven +daughters he, in turn, would grant the father seven great desires. And +the chief, surrendering his daughters, asked that he might be given a +day without night, and a night without day, and his wish was granted; +and his third and fourth and fifth desires were that the land might +always be filled with fish and game, the forests remain for ever +green, and fire be given to his people. His sixth desire was that a +fuel be given to him which would burn even in water, and the Great +Spirit gave him birch; and his seventh desire was that he might +possess another fuel, which would throw off no smoke, and might bring +comfort and joy to his wigwams--and the poplar sprang up in the +forests. And because of that chief, and his seven beautiful daughters, +all of these things are true even to this day. Isn't it so, Mukoki?" + +The old warrior nodded. + +"And what became of the Great Spirit and the seven beautiful +daughters?" questioned Rod. + +Mukoki rose and left the fire. + +"He believes in that as he believes in the sun and the moon," spoke +Wabi softly. "But he knows that you do not, and that all white people +laugh at it. He could tell you many wonderful stories of the creation +of these forests and mountains and the things in them if he would. +But he knows that you would not believe, and would laugh at him +afterward." + +In an instant Rod was upon his feet. + +"Mukoki!" he called. "Mukoki!" + +The old Indian turned and came back slowly. The white youth met him +half-way, his face flushed, his eyes shining. + +"Mukoki," he said gently, gripping the warrior's hand, "Mukoki--I love +your Great Spirit! I love the one who made these glorious forests, and +that glorious moon up there, and the mountains and lakes and rivers! +I Want to know more about him. You must tell me, so that I will know +when he talks about me, in the winds, in the stars, in the forests! +Will you?" + +Mukoki was looking at him, his thin lips parted, his grim visage +relaxed, as if he were weighing the truthfulness of the white youth's +words. + +"And I will tell you about our Great Spirit, the white man's Great +Spirit," urged Rod. "For we have a Great Spirit, too, Mukoki, and He +did for the white man's world what yours did for you. He created the +earth, the sky and the sea and all the things in them in six days, and +on the seventh He rested. And that seventh day we call Sunday, Mukoki. +And He made our forests for us, as your Great Spirit made them for +you, only instead of giving them for the love of seven beautiful women +He gave them for the love of man. I'll tell you wonderful things about +Him, Mukoki, if you will tell me about yours. Is it a bargain?" + +"Mebby--yes," replied the old pathfinder slowly. His face had +softened, and for the second time Rod knew that he had touched the +heartstrings of his red comrade. They returned to the fire, and Wabi +made room for them upon the log beside him. In his hand he held a copy +of the old birch-bark map. + +"I've been thinking about this all day," he said, spreading it out so +that the others could see. "Somehow I haven't been able to get the +idea out of my head that--" + +"What?" asked Rod. + +"Oh, nothing," hastily added Wabi, as if he regretted what he had +said. "It's a mighty curious map, isn't it? I wonder if we'll ever +know its whole story." + +"I believe we know it now," declared Rod. "In the first place, we +found it clutched by one of the skeletons, and we know from the knife +wounds in those skeletons, and the weapons near them, that the two +men fought and killed themselves. They fought for this map, for the +precious secret which each wished to possess alone. Now--" + +He took the map from Wabi's fingers and held it up between them and +the fire. + +"Isn't the rest of it clear?" + +For a few moments the three looked at it in silence. + +From the faded outlines of the original it had been drawn with +painstaking accuracy. + +With a splinter Rod pointed to the top of the map, where were written +the words, "Cabin and head of chasm." + +"Could anything be clearer?" he repeated. "Here is the cabin in which +the men killed themselves, and where we found their skeletons, and +here they have marked the chasm in which I shot the silver fox, and +down which we must go to find the gold. According to this we must go +until we come to the third waterfall, and there we will find another +cabin--and the gold." + +"It all seems very simple--by the map," agreed Wabi. + +Under the crude diagram were a number of lines in writing. They were: + +"We, John Ball, Henri Langlois, and Peter Plante, having discovered +gold at this fall, do hereby agree to joint partnership in the same, +and do pledge ourselves to forget our past differences and work in +mutual good will and honesty, so help us God. Signed, + +"JOHN BALL, HENRI LANGLOIS, PETER PLANTE." + +Through the name of John Ball had been drawn a broad black line which +had almost destroyed the letters, and at the end of this line, in +brackets, was printed a word in French, which for the hundredth time +Wabi translated aloud: + +"Dead!" + +"From the handwriting of the original we know that Ball was a man of +some education," continued Rod. "And there is no doubt but that the +birch-bark sketch was made by him. All of the writing was in one hand, +with the exception of the signatures of Langlois and Plante, and you +could hardly decipher the letters in those signatures if you did not +already know their names. From these lines it is quite certain that +we were right at the cabin when we concluded that the two Frenchmen +killed the Englishman to get him out of the partnership. Isn't that +story clear enough?" + +"Yes, as far as you have gone," replied Wabi. "These three men +discovered gold, quarreled, signed this agreement, and then Ball was +murdered. The two Frenchmen, as Mukoki suggested at the cabin, came +out a little later for supplies, and brought the buckskin bag full of +gold with them. They had come as far as the cabin at the head of the +chasm when they quarreled over possession of the map and agreement, +fought, and died. From the old guns and other evidences we found near +them we know that all this happened at least fifty years ago, and +perhaps more. But--" + +He paused, whistling softly. + +"Where is the third waterfall?" + +"I thought we settled that last winter," replied Rod, a little +irritated by his companion's doubt. "If writing goes for anything, +Ball was a man of education, and he drew the map according to some +sort of scale. The second fall is only half as far from the first fall +as the third fall is from the second, which is conclusive evidence of +this. Now Mukoki discovered the first waterfall fifty miles down the +chasm!" + +"And we figured from the distances between John Ball's marks on the +birch, that the third fall was about two hundred and fifty miles from +our old camp at the head of the chasm," rejoined Wabigoon. "It looks +reasonable." + +"It is reasonable," declared Rod, his face flushed with excitement. +"From the head of the chasm our trail is as plain as day. We can't +miss it!" + +Mukoki had been listening in silence, and now joined in the +conversation for the first time. + +"Must get to chasm first," he grunted, giving his shoulders a hunch +that suggested a great deal. + +Wabi returned the map to his pocket. + +"You're right, Muky," he laughed. "We're climbing mountains before we +come to them. It will be tough work getting to the chasm." + +"Much water--ver' swift. River run lak twent' t'ous'nd cari-boo!" + +"I'll bet the Ombabika is a raging torrent," said Rod. + +"And we've got forty miles of it, all upstream," replied Wabi. "Then +we come to the Height of Land. After that the streams run northward, +to Hudson Bay, and when we reach them we'll hold our breath and pray +instead of paddling. Oh, it will be exciting fun rushing down-stream +on the floods!" + +"But there is work before us to-morrow--hard work," said Rod. "And I'm +going to bed. Good night!" + +Mukoki and Wabigoon soon followed their companion's example, and half +an hour later nothing but the crackling of the fire disturbed the +stillness of the camp. Mukoki was as regular as clockwork in his +rising, and an hour before dawn he was up and preparing breakfast. +When his young comrades aroused themselves they found the ducks they +had shot the preceding day roasting on spits over the fire, and coffee +nearly ready. Rod also noticed that a part of the contents of the +canoe were missing. + +"Took load up to river," explained Mukoki in response to the youth's +questioning. + +"Working while we sleep, as usual," exclaimed the disgusted Wabigoon. +"If it keeps on we'll deserve another whipping, Rod!" + +Mukoki examined a fat bluebill, roasted to a rich brown, and gave it +to Rod. Another he handed to Wabigoon, and with a third in his own +hands he found a seat for himself upon the ground close to the coffee +and bread. + +"Ah, if this isn't fit for a king!" cried Rod, poising his savory +bluebill on the end of a fork. + +Half an hour later the three went to their canoe. Mukoki had already +packed a half of its contents to the river, a quarter of a mile away, +and he now loaded himself with the remainder while the two boys +hoisted the light birch upon their shoulders. As Roderick caught his +first glimpse of the Ombabika in the growing light of day he gave a +cry of astonishment. When he had gone up the stream the preceding +winter it was scarce more than a dozen gun lengths in width. Now it +was a veritable Amazon, its black, ugly waters rolling and twisting +like the slow boiling of a thick liquid over a fire. There was little +rush about it, no frenzied haste, no mountain-like madness in the +advance of the torrent. Rod had expected to see this, and he would not +have been startled by it. + +But there was something vastly more appalling in the flood that rolled +slowly before his eyes, with its lazily twisting whirlpools, its +thousand unseen currents, rolling the water here and there--always in +different places--like the gurgling eruptions he had often observed +in a pot of simmering oatmeal. There was something uncanny about +it, something terribly suggestive of giant hands under the surface, +waiting to pull them down. He knew, without questioning, that +there was more deadly power in that creeping flood than in a dozen +boisterous torrents thundering down from the mountains. In it were the +cumulative waters of a score of those torrents, and in its broad, deep +sweep into the big lake the currents and perils of each were combined +into one great threatening force. + +The thoughts that were in Rod's mind betrayed themselves as he looked +at his companions. Mukoki was reloading the canoe. Wabi watched the +flood. + +"She's running pretty strong," said the Indian youth dubiously. "What +do you think of it, Muky?" + +"Keep close to shore," replied the old warrior, without stopping his +work. "We mak' heem--safe!" + +There was a good deal of consolation in Mukoki's words, for both +youths still bore smarting reminders of his caution and good judgment. +In a short time the canoe was safely launched where a small eddy had +worked into the shore, and the three adventurers dug in their paddles. +Mukoki, who held the important position in the stern, kept the bow of +the birch within half a dozen yards of the bank, and to Rod's mind +they slipped up-stream with amazing speed and ease. Now and then one +of the upheavings of the currents would catch the canoe, and from the +way in which it was pitched either to one side or the other Rod easily +imagined what perils the middle of the stream would have held for +them. Quick action on the part of Mukoki and Wabigoon was always +necessary to counteract the effect of these upheavals, and in the bow +Wabi was constantly on the alert. At no time could they tell when to +expect the attacks of the unseen forces below. Ten feet ahead the +water might be running as smooth as oil, then--a single huge bubble, +as if a great fish had sent up a gasp of air--and in an instant it +would be boiling like a small maelstrom. + +Rod noticed that each time they were caught near one of these some +unseen power seemed sucking them down, and that at those times the +canoe would settle several inches deeper than when they were in calm +water. The discovery thrilled him, and he wondered what one of the big +eruptions out in mid-stream would do to them if they were caught in +it. Other perils were constantly near them. Floating logs and masses +of brush and other debris swept down with the flood, and Wabi's +warning cries of "right," "left," and "back" came with such frequency +that Rod's arms ached with the mighty efforts which he made with his +paddle in response to them. Again the stream would boil with such fury +ahead of them that Mukoki would put in to shore, and a portage would +be made beyond the danger point. Five times during the day were the +canoe and its contents carried in this manner, so that including all +time lost an average of not more than two miles an hour was made. When +camp was struck late that afternoon, however, Mukoki figured that they +had covered half the distance up the Ombabika. + +The following day's progress was even slower. With every mile the +stream became narrower and swifter. The treacherous upheavals caused +by undercurrents no longer harassed the gold seekers, but logs and +debris swept down with greater velocity. Several times the frail canoe +was saved from destruction only by the quick and united action of the +three. They worked now like a well-regulated machine, engineered by +Wabigoon, whose sharp eyes were always on the alert for danger ahead. +This second day was one of thrills and tense anxiety for Rod, and he +was glad when it came to an end. It was early, and the sun was still +two hours high, when they stopped to camp. + +Mukoki had chosen an open space, backed by a poplar-covered rocky +ridge, and scarce had the bow of the canoe touched shore when Wabi +gave an excited exclamation, caught up his rifle, and fired three +rapid shots in the direction of a small clump of spruce near the foot +of the mountain. + +"Missed, by all that's good and great!" he yelled. "Quick, Mukoki, +shove her in! There's the biggest bear I've seen in all my life!" + +"Where?" demanded Rod. "Where is he?" + +He dropped his paddle and snatched his own rifle, while Mukoki, +keeping his self-possession, brought the canoe so that Wabi could leap +ashore. Rod followed like a flash, and the two excited youths sped in +the direction of the bear, leaving their companion to care for himself +and the heavily-laden birch. A short, swift run brought them to the +edge of the spruce, and with hearts beating wildly the two scanned the +barren side of the mountain ahead of them. There was no sign of the +bear. + +"He turned down-stream!" cried Wabi, "We must cut--" + +"There he is," whispered Rod sharply. + +Just beginning the ascent of the mountain, four or five hundred yards +below them, was the bear. Even at that distance Rod was amazed at the +size of the beast. + +"What a monster!" he gasped. + +"Blaze away!" urged Wabi. "It's four hundred yards if it's a foot! Aim +for the top of his back and you'll bring him!" + +Suiting action to his words he fired the two remaining shots in +his rifle, and as he slipped in fresh cartridges Rod continued the +long-range fusillade. His first and second shots produced no effect. +At his third the running animal paused for a moment and looked down at +them, and the young Hunter seized his opportunity to take a careful +aim. At the report of his gun the bear gave a quick lunge forward, +half-fell among the rocks, and then was off again. + +"You hit him!" shouted Wabi, setting off on a dead run between the +spruce and the mountain. + +For a few brief moments Rod studied the situation as he reloaded. The +bear was rapidly nearing the summit of the ridge. By, swift running +Wabigoon would have another fair shot before the animal got out of +range. If that shot were a miss they would lose their game. In a flash +he discerned a break in the mountain. If he could make that, and the +bear turned in his direction-- + +Without further thought he ran toward the break. He heard the sharp +reports of Wabi's rifle behind him, but didn't stop to see the effect +of the fire. If it was another miss--every second counted. The cut in +the mountain was clear. Breathlessly he dashed through it and stopped +on the opposite side, his eyes eagerly scanning the rock-strewn ridge. +He made no attempt to suppress the exclamation of joy that came to +his lips when, fully eight hundred yards away, he discerned the bear +coming down the side of the mountain, and in his direction. Crouching +behind a huge boulder Rod waited. Seven hundred yards, six hundred, +five hundred, and the bear turned, this time striking into the edge +of the plain. The animal was traveling slowly, partly stopping in his +flight now and then, and Rod knew that he was badly wounded. It was +soon evident that the course being taken by the game would bring it no +nearer, and the young hunter leveled his rifle. + +Five hundred yards, more than a quarter of a mile! + +This was desperate shooting, shooting that sent a strange thrill +through Roderick Drew. The magnificent weapon in his hands was equal +to the task. It would kill easily at that distance. But would he fail? +He was confident that his first shot went high. His second had no +effect. To his third there came the sharp response of a fourth from +the top of the mountain. Wabigoon had reached the summit, and was +firing at six hundred yards! + +The bear stopped. With deadly precision Rod now took aim at the +motionless animal. An instant after he had fired a wild shout burst +from his throat, and was answered by Wabigoon's joyful yell from the +mountain. It was a wonderful shot, and the bear was down! + +The animal was dead when the triumphant young hunters reached its +side. It was some time before either of them spoke. Panting from their +exertions, both looked down in silence upon the huge beast at their +feet. That he had made a remarkable kill Rod could see by the look of +wonder in his companion's face. They were still mutely regarding +the dead animal when Mukoki came through the break in the ridge and +hurried toward them. His face, too, became filled with amazement when +he saw the bear. + +"Big bear!" he exclaimed. + +There was a world of meaning in his words, and Rod flushed with +pleasure. + +"He weighs five hundred," said Wabi, "and he stands four feet at the +shoulders if an inch." + +"Fine rug!" grinned Mukoki. + +"Let's see, Rod; he'll make a rug--" Wabi walked critically around +the bear. "He'll make you a rug over eight feet long by about six in +width. I wonder where he is hit?" + +A brief examination showed that while the honors of the actual kill +were with Rod, at least one, and perhaps two, of Wabi's shots had +taken effect. The last shot from the white youth's rifle had struck +the bear just below the right ear, causing almost instantaneous death. +On this same side, which had been exposed to Rod's fire, was a body +wound, undoubtedly made by the shot on the mountain side. When the +animal was rolled over by the combined efforts of the three two more +wounds were discovered on the left side, which had mostly been exposed +to Wabigoon's fire. It was while examining these that the sharp-eyed +Mukoki gave a sudden grunt of surprise. + +"Heem shot before--long time ago! Old wound--feel bullet!" + +Between his fingers he was working the loose hide back of the foreleg. +The scar of an old wound was plainly visible, and both Rod and Wabi +could feel the ball under the skin. There is something that fascinates +the big game hunter in this discovery of an old wound in his quarry, +and especially in the vast solitudes of the North, where hunters are +few and widely scattered. It brings with it a vivid picture of +what happened long ago, the excitement of some other chase, the +well-directed shot, and at last the escape of the game. And so it was +now. The heads of Rod and Wabigoon hung close over Mukoki's shoulders +while the old Indian dug out the bullet with his knife. Another grunt +of surprise fell from the pathfinder's lips as he dropped the pellet +in the palm of his hand. + +It was a strange-looking object, smooth, and curiously flattened. + +"Ver' soft bullet," said Mukoki. "Never know lead thin, thin out lak +that!" + +With his knife he peeled off a thin slice of the ball. + +"Heem--" + +He held up the two pieces. In the sun they gleamed a dull, rich +yellow. + +"That bullet made of gold!" he breathed, scarcely above a whisper. "No +yellow lead. That gold, pure gold!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +UP THE OMBABIKA + +For a few moments after Mukoki's remarkable discovery the three stood +speechless. Wabigoon stared as if he could not bring himself to +believe the evidence of his eyes. Rod was quivering with the old, +thrilling excitement that had first come to him in the cabin where +they had found the skeletons and the buckskin bag with its precious +nuggets, and Mukoki's face was a study. The thin, long fingers which +held the two pieces of the gold bullet trembled, which was an unusual +symptom in the old pathfinder. It was he who broke the silence, and +his words gave utterance to the question which had rushed into the +heads of the two young hunters. + +"Who shoot gold bullets at bear?" + +And to this question there was, for the time, absolutely no answer. To +tell who shot that bullet was impossible. But why was it used? + +Wabigoon had taken the parts of the yellow ball and was weighing them +in the palm of his hand. + +"It weighs an ounce," he declared. + +"Twenty dollars' worth of gold!" gasped Rod, as if he lacked breath +to express himself. "Who in the wide world is shooting twenty dollar +bullets at bear?" he cried more excitedly, repeating Mukoki's question +of a minute before. + +He, too, weighed the yellow pellets in his hand. + +The puzzled look had gone out of Mukoki's face. 'Again the +battle-scarred old warrior wore the stoic mask of his race, which only +now and then is lifted for an instant by some sudden and unexpected +happening. Behind that face, immobile, almost expressionless, worked a +mind alive to every trick and secret of the vast solitudes, and even +before his young comrades had gained the use of their tongues he was, +in his savage imagination, traveling swiftly back over the trail of +the monster bear to the gun that had fired the golden bullet. Wabigoon +understood him, and watched him eagerly. + +"What do you think of it, Muky?" + +"Man shoot powder and ball gun, not cartridge," replied Mukoki slowly. +"Old gun. Strange; ver' strange!" + +"A muzzle loader!" said Wabi. + +The Indian nodded. + +"Had powder, no lead. Got hungry; used gold." + +Eight words had told the story, or at least enough of it to clear away +a part of the cloud of mystery, but the other part still remained. + +Who had fired the bullet, _and where had the gold come from?_ + +"He must have struck it rich," said Wabi "else would he have a chunk +of gold like that?" + +"Where that come from--more, much! more," agreed Mukoki shortly. + +"Do you suppose--" began Rod. There was a curious thrill in his voice, +and he paused, as if scarce daring to venture the rest of what he had +meant to say. "Do you suppose--somebody has found--our gold?" + +Mukoki and Wabigoon stared at him as if he had suddenly exploded a +mine. Then Wabi turned and looked silently at the old Indian. Not +a word was spoken. Silently Rod drew something from his pocket, +carefully wrapped in a bit of cloth. + +"You remember I kept this little nugget from my share in the buckskin +bag, intending to have a scarf-pin made of it," he explained. "When I +took my course in geology and mineralogy I learned that, if one had +half a dozen specimens of gold, each from a different mine, the +chances were about ten to one that no two of them would be exactly +alike in coloring. Now--" + +He exposed the nugget, and made a fresh cut in it with his knife, as +Mukoki had done with the yellow bullet. Then the two gleaming surfaces +were compared. + +One glance was sufficient. + +The gold was the same! + +Wabi drew back, uttering something under his breath, his eyes gleaming +darkly. Rod's face had suddenly turned a shade whiter, and Mukoki, not +understanding the mysteries of mineralogy, stared at the youth in mute +suspense. + +"Somebody has found our gold!" cried Wabi, almost savagely. + +"We are not sure," interrupted Rod. "We know only that the evidence is +very suspicious. The rock formation throughout this country is almost +identically the same, deep trap on top, with slate beneath, and for +that reason it is very possible that gold found right in this locality +would be of exactly the same appearance as gold found two hundred +miles from here. Only--it's suspicious," Rod concluded. + +"Man probably dead," consoled Mukoki. "No lead--hungry--shoot bear an' +no git heem. Mebby starve!" + +"The poor devil!" exclaimed Wabigoon. "We've been too selfish to give +a thought to that, Rod. Of course he was hungry, or he wouldn't have +used gold for bullets. And he didn't get this bear! By George--" + +"I wish he'd got him," said Rod simply. + +Somehow Mukoki's words sent a flush into his face. There came to him, +suddenly, a mental picture of that possible tragedy in the wilderness: +the starving man, his last hopeless molding of a golden bullet, the +sight of the monster bear, the shot, and after that the despair and +suffering and slow death of the man who had fired it. + +"I wish he'd got it," he repeated. "We have plenty of grub." + +Mukoki was already at work skinning the bear, and Rod and Wabigoon +unsheathed their knives and joined him. + +"Wound 'bout fi', six month old," said the Indian. "Shot just before +snow." + +"When there wasn't a berry in the woods for a starving man to eat," +added Wabi. "Well, here's hoping he found something, Rod." + +An hour later the three gold seekers returned to their canoe laden +with the choicest of the bear meat, and the animal's skin, which was +immediately stretched between two trees, high up out of the reach of +depredating animals. Rod gazed at it proudly. + +"We'll be sure and get it when we come back, won't we?" + +"Sure," replied Wabi. + +"It will be safe?" + +"As safe as though it were at home." + +"Unless somebody comes along and steals it," added Rod. + +Wabi was busy unloading certain necessary articles from the canoe, but +he ceased his work to look at Rod. + +"Steal!" he cried in astonishment. + +Mukoki, too, had heard Rod's remark and was listening. + +"Rod," continued Wabigoon quietly, "that is one thing we don't have up +here. Our great big glorious North doesn't know the word thief, except +when it is applied to a Woonga. If a white hunter came along here +to-morrow, and found that hide stretched so low that the animals were +getting at it, he would nail it higher for us. An Indian, if he camped +here, would build his fire so that the sparks wouldn't strike it. Rod, +up here, where we don't know civilization, we're honest!" + +"But down in the States," said Rod, "the Indians steal." + +The words slipped from him. The next instant he would have given +anything to have been able to recall them. Mukoki had grown a little +more tense in his attitude. + +"That's because white men have lived so much among them, white men who +are called civilized," answered the young scion of Wabinosh House, his +eyes growing bright. "White blood makes thieves. Pardon me for saying +it, Rod, but it does, at least among Indians. But our white blood +up here is different from yours. It's the same blood that's in our +Indians, every drop of it honest, loyal to its friends, and it runs +red and strong with the love of this great wilderness. There are +exceptions, of course, as you have seen in the Woongas, who are an +outlaw race. But we are honest, and Mukoki there, if he were dying of +cold, wouldn't steal a skin to save himself. An ordinary Indian might +take it, if he were dying for want of it, but not unless he had a gun +to leave in its place!" + +"I didn't mean to say what I did," said Rod. "Oh, I wish I were one +of you! I love this big wilderness, and everything in it, and it's +glorious to hear you say what you do!" + +"You are one of us," cried Wabi, gripping his hand. + +That evening, after they had finished their supper and the three were +gathered about the fire, Wabigoon said: + +"Muky could tell you one reason why the Indians of the North are +honest if he wanted to, Rod. But he won't, so I will. There was once a +tribe in the country of Mukoki's fore-fathers, along the Makoki River, +which empties into the Albany, whose men were great thieves, and who +stole from one another. No man's snare was safe from his neighbor, +fights and killings were of almost daily occurrence, and the chief +of the tribe was the greatest thief of all, and of course escaped +punishment. This chief loved to set his own snares, and one day he was +enraged to find that one of his tribe had been so bold as to set a +snare within a few inches of his own, and in the trail of the same +animal. He determined on meting out a terrible punishment, and waited. + +"While he was waiting a rabbit ran into the snare of his rival. +Picking up a stick he approached to kill the game, when suddenly there +seemed to pass a white mist before his eyes, and when he looked again +there was no rabbit, but the most wonderful creature he had ever +beheld in the form of man, and he knew that it was the Great Spirit, +and fell upon his face. And a great voice came to him, as if rolling +from far beyond the most distant mountains, and it told him that the +forests and streams of the red man's heaven were closed to him and his +people, that in the hunting-grounds that came after death there was no +place for thieves. + +"'Go to your people,' he said, 'and tell them this. Tell them that +from this day on, moon upon moon, until the end of time, must they +live like brothers, setting their snares side by side without war, to +escape the punishment that hovers over them.' + +"And the chief told his people this," finished Wabi, "and from that +hour there was no more thievery in the land. And because the Great +Spirit came in the form he did the rabbit is the good luck animal of +the Crees and Chippewayans of the far North, and wherever the snows +fall deep, men set their traps side by side to this day, and do not +rob." + +Rod had listened with glowing eyes. + +"It's glorious!" he repeated. "It's glorious, if it's true!" + +"It is true," said Wabi. "In all this great country between here and +the Barren Lands, where the musk-ox lives, there is not one Indian in +a hundred who would steal another Indian's trap, or the game in it. +It is one of the understood laws of the North that every hunter shall +have his 'trap line,' or 'run,' and it is not courtesy for another +trapper to encroach upon it; but if he should, and he should lay a +trap close beside another's, it would not be wrong, for the law of the +Great Spirit is greater than the law of man. Why, last winter even the +outlaw Woongas made no effort to steal our traps, though they thirsted +for our lives!" + +"Mukoki," said Rod, rising, "I want to shake hands with you before I +go to bed. I'm learning--fast. I wish I were half Indian!" + +The next morning the journey up the Ombabika was resumed, and a +little more of anxiety was now mingled with the enthusiasm of the +adventurers. For no one of them could relieve himself of the possible +significance of the gold bullet, the fear that their treasure had been +discovered by another. Wabi regained his confidence first. + +"I don't believe it!" he exclaimed at last. Without questioning, the +others knew to what he referred. "I don't believe that our gold +has been found. It is in the heart of the wildest country on the +continent, and surely if such a rich find had been made we would have +heard something about it at Wabinosh House or Kenegami, which are the +nearest points of supply." + +"Or, if it was found, the discoverer is dead," added Rod. + +"Yes." + +In the stern, Mukoki nodded and grunted his conviction. + +"Dead," he repeated. + +The Ombabika had now become narrow and violent. Against its swift +current the canoe made but little headway, and at noon Mukoki +announced that the river journey was at an end. For a few moments Rod +did not recognize where they had landed. Then he gave a sudden cry of +glad surprise. + +"Why, this is where we had supper that night after our terrible +adventure on the river last winter," he exclaimed. + +From far off there came faintly to his ears a low, rumbling thunder. + +"Listen! That's the river rushing through the break in the mountain +where we walked the edge of the precipice!" + +Wabi shrugged his shoulders at the memory of that fearful night and +its desperate race to escape from the Woonga country. + +"We've got to do the same thing again, only this time it will be in +daylight." + +"Long portage," said Mukoki. "Six mile. Carry everything." + +"Until we reach the little creek in the plains beyond the mountain, +where you shot the caribou?" asked Rod. + +"Yes," replied Wabigoon. "That little creek will now be a pretty husky +stream, and by hard work we can paddle up it until we come within +about eight miles of our old camp at the head of the chasm, where we +found the skeletons and the map." + +"And from that point we shall have to carry our canoe and supplies +to the creek in the chasm," finished Rod. "And then--hurrah for the +gold!" + +"Mak' old camp on mountain by night," said Mukoki. + +Wabi broke into a happy laugh and thumped Rod on the back. + +"Remember the big lynx you shot, Rod, and thought it was a Woonga, and +had us all frightened out of our wits?" he cried. + +Rod colored at the memory of his funny adventure, which was thrilling +enough at the time, and began assisting Mukoki in unloading the canoe. +Two hours were taken for dinner and rest, and then the young hunters +shouldered their canoe while Mukoki hurried on ahead of them, weighted +with a half of their supplies. Every step now brought the thunder of +the torrent rushing through the mountain more clearly to their ears, +and they had not progressed more than a mile when they were compelled +to shout to make each other hear. On their right the wall of the +mountain closed in rapidly, and as they stumbled with their burden +over a mass of huge boulders the two boys saw just ahead of them the +narrow trail at the edge of the precipice. + +At its beginning they rested their canoe. On one side of them, a dozen +yards away, the face of the mountain rose sheer above them for a +thousand feet; on the other, scarce that distance from where they +stood, was the roaring chasm. And ahead of them the mountain wall and +the edge of the precipice came nearer and nearer, until there was no +more than a six-foot ledge to walk upon. Rod's face turned strangely +white as he realized, for the first time, the terrible chances they +had taken on that black, eventful night of a few months ago; and for a +time Wabi stood silent, his face as hard-set as a rock. Up out of the +chasm there came a deafening thunder of raging waters, like the +hollow explosions of great guns echoing and reechoing in subterranean +caverns. + +"Let's take a look!" shouted Wabi close up to his companion's ear. + +He went to the edge of the precipice, and Rod forced himself to +follow, though there was in him a powerful inclination to hug close +to the mountain wall. For half a minute he stood fascinated, +terror-stricken, and yet in those thirty seconds he saw that which +would remain with him for a lifetime. Five hundred feet below him the +over-running floods of spring were caught between the ragged edges of +the two chasm walls, beating themselves in their fury to the whiteness +of milk froth, until it seemed as though the earth itself must tremble +under their mad rush. Now and then through the twisting foam there +shot the black crests of great rocks, as though huge monsters of +some kind were at play, whipping the torrent into greater fury, and +bellowing forth thunderous voices when they rose triumphant for an +instant above the sweep of the flood. + +All this Rod saw in less than a breath, and he drew back, shivering +in every fiber of his body. But Wabigoon did not move. For several +minutes the Indian youth stood looking down upon the wonderful force +at play below him, his body as motionless as though hewn out of stone, +the wild blood in his veins leaping in response to the tumult and +thunder of the magnificent spectacle deep down in the chasm. When he +turned to Rod his lips made no sound, but his eyes glowed with that +half-slumbering fire which came only when the red blood of the +princess mother gained ascendency, and the wild in him called out +greeting to the savage in nature. It is not music, or fine talk, or +artificial wonders that waken a thrill deep down in the Indian soul, +it is the great mountain, the vast plain, the roaring cataract! And so +it was with Wabigoon. + +They went on, now, with the canoe upon their shoulders, and hugging +close to the mountain wall. Slowly, avoiding every stone and stick +that might cause one of them to stumble, they passed along the +perilously narrow ledge, and did not rest again until they had come +in safety to the broader trail leading up the mountain. An hour later +Mukoki met them on his return for the remainder of their supplies. +Shortly after this they reached the small plateau where they had +camped during the previous winter, and lowered their canoe close to +the old balsam shelter. + +Everything was as they had left it. Neither snow nor storm had +destroyed their lodging of boughs. There were the charred remains of +their fire, the bones of the huge lynx which Roderick had thought was +an attacking Woonga, and had killed; and beside the shelter was a +stake driven into the ground, the stake to which they had fastened +their faithful comrade of many an adventure, the tame wolf. + +To this stake went Wabigoon, speaking no word. He sat down close +beside it, with his arm resting upon it, and when he looked up at Rod +there was an expression in his face which spoke more than words. + +"Poor old Wolf!" + +Rod turned and walked to the edge of the plateau, something hot and +uncomfortable filling his eyes. Below him, as far as he could see, +there stretched the vast, mysterious wilderness that reached to Hudson +Bay. And somewhere out there in that limitless space was Wolf. + +As he looked, the hot film clouding his vision, he thought of the old +tragedy in Mukoki's life, and of how Wolf had helped him to avenge +himself. In his imagination he went back to that terrible day many, +many years ago, when Mukoki, happy in the strength of his youth, found +his young wife and child dead upon the trail, killed by wolves; he +thought of the story that Wabi had told him of the madness that came +to the young warrior, of how year after year he followed the trail of +wolves, wreaking his vengeance on their breed. And last he thought +of Wolf--how Mukoki and Wabigoon had found the whelp in one of their +traps; how they tamed him, grew to love him, and taught him to decoy +other wolves to their riffes. Wolf had been their comrade of a few +months before; fearless, faithful, until at last, escaping from the +final murderous assault of the Woongas, he had fled into the forests, +while his human friends fought their way back to civilization. + +Where was Wolf now? + +Unconsciously Rod questioned himself aloud, and from close behind him +Wabi answered. + +"With the hunt-pack, Rod. He's forgotten us; gone back to the wild." + +"Gone back to the wild, yes," said Rod; "but forgotten us, no!" + +Wabi made no reply. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +THE MYSTERIOUS SHOT + +For many minutes the two stood silently gazing into the North. At +their feet spread the broad plain where Mukoki had killed the caribou +while they watched him from the plateau; beyond that were the dense +stretches of forest, broken here and there by other plains and +meadows, and a dozen lakes glistened in the red tints of the setting +sun. When Rod first looked upon that country a few months before it +was a world of ice and snow, a cold, dazzling panorama of white that +reached from where he stood to the Pole. Now it was wakening under +the first magic touch of spring. Far away the two young gold hunters +caught a glimmer of the stream which they were to follow up to the +chasm. Last winter it had been a tiny creek; now it was swollen to the +size of a river. + +Suddenly, as they looked, two dark objects came slowly out into an +opening a mile away. At that distance they appeared hardly larger +than dogs, and Rod, whose mind was still filled with thoughts of +Wolf, exclaimed "Wolves!" + +In the same breath he caught himself, and added: + +"Moose!" + +"A cow and her calf," said Wabi. + +"How do you know?" asked Rod. + +"There; watch them now!" cried Wabi, catching his companion by the +arm. "The mother is ahead, and even from here I can see that she is +pacing. A moose never trots or gallops, like a deer, but paces, using +both feet on a side at the same time. Notice how the calf jumps about. +An old moose would never do that." + +"But both animals look to be about the same size," replied Rod, still +doubtful. + +"It's a two-year-old calf; almost as big as its mother. In fact, it's +not really a calf, because it is too old; but so long as young moose +stick to their mothers we call them calves up here. I've known them to +remain together for three years." + +"They're coming this way!" whispered the white youth. + +The moose had turned, heading for the base of the mountain upon which +they stood. Wabi drew his companion behind a big rock, from which both +could look down without being seen. + +"Be quiet!" he warned. "They're coming to feed on the sprouting poplar +along the mountain side. Just been over to the creek to get a drink. +We may have some fun!" + +He wet a finger in his mouth and held it above his head, the forest +pathfinder's infallible method of telling how the wind blows. No +matter how slight the movement of the air may be, one side of the +finger dries first, in an instant, and is warm, while the side that +remains damp is cold, and in the lee, that side toward which the wind +is blowing. + +"The wind is wrong, dead wrong," said Wabi. "It's blowing straight +toward them. Unless we are so high that our scent goes above them they +won't come much nearer." + +Another minute and Rod nudged Wabigoon. + +"They're within range!" + +"Yes, but we won't shoot. We don't need meat." + +As the young Indian spoke the cow brought herself to a dead stop so +suddenly that Wabi gave a delighted grunt. + +"Great!" he whispered. "She's caught a whiff of us, a quarter of a +mile away. See how she holds her head, her great ears chucked forward +to hear, her nose half to the sky! She knows there's danger on this +mountain. Now--" + +He did not finish. Like a flash the cow had darted ahead of her calf, +seeming to shoulder it back, and in another moment the two were racing +swiftly into the North, the mother this time in the rear instead of +leading. + +"I love moose," said Wabi, his eyes glowing. "Do you notice that I +never shoot them, Rod?" + +"By George, so you don't! I never thought of it. What is the reason?" + +"There are a good many reasons. Of course I have shot them, when in +very great need of meat; but it's an unpleasant job for me. You call +the lion the king of beasts. Well, he isn't. The moose is monarch of +them all. You saw how the mother moose acted. She led her calf when +approaching, because if there should be danger she wanted to meet it +first; and when she found danger she drove her calf ahead of her in +retreat, so that if harm came to either of them it would come to her. +Isn't that the human mother instinct? And the bull is glorious! In the +mating season he will face a dozen men in defense of his cow. If she +falls first he will stand between her body and the hunters' rifles, +pawing the earth, his eyes glaring defiance, until he is riddled with +bullets. Once I saw a wounded cow, and as she staggered away the big +bull that was with her hugged her close behind, never for a moment +leaving her exposed to the fire, but unflinchingly taking every bullet +in his own body. So beautiful was his courage that you would not have +known he was wounded until he fell dead in his tracks, literally cut +to pieces. It was that sight that made me swear never to kill another +moose--unless I had to." + +Rod was silent. The mother and the calf had disappeared when he turned +to Wabigoon. + +"I'm glad you told me that, Wabi," he said. "You are teaching me new +things about this big wilderness every day. I've shot one moose. I +won't shoot another unless we need him." + +They went back to their old camp, and by the time Mukoki returned with +his second load everything was in shape for the night, and a supper of +delicious bear steaks, coffee and "hot-stone biscuits," as Rod called +their baked combination of flour, water and salt, was soon ready. +After their meal the three sat for a long time near the fire, for +there was still a slight chill in the night air, and talked +mostly about Wolf and his adventures. Rod, in his distant home in +civilization had read and heard much that was false about wild +animals, was confident that Wolf would find they had returned into the +wilderness and would join them again, and to corroborate his belief +he narrated several stories of similar happenings. Wabigoon listened +courteously to him, which is the way of the Indian. Then he said: + +"Such stories as those are false, Rod. When I spent my year at school +with you I read dozens of stories about wild animals, and very few of +them were true. All sorts of people write about the wilderness, and +yet not one out of a hundred of those same people have ever been in +the real wilderness. And it is wonderful what some of them make wild +animals do!" + +Rod straightened himself with a jerk. + +"I have been here only a few months, Wabi, and yet I have seen more +wonderful things about animals than I have ever read in print," he +declared. + +"Of course you have," agreed his companion. "And there is just the +point I want to make clear. Wild animals are the most wonderful +creatures in existence, and if some of their actual habits and +adventures were told they would be laughed at down where you came +from. Where your writers make their mistake is in bringing them into +too close association with human beings, and making them half human. +Wolf remained with us because he knew no better. We caught him when he +was a whelp, and as he grew older both Mukoki and I could see that at +times he was filled with a wild longing to join his people. We knew +that it was coming. He will never return to us." + +Mukoki made a soft sound deep down in his throat, and Rod turned +suddenly toward him. + +"You believe that, Mukoki?" + +"Wolf gone!" + +"But animals think, don't they?" persisted Rod, to whom the discussion +was of absorbing interest. "They reason, they remember!" + +"They do all of that," replied Wabi, "and more. I have read certain +so-called natural history stories which ridiculed the idea of wild +animals possessing mental abilities, and which ascribed pretty nearly +all their actions to instinct. Such stories are as wrong as those +which give wild animals human endowments. Animals do think. Don't you +suppose that mother moose was thinking when she stopped out there in +the plain? Wasn't she turning the situation over in her mind, if you +want to speak of it as that, and mentally figuring just where the +danger lay, and in which direction she ought to take flight? And +besides reason wild animals have instinct. One proof of this is their +sixth sense; the sense of--of--what do you call it?" + +"Orientation?" assisted Rod. + +"Yes; that's it. Orientation. A bear, for instance, doesn't carry +a compass with him, as some nature writers would like to have you +believe, and yet he can go from this mountain to a den a hundred miles +away as straight as a bird can fly. That's instinct." + +"Then Wolf--" mused Rod slowly. + +"Is with the hunt pack," finished the young Indian. + +Mukoki spoke softly, as though to himself. + +"Last winter the snow came, and now it is water. Two moons past, Wolf, +heem tame. Now wild. The Great Spirit say that is right, I guess so." + +"He means that it is nature," said Wabi. + +For an hour after the others had wrapped themselves in their blankets +Rod sat alone beside the fire, listening, and thinking. And after that +he went to the edge of the plateau, and watched the great spring moon +as it floated slowly over the vast, still wilderness. How wonderful +these solitudes were, how little the teeming millions of civilization +knew about them! Somehow, in those moments, as he watched the +shivering Northern Lights playing far beyond the farthest footstep of +man, there came to Roderick Drew the thought that God must be nearer +to earth here than anywhere else in the world. For the first time his +soul was filled with something that was almost love for the red man's +Great Spirit. And why not? For was not that Great Spirit his own God? +Sad, lonely, silent, mysterious, a whole world lay before him, a world +that was the Indian Bible, that contained for the red man of the North +the teachings and the voice of the Creator of all things. A wind had +risen and was whispering over the plains; he heard the hushed voices +of the quivering poplar boughs, and there came from far below him the +soft, chuckling, mating hoot of an owl. Gradually his eyes closed, +and he leaned more heavily upon the rock against which he had seated +himself. After that he dreamed of what he had looked upon, while +the fire at the camp died away, and Mukoki and Wabigoon slumbered, +oblivious of his absence. + +Of how long he slept Rod had no idea. He was suddenly brought back +into wakefulness by a sound that startled him to the marrow of his +bones, a terrible scream close to his ears. He sat bolt upright, +quaking in every limb. For a moment he tried to cry out, but his +tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. What had happened? Was it Wabi, +or Mukoki? + +A dozen paces away was a huge rock and as he looked he saw something +move upon it, a long, lithe object that shone a silvery white in the +moonlight, and he knew that it was a lynx. Stealthily Rod reached for +his rifle, which had slipped between his knees, and as he did so the +lynx sent forth another of its blood-curdling screams. Even now the +white youth shivered at the sound, so much like the terrible cry of +some person in dying agony. He leveled his gun. There was a flash in +the moonlight, a sharp report, and a shout from the direction of the +camp. In another moment Rod was upon his feet, and sorry that he had +shot. It flashed upon him that he might have watched the lynx, one of +the night pirates of all this strange wilderness, and that its pelt, +at this season, would be worthless. He went to the rock cautiously. +The lynx was not there. He walked around it, holding his rifle in +readiness for attack. The lynx was gone. He had made a clean miss! + +Both Mukoki and Wabigoon met him on the opposite side of the rock. + +"'Nother heap big Woonga," grinned the old pathfinder remembering +Rod's former adventure on this same plateau. "Kill?" + +"Missed!" said Rod shortly. "What a scream that was! Ugh!" + +This time he went to bed with the others, and slept until early dawn. +The morning was one of those rare gifts of budding spring, warm and +redolent with the sweetness of new life, and its beauty acted as a +tonic on the three adventurers. Their fears of the day before were +gone, and with song and whistle and cheery voice they began the +descent of the mountain. Mukoki went on ahead of Rod and Wabigoon with +his pack, and the two boys had not made more than two of the six miles +in the portage across the plain when he met them again, returning for +his second load. By noon the canoe and its contents were safely at +the creek, and the gold hunters halted until after dinner. The little +stream across which Rod had easily leaped without wetting his feet a +few weeks before had swollen into a fair-sized river, and in places +its searching waters had formed tiny lakes. Unlike the Ombabika, +sweeping down from its mountain heights, there was but little current +here, a fact that immensely pleased Mukoki and his companions. + +"We near mak' cabin to-night," said the old Indian. "I take load +to-night." + +During the two hours' paddle up-stream Mukoki spoke but little, and as +they approached nearer to their last winter's thrilling fight with the +Woongas, in which they had so nearly lost their lives, he ceased even +to respond by nod or grunt to the conversation of his companions. Once +Wabigoon spoke again of Wolf, and for an instant the old Indian, who +was in the bow, half turned to them, and for two strokes his paddle +rested in mid air. From the stern Wabi reached forward and poked Rod, +and the white youth understood. Next to Minnetaki and Wabigoon, and +perhaps himself, he knew that the faithful pathfinder loved Wolf best, +and that; he was filled with a little of that savage madness which +came to him now and then when he dwelt on the terrible tragedy that +had entered his life many years before. When the hunters reached the +end of their canoe journey up the stream Mukoki silently shouldered +his pack and set out over the plain. He spoke no word, made no sign. + +"It would be useless," said Wabigoon, as Rod made a movement as if to +follow and stop their comrade. "No persuasion could turn Mukoki now. +He wants to reach the old camp to-night, where Wolf disappeared. He +won't be back until morning." + +And Mukoki went on, never for an instant turning his face, until his +companions lost sight of him. But once out of their vision his, manner +took on a strange and sudden change. He lowered the head strap of his +pack over his breast, so that he might clutch at it with one hand, and +move his head freely. His eyes glowed with the dull fire of wakening +excitement; his steps were quick, and yet cautious, every movement in +his advance was one of listening and watchful expectancy. A person +watching the old warrior would have said that he was keenly on the +alert for game, or danger. And yet the safety of his rifle was locked, +a fresh trail of bear aroused no new interest in him, and when he +heard a crashing in the brush on his right, where a buck had got wind +of him, he gave but a single glance in its direction. He was not +seeking game. Nor were his fears aroused by suspicion of possible +danger. Wherever the ground was soft and moist he traveled slowly, +with his eyes on the earth, and at one of these spots he came to a +sudden pause. Before him were the clearly defined imprints of a wolf's +feet. + +With a low cry Mukoki threw off his pack and fell upon his knees. His +eyes burned fiercely now. There was something of madness in the way in +which he groveled in the soft earth, creeping from one footprint to +the next ahead of it, and stopping always where the right forefoot +had left its track. It was that foot which had held Wolf a captive in +Mukoki's trap, and he had lost two toes. None was missing here, and +the old pathfinder rose to his feet again, disappointment shadowing +the twitching expectancy in his face. + +Five times that afternoon Mukoki fell on his knees beside the trails +of wolves, and five times the light of hope went out for a moment in +his eyes. It was sunset when he climbed the mountain ridge to the +little lake hidden away in the dip; only a last pale glow tinted the +sky behind the forests when he set down his pack close to the charred +remains of the old cabin. For many minutes he rested, his gaze fixed +on those blackened reminders of their thrilling battle for life the +winter before. His wild blood leaped again at the thought of the +strife, of the desperate race that he and Roderick had run over the +mountain to the burning cabin, and of their rescue of Wabigoon. +Suddenly his eyes caught the white gleam of something half a hundred +paces away, and he rose and walked toward it, grunting and chuckling +in half-savage pleasure. The Woongas had not returned to bury their +dead, and the bones beside which he stopped were those of the outlaw +whom Wabigoon had killed, picked clean by the small animals of the +forest. + +Mukoki returned to his pack and sat down As darkness fell about him he +made no effort to build a fire. He had brought food, but did not eat +it. More dense grew the shadows in the forest, thicker the gloom that +hung over the mountains. Still he sat, silent, listening. To him, +softly and timidly at first, came the sounds of the night: the +chuckling notes of birds that awakened when the earth masked itself +in darkness, the hoot of an owl, the faint wailing echo of a far-away +lynx cry, the plunge of a mink in the lake. And now the wind began +whispering in the balsams, singing gently its age-old song of +loneliness, of desolation, of mystery, and Mukoki straightened himself +and looked to where the red glow of the moon was rising above the +mountain. After a little he rose to his feet, took his rifle, +and climbed to the summit of the ridge, with a thousand miles of +wilderness sweeping between him and the Arctic sea somewhere out there +in that wilderness--was Wolf! + +The moon rose higher. It disclosed the old Indian, as rigid as a rock, +with his back to a white, barkless tree in which the sap had run dry a +generation before. As he stood there he heard a sound, and turned his +face toward it, a sound that came from a mass of tumbled boulders, +like the falling of a small rock upon a larger one. And as he looked +there came from the darkness of the boulders a flash of fire and the +explosion of a gun, and as Mukoki crumpled down in his tracks there +followed a cry so terrible, so unhuman, so blood-curdling that, as +he fell, an answering cry of horror burst from the lips of the old +warrior. He lay like dead, though he was not touched. Instinct more +than reason had impelled him to fall at the sound of the mysterious +shot. Cautiously he wormed his rifle to his shoulder. But there came +no movement from the rocks. + +Then, from half-way down the mountain, there came again that terrible +cry, and Mukoki knew that no animal in all these wilds could make it, +but that it was human, and yet more savage than anything that had ever +brought terror into his soul. Trembling, he crouched to the earth, a +nameless fear chilling the blood in his veins. And the cry came again, +and yet again, always farther and farther away, now at the foot of +the mountain, now upon the plain, now floating away toward the chasm, +echoing and reechoing between the mountain ridges, startling the +creatures of the night into silence, and wresting deep sobbing breaths +from out of Mukoki's soul. And the old warrior moved not a muscle +until far away, miles and miles, it seemed, there died the last echo +of it, and only the whispering winds rustled over the mountain top. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +THE CRY IN THE CHASM + +If Mukoki had been a white man he would have analyzed in some way the +meaning of those strange cries. But the wild and its savage things +formed his world; and his world, until this night, had never known +human or beast that could make the terrible sounds he had heard. So +for an hour he crouched where he had fallen, still trembling with +that nameless fear, and trying hard to form a solution of what had +happened. Slowly he recovered himself. For many years he had mingled +with white people at the Post and reason now battled with the +superstitions of his race. + +He had been fired at. He had heard the whistling song of the ball over +his head, and had heard it strike the tree behind him. For a time +those rocks toward which he stared like fascinated beast had concealed +a man. But what kind of man! He remembered the ancient battle-cries +of his tribe, and of the enemies of his tribe, but none was like the +cries that had followed the shot. He heard them still; they rang in +his ears, and sent shivering chills up his back. And the more he tried +to reason the greater that nameless fear grew in him, until he slunk +like an animal down the side of the mountain, through the dip, and out +again upon the plain. And with that same nameless fear always close +behind him, urging him on with its terrors, he sped back over the +trail that he had followed that day, nor for an instant did he stop to +rest until he came to the camp-fire of Rod and Wabigoon. + +Usually an Indian hides his fears; he conceals them as a white man +does his sins. But to-night Mukoki's experience had passed beyond the +knowledge of his race, and he told of what had happened, trembling +still, cringing when a great white rabbit darted close to the fire. +Rod and Wabi listened to him in mute astonishment. + +"Could it have been a Woonga?" asked Wabi. + +"No Woonga," replied the old warrior quickly, shaking his head. +"Woonga no mak' noise lak that!" + +He drew away from the fire, wrapped himself in a blanket, and crept +into the shelter that Rod and Wabigoon had built. The two boys looked +at each other in silence. + +"Muky has certainly had some most extraordinary adventure," said Wabi +at last. "I have never seen him like this before. It is easy to guess +the meaning of the shot. Some of the Woongas may still be in the +country, and one of them saw Mukoki, and fired at him. But the scream! +What do you make of that?" + +"Do you suppose," whispered Rod, speaking close to his companion's +ear, "that Mukoki's imagination helped him out to-night?" He paused +for a moment as he saw the look of disapproval in Wabigoon's eyes, +and then went on. "I don't mean to hint that he stretched his story +purposely. He was standing on the mountain top. Suddenly there came a +flash of fire, the report of a rifle, and a bullet zipped close to his +head. And at that same instant, or a moment later--well, you remember +the scream of the lynx!" + +"You believe that it might have been a lynx, startled by the shot, and +sent screaming across the plain?" + +"Yes." + +"Impossible. At the sound of that shot a lynx would have remained as +still as death!" + +"Still there are always exceptions," persisted the white youth. + +"Not in the case of lynx," declared Wabigoon. "No animal made those +cries. Mukoki is as fearless as a lion. The cry of a lynx would have +stirred his blood with pleasure instead of fear. Whatever the sounds +were they turned Mukoki's blood into water. They made him a coward, +and he ran, ran, mind you! until he got back to us! Is that like +Mukoki? I tell you the cries--" + +"What?" + +"Were something very unusual," finished Wabigoon quietly, rising to +his feet "Perhaps we will find out more to-morrow. As it is, I believe +we had better stand guard in camp to-night. I will go to bed now and +you can awaken me after a while." + +Wabigoon's words and the strangeness of his manner put Rod ill at +ease, despite his arguments of a few moments before, and no sooner did +he find himself alone beside the fire than he began to be filled with +an unpleasant premonition of lurking danger. For a time he sat very +still, trying to peer into the shadows beyond the fire and listening +to the sounds that came to him from out of the night. As he watched +and listened his brain worked ceaselessly, conjuring picture after +picture of what that danger might be, and at last he drew out of the +firelight and concealed himself in the deep gloom of the bush. From +here he could see the camp, and at the same time was safe from a +possible rifle shot. + +The night passed with tedious slowness, and he was glad when, a little +after midnight, Wabi came out to relieve him. At dawn he was in turn +awakened by the young Indian. Mukoki was already up and had prepared +his pack. Apparently he had regained his old spirits, but both Rod and +Wabigoon could see that behind them the fear of the preceding night +still haunted him. That morning he did not set off ahead of the two +boys with his pack but walked beside them, stopping to rest when they +lowered their canoe, his eyes never ceasing their sharp scrutiny of +the plain and distant ridges. Once when Mukoki mounted a big rock to +look about him, Wabi whispered, + +"I tell you it's strange, Rod--mighty strange!" + +An hour later the old warrior halted and threw off his load. The three +had approached within a quarter of a mile of the dip in the mountain. + +"Leave canoe here," he said. "Go lak fox to old camp. Mebbe see!" + +He took the lead now, followed closely by the boys. The safety of the +old pathfinder's rifle was down, and following his example Rod and +Wabigoon held their own guns in readiness for instant fire. As they +neared the summit of the ridge on which Mukoki's life had been +attempted the suspense of the two young hunters became almost +painfully acute. Mukoki's actions not only astonished them, but +set their blood tingling with his own strange fear. Many times had +Wabigoon seen his faithful comrade in moments of deadly peril but +never, even when the Woongas were close upon their trail, had he known +him to take them as seriously as he did the ascent of this mountain. +Every few steps Mukoki paused, listening and watchful. Not the +smallest twig broke under his moccasined feet; the movement of the +smallest bird, the trembling of a bush, the scurry of a rabbit halted +him, rigid, his rifle half to shoulder. And Rod and Wabigoon soon +become filled with this same panic-stricken fear. What terrible dread +was it that filled Mukoki's soul? Had he seen something of which he +had not told them? Did he think something which he had not revealed? + +Foot by foot the three came to the top of the ridge. There Mukoki +straightened himself, and stood erect. There were no signs of a living +creature about them. Down in the dip nestled the little lake, gleaming +in the midday sun. They could make out the debris of the burned cabin +in which they had passed their hunting season, and close to this was +the pack which Mukoki had dropped there the night before. No one had +molested it. Wabi's face relaxed. Rod, breathing easier, laughed +softly. What had there been to fear? He glanced questioningly at +Mukoki. + +"There rocks, there tree," said the old warrior, in answer to Rod's +glance, "down there went scream!" He pointed far out across the plain. + +Wabi had gone to the tree. + +"See here, Rod!" he cried. "By George, this was a close shave!" He +pointed to a tiny hole freshly made in the smooth white surface of the +tree as the others came up. "There--stand there, Mukoki, back to the +tree, as you said you were when the shot was fired. Great Caesar, that +fellow had a dead line on your head--two inches high! No wonder it +made you think the scream of a lynx was something else!" + +"No lynx," said Mukoki, his face darkening. + +"Shame on you, Muky!" laughed Wabigoon. "Don't get angry. I won't say +it again if it makes you mad." + +Rod had drawn his hunting-knife and was prodding the point of it in +the bullet hole. + +"I can feel the ball," he said. "It's not in more than an inch." + +"That's curious," exclaimed Wabigoon, coming close beside him. "It +ought to be half-way through the tree at least! Eh, Muky? I don't +believe it would have hurt--" + +He stopped. Rod had turned with a sudden excited cry. He held out his +knife, tip upward, and pointed to it with the index finger of his free +hand. Wabi's eyes fell on the tip of the blade. Mukoki stared. For a +full half minute the three stood in speechless amazement. Clinging to +the knife tip was a tiny fleck of yellow, gleaming lustrously in the +sun as Rod slowly turned the handle of his weapon. + +"Another--gold--bullet!" + +The words fell from Wabi's lips very slowly, and so low that they were +scarce above a whisper. Mukoki seemed to have ceased breathing. Rod's +eyes met the old warrior's. + +"What does it mean?" + +Wabi had pulled his knife and was digging into the tree. A few deep +cuts and the golden bullet lay exposed to view. + +"What does it mean?" repeated the white youth. + +Again he addressed his question to Mukoki. + +"Man who shoot bear--heem no dead," replied the old pathfinder. "Same +gun, same gold, same--" + +"Same what?" + +A strange gleam came for an instant into Mukoki's eyes, and without +finishing he turned and pointed across the narrow plain that lay +between them and the mysterious chasm which they were to follow in +their search for treasure. + +"Cry went there!" he said shortly. + +"To the chasm!" said Wabi. + +"To the chasm!" repeated Rod. + +Impelled by the same thought the three adventurers went toward the +rocks from which the shot had been fired. Surely they would discover +some sign there, or lower down upon the plain, where the melting snows +had softened the earth. Mukoki led in the search, and foot by foot +they examined the spot where the mysterious marksman must have stood +when he sent his golden bullet so close to the Indian's head. + +But not a trace of his presence had he left behind. Working abreast, +the three began the descent of the ridge. Hardly had they covered a +third of the distance to the plain when Wabi, who was trailing between +Rod and the old Indian, called out that he had made a discovery. +Mukoki had already reached him when Rod came up, and the two were +gazing silently at something fluttering from a bush. + +"Lynx hair!" cried Rod. "A lynx has been this way!" He could not +entirely conceal the triumph in his voice. He had been right in his +conjecture of the night before, the cry that had frightened Mukoki had +been made by a lynx! + +"Yes, a lynx has been this way, a lynx four feet high," said Wabigoon +quietly, and the touch of raillery in his voice assured Rod that he +had still other lessons to learn in the life of this big wilderness. +"Lynx don't grow that big, Rod!" + +"Then it's--" Rod feared to go on. + +"Lynx fur. That's just what it is. Whoever fired at Mukoki last night +was dressed in skins! Now, can you tell us what that means?" + +Without waiting for an answer Wabigoon resumed his search. But the +mountain side gave no further evidence. Not a footprint was found upon +the plain. If the mysterious person who had fired the golden bullet +had leaped from the mountain top into space he could have left no +fewer traces behind him. At the end of an hour Rod and his companions +returned to the canoe, carried their loads to the pack in the dip, +and prepared dinner. Their suspense and fear, and specially Mukoki's +dread, were in a large measure gone. But at the same time they were +more hopelessly mystified than ever. That there was danger ahead of +them, that the menace of golden bullets was actual and thrilling, all +three were well agreed, but the sunlight of day and a little sound +reasoning had dispelled their half superstitious terrors of the +previous night and they began to face the new situation with their +former confidence. + +"We can't let this delay us," said Wabi, as they ate their dinner. "By +night we ought to be in our old camp at the head of the chasm, where +we held the Woongas at bay last winter. The sooner we get out of the +way of these golden bullets the better it will be for us!" + +Mukoki shrugged his shoulders. + +"Gold bullet follow, I guess so," he grunted, "Cry went there--to +chasm!" + +"I don't believe this fellow, whoever he is, will hang to our trail," +continued Wabi, giving Rod a suggestive look. A few moments later he +found an opportunity to whisper, "We've got to get that cry out of +Muky's head, Rod, or we'll never find our gold!" + +When Mukoki had gone to arrange his pack the young Indian spoke +earnestly to his companion. + +"Muky isn't afraid of bullets, either gold or lead; he isn't afraid of +any danger on earth. But that cry haunts him. He is trying not to +let us know, yet it haunts him just the same. Do you know what he is +thinking? No? Well, I do! He is superstitious, like the rest of his +race, and the two gold bullets, the terrible cries, and the fact that +we found no tracks upon the plain are all carrying him toward one +conclusion, that the strange thing that fired at him is--" + +Wabigoon paused and wiped his face, and it was easy for Rod to see +that he was suppressing some unusual excitement. + +"What does he think it is?" + +"I'm not sure, not quite sure, yet," went on the Indian youth. "But +listen! It is a legend in Mukoki's tribe, and always has been, that +once in every so many generations they are visited by a terrible +warrior sent by the Great Spirit who takes sacrifice of them, a +sacrifice of human life, because of a great wrong that was once done +by their people. And this warrior, though invisible, has a voice that +makes the mountains quake and the rivers stand still with fear, and +in his great bow he shoots shafts that are made of gold! Do you +understand? Last night I heard Mukoki talking about it in his sleep. +Either we must hear this cry, and find out more about it, or hurry to +a place where it won't be heard again. Golden bullets and cries and +Mukoki's superstitions are going to be worse than Woongas if we don't +watch out!" + +"But the whole thing is as plain as day!" declared Rod in +astonishment. "A man shot at the bear, and the same man shot at +Mukoki, and he fired gold each time. Surely--" + +"It's not the man part of it," interrupted the other. "It's the cry. +There, Mukoki has his pack ready. Let's start for the chasm at once!" + +This time the boys had a heavier burden than usual, for in the canoe +they placed one of the two loads carried by Mukoki, and consequently +their progress toward the chasm was much slower than that across the +plain. It was late in the afternoon when they reached the break that +led into the chasm, and as they cautiously made the descent now Rod +thought of the thrilling pursuit of the Woonga horde, and how a few +weeks before they had discovered this break just in time for Wabi and +him to save their lives, and that of the wounded Mukoki. It was with a +feeling almost of awe that the three adventurers penetrated deeper and +deeper into the silent gloom of this mystery-filled gulch between the +mountains, and when they reached the bottom they set their loads down +without speaking, their eyes roving over the black walls of rock, +their hearts throbbing a little faster with excitement. + +For here, at this break in the mountain, began the romantic trail +drawn by men long dead, the trail that led to a treasure of gold. + +As the three sat in silence, the gloom in the chasm thickened. The sun +had passed beyond the southwestern forests, and through the narrow +rift between the mountain walls there fell but the ebbing light of +day, dissolving itself into the shadows of dusk as it struggled weakly +in the cavernous depths. For a few minutes this swift fading of day +into night gripped the adventurers in its spell. What did the lonely +solitudes of that chasm hold for them? Where would they lead them? To +Rod's mind there came a picture of the silver fox and a thought of +his dream, when for a few miles he had explored the mysteries of this +strange, sunless world shut in by rock walls. Again he saw the dancing +skeletons, heard the rattle of their bones, and watched the wonderful +dream-battle that had led him to the birch-bark map. Wabigoon, his +eyes gleaming in the gathering darkness, thought of their flight from +the outlaw savages, and Mukoki-- + +The white youth had turned a little to look at the old warrior. Mukoki +sat as rigid as a pillar of stone an arm's reach from him. Head erect, +arms tense, his eyes gleaming strangely, he stared straight out into +the gloom between the chasm walls. Rod shivered. He knew, knew without +questioning, that Mukoki was thinking of the cry! + +And at that instant there floated up from the black chaos ahead a +sound, a sound low and weird, like the moaning of a winter's wind +through the pine tops, swelling, advancing, until it ended in a +shriek--a shriek that echoed and reechoed between the chasm walls, +dying away in a wail that froze the blood of the three who sat and +listened! + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +WABI MAKES A STRANGE DISCOVERY + +Mukoki broke the silence which followed the terrible cry. With a +choking sound, as if some unseen hand were clutching at his throat, he +slipped from the rock upon which he was sitting and crouched behind +it, his rifle gleaming faintly as he leveled it down the chasm. There +came the warning click of Wabigoon's gun, and the young Indian hunched +himself forward until he was no more than an indistinct shadow in the +fast-deepening gloom of night. Only Rod still sat erect. For a moment +his heart seemed to stand still. Then something leaped into his brain +and spread like fire through his veins, calling him to his feet, +trembling with the knowledge of what that cry had told him! It was not +a lesson from the wilderness that Roderick Drew was learning now. As +fast as the mind could travel he had gone far back into the strife and +misery and madness of civilization, and there he found the language +of that fearful cry floating up the chasm. He had heard it once, +twice--yes, again and again, and the memory of it had burned deep down +into his soul. He turned to his companions, trying to speak, but the +horror that had first filled Mukoki now fastened itself on him, and +his tongue was lifeless. + +"A madman!" + +Wabi's fingers dug into his arm like the claws of a bear. + +"A what!" + +"A madman!" repeated Rod, trying to speak more calmly. "The man who +shot the bear and fired at Mukoki and who uses gold bullets in his gun +is mad--raving mad! I have heard those screams before--in the Eloise +insane asylum, near Detroit. He's--" + +The words were frozen on his lips. Again the cry echoed up the +chasm. It was nearer this time, and with a sobbing, terrified sound, +something that Wabi had never heard fall from Mukoki's lips before, +the old warrior clung to Roderick's arm. Darkness hid the terror in +his face, but the white boy could feel it in the grip of his hands. + +"Mad, raving mad!" he cried. Suddenly he gripped Mukoki fiercely by +the shoulders, and as Wabigoon crouched forward, ready to fire at the +first movement in the gloom, he thrust the butt of his rifle in his +back. "Don't shoot!" he commanded. "Mukoki, don't be a fool! That's +a man back there, a man who has suffered and starved, starved, mind +you!--until he's mad, stark mad! It would be worse than murder to kill +him!" + +He stopped, and Mukoki drew back a step, breathing deeply. + +"Heem--starve--no eat--gone bad dog?" he questioned softly. In an +instant Wabi was at his side. + +"That's it, Muky--he's gone bad dog, just like that husky of ours who +went bad because he swallowed a fish bone. White men sometimes go bad +dog when they are thirsty and starving!" + +"Our Great Spirit tells us that we must never harm them," added Rod. +"We put them in big houses, larger than all of the houses at the Post +together, and feed them and clothe them and care for them all their +lives. Are you afraid of a bad dog, Muky, or of a man who has gone bad +dog?" + +"Bad dog bite deep--mebby so we kill heem!" + +"But we don't kill them until we have to," persisted the quick-witted +Wabigoon, who saw the way in which Rod's efforts were being directed. +"Didn't we save our husky by taking the fish bone out of his throat? +We must save this bad dog, because he is a white man, like Rod. He +thinks all men are his enemies, just as a bad dog thinks all other +dogs are his enemies. So we must be careful and not give him a chance +to shoot us but we mustn't harm him!" + +"It will be best if we don't let him know we are in the chasm," said +Rod, still speaking for Mukoki's benefit. "He's probably going out on +the plain, and must climb up this break in, the mountain. Let's move +our stuff a little out of his path." + +As the two boys went to the canoe their hands touched. Wabi was +startled by the coldness of his friend's fingers. + +"We've fixed Mukoki," he whispered. "He won't shoot. But--" + +"We may have to," replied Rod. "That will be up to you and me, Wabi. +We must use judgment, and unless it's a case of life or death--" + +"Ugh!" shuddered the young Indian. + +"If he doesn't discover our presence to-night we will get out of his +way to-morrow," continued Rod. "No fire--no talking. We must be as +still as death!" + +For some time after their outfit was concealed among the rocks +Wabigoon sat with his mouth close to the old pathfinder's ear. Then he +returned to Rod. + +"Muky understands. He has never seen or heard of a madman, and it is +hard for him to comprehend. But he knows--now, and understands what he +must do." + +"Sh-h-h-h-h!" + +"What is it?" + +"I thought I heard a sound!" breathed Rod. "Did you hear it?" + +"No." + +The two listened. There was an awesome silence in the chasm now, +broken only by the distant murmur of running water, a strange, +chilling stillness in which the young hunters could hear the excited +beating of their own hearts. To Roderick the minutes passed like so +many hours. His ears were keyed to the highest tension of expectancy, +his eyes stared into the gloom beyond them until they ached with +his efforts to see. At every instant he expected to hear again that +terrible scream, this time very near, and he prepared himself to meet +it. But the seconds passed, and then the minutes, and still there came +no quick running of mad footsteps, no repetition of the cry. Had the +madman turned the other way? Was he plunging deeper into the blackness +of this mysterious world of his between the mountains? + +"I guess I was mistaken," he whispered softly to Wabigoon. "Shall we +get out our blankets?" + +"We might as well make ourselves comfortable," replied the young +Indian. "You sit here, and listen while I undo the pack." + +He went noiselessly to Mukoki, who was leaning against the pack, and +Rod could hear them fumbling at the straps on the bundle. After a +little Wabi returned and the two boys spread out their blankets beside +the rock upon which they had been sitting. But there was no thought of +sleep in the mind of either, though both were dead tired from their +long day's work. They sat closer together, shoulder touching shoulder, +and unknown to his companion Roderick drew his revolver, cocked it +silently and placed it where he could feel the cold touch of its steel +between his fingers. He knew that he was the only one of the three who +fully realized the horror of their situation. + +Mukoki's mind, simple in its reasoning of things that did not belong +to the wilderness, had accepted the assurances and explanations of +Rod and Wabigoon. Wabi, half-bred in the wild, felt alarm only in the +sense of physical peril. It was different with the white youth. What +is there in civilization that sends the chill of terror to one's heart +more quickly than the presence of a human being who has gone mad? And +this madman was at large! At that very instant he might be listening +to their breathing and their whispered words half a dozen feet away; +any moment might see the blackness take form and the terrible thing +hurl itself at their throats. Rod, unlike Wabigoon, knew that the +powers of this strange creature of the chasm were greater than their +own, that it could travel with the swiftness and silence of an animal +through the darkness, that perhaps it could smell them and feel their +presence as it passed on its way to the plain. He was anxious now to +hear the cry again. What was the meaning of this silence? Was the +madman already conscious of their presence? Was he creeping upon them +at that moment, as still as the black shadows that shut in their +vision? His mind was working in such vivid imaginings that he was +startled when Wabi prodded him gently in the side. + +"Look over there--across the chasm," he whispered. "See that glow on +the mountain wall?" + +"The moon!" replied Rod. + +"Yes. I've been watching it, and it's creeping down and down. The +moon is going to swing across this break in the mountains. In fifteen +minutes we shall be able to see." + +"It won't swing across so much as it will come up in line with us," +replied Rod. "Watch how that light is lengthening! We shall be able to +see for several hours." + +He started to rise to his feet but fell back with an astonished cry. +For a third time there came the mad hunter's scream, this time far +above and beyond them, floating down from the distance of the moon-lit +plain! + +"He passed us!" exclaimed Wabi. "He passed us--and we didn't hear +him!" He leaped to his feet and his voice rose excitedly until it rang +in a hundred echoes between the chasm walls. "He passed us, and we +didn't hear him!" + +Mukoki's voice came strangely from out of the gloom. + +"No man do that! No man--no man--" + +"Hush!" commanded Rod. "Now is our time, boys! Quick, get everything +to the creek. He's half a mile out on the plain and we can get away +before he comes back. I'd rather risk a few rocks than another one of +his golden bullets!" + +"So had I!" cried Wabi. + +As if their lives depended on their exertions the three set to work. +Mukoki staggered ahead over the rocks with his burden while the boys +followed with the light canoe and the remaining pack. Their previous +experiences in the chasm had taught them where to approach the stream, +and ten minutes later they were at its side. Without a moment's +hesitation Mukoki dropped his pack and plunged in. The edge of the +moon was just appearing over the southern mountain wall and by its +light Rod and Wabigoon could see that the water of the creek was +rushing with great swiftness as high as the old warrior's knees. + +"No ver' deep," said the Indian. "Rocks--" + +"I followed this creek for half a dozen miles and its bottom is as +smooth as a floor!" interrupted Rod. "There's no danger of rocks for +that distance!" + +He made no effort now to suppress the pleasure which he felt at the +escape from their unpleasant situation. Mukoki steadied the canoe as +it was placed in the water, and was the last to climb into it, taking +his usual position in the stern where he could use to best advantage +the powerful sweeps of his paddle. In an instant the swift current +of the little stream caught the birch bark and carried it along with +remarkable speed. After several futile strokes of his paddle Wabi +settled back upon his heels. + +"It's all up to you, Muky," he called softly. "I can't do a thing from +the bow. The current is too swift. All you can do is to keep her nose +straight." + +The light of the moon was now filling the chasm and the adventurers +could see distinctly for a hundred yards or more ahead of them. Each +minute seemed to add to the swiftness and size of the stream, and by +the use of his paddle Wabi found that it was constantly deepening, +until he could no longer touch bottom. Rod's eyes were ceaselessly on +the alert for familiar signs along the shore. He was sure that he +knew when they passed the spot where he killed the silver fox, and +he called Wabi's attention to it. Then the rocks sped past with +increasing swiftness, and as the moon rose higher the three could see +where the overflowing torrent sent out little streams that twisted +and dashed themselves into leaping foam in the wildness of the chasm +beyond the main channel. These increased in number and size as the +journey continued, until Mukoki began to feel the influence of their +currents and called on Wabi and Rod for assistance. Suddenly Rod gave +a muffled shout as they shot past a mass of huge boulders on their +right. + +"That's where I camped the night I dreamed of the skeletons!" he +cried. "I don't know what the stream is like from here on. Be +careful!" + +Wabi gave a terrific lunge with his paddle and the cone of a black +rock hissed past half a canoe length away. + +"It's as black as a dungeon ahead, and I can hear rocks!" he shouted. +"Bring her in if you can, Muky, bring her in!" + +There came the sudden sharp crack of snapping wood and a low +exclamation of alarm fell from Mukoki. His paddle had broken at the +shaft. In a flash Rod realized what had happened and passed back his +own, but that moment's loss of time proved almost fatal. Freed of its +guiding hand the birch bark swung broadside to the current, and at the +same time Wabi's voice rose in a shrill cry of warning. + +"It's not rocks, it's a whirlpool!" he yelled. "The other shore, swing +her out, swing her out!" + +He dug his own paddle deep down into the racing current and from +behind Mukoki exerted his most powerful efforts, but it was too late! +A hundred feet ahead the stream tore between two huge rocks as big as +houses, and just beyond these Rod caught a glimpse of frothing water +churning itself milk-white in the moonlight. But it was only a +glimpse. With a velocity that was startling the canoe shot between +the rocks, and as a choking sea of spray leaped into their faces +Wabigoon's voice came back again in a loud command for the others to +hang to the gunwales of their frail craft. For an instant, in which +his thoughts seemed to have left him, a roaring din filled Rod's ears; +a white, churning mist hid everything but his own arms and clutching +hands, and then the birch bark darted with the sudden impetus of a +freshly-shot arrow around the jagged edge of the boulder--and he could +see again. + +Here was the whirlpool! More than once Wabi had told him of these +treacherous traps, made by the mountain streams, and of the almost +certain death that awaited the unlucky canoe man drawn into their +smothering embrace. There was no angry raging of the flood here; at +first it seemed to Rod that they were floating almost without motion +upon a black, lazy sea that made neither sound nor riffle. Scarce half +a dozen canoe lengths away he saw the white center of the maelstrom, +and there came to his ears above the dash of the stream between the +two great rocks a faint hissing sound that curdled the blood in his +veins, the hissing of the treacherous undertow that would soon drag +them to their death! In the passing of a thought there flashed into +the white youth's mind a story that Mukoki had told him of an Indian +who had been lost in one of these whirlpools of the spring floods, and +whose body had been tossed and pitched about in its center for more +than a week. For the first time the power of speech came to him. + +"Shall we jump?" he shouted. + +"Hang to the canoe." + +Wabi fairly shrieked the words, and yet as he spoke he drew himself +half erect, as if about to leap into the flood. The momentum gathered +in its swift rush between the rocks had carried their frail craft +almost to the outer edge of the deadly trap, and as this momentum +ceased and the canoe yielded to the sucking forces of the maelstrom +the young Indian shrieked out his warning again. + +"Hang to the canoe!" + +The words were scarcely out of his mouth when he stood erect and +launched himself like an animal into the black depths toward shore. +With a terrified cry Rod rose to his knees. In another instant he +would have plunged recklessly after Wabi, but Mukoki's voice sounding +behind him, snarling in its fierceness, stopped him. + +"Hang to canoe!" + +There came a jerk. The bow of the canoe swung inward and the stern +whirled so quickly that Rod, half kneeling, nearly lost his balance. +In that instant he turned his face and saw the old warrior standing, +as Wabigoon had done before him, and as Mukoki leaped there came for a +third time that warning cry: + +"Hang to canoe!" + +And Rod hung. He knew that for some reason those commands were meant +for him, and him alone; he knew that the desperate plunges of his +comrades were not inspired by cowardice or fear, but not until the +birch bark ground upon the shore and he tumbled out in safety did he +fully comprehend what had happened. Holding the rope with which they +tied their canoe, Wabigoon had taken a desperate chance. His quick +mind had leaped like a flash of powder to their last hope, and at the +crucial moment, just as the momentum of the birch bark gave way to the +whirling forces of the pool, he had jumped a good seven feet toward +shore, and had found bottom! Another twelve inches of water under him +and all would have been lost. + +Wabigoon stood panting and dripping wet, and in the moonlight his face +was as white as the tub-like spot of foam out in the center of the +maelstrom. + +"That's what you call going to kingdomcome and getting out again!" he +gasped. "Muky, that was the closest shave we've ever had! It has your +avalanche beaten to a frazzle!" + +Mukoki was dragging the canoe upon the pebbly shore, and still +overcome by the suddenness of all that had happened Rod went to his +assistance. + +The adventurers now discovered themselves in a most interesting +situation. The night had indeed been one of curious and thrilling +happenings for them, and here was a pretty climax to it all! They had +escaped the mad hunter by running into the almost fatal grip of the +whirlpool, and now they had escaped the perils of that seething +death-trap by plunging into a tiny rock-bound prison which seemed +destined to hold them for all time, or at least until the floods of +spring subsided. Straight above them, and shutting them in entirely, +rose precipitous rock walls. On the only open side was the deadly +maelstrom. + +Even Mukoki as he glanced about him was struck by the humor of their +situation, and chuckled softly. + +Wabi stood with his hands deep in his soaked pockets, facing the +moonlit walls. Then he turned to Rod, and grinned; then he faced the +whirlpool, and after that his eyes swept the space of sky above them. +The situation was funny, at first; but when he looked at the white +youth again the smile had died out of his face. + +"Wouldn't that madman have fun if he found us now!" he whispered. + +Mukoki was traveling slowly around the rock walls. The space in which +they were confined was not more than fifty feet in diameter, and there +was not even a crack by means of which a squirrel might have found +exit. The prison was perfect. The old pathfinder came back and sat +down with a grunt. + +"We might as well have supper and a good sleep," suggested Rod, +who was hungry. "Surely we need fear no attack from beast or man +to-night!" + +At least there was this consolation, and the gold hunters ate a +hearty meal of cold bear meat and prepared for slumber. The night +was unusually warm, and both Mukoki and Wabigoon hung out their wet +clothes to dry while they slept in their blankets. Rod did not open +his eyes again until Wabi awakened him in the morning. Both Indians +were dressed and it was evident that they had been up for some time. +When Rod went to the water to wash himself he was surprised to find +all of their supplies repacked in the canoe, as though their journey +was about to be resumed immediately after breakfast, and when he +returned to where Mukoki and Wabigoon had placed their food on a +flat stone in the center of what he had regarded as their prison, he +observed that both of his companions were in an unusually cheerful +frame of mind. + +"Looks as though you expected to get out of here pretty soon," he +said, nodding toward the canoe. + +"So we do!" responded Wabi. "We're going to take a swim through the +whirlpool!" + +He laughed at the incredulity in Rod's face. + +"That is, we're going to navigate along the edge of it," he amended. +"Muky and I have tied together every bit of rope and strap in our +outfit, even to our gun-slings, and we've got a piece about eighty +feet long. We'll show you how to use it after breakfast." + +It took but a few minutes to dispose of the rather unappetizing repast +of cold bear meat, biscuits and water. Wabi then led the way to the +extreme edge of the great rock which formed the eastern wall of their +prison, waded in the water to his knees, and directed Rod's gaze to a +point of land jutting out into the stream about sixty feet beyond the +rock. + +"If we can reach that," explained Wabi, "we can portage around the +rest of the whirlpool to the main channel. The water is very deep +along the edge of this rock, but the undertow doesn't seem to have any +great force. I believe that we can make it. The experiment won't be a +dangerous one at any rate." + +The canoe was now dragged to the edge of the rock and launched, Mukoki +taking his place in the stern while Wabigoon placed Rod a little ahead +of the midship rib. + +"You must paddle on your left side, every minute and as fast as you +can," advised the young Indian. "I am to remain behind, holding one +end of this rope, so that if you are drawn toward the maelstrom I can +pull you back. Understand?" + +"Yes--but you. How--" + +"Oh, I'll swim!" said Wabi in rank bravado. "I don't mind a little +whirlpool like that at all!" + +Mukoki chuckled in high humor, and Roderick asked no more questions, +but at Wabi's command dug in his paddle and kept at it until the birch +bark safely made the point of land beyond the rock. When he looked +back Wabi had tied the rope around his body and was already waist +deep in the water. At a signal from Mukoki the young Indian plunged +fearlessly into the edge of the whirlpool and like a great floundering +fish he was quickly pulled across to safety. Most of his clothes had +been brought over in the canoe, and after Wabigoon had exchanged his +wet garments for these the adventurers were ready to continue their +journey down the chasm. A short portage brought them to the main +channel of the stream, where they once more launched their birch bark. + +"If the whole trip is as exciting as this we'll never reach our gold," +said Wabi, as they slipped out into the swift current. "A madman, a +whirlpool and a prison, all in one night, is almost more than we can +stand." + +"There's a good deal of truth in the old saying that it never rains +but it pours," replied Rod. "Maybe we'll have smooth sailing from now +on." + +"Mebby!" grunted the old pathfinder from behind. + +Rod's optimism was vindicated for that day, at least. Until noon the +canoe sped swiftly down the chasm without mishap. The stream, to which +each mile added its contribution of flood water from the mountain +tops, increased constantly in width and depth, but only now and then +was there a rock to threaten their progress, and no driftwood at all. +When the gold seekers landed for dinner they were confident of two +things: that they had passed far beyond the mad hunter's reach, +and were very near to the first waterfall. Memory of the thrilling +experiences through which they had so recently run the gauntlet was +replaced by the most exciting anticipation of the sound and sight +of that first waterfall, which was so vitally associated with their +search for the lost treasure. This time a hearty dinner was cooked, +and it took more than an hour to prepare and eat it. + +When the journey was resumed Mukoki placed himself in the bow, his +sharp eyes scanning the rocks and mountain walls ahead of him. Two +hours after the start he gave an exultant exclamation, and raised a +warning hand above his head. The three listened. Faintly above the +rush of the swift current there came to their ears the distant rumble +of falling water! + +Forgetful now of the madman back in the chasm, oblivious of everything +but the fact that they had at last reached the first of the three +falls which were to lead them to the gold, Wabi gave a whoop that +echoed and reechoed between the mountain walls, and Rod joined him +with all the power of his lungs. Mukoki grinned, chuckled in his +curious way, and a few moments later signaled Wabi to guide the canoe +ashore. + +"We portage here," he explained. "Current swift there--mebby go over +fall!" + +A short carry of two or three hundred yards brought them to the +cataract. It was, as Mukoki had said after his long trip of +exploration a few months before, a very small fall, not more than a +dozen feet in height. But over it there was now rushing a thundering +deluge of water. An easy trail led to the stream below it, and no time +was lost in getting under way again. + +Although they had traveled fully forty miles since morning, the day +had been an easy and most interesting one for the three adventurers. +On the swift current of the chasm stream they had worked but little, +and the ceaseless change of scenery in this wonderful break between +the mountain ridges held an ever-increasing fascination for them. Late +in the afternoon, the course changed from its northeasterly direction +to due north, and at this point there was an ideal spot for camping. +Over an extent of an acre or more there was a sweeping hollow of fine +white sand, with great quantities of dry wood cluttering the edge of +the depression. + +"That's a curious spot!" said Wabi as they drew up their canoe. "Looks +like--" + +"A lake," grunted Mukoki. "Long time ago--a lake." + +"The curve of the stream right here has swept up so much sand that the +water can't get into it," added Rod, looking the place over. + +Wabi had gone a few paces back. Suddenly he stopped, and with a half +shout he gesticulated excitedly to his companions. Something in his +manner took Rod and Mukoki to him on the run. + +When they came up the Indian youth stood mutely pointing at something +in the sand. + +Clearly imprinted in that sand was the shape of a human foot, a foot +that had worn neither boot nor moccasin when it left its trail in the +lake bed, but which was as naked as the quivering hand which Wabigoon +now held toward it! + +And from that single footprint the eyes of the astonished adventurers +traveled quickly to a hundred others, until it seemed to them that a +dozen naked savages must have been dancing in these sands only a few +hours before. + +And Rod, glancing toward the driftwood, saw something else,--something +toward which he pointed, speechless, white with that same strange +excitement that had taken possession of Wabigoon! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +THE THIRD WATERFALL + +The others followed Rod's arm. Behind him he heard the gentle click +of Wabigoon's revolver and the sharp, vicious snap of the safety on +Mukoki's rifle. + +From beyond the driftwood there was rising a thin spiral of smoke! + +"Whoever they are, they have certainly seen or heard us!" said Wabi, +after they had stood in silence for a full minute. + +"Unless they are gone from camp," replied Rod in a whisper. + +"Keep eyes open!" warned Mukoki as they advanced cautiously in the +direction of the smoke. "No can tell what, I guess so!" + +He was first to mount the driftwood, and then he gave vent to a huge +grunt. The smoke was rising from beside a charred log which was heaped +half-way up its side with ashes and earth. In a flash the meaning +of the ash and dirt dawned on Rod and his companions. The fire was +banked. Those who had built it were gone, but they expected to return. +The naked footprints were thick about the camp-fire, and close to one +end of the charred log were scattered a number of bones. One after +another Mukoki picked up several of these and closely examined +them. While Rod and Wabigoon were still gazing about them in blank +astonishment, half expecting attack from a savage horde at any moment, +the old warrior had already reached a conclusion, and calling to his +companions he brought their attention to the tracks in the sand. + +"Same feet!" he exclaimed. "One man mak' all track!" + +"Impossible!" cried Wabi. "There are--thousands of them!" + +Mukoki grunted and fell upon his knees. + +"Heem big toe--right foot--broke sometime. Same in all track. See?" + +Disgusted at his own lack of observation, Wabigoon saw at once that +the old pathfinder was right. The joint of the big toe on the right +foot was twisted fully half an inch outward, a deformity that left +a peculiar impression in the sand, and every other track bore +this telltale mark. No sooner were the two boys convinced of the +correctness of Mukoki's assertion than another and still more +startling surprise was sprung on them. Holding out his handful of +bones, Mukoki said: + +"Meat no cook--eat raw!" + +"Great Scott!" gasped Rod. + +Wabi's eyes flashed with a new understanding, and as he gazed into +Rod's astonished face the latter, too, began to comprehend the +significance of it all. + +"It must have been the madman!" + +"Yes." + +"And he was here yesterday!" + +"Probably the day before," said Wabi. The young Indian turned suddenly +to Mukoki. "What did he want of the fire if he didn't cook meat?" he +asked. + +Mukoki shrugged his shoulders but did not answer. + +"Well, it wasn't cooked, anyway," declared Wabi, again examining the +bones. "Here are chunks of raw flesh clinging to the bones. Perhaps he +just singed the outside of his meat." + +The old Indian nodded at this suggestion and turned to investigate the +fire. On the end of the log were two stones, one flat and the other +round and smooth, and after a moment's inspection of these he dropped +an exclamation which was unusual for him, and which he used only in +those rare intervals when all other language seemed to fail him. + +"Bad dog man--mak' bullet--here!" he called, holding out the stones. +"See--gold--gold!" + +The boys hurried to his side. + +"See--gold!" he repeated excitedly. + +In the center of the flat stone there was a gleaming yellow film. A +single glance told the story. With the round stone for a hammer the +mad hunter had pounded his golden bullets into shape upon the flat +stone! There was no longer a doubt in their minds; they were in the +madman's camp. That morning they had left this strange creature of the +wilderness fifty miles away. But how far away was he now? The fire +slumbering under its covering of ash and earth proved that he meant to +return--and soon. Would he travel by night as well as by day? Was it +possible that he was already close behind them? + +"He travels with the swiftness of an animal," said Wabi, speaking in a +low voice to Rod. "Perhaps he will return to-night!" + +Mukoki overheard him and shook his head. + +"Mak' heem through chasm in two day on snow-shoe," he declared, +referring to his trip of exploration to the first waterfall over the +snows of the previous winter. "No mak' in t'ree day over rock!" + +"If Mukoki is satisfied, I am," said Rod. "We can pull up behind the +driftwood on the farther edge of the lake bed." + +Wabi made no objection, and the camp site was chosen. Strangely +enough, with the discovery of the footprints, the fire, the picked +bones and the stones with which the mad hunter had manufactured his +golden bullets, Mukoki seemed to have lost all fear of the wild +creature of the chasm. He was confident now that he had only a man to +deal with, a man who had gone "bad dog," and his curiosity overcame +his alarm. His assurance served to dispel the apprehension of his +companions, and sleep came early to the tired adventurers. Nor did +anything occur during the night to awaken them. + +Soon after dawn the trip down the chasm stream was resumed. With the +abrupt turning of the channel to the north, however, there was an +almost immediate change in the topography of the country. Within +an hour the precipitous walls of the mountains gave place to +verdure-covered slopes, and now and then the gold seekers found +themselves between plains that swept back for a mile or more on either +side. Frequent signs of game were observed along the shores of the +river and several times during the morning moose and caribou were +seen in the distance. A few months before, when they had invaded the +wilderness to hunt and trap, this country would have aroused the +wildest enthusiasm among Rod and his friends, but now they gave but +little thought to their rifles. That morning they had set out with the +intention of reaching the second waterfall before dusk, and it was +with disappointment rather than gladness that they saw the swift +current of the chasm torrent change into the slower, steadier sweep of +a stream that had now widened into a fair-sized river. According +to the map the second fall was about fifty-five miles from the mad +hunter's camp. Darkness found them still fifteen miles from where it +should be. + +Excitement kept Rod awake most of that night. Try as he would, he +could not keep visions of the lost treasure out of his mind. The next +day they would be far on their way to the third and last waterfall. +And then--the gold! That they might not find it, that the passing of +half a century or more might have obliterated all traces left by its +ancient discoverers, never for a moment disturbed his belief. + +He was the first awake the following morning, the first to take his +place in the canoe. Every minute now his ears were keenly attuned for +that distant sound of falling water. But hours passed without a +sign of it. Noon came. They had traveled six hours and had covered +twenty-five miles instead of fifteen! Where was the waterfall? + +There was a little more of anxiety in Wabigoon's eyes when they +resumed their journey after dinner. Again and again Rod looked at his +map, figuring out the distances as drawn by John Ball, the murdered +Englishman. Surely the second waterfall could not be far away now! And +still hour after hour passed, and mile after mile slipped behind them, +until the three knew that they had gone fully thirty miles beyond +where the cataract should have been, if the map was right. Twilight +was falling when they stopped for supper. For the last hour Mukoki +had spoken no word. A feeling of gloom was on them all; without +questioning, each knew what the fears of the others were. + +Was it possible that, after all, they had not solved the secret of the +mysterious map? + +The more Rod thought of it the more his fears possessed him. The +two men who fought and died in the old cabin were on their way to +civilization. They were taking gold with them, gold which they meant +to exchange for supplies. Would they, at the same time, dare to have +in their possession a map so closely defining their trail as the rude +sketch on the bit of birch bark? Was there not some strange key, known +only to themselves, necessary to the understanding of that sketch? + +Mukoki had taken his rifle and disappeared in the plain along the +river, and for a long time after they had eaten their bear steak and +drank their hot coffee Rod and Wabigoon sat talking in the glow of +the camp-fire. The old warrior had been gone for about an hour when +suddenly there came the report of a gun from far down the stream, +which was quickly followed by two others--three in rapid succession. +After an interval of a few seconds there sounded two other shots. + +"The signal!" cried Rod. "Mukoki wants us!" + +Wabigoon sprang to his feet and emptied the five shots of his magazine +into the air. + +"Listen!" + +Hardly had the echoes died away when there came again the reports of +Mukoki's rifle. + +Without another word the two boys hurried to the canoe, which had not +been unloaded. + +"He's a couple of miles down-stream," said Wabi, as they shoved off. +"I wonder what's the matter?" + +"I can make a pretty good guess," replied Rod, his voice trembling +with a new excitement. "He has found the second waterfall!" + +The thought gave fresh strength to their aching arms and the canoe +sped swiftly down the stream. Fifteen minutes later another shot +signaled to them, this time not more than a quarter of a mile away, +and Wabi responded to it with a loud shout. Mukoki's voice floated +back in an answering halloo, but before the young hunters came within +sight of their comrade another sound reached their ears,--the muffled +roar of a cataract! Again and again the boys sent their shouts of joy +echoing through the night, and above the tumult of their own voices +they heard the old warrior calling on them to put into shore. Mukoki +was waiting for them when they landed. + +"This is big un!" he greeted. "Mak' much noise, much swift water!" + +"Hurrah!" yelled Rod for the twentieth time, jumping up and down in +his excitement. + +"Hurrah!" cried Wabi. + +And Mukoki chuckled, and grinned, and rubbed his leathery hands +together in high glee. + +At last, when they had somewhat cooled down, Wabi said: + +"That John Ball was a pretty poor fellow at a guess, eh? What do you +say, Rod?" + +"Or else pretty clever," added Rod. "By George, I wonder if he had a +reason for making his scale fifty miles or so out of the way?" + +Wabi looked at him, only partly understanding. + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that our third waterfall is more than likely to be mighty +close to this one! And if it is--well, John Ball had a reason, and a +good one! If we strike the last fall to-morrow it will be pretty +good proof that he drew the map in a way intended to puzzle +somebody,--perhaps his two partners, who were just about to start for +civilization." + +"Muky, how far have we come?" asked Wabigoon. + +"T'ree time first fall," replied the old Indian quickly. + +"A hundred and fifty miles--in three days and one night. I don't +believe that is far out of the way. Then, according to the map, we +should still be a hundred miles from the third fall." + +"And we're not more than twenty-five!" declared Rod confidently. +"Let's build a fire and go to bed. We'll have enough to do +to-morrow--hunting gold!" The fourth day's journey was begun before it +was yet light. Breakfast was eaten in the glow of the camp-fire, and +by the time dawn broke the adventurers were already an hour upon their +way. Nothing but confidence now, animated them. The mad hunter and his +golden bullets were entirely forgotten in these last hours of their +exciting quest. Once, far back, Rod had thought with chilling dread +that this might be the madman's trail, that his golden bullets might +come from the treasure they were seeking. But he gave no thought to +this possibility now. His own belief that the third and last fall was +not far distant, in spite of the evidence of the map, gradually gained +possession of his companions, and the nerves of all three were keyed +to the highest tension of expectancy. The preceding night Mukoki had +made himself a paddle to replace the one he had broken, and not a +stroke of the three pairs of arms was lost. Early in the morning a +young moose allowed them to pass within a hundred yards of him. But no +shot was fired, for to obtain the meat would have meant an hour's loss +of time. + +Two hours after the start the country again began taking on a sudden +change. From east and west the wild mountain ridges closed in, and +with each mile's progress the stream narrowed and grew swifter, until +again it was running between chasm walls that rose black and silent +over the adventurers' heads. Darker and gloomier became the break +between the mountains. Far above, a thousand feet or more, dense +forests of red pine flung their thick shadows over the edge of the +chasm, in places almost completely shutting out the light of day. +This was not like the other chasm. It was deeper and darker and more +sullen. Under its walls the gloom was almost that of night. Its +solitude was voiceless; not a bird fluttered or chirped among +its rocks; the lowest of whispered words sounded with startling +distinctness. Once Rod spoke aloud, and his voice rose and beat itself +in the cavernous depths of the walls until it seemed as though he had +shouted. Now they ceased paddling, and Mukoki steered. Noiselessly the +current swept them on. In the twilight gloom Rod's face shone +with singular whiteness. Mukoki and Wabigoon crouched like bronze +silhouettes. It was as if some mysterious influence held them in its +power, forbidding speech, holding their eyes in staring expectancy +straight ahead, filling them with indefinable sensations that made +their hearts beat faster and their blood tingle. + +Softly, from far ahead, at last there came a murmur. It was like the +first gentle whispering of an approaching wind, the soughing of a +breath among the pines at the top of the chasm. But a wind among the +trees rises, and then dies away, like a chord struck low and gently +upon some soft-toned instrument. This whisper that came up the chasm +remained. It grew no louder, and sometimes it almost faded away, until +the straining ears of those who listened could barely detect it; but +after a moment it was there again, as plainly as before. Little by +little it became more distinct, until there were no longer intervals +when it died away, and at last Wabigoon turned in the bow and faced +his companions, and though he spoke no word there was the gleam of a +great excitement in his eyes. Rod's heart beat like a drum. He, too, +began to understand. That moaning, whispering sound floating up +the chasm was not the wind, but the far-away rumble of the third +waterfall! + +Mukoki's voice broke the tense silence from behind. + +"That the fall!" + +Wabigoon replied in words scarcely louder than a whisper. There was no +joyful shouting now, as there had been at the discovery of the second +fall. Even Mukoki's voice was so low that the others could barely +hear. Something between these chasm walls seemed to demand silence +from them, and as the rumble of the cataract came more and +more clearly to their ears they held their breath in voiceless +anticipation. A few hundred yards ahead of them was the treasure which +men long since dead had discovered more than half a century before; +between the black mountain walls that so silently guarded that +treasure there seemed to lurk the spirit presence of the three men who +had died because of it. Here, somewhere very near, John Ball had been +murdered, and Rod almost fancied that along the sandy edge of the +chasm stream they might stumble on the footprints of the men whose +skeletons they had discovered in the ancient cabin. + +Mukoki uttered no sound as he guided the canoe ashore. Still without +word, the three picked up their rifles and Wabigoon led the way along +the edge of the stream. Soon it dashed a swift racing torrent between +the rocks, and Rod and his companions knew that they were close upon +the fall. A hundred yards or more and they saw the white mist of it +leaping up before their eyes. Wabi began to run, his moccasined feet +springing from stone to stone with the caution of a hunter approaching +game, and Mukoki and Rod came close behind him. + +They paused upon the edge of a great mass of rock with the spray of +the plunging cataract rising in their faces. Breathless they gazed +down. It was not a large fall. Wabi silently measured it at forty +feet. But it added just that much more to the depth and the gloom of +the chasm beyond, into which there seemed no way of descent. The rock +walls rose sheer and black, with clumps of cedar and stunted pine +growing at their feet. Farther on the space between the mountains +became wider, and the river reached out on either side, frothing and +beating itself into white fury in a chaos of slippery water-worn +rocks. + +Down there--somewhere--was the golden treasure they had come to seek, +unless the map lied! Was it among those rocks, where the water dashed +and fumed? Was it hidden in some gloomy cavern of the mountain sides, +its trail concealed by the men who discovered it half an age ago? +Would they find it, after all--would they find it? + +A great gulp of excitement rose in Rod's throat, and he looked at +Wabigoon. + +The Indian youth had stretched out an arm. His eyes were blazing, his +whole attitude was one of tense emotion. + +"There's the cabin," he cried, "the cabin built by John Ball and the +two Frenchmen! See, over there among those cedars, almost hidden in +that black shadow of the mountain! Great Scott, Muky--Rod--can't you +see? Can't you see?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +THE PAPER IN THE OLD TIN BOX + +Slowly out of that mysterious gloom there grew a shape before Rod's +eyes. At first it was only a shadow, then it might have been a rock, +and then the gulp in his throat leaped out in a shout when he saw that +Wabigoon's sharp eyes had in truth discovered the old cabin of the +map. For what else could it be? What else but the wilderness home of +the adventurers whose skeletons they had found, Peter Plante and Henri +Langlois, and John Ball, the man whom these two had murdered? + +Rod's joyous voice was like the touch of fire to Wabi's enthusiasm and +in a moment the oppressive silence of their journey down the chasm was +broken by the wild cheers which the young gold seekers sent echoing +between the mountains. Grimacing and chuckling in his own curious way, +Mukoki was already slipping along the edge of the rock, seeking some +break by which he might reach the lower chasm. They were on the point +of turning to the ascent of the mountain, along which they would have +to go until they found such a break, when the old pathfinder directed +the attention of his companions to the white top of a dead cedar stub +projecting over the edge of the precipice. + +"Go down that, mebby," he suggested, shrugging his shoulders to +suggest that the experiment might be a dangerous one. + +Rod looked over. The top of the stub was within easy reach, and the +whole tree was entirely free of bark or limbs, a fact which in his +present excitement did not strike him as especially unusual. Swinging +his rifle strap over his shoulders he reached out, caught the slender +apex of the stub, and before the others could offer a word of +encouragement or warning was sliding down the wall of the rock into +the chasm. Wabi was close behind him, and not waiting for Mukoki's +descent the two boys hurried toward the cabin. Half-way to it Wabi +stopped. + +"This isn't fair. We've got to wait for Muky." + +They looked back. Mukoki was not following. The old warrior was upon +his knees at the base of the dead tree, as though he was searching for +something among the rocks at its foot. Then he rose slowly, and rubbed +his hands along the stub as high as he could reach. When he saw that +Rod and Wabi were observing him he quickly came toward them, and +Wabigoon, who was quick to notice any change in him, was confident +that he had made a discovery of some kind. + +"What have you found, Muky?" + +"No so ver' much. Funny tree," grunted the Indian. + +"Smooth as a fireman's brass pole," added Rod, seeing no significance +in Mukoki's words. "Listen!" + +He stopped so suddenly that Wabigoon bumped into him from behind. + +"Did you hear that?" + +"No." + +For a few moments the three huddled close together in watchful +silence. Mukoki was behind the boys or they would have seen that his +rifle was ready to spring to his shoulder and that his black eyes were +snapping with something not aroused by curiosity alone. The cabin was +not more than twenty paces away. It was old, so old that Rod wondered +how it had withstood the heavy storms of the last winter. A growth of +saplings had found root in its rotting roof and the logs of which it +was built were in the last stage of decay. There was no window, +and where the door had once been there had grown a tree a foot in +diameter, almost closing the narrow aperture through which the +mysterious inhabitants had passed years before. A dozen paces, five +paces from this door, and Mukoki's hand reached out and laid itself +gently upon Wabi's shoulder. Rod saw the movement and stopped. A +strange look had come into the old Indian's face, an expression in +which there was incredulity and astonishment, as if he believed and +yet doubted what his eyes beheld. Mutely he pointed to the tree +growing before the door, and to the reddish, crumbling rot into which +the logs had been turned by the passing of generations. + +"Red pine," he said at last. "That cabin more'n' twent' t'ous'nd year +old!" + +There was an awesome ring in his voice. Rod understood, and clutched +Wabi's arm. In an instant he thought of the other old cabin, in which +they had found the skeletons. They had repaired that cabin and had +passed the winter in it, and they knew that it had been built half a +century or more before. But this cabin was beyond repair. To Rod it +seemed as though centuries of time instead of decades had been at work +on its timbers. Following close after Wabi he thrust his head through +the door. Deep gloom shut out their vision. But as they looked, +steadily inuring their eyes to the darkness within, the walls of the +old cabin took form, and they saw that everywhere was vacancy. There +was no ancient table, as in the other cabin they had discovered at the +head of the first chasm, there were no signs of the life that had once +existed, not even the remnants of a chair or a stool. The cabin was +bare. + +Foot by foot the two boys went around its walls. Mukoki took but a +single glance inside and disappeared. Once alone he snapped down the +safety of his rifle. Quickly, as if he feared interruption, he hurried +around the old cabin, his eyes close to the earth. When Rod and Wabi +returned to the door he was at the edge of the fall, crouching low +among the rocks like an animal seeking a trail. Wabi pulled his +companion back. + +"Look!" + +The old warrior rose, suddenly erect, and turned toward them, but the +boys were hidden in the gloom. Then he hurried to the dead stub beside +the chasm wall. Again he reached far up, rubbing his hand along its +surface. + +"I'm going to have a look at that tree!" whispered Wabi. "Something is +puzzling Are you coming?" + +He hurried across the rock-strewn opening, but Rod hung back. He could +not understand his companions. For weeks and months they had planned +to find this third waterfall. Visions of a great treasure had been +constantly before their eyes, and now that they were here, with the +gold perhaps under their very feet, both Mukoki and Wabigoon were more +interested in a dead stub than in their search for it! His own heart +was almost bursting with excitement. The very air which he breathed +in the old cabin set his blood leaping with anticipation. Here those +earlier adventurers had lived half a century or more ago. In it the +life-blood of the murdered John Ball might have ebbed away. In this +cabin the men whose skeletons he had found had slept, and planned, and +measured their gold. And the gold! It was that and not the stub that +interested Roderick Drew! Where was the lost treasure? Surely the old +cabin must hold some clue for them, it would at least tell them more +than the limbless white corpse of a tree! + +From the door he looked back into the dank gloom, straining his eyes +to see, and then glanced across the opening. Wabi had reached the +stub, and both he and Mukoki were on their knees beside it. Probably +they have found the marks of a lynx or a bear, thought Rod. A dozen +paces away something else caught his eyes, a fallen red pine, dry and +heavy with pitch, and in less than a minute he had gone to it and was +back with a torch. Breathlessly he touched the tiny flame of a match +to the stick. For a moment the pitch sputtered and hissed, then flared +into light, and Rod held the burning wood above his head. + +The young gold seeker's first look about him was disappointing. +Nothing but the bare walls met his eyes. Then, in the farthest corner, +he observed something that in the dancing torch-light was darker than +the logs themselves, and he moved toward it. It was a tiny shelf, not +more than a foot long, and upon it was a small tin box, black and +rust-eaten by the passing of ages. With trembling fingers Rod took it +in his hand. It was very light, probably empty. In it he might find +the dust of John Ball's last tobacco. Then, suddenly, as he thought of +this, he stopped in his search and a muffled exclamation of surprise +fell from him. In the glow of the torch he looked at the tin box. It +was crumbling with age and he might easily have crushed it in his +hand--and yet it was still a tin box! If this box had remained why +had not other things? Where were the pans and kettles, the pail and +frying-pan, knives, cups and other articles which John Ball and the +two Frenchmen must at one time have possessed in this cabin? + +He returned to the door. Mukoki and Wabigoon were still at the dead +stub. Even the flare of light in the old cabin had not attracted them. +Tossing his torch away Rod tore off the top of the tin box. Something +fell at his feet, and as he reached for it he saw that it was a little +roll of paper, almost as discolored as the rust-eaten box itself. As +gently as Mukoki had unrolled the precious birchbark map a few months +before he smoothed out the paper. The edges of it broke and crumbled +under his fingers, but the inner side of the roll was still quite +white. Mukoki and Wabigoon, looking back, saw him suddenly turn toward +them with a shrill cry on his lips, and the next instant he was racing +in their direction, shouting wildly at every step. + +"The gold!" he shrieked. "The gold! Hurrah!" + +He was almost sobbing in his excitement when he stopped between them, +holding out the bit of paper. + +"I found it in the cabin--in a tin box! See, it's John Ball's +writing--the writing that was on the old map! I found it--in a tin +box--" + +Wabi seized the paper. His own breath came more quickly when he saw +what was upon it. There were a few lines of writing, dim but still +legible, and a number of figures. Across the top of the paper was +written, + +"Account of John Ball, Henri Langlois, and Peter Plante for month +ending June thirtieth, 1859." + +Below these lines was the following: + +"Plante's work: nuggets, 7 pounds, nine ounces; dust, 1 pound, 3 +ounces. Langlois' work: nuggets, 9 pounds, 13 ounces; dust, none. +Ball's work: nuggets, 6 pounds, 4 ounces; dust, 2 pounds, 3 ounces. +Total, 27 pounds. +Plante's share, 6 pounds, 12 ounces. +Langlois' share, 6 pounds, 12 ounces. +Ball's share, 13 pounds, 8 ounces. +Division made." + +Softly Wabigoon read the words aloud. When he finished his eyes met +Rod's, Mukoki was still crouching at the foot of the stub, staring at +the two boys in silence, as if stupefied by what he had just heard. + +"This doesn't leave a doubt," said Wabi at last. "We've struck the +right place!" + +"The gold is somewhere--very near--" + +Rod could not master the tremble in his voice. As though hoping to see +the yellow treasure heaped in a pile before his eyes he turned to the +waterfall, to the gloomy walls of the chasm, and finally extended an +arm to where the spring torrent, leaping over the edge of the chasm +above, beat itself into frothing rage among the rocks between the two +mountains. + +"It's there!" + +"In the stream?" + +"Yes. Where else near this cabin would they have found pure nuggets +of gold? Surely not in rock! And gold-dust is always in the sands of +streams. It's there--without a doubt!" + +Both Indians went with him to the edge of the water. + +"The creek widens here until it is very shallow," said Wabi. "I don't +believe that it is more than four feet deep out there in the middle. +What do you say--" He paused as he saw Mukoki slip back to the dead +stub again, then went on, "What do you say to making a trip to the +canoe after grub for our dinner, and the pans?" + +The first flash of enthusiasm that had filled Wabigoon on reading the +paper discovered by Rod was quickly passing away, and the white youth +could not but notice the change which came over both Mukoki and his +young friend when they stood once more beside the smooth white stub +that reached up to the floor of the chasm above. He controlled his +own enthusiasm enough to inspect more closely the dead tree which had +affected them so strangely. The discovery he made fairly startled him. +The surface of the stub was not only smooth and free of limbs, but was +polished until it shone with the reflecting luster of a waxed pillar! +For a moment he forgot the paper which he held in his hand, forgot +the old cabin, and the nearness of gold. In blank wonder he stared at +Mukoki, and the old Indian shrugged his shoulders. + +"Ver' nice an' smooth!" + +"Ver' dam' smooth!" emphasized Wabi, without a suggestion of humor in +his voice. + +"What does it mean?" asked Rod. + +"It means," continued Wabigoon, "that this old stub has for a good +many years been used! by something as a sort of stairway in and out of +this chasm! Now if it were a bear, there would be claw marks. If it +were a lynx, the surface of the stub would be cut into shreds. Any +kind of animal would have left his mark behind, and no animal would +have put this polish on it!" + +"Then what in the world--" + +Rod did not finish. Mukoki lifted his shoulders to a level with his +chin, and Wabi whistled as he looked straight at him. + +"Not a hard guess, eh?" + +"You mean--" + +"That it's a man! Only the arms and legs of a man going up and down +that stub hundreds and thousands of times could have worn it so +smooth! Now, can you guess who that man is?" + +In a flash the answer shot into Rod's brain. He understood now why +this old stub had drawn his companions away from their search for +gold, and he felt the flush of excitement go out of his own cheeks, +and an involuntary thrill pass up his back. + +"The mad hunter!" + +Wabi nodded. Mukoki grunted and rubbed his hands. + +"Gold in bullet come from here!" said the old pathfinder. "Bad dog man +ver' swift on trail. We hurry get canoe--cut down tree!" + +"That's more than you've said in the last half-hour, and it's a good +idea!" exclaimed Wabi. "Let's get our stuff down here and chop this +stub into firewood! When he comes back and finds his ladder gone he'll +give a screech or two, I'll wager, and then it will be our chance to +do something with him. Here goes!" + +He started to climb the stub, and a minute or two later stood safely +on the rock above. + +"Slippery as a greased pole!" he called down. "Bet you can't make it, +Rod!" + +But Rod did, after a tremendous effort that left him breathless and +gasping by the time Wabi stretched out a helping hand to him. Mukoki +came up more easily. Taking only their revolvers with them the +three hurried to the birch bark, and in a single load brought their +possessions to the rock. By means of ropes the packs and other +contents of the canoe, and finally the canoe itself, were lowered into +the chasm, and while the others looked on Mukoki seized the ax and +chopped down the stub. + +"There!" he grunted, as a last blow sent the tree crashing among the +rocks. "Too high for heem jump!" + +"But a mighty good place for him to shoot from," said Wabi, looking +up. "We'd better camp out of range." + +"Not until we know what we've struck," cried Rod, unstrapping a pan +from one of the packs. "Boys, the first thing to do is to wash out a +little of that river-bed!" + +He started for the creek, with Wabi close behind him bearing a second +pan. Mukoki looked after them and chuckled softly to himself as he +began making preparations for dinner. Choosing a point where the +current had swept up a small bar of pebbles and sand Wabi and Rod both +set to work. The white youth had never before panned gold, but he +had been told how it was done, and there now shot through him that +strange, thrilling excitement which enthralls the treasure hunter +when he believes that at last he has struck pay dirt. Scooping up a +quantity of the gravel and sand he filled his pan with water, then +moved it, quickly back and forth, every few moments splashing some of +the "wash" or muddy water, over the side. Thus, filling and refilling +his pan with fresh water, he excitedly went through the process of +"washing" everything but solid substance out of it. + +With each fresh dip into the stream the water in the pan became +clearer, and within fifteen minutes the three or four double handfuls +of sand and gravel with which he began work dwindled down to one. +Scarcely breathing in his eagerness he watched for the yellow gleam of +gold. Once a glitter among the pebbles drew a low cry from him, but +when with the point of his knife he found it to be only mica he was +glad that Wabi had not heard him. The young Indian was squatting upon +the sand, with his pan turned toward a gleam of the sun that shot +faintly down into the chasm. Without raising his head he called to +Rod. + +"Found anything?" + +"No. Have you?" + +"No--yes--but I don't think it's gold" + +"What does it look like?" + +"It gleams yellow but is as hard as steel." + +"Mica!" said Rod. + +Neither of the boys looked up during the conversation. With the point +of his hunting-knife Rod still searched in the bottom of his pan, +turning over the pebbles and raking the gravelly sand with a +painstaking care that would have made a veteran gold seeker laugh. +Some minutes had passed when Wabi spoke again. + +"I say, Rod, that's a funny-looking thing I found! If it wasn't so +hard I'd swear it was gold? Want to see it?" + +"It's mica," repeated Rod, as another gleam, of "fool's gold" in his +own pan caught his eyes. "The stream is full of it!" + +"Never saw mica in chunks before," mumbled Wabi, bending low over his +pan. + +"Chunks!" cried Rod, straightening as if some one had run a pin into +his back. "How big is it?" + +"Big as a pea--a big pea!" + +The words were no sooner out of the young Indian's mouth than Roderick +was upon his feet and running to his companion. + +"Mica doesn't come in chunks! Where--" + +He bent over Wabi's pan. In the very middle of it lay a suspiciously +yellow pebble, worn round and smooth by the water, and when Rod took +it in his fingers he gave a low whistle of mock astonishment as he +gazed down into Wabigoon's face. + +"Wabi, I'm ashamed of you!" he said, trying hard to choke back the +quiver in his voice. "Mica doesn't come in round chunks like this. +Mica isn't heavy. And this is _both_!" + +From the cedars beyond the old cabin came Mukoki's whooping signal +that dinner was ready. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +THE TREASURE IN THE POOL + +For a few moments after Rod's words and Mukoki's signal from the +cedars Wabigoon sat as if stunned. + +"It isn't--gold," he said, his voice filled with questioning doubt. + +"That's just what it is!" declared Rod, his words now rising in the +excitement which he was vainly striving to suppress. "It's hard, but +see how your knife point has scratched it! It weighs a quarter of an +ounce! Are there any more nuggets in there?" + +He fell upon his knees beside Wabi, and their two heads were close +together, their four eyes eagerly searching the contents of the pan, +when Mukoki came up behind them. Rod passed the golden nugget to the +old Indian, and rose to his feet. + +"That settles it, boys. We've hit the right spot. Let's give three +cheers for John Ball and the old map, and go to dinner!" + +"I agree to dinner, but cut out the cheers." said Wabi, "or else let's +give them under our breath. Notice how hollow our voices sound in this +chasm! I believe we could hear a shout half a dozen miles away!" + +For their camp Mukoki had chosen a site in the edge of the cedars, +and had spread dinner on a big flat rock about which the three now +gathered. For inspiration, as Wabi said, the young Indian placed +the yellow nugget in the center of the improvised table, and if the +enthusiasm with which they hurried through their meal counted for +anything there was great merit in the golden centerpiece. Mukoki +joined the young gold seekers when they again returned to the chasm +stream, and the quest of the yellow treasure was vigorously renewed in +trembling and feverish expectancy. + +Only those who have lived in this quest and who have pursued that +elusive _ignis fatuus_ of all nations--the lure of gold--can realize +the sensations which stir the blood and heat the brain of the treasure +seeker as he dips his pan into the sands of the stream where he +believes nature has hidden her wealth. As Roderick Drew, a child of +that civilization where the dollar is law as well as might, returned +to the exciting work which promised him a fortune he seemed to be in +a half dream. About him, everywhere, was gold! For no moment did he +doubt it; not for an instant did he fear that there might be no more +gold in the sand and gravel from which Wabigoon's nugget had come. +Treasure was in the very sandbar under his feet! It was out there +among the rocks, where the water beat itself angrily into sputtering +froth; it was under the fall, and down in the chasm, everywhere, +everywhere about him. In one month John Ball and his companions had +gathered twenty-seven pounds of it, a fortune of nearly seven thousand +dollars! And they had gathered it here! Eagerly he scooped up a fresh +pan of the precious earth. He heard the swish-swish of the water in +Wabigoon's and Mukoki's pans. But beyond this there were no sounds +made by them. + +In these first minutes of treasure seeking no words were spoken. Who +would give the first shout of discovery? Five minutes, ten, fifteen of +them passed, and Rod found no gold. As he emptied his pan he saw Wabi +scooping up fresh dirt. He, too, had failed. Mukoki had waded out +waist deep among the rocks. A second and a third pan, and a little +chill of disappointment cooled Rod's blood. Perhaps he had chosen an +unlucky spot, where the gold had not settled! He moved his position, +and noticed that Wabigoon had done the same. A fourth and a fifth pan +and the result was the same. Mukoki had waded across the stream, which +was shallow below the fall, and was working on the opposite side. A +sixth pan, and Rod approached the young Indian. The excitement was +gone out of their faces. An hour and a half--and no more gold! + +"Guess we haven't hit the right place, after all," said Wabi. + +"It must be here," replied Rod. "Where there is one nugget there must +be more. Gold is heavy, and settles. Perhaps it's deeper down in the +river bed." + +Mukoki came across to join them. Out among the rocks he had found a +fleck of gold no larger than the head of a pin, and this new sign gave +them all fresh enthusiasm. Taking off their boots both Rod and Wabi +joined the old pathfinder in midstream. But each succeeding pan added +to the depressing conviction that was slowly replacing their hopes. +The shadows in the chasm began growing longer and deeper. Far overhead +the dense canopies of red pine shut out the last sun-glow of day, and +the gathering gloom between the mountains gave warning that in this +mysterious world of the ancient cabin the dusk of night was not far +away. But not until they could no longer see the gleaming mica in +their pans did the three cease work. Wet to the waist, tired, and with +sadly-shattered dreams they returned to their camp. For a short time +Rod's hopes were at their lowest ebb. Was it possible that there was +no more gold, that the three adventurers of long ago had discovered a +"pocket" here, and worked it out? The thought had been growing in his +head. Now it worried him. + +But his depression did not last long. The big fire which Mukoki +built and the stimulating aroma of strong coffee revived his natural +spirits, and both Wabi and he were soon laughing and planning again as +they made their cedar-bough shelter. Supper on the big flat stone--a +feast of bear steak, hot-stone biscuits, coffee, and that most +delectable of all wilderness luxuries, a potato apiece,--and the two +irrepressible young gold hunters were once more scheming and building +their air-castles for the following day. Mukoki listened, and attended +to the clothes drying before the fire, now and then walking out into +the gloom of the chasm to look up to where the white rim of the fall +burst over the edge of the great rock above them. All that afternoon +Wabi and Rod had forgotten the mad hunter and the strange, smoothly +worn tree. Mukoki had not. + +In the glow of the camp-fire the two boys read over again the old +account of John Ball and the two Frenchmen. The tiny slip of paper, +yellow with age, was the connecting link between them and the dim +and romantic past, a relic of the grim tragedy which these black and +gloomy chasm walls would probably keep for ever a secret. + +"Twenty-seven pounds," repeated Rod, as if half to himself. "That was +one month's work!" + +"Pretty nearly a pound a day!" gasped Wabi. "I tell you, Rod, we +haven't hit the right spot--yet!" + +"I wonder why John Ball's share was twice that of his companions'? Do +you suppose it was because he discovered the gold in the first place?" +speculated Rod. + +"In all probability it was. That accounts for his murder. The +Frenchmen were getting the small end of the deal." + +"Eighteen hundred fifty-nine," mused Rod. "That was forty-nine years +ago, before the great Civil War. Say--" + +He stopped and looked hard at Wabigoon. + +"Did it ever strike you that John Ball might not have been murdered?" + +Wabi leaned forward with more than usual eagerness. + +"I have had a thought--" he began. + +"What?" + +"That perhaps he was not killed." + +"And that after the two Frenchmen died in the knife duel he returned +and got the gold," continued Rod. + +"No, I had not thought of that," said Wabi. Suddenly he rose to his +feet and joined Mukoki out in the gloom of the chasm. + +Rod was puzzled. Something in his companion's voice, in his face and +words, disturbed him. What had Wabigoon meant? + +The young Indian soon rejoined him, but he spoke no more of John Ball. + +When the two boys went to their blankets Mukoki still remained awake. +For a long time he sat beside the fire, his hands gripping the rifle +across his knees, his head slightly bowed in that statue-like posture +so characteristic of the Indian. For fully an hour he sat motionless, +and in his own way he was deeply absorbed in thought. Soon after their +discovery of the first golden bullet Wabigoon had whispered a few +words into his ear, unknown to Rod; and to-night out in the gloom of +the chasm, he had repeated those same words. They had set Mukoki's +mind working. He was thinking now of something that happened long ago, +when, in his reasoning, the wilderness was young and he was a youth. +In those days his one great treasure was a dog, and one winter he +went with this faithful companion far into the hunting regions of the +North, a long moon's travel from his village. When he returned, +months later, he was alone. From his lonely hunting shack deep in the +solitudes his comrade had disappeared, and had never returned. This +all happened before Mukoki met the pretty Indian girl who became his +wife, and was afterward killed by the wolves, and he missed the dog +as he would have missed a human brother. The Indian's love, even +for brutes, is some thing that lives, and more than twenty moons +later--two years in the life of a man--he returned once again to the +old shack, and there he found Wholdaia, the dog! The animal knew him, +and bounded about on three legs for joy, and because of the missing +leg Mukoki understood why he had not returned to him two years before. +Two years is a long time in the life of a dog, and the gray hairs of +suffering and age were freely sprinkled in Wholdaia's muzzle and along +his spine. + +Mukoki was not thinking of Wholdaia without a reason. He was thinking +of Wabigoon's words--and the mad hunter. Could not the mad hunter do +as Wholdaia had done? Was it possible that the bad-dog man who shot +golden bullets and who screamed like a lynx was the man who had lived +there many, many years ago, and whom the boys called John Ball? Those +were the thoughts that Wabi had set working in his brain. The young +Indian had not suggested this to Rod. He had spoken of it to Mukoki +only because he knew the old pathfinder might help him to solve the +riddle, and so he had started Mukoki upon the trail. + +The next morning, while the others were finishing their breakfast, +Mukoki equipped himself for a journey. + +"Go down chasm," he explained to Rod "Fin' where get out to plain. +Shoot meat." + +That day the gold hunters were more systematic in their work, +beginning close to the fall, one on each side of the stream, and +panning their way slowly down the chasm. By noon they had covered two +hundred yards, and their only reward was a tiny bit of gold, worth +no more than a dollar, which Rod had found in his pan. By the time +darkness again compelled them to stop they had prospected a quarter +of a mile down stream without discovering other signs of John Ball's +treasure. In spite of their failure they were less discouraged than +the previous evening, for this failure, in a way, was having a +sedative and healthful effect. It convinced them that there was a hard +and perhaps long task ahead of them, and that they could not expect to +find their treasure winnowed in yellow piles for them. + +Early in the evening Mukoki returned laden with caribou meat, and with +the news that the first break in the chasm walls was fully five miles +below. The adventurers now regretted that they had chopped down the +stub, for it was decided that the next work should be in the stream +above the fall, which would necessitate a ten-mile tramp, five miles +to the break and five miles back. When the journey was begun at dawn +the following morning several days' supplies were taken along, and +also a stout rope by means of which the gold hunters could lower +themselves back into their old camp when their work above was +completed. Rod noticed that the rocks in the stream seemed much +larger than when he had first seen them, and he mentioned the fact to +Wabigoon. + +"The floods are going down rapidly," explained the young Indian. "All +of the snow is melted from the sides of the mountains, and there are +no lakes to feed this chasm stream. Within a week there won't be more +than a few inches of water below the fall." + +"And that is when we shall find the gold!" declared Rod with his old +enthusiasm. "I tell you, we haven't gone deep enough! This gold has +been here for centuries and centuries, and it has probably settled +several feet below the surface of the river-bed. Ball and the +Frenchmen found twenty-seven pounds in June, when the creek was +practically dry. Did you ever read about the discoveries of gold in +Alaska and the Yukon?" + +"A little, when I was going to school with you." + +"Well, the richest finds were nearly always from three to a dozen +feet under the surface, and when a prospector found signs in surface +panning he knew there was rich dirt below. Well find our gold in this +chasm, and near the fall!" + +Rod's confidence was the chief thing that kept up the spirits of the +treasure seekers during the next few days, for not the first sign +of gold was discovered above the fall. Yard by yard the prospectors +worked up the chasm until they had washed its sands for more than a +mile. And with the passing of each day, as Wabigoon had predicted, the +stream became more and more shallow, until they could wade across it +without wetting themselves above their knees. At the close of the +fourth day the three lowered themselves over the face of the rock into +the second chasm. So convinced was Rod in his belief that the gold was +hidden deep down under the creek bed that he dug a four-foot hole by +torch-light and that night after supper washed out several pans of +dirt in the glow of the camp-fire. He still found no signs of gold. + +The next day's exertions left no room for doubt. Beyond two or three +tiny flecks of gold the three adventurers found nothing of value +in the deeper sand and gravel of the stream. That night absolute +dejection settled on the camp. Both Rod and Wabigoon made vain efforts +to liven up their drooping spirits. Only Mukoki, to whom gold +carried but a fleeting and elusive value, was himself, and even his +hopefulness was dampened by the gloom of his companions. Rod could see +but one explanation of their failure. Somewhere near the cataract John +Ball and the Frenchmen had found a rich pocket of gold, and they had +worked it out, probably before the fatal tragedy in the old cabin. + +"But how about the mad hunter and his golden bullets?" insisted Wabi, +in another effort to brighten their prospects. "The bullets weighed an +ounce each, and I'll stake my life they came from this chasm. He knows +where the gold is, if we don't!" + +"Come back soon!" grunted Mukoki. "Watch heem. Fin' gol'!" + +"That's what we'll do!" cried the young Indian, jumping suddenly to +his feet and toppling Rod backward off the rock upon which he was +sitting. "Come, cheer up, Rod! The gold is here, somewhere, and we're +going to find it! I'm heartily ashamed of you; you, whom I thought +would never get discouraged!" + +Rod was laughing when he recovered from the playful mauling which Wabi +administered before he could regain his feet. + +"That's right, I deserve another licking! We've got all the spring and +summer before us, and if we don't find the gold by the time snow flies +we'll come back and try it again next year! What do you say?" + +"And bring Minnetaki with us!" added Wabi, jumping into the air and +kicking his heels together. "How will you like that, Rod?" He nudged +his comrade in the ribs, and in another moment both were puffing and +laughing in one of their good-natured wrestling bouts, in which the +cat-like agility of the young Indian always won for him in the end. + +In spite of momentary times like this, when the natural buoyancy and +enthusiasm of the young adventurers rose above their discouragement, +the week that followed added to their general depression. For miles +the chasm was explored and at the end of the week they had found less +than an ounce of gold. If their pans had given them no returns at all +their disappointment would have been less, for then, as Wabi said, +they could have given up the ghost with good grace. But the few +precious yellow grains which they found now and then lured them on, as +these same grains have lured other hundreds and thousands since the +dawn of civilization. Day after day they persisted in their efforts; +night after night about their camp-fire they inspired each other with +new hope and made new plans. The spring sun grew stronger, the poplar +buds burst into tiny leaf and out beyond the walls of the chasm the +first promises of summer came in the sweetly scented winds of the +south, redolent with the breath of balsam and pine and the thousand +growing things of the plains. + +But at last the search came to an end. For three days not even a grain +of gold had been found. Around the big rock, where they were eating +dinner, Rod and his friends came to a final conclusion. The following +morning they would break camp, and leaving their canoe behind, for the +creek was now too shallow for even birch-bark navigation, they would +continue their exploration of the chasm in search of other adventures. +The whole summer was ahead of them, and though they had failed +in discovering a treasure where John Ball and the Frenchmen had +succeeded, they might find one farther on. At least the trip deeper +into the unexplored wilderness would be filled with excitement. + +Mukoki rose to his feet, leaving Rod and Wabi still discussing their +plans. Suddenly he turned toward them, and a startled cry fell from +his lips, while with one long arm he pointed beyond the fall into the +upper chasm. + +"Listen--heem--heem!" + +The old warrior's face twitched with excitement, and for a full half +minute he stood motionless, his arm still extended, his black eyes +staring steadily at Rod and Wabigoon who sat as silent as the rocks +about them. Then there came to them from a great distance a quavering, +thrilling sound, a sound that filled them again with the old horror of +the upper chasm--the cry of the mad hunter. + +At that distant cry Wabigoon sprang to his feet, his eyes leaping +fire, his bronzed cheeks whitening in an excitement even greater than +that of Mukoki. + +"Muky, I told you!" he cried. "I told you!" The young Indian's body +quivered, his hands were clenched, and when he turned upon Rod the +white youth was startled by the look in his face. + +"Rod, John Ball is coming back to his gold!" + +Hardly had he spoken the words when the tenseness left his body and +his hands dropped to his side. + +The words shot from him before he could control himself enough to hold +them back. In another moment he was sorry. The thought that John Ball +and the mad hunter were the same person he had kept to himself, until +for reasons of his own he had let Mukoki into his secret. While the +idea had taken larger and larger growth in his mind he knew that +from every logical point of view the thing was impossible, and that +constraint which came of the Indian blood in him held him from +discussing it with Rod. But now the words were out. A quick flush +replaced the whiteness that had come into his face. In another instant +he was leaning eagerly toward Rod, his eyes kindling into fire again. +He had not expected the change that he now saw come over the white +youth. + +"I have been thinking that for a long time," he continued. "Ever since +we found the footprints in the sand. There's just one proof that we +need, just one, and--" + +"Listen!" + +Rod fairly hissed the word as he held up a warning hand. + +This time the cry of the mad hunter came to them more distinctly. He +was approaching through the upper chasm! + +The white youth rose to his feet, his eyes steadily fixed upon +Wabigoon's. His face was deathly pale. + +"John Ball!" he repeated, as if he had just heard what the other had +said. "John Ball!" What seemed to him to be the only truth swept upon +him like a flood, and for a score of seconds, in every one of which he +could hear his heart thumping excitedly, he stood like one stunned. +John Ball! John Ball returned to life to find their gold for them, to +tell them of the tragedy and mystery of those days long dead and gone! +Like powder touched by a spark of fire his imagination leaped at +Wabi's thrilling suggestion. + +Mukoki set to work. + +"Hide!" he exclaimed. "Hide thees--thees--thees!" He pointed about him +at all the things in camp. + +Both of the boys understood. + +"He must see no signs of our presence from the top of the fall!" cried +Wabi, gathering an armful of camp utensils. "Hide them back among the +cedars!" + +Mukoki hurried to the cedar bough shelter and began tearing it down. +For five minutes the adventurers worked on the run. Once during that +time they heard the madman's wailing cry, and hardly had they finished +and concealed themselves in the gloom of the old cabin when it came +again, this time from not more than a rifle-shot's distance beyond +the cataract. It was not a scream that now fell from the mad hunter's +lips, but a low wail and in it there was something that drove the old +horror from the three wildly beating hearts and filled them with a +measureless, nameless pity. What change had come over the madman? The +cry was repeated every few seconds now, each time nearer than before, +and in it there was a questioning, appealing note that seemed to end +in sobbing despair, a something that gripped at Rod's heart and filled +him with a great half-mastering impulse to answer it, to run out and +stretch his hands forth in greeting to the strange, wild creature +coming down the chasm! + +Then, as he looked, something ran out upon the edge of the great rock +beside the cataract, and he clutched at his own breast to hold back +what he thought must burst forth in words. For he knew--as surely as +he knew that Wabi was at his side--that he was looking upon John Ball! +For a moment the strange creature crouched where the stub had been, +and when he saw that it was gone he stood erect, and a quavering, +pitiful cry echoed softly through the chasm. And as he stood there +motionless the watchers saw that the mad hunter was an old man, tall +and thin, but as straight as a sapling, and that his head and breast +were hidden in shaggy beard and hair. In his hands he carried a +gun--the gun that had fired the golden bullets--and even at that +distance those who were peering from the gloom of the cabin saw that +it was a long barreled weapon similar to those they had found in the +other old cabin, along with the skeletons of the Frenchmen who had +died in the fatal knife duel. + +In breathless suspense the three waited, not a muscle of their bodies +moving. Again the old man leaned over the edge of the rock, and his +voice came to them in a moaning, sobbing appeal, and after a little +he stretched out his arms, still crying softly, as if beseeching help +from some one below. The spectacle gripped at Rod's soul. A hot film +came into his eyes and there was an odd little tremble in his throat. +The Indians were looking with dark, staring eyes. To them this was +another unusual incident of the wilderness. But to Rod it was the +white man's soul crying out to his own. The old man's outstretched +arms seemed reaching to him, the sobbing voice, filled with its +pathos, its despair, its hopeless loneliness, seemed a supplication +for him to come forth, to reach up his own arms, to respond to this +lost soul of the solitudes. With a little cry Rod darted between his +companions. He threw off his cap and lifted his white face to the +startled creature on the rock, and as he advanced step by step, +reaching out his hands in friendship, he called softly a name: + +"John Ball, John Ball, John Ball!" + +In an instant the mad hunter had straightened himself, half turned to +flee. + +"John Ball! Hello, John Ball--John Ball--" + +In his earnestness Rod was almost sobbing the name. He forgot +everything now, everything but that lonely figure on the rock, and he +drew nearer and nearer, gently calling the name, until the mad hunter +dropped on his knees and, crumpled in his long beard and gray lynx +skin, looked down upon Rod and sent back a low moaning, answering cry. + +"John Ball! John Ball, is that you?" + +Rod stopped, with the madman forty feet above him, and something +seemed choking back the very breath in him when he saw the strange +look that had come into the old man's eyes. + +"John Ball--" + +The wild eyes above shifted for a moment. They caught a glimpse of two +heads thrust from the door of the old cabin, and the madman sprang to +his feet. For a breath he stood on the edge of the rock, then with a +cry he leaped with the fierce agility of an animal far out into the +swirl of the cataract! For an instant he was visible in the downward +plunge of the water. Another instant and with a heavy splash he +disappeared in the deep pool under the fall! + +Wabi and Mukoki had seen the desperate leap and the young Indian +was beside the pool before Rod had recovered from his horrified +astonishment. For centuries the water of the chasm stream had been +tumbling into this pool wearing it deeper and deeper each year, until +the water in it was over a man's head. In width it was not more than a +dozen feet. + +"Watch for him! He'll drown if we don't get him out," shouted Wabi. + +Rod leaped to the edge of the pool, with Mukoki between him and +Wabigoon. Ready to spring into the cold depths at the first sign of +the old man's gray head or struggling arms the three stood with every +muscle ready for action. A second, two seconds, five seconds passed, +and there was no sign of him. Rod's heart began to beat with drum-like +fierceness. Ten seconds! A quarter of a minute! He looked at Wabigoon. +The young Indian had thrown off his caribou-skin coat; his eyes, as he +turned them for a moment toward Rod, flashed back the white youth's +fear. + +"I'm going to dive for him!" + +In another instant he had plunged head foremost into the pool. +Mukoki's coat fell to the ground. He crouched forward until it seemed +he must topple from the stone upon which he stood. Another fifteen +seconds and Wabigoon's head appeared above the water, and the old +warrior gave a shout. + +"Me come!" + +He shot out and disappeared in a huge splash close to Wabi. Rod stood +transfixed, filled with a fear that was growing in him at every breath +he drew. He saw the convulsions of the water made by the two Indians, +who were groping about below the surface. Wabigoon came up again for +breath, then Mukoki. It seemed to him that an age had passed, and he +felt no hope. John Ball was dead! + +Not for a moment now did he doubt the identity of the mad hunter. The +strange, wistful light that had replaced the glare in the old man's +eyes when he heard his own name called to him had spoken more than +words. It was John Ball! And he was dead! For a third time, a fourth, +and a fifth Mukoki and Wabigoon came up for air, and the fifth time +they dragged themselves out upon the rocks that edged the pool. Mukoki +spoke no word but ran back to the camp and threw a great armful of dry +fuel upon the fire. Wabigoon still remained at the edge of the pool, +dripping and shivering. His hands were clenched, and Rod could see +that they were filled with sand and gravel. Mechanically the Indian +opened his fingers and looked at what he had unconsciously brought up +from under the fall. + +For a moment he stared, then with his gasping breath there came a low, +thrilling cry. + +He held out his hands to Rod. + +Gleaming richly among the pebbles which he held was a nugget of pure +gold, a nugget so large that Rod gave a wild yell, and in that one +moment forgot that John Ball, the mad hunter, was dead or dying +beneath the fall! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +JOHN BALL AND THE MYSTERY OF THE GOLD + +Mukoki, hearing Rod's cry, hurried to the pool, but before he reached +the spot where the white youth was standing with the yellow nugget in +his hand Wabigoon had again plunged beneath the surface. For several +minutes he remained in the water, and when he once more crawled out +upon the rocks there was something so strange in his face and eyes +that for a moment Rod believed he had found the dead body of the +madman. + +"He isn't--in--the--pool!" he panted. Mukoki shrugged his shoulders +and shivered. + +"Dead!" he grunted + +"He isn't in the pool!" + +Wabigoon's black eyes gleamed in uncanny emphasis of his words. + +"He isn't in the pool!" + +The others understood what he meant. Mukoki's eyes wandered to where +the water of the pool gushed between the rocks into the broader +channel of the chasm stream. It was not more than knee deep! + +"He no go out there!" + +"No!" + +"Then--where?" + +He shrugged his shoulders suggestively again, and pointed into the +pool. + +"Body slip under rock. He there!" + +"Try it!" said Wabigoon tersely. + +He hurried to the fire, and Rod went with him to gather more fuel +while the young Indian warmed his chilled body. They heard the old +pathfinder leap into the water under the fall as they ran. + +Ten minutes later Mukoki joined them. + +"Gone! Bad-dog man no there!" + +He stretched out one of his dripping arms. + +"Gol' bullet!" he grunted. + +In the palm of his hand lay another yellow nugget, as large as a +hazelnut! + +"I told you," said Wabi softly, "that John Ball was coming back to his +gold. And he has done so! The treasure is in the pool!" + +But where was John Ball? + +Dead or alive, where could he have disappeared? + +Under other conditions the chasm would have rung with the wild +rejoicing of the gold seekers. But there was something now that +stilled the enthusiasm in them. At last the ancient map had given up +its secret, and riches were within their grasp. But no one of the +three shouted out his triumph. Somehow it seemed that John Ball had +died for them, and the thought clutched at their hearts that if they +had not cut down the stub he would still be alive. Indirectly they had +brought about the death of the poor creature who for nearly half a +century had lived alone with the beasts in these solitudes. And that +one glimpse of the old man on the rock, the prayerful entreaty in his +wailing voice, the despair which he sobbed forth when he found his +tree gone, had livened in them something that was more than sympathy. +At this moment the three adventurers would willingly have given up all +hopes of gold could sacrifice have brought back that sad, lonely old +man who had looked down upon them from the wall of the upper chasm. + +"I am sorry we cut down the stub," said Rod. + +They were the first words spoken. + +"So am I," replied Wabi simply, beginning to strip off his wet +clothes. "But--" He stopped, and shrugged his shoulders. + +"What?" + +"Well, we're taking it for granted that John Ball is dead. If he is +dead why isn't he in the pool? By George, I should think that Mukoki's +old superstition would be getting the best of him!" + +"I believe he is in the pool!" declared Rod. + +Wabi turned upon him and repeated the words he had spoken to the old +warrior half an hour before. + +"Try it!" + +After the attempts of the two Indians, who could dive like otter, Rod +had no inclination to follow Wabi's invitation. Mukoki, who had hung +up a half of his clothes near the fire, was fitting one of the pans +to the end of a long pole which he had cut from a sapling, and it was +obvious that his intention was to begin at once the dredging of +the pool for gold. Rod joined him, and once more the excitement of +treasure hunting stirred in his veins. When the pan was on securely +Wabi left the fire to join his companions, and the three returned to +the pool. With a long sweep of his improvised dredge Mukoki scooped up +two quarts or more of sand and gravel and emptied it upon one of the +flat rocks, and the two boys pounced upon it eagerly, raking it out +with their fingers and wiping the mud and sand from every suspicious +looking pebble. + +"The quickest way is to wash it!" said Rod, as Mukoki dumped another +load upon the rock. "I'll get some water!" + +He ran to the camp for the remaining pans and when he turned back he +saw Wabi leaping in a grotesque dance about the rock while Mukoki +stood on the edge of the pool, his dredge poised over it, silent and +grinning. + +"What do you think of that?" cried the young Indian as Rod hurried to +him. "What do you think of that?" + +He held out his hand, and in it there gleamed a third yellow nugget, +fully twice as large as the one discovered by Mukoki! + +Rod fairly gasped. "The pool must be full of 'em!" + +He half-filled his pan with the sand and gravel and ran knee-deep out +into the running stream. In his eagerness he splashed over a part of +his material with the wash, but he, excused himself by thinking that +this was his first pan, and that with the rest he would be more +careful. He began to notice now that all of the sand was not washing +out, and when he saw that it persisted in lying heavy and thick among +the pebbles his heart leaped into his mouth. One more dip, and he held +his pan to the light coming through the rift in the chasm. A thousand +tiny, glittering particles met his eyes! In the center of the pan +there gleamed dully a nugget of pure gold as big as a pea! At last +they had struck it rich, so rich that he trembled as he stared down +into the pan, and the cry that had welled up in his throat was choked +back by the swift, excited beating of his heart. In that moment's +glance down into his treasure-laden pan he saw all of his hopes +and all of his ambitions achieved. He was rich! In those gleaming +particles he saw freedom for his mother and himself. No longer a +bitter struggle for existence in the city, no more pinching and +striving and sacrifice that they might keep the little home in which +his father had died! When he turned toward Wabigoon his face was +filled with the ecstasy of those visions. He waded ashore and held his +pan under the other's eyes. + +"Another nugget!" exclaimed Wabi excitedly. + +"Yes. But it isn't the nugget. It's the--" He moved the pan until the +thousand little particles glittered and swam before the Indian's eyes. +"It's the dust. The sand is full of gold!" + +His voice trembled, his face was white. From his crouching posture +Wabi looked up at him, and they spoke no more words. + +Mukoki looked, and was silent. Then he went back to his dredging. +Little by little Rod washed down his pan. Half an hour later he showed +it again to Wabigoon. The pebbles were gone. What sand was left was +heavy with the gleaming particles, and half buried in it all was the +yellow nugget! In Wabi's pan there was no nugget but it was rich with +the gleam of fine gold. + +Mukoki had dredged a bushel of sand and gravel from the pool, and was +upon his knees beside the heap which he had piled on the rock. When +Rod went to that rock for his third pan of dirt the old warrior made +no sign that he had discovered anything. The early gloom of afternoon +was beginning to settle between the chasm walls, and at the end of his +fourth pan Rod found that it was becoming so dark that he could +no longer distinguish the yellow particles in the sand. With the +exception of one nugget he had found only fine gold. With Wabi's dust +were three small nuggets. + +When they ceased work Mukoki rose from beside the rock, chuckling, +grimacing, and holding out his hand. Wabi was the first to see, and +his cry of astonishment drew Rod quickly to his side. The hollow of +the old warrior's hand was filled with nuggets! He turned them into +Wabigoon's hand, and the young Indian turned them into Rod's, and +as he felt the weight of the treasure he held Rod could no longer +restrain the yell of exultation that had been held in all that +afternoon. Jumping high into the air and whooping at every other step +he raced to the camp and soon had the small scale which they had +brought with them from Wabinosh House. The nuggets they had found that +afternoon weighed full seven ounces, and the fine gold, after allowing +the deduction of a third for sand, weighed a little more than eleven +ounces. + +"Eighteen ounces--and a quarter!" + +Rod gave the total in a voice tremulous with incredulity. + +"Eighteen ounces--at twenty dollars an ounce--three hundred and sixty +dollars!" he figured rapidly. "By George--" The prospect seemed too +big for him, and he stopped. + +"Less than half a day's work," added Wabi. "We're doing better than +John Ball and the Frenchmen. It means eighteen thousand dollars a +month!" + +"And by autumn--" began Rod. + +He was interrupted by the inimitable chuckling laugh of Mukoki and +found the old warrior's face a map of creases and grimaces. + +"In twent' t'ous'nd moon--mak' heem how much?" he questioned. + +In all his life Wabigoon had never heard Mukoki joke before, and with +a wild whoop of joy he rolled the stoical old pathfinder off the rock +on which he was sitting, and Rod joined heartily in Wabi's merriment. + +And Mukoki's question proved not to be so much of a joke after all, +as the boys were soon to learn. For several days the work went on +uninterrupted. The buckskin bags in the balsam shelter grew heavier +and heavier. Each succeeding hour added to the visions of the gold +seekers. On the fifth day Rod found seventeen nuggets among his fine +gold, one of them as large as the end of his thumb. On the seventh +came the richest of all their panning, but on the ninth a startling +thing happened. Mukoki was compelled to work ceaselessly to keep the +two boys supplied with "pay dirt" from the pool. His improvised dredge +now brought up only a handful or two of sand and pebbles at a dip. It +was on this ninth day that the truth dawned upon them all. + +The pool was becoming exhausted of its treasure! + +But the discovery brought no great gloom with it. Somewhere near that +pool must be the very source of the treasure itself, and the gold +hunters were confident of finding it. Besides, they had already +accumulated what to them was a considerable fortune, at least two +thousand dollars apiece. For three more days the work continued, and +then Mukoki's dredge no longer brought up pebbles or sand from the +bottom of the pool. + +The last pan was washed early in the morning, and as the warm +weather had begun to taint the caribou meat Mukoki and Wabigoon left +immediately after dinner to secure fresh meat out on the plains, while +Rod remained in camp. The strange thick gloom of night which began to +gather in the chasm before the sun had disappeared beyond the plains +above was already descending upon him when Rod began preparations for +supper. He knew that the Indians would not wait until dark before +reentering the break between the mountains, and confident that they +would soon appear he began mixing up flour and water for their usual +batch of hot-stone biscuits. So intent was he upon his task that he +did not see a shadowy form creeping up foot by foot from the rocks. He +caught no glimpse of the eyes that glared like smoldering coals from +out of the half darkness between him and the fall. + +His first knowledge of another presence came in a low, whining cry, a +cry that was not much more than a whisper, and he leaped to his feet, +every nerve in his body once more tingling with that excitement which +had possessed him when he stood under the rock talking to the madman. +A dozen yards away he saw a face, a great, white, ghost-like face, +staring at him from out of the thickening shadows, and under that face +and its tangled veil of beard and hair he saw the crouching form of +the mad hunter! + +In that moment Roderick Drew thanked God that he was not afraid. +Standing full in the glow of the fire he stretched out his arms, as he +had once before reached them out to this weird creature, and again, +softly, pleadingly, he called the name of John Ball! There came in +reply a faint, almost unheard sound from the wild man, a sound that +was repeated again and again, and which sent a thrill into the young +hunter, for it was wondrously like the name he was calling: "John +Ball! John Ball! John Ball!" And as the mad hunter repeated that sound +he advanced, foot by foot, as though creeping upon all fours, and Rod +saw then that one of his arms was stretched out to him, and that in +the extended hand was a fish. + +He advanced a step, reaching out his own hands eagerly, and the wild +creature stopped, cringing as if fearing a blow. + +"John Ball! John Ball!" he repeated. He thought of no other words but +those, and advanced bit by bit as he called them gently again and +again. Now he was within ten feet of the old man, now eight, presently +he was so near that he might have reached him in a single leap. Then +he stopped. + +The mad hunter laid down his fish. Slowly he retreated, murmuring +incoherent sounds in his beard, then sprang to his feet and with a +wailing cry sped back toward the pool. Swiftly Rod followed. He saw +the form leap from the rocks at its edge, heard a heavy splash, and +all was still! + +For many minutes Rod stood with the spray of the cataract dashing in +his face. This time the madman's plunge into the cold depths at his +feet filled him with none of the horror of that first insane leap from +the rock above. Somewhere in that pool the old man was seeking refuge! +What did it mean? His eyes scanned the thin sheet of water that +plunged down from the upper chasm. It was a dozen feet in width and +hid the black wall of rock behind it like a thick veil. What was there +just behind that falling torrent? Was it possible that in the wall +of rock behind the waterfall there was a place where John Ball found +concealment? + +Rod returned to camp, convinced that he had at last guessed a solution +to the mystery. John Ball was behind the cataract! The strange +murmurings of the old man who for a few moments had crouched so +close to him still rang in his ears, and he was sure that in these +half-articulate sounds had been John Ball's own name. If there had +been a doubt in his mind before, it was wiped away now. The mad hunter +was John Ball, and with that thought burning in his brain Rod stopped +beside the fish--the madman's offering of peace--and turned his face +once more back toward the black loneliness of the pool. + +Unconsciously a sobbing cry of sympathy fell softly from Rod's lips, +and he called John Ball's name again, louder and louder, until +it echoed far down the gloomy depths of the chasm. There came no +response. Then he turned to the fish. John Ball wished them to be +friends, and he had brought this offering! In the firelight Rod saw +that it was a curious looking, dark-colored fish, covered with small +scales that were almost black. It was the size of a large trout, and +yet it was not a trout. The head was thick and heavy, like a sucker's, +and yet it was not a sucker. He looked at this head more closely, and +gave a sudden start when he saw that it had no eyes! + +In one great flood the truth swept upon him, the truth of what lay +behind the cataract, of where John Ball had gone! For he held in his +hands an eyeless creature of another world, a world hidden in the +bowels of the earth itself, a proof that beyond the fall was a great +cavern filled with the mystery and the sightless things of eternal +night, and that in this cavern John Ball found his food and made his +home! + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +IN A SUBTERRANEAN WORLD + +When Mukoki and Wabigoon returned half an hour later the hot-stone +biscuits were still unbaked. The fire was only a bed of coals. Beside +it sat Rod, the strange fish upon the ground at his feet. Before +Mukoki had thrown down the pack of meat which he was carrying he was +showing them this fish. Quickly he related what had happened. He added +to this some of the things which he had thought while sitting by the +fire. The chief of these things were that just behind the cataract was +the entrance to a great cavern, and that in this cavern they would not +only find John Ball, but also the rich storehouse of that treasure of +which they, had discovered a part in the pool. + +And as the night lengthened there was little talk about the gold and +much about John Ball. Again and again Rod described the madman's +visit, the trembling, pleading voice, the offering of the fish, the +eager glow that had come into the wild eyes when he talked to him and +called him by name. Even Mukoki's stoic heart was struck by the deep +pathos of it all. The mad hunter no longer carried his gun. He no +longer sought their lives. In his crazed brain something new and +wonderful was at work, something that drew him to them, with the +half-fear of an animal, and yet with growing trust. He was pleading +for their companionship, their friendship, and deep down in his heart +Rod felt that the spark of sanity was not completely gone from John +Ball. + +When the three adventurers retired to their blankets in the cedar +shelter it was not the thought of gold that quickened their blood in +anticipation of the morning. The passing of an age would not dull the +luster of what they had come to seek. It would wait for them. The +greatest of all things--the sympathy of man for man--had stilled that +other passion in them. John Ball's salvation, and not more gold, was +the day's work ahead of them now. + +With the dawn they were up, and by the time it was light enough to see +they were ready for the exploration of whatever was hidden behind the +fall. In a rubber blanket Wabigoon wrapped a rifle and half a dozen +pine torches. Mukoki carried a quantity of cooked meat. Standing on +the edge of the pool Rod pointed into the falling torrent. + +"He dived straight under," he said. "The opening to the cavern is +directly behind the shoot of falling water." + +Wabi placed his hat and coat upon a rock. + +"I'll try it first. Wait until I come back," he said. + +Without another word he plunged into the pool. Minute after minute +passed, and he did not reappear. Rod was conscious of a nervous chill +creeping into his blood. But Mukoki was chuckling confidently. + +"Found heem!" he replied in response to the white youth's inquiring +look. + +As he spoke Wabigoon came up out of the pool like a great fish. Rod +helped him upon the rocks. + +"We're two bright ones, we are, Muky!" he exclaimed, as soon as he +gained his breath. "Just behind the fall I ran up against the wall of +rock we found when we were hunting for John Ball, stood on my feet, +and--" he swung his arms suggestively--"there I was, head and +shoulders out of water, looking into a hole as big as a house!" + +"Dive easy!" warned the old pathfinder, turning to Rod. "Bump head on +rock--swush!" + +"We won't have to dive," continued Wabi. "The water directly under the +fall of the stream isn't more than four feet deep. If we wade into it +from over there we can make it easy." + +Taking his waterproof bundle the young Indian slipped into the pool +close up against the wall of rock that formed the foundation of the +upper chasm and plunged straight into the tumbling cataract. Mukoki +followed close behind and preparing himself with a long breath Rod +hurried into this new experience. For a moment he was conscious of a +smothering weight upon him and a thunderous roaring in his ears, and +he was borne irresistibly down. There was still air in his lungs when +he found himself safely through the deluge so he knew that its passage +had taken him only a brief but thrilling instant. For a time he could +see nothing. Then he made out a dark form drawing itself up out of the +water. Beyond that there lay a chaos of midnight blackness, and he +knew that his eyes were staring into the depths of a great cavern! + +Gripping the edge of the rock ledge he dragged himself up as both +Wabigoon and Mukoki had done, and found his feet upon a soft floor of +sand. Suddenly he felt a hand clutch his arm. A half-shout, rising +faintly above the wash of the cataract, sounded in his ear. + +"Look!" + +He wiped the water from his eyes and gazed ahead of him. For a moment +he saw nothing. Then, so faintly that at first it appeared no larger +than a star, he caught the faint glimmer of a light. As he looked it +became more and more distinct, and to his astonishment he saw that +it was slowly rising, like a huge will-o'-the-wisp that had suddenly +risen from the floor of the cavern to float off into the utter +blackness of space above. And even as he stared, gripping Wabi's arm +in his excitement, the strange light began to descend, and quickly +disappeared! + +The two boys saw Mukoki slip off into the gloom, and without +questioning his motive they followed close behind. As they progressed +the sound of the fall came more and more faintly to their ears. A +blackness deeper than the gloom of the darkest night environed them, +and the three now held to one another's arms. Rod understood why his +companions lighted no torches. Somewhere ahead of them was another +light, carried by the mad hunter. His blood thrilled with excitement. +Where would John Ball lead them? + +Suddenly he became conscious that they were no longer walking on a +level floor of sand but that they were ascending, as the light had +done. Mukoki stopped and for a full minute they stood and listened. +The tumult of the fall came to them in a far, subdued murmur. Beyond +that there was not the breath of a sound in the strange world of gloom +about them. They were about to start on again when something held +them, a whispering, sobbing echo, and Rod's heart seemed to stop its +beating. It died away slowly, and a weird stillness fell after it. +Then came a low moaning cry, a cry that was human in its agony, and +yet which had in it something so near the savage that even Wabigoon +found himself trembling as he strained in futile effort to pierce +the impenetrable gloom ahead. Before the cry had lost itself in the +distances of the cavern Mukoki was leading them on again. + +Step by step they followed in the path taken by the strange light. Rod +knew that they were climbing a hill of sand, and that just beyond +it they would see the light again, but he was not prepared for the +startling suddenness with which the next change came. As if a black +curtain had dropped from before their eyes the three adventurers +beheld a scene that halted them in their tracks. A hundred paces away +a huge pitch-pine torch a yard in length was burning in the sand, and +crouching in the red glow of this, his arms stretched out as if in the +supplication of a strange prayer, was John Ball! Just beyond him was +the gleam of water, inky-black in the weird flickerings of the torch, +and toward this John Ball reached out in his grief. His voice came up +softly to the three watchers now, so low that even in the vast silence +of the cavern it could barely be heard. To Roderick Drew it was as if +the strange creature below him was sobbing like a heart-broken child, +and he whispered in Wabigoon's ear. Then, foot by foot, so gently that +his moccasined feet made no sound, he approached the madman. + +Half-way to him he paused. + +"Hello, John Ball!" he called softly. + +The faint light of the torch was falling upon him, and he advanced +another step. The murmuring of the wild man ceased, but he made no +movement. He still knelt in his rigid posture, his arms stretched +toward the black chaos beyond him. Rod came very close to him before +he spoke again. + +"Is that you, John Ball?" + +Slowly the kneeling figure turned, and once more Rod saw in those wild +eyes, gleaming brightly now in the torch-light, the softer, thrilling +glow of recognition and returning reason. He reached out his own arms +and advanced boldly, calling John Ball's name, and the madman made no +retreat but crouched lower in the sand, strange, soft sounds again +falling from his lips. Rod had come within half a dozen feet of him +when he sprang up with the quickness of a cat, and with a wailing +cry plunged waist deep into the water. With his arms stretched +entreatingly into the mysterious world beyond the torch-light he +turned his face to the white youth, and Rod knew that he was trying as +best he could to tell him something. + +"What is it, John Ball?" + +He went to the edge of the black water and waded out until it rose to +his knees, his eyes staring into the blackness. + +"What is it?" + +He, too, pointed with one arm, and the madman gave an excited gesture. +Then he placed his hands funnel-shaped to his mouth, as Rod had often +seen Wabi and Mukoki do when calling moose, and there burst from him a +far-reaching cry, and Rod's heart gave a sudden bound as he listened, +for the cry was that of a woman's name! + +"Dol--o--res-s-s-s--Dol--o--res-s-s-s--" + +The cry died away in distant murmuring echoes, and with an answering +cry Rod shouted forth the name which he fancied John Ball had spoken. + +"Dolores! Dolores! Dolores!" + +There came a sudden leaping plunge, and John Ball was at his feet, +clasping him about the knees, and sobbing again and again that +name--Dolores. Rod put his arms about the old man's shoulders, and the +gray, shaggy head fell against him. The sobbing voice grew lower, the +weight of the head greater, and after a little Rod called loudly for +Mukoki and Wabigoon, for there was no longer movement or sound from +the form at his feet, and he knew that something had happened to John +Ball. The two Indians were quickly at his side, and together they +carried the unconscious form of Ball within the circle of torch-light. +The old man's eyes were closed, his claw-like fingers were clenched +fiercely upon his breast, and not until Mukoki placed a hand over his +heart did the three know that he was still breathing. + +"Now is our time to get him to camp," said Wabi. "Lead the way with +the torch, Rod!" + +There was not much weight to John Ball, and the two Indians carried +him easily. At the fall the rubber blanket was wound about his head +and the adventurers plunged under the cataract with their burden. It +was an hour after that before the old man opened his eyes again. Rod +was close beside him and for a full minute the mad hunter gazed +up into his face, then once more he sank off into that strange +unconsciousness which had overcome him in the cavern. Rod rose +white-faced and turned to Mukoki and Wabigoon. + +"I'm afraid--he's dying," he said. + +The Indians made no answer. For several minutes the three sat silently +about John Ball watching for signs of returning consciousness. At +last Mukoki roused himself to take a pot of soup from the fire. The +movement seemed to stir John Ball into life, and Rod was at his side +again, holding a cup of water to his lips. After a little he helped +the old man to sit up, and a spoonful at a time the warm soup was fed +to him. + +Through the whole of that day he returned to consciousness only for +brief intervals, lapsing back into a death-like sleep after each +awakening. During one of these periods of unconsciousness Wabi cut +short the tangled beard and hair, and for the first time they saw +in all its emaciation the thin, ghastly face of the man who, half a +century before, had drawn the map that led them to the gold. There was +little change in his condition during the night that followed, except +that now and then he muttered incoherently, and at these times Rod +always caught in his ravings the name that he had heard in the cavern. +The next day there was no change. And there was still none on the +third. Even Mukoki, who had tried every expedient of wilderness craft +in nursing, gave up in despair. So far as they could see John Ball had +no fever. Yet three-quarters of the time he lay as if dead. Nothing +but soup could be forced between his lips. + +On the second day Wabi revisited the subterranean world beyond the +cataract. When he came back he had discovered the secret of the +treasure in the pool. The gold came from the cavern. The soft sand +through which they had followed the strange light was rich in dust and +nuggets. During the floods of spring water came into the cavern from +somewhere, and flowing for a brief space out through the mouth of the +cave brought with it the precious burden of treasure-laden sand which +was dumped into the pool. The constant wash of the cataract had caused +most of the sand to overflow into the running stream, but the heavier +gold-dust and nuggets remained in the trap into which they had fallen. + +But the joy that came of this discovery was subdued by thoughts of +John Ball. The gold meant everything to Rod, the realization of his +hopes and ambitions; and he knew that it meant everything to his +mother, and to all those who belonged to Mukoki and Wabigoon. But the +gold could wait. They had already accumulated a small fortune, and +they could return for the rest a little later. At present they must do +something for John Ball, the man to whom they were indebted for all +that they had found, and to whom the treasure really belonged. On the +third day Rod laid his plans before Wabi and Mukoki. + +"We must take John Ball back to the Post as quickly as we can," he +said. "It is our only chance of saving him. If we start now, while +the water in the creek is deep enough to float our canoe, we can make +Wabinosh House in ten or fifteen days." + +"It will be impossible to paddle against the swift current," said +Wabi. + +"That is true. But we can put John Ball into the canoe and tow him +up-stream. It will be a long wade and hard work, but--" + +He looked at Wabi in silence, then added, + +"Do we want John Ball to live, or do we want him to die?" + +"If I thought he would live I would wade a thousand miles to save +him," rejoined the young Indian. "It means little to us but work. We +know where the rest of the gold is and can return to it within a few +weeks." + +If there had been a doubt in the boys' minds as to the right course to +pursue John Ball settled it himself that very afternoon. He awakened +from an unusually long stupor. His eyes were burning with a new light, +and as Rod bent over him he whispered softly, but distinctly, + +"Dolores--Dolores--Where is Dolores?" + +"Who is Dolores, John Ball?" whispered the white youth, his heart +thumping wildly. "Who is Dolores?" + +Ball drew up one of his emaciated hands and clasped it to his head, +and a sobbing moan fell from his lips. Then, after a moment, he +repeated, as though to himself, + +"Dolores--Dolores--Who is Dolores?" + +The Indians had come near, and heard. But John Ball said no more. He +swallowed a few spoonfuls of soup and fell again into his death-like +trance. + +"Who is Dolores?" repeated Wabigoon, his face whitening as he looked +at Rod. "Is there somebody else in the cavern?" + +"He is talking of some one whom he probably knew forty or fifty years +ago," replied Rod. But his own face was white. He stared hard at +Wabigoon, and a strange look came into Mukoki's face. + +"Dolores," he mused, without taking his eyes from Wabi. "It's a +woman's name, or a girl's name. We must save John Ball! We must start +for Wabinosh House--now!" + +"While he's unconscious we can tie the rope about him and hoist him +into the upper chasm," quickly added Wabigoon. "Muky, get to work. We +move this minute!" + +It was still two hours before dusk, and now that they had determined +on returning to Wabinosh House the adventurers lost no time in getting +under way. Wabi climbed the rope that was suspended from the upper +chasm, and that part of their equipment which it was necessary to take +back with them was hoisted up by him. Mukoki sheltered the rest in the +old cabin. John Ball was drawn up last. For an hour after that, until +the gray shadows of night began settling about them, the three waded +up the shallow stream, pulling the canoe and its unconscious burden +after them. That night the madman was not left unwatched for a minute. +Mukoki sat beside him until eleven o'clock. Then Wabi took his turn. A +little after midnight Rod was aroused by being violently pulled from +his bed of balsam boughs. + +"For the love of Heaven, get up!" whispered the young Indian. "He's +talking, Rod! He's talking about Dolores, and about some kind of a +great beast that's bigger than anything that ever lived up here! +Listen!" + +The madman was moaning softly. + +"I've killed it, Dolores--I've killed it--killed it! Where is Dolores? +Where--is--" There came a deep sigh, and John Ball was quiet. + +"Killed what?" panted Rod, his heart thumping until it choked him. + +"The beast--whatever it was," whispered Wabi. "Rod, something terrible +happened in that cavern! We don't know the whole story. The Frenchmen +who killed themselves for possession of the birch-bark map played +only a small part in it. The greater part was played by John Ball and +Dolores!" + +For a long time the two listened, but the old man made no sound or +movement. + +"Better go back to bed," said Wabi. "I thought if he was going to keep +it up you would like to hear. I'll call you at two." + +But Rod could not sleep. For a long time he lay awake thinking of John +Ball and his, strange ravings. Who was Dolores? What terrible tragedy +had that black world under the mountains some time beheld? Despite his +better reason an indefinable sensation of uneasiness possessed him as +the madman's sobbing out of the woman's name recurred to him. He spoke +nothing of this to Wabi when he relieved him, and he said nothing of +it during the days that followed. They were days of unending toil, of +fierce effort to beat out death in the race to Wabinosh House. + +For it seemed that the end of time was very near for John Ball. On the +fourth day his thin cheeks showed signs of fever, and on the fifth he +was tossing in delirium. The race now continued by night as well as +by day, only an hour or two of rest being snatched at a time. During +these days John Ball babbled ceaselessly of Dolores, and great beasts, +and the endless cavern; and now the beasts began taking the form of +strange people whose eyes gleamed from out of masses of fur, and who +had hands, and flung spears. On the eighth day the madman sank +back into his old lethargy. On the fourth day after that the three +adventurers, worn and exhausted, reached the shore of Lake Nipigon. +Thirty miles across the lake was Wabinosh House, and it was decided +that Mukoki and Rod should leave for assistance, while Wabigoon +remained with John Ball. The two rolled themselves in their blankets +immediately after supper, and after three hours' sleep were awakened +by the young Indian. All that night they paddled with only occasional +moments of rest. The sun was just rising over the forests when they +grounded their canoe close to the Post. As Rod sprang ashore he saw a +figure walk slowly out from the edge of the forest an eighth of a mile +away. Even at that distance he recognized Minnetaki! He looked at the +sharp-eyed Mukoki. He, too, had seen and recognized the girl. + +"Muky, I'm going along in the edge of the woods and give her a +surprise," said Rod courageously. "Will you wait here?" + +Mukoki grinned a nodding assent, and the youth darted into the edge of +the forest. He was breathless when he came up a hundred yards behind +the girl, screened from view by the trees. Softly he whistled. It was +a signal that Minnetaki had taught him on his first trip into the +North, and he knew of only two who used it in all that Northland, and +those two were the Indian maiden and himself. The girl turned as +she heard the trilling note, and Rod drew himself farther back. +He whistled again, more loudly than before, and Minnetaki came +hesitatingly toward the forest's edge, and when he whistled a third +time there came a timid response from her, as if she recognized and +yet doubted the notes that floated to her from the shadows of the +balsams. + +Again Rod whistled, laughing as he drew a little farther back, and +again Minnetaki answered, peering in among the trees. He saw the +wondering, half-expectant glow in her eyes, and suddenly crying out +her name he sprang from his concealment. With a little cry of joy and +with hands outstretched Minnetaki ran to meet him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +JOHN BALL'S STORY + +That same morning two big canoes set out across Lake Nipigon for +Wabigoon and John Ball. Mukoki returned with the canoes, but Rod +remained at the Post, and not a moment's rest did he have during the +whole of that day from the eager questions of those whom he had so +completely surprised by his unexpected return. Few stories could have +been more thrilling than his, though he told it in the simplest manner +possible. Rod's appearance more than his words was evidence of +the trials he and his companions had passed through. His face was +emaciated to startling thinness by desperate exertion and lack of +sleep, and both his face and his hands were covered with scratches and +bruises. Not until late in the afternoon did he go to bed, and it was +noon the following day when he awoke from his heavy slumber. + +The canoes had returned, and John Ball was in the doctor's care. At +dinner Rod and Wabi were made to go over their adventures again, and +even Mukoki, who had joined them in this reunion, was not allowed to +escape the endless questioning of Minnetaki, the factor's wife, and +Rod's mother. Rod was seated at the table between Mrs. Drew and +Minnetaki. Several times during the conversation he felt the young +girl's hand touch his arm. Once, when the factor spoke about their +return to the gold in the cavern, this mysterious signaling of +Minnetaki's took the form of a pinch that made him squirm. Not until +after dinner, and the two were alone, did he begin to comprehend. + +"I'm ashamed of you, Roderick Drew!" said the girl, standing before +him in mock displeasure. "You and Wabi were the stupidest things I +ever saw at dinner! Have you all forgotten your promise to me?--your +promise that I should go with you on your next trip? I wanted you to +speak about it right there at dinner!" + +"But I--I--couldn't!" stammered Rod awkwardly. + +"But I'm going!" said Minnetaki decisively. "I'm going with you boys +on this next trip--if I have to run away! It's not fair for Wabi and +Mukoki and you to leave me alone all of the time. And, besides, I've +been making all the arrangements while you were gone. I've won over +mamma and your mother, and Maballa, mamma's Indian woman, will go with +me. There's just one who says--'No!'" And Minnetaki clasped her hands +pathetically. + +"And that's papa," completed Rod, laughing. + +"Yes." + +"Well, if he is the only one against us we stand a good chance of +winning." + +"I'm going to have mamma and Wabigoon get him by themselves to-night," +said the girl. "Papa will do anything on earth for her, and he thinks +Wabi is the best boy on earth. Mamma says she will lock the door and +won't let him out until he has given his promise. Oh, what a glorious +time we'll have!" + +"Perhaps he would go with us," suggested Rod. + +"No, he couldn't leave the Post. If he went Wabi would have to stay." + +Rod was counting on his fingers. + +"That means six in our next expedition,--Wabi, Mukoki, John Ball and +myself, and you and Maballa. Why, it'll be a regular picnic party!" + +Minnetaki's eyes were brimming with fun. + +"Do you know," she said, "that Maballa thinks Mukoki is just about the +nicest Indian that ever lived? Oh, I'd be so glad if--if--" + +She puckered her mouth into a round, red O, and left Rod to guess the +rest. It was not difficult for him to understand. + +"So would I," he cried. Then he added, + +"Muky is the best fellow on earth." + +"And Maballa is just as good," said the girl loyally. + +The boy held out his hand. + +"Let's shake on that, Minnetaki! I'll handle Mukoki, you take care of +Maballa. What a picnic this next trip will be!" + +"And there'll be lots and lots of adventures, won't there?" asked the +girl a little anxiously. + +"Plenty of them." Rod became immediately serious. "This will be the +most important of all our trips, Minnetaki, that is, if John Ball +lives. I haven't told the others, but I believe that great cavern +holds something for us besides gold!" + +The smile left the girl's face. Her eyes were soft and eager. + +"You believe that--Dolores--" + +"I don't know what to believe. But--we'll find something there!" + +For an hour Rod and Minnetaki talked of John Ball and of the strange +things he said in his delirium. Then the girl rejoined Mrs. Drew and +the princess mother, while Rod went in search of Mukoki and Wabigoon. +That night the big event happened. George Newsome, the factor, gave +a reluctant consent which meant that Wabi's sister and Maballa would +accompany the adventurers on their next journey into the untraveled +solitudes of Hudson Bay. + +For a week John Ball hovered between life and death. After that his +improvement was slow but sure, and each day added strength to his +emaciated body and a new light to his eyes. At the end of the second +week there was no question but that he was slowly returning to sanity. +Gradually he came to know those who sat beside his bed, and whenever +Rod visited him he insisted on holding the youth's hand. At first the +sight of Minnetaki or her mother, or of Mrs. Drew, had a startling +effect on him and in their presence he would moan ceaselessly the name +Rod first heard in the cavern. A little at a time the language of +those about him came back to the old man, and bit by bit those who +waited and listened and watched learned the story of John Ball. +Midsummer came before he could gather the scattered threads of his +life in his memory, and even then there were breaks in this story +which seemed but trivial things to John Ball, but which to the others +meant the passing of forgotten years. + +In fact, years played but a small part in the strange story that fell +from the old man's lips. "In time," said the Post physician, "he will +remember everything. Now only the most important happenings in his +life have returned to him." + +John Ball could not remember the date when, as a young boy, he +left York Factory, on Hudson Bay, to come a thousand miles down to +civilization in company with the two Frenchmen who killed themselves +in the old cabin. But the slip of paper which Rod had discovered +filled that gap. He was the son of the factor at York Factory, and was +to spend a year at school in Montreal. On their trip down it was the +boy who found gold in the chasm. John Ball could remember none of the +details. He only knew that they remained to gather the treasure, and +that he, as its discoverer and the son of one of the lords of the +Hudson Bay Company, was to receive twice the share of the others, and +that in the autumn they were to return to York Factory instead of +going on to Montreal. He remembered indistinctly a quarrel over the +gold, and after that of writing some sort of agreement, and then, +early one morning, he awoke to find the two Frenchmen standing over +him, and after that, for a long time, everything seemed to pass as in +a dream. + +When he awoke into life he was no longer in the chasm, but among a +strange people who were so small that they reached barely to his +shoulders, and who dressed in fur, and carried spears, and though the +sick man said no more about these people those who listened to him +knew that he had wandered far north among the Eskimos. They treated +him kindly, and he lived among them for a long time, hunting and +fishing with them, and sleeping in houses built of ice and snow. + +The next that John Ball remembered was of white people. In some way +he returned to York Factory, and he knew that when this happened many +years had passed, for his father and mother were dead, and there were +strangers at the Post. At this time John Ball must have returned +fully to his reason again. He remembered, faintly, leading several +unsuccessful expeditions in search of the gold which he and the +Frenchmen had discovered, and that once he went to a great city, which +must have been Montreal, and that he stayed there a long time doing +something for the Hudson Bay Company, and met a girl whom he married. +When he spoke of the girl John Ball's eyes would glow feverishly and +her name would fall from him in a moaning sob. For as yet returning +reason had not placed the hand of age upon him. It was as if he was +awakening from a deep sleep, and Dolores, his young wife, had been +with him but a few hours before. + +There came another break in John Ball's life after this. He could not +remember how, long they lived in Montreal, but he knew that after a +time he returned with his wife into the far North, and that they were +very happy, and one summer set off in a canoe to search for the lost +chasm together. They found it. How or when he could not remember. +After this John Ball's story was filled with wild visions of a great +black world where there was neither sun nor moon nor stars, and they +found gold and dug it by the light of fires. And one day the woman +went a little way back in this world and never came back. + +It was then that the old madness returned. In his search for his lost +wife John Ball never found the end of the great cavern. He saw strange +people, he fought great beasts in this black world that were larger +than the biggest moose in the forests, and he told of rushing torrents +and thundering cataracts in the bowels of the earth. Even in his +returning sanity the old man told these things as true. + +George Newsome, the factor, lost no time in writing to the Company at +Montreal, inquiring about John Ball, and a month later he received +word that a man by that name had worked as an inspector of raw furs +during the years 1877 and 1878. He had left Montreal for the North +thirty years before. In all probability he soon after went in search +of the lost gold, and for more than a quarter of a century had lived +as a wild man in the solitudes. + +It was at this time in the convalescence of the doctor's patient that +Roderick's mother made a suggestion which took the Post by storm. +It was that the factor and his family accompany her and Rod back to +civilization for a few weeks' visit. To the astonishment of all, and +especially to Minnetaki and the princess mother, the factor fell in +heartily with the scheme, with the stipulation that the Drews return +with them early in the autumn. An agent from the head office of the +Company had come up for a month's fishing and he cheerfully expressed +his willingness to take charge of affairs at the Post during their +absence. + +The happiness of Rod and Wabi was complete when Mukoki was compelled +to give his promise to go with them. For several days the old warrior +withstood their combined assaults, but at last he surrendered when +Minnetaki put her arms around his neck and nestled her soft cheek +against his leathery face, with the avowal that she would not move a +step unless he went with her. + +So it happened, one beautiful summer morning, that three big canoes +put out into the lake from Wabinosh House and headed into the +South, and only Mukoki, of all the seven who were going down into +civilization, felt something that was not joy as the forests slipped +behind them. For Mukoki was to get a glimpse of a new world, a world +far from the land of his fathers, and the loyal heart inside his +caribou-skin coat quickened its pulse a little as he thought of the +wonderful journey. + +Thus began the journey to civilization. + + + + +THE END + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Gold Hunters, by James Oliver Curwood + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLD HUNTERS *** + +***** This file should be named 11668.txt or 11668.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.net/1/1/6/6/11668/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Bjoern Lijnema and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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